yesterday, today, and tomorrow...

Every so often I find myself sitting back and just taking it all in and I realize in that moment that there is so much that I want, and yet it seems to be just out of my reach.

Yesterday my best friend got married. It was a beautiful and hilarious moment. I was his best man and I was truly honored by it. I got to drive a Cadillac with butt chillers, and enjoy watching a few of my friends dance to music one only really hears at weddings. It was a great night, and yet at the end of the night while driving home I found myself listening to one song over and over; "Oh, It Is Love," by Hellogoodbye. I'm looking forward to the day that I get to dance with my wife on that day. I know, I'm a guy and I should be tough and not so mushy, but I can't help it.

Today, I looked inside my self and saw just how much of a better man I can be while listening to pastor Nate speak at Rev this morning. It is a message that I know and have heard a thousand times and I know just how true it really is. I know that I have stuff to work on, and I am. I thank God that His grace is so big.

Tomorrow... Who knows. I'm probably going to get bogged down in the daily happenings that make my life so insanely busy, but I hope not.

My prayer is that I would live tomorrow, and every day after, as aware and in tune with the God that is ultimate reality as is possible.

It's been too long

It seems to always happen... Life that is. Just when everything is going just fine, I decide to shake things up. Over the next few weeks I have midterms, a bachelor party that I am organizing, I am moving on to a new job with Houlihan's and working on freelance projects galore.

In order to accomplish all of this I have employed several things to help me out.

1. iCal- Tracking event notes and todo's are very easy in this little calendar app.
2. TaskTime4- A great time tracking app that allows me to track my time on various freelance projects.
3. Google Docs- whether it is writing a paper for class or putting together an invoice for a customer I have found that a Google template will get the job done quickly and effectively. I especially like Google Docs for the fact that I can work on any machine I like and not have to worry about uploading the document to a thumb drive.
4. Mind Mapping- This is one thing that I have recently discovered. It is not really a program or app, but rather a concept. I noticed that the way I think is not in standard outline form and therefore this is a great tool that helps me get things on hypothetical paper.
5. iPod Touch- I can not even begin to tell you how this item has helped me. From scheduling events to presenting mock-up websites, this little device has saved me many sleepless nights.

What do you use to help get things done?

Neue!

I regularly visit RELEVANT Magazine's website and listen to their podcast. Well, today they added an excellent resource called Neue. Neue looks to be a great resource for ministries that are looking to expand their horizons. The content seems outstanding and the articles and blogs abound. If you are into creativity and looking at things in a Neue way (like what I did there?) then head over to Neueministry.com.

Creativity Unleashed

I just had a great lunch meeting over the weekend with the world renowned author of therathfaction, Ben Rath. He said something that I thought was quite a bit more profound than maybe even he realized. His statement was something along the lines of, you never know how much you have in you until you have a situation that pulls it out of you. This I found to be quite true in my own life right now. I am currently in the midst of yet another transitional season in my life that has left me with a bit of a lump in my throat and butterflies in my stomach. There are so many things to discover and realize, and yet there is so much being drawn out of me that I had no idea was in there.

I remember hearing a speaker recently say that we are all creative geniuses, we just haven't released it yet. I didn't consider myself creative until the last few years, but I am noticing that I have huge creative potential. Now, before you go thinking that I am just prideful, or arrogant, I must say that I would not have even an ounce of life if it weren't for my God. He is the source of all creativity. He created the heavens and the earth and he created me in his image.

So, on to the unleashing.

A few questions I have been asking myself:

1. What am I learning?
Creativity cannot be present without growth and exploration. I am constantly parousing the internet looking for some interesting and entertaining forms of expression. A few good sources; Digg, popcandy, Relevant Magazine, and MIT opencourseware.

2. Who am I helping?
Whether it be in a job, hobby or volunteering expanding my circle has been a huge catalist for getting my creative juices flowing. I love brainstorming and thinking about new ways of doing things. Currently I am working with Revolution SM in designing stage backdrops and leading students in creating videos that both inform and entertain.

3. What is new?
Just like good bread, if an idea isn't used it'll go stale and moldy. Now, a good dose of penecillin is a good thing, but it has to be refined. So I try and stay away from the green fuzzy stuff. There is a constent streem of fresh ideas and media out there. Just take a look at Revision3.

4. How can I make it happen?
I am the type that likes to see a finished product without having to worry about every single detail. I have attempted to surround myself with people that can enable me to expand my ability to get things done. Use people only to help them to reach their full potential.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, there shall be more to come.

New Music

I love finding and listening to new music. Over the last few months I have been infatuated with a few artists. The styles are probably all across the board, but so am I.

Here is a list of my top 5

5. Cartel- Chroma (it's not new, but it is so well put together that the album has been one of my favs for a little while now)

4. Radiohead- In Rainbows

3. David Crowder Band- Remedy

2. Paper Route- Paper Route (honesty is refreshing)

1. Edison Glass- Time is Fiction

Learning

I have been pondering the question of weather it is more important to have a college degree, or to simply love, and never stop learning. Certainly, there are a few things to consider. First, is the degree more important than the person. I submit that it is not. While I am in fact pursuing a degree, I am becoming more and more disillusioned with the way our culture puts such an emphasis on that piece of paper. I have recently been watching a lot of the content on ted.com and stumbled upon a talk given by Sir Ken Robinson about creativity. I, like so many other people, didn't consider myself to be a creative person, that is until recently. I feel, however, that there is a high level of creativity inside of each of us, but that is a topic for another post on another day. Anyway, I must say that Sir Robinson has expanded my thoughts about education. Our society has placed so much emphasis on producing rather than creating that we "become educated out of our creativity." The Bible puts it quite clearly. In Genesis "God created the heavens and the earth..." and then "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

Secondly, I have a question... can one gain the same life without a formal education? I don't have an answer to this one. Your insight in this area would be greatly appreciated.

And lastly, I propose that a desire to learn is much more important than a degree. Many formal education institutions seem to be catching on to this thought. I found a website that shows universities that are offering they course materials for free. This is a wonderful idea in my mind, because I love to learn. If you've known me for long enough you'll eventually hear me talk about sub-atomic particles, absolute zero, relativity and the like, but for me it isn't about knowing more than the other guy in the room. For me it is about knowing the creator of the universe just a little better. He is the one that created the heavens and the earth. He is the one that knew me before the foundations of the earth. He is the one. And to know Him is more important than a degree in my opinion.

But, you may have noticed that I seemed to have contradicted myself. I said that I am pursuing a degree and yet I find no personal value in it. This is the struggle I find myself in. A struggle between culture and myself. The culture may seem to be winning, but in the end I know that this is the path I must take. But I have downloaded some course material from MIT and UC Berekley.

Story

So, I've been thinking alot about what I am going to talk about this weekend at Rev.  I have a couple of options and i have decided to tell my story.  I wish I could figure out what road I want to take.  My options include overall themes about brokeness, fear, faithfulness, or just a mish-mash of my life story.  I'm leaning toward broken.  Let me know what you think.

Back

It's been a while, but I'm going to get more regularly.

In my accounting class there are...

16 Students
16 Lighting Fixtures
104 Ceiling Tiles
9 Water Sprinkler Heads
1 Teacher
And not a single interesting moment.

I will never be an accountant!

If my heart could swell
Beyond the capacity of my chest
Would it break out
Of the chains of this flesh?
Would it take on
All the life that it could?
Would it let go
Of all the hurt from before?
Or…
Would it fall
Down to the earth in pain?
Would it die
From the freedom it desired?
Would it fracture
Beyond repair?
 
If my heart could swell
Beyond the capacity of my chest
Where would the love go?
Where would the pain go?
 
If my heart could swell
Beyond the capacity of my chest

tired

I am so tired. I just want to go home and lay down. I stayed out way to late this weekend. 3:30 on Saturday and 3:00 on Sunday. I regret nothing. I got to develop relationships that I feel very deeply about. For me, at least lately, I have found myself finding... Well, myself. I have been finding that I am a relational person. I love my friends. I love my family. And I want to grow that so very much.

On another note, I have the opportunity to teach every Sunday this month at the youth group for about 10 minutes. I am going to do a miniseries on the kingdom of heaven and what the invasion of heaven to earth would look like. I am getting excited about it.

iTouch... No, don't touch.

I have finally figured out how to blog from my new iPod Touch. This makes me rather happy. A shall be using this, hopefully much much more.