Pulse of Thought

I've Moved! Update Your Links!

2008-09-17T11:12:00.000-07:00

Hey all, if you haven't already heard, I am no longer running Pulse of Thought or Vigilant Studios anymore. These two entities have bridged into one new endeavor: Sonata Creative.

Please be sure to update your links and RSS feeds accordingly. Can't wait to get your feedback on the new site format.

Click here to go to the new website homepage.
Click here to go to the new blog.

Featured at FreelanceSwitch

2008-08-14T13:48:00.000-07:00

I was excited to discover that a blurb I had written awhile back was recently featured in a posting over at FreelanceSwitch. My 'tip' was selected as one of their top ten "Ways to Create an Incredible Client Experience". Sweet!

FreelanceSwitch graciously gave a free subscription to freshbooks for a year to all those they selected to the top ten. I was particularly excited about this because I have been interested in the possibility of using freshbooks for quite sometime. This will give me the opportunity to play around with and decide if its something I'm going to use longterm. I'll keep y'all posted with the outcome.

Building Tomorrow's Church

2008-08-13T13:54:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a wonderful weekend of fellowship. After 1.5 years of preparation, we finally launched the Building Tomorrow's Church Conference in Prescott, Arizona. Many thanks go out to everyone who was involved and participated in making this conference a reality. Here is a video I put together that should give you an idea of what the conference is about. Start making plans to attend next year!

Typography: Appreciating Your Roots

2008-08-07T09:46:00.000-07:00

As graphic designers in a modern, technology driven world, it's often easy to forget about the roots of our artform. Through an RSS feed I follow (Design Daily News) I was led to this site: TypeCulture. This site has some really great resources for type enthusiasts or those looking to learn more about the history of typography. I highly, HIGHLY recommend viewing the type videos (you can click on them to watch a small version of the video without purchasing). Mark Jamra and Jamie Peloquin have done an excellent job documenting some of the 'ancient' processes of typesetting. My favorite is the video in Douglas Coffin's letter cutting workshop - talk about an art form; simply beautiful! Check out this quote from Coffin's website:

"Coffin carves predominantly in slate, but also works in limestone, marble, granite and brownstone, designing and cutting beautiful letterforms, decorative motifs and bas reliefs. Coffin brushes out his letterforms calligraphically, fine-tuning his work on paper before transferring the finished design to the face of the stone and settling down to v-cutting the letterforms. Raised lettering is sometimes called for. Carving in slate creates a naturally-occurring residue of dust in the carved letter that enhances readability. Lettering in limestone, granite and marble is usually slightly darkened for clarity. If appropriate, gilding in 23 K gold or palladium draws special attention to the lettering, particularly when carved in slate, which is then oiled or waxed."

Nice Business Card Concept

2008-08-06T10:15:00.000-07:00

Thought that these business cards for web.burza.hr were awesome! Great concept and execution.

Typography and Site Changes

2008-08-06T09:39:00.000-07:00

To say that a lot of changes are going on behind the scenes, may be a bit of an understatement. However, I've found that the minute I promise a big change, it always ends up taking a lot longer to complete and becomes much less dramatic when that change finally does hit. SO... I'm not going to promise anything or throw out any completion dates at all. Just wait and see what happens to this site in the near future. :)

I've also been on a design rejuvenation kick recently. There are times in your life where, suddenly, everything just seems to take a leap forward and take on new meaning. I had been in a design rut for quite some time, but the dam finally broke and I'm discovering new inspiration which has enabled me to push my boundaries. This is due in part to a fantastic RSS feed list, some really great design books, and a personal decision to reinvent myself as a designer. God has been good!

And just so this post has something substantial to offer, check out Fontsruct.com. This site allows you to design your own fonts online! Pretty neat! I was also introduced (via his blog) to font designer Jos Buivenga. Check out this interview with him if you have time- it was a refreshing read.

If Fonts We're People...

2008-07-31T08:12:00.000-07:00

My friend Lauryn sent this video to me. This one is definitely dedicated to all of those design/typography geeks out there! I must say, my stomach turned a bit when I realized Comic Sans was the hero, but Wingdings more than made up for it. ;)

Verbatim Teaser

2008-07-25T06:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I am finally ready to let loose a bit of a teaser. Some of you know that I'm in the middle of writing a script for a film that I would like to see produced and submitted to festivals. It's been an interesting process so far and we are definitely still in the infant stages of this. All of this is subject to change (including the title), but if you're interested you can head over to verbatimmovie.com to check out the Verbatim teaser page. Currently there is only some sparse graphics and a song at that page, but a synopsis and accompanying materials will arrive in time. I want to document the process of this film from its early stages, hence this teaser site.

For those of you interested, the song was put together in GarageBand in conjunction with a MIDI keyboard that I use to compose with here at home. Let me know what you think. :)

Snickers Wrappers

2008-07-25T05:50:00.000-07:00

I was in the line at Wal*Mart and noticed this crazy little packaging change on a Snickers bar. Awhile ago I blogged on how Starbucks was using their original logo this year on select drinks to help celebrate their anniversary. It would appear that Snickers is doing the same from the look of it (from what I have heard it sounds like it is their 75th anniversary). Apparently radical marketing like this works- I bought a bar just to show my wife when I got home... I didn't even want the candy bar. ;)

"Say, have you ever heard of intestinal parasites?"

2008-07-23T15:36:00.000-07:00

I was asked to be an extra in a fun little film that Food for the Hungry is producing. The film is being designed to teach the importance of raising monies for medicine and supplies which are distributed through our Gifts-in-Kind ministry. Our video guy sent this still to me from the 'deworming medication' segment. ;)

R.I.P. Create Magazine

2008-07-21T15:00:00.000-07:00

Well... it appears that a very promising graphic design entity, Create Magazine, just bit the dust. I received an email today saying that Jupitermedia Corporate Inc purchased the magazine and is merging it with their magazine, 'Dynamic Graphics'.

I remember when Create Magazine first came out. It was so full of promise, it had a great design sense to it, and it was locationally relevant by publishing region-specific issues that contained news specifically going on in my neck of the woods. We'll see how this all pans out, but if this new homepage is any indication then I'm not going to hold my breath (man that design is nasty... granted my blog has seen better days, but if you own a domain like graphics.com you'd think there'd be something more to show then ads, ugly banners, and unnecessary columns).

Que sirrah, sirrah...

MobileMe Rocks!

2008-07-18T09:41:00.000-07:00

So... I've switched over to MobileMe for email. I was somewhat weary of the transition of .mac to MobileMe by Apple earlier this month, but my fears have been abated. The interface is stellar- very minimalistic and extremely easy to navigate. Finally- I have a web-based front to access my email, address book, calendar, photo gallery, and 20gb of file space for me to store and access files at will from anywhere that has an internet connection. What's more, all of this pulls from information that is synced directly from my computer at home (sorry guys and gals: MAC only). That's mighty groovy in my book.

Sure there are a few shortcomings, the primary of these being that mail has no external IMAP support, and you are forced to use the @me.com (or @mac.com if you were a previous .mac subscriber) domain for your email. However, these aren't deal breakers for me anymore. Awhile ago I wouldn't have touched my .mac account for email. Frankly, the interface stunk and didn't have a lot of interoperability. Now though, its worth the switch. I have routed all my email accounts to forward to this account. You can still reach me via my email at Vigilant Studios or Pulse of Thought, but you'll be getting responses from my @me.com account instead.

To me this doesn't break branding protocol (though many would argue differently that they MUST have their domain name in the resolution of their email address). Obviously large corporations or organizations with 10+ people will still want to use their native domain name, but for those of us running independent businesses where we are are the only employee, the '@me.com' email resolution works quite well. Unless you are a very old corporation who got in early on the domain registering bandwagon, you aren't going to be able to get a domain that is 2-letters long. It's just not going to happen. If memory serves me correctly, all 2-letter permutations of domain names were taken by the early 90's. Also the '@me.com' is generic, non-associative, and easy to remember. For me this is a huge plus- the '@vigilantstudios.com' was getting a bit rough to use as an address... While it makes sense and pushes people towards my web address, its not easy to tell someone on the fly or over the phone. Generally it results me having to spell it out multiple times, and even then there's bound to be room for error. With '@me.com' there's virtually no room for error.

That's my take, and I'm sticking to it!

The Great Voice Message Debate - #2

2008-07-18T09:40:00.000-07:00

Which was better- The Original Star Wars Trilogy or The Lord of the Rings Trilogy?
Click on the play button to here the message and responses.

Helping Your Marriage... 'beat the odds'?

2008-07-18T08:01:00.000-07:00

I receive e-mails from focus on the family which are geared specifically to the recently married crowd. I love these emails- there is lots of practical advice and some really good resources. Generally the content featured in these emails is very helpful and Christ-centered. However, I did notice one book review description that bugged me quite a bit in today's email. It was a book geared toward Christians who have been married before. I am not contesting that there exists a Biblical basis for remarriage in extreme (notice the wording... extreme... as in: unfaithfulness with a refusal to come under church leadership!) situations. However, I am contesting the wording of this book, it went as follows:

"Whether it's you or your spouse who has been married before, the principles and guidance in Happily Remarried can help you beat the odds and make your re-marriage a success."

Beat the odds? I'm sorry, but the sentiment of this wording really irks me as a Christian. I once received this advice prior to my own marriage. One, well-meaning man, used these words: "Stephen, if you do the research now and try to lead your life according to scripture, it will help you beat the odds of a failed marriage."

Whoa- back that up. I would vehemently say 'no!' to that my friends. All the research and preparation in the world will not save your marriage from failing. If that's your strategy, get ready to fail and fall hard. Nothing in and of your own power will save your marriage.

Let me tell you what will 'save' your marriage- an utter dependence upon God. A reliance upon Him that refuses to let go of His promises even in the darkest of times. We shouldn't have to 'beat the odds' with our marriages as Christians. There are no 'odds' for a marriage truly rooted in Christ alone! What there should be, is a confident expectation that God will give you the strength to endure and persevere through any trial that you may encounter together. Yes, we are married to fellow sinners, that much is true. However, that does not give us the liberty to abort our marriages as if they were some plan that 'just didn't happen to work out'. It is unsettling how many people (and many who are supposed Christians!) are willing to throw away their marriage at the faintest sign of trouble. What a marring of a beautiful ordinance that Christ has given us! Imagine if Christ simply chose to abort His love to the church? Let the gravity of this sink in: He chose to dedicate Himself to a tainted bride (the story of Hosea and Gomer comes to mind- check it out). If anyone had an excuse to 'let go', wasn't it Christ? Thank God we have a dedicated Savior- one who does not flee us or reject us despite our unfaithfulness to Him!

"The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands." - Deut 7:7-9

So what's the exhortation? Buckle down my friends! Face sin head on with Christ by your side. Don't shy away from His grace or look for the easy way out. May we guard the sanctity of marriage as Christians who refuse to be like the world. With Christ you don't have to beat the odds, He has already overcome them.

A Footnote: I do not write this post in an attempt to discourage anyone who has had the unfortunate experience of an unfaithful spouse who has refused to be reconciled or come under the authority of the local church. Indeed- my heart goes out to you. This is not a hammer over the head of those who faithfully seek reconciliation through Christ while their partner does not. This post is for those who consciously and willingly thrust aside a hope for reconciliation in their marriage.

Pandora for iPhone... Wow.

2008-07-14T16:33:00.000-07:00

I recently purchased the LG Voyager phone- it's awesome, I love it. I went through the whole cell phone company debate and nearly switched to T-Mobile, but in the end my wife and I stuck with Verizon. Their network is great, customer service has never been a problem, and the phones are better (in my opinion) than what any other service provider offers. The only downside is that Verizon doesn't use SIM Cards. Basically- this means you can't just up and grab a new phone, swap your card into it, and have it work.

One of the only reasons I was tempted to go with T-Mobile is that they do use SIM cards. The only phone (again in my opinion) that rivals what Verizon's line-up has to offer, is the iPhone. However, I decided that the extra money and hassle wasn't worth it. It IS possible to unlock the iPhone and use it on T-Mobile, but only after going through the headache of purchasing a wireless contract with AT&T (this didn't used to be the case... but now it is), breaking that contract, incurring and paying the charges associated with breaking that contract (think the iPhone prices fell? Think again- you're paying for it elsewhere now...), finding someone to unlock the phone, and then FINALLY using it with T-Mobile. To me, that just wasn't worth it.

Apple has also recently launched its iPhone application store. A place where developers can create applications that run on the phone. I knew this would be a cool addition but still couldn't imagine it justifying the cost.

Then I saw an ad on Pandora... they now have an app out for the iPhone that allows you to use it for free. Wow. Anyone who visits here often knows that I am a Pandora endorser to the extreme. The fact that Pandora has been released for the iPhone is amazing. Essentially it means that you'll have full, near-mp3-quality music with you whenever you want it... again for free. Forget satellite radio, forget the iTunes music store, and forget your MP3 player. With this app you can bluetooth streaming internet radio into your car, home speaker system, headphones, or pretty much anywhere else you can take your phone.

Does anyone else realize how groundbreaking this is? This is the most portable audio has ever been! I do love my Voyager, but my goodness... this app makes an iPhone extremely enticing, yet expensive, option.

Lacking that military 'punch'? Do as Iran does- photoshop it!

2008-07-14T13:20:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday a photo was published depicting missiles being launched by Iran's revolutionary guard. For those fearing Iran as a weapon-saavy loose cannon, this may have been a disturbing image. However, this story proved to be more comical than frightening in the end...

For you 'photoshoppers' out there, a quick glance will easily reveal a very bad 'cloning' job. For some reason Sepah News, the media arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, decided to fabricate an additional rocket into the photo using a cloned smoke trail and rocket from the real rockets. There a couple things that give this image away as an obvious dupe: 1) The smoke billows at the bottom are identical... that just doesn't happen... 2) the rockets are the same, just altered in size (this isn't a huge deal as this would be hard to discern in the real world), and 3) there has been additional brushed in 'smoke' in the rocket trail that has been obviously added (this is one defect that I have not seen talked about in many sources that are reporting on this). There are also a few clumped areas of offending pixels that are the result of a bad clone sourcing. This obvious manipulation was confirmed a day later when another photo surfaced depicting not 4, but 3 rockets (top photo: photoshopped version, bottom photo: original photo).

The funny part is this: BBC News, MSNBC, Yahoo! News, NYTimes.com and many other major news Web sites aired/published this photo without even doubting its validity. This had to have gone through an imaging department at some point. You're telling me that no one caught this prior to publishing? Umm... oops.

This begs the question, "Do you always believe everything you read on the newspaper or watch on the television?" Why in the world would Iran try to (badly) fake an additional missile into their photographs? Well thanks for asking, here's my take- militant countries like Iran know that one of their most powerful weapons (even more so than missiles and gun powder) is the US media. They know that the US as a nation gobbles this stuff up. We consume it, we integrate it, we allow only these news stories (that have been selectively picked to cause commotion) to shape our world view.

What gave me a chuckle was that this is not the first time this has happened. Iran was caught photoshopping another news story claiming to have discovered US weapons in Iran just a few months earlier; again, another blatantly botched 'clone job'.

In addition to the obvious benefit of getting a good laugh out of this, I'm glad that this happened. Maybe now we'll all be a bit more inclined to wake up and smell the pixels.

Thank you God!

2008-07-10T15:10:00.000-07:00

As a general rule, I loathe complaining (even my own complaining). It's especially hard for me to read blogs full of complaining... what a major drag to read. So with that in mind I simply wanted to post the things that I'm thankful to God for.

I am so very thankful for my beautiful, compassionate, caring wife, who, above all else is my friend and companion for life. I am refreshed (and sometimes humbled) by her honesty. I know that she loves me without requirement and will continue to do so regardless of the circumstances. In the same way I know that I love her without requirement and will continue to do so no matter what the circumstances. She is quick to forgive and quick to apologize. She is so much fun to laugh and do the simplest of things with. I love that she doesn't have to be doing much just as long as she is doing it with me. She is the most beautiful girl I know and I'm so very proud to call her my wife.

I am so thankful for my family. Celeste and I spent some time with my extended family last week up in Payson for the 4th of July. It was such a blast and so relaxing! God has done something special with our family... my aunts, uncles, and cousins are all so very close. We tend to have the same sense of humor whilst maintaining our unique, distinct personalities. Growing up I never really appreciated how rare this is... to be able to have this abundant love for your relatives and to count the days off in anticipation of seeing them all again. My parents are amazing- so patient, so kind. They exhibit love in every aspect of their lives and their support for their sons knows no bounds. I'm thankful for the way they've welcomed Celeste to our wacky family and the love that they shower her with a well- she loves them so much too! And my brother... what can I say? He's a classy guy! I will never understand why people peg him as 'the quiet one' at times. He has one of the biggest (and funniest) personalities I know and can be quite outspoken at times. He is a constant friend and is gifted in his discernment and the choices he makes. He is an individual who can admit when he is wrong and defend himself when he is right, something I find incredibly refreshing.

I am thankful for my friends. David, Darryl, Garrett- you make me laugh harder than I thought possible and your creativity inspires me always! Our college and career group is a constant source of encouragement- I am so proud of the young men and woman that God has lead to be in our group. They exhibit His grace and love in their lives in many varying ways. I feel that we have been truly blessed with a non-judgmental group, which again is extremely refreshing to me.

I am thankful for my job. Oh what a joy to be able to be thankful for one's place of work! On more than one occasion I have heard people speak of how they loathe their jobs. This concept has yet to enter my mind. I love what I do, I love the people I work with, and I love what we are doing as an organization. Food for the Hungry has indeed been a blessing in my life. No matter how crazy (and it is crazy right now!) it gets, I am never ungrateful or unsatisfied with my position. How great is it to be able to go to work and pray with your co-workers? How amazing is it to be able to use the Bible as your code and ethics manual?

There are of course many other things that I am thankful for (a roof over my head, food, transportation, health, etc.), but these are the things that come to mind. I hope that you all are doing well and remembering to count your blessings! God has given us so much- may we never forget that in the end we deserve nothing... thus, every good thing in our lives is a blessing and more than we deserve. God is awesome!

Let me clarify...

2008-07-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

First off, let me say that the post preceding this one (edit: I took down the old post as I've now been convicted that its posting was a mistake- message me if you really want to read it still!) suffered from two things specifically: 1) I was emotionally charged having come off of a somewhat-heated debate with another individual which clouded my judgment and 2) it was made without revising or rereading before posting which would have made clear the many inconsistencies that obviously existed. To be honest- I pretty much puked out a mess of random thoughts and feelings into a blog posting- my bad.

The Christian liberty points made in that post were not only unbiblical, but also didn't connect to the subject being discussed. In fact, the previous post brought up quite a few sentiments that just plain old didn’t make sense; it was chocked full rabbit-trails into nothingness. Thanks to those of you who had the presence of mind to call me out on it: it’s a reminder for me to let myself cool off and write in an objective environment before gushing a mess of unconnected thoughts onto the page. I definitely needed to heed the advice of James 1:19, "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath..." In my case I broke every one of these: I was slow to hear, quick to speak, and quick to anger.

I am humbled by your words of encouragement to rethink my position. I fear that I made the childish mistake of being passionate just for the sake of being passionate. In the end I just came off as overzealous and under-supported in my position.

I hope you can forgive my blatant oversight. Allow me to more accurately and concisely convey what I meant to say in the previous post. Here’s what I should have said…

The rising gas prices have caught my attention. However, instead of looking at them as a terrible thing, I’ve come to realize that God’s purposes are always higher than our own. It may be that God has allowed such things to happen so that we pay better attention to our call to be good stewards of what He has given us. I know that the rising prices have caused me personally to evaluate what type of steward I am being with what he has given me.

I have been convicted of my own smug attitudes as well with regards to what I have been made a steward over. How often do I take for granted what I have been given? We are nothing without the grace and support of our loving Father. May we treat everything (including money, gas, this earth, etc.) that we have been made a steward over as a miraculous blessing from God and not take for granted all that he has blessed his undeserving children with!

The Great Voice Message Debate - #1

2008-06-13T16:04:00.000-07:00

So a few weeks ago I was listening to my voice mail message, and I realized... wow, this is really boring. I used to record goofy messages back in high school, but since them I've 'shaped up' and learned how to be very corporate (read here as boring) with my voice mail message. So how does one fight that boring standardized voice mail message while still maintaining some creativity? I give you The Great Voice Message Debate.

Simply put, I'm going to utilize the same boring "leave your name and number" portion like a responsible adult should, but I'll also ask a two-sided question that sparks a debate. Once I've let the voice mailbox collect some messages over the course of a few weeks, I'll collect them all into one giant mash-up for you all to enjoy. Rest assured- I will remove (and have removed) all last names, phone numbers, and confidential parts of the message that have no relevance... the audio featured here will only be the portion that responds to the extra question I ask.

Without further adieu, here is the line of responses to the first question in the Great Voice Message Debate series...

Who would win in a fight- Superman or Batman?
Click on the play button to here the message and responses.

HP releases its first LCD with DreamWorks

2008-06-10T09:16:00.000-07:00

16.7 Million colors not enough for you? (I know, I know... isn't that always the complaint? Colors- I need about a billion more of them and then this piece will be just right!) Check out HP's new monitor (overkill- maybe... cool and the way of the future- probably...)

At its Connecting the World event in Berlin, Germany, HP unveiled the first DreamColor monitor from its partnership with DreamWorks. The DreamColor LP2480xz is a 24-inch LCD that will set you or your design shop back $3,500. For the money, you get 30-bit color for over 1 billion color possibilities (standard LCDs are 24-bit for 16.7 million color options). HP says you will see deeper reds, blues, and greens when standing next to a run-of-the-mill consumer LCD, while blacks will appear four times darker and whites are adjustable.

A Prayer to God Concerning the Noisiness of Life

2008-05-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

God is real my friends- I know this to be true. I have experienced His healing and changing grace in my own life time and time again. Occasionally I will write out my prayers to Him... it helps me to focus on what I really want to say with my heart as opposed to what oftentimes comes out of my mouth. I was recently feeling that life was becoming very 'noisy'. I'm not sure how to explain this, other than to say that if you've ever been able to identify the events surrounding your life as 'too loud', I'm sure you understand. I hope that by sharing these personal thoughts, I can be some sort of encouragement to you in your own walk... or, if you do not know the Lord as your saving Father, that this will provide some small insight into why He is the only way to salvation and peace.

Dear Father, it’s so loud right now. The decibels of life seem to be cranking up higher and higher. I confess- I miss the silence. I miss the quiet, still moments of reflection and solitude that I once knew more intimately. Noises, loud noises seem to be clanking and stirring in every direction now: discomfort, complaining, and some noises not so driven by dissatisfaction, but noises nonetheless. They feel so constricting and yet, for all their disruptive and invasive nature, they creep in unnoticed. The noises drown out vision and creativity; those voices that I rely on to speak refreshment to the soul. I can’t hear them as well now- they are indistinct, faint. I feel it almost a farce to be sentimental, sweet, or philosophical. The loud noises are unpredictable and harsh. I try to be vulnerable and speak a quiet word, but the noises glare and smash like waves of needles into the calm I so desperately strive to create. My reaction is to pull back and scream in defiance, but even my own reaction only adds to the noise. I just want it to be quiet, so I stop reacting. I just sit down and shut up.

But oh, what a bad way to approach things! It’s complacency, its indifference, it’s a releasing of oneself to defeat. This is not the way you’ve called me to be my God, this is not what your holy, quiet words have spoken to me in the silence of my mind. Your words are soft, yes, but powerful; gentle answers that can shape worlds and split open the mountains like soft wax. Your quiet words of power call me to rise above the noise, to soar on the wings of your promises and strength and to look defeat in the face and refuse to be mastered by it. God you have given me a voice to loudly proclaim your name. May I never use it to screech in protest when things seem to be shaping in a way not derived from my own sinful desires. God you are my solitude in time of winter. You provide me with a sanctuary of silence amidst the loudest, most abrasive moments of my life. You are love and justice, a great tandem of power, the like of which has no equal in this universe. Great and mighty is your name! When I cry to you, you answer me. You command your creation to be silent and know you. I love you father- may you continue to teach me to place my reliance and faith solely in the palm of your hands. Amen.

We interrupt this regularly scheduled silence with... a post!

2008-05-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

It's a sure bet that if you aren't seeing consistent postings here on the blog, that I've got my creative juices embedded in some other project or musing. Such is the case of late. Recently I've been...

Working on a rough script for a short film I'm hoping to create and submit to some local film festivals with some long-time friends of mine. This is still in the infant stages of creation, but so far I've had a few WONDERFUL brainstorming sessions with my fellow film cohorts. We've been making great progress in the story development department and I'm really looking forward to the prospect of being able to complete a project of this magnitude.

Revamping the blog. I've dived into an abundant amount of materials related to blogging design, scripting, and do's/don'ts in an effort to create a blog homebase that is truly meaningful and eye-catching. I'm not rushing it though; I still have plenty to learn and many errors to make in my endeavor to better the interface and design of this blog. Thanks for your patience in enduring the violent yellow text that litters this site!

Attempting to do a better job at keeping myself involved in local ministry and in general. It's easy to skew your priorities and blame it on 'just being too busy'. I loathe that excuse... everyone uses that excuse; very unoriginal... and yet I find myself using it all too often. We just started a new evangelism series with the college and career group that I help lead at our church and I'm really excited to be jumping into it. It's definitely a humbling thing to be leading a group in a discussion of this subject (or any subject for that matter). I find myself constantly being convicted by my own shortcomings in the areas I speak on. But then again, isn't that a huge blessing? Thank God for the conviction and humbling nature of his Word. I'm infinitely grateful to the Lord for showing me how truly weak and frail I am when my reliance is not placed solely on Him.

Playing games. Yep, I'm not going to fib on this... I'm playing video games more frequently. I had all but given up this practice during my whole graduation/marriage/buy a house/transition part of life. I'll admit it, I'm having fun and enjoying the downtime I get to do this. It's nice to have an outlet for stress/tension... hmmm... perhaps I should channel more of that into working out... ummm... did I say that out loud?

Myanmar Cyclone & Chinese Quakes - A Call to Pray!

2008-05-13T08:48:00.000-07:00

I'm thankful that I work at a world relief organization where I can be on the forefront of news regarding world disasters. I can't help but wonder though, if I didn't work at a world relief organization like this... how long would it take me to realize that thousands upon thousands of people just lost their lives on the other side of the world?

We are so incredibly blessed here in America; we have so much, and we don't even realize it. We are also very naive about events occurring that seemingly have 'no impact' on us as a country. I say this not to 'snub' America (although American's snubbing their own country does seem to be a trendy thing for bloggers to do right now... another subject for another blog), but rather to encourage us as a nation to get more informed about how we can be praying for our world. Let's jump out of that isolationist mindset and start extending the love of Christ into our actions- its not as if prayer takes a lot of effort!

Anyway, with the Myanmar death toll climbing over the 30,000 mark today (with many, MANY more missing) and the Chinese quake death toll reportedly to be in the 7,000's- this isn't just your everyday tragedy. Combine these numbers with the fact that you are looking at two governments whom are known for their pride, secrecy, and resistance to receive foreign aid, the numbers are undoubtedly going to be a lot higher when this is all said and done. Early estimates have the final combined death toll of both of these disasters residing in the 100,000's. This isn't even mentioning the global food crisis that has been slowly descending upon the world in general during this last year. Think you've got it bad with gas prices going up and stamps rising in price by a cent? Try having your main food source (rice) jump in value so high that you are being forced to starve yourself in order to feed your children. This is real people, and its happening all around the world, TODAY.

Take a minute and consider that seemingly arbitrary number for a moment. 100,000. 100,000 lives extinguished within a matter weeks, probably less.

For comparisons sake, a little over 4,000 American troops have lost their lives during the on-going war in Iraq/Afghanistan. How much media attention has this received? Daily reports on every news channel, every day for the last... how many years? I do not mention this number to dishonor our troops and what they have done (this is another area where we can be praying!). Their sacrifice is one of the most noble endeavors I can think of- they have given their lives to make the world a better, safer place for EVERY man and woman, not just American men and women.

How many of us even knew that there was a place called Myanmar before this tragedy occurred? Maybe a few of you heard about the atrocities going on here because of interviews surrounding Silvester Stallone and the filming of the Rambo movie there. There is a silver lining here though: through this great tragedy, the world's eyes have been forced to look upon Myanmar. Maybe, just maybe, now that we all have been forced to meet Myanmar, some good can come from us having our eyes opened. Do a little googling on Myanmar (or Burma as it was more frequently referred to prior to 1989 when the military junta passed laws to change the name of the country and further remove its connection to the western world), and learn more about its corrupt government. The information, you'll discover, is quite frightening. Why are people treated like this? Why does suffering and unjust actions go unnoticed?

My point is this, the world is so much bigger than our little social spheres and day to day concerns. The world and it's sinful people face insurmountable obstacles every day- things we can't possibly face as a human race on our own ability. Thankfully we have the Lord- our almighty father! As I was reminded by one of the relief workers here at Food for the Hungry- let's focus on the living right now, not the lost. There are many hurting people out there right now who need God to ease their pain. Let's petition him to move on their behalf, so that He may place his healing hand on a hurting world. Pray that He uses these events to save the lost and restore the hurting.

"He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God." - Micah 6:8

Bragging Rights...

2008-05-09T13:03:00.000-07:00

One of things I love about being a graphic designer, is the people I come in contact with throughout my life. I thoroughly enjoy bragging about my friends! I had the privilege of working with Drew Dunlap for a few years back when I was doing in-house print work with a company called Group Imaging. Drew is a talented sketch artist and designer. He just posted some new pieces on his blog that blend his sketching ability with his photoshop know-how. I really like the unique style and personality that he put into these. Great job Drew- these pieces look phenomenal!

Of Twitter and Good Books

2008-05-08T10:36:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed an additional 'function' of the blog in recent days. There now is a twitter updates section located directly to the right of these blog posts. Twitter is a great little service that was developed by the same guy who originally created Blogger before it was bought by Google. Twitter's entire existance is reliant upon answering one question and one question only, "What are you doing?". The skeptic in me ignored this service when it first launched, but after hearing more and more reviews, I decided to give it a try.

Users can update their twitter accounts via the web, email, or by phone through text messaging. Every user can have a 'network' of friends who can choose to 'follow' them throughout the day. When you follow a user on Twitter, you are messaged via whatever medium you choose (web, email, phone) when one of your friends makes an update.

There are several design firms who are currently using twitter extensively in the workflow. This is useful from a corporate standpoint when you employ cell phones as the messaging agent. Rather then sending out a mass email to your creative team, you can update your twitter account and have text messages automatically deploy to anyone set to follow you, letting them know you're heading out of the office. I'm using twitter to provide on-the-fly updates on this blog using a nodule that was developed for blogger by the development team of twitter. So now, you can be caught up with all of the non-important, trivial details of my life when they happen... yes, I can hear those screams of excitement ("Oh, this is what we've wanted for so long... to be bored by more details of your impeccably nerdy life!").

I also received two books recently which I'm pretty excited about digging into. Vicente over at Xaris Studio suggested "CSS: The Missing Manual" to me as an excellent resource to help defeat my CSS shortcomings. My mom, who is a faithful reader of this blog (hooray for supportive parents), read Vicente's comment and picked up the book for me as a gift- awww thanks mom (see Vinny- I didn't even have to steal it!). I also received a book entitled "Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability" from our in-house web marketing guru, Kevin, at Food for the Hungry. Looks like this print designer may have to dust off his web stigma and charge back into the world of online development.

The Comedy of Design

2008-05-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

There is a hilarious blog post over at graphicPUSH regarding the interaction between a designer and his 'special' client. The laughter has been helping me through my day; the sad part is that clients like this exist... abundantly.

My favorite excerpt:

ME: “This is great feedback. Thank you. I really think we should avoid most animation all together. Studies have shown that it really distracts from the rest of the page and makes it harder to read. I honestly feel the blue Helvetica really conveys a sense of professionalism, which is what we want to establish with your offshore banking operation.”

THEM: “I talked to my wife and my friend and this guy I used to work with and looked at some of the drawings my son did for the website design, and I really would like the headline in neon green and set in the typefontface Comic Sans. I use if for my church newsletter and I think it would be perfect. I think it really makes a statement about the brand’s market leadership and being a disruptive post-Web 2.5 startup.”

ME: “OK sounds like you have some experience designing so let’s try the idea. Here is a new comp with the headline in Comic Sans. As you can see it really clashes with the rest of the design. I think sometimes it works great like your church newsletter, but might not be the best option for an offshore bank targeting senior Mafia members and corrupt hedge fund managers.”

And you hired a designer... why?

So...

2008-05-06T09:17:00.000-07:00

The new blog format is taking a bit longer to get working than originally expected. I blame this mainly on two of my own personal shortcomings- 1) I keep tweaking things so that it will look 'just' right, and 2) my lack of experience in the coding and CSS styling world is rearing its ugly head. I just make things look pretty for goodness sake, what is this coding business?!? Ah, but that is the nature of the gig, you have to dive into the tools in order to get good results. Here's to hoping that I can complete a successful dive into this blog design restructure...

A couple more notes about the redesign:

I've change my mind yet again... Pulse of Thought and Vigilant Studios will no longer be two separate entities (I know, I know... how many times now has this been debated...). The current trend in graphic design seems to show that more and more designers are making their personal home pages a platform for blogging. This was something I had been trying to do for awhile, but it didn't seem generally accepted up until a year or two ago. Now graphic designers are using the blog format as a way to draw in potential clients and to share insights and thoughts with their fellow desigNERDs. All this to say, the new format will be much more 'Vigilant Studios' in theme and less 'Pulse of Thought'. Rather, Pulse of Thought will become a subtitle name of my blog which is under the Vigilant Studios name... thoroughly confused now? Good.

Two Quick Things...

2008-05-02T13:51:00.000-07:00

1) Iron Man definitely lived up to the hype. I don't even need to say any more than that... go buy tickets- NOW.

2) The site look/feel is about to undergo major changes (goodbye yellow color scheme!). My apologies to those of you who may be viewing this site while I'm in the middle of messing with the CSS and trying some 'live' edits. This is the one big downside of using blogger as my primary interface- there is no testing environment to drive the edits on before launching them. See you on the other side...

Ironman Hype

2008-05-01T12:21:00.001-07:00

Let me be the first to admit it- I was excited about the Iron Man movie when I first discovered that it was in production. The trailers only furthered that excitement and I have to admit that I'm partial to superheroes who are self-made, not just blessed/cursed with power. I'm also partial to those superheroes that don't get as much publicity as the 'Big 3': Superman, Batman, and Spiderman (though as an aside I must say that Batman Begins was incredible, while Spiderman 3 was one of the most disappointing, over-hyped movies to hit the big screen in quite some time).

Regardless of your perspective and biases towards certain characters, from the buzz, Iron Man is looking like it will be a noteworthy addition to the comic book movie line-up. Rotten Tomatoes has early reviewers putting this movie at the 95% mark (for comparisons sake, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ended up with a 94% rating).

My original worries were that this movie would buckle under the pressure and try to put too much action and not enough story in the mix. However, early reports seem to indicate that Tony Stark doesn't dawn the Iron Man suit until a decent length into the movie. This reminds me of Batman Begins, in that the director Christopher Nolan didn't rush the plot in order to give us Batman; he invested an equal amount of time in Bruce Wayne showed how this broken man becomes the dark knight. I love that- it should be every director's goal to get his/her audience invested in the character before we are expected to cheer for them.

Needless to say, I've ordered tickets for the first showing tonight (which amazingly starts at 8pm... a very welcome 'pre-viewing' time that breaks the traditional midnight debut for movies like this). Who knows- I may be disappointed, but its sure worth finding out with reviews like this abounding.

Affordable Storage: Solutions for the Present and Future

2008-04-29T09:40:00.000-07:00

As a designer who is used to using up computer storage space quickly, I was happy to stumble upon a unique, inexpensive storage solution recently. I'm speaking of the Thermaltake BlacX USB Hard Drive Dock which enables you to use SATA hard drives as if they were USB cards or plug and play enclosed hard drives. Why is this so great? Well for one thing, the price is unbeatable. With a buy price of $40.00, you really cannot find a better storage solution. Currently 500GB SATA hard drives run roughly $90-100. That means that, with the Hard Drive Dock, you can purchase 1 terabyte of space for just under $200. Wow- that's phenomenal!

From a functional standpoint its a great option for the designer looking to back up or create duplicates of his/her own work. Rather than having to purchase expensive enclosed hard drives where you are paying extra for the enclosure, housing, and power source, you can simply use 'raw' drives that would normally have to be installed inside your computer. Furthermore, you don't have to shut down your computer to remove the drives like you normally would. Just plug the drive in, do your copying, and then store the data safely.

Designers working in large formats will understand the benefit of running a system like this. Those many-layered PSD files start to really crank up the size when you are working on a high-resolution banner or display project. This system is probably even more beneficial to video editors. Given the current industry shift towards High Definition, demand for cheap storage space is at an all-time high. If you are running your own freelance company and do not have the resources or money available to purchase some of the more expensive data backup solutions, this is a fantastic way to start. Don't get me wrong, this is no alternative to a redundant array; this is no RAID setup. However, if you need to store footage or files quickly, cheaply, and efficiently, this is definitely worth looking into.

But what about the future?

To be honest, I believe the above method is pretty much the cheapest way to store data currently and I don't expect that to change for at least 4-5 more years (just my own opinion). However, Blu-Ray disc backup will inevitably replace this method if technology prices drop significantly. For now though, its just not worth using Blu-Ray for your backup needs.

A Blu-Ray burner will run you anywhere from $350-600 and write speeds are still fairly poor in proportion to the disc quality. In addition to this, the media is still incredibly expensive! At the very best you are looking at an individual disc cost of $30-50 for 1 (one!) dual-layer disc that holds 50GB. If you have a Blu-Ray player for your HDTV at home, you know how expensive those discs are to buy. This is why my wife and I use my XBOX 360 to 'rent' HD movies rather than investing in a Blu-Ray player and spending money on these overpriced discs (as an aside: You can also rent HD movies for relatively cheap using an iTunes enabled computer that is hooked up to your HDTV or by using Apple's Mac TV device.).

No thanks... I'll glady wait for this technology price point to drop- it's inevitable (for proof of this, look at DVD trends and how that technology price point dropped tremendously as it became more and more standardized). While it's really not a viable technology for anything outside of HD Movies right now, I do think this is the way of the future provided the cost falls significantly.

Branding Samples

2008-04-28T16:18:00.000-07:00

My previous post regarding Starbuck's recent branding move reminded me that, while I'm constantly designing on the job and at home, I'm rarely posting examples of projects. I've been working on quite a few logo samples for an upcoming conference that my work is putting on. The details are still fairly vague so I'm taking pretty broad stabs at it right now in an effort to pin down the direction we will end up going for this particular brand. These are by no means finished, and pretty rough, but a good place to start in order to get a better idea for what the requester does and doesn't like.

Brand History: Starbucks

2008-04-28T14:21:00.000-07:00

I saw our project manager drinking coffee from an unusual starbucks cup this morning. Upon closer investigation I discovered that the logo was strangely different... and brown; definitely not the iconic green and black emblem that we've all come to know (for better or worse) on virtually every civilized street corner in the United States. My good friend Mr. Google quickly told me that this was Starbuck's original logo from the 70's. A further investigation had me digging up this cool article written by John Moore of Brand Autopsy. It details the development and evolution of the Starbuck's logo- pretty cool information. As a designerd (yes, that's right, I'm making up my own words now), I think its really cool to see how time and history effect a company's branding. Just some graphical food for the thought.

EDIT: I found this article in business week that further discusses the temporary logo switch on select cups of coffee. Check it out here.

The REAL Cloning Brush

2008-04-28T08:12:00.000-07:00

My friend Garrett sent me this cool video illustrating a concept design of a '3D Film Brush'. Essentially its a real life cloning brush (a la photoshop). The developer says this about it:

"...a new drawing tool to explore colors, textures, and movements found in everyday materials by “picking up” and drawing with them. I/O Brush looks like a regular physical paintbrush but has a small video camera with lights and touch sensors embedded inside. Outside of the drawing canvas, the brush can pick up color, texture, and movement of a brushed surface. On the canvas, artists can draw with the special “ink” they just picked up from their immediate environment"

There's more about this cool little novelty here. Thought it was cool!

BTC Conference

2008-04-23T09:16:00.000-07:00

I'd like to encourage you to pray for (and consider attending if you are a young adult) the upcoming BTC Conference which will take place in August. My home church, Grace Covenant, is the one heading up this conference and we are really excited to see what the Lord will do with our efforts. This conference was the original idea of my good friend David Giarizzo, who has been spearheading the efforts to develop and implement the conference. David is currently at the ARBCA General Assembly and will speaking to the pastors and assembly there to follow-up the official announcement of the conference during last year's GA. Here's so more info on the conference itself:

What? Reformed Baptist Young Adults Conference
When? August 8th - 11th, 2008
Where? Prescott, Arizona
Speaker? Pastor Bob Selph

The goal of BTC is to help young people understand the importance of the local church. Our hope is that this younger generation of Reformed believers will grow in love for Christ and His Church and will pursue active involvement in the local congregation.

BTC is not a “single’s conference.” This conference is geared towards all young adults, 18+ yrs old, regardless of marital status!

We hope to see the BTC conference become a regularly anticipated and attended conference for young adults across the country for many years to come!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Loving what I do...

2008-04-23T08:50:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows me, will be able to tell you that I love my day job. Working as a graphic designer for Food for the Hungry has been an incredible experience thus far. I feel so very blessed to be able to utilize my creative talents at a non-profit organization who is dedicated to being the hands and feet of Christ. I have a wonderful team of brothers and sisters in Christ who make my job an absolute joy and the departments I work with here are fantastic (they are known as 'requestors' in an in-house design environment as opposed to 'clients' in a production-based company).

One of those departments that I get to work with is our Artist Ministry. It really is a blast to be able to create promotional materials for Christian musical artists who have partnered with FH to help get hungry and hurting children sponsored. In my time here I've come to really appreciate the artists that truly give back to society and the world at large. Just to name a few: Leeland (this band is amazing and is definitely up and coming- I predict them to be headlining some big name tours in the near future), 33 Miles, Sara Groves (I'm currently developing a display graphic for her to use at shows, see right), Tammy Trent, PCD, etc. These guys and gals are the real deal, and they let their faith shine through their music AND their actions.

Not to jump on a soapbox, but I really do believe in the organization I work for. Food for the Hungry does make a REAL difference in lives throughout the world. We know that, as an organization, we are completely dependent on God. We seek to follow him always, we strive to do His will. We live by the the words of Micah 6:8, "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." If anyone is curious or wants to know more information about Food for the Hungry, please don't hesitate to contact me. I'd be happy to give a tour of our facility here in Phoenix and to get you more information.

Please, consider sponsoring a child or getting involved somehow. We have been blessed with so much here in America; may we never forget to share that blessing with those who are less fortunate then ourselves.

InDesign CS3 VersionCue Woes

2008-04-22T13:55:00.000-07:00

I hadn't experienced any trouble at home with InDesign CS3 before, but at work I've been fighting it ever since I upgraded the platform to OSX Tiger. It seems that there is an issue with the way Adobe updates Adobe VersionCue (or rather, doesn't update VersionCue... ahem.). Never mind the fact that VersionCue is essentially useless in a single-designer environment (not sure about VersionCue's purpose? Click here.), Adobe saw fit to integrate it into the very core functions of 'save' and 'save as' file commands. What does this mean for someone with a corrupted version of VersionCue? Saving doesn't work... oh but it doesn't just not save, it crashes the entire program. Yikes.

Thanks to a blog posting by Joe Maller I was able to remedy the problem- thanks Joe! Now I really should cut Adobe some slack, in all my years of using their products, never have I once encountered a bug like this. However, I thought I should bring some attention to Joe Maller's blog post since it was one of the only places on the web that I can find a viable solution to the problem. Hope that helped for those of you who reached this post by desperately crawling Google in hopes of finding an answer.

My Best Friend

2008-04-19T01:58:00.000-07:00

"A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.

Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.

Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised."

-Proverbs 31:10-12, 29-30

"Her"

Deep brown, flickers of joy and laughter

echo in those beautiful eyes that look upon mine

How can I, just a simple man, be so fortunate

to claim the affections of this intoxicating beauty

Lord may I never forget to count my blessings

And this, second only to your very son,

May I guard, protect, and cherish her

As the very beating of my own heart.

I love you Celeste- thank you for making me the happiest man I know!

MAC's in the House

2008-04-19T01:40:00.001-07:00

Rumor is, Three-23 Media has a new rig in the house. My feelings are that video production may be in full swing before long. My goodness those new iMacs look nice, like REALLY nice (I was a big fan of apple bringing in the black accents to their product line)... I think S.O.M.B.S. is in remission, at least for the time being... I'm taking this screen shot to mean that Darryl's visits to my blog are a truce, albeit a shaky one. Many congrats Darryl- here's to many more wonderful films!

iPhone's Competition: Google Android Platform

2008-04-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

Wow- this definitely ups the competition for Apple's iPhone. You're going to be seeing a lot of innovation and expansion in the cell phone technology market very soon me'thinks. That's a snappy interface!

Speaking of iPhone competition, check out this "iClone"... basically, it's a direct knock-off of the iPhone, but for MUCH cheaper at around $150-200 (some sources claim that this phone actually came out 6 months before the iPhone however). It's made by a Chinese company called CECT. They actually have quite a few iPhone knock-offs in their line-up (P168, A380i, S688, 599, U8800). If having an iPhone is completely a status symbol for you, these might be a nice alternative and would save you money. They work with any SIM card style mobile service (think T-Mobile and AT&T). However, these really aren't TRUE iPhone knock-offs as many on the web would have you believe. The reason the iPhone is amazing, in my opinion, is due primarily to the way it handles Web (a true browser, not WEP), integrates music and movies (these knock-offs have inferior frame rates), and deals with e-mail.

And while we're on the subject- my biggest complaint about these new touch-screen phones? The keyboard. Touch-interface is great, but how in the world is anyone supposed to compose email comfortably on that interface? For that matter, why do most of the PDA-style phones on the market right now have a small vertical-style keyboard smashed into them at the very bottom? That's just not comfortable my friends! In a time where cell phones are becoming more and more used for email, you'd think that providing a horizontal-style pull-out (or slide-out) keyboard interface would be a primary objective in the design phase. Weird!

Has anyone noticed a growing trend? My posts have been geeky recently... really geeky. I need to regroup and post something 'non-nerdish' soon...

Magic Bullet Looks vs. Photoshop For Video

2008-04-09T08:40:00.001-07:00

Okay, so just before I left for Photoshop World last week, I become incredibly enthusiastic about Magic Bullet Looks. Rather than try to describe to you what Magic Bullet does, here is how Red Giant Software (the developer) describes it:

“Traditionally achieved with filters, filming techniques or chemical processes, a "look" was any treatment applied to film stock to lend it a color, appearance, or mood. With digital editing, many more sophisticated effects are now possible. Often referred to as color correction, the process is similar to working in a virtual darkroom. Ordinary footage can be made to look like old films or TV, colors can be adjusted to turn a daytime shoot into film noir, and camera tricks can be simulated digitally.”

I can honestly say that Magic Bullets does a great job at helping you achieve that ‘filmic’ look. I was impressed with the designer’s interface and ease of use. I downloaded the demo version, which plugs in to After Effects. After playing around with it and spitting out some footage I decided that this would need to be an eventual ‘must buy’ for my future film endeavors. However, at a price tag of $399, I realized that this was something that would have to wait for a while. Its hard to justify an expenditure like that when its for just a plug-in (albeit a cool one). I resigned myself to saving up the money and waiting.

Then I went to Photoshop World and learned a lot about using Photoshop CS3’s new, powerful video editing capabilities. The skills and techniques I learned at some of the classes opened my eyes to a few new possibilities.

I began to realize that, while Magic Bullet Looks is indeed a fantastic program, I could achieve the same effects for free using Photoshop CS3 Extended (let me re-emphasize this: this will only work in CS3 Extended, not standard) by importing the footage and editing it. Furthermore, I could create my own personalized ‘looks’ (much like Magic Bullet) and make them reusable by recording actions in Photoshop that would ‘process’ the footage the same way every time. I was thrilled to discover this because, not only does it save me $399, but it also allows me to be more precise in the way I process my footage. I can now dial in my edits using the interface that I’ve come to know and love over the past 10 years.

Don’t get me wrong, Magic Bullet Looks has a wonderful interface for editing and it is extremely customizable. If you are a beginner to intermediate user of Photoshop, you may still want to stick with Magic Bullet. However, if you are further a long in your Photoshop knowledge, I’d suggest you check this alternative method out. Smart Filters, masking, adjustment layers, advanced color adjustment, etc. all make this a very enticing option for editing the look of your footage. The great part about this? If you set up your workflow properly, you can nondestructively edit your footage, so that you can go back and re-edit the look of it at any given time. For the advanced Photoshop users out there: just think about what you could do with actions and batching files. Imagine shooting all of your footage, editing it down in your editor of choice, and then running a batch command in Photoshop to apply your customized film effect to your footage. With a click of a button, Photoshop would apply the same effect to all of the designated pieces of film and you could walk away while it renders. Pretty cool.

I am posting a video below for your reference. Please forgive the poor quality- the upload utility in blogger severely degrades quality. This video contains 1) the stock, unaltered footage, 2) a customized look I created using Magic Bullet (notice the lovely, red ‘x’ that stripes the footage due to the fact that I’m using the demo version for this), and 3) a custom setting I created using Photoshop (I tried to somewhat match this look to the MB one, though it is not a perfect copy). Anyway, these are rough, but hopefully they give you a better idea of what the new Video capabilities can do in Photoshop.

Pandora vs. Last.fm

2008-04-08T11:12:00.000-07:00

I had, until recently, been unaware of the existence of the music service Last.fm (thanks Brett for showing me this!). Basically, Last.fm is the direct competitor to Pandora. As many of you know, Pandora has been my online music service of choice for creating customizable and adaptable radio stations. So when I heard that there was another service doing the same thing, I was excited to check it out. Let me preface this post by saying that there is already an excellent posting written by Steve Krause concerning the differences between these two services. If you want the nitty-gritty details of what is different between these two services, check out his post first.

While I think Last.fm is a great service, I am still going to stick with Pandora. I say this lightly, as it is only a personal preference. It really depends on how you like to listen to music and what fits your musical personality.

Something that Steve Krause touches on in his article is the way music is picked and added to the radio stations you create. Pandora relies on comparing musical characteristics of a song to pick music that it ‘thinks’ you will like. Musicians at Pandora listen to each song and then diagram it into ‘genes’. These ‘genes’ are the qualities of the song that give it shape and form. Examples of these qualities are speed, volume, voicing, key changes, tonal quality, genre styling, etc. On the flipside of this, Last.fm uses social nuances to classify and suggest music. This means that songs are picked for you based on how society in general groups them, not how they musically correspond. As a musician I prefer Pandora because it is not influenced by social likes/dislikes. It looks at the raw music and does not account for popularity.

As far as aesthetics and interface go, both have their strong points. I tend to opt for the simple, straightforward approach of Pandora. Pandora can be accessed through any web browser, does not have standalone software, and every part of the service can be accessed through one static panel. Last.fm is much more robust in the options department, but borders on chaotic and confusing at times in my opinion. There is somewhat of a learning curve getting used to it’s interface. There are many, many ways this service can be used and there is also standalone software that can be downloaded to run the service outside of your browser window.

Both seem to be amazing services and for those of you not yet utilizing one of these, I’d strongly suggest you check them out. However, this blogger is sticking with Pandora for now.

Expect an influx of blog postings soon...

2008-04-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

Wow. I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Orlando. There is so much to talk about; so much to discuss. A quick recap: Photoshop World was a blast and was extremely informative. I will post my own person insights and opinions in an upcoming blog. My initial take is this- the new abilities gained by Photoshop in CS3 are amazing. Some classes were a bit remedial, but doing research on the instructors and the classes themselves really helped me to plan out my course schedule. I feel like I definitely got my money's worth and would do it again in the future in a heartbeat.

So until further blogging occurs, here are a few random (yet extremely cool) things to check-out:

1) Intelligent elephants that paint self-portraits!

2) Flying motorcycles that allow you to hop traffic jams!

3) Designer Geeks recreating the D-Day battle! Thanks go to Celeste's cousin, Brett, for showing me this while in Orlando- this is amazing stuff.

4) Photoshop express- eat your heart out Flickr! Do yourself a favor and register for an account here- it'll change the way you upload and display photos online. This was also one of the big 'reveals' at Photoshop World this year.

Look out (Photoshop) World, Here I Come!

2008-04-01T06:31:00.001-07:00

My plane departs in less than 4 hours... the wife and I haven't slept at all this past night due to the fact that we have been forced to pack last minute (guess what we'll be doing on the plane- sleep... that or catching up on Battlestar Galactica episodes... oh did I mention that I'm geek?). Its surprisingly difficult to move into your new place, attempt to set up everything you own, and then turn around and pack for a week long conference visit to Orlando! Oh, but its so worth it. I'll post updates as I have wi-fi access... hopefully.

Welcome Home.

2008-03-27T07:36:00.000-07:00

I celebrated another year of life yesterday with my wife, and I must say... it's great to be married. Food tastes better, the company is prettier, and the experience is much more memorable. We headed over to Shabu Fondue for a wonderful birthday dinner surprise. I was fairly excited about this because I had not had 'real' fondue before in a restaurant setting. The atmosphere was great and the restaurant was themed pretty well; distinctly Asian-decor (think lots of red and black). The food was fantastic, albeit a little on the pricey side (especially since you're the one cooking half of your meal...). All-in-all a great experience, and one I would recommend in moderation (your wallet will thank me).

We are also picking up the keys to our finished condo today! After nearly a year of waiting, the place is finally built and ready for the newlyweds to move-in. I must say, with this being my first piece of non-rental property, I'm quite excited. Celeste and I are both keenly aware of the fact that this, along with many other things, is a blessing from the Lord. We are so very thankful to our God for giving us this opportunity and pray that we are able to honor Him through the use of our home and lives together.

During the course of the next two weeks, I'll be traveling a lot. Next Tuesday we will be heading over to Orlando Florida for the Photoshop World Conference with our friends Vinny and Elizabeth from Xaris Studio. Upon returning, I'll be preparing for another trip with my Creative Services team at Food for the Hungry. We are having our annual vision planning trip which will help us brainstorm new ways to be productive and innovative with our branding and marketing during the course of this next year.

It's a busy time in our lives, but I wouldn't change it for the world.

That's a computer?

2008-03-24T08:36:00.000-07:00

The OQO Model 2 computer is pretty amazing- it looks more like a smart phone to me than a computer. With a base price tag of $1299 (and the ability to buy a refurbished model through the outlet store for $999), these little 'laptops' are competition more for the cell phone market than anything else.

When you you realize that a 16gb iPhone is $500.00, it really puts things in perspective. Would you rather be limited to a smart phone-style iPhone (come now, lets admit it- for as cool a phone as this is, its NOT a computer) OR, for roughly double the price, have access to a fully-functioning computer? If I was in the market for one of these things (which I'm not currently), I'd save my dollars for the latter option. The base specs aren't too shabby either: 1.2 Ghz processor, 40GB Harddrive, 512 MB of RAM, full WiFi and bluetooth capabilties, preloaded with XP home OS. Not only that, but the docking station is sweet- elegant aesthetics in the design department, and extremely functional.

The reason I would contest that something like this can compete with the smart phone market, is the ability to use VOIP in conjunction with this full-on computer interface. By utilizing a data plan through a variety of available cell companies, users could not only use this device to wirelessly access the internet, but also to use services like Skype anywhere they have cell service. This was something I had talked about a few years back in my blog. I was really excited at the prospect and potential of these 'mini-laptops' and their ability to incorporate the use of VOIP on the fly.

A service like Skype essentially cuts out the middle-man in VOIP communications... that is, of course, AFTER you've already purchased a data plan from the aforementioned middle-man... oh well, there's still room to grow. Still, this is very, very cool.

The 'Rig'

2008-03-20T17:27:00.001-07:00

I'm officially a camera geek. I've spent some (too much) time at Home Depot and Ace Hardware of late looking for parts to use in constructing my new HV-20 'rig'. For those of you uninitiated into the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) world of guerilla filmmaking (ex- for those of you are not geeks), a 'rig' is simply a type of camera setup that has been configured by its user to accomplish multiple goals in cinematography at one time. For example- I'm trying to create my rig in a manner that would allow me to have multiple mics, a video light, an additional camera lens, a video monitor, and some zoom controls all housed in one solid piece. I haven't gotten too far yet, but I do have the skeleton of the rig basically completed (see photo). It's not spectacular by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm slowly working on adding more functionality and form to it. The end result should hopefully look like something someone would use to shoot a movie with... not like a botched ab-roller... errrr... like it does now...

Christian Artists: A Call to Excellence

2008-03-18T07:09:00.000-07:00

As a Christian, I am well aware of the origin of art- my maker, my creator- He is where art had its beginning. Looking throughout creation, be it in the faces of my coworkers or at the top of a mountain overlooking the vastness of this world, God has truly crafted a work of art in his creation. What an excellent reminder and encouragement to Christian artists to pursue excellence! So often we are encouraged to imitate Christ in the way we speak and lead our lives. As artists, our course of action should be no different; we ought to imitate Christ through our art.

I find it disappointing that good art is considered 'secular' within the school system today. Why is it that, as Christians, we feel like we must sacrifice our values and morality on the altar in an effort to be known or to create what others would consider 'truly great art'? Today, everyone feels as if they must push the envelope. Cinematographers are constantly looking for that next scandalous subject that will have the media abuzz. Just take a look at the Sundance Film Festival. Whilst seeking to create pieces more 'esoteric' in nature, some film makers trade well-written stories for drab, meaningless plots that make a stir by being crass or unsettling. Don't misinterpret what I'm saying here: there are MANY excellent films that come out of that festival, I am not contesting that. However, for an event that supposedly houses the independent film making elite, it sure is a sad statement in general about the values and focal points of mankind.

As Christians we do not have to sacrifice our faith in God in order to create pieces of art! During high school I was fortunate to have Heidi and Erin as friends. These twin girls were a constant reminder to me of what the sole-purpose of art is: to glorify God. That is to say, our creativity, by very nature, is an expression that can be used to bring honor and praise to the supreme Artist. Heidi was recently featured in an article over at ASU's online news hub for her show at the Step Gallery, Chrysalis: The Contemporary Significance of the Classic Still Life (which I unfortunately missed due to the craziness of current events with moving and the like- so sorry Heidi!). What a wonderful statement she has made through giving her gift of painting to her heavenly Father! I've known Heidi for a long time. Heidi's work is never static, dull, somber or cheesy- it is always alive, joyful, and progressive. Her work is the mark of an artist on fire for Christ.

Being a Christian artist does not mean that you cannot push the boundaries of your creativity, it does not mean that you are forced to endlessly fabricate 'Jesus pictures'- that is a common misconception. God's beauty is in His creation, it is in all that He has created. A flower, a daring rescue, the somber reality of war, a baby, a family in poverty, persecution, a joyful entry, a man weeping, an artistic rendition of feeling, a composite of materials... these are all art subjects that can be used to bring glory to the supreme Artist. Why? Because He made everything! The distinction between a Christian's art and a non-Christian's lies solely in the artist's viewpoint of sin. A Christian artist understands that sin is a perversion of art, not something that should characterize art.

To my artistic brothers and sisters in Christ- may we embrace the gift that God has given us and relentlessly pursue Him through it's use. May all our actions and art be for His renown. May we invest ourselves in mimicking His artistry throughout all creation.

Good Marketing: Epinions.com

2008-03-18T06:30:00.000-07:00

As a graphic designer, I really appreciate a good marketing campaign when I see one. Epinions.com has a really great one going on right now- write 10 reviews and get $10. Why is this so great from a marketing standpoint? Namely- users, as well as Epinions benefits from this.

This campaign does three things for Epinions from my point of view: 1) increases traffic to their website, 2) provides incentive for users to get invested and integrated, 3) costs them VERY little to boost traffic and user interaction. The rules stipulate that a max of 30,000 reviews can be received to qualify for this promotion. Hmmmm... let's see, 30,000 divided by 10 equals 3000. Yep- a promotion that, at the most, costs Epinions (a company valued at $30.5 million in 2003) only $3000 to generate massive user interaction and interactivity. Not only that, but it is more than likely that Epinions will receive excess entries over and above the 30,000 qualifying ones.

I'm a dork I know, but I couldn't help but admire a well-thought out promotion like this that saves money and maximizes business productivity. My goodness, did I just give free advertising for a promotion? What a dork...

The Uprising Has Begun...

2008-03-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

My sources have recently informed me that there is an uprising in the works meant to stop my progress as an individual. It goes by the name of S.O.M.B.S. Details are sketchy at the moment, but a look at this new 'video blog' reveals quite a bit about the movement's leader, known to his audiences only as 'Darryl'. More info will be posted here as this unsettling drama unfolds...

IMHO: 5 Fonts That Should Not Be

2008-03-10T09:18:00.000-07:00

I was reminded of some overly-used, ugly fonts today. I was going over some spec sheets of 'approved' fonts today for a vendor whom will remain nameless and found one of the fonts that is on my pet peeve list... ug... Come now people, let discuss some basic principles of design. Without further adieu, I give you the top 5 Fonts That Should Not Be.

#1 - Comic Sans

It really wasn't an option to not pick this one as my #1 most despised font. If you look far and wide on the net, you'll discover that I am not alone in my disdain. Nothing says tacky quite like a the cartoony-goodness of Comic Sans. Check it out this website dedicated to banning Comic Sans, or this font dedicated to spreading truth; its entitled 'I hate Comic Sans'.

#2 - Papyrus

Often referred to on the net as 'the thinking man's comic sans', this is one font that has been driven into the ground by overuse (plus, its ugly... so there). This font thrives amongst small churches, video-gamers, and a plethora of other groups. For those of you thinking that this a unique way to distinguish your document/piece from the masses- it's not. Everyone has adopted this font, everyone. I remember being pretty disappointed to see that one of my favorite (canceled) series, Firefly, had adopted this font for use on the their spaceship in the movie Serenity (although to be fair, they did alter a bit... mostly by bolding the typeface). Apparently the papyrus font is still heavily used 500 hundred years in the future... those poor space people.

#3 - Curlz

I'm not going to even bother justifying why I picked this one... just look at it.

#4 - Copperplate

This is probably the font that I'll receive the most flack for picking. However, I still stand behind my choice. This is a font that does have its specific applications, but has grown to be included on my pet peeve list due to overuse. Like papyrus, this font is one that many people use to make their documents 'unique'. The tracking of this font is pretty odd in my opinion (too much space between characters). While that can be adjusted easily in design programs, most users taking advantage of this font are using applications like Word which do not have this ability.

#5 - Brush Script

Unless you're designing a baseball jersey, stay away from this font. There are so many fantastic cursive/handwriting fonts our there for free download... why in the world would you choose to use this one? If you're looking for one of the most contrived cursive fonts in the universe, please look no further.

Have a font that I missed? Disagree with my choices? Please leave comments...

New Print Ads & Web Work

2008-03-07T14:40:00.000-08:00

I'm gearing up for an intensive graphics load in the coming months here at Food for the Hungry (FH). There are quite a few print/ad projects that need attention, and on top of that I have a website redesign to attend to. Don't get me wrong- I am pumped about this work- but it can seem a bit daunting at times when your project load takes a huge spike. Thought its been a few months in development, I really think that the new FH web site will be well-worth the time and effort that goes into it. The web team here in-house is extremely capable and has given me pretty broad limits as far as design goes. I'm posting a black and white print ad I just completed today for the upcoming GMA (Gospel Music Association) week. FH has two of our amazing artist advocates playing at the event, Leeland and 33 Miles. This should be a great acoustic show for those who are able to attend!

OSX Leopard Icons

2008-03-06T00:35:00.000-08:00

One very small upgrade to Leopard (but one that has not gone unnoticed by this designer), is the ability to use larger icons. OSX Leopard now uses icons that can be up to 512px big. This update is especially important now that coverflow browsing plays a big role in day to day operations. Coverflow shows icons and photos of any and every file residing in a specified folder. Having icons that span up to 512px large makes for much clearer images and a greatly improved GUI. I have been wanting to design my own icons for sometime, but never have taken the time to learn the process from start to finish. Well tonight I did!

Using the tutorial provided at TutorialDog.com I was able to successfully craft my own Leopard-compatible icons. I did however tweak the tutorial a bit. Instead of using CandyBar, I used the free program icns2icon to implament my finished product. The only other programs you need are photoshop and program called IconComposer which is included as part of Apple's Xcode package (this should be on your OS disc or is available for free download at the hyperlink provided).

I also discovered MAC's official human interface guidebook for designing all sorts of add-ons for OSX. It's a great read and really shows you why OSX just looks and feels superior to other operating systems on the market. Apple has set a benchmark in the aesthetics department which is huge to their product line. They've discovered that form indeed plays as equal a role as function in the marketing process. What's more, the MAC community has rallied around the good looks of the OS and has made qualified attempts at maintaining certain standards in the design and feel of their products/projects. Very cool.

I created icons tonight for myself and my wife to use on our separate document folders. In keeping with the MAC style guide, I gave them an apple-esque bubble flair. There is actually quite a bit of thought that goes into designing icons and logos like this. If anyone has any questions regarding the process I used for this, please feel free to post. I hit a couple snags when I was working on this, but was able to get through it fairly quickly.

My Brief Take on OSX Leopard

2008-03-06T00:12:00.000-08:00

I was recently able to upgrade to OSX Leopard on both my work and home graphics stations and am really enjoying it! There are some cool new features that Leopard adds to the mix and I've been taking advantage of those quote a bit these past few days. My favorites so far are the advanced network capabilities (thank goodness we finally have networking capabilities that can compete with a windows machine out of the box... in my opinion this was MAC's weakest point in past releases), the ability to stack items in the dock (my dock no longer overfloweth...), time machine (this is amazing and really much better than I expected), cover flow (hooray- now I can browse files AND look cool doing it). to name a few. I've been much more impressed with this upgrade than I originally though I would be.

One option that I'd love to get working, but am still somewhat skeptical about, is the Back to my Mac ability that Leopard boasts. I was just approved to work from home one day a week and this option would be really helpful to me! Using this function I would be able to, in theory, access my work computer from home and control it. If I'm missing a file or need to grab something from the company servers, all I'd need to do is log in and drag-drop it to my home workstation. This is all fine and dandy, but tapping through the ports is something that should prove to be challenging. I'll post more on this if I am able to get this to work properly in the next month.

Fun on the Golf course...

2008-03-05T14:07:00.001-08:00

I'm in the process of editing a short reel of film I shot at FH's Million Dollar Golf Challenge this past Monday. Here's a short clip of me and Elgin messing around while we were waiting for one of the groups to catch up...

Political Quiz

2008-03-05T13:55:00.000-08:00

My wife and I have been taking online quizzes in an effort to better understand how our views translate to the political realm. While I was fairly sure that I knew the finer points of my own political views prior to taking the quizzes, I did discover some unique quiz tools online. Both Celeste and I agreed that our favorite test was taken at: http://politicalquiz.net/. We liked this one the best because it doesn't give you the generic, "Your a Republican/Democrat!" answer. This test assigns you a 4 digit numerical value which tells you about the specifics of your political views. It is apparent that how you prioritize your values in politics makes a huge difference in how you vote. After completing the test, you can plug the numbers you are assigned into a 'voting match-up' section of the site that will pair you with a presidential candidate. Pretty nifty!

Documentary Blogs

2008-03-01T23:49:00.000-08:00

...I'm going to be posting them. I haven't figured out all the details yet, but I'm planning on doing a series of semi-weekly blogs that contain documentary videos on specific topics. This a) gives me a chance to blog with a purpose, and b) allows me to put to use all of the learning I've been doing over at hv20.com. Forums can be an incredible way to pick up knowledge- I can't believe how much info I've picked up from this awesome community of do-it-yourself filmmakers. Lynda.com has also been an invaluable resource for quick assimilation and training on this subject.

I can't remember the last time I've spent so much focused time on one subject... I'm getting addicted to video again. I'm finally starting to understand the cinema tech heads and all of the jargon that they spew... its disturbingly fascinating and also... (lets just call it what it is, okay?) incredibly geeky. Not too many people can appreciate talk of inverse telecine pulldown, the importance of deinterlacing your video footage, or how to dequagmify your rotothermonuplex (okay so I made up that last one).

Still... the video bug is in the air and I'm hooked. Look for some more short films and abbreviated documentary pieces in the not-so-distant future.

First HV-20 Test Footage

2008-02-27T10:32:00.000-08:00

Test footage with JES Deinterlacing Applied from Stephen on Vimeo.

Here is some test footage that I threw together last night from my new HV-20 camera. Hopefully this helps for those of you wanting to see examples. Two items to note: 1) Please click on the title to go to Vimeo and watch the full HD version- the version listed in the blog is not as high quality as the source one is. You can download the source footage by clicking here. 2) I have not yet mastered all of the export features here at home, consequently, this Vimeo clip is not a completely accurate depiction of what the camera can do... yet. You'll notice that (especially in full-screen mode) there is some artifacting and 'lining' occuring in some of the footage. This is a result of my export settings, and not from the camera itself. I am working on fixing this and setting up an HD video worflow that will allow me to upload seamless HD videos to Vimeo in the future. Enjoy the random test footage!

Have a small fortune burning in your pocket?

2008-02-24T21:23:00.000-08:00

Then why not buy your very own man-made island? In fact, while you're at it, why don't you buy one that is a chain of islands designed to look like the world. Located off the coast of oil-rich Dubai, 'The World' is the perfect place to blow all that extra money that you just happen to have laying around...

Okay, so seriously- this is a pretty crazy concept. Celeste and I had a lot of fun loooking at this site and viewing the videos they have posted. I still can't believe that this is actually real. What a concept- and I thought terraforming to this degree only existed in sci-fi world.

An Unprompted Update on Life in General

2008-02-22T12:28:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I will have officially been married for three weeks. Can I wear the hat of the old married man now? These post-wedding days have been filled with cleaning, organizing, and preparing to move to a new home yet again. The contractor that is building our cozy, little condo has moved up the production time a whopping four months; that puts our projected move-in date at March 27th. I am excited to finally own a place- no more rental fees and upkeep to a house/apartment that you have no monetary investment in. We couldn’t ask for a better location too. Once there, we’ll be 2-3 minutes from our church, my gym, our bank, and a host of other very convenient places. God has been so good to provide us with this opportunity and we look forward to using this blessing for his glory.

Work has been busy recently with a host of projects coming down the proverbial design pipeline. I’m pulling double duty as a print and web designer right now which offers unique challenges, but also great pay-off in the end. I think the work that is being created in conjunction with the web and creative service teams are deliverables that we can really stand behind. I’m especially excited about Food for the Hungry’s new website which should be launching in the not too distant future. I have been recruited to do all of the conceptual/development design work for this goliath of a project and am looking forward to the challenges it will provide me with. We are really hoping to deliver something here that will blow people’s expectations away. It’s exciting to be working for an organization that you completely believe and support- it makes the drive for excellence and desire to further the reach of the organization that much more personal. I’m really praying that this new website, as well as the accompanying print materials, will do just that.

We were able to get ‘back in the groove’ with church activities this last week, which was wonderful. The wedding planning had taken up much of our free time and we hadn’t been able to participate in ministries or extra church activities too frequently during that time. However, this week I was able to jump back in the saddle by giving my first devotional in awhile to our college and career group (thank you so much David for covering during our wedding planning!). I did a talk on legalism in the church… more specifically though, what a Biblical definition of legalism is. It was a somewhat weighty issue to touch on, but the Lord taught me a lot through the experience. We also had a men’s group this past Tuesday; this was an edifying time for me. It was great to be surrounded by good, encouraging Christian brothers.

April will see many new experiences as well. I have back-to-back conferences scheduled at the beginning of the month (Photoshop World in Orlando, FL and a Creative Services Retreat in Strawberry, AZ). I’ve also promised my wife that we would begin a search for the first addition to our family… a cat (I had you going there at first didn't I!). Truth be told, I’m a dog person, but there are certain cats that seem to have a ‘dog-like’ personality about them- I’m hoping for one of those. At any rate, it should be a really fun month and I’m looking forward to what the Lord has in store for us.

Post Wedding Update #1

2008-02-15T14:12:00.000-08:00

Life continues to be a trip for me! I've now been enjoying the married life for almost two full weeks. I am exceedingly thankful to the Lord for what he has done in my life and I am so very happy to have my best friend and helpmate by my side (I love you Celeste!). I still have yet to get a copy of the audio feed from ceremony from our sound guy, but my friend Elgin sent me over a small snippet yesterday of us leaving the wedding reception that he had edited. He also was kind enough to give me his raw video footage and tapes so that I can edit and arrange video later on.

Elizabeth (our dear friend and official wedding photographer) snapped a terrific shot of Elgin at the wedding which I think looks great and really captures him in the moment. Both her and Vicente (her husband) did such a great job with our engagement photos and I know the wedding ones are going to be absolutely amazing too. Celeste and I will be going to Orlando, Florida with them during the first week of April to attend the Photoshop World Conference. Once or twice a year my work will pay for me to attend conferences like these so that I can continue taking courses to hone my skillset as a graphic designer. This is a huge blessing to us, because much of Celeste's family lives in Orlando and we are going to be able to have another mini-reception there for those who were unable to attend our original one while we are there.

My great friend Darryl Poenisch was our official videographer for the big day and I know he's been hard at work editing video (Darryl you are incredible!). Between people like Darryl and Elgin, as well as our photographers Vicente and Elizabeth, we just feel so very blessed to have extensive documentation of our wedding day.

At last!

2008-02-06T17:31:00.000-08:00

At last, I am a married man! The ceremony was beautiful, the reception went great, and the honeymoon has been extremely blessed thus far. We are enjoying the quiet shores of Maui and hope to return with lots of photos and videos to share. We went to a magic nightclub last night (Warren & Annabelle's) which was alot of fun. We ended up sitting in the very front row which is, to say the least, an experience in and of itself. The front row ends up taking part in almost every aspect of Warren's show... and also ends up getting to be the punchline of most of Warren's jokes. I was lovingly refered to as 'Gomer' for the duration of the show and definitely got ribbed more than anyone else... it was awesome! :) We have some hilarious footage on video that I may be able to upload later on.

Thank you all for your prayers and support- God is so good! Celeste and I are rejoicing greatly and marvel at what He has done in our lives.

Election Backings... my verdict is still out.

2008-01-25T09:36:00.000-08:00

My good friend David announced his election backing for presidency today over at his blog- Mitt Romney. I know David has put a lot of thought and effort into coming to this decision. I admire his dedication towards thinking his decision through to the end and really taking seriously all the many aspects of potential candidates. I am still undecided as to who I will be supporting during this upcoming battle for the presidency. Upon returning from my honeymoon I am vowing to give this area more thought and will pick a candidate to support.

This an area that I have been personally convicted over the last few years- I think it is so very important to be politically and socially informed. As Americans, it is our right and should be our privilege and honor to take part in choosing the faces of our nation. I strongly disagree with those who argue that 'one vote doesn't make a difference' or say that ' it doesn't really matter in the end'. A politically informed people is one that benefits from the increased awareness of issues that affect our daily lives. By diving into the nitty-gritty of politics, one is forced to search our their morals, personal convictions, and passions.

Incredibly Blessed!

2008-01-23T11:35:00.001-08:00

My wedding is less than 10 days away- wow, how time flies! I couldn't imagine waiting six months to marry Celeste back when I proposed in August, and now the big day is almost here. Yes, the last few weeks before the wedding can contain a lot of stress and anxieties, but I can't help but just be utterly excited about what the future holds! I am so incredibly thankful that I will soon be able to call Celeste my wife- I still cannot believe that she has chosen to spend the rest of her life with me!

The Lord is sustaining us and giving us the strength to face any obstacle that comes our way, and I know that through Him we will prevail! It has especially been interesting in recent days. We found out that our condominium is going to be built four months earlier than was originally anticipated. This news, while exciting, is also a bit cumbersome because it brings with it a whole new list of things that have to be taken care of. It has been interesting balancing wedding planning along with housing contract/selections. Talk about a lot of life changes in one short period of a year! God is good my friends- He is able to sustain you through any and every obstacle that comes your way. It is my prayer that I do not take his blessings in my own life for granted. Thank you to my friends and family for their overwhelming support during this big time of transition in my own life and Celeste's.

More MacBook Air Insight...

2008-01-20T12:53:00.000-08:00

I received an excellent email from my friend Darryl yesterday. He responded to my post about the release of the MacBook Air and offered a different perspective on some of the cons that I had listed in my original post:

"Now about the MacBook Air. Having actually held one in my hand at the Macworld Expo, I can say that the pictures don't really give you an idea of how thin and how light this thing is. When I picked it up, I thought "this can't be a real computer. This is a prop." I understand your concerns with the lack of an optical drive and limited ports, but after watching a demo, I can see a niche for this thing. You're a young professional, using your Mac Pro for most of the heavy lifting, but then you've got to fly to Kansas City to do a presentation. Why lug around an optical drive when you don't need to? Just slip your MacBook Air into an envelope and off you go. I'm speculating. I'm sure there's someone out there who needs one. "

Very good perspective on this! I think, in my effort to evaluate this new computer, I overlooked some very practical uses for this. Thanks Darryl for the perspective- much appreciated!

Cloverfield messed me up...

2008-01-18T02:07:00.001-08:00

I got back from the midnight showing of Cloverfield a little bit ago and am feeling a little queasy.

Here's a tip to those going to see the movie: 1) Do not sit in the first five rows of the theater (I sat in the very front and all the way to the right due to packed crowds), 2) Do not watch this movie on an oversized screen (I watched it at the Cine Capri... a screen larger than the standard IMAX screen), 3) Do not watch this movie with food, nor if you are feeling even slightly ill. I've never, ever experienced motion sickness before in my life... but I did today. Both my brother and I had an extremely hard time keeping ourselves from becoming nauseated (I can't believe this!) and he actually had to leave for a little bit during part of the film. I am convinced however, that this is entirely due both to our proximity to and the sheer size of the screen. It was really odd for me to feel as if a movie was going to make me lose my lunch. This is one of those movies that I think would be much better to watch on the small screen. Don't say I didn't warn you! Now where is my Pepto Bismol...

That being said- I really can't objectively review this film at this point in time, though I'll do my best to convey my thoughts thus far. I was pretty distracted by my stomach for most of the movie but did enjoy aspects of it. The monster was pretty well done and the shots of it were placed very well throughout the film. The appearance of the monster did not seem forced or overused; this would be an easy thing to do considering that that really is the payoff the audience is looking for. Acting seemed to be mediocre, but wasn't bad considering the unique format and roles that the actors had to fulfill. None of the characters were super lovable, though there were some comical moments that were well placed. The plot line was a little rough to follow, but then again you don't need to know to much for this film... its a group of young adults running from a monster... it honestly doesn't get much deeper than that. I applaud the writers and directors on this film purely for its uniqueness- its something that hasn't been done before and has helped people look at movies in a different way.

A group of people who should get even more credit than the writers and directors however, is the marketing team. I have not seen a marketing campaign quite like this in some time. The marketing invoked curiosity by playing off of the potential's audience's imagination. In a culture full of 'give-it-all-away' previews, Cloverfield was refreshing in that it gave nothing away... in fact, it left you wanting more. This feeling drove millions of people to the web in a desperate search to understand what the movie was all about. The funny part is, by the end of the film, you still have no idea how this monster originally arrived or why the movie is called Cloverfield. This really is a film where less worked out to be much more. I'd be interested to see what this film grosses in it's opening week- I'm sure that the posted profits will absolutely smash the expenditures made for this film.

Cloverfield- Sneak Peak Review

2008-01-17T07:26:00.000-08:00

My buddy David was able to make his way into a prescreening of the highly-anticipated film, Cloverfield, on Tuesday. The movie is opening tomorrow and I am really looking forward to it. The crazy person in me is telling me to get in line tonight for the midnight showing... the jury is still out on that. Regardless- enjoy this review David has posted at his blog, A Fruitful Life. David was kind enough NOT to include spoilers, so you purists (like myself) out there are safe. Thanks David!

Matta's is Closing

2008-01-17T06:50:00.000-08:00

I shudder at the title of this post; I truly never thought it would come to this- Matta's is closing. My good friend David, forwarded me on the Tribune article today and my jaw dropped when I read it. For any of you non-Arizonans (or perhaps, to be more specific, non-Mesa residents) who may not know it- Matta's is a Mexican restaurant that has been a staple and symbol of Mesa, Arizona since 1953. It is home to some of the best chips and salsa in town (scratch that... make it "best chips and salsa in the WORLD") and has an atmosphere that has come to define downtown Mesa and the history that surrounds it. Sure, its not the end of the world, but man am I going to miss it!

When an establishment like this closes, one cannot help but reminisce the memories that have been made throughout the years. My parents took us here for years when my brother and I were children and it became 'our restaurant'. Indeed, my parents often frequented Matta's during their high school/college years, and it is as much or more a part of their personal history than my own. I can distinctly remember birthdays, baptism celebrations, graduation dinners, family night outings, father-son pow wows, work lunches, and a plethora of other occasions at this restaurant. It's hard to let go of something that has become a symbol of your childhood, as silly as that seems. Humans are beings of tradition and personal history; Matta's was definitely part of that for me. Matta's you will be sorely missed!

A Sidenote- Throughout the years Matta's has established a few new restaurants that bear its namesake (though in my opinion, none of them maintain the atmosphere and feel of the original). These off-shoot restaurants will continue to remain open; just the main restaurant, which is operated by 85-year old Mary Lou Matta, is closing. You can read the article published in the Tribune for more information about this.

MacBook Air - Because they can?

2008-01-15T13:02:00.000-08:00

Though the topic of the MacBook Air is, I'm sure, circulating millions of blogs as I type this, I felt it my duty as a loyal nerd to report on this new item in the Apple lineup. Simply put- its the thinnest laptop created thus far. At a tapered height of 0.16-0.76 inches, this thing is definitely thin! The good and the bad from my point of view:

The good: The geek factor is strong with this one- you've got to hand it to Apple, that's just mind-boggling that they can fit that much computer in that amount of space. I also heavily applaud the standard provision of 2GB of RAM in this unit (though this is something that many people seem to gloss over given the novelty of the unit's size). It's about time that computer manufactures in general armed their customers with a sizable amount of RAM. This is a standard that was long overdue in a world of computers that come sufficiently underpowered in this department. The multi-touch feature is also very neat and could definitely be used powerfully given the right application. However, I fear that this feature will be sorely underutilized in the general public. At 3 pounds, thats an extremely enticing payload for your backpack, messenger bag, or... manila envelope.

The bad: I give my disclaimer on this section, because it is touching on a pet peeve of mine that has been buried under the surface until now. Just because we can do something doesn't mean we should. Don't get me wrong, this notebook is highly impressive, but there are some significant trade-offs for the benefits. The absence of an optical drive, the loss of peripheral ports, and a susceptibility to damage are all things one most take into consideration with this machine. My largest concern with this would be reliance on a wireless network for it to be useful/functional. The remote disk tool that lets you 'borrow' another computer's optical disc is highly suspect in my opinion. Time may prove that I am wrong in this regard, but I am boggled by how this might work wirelessly, and efficiently. Call me crazy, but I really am not too pumped about having to find an optical disc to borrow ("Excuse me sir... uh... are you using that? Gotta setup boot camp... you understand of course.").

Just because Apple can make a notebook this small, doesn't mean they should (though I'm sure the novelty will, again, post major profits). This trend has followed suit among cell phone and camera manufactures as well- smaller is better, smaller is better, tiny, tiny, tiny. In my humble (or not so humble opinion) this is a huge oversight. We've established that 'microfying' things is cool, hip and extremely possible, but at what point do we remove the functionality aspect from the very product we are trying to make better? This is the same reason I am a critic of the iPod Touch. This product has so much potential- a beautiful interface (albeit directly from the iPhone), a huge screen, intuitive design, and 8-16GB if space... wait... 8-16GB of space? So you've got this amazing, wonderfully-functioned, music-playing machine and the storage on it is limited to 1/10 of its more affordable brother, the iPod classic. Just doesn't make sense to me.

So, to sum up- this is definitely a geeky, mind-blowing release by Mac, but in the end I just have to ask- why?

Covenant Marriage License

2008-01-13T18:48:00.000-08:00

Celeste and I have elected to pursue getting a covenant marriage license over the traditional marriage license available. Some interesting facts about covenant marriage licenses:

There are only 3 states that offer this type of marriage license: Louisiana, Arkansas, and Arizona.

In Arizona, less than .25% of couples getting married choose to use this type of license.

This type of license has been debated since 1947 when France discussed its creation. It wasn't until 1997 that Louisiana became the first state to pass the creation of covenant marriage licenses in an effort to curb quick divorces.

To be honest- the binding part of our marriage promise to one another does not come from the state-issued license, it comes from the vow that we are making in front of an almighty God who has brought us to one another. However- pursuing a covenant marriage makes a statement in our minds to the public. It tells people that we are willing and able to make our marriage different from what the world perceives. It is a way for us to become part of that 'less than .25%' and make a statement before God and those that are attending our wedding. It is a way of saying that marriage is good, right, special, and a God-given blessing to sinful man.

T-Minus 20 Days...

2008-01-13T09:06:00.000-08:00

We are getting close to that day my friends! I'll be a married man in less than 20 days . Wow- God is so good. The wedding plans are going well and I know it'll be a lovely ceremony. Our prayer, as always, is that this will be a time where the name of Christ is lifted up for all to see. We serve a magnificent God and we can't wait to share that with you all. Please continue to lift us up in your prayers as we make this monumental step in our lives.

People are ridiculous...

2008-01-10T16:15:00.001-08:00

They truly are...

Things to mark life by.

2008-01-04T07:43:00.000-08:00

You may notice that I made no special blogging attempt during the New Year. No resolutions, no inspirational messages heralding the next 365 days of our lives, no special video production, nada, zilch, nothing. In the past, I have made a big deal about the new year, but oddly enough I was not inspired particularly to do so this time around.

Please understand, I certainly do see the merit in such things- the new year is a great way to get a fresh start and help facilitate 'reorientation' of one's perspective on life. As a Christian, it can be a wonderful opportunity to focus one's walk with the Lord and commit towards further excellence in faith an almighty God. I have definitely experienced these blessings in the past and am thankful to God for them.

The thing is, this year is different because my life is being marked by a greater event- the beginning of my marriage. With marriage on the horizon most everything else seems to pale in comparison. The patient expectation of marriage companionship is drawing near. During this time I find myself reminded of a THE everlasting covenant that supersedes all covenants- the promise of eternal life through THE bridegroom, Jesus Christ. What an awesome and wonderful thing our Lord has done- he's taken a wretched bride, His church (read here as you and me!) and made her beautiful through His own divinely ordained, sanctifying process. I can think of no better way to mark the new year, then by the event of my own wedding. What an excellent, two-fold reminder God gives us through the anniversaries and occasions of weddings. It is my prayer that on these special days I would always remember that 1) I have been blessed beyond measure by a beautiful, intelligent, God-centered woman and 2) I have been even further blessed beyond deserving by a Savior that provided a means of redemption for a dirty, sinful creature like myself.

All this to say- events are great, holidays are wonderful, resolutions are grand, but... realistic appreciation of the relationships God has placed in your life and a commitment towards deepening those relationships is, in my opinion, the best. Whatever event you mark your life by, be it the New Year, a wedding, or something else, it is my prayer that you keep it centered on the one thing that truly matters most- Christ.

"Love the LORD, all his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful, but the proud he pays back in full. Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD." -Psalm 31:23-24

Pandora

2007-12-28T09:29:00.000-08:00

Pandora is incredible- I've stopped eating sliced bread since discovering this service. You know why? Because its better than sliced bread- thats why (you knew it was coming, don't pretend you didn't)! Check it out and thank me later.

Alrighty... I promise I'll stop my shameless service plugs here for at least a few days... I think...

Invitations Arrive Tomorrow!

2007-12-27T23:37:00.000-08:00

The wedding invitations are coming in tomorrow! I feel so very blessed- O'Neil printing is comping our order completely as a wedding gift to us (Conny and Tony- you are truly blessed friends- THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart). For the designers of you out there who are actively looking to pick up a friend in the printing business, I would suggest, no scratch that... I would BEG that you get in contact with O'Neil Printing. There is no finer, classier, nobler printing company out there. They truly do break the mold with their customer service and self interest in their clients. The company itself is employee-owned so everyone that works there has a vested interest in doing the best possible job for all their clients. Now they most certainly won't comp your order but they'll give you a very competitive price and will guarantee the best quality product available on the market. I love this company... can you tell?

Due to O'Neil Printing, I was given the rare opportunity to dream up an invitation from scratch. The finished product is an oddly sized 5.5"x5.5" shell which contains a pocket flap with stepped inserts containing information about the ceremony, reception, registry, and directions. It is printed on a beautiful pearlescent-type paper and aqueous coated for durability. It has turned out to be a really gorgeous print piece! I'm really jazzed about all of this and am thinking of investing into the wedding preparation design market. I'd like to specifically focus on those couples who want nonstandard print materials which distinguish them from design norms that abound in the current market. This all of course will be after my own wedding, but still- it's exciting to see a potential design niche to grab onto and explore.

Holiday Recap

2007-12-26T10:59:00.000-08:00

Hello friends- I hope that you all were able to enjoy a very restful Christmas with friends and family! The Christmas season is an awesome reminder of what Christ, our Savior, has done for us. Its not only a time to remember his birth, but a time to remember that He was born for a reason. Indeed, He was born to die for our sins. I admit that I often lose sight of this and regret my self-centered actions. As a sinful man it seems that it is all too easy to lose focus on Christ in favor for my own worries and stresses. Friends, I pray that you and I may run to the cross always. Let us never forget that the problems of this life are fleeting, but our God is forever.

I would appreciate prayers in the upcoming month. My fiance and I are approaching the final month of wedding preparations which has its unique, yet often blessed, stresses attached to it. Please pray that God would continue to draw us closer together through our love and service to Him alone. I am also looking at quite a rigorous schedule of design work coming up which should definitely prove to be challenging. It seems that I have often been reminded of my inability to control circumstances of late. However, I take courage in the fact that God is control of all things. There is a great couple of verses in Psalm 127 that I find particularly encouraging (1,2):

Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.

In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to [a] those he loves.

What a great reminder for me personally! I try to control things so often. In vain I stay up late. I lose sleep while trying to accomplish impossible tasks. Though its hard to do so, I've found that it is often better to let go of some of these 'impossible' stresses and just sleep on it at times (I am definitely preaching to myself first and foremost on this... see my "Sleep- I Defy Thee..." post for confirmation on that!). After a good night's sleep I find that I am refreshed and empowered in the morning. In this way I am much more able to rely on God to fully give me the strength to persevere through any trial. How often do we forget that God created rest for a reason? God delights in the rest of his people and designed us as human beings to operate this way. May we never forget the value of a commitment to restfulness in our Lord.

JJ Abrams is My Hero

2007-12-18T15:56:00.001-08:00

Between JJ Abram's highly anticipated movie 'Cloverfield' and Lost Season 4... man... that's just creative talent coming out the ears...

Heck yes.

Excellent Sermon

2007-12-16T22:23:00.000-08:00

My pastor spoke on the parable of the treasures today. He did an excellent job using scripture to illustrate how God does the choosing of His people; not the other way around. I love Pastor John's straightforward style and felt like this was some much needed spiritual food for the soul. How blessed am I that God sought me out and made me His child? You can check out this sermon and more from Grace Covenant at our broadcasting site hosted at Sermon Audio.

'Tis the Season

2007-12-13T15:56:00.000-08:00

'Tis the season of much design work! Working at Food for the Hungry has proven to be a major delight and joy. My job continually challenges me to put my best foot forward and embrace new projects. I've been hard at work developing departmental brandings (see image for a mock example of what I've been working on), creating team shirts, producing training manuals, magazine ads, brochures, and plenty of web-based graphics. Its been a busy few weeks, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I am nearly done with a lot of the wedding collateral thats been weighing on me for the last month and am excited to have that printed up and out the door soon! Thank you all for being so receptive to this new format and encouraging me to keep up documenting the oddities of my life via this web interface.

Dependent on the Rock

2007-12-12T14:20:00.000-08:00

I am reminded of my utter dependence upon Christ today. A short passage of scripture that I encountered today during my devotional:

^"17 Unless the LORD had given me help,
I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.

¹⁸ When I said, "My foot is slipping,"
your love, O LORD, supported me.

¹⁹ When anxiety was great within me,
your consolation brought joy to my soul. "

-Psalm 94:17-19

May we give thanks to a God who hears us when we cry out to Him! I am so thankful for a God who has compassion on me when my foot is slipping and my body gives way. Thank you God for stressful times and trying situations; in these trials do I find strength in you. I am utterly dependent on Your grace and strength holy Father- teach me to rest completely in Your arms alone.

My friends- if you do not know this security and comfort, run to the cross! Throw off everything- every relationship, every comfort, every novelty, every expectation, every cultural norm and run to Christ's saving arms.

Ammunition of a Creative Blogger

2007-12-12T01:08:00.000-08:00

The tools available to the creative professional who blogs keep getting more and more amazing- I'm psyched to be back and blogging again; what a perfect time to jump back in! I recently stumbled across www.vimeo.com a 'you-tube-esque' site (albeit a MUCH prettier, sleeked out one) that lets you broadcast your videos in HD. Yep, that's right- HD! Okay... so granted its not the physical, full-fledged HD package, but its pretty darn close and streams high-rez video extremely well.

The reason for my excitment about this? Just last week I was able to purchase a Canon HV-20 DV camcorder. God miraculously provided us the unexpected means to purchase this camera for which He gets all the glory! Celeste and I thought this to be a wise purchase as we approach our wedding and wanted to start documenting our new life together. Yes, documenting life is grand, but I'd be lying if I denied the fact that I'm really pumped to be able to use this camera for more artistic things as well. My love of cinema and short films was spawned back at Mesa Community College when I took a course with a very talented instructor whom inspired me to create several short films. Unfortunately life, work and school in general squashed any free time that I had available to continue making these films.

However- now with the HV-20 in my possession, I see a bright future for cinematography (heck- if a return to blogging is in order, then why not film making as well). For those of you haven't seen what the Canon HV-20 can do, you've gotta check it out. This is a consumer camera that records in full 16:9 HD and also has the ability to film in 24p (the frame rate that most movies are rendered in). Essentially, this is a 'big-boy' camera wrapped in a consumer package. Don't let the size fool you- this thing packs a punch. While I haven't had a chance to shoot any footage to write home about yet, here is some sample footage that I dug up on Vimeo for you to check out. The best way to do this is to visit the actual site and view it rather then watching it within this blogging structure.

I'll be sure to post some test footage when I have it shot, rendered and ready to go. Invaluable resources that I've stumbled upon so far regarding the HV-20 have some from www.hv20.com- check it out.

A Christmas Story - Trailer

2007-12-10T12:37:00.003-08:00

Nothing puts me in the Christmas mood like this movie... what a classic...

God Sustains...

2007-12-10T00:35:00.000-08:00

God is amazing my friends! I am constantly refreshed and reminded of his awesomeness during my own personal times of stress. Moving both my fiance and myself to new, separate residences whilst planning a wedding and working full-time has definitely added a bit more stress recently (though it is hardly something to complain about in the grand scheme of things!). Its amazing how he places individuals in my life who direct me down the proper path. This week, that encouragement took the form of several people in my life: my fiance reminding me that God is in control, stumbling across an encouraging letter that was written by a friend, spending time with my brother and just enjoying his company and casual conversation. These were all simple things that people did to point me towards the excellent example of Christ.

Friends, I am so very thankful and indebted to my Lord for consistently and willfully bearing my load of sin. He holds me close in the toughest of times and blesses me beyond what I deserve. Thank you God for being far greater, grander, and magnificent than any problem or tribulation on this planet. You are so very good!

Sleep- I Defy Thee...

2007-12-07T01:19:00.001-08:00

Perhaps its the newness of this blog, perhaps its the fact that I just chugged a Rock Star Guava energy drink (quite good actually!), or maybe its just the fact that I have a ton of stuff to do between now and the weekend, BUT I am definitely choosing not to sleep tonight. The itty-bitty camera on my phone provides the wonderful imagery that accompanies such a post (ahem, ahem).

Anyway... I just wanted to say that I am totally jazzed about the promo materials I've been working on for the upcoming wedding. Celeste has been so great about letting me run with this and develop a unique style for our wedding. We completed the final edits on the invitation tonight and I have been wrapping up all of the rough draft, prelim work for our hosting website as well this week. I'll be sure to post the finalized versions of both the website and the print invitations as soon as they are completed here. We're taking a bold jump as far as RSVPing goes- we've totally ditched the traditional mail-in response in favor for online registration via the website (I'm using aa logiforms platform for the RSVP- really quite a neat web-app for those who loathe coding their response pages by hand). I also set up a phone message line for RSVPing just in case some of our invitees don't have access to a computer.

Into the Blogosphere: Part II

2007-12-06T13:32:00.000-08:00

Well friends, here I am, back in the blogosphere. The original incarnation of this started almost six years ago when I began freelance design business called Vigilant Studios. I did alright keeping up with it at first, but as the years progressed I began to become more and more lax in my blogging duties. Long story short- life crept in and pushed my creative writing juices out the back door. Recent events especially (read here as graduating from college, starting a new job, planning a wedding) have also contributed to the eventual death of the Vigilant Studios blog.

At first, I was okay with this. It gave me more time to focus on some very important things. However, as time has gone on I find that I crave this outlet. My attempts at keeping a physical, hand-written journal have failed miserably, so I once again turn to the web-enabled version we call a 'blog'.

What's different this time around? Well, for one thing- look at it! I finally got the hint that having a business site and a blog all rolled into one was not a good idea (of course the business site has pretty much become stagnant, but thats another tale for another day). So, I ported over posts that I deemed relevant to the subject matter of this blog for future viewing.

I also decided to do all my bloggin on the Blogger platform. For years I despised using mainstream blogging platforms. Blogger and LiveJournal always struck an unsettling chord in my creative body. However, I've come to realize the error of my elitist ways. By circumventing a mainstream blogging platform I was missing out on a huge community with which to interact. In addition to this, Blogger is now fairly robust in what it offers to the design and creative professional (no doubt due mainly to the highly-profiled acquisition by Google). There is quite a bit of customization and ability of change built into the platform (albeit the pesky little leading bar that is always looming at the top of the page) and I'm quite happy with the overall interface. Blogger also has some wonderful photo, video, and widget uploading abilities that I'm really going to enjoy taking advantage of.

All this to say- I'm back (you can imagine a vintage, terminator-like swarzchenegger voice if you so desire here). I vow to to keep most of my posts following this one less business-like, but I felt an introduction was appropriate. I apologize in advance for the ramblings that may ensue regarding wedding plans and the like... as it just so happens, it's where God has me in life at the moment.

Weasel Memories

2007-12-06T13:16:00.000-08:00

I couldn't help but laugh today as I stumbled across a video I completed for one of my film classes in college (which I created roughly 3 years ago). "Weasel & Associates" was a mock commercial that parodies low-budget, local law firms and their attempts to gain the consumer's 'trust'. Without further adieu- the video...

One might wonder what slick hair, smooth talking, and shady client reviews would have to do with that... Interestingly enough, all of these 'characters' will be part of my upcoming wedding in some form or another. Do I know how to pick'em or what?

Dirty Feet

2007-02-04T08:37:00.000-08:00

“When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”

-John 13:12-1

The mirror before me reflects a tired, wearied man; a man who knows his shortcomings and failures only all to well. Beneath the fleshy exterior lies a sinful soul that houses a hardened heart. The reflection grimaces as he realizes that he has failed yet again, he has done that which he promised he would not. He finds that his feet are thick with dirt; he has walked in places he shouldn’t. No matter how hard he scrubs, the filth remains securely fastened to his feet. He begins to find himself tripping more and more as the mud continues to build. His walk has been hindered, his movement is sluggish. The immense weight of a marred past begins to press heavily upon his face- memories of past failures, wrong choices, and frivolous fancies. As his brow furrows he parts his lips as if to speak. In the end I’m startled to find that it is my own voice that softly utters the word, “Why?”

Yes, this is the question that we, as sinners, ask ourselves when the weighty realization of our utterly decrepit nature takes on very real meaning. Why, as a Christian, do we fall when we have already been given directions to our final destination? Why do we wander when the path has been so clearly marked with the crimson blood of a murdered Savior? Why do we continue to allow sin to run rampant in our lives without checks and balances? Why do we preach one thing and live another? Why do we entertain sinful thoughts for even a fleeting moment?

The reflection in the mirror stirs and my vision begins to blur. I can see that he is crying; I am crying. Tears give way to wet paths that run down the tattered cheeks of a sinful man. He smiles weekly as yet another realization completely overcomes him. The room feels as if it has been turned upside down and a cooling calm begins to spread over me. I look down to see a Savior washing my dirty feet. My protests are met with calm rebukes as all my misgivings, screw ups, and failures vanish without a trace. I find a humbled man in the mirror before me; a man who realizes that there is no human rhyme or reason to the action that just took place. It is a concept greater than humanity- God’s mercy and love to a people who no longer remember the definition of perfection.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ- we serve such a wonderful Lord! Though we fail time and time again, God is always there for us. We must always realize that his death and resurrection is a finished work. He has already washed our feet- our sins are forgiven. We should not become entranced by our sinful reflection or the lives we have left behind. Let us always run to Christ in our dark times and embrace the forgiveness that he has so graciously provided us with. Our sin is a very REAL thing my friends, it is not a vague concept. We are sinners, we do mess things up, but God is also real. He is perfect, and he has chosen to provide a means of sanctification to his children that he loves! May others see Christ’s love and forgiveness in our own lives this day and as we live genuine, thankful lives to and for him. Praise God for a Savior who is not above washing our dirty feet.

Love’s as Warm as Tears

2007-02-03T09:41:00.000-08:00

I love poetry. I especially love poetry that touches on and fleshes out a human emotion that is seemingly indescribable. I was going through a book of compiled poetry yesterday by C.S. Lewis and came across a piece that did just that. How does one seek to describe love to another? It is so many things- romantic, brotherly, compassionate, intimate, external, prideful, sorrowful… where do you even start?

After reading this, I honestly feel that I could do no more justice to the definition of Love than Lewis does here. The fourth verse is truely beautiful. Enjoy.

LOVE’S AS WARM AS TEARS
by C.S. Lewis

Love’s as warm as tears,
Love is tears;
Pressure within the brain,
Tension at the throat,
Deluge, weeks of rain,
Haystacks afloat,
Featurless seas between
Hedges, where once was green.

Love’s as fierce as fire,
Love is fire:
All sorts- infernal heat
Clinkered with greed and pride,
Lyric desire, sharp-sweet,
Laughing, even when denied,
Whence all loves came.

Love’s as fresh as spring,
Love is spring:
Bird-song hung in the air,
Cool smells in a wood,
Whispering ‘Dare! Dare!’
To sap, to blood,
Telling ‘Ease, safety, rest,
Are good; not best.’

Love’s as hard as nails,
Love is nails:
Blunt, thick hammered through
The medial nerves of One
Who, having made us, knew
The thing He had done,
Seeing (with all that is)
Our cross, and His.

The Bigger Picture

2007-01-14T09:43:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I just don’t get it
Bogged down with day to day monotony
I can’t find the strength or clarity of mind
To step outside my self-created prison
Life is bigger and the scheme is grander
There is no need to quantify in small terms
My state of mind, so often subjective,
Hinges on what I see and feel in the moment,
But isn’t it interesting how things change,
Those things called ‘the norm’ aren’t normal at all,
I become accustomed to the burden I bear,
Putting up boundaries reinforced with meaningless thoughts,
God is not a term, rather a being,
He is not small nor something to flee,
Within the confines of his loving arms,
I can push the boundaries of my very being,
Nothing is impossible; no mountain too high,
The constraints of humanity are stripped away,
Perfection can be grasped through the blood of another.
So then take a step outside of the present,
View life for what it is,
It’s much simpler than I once thought,
The trials and troubles I found insurmountable,
Are now seen for what they really are-
A product of sinful eyes losing their focus,
A shifting of priorities from perfection to abomination.
Thus, I take confidence in these brief times of realization,
Vowing to remember moments of clarity,
Renewing my strength to fight on another day,
Becoming vigilant to guard my thoughts and actions,
Giving it all to my God; the maker of a straight and narrow path.

Concerning an Anti-Salvation

2006-07-24T09:44:00.000-07:00

From what great depths can a hero rise?
How can canticles divine be sung,
when redemption can be obtained by even the most unwise?
A man wants to make a mark, a story to tell
A reversal if you will; from heaven to hell
An anti-salvation achieved in rough spots
Why does he wish to play the part of a pirate,
Wrapped in the cloak of a life he can’t lead?
Oh what twisted thinking can do to a boy
Who longs to be longed for
And pines for an absent day
For indeed that is what he is
The youth- a pile of malleable clay
Fashioned one way, and then another
Swaying in the grasp of multiple arms
As he bakes in the sun
His thoughts begin to solidify
What has he become now that time has left its mark?
How much room is there left to change,
for one who’s life is a lump of hardened clay?

Godspeed to the water and the working agent
Cling to the streams that let us move freely
Don’t stray far, for you’ll soon dry out
Remember your maker, remember your deeds
You could do nothing, yet deserve everything
Don’t long for a path you can’t afford to walk
Rejoice in your proper place
He has a plan that will unfold in good time
Until then be patient and walk it with grace.

Beautiful Atonement

2006-06-21T08:50:00.000-07:00

I apologize for my lack of ‘blogging’ as of late. Daily responsibilities have caused me to slow down in the writing department, though I have not stopped entirely. I was going through some old journals yesterday and came across an entry that I had penned a few years ago. It’s always interesting to read something that you had written at an earlier date (in this case it was when I had just barely started college). To see how God works in your own life and the life of others is an amazing thing. When I had originally written this I was struggling with the notion of perfection. I remember it being so hard to grasp… it was as if someone told you there was a new color that existed, a color you had never seen before. It’s hard to get your mind around that. And so I decided to post this old entry in the hopes that it might encourage my friends and family in Christ. Perfection as a concept can only be understood through the eyes of atonement- how beautiful is that! Praise be to our God for his unfailing grace and mercy. I hope you are having a wonderful summer- I look forward to posting more as time allows.

It’s times of realization like these when I can completely identify with Paul the apostle- I am the worst of sinners. Its a curiously glorious thing that the Lord has put in to place; the more I sin, the more I realize just how dependent I am on him. In my most twisted, violent sins I see flashes of myself screaming, “Crucify him!” and raising the hammer above my head to deliver a flesh-tearing blow on the nails that stuck him to a tree. The fact that we, a fallen mankind, can even think about obtaining salvation through Jesus Christ is an insane concept! Honestly- have you ever thought about how much it doesn’t make sense? There is no reason that God should, in human eyes, have mercy on us. And forget this relative nonsense that has become so prevalent. Being ‘mostly good’ doesn’t cut it, ‘mostly good’ is a deviation of perfect. Perfection is THE standard that God set in place at creation, anything less is an infection. Yet God sent his own son- one that met that standard of perfection- and watched as the sins of man piled upon him during his dying hour. I think we often focus on the physical pain of Christ as the most excruciating. Indeed, Jesus was very man, and the pain was beyond what many can even fathom, but in addition to this he bore the sins of the world. This is something no one can fathom, because even the unsaved have not felt its full weight. The penalty for sin is death and damnation- Christ experienced this not for one man, but for the entire human race. His pain knew no bounds. His love knew no bounds. And that is where I stand.

Today I was unfortunately given a particularly sobering view of myself as a sinner. I felt instant remorse for the black nature that I possessed. I prayed to God begging him for forgiveness, yet all the time knowing that it was already granted through Christ Jesus. Next I turned to scripture. Now this is where I was amazed. Subconciously I yearned for the rebuking scripture that would describe to me the damning nature of my sin. Instead, everywhere I turned I found a description of Christ’s love, life, and death for the man that I am- a murderous villain that killed his own savior. I realized that I wanted to feel guilt to make myself feel better. Again, another sinfully humanistic attempt at independence. As if me realizing that I had done something wrong would make it right?!? Of course not! Even in my supposed search for forgiveness I turned myself astray. I now find that I must turn to my God and realize that he has forgiven me. If I do not believe that he has forgiven me then I have already become the hypocrite of a faith I claim my own.

Its easy to make things complicated- a paradox perhaps, but a true one at that. Man’s earliest inclinations was to pass the blame- create a story for the sin you know boils down to wrong and right. There is good and there is evil; there is a heaven and a hell, but people don’t like to accept extremes. “Let’s compromise,” they say, lets mesh this white and black and trade it for a grayscale of “I’m okay, you’re okay”. That is absurd! Lowering the standards to fit a subpar vessel is not the answer. A painter needs only to add a tiny drop of black paint to white paint and he will end up with a sickly gray. So is it with perfection- add even the tiniest of sins and you will have flawed the concept. The answer is atonement, a beautiful ordinance set in place by the creator of the universe (who, by the way, is the only one with the fitting authority for such a decree).

To God be the glory- how encouraging!

My Hope is Built on Nothing Less

2006-04-26T08:54:00.000-07:00

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.”

-Romans 8:1-4

Its curious how we, as human beings, frequently forget to place our complete trust in God. Whether it be for a short season or a long, misplaced trust often manifests itself slowly and methodically in our lives. One moment we find ourselves wholly fixed on the goal set before us then, over time, life begins to creep in. The scary part about it all is that we often think we are giving our best to God! We trick ourselves into believing that we are giving our best to Him, when in reality he has been placed in the backseat of the grand scheme of our lives. When we are knocked down and beaten to our lowest, where do our priorities lie? What truly matters, and what doesnt matter at all?

I feel like Simon Peter during my own times of misplaced trust. I know Ive spoken on the subject much in the past, but it is so incredibly applicable and relevant to our daily lives! Peters properly placed faith in his Savior enabled him to walk on water yet should this really astonish us? Time and time again, the Lord has shown us that an unwavering faith moves mountains. Its when we entertain our worries and woes on an equal level with our faith in Christ that we run in to problems. The very moment Peter removed his eyes from Christ he began to sink.
Boom. Its that fast. We can almost hear Peter as he thinks the situation through

“Wait a second this is absurd, I shouldnt be able to do this! What about the natural laws of gravity? Im going to sink! What of this raging storm all about me? Surely the creatures of the deep will devour me in a moment! What was I thinking how could I be so stupid? How could I…”
Or a more modern spin on things might go:

“How am I ever going to pay all these bills? I really dont know what I want to do with my life. Am I just wasting time? Will I ever find the right guy/girl God has for me? How can I plan for my future when the present seems to be going no where? Where is God when I need him- doesnt he realize how important these things are to ME?”

I’m being dramatic my friends, but when you search your own heart you may find that you are falling into this same pitfall. Isnt it wonderfully reassuring to know that Christ extends a steady hand during the trying times of our lives? Though we allow our sinful natures to place trivial, earthly things above our faith in Christ, the Lord still makes himself known! How thankful we should be for these times of realization that the Lord provides us with. It seems like they often hit me like a freight train (indeed thats what happened tonight as I was doing my nightly run through the neighborhood). My friends, let us take hold of the Lords steadying hand while we still have time- there is nothing to lose and everything to gain!

The following hymn was consistently popping into my head tonight as I mulled over this subject- hopefully youll find some comfort and solace in it as well. May the Lord give us grace and soundness of mind to examine ours hearts daily so that we might culture a well-placed faith in Christ Jesus; our number one priority.
My Hope is Built
By Edward Mote

REFRAIN:
On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus Name.

Refrain

When darkness seems to hide His face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

Refrain

His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.

Refrain

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

Of Prose and Poetry…

2006-03-18T09:45:00.000-08:00

Though I often write poetry, I rarely share it with others. For me, it’s more of a way to get thoughts and emotions onto paper… a conversation with oneself, as it were. When a bad (or good) day ensues it’s sometimes easiest to let the words just flow onto a scrap piece of paper as they may. Consequently, the majority of my poetry has been penned in free verse. Looking back on a few of the pieces that I’ve held onto, it’s interesting to see how the Lord uses our daily experiences and emotions to teach us how very reliant we are upon his saving grace and love. The following are a few pieces I penned on some of those ‘bad’ days. Hopefully they can be of some encouragement to you in your dark times!

“War of the Mind”

In a recken stupor the fallen flies
Not to hope but forsaken lies
He clings to malice and familiar places
A forged forgetfulness of the twisted faces
How is it that he flees into the arms of what he hates
Is this redundance akin with his fate
This lucid, frozen, empty desire
Is filled with his historical mire
And all around lay his fallen friends
As he takes up the sword and a stance to defend
But how, oh how is one to persevere
Amidst burning corpses and constant fear
Where ash lays thick on the deceased and broken
Where all that is said has never been spoken
The war of the mind continues in silence
A twisted spectre of raging violence
The fool dismisses the battle within
As the enemy approaches armed with his sin
Until at last when he least expects
They enslave his soul and infest his flesh
Alas for another, alas for shame
A tunneling enemy, wounding the lame
He despairs as the bulge inside
Becomes too much to handle- too much to hide
And as the tears run down his face
A warmth surrounds him and doth embrace
‘Onward, onward!’, the cry from above
‘On with the sword and on with my love
On in passion, on with grace
Onward in this runnable race!’

“To Remove a Mask”

The world is a dead place to me,
wrapped in the fading shrouds of filth
I wander here and there
meeting again, those that I thought I knew
but the light shattered my soul,
the thick glaze cast from off my eyes;
I walk anew… indeed I walk for the first time
cares are cast on the wayside
longevity is strewn on the hilltops;
pining under this synthetic light
Plastic faces in plastic cages
burdened under a sack of mud-filled lies.
Gaunt and tasteless a mirror of what I once was,
they stagger through the streets
grasping for a day they call ‘tomorrow’.
But oh, for a fool’s hope,
to inject them with faith of a child,
for scales to fall from off thine eyes
and clouds to pass from these dark skies
then and only then you’ll see the truth
two wooden beams and a body forsaken
they washed away this tainted shroud
that corrupted creation and perfection

“What I am and What I will Be”

Gather not the thoughts of dread
the chilling silence which so easily invades
so often it feels like my mind has been entombed
imprisoned in a cell of gelatin
where true thoughts never quite make an escape
trapped inside a numbing agent they float
resonating slower and slower
until they’ve become part of the emptiness

thus the task is realized
a soul encased in frozen deception
though the thoughts and ideas fall asleep
memories of a brighter day claim hope
they scream and resonate through a slothful soul
shaking off the dust and sludge
of a body that has become accustomed to being choked

but these memories claw and cut
though they face a dulling foe
perhaps the most dangerous-
who enslaves the flesh slowly, with purpose
constantly eating away at a mind
once intent with pristine purpose
now maleable and easily bent

then with a flash- memory emerges
cutting the surface of a mucous-laden sky
stark and sleek, so this is what I was once!
as the sleeping soldier groans and aches
staggering to attention; to fight again
oceans of clay rushing from his feet
suddenly speed with meaning!

concepts flashing, life happening
the pulse of thought jolts to life
Purposefully driven forward
striking up a pace that increases with each step
slashing, hacking to the surface
the direction now made true
jumping, fighting, riding
through the muddy swamps that surround us

only for a moment
this short race we call life
until suddenly the shock of light
engulfs and incinerates every imperfection
nothing but joy, sweet perfect joy
consumes ever atom, every synapse
of what was once a body

“And What of a Traitor?”

Despotism is the alias of a corrupted man
For wherein lies the strength of a broken crusader?
Who will cry for the fallen runner?
Would the world shift and turn its back?
What about the lonely, the lost, those who once burned bright?
Was their concience a stolen commodity?
Was anything real?
Should I have been affected, indeed should I still feel?
Wolves in sheep’s clothing tearing the flesh
Empty eyes are tunnels to nothingness
The heart beats cold in a cavern of stone
Yet once I felt its warmth at night
But those days are gone and winter has come
They’re but a chiseled, sneering statue
What of the traitor in you?

“Untitled”

The dawning of a realization within my heart;
Something I’ve known so many times before
yet everytime seems new in the eyes of a child
a lesson learned a million times
that I will fall the harder I try
but there in lies the problem
‘try’ is a three-letter word for failure
My frail vessel plots and plans,
but to no avail
What I require is another’s desire
to replace the makeshift crutch with a plan not my own
A path to follow that I know not
trusting my life to a script that is being read for the first time
Shall I resist, shall I show blind defiance?
No, I will confront my ignorance and accept my failing capacity
to grasp a concept greater than humanity itself
I surrender all to the plan that unfolds
through another’s broken body and becomes my own.

“Mess of a Man”

Screams of conviction echo in an empty mind,
Waves of panic crash upon a slick black thought
The castaway’s dark secrets are uneartherd,
There is no running, there is no hiding,
Sheer terror takes over- vision begins to blur
I now behold the blinding sword of truth.

A hand, perfect and shining grasps the weapon
My eyes widen with fear as the sword approaches
Pain so brilliant as I fall to the floor
Again and again the sword strikes,
I scratch and scream, “Lord, please no more!”
But no stalling action is taken and I’m left in a heap.

The crowd surrounds me, a broken, bloody mess
I cry out for help yet they turn their eyes away
I’m left all alone, cold and helpless
Years go by and countless tears fall from my face
And still in the shadows I can make out a figure
The soldier that smote me stands in silence.

I curse and scream in his magnificent face
Yet his hands are stayed, poised and smooth
I ask him to end my life, I beg for death
Yet he merely shakes his head and grimaces
I’m at the bottom, defenseless and broken…

Only then do my eyes open wide,
As I look to the one who struck me so very long ago,
“Oh, good Lord I need your help,
for if you will not kill me, then make me your own!”
He stirs from his post and trods toward me

“My son I love you, I always have!
But you viewed my good as wholly bad.
I struck you and hurt you, ’tis true
but only to strengthen your spirit,
to show you a humbler and better way.”

Then he picked me up and held me in his arms,
He nursed me back to health and equipped me anew,
A better and happier life I lead,
full of purpose and full of speed,
For God takes a mess of a man and gives him hope.

Floating Stones

2006-03-08T08:55:00.000-08:00

"But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.
“You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
-Matthew 14:27-31

We can only imagine what was going through Peter’s mind as he walked on water. If ever there was a case to be made for faith, this was it. Peter’s utter reliance upon God enabled him to place footstep after footstep on malleable, liquid water. By all natural, human laws this was not possible, it couldnt be possible! And yet here Peter was walking across the sea amidst a particularly violent storm with his Lord directly in front of him. Talk about a surreal experience!

When Jesus came across the fisherman Simon, his very first action was to change his name to Peter (or Cephas) which means rock. By faith alone Peter, a rock, floated on the surface of the waters as he walked towards his savior. What an amazing moment- Peters faith seemed to know no bounds.

But then a sick feeling took hold of him- his stomach began to turn in knots as doubt invaded. As Peter began to look about him, his complete and utter faith in his Lord was broken and he began to sink. Fear took hold of his entire soul as the water licked up at his feet and began to pull him underneath its dark surface. Peter began to rationalize, to apply human rules to a situation in which they did not apply. Peter, the rock of Christ, was sinking quickly and desperately needed help. As he began to slip beneath the icy waters he shouted to the only one he knew could save him, his Lord. Jesus immediately responded to his plea by plucking him from the waters that threatened to consume him…

The keeping of our faith is a constant struggle my friends! The Lord has been teaching me this in my own life these last few weeks. Its easy to have faith when we become accustomed to walking on water. We take for granted the daily miracles that God provides; we forget that we are merely floating stones. Our sinful nature and actions should have left us condemned unto eternal death long ago, yet Christ in his mercy saw fit to uphold us in his hands.

God reminds of us of this in times of trial and temptation. As our world crashes and burns around us, we become like Peter- frantic, sick to our stomachs, afraid to the utmost of what might happen. Worry invades and we begin to despair. Amidst tribulation pretenses are laid bare and we are forced to come to grips with reality. We exist and breathe ONLY because God saw fit for it to be so in his perfect will. In light of this realization, we should react as Peter did. We should shout to him, “Lord, save me!”

I would also go as far as to say that these trials we face in life are a necessary part of our Christian walk. Jesus himself said, “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” (John 12:24-28). The Lord uses our hour of weakness to glorify his name- and what higher calling is there? In our weakness, he is made perfectly known! We are called to face these troubles head on and actively consider how we might grow our faith and increase our reliance upon him. What a wonderful God we serve!

Though we face a great many ugly things in this world, it is comforting to know that Jesus will always be there waiting to pluck us from the depths in our time of need. When necessary trials descend upon us, let us look to the face of God and praise his name. Let us be stones that float upon a tried and tested faith in Christ Jesus.

Scripture For Thought…

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.”

-James 1:2-6

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

-2 Corinthians 12:9

Leading a Genuine Life

2006-02-04T09:07:00.000-08:00

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set you rminds on things that are above, not on things that on earth. For you have died, and you life is hidden with Christ in God.” -Colossians 3:1-3

So I’ve been thinking, as I’m prone to do, about the importance I place on leading a legitimate life. I know that sounds extremely open-ended, but I make the statement without hesitation. In my opinion there is nothing more disturbing than a ‘counterfeit’ Christian. Let me clarify- when a person acts one way but thinks another it is extremely unsettling. Have you ever felt betrayed by someone’s actions? I know many young adults who have experienced a ‘falling out’ with some individuals they once called friends. Kids who were once held accountable by their parents and teachers are suddenly faced with independence and limited accountability. Unfortunately many take on this new freedom and let their sinful desires and thoughts run rampant. There is no gateway, no stopping point, no friend to keep them accountable. They live a counterfeit life; speaking one way and acting another.

Does this scare you? It should! As Christians we face an uphill battle. We must overcome the tactless stereotypes and false prophets who portray Christ wrongfully. As a body of believers we are sending a mixed message to the nations. No man can serve two masters- our thoughts and actions must be one. A perfect example of this is found in MySpace itself! How many people do you know who act differently in real life as opposed to online? It’s startling isn’t it? Sure you may fool others, but you cannot fool God. Furthermore, what do we think we are doing to our fellow man? Living a counterfeit life is hurtful. No one likes knowing that they’ve been played or tricked, especially when they place their trust in you.

We should be the first to admit when we are wrong- quick to listen and slow to speak. Let us run from gossip, and think about what we are about to say long before we say it. We need more genuine people in this life- we need to surround ourselves with bona fide brothers and sisters. May we all pursue accountability in an attempt to lead genuine, unashamed lives for Christ.

A Breath of Fresh Air

2006-01-08T09:30:00.000-08:00

It is a strange feeling, this quiet time of relief and satisfaction. God has provided me such great companions this past year. I am so priveleged to be able to call so many good Christian brothers and sisters friends. These are bonds not only of love and concern, but bonds that hold eternity as a common denominator.

In these times of clarity I feel as if Jesus has placed me on the top of a mountain and given me a chance to glimpse a bigger picture. “See what I have done? Now does it make sense? You are but a small component in the kingdom of my father, but I have provided you with fellow crusaders. Those that, though flawed, will run the race with you. You will sharpen each other- when they fall, pick them up as they will do unto you.”

When the Lord gives me these breaths of fresh air, I find that all the excessive details wither away and life seems simpler. After all, this life is but a detour; life truly is a fading vapor. As the self-imposed complications of humanity slide from off my back I am reminded of true purpose. I lift my eyes from vacant goals and fix them on the blinding light of pure ecstasy; eternal rest with my father in heaven. Then as I glance to my left and right, I find my brothers and sisters. They are fixed upon this goal. Meanwhile, the world stumbles amidst us in a darkness that blinds the heart that has not been softened. Thank you God for friends, you know how very dear they are to me. I am greatful to you for providing this commodity amidst a fading vapor.

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
-1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Christianity Isn’t a Brand Name

2005-12-14T09:34:00.000-08:00

“Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard!”
-Acts 20: 28-30

I recently had the pleasure of discussing the term ‘Christian’ with a few close friends of mine. Here, in my opinion, is the first of our hurdles as modern-day believers. How many people do you know that claim to be Christians- quite a few? Please understand, I am not questioning the validity of anyone’s faith (I would be a fool to do so, only God can judge one’s heart). What I am calling into question is our lack of conviction. Our nation is full of spineless saints living in giant bowls of jello… an odd visual image if ever there was one! I see self-proclaimed believers walking about their lives with not so much as a second glance upwards to their savior. What’s worse, I all too often catch myself becoming accustomed to this easy-believe society! Christianity is not about sitting in a church pew once a week, or listening to the latest Christian music artist, or wearing Christian clothing with catchy phrases. Jesus isn’t your homeboy- he’s the sacrificed Lamb of God who plucked you from your filth and, amidst tears of love, died for your soul.

I recently received a postcard from a local church that read something like this- “Not in to the Church thing? That’s okay with us! Come check out our new game room and see if we fit you.” I stared for a moment in disbelief and then began to take a closer look at the world around me. It doesn’t take a genius to see it; it’s everywhere. Christianity isn’t taught as a lifestyle anymore, it has become trendy, trite, and all-encompassing. It’s not popular to talk about sin- after all, who wants to hear that their actions hung a holy man to a wooden cross and then bled him dry? Terms such as salvation, grace, and eternity are now replaced with the user-friendly fate, destiny, and accessibility. The personal relationship has become commercialized- we’ve turned Jesus in to a brand name.

Come now! We are called to be different; what a wonderful thing to be the one that sticks out in a crowd. At what point do we as the Christian body draw the line? I have heard the arguments before, “But Stephen, we are reaching millions who would never have otherwise given the gospel a second look?” That is all good and well, but what are you feeding these people? Are you giving them anything that is radically different from their own lives? It seems that all too often we are giving these people a lifestyle that is exactly the same as their own. The only difference is that the name ‘Jesus’ has been stamped on it… how is that spreading the gospel message? People aren’t stupid- they see through the smoke and mirrors. They make very real (and often all too true!) judgments of character concerning these individuals- “If that’s what being a Christian is, then I certainly don’t want any part in that!”

So where are we left at this point? It feels like an uphill battle; we are brothers and sisters amidst false sheep. It’s so easy to get frustrated, to want to throw the towel in and say, “I quit!”, but it is times like these that we need to stick in there and fight the good fight. Though churches all around us are crumbling to the ground under the shackles of easy-believism, we can make a difference through our thoughts and actions. Again, people aren’t stupid- they realize when something is real, when a life is led with conviction. Though we may be unwillingly caught up in the debate of Christian semantics, we can make a difference by doing one painfully simple thing- following Christ to the utmost letter.

I don’t write this to be discouraging- I hope it is quite the opposite! We serve a God who knows no bounds. I pray that our words would be full of God’s graceful redemption and that our actions would speak louder still! Hope you are all well- may you continue onward in this runnable race.

Light is Brightest Amidst Darkness

2005-11-28T09:35:00.000-08:00

To my brothers and sisters running the race- I penned this a few years ago and was shaken aknew after reading it today with the reality of how deep and serious our sins are. Perhaps you know those epiphany moments I’m speaking of- where the full scope of your sinful nature washes over you and you suddenly realize how very undeserving you are of the grace of God. Yet in this darkness, at the dimmest of moments, the glory of God shines brightest. So I share this with you all to be of encouragement- God used this realization in one of my darker moments to show me the full extent of his love!
“And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching; but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” ” -Luke 23:34-35

Paul says in scripture that he is the most wretched of sinners. At times I want to cry it with utter defiance, “No you most certainly are not, I am!!!” The scariest moments of my entire life are those when I look down and realize how very close I come to teetering over the eternal edge of fire. Were it not for the protective railing of the murdered son of God, Jesus Christ, I would have fallen so very long ago into a pit no one can climb out of. Indeed I am the murder, I am the one that killed the son of God and yet… yet… I am saved through the very blood I spilt.

The weighing conviction of my guilt burdens my entire frame with the filthiness of my sin, the utter decrepit nature that my life takes on in these dark moments. But the conviction mingles with the joy of mercy and grace. The very son of man whom looked me in the eye and said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do!” had in mind this very moment. This very moment of realization that comes upon a man, yes, even a man of God. The moment in which a man stops aimlessly bolstering forward and looks down at his bloody hands and says to himself, “This is my handiwork… is this the ‘good’ person I’ve become?”

Now there are two paths to walk from this point. The first that Judas took- he could not live with the guilt and let it overpower his soul. He killed himself and secured the eternal shame which is what we all deserve. The second path is the one Saul took. The man murdered hundreds of Christians and persecuted Christ, but the Lord saw fit to appear to him and to command him to change his ways. Of all the people who might feel guilt- this man turned to the ways of the people he had hated and killed for so long. But Saul, who now became Paul, realized something crucially important to those of suffering from this sinful disease (read here as all of humanity!). He realized that the smallest bit of Grace far outweighs the Guilt of our sins.

Yes with sin comes shame (this can be seen in the story of Adam and Eve as they hid themselves from the Lord) but also a hope that we might live a life anew without a permanent mark of death on our heads. When we sin, we should feel shame for what we have done, yet I do not believe that we should continue to stoop lower and lower and turn our eyes from the miracle that Calvary is. We should raise our tear-stained faces and shout praise and glory to the man who stretched out his arms and took the full fury of his father straight on as we stood safely behind him.

I know I am a wretched sinner, but I stand in the Lord’s hands through the promise that Jesus Christ has given me. I praise God, even now, for this encounter- that he has made this clear to me. I pray that he would see fit to use me as a man of God. I pray also that he would continue a work in me to mortify the stumbling blocks of my life, that I may be true to his word and do all that I can with this brief life to further his kingdom. This is not a faith of illusions, it’s a faith of reality. It’s a faith of promise and hope to live a life pure in the sight of God through a blood that cleanses even the most vile. Dear God I love you so very much- there is nothing in this universe that I love more than you. I beg you- have pity on this soul and teach me your ways.

A Prisoner’s Paradox

2005-11-21T09:36:00.000-08:00

Here you are again… you throw your face into your hands and sigh a deep, frustrated sigh; pinned-down, waiting for the next stage of life to begin, sick of the now and aching for the future…

I think everybody has felt it before- the dull pang in your heart that makes you want to scream out, “Please Lord tell me what your will for my life is!”. It is a longing that seems to be unquenchable at times. It’s as if we become a prisoner inside our very skins- confined inside our own sinful human nature. The quest for more, whether it be spiritually, mentally, or physically, can become an all-consuming desire. This is a dangerous pursuit indeed considering that it can cause us to break our focus on the important things in life; that is the ONE important thing in this life. As is the case with most ‘unquenchable’ longings, we find assurance and rest in the broken Lamb, Jesus Christ.

As I continue onward through the book of Acts in my daily devotions, I came across the story of Paul and Silas in prison. To the outward eye the duo’s predicament was an inherently bad one. Prison in those days was not the government-subsidized, stopping point of law-breakers as it is today. For a great many it was the unfortunate resting place before trial and possible execution. The prison cells were disease-ridden, the guards were brutal, and we can only speculate that the food was a good deal less-than-appetizing. But we have a God who does not adhere to our human standards of what is or isn’t an appropriate place to experience the majesty and grace of Christ Jesus. Our God saves people from the vilest of places- filthy, unruly, distasteful prison cells included. God shook the foundations of the prison so that the cell containing Paul and Silas was at once opened. As anyone can imagine, the guard was shattered to his core with what had just occurred; by human standards, this should not be happening.

And then the paradox- Paul and Silas tell the guard not to be afraid, that they will not flee the prison though their cell has been opened. The guard, taking this in, realizes something truly awesome- he is the prisoner, not the men standing before him. The guard then asks the right question, “What must I do to be saved?” Notice he doesn’t say, “What does God have in store for the rest of my life?” or “How am I possibly going to deal with this radical change?” He needs only to know that he has the assurance of salvation.

What an awesome God we serve that can turn prison guards into prisoners and prisoners into the redeemed. God has been making this incredibly clear in my own life- so often I fail in the area of placing my complete trust in the blood that washes my sins away. I get impatient about my future; I want to know the answers to all my little nagging questions: Who will I marry? How will I make it through final exams? How am I supposed to take care of all these expectations with so little time? But he kindly and gently reminds me that I need only ask one question, “What must I do to be saved?” Now that’s cool.

2005-10-22T09:37:00.000-07:00

“While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was there giving approval to his death.”
-Acts 7:59, 8:1

As my mind wandered today, I came upon a realization of sorts. During my study in Acts I have found the account of the death of Stephen increasingly interesting. The event in and of itself, and the way it was handled by Stephen the martyr are humbling to say the least, but in the past I neglected to recognize the significance of Acts 8:1- “And Saul was there giving approval to his death.”

The words are written in direct contrast to the previous verses. A Godly man is presented in his final hours, praising the name of God to the very end, and on the other end of the spectrum there is a hate-filled man standing by and approving pain and suffering. I couldn’t help but think of how often I’m that approving man. So often I’m the milk-toast Christian who stands idly by so as to not ‘rock the boat’. It would seem that it is human tendency to avoid confrontation when possible. The thing is, we’re not called to coast through this life, and by doing nothing at all when confrontation comes our way, we make no headway! Faith has no purpose without action- one cannot and should not try to just ‘make it’ through life.

Here’s the wake up call- by doing nothing, that is, to live a life of weak conviction, is to give approval to the decay of society. I know that dramatic, but it’s really not when you think about it. As a good friend of mine and I have talked about from time to time, “Jesus isn’t a brand name.” Christianity isn’t an article of clothing you put on and pull off; its engrained, its living a changed life, its resolving to make your convictions known, its not compromising EVEN if that means confrontation, its about NOT giving approval to the foolish ways of a sinful world. A man’s failure to act may spare him confrontation in the here and now, but what is the lasting value? What are we ultimately accomplishing by our inaction?

Believe me, I don’t write this out of ill-intentions or a pointing finger. In truth, I’m writing this out of the conviction of my own heart. One of the biggest struggles I often have is to not want to cause confrontation- I just want to be everyone’s friend. The concept sounds innocent enough, even perhaps a just pursuit, but the problem lies in the fact that it is a self-satisfying desire. Oftentimes I don’t want to rock the boat, because it makes ME uncomfortable.

It is my prayer that myself and others would be given the grace of God to perceiver through those times of necessary confrontation. We should want to be like Stephen the Martyr who embraced the confrontation he was presented with and who chose to die for his faith rather than to settle for the degradation of it! I know its not always fun, but just knowing that you have a Savior who overcame the greatest of confrontations is peace of mind enough to continue onward in the runnable race.I hope you are all doing well and that God is blessing you- thank you to everybody who has been so kind and understanding this last week while I dealt with an extended workload and taxing school schedule. Your prayers were much appreciated! Have an awesome week!

The Example of Peter and Paul

2005-09-18T09:38:00.000-07:00

When life gets difficult or stressful, I often turn to the story of a biblical character for guidance. This week I have been very blessed by the characters of Paul and Peter. Both men were called by God, yet by different parts of the trinity- Paul was confronted by God the father while traveling; Peter was confronted by Jesus while fishing with his brother Andrew. In both cases we see God doing the selecting- God chose us! There was no reason for this to be so, yet in his mercy he declared us worthy of the saving grace provided on Calvary.

I think what really encourages me about these two men is the depth from which they were saved and the newness that they were brought in to through Jesus blood. Indeed, these two men were give new names through Christ. How awesome is that? I think its just an amazing picture of God washing the slate clean… it’s as if he says, “Here is your new life, go and live it!”

Simon, a simple fisherman, comes upon Jesus suddenly and unexpectedly one day. It is not as if he was given time to contemplate this choice; God presented him with a new life to live and he jumped at the chance without looking back. In Peter I see my own shortcomings. Peter was a zealous follower of Christ- he was a man of extreme highs and lows in his spiritual walk… both could get him into trouble. On one end of the spectrum we see him cutting off the high priest’s ear for trying to take his beloved Lord away, and at the other end we see him denying Jesus three times with shame. Peter was also the man that refused to let Jesus wash his feet, and then asked him to wash his whole body! I know that’s something that I can really relate to- it seems that all too often I’m either on fire or freezing in my walk. The encouraging part is that Peter was beloved of God- he was turned from Simon into Cephas (translated Peter) which means ‘rock’. What a great God we serve that can turn restless, changing men into solid rocks of the faith.

The story of Paul is quite possibly one of my favorites in the Bible. In the character of Paul, we are given a glimpse of how deep the cleansing blood of Jesus runs. Saul was not a nice man by any means… in fact he was quite the opposite. Saul made it his sole purpose in life to hunt down and kill those who proclaimed the name of God (he was even present in the condemnation and martyring of Stephen). In Saul we see the most violent of offenders- a man who attacked the very cause that he would soon claim as his own! The amazing part about this is that it wasn’t a slow revelation for Saul- it was instant. God appeared to him on the road and declared that he change his ways. When I start to try and imagine the guilt that Paul had to deal with at his conversion, I am humbled. Here you have a man that had just spent the better part of his adult life attacking and killing men and women that he was now called to join! When I ask myself the question, “How could God ever forgive me, when my sins are so vile?” I need only look to Paul and realize that God’s saving grace knows no bounds. That is truly moving my friends- God saves us from every wrong thing we have done against his name!

It is my prayer that God would make all of us like Peter and Paul; that he would take overzealous, murdering men and turn them into solid, rocks for Christ. Well I’ve done it again… I just can seem to post short blogs! At any rate, that’s what has been on my mind this last week- I hope it is an encouragement to you all as it has been to me. Have an awesome week, take care.