Thank you God!

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...

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

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

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

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!

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!

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