Web Theologian and Evangelist

WordPress here we come...

2011-03-29T14:30:00.000-07:00

I switched over today, so please bare with me in the transition.

For those of you who have not noticed the Web Theologian and Evangelist has dropped a word...Localization. My time with Welocalize has ended after a wonderful run. The next adventure is in the works and I will be thrilled to update you with more information as it is available.

For now check out and enjoy the new site. Also check out my friend Jeff's mocking words on this change:)
http://thewebtheologian.com/

CLEAR's customer service

2011-03-28T11:33:00.000-07:00

Last week after over a month of performance issues I decided to address CLEAR, so I called in. Technical Support could not help unless I shut down the service I pay monthly for two hours, Account Manager told me I should switch to another provider. So I went on to their Customer Support Portal and commented, starting the discussion.

This morning I got to log into my CLEAR account and they deactivated it. I had to go onto customer service chat to have them reactivate it.

"very technical", that is classic.

My facebook thoughts on Rob Bell

2011-03-18T17:11:00.000-07:00

There is actually good conversations going on about Rob Bell. Martin Bashir's interview is almost childish; starting with can God create a rock too big to move? or at least the emotional charged equivalent which uses the tragedy in Japan in a cheap way. Martin has not taken a Philosophy 101 course, at least he apparently read Rob Bell's book.

If you are concerned/offended or whatever by Rob Bell please go to places where he is clearly refuted by orthodox scholarship not playground antics. Rob Bell has a clear history of stepping into it theologically, this is not his first rodeo. Yet like many of the Christian leaders and contemporaries of mine I am embarrassed but more embarrassed by our lack of charity and good pointed conversation. Please move beyond watching a brother squirm at the hand of someone who cannot enter into the basics of a civil philosophical/theological conversation.

Check out Jeff's thoughts here, pretty good...http://t.co/z9nVcdW

Wow, very important part of the last few years of my life

2011-03-06T11:21:00.001-08:00

Great daddy daughter date!

2011-02-02T19:55:00.000-08:00

Sunday Nite Game Nite

2011-01-30T17:35:00.000-08:00

Generosity with "Muffin" Ice Cream

2010-12-30T13:50:00.000-08:00

My best Xmas gift

2010-12-25T11:10:00.000-08:00

and so the process begins...

2010-12-15T06:35:00.000-08:00

A local Seattle artist named Charley connected with Karin and I right at the perfect time. He is currently doing the heavy lifting to transform 6036 5th Ave NW into The Nest. Along the way I will continue to document the process and hopefully others will too.

The sun was out yesterday, so the entire unit was opened up all windows and everything! Here are some of the garbage pieces on the deck.

The carpet has mostly been pulled up and someone came and got it after posting it on Craigslist. Their plan is to use it for soundproofing.

With every change to the place there seems to be a new spirit of refreshment!

Charlie wanted to make sure he had his TV over so when his son visits they have something to do! This is a beautiful and amazing work.

In addition to the work Charlie did yesterday we got the studio space cleared out so that there is not room for two artists to start working. Moorea will be moving in immediately! I've asked her to take some pictures for us as well. I'll be updating with those pictures and pictures of Charley and Moorea.

AMAZING Charles Spurgeon - Morning and Evening

2010-12-14T08:22:00.001-08:00

Morning

They go from strength to strength.

Psalms 84:7

They go from strength to strength. There are various renderings of these words, but all of them contain the idea of progress.

Our own good translation of the authorized version is enough for us this morning. They go from strength to strength. That is, they grow stronger and stronger. Usually, if we are walking, we go from strength to weakness; we start fresh and in good order for our journey, but by-and-by the road is rough, and the sun is hot, we sit down by the wayside, and then again painfully pursue our weary way. But the Christian pilgrim having obtained fresh supplies of grace, is as vigorous after years of toilsome travel and struggle as when he first set out. He may not be quite so elate and buoyant, nor perhaps quite so hot and hasty in his zeal as he once was, but he is much stronger in all that constitutes real power, and travels, if more slowly, far more surely. Some gray-haired veterans have been as firm in their grasp of truth, and as zealous in diffusing it, as they were in their younger days; but, alas, it must be confessed it is often otherwise, for the love of many waxes cold and iniquity abounds, but this is their own sin and not the fault of the promise which still holds good: The youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. Fretful spirits sit down and trouble themselves about the future. Alas! say they, we go from affliction to affliction. Very true, O thou of little faith, but then thou goest from strength to strength also. Thou shalt never find a bundle of affliction which has not bound up in the midst of it sufficient grace. God will give the strength of ripe manhood with the burden allotted to full-grown shoulders. Sent from the Morning and Evening Devotional, by Charles Spurgeon. For devotionals like this one for your iPhone, visit us at 43rdElement.com

Michael Stevens

Welocalize

206.407.6067

Sent from my iPhone

2010-12-06T08:42:00.000-08:00

In a previous post about Third Places, I talked about some of my growing views, hospitality and the building which we lived in. Over the past few months there has been a greater shift in my life then has every happened previously, and much to my surprise. Many things I thought were foundational are now not, and things that appear temporary are proving eternal significance. This time has been very challenging but also one I am very grateful for.

Just last week events with the tenants in our unit below entirely changed my understanding of the building we live in. Initially I sensed that it was putting to rest hopes and dreams I had, but now after some time I clearly see God was using a crazy drunken tenant (now evicted tenant) to expand our dreams. The dream for what our building can become is more clear and much larger than we had first imagined, but so is my dream for caring for my wife and family.

Immediately this means we are actively and aggressively pursuing buying a house. A safe beautiful space for my family to worship, heal, and rest up for the great journey ahead of us. The building will not only be filled with new renters once it has some work done it on. But it will be fill with artist who have a vision to live in community with one another; shared meals, shared garden, and shared vision. This will be a place of both healing and preparing artist to make a living with their passions and engage the world in a deep and meaningful way. I see a big part of what we are going to do similar to L'Abri. Karin and I realizing we need to get out of the way made this something so much more than we could ever imagine.

What needs to happen now:
Need to get work done so the bottom unit can be move in ready, we have some very interesting and cool plans for that.
Need prayer as we do not have the specifics of plan/map of what this will look like.
Need to talk with wise people who have pursued and been involved with similar communities.
Need to get the plan on paper and prayed over.
Need to settle our families' living situation.

I'm sure there are a million more things that I could list here but this is an exciting time and I look forward to sharing what the specifics will look like and presenting the name publicly!

Spurgeon, http://thewebtheologian.blogspot.com/2010/11/spurgeons-thoughts-on-home-as-church.html

New Job Title

2010-11-29T08:11:00.000-08:00

Aidyn finishing the tree

2010-11-28T20:07:00.000-08:00

Taitum's Advent Reading

2010-11-28T19:33:00.000-08:00

Favorite Ornament

2010-11-28T18:55:00.000-08:00

Seems funny now that I'm in localization and have three NSA Holiday Ornaments!

Holiday Elf helping decorate

2010-11-28T18:29:00.001-08:00

3rd year finisher

2010-11-27T10:20:00.000-08:00

Here we go Seattle Kids Marathon 2010

2010-11-27T09:41:00.001-08:00

On the way getting the bus to the Seattle Kids Marathon

2010-11-27T09:02:00.000-08:00

Already a musician

2010-11-24T09:53:00.001-08:00

Q&A with Phil and Sharon Peterson & Karin Stevens

2010-11-12T21:45:00.000-08:00

Teathered Self, KSD

2010-11-12T20:31:00.000-08:00

More KSD @ Abbey Pre-intermission

2010-11-12T20:08:00.000-08:00

KSD @ the Abbey

2010-11-12T19:54:00.000-08:00

A Primer on Machine Translation

2010-11-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

As many of you know my full time vocational work revolves around getting English content translated into other languages, most of my clients are in technology. Like everything these days everyone wants to know hoe to do it faster, and often times cheaper. That is where Machine Translation comes into the picture. When I started in the industry just a few years ago, my common line was that machine translation would not be a viable option for ten years, well that was sn overestimation and now I have many clients with it in full production.

Here are the most basics around machine translation, so if you are at a cocktail party and it comes up you can impress your friends (thank me later):

For Consumer products there are great free options out there from Google, Babelfish, and Microsoft. These are good for getting the gist of a translation, though if relied upon too much can lead to awkward situations. One friend who just bought a company in Korea typed into the translator, "We are excited to do business with you." the translation engine spit out, "We are horny to do business with you.". In our industry everyone has about four or five of those stories.

There are excellent commercial machine translation engines out there Moses (open-source), ProMT, and SysTRANS. Each of these have consumer options so if you just want to geek out go for it. There is also plenty of time to discuss the differences between rules based, statistical, and hybrid engines so we will cover that later.

At the end of the day we are still making it about the Post Editors (name for translators when they work on Machine Translation output). When you have the correct people enjoying their work on that end it will pay off on the client end. There is a long way to go on that front but as a company we are working very closely with our supply chain and clients to move this industry into the future.

What is the connection for me? It's all about the "word". God chose to communicate with us in written form, translation has been at the heart of that communication from the very beginning. Now I have the joy to work in an industry where that is the focus, correct and efficient translation. How does technology change us? As people, as spiritual being, in how we related to the "word".

Spurgeon's thoughts on a home as a church

2010-11-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

First calling as I understand is the home:

God
Wife
Children
Church
Work

"The Church in thy house."—Philemon 2.

Is there a Church in this house? Are parents, children, friends, servants, all members of it? or are some still unconverted? Let us pause here and let the question go round—Am I a member of the Church in this house? How would father's heart leap for joy, and mother's eyes fill with holy tears if from the eldest to the youngest all were saved! Let us pray for this great mercy until the Lord shall grant it to us. Probably it had been the dearest object of Philemon's desires to have all his household saved; but it was not at first granted him in its fulness. He had a wicked servant, Onesimus, who, having wronged him, ran away from his service. His master's prayers followed him, and at last, as God would have it, Onesimus was led to hear Paul preach; his heart was touched, and he returned to Philemon, not only to be a faithful servant, but a brother beloved, adding another member to the Church in Philemon's house. Is there an unconverted servant or child absent this morning? Make special supplication that such may, on their return to their home, gladden all hearts with good news of what grace has done! Is there one present? Let him partake in the same earnest entreaty.
If there be such a Church in our house, let us order it well, and let all act as in the sight of God. Let us move in the common affairs of life with studied holiness, diligence, kindness, and integrity. More is expected of a Church than of an ordinary household; family worship must, in such a case, be more devout and hearty; internal love must be more warm and unbroken, and external conduct must be more sanctified and Christlike. We need not fear that the smallness of our number will put us out of the list of Churches, for the Holy Spirit has here enrolled a family-church in the inspired book of remembrance. As a Church let us now draw nigh to the great head of the one Church universal, and let us beseech Him to give us grace to shine before men to the glory of His name.

Becoming a masterpiece

2010-10-29T18:01:00.000-07:00

Did you know that Michaelangelo's David was made from a piece of marble so ruined it was deemed of no value by other artists? This is what I just read in Dick Staub's book, About You. There are two parts of this that blow me away. First that artist have to, usually because of cost, work with rubbish to make their art. These are the prophet's of our age and they are left with ordinary means, often less then ordinary.

Second what a beautiful picture of God's kingdom. Anyone who thinks of themselves as rubbish and unworthy is exactly who God turns into David. In my own life I recognize God is working with a mess, weak and fragile. The place of faith is believing that there is a David under there and to live in that.

Middle-brow culture

2010-10-27T07:01:00.000-07:00

Reading About You, by friend Dick Staub, I came across a concept I found fascinating as Dick recounts a conversation he had on a plane where the gentleman referred to "middle-brow culture".

"Fleshing out the idea of 'middlebrow,' he described highbrow culture as elitist and academic and lowbrow culture as diversionary and vacuous, adding, 'America once had a thriving middle-brow culture.' In his definition, 'middle-brow individuals' are interested in thinking through ideas and issues, but are turned of equally by both highbrow pretensions and lowbrow mindlessness."

This is the world in which I live, thoughtful but not academic. I have never been in a classroom that didn't make my skin crawl unless I was the one teaching;) This group to me are the culture drivers in any society. They are the ones who can take what the culturally elite are thinking, synthesize (though I'm not sure that is the correct term), and push the populous to engage and/or blindly adopt. It reminds me of the movie, White Squall, from the '90s about young men on a sail boat, and at the moment of crisis 'Chuck' Gieg has realized he does not know who he is. One of the other young men on the boat says, "You are the glue. Don't you get it, we wouldn't be here if it were not for you, you are the glue that holds it together." This group is the glue.

Many times those of us who fall into this group feel like less than masters and more like generalist. Perhaps we are more of generalists but that does not keep us from mastery. May those with this gift and calling move boldly and intentionally into the cultural fray. In a world where the amount of content doubles every eighteen months, the ability to name what is good and not evil is extremely valuable. " C. S. Lewis, in The Abolition of Man, maintained that there are certain acts that are universally considered evil, such as rape and murder. On the other hand, many acts now considered evil have been termed as acceptable in some societies at different times." This value of this work will be recognized monetarily but also by saving people from despair.

Happy 3rd Birthday Taitum!!!

2010-10-26T20:06:00.000-07:00

Space, and the priority of the Third place

2010-10-24T06:51:00.000-07:00

The first time I ever heard the concept of a Third Place was from Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, talking about the concept and how Starbucks sells more than coffee but rather they are a gathering place. Since then this has become a very important concept for me and especially in my days as a full time vocational minister I talked about it since the church is one of those Third Places for people. Experiencing the reality of these spaces made me accept the concept wholeheartedly, until now.

The concept, according to Wikipedia, comes from The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg (1989, 1991), the third place is a term used in the concept of community building to refer to social surroundings separate from the two usual social environments of home and the workplace. The idea was popularized by Robert Putnam as he addressed issues related to third space in Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital (1995, 2000). For me the concept is simple people have places that are neither their home or work where to gather and experience life together, these places hold great importance in shaping who we are as people and what influences we allow into our lives.

In Matthew 8, a scribe wants to follow Jesus but she approaches in an interesting manner, she says he wants to follow him where ever he goes. Basically inviting himself into any place (first, second, or third) that Jesus would have her. In short she is inviting herself over:

"18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. 19 And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 21 Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 22 And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.” -Matthew 8:18-22

I'm blow away by Jesus response, basically saying there is no place to even invite yourself over with me...I am here and this is what you get. There is no workplace I'm going to take my lunch pail to, there is no television room where we can watch the game together, and there is no place where everyone knows my name. Jesus' life is one connected, complete, and open place...join him in it. This phrase of Jesus used to make me think about the homeless and how Jesus related to them. Now I see Jesus' invitation here is so much more, the invitation is to a holistic full life where every part is under the dominion of God.

It is no surprise to me that this would not be a natural concept to us, as we seek to control and understand. Part of that is we segment ourselves into manageable unconnected parts which then dehumanizes our experience of life. We have our Third Place, where we chose an aesthetic that fits us and invite influencing factors and people to our liking. These can be very challenging or in line with everything we already believe, either way it is ours and in control. Our second places pay the bills. So many people are unsatisfied with their work and see it as a necessary evil. This entirely denies the Creation Mandate from Gen. 1:28, where God clearly tells us work is from him and part of his wonderful plan. Obvious to me from how many people I know unsatisfied with their work, is that it has been corrupted. Even some very basic studies point to the relationship between our places,

"Results suggested that relationships between work and family can have an important effect on job and life satisfaction and that the level of involvement the worker assigns to work and family roles is associated with this relationship. " - Relationships of job and family involvement, family social support, and work–family conflict with job and life satisfaction. Adams, Gary A.; King, Lynda A.; King, Daniel W.

The segmentation of these places in our lives is one problem but not the only one. Our First Places, our homes, have become the cornerstone of our self serving, consumer driven society. From who we marry, how many kids we have, to our house and how we decorate it, the dominate and sometime only factor in decision making is our personal need for comfort. We get the right house, in the right neighborhood, with the right school, and the right duvet cover. Far from Jesus saying, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." Continuing to live in this manner will lead to a dangerous place where the entire concept of hospitality is lost. This is devastating to the fabric of society as we see in the stories of the civil war in Israel in Judges 19 and of Sodom and Gomorrah from Genesis 19.

I have found myself with a growing calling that I am just now being able to articulate is in this area. There is a growing desire for me to have all the places of my life open and accessible. Initially this meant that we have more people over for dinner, but that grew into having a housemate (mind you we have three bedrooms and five people in my family alone). Now I am recognizing it means so much more, and will be extremely costly and creative.

Just last weekend I attending a Kindlings Hearth Event, where 10 artists are invited to spending the weekend together talking about art and faith. One of the requirements of the time is to bring a current work to discuss. This was initially a challenge for me because I'm not a full time vocational artist, but rather a business person and longing creative. Therefore I knew I would talk about my writing, web design, and spiritual and social engagement activities but wasn't sure what my current work would be. And then after prayer and thought I dropped this picture of our house on to a screen for the group. The housemate and the dinners are good, but there is so much more that we are being called to. Phase one of rearranging our "place" is to take the double garage on the left hand of the picture and build in art studios that will be available for artist we know to work out of. Already we have one amazing wonderful young artist engage us and is willing to help, as well as a great friend who has owned a contracting company for years. Though the work won't end there, there are visions for the entire space...including expanded use for the garden in the back! Some refer to the vision as a salon, which I'm growing in appreciation for, but am still not fully embracing that term, though the concept is dead on.

God is making me a whole person from the fragmented shatters that I have segmented and tried to control my entire life. He is molding me to become fully human. To paraphrase the art historian Hans Rookmaaker, “Christ did not come to make us Christians; he came to make us human beings.” My hope is that this will be reflected in the priority of my First Place.

Great Spurgeon quote this Morning

2010-10-06T07:28:00.000-07:00

Put him in a dungeon and he will find good company; place him in a barren wilderness, he will eat the bread of heaven; drive him away from friendship, he will meet the "friend that sticketh closer than a brother...The true saint is so completely satisfied with the all-sufficiency of Jesus that he thirsts no more—except it be for deeper draughts of the living fountain. In that sweet manner, believer, shalt thou thirst; it shall not be a thirst of pain, but of loving desire; thou wilt find it a sweet thing to be panting after a fuller enjoyment of Jesus' love.

Baseball Game!!

2010-09-15T15:09:00.001-07:00

Seattle Welocalize headed to baseball

2010-09-15T15:08:00.001-07:00

This pic makes me bummed I missed 1st day of preschool

2010-09-10T14:06:00.001-07:00

My welcome home from work song

2010-08-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

Proverbs 10:15, benefits of wealth

2010-08-16T07:37:00.001-07:00

15 A rich man's wealth is his strong city; the poverty of the poor is their ruin.

Wealth matters. Wealth determines how you are effected by the world. The severity of this might be lost on us because even the most poor in our culture are not completely ruined by their poverty. This is not how it has been in the history of the world nor is it the way it is in the most poor parts of our world. Just look at the recent earthquake in Haiti.

A strong city can protect, there are walls, water, homes, roads, trade, the sum of it's parts is greater than the whole. The city is also a refuge for many. For the rich man wealth is a blessing to his family but how many cities do you know where only one family lives there? Many are gathered and cared for there.

There is the possibility that a strong city can become an idol, the story of Babel makes this very clear to us. Beware of placing our hopes in anything other than the living God.

Immediately upon reading this verse my mind makes the connection. The strong city is just the place the poor need to reside in order to avoid ruin. Spiritualize this and we know that the Lord is a strong tower, he can provide this for us. Yet after living in poverty and working with the poor I recognize there is a need for the wealthy to commit their resources to these people. It is our duty but it is also our blessing. The grace that we have been shown spiritually as well as financially should be shared with gratitude, one beggar sharing bread with another.

KSD in MT with Glacier Symphony

2010-08-07T19:44:00.000-07:00

MT Alpine Slide!!!

2010-08-05T16:09:00.001-07:00

MT Rocks!! Alpine slide.

2010-08-05T16:09:00.000-07:00

Proverbs 10:13-14, 18-21 The mouth

2010-08-04T10:41:00.000-07:00

13 On the lips of him who has understanding, wisdom is found, but a rod is for the back of him who lacks sense.
14 The wise lay up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool brings ruin near.

18 The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever utters slander is a fool.
19 When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.
20 The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; the heart of the wicked is of little worth.
21 The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of sense.

Last nite which watching Shark Week on Discovery Channel I heard once again about the huge amount of bacteria in a shark's mouth, often the first challenge is a lack of blood after a shark bite, but a close second is the infection from the bacteria in the wounds. It has bee said that the mouth is the most dirty part of the Human body, hard to believe when we all have butts, so I'm not sure how true that is. Proverbs warns us against the spiritual bacteria that is within our mouths; lead to the rod, bring ruin, make you a fool, leads to transgression, reveals a wicked heart, and starves you.

Most people who know the bible know the story of Isaiah the prophet who is taken before the throne of God, and asked to deliver prophecy to God's people. His response is "I am a man od unclean lips from a people of unclean lips.". And God provides a burning coal to cleanse him for the job. This is a great example of confession before God of these failures on our part to control our lips/mouth, but also demonstrates the the resolution to our unclean lips is not easy. I still find myself enjoy ping aimless talk and speculation. Only recently thogpugh I am realizing that I am regularly wrong about things I am convinced of and convincing others of, also I'm finding that people listen to me. That is a bad combination, a man of unclean lips from a people of unclean lips.

Oh wretched man that I am, what do I have to look forward too? Great gifts that are the desciption of wisdom in Proverbs are to be found on my lips; wisdom, knowledge, prudence, worth, and nourishment. This comes from a few places, from God to our silenced heart, through His word, through others especially our spouses, and through those who have gone before us in glory that have experienced God in their time. My heart needs to be silenced though before those other means can crack into me. When I have the answer before me and I'm going to God for confirmation, God often let's me continue to be fooled by myself and later whe I'm smacked upside the head and humble can I hear from Him. His word sometimes only convinces me of what I've already studied, without every being anything I truly KNOW. It took me awhile to write this post for that reason, God just needed to let these verses stew in my heart and mind.

There is one of these Proverbs that really stands out to me because it has to do with a lack of words rather than an excess of them: 18 The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever utters slander is a fool
. Though silence is helpful in discernment it should not be used as an excuse to sin. I regularly find my hedging how I say things especially with my wife, there is no need. We love each other are committed to each other and should talk freely and fully with each other. So root out the injustices you are troubled by and use that hatred to speak for change, change for the good. This is a big oart if forwarding the Kingdom of God, His people using their voices for the good when it comes to injustices against those God loves!

Beauty and the Beast

2010-07-30T16:13:00.000-07:00

My Bell!!

2010-07-30T15:13:00.001-07:00

Proverbs 10:12, offending

2010-07-21T08:43:00.000-07:00

12 Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.

1 Peter 4:8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

There is no doubt that we will sin or offend each other. This is a big relief to me, I try not to sin or make mistakes. I go to great lengths to not offend or disrupt people, especially those close to me especially my wife and daughters. They are the ones who I often get in worse messes because I don't want to offend. Therefore this Proverb is a good word for me...love.

When I used to preach it was impossible for me to receive honest feedback and criticism from my wife. How does it apply, well I had hatred and it stirred up strife, my love for her was so weak I  could not hear here whether she was right or wrong. She loves me well, and between my personal wounds and general self centeredness I am just now beginning to love her in a way that offenses are covered.

God hates sin, but he does make provision for sin. The greatest love demonstrated to the world is that of God sending Jesus his Son for us. Have you ever wondered if you are love, the answer is yes. God's love did not cover a multitude of his sin, because he has none.  Rather the offense he covers is ours, the multitude he erases is mine. How sweet the grace that I have received when I who have offended and created a multitude of sin entire on my own, I am forgiven with no penalty for me to bear.

Homeless of Orcas Island?

2010-07-15T15:29:00.000-07:00

Kindlings Fest 2010

2010-07-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

Vacation begins on the ferry to Orcas Island

2010-07-13T21:17:00.001-07:00

Spurgeon on anger

2010-07-13T07:33:00.001-07:00

Morning

God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry?

Jonah 4:9

Anger is not always or necessarily sinful, but it has such a tendency to run wild that whenever it displays itself, we should be quick to question its character, with this enquiry, Doest thou well to be angry? It may be that we can answer, YES. Very frequently anger is the madman's firebrand, but sometimes it is Elijah's fire from heaven. We do well when we are angry with sin, because of the wrong which it commits against our good and gracious God; or with ourselves because we remain so foolish after so much divine instruction; or with others when the sole cause of anger is the evil which they do. He who is not angry at transgression becomes a partaker in it. Sin is a loathsome and hateful thing, and no renewed heart can patiently endure it. God himself is angry with the wicked every day, and it is written in His Word, Ye that love the Lord, hate evil. Far more frequently it is to be feared that our anger is not commendable or even justifiable, and then we must answer, NO. Why should we be fretful with children, passionate with servants, and wrathful with companions? Is such anger honourable to our Christian profession, or glorifying to God? Is it not the old evil heart seeking to gain dominion, and should we not resist it with all the might of our newborn nature? Many professors give way to temper as though it were useless to attempt resistance; but let the believer remember that he must be a conqueror in every point, or else he cannot be crowned. If we cannot control our tempers, what has grace done for us? Some one told Mr. Jay that grace was often grafted on a crab-stump. Yes,said he, but the fruit will not be crabs. We must not make natural infirmity an excuse for sin, but we must fly to the cross and pray the Lord to crucify our tempers, and renew us in gentleness and meekness after His own image.

Proverbs 10:6-11

2010-07-11T20:58:00.000-07:00

6 Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.
7 The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.
8 The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.
9 Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.
10 Whoever winks the eye causes trouble, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.
11 The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

Verses 6, 7, 11 give us some good news for the righteous which is then clearly set against the wicked. A blessing upon your head if younger righteous. This is kingly imagery, for your head is where your crown is placed. You will be honored, or seen as royal. Also there is another beautiful blessing upon the head and that is oil. Oil provides fragrant smell, cleanliness, and even healing for your scalp and skin. These publicly visible blessings are in contrast to the mouth of the wicked which is concealing violence. Hidden and dark.

Also the righteous are thought about favorably. The older I get the more I think about hiw I will be remembered, by my children, family, friends, and others I have known. Could it be that the memory will be a blessing? Can I live In such a way tomorrow that will leave others with a memory of blessing. Wow, through our mouths this can pour out like a fountain. I picture a vast fountain of wine for many compared to a garbage heap that is filled with rot from the wicked.

Babbling and secretive the wicked contribute to their own ruin. They are playing games in secret and trying to be smooth. I love to wink at my daughters in affectionate love, but this is a picture of a cheater at the card table signaling to his partner. Receive God's commandments, walk with integrity. These will bring about security.

This morning I was wonderfully reminded where my security is supposed to come from, when It comes from anywhere other then God, I will live as a violent insecure self protective man. When my security is based upon the promise of the Gospel, that God loves me and has given himself for me and all his gifts are mine, then I can be gentle and secure. The Proverbs push us to a love of God's law which is only attainable with the understand from Jesus of God grace. Yes I see my failure constantly in the law, but I know it is good, and I also know that God is making me more and more in it's image I am his failful one. How deep is the broken that is constantly present in my life and yet how much geater is the love of God who has rescued me not leaving me to rot!

Ballard Seafood Fest 2010!!!!

2010-07-10T14:54:00.000-07:00

Laziness, Proverbs 10:3-4

2010-07-05T08:46:00.000-07:00

4 A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.
5 He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.

Appropriate rest is a big part of the Bible's story, we are called to enter into God's rest which is also known as Sabbath. The other side of sabbath is our calling to be diligent, which is a word I really like. This means regular attending to these things which need care. We are not entitled to things, which is a mistake many people make. As a Christian I believe everything we have, every good and perfect gift, is by God's grace and here are some of he implications of that on our work:

Grace is a free gift...
You can't earn it through your work.
You are not entitled to it because of your belief, birth, or knowledge.
You are now free to use what you have been given to it's fullness, however much or little that might be, no hedging.
You can seek out work to be done without the pressure or weight of it all being dependent on you.
You can find blessings where they are expected (harvest) and where they are unexpected (summer).

One of my favorite Gospel illustrations is related to the myth of Sisyphus We live like Sisyphus cursed to push our rock up the hill never to satisfaction day after day. Through the cross of Christ Jesus takes our rock for us, therefore we are free! Able to assist pushing the rock, dance, run and play. We are complete free to risk and be diligent in all that we have been called to do.

Proverbs 10:1-3

2010-07-04T15:38:00.000-07:00

1 The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.

Families are connected. Even when I was younger I could tell that my actions as a son had deep effects upon my parents. Now that I am a parent I see the hopes I have for my kids and how their good and bad decisions effect me.

Proverbs was written to young business men, used to help train them in how to be successful in the way God would want. Perhaps it is because I am in my thirties or even because I'm not earning my living through working at the church, regardless I am amazed at how many men live for the approval and acknowledgement of their father. This drive is at the core of most men. They either receive it and know they are okay or are continually driven frantic in the pursuit of it.

That is not the same for men and boys with their mom. Mom will say "he was a nice boy" even while he sits on death row, approval is not the issue. Deep sadness and sorrow is though. Men and fathers will mask or remove themselves from the heartache, mom's will never escape it.

To me both these pictures are found in the Gospel. In Jesus we have the full acceptance of the Father. So whether your dad is dead or alive, whether you have his approval or not, you can still know that you are fully accepted by your heavenly Father. Second he finds joymor delight in you. There are no step children with God, he chose you and you a his. You can completely blow in and his heart does not lose joy for you. He is on your side and with you.

2 Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death.

When I started in my first sales job there were many lessons. On important one was that the ends justified the means. When it was at the end of the month you forced through everything you could in order to get that larger check and keep your numbers up. At the end of the day everyone was looking at profit. God's accounting does not work that way. He wipes that line clean. Sadly it took years for me to see that my work and how I do it matters, not just what position I am in at the end of the quarter.

There is a death that comes along with seeking profit at all cost. We see this all the time in our economy with these business that go down this road. Most recently the real-estate collapse, where tons of folks who could affording mortagages we sold them, now many are jobless and have lost their home. There is allittle bit of death we all experience with these events. Can we create, support, and work within business models that deliver from death raher then create it. These can be profitable world changing business and ideas, I mean why wouldn't God want to make these service thrive! This is what his kingdom is about, Jesus did it through preaching and healing, and yet he said that after him we will do much greater things, what does that mean? I don't know but do not limit your I imagination when it comes to the kingdom of God.

3 The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.

These three verses have a connection to me. How righteousness effects the family, how righteousness plays out in work, and how God cares for the righteous. Though we are encouraged to not solely focus on profit, we can have peace that God is focus on our bottom line! He will not let you go hungry, so go for it. Let your hope and imagination run wild.

One of my favorite quotes is from Bill Gates who was asked how much money is enough, his response "one more dollar". You can judge for yourself whether Bill Gates is wicked, he's done more to effect the world for probably both good and bad then most people who live so I'm uncertain how to even judge. His statement though express a desire and drive that i find in my own heart. That craving that regardless of what I have a little more will satisfy. God can thwart that craving, his plan undermines these folks.

Dreams, one of my favorite recent stories is about the dream Karin, my wife, and I shared at the end of my first year of my current job. I had just gone through a major transition from full time vocational ministry into selling localization services. It had been a great year and we decided to let it ride in this direction, before that there was always a thought in the back of our minds I'd try to get a church job again. So we prayed and we dreamed. I made a list of all the clients I wanted to have within technology to sell localization to, I talked about being the top salesperson in the entire industry. Within one year every company I had named I was working with. I'm in a position that people work their entire career to secure, and God deserves all praise. Even as I share that story I am left wondering when was the last time I dreamed that way? What is the next exciting only attainable through the work of God hope that I have? The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry!

Proverbs 9:13-18, the way of the fool

2010-06-30T06:48:00.000-07:00

13 The woman Folly is loud; she is seductive and knows nothing.
14 She sits at the door of her house; she takes a seat on the highest places of the town,
15 calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way,
16 "Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!" And to him who lacks sense she says,
17 "Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant."
18 But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

Folly is also calling, just like wisdom. That makes following her understandable. On top of that we are told that the immediate result we get with her feels good, sweet, and pleasant. When I start acting that way it becomes intoxicating. So if you are there or have been there it's okay and understandable, forgive yourself and God will forgive you as well. Also pay attention because her end, Lady Folly, is death. Not just death like end, but death like very bad place. You will end up in a mess that you do not want to be in.

Proverbs 9:7-12, do what with the fool.

2010-06-28T07:16:00.000-07:00

7 Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury.
8 Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.
9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
11 For by me your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life.
12 If you are wise, you are wise for yourself; if you scoff, you alone will bear it.

These seems like very simple instructions. Though when you are in the circumstance and it is intense are a sweet reminder as to why younger facing difficulty. There are people who aree scoffers and wicked that will simoke tear into you. Often I assume since what I'm. sharing is right or good that it will be received. When it isn't, I often question myself. That INS a very bad thing to do when dealing with wicked or scoffers.

This also challenges me to speak words of correction, which are not my favorite thing to do. I don't like getting them most of the time, and I don't like giving them. Yet there are wise people out there, and they love truth. How will in ever gove someone the chance to demonstrate if they are wicked or wise? And their reaction is not a reflection on me. Plus it is a path to love. That is motivating.

Verse 10 is another summary of the book of Proverbs. Fear of the Lord, not man, wife, job, children, or death...but fear of the Lord. You will live long if you get this and you will not be left alone.

The secret joy of racing

2010-06-26T06:45:00.000-07:00

Proverbs 9:1-6

2010-06-22T07:41:00.000-07:00

1 Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars.
2 She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table.
3 She has sent out her young women to call from the highest places in the town,
4 "Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!" To him who lacks sense she says,
5 "Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed.
6 Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight."

This is a greets invitation. Food, wine, and simple enough for the simple to get it. There are many complicated things in this life, but wisdom clearly demonstrates that there see also clear simple things too.

Too often we confuse ourselves or others confuse us by making things overly complicated. This is a trick. Do what you can to understand what you can and make that clear to others. Acknowledge where things are grey and you are not sure, nothing wrong with that. Too often I feel taken advantage by others with complicated arguments, I feel that somehow they are just smarter than me and I am the one lacking wisdom. While sometimes the case, often it is not. Stick to the simple things of God, do them, and you will see.

Proverbs 8:32-36

2010-06-20T11:57:00.000-07:00

32 "And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways.
33 Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it.
34 Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.
35 For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD,
36 but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death."

This is the close for Lady Wisdom, probably going to be very costly right? Listen. That's all. Listen to her, wait, find her. Everyone knows this is the hardest thing to do at times. We have agendas, passions, important things that others must be made aware of or else they will never know. Wisdom requires we set that to the side and give an attentive heart or ear.

To me this is a clear connection with Proverbs and the Gospel. The Gospel is good news and calls that we also listen. 95% of what Christians believe is similar to any other moral code from the existence of civilization. Yet the 5% that is based on set aside what you are driven by and listen, wait, find Jesus is very different. In Proverbs wisdom is personified by Lady Wisdom, in the New Testament Wisdom is incarnated in Jesus, who was fully God and fully man. That which is still fuzzy in Proverbs is made clear in the person of Jesus Christ.

This instruction to listen is followed by a promise (or blessing) and a consequence (or a curse). Favor comes along with watching and finding. If you are too busy talking, not looking, distracted you injure yourself and you love death. To me this is one of those places you should not over think, the message is clear life or death.

Proverbs 8:22-31

2010-06-13T21:00:00.000-07:00

22 "The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old.
23 Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
24 When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth,
26 before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world.
27 When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
28 when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep,
29 when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
30 then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,
31 rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.

So far wisdom has told us who she lives with, who she walks with, and now she gets old school by telling us that she has been around since the beginning of all creation.

This is not an explanation of what happened at he beginning though there is obviously clear connection to the Hebrew view of creation. The keys tom seeing that are water, mountains, things with shape that are made, earth, the deep and of there being the great Creator very present.

.wisdom being there from the beginning means a few things to me:

She is good for all time. I live in the moment and want a quick scheme to get me through, probably not wisdom.
She is uniquely connected with God, the ungodly may show it but that is a gift to them fromGod alone.
She delights in us, we have great capacity for her.
She is a complement to knowing God.

Proverbs 8:12-21

2010-06-09T22:19:00.000-07:00

12 "I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion.
13 The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.
14 I have counsel and sound wisdom; I have insight; I have strength.
15 By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just;
16 by me princes rule, and nobles, all who govern justly.
17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.
18 Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver.
20 I walk in the way of the righteous, in the paths of justice,
21 granting and inheritance to those who love me, and filling their treasures.

Living with someone is a big deal, often time whether Christian or not it is entered into with much fear, prayer and trembling. So who does wisdom live with?

Prudence-certainly not sexy, yet doesn't mean boring either. Not flaunting unnecessarily
Knowledge-knowing the correct way to act and doing it
Discretion-no unnecessary attention

These three may not be the life of the party, but maybe that is the point. Doing what is right because it is right rather than having to steal the spotlight, and you give others the chance to have their day.
There are some really big assumptions taken by Ms Wisdom in this section. The assumption with evil is that it really exists here and you know it when you see it. Not as complicated as often we experience, simple pride and arrogance and perverted speech are what God hates. Lord knows I need to repent of all of these.
Also Kings, rulers and those in charge are seeking wisdom. That is so wild and foreign for us in our very skeptical culture. What would it mean for us to give those in power, influence, and with resources the benefit of the doubt that they are seeking wisdom? We wouldn't have to put ourselves or others at risk, but trust you boss the next time he or she makes a suggestion rather than feeling like you have to battle the man all the time. My own suspicious nature has been revealed to me to be false more often than I can express.
Maybe if we are less suspicious of these folks we might even have a God given desire to be them. Live as rulers and rich people who seek wisdom, who aren't ruled by possessions but rather use them to honor God and love our neighbor as ourselves. As long as I am incorrectly critical of these folks why would I ever want to be them, I'd never put in the hard work to do it. Rather God is using those in authority for His good in life, so I am grateful, I pray for them, I long to see the place where they seek out wisdom, and I hope that God will continue to use them in my life and the lives of others.
Not only are wisdom's housemates important, so are her walking partners.
Righteousness - choosing good all the time
justice - the pursuit of fairness for all of God's creation

Proverbs 8 :1-11

2010-06-08T07:59:00.000-07:00

The Blessing of Wisdom

1 Does not wisdom call? Does not understanding raise her voice?
2 On the heights beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand;
3 beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud:
4 "To you, O men, I call, and my cry is to the children of man.
5 O simple ones, learn prudence; O fools, learn sense.
6 Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right,
7 for my mouth will utter truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth are righteous; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.
9 They are all straight to him who understands, and right to those who find knowledge.
10 Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold,
11 for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.

Here is the second woman reaching out to men is the streets in the book of Proverbs, Wisdom or in verse one she is also called understanding. The substance of her message varies from the other woman of proverbs in that Wisdom raises herself up whereas the other woman talks about what you can get away with. Wisdom in this passage appears more self centered, though her benefits are also clearly listed.

Her words are straight - no confusion, she says what she means
Right - that means good all the time
Better than our desires - this is the biggest difference between the two ladies, the first only talked about how she can fulfill the desires of young men. Wisdom simply says she is better than those desires. Often those desires get fulfilled or change. God does not leave you hanging forever with things you desire, now that's not to say that His timing is my timing so I might feel like it is taking forever. What are these better things:
Instruction-there is a way that life just works out better, we can fight it, try to be more enlighten, but at the end of all our striving God has created the world with a particular order and we thrive when we work within it
Knowledge-the right thing to do at the right moment, knowledge separate from action is mental masturbation. One professor in seminary I had said that you never know something until you live it and I agree.
Wisdom-knowledgeable insight into the way the world works that allows you to take and instruct others in right action. This will be looked at in depth throughout the rest of this chapter and as the theme of Proverbs looked at through the rest of the book.

Good Friday Meditation on work

2010-04-02T08:15:00.001-07:00

If God has been relied upon for all of history intentionally or
unintentionally by farmers, fisherman and everyone else for his
provision in nature, why not for me now. This was the basis of their entire economy,
society, existence, and the personal calling to work. God's promise
is to provide, and he has over time. We can look at tragedies as the
exception to prove the rule, the potato famine, starvation in Africa,
etc.

Can God orchestrates the events in my daily life for my good and His
glory? Then why do I not rely on him with the same weight as the
farmer trusts in God providing rain? Why do I feel like it is about my
actions and not His work in time?

Over the years, I have been unfaithful in my work and very faithful, regardless
God was the one who sustained it. Often the times where I am diligent
and faithful to the work I take God put of the equation. My
faithfulness to being a good employee should be a response of
obedience to God's faithfulness not a tool to manipulate His promises.

Today we remember the cross which Christ suffered. Truly the most
significant act of work in the history of the world. Do I believe
that? Will my actions today demonstrate a servants heart based on that
truth, or will I go along nervious and broken as usual?

KSD in the Abbey

2010-03-19T20:13:00.001-07:00

Winter in Seattle?

2010-03-15T16:17:00.001-07:00

View outside my office...

Selection Saturday

2010-03-15T16:16:00.000-07:00

The Revelation of the Golden Pyramid

2010-03-13T08:57:00.000-08:00

Reading Awakening the Entrepreneur Within has been a good exercise for me which I have been inspired, at times overwhelmed and wanting to give up, and generally encouraged that I can do this. Before I take it back to the library I wanted to take some last notes on the "Enterprise". When you understand business systems, there is the ability not just to start a business, but to start hundreds of businesses.

Here is the strategy:
1. Identify Old Co. - these are the marketable skills that you currently possess
2. Make a list of every single vertical niche market you could conceivably provide your service to - these make up customer categories
3. Identify your trading zone - geographic area of customers (I question relevance for web based products/services)
4. Pick the ten most appealing Customer Categories
5. Pick the one most appealing Customer Category - where is the money:) I like this because success these days is not necessarily making the next walmart but rather getting followers that will evangelize your product or become your tribe
6. Learn everything you can possibly learn about this one customer category - who are they, passions, hopes, buying habits, etc.
7. design client fulfillment system - must have the means to get it out there
8. design your lead conversion system - person is interested...must be ready
9. design your lead generation system - sales 101
10. test effectiveness of your new practice - do it, track, measure
11. document - weakness of mine, have trouble doing this within my home which would yield quick results must be disciplined about doing this in business
12. Create your surrogate practitioner agreement - legal, trademark/patent make sure you IP is taken care of
13. Recruit first surrogate practitioner - these will be folks you take through the previous 11 steps
14. Train your first Surrogate partner
15. Build your business management system - monitor performance of practices, improve operating system, expand the capability
16. Replicate

Taking her Lenten reading seriously

2010-03-07T17:45:00.001-08:00

Charles Spurgeon Quote

2010-03-04T08:49:00.001-08:00

He who would glorify his God must set his account upon meeting with many trials. No man can be illustrious before the Lord unless his conflicts be many. If then, yours be a much-tried path, rejoice in it, because you will the better show forth the all-sufficient grace of God. As for his failing you, never dream of it-hate the thought. The God who has been sufficient until now, should be trusted to the end.

Michael Stevens

Welocalize

206.407.6067

Sent from my iPhone

Twitter is the Seinfeld of the Internet

2010-02-18T19:45:00.000-08:00

Not the comedian but the show rather. You see it is interesting, better in the beginning, and good for conversation. In the end you really don't get that much, other than re-enforcing what you already know.

Okay I did find out Michael Jackson died hours before I would have otherwise, so there is a use case for news. Seinfeld never did that for me.

Best Superbowl Ad

2010-02-08T05:12:00.000-08:00

It taught me something I used today.

Karin Stevens Dance in the Fremocentrist

2010-01-08T20:38:00.000-08:00

Yes this is a shameless plug, but the ol' lady is worth it!

http://fremocentrist.com/index.html

Get Down, get down

2009-12-31T06:03:00.000-08:00

Skiing big mountain!!

2009-12-29T16:29:00.000-08:00

2009-12-14T13:43:00.001-08:00

Originally submitted at Roku

The best-selling HD Player (as known as Netflix Player by Roku) plays High Definition video and connects to surround sound audio.

No tuner, no problem, simple

By Mike the evangelist from Seattle WA on 12/14/2009

Pros: Easy to use, Great value

Cons: Want more video choices

Best Uses: Living room

Describe Yourself: Netflix fan, Casual User, Movie buff

Have a older hdtv with no tuner or pc connection, we also don't have cable. So it was only good for playing DVDs. With Amazon Video on Demand I now can watch what I want when I want. Netflix also has a decent library.

(legalese)

It is cold in Seattle

2009-12-12T13:12:00.000-08:00

Rain water from our wheelbarrel.

6AM this morning

2009-12-04T09:13:00.001-08:00

The alarm went off at 6AM, I didn't exactly jump out of bed. Actually reset my alarm for an hour, but then knew I had to try out my proof of concept. So I put on on running clothes, brushed my teeth and grabbed my backpack with my swimming gear.

The run is one mile. It was dark and cold but fun, mostly because it was new I think. Made it to the pool, checked in, changed showered and was in by 6:35. New goggles and not being in swim shape lead to lots of rest. My form needs work, but I did alright in the Easy lane. Over all I was in the pool for about 40 minutes. At my last stop I was seeing stars and feeling great, think it was the endorphins pumping (or that suit really is way too tight and messing me up).

Dried off and ran home. Looks like this is going to work. The biggest hindrance to repeating this over the next two weeks is my travel schedule, good news with that is the hotels I'm staying at have pools, so I can at least get sometime in working on my form if nothing else.

All these and a pass to the Ballard pool

2009-12-01T17:34:00.000-08:00

Currently I look pretty silly, but I have to bite the bullet sometime. This is the beginning hopefully of my triathlon training. I will move to swimming three times per week, and running two or three times per week. After the winter I'll figure out the biking part of the whole deal, but I need to make sure I have the swimming down.

tweet cloud

2009-11-29T16:34:00.001-08:00

Where I'm going, not where I want to be, but further along than I was

2009-10-17T09:38:00.000-07:00

The start of school when you have kids and the beginning of a new year bring about reflection, at least for me. Or perhaps I am more of navel gazer than I think of myself. Regardless my recent thoughts have brought me to a place where I have more peace than I have in quite awhile.

Seattle is a very special place and God has put in at the center of our family in a very special way. There was no place in the world where we could have gone and had such an easy transition after Oakland. Simply having the initial gift of free rent from my father-in-law relieved so much pressure and allowed me to look for a job without going deep into debt. Also the support structure of wise friends who have walked with us for years was priceless, and then we were also surprised by the new friends God brought into our life during that time who have been an amazing blessing. There are plenty of questions about the future but where we are meant to be is not one of them. I won't be surprised if there are pressures that work on moving us in the near future but the only pressure I'm concern about is that of God's.

Stewardship. When I graduated from college the last thing I cared about was making money. I wanted to creating something cool and care for people. That was carried on throughout graduate school, when after making decent money in my first job I easily walked away to pursue full time ministry. Then there was Oakland, which looked more like survival financially for Karin and me. The stress of graduate school and working for a church startup put us in very bad position in regards to our finances and stewardship. This was not a faithful time in my life as I reflect upon it. While some of the circumstances were out of my control, having been through it wisdom would not allow me to do it again. For those who supported me I was not "unfaithful" with that money, it had more to do with places I would take money from and what I was leveraging in order to just make ends meet. Thankfully God has given me a very gracious family who also seem to have a short term memory:) Now God has placed me in a great position to be a good steward. I pray often to God saying, "All this ambition you have given me in my work, may you bless so I can be just as ambitious with my generosity." Just this week I had lunch with the pastor at Grace and we were dreaming about what God would do in Seattle, and how if He chose to use us.

As I write this my girls are playing Wii in the room next to me. I can't help but think about how much I enjoy being a father. There is so much joy that comes from seeing them grow, learn, and become the women God has intended them to be. During graduate school both Karin and mine we juggled a very crazy schedule which meant I had significant amount of time with our first daughter during the first four years of her life. I feared that I would not have the same connection with number two, that was a completely unfounded fear. Sure I wish I had more time with our two year old, but both my daughters bring me so much joy and they are the thing I take the most godly pride of in my life.

Then there is my marriage, which I mess up all the time in. Though I am listening better. Karin is not merely one of my advisers but rather the partnership God has given me in this life. She knows me better and loves me more than anyone in this world and her words deserve that kind of respect and honor. Now if I didn't get grumpy, sensitive, and bent out of shape so often I am sure that I would do a much better job of honor that voice in my life. For years though I didn't even know the place that she was to have in my life. I'm also learning to speak and encourage when she needs me. Her drive and capability often lead me to give her space because I deeply know that she can do it, but I'm learning she still needs to hear my encouragement. That is crazy and sweet.

My writing has had to take a the back burner:( I still cannot believe that I had time to blog thru the Psalms, and even start the Proverbs. As I hear from other friends at my stage of life, so who are even writers, I find they have a similar struggle. That actually encourages me. There is only so much time and if my kids are civil and I like my wife that says tons.

Only crazy people walk backward

2009-08-31T19:30:00.001-07:00

Parenting: Trusting after you have fallen

2009-08-30T06:31:00.000-07:00

Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and to let him know that you trust him. --Booker T. Washington

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much. – Mother Theresa

Without being overly simple, the reason that parents must teach their children to trust is because trust has been broken and therefore they do not naturally do it. This may not be a universal fact that everyone agrees with, but I think a few examples from the moment of birth demonstrate it for me.

When a baby is born food is the issue. So if you do not feed them, they will cry to let the world around them know they are hungry. Similarly I remember seeing the video at a breast feeding class of where they place a new born, perhaps a few days old or even younger, on the mothers belly and this baby manages to move himself up the mother to her breast to feed.

There is value in both of these situations, yes being self aware and sometime self centered will save your life, so I am not making a value judgment on whether babies should act this way. Rather it seems to me for the beginning we do not look to other but work on our own to solve the issues or cause such a fuss that others have to react. We take things into our own hands. I have heard Psychologist and Social Scientist refer to it as the Reptilian part of our brain taking over, my simple understanding of this is pure instinct where reason, trust, and the view of others are set aside and we are solely motivation by self.

The place where my value judgment does come in is why this exists, the fact that we do it is neither good or bad, but the root of where it comes from in my opinion is a spiritual wound that has slice our heart and is very difficult to heal. Parents aware of this can work to engage their children to not merely live out from that wound but move to a place of trust. So where does the wound come from?

The Creation Narrative found in Genesis 1-3 is helpful for me. This primeval, pre-mortal account of the world offers insights to me though no direct answers to where the wound originated but rather shows it is at root in our existence. The case I'm making is there was need for trust (some might call it faith) from the beginning, the lack of trust exposed us to wounded hearts.

Adam and Eve are the childlike adults in this story, wandering naked through a perfect garden with little we know by way of guidance other than God telling Adam to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or they will surely die, and positively telling them to be fruitful and multiply while tending the garden. Notice I said God told Adam, the first hint of a lack of trust comes when Eve repeats the command regarding the tree of life, Genesis 3:3 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” We are never told why she added "neither shall you touch it", was that her own invention or did Adam not trust her reasoning enough he felt it necessary to exaggerate the command to her. I tend to side with him exaggerating, children and husbands often will blow it with communication because they do not trust that they will be heard if they merely speak truth. To me it is this interaction that opens the door for a full blown lack of trust, providing a wide open door for wounds to guide Adam and Eve (eventually us) rather than naked child likeness.

Genesis 3:4-7, 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

The child no longer needs to ask about trustworthiness the was Eve and Adam did, but rather is born into a state where the question is decided. I am born into a world naked and vulnerable and trusting I'll be taken care of is not even an option. We read in the account with Eve, she had the question running through her mind, Genesis 3:6 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Seriously, something that looks so good is going being denied to me, what is up with that.

Once God was not longer trustworthy a fall was inevitable. The beauty to a fall is there are only two ways to get up, on your own or have another help. It is key in parenting that we see our role as one helping our children get up, the fall leaves wounds that heal best when we trust others who are trustworthy. Being trustworthy, evaluating others, and ultimately leading children to seek the answer to "Is God trustworthy?" is all grey and very difficult. The first step for me is recognizing the remarkable picture that we enter this world utterly helpless and yet completely distrusting that our needs will be met.

Lovely pinehurst neighborhood

2009-08-24T19:14:00.001-07:00

Getting lost on the bus can teach you alot.

Trust and Parenting

2009-08-23T07:21:00.000-07:00

"If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves." - C.G. Jung

Recently because of my road trip with my two girls and a sermon I heard last week, I have been thinking about parenting. The major theme I am putting thoughts under is TRUST. Why?

1. I notice that my almost two year old has the hardest time when her immediate needs are not being met and she does not believe that they will be.
2. I notice that my eight year old becomes obsessive about issues when she does not think we are listening to her or going to make sure her desires are met.
3. Both are crushed when we don't do something we said we would for whatever reason.

The list goes on but these are the highlights for me recently. Each comes down to a lack or trust or trust being broken. As a parent it is important for us to teach our children to trust. It was trust that was broken after creation when Adam & Eve gave into the serpent, and it is a deeper trust we are learning in the recreation. So we teach trust in a few ways.

1. We fail and are untrustworthy, so our kids freak. (There are ways that this can be used to teach).
2. We are people who value our commitments and words, and build a track record of trustworthiness (the Jung quote was leading to that)
3. We build in clear situations for our children where they are aware of how dependent they are upon the care of their parents and call them to trust us in caring for them.

Where are the places you have had to grow as a parent in becoming trustworthy? What is the volue of our children learning to trust?

The role of politics

2009-08-12T07:31:00.000-07:00

Post election year it has died down a bit, but there are still friends and family out there charged up about what politically is going on. I am grateful for my freedom and don't want to see it continually taken away, and I am involved in a sustainable way in political action locally and less nationally. This morning I was reading a passage that again reminded me of the place politics is to have in my heart:

Jeremiah 18:1-12

The Potter and the Clay

18:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words.” 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. 9 And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, 10 and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. 11 Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.’

12 “But they say, ‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’

Articles on Tobacco

2009-08-10T21:56:00.000-07:00

Just saw Guy Kawasaki's tweet:

GuyKawasakiWhy people smoke: http://om.ly/FfOD

Had to republish this article...an old favorite:

First Things

Tobacco and the Soul

Michael P. Foley

Copyright (c) 1997 First Things 72 (April 1997): 14-16. The current brouhaha over smoking has made everyone painfully aware of tobacco's effects on the body, but it has also obscured a more profound reason for smoking's popularity: its relation to the soul. As the heyday of smoking passes into the ashheap of history, it is meet that we reflect on this connection.

The soul, of course, is a complex thing. Long ago Plato suggested that we consider it as divided into three parts-the appetitive, spirited, and rational-that correspond to the three basic kinds of human desires: the desire to satisfy physical appetites, the desire for recognition, and the desire for truth. Once this tripartite division is recalled, tobacco's relation to the soul becomes clear: the three prevalent types of smoking tobacco-cigarettes, cigars, and pipes-correspond to the three parts of the soul.

Cigarettes correspond to the appetitive part of the soul, a fact that explains their association with both food and sex. The connection with the latter is particularly obvious: think of the proverbial postcoital cigarette, or of the ubiquity of cigarettes at singles bars. People with strong physical desires demand instant gratification, and they try to make what they desire as much a part of their own bodies as possible: hunger demands eating, thirst drinking, and lust making the body of one's lover a part of one's own. So too with cigarettes. A cigarette is inhaled: it must be fully and internally consumed in order to give pleasure. And a cigarette, with its quick buzz, is also instant gratification. Even the cigarette's notorious connection to death ties it into appetites: both are indifferent to health in their quest for satisfaction, and both, when they reach addictive levels, become hostile to it.

Cigars, on the other hand, correspond to the spirited part of the soul. This explains their traditional popularity among men seeking honor or reputation-politicians, executives, etc. The reason for this correspondence can be found in the similarity between cigars and ambition. A cigar is visually impressive: with its large size and great billows of smoke, it often leaves a greater impact on the spectator than on the smoker. Further, a cigar is phallic-not with regard to male lust, but to male power. "Testis" in Latin means "witness": the phallic status of the cigar is meant to bear public witness to the smoker's prominence, his virility. The fact that a cigar is not inhaled reflects this external focus.

Ambition also has these traits: it too is more external than internal. Unlike physical desires, which are satisfied simply by consumption, ambition requires the consensus of others. The honor-seeker, for example, has to be honored by as many people as possible in order to be satisfied.

Finally, the pipe corresponds to the rational part of the soul, which explains why we tend to picture wise figures smoking pipes: the Oxford don surrounded by his great books, or Sherlock Holmes, who, in Doyle's original stories, actually smoked other sorts of tobacco as well, yet is almost always portrayed with a pipe. Unlike cigars and cigarettes, a pipe endures. Similarly, the questions of the philosopher far outlast the passing concerns of physical desires on the one hand and human ambitions on the other. Further, while the cigar is entirely masculine, the pipe has both masculine and feminine elements (the stem and the bowl). This corresponds to the philosopher's activity, which is both masculine and feminine: masculine in its pursuit of Lady Truth, feminine in its reception of anything that she discloses. Finally, the effect that the pipe has on others is analogous to the effect of philosophizing: the sweet fragrance of a pipe, like good philosophy, is a blessing to all who are near.

It is fitting that all three kinds of smoking tobacco involve the use of fire, for each relates to the soul's responsiveness to reason, and fire, at least from the days of Prometheus, is especially emblematic of reason. But there are also nonhuman parts to the human soul. The growth of our hair and fingernails, for example, is due to the soul's activity, yet is not responsive to rational instruction.

The use of tobacco that does not involve fire, therefore, somehow corresponds to these nonhuman-or more accurately, subhuman-parts of the soul. Chewing tobacco, for example, is a quintessentially subhuman activity. It is the rumination of bovine men. Or perhaps we should say it is camel-like, for camels not only chew, but spit as well. In either case, the point is clear: chewing tobacco is a sub-rational activity, which is why we usually associate it with men of limited acumen.

Snuff, too, would fall into this category, but with some minor differences. First, because it is not so disgusting, it would not have the same negative connotations as "chew." (Activities can be sub- rational without being bad.) Second, snuff taken through the nose would fall under a different category. Everything else we have seen involves the mouth, and this is only natural, for the mouth was made to receive things into itself. But to sniff something up one's nose . . . this is unnatural.

A question remains, however, about smoking non-tobacco. One candidate immediately comes to mind because it, like tobacco, is a natural leaf. Marijuana is also noteworthy because it is used in the same ways as smoking tobacco.

The key to the difference between the two is how each one affects the smoker. Tobacco-whether in a cigarette, cigar, or a pipe-leads to conversation, loosening the tongue just enough to incline it towards speaking, but not enough to disconnect it from the brain. Marijuana, on the other hand, does not keep this balance, loosening the tongue only to have it reel away from rational thought. It does not truly facilitate conversation, drawing the smoker into himself (not outwards, as does all good conversation) and dumbing-down any speech that is uttered. Thus the appearance of conversation can be created, but it is usually only that-an appearance. Marijuana is therefore a charlatan-weed, an impostor that apes its distant relative tobacco in a shallow and perverse way.

The uses of marijuana are twisted imitations of the uses of tobacco. Joints perversely imitate cigarettes in both their appearance and in their users' claim to be erotic. But while the claim is one thing, the reality is another. Eros requires both a healthy tension and a sense of discrimination in order to be truly human. Marijuana, however, eliminates both. Think of the counterculture of the 1960s, which, in preaching sexual liberation, actually destroyed the human part of our sexuality by robbing sex of any sense of mystery, standards, or fidelity. Where once sex was a magical moment between eternally committed lovers, it was now purely animalistic, something that had no more meaning than any other bodily function. The pot-smoker fancies himself an erotic man, but ends up being an unerotic animal.

Similarly, the hash pipe is a perverse imitation of the tobacco pipe. The pot-smoker often fancies himself an intellectual: he gets high and thinks "deep thoughts" (again bringing the 1960s to mind). But the appearance is one thing, the reality another. Just as the wisdom of the 1960s student turns out to be sophomoric, so too do the deep thoughts of the pot-smoker end up being moronic.

And yes, there is even a marijuana counterpart to the cigar. In the early 1990s the inner cities gave birth to a new practice called "blunting," in which cheap cigars are gutted and stuffed with marijuana. It is fitting that this practice originated in the same place where gangs come from. An inner-city gang seems supremely concerned with honor and courage: its elaborate codes would suggest as much. But seeming is one thing, being another. The gang-member fancies himself honorable, but is in reality a thug. Just as the cigar is the counterpart to the real virtues of honor and courage, the marijuana-blunt is the counterpart to the fake virtues of gang-honor and gang-courage.

As every student of Plato knows, if something has a relation to the soul it has a relation to the city. Thus if our theory is anything more than the smoke it purports to explain, it can be used to analyze political phenomena. For example, in recent years we have witnessed a concerted effort to sterilize our erotic attachments, to sap them of their danger but also of their vigor. The flat, unerotic words we now use for these attachments confirm this. Instead of "lover" and "beloved," we now have "significant other" and, even worse, "partner" (a term which lends to the affairs of the heart all the excitement of filling out a tax form). Given this environment, it is no wonder that our most vigorous moral war waged today is against cigarette-smoking. Nor is it any wonder that this war's only rival in intensity is the one in favor of "safe sex," for condoms sterilize sex not only literally but figuratively as well.

Further, the relation between cigars and spiritedness may explain why cigars are now for the first time gaining a significant number of female disciples. For as women continue to enter the traditionally male world of competition, many are beating men at their own game by using the same tactics of gaining power. And with the tactics have come the symbols.

Most significantly, however, the relative rarity of pipe-smoking in America is a telling sign of its current intellectual crisis. If the pipe epitomizes the intellectual way of life, then is it any surprise that it cannot be found where schools substitute politically correct ideology for real philosophy, or where the intelligentsia, instead of engaging in serious thought, pander to the latest activist fads? Is it any surprise that America's most famous pipe-smoker in the last thirty years has been Hugh Hefner, pajama prophet of the trite philosophy of hedonism? No, the age of the pipe-smoker is as far from us as the day when philosophers will be kings and kings will philosophize, a sad reality to which the thick blue haze of non-pipe smoke is only too ready to attest.

It should also be no surprise in this pipeless age that the ferocious battle over tobacco has missed the real point about its addictive power. Tobacco holds sway over the soul as much as it does the body. The qualities it takes in its various forms make it a near irresistible complement to the particular desire dominant in an individual's soul. How we react to these forms says as much about our attitude toward those desires as it does toward the weed itself.

Michael P. Foley is a Ph.D. candidate in theology at Boston College. He is currently completing his dissertation on St. Augustine.

A look at a different planet: Gran Torino

2009-07-13T07:14:00.000-07:00

Last night got to watch Gran Torino. Good movie which I recommend because of the captivating way the story is told. Similar in nature to Million Dollar Baby, which was a movie about euthanasia told so beautifully you don't even realize it, yet more simple to me. The movie took on what it means to be a man. There were three parts which struck me as important:

1. We live in a ever more pluralistic world, where cultures clash side by side and next door, it cannot be stopped but rather we must ask what we do about it. This was a minor theme in the movie, though one that gets lots of attention because of Walt's racism toward his changing neighborhood. His language never changes but his heart does. There is a moment when he is next door at his Hmong neighbor's house where he looks in the mirror and says to himself that he has more in common with these folks then he does his own family. Living in Oakland we found this to be true. That many of our neighbors who were from different cultures had shared desires and dreams when it came to family and community, and therefore it was fun to figure out how to better care for each other and know each other.

2. Walt Kowalski is a dying breed. The Korean War vet who drives a Ford is hard for me to find in my life. Throughout most of the movie he almost seemed cartoon like in his racist comments and narrow views. Yes the racism needs to go away, but there is much more to Walt and to that generation which found themselves in a world very different from the one they grew up in very quickly and it was hard to adjust.

3. Men being men. "There is no greater love than this, for a man to give his life for a friend." There were many false views of what it means to be a man in this movie. From the Hmong Gangsters, the liberal minded sensitive priest, the lost immigant kids who turned on himself, successful yuppies, and even Walt the stoic guilt ridden father. Men need other men to teach them the basic lessons of life. The scene where Walt is showing the neighbor kid the tools in his garage and he explains that it takes over fifty years to get a tool set like that, a basic lesson but one that as a young man you need to hear because the weight of such a insignificant thing as having a collection of tools to fix the broken things around you can be overwhelming. Walt mostly against his will at first invested in the young man. Every man I know could use that same kind of investment.

The Art of Making New Dreams

2009-07-12T15:02:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid I regularly dreamed. So much in fact I had regular reoccurring dreams, not day dreams, but actual reoccurring dreams at night in which I was returning to the same place, even sometimes revisiting a previous dream. This is the first time I have thought about it but I don't remember many of my dreams anymore, is it something that has just faded or was it taken from me I'm not sure.

One lesson I am currently learning is the art of making new dreams. While this might sound very beautiful to me it is difficult and feels like it is splitting me at the seams. In biblical terms it might be more like dying to one self (Matthew 16:24-27). Time and again already in my life things that bring about a great deal of meaning to me have been taken from me. Is this because they had a inappropriate place in my heart? Yes. Is this because of the sin of those around me affecting my dreams? Yes. Is it because of reasons I don't have any idea about right now? Yes.

These transitions, dying, making new dreams has been hard. Not only is it about looking forward and having a plan, but it is about digging in the lowest and earliest regions of my identity. My life was one of the chosen son of blessing, a role which torments me because I know I can never meet the expectation and yet it is the standard in which I have for myself. Either I am all things or I am nothing. This is a dream that is from the depth of hell and it deserves being shattered. But if that happens, then who am I?

Even in writing this post I'm lost at how my intention was to talk of rebuilding, the art of making new dreams, and yet I'm left feeling as an orphan. Yes we know that adoption (Romans 8:15) is one of the beautiful picture of scripture, yet have you ever known a person who was adopted and had severe abandonment issues? That is where I'm at.

Struggling to hold my own self deception too heavy for me, yet temporarily I keep it up knowing that it shatters when dropped and only then I will be free to make new dreams.

Two comments by a friend recently which nailed me

2009-07-10T09:48:00.000-07:00

First, that I'm good off the start but over time will flame out. I've known that is true for me but it is still a harsh reality to know others can see it so easily. One of my life motto's is "I was built for sprints but God has called me to run marathons."

Second, I don't handle pain well. This one I would not have been able to articulate. Since it was said to me how I cope and how I've coped my entire life is very much in my face. I seek to solve my pain quickly, but when it is prolonged I seek to numb myself. Numb myself emotional, but especially of hope. Trying to keep that flame alive in the midst of pain is difficult.

Godly Leadership

2009-05-11T07:34:00.001-07:00

This last weekend I went on my first ever session retreat. It was the five elders of our church locked away in the woods to discuss the big picture of what is happening at the church. We prayed, we laughed, and we got some good things done from my perspective. Here are the bullet points of what went on without the specifics:

There is a call for us to be more personally involved broadly in the life of the church.
There are situations within our church that we are seeking guidance in how to manage.
There is great opportunity for us with both church planting and training pastors.
We have a really amazing staff from full time pastors, chief musician, to operations!

Though in reflecting on it this morning I started thinking about what does leading God's people look like and what should it look like. I know there are extremes when it comes to any practice of authority. Some think street fighters are authoritative and some think any authority is evil.

There are a few things I'm thinking and a few points I got from the Proverb I read this morning:

First authority is from God, he is the authority, and then he passes some of it on. The church is really only confirming that which is already there rather than placing it upon someone. Also it also means it is not something to be "worked" toward or stolen.

Proverbs 11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.
Proverbs 11:12 Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent.

I am probably the most talkative on the sesson which makes me concerned about the 11:12 verse:) This does not summarize everything on Godly Leadership but it got my juices going today.

Nothing different since swine flu

2009-05-02T18:41:00.000-07:00

Thoughts on old fashion journaling

2009-04-20T06:36:00.000-07:00

Not so in to it. I know that I have friends who live and die by it, and it really makes me feel like I'm missing out because I can find the deep connection there.

Currently though I am writing in a journal as I write down answers to career questions. This is helpful. First I think because it has a point. I'm able to sit back and write down answers rather than just float ideas out there. If I want to float ideas I'd rather do it on a blog. Second it has an end. There is never enough when it comes to a journal, therefore it is overwhelming to me. Having a clear purpose and hopefully time period devoted to such writing makes it bearable to me.

This is funny...

2009-04-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

Poetry

2009-04-15T07:46:00.000-07:00

In the tree outside my room, there is a bird.

He wakes up at 5:33, that's absurd.

I'm awake as he sings in the shower.

I wish he'd just give me one more hour.

His singing just can't be unheard:)

The last act of a desperate advertiser

2009-04-14T07:38:00.000-07:00

What happens when nothing works in advertising? For one reason or another you can't say 3 out of 4 doctors recommend (or whatever affinity group there is for you product), or someone else owns 'cool', then what are you left with? KIDS.

Now you see this in the cigarette industry, science shows smoking is bad for you, and Marlboro owns cool with the Marlboro Man, so what is Camel to do? Joe Camel. Now you see something similar with Microsoft's most recent advertising. Cute, smart articulate kids.

This is part critique but also just an observation. I am the type of person who loves to watch, "Kid's say the darn'est things." Actually in college I would watch it on Friday night before going out, so I really am dorky for cute kids. The commercials are cute and they send a few good messages. First computers are easy to use, and second kids are creative and should be encouraged in creativity.

If you haven't seen them yet check the out:

<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-US&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:5f5cb7c7-bc7c-4b6a-bc03-54a02f0ed77c&showPlaylist=true&from=msnvideo" target="_new" title="The Rookies: Alexa, Age 7">Video: The Rookies: Alexa, Age 7</a>

Easter morning

2009-04-12T08:27:00.000-07:00

Spring in Seattle

2009-04-08T18:42:00.000-07:00

The other April fools Jokes...

2009-04-03T08:41:00.000-07:00

The ol' for sale sign in your car. One of my co-workers in SFO is regularly teased about his car, two other co-workers took it one more step:

The part I find funny is he only got four calls and all were for less than $100. Amazing.

Sweet April Fools Joke

2009-04-01T15:12:00.000-07:00

We used to tease our "The Administrator" about the number of sticky notes she uses. So this is what she did to our VPs office for April Fools:

Register for Seattle Rock & Roll

2009-03-23T19:33:00.001-07:00

My training has suffered through the winter. I feel it when it comes to my stress level and overall sense of personal health. Now the goal is set and the plan is in place to achieving it. Fourteen weeks until the race and I got out in the freezing $@% cold this morning. Additionally for this race I've begun tracking what I eat. I added a very cool widget to my iGoogle page that is a form where I type in what I eat during the meal. I then have to look up the estimate calorie count, but it automatically adds it to a Google Spreadsheet. Overall pretty cool. And just for the record today I did great, ha we'll see how long that lasts.

This will be my ninth marathon. This race for some reason has created a hump for me to get over, work, family, and winter have all been factors. But nothing replaces overall laziness. Discipline in my life is lacking, and that often make me feel out of control in other areas. Recently I have even had the thought that I'm getting a ulcer. Don't get me wrong, life is nuts right now and there are good reasons to be stressed, looking for a house, having a 17 month old, the economy, and a wild work travel schedule.

Discipline is not the overall answer, anyone who has an understanding of the gospel knows what I am talking about. Yet, God has given us disciplines and there is nothing wrong with setting a goal, making a plan, and trying to accomplishing something. This winter has pushed me hard and in many ways I caved. Sometimes God allows that in our life to make us realize how little we really can handle. After my eighth marathon I almost did a quick turn for my ninth. I was riding high it was my PR and I really thought I could at least match it quickly. Instead I fell off the wagon and haven't really wanted to get back on until now. It was humbling, and now I'd like to get back to some very simple basics. One foot in front the other, and start building up the miles.

Chaotic in all circumstances

2009-03-14T09:25:00.000-07:00

The last week I have been focused on Philippians. To me it is a book about unity and care, the workplace needs both of those. The passage I've come back to personally is the statement, "Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, i have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me." The last part of that was sent to me on an encouragement card as I kid, I thought it was that anything I wanted God could give me.

These day that is not my take, really it hasn't been for awhile. The catch is practically, day-in-and-day-out I have no idea how Paul did it. Content in all circumstances, I tend to be chaotic in all circumstances. On both sides of the poverty line there is an wild nature to my life, and I'm longing for that peace that Paul is talking about.

The cynical side of me says Paul is the ultimate fundraiser and is just letting his supporters know he is okay, but I don't know that works with the previous verses written. He has a connection, he was a small business owner, missionary, fundraiser, etc. I don't know that he ever had a desire to own a house (or if he did own one), he didn't raise a family, no 401K, falling stock market, or many of the concerns that mess with us now. The challenge for me is not to 'remove' all these things in my life, that is not a option for me, but rather find a way (the connect Paul had) to be content in them.

Perhaps some of this is just having an 16 month old around that makes everything seem chaotic. Work is what is it, church life is what it is, but I do have a longing for more peace at home. Maybe two or three years, haha? I'm focusing on this at the moment, seeking and asking that God would show up in it.

My Banking customer service story...

2009-03-14T09:11:00.000-07:00

I have been a member of a credit union back in MD since I was about twelve years old, maybe earlier. While living there had a great experience and therefore thought that credit unions were great. After I began moving around the country it was not as good of service, but I understood because 95% of their customers were local and that is what they needed to focus on. So over the years I've open accounts but never closed my credit union account.

Just the other week I started using new personal finance software, and I wanted to like this account to my overall profile. It had been ages since I used their online banking and of course I got locked out because I couldn't remember my member number or password correctly.

So that got me to call them today. I had found an statement with my member number, after I finally got through they told me the account was closed because of inactivity and when that happens all the funds go directly to the state of Maryland. Nice, thankfully it was only $10. I asked about if they normally notified people they were doing this and they said yes, but I had not been notified and they had no excuse.

The really fun part came when I said. Look if you all don't want me to have an account no problem, please just provide me the information I need to link the credit card associated with the account. This was the card we used for our trip to FL last month. I wanted an exact number so we could pay off that trip. That got them very interested. "Every credit card must be linked to an open account, how do you have a credit card?" I thought okay this is how they are going to settle this because of credit they are suddenly interested in me as a client.

It get better. Okay Mr. Stevens, even though we closed your account without notifying you, and we have allowed you to keep a credit card which is not standard practice of our bank, SEND US A CHECK SO THAT WE CAN REOPEN YOUR ACCOUNT. I laughed and asked them to say it three times, laughing more each time though she wasn't getting the joke. I said you made a mistake, you don't have any answers as to why the mistake was made, and now you solution is for me to send you more money, does that seem reasonable to you? Anyway, I said there is no way I am sending you money unless you reopen my account, they told me they will look into other solutions and contact me back on monday.

Banking doesn't make sense the way we do it. The service sucks. This case is even worse because it is a small bank on the east coast therefore I can never remember to call them during working hours during the week, and then on Saturday they don't have qualified people working and or I have to wake up early to call.

I wonder how my clients would respond to, "Yes, I made a mistake and I don't know why. Can you send me a check so I can correct it." Classic.

The groans of a life not yet fulfilled

2009-03-10T07:28:00.000-07:00

There are periods of time where in some area of our life the fall, that thing that caused the world not to be the way it is supposed to be (perfect), seems to be put on hold. We walk with grace and ease, and sometimes it is even easy to think that we have arrived. That is not to say we don't commit ourselves during this time or work hard, but over all the direction is a positive one and it move fast.

The sad reality of this world is that does not last. In Genesis the section I refer to as the consequences of sins (rather then the curse as most call it) we are told that this fall will bring about thorns and thistles in our work and relationships will get messy. That does not mean that we walk around with our heads down looking at our shoes waiting for the sky to fall. It just means that when we are effected negatively we need not be surprised. The New Testament clearly tells us that there will be suffering, it doesn't say run out and find it, it just says it will come so don't be surprised.

I'm an eternal optimist. There is enough proof to me that God will be physically returning to this world and there are going to be lots of things he is happy about (those things are people...his children). The state of the economy, friends losing jobs and houses is enough for even me to get overwhelmed. Work is a lot harder than it was a few months ago. People are scared. I am scared.

Is this the chance for my generation to become anywhere near as great as our grandparents? They lived through suffering and came out of it truly to be admired for many things. One thing that I am certain is now is the time for the hopeful to live that way. I struggle with that. My bed has felt better than it has in years, all warm and quiet. Yet hiding away is not an option. God is at work, and I really need him to do work in my own heart.

Last night I was reading The Book of Common Prayer, which I feel like I'm still learning how to use, when I came across this prayer For Quiet Confidence:

O God of peace, who hast taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be our strength: By the might of they Spirit lift us, we pray thee, to thy presence, where we may be still and know that thou art God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

It is very simple but that is my prayer.