Archive - August, 2010

Taken for Granted

August 29, 2010 in Abundant Life with 0 Comments

I saw a movie the other day that took place after a great war that destroyed much of the world. Few people were left alive and much of modern convenience was lost. The biggest loss, however, was the availability of water. During massive nuclear war, I guess most water gets contaminated or dried up. I can’t say for sure because I have never experienced this sort of event.

One of the main characters was younger and had never experienced life before the war. She asked an older man who had lived before the fallout what life was like back then. One of the things he said really struck me, “People had more than they needed. We had no idea what was precious and what wasn’t. We threw away things people kill each other for now.”

There are countless precious things in our lives that we totally take for granted. For instance, I don’t think there has ever been one day where I was legitimately concerned about getting food. I have always had a roof over my head. I have an incredible wife. I actually love my job. Sometimes we grow to think we deserve those things we experience with frequency, but really they are all precious gifts and deserve or admiration.

I saw this video about what life would be like in America without our most important resource: clean drinking water. It is pretty chilling, but definitely worth a minute of your time. Here we go…

I am going to close with two things. First, I think it would benefit all of us if we spent some time everyday actually thanking God. I don’t mean going through the motions, I mean literal, thoughtful thanks. Doing so will give you greater appreciation and joy in life. Second, something big is going to happen related to all of this in a couple of days, so stay tuned. When I say big, I mean the biggest thing this cheesy blog has ever been a part of.

Anyone out there want to express some appreciation?

Nice Finds 08.27.10

August 27, 2010 in Good Stuff with 0 Comments

1) Nicest website for people like me who are incompetent with color matching: Kuler. Seriously, this thing is amazing.

2) Nicest use of a slide:

3) Nicest quote on today’s man: “The marketing sweet spot for many companies is young men ages eighteen to thirty-four. These guys don’t know what it means to be a man, and so marketers fill the void with products that define manhood by what you consume rather than what you produce.” From an article by Mark Driscoll found here.

Maintaining Your Youth

August 26, 2010 in Abundant Life with 0 Comments

I just finished reading C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy and really enjoyed it. Lewis is one of my favorite authors and the Space Trilogy is a good example of why. He is a brilliant writer who is able to write incredible stories that are full of theological truth. While I cannot get into a full book review now (although I would love to), I do want to talk about a half page that really stuck out to me. If you have never read the books, don’t worry, this is by no means a spoiler.

You should read these

Two characters, Arthur and Camilla Denniston, are having a conversation with another character named Jane Studdock. They live in England and it is, not surprisingly, a foggy day. The Dennistons are explaining to Jane that they love all kinds of weather: fog, snow, rain, whatever it may be. She tells them that she can try to like crazy weather, but, “I don’t think I should ever learn to like rain and snow.”

“It’s the other way round,” said Denniston. “Everyone begins as a child by liking weather. You learn the art of disliking it as you grow up. Haven’t you ever noticed it on a snowy day? The grown-ups are all going about with long faces, but look at the children–and the dogs? They know what snow’s made for.”

“I’m sure I hated wet days as a child,” said Jane.

“That’s because the grown-ups kept you in,” said Camilla. “Any child loves rain if it’s allowed to go out and paddle about in it.”

Snow Skiing is probably my favorite thing to do ever.

I think Lewis makes a brilliant point in this brief dialogue. For some reason, we lose some of that zeal for life that was so prevalent as a child. Maybe it is because we have more responsibilities or because we have lost more of our trust for the world. Maybe it is because we become too worried about what others think or because of some misguided notion that adults just shouldn’t play too much.

I, for one, like the idea of maintaining my youth. I am not, by any means, saying I want to disregard my responsibilities. I do, however, want to live life with enthusiasm. I want to trust God to handle the big things that are beyond me and not spend my life worried. I want the faith of a child. I want to ignore the criticisms of people who are not enjoying life and are therefore prone to criticism of those who are. I want to have fun!

Some of my favorite memories are in the rain (read about the time I fell in love with Morgan here). I still love playing in the snow too. Granted, it is a pain when one gets stranded somewhere without a change of clothes or a tooth brush, but that sort of thing would be amazing for a kid to experience. Life is an adventure, and we have to choose whether or not we will take on the challenges with gusto, or spend our time complaining and rob ourselves of the joy of life.

What do you think? Is it a good thing to take on life’s challenges with the heart of a child?

If you are interested in the Lewis Space Trilogy, you can get them here: The Space Trilogy

A New Website

August 25, 2010 in Abundant Life with 0 Comments

Over the past couple of weeks we have been putting in a lot of work to create a new website for Campus Life. It is still not 100% there, but currently has 10 newly written lessons and 28 new videos. Over the next few weeks we will be adding another 15 videos and 9 more lessons.

If you have never heard of Campus Life it is one of the coolest and most effective things we are a part of. Every week, over 1000 students gather on different school campuses to worship and hear from God. The best part is, the clubs are entirely student led. Students teach, lead worship, perform skits, share testimonies, and organize games. Earlier in the week, the leaders of each club meet off campus to plan for their club and be trained by Christian adults who have some experience in those leadership areas.

If you visit the site (which you should) you will notice that all of the videos consist entirely of students. Check it out at www.for-campuslife.org. Many of the videos were also created by students, which is really cool because they look very professional. I love it when students take charge. If you are a youth pastor somewhere in the world, I strongly encourage you to help your students start their own club. It is incredibly effective and will bring students into the Kingdom. I would be happy to answer any of your questions!

Here is an example of just one of the videos by a Campus Life student:

The website was built using wordpress, which I highly recommend to anyone out there interested in web design. There are so many options (that can be simple or very complicated) and they can look very sharp. I also think they can be extremely easy to navigate once they are built, which is the most important thing about web design (if it looks good but no one can find anything, what good is it?). I hope you enjoy the new website!

Nice Finds 08.20.10

August 20, 2010 in Good Stuff with 0 Comments

1) Nicest new Worship Song. I love it. Forever Reign Click that link, listen to it, now. Seriously. And turn the bass up.

2) Nicest last second win of the day by the Braves (and 3rd out of last 5): Derreck Lee’s First Braves game

3) Nicest Conference you should come to: EMPOWER!
Learn about it HERE
Sign-Up HERE
Facebook event HERE

4) Nicest attempt to make a mini-van look cool:

TrueNorth Vision Video

August 15, 2010 in Cultural Connection, Favorite Posts, Videos with 0 Comments

Today we premiered the biggest project I have made in my life. It is called the TrueNorth Vision Video, and it was a beast. I started filming in March and have been working on it on and off since then. It was a really fun project and I was honored to tell the stories of some of our students. I know its longer than normal, but I think it turned out really good so I hope you enjoy it. We got the idea from Hillsong Church’s vision video, so if you have ever seen that you may see some of the tributes (or blatant rip-offs) of their creative ideas.

If you have ever wondered what video editing looks like, I decided to include this picture so you can see how many edits and layers there are. The top section is video and the bottom is audio. There are actually a few more layers, both higher and lower, but they couldn’t fit. Anyway, I thought some people may be interested in seeing what video editing looks like:

This version is not as exciting. Especially since I deleted all the media before taking the snapshot.

Nice Finds 08.13.10

August 13, 2010 in Good Stuff with 0 Comments

1) Nicest way to pass the summer: Red Neck Water Skiing

2) Nicest way to send a message to the man: Phonebooks

3) Nicest hot air balloon in the galaxy:

Found this on WomansDay. Don't ask me how.

4) Nicest explanation of who the key grip, the gapher, and the rest of those weird people in movie credits are: Check it out

The Most Important Part of LUG

August 11, 2010 in Abundant Life with 0 Comments

This video is being made as part of a series called “The Empower Series” and contains several of the fundamentals we have used at Grace to grow our student ministry. If you would like to attend the Empower Conference, click here to learn more or click here to sign up!

LUG begins on August 25! LUG is our Middle School Program where we have crazy fun, Bible teaching, worship, and most importantly, discipleship that is led by High Schoolers. Russell Schultz, our Middle School Director, explains the secret to our success:

If you want to learn more about LUG, check out the following video or visit www.lugweb.com

Two Perfect Bodies Make the Announcements

August 9, 2010 in Videos with 0 Comments

This past Sunday Brian Burchik and I made the High School announcement video, and it was pretty extreme. I am pretty sure we had more fun making it then any one who watched it, but you can decide for yourself.

Nice Finds 08.06.10

August 6, 2010 in Good Stuff with 0 Comments

I think it is time that Nice Finds became a weekly column. Sure, I am ripping off other blogs. But this is a great way for people to see cool stuff! I am going to be “unique” by never having the same number of Nice Finds. I might even comment on some, although you probably don’t care about the comments.

1) Nicest fake trailer of my favorite game as a kid:

2) Nicest way to create a font based on your own handwriting:

3) Nicest example of how I would want to run my business:

4) Nicest song written by a friend (share this and help him win):

5) Nicest explanation of how the best soundtrack of the year was made:

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