Domino's

The last couple of days I have been painting 1000 domino's and making our Summer Conference Logo of a video that we will be making. I can't really express in words what it is like to paint 1000 domino's. It is quiet the experience. I'm sure it could have been made much easier if we had a spray gun that actually worked well. It kept getting clogged thus making this project a little more difficult. I also had to paint the two dots and one line on 75 of the domino's. It is a tedious job, but I tend to be okay with those most of the time. Then next step in the process was to set up the domino's around the logo. With each domino placed there was the fear "I really don't want to be the one that has a domino fall over and make the whole thing fall and start over". Well, I was putting the last Domino in place, and sure enough, it tipped and set one of the four lines going. THAT LAST DOMINO Dangit! That happened several times to a couple of us. That's the risk you take when you work with Domino's I guess. But, be that as it may, as usual, the hard work pays off because it looked really good. My back hurts, my legs are tired, there is red spray dust all over the garage, but it was worth it because the end product looks good.

J is for Jamba or Jesus?

So I went to a vision night for a church plant here in Joplin last night. Some people from work invited me so I thought I'd check it out. It was at the Bridge, which is a skate park/coffee shop/ministry type place, and it is a really cool building. So I was sitting there listing to the "vision" of the guy starting this church. And for a little while there, I was getting a little excited. And that got me thinking, this guy is doing in me what he was hoping to do. He was getting me excited about something he is excited about. And that got me thinking some more. What is it to have a vision? What does it take? I think that before you can have a "vision" you have to have a passion. In the broad scope you can have a passion for anything to have a vision. But to have a vision for a church, you have to have a passion for God and his people. And to start a church, you have to be able to cast that vision to other, and have them catch that passion that you have. You can be passionate about a lot of things, some say I'm passionate about Jamba Juice, I can't really argue with that, but that is nothing compared to having a passion for Jesus. It really isn't. I know when I get someone to have Jamba for the first time, I want them to be able to catch the passion that I have for it. I want to educate them and guide them in the right direction to have the best possible experience. I know it's wierd, I'm comparing a passion for Jamba with a passion for Jesus. The do both start with a J, they both have the same amount of letters, vowels, and those other letters that are not vowels (can't think), It is really just an example with startling similarities. So I guess what I'm saying is that I understand where the leader of this church is coming from, and I think he did a good job of casting his vision and spreading his passion to, if not just me, the other people in the room last night.
So the question I have to ask myself is this; Do I break away from the church I am attending now to join this church plant? I think I am going to continue to explore my options before I make a commitment to one place. I know I can't balance on the fence for too long. A decision must be made at some point.

Christmas is almost here

Today has been a good day so far. I decided to take the day off today to relax a little and try to catch up on some rest. I didn't sleep in, which is fine because I took Chad to the airport in Tulsa. That all went smooth. That was a good drive. I enjoy driving, it's relaxing for me. So I am doing what I wanted to do today, relax. I will have to admit I had an alterior motive. JAMBA!!! I had a power sized citrus squeeze this morning with the added pleasure of an Apple Cinnomon Pretzel. It was just as I had remember from days of old, or at least about a month ago. Then I went to the mall and just walked around and found a pair of shoes that I really liked that were half price, so needless to say I couldn't resist. $40, that a good deal. Then I went to Panera in the mall and worked on some things that I really needed to work on. I really enjoy that atmosphere at Panera, and they have free internet, which is better then the one in Joplin. Next I made my way to the Guitar Center. I played on a couple of Taylors and tickled the ivory of a couple keyboards and just generally enjoyed myself. Then I had another favorite, the Sausage breakfast burrito at Sonic. It was great. Now I am back at Panera because I thought to myself, "I need to blog about this day since I am in this blog mode the last couple of days" And I am listening to Christmas music and relaxing as I write this. I would have a I.C. Mocha helping to make this moment that much better, but I figure that will spoil my Jamba Juice for the ride home. That's right, I'm going for round two before I head home, which might be after I go to Barnes & Noble and relax with a book. Who would have thought I'd want to relax with a book? I guess I'm getting old. Nonetheless, it has been a good day. Which may be capped off with watching some episodes of Smallville season 5. Tell me, does it get much better? Sure it does, but I'm enjoying the moments.

Questions in Life

There are times in one's life when you have to ask yourself questions. There are different question for the different stages in life. In high school, or even before, you have to ask yourself; What college am I going to go too? What do I want to do with my life? Or where do I want to go in life? In my world and the world of the Christian, we ask ourselves, or should; What does God want me to do? Where does God want me to go? Often times it is not met with an answer as quickly as we would like. That's where our faith comes in. We need to have faith that God is going to take care of us and that even when hard times come, when we feel like he isn't there, he really is, and through our hard times he is teaching us something that, if we are wise and are paying attention, will develop who we are into what God wants us to be. We talked today in our all staff devotions about trusting God even when we don't understand. When we don't see where he is taking us, but having faith that God knows best. That was really something that I needed to hear because it is something that I have been struggling with a lot lately. This last year or so has been a time where I have really had to trust that God has me in the right place. It's been hard at times because I am away from the people I am closest too. My family and friends are all in California and I am in Missouri. I am torn by this, because I love what I am doing, I love the people I work with, and I even enjoy living in Missouri. I have new family and friends here in Missouri. I am very happy with the 8am-5pm aspect of my life. So I find myself asking God what he has planned for me. My prayer is this; Lord help me to trust that your plan is best. It's a simple prayer yet it is so difficult when your just not happy about it all the time.
So the question remains, Lord where are you taking me?

New Thing

so we had this meeting today at work about blogger. So here is my attempt to do this blogger thing, please be patient with me, I'm trying to get this thing going.