A Pretty Good Weekend
I had a pretty good weekend. It started Friday night with the Addy Awards. For those of you who are not in "the business", the Addy's are advertising's answer to the Oscars. I never think of myself as being "in advertising," but the industry does. Web design, multimedia marketing, all the stuff that we do at
Elevation counts as advertising. But, I digress.
The awards are a big fancy occasion and we got all dressed up (though we were underdressed compared to a lot of folks). I wore my black suit with a tan dress shirt and nice tie, and Sarah wore a black, floor length gown (and looked spectacular!). There were quite a few tuxes and gown there. We had a fancy meal and then the awards ceremony.
Elevation did really well. All in all, we won 9 Gold Awards - at least a few that I had a personal hand in - and lots of Bronze and Silvers. We also won an award for the best piece that never got used. We did a logo for a mayoral campaign that the client thought was a little to daring and went with a more conservative version we did. But the biggest award of the evening for us was Best of Show. The top award they give out! We won for a site that Chris and I really worked hard on. It was surprising to win but VERY gratifying as well. The same site
Tuska Studio also won a Gold for website. Recently, we received word that the Smithsonian Museum of American Art wanted to buy some pieces from this artist and they had first been attracted BY THE WEBSITE. They had some VERY nice things to say about it. High praise coming from the Smithsonian!!
After accepting the awards, they interviewed the winners, so you can watch the awards show on Channel 18 this coming Saturday and see me try to sound like an idiot on TV! All in all, a big night and a lot of fun.
Then, Saturday, Sarah and I celebrated our 1 month anniversary. It seems impossible to believe that we've been together only a month! I feel like we've known each other for so much longer. We went to dinner at Giuseppi's and had a wonderful meal. The food (I thought) was really on par with any other nice Italian place, but the atmosphere was very nice. It was quiet and we could really talk. That's two nights in a row for me in a suit! I think that may be a record.
After a wonderful dinner and awesome conversation (with a beautiful woman I might add! :-), we changed into more casual clothes and went to see
End of the Spear. For those who haven't heard about it, it's the true story of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint and a group of missionaries to Ecuador in the 50s. They worked to make contact with an unreached tribe in the Amazon basin and were tragically killed. Following this, their wives went to the jungle to live among the natives and share the love of Christ. Through their love - and in large part because the men did not fight back when attacked - a number of the natives came to know Christ. At the end of the film, Nate Saint's son Steve learns that one of these men who became a Christian was the one who speared his father and in a touching and dramatic scene, forgives him.
This is a truly amazing story and one that is likely to make you want to head straight for the mission field! If you haven't seen it, GO NOW!!!! :-) Seriously, 50% of the proceeds go to reach indigenous peoples who have never heard the gospel, so don't wait to rent it, see it in the theater!
The most amazing line came when Nate and the others are preparing to leave to go attempt to meet the natives. They are known as a very violent group with a culture of revenge and death (in fact, they had almost exterminated themselves by the 1950s because they killed so many...). Nate's son Steve asks his father if he will shoot them to defend himself if they attack. Nate responds, "We can't shoot them. They aren't ready for heaven. We are." Wow. To have that kind of faith and love to lay down your own life because you know that you are ready to face God rather than kill someone to save your life because they are NOT READY.
This turns out to be huge. The women end up telling the natives later about the Creator God's Son, who even though He was speared, He did not spear back. They have a hard time with this concept, but it is eventually what makes the difference. I can't emphasize this enough, GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!!
Christmas Musings
I know that I haven't written a lot lately. I haven't had a lot to say. I know,
Chad, "it doesn't have to be important or profound. Just write what you're thinking and what's going on in your life."
So, here's what's going on in my life. Christmas happened. God left a paradise that I can't even imagine, a world where He is limitless and stepped into a world that is anyplace but paradise and a body where He was VERY limited. He could only be in one place at a time, for years He depended totally on a teenage girl and her carpenter husband to provide for His daily needs. Why? Because I needed Him to.
God came to save the world, but if I was the only one, He would have come anyway. How can I help but be humbled by that!? How can my response be any less than praise? The God of the universe gave up everything so that He and I could have a right relationship. So that we could get together and hang out. And sometimes I can't seem to find five minutes to hang out with Him.
So, at Christmas, God reminded me of that. He gently whispered it in my ear and I am motivated to run to Him and to spend that quantity (no, that's NOT a typo) time with Him. Not out of obligation or gratingly. But out of love. Out of a response to love so great that my feeble brain can't come up with words to express my gratitude. Best Christmas present ever.
I read this verse this morning:
"If we died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him. If we disown Him, He will disown us; if we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself" (2 Timothy 2:11-13 NIV).I especially like that last part, "if we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself." I LOVE that my relationship with God depends more on His faithfulness than mine! I want to be faithful, but it's so good to know that when I am not, He is. It's great how God always knows exactly what I need exactly when I need it! I'm amazed at my own stupidity in forgetting this. Whenever He makes me wait (or tells me no) I get so frustrated because I want it now, yet I forget - even though He has shown me over and over (and over an over...) again that He knows best and His timing is perfect. And He is always faithful. "He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself."
He CAN'T be anything less. He is because He is. Wow.
Personal note: I like to use this blog to not only wax poetic, ramble incoherently and basically just let the contents of my brain spill out onto the written page, but also to update anyone who might happen to read this (and I appreciate both of you, don't think I don't!) on what's going on in my life. I have a new friend. I recently met her and she is another great Christmas present. At this point in our friendship, we are still learning about each other and I am only beginning to learn about her passion for Christ, but already she has shown me things. God has used her to teach me and to help me grow. So, right now I think that's all I want to say, but I'm sure there will be more to come! I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!
fundamental truth
OK, ok. I know, I haven't posted anything in a while? Who knew anyone would care?
There really hasn't been much going on in my life worth posting about lately. Same old boring routine. But last night I went to a concert put on by my old roomate
Bo Warren to promote the release of his new CD. The show was great and the music is awesome. You should check out his site and buy some CDs (shameless advertising... Bo, I'll be expecting my cut...).
But, I digress. He was talking between songs about God's love for us and how it's not just something He says, but it's truth. That started me thinking. Maybe this won't be profound to anyone but me, but it hit me that God's love for me and for you IS THE fundamental truth. I suppose I knew this, but from time to time, God reminds me of things like this, often when I need to hear them most.
When you think about things that we take for granted as truth - the law of gravity is a good example, we just TRUST that stuff will fall down - this may or may not be one that occurs to you. But it IS fundamental truth. It is simply because it is. God's love is not just something He says, or even something He shows (though He does both over and over again), but it just...well..IS.
It is part of His nature. It is part of who He is. And those other truths...they could all fall by the wayside. Gravity could one day just...NOT WORK. The sun could not rise. But God CAN'T stop loving us. OK, I can see it coming a mile away, "I thought that God could do anything. So He CAN stop loving us if He chooses." That's a tough one, but I have to disagree.
I'm not sure I can explain it (in fact, I pretty sure that I can't) but in this case, God can't. It's the old, "Can God make a rock so big He can't move it?" question. But, however it works, God can't go against His nature. He IS truth, He IS holiness, and He IS love.
It's not just that He demonstrates these things. He IS them. My head hurts just trying to wrap itself around that idea. But at the same time it's very comforting - in fact more comforting than anything I've ever heard - to know that it's true. That there is an absolute, fundamental truth in life. God IS. He is love, truth, holiness, righteousness...His character is unchanging. I know we say that in church, but think about it for a second. Just let it wash over your brain. Soak in the implications.
We live in a world where there isn't much you can't take at face value and depend on. People you look up to suddenly do something that takes them down a notch in your eyes. Even your best friend can disappoint you. Planes fy into buildings and things that you though would NEVER happen do. After a while, you start to wonder if you can really say that ANYTHING is set in stone. "What if I wake up in the morning and the sky ISN'T blue?" In the midst of all that uncertainty, it's nice to have something certain.
I don't know if I've made my point exactly right or not. I hope I have. I hope that I've painted a picture of a God who NEVER changes who He is. A God who you can trust is the same yesterday, today, tomorrow and eighteen gajillion (I think that's 547 zeros...) years from now. That makes me smile and it helps me sleep.
Some of you smart folks out there, chime in and share your thoughts...
Mr. Floatie Goes to Washington?
OK, not really Washington, but Mr. Floatie
was a candidate for the Mayor of Victoria, British Columbia. That is until he withdrew his name in the face of legal challenges to his appearance on the ballot. The city of Victoria had planned to contest Mr. Floatie’s candidacy on the grounds that only real people could run for office.
That’s right. Mr. Floatie is not a real person. He’s a character. Mr. Floatie is actually James Skwarok, a community activist who dresses as a 6-foot piece of human feces to protest and draw attention to the pumping of sewage into the Straits of Juan de Fuca without any treatment other than the filtering of solids (which presumably would include the very...umm..."objects" represented by Mr. Floatie himself). Skwarok has the best possible quote on the issue.
"Of course I'm not a real person," he said in an interview last week. "I'm a big piece of poop."Well, finally a politician who will fess up to it. As far as I’ve been able to determine, this is the first recorded case of excrement running for public office in North America – although some would argue that this is only the first candidate to be open about it. Certainly, I have felt at times that there are members of Congress, the State Legislature and certainly Lexington’s own local government who are full of...well...let’s just say...manure.
hungry?
I’m starving. Like most Americans, I am trying to lose weight. I’m not that overweight (especially compared to some), but when I went in for my last physical, my doctor explained that my blood pressure was up a little since my previous visit, but that was most likely do to the fact that I’d put on some more weight. Thanks, doc.
So, in an effort to lose weight, I’m eating less. I’m not "dieting" per se, just trying to relearn healthy eating habits and portion sizes and trying to increase my physical activity. But at times, while my body is adjusting, it feels like I’m starving. That is until an article in the local paper reminded me of a tragic misuse of the word.
Twenty-five percent of the population of Niger -
3.3 million, including 800,000 children - is at risk right now of dying from starvation. Every year, 160,000 children under the age of 5 die of starvation, and 1 in 4 children never makes it to age 5. And Niger is just the tip of the iceberg. All over the world, people starve to death.
While we in the United States spend
$30 billion a year on losing weight or trying to prevent weight gain, all while eating "Super Sized" portions of food that’s bad for us in the first place. We really have no concept of what it means to be hungry, much less starving. Even the poor in the United States have it pretty good compared to a lot of places. Even with all the recent discussion of those without health insurance in the States, most people can get at least rudimentary access to heath care. Not so in places like Niger where there are only
3.5 physicians and 22.9 nurses per 100,000 people. Africa is a place that's dear to my heart, but these tragedies occur all over the world.
Why isn’t this on the news everyday? Because it isn’t news. It’s an everyday fact of life. In the back of our minds, we know it happens, but we don’t like think about it. So we change the channel to something happier. I’m preaching to myself here as well. I’m just as guilty as anyone.
And the church should really be upset. Christ tells us that
when we feed the hungry, we’re feeding Him. And when we do nothing, it’s bad news. I’m proud to be part of a
church that contributes a sizable portion of it’s budget to missions, spreading the gospel not just with words, but with actions as well. James admonishes us,
"Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."I guess we need to listen to what we say we believe. Maybe you are involved in some way to help the hungry. If so, that’s awesome. If not, and you don’t know what to do, may I suggest visiting the
Food for the Hungry website? There you can find out about the organization and how you can help.
Samaritan’s Purse is another awesome organization that helps those in need throughout the world.
Second, talk to your local church. Find out what, if anything, they are doing to support the work of helping those in need along with the spread of the Gospel. Find out how you can help.
Finally, maybe we all need to become a little less cavalier with the use of the word starving. I know I do.
a walk in cyberspace
So, I've finally joined the ranks of all who blog. I'm not sure, but I may be the last human being on earth to do so. Based on a quick search of the web, it seems that everyone (and some of their pets) have blogs. It strikes me as a bit odd that there are people out there who would want to read my rantings (there are few enough people who KNOW me who want to listen to them!), but that's beside the point.
So, maybe you know me and want to read this stuff to keep up with my fascinating life, or maybe you're some sort of cyber-voyeur who wants a glipse into someone else's insanity. Or maybe you're usuing up some of your
1.95 hours a day of slacking at work. Anyway, welcome. As the days go by, I'll be posting more. Random thoughts. Updates on my life. Valuable offers from local merchants (ok, maybe no valuable offers...)
So, thanks for stopping by. I should have more important things to be doing, but that's beside the point.
