slowe thinking

I suck at blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:15:00 +0000

I haven't posted anything here in months other than the constant stream of twitter updates that automatically appear on the left. I am not recommitting to update more frequently or anything like that, just letting you know, I'm still here. I have some ideas for some posts and will hopefully be regurgitating them into written form over the next few weeks. The truth is I suck at blogging and twitter really fits my mode of operation much better with it's short, quick and to the point 140 character bursts. I wish all conversations were that short and direct :) Follow me on Twitter here http://www.twitter.com/slowethinking and check back here over the next few weeks for my few and far between longer ramblings. Thanks for tuning in.

Mad Church Disease - requote

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:53:00 +0000

I am reading Mad Church Disease by Anne Jackson. This book is amazing, if you are involved in a church in any capacity I would highly recommend this book. A number of things stood out to me but this quote she included from another book is amazing.

"What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use - men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men - men of prayer."
- Preacher and Prayer, by E. M. Bounds

That pretty much sums it up doesn't it? Funny that I'm quoting a quote in a book quoted from another book, but yeah, it's that good.

Gadget twitch

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:36:00 +0000

So I disconnected from BES server on my blackberry a few weeks ago and have all my stuff syncing with google now. It's working great, no problems. I'm paying an extra $15 a month for BES server access on my phone plan and am thinking about dropping it back to the standard data service. If I'm doing that, do I really need a blackberry or just a phone that can do email and stuff seamlessly? This is not helping, I want it, bad. Will be released on sprint in the next few weeks, oh so sweet looking. Looks like Palm is back in the game.

Infectious Grooves

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 02:37:00 +0000

I need to get Tony a stethoscope.

8-bit Memories

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:47:00 +0000

Total Brilliance. I would say that anybody who's anybody in their mid 30's knows exactly what this is. I could put this code in so fast it was unbelievable. You had to be really quick on the Contra screen. Who's with me on this?

Visual DNA

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:17:00 +0000

Last night I got out the electric trimmers and gave Ethan and myself a haircut. My head feels liberated, I love a fresh cut. While I was cutting Ethan's hair it was so apparent to me that he was truly my son. He has a goofy cowlick on the front of his hairline on one side that makes it hard to cut his bangs straight, exactly like I do. He has a huge gap between his two front teeth that I can guarantee braces will not correct, because I have the same gap in my teeth that is somewhat hidden by building up ceramic to fill the gap. I'm a pretty laid back guy and E is the same way, unless you wake him up from a nap, then he turns into his mom. There are a bunch of other things but these are just a few of the things that are an outward indication that he is from me. This got me thinking about how God is our heavenly father and we were created in his image. I think sometimes it is hard for people to see that though, in themselves as well as others. We tend to cover and hide these things with what we want to be and not what He wants us to be.

We should take a look at ourselves in the mirror, with fresh eyes and ask the question. Is it obvious to anyone who looks who my Father really is?

I'll never grow up

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 02:27:00 +0000

I have a skateboard I keep at the office. I bought it for myself on a birthday a few years ago, maybe my 25th, I can't remember. I used to skate all the time when I was in middle and high school. I loved it. I broke my foot on a launch ramp and was back on the board the next day with a cast on my right leg. This week, while skateboarding at the office, I was able to ollie a 12 pack of coke and clear it by a full deck, land a few kick flips and am nailing pop shuvits like I was 13. My shins and upper ankles are beaten and bruised pretty badly but it was so worth it.

Tonight Ethan and I were playing in the basement and I remembered something me and my cousin used to do when we were little. It involves stairs, a cheap sleeping bag, a bruised rear end and a lot of laughter, but more than that it requires that you be young at heart.

Now that you are through laughing, what are you doing that keeps you young?

Give Back

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:29:00 +0000

The Fusion Give Back is in full effect and the stories are really starting to roll in now. These stories are amazing and really speak about the hearts of the people at Fusion. Check it out at http://www.fusiongiveback.com

Lights, Ornaments, Action!

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:35:00 +0000

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, of all the trees I loath thee

Each year you bring to me a sight, of gooey sap and needle blight

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, of all the trees I loath thee

I'm not a scrooge, I just a fan of the sapless permanent needle Christmas tree, known to the uneducated as the fake or artificial tree. I say uneducated because anyone with Christmas tree handling experience knows that the sapless permanent needle Christmas tree is far superior in every way to a "real" or "live" tree. Some may argue that a "real" tree looks better than the SPNC tree but with the advancements in plastics, composite materials and the inclusion of LED lights, that is no longer true. Until we figure out how to grow a tree with included lights, no sap and needles that don't fall off, I will continue to be a fan of the SPNC tree. Unfortunately, Stephanie is a fan of the "real" tree so I will happily become covered in sap and make myself dizzy wrapping and unwrapping lights on a tree that will die in a week and leave a trail of dead needles through the house.

So, what kind of tree are you rockin?

Beautiful SPNC Tree

"Real" Tree

I have HD?

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 04:07:00 +0000

I watched Heroes last night in full 1080i HD, it was glorious. I'm embarrassed to admit that I just discovered this weekend that I have HD. We changed to the cable company DVR a few months back from our replayTV unit in the living room. When the guy installed it, he said they (Charter) sent a HD capable box out for our install. If I ever wanted to have HD I just needed to call and have it turned on. I still could not justify the cost for it so I was like, whatever. Well when my inlaws were here for the holiday, I noticed my brother in law was watching football on one of the HD channels with no problem or need to subscribe notice on the screen. I went in the DVR and my TV setup and changed everything over to the 1080i settings and was presented with a beautifuly crisp, detailed picture of the football game. I quickly discovered I get all of the network channels that offer HD plus ESPN but none of the expanded cable HD channels like Discovery. But, football, Heroes, The Unit, Prison Break and 24 all come in fine in HD, how sweet is that!

Thanksgiving Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 03:12:00 +0000

Thanksgiving was a blast. Here are a couple of quick pictures we snapped over the past couple of days that I really liked.

I love this picture of my girls. It still sounds weird for me to say that. This picture is so good, my beautiful wife and sweet baby girl. I can't get over how blessed I am to have them in my life.

We incorporated Star Wars into Thanksgiving this year. Ethan loves Star Wars and I've been talking to him about watching the original movies. We were at my parents house on Thanksgiving day and watched Episode IV on Dad's 100" HD screen with the boys. They loved it an we ended up watching Episode V on Friday and Episode VI today. There were many questions asked and answered with puzzled looks, especially regarding the whole Anikin is Darth Vader who is Luke's dad bit since Ethan has been introduced to Star Wars from the Clone Wars. He starting to grasp it though and is really get into it. This picture was taken yesterday evening as him and Cousin Evan watched The Empire Strikes Back.

Metal

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:35:00 +0000

For those that don't know, I am a huge Heavy Metal fan. I'm not talking about Motley Crue, Guns N Roses or even Iron Maiden. I'm talking about fast, heavy, hardcore, melt your skull, start a mosh pit kind of heavy. I know I am in a very small percentage of the general population in my musical taste, most people question whether the music I play is music at all. This isn't new to me, I'm used to it. Over the past few years there has been a huge resurgence in the quantity and quality of metal bands across all genres but especially in the Christian metal space. The first real concert I ever went to was Stryper, who for their time, was a pretty good band in the glam band, hair metal scene but were still not up to par musically with their "secular" counterparts. This has been mostly true of Christian metal until the last few years. It seems like there is a new Christian metal band coming out every few weeks that is not just good in the Christian space, but are as good or better than any metal band from any genre. I love it, this should be the model for everything we as Christians do. Too often we end up being the best in the Christian realm but not up to par with mainstream non-Christian counterparts. Anyway, I am going to start posting some of my top metal picks for the 2% of my readers who also enjoy heavy metal. Not sure of the frequency, it will probably be as I am listening and a band stands out or song speaks to me. Comment if you enjoy any of these.

The first song I am going to mention is Redemption by August Burns Red. They are at the top of the metal game and shred like nobody else on my playlist. Their music is brutal and the lyrics are amazing. Here are the lyrics from "Redemption".

I trust in you for life to live, and air to breath.
Purity fills my lungs.
I no longer live in solitude.
No longer bound.
My heart beats with great devotion.
This is the start to a new beginning.
On my knees praying for mercy.
Hands raised high, humble and broken. Wanting your grace.
Wanting your security.
Memories of laying facedown, motionless, with such a hollow feeling inside.
Soon I would end this life I was living.
I am just a man with a heart and sinful hands.
I am a fallen victim.
Lord, show me the way. I ask of you Father, let my words be your words.
Let my thoughts be your thoughts.
To you, I give my praise.
Show me the way. Take me in your arms. Never let me go.
Lord, show me the way, as I give myself to you.
Never let me go.
Hold me with your everlasting love.
Be my strength. Be my voice. Be my glory. Set me free.

Want to listen to the full song? Here it is from youtube with the lyrics imposed over the music. This song just gets me going! Enjoy.

Random Dumpage

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 04:29:00 +0000

Service today Fusion rocked the house. We started Fanatic this week which is a series about worship. Seth and the band had the place rockin like I've never seen. It was the most amazing worship experience I've ever seen at our Church.
Tony did a great job bringing it today too. I don't think anyone left Fusion today wondering what the importance of worship is.
Looking forward to Thanksgiving, ready to chow down majorly.
I finished reading The Shack this week. It was very good, I highly recommend it. Listening to the afterward of how the book was written and the chain of events leading to it getting published and becoming such a huge success was as interesting as the book to me. Check it out.
I spent the last half of the week with my friend and business partner at his lake house building a boat lift in his boat house for his jet skis. I considered it a house rental payment as he lets us use the place whenever we want for nada. The jet skis usually stay on the trailer and have to be shuttled back and forth to the closest boat ramp. Now they will be safe and secure in covered storage on the water for easy access. Check out the pictures of our handy work here. It was a lot of work but we had a great time just hanging out and cutting up. The funniest part of the trip ended up being the 8 trips back and forth to the hardware store to get all the stuff we needed to finish the job.
On the way home from the lake house, while in the left lane on I-285 doing about 80 MPH a lady in lane next tom me decided to get over on top of the car in front of me. It made for some excitement as I tried to slow my truck, watch the pinball car action in front of me, look for people in the lanes next to me who might freak out and ram me and watch my rearview for the 20 other vehicles behind me going 80 that were shooting in different directions around each other trying to stop. Luckily no one was injured and no additional accidents that we were aware of happened. We hung out for about 20 minutes waiting for the police to give our statements to and then got back on the road. Check out the picture of the CARnage here.
I have started watching The Unit and am disappointed I hadn't watched it before now. I think it might be my favorite show on TV right now, seriously, it's up there with Heroes.
I'm excited about 24, I think. I'm just glad it's not all happening in California, apparently the writers realized things might happen in other areas of the word. I mean, come on, what area couldn't use a little Jack Bauer?
Good beef jerky is hard to find, when you do find it, get a lot and don't eat it all at once. Also, have dental floss handy.
Chocolate milk should only be made with nesquik powdered mix and mixed to a consistency that makes it crunchy. Just my opinion.
This is one of the most ridiculous things I've seen in a long time. Who is buying this?
I got some new coffee called Jet Fuel, it's good.
Got a big short week ahead, plan on cramming a lot into a short time period. Should be fun.

Hi, I'm Stupid

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 14:15:00 +0000

We went over something in service at Fusion last week that I had never caught before. Check out this verse from Acts.

We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

- Acts 26:14

As Pastor Tony explained during the service, goads are a device used to prod the oxen into doing what they were supposed to be doing. Sort of like spurs for a horse, just sharper and on the end of a stick. What you don't read here is the fact that the goads were only used on the experienced oxen, the ones that already knew what they were supposed to be doing but were just feeling rebellious. An inexperienced Ox that was not aware of what he was supposed to be doing would never have been subjected to goads to begin with. So while on the surface this can read as appearing to be new news to Saul, the fact is he was fully aware that what he was doing was wrong.

I have a confession, I speed, a lot, like everywhere I go. I know it’s wrong and I'm breaking the law. I've even gone as far as to cost justify it to myself. At one point I was making weekly treks back and forth to central Florida, and I reasoned that if I went 15mph over the speed limit on the highway for a 7 hour trip I would save an hour, each way. Time = Money right? If I could get away with speeding 95% of the time I was way ahead in my mind $ wise, I feel my time is pretty valuable, an extra hour at home with my family is worth a lot to me. I'm still an idiot, I shouldn't be speeding and the long term costs are far higher than my silly math can take into account. Increased insurance costs, budgeting hiccups because we have to keep stroking checks to podunk cities in south Georgia not to mention the not so nice task of informing your wife you've got another driving award and trying to explain how you're really ahead overall.

The point is, we all have things we do that we know we are not supposed to be doing. When was the last time you stopped and took stock of your priorities and compared them with Gods priorities for you? Stop kicking against the goads and start getting on with a full life by following the plan God has for you.

(I'm not advocating speeding, do not use this post as an excuse for your illicit activities, in other words, be stupid at your own risk)

Ed, I accept your challenge.

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:49:00 +0000

Lust Vegas Week 2 Promo from Fellowship Church on Vimeo.

Secret Weapon

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 02:20:00 +0000

This may look like your average hair dryer, but it's not. It's a secret weapon that produces the exact harmonic frequency to put a crying infant into an instant comatose state. The effects are immediate once the device is switched on, the infants eyes glaze over and close within seconds. Switching the unit off will immediately rouse the infant back into a highly irritated state. There are currently no known adverse side affects to the infant, although many exist for the parents. These include but are not limited to; irritability, inability to sleep through the constant noise, loss of ability to converse over noise, loss of ability to use phone in vicinity of device and loss of ability to hear other children in the house who may be in need. Although the risks seem high, they well outweigh the possible alternatives of not using the device, I highly recommend getting one of these!

New Layout

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:57:00 +0000

I'm playing around with my site template and layout. I like this one better but am not completely in love with it. I looked for template with a fire, guns and skulls theme but came up empty. Feedback and suggestions, good or bad on the look would be appreciated.

Tribes Quote

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 01:58:00 +0000

I'm reading Seth Godin's book Tribes and came across this quote.

"In unstable times, growth comes from leaders who create change and engage their organizations, instead of from managers who push their employees to do more from less."

This is a very powerful truth that is much harder to implement and pull of than it sounds. True leadership involves not just creating change, but motivating and empowering the people to carry out the changes whole heartedly.

Video

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 03:38:00 +0000

This week we made a video for our Fresh series. We had a blast making it and played it during the service today. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and it got a lot of laughs and comments. Enjoy!

A Day at the Office from Fusion Church on Vimeo.

Random Dumpage

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:25:00 +0000

· Stephanie and I went to vote at the same time so we could tag team the kid wrangling. Much to our surprise, it took us all of 10 minutes to get in, vote and get out. God bless all of you that went and stood in line for hours to vote early. It made my experience so much better from years past.

· We’ve got some really cool stuff coming up at Fusion. It’s going to be crazy, I am very excited, you don’t want to miss it!

· Our current series “fresh” is amazing and is changing the way people think about their faith, very cool.

· Ethan is really getting into building stuff. He is digging LEGOs and we had a great time playing with my old Robotix toys. It’s cool to see him imagining and building, he comes up with crazy stuff every day.

· We had a great time on halloween trick or treating and enjoyed hanging out with our friends while the kids played afterwards. Ethan got to go as spiderman, Brenna was batgirl, Steph was a doctor and I went as bad santa.

· Brennan has been doing great, she is growing fast and challenging us in new ways that Ethan didn’t. She is pretty well behaved but has a much different personality than E, that’s for sure, follow along at BrennanLowe.com.

· I’ve been eyeing a new piece of “hardware”, I’m even considering selling or trading some existing inventory to make it happen, hmmmmm… decisions, decisions.

· I’m a full on Audible.com junkie now, I finished METAtropolis and it was a bit of a mind bender. Definitely caused me to think about some stuff in a new way. Some of the technology discussed in the last novella of the book dowsnt seem that far away and the application was mind blowing. $ permitting I will be listening to a lot more audio books.

New Series at Fusion

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:25:00 +0000

This weekend we are starting a new series at Fusion called "Fresh: Reviving Stale Faith" and I can't wait. I think it's going to have huge impact on people that traditionally see faith as something boring and tedious. We filmed a promo video for the series as well. Check it out and don't forget to be at Fusion Sunday for this series.

Fresh Promo from Fusion Church on Vimeo.

Fighting your ally

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:35:00 +0000

I just read this post from Seth Godin's blog and it got me thinking. Make sure to read the entire post but this one paragraph stopped me in my tracks. (I bolded for effect)

"Years ago, when I had ten people working for me at my book packaging company, one client accounted for about half our revenue. They were difficult, constantly threatening litigation, sending lawyers to otherwise productive meetings, questioning our ethics and more. It was clearly the culture of their organization to be at war. So I fired them. I gave them the rights and walked away, even though it meant a huge hit to our organization. Why do it? Because if we had stuck with them, it would have changed who we were, who we hired and how we marketed ourselves going forward. We would have had a lifetime of this."

In business, I have had to make decisions like this with Vendors, Customers and Partners. Some people, no matter what the benefit they bring monetarily are not worth the energy, effort and hassle it takes to deal with them. Sometimes these are the hardest decisions to make but in the long run we always benifit from it. When we were in the paging business, we had what we called "black hole" customers. No matter how much we tried, they could not and would not ever be happy. We could have given them free service forever and they still would not be satisfied. It took a couple of years into the business to realize that we didn't need every single customer that came through the door and we started shutting them off.

I think we will always have others that no matter how much we focus and pour into them they will never be satisfied and continue to beat us down until we draw the line. The other issue here is making sure that you do not become one of these types yourself without realizing it. Whether you are in business or ministry, if you are constantly in a state or attitude of war with the people who should be considered your ally, no amount of money or benifits you have to offer will be able to overcome this attitude in the long run. Don't get labeled as a "Black Hole".

Kids in the debate

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:02:00 +0000

This is going to rub some people the wrong way but, whatever.

Anybody else notice what was missing in the audiences of the debates? I didn't hear a single baby cry or anyone making a case for why their kids should have been in "adult" debate instead of childcare or citing the fact that they think their 4 year old would have enjoyed it better.

It seemed like everyone was really intent on Staying Focused on the Big Topics and not wanting to be distracted so they could Hear what these guys had to say that was So Important because this is such a Huge Decision about Who we are Choosing to Lead Us.

Seems like some priorities are outta whack, Just my 2 cents.

New Addiction

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:41:00 +0000

I took the plunge and acted on a offer to get a free book from audible. I've been kicking around trying audible for a while now, I really enjoy listening to podcasts and thought I might like books as well. Microsoft just released an update to the Zune software that included audible compatibility so now I am set. Having never really done the books on tape/CD thing before I wasn't sure what to expect. So far I love it. The free book offer was for an audible exclusive called METAtropolis which is a bizarre futuristic sci-fi type of book that is broken into small novellas, each written by a different author. I haven't read much sci-fi stuff since high school but have thoroughly enjoyed the first part of this book. I'm excited about listening to the rest of this book as well as delving into some of the other deeper books I'm wanting to read. Now I've just got to figure out how to fit the monthly fee into my budget :)

Being or Doing

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Lowe) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:48:00 +0000

I just read this post from Shawn Lovejoy. It really made me rethink my attitude about Sunday's. Everyone, especially staff and volunteers should read this and think about what their intentions are going into Sunday. We are so blessed to have the opportunity to serve the in this capacity, let's not forget why we are doing it and who we are doing it for.