Apparently, this video has been making it’s way across the interwebs this week – I just happened to stumble on it tonight as I was catching up on stuff this week and had to post it too – such a beautiful & powerful message and so well spoken.

Edit: Just found out this video is sparking a lot of debate in various circles (shocker!) and several well written critiques of it have been published about it (i.e. here, here and here). I don’t have the time, nor do I really care to get involved in parsing every phrase of this kids testimony – but I understand the critique to some degree.   But I get him and I get what he’s saying. He’s speaking about religion in its “legalistic” form and views religion, much like I view it – and have experienced it. That said, it’s important to remember that religion (whether in name or deed) means something different to everyone and it’s easy to oversimplify things. But I do love this kid and I love his honesty and his testimony.

On a different note, I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year! Life’s been a bit crazy for our family since the holidays with work and everything; plus we’ve all been sick — especially Landon. Poor little guy has had strep and now has some sort of stomach bug. We’re just hoping to get back to some sense of normalcy this coming week! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season! Can’t believe there’s just over a week left till Christmas – unbelievable!

Stumbled on this video tonight  that Matt Damon did for Water.org He’s one of my favorite actors so thought I’d toss it on the blog. Enjoy!

I took a few minutes this afternoon and put this little video together. There’s a few other videos on the web that play this song, but none of them really capture the scene that plays through my head when I hear “Joseph’s Lullaby” by MercyMe. For years, I’ve identified with this song, but never as much as I have since becoming a dad 2 years ago.

So many songs have been written about Mary – and rightly so, but I’ve always wondered about Joseph – Jesus’ earthly father. I wrote this little post about Joseph last year… but who was Joseph? What kind of man was he? We know so little about him. Obviously, he was a man of tremendous faith and one of the most loyal people ever mentioned in the Bible. He stuck by Mary, despite the tremendous amount of “stigma” that came with being engaged to her. But as a father, what must it have been like to know your baby boys future? Knowing that he live a short life and would suffer and die for the sins of mankind. As a father, just the thought of anything happening to my little boy brings tears to my eyes. But what must have gone through Joseph’s mind the night Jesus was born?

For whatever reason, this song gives me chills every time I hear it – just putting myself in Joseph’s place… knowing what he knew… knowing what his Son did for me.

“Joseph’s Lullaby” by MercyMe

Go to sleep my Son
This manger for your bed
You have a long road before You
Rest Your little head

Can You feel the weight of Your glory?
Do You understand the price?
Does the Father guard Your heart for now
So You can sleep tonight?

Go to sleep my Son
Go and chase Your dreams
This world can wait for one more moment
Go and sleep in peace

I believe the glory of Heaven
Is lying in my arms tonight
Lord, I ask that He for just this moment
Simply be my child

Go to sleep my Son
Baby, close Your eyes
Soon enough You’ll save the day
But for now, dear Child of mine
Oh my Jesus, Sleep tight

What is your favorite Christmas song?

I thought I’d resurrect the old “Techie Tuesday” post occasionally as I see something cool around the interwebs. A co-worker sent this to me earlier today – it’s called the “Santa Claw”. Has anyone heard of this before? Really cool idea! Check it out.

What would it take to get the whole world to stop for a minute and play a game? It would have to be something huge. Something awesome. Something anyone, anywhere could play…. We built the biggest claw game ever and invited the world to play it online.

The game was designed and constructed in our workshop and installed in our front windows. The 2,000 pound steel structure stands 12 feet tall, 17 feet wide, and 8 feet deep. Two remote-controlled wheelchair motors allow players to control the claw with the click of their arrow keys from thousands of miles away.

We filled the game, “The Santa Claw”, with all of Santa’s leftover gifts – awesome finds like leather chaps, the complete Dokken collection on vinyl, Old English cologne, and Zebra-striped Snuggies. Players can log into the Flash website at thesantaclaw.com, choose their own avatar, and chat with each other while waiting for their turn. When players won, we shipped prizes straight to their doors.

To announce the game, we sent giant tokens to friends and clients. After playing, they were able to share their win (or loss) with friends on Facebook or Twitter from within our site. Word spread fast. Soon, everyone wanted to play. We got over 200,000 visits in just three weeks. Those players kept sharing, racking up thousands of posts on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Blogs, newspapers, and television news across the country picked up the story and helped spread the word. Our line grew.

We made a lot of new connections with people that appreciate fun, big ideas. And we’ve found that those are the people that make great clients. A few of our new friends have already called to ask what we can do for them.

Well, my son has the best mommy in the world – she’s so creative and clever. This past weekend she heard about “Truth in the Tinsel“. This is a great little ebook, created by Amanda White, specifically for families with kids early elementary age and younger. If this is you or if you have friends or family members that fit this description, you’ve got to check this out – it’s simple, super cool and a lot of fun! As the website states:

This ebook will lead you and your children on your own experience through the Christmas Story. You’ll take a few minutes each day in reading the Christmas Story directly from the Bible, making a fun ornament craft and talking about it together.

Buy the ebook for $5 or gift it to a friend. Enjoy celebrating Advent as a family this year – it’s $5 well spent!

Pete Wilson posted something last week entitled, “The Death of Gratitude” – it’s a great post and really stuck with me this week. In it, he mentioned a simple quote by Steven Furtick that says:

“You can’t be grateful for something you feel entitled to.”

Wow. That really hit home with me. There are so many things I feel entitled to… a car, a job I enjoy, a nice house, high speed internet, a nice TV, whatever food I want when I want it, electricity, a warm shower in the morning, etc. Sure, I say I’m “thankful” for these things… but when I don’t have one of them or if something goes wrong with one of them it makes me angry and can easily ruin my day. That, my friends, is not thankfulness, that’s entitlement — something I am guilty of so often.

And taking it one step further… it’s easy to rattle off a long list of things you’re thankful for, but what are the things that don’t immediately come to mind? What things do we have a hard time thanking God for — or what things have we never thanked God for?

In this morning’s message, my friend Phil showed us this short clip called the “Thanksgiving Chair“. It’s just a simple video – no words are spoken, but it is profound. Take a second to watch it…

This clip is a great summary of what I’ve been processing this week. How often do I just stop and thank God for…

• Allowing me to get out of bed in the morning
• Allowing me to wake up and see my beautiful wife and amazing son
• A reliable car to get me where I need to go every day
• A job — regardless of how frustrating it can be some days
• My life, my health and for each friend and family member that’s a part of my life
• Being able to come home at the end of the day to the smiles and hugs of my little boy

Forgive me God for feeling “entitled” to anything. Help me to be thankful and grateful for everything — both the good, the bad, the pretty and the not so frilly. And thank you God, most of all, for always loving an unloveable me.

What do you feel entitled to? What do you have a hard time thanking God for?

Wow, this was beautiful and nicely done. There are a lot of days I feel exactly like this little guy.

Story: A lonely desk toy longs for escape from the dark confines of the office, so he takes a cross country road trip to the Pacific Coast in the only way he can – using a toy car and Google Maps Street View.

Google Street View stop motion animation short made as a personal project by director Tom Jenkins.

Source

I stumbled on this article by Jason Gay in the Wall Street Journal today… so hilarious – you’ve got to read it. Unfortunately, I don’t really have a “football-type” family… we’re more of a “watch a parade, eat some turkey and sit on the couch and stare at each other for the rest of the day” kind of family – but I laughed so hard reading this. Enjoy!

For the love of Lombardi, go outside and play some Thanksgiving touch football. It’s a perfect opportunity for family bonding, or at least calorie-burning. Unless you’re in a fraternity or live inside a Tommy Hilfiger commercial, you probably play touch football only once a year, and Thanksgiving is that day.

Here are the official rules of Thanksgiving Family Touch Football:

1. If you have a healthy relationship with your family and speak to them all the time, you’re playing touch. If you see your family only once a year, it’s tackle.
2. Find a nice patch of grass. It doesn’t have to be big. You don’t need a regulation 100 yards. Half the people in your family, if they ran 100 yards, they’d wind up in the hospital for a month.
3. The game must be played before dinner. Nobody wants to play football after Thanksgiving. Nobody wants to wear pants after Thanksgiving.
4. All family on the field! Everyone plays. Mom, Dad, Grandpa, Grandma, Cousin Jake, and Regis the one-eyed Jack Russell terrier. Don’t laugh. Regis is the best receiver you’ve got.
5. The following things are prohibited from Thanksgiving touch football: spikes, eye black, sticky gloves, Jets jerseys, running with a martini glass and a lit cigar, Norv Turner.
6. A Nerf ball is okay but you should own a leather football. A leather football is one of the things every home must have, like a dishwasher and a bourbon distillery in the garage.
7. No footballs with wings or propellers or tails or streamers. Here’s a good rule: If the football would make Dick Butkus throw up, don’t use it.
8. It’s two-hand touch. One-hand touch is for lazy people who buy turkey sandwiches out of vending machines.
9. Two completions is a first down. Not as simple as it sounds—just ask the 2011 Indianapolis Colts.
10. No taunting, cursing or back-handed compliments. That’s what Thanksgiving dinner is for.
11. Unless you live in California, Hawaii or Florida or some fancy place like that, the ground is probably going to be squishy with cold mud, and someone in your family is going to fall down face-first and ruin his or her Thanksgiving outfit. This is not cause for alarm. This is the highlight of the game.
12. It’s okay to play with kids but don’t baby them. Just because your 7-year-old niece is playing quarterback doesn’t mean you can’t intercept her screen pass and run it back for a touchdown. She’s got to learn sometime not to throw into triple coverage.
13. The count is five “Mississippi.” And it’s a full four syllables—not a rushed “MISS-IPPI” and knocking grandpa to the ground.
14. But if you are old enough to have grandchildren, and you sack the quarterback, and do an elaborate sack dance, you will be worshipped forever.
15. Keep the Tebowing to a minimum. The fad is already old.
16. No, you don’t get to be “permanent QB.” Not if you want anybody to like you.
17. No show-off football lingo. No screaming “trips left” or “zone blitz.” Uncle Dale doesn’t want to play the “nickel package.” He wants to get this stupid game over with, have a vodka and stand in the kitchen eating stuffing with his hands.
18. But there’s always one control freak who wants to diagram elaborate plays. Just listen to whatever they say, and forget it immediately.
19. There are only two plays you need for touch football: “Everybody Go Out” and “Everybody Go Deep.”
20. No, that running play never works. Ever.
21. Don’t throw the ball too hard. This is the mistake a lot of touch football QBs make. They see an opening, and they chuck it 99 mph like John Elway, and peg Aunt Frances in the neck.
22. A little pass interference never hurt anyone. Don’t be a wimp.
23. If you throw six interceptions in a row, let someone else play quarterback, or sign with the Washington Redskins.
24. Three-minute halftime. Don’t kill the momentum. Anything longer, and aging muscles seize up. Remember: if Daddy sits, Daddy is d-o-n-e.
25. If you’re playing on a city street, please don’t dent the blue Honda, or I will find you.
26. If you’re a random guest at Thanksgiving, it’s your job to be good at touch football. Lie and say you “played a little” at Alabama and pray you don’t completely embarrass yourself.
27. If you find yourself surrounded by middle-aged men in blue jeans and a quarterback who keeps getting picked off, you’re not with your family. You’ve accidentally walked into a Brett Favre Wrangler spot.
28. Punting is okay, but it’s hard. You know that weird fact about how hippopotamuses kill more people than lions or tigers? Well, punts are the hippopotamuses of touch football. Botched punts break more windows and hit more cars than any other play in the game. You can look it up. Be careful.
29. Goes without saying, but if it snows, it’s a classic.
30. Take it easy. You don’t want any injuries that can’t be treated with a bag of frozen peas.
31. If you win your game and stand undefeated, please let LSU know you’re available to play in the BCS championship.
32. When you think about it, there’s really only one rule for Thanksgiving touch football: Take your shoes off before going in the house, or Mom is going to kill you.

Source

Holy crap, what a year this has been! I cannot believe it’s November already and that 2011 is nearly over. I feel like an old man saying this, but time is flying by so quickly I can’t keep up anymore.

First of all, I just want to say thank you. Thanks to those of you who kept me in their RSS and/or kept in touch with me on Twitter or Facebook. I don’t deserve friends like you, so seriously, thank you! Let me try and give you the short story on what happened with my site and why I was offline for so long.

Some of you may recall that I had started to do some freelance design work with a friend back in May. Well, what started as an attempt to redesign my site to serve two roles (a blog and design portfolio), quickly turned out to be utter chaos for a period of 4-6 weeks. My site wound up crashing and after 3-4 attempts we just wound up purging my entire hosting account and starting over from scratch. It was a mess and I wound up losing a lot of stuff in the process.

Around that same time my full time job went bonkers. I was handed a project early in the summer that has taken my full attention up until now. So that’s left little to no time to even stay connected on Twitter/Facebook, let alone time to do anything with my site. But about a week ago, things finally started to slow down enough for me to catch my breath. This week I just decided to dedicate some time to getting my blog back online. It’s nothing fancy, but  it’s good to finally be back!

I don’t want to overdramatize this, but I believe everything happens for a reason. In a weird way, I think this was all for the best because it showed me a lot about myself… mainly that I have the tendency to take myself way too seriously. I never want this blog to be about the numbers, how many hits I get or how many comments I get because none of that matters. I am not and will never be a “Professional Blogger”. I started this blog to simply write about what God is teaching me in His Word and to create a sense of community here – that is all. So that’s what I’m getting back to.

For now, I’m putting all new “freelance” stuff on hold until I can figure out how to maintain a better balance between work, ministry, family and my relationship with God. I love design and being involved with some freelance projects was a lot of fun, but for now I just need to get back to basics!

Another thing that I learned in my time away is that I’ve got to stay connected. Some people have the opposite problem, but for me, when I get busy, I tend to hibernate in my own little world while I work stuff out. That’s not good for me, so I’m especially looking forward to getting back on Twitter and reconnecting with you guys. Life was never intended to be lived alone.

I’m also looking forward to getting back to my personal study, “Choosing to See” that’s been on hiatus for awhile now. God gave me a verse last night as I was reading – it sums up exactly where I am right now:

I’m staying on your trail; I’m putting one foot In front of the other. I’m never giving up.
- Psalm 17:5

So thanks again for not giving up on me, I can’t wait to reconnect with you all!

What are your plans for Thanksgiving?

I heard just a small piece of this song on the radio last night, so I Shazam’d it so I could look it up later. This morning on the way to work I went ahead and bought it off iTunes. Rarely does a song give me chills from head to toe like this one has. It’s one of the most simple, yet beautiful songs I’ve heard in a really long time. It really spoke to my heart and I hope it encourages someone out there today – because no matter who you are or what you’ve done, YOU are someone worth dying for.

“Someone Worth Dying For”
by Mikeschair

You might be the wife, waiting up at night
You might be the man, struggling to provide
Feeling like it’s hopeless
Maybe you’re the son who chose a broken road
Maybe you’re the girl thinking you’ll end up alone
Praying God can you hear me?
Oh God are you listening?

Am I more than flesh and bone? Am I really something beautiful?
Yeah I wanna believe, I wanna believe that
I’m not just some wandering soul
That you don’t see and you don’t know
Yeah I wanna believe, Jesus help me believe that I
Am someone worth dying for

I know you’ve heard the truth that God has set you free
But you think you’re the one that grace could never reach
So you just keep asking, oh what everybody’s asking

Am I more than flesh and bone? Am I really something beautiful?
Yeah I wanna believe, I wanna believe that
I’m not just some wandering soul
That you don’t see and you don’t know
Yeah I wanna believe, Jesus help me believe
That I am someone worth dying for
You’re worth it, you can’t earn it
Yeah the cross has proven that you’re sacred and blameless
Your life has purpose

You are more than flesh and bone.
Can’t you see you’re something beautiful?
You gotta believe, you gotta believe!
He wants you to see, He wants you to see
That you’re not just some wandering soul,
That can’t be seen and can’t be known.
Yeah you gotta believe, you gotta believe
That you are someone worth dying for
You’re someone worth dying for!
You’re someone worth dying for.