So Thankful

Well, it's been a while. Man, I need to dust around here. Guys don't dust though. Once in a while they'll pick things up and call it "cleaning", but I've learned that's not the same thing. :)

Being Thanksgiving morning, I just thought I'd stop by and post about how thankful I am. I am truly, truly thankful. I am so blessed. My wife is amazing, we have a baby due in April (I forgot to mention that, didn't I?) and we're making great progress towards getting out of debt.

Next Tuesday we'll have "the appointment" to find out if we have a son or a daughter on the way. Very exciting. Our little debt thermometer image on the fridge is great and should hopefully be filled up by the end of the Summer, 2009. My little side company is doing well and continuing to grow. Work has been awesome. We had a one day off-site retreat last week which was a blast. I was a little too proud of being the first to make it to the opposing team's base during capture the flag. It was a great time and I really enjoyed getting to know more of the crew in the broadcast department.

God is awesome. I've had such a great morning, starting with Corinne's Lasgna for breakfast, checking the FC forums and then starting to reread The Shack which is a book you really need to check out. Right now I'm watching the Titans blow out Detroit. It's a good day.

I am super blessed.

The Common Sense Fix

Send The Common Sense Fix to your Representatives and Senators and tell them how you expect them to vote, and that if they put this nation in $700 billion of debt, that you will vote them out. It's their job to listen to us! Whichever presidential candidate or political party that champions this plan will likely become the next president.

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What's your excuse?

Last night my wife and I had Philip Smethurtst, the founder and president of Overland Missions, over for dinner. It was the culmination of something that's been brewing in my heart for months. I've been meeting with world changers like Philip for the past couple months and it's changing my world view.

I've spoken at length with Jared Miller, the founder of Sisters of Rwanda and Keza. I've watched Travis Gravette and David Cahill at Global Support Mission literally create a movement of compassion to wipe out hunger, disease and extreme poverty. They are actually doing it. Their first fiscal year showed less than 8% of their revenue going towards salaries. These guys and gals are insane. If you heard their stories, you would be too.

We live so comfortably in this country, almost in little bubbles, protected from the harsh reality around us. We put in our time at work, come home to our wives, children and friends and pretend everything is ok. We're doing "our thing", living the American dream, pretending nothing is wrong.

Each day we live this lie, go to sleep and repeat it again the next day.

Spend an hour with anyone like Philip, Jared or Travis and the truth becomes too intense to continue living the lie. As you hear their stories you have no choice but to act.

All your excuses fall apart.

We need to get involved. I'm currently working on my debt snowball and don't have the millions (yet) to really make a difference but I do have something else. Something that might be more important than money. I have experience with technology, office infrastructure and web development and I have a passion to make a difference in the world. In Philip's own words, I have the ability to shape the future of missions work. They need our help.

I don't know where it's going to go or how it's going to get there, but I'm believing God to create a group of IT developers who care more about others than themselves. A group of people that will come home after work and then continue working to make a difference.

A group of people with no excuses.

Want to join me?

Making the world beautiful

Some friends from our life group regularly pick up trash by the Nice Mill Dam and invited us along. It was actually a lot of fun!



All told, we picked up about 8 bags of trash.




Surprisingly, it was almost a spiritual experience. As I picked up everything from bottles and cans to a handback, golfballs, a rug, and a few pairs of shoes... I started to realize how poorly we've stewarded this amazing planet we were put in charge of by its Creator. I'm not one to run out and hug a tree, but it did make me think about God's patience with us and how beautiful His creation truly is.

Here's another interesting find... kind of hard to tell, but those are shells. Quite unexpected.



And there's a story behind this picture...



Out on an island formed by the river there was this nasty looking pink hunk of plastic. The river was running a little deep there, but I was able to jump across. Since I jumped from a high point to a low point, I ended up having to build a little bridge using part of a tree trunk to get back. :)

All in all, it was a good workout and a great time. Highly recommended.

Just got back from Ermin's second wedding

So my friend Jon told me about the blog reaper and I figured I better get to posting.

So... about the wedding...


This afternoon Corinne and I attended my good friend Ermin's wedding. We were officially the cord sponsors and it was truly a blessing to attend. This was their second wedding because the first one took place in the Philippines. Corinne and I had tickets to fly out there and be part of it, but that's when my mom got sick and I had to stay in the country to be there for her.

It was great to share this time with them and be reminded of how blessed we all are. Ermin and I talked about his family back in the Philippines, how hard he has worked to support them over the years and how blessed he is to be here. I was reminded how selfish we Americans can be... how we take everything for granted. Having a home, a car, food on the table... Things people in other countries wouldn't even dare to dream for.

We are truly, truly blessed. I don't ever want to forget that.

Here's a shot you don't often see at a wedding. Since I stayed around to pick up chairs, I was able to snap this classic moment:


That little piece of paper makes it official. :)