This week has been my first week back to work since my California vacation. It was my parents 40th wedding anniversary, which is pretty amazing if you ask me. And they decided they wanted the fam to all be together to celebrate, which was doubly awesome. So, I met up with them in Vegas (their pre-anniversary vacation destination), road-tripped it to Cali, and we had a ball.
I'll try to post some pics on Facebook. If you aren't my Facebook friend yet, just send the ol' friend request, and I'll accept. I like having Facebook friends. Then you can maybe see my vacation pictures if I ever post them. :)
It was a blast. We went to San Diego, which is officially one of my favorite places ever. I feel like I barely saw any of it, and it just seems like Heaven on earth to me. It was great to be there, and great to spend the time their with family. We don't see each other nearly enough.
This whole experience is contrasted by work, which honestly, well, I make it a point to not put too many specifics about work in my blog. It's not the appropriate forum for it. I'll just say this...I deserve more. I know on the surface that sounds really selfish. I've had to search my heart a lot about this, and I can't push it aside any longer. God has blessed me with time on this earth to do His will. It is simply not ok to continue the way I have been. It doesn't glorify God, and I'm not being a good steward of what he has blessed me with.
I don't know what the future holds with work. But I do know this...I deserve more, because God deserves better of me. It started crystallizing quickly towards the end of the day. It became clearer during physical therapy. And it finally washed over me like a tidal wave during worship at Immersion tonight. Which, by the way, I don't go to nearly enough. I love worship at Immersion.
Anyway, I'm feeling calm about it again now. Calm, as in, I see a direction that I need to take, and I feel good about it. Submitting to God is such a relief. I pray that I can continue to seek His will for my life, and that I pursue it relentlessly.
What's really awesome in this little God discussion I'm having is that this week has been bookended by not only Immersion tonight, but Taste of Hope last weekend, as well as worship last weekend. I am very blessed by all of these experiences.
Tomorrow, I'm off to St. Paul again for a little work and a lot of play. I love that city dag nabbit. It's always a good time. Before I sign off, I'd like to post another music video. Music is just such a huge part of all our lives, I like to share what's moving me. This video is to a song I just heard for the first time. It's a great worship song. Really put me at ease tonight. I hope you enjoy.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Fargo Bliss and Other Ramblings
One reason I don't blog very often is that it takes me forever to do it. I am a slow writer. And a perfectionist. And I'm trying to stay away from my computer while not at work. But, I wanted to get people at least a little caught up if you are checking my blog.
One of the benefits of having a "summer break" if you work in education is that it's a great chance to reset the switch, so to speak. I can put the past school year behind me, get re-focused on other things, and be somewhat recharged to get after it again. I really don't have the luxury of extended summer breaks anymore. But I did get a chance to take a little over two weeks off at the end of June. It took me a while, but I was finally able to reset my switch. Fargo did the trick.
I went to Fargo to visit my very dear friends Dawn and Jon. That may not sound like a hotspot for a summer vacation, but it was for me. They have about 9 acres out in the country, and a six-month old who is just figuring out how to sit up on his own. Tons of fun. Jon and I got to powerwash their deck. Also tons of fun.
It's so great to be around them. It just feels like family to me for some reason. They are kindred spirits. It was finally on my drive back to Iowa that I had that little epiphany moment of "I don't have to be dictated by timelines and deadlines right now." I stopped at a little hiking trail in the Loess Hills region. I took pictures, but I don't think they are really worth posting. I enjoy them, but that's probably about it on that front.
I have such a hard time slowing things down. Frustrations come too quickly, and relaxation and calmness come way too slow, because I can't keep my brain from stopping. But every since I went to Fargo, I've been able to slow things down a bit. Pray that I can keep that up, God willing.
There is actually another thing, one of several I guess, that has helped me feel a little about the world. I have an affinity for Disney's Pixar movies. I really have no desire to watch or participate in any other Disney things. Nothing wrong with them necessarily, just really not my cup of tea. But the Pixar movies are just awesome, starting back with Toy Story. The weird thing, to me anyway, is that I never want to see them when they first come out. I just happen to run across them, and fall in love with them. The latest version of this for me was the movie Wall-E.
This might sound like a bit of an exaggeration, but Wall-E is one of the most amazing movies I've ever seen. The animation is of course beyond awesome. The story is great. One of the biggest things that blew me away is that they were able to tell an awesome story with a fairly major chunk of it having no real dialogue. It was just robots emoting and experiences all of these feelings that we all feel, whether we care to admit it out loud or not. This movie just pulled me right in. I've posted a pretty cool trailer below.
Here is the take home point for me with all of this. These are two really positive things that have accompanied me since my last blog. There have been many others as well. The common theme for me has been love and acceptance. We are made for this. I know, as Roach has told me several times before, that it is not natural to fight love, or to believe you are not worthy of it.
In having these experiences, and slowing down and being quiet just a bit the past few weeks, these things seem truer for me. That makes me happy. Pray for my brain to slow down, to run at a turtle's pace. Pray for others, or even yourself, to be open to love and all things beautiful. Be still, be quiet, and be satisfied.
One of the benefits of having a "summer break" if you work in education is that it's a great chance to reset the switch, so to speak. I can put the past school year behind me, get re-focused on other things, and be somewhat recharged to get after it again. I really don't have the luxury of extended summer breaks anymore. But I did get a chance to take a little over two weeks off at the end of June. It took me a while, but I was finally able to reset my switch. Fargo did the trick.
I went to Fargo to visit my very dear friends Dawn and Jon. That may not sound like a hotspot for a summer vacation, but it was for me. They have about 9 acres out in the country, and a six-month old who is just figuring out how to sit up on his own. Tons of fun. Jon and I got to powerwash their deck. Also tons of fun.
It's so great to be around them. It just feels like family to me for some reason. They are kindred spirits. It was finally on my drive back to Iowa that I had that little epiphany moment of "I don't have to be dictated by timelines and deadlines right now." I stopped at a little hiking trail in the Loess Hills region. I took pictures, but I don't think they are really worth posting. I enjoy them, but that's probably about it on that front.
I have such a hard time slowing things down. Frustrations come too quickly, and relaxation and calmness come way too slow, because I can't keep my brain from stopping. But every since I went to Fargo, I've been able to slow things down a bit. Pray that I can keep that up, God willing.
There is actually another thing, one of several I guess, that has helped me feel a little about the world. I have an affinity for Disney's Pixar movies. I really have no desire to watch or participate in any other Disney things. Nothing wrong with them necessarily, just really not my cup of tea. But the Pixar movies are just awesome, starting back with Toy Story. The weird thing, to me anyway, is that I never want to see them when they first come out. I just happen to run across them, and fall in love with them. The latest version of this for me was the movie Wall-E.
This might sound like a bit of an exaggeration, but Wall-E is one of the most amazing movies I've ever seen. The animation is of course beyond awesome. The story is great. One of the biggest things that blew me away is that they were able to tell an awesome story with a fairly major chunk of it having no real dialogue. It was just robots emoting and experiences all of these feelings that we all feel, whether we care to admit it out loud or not. This movie just pulled me right in. I've posted a pretty cool trailer below.
Here is the take home point for me with all of this. These are two really positive things that have accompanied me since my last blog. There have been many others as well. The common theme for me has been love and acceptance. We are made for this. I know, as Roach has told me several times before, that it is not natural to fight love, or to believe you are not worthy of it.
In having these experiences, and slowing down and being quiet just a bit the past few weeks, these things seem truer for me. That makes me happy. Pray for my brain to slow down, to run at a turtle's pace. Pray for others, or even yourself, to be open to love and all things beautiful. Be still, be quiet, and be satisfied.
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