Archive for December, 2006

is it a christmas bug?

Posted by Jason on December 27, 2006
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went in to the church at 12pm on Sunday to prepare for our 3 evening services. things went well, the three services were all good, then we came home for our family christmas… only i walked smack into a raging flu upon arriving home. honestly, it was as if it was waiting for me at the front door. so once we got through the christmas stuff, which was still fun, i crashed and didn’t get up until 3pm on Christmas day, when we went to dad’s for another gigantic christmaspalooza. got home around 11, and crashed again and was in bed basically all day tuesday. the nights have been particularly miserable.

ugh.

but enough about my tropical pestilence of death.

i hope you had a wonderful christmas. sickies aside, we did, and we’re hoping we can get out of town for a couple days this week. we’ll see how that goes.

stability v. flux, or fulfillment in that which is stable

Posted by Jason on December 21, 2006
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in other blogs, less focused forums, i’ve explored the spiritual process of calling, and direction, and the quandry that results when trying so hard just to make the right decision… to do what GOD wants me to do. i mean, that’s the object, right? to decipher what it is that God wants, and do it. if you get that process under control, that pretty much guarantees you’ll be in good shape for the next season of life.

in the last major crossroads, we kinda beat the issue into the ground, then stomped on it, then kicked some dirt over it just to be sure it was finished. and i’d like to think we learned something from that… we learned that it’s important to take what you know is the truth, apply it, and act on it. we learned that it’s not as hard as we make it out to be. and the following years taught us that you can make major changes, and ultimately, everything will be fine, because you can’t screw your life up so much that God doesn’t have the ability to take care of you.

have you ever been there? at a place where you finally step out, and it’s way more difficult than you thought– or maybe it’s exactly as difficult as you thought– and yet you know you made the right decision. i’ve been there. and i don’t regret any decisions in leaving one career and stepping into a ministry position. it’s been the hardest thing i’ve ever done, and simultaneously the most rewarding. i don’t think it was a wrong decision.

but we learned something.

maybe it was simply to hear the voice of God. or maybe we’ve always heard it, but this time we know what we’re hearing.

it’s time to move. this step of the journey is a physical one. God is a God of stability– unchanging. And yet, He is the God of fluidity. A God that is sovereign over a world that is in constant flux. WE are in constant flux.

how do we know it’s time to move? we just know. and this time, it’s not about the job. truth is, i don’t give a rat’s ass what i do for a living anymore. i don’t care about this lie that we’re fed all our lives that we need to seek fulfillment in our career path. that’s rubbish. i’ll do anything, as long as i know i’m in the right place. and we know where the right place is, and for the first time in 20 years, it’s not here.

when the world, and everything around you is in a state of flux, where do you seek fulfillment? in your career? in your wife? your kids? your pet parakeet? your house? your car? your blahblahblahblah…

why not just find that rest and fulfillment and value and reward in that which is stable. if God is the God of stability, a rock, solid, never changing, reliable… why would you want to get all those things out of constantly changing circumstances, when you can get all those things from a place that will always be constant, no matter what happens in the intermediary?

–j.

earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone

Posted by Jason on December 13, 2006
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it is in fact the bleak midwinter here in the pacific northwest, and yet things just seem bright. the grey and the rain just doesn’t get me all depressed like it does for some.

i’m sitting here, trying to work, but mostly my mind is churning on deeper things – practical life things like future plans, direction, etc., as well as less tangible things like spiritual depth, the hit and miss role of prayer in my life, stuff like that.

so in an effort to do something completely random, here is a picture of my workspace. i didn’t clean up my desk, i didn’t arrange it pretty or take things off of my desk that don’t belong, i just snapped with my semi-crappy cellphone camera a photo of where i do my ‘desk-work’. if you click on the photo, you’ll get an embiggened (this is not a real word, please don’t point this out to me as i’m fully aware) version, complete with labels pointing out things of note.

enjoy this little peek into the life of your favorite bald monster.

PHOTO CHALLENGE: reply by posting a photo of your workspace, but DON’T tidy it up or otherwise alter it first. let us see your true work environment. post it in the comments, then if you’d like post it on your own blog/journal and challenge your friends to do the same.

*edit* i didn’t point out in the labelling the blue bible with the cheesy cover art there on the end of my desk. it’s the ESV – english standard version, and is not a recommended translation. it’s terribly clunky in parts, just plain silly in others, and for whatever reason just doesn’t read smooth. stick with yer NIV/NASB/NLT for a good modern usage translation. heck, i’d read the message™ paraphrase before the ESV.