If going to Alabama is the dirty south, does that make Minnesota the “clean north?”
Regardless, I am missing church this morning as I begin my trip north (and east) to Minneapolis for a few days of meetings with the YouthWorks team.
Here’s something fun about heading to the clean north. I kind of like the cold. Don’t get me wrong– I love winters in San Diego where people wear ski jackets when it hits 50 and pull their kids out of school because of a rain storm. But I’m not one of those people who hates a hard, cold winter. In fact, there is a freshness to the cold air that invigorates the soul. (That could also be the freezing of ones lungs resulting in a shot of endorphins and adrenaline, but those are little details!) I’m looking forward to a little snowstorm tonight and it getting progressively chilly in my time there this week.
I plan on laughing and listening a lot this week. As we continue to mix our organizations together into a new organization we are finding that we share so much in common. And we definitely share the “we don’t take ourselves too seriously” quality that is a hallmark of YS. Al0ng the same lines, so much of why we are passionate about what we do lies in our story. So I am jazzed to listen and get to know people beyond the giggles and hear their hearts.
I’ll leave you with two pictures from my iPhone– the humor is all-the-more funny now that everyone is getting to know one another.
November 6th - I wore this to work to lighten the mood. The previous day we had been told to dress appropriately when YouthWorks came to town and to make a good first impression. This is about as opposite of YS attire as I could get. Is that enough Bibles? I love the Bibles.
November 23rd - The YouthWorks recruiting team hung this sign on the bulletin board next to convention headquarters in Atlanta. We were all glad they were hiring for something!
I’m not into numerology, at all. But I’m smart enough to know that this is the only time in my lifetime the calendar will read straight nines. With nine being the operative number of the day here are nine things I’m in love with.
1. Simple routines. Every day, every week basically looks the same.
2. Mega-family time. This has been a big change in our lives. At least once a week we all do something together. It’s not always big, but it’s a big deal and I’m pumped about it.
3. The job lottery. More than a year into my time at YS and I still get fired up and think… I work there? For real?
4. Church peeps. You can’t sell this short. We dig our church peeps. I love feeling like I need to step it up to keep up with their faithfulness.
5. Riding the trolley. (relates to #1) That simple discipline has taken so much stress out of our lives. Big ups to SDMTS.
6. Vietnamese food. This is the next craze to sweep across the nation. I’m a big fan of the noodle soup, pho. (pronounced “fu.” Yes, like half of the f-word.) Best food on the planet.
7. iPhone. I know something will replace it as the coolest device in my world. But it is an amazing tool for me. I can now go on vacation laptop free.
8. Nikon D60. I never thought I’d really love photography. I am no artist, but thanks to this little camera I can now take pictures that don’t suck.
9. My baby’s mama. Seriously, Kristen is a rock star. 12+ years of marriage and she’s still my best friend. She still laughs (politely) at my jokes and likes my crazy dreams.
It’s well documented that I like managing projects… but I love finishing and releasing projects more than anything. In the last 24 hours, two little babies were released into the wild. I hope they both flourish.
1. Myguitar iPhone app. This is the second application we’ve published from YS, with a few more deep in the process of testing and stuff. This one was fun for two reasons. First, it’s stinking fun to play guitar on your iPhone. My favorite feature is that I can play the guitar along to my favorite worship artist, David Crowder. My life would be complete if he would try it. Then again, my adoration for Mr. Crowder’s work is well-documented so that should be no surprise.
2. Love is in an Orientation. Speaking of adoration, I’ve also documented my admiration for Andrew Marin’s work in bridging evangelical and the GLBT cultures. More imporatantly, I’m lucky enough to count him as a friend. So when he asked me to help him get a “real blog site” I was happy to jump in and help out.
I don’t want to sound obnoxious. But this is turning into a whale of a year for me. Lots of great projects. Lots of nice things said. And lots, lots more where this stuff came from.
Since I spend so much time thinking about and managing iPhone apps getting developed, I thought it would only be fair if you saw the types of apps I use on my phone.
Sidenote: This is a repost. For some reason the post from 6/30/09 disappeared. It may looks as though I deleted 20+ comments from yesterday, but my server ate them. Sorry about that.
