But first, here are some cool gadgets you can buy for me:

• The Infinity Bookcase — I want one of these… just cannot imagine where to put it
• Bulletproof tire — These are cooler than spinners
• 256GB Solid State Drive — Sweetness
• Carbon fiber guitar — Light and unbreakable

Here are my choices for the dumbest gadgets of the week:

• Skull Belt Buckle & Mp3 player — Maybe without the LED…
• Blow pictures on your phone — Does this make stalkers less conspicuous?
• Bacon iPhone case — Bacon is the new black leather
• Apple Apples — A rotten idea
• Carbon fiber child seat — $4000 is a lot for a car seat
• Vibrating toilet seat — Why?
• Diamond earbuds — $5000 earbuds make a $4000 car seat almost reasonable
• Suitcases with faux weapons — I cannot imagine going through TSA with these
• Egg lamp — Words fail me
• Oxygen lamp — The girls’ face says it all

Well — maybe you are not. All this recent talk (here, here, here) about being passionate about one’s job has caused me to reflect. I realize I likely have the best job I can fathom here at NewSpring. But that is the best job for me; I sincerely hope you have the best job for you. Here’s a quick way to tell: if you are bitter about the menial things in your job, you may be focusing on the wrong thing. I read an article that says employees are filing lawsuits against their employers. Why? The article (read more here) states this:

“Employees claimed that they were not paid for the 15- to 30-minute task of booting their computers at the start of each day and logging out at the end. Add those minutes up over a week, and hourly employees are losing some serious pay.”

First of all, if your computer takes 15 or 30 minutes to boot, you need to perhaps explore a computer made sometime in this millennium. But more importantly, if you are worried about getting paid to boot up your computer, it may be time to look for a new job that fulfills you. And if you have ever made a complaint like this, you are an annoying employee. Go away.

I have typically held to the concept that there is no such thing as luck. I have rationalized this by clinging to the sovereignty of God. What He allows happen ends up happening. Insert here the diatribe that “God loves everyone yet favors some” and we have a complicated discussion with no resolution.

But maybe there is such a thing as luck. Not dumb luck that hits people in the face like a bug while you ride your bike on a lonely, dirt road but luck that is brought as a result of attitude adjustments and modified expectations. I read an article and found these insights interesting:

“Lucky people see what is there rather than just what they are looking for.”

“Lucky [people]… add variety to their lives.”

“Lucky people use counter-factual thinking to ease the impact of misfortune.”

“Thoughts and behavior affect the good and bad fortune we encounter.”

Read this article here and see what you think.

Every company I have worked for has been massive — both in size and in success. This massiveness is due to no small degree to the abilities these companies have of leveraging themselves as competitors in the market. They set themselves apart as unique; but it is not only marketing. These companies also must protect their data, their processes, and their products from other companies. My present job is much different; collaboration has replaced competition. We work together with other groups in an effort to do what we do better. Why? Because we share a common goal: help humans encounter God. I am new to this whole mentality (of open collaboration) and it is not an easy concept to embrace. Fortunately I am surrounded by other ex-marketplace personnel who can relate. I am curious about two things:

1. How does one relax his/her competitiveness?
2. How long will this last? As more and more churches are on the Internet, will we continue to embrace collaboration, or will we soon turn into the two churches on opposite street corners who bicker over everything?

I have been blessed with one, two, three astounding kids. I have long believed that physical intimacy is important in the development of children. (Interestingly, the older I get, the more I notice myself becoming less intimate with those outside my family, and more intimate within the family.) I’m not talking about just hugs, though. Hugs and kisses can get boring. Many years ago I began transforming the hugs into tickle-tackles and that has evolved into everyone-against-everyone wrestling, where even Bella, the 100-lb, I’ll-start-my-diet-tomorrow dog, joins in.

(Read on …)

It has been just about one month since we have moved to South Carolina and we love it. We love the town, the church, and the job. Here are the top ten things I love about the South:

10. Meat & Three Restaurants — pick one meat and three veggies, all cooked Southern style
9. Carolina-style hot dogs — “all the way” — comes with chili, mustard, onions, and [optional] coleslaw on top
8. Country roads to drive on — quickly
7. The bird-dog — chicken tender wrapped in bacon on a hot dog bun with melted cheese and honey mustard on top
6. Fall colors — the variety of colors is unlike anything I have seen before (here are some pictures I took this weekend)
5. Southern Hospitality — people are generally nicer here than in other parts of the country (you know who you are); I especially love the people I work with
4. The Corner Bagel Shop — best deli sandwich ever, seriously
3. Pulled pork sandwiches — sweet victory
2. Carolina mustard sauce — mustard, vinegar, and other goodness: completes the pig referenced above
1. Sweet tea!

Much of my list is consumed by food and drink. So what?

What about you? Perhaps you have visited the South or maybe you live here already. What do you love about the South?

I attended my first NewSpring all-staff meeting today. It was amazing. We had a time of worship, Perry brought some amazing insight and encouragement, and then we ate Buckys BBQ. It is impossible to annotate here all the things I learned and was challenged by today, but I want to point out one of the concepts I am loving right now. It has to do with admiration of others.

Perry said that admiration in something else should result in our departure towards that something else or it should result in motivating us to improve what we do.
I am so fortunate that what I get paid to do every day is something that I believe in with my whole heart. I get to work with some of the coolest people on the planet; together working towards finding ways to make Jesus famous. And I am convinced that the reason I love this so much is because I believe in what we are doing here at NewSpring.

If you admire something, then stop admiring it and improve what you are doing. Or go join that which you admire. It is fun… trust me!

I do not like to vote. There. I said it.

I am pretty sure I would not like the polling places. I cannot definitively know because I have never been to one. I always vote with an absentee ballot by mail. Even then, I do not like filling in circles with a pen. I do not like reading referendums. I do not want to wear a sticker that says, “I voted.” I do not want to rock the vote either. But I acknowledge that voting is an important part of being a self-governed society. (Are we self-governed?)

Perhaps the problem I see is that nothing really matters. We vote. We are unhappy. We complain. Then we vote some more. Everything changes, but it is always the same.

Which is why I am glad that God is unchanging. I am glad that He will be the same today and tomorrow whether we like it or not. (James 1:17)