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26FebR-E-S-P-E-C-T.

I’m finding that the longer I’m a dad, the lower my tolerance of others becomes.

For example, today a good friend walked up to me at work complaining of getting up at 3:30a to go shovel snow. I quickly pointed out that I was up at 1:30a… and I didn’t get paid. And I wasn’t shoveling snow… if you know what I mean.

Actually, I didn’t say anything about getting paid or about shoveling. I just mumbled something under my breath about 1:30am and walked away shaking my head.

It makes me wonder if all parents feel this way. Some non-parent complains about their lack of sleep and the already-a-parent looks at them and thinks to themselves…

“Someday you’ll grow up and realize the meaning of lack of sleep, young man. And on that day I will laugh at you.”

It makes me wonder how many already-a-parent’s are watching me drag myself through the day and are laughing to themselves at my expense.

in Family, Friends and Parenting. 7 Comments

19JanTag. You’re it.

I forgot, but I got tagged a long time ago by my sister on MySpace. Better late than never, right? If you get tagged you have to list six interesting (and relatively previously unknown) things about yourself, then tag six other people.

1. My second toe is longer than my big toe.
2. I have double-jointed thumbs.
3. I once put “Ice Ice, Baby” on repeat in my car for an hour and a half during a road trip by myself just so I could re-learn all the words.
4. Robert Mondavi’s 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon is my favorite wine.
5. Our Lady Peace is actually my favorite band of all time.
6. I tried to learn to skateboard when I was 15, but I could only pull off an ollie when I was standing still, not while the board was moving. But I got some mad air when I stood still.

Alright, some of these are long shots, but I’m going to tag Tim, Scott, Rachel, Steve, Kim and Micah.

in Friends, MySpace and Weblogs. 0 Comments

24Novthat’s how i roll.

I’m doing a bit of inventory. I guess you could call it a sort of ‘Isaac-push-pin’ for this moment in in my life. Maybe it’s a reconciling of emotions. Maybe its an early midlife crisis. Either way, here is not quite everything you have been wondering about what makes me …me.

Okay, where to start? …well, I’m a twenty-five year old married guy sans children. I have two labs that I sometimes refer to as my children (Savanna & Sierra). But since they don’t even try to hold it until they get outside anymore, they’ve been demoted from being our ‘kids’ back to just dogs… or maybe frogs. Frogs just drink water all day in case someone picks them up, just like my dogs. They drink water all day just in case I decide to take a stroll around my house in sock feet.

Rachel is my wife. She is the smokin-hot joy of my life. We’ve been best friends for years. Even before we started dating. The past couple months have been the best of our entire relationship. And a couple of months ago, those months were the best. Life just gets better and better with her. Trust me: if you don’t have a wife yet, I highly recommend picking one up next time you’re out and about. They are great for parties and social events, and even better when you get to spend time together talkin, readin, sodoku’in, chillin, and lovin’… good good good.

But I think even more than my wife or my pets or my pastimes…I guess I’m writing about my emotional self. Because I’m afraid that I’m forgetting who I am. Lately it’s been the dreams I had for myself. For instance, I have the exact opposite job of what I wanted to be ‘when I grew up’. In high school, I started playing in a rock band and thought I’d be an all-star rocker. When it became apparent that it wasn’t my destiny, I made plans to become a graphic designer. Fast forward to today and I’m a number-crunching-loan-officer?

Whoa.

I’m hitting the wall. And I’m realizing that I have been treading water for a couple of years. I mostly go along with people’s opinions and ideas. I think it’s what took me from the job at the bank to the job at the mortgage company: never saying no. Granted, I’ve learned tons of useful information, made myself very marketable, expanded my horizons, gained valuable business skills, and helped dozens of people get new bank accounts, mortgages, home equities and blah blah blah… But I don’t think I really planned to go that route. I don’t think I planned a route, period. That’s the problem.

So, I think I need to take some time to see where I turned left when I should have turned right.

There you go… a glimpse into my utterly confusing and largely uninteresting mind. I love my life and I want to change it all around. I like things the way they are and I dislike things the way they are.

But mostly I just feel like I’m the only one going through this.

in Dogs, Friends, Marriage and My Life. 2 Comments

05Auglife.

I had a vacation in North Carolina the week before last. It consisted of laying on the beach, reading, swimming, getting sunburned, shaving my head again, reading, going out to eat, getting more sunburned, running, biking, driving and reading. Best of all, I had some of the most intense times of prayer I have ever experienced. It was some much needed time of refreshing. God is good. Amen.

My very good friends Tom & Dave just returned from Brazil, where they’ve been working with the mission group PAZ for the summer. The stories they have been telling me are just unbelievable! People being healed. Demons being cast out. Lives being forever changed. Gang leaders coming to Christ.

PAZ is a mission started by an American family in the early ’70’s. They began planting churches in the Amazon Basin among river villages and the local people. To date, they have planted over 450 churches! The main church in Santarem has weekly attendance at over 9,000! And they have over 12,000 people in cell groups! They are the only church I have ever heard of with 130% of their attendees actively involved in cell groups. To top it off, we have the honor of hosting the founders of PAZ at our church while they are home for some medical procedures during the next month or so. I can honestly say without any hesitation that God is getting ready to move within Twelve Oaks. It’s like the stars are aligning… Melvin, Tim & Angela Huber are in town and are teaching us and our leadership team their model of cell groups and discipleship, Tom & Dave just got back and are contagiously excited about setting a vision for reaching our city, everyone is ready to explode… I am practically bursting to see what happens in the upcoming weeks. This church ain’t gonna be the same.

On top of wanting to dedicate all of my time and energy to leading worship, evangelism and the church…I still have the nine-to-five day-job. [insert life-sucking sound here]

But instead of getting frustrated and bitter like I’ve done in the past, I have given over my position at my job to God. I just said, “God, I can’t handle having a mind for serving You, and a mind for work. I am doing everything as an act of worship.” Now, when I organize my day, I am praising God in a tangible way for giving me time on this earth and for opening my eyes to spend it wisely. When I call customers for a sale, I don’t have to worry about whether or not I should tell them every bit of negative info to make the saleâ€“I can be completely honest without reservation. This week ended up being one of the best I have had! I didn’t break any sales records… but I was focused. And I realized that I had regained something I thought I had lost …JOY.

in Friends and Ministry. 2 Comments

12JulHeroes.

A lot of thought has been given to this topic the past couple days. And I’ve come up with a few that I look up to quite a bit, either by watching them and learning from them personally, or from a distance…

1. Dad/Ken Downing. I have a great relationship with my Dad, and can’t believe what an idiot I was growing up and how I could possibly have gotten away with my attitude. If I was my older brother, I would’ve beat my tail. Not to say that Dad didn’t beat my tail, but I would’ve broken it in half. But all around incredible guy, extremely hard worker, dedicated husband, father and provider, and a spiritual leader by example. He walks the walk.

2. Wife/Rachel. I married an incredible woman. I don’t know how I pulled it off, but somehow I managed to end up with a brilliant, strong, intelligent and insightful woman with a level head and kind heart. Oh yeah, did I mention she’s a knock out? Yeah, there’s that too. Some very nice icing on the cake, that’s all I gotta say about that. Yay, God, for giving me this miracle of a great marriage. Every day she inspires me to do big things (work harder at work) and little things (mow the yard or do the dishes). And y’know what? I love to do those things! Because I feel like I am loving her by doing them, and that makes me lover her even more.

3. Rich Mullins. I truly count Rich Mullins as my initial inspiration for wanting to lead worship. I remember seeing a video of his, and watching the end credits. It was a clip of him playing guitar by an open fire, with native Africans singing along. I realized in that moment what worship really is. It isn’t the notoriety. It isn’t the flashy stage antics. It isn’t even a rockin’ team, even though those things can be fun. But as I look back at my personal times of worship, a few stand out:

Playing and singing by myself on a hillside in Russia.
Singing by the campfire on the beach in Los Angeles.
Leading youth group worship in the basement at our church with just an acoustic and me.
Seeing the way Rich Mullins can worship the Lord through the lyrics of his songs, how he can receive so much praise and not live an extravagant life, how he can remain so humble… that’s a radical thing.

4. Paul Baloche. If there is anyone deserving of recognition while receiving none, it would be Paul Baloche. He’s written several hundred songs, of which, many appear on CCLI’s website for churches. His songs are Grammy-nominated, they’ve been sung by everyone from Sonic Flood and Smitty to Randy Travis. But he doesn’t even put his name as the domain for his website. (www.leadworship.com) He dedicates the entire site to helping empower other worship leaders. It’s hard to find people that are so dedicated to worshiping God and helping other people experience God in a new, fresh way.

So, those are a few of the heroes in my life. They aren’t the ONLY heroes, by any means, but they are the ones on my mind right now.

in Friends, Marriage and Worship. 1 Comment