...where has the time gone? It's been a full week since I last posted!

Some cool things have been going on--it's a personal pride, I guess, which can be a bit dangerous, that I've been working, useful, and busy the last week or so, despite being on summer "vacation."

So, rather than focusing on what I've been doing, I'll tell you about what I've been involved in, since there are other people doing important, useful, cool things.

--we've been building a green screen video lab at Community Bible Church. My best friend Kenny (and my two other friends, Jordan and Matt) operate the computer/technology department for the church and Community Christian School and they offered to let me come help make the green screen room, an area of video tech that I'm really interested in. They've also been letting me fool around on the video editing computer because it has Adobe CS3, which is a terribly secksy program.

--Avalon youth ministry has had a really great week. We started our small groups for the high schoolers (The Uprising), and while small at the moment, I'm praying that God gives me a vision for what He wants the Uprising small groups to look like and accomplish.

--The Uprising outreach service had a lot of visitors and long-lost members show up last night--the energy was much higher last night. We had a totally sweet movie trivia game (hosted by yours truly) and a pretty funny skit by our skit team. Kirk's talk was right-on, as they usually are. He's got a talent for telling people what the Bible says without crapping on them. I've been around so many people who can take ANY verse in the Bible and translate it into the same message over and over: "You suck, God doesn't like you, neither do I, and we won't until you look and talk like me." Not so with my friend, Kirk. The dude doesn't hesitate to challenge, but there is always the underlying concept that, regardless of where you are or have been, Jesus loves you and wants you.

--The Resistance, our middle school ministry, is chugging right along. It looks like our small groups are getting more cohesive. Oh...and by the way, ask and ye shall receive. We've been praying for more small group leaders and have had five new adult faces show up in the last month, looking to plug in. Woot! They've been so positive and enthusiastic about helping, teaching, and loving our kids.

--idea for a tee-shirt: Black 100% cotton tee; simple block type font; "God Melts My Face."

--Maggie's been learning a lot--and apparently listening very closely to what Shannon says. She wouldn't let me lie down in her bed last night to read her a story until I took my socks off. "Why, Maggie? Why do I have to take my socks off?" My sweet little monkey child looks up at me, puts her finger on her chin, smiles impishly, and says, "'Cause they're dirty."

--my fetus (currently inhabiting my wife's womb) is apparently a little larger than a lemon. When I get home from England in two weeks, we'll go get an ultrasound and find out if we're having a Wyatt (cross your fingers) or a Molly (that'd be fine with me, too).

A few blog/random links:

Los' video today. If you haven't seen the Pausch video or read the book, I suggest you do. Excellent, thought-provoking stuff. Material like this always makes me feel like I when I watch a Rocky training montage.

My current project (just for fun). No one asked me to make this and I don't expect anyone to use it, but I'm really enjoying screwing around in After Effects. SUCH a powerful artistic tool. The actual Quicktime video is 42 mb, and has crisp resolution, but uploading to youtube drops the video quality. It could use some music / sound effects...and a longer logo at the end, with a fade-out. I'll keep working on it.

Kirk's brother, Chad, has a blog and I didn't know. I'll put it up on my links list to the right. He's very talented with AF and has made some totally sick graphics for Avalon. He's a snazzy guy, too.

I'm not a fast talker--no, I know anyone who knows me IRL (in real life) is shouting, "YOU LIE, MATT FORD!" but I'm not a fast-talker. I talk fast, sure, but I often have difficulty figuring out why I think what I do and expressing it immediately in succinct, clear, and persuasive terms. Which is why I wish more managers and bosses would read and understand this post.

LoL Bruce Campbell's Tomato Soup

ZOMG MacGuyver cures deafness!

Harry Potter opens the egg...



Marathon post, I know...but I had some free time. :)

...my spiritual gifts and skillset hint to me every day that I should be doing a job like the host of this show...more sadly, I'm not sure there is a job in ministry for someone whose main gift is biting sarcasm.

I'm afraid I'm too much like this guy, having fun with this poor lady. The post below this one makes me really sad about my face. /lol

...how is anyone friends with me?



*snagged from Los.

...the members of our body that we'd rather not hear from...

...I'm working and praying and having faith that God will grow me into a man who can help Him undo some of the damage many Christians have done to the faith over the years.

It will happen one person at a time, but if we all work together, we can make a huge difference in the lives of people around us; we can get people to see that a church like the one in Acts 2--one filled with the Holy Spirit, sharing, helping, celebrating, and being excited about Jesus and love--is worth having around; that sort of church is worth investigating and learning about.

Weird. Acts 2 says that the first Christians "enjoyed the favor of all the people." I have to LoL at that. Not an incredulous LoL--a "I have to laugh, else I might cry" sort of LoL.

Enjoy the favor of the people? Not just the "people," but..."all" the people.

Look, we modern dudes can't get all the CHRISTIANS in one freaking building in favor with each other very often--and the people of the city in general favored these dudes.

I really doubt Christians back then had websites where they whigged out about how much God hates fags (He doesn't--He loves them); I don't think they had a horrendously large, politically active association of Christians spending millions of dollars and bickering over bi-laws and internal association-presidential elections (while people starved, froze in the cold, or had no Christmas presents...yes, I know they weren't celebrating Christmas back in Peter's time...work with my hyperbole); I totally don't think the Acts 2 church sent squads of followers out to the funerals of Roman soldiers to cheer on their death, chant, mock the mourners, and hold up placards with hateful, ignorant messages.

God's got a lifetime...check that...an eternity of growing me up to do; at the moment, I really believe that following Him means I'm helpful, friendly, fair, loving, and merciful--meek, even.

Rather than talking of God's anger (yeah, He gets angry, and I don't ignore that), I'll choose to bring the good news Jesus sent me out to provide. The good news is not "God hates idolators, teachers of evolution, liberals, and perverts."

It's more like, "God loves every single person, no matter how ugly and disgusting their lives have been--He wants your affection and praise, no matter what you've done or said. You can't ever go too far. When you walk up to God to ask Him yourself if He loves you, He'll never show you the face of a judgmental, angry, estranged God."

Actually, that last sentence can be untrue quite often...sadly enough. If Christians are the face of God on the Earth, too often non-Christians come asking us (in a variety of ways) if God really does love them--and all too often they are shown a judgmental, angry, estranged face.

We've got to fix our faces, dudes. I'm starting with mine...Psalm 34:5 says that if I look at God, my face will glow...er..."look radiant." How radiant do Christians look these days? How radiant do I look?

Don't answer. I already know. /le sigh

We can do better--check that--we can let Jesus do better through us. I want His name written on my face. On yours. On theirs. If we want these faces to shine for Jesus--to shine so the world may see--we're going to have to look at Him a LOT more than we have been.

...at my fellow Christians a LOT of the time.

Seriously, if the church is the body of Christ, I think the world hears from our butthole more often than from the encouraging mouth or the helping hands.

/sad panda


*ganked from Los' Blog

...to annoy people as my duty!

No less....from a feminist!

woot!

This may be the funniest dog in the world...ever.

Prepare yourself with a fresh diaper--you will wet yourself.

...well, actually, it was the first day of summer on Saturday, but I spent it teaching band leadership stuff to some kids. Very fun--makes me think of the sort of thing I want to do for a living--talking about stuff that makes a difference in people's lives--that is, serving and helping and inspiring people to be their best.

...Iron Man melted my face. Excellent graphics. ILM did a better job for John Favreaueueueueueueueueueu than they did for George Lucas--it's very difficult to tell which shots are entirely computer generated and which are composite and which are "real." Robert Downey Jr: = teh awesome. Perfect roll for him, especially considering his real life past, personality, and reputation. Even more astounding was the human performance of Gwyneth Paltrow. I'm not a fan of her at all, but I loved her in this movie. Can't wait to see the sequel with Terrance Howard in the silver "unfinished" suit.

...I love my church, the youth, and the group leaders that volunteer for the kids.

...watched Pasion of the Christ last night; first time seeing it since the theaters. Gotta say that this was a well made, terribly difficult movie to watch. It allows me to realize, viscerally and literally, that Jesus was a man of flesh and blood, with fear, pain, desolate feelings, despair, and loneliness in his final hours. The fact that He paid that and loved even those who drove the spikes home--that He raised the traitorous Peter to be the leader of His church--wow! Doesn't matter what you do or say, Jesus wants you. He's already paid for you, bought you with His blood and His very life. To think...the only thing He wanted for this price was our recognition of His love.

...going to Ireland and England soon. I can't wait. Hope my passport gets here in time. I paid extra to have it expedited, but not sure of its current status. Might have to buy someone off or kill someone off.

...please pray for my wife. She's dealing with some really ratty managers and jerks at her job. It's been God's intervention that I haven't been there for some of these interactions. Not only would I be asking God and those folks for forgiveness, I'd have to call one of you for bail money. :(

...love you, guys. Thanks for reading. Maybe I'll get some interesting stuff up here soon, rather than just a semi-daily journal.