File this one under "things Stephanie likes"

Here's a video my beloved showed me this afternoon.
Just thought I'd share the fun:

I was told that this would be a good thing to post...

When my phone is ringing, the first thing I usually say is:
"Oh hey, my butt is vibrating," which, I must earnestly point out, is no longer a dorky thing only I would say because apparently my home-dog Stacie uses it, too. Valida-shuuuuun!
Weirdest thing I've done today:
painting my new cabinet on wheels from IKEA in the backyard in my PJs at midnight.*
When I haven't posted anything in nearly a month, it's usually because:
I am trying to avoid writing things like the preceding...


*You would know how weird this is if you knew what I wear to sleep in. If you really want to know, just ask Stephanie!**

**I'm totally kidding.

What is wrong with this picture?

I have a few thoughts as I look at this picture:

1) We should start a calendar or something, because we are some dead sexy video men.

2) Phil (center) needs more sleep...
[by the way, Phil just got hired, and he is pretty much the perfect third musketeer for this band of misfits we call the video team. You can check out his website here.]

3) It's 1 AM and we're still working on Christmas videos...we must reeeeeaaalllly love our jobs. Or maybe our office just looks that good. You decide.

You know, it's funnny

...how we can put hours-sometimes days!- of work and sweat trying to produce 3 minute cinematic masterpieces each weekend, and yet it's the stupid domino-swallowing stunt video that us took an hour and a half to produce that I decide to post on my blog. Enjoy!

A quick mini-update

Guess where I was last week!

a GOOD versus BEST post

Okay, here's something to fill in the void between the real posts:
I finally decided to check my Facebook account after a long hiatus, and this is what greeted me:
















...and this is only a part of the list after I went through and hit the ignore option for several invitations to groups and events, most of which whose appeal I barely understood ("'___' wants to invite you to rate how alike you are! Click Here!" How tempting.).

I barely have time to blog, let alone take time to explore the possibilities lurking behind a hotness request (which, I'm sorry to admit, was pretty much the only one I was even remotely interested in checking out. I can be really shallow sometimes.)

In conclusion, I really have no other point here than to marvel at the amount of time a person could potentially waste on Facebook.

So here's your PSA for the evening:
You only get today once, and you'll probably be dead in less than 60 years, so why not do something lasting with it?* (Isn't that a happy thought?)

*The hint: In other words, accepting that werewolf invitation may not be the best use of your time.

I did it!

The cord is cut!

After months of procrastination, I have finally broken myself of my almost crack-like addiction to myspace.

It wasn't even like I was logged in all that much; it was just that my myspace page was one more website with my personal information that I needed to check and keep updated, and trust me, all that time adds up. Tonight I decided that enough was enough.

So there.

Considering all of the many areas in which I need to experience some personal growth, it's nice to feel some satisfaction about something even as small as this.

Watch out, facebook. You're next.

Guess who turns 23 today?

...I am surely one of the all time most blessed men of all time

El Processo Returns!

Here is another edition of before and after pictures of last Wednesday's shoots and the weekend results. Enjoy!

The Before (sans volunteers and Troy...we forgot to take pictures as we were filming):

The After:



Let me just say that Ian Achong is an editing maniac who can color correct like no other.

Props!

At the airport...

Yes, it's true, I've actually been allowed to venture into the outside
world!
Today we (meaning my beloved, my Mom #2, and I) are headin' to
Tennessee for an Ecoquest conference! Yippee!
I love traveling.

Until next time, here's a picture of my now-techno-savvy baby checking
the Boston scores on her new iPhone.
Peace!

Snapshots

Let it be said that my small group flippin' rocks.

I thought I would just jot down some thoughts and let the pictures tell the rest.

Every week about 12 of us get together and share meals, jokes, stories and the like before we split into two co-ed groups to do the deep discussions.


We started with chips and soda, but then things started escalating when the girls got competitive and started cooking things. Not to be outdone by a stereotype, the men called in reinforcements with chicken parm and homemade cookies. You asked for it, ladies.

We usually end up going longer than the prescribed hour that you'd expect a small group to.

If there's an iPhone around, we all huddle around a screen and laugh at YouTube videos.

Sometimes the discussions go well into the night.

Nearly every week someone says something that is so funny, our sides ache for a good half hour after the event.


Matt is a very focused guy when it's his turn at Taboo.

Taboo is probably the funniest game that I have ever played.

The girls are sore winners.

Many of us come from completely opposite backgrounds, but somehow it all fits together. I'm going to put the blame solely on God for that one.

If you're not in a small group, what the heck are you waiting for?

El Processo

Happy Monday, guys.

I thought it'd be neat to give you a peek into the production process here at FRC.
This is what we started with last week:






The inventory?
Two folding tables, a white table cloth, a light kit, two cameras, a preview monitor, an SM-81 condenser mic to capture the sound of falling dominos, and a ton of plastic dominos. Add two video guys, a few volunteers, and lots of patience.

Two days later, this is what we ended with:



-m

Where did Mauricio go?

Sorry for the lack of posting, guys. I've been sick for the past two days. What started as a minor headache on Saturday turned into a full-out hack-fest late Monday night. I've since traded in the cough for a fever and soreness in my eyes.

I suppose the good news is that this forces me to actually sit still , which I normally have a great deal of trouble doing; if it weren't for the achey-dizziness that accompanies walking, I'd probably be at work sharing my germs with poor Ian and Brian.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know what's up. We'll be back to our regularly scheduled program hopefully by tomorrow.

Beautiful

This is what the sky looked like when I got out of the 5 PM service this evening:

























Man, South Florida rocks.

I love ambient alternative!

I picked up The Album Leaf's 2004 release In a Safe Place from the iTunes store after discovering that track six was the soundtrack for Rob Bell's NOOMA video Lump (which, I think is Kyle Johnson and I's favorite video of the series so far).

I have since discovered a love for ambient alternative chill music that I never knew I had (thank you Rob Bell!). This is music for reading, or driving home when you've got stuff on your mind, or if your Garden State soundtrack is missing and you need more music to chill to.

Anyway, there's my shameless commercial plug for the day. Go buy yourself some NOOMA videos and that Album leaf CD and call me in the morning.

All I have is today

Sleepiness...I've been running hard today.
Here's what I was working on:



Pretty cool huh? Fast forward to a few hours later, where I'm sitting in the passenger seat with Steph's hand in mine, watching the highway lights race across the dashboard. I had a good chunk of quiet time during the 45-minute drive back from Steph's aunt's house in Homestead to remind myself of two things:

1) I have much less margin for error when it comes to my decisions than I did a few years ago; bad financial decisions then meant I just had to eat Peanut Butter and Jelly for a week or nab some side gigs for extra cash. No big deal.
Now, I'm saving for a wedding and a place to live now. Mistakes can hurt a lot worse now.

2) 12 daylight hours is not a whole lot of time. If I try to get all the good things done, I will certainly miss out on the best. It happens far too often for my liking, if I can be perfectly honest.

Tomorrow's goal? To make it count.

I have issues

As I was going through our tape archives today, I came across the following DVD that I archived back in July.



It took me a minute to figure out what in the world I meant when I labeled the 7PM as "The Perfect Service."




After it hit me, I came to a sad realization.

I am a dork.

announcement

In less than 24 hours, I will be 25 years old.

That is all.

A.M. Devo

Hey gang,

I thought I would wake up early and join the A.M. devo at Troy's Blog, and to tell the truth, I was mainly going to capture some footage for the recap video this weekend (just being naked here, as we say), and of course, I got drawn in.
We're talking about insecurity this weekend, a topic near and dear to my heart.

Truth be told, the topic of what I think I can and can't do in Christ (as if my opinion was the foremost opinion in this area), and the wrestling match that ensues in my heart, is a recurring theme in my life. For some reason, my particular background and temperament has me wired in such a way that my tendency is to believe the lie that my worth comes from what I do.

Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to this weekend.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us...
-Marianne Williamson

Epilogue

This is me and two of our volunteers from our Sawgrass campus on Sunday after tear down...if I look almost comatose, that's because I am.

I had the sweet privilege of leading worship at our amazing Sawgrass campus on Sunday. If was a blast, but I had to get there super-early. After this (and staying up all night Saturday night to edit the HD feed) I went home and crashed for about 6 hours, which, by the way, was the second best thing to happen to me all day (mad props to the Reverend Gramling for the inspiration!)


This is why you haven't heard from me since Friday night.
We are now back to our regularly scheduled semi-consistent posts.

It is finished!

I just finished the latest weekend video. It's a promo spot for next week's topic, insecurity.

I don't think it'll hurt if I honestly tell you that this one was a pain in the rear to kick out, mainly because of the headache that came from trying to find interviewees who would be both willing and authentic about a topic almost no one wants to talk about on camera.

This is ministry, though, where lack of resources is the mother of innovation, so after some major revisions to the original plan, and by the grace of God, we've got a video, and I am happy. Tired, but happy.

Actually, I'm tired, happy, and very very grateful to my roomate, Aaron, for being willing to take both the crew and soon the rest of Flamingo into a very painful period in his life. It's rare in my experience to find someone who's gifted enough to tell their story in a compelling way with that level of honesty in such short notice.

Success!

Strangeness

Pictured below is the view from my car window as I sit parked in front
of a local GameStop, waiting for my friends to return from their spot
in line, presumably with three copies of Halo 3.

I'm still wondering what I'm doing here...
Well hey, everyone's back. Here we go...

W00t w00t

Quite the day today.
We had ourselves a kickin' beach baptism, the details of which can be found here and here. I'm sure there will be some sort of recap to follow, although I may have to take some aspirin while I'm editing; we had some very active waves, so there's probably going to be quite a bit of movement (Hooray for the smooth cam filter!).

About halfway through then event I whacked myself in the head with my camera when a big wave caught me unawares, which the rest of the team thought was just hilarious (Ha! Mo gave himself a concussion! Brilliant!). Don't worry, though, he camera's fine. If Evan managed to tape it by accident, I'll post it so you too can laugh at my misfortune.

While I'm on the subject, I'd definitely like to give a shout out to the wild n' kooky crew that make up the FRC video team. We're more volunteers than paid people now, (which means we actually have to be nice to them sometimes- ha, just kidding Stacie and Evan) which is really encouraging considering that a mere six months ago there was Brian and myself (with our friends Ian and Carolina occasionally helping us out). Now there are enough of us so we can actually play a pickup game of basketball if we wanted to and school the worship pastors on the court (watch out, Pastor Ricky!)

Anywho, all that to say that I was very proud to be a part of the team I'm in today; life's just more fun when the right people are in it, and I'm working alongside the best! (even when they laugh and call me a whiner when I almost knock myself unconscious at the beach.)

Okay, who else can I give a shout out to while I'm here? Oh, yes....






Arturo De La Mora is a genius!



A genius with an antennae hat that reminds me of something....








....what could it be....



....ah, yes....

The first guest blogger, ever!

Hey gang, I'd like to take a minute to introduce Robert, my guest
blogger for the evening. Be nice to him & visit him at www.robertolopez.blogspot.com

. Hooray!

Wussup yall...we it's about 11:15pm and we are hanging out at denny's.
As you can see I am sporting my home made iPhone I made at the
restaraunt. Hopefully one day I can afford a real one. Well my salad
just got here so I gotta go...PEACE!!!

-Rob

I once killed a man with this thumb...

This is a picture of my roommate and I in the bathroom we share.
Notice the demolished toothbrush I am holding in my hands. I was
brushing my teeth after finishing lunch today and it snapped in two.

That is the power of a strong, manly thumb right there.
I just thought I would share.

-Mauricio

Sent from my iPhone

Really cool skit

Check out this YouTube video...what a great illustration a profound truth.
This gave me goosebumps when I saw it (Hat tip: Chad Swanzy)

It is ready!

Wedding Update!

I have finally finished designing and uploading the first draft of Steph and I's wedding website and I am excited and exhausted. I really should have gone to sleep about two hours ago, but I got excited when I saw the end was near (well, the end of this part of designing it, anyway)

So be sure to stop by, and, once I get the guestbook up and running, feel free to drop by and leave some comments. Stay tuned for more updates as we go. Woohoo!

For now, www.tinocosanchez.com is open for business!

Thoughts on becoming

“Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!"
Matthew 6:22-23

"Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
Matthew 12:33-37

I heard a quote once, and I can't remember where from. It goes like this:

"Right now you are becoming the person you are going to be for the rest of your life,"

or, put another way,

"Who I am is the result of the choices I have made."

I gave a talk on that in Elevate a few weeks ago and it tonight a conversation I had brought the thought to the fore in a big way. (Elevate is the name of the college ministry I help with at FRC. Sorry, no web page...yet, muahahaha)
Sometimes that's a really cool quote to keep in mind, especially when I'm on the verge of doing or saying something stupid (which, as my fiance can attest to, can happen quite frequently). It helps me to keep an awareness of this strong truth, that what I do and say matters, that my habits and routines form who I will be, and that the things I say and do now are either taking closer to the person God is forming in me, or farther away from it (Thanks toPastor Matt Miller for keeping that phrase in our collective sights each Tuesday night). A very cool quote indeed.


Tonight, though, it scared me.
Sometimes it's too easy to oversimplify and - especially - to judge when you're watching someone close to you make life-destroying decisions, but I believe that, handled rightly, can lend a certain amount of clarity about the kind of person you're dealing with.

The quote scares me, because I'm witnessing the end result of what happens when an individual makes the same kinds of choices over and over again, until the choices start to make them.
It's a wonderful principle when you've trained yourself in habits like discipline, selflessness, and concern for others.
It's horrifying when you witness the kind of Spiritual blindness that leads to the destruction of a marriage and suffering in the life of another, especially when it's justified by reasons like "he isn't romantic enough for me."
And he hasn't eaten for a week and barely sleeps and when he does it's because he's exhausted from crying.

The quote scares me, because this person has become who she is as a result of those choices. You can only justify darkness when you've been living in it so long that you've forgotten what light looks like.

The quote scares me, and those verses scare me, because this is my story.
Not the specific event, maybe not that bad (as far as surface-level things go, anyway), but the reality is that both her and I are broken, and all of us are capable of both great and terrible things. Not one of us is exempt from the need for the power of Christ to renew us on the inside.
I am just as capable of drifting far enough away so that up becomes down. All it takes is small steps away from the cross, short trips in the dark that become vacations from what I once knew to be right, so much wandering around in darkness that I forget what the light ever felt like.

Hearts can become calloused. Our choices matter.
And that's scary stuff.

Epilogue

Man, it was a good night...
If you weren't logged on to mynakedpastor.com for the launch party tonight, know that it was definitely a night to remember.
I was mainly behind the scenes, filming and generally holding things that needed to be held and standing where I needed to be stood, but I had several observations after participating in the event:

1) I don't think I have ever traveled as much under one roof in two hours than I did then.
(From the Launch Pad, to the Naked Bar, to the Karaoke (Naked Idol) Station, back to the Bar, to the Launch Pad, to the Bar-no, wait, the Karaoke Station! Quick! Etc...)

2) The Jazz Trinity is going to be a huge musical sensation if they continue to practice the way it sounds like they do. They put college age musicians I know to shame (and sorry about the roughness of the audio. Guess you'll have ot ask me to listen to the recording I made while I was there to experience the awesomeness :)

3) Troy is going to need lots of prayer, for both him and his family. I've logged on a few times, and it's cool, but I've also happened to be around several conversations that included enough detail to make me uncomfortable to be talking about it. Sure, he's pretty much asked for it by going through with this, and that may be the difficult part of this whole deal that comes with the territory, but I don't think that means that we shouldn't be praying for his family, for his life. He's put himself out there because he believes in the something beautiful and huge, namely, that God can use the small and often broken details of a family's life to both reflect back to us our own brokenness as well as to glorify and draw people to himself, and Troy (unlike many) is willing to live like that's true. Pray that more of us would have that kind of courage.

The Launch party! The Launch Party!

Man, I love Sunday afternoons.
It's that tranquil little oasis of time in between the morning services and the evening services. The two to three hour period doesn't give me enough time to start any in-depth projects or do anything that requires me to drive more than a few miles from church, and Stephanie often works on the weekends, so I'm usually left with time to spend either napping or reading, or, in this case, blogging while listening to the soundtrack from Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong.
(So who cares if most of it feels like it was taken directly from Dvorak and Stravinsky? Speaking of which, if you know any serious classically trained musicians who know their stuff, you can have a very cool and possibly very spirited conversation about why most pop and cinema music sounds the way that it does and who ripped off what style and/or chord progression from where...as Solomon used to say, there is nothing new under the sun.

Just a little extra info I thought I'd throw in, free of charge)

Soooo...I am so excited to talk to my fiancé today. I really am.
The day before yesterday I started reading the book Love and Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, and it has turned on some major light bulbs for me, especially in the area of my approach toward her in general. Anyway, I'm eager to test out all the neat stuff I'm learning, which may or may not go over well (although I think it will), but in any case, I'm pumped now, and that's the important part.

Anywho, I'm going to res a little and double-check my equipment for tonight. In case you hadn't gotten a chance to click on that odd-looking banner with the goldfish to your right, tonight is the mynakedpastor.com launch party, and it is going to be HUGE.
Log on and see.
For now, here's the promo spot we showed this weekend:

Mazel Tov!

I just want to give a quick shout out to my beloved for getting promoted today!
After months of insinuations and much prayer and hoping, she got the news that her career is moving up to the next level!
Hooray for my beautiful assistant manager in training! You've earned it!

I am counseled

Hooray for having a functional relationship!

Today was pre-marital counseling session number one for my beloved and I, and it went really well!
I mean, I was pretty positive from the start that it was going to be a good time, but validation is always nice, and that's how it went. I think my favorite part was Steph and I telling our story together again. It feels like it's been a while since the last time we got to share it together; that rush of emotional recall that comes with each telling reminds me of how special what we have really is. I was reminded of all of the fantastic coincidences (we call them divine appointments) that brought us together in a way neither of us could ever have planned, and it was a clarion reminder that we really are meant for each other.

We've talked before about our occasional doubts and the fears that tagged along when we made our decision to get married, and for someone who lives in his head as much as I do, who is as prone to dwelling and over-analysis as I am, those can be hard to dislodge at times.

Which is why I love nights like these, that remind me of the important things.

PS: While we're on the subject of relationships and important things, anyone in a serious relationship could definitely benefit from articles like this one.

Themes

If today had a theme, it would be this song.

tiredness

Hey gang,
sorry for the recent posting deficiency. I think this has probably been the busiest week all summer, as far as videos go.
I'm pretty exhausted, but I wanted to let you all know that I was alive before I went and collapsed in a heap on my bead.
In the meantime, though, I'll leave you with a picture my mom and I took of Stephanie's dog, Muñeca. I'm taking care of her while Steph's away on vacation, so I'm taking advantage of the time to teach the dog some valuable skills, like typing. Here's the pic:














So far, the only thing I've been able to get her to type is the word arf over and over again, but I'm confident that soon Muñeca will be ready to start her own blog.

Praises

I was going to write this rousing intellectual tour-de-force about how amazingly grateful and blessed I am that I have a future father-in-law who is nothing like this guy:

I may still write it and post it later, because there are a whole lot of great things I could write about the way my suegros make my trips to their home something to look forward to, but I got distracted by this photo and have since decided to post it instead, just because it shows another reason why Steph and I get along so well with each other:
The best part is, I didn't even know she was making that face behind me at the time...surely a woman after my own heart.

The date is set!

At long last, we have ourselves a wedding date!
It's a good feeling; Steph and I had been trying to pin this thing down since we got engaged last December, and now we all finally know for sure: Friday, May 23, 2008

So...that means I've got 10 months, four days, and 7 hours (give or take a few minutes) until I get married. Woohoo!

As for the location...I'll just leave you the picture as a hint :)

Just a little service we offer, free of charge

I think it's safe to say that I'm not much of a clothes shopper. If you ever see me playing guitar or sax on the weekend, you may or may not notice that I tend to rotate through the same five outfits; occasionally, I'll mix things up and wear a new shirt, but if you see that, it probably means that my dad outgrew something and gifted it to me.
Some people are into clothes. Not me. I'm more of a food and rent kind of guy (with the occasional Apple product thrown in just for kicks).
All that gives you some background insight into my favorite pair of jeans. The ones with the fake bleach stains that made them look so trendy and used when I paid too much for them (while somewhere in the back of my mind I quietly asked myself why I didn't just buy a new pair of pantaloons that actually looked new...). Anyway, I was putting them on sometime ago, and I was in a bit of a rush, and in my zeal to put my pants on, my big toe tore a hole clear through the left-hand thigh. Now, a quarter inch of untanned leg (which hadn't seen the light of day since middle school, when I wore shorts above the knee) was exposed for all the world to see. Horrors!
As you can imagine, I thought that this was the beginning of the end for my favorite pair of denim loafers. I started preparing myself to budget a new demins purchase into my monthly, all because of my dumb big toe, when I was pointed to a product that would mean the salvation of my britches.
Enter the Bondex iron-on patch.
Now, not only are my jeans pre-treated with bleach stains (trendy), they now have holes in fashionable places (extra trendy) and spare me the embarrassment of explaining to curious onlookers why my arms and face are latino brown and my legs are the same color as my iPod headphones.
Mad props to Pastor Brian Fuller for recommending this wonderful product to me.

Traveling mercies

I had been waiting for the chance to use the google maps feature on the iPhone on an actual road trip, and yesterday my chance finally came! Steph and I had the address for the friends we were going to visit, a car to drive in, and, most importantly, a nifty iPhone, so we were ready to rock!
Unfortunately, Murphy's law being what it is, we still managed to get lost; apparently the map was zoomed in a little too far, which made us think that that big yellow line on the map before the road we were going to turn on was US-1 instead of University Drive....etc. etc. you know the drill. Trust me, this says way more about Steph and I than it does about the iPhone. Anyway, all that just goes to show you that no piece of technology, no matter how amazing, can replace the power of actually using your brain. My Mastercard commercial for the evening would go something like this:

Full tank of gas: $30
iPhone: $600
Paying attention so that you don't arrive almost 45 minutes late: priceless

temptation: an epilogue

So yeah, it's a good thing we had that whole chat earlier about financial restraint, because I threw it out the window Friday afternoon.
Somewhere between the repeated inquiries as to why I still hadn't bought the phone from my fiancé ("Look, after we're married, disposable income's going to be harder to come by, so you may as well go buy it now so I can play with it.") all the way to my mom ("Can I play with your phone? I know you've got one. You do have one, right?"), and the email I got from Brian Thursday night (...informing me of exactly which apple stores in a 20 mile radius still had iPhones in stock) the idea lodged itself in my head that maybe I was meant to have this phone. The signs were all there. It would be wrong to miss this opportunity, right?

Ha! Yeah right!
We all know that I just really wanted it and was in a place financially where I could make it happen without messing up any major priorities, so -surprise!- I have an iPhone!

And yes, I am wayyyy happy with my purchase.
And now Brian and I have matching phones.
Kinda creepy, huh?

Temptation!!

Uh-oh, the wrestling match has begun...the iPhone comes out today, and I am trying to talk myself out of buying it, which should be easy because I don't need it (for anything other than making today ridiculously cool). I repeat, I do not need the iPhone. Not one little bit. Seriously. Ignore my eye twitching.

Up until today, I was doing great in the restraint department. However, there have been problems.

1) I got paid today.
There's enough money in the bank. I've been really good with my savings lately. Normally a great thing, unless you're trying to talk yourself out of a splurge purchase (of what just happens to be the sweetest gadget on the planet right now).

2) Brian, who is already camping out in front of the ATT & T store just offered me a spot in line via text message.
LOSER! I am trying to be responsible here and Brian, my pastor, my spiritual leader, (who I thought cared about my spiritual development) offers me the chance to do the thing I've been fighting to talk myself out of. Why, man? Why?

3) Stephanie said that if I wanted it, I should get it.
Why would she do that to me?? Doesn't she know that we're saving up for our wedding and that I am trying to exercise financial restraint?! Why would she facilitate my foolishness like that?

Huh.

Seriously, though, I know it's all my choice and whatever decision I make (and, by extension, any consequences) will be mine alone, but still...

...crud.

I heart our volunteers!

You see what this is? It's an apple topped with peanut butter and honey bunches of oats.

It only sounds gross because you haven't tried it yet. A few weeks ago these little beauties started showing up in the greenroom at church in between services, and I am now hooked.

Many thanks and shout outs to our volunteers, who make food that makes me happy!

A short thank you note

Dear ______,

I want to write you to say thank you for what you said to me yesterday morning. You most likely had no idea of the impact your comments made, so I think it's fair to let you know that you helped change the course of my day yesterday.
Sometimes the gap between who I am and who I want to be gets bigger than I think I can handle, and the lack of forward motion on my part at times really tempts me to wonder if I'm really meant to be doing what I'm doing. I know that what we're going after as a church demands a certain level of excellence, and my internal response to a lot of what comes my way is often less than stellar, despite my best efforts.
That you were able to notice some measure of worth in my attitude tells me two things I really needed to hear:
1) I'm a little more than useless, and
2) God has to be at work, because no way on my own am I capable of the grace you accused me of showing. :)

So if God is with me (which he always is), then, like Troy says, I have no right to quit. Thanks for reminding me of that.
:)

Unplugged

Quite the weekend we had.
We got back from Unplugged today, the first cruise getaway FRC has ever put on, to my knowledge. Think summer camp for grownups, and it'll kind of give you an idea of how it all went down.
I think for most of us, it served it's purpose as a much-needed chance to step back from life and examine a life that might have been lacking in that area. In a display of multitasking that makes me tired to even think about it, I attempted to be the trip cameraman, an assistant tech guy, a band member, part-time photographer, and an attentive fiancé, sometimes all at once. If that wasn't difficult enough, I was trying to do all this while attempting to learn and relate with the people around me.
It was a blast, though, and at the end of it the tiredness I feel is the kind that comes at the end of a true effort, which I can accept.

There were some neat moments, but I'll stick to just one; the world has been swaying back and forth since I got off the boat, and I think I need to lay down (It feels great when I'm laying down, but makes sitting or standing upright a little tricky).
As the weekend went on, our group kept getting bigger, and we had several people join us in our sessions after having either heard about us or overheard us as they walked by. One couple even lived near the church, and I overheard them talking about checking out Flamingo. It was a very cool reminder that God's always working even we we think we're not.

Technology rocks

I'm on my way out, but I just had to post this, because it's so cool!

This blog is being written from somewhere in the ocean. I'm in the middle of nowhere, but I still have wireless internet...man, technology rocks sometimes.

Just so you know, this isn't all frivolous; I had to email Brian the welcome video for this weekend, which we just finished filming. Ha!

I proably should keep this to myself...

2 AM can be a lonely time, I'm realizing...the problem with blogging when you're feeling tired or bummed is that because it's a snapshot of a particular moment, that emotion tends to kind of hold it's place and the experience is artificially drawn out for anyone following the blog (at least until a week goes by and I remember to post again).

This time of night is one of the few times when I'm able to really unpack and examine all of the little tangents my mind hasn't gotten a chance to really mull over due to the schedule I keep; unfortunately, tonight's going to be a bit of a downer. Just giving you fair warning.
You've caught me somewhere between simple melancholy and teen-angst (although it isn't severe enough to have me writing bad poetry. Count your blessings).

I caught Spiderman 3 tonight, and I think I was almost sure I didn't dislike it.
It was okay. Seriously, I really wanted to get enthralled by the plot. I gave it my best shot, honest; however, after having previously watched Tobey get his butt kicked all over the place in the other two movies (along with that one side of Spidey's face mask ripped off- only and always in the final battle. That's a rule), I think I walked into the theater a bit jaded to the whole experience.

(Oooo....Johnny Cash just made it on my play list..."Hurt," if you're curious)

Anyway, on the way home I thought about what that black suit might have represented. I know it's just a movie, but it got me thinking about all the times in the past few weeks where I've really felt like throwing in the towel on being good all the time (well, as good as I can manage to be, that is...). Not to the point of beating people up and making Stephanie cry, mind you, but all the same, there are times when I seriously wonder why I try so hard.

What have I become, my sweetest friend? Everyone I know goes away in the end

I probably-no, scratch that, I definitely - don't have the experience under my belt to even begin to know the full depth of that line, but all the same, a part of it resonates with me. That whole acceptance of the simple fact that people let us down. I let them down, and they let me down. Fact of life. And yet, cognitively knowing that still hasn't gotten me to the point where I can take it completely in stride.
I mean, I get tired sometimes. Ministry is tough. Relationships are tough. Not complaining. Just an observation.
And the truth is, there are times when I wonder if it's worth it.
Yeah, I know guys who work at church are supposed to be superhuman and all that, but let's table that for a minute and be real, because sometimes life feels like a raw deal. I'll get a video request seemingly thrown at me at the last minute or put in a 50-hour week and then get asked to completely retool everything I've done, or Steph will unknowingly disappoint me, or insert any of the myriad other little injustices (to me) that collide with my formerly-uncomplicated life, and I'll get into moods like this, or something else along those lines, and I'll feel the tiredness, and I'll feel it deeply. And then I'll start asking the why questions, the ones that have answers that, deep down, I probably don't want to hear. And don't get me started on all the choice reactions that pop into my head when I feel like I'm getting shafted.

Why do I bother depressing you with this? Because you feel that way, too, and as much as I tend to berate myself internally for responding emotionally to things the way that I do, things like this serve as a reminder that I'm not a the only one who's ever felt unappreciated, taken advantage of, or unloved. And it's important, because left to myself I'll feel like a chump for getting upset over these things.

Probably the hardest phrase I have heard this year was "handle it right." Troy laid that little beauty on us at a staff meeting back in February, and man, it sucks. That little phrase right there firmly puts all of the responsibility for how I interact with the world on me. Someone disappointed me? Handle it right. She hurt me? Handle it right. So much easier said than done, but like Troy said, and I am trying to internalize this, the only person who can keep me from the destiny God has for me is me, and as long as I handle it right, He'll be with me, and I will always be okay.

...and no, I'm not going to end this on a positive note. I'm still working through the frustrations of the day, and besides, I always end on a positive note. You guys can handle my whining for one post.

Procrastination

Tiredness...Sundays wipe me out these days...It's good for me in the midst of the craziness of my life to find pockets of randomness where I can depressurize my life.
This weekend Robert introduced me to Comic Life, and I've been at it since...here's the third page of the book I'm making out of this last vacation...

Sunday nights are fun

Hey gang, long time no see :)

This is a good moment right here...the end of a Sunday, the checkbook's balanced, my room's quasi-organized (I know where everything is now), I've made my list of things to do tomorrow (don't look at me like that. I'm not that anal. I probably won't get half of it done, anyway), and now I'm putting down this quick blog before me and my glass of blueberry-pomegranate juice go kick it with some reading before I knock out.

And if I sound like an old man, it's only because I'm practicing for marriage ;)
Seriously, though, for someone who spends as much time running full tilt at life as I do, times like these are a rare blessing.

And it just struck me again that I'm graduating on Tuesday. Tuesday! Graduating! Isn't that nuts? After all the delays, set-backs, detours, and near-quits, I'm walking the stage at the Pharmed Arena to shake hands with the dean I've spoken to once and the President I've never met of the university I'm not quite sure I totally disliked.
Six years. Sheesh...
When I think about it, it really isn't that long of a time, especially in comparison to-Lord willing- everything else I've got coming (I plan to live to be 120 at least). I think what makes it seem so huge is the sheer amount of life I managed to pack into those years.
More first times than I can bother counting right now, some good, and some I'll just say that I learned from :).
Lots of laughs. Many, many very stupid stunts that were definitely good ideas at the time (quarter stick of dynamite under a trash can in the backyard at FSU, anyone?). Lots of tears. A lot of wondering when I would finally meet Stephanie.
I could probably go on for a while, but I'll spare you the litany for now. What's really neat is being able to look back and see all the places where time and time again what seemed like unconnected and at times very painful coincidences were divinely knit together in a way that propelled me towards something better.
Times like these are a cool reminder for me of the really important things.

Okay, time to go read. Peace!

Hi

Hey gang! Long time no see!

I apologize for the recent lack of posting; I chalk it up to being partially swamped, partially uninspired, and partially distracted (read: lazy).

I'm going to try to get back in the saddle this week or next. For now, feel free to check out the video we showed at FRC this weekend to promo next weekend. Notice the stunning brunette in the second scene...;)

My sister, the wife

So my sister and Dustin are officially married, off on their honeymoon...what a wild thought; I remember our Middle School days when I used to embarrass her by obnoxiously pointing at boys she thought was cute ("oh, which one, sis? THAT one? Ow! Why'd you hit me??").
My, how time flies. Like Stephanie even said today, we've been engaged for four months already and it feels like I proposed yesterday. I strongly suspect that once we're both graduated in May and the actual nuts and bolts of the wedding planning begins that things will only accelerate even more.

Hmm...1 o'clock already. I guess I should get on with things so I can get some sleep before Easter Week officially kicks off for me tomorrow.

So anyway, back to Milena's wedding. In hindsight, I am struck firstly by how much everyone seemed to enjoy the event, despite the occasional lapses in certain areas I was sure would cause certain members of my family to completely flip out. As far as those go, Steph and I spent a good deal of time on the drive back to her house critiquing the things that needed to be critique and making notes of what we liked and what we would avoid (such as photographers who show up an hour and half late and forget to photograph half of the family, for starters), and what would could improve on. However, minor critiques aside, and independent of what anyone else might think or say, it has to be noted that my sister and Dustin had the time of their lives, and I know they'll be remembering the day fondly for the rest of their lives.

Despite all the headaches that cropped up in the days leading up to and even during Milena's nuptials (being a groomsman and the audio director and the video guy all at the same time is grueling work), I've still got to admit that I love weddings.
The symbolism and the sacredness of the ceremony, all the different layers and meaning behind everything done and said, fill me with a wonder that I can meditate on for hours and not get tired of. I love the fact that a span of time can be so packed with significance, so well leveraged and weighty. It's such a neat counter to the myriad influences in the culture around me that so often pull me towards the superficial.
Rob Bell once did a speaking tour which had for its title "Everything is Spiritual." I never got to hear the talk, but that tagline has been burning holes in my lobes for months since I first heard it. It's a phrase that brings more and more delight to me the more I think about it, and I think the reason it does is because I believe that everything is. Let me point to the opposite of that to illustrate what I mean.
Sometimes, when we don't want to think too deeply about why we did some action, we use the phrase "for the hell of it" to provide a reason for it. Think about this for a minute. What are we really saying? If that's true, if the reality is that there's really no reason or higher purpose behind what we were doing, then what we did was a complete waste of time, and we don't get time back once we've spent it.
I'm not arguing against youthful spontaneity or a simplicity that brings joy; the benefits of those things are obvious, but what do I think is a little sad is when I allow myself to think that the time I spend has no real significance, and in doing so, I miss the chance to enjoy a moment I'm never going to get back. The fact is (and I've said this before), I'm becoming the man I'm going to be for the rest of my life. On my wedding day, nothing is essentially going to change about me. For the most part, I will be the result of the choices I've made up that point. Scary thought, isn't it?

So here's why I love weddings: everything matters in a wedding. There's symbolism everywhere, if you're willing to look for it. The unity candle (or sand). The placement of the officiant in relation to the bride and groom. The wedding ring. These things point to something deeper, and I enjoy it because it's a reminder to me that the time I spend matters beyond this moment.
It's the reason Steph and I couldn't keep our eyes off each other as we stood across the aisle during the ceremony, knowing what it meant for Dustin and my sister and knowing what it will mean for us one day. Everything is spiritual. It's a phrase that reminds me that there is beauty in the mundane, and I'm glad for it, because I tend to forget that it's not all there for the hell of it. ;)

tiredness...

In case you're wondering where I've been, here's a quick rundown before I pass out for a quick Sunday nap...

Today: helped lead worship @ Flamingo & sang a neat little Lenny Kravitz tune. Brian taught on obedience. (The video team was all over the place this weekend! Word!)

Yesterday: My little sister's wedding. I was the audio/video guy and a groomsman...so actually that day actually started days before the ceremony when I started putting together the slideshow for my sister and her then-future husband...there's a whole lot more to tell, but that'll come later.

Friday: finished two videos, & went to the wedding rehearsal/dinner...stayed up way too late in order to finish the slideshow

Last week: videos, videos, videos

Last Sunday: filled in for the worship paster at the Hallandale Campus.

The week before that: the aforementioned vacation.

So, it's been a very eventful past few days, and while it's true that there were times that things seemed to be getting out of hand with the amount of hats I had to swap around in order to keep all the plates spinning (metaphorically speaking), I did find several well-spent quiet pockets of time here and there to unwind and reflect and basically keep myself from turning into a human DOing rather than a human BEing (it's funny how much discipline spending time in quietness requires of me. Or maybe it's sad. Or an odd mixture of both).

That said, I'm outta here!

Tuesday evening update

My mission is to be asleep before midnight tonight (a worthy goal, you must agree), so this will be quick.
Tallahassee rocked completely...I'd forgotten what it felt like to wake up after 11 am and spend half a say watching reruns, and it was everything I had hoped it would be...I'm actually getting a little misty as I think about it now. Moving on...
My little sister is getting married this Saturday, which still gives me pause, because it feels like yesterday we were 12...I could write a whole long post reflecting on how nice it would be if I were getting married this Saturday, too, but I think my energies are better spent enjoying the journey :)

Uh-oh. 11:59. I must fulfill my vow! I'll finish this later. Peace!

Fun in Tallahassee

Hooray for vacations! It's day one in a much-needed spring break in Tallahassee with my friend Jaime and his brothers. Why Tallahassee, you ask? Well, it's familiar enough that I know the place, but foreign enough that I don't have to worry about being tempted to work while I'm here. It also helps that I get to spend time with one of the funnest group of guys I've ever hung out with.
We're on hiatus & trying to figure out what to do next, so we started messing with everyoe's favorite mac program, photo booth. Here are some of our favorite results:





















I'll post pics of Something Interesting if it happens.
Peace!