Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Comment if you made it through the whole thing!!!




What is worse is that this guy is wearing a Mud Hens jersey, indicating that he is from my hometown, Toledo. First Katy Holmes, now this!

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Moments of Extreme Cuteness!




Tell me this doesn't make you melt! A first ever shout out to Korea and the Beatles at the same time!

Saturday, April 19, 2008

The Thing.......



Is it a cat? A rhino? Pig? All three? You decide. This is what my head does with free time!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Hokey Pokey: A Review


Are you ready to figure out your life's calling? Tired of feeling confused about the utter perplexity that is involved in figuring out your life? If you answer yes and are ready for a ten step, fail-proof guide to a self assured, worry free understanding of your calling... then this book may confuse you.

Smart and breezy, challenging yet refreshing; Matthew Paul Turner has, in my opinion, hit a home run on his newest book entitled, Hokey Pokey: Curious People Finding What Life is All About. Turner, an author and contributor to more than 14 books in a five year span, has quickly established himself as a humorous and sometimes 'edgy' social commentator in the world of Christian culture. However, a phenomenon is occurring to where the commentary is decreasing and his self professed identity as a storyteller is taking shape. This book is the newest in that evolution.

Question: How would a writer go about the difficult task of tackling such a loaded subject like discovering personal calling?

In Hokey Pokey, Turner attempts to enrich us not with piles of scripture, theological reference, acronyms or a twelve step process. Instead, he has stories. Lots and lots of stories, including conversations and interviews with ordinary people (with the exception of Turner's idol, Amy Grant and a brief stint with Kirk Cameron) who have encountered God's calling in many different ways. The book is written conversationally, detouring only to ask the readers questions for reflection. The book is intentional in not providing "all the answers", but rather gives you the lives of several 'curious' people as food for thought in several different facets of calling. In the book, you will meet people, young and old, rich and homeless, happy and broken, who each have a lesson hidden in thier experience. Not to mention that the author shares a sizable piece of the pie with his experiences as well. The formula for this peice of writing is simply from life itself and everyone who shares it with us.

I found this book to be a refreshing journey, as it sets you up to be personally invested. From the start, I sensed that this was not a one stop excursion; rather that this would be a series of 'aha' moments that would need to be revisited. I felt involved and I felt that this book-with all it's personal stories- was directed towards me. These stories somehow became my own as I could identify with the struggles, while at the same time feel utterly challenged by it all. The stories feel like pieces in a puzzle asking where you fit in this picture. From subjects about waiting on God to confronting the sometimes hard truth about ourselves, this book is an overall good conversation about calling. I will say, though, that the conversation driven medium is a bit disarming, as I have been so used to the 'how-to' format in Christian writing. Halfway through this book, I began to get it and now appreciate a Christian author that just 'writes'.

Not to spoil, but this book does not have all the answers. But it will stick with you long after all the pages have been turned. I have finished the book, but strangely enough, the conversation seems to continue.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

A Little Vacay!

One more day away, and the missus and I head out on a small adventure for 6 days. Two days of travel coupled with four days of 'chill' and I could not be happier. So where are we heading, you wonder? The Caman Islands? Peurto Rico? Guam?

Even better: Indiana.

Oh yeah!

We're not traveling there as a hope for an exotic vacation, unless you consider flat farm land an exotic locale. No, we're just visiting friends, and I couldn't be more pleased. Not that exotic vacations and cruises aren't good. But sometimes, just a simple place with good friends and nothing to do but enjoy several days of free time-without the stress of passports and tourists- can be the best type of recreation for our rapidly busy world.

Cheers to Indiana! And corn for that matter!

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Friday, April 4, 2008

Highlighter Art (first installment)

There will be more when I feel like scanning them. This was the first that I created when I was fed up with paper work for the night.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Rabbits and Emotion: A Bizarre Combination.


I suppose I sometimes feel like these rabbits that I drew. These rabbits pretty much sum up my head right now: Different emotions tightly meshed together and driving one another nuts.
At times I have been feeling impatient. Other times, confused. And in the middle of the two I feel ticked off about feeling either way. Ever get that way? You know-maybe you are on the verge of something new and exciting, but you aren't quite sure what it is. Perhaps this makes you impatient, which causes you to feel even more confused, which eventually cause frustration to pop his head in and say, "Enough, already! You two are both driving me insane!" But then the frustration just causes impatience to get louder while confusion is just getting more...well, you know.
Anyhow, my suggestion for myself-and maybe, for some of you who are crazy enough to even understand this- is to not become so exhausted by the things ahead. It's easy to let these emotions drive you crazy, especially if you have felt 'stuck' for some time. It's exciting when you feel like a much needed change is about to occur, but allowing these emotions to go crazy could sabotage a good thing, or at the very least, cause the journey to be un-enjoyable.
Maybe this doesn't connect with you. For that, I apologize. I suppose my head is an eclectic maze of sorts. But then again, who's isn't these days?