It’s Easter today. An amazingly beautiful day.
We had a sunrise service with some friends and family. It was really awesome.
I’m gonna post some pictures below.
1) two pictures from sunrise.
2) one of my favorite people decided to fly in from Philly to join us.
3) hanging out with family this afternoon. (with proof that Savina likes me more than Es.)
A lot of people do this thing on Twitter where every Friday they will give suggestions for new people to follow and why you would be interested in following them. It’s a pretty cool idea and a way to find out what is going on outside of your bubble.
Well, I am gonna try and start doing this with blogs. If you look to the right and scroll down a little bit you will see a list of names. Those names are linked to a blog. Those are blogs that a) enjoy reading, b) am friends with the blogger, or c) feel that I will get “cool points” for listing them in my blog. (Not really with the last one, but kind of.)
Today I would like to inform you of my good friend Jolene’s blog. Jolene’s last name is Campbell, but over the last few years some of our friends have added an ending to her last name that is slightly racially insensitive and has to do with how she is…well, the term she prefers is “frugal.”
So she is taking every Thursday, calling it “Thrifty Thursdays,” and is giving tips on how to save money, deals around town, and pretty much anything else that would be considered “thrifty.”
If there is thrifty out there, Jolene Campbell will find it.
Jolene’s Blog: JoJo-OnTheRadio.Blogspot.Com
~chris
John Maxwell wrote a book called “The 360° Leader” and the basic idea of the book is that too often people think they can only lead from the top of the organization. In reality, we can become leaders no matter where we are at on the corporate ladder.
We can obviously lead people below us, we can lead people that are beside us, and even gain influence and lead the people above us – lead the leaders!
This is a powerful thought and leaves no excuses for a person to not have an impact. Whether you are in a group of friends and don’t consider yourself the “ringleader” (let’s face it, every tribe has a leader), or maybe you are part of a business or organization and have multiple tiers of leaders above you – you can still lead.
Well, a couple weeks ago I was talking with the pastor of a church in another state. The way we met made probably made me seem like I was more of a “somebody” than I actually am – you know…like he would benefit from knowing me? Well, after a short conversation he realized that I wasn’t as important as he thought I was and basically blew me off. I was really bothered by that.
Don’t get me wrong – I don’t for a second think that I have a wealth of knowledge or experience to offer. I have only had one full-time position at a church and it was for just over 2 years.
But I strongly believe that if I sincerely have a desire to grow, it can happen whether from a nationally accredited speaker or from a piece of fruit.
Let me elaborate.
When Es was in school for physical education, one of her professors – on the first day of class – had each of the students stare at a lemon for an hour, and then write a paper on it.
There wasn’t a way that you could actually fail on that excercise – no right or wrong answers per say. Just the idea of spending time with something and writing down what you observed.
OK kind of crazy, right? But Es still remembers that specific class, that lemon, and what she wrote about that piece of fruit.
So as I walked away from that pastor/speaker I asked myself “at what point will I stop learning from everyone I come into contact with?”
I hope never.
I want to be a 360° learner. I don’t care who it is, where they are at in life, or what credentials they have – I know that I can learn something from them.
Movies, songs, books, children, grandparents, podcasts, silence, fruit – what is one of the greatest lessons you have learned and what/who helped you learn it?
~c
I know my blogging has eased up a bit since last week, but it will start picking up again soon. I promise.
This past weekend was great. Started it off early by going on a vacation with my wife and her family to Solvang. The weather was great and the food was delicious. It was a great time and place to unwind and relax a bit.
But I woke up today with a tenseness in my shoulders. Something about it being a weekday – a monday at that – it’s just been a difficult day.
I have been asking myself a lot of questions. I love questions. They are beautiful and powerful things. Unfortunately, questions used with the wrong motives or by the wrong person can be very destructive and harmful.
And today, I feel like I am the wrong person to be asking myself questions.
Every question that I have sent out has come back to me without an answer, and then has perched upon my shoulders with the grace of an anvil.
One.
After.
Another.
I actually just dropped Es off so she could hang out with some of her lady-friends and was going to go straight home to be alone and…ask more questions. Instead I pulled into St. Arbucks to write this blog.
Writing things out is the beginning of healing for me. It seems that with every key that I push an anvil falls off my shoulders.
I know some of the people that read this blog – but I definitely don’t know everyone that passes through. Just let there be no mistakes about it – I am a f’ed up person. With cuts, bruises, and exhaustion I struggle through every single day, fully relying on a powerful and mighty God that chooses at times to not answer my questions, respond to my shouts, or pick me up out of the mess that I find myself in.
And tonight, I know that all that’s in my heart is in His hands…
…the questions, fears, and doubts…right alongside the passions, desires, and dreams.
[EDIT]
Within 15 minutes of me posting this blog, something happened that basically consisted of God making me feel like a giant tool for not trusting Him more from the get-go. I hate it when He does that. Am I the only one He does that to?
So right now I am sitting in the Belgian Cafe in Solvang, CA. It’s my first time here in this town, but I know a lot of people that love it up here.
We got here last night and are staying through Saturday. Es and I are really looking forward to unwinding and relaxing with family since the last few weeks have been so intense and emotional.
That being said I probably won’t blog too much, but you can keep up with my twitters (Twitter.com/Kretzu).
And I’ll leave you with a picture of the fabulous cheese blintz’s I had for breakfast.
I saw this comic the other day somewhere online and thought it was freakin’ hilarious. But I also kind of have a 8 year old’s sense of humor so bare with me.
When I was a kid we had one of those (miserable) Christian childrens singing character tapes. Similar to Psalty the Singing Songbook – her name was Charity Church Mouse.
It was terrible. No wonder I had so many issues haha.
Anyhoo.
I just thought I’d share this comic. It makes me think about sharing the Good News. I am ashamed to say that I don’t spread the Good News anywhere near as much as I should!
It’s our “blessed hope,” as Paul puts it!
What else is there?
I have post-it notes all over my desk. Many of them have dates and times, some have numbers, some have words.
As if that’s not enough, my macbook has a post-it note program too. So at any given time I have 5 or 6 digital post-it’s and 6 to 8 paper post-it’s before my eyes.
Every single one of the characters on those ugly yellow little pieces of paper are reminding me of something “to do.”
It’s sad that I become a slave to a little 3×3 inch piece of paper. And an “ugly yellow” color at that. (Thanks for the good laugh Sunday night, Leanne!)
I really do start to freak out if I have too many on my desk. Sometimes I will stack them on top of each other or re-arrange them to look like there are less scribbled tasks taunting me from my desktop.
But it’s all in vain. I am a slave to my to-do list.
So let’s rock the boat. I’m gonna list 3 things on my TO-DON’T list, and I would love for you to leave a comment and do the same.
Ok, YOUR TURN!
“Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance – Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!”
That is a real title of a book. You can buy your own copy here.
Everything about this book thrills me. I love zombies. (Well, I love zombie movies and such.) And I love off-the-wall things that are awesome.
I would say this book falls into that category.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies features the original text of Jane Austen’s beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. As our story opens a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead.
What excited me the most about this is that every single one of the (4) customer reviews gives it 5 stars.
I’m in.
~c
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