Day off!

So today - I've got a day off! It was a planned day off, but then I decided to make it a work day because Kelly my co-worker has been sick all week and she was planning on coming in. She then decided that she should probably rest for our big program retreat this weekend. Once again, the day is free. Which is really good. I'm not the best at taking days off.

I'm feeling rather unfocussed today.... So here are some pearls and nuggets I've picked up recently.

- Short stay vacations - You can rent random peoples homes for a weekend. Fully decked out with everything you need and very affordable. Here is  a link one I'm renting out for the program retreat:

- Joan of Arc - I went to see Theater in the Round's production of The Lark. The play told the wild story of Joan of Arc. She felt God was telling her to lead a revolution in France. Her English captors did not feel that God could tell her that. It was very convicting and has me wrestling the issues of what if God tells different pepole different things and what is the value of your word.

- Sky Deck, run by game works, is a pretty awesome arcade/restaurant. A cool place to go on dates, because you can have some fun playing arcade games before you chow down on generic bar and grill food.

- For camp this summer we are going to use a Tripple Head-To-Go to do three separate video screens for camp. It's going to be epic!

Lint and Lent are one vowel off.

I read this cool article that got me jazzed up about lent. Article

I went to a very different Ash Wednesday service then I'm use to tonight. It had liturgical dancers and the sermon was a presented as a monologue from Herod Antipas. It was very interesting, some parts were cool to me, others were overwhelming.  The service was just a few blocks from my house. 

For lent, I thought that I would like to try to and focus on being more covertly intentional with the humanity around me and how God is at work with and in them.

1.I'll be trying to eat one meal a day with another person and durring that meal turn off my cell phone in order to be present with them. I'll also try to eat at the pace of the person I'm breaking bread with. 

2. I'm going to try to go to church in the community that I live in. Normally I drive to a big mega church in Maple Grove, but I'm going to try and think more about my community, vrs what church best serves my needs. I'm going to try and only go to church that is walking distance from my house. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. 

Neverland games

I love games. Playing them, making them up. Playing them with a camp or just a few friends, it doesn't matter. I'm not super-competitive, I just enjoy being in a different world with rules that you have to follow. Some of the games I love most are complex board games. Even though I'm not the best at them. I enjoy the experience of the adventure. On of my favorites from childhood, was Buck Rodgers battle for the 25the century. The game is a lot like risk, but in space. 

Over Christmas, some of my high school friends got together and tried to play the game. It didn't go well. The game was slow, clunky and not super inviting. But dang, the board looked cool. The game has so much potential to be rock-solid, but it failed. 

Things that I liked:

- Cool movement system

- Space narrative that affects game play

- Epic combat

- Childhood nostalgia 

Things I didn't like:

-No currency system

-Turns took forever 

-Killer Satellite Units too powerful 

One thing that was awesome was the game ended in a 2 on 3 invasion of mars as the two power players took on the refugees of the solar system. That's what I like. If only it didn't take 3+ hrs to get there.

When designing games make sure the story draws you in, people want to play them and they are engaging enough to keep you wanting to play them the whole time it takes to play the game.

New book

In a few weeks, I'll have to opportunity to speak at a small winter retreat Youth Forum is putting on for one of our partner ministries.  In order to prepare, I'll be reading more. As many of you know, I'm an infamous book starter. I usually make it 2 chapters in before I'm on to what's next. Working on at least getting halfway through before I quit.

Someone who had a big impact on how I speak is Bobo Burns. Bobo loved Max Lucado. I think that is what drew me to this book:

Max Lucado: A Love Worth Giving.

This quote really struck me from the first chapter:

Some of you are so thirsty for this type of love.  A love that never fails.  Those who should have loved you didn’t.  Those who could have loved you didn’t.  You were left at the hospital.  Left at the altar.  Left with an empty bed.  Left with a broken heart.  Left with your question “Does anybody love me?”

Please listen to heaven’s answer.  God loves you.  Personally.  Powerfully.  Passionately.  Others have promised and failed.  But God has promised and succeeded.  He loves you with an unfailing love.  And his love—if you will let it—can fill you and leave you with a love worth giving.

So come.  Come thirsty and drink deeply.

Doesn't get much better then that. 

Quick Idea.

Saw this idea over at the Young Life Leader Blog

Pray by name through the entire high school yearbook.

What a great idea. Youth ministry friends do you do this? If anyone has an extra yearbook from you school, I'd gladly pray through it with you.

2 Videos of note.

This one is super nerdy, but I can't help my self. It's such a cool idea. Would love to do something like this sometime. 

Backstory from the video's creator: In 2009, Casey Pugh asked thousands of Internet users to remake "Star Wars: A New Hope" into a fan film, 15 seconds at a time. Contributors were allowed to recreate scenes from Star Wars however they wanted. Within just a few months SWU grew into a wild success. The creativity that poured into the project was unimaginable

#2: Nostalgia Time. Listen with CC one for best effect. 

Some interesting odds and ends.

1. I think brotips.com has some good advice on it. It's not all good and It's not all clean. But, it's got some good gags and a few gems in there. I wonder what Solomon would think?

2. Right now there are so many irons in the fire at work, it's hard to keep up. Sometimes when there is so much to it's hard to focus. I have to work really hard to get things done and keep up. It's all good stuff. The curse of a dreamer.

3. Ricky Rubio has got some mad skills. No look passes.

4. Had a self revelation. My over active imagination often makes me think that I've communicated more details then I think I have. Sometimes this puts me on different pages with other people. Going to work on curbing this. I need one of these to make people jump in.

5. Goal this year. Once a month, hack out a blog post.

6. It's easy to get caught in own little mazes and not see the big picture. This has been my life as of late. If I had a prayer request. It would that God would remind to listen more, talk less; especially with him.

7. Hopping to go back to Disney World this April.