Pastor Bryan goes on vacation and here’s what happens.

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Bryan on the mind

Everything we do around the office here just seems to make us think about you. Come home soon

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Life in a Bottle.

“Shake Well. Settling is natural.” I spotted these common instructions on the side of my Blueberry Bolthouse Juice bottle as I went for another sip. They caught my eyes this time though, I guess because they were supposed to. It seemed like one of those accidental revelations, the kind you dismiss as being far too effortless for the Almighty. “Shake Well. Settling is natural,” I repeated it out loud several times while driving down College road. I spoke each of these five words slowly to allow them time to sink below the surface of my thick skull. “What is natural really?” I thought. Since Webster wasn’t around I resorted to Matthew’s non-collegiate definition.

Natural is what happens when nothing happens.

“Webster would be proud,” I thought. At the bottom of my bottle of juice was the result of nothing happening, a thick, solid, dark blue film of natural-ness. Obviously this lazy blue sludge turned my attentions to the state of my own life. I don’t really consider myself lazy – at least not all the time – but I do think I settle entirely too often in life. But hey, it’s natural right?

As with most of my profoundly simple revelations I like to stretch them out as far as possible. I like to think it gives me the illusion of intellect, besides we all know that complicated stuff has so much more validity. “Why do I shake up the juice before drinking it?” I quizzed myself. “Ooh I know this one!” I said. “Because within that solid sediment lies the flavor that I paid way to much money not to enjoy.” And that, young Watson, is why I shake the juice. What does it profit anyone if I have all the truth in the world but it’s never shaken up? An unshaken bottle of juice paints a clear picture of an unused “Follower of Christ.” It is both natural and comfortable for us to allow all that we learn in Christ to settle to the bottom. The result is a life void of flavor and color, the kind of life that grossly misrepresents it’s creator. Maybe you’ve been sitting on the shelf for a while. Maybe it’s time to stop settling for what’s natural. It may be time to Shake Well.

Rachel vs. Reagan

When The Music Peaks

There is this place that I go when the music peaks

Where many have entered and few wish to leave

A place where cares fall behind the lids of my eyes

And the noise in the room is out of focus but beautiful

There is a door that opens to a world of reprieve

With a smile and a pardon and a moment to be free

In this place I’m given wings to soar over death

And a grace to love until there’s nothing left

My escape to this place is often shortly lived

But my return is life with a purpose for breath

I was made for this world where there is strength for the weak

And I was born to live forever where the music peaks

Behind The Image #1

Title: All is said and done

If I asked you where you thought this picture was taken, what would you say?

I’m betting you didn’t guess San Francisco. My friends and I had parked at the end of the Golden Gate bridge with Alcatraz to our left and this tourists lookout hill to our right. We began our walk across the bridge when I noticed the sun would soon set behind this hill. I told them to go on without me while I waited for the sun to meet the tree. When it did, it only lasted a matter of seconds and yet it completed my day in a way only God’s creation can. The frame of a camera can extract the most captivating images from the most unlikely places. We just have to be looking for it.

The new Apple iPhone

In honor of Administrative Assistants Day Lori couldn’t help but show off her new Apple iPhone. She’s so easy to please.

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Behold

Changed and rearranged by things that I behold

Sifted then lifted and burned to purest gold

So collectively affected by the popular and old

On strings like puppet things only doing what I’m told

Like me all see that we were free but now are sold

To the system are we slaves losing wisdom growing cold

Change us now.

‘Amender of men’ be so bold

As to stir the many sleepers and arouse the blinded fold

To see the face we traded for comfort and for gold

And upon it lay our eyes till we become what we behold

Thursday is the new Friday

I LOVE THURSDAYS!

With FlipSide on Wednesday nights and the offices closed on Fridays, my Thursdays are priceless. I spend Monday to Wednesday preparing for FlipSide and Thursday’s I get to let out a long sigh of relief that I’ve made it yet another week without completely messing up everything Of course that sigh lasts only through the first couple hours of the morning before it’s time to prepare for 2Xtreme (10-12 yr olds) on Sunday.

Last night I began our new series in FlipSide called “I’m an Idiot.” I told the teens that sometimes I look in the mirror and wonder if God picked the wrong person to do what I do. Like Gideon, at times I feel like God discovered a weak man in hiding and decided to use him for great things. There is no method to God when it comes to the people He chooses. He seems so often to zero in on the weakest and the least. In the words of Perry Noble:

“If you’re nothing but an ordinary person God can and will use you. If you’re saying, ‘well what if I’m not just an ordinary person?’ God can use you too, He’ll just have to mess you up first.”

The word ‘Ordinary,’ used in Acts 4:13 to describe how the council perceived Peter & John comes from the same root that we get our english word ‘Idiot.’

If you’re an Idiot, you’re in prime position to be used by God. Have you embraced your ‘Idiot-ness’ today?

Man Night, a success!

Here’s some of the burly men from last nights Man Night. They came, they saw, they conquered. Between the beans, the Shmacks, the manburgers, and the stolen vehicle I’d say it was a success.

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I’m an Idiot.

We’re starting a new series in FlipSide this Wed. Every teen you know should come check this out!

She’s kind of a big deal

Jen got an awesome haircut this week by this amazing woman, so I kinda thought it deserved an impromptu photo shoot. Jen, forgive me ahead of time for the resulting onslaught of modelling agency calls you’ll probably be getting after this blog. Everyone try to keep the comments to a minimum of 1500

Sincerely,

Jen’s #1 fan

So Squeezable!!

Meet Tamara, quite possibly the cutest baby you’ll ever lay eyes on. One day when her mom, Mary, isn’t looking I think I might put her in my pocket and run.

Check out these moves

I was 8 years old when this hit the charts. He had some sick moves. At least one move anyway, and he just did it a whole lot. I’m so gonna start buttoning the top button on my shirts to look more like Rick Astley.

Staff on location

It is increasingly difficult to take Matt out in public. I was pulling this cart with Matt standing on the back for a while before I realized he had climbed into it. I’m thinking I may need to tighten up the screening process for FlipSide staff. These guys are a large part of why I look forward to coming to work

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