May 7 - "Someone Who Inspires You"

This topic puzzled me. Inspire could be taken many different ways.

If it wouldn't have been disruptive to those around me, I might've tried to a take a picture of the women who sat in front of us at when we went to see The Avengers this afternoon. Bringing your 3 children - approximate ages 5, 3 and < 1 years old - to a loud, violent, PG-13 movie inspires lots of thoughts. Most probably not fit for public consumption.

No, let's not taken inspiration down that road. Let's be positive.

So this picture is a little packet of orange papers I've had for over 2 years now. I got these pages at a worship leaders retreat in Asheville, NC during an afternoon workshop on creativity lead by a fellow called Terry Butler. The first year we went to the retreat, Terry lead worship at one or two of our sessions and he wasn't a guy that I thought I'd gravitate towards. To begin with, he's one of the original Vineyard guys - so he's a good 20 years older than me. On top of that, he plays keyboard. Keyboardists and I have a tenuous relationship, mostly because I tend to associate keyboard music with the sort of cheesy sounding worship music that I can do without. But as I looked at the list of optional workshops for the day, this one just sounded interesting to me and I decided to give it a go.

I'm not sure I remember much about the actual workshop that afternoon. There was probably some discussion, probably some laughs, probably some exercises. But what I really got from it was Terry. Here's this guy who is just plan interested in worshipping Jesus and helping others do the same. He navigates his way through A.D.D. (literally diagnosed, not just jokingly stated), depression and bipolar disorder and still comes out praising God. Note - he doesn't do this in spite of these issues; he does it in the midst them. No shiny coating, no subversive ways around life. Just living. And living beautifully.

Honestly, his outlooks (and many other interactions with him in the years that have followed) have shaped the way I approach worship in more ways than anyone else. So I hang on to these pages and read through them every now and again when I start to lose perspective or inspiration. Because, really, there's nothing better than perspective given by someone who literally has no filter! I'll end with the closing paragraph from these old orange papers. Hope you're inspired to do something creative too.

So, go on and LIVE CREATIVELY! Read children's books. Take the long way home. Save up and go to Russia! Make dinner for a bunch of your friends sometime soon. Take a bubble bath. Learn to paint. Visit a great museum of art. Start a book club. Visit a Monastery and walk the stations of the Cross. Go a whole day without speaking. Read the Book of Common Prayer and begin writing prayers to be used corporately. Keep a prayer journal with you wherever you go. Save all your Starbucks money and buy a winter coat for someone who can't afford one. Sing out loud at Borders or Barnes and Nobles. Live with wild abandon! Perspire and inspire. Let this be something that could be said of you at your funeral someday, "What a ride!"

May 6 - "You"

How could I not pay homage to The Breakfast Club with a topic like this? There's not much else to say, besides:

"Who are you... Who ARE you... I am a walrus."

May 5 - "Bird"

We found ourselves in Philadelphia (for a change) today - in order to attend a training seminar at the West Philly Vineyard. As we were leaving, Melissa mentioned she was hoping that she'd see a "city bird" (pigeon) to take the photo of the day. Just then, I looked across the street and saw this cool building with a concrete owl built into the ledge, presumably to keep those other city birds away. Tried to get a picture, but it's not too clear. So we'll call it art. Enjoy.

(PS: The concrete owl must be doing it's job. Missy didn't get a pigeon picture.)

May 4 - "Fun!!!"

Woah. It's Friday night and I actually did something that could be classified as "fun" to someone other than people who think sitting on the couch and watching Fringe is fun. (Which, judging by the fact that it's been uncertain whether or not it would be cancelled after this season, isn't too many.) But I digress.

Tonight we had a fundraiser at our church called "Quizzo With A Heart". $15 a head to play and all proceeds go to  Love 146 - an organization of modern day abolitionists. No booze, which I'm pretty sure is what usually makes Quizzo awesome, but it was still pretty fun.

When it came time to pick a team name, we decided to give a nod to this weekend being the release of The Avengers - especially since our team happened to have 6 members! (For the non-nerds: There are six members of the Avengers in the new movie - The Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow & Hawkeye.) To add a small degree of wit, I did a take on the tag line "Avengers Assemble" and named our team, "Avengers.. resemble?" Again, I'm pretty sure anyone who isn't a nerd wouldn't get this at all. But I did. Draw your own conclusion.

There was word of a "best dressed team" award, so of course we dressed up. As our friend Christi (Black Widow) put it - not actual costumes, but kind of like the Power Rangers when they went to school. Some of us got a little more into it than others, as evidenced by this photo of my lovely wife wearing a collander with wings taped to it. Those big green fists and my (kelly green) Eagles throwback jersey were my take on The Hulk.

(One last word to the geeks: Thor with hulk fists? What is she, a Skrull?!)

Obviously, we won the best dressed award. Which was a small consolation considering it's a trivia contest and I consider myself a pretty trivial guy. We did not win the trivia contest part. Though, in fairness, I did get some pretty obscure answers correct and our team (thanks to myself and Ms. Jessica Scott) swept the "Movies of the 90's" category - which is pretty much validation of an entire decade of my life.

Hope you had half as much fun tonight!

May 3 - "Something You Wore Today"

A rare appearance on day work today (and tomorrow) in order to accomodate an early morning conference on Saturday. This made the choice for what to wear today a lot easier: "Hmm.... I think I'll go with the navy blue polyester!"

These normally fashionable trousers are now even more attractive thanks to a smart looking reflective stripe down the hem. The official reason for this is highway safety, but the actual reason is that too many guys were wearing their uniform pants at their other part time jobs. (Which I don't suppose would be a huge problem, except when you damage them while working that part time job and then make your full time employer pay for the repairs. That's what we call fraud!) I guess the idea is supposed to be that if you wear these at your other job, it'll be easier for people (who make more money than me) to spot your indiscretion.

So here's to you, people who have too many jobs and too little integrity!

I always suspected my uniform would look that much more professional if I got to wear track pants with it anyway.

May 2 - "Skyline"

On most days, we have a decent view of the Philly skyline from our house. (We're maybe 10 minutes from downtown.) But unfortunately, it's rather overcast and drizzly today. So instead of majestic skyscrapers, I present you with the fake chimney on our house against the beautiful gray sky. B-E-A-utiful.

May 1st - "Peace"

I walk past this house sometimes with the dog. I know the last letter is flipped up so you can't see it, but I think it's safe to assume that these people are fans of "PEACE" as opposed to "PEACH". Or maybe not. Might have to check back later.