NYC

I love New York City. There is no other place like it. Enjoy the video. These are still pictures.

New York city portrait, HD time lapse, April 2006, music by Moby from Max Moos on Vimeo.

Currently reading…

Am I the only person that reads multiple books at the same time? I have a serious problem with never totally finishing a book, but starting 2 more. But… right now here are some books that I am chewing on.
1. Sustainable Youth Ministry – this book is good so far. I recommend it for any youth worker, but there is a good amount of info. that is either obvious or non-relevant. Even with that said, there is still a good amount of info that is worth the brain power.
2. The Divine Conspiracy – This book is so good. I think I am the last person in ministry to read this book, but none-the-less, it is such a good read. Willard’s approach to the gospel and the Kingdom is so refreshing and it resonates deep within my soul. It has taken me a year to get through 2 chapters, but in the last week I have been movin’ through it and really enjoying it.
3. The 5 dysfunctions of a team – This book is a fictitious story about a team of executives that should be the biggest and best in their field, but… they quickly find out that talent isn’t all you need to make a team work. This book is a good read, the thing that I have taken away most is just understanding how important conflict is and how to have healthy conflict.
On Deck….
Colossians Remixed… I can’t tell you how excited I am to jump into this book. Bring it…

a plea for sanity

I love dogs. In fact, I am in the process of trying to convince my wife to let me get a dog. I think what Michael Vick did to those dogs was a terrible thing. BUT…… Come on people. The longer I live, the more I am surprised at how ridiculous we can be as a society.

Right now, there are groups of animal activists that are spending big bucks to rent billboards around the Eagles stadium to boycott and protest the signing of Vick. People are spending crazy amounts of resources (money, time, and energy) to show their anger at Vick for taking part in dog fighting years ago.

Meanwhile…

27 people lost their lives in Iraq on August 13, 2009 due to the on going war in Iraq.

There are still Millions of people in Darfur that have been driven from their homes and are displaced with inadequate resources to live.

There is something like 23,000 people dying every single day in Africa due to the lack of basic needs like food and water.

There are more families that are calling the streets home everyday due to job loss right here in the States.

There are countless people that are calling trash dumps home in Mexico and South America because they are so poor.

BUT…. that stuff isn’t enough to cause a stir. These facts don’t upset people all that much. But Vick coming back to the NFL has somehow shown  itself worthy of massive amounts of attention.

My plead is that we would somehow re-evaluate our priorities and begin to care about what matters. I hope that I will always place a higher value on human lives than on other things. I hope that one day the injustices in the world will start to get more air time than Brittany Spears, Michael Vick, or what Paris Hilton dressed her dog in today. I hope that we will start to pay our teachers decent wages, and begin to see how crazy it is to pay an athlete $10 million to put a ball in a cylinder. ( I could go on all day about these issues, but I will jump off the soap box for now)

As for Vick, he deserves a second chance. I got a second chance, actually, I have been given countless second chances. Michael Vick: I forgive you.