Brilliant
What are some things that you do that you dread? Would you do something more often if it was fun for you? Take a look at the brilliance at Volkswagen to see how climbing stairs and throwing away trash is fun to do.
You can’t argue with results.
Filed under: funny, thoughts | 1 Comment
Wi-Fi at 29,000 Feet
Today was my first opportunity to travel on a domestic flight in some time. All of my recent travel has been to either Haiti or Kenya (last 4 trips anyway). I was intrigued as I boarded when I saw the sign that said that wi-fi was available on my flight to Chicago.
As we reached cruising altitude, I turned on my iPhone, opened up Safari and checked over what the offering was to get online. Internet access is provided by gogoinflight.com and the only option I had on this flight was a one-time purchase for the duration of the flight for $7.95. I figured I had about an hour and a half yet so I signed up for the service.
Moments later I was downloading and answering email, updating and uploading a picture to Facebook and checking to see if any of the other owners in my fantasy football league wanted any of my “stud” players. Just like I was sitting in my house.
Speed was awesome and even uploading a photo taken on my iPhone was pretty snappy. I didn’t do a speed test because I didn’t see a reason to as I was satisfied.
A couple of things…
If you sign up on your mobile device and want to switch over to your laptop, you can do it but you have to pay the fee again. This was explained very plainly when I signed up but I would have liked to have switched over. Also $7.95 is kind of steep for an hour or so of internet time unless you really need it for work. It would be great if gogoinflight.com could partner with some of the internet providers in the airports (such as Boingo) to carry over the service while you are on the ground since most people have a layover anyway.
Bottom line is that I would probably ignore this offering in the future unless my flight was around 3 hours or so. Maybe they should consider partnering with companies like AT&T/Verizon who has a large customer base using iPhones and Blackberries.
Or if I get some free, promotional access through gogoinflight.com for pimping their service.
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Quick Trip To Haiti
Before I move on to my next adventure, an opportunity came up to make a quick trip down to Jacmel, Haiti where Crosspointe Church partners with the Haitian Children’s Home. More specifically partners with the Pye family and the Mangine family who are revolutionizing life for orphaned and abandoned kids.
It was my first opportunity to see for myself how these two families are impacting future generations of Haitians. Lisa and Stephen went to serve in Haiti during spring break this year and haven’t stopped talking about it so it was a good opportunity to see it for myself.
One thing I noticed as we were flying into both Port-au-Prince and Jacmel is the absolute beauty of this place. It could be any tropical island in the Caribbean. Instead once you see the place from 6 feet, you realize that you are in the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Don’t get me wrong. There still is beauty at 6 feet – it’s just that it’s the people who are beautiful – especially 20 or so orphans I got to love and hug for the very few hours I was on the ground.
I got to walk the land that was purchased last year and hear the dreams and vision of the Pye’s and Mangine’s as they prepare to make that a home to many more kids. It is going to be revolutionary for many generations.
In many ways, the kids in Haiti are just like the kids in Kenya. They share the same struggles, but also the same joys in living and loving life. And they are learning from some of the best parents I know.
I learned a lot about myself in these 48 hours also. I know my heart has a lot more room to love.
As soon as I unload the camera, I’ll add some photos from this trip.
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Our Favorite Place to Vacation
Whenever we want to getaway, our family heads to the coast for periods of rest and relaxation. Something about the steady rhythm of the ocean always allows me to unwind and let go.
Since moving to North Carolina, we have gravitated to Topsail Island for recharging and rest. It has become my favorite place to getaway to with the bonus being it is only 2 hours from home. We have vacationed at a couple different beaches in North Carolina but we keep coming back to Topsail because it is nice and quiet and it is never crowded. This picture was taken today and as you can see, we pretty much had the beach to ourselves.
This morning Lisa and I went for a walk and got to see pelicans diving for their breakfast and porpoises playing and jumping up and down the island. Tomorrow I will carry my camera to hopefully get some of these memories.
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Stepping Out So God Can Step In
I have been living a dream.
God has somehow given me the opportunity to live out a fantasy job. And I get to work with the most passionate, Jesus-focused people on the planet. People who encourage me and challenge me on a daily basis. People I love doing life with and continue to inspire me to dream even bigger things.
For the past year or so, I have sensed a restlessness in my soul in regards to what is happening on the ground in a small village in East Africa. This place we call Cheppema has consumed my heart as have all of the orphans in the Children’s Home.
But as my heart continues to be captured and drawn back, I am sensing that God is leading me into a different role other than taking the occasional trip. He has me dreaming about jumping in all the way and to be a part in radical transformation of lives in that community.
After many prayers and discussions, it is very apparent to Lisa and I that God is leading us in a different direction. So with that, I am letting you know that I am announcing that I am leaving the leadership staff at Crosspointe Church to focus full-time on establishing a new non-profit organization to do the work in Kenya and for the kids of the Hope Center.
This decision did not come easily. I have been living a dream job for the past 5 years. That’s how I know it is a God thing. I look back on the past 15 years or so and I can honestly see God preparing my family and me for a time such as this. It’s time to listen and step out.
That said, everything else is a blank page at this time. I do know that I can’t do this alone and I anticipate that I will be recruiting many of you to help in this task. There are many things that need to be done to start something from scratch and I will be letting you know of opportunities to help out.
If you have any questions, please know that I am still around and you can call me or send an email. I am looking forward to the journey. And the dream.
Filed under: kenya, me, missions | 6 Comments
Sorry, Not Quite Yet
A couple of things have to happen before I can reveal anything here so it will be a little longer. Sorry about that.
This is a good thing though. A little scary but good.
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Silence
…truly is deafening. I have been away for so long that I couldn’t remember my last password to get into this. But all that is about to change.
Stay tuned in the next week as some major changes are coming this way and this blog will suddenly become all that it was intended. I will be able to explain more next week.
Hold on… it’s going to be quite the trip.
Filed under: me | 2 Comments
March 2, 2009
North Carolina. Not Right. I am so through with winter.
North Carolina
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I’ve Changed
You have to understand.
It’s been coming for a long time.
I just didn’t know that someone could change so completely their attitude and mindset.
I am an Apple junkie.
There I said it. And I won’t apologize.
You see, if you know anything about me, I grew up in corporate America. I bought my first PC in 1982 and it looked exactly like this:
I learned how to program on this dual drive baby and I loved it. It helped pay the bills during my 22 year career. I was always the one people called when things didn’t go as expected.
But something happened along the way. I left Big Blue and came on staff at the coolest church in the world. Then I met this guy. He came on staff and brought his hippie Mac with him. I tolerated it. But we were still a PC church. He was on his own.
Because of my upbringing against all things Apple, I even went as far as buying anything but Apple. My first and second mp3 player was Creative Labs, even though the first iPods were out there. There was just something about being anti-Mac that I enjoyed.
It took until 2006 for me to purchase my first Apple product – an iPod for my son for Christmas. I was amazed at a couple of things right from the start. The packaging and the end-user experience. OK, maybe Apple products are not just for hippies anymore.
In late 2007, I purchased my first Apple product for myself. I was taking a trip to Kenya and I had outgrown my mp3 player and I could even get one that played videos.
Again, a great buying and end user experience. And I got to watch all seasons of The Office in a chair in the sky. Nice.
My son Stephen was next. He does a lot of audio/video stuff for the youth at our church. He asked for a Macbook as an early graduation present.
November 2008 was probably the tipping point. Our cell phone plan was up and we started looking around at new plans and phones. It didn’t help that 5 of my co-workers had iPhones and AT&T. Call it peer pressure if you want but after 3 months, I don’t know how I actually functioned PiP (pre-iPhone). My wife calls it iCrack but the time savings I have realized by using it is tremendous. And don’t get me started on the applications that are available for it – ok some of them are stupid.
December 2008 rolls around and it’s time for a new work computer. I had been using my personal Dell ever since I came on staff at Crosspointe and there was a window of opportunity to get a new notebook. PC or Mac? There are only 2 applications I use which are PC only and have no Mac counterpart but thanks to a piece of software, I am now residing in both worlds.
This past weekend, my frustration with my wireless router reached an all-time high and I vowed to fix it once and for all. Given my recent purchase history and the success I have had with Apple products, I purchased an Airport Extreme. Five minutes after I unpacked it, wireless internet was surrounding my house in areas my previous routers couldn’t get to. And with a simple plug-in of my USB drive, wireless backups are happening anytime I am on my network.
Simple customer experience. Apple gets it.
Filed under: church, me, thoughts | 2 Comments
