1000 things and counting.

It’s been a good week and this upcoming week looks even better.

Here is week two of the Advent video series I mentioned last week:

Giving for the sake of community – Advent from Praxis Church on Vimeo.

I’ve decided to look around for a Christmas tree for my place. I don’t have any ornaments down here, just some keepsake types back home… so this endeavor might get expensive. We’ll see how it goes, I need to find something small and I don’t really feel like spending a whole day looking.

Last week my Pastor wrote a blog entry about a new philosophy he’s trying to live out. He is doing his best to live with only 100 possessions. He isn’t counting things like furniture or individual plates and forks or anything, but he does count clothing. He lists out the 100 things in the above link and reading through the list really hit me hard this week. I own a lot of stupid shit… boxes full. If I played by his rules or even if I didn’t count clothing I would not make it. It wouldn’t be close and honestly that’s just sad. I’ve taken my comfortable living and matched it up with a nerdy obsession for new gadgets and it’s just gotten to be too much. I don’t need two computers and literally enough parts for a couple more. I don’t need three cameras, I don’t need a tablet I never use and a few hard drives I’ve never filled. I don’t need half of my wardrobe and I don’t need to sit around and think about what furnishing my apartment needs next.
When I find the time I’m going to start going through my closets and shelves. I don’t need most of this stuff… it doesn’t just take up space or consume a part of my pay check. I really do believe that having excess is just going to make me want more excess. If I don’t learn how to live without now, I’m not ever going to get that down. There is something to be said for only owning 100 objects. Hopefully it doesn’t take my too long to get down there.

That being said there is an arcade machine (that’s so close to being fixed) that is absolutely yelling at me from the other room. :/

December?

I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving, mine was a good time.
I’ve been busy, not just on side projects but I’ve actually been busy at work. Crazy right? My main project is still on hold but I’ve found some other things to work on, so it’s been fun to be in the office again.

This Sunday starts Advent and we’ve been working on a series of videos for service that sheds some light on some people who have really exemplified giving. This is the first of four videos.

Sacrificial giving – Advent from Praxis Church on Vimeo.

I’ve been listening to Sufjan Steven’s Songs for Christmas non stop lately. I’m usually not into Christmas music at all, but I just can’t resist his music. He recorded five small albums of traditional and new Christmas songs and now you can get them all in a little box set for $20. I high recommend it, there is even a great version of Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. Sufjan’s Episcopalian, it’s easy to hear the biblical references in any of his albums. I honestly don’t listen to much ‘christian’ music these days, so it’s especially nice to hear a good hymn.

Looks like I’ll be in Boise from December 23rd until the 3rd of January. For a few days I thought I might be in New York for New Years on some business, but it all fell through. I’ve never been to NY and there are few things better than traveling on the company dime… but it would have cut into my time back home. It’ll be nice to have more than a week in the city of trees. Hopefully I’ll see you there. :)

Just a little mirage

Each morning this week I’ve done something I don’t do very often; I woke up with more than just enough time to get ready for work. I got up about 7:00, got in my normal shave and shower. Then poured myself some coffee, threw on some music and settled down to do my daily devotional. It felt really nice to actually have a leisurely morning before work. Instead of just dragging myself into the shower then down the road to work, I actually felt like I had accomplished something useful before starting my work day. As opposed to getting work out of the way and then living after.
I’d love to say this is going to be my new habit, but even with my best intentions my snooze button often gets the best of me. I did enjoy the extra time in the morning though, so that helps. Just making my own coffee instead of getting from somewhere was good. I don’t mind paying $1 for coffee from McDonalds, to be honest, I dig their coffee. It’s just the concept of it I guess, it’s lazy to wake at the last minute and hit the drive thru.

I’ve been in a bit of a slump the last couple months. I’ve let myself get this way, I’ve almost welcomed it. Some things went all wrong and I was more than willing to stew in the aftermath. It’s getting old now. I’ve had my pity party, but now I’m not sure how to get out of it. I still enjoy spending my weekends at home, watching movies and sipping scotch. It’s not a lack of friends or opportunities to have fun. I really need to stop just sitting around my house. I need to change what I’m listening to all day at work. I need to pick up some projects that have been put aside and I need to actually take all of the opportunities I have to be social.
It’s really not as easy as it might seem, self pity comes too easy.

My church celebrated it’s fifth year anniversary last Sunday, this is a video we put together to mark the occasion:

Thank You from Praxis Church on Vimeo.

We welcomed everyone to come and simply say thank you to Praxis. We run over a thousand people on most Sundays, those you see in the video above are all that showed.

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