Life Process: How the cynics keep from seeing God

I won't make this post long but rather a thought. I wonder how much we allow our cynicism get in the way of caring for people. I find myself recognizing how my sarcasm and cynicism impacts my ability to see beyond myself and recognize how amazing people are. I stop looking at the beauty of God's creation and start looking for reasons to slam it. I say this not because I suck or for any other reason then I really am desiring to strip away the things that can hinder my relationship with God, and I have been really sensitive as of late both for myself and when I see others who care more about a laugh or feeling good then caring for people.

Over the last month I have had a lot of time to reflect on my experience working in the church and why we even do church. Without going into tons of detail I have come away with just a huge appreciation for God and for His love of us. I find myself wanting to be in relationship with people more and to share what God has been doing in my life. My hope is that I will continue to strip away the things that have been causing me to miss people and truly be in the moment.

Life Update: New Job(s)

I have been searching over the last month trying to find something for me to do that would bring home some money. It is weird to reach a stage in life where just finding a job isn't enough anymore.

What I mean is, I have reached a point in life where in order for Julie and I to keep our house or to maintain a lifestyle (which by no means is lavish) we have to earn x amount of dollars every month. What stinks about that is it is easy for us to look at the "how much does it pay?" rather than "is this a good fit or opportunity?" when it comes to finding that job. Julie and I have always wanted to not let finances keep us from following what God desires from us. We want to do things that have a kingdom impact, could God use us if we were working jobs that brought in a lot of money? Oh yeah. Have we had those kind of opportunities? Not so much. But, that is what has been so amazing over the last 10+ years of our life, as we have pursued various opportunities we have seen our incomes go up and down over the years and yet we have been able to live a lifestyle that I would say is comfortable. God has provided, you might say that a statement like that is cheesy or naive but I really believe that God has always given us enough.

Now we get to this transition where I wasn't expecting to be looking for work at a time when the job market is really down. I have found myself wondering what are we going to do. Getting a job that pays minimum wage, while it is a job and is money, isn't enough to provide for us, to pay the bills and mortgage. While I wasn't getting rich doing full-time ministry I was defiantly taken care of and that income isn't easily replaced. The second problem is I'm not sure what "next" looks like for me. I still feel a strong desire to serve in the local church whether it is in a more tradition "pastor" role or maybe some kind of partnership, I feel like I'm not done with that. However, I don't feel like we are suppose to move. Julie and I moved to the west side of Vancouver just over a year ago and have felt so at peace being here. We have a beautiful home that has allowed us to care for people beyond what we had invisioned. Yet, when you look at the realities of our finances and the idea of going back into a church position the likely hood that we will be able to stay in this house and in Vancouver is pretty slim. Right now we just don't see us uprooting again. So where does that leave us?

Both Julie and I have felt like we are moving into a season of life, possible an extended season, of rest, prayer, relationship, and planning. Our hope is that I can find a job that allows me to maintain relationships and continue to dialogue with people about opportunities and ideas about what the next thing is for us. In the meantime we need to pay the bills. The later part of the plan is starting to come together as I have been hired by (I know I gave it away at the top) T-Mobile to basically sell phones out of one of their stores (Fisher's Landing Store). I know it is pretty glamorous but hey it pays some bills and I have to admit I really love technology so it might be kind of fun. Especially since I will get to continue to hang out with people. The job itself is part-time however they pay full benefits (which is huge) and it still allows for some of the flexibility that Julie was hoping I would have so that I can continue to figure out what is truly the "next" thing for us. As my nephew said, "I won't buy Jesus from you, but I will buy a cell phone." (just to clarify he was joking, and already has "bought" Jesus).

There is a possible other opportunity that is in the works with helping out a guy who is starting his own construction company. I have been able to work for him a couple of days as a laborer doing a variety of things as we are working on a remodel. This is interesting for a variety of reasons. My dad is a carpenter, my brother-in-law is a carpenter, my nephew is a carpenter so it is kind of like I have gone into the "family" business. When I was younger I use to help my dad on the various side jobs he would take helping friends remodel their houses, building things for the church, etc... I realize however that I didn't pay attention, carpentry does not come naturally to me. I don't know much, however my boss is patient and willing to teach me and I am willing to learn. So I am continuing to pray that this opportunity does happen to help supplement some of my income so that Julie and I can continue to pursue what is next for us.

So There you go, there is my life update from the job hunt perspective. I'm sure I will write more later.

Tech Blog: The G1 and the little Green Guy.

The results are in and the poll was a tie between technology and spiritual life. I decided to go the route of technology and do a review of a piece of technology that I really have enjoyed, the T-Mobile G1. Don't worry everyone there will be other posts that will cover spiritual life and my life, but for today it is the G1 that wins out.

For those of you who don't know the G1 is the first phone released to run on a new operating system called Android (little green guy) a platform developed by Google. The phone is the first phone in a series of phones to run this new platform. Android is a smart phone that is considered to be open, which means that anyone can develop applications (apps) for the operating system and the system is limited to phones. Android is very similar to Linux. I could keep going on with more technical stuff but I think there are plenty of blogs out there that will do a better job and to me it doesn't matter I just really enjoy this phone.

I have had this phone for about two months now and I have to say that I have really enjoyed it. I have had a variety of smart phones over the years from Windows Mobile to Palms all of them have had things that I have liked and things that I didn't like. The list of things that I don't like about this phone are so minor that it doesn't even compare to the other phones. Especially because of the phones open source it has the ability to fix the few things that I don't like. One of my biggest complaints about the smart phones I have had in the past is that the user interface isn't very user friendly. You kind of need to know what you are doing to be able to use the phone. Windows mobile is the worse offender of this, it is very easy to screw things up or lock up the phone by not knowing what you are doing. My wife liked to play games on the phone but didn't like actually having to use it because it took too much time to try and figure out. There have been improvements in this area in the last year with company's making new user interfaces but they at this point are just new paint on a flawed system. When the iPhone came out it completely changed the user experience in relationship to smart phones. The phone is slick, easy to use, along with the application market changed smart phones from being a business phone to a true consumer phone. I have to admit I love the iPhone and if the phone wasn't on AT&T and didn't have the cost per month that it has I would be an iPhone user, of course that was until Google and Android.

Google is now taking a crack at changing the user experience with Android and I think they are on their way. This phone is similar the iphone in that Android uses icons to launch applications, an app store or market, and really simplifies the user interface. A few differences between the Android phone and the iPhone (sorry I'm using the iPhone as the main comparison because they are similar and the iPhone is the closest competitor, despite what people think the iPhone doesn't have that big of the market share when it comes to phones); The Android has three main screens or desktops with home being center and a screen to the left and a screen to the right. This allows the user to arrange apps and their desktop in a way that gives them the most flexibility. There is a menu tab at the bottom of the screen that slides up to reveal all the applications. The other significant difference between the phones is the top curtain on the Android that allows programs to be accessed that are running in the background and provides a place for notifications. One of the most significant things about this phone that sets it apart from others is the integration of the phone to its creator, Google. This phone is truly connected to all things Google (contacts, email, calendar, maps, Google Reader, etc..). It means that I can take all the information that is important to me anywhere. This has been really handy when I am using different computers and check email or change my calendar it is instantly updated on either my computer or on my phone. I have loved this feature, I remember so many times using other phones where info wasn't synced correctly and I would either miss an appointment or didn't have an email that I needed.

Enough about the software on to the hardware. The G1 is actually just the hardware that the Android platform is on (pictured above). This is the first of what will be many handsets released with Android on it but I have to say this is a pretty good first handset. I believe that when Google and HTC (makers of the G1) decided to make this phone they wanted to give people an opportunity to see what Android is capable of and provide a space for developers to create. The G1 has a capacitive touch screen (which is a touch screen that uses the electricity from your finger to know where you are touching on the screen) verses a resistive touch screen (requires pressure to know position), it also has a full slide out Qwerty keyboard, and a track ball. Like I said I think they put in everything they could on this phone and I have to say I like it. I have options when it comes to how I want to use this phone, I find it easy to operate one handed, except when I need to enter text (which will be an update, hopefully soon), I love the fact that I have a physical keyboard when I am texting or sending an email. It is also really satisfying to hear the snap of the screen when you flick it open to access the keyboard. I will say that I don't see the significance of the chin the phone has or the fact that it does feel a little cheap because of the plastic (but I think that helps keep the cost of the phone down and the weight). The phone does feel solid in the hand and I haven't had any problems with phone quality. The camera is a 3.2 mega pixel camera that is sufficient but doesn't have a flash and has a really bad shutter lag, so don't expect to take any actions shots with it.

For a first attempt at a phone I have to say this is a great phone. As long as Google keeps supporting it and they keep it "open" I think it has the potential to surpass their competition. I haven't found anything that is buggy like I use to with Window's mobile (in fact I haven't had to do a reset once since getting this phone, not the case with other phones), there are a few things that I would like this phone to do but I think that will be addressed in updates and applications. The user interface is easy enough that my wife can pick the phone up and actually use it. There is so much more that I could cover with this phone but I realize this post is probably long enough. Here are a few pro's and con's for the phone.

Pro's:

• User interface
• Touch Screen
• Versatility with slide out keyboard and trackball.
• Market (app store)
• Stability
• Integration with Google
• 3G and WiFi
• Cheap data plan
  

Con's:

• Could be a little more solid
• No stereo bluetooth
• No Document or spreadsheet support (can view google docs but can't edit)
• Keyboard could be a little bit better (especially given other keyboards HTC has created)
• Inability to install apps onto SD card

There you go my first tech post, only time will tell if I will do another.

In Major Life Transition

I Struggled with what to write here. There is so much going on in my life and my head it seems hard to wrap my brain around it let alone try and be coherent in a blog. So I will try as best as I can to summarize some thoughts and let you know what is going on in the Heath world.

First, you can see that I have a new blog. You may ask the question why, why do you need a new one when you had a perfectly good blog before? There are several reasons for this. Not a lot of people always got my old blog title. They thought that just a simple mind was me belittling myself, while that was not the intent behind the title and there are other meanings behind the title I can see why people would be confused and so I think it is time to move on. Adventure in Randomness again isn't completely unpacked and people will take what they want from the title but probably has less issues then the previous title. Also, for those of you who know me and know how much I love technology I have recently purchased a G1 (the Google phone from T-Mobile), and I have found that the things in my life are slowly becoming all things Google as a result so it made sense that my blog would be a blog site owned by none other than Google. I have found too that Blogger offers some cool features that Wordpress didn't from their site, things like polls, slide shows that link directly to Picasa, etc... I know Wordpress does a lot of the same things too but I like the simplicity of Blogger. Finally, I have decided in the last few months as I have been working through some pretty major life issues and change that I don't always want to write about it, partly because it is too personal or too raw at the time, but sometimes it is just because I find that my thoughts are not completely thought out and to right down what I'm thinking in the moment often leaves things a bit incomplete. The result of the processing is that I don't update as frequently as I would like to and I want to write more. I also want to write about other things in my life than just what God is doing (not that I don't think that is important or anything) but I do have interests in technology, sports, entertainment, etc... so I think I am going to try and write more about a variety of things that I think are interesting or that others might be interested. So you can sum all this up to say that I think my blogging is going to be evolving into something that hopefully is helpful for others, that gives insight into my world, and possible entertaining (mostly entertaining for me, because I really am not worried about whether people read this or not). Hopefully as I write more my grammar will improve as well but I wouldn't hold your breathe.

So now that you know why I have a new blog I will explain why my life is in major transition. For those that don't know I am no longer employed by my church. It has been very difficult for Julie and I to process all that has happened in the last month and we have gone through a range of emotions. I would like to first say that I do not feel like the church that I was at is a bad church or that they are wrong in the decision. The decision was based of the financial concerns of the church and our economy and the realities that things have not improved and will not improve any time soon and so the decision was made to let go of a staff person and it happened to be me. While this has been a very difficult decision for Julie and I we are confident that God is bigger than any one decision and that He will continue to use us for His Kingdom and I am confident that He will continue to use that church to impact their community in reaching the Lost. Ultimately we will look back at our time there as a time of great growth and personal development with the reality that while we were there God used is in the lives of so many amazing people and we will probably never fully realize that until the day we can celebrate together in Heaven. I have felt truly blessed by the friends who have shown their support to us over the last few months and realize that I have at times taken for granted the incredible privilege it is to be able to be part of so many lives. I am truly thankful and while it is hard to let go of something that I have given my all to I do know that God will use us and has something else that could possible be better (although we have a hard time believing that right now). As I have been spending some time reflecting about this whole situation there are a couple of themes that stand out to me and rather than give you tons of details about them I thought I would just list them and you can spend time thinking about them and applying them in your life. My guess is that as my thoughts clear about these concepts I will probably write about them too. Here they are:

• Kingdom of God
• Role of the church in relationship to the Kingdom of God
• Creativity and its connection to the Character of God
• Going where people are
• Caring for Pastors and the responsibility of the church.
• The significance of church planting in the Kingdom of God
• The importance of Soul Care
• Need for counseling
• What does loving people look like?
• What will youth ministry look like in the next 5-10 years?
• Missional and intentionality
• Our relationships are our greatest ministry.

There are probably a few other thoughts that I could include and I'm sure I will but these 12 have been things that I have been thinking a lot about lately. If there is one that stands out or something that you are thinking about I would love to here what you think.

One of the questions that I have been asked a lot lately is what is next. The answer is pretty simple, I'm not sure. I am so grateful that my loving wife has a job (actually has 2 and probably could have more), that we have housemates who are helping out, and that we have people who care about us and have given us some support (including our church which they didn't have to and I know was tough) all of which has given us some time. I ultimately would like to find a job that would allow us to pay or minimum expenses month to month so that we don't have to drain our entire savings and allow us to take some time to contemplate what will be next for us as a family. Right now I feel like I don't want to limit what God is going to do next so I don't want to rule anything out and am willing to look at all of the options that I have. I will do my best to keep my life updated and in the mean time I will be posting some blogs on a few other topics.

Until next time...