Today marks the kick-off of StriveMind, my self-run media and design business. And with radio ads beginning, I hope the contracts start pouring in.
Since leaving college, I've mostly run my business through word-of-mouth. Recommendations and inquiries about my work have been enough. But now, I'm approaching the industry in a more unified and professional manner. I'm a multimedia designer, and I might as well act look like one!
"Let choirs sing well or not at all. Otherwise we merely confirm the majority in their conviction that the world of business, which does with such efficiency so much that never really needed doing, is the real, the adult, and the practical world; and that all this culture and religion (horrid words both) are essentially marginal, amateurish, and rather effeminate activities."Some Christian media groups that are striving:C.S. Lewis
Mark your calendars for June 2nd!
Marriage preparations are falling a little behind: we still need to find a church to get married in. Our home church, Sequoia, is pretty transient, and meets in a highschool gym. So it's not really an option for a Saturday wedding. So if you know of any good venues in Ottawa, let me know!
But really, the most important aspect of getting ready for marriage, is going extremely well. Premarital counseling. I'd advise any couples to go through it once they're engaged. It will help you build that foundation that will hold your marriage together for the years to come.
Shannon and I have had our first session, and are already off to a great start. The book covers everything from interests, faith, communication, finances, to love languages, relationships and commitment.
Pastors, pick up a copy of the book, and go through it with every couple who comes to you wanting to be married.
Some of you are thinking "it's about time". But rather, it was only a matter of time.
I proposed last Monday, and since then have been running around sharing the exciting news with our families.
How I proposed:We're both extremely excited and happy with the start of this new stage in life. I'm really looking forward to marrying and spending the rest of my life with such a wonderful and beautiful sweetheart as Shannon.
The ring came in on Monday morning, so I hurriedly got ready and headed out of the house to prepare everything. First I had to swing by Courtney's work (Shannon's roommate) to pick up her house keys.
Racing down to the St-Laurent mall, I got the ring and some other items, and went over to her house. With about 1.5 hours before Shannon got off of work, I cleaned up a bit around the house, and looked after her puppy so she wouldn't have to worry about it when she got home.
When Shannon came home, she was surprised to find me standing there, with a dozen roses in hand. Getting down on one knee, I proposed then and there. And yes, we were both crying (even Shannon).
Over the next hour or two, we prayed for our engagement, and I gave her a long foot-massage with peppermint foot-massage oil.
Next, off to a delicious steak dinner at Montana's.
Then to see Orpheus Theater's Beauty and the Beast.
And ended the evening with a long chat at Tim Hortons over coffee.
It was a perfect romantic evening.
Please keep us in your prayers as we embark on this marvelous journey of marriage!
I'm just in the middle of watching through the "making of" of Narnia, and did you know, that the wonderful scene where Lucy first walks into Narnia was almost real? The actress, Georgie Henley, was put into costume, blindfolded, and was filmed as she literally saw the movie set for the first time. The director wanted to capture her expression of wonder and amazement as realistically as possible.
Experience life in person. Be there, live it, feel it, love it. Going to a sports game is always better than just watching it on TV. Gifts are more interesting than certificates. Real watches are nicer than knock-offs. Being with your loved one is always better than just chatting online.
And there's more than just being in person. Reality is about truth and trust. Being real, as much as being in the real. That means being truthful, not being a hypocrite, and standing up for your beliefs and convictions.
Enjoy, and live a fulfilled life.
Good communication can build a relationship, and bad communication can destroy it. It's a powerful tool, and it's important to be able to communicate effectively. Whatever your message is, if you can't make it known, then it's futile. We live in "the communication age" right? But with all of this technology and innovations, it still comes down to dealing with people.
Text seems to be an increasingly common means of relating important messages, but it leaves a lot to be desired. Great writers and poets have been using this for years, but as interesting as that is, it's relationships that require communication the most. It's so difficult to convey proper meaning through text mediums, such as chatting on the internet. You have to be very careful of your wording, so that your audience will interpret your words to the meaning you intended.
Being understanding and open-hearted is key. You should give the benefit of the doubt, and never automatically assume that your friend or loved one intends to hurt you. But at the same time, be fully open and honest with each other. Trust. If you can keep that up, I guarantee that things will go well. I know from experience.
Ideally, there is more than text. Tone of voice is another essential tool in conveying your thoughts. The emotional inflections and implied meanings will surely help. Talk in person, use the phone, VoIP, whatever.
Then of course, body language. Whether it's gestures, or a great big hug, nothing sends meaning and intent like an action. A smile does wonders to warm the heart. Webcams are nice, but meet in person! A handshake with a business partner develops trust and familiarity. Or in a different situation, there would be no way to pull off a long-distance relationship you didn't meet on a regular basis. There's nothing better than holding a loved one, expressing your feelings, and sharing your dreams, fears, hopes, and desires.
Learning from the examples of some great leaders out there, I've been working at adding two new habits to my routine, and two pieces of free software have really helped with that.
First, I've noticed that every major Christian leader that I love and respect, takes time in their day to journal. Even if it's for just a few minutes, they write out their thoughts and dreams, and keep track of what God has been telling them in their day. So many books have been written in this way too. Most of the best devotionals, leadership books, and self-help books, were slowly compiled through the life experiences of the writers. If I really have been called to leadership, I better start my own. Already it has really helped me to organize some of my thoughts.
So after some searching, I came across the Advanced Diary. This nifty little program is free, supports multiple daily entries, searching, text formatting, embedded pictures, can be printed and exported, and can even be password protected. It also runs off of a USB drive, so you can take it anywhere you go.
Next, leaders are always have a system to keep important information, interesting tidbits, facts and figures, and notes... easily at their disposal. How many times have I tried to think of a quote or statistic, and just couldn't remember what it was, or where it came from?
Evernote does this well, by letting you easily create formatted notes, sort and organize them, and export them. Combine this with their Firefox web clipper, and you can highlight parts of webpages and add them to your notes with a single click. Brilliant.
Keep track of your life. It's the only one you've got. And who knows? Maybe someone is actually interested in learning from it.
Once upon a time... there was a story.
Stories. Even the wildest ones, when told well, will relate to something at the very core of your being. They are effective and inspiring. They can be purely entertainment, and they can even be used to teach.
Why are people so intent on hammering each other with cold facts and figures? I've often found myself sitting on one side of a debate with a friend, talking about beliefs and values, and I've realised that the second I start demanding that my own views are right, the friend immediately and subconsciously closes themself off.
So why should the truth be restricted to a purely logical form? Even Jesus taught almost entirely with parables.
I'm not saying you should abandon facts altogether. Facts are only there to support the story.
"Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care... but once they know you care, you better know something!"Write out your books and articles. Make movies and theater and dance, draw comics and manga. Create stories that call the hearts of this world to something greater... Jesus.
Some of the leading men over at Celebration! Church have banded together to start a group blog. Wholly Yours will cover all sorts of men's issues, inspiration, accountability, life discussions, media, games, and a whole lot more.
If you're a guy, I would definitely suggest you head over there and get into the community. Learn, grow, strive. You don't have to be part of the church either, everyone is welcome. It's a great place to throw out ideas and thoughts. It's a pretty diverse group, so I'm sure heads will butt now and then, and not all things there will reflect yours own or my own beliefs, but at least it will always be interesting.
For the girls out there, feel free to start a similar idea, as it will be very beneficial to you and your other female friends. Or, of you're just curious about what sort of things occupy a guys mind, go check it out.
Over the last 30 years, the percentage of people living together before marriage in North America has grown over 1000%. Why is this? And why is this ruining marriages in our country?
Focus on the Family had some interesting broadcasts on the issue, with all sorts of statistics. Here's an example of just a few reasons why you shouldn't live together before marriage.
I don't know why Paul Martin is so against privatizing medical clinics in Canada. Sure there's hundreds of reasons why Canada would benefit from privatization, but that's not the point I'm trying to make here.
There is, in fact, already thousands of private clinics in Canada, where you can walk in, have a serious operation, and OHIP (Ontario Health Insurance Plan) will completely cover all costs of the operation.
Over 100,000 of these operations are performed yearly in Canada, and all are being paid for by the government.
These operations, are abortions.
Now somebody explain to me why the liberal government will completely fund an abortion at a private clinic, but will not allow other operations. Say, having a spleen removed? Or Heart valve surgery? Or bladder stones? Or even cancer tests, such as the one my mom has to wait three more months for?
New years day, the family got together to do our yearly planning, goal setting, and resolutions.
I definately suggest that all families should do this together with their children.
We put together a whole list of categories, and went around placing personal, and family goals in each section. Ranging from financial, business, and investments, to spiritual, intellectual, and physical.
For some examples, here's a few of my personal goals... to give you ideas, and so you can help keep me accountable!
Yes You Can... this was the message that Team Hoyt carries to the world.
Consisting of Dick and Rick Hoyt, the father-son partnership has competed in over 920 athletic events... and has never been in last place. They've challenged the world through many challenges, including the Boston Marathon, cycling across North America, and the triathlons.
Team Hoyt are accomplished athletes, yet this is not what makes them special.
Dick's son, Rick, was born with cerebral palsy.
At his birth, doctors diagnosed that Rick would be a vegetable all of his life. His parents refused to give up, and pledged that they would raise their son like any normal boy.
To this day, he is still confined to a wheelchair, and used a computer to talk for him. Despite his shortcomings, Rick has even gotten his highschool and university degrees.
Through every racing event, Dick carries, pulls, pushed, or tows his son. After an emotional first run, Rick confides to his father that while they're running, he can forget about his disabilities.
I had the priviledge of seeing Dick speak at a business conference this past weekend, where he talked about one of their greatest challenges: the Hawaii Ironman. The longest, by far, with a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run.
Team Hoyt are an amazing example to all, that you can accomplish great things if you believe that you CAN.
The men at Celebration! had a great retreat this past weekend up at Muskrat Lake. Sure it rained constantly through the entire weekend, and we had to cancel most of our activities due to various circumstances, but they weren't the purpose of the retreat anyways.
Our goal is to step up. Step up to the plate in our goals, our jobs, our ministries, our relationships, and our families.
Coincidentally, I was just reading through the Genesis and the story of Noah's Ark in my leadership bible. He was a simple ordinary man, called by God. He had no special leadership qualities, other than the fact that he was willing to give up whatever it took to follow God.
And in light of the flood, sometimes you need to step up, to give up, to go up!
Being a gentleman is just as revelant today as it was in the medieval ages.
The medieval ideal taught humility and forbearance to the great warrior because everyone knew by experience how much he usually needed that lesson. It demanded valour of the urbane and modest man because everyone knew that he was as likely as not to be a milksop. - C.S. Lewis, The Necessity of ChivalryLook at the rise of books such as Wild at Heart, and The Barbarian Way. They call on us to recapture our hearts, to raise our courage, and to be the gentlemen we were created to be. Great movies like Braveheart and The Patriot stir hidden longings inside of us men.
"Thou wert the meekest man", says Sir Ector to the dead Launcelot. "Thou were the meekest man that ever ate in hall among ladies; and thou were the sternest knight to thy mortal foe that ever put spear in the rest."
