Ramblings On. . .

Over the past several years Creekside Church has sent work teams to Copper Island Camp. This camp is dedicated to reaching First Nations Kids. This year Creekside as well as Westside Church are partnering to build the first ever Worship Center dedicated to First Nations people in Barkley Sound. It’s a tremendous project and this video shows you what we have done and where the Worship Center will go.

from www.vimeo.com posted with vodpod

Jesus For President is first of all a very beautifully designed book.  The layout and design help the book move along.  The pictures are very powerful.  The feel of the book is unique.  I couldn’t put it down because I kept wanting to see what the next page would hold visually.

But I also really enjoyed reading the book.  The basic premise is that as Christians we have allegiance to Jesus first and not America (or the empire).  So the authors basically go about setting Jesus up against the systems of empire in his time and our time as well.  I have a feeling that super patriotic people will not like this book.  But it turns out the super patriotic people didn’t really like Jesus in the first place.

I found myself underlining a lot of great nuggets of wisdom and making quite a few notes in my moleskine.  One of the most interesting sections in the book was when the Authors set the Coronation of a Caesar up against the Crucifixion.  The Parallels are stunning and they bring a lot more power to the crucifixion narrative.

Shaine Claiborne is probably associated pretty strongly with the emergent church and many people might not want to read this book because of that, but he really does share some compelling arguements and stories about consuming less of the empire’s systems, resisting violence, and trying to be like Jesus.

the Book is a quick read and it’s divided up into 4 Main sections with a lot of little sections throughout.  I read it at copper island in about half a day (there wasn’t anything else to do).

David Allen is a productivity guru.  I first came across the GTD methodology from the bob.blog and then was further exposed to the ninjary by Merlin Mann at 43folders.  Ready for Anything is divided up into 52 short chapters and it can be viewed as the why behind all of the GTD methodology.  It is full of reminders as to why we need to get things out of our heads, why we need to review our stuff weekly, and the freedom to be creative that we establish when our brain is able to focus on one thing at a time.

If you have already read Getting Things Done this is a great addition, to understanding the processes and methods of GTD.  Be careful though as David Allen has created a cult-like following among many in the blog-o-verse.  But it’s a great resource and you should check it out.

On April 27th, 2008 Creekside Church dedicated Finch Hall. Dennis finch served 30 years as a pastor at Creekside Church. Music by Patria. A Time for Tribute is also included.the quality of the Video is not great, but the content is. It’s a long video, so if you have time to watch it, I hope you are encouraged by the legacy that Dennis and Mary have created.

from vimeo.com posted with vodpod

With a video on presentations. why not

from www.vimeo.com posted with vodpod

Well today I’m chillin on the Tamarino, which is the huge boat in Port Alberni.  It’s pretty sweet, and there is free wi-fi, so it’s even sweeter.

Don and I are on our way up to Copper Island, where our church has partnered with a missions camp there.  This is my first time going to Copper Island.  This trip is to help Train Aaron on using the old Grady White that the camp bought from Don.  And it’s also a mini-study break for me.  I’m looking forward to hanging out, working on some notes for this summer, and reading.

I’ll be gone for a few days and won’t be able to update this blog.  But I’ll try to update my twitter, you can find it at twitter.com/jdeuman.  See you on thursday

I mowed my lawn today.  It was awesome.  It looks awesome.  Kathy and I are fortunate because we have a large yard, we love having the space to let Judah Play, we love the possibilities that our lot provides.  And in a region where yards are going away quickly with each new house crammed right next to the other one we are blessed.

The down side of such a large yard is that it has to be mowed regularly.  And sometimes it’s just hard to get out there and make it happen.  Sometimes I want to mow it and weather or schedule prevent it.  It’s a challenge.  But the longer and taller the grass gets the harder it gets for me to want to mow it down.

But once I get it handled I get a very relaxed feeling, like everything is right in the world once again.

It’s the same way with ministry I think.  There are so many things that have to get done and we know they need to get done, but we can’t get them done for various reasons.  But once they are done . . . ahh, what a relief.

I’ve been learning to start taking my projects and things that I’m working on piece by piece, that helps to keep me from getting overwhelmed by how tall the weeds are getting.  And I’m also learning how important it is to write all my stuff down, and get it out of my head.

If you haven’t read Getting Things Done by David Allen I would really recommend it.  Even if you never get all the way GTD, there is a ton of little things that can help to ease the mental pressure that you’re carrying around.  I’m currently reading Ready for Anything by David Allen.  It’s a little New Age-y but ultimately it’s a book about productivity.  And it’s a great resource and reminder for why I need to get things out of my brain and focus on just one thing at a time.

Back to my Lawn.  I was able to mow my lawn and not worry about all the stuff that I needed to do, because all the stuff that I needed to do was out of my head.  My Lawn really looks great, and I enjoyed mowing it because I had peace knowing what I wasn’t doing and knowing that I would be able to get to it when it was appropriate.

This may be my last blog post for a while, I am going to be out of town next week and I don’t know if I’ll be able to post from my iPhone, I’m going to be out in the boonies. But I’ll be back and ready to rock next week I’m sure.

Here Ya Go

I’m processing some video and podcast stuff from this weekend, and listening to Ben Harper.  Holy Hot Dogs, where have I been?  Ben Harper is an amazing musician.  If it weren’t for the Public Library I never would have tried to find this music.  It’s really, really good.

By the way.  Even though I have mocked it, and I’m not sure if I love or hate it.  I’ve started twittering.  It’s kind of fun, and it is also one way to help me keep track of my day.  You can see my twitter feed at twitter.com/jdeuman.

have a good day.

So I’m speaking tomorrow, super excited.  I’m looking forward to it.  It’s going to be pretty heavy.

But my closing thought for the evening is this:

Jesus is pretty Terrific.  I can’t get enough of him.

good night