Through the Lens of a Dad

In December, 2008, after saving and scrounging, and after trying to subtly convince my wife, I bought my first DSLR camera. Since purchasing it, I’ve taken more photos of my family than any human being would ever need in a lifetime. It has also consumed my time, when I’m not Facebooking, reading, or hanging out with my family. It has become my new “obsession.”

Burdened with guilt, I was thinking recently why I am so drawn to such a fancy and expensive camera. I think the answer is that I am a “creative.” A friend of mine from high school visited me last summer and asked if I was still making artwork. My friend and I spent a lot of time together painting, playing the guitar and “waxing poetic” about art in high school. He is still doing and making art in the Chicagoland area. I, on the other hand, am working for a church in the Silicon Valley. A different path from what my high school days would have predicted. But my friend’s visit helped me to realize that I am a creative person. That’s just how God the Creator wired me. I have a great need to create. As someone created in God’s image, this is what I am reflecting from my God. So, I take pictures. I take lots of pictures.

I guess I look at it as not so much the camera that has become my obsession, but the images it produces. I started a 365 Project on January 1st, taking and posting a picture a day on flickr.com. If you want to see it, click on the photos to the right of this post. I also really appreciate documenting my little girl’s life. I think I’ve only missed 3 days where I didn’t take a picture of her during the last year and half or so.

What about you? Are you a “creative”? What is it that you JUST have to do because it’s in you?

Thanks for reading.

Joe

My wife and I have been off of Facebook since Lent started. That’s a grand total of 12 days. It feels like a month already. A big reason why I’m doing it is because I am on the internet too much. I am trying to limit myself to checking email, posting pics up on flickr, and updating this blog. I’m also on espn.com a lot. But Facebook was up on my computer almost any time I was working. So, for Lent it was a good idea to “fast” from it and redirect my time more productively.

The Source of My Exhaustion
The past two weeks have been crazy. Crazy because it’s been busy. My work at our church has extended into Compassion Ministries. A few weeks ago we decided to start one and I was asked by the Missions Committee to head it up. I gladly accepted because it is where my heart is right now. Since our initial meeting/dinner a few weeks ago, I’ve been thinking, praying and trying to figure out what to do next with this ministry.

Another thing on my plate is what my job is supposed to be at my church. I’ve been doing much more for our youths and our youth group than I have in the last 6 months. A huge surge of inspiration and ideas has hit me since the end of last year, when a friend of mine spoke at my church on Sunday. Suddenly, I feel more alive in ministry and more in-sync with God. I am excited for where our youths are at spiritually. I see so many more of them thinking not just of their own spiritual condition but the rest of the group’s state too. About half of our student population want to get involved serving and growing in some capacity at our youth group and in church. A number want to go on a mission trip to Mexico, while a number want to do something significant for God at the church. What a huge blessing this is for us. I pray God would lead them to that place where they can experience Him the most.

The third thing that’s kept me busy is the sermon I gave yesterday. Preparing, writing and thinking about a sermon is in itself a full-time job. I am amazed at pastors who can do it week-in and week-out. Last night, laying in bed while my wife was on the computer, I said, “I’m exhausted. Preaching is a lot of work.” My wife said, “Get used to it. You might end up doing it every week some day.” My sermon yesterday is only the 26th I’ve given at our current church since 2006.

And finally, school. I had class all day on Saturday and that too was exhausting. It was good, but exhausting. I will surely be glad when I graduate in June! Hope I can make it there and finish strongly. A completed Master of Arts in Theology and Biblical Studies, here I come.

Well, that’s me in a nutshell. Thanks for reading.

Joe

Last weekend, my wife and I decided to offer up our Facebook usage for Lent. This means, no more Facebook beginning Wednesday, February 17, until Easter. We could have picked something else but we know that Facebook is, at this point, the only thing we can offer up that is of any significance. How will it go?

On July 2, 1982, truck driver Larry Walters attached forty-five, helium-filled balloons to his lawn chair, put on a parachute, and strapped himself into the chair in the backyard of his home in San Pedro, CA. He also took with him a pellet gun, a CB radio, sandwiches, cold beer, and a camera. Walters rose to an altitude of over 15,000 feet (4,600 m) and floated from his point of origin in San Pedro into controlled airspace near Los Angeles International Airport.

He slowly drifted over Long Beach and crossed the primary approach corridor of Long Beach Airport. After 45 minutes in the sky, he shot several balloons, and then accidentally dropped his pellet gun overboard. He descended slowly, until the balloons’ dangling cables got caught in a power line, causing a blackout in a Long Beach neighborhood for 20 minutes.

Soon after he was safely grounded and cited by the police, reporters asked him three questions:

“Where you scared?” “Yes,” he replied.
“Would you do it again?” “No.”
“Why did you do it?”  “Because,” he said, “A man can’t just sit around.”

I love Larry’s last reply. It’s true.  A man can’t just sit around, especially if that man knows the greatest news for all the world. Lately, I feel like I’ve been just sitting around. Worse yet, I’ve been sitting on the Gospel, without any kind of movement. But this past Sunday, Pastor Nancy Sugikawa gave a message at our church called, “Follow Jesus, Change the World.” In it she shared three questions that changed the DNA of her church:

1. How is our faith changing the world?
2. What are we attempting that takes great faith and great sacrifice?
3. How are we involved in the fight against global poverty?

And as action items, she gave us three:

1. Educate yourself on the intersection of faith and justice.
2. Explore specific local and global needs.
3. Engage in small acts of justice and compassion.

As for me, I’m currently doing the first two – educating myself and exploring. I am currently reading a book called “The Hole in Our Gospel,” and looking into some needs that our church can attempt to take on through the World Vision website.

I feel excited and I feel a little more alive because of Nancy’s message. I hope I can stay on track and not “sit around.”

Thanks for reading.

Joe

Have ever you stopped and looked at your life and wondered, what happened to me? This morning when I took off my shirt to shower I was frightened by the bald, pregnant, Filipino woman staring back at me. It truly was frightening to see myself (in profile) with a gut the size of Texas. While showering I began thinking about what my life looked like 5 years ago. Back then, my belly looked more Connecticut – noticeable but not offensively large, as are the citizens of Connecticut (I would have compared my stomach to Rhode Island but that’s the smallest state in the U.S. and that’s just not true of my belly). Five years ago I was more diligent about going to the gym with my gym “buddy” (his name coincidentally was Jim – KIDDING!). Back then I cared a little more about how my body looked than I do today.

But all of my lament regarding my gird also got me thinking about my life, about ministry and about the things I cared about when I was living in Seattle. It spurred me into action about writing some things down about my life and what about it has changed, other than the obvious. What has changed in my life? What things about ministry, about the church and about God has changed for me? What things should I filter out? What are valid changes? What are changes that just don’t really matter in the long run?

What about you? What has changed in your life? Where were you and what was heaviest on your mind 5 years ago?

Thanks for reading.

Joe

This is the last day of my coffee-free living. I am both excited and curious to see how much longer I can hold out without coffee. I have a research paper to write and I am feeling so good without coffee write now that I wonder how my paper-writing will be affected with caffeine. Just wondering.

Thanks for reading.
Joe

Hello. Thanks for following with me on my coffee-free journey. What a journey it’s been? Half-way done with this coffee fast and in all honesty, I feel great. I actually do feel healthier and more alert. I also get more sleep at night. This really stinks because I love coffee but I am seeing how negatively it affects me. Well, I did get tempted this morning when I went to two coffee shops for meetings. I saw on old guy with a freshly brewed cup of coffee, steam rising from the cup, black and rich… umm… But, I resisted and I am now drinking some hot tea.

Life is busy right now because of school. I have to finish up a final and a research paper in the next 3 weeks. My life will revolve around the books below plus some other ones that have not come in yet. That means, I will be in a self-imposed exile of some sort. And without coffee, I fear how my studying and paper-writing will be – pray for me.

On a completely different note, check out the video I pasted below. It just made me laugh and worry all at the same time. I don’t know when this was but, wow! I pray for America and our youth. hahaha…

Okay, thanks for reading.

Joe

I skipped a bunch of days because I got really busy with… everything. However, what I didn’t skip was my coffee-free living. I have really mixed feelings about my 30 Days Without Coffee. I started to think why I was doing all of this for in the first place. I’m not out to prove that coffee is bad, or this is not some religious fast to show that God is more important in my life than anything. I just want to see how my body will react to not having coffee. I need sleep. I need rest, yet my body does not tell me it’s time to sleep. I get up unusually early in the morning and naturally, by 3pm, I am experiencing life in slow motion because I just want to sleep. So while I’m not out to prove anything, by virtue of living without something I’m used to, I am proving something. But, I will continue because my body is liking sleep.

Well, over the weekend I did get to sleep. Well, Saturday at least. I woke up at 7:30am. It’s been a while since I’ve done that and it felt goooood. Over the weekend I started realizing that at a certain point at night I feel my body pull towards the bed and my pillows. My body actually wants to sleep at the appropriate part of the day. When I get up in the morning, I don’t spring out of bed. It actually takes time for me to get out of bed. I’m not “jumpy” when I wake up.

It’s almost 1am and I am very tired. I had to stay up and finish a reading assignment for seminary. So now, I’m going to bed.

Thanks for reading.

Joe

I went through the day, again, without any fatigue or sluggishness. I read over 80 pages and I didn’t feel sleepy or tired at all. Maybe the material was stimulating after all. I am starting to think that the caffeine from my coffee drinking really affected my sleep. I used to have 3-4 cups of a day.

Anyway, it’s after midnight now and I am tired. I’m falling asleep just trying to write this blog.

Thanks for reading.

joe

This is what I had this afternoon – African herbal tea from Starbucks. Total number of herbal teas today – 3. I’m learning that the taste of coffee, first of all, is what I crave. But secondly, I am also drawn to coffee because I crave something hot to drink after a meal or very early in the morning. Tonight, before I went back to church for a meeting, my wife made a delicious dinner. My initial instinct was to chase down the meal with a hot cup of coffee and drink it on the way to the meeting. I caught myself wanting the cup but I stopped myself.

How am I feeling? I feel pretty good actually. Much better than the day before. The 2-3pm sluggish hour was not existent today. I was able to get my work done without feeling tired or sleepy. The real test is tomorrow when I have to read over 100 pages for seminary. Will I get sleepy and tired? Will I blame my sleepiness on coffee or the material I’m reading? Hmm… I guess we’ll just have to find out.

Thanks for reading.

Joe