Its been awhile since I have posted anything. Mostly because I dont have a whole lot to say. I have been pretty bookish lately so I haven't really been doing a great job at keeping the blogs up to date. I figure I owe it to our fan to share some thoughts/ ideas. Here it is...

1. I have been on a crazy of reading experiance lately. Im not big on the Christian sub-culture but I think I might need some balance from a theology standpoint... Its easy to lose the ulitmate in the face of good.

2. I keep learning over and over again the power of leaning into conflict.

3. My brithday was awesome and my wife is amazing!

4. last a question: Is it bad that we are becoming a pure digital world?

5. This is the worst time in all of sports... No Hockey, no basketball, just some 15 million baseball games for the next 2 months. Im ready for something of subsance already.

Ok I know that was pretty random.

Thankful

I’m thankful for so many things and I just wanted to spit a few of them out today on here because they are fresh on my mind.

In no particular order…

• Doctors and medicine. I am so thankful for the minds and the money donated to finding cures, medicines, and funding the research needed to get these life changing medicines. I’m so thankful for the people that invest their time trying to help other people’s health and take time and care when dealing with their patients.
  
• Family. They are there in the thick and thin. I think the word family says it all.
  
• Friends that last a lifetime. These are the friends I can randomly email or text a prayer request or whatever even if we haven’t been able to catch up in 2 years or whatever and right away without any questions asked they offer their help or time or just an ear to listen. If you were in need, they would drop whatever in a moments notice to help.  These are the friends that send a text message early morning when they know it’s going to be long day just to help me feel comforted. Some of these friends are old from back in the day and some are fresh from just a few months. These are the friends that last a lifetime and I am so thankful for them.
  
• My husband. He is my best friend in the whole world and I would do anything for him. I love him so much. He stretches me and encourages me in so many aspects of my life. Even in the worst of times he finds the best of situations.
• God. He is the greatest comforter and reassurance. He humbles me. He brings peace like nothing else and gets me through everything. My faith and my hope are found in Him. I am so thankful to Him.

      I think it’s important to step back sometimes and realize all the many blessing we have in life that we so often take for granted. I have so much to be thankful for and this just barely touches the surface but you get the idea.

Things arent always what they seem

In Mark 6 Jesus talks about a prophet coming home to the town where he played in the streets as a child. He talks about how that prophet has no honor even amongst his family. He says He, God in flesh, doesn't even get respect around His family and those that He grew up with. They can only see Him for what He was... that weird kid. Think about the kid that chilled out with teachers wasn't normal. 

From this passage I find it comforting to know that what people see at first glance might not be true. I find it comforting to know that there is a bigger picture. I find it challenging to know that I can encounter people in situations where I think I have them pegged but I have them dead wrong.

   

   Its frustrating to be in a place where a person or yourself is treated for who they appear to be (or who they were), rather than who they can become or even who they have become. To subvert this I need to be better. I need to be better at surprising people in my perception of them and their perception of me. So many of us see others as sumo wrestlers when they are really hot air balloons. They aren't dead weight... they're actually able to take dead weight to new heights, we just arent looking close enough.  What if that weird co-worker just feels trapped and doesn't know how to respond. What if they expect me to do one thing because I have always done it(even though its inconsistent with who I am) and I do something else because its right? What if I refused to let the people around me define who I am and instead just let Jesus own his place? 

When it comes to people, things arent what they seem unless we are ok with that. 

   

Mike's other blog

I have a new blog its a place to process marketing and advertising ideas... marketinghandy.blogspot.com there is nothing there yet but... that will change. 

Do Good while you search

Hey Everybody or nobody... Im not excatly sure who reads our blog.

 If you do or dont know the internet is big money. Every search, every click is a transaction and someone is getting paid. There are a ton of marketing dollars battling to find the right person to buy thier "thing". In case you have ever wondered marketing is why google is "free" to use but still churns significant profit.  

Good search

Good search started with the simple question "what if we used these dollars to give back to non-profits?" Its a very cool tag to create traffic and it would actually does good. I am a very heavy volume user (searcher) at work, in all honesty I research like a mad man. In any given month I'm likely to do over 1000 searches. When I factor in that I buy over two million dollars worth of material a year it balances and makes sense. 

Solidarity

One organization I support is called solidarity based in Fullerton. Good search is a really cool way I can donate to them that doesn't cost anything. Doing my job everyday and looking at the Internet I'm able to actually to do good. If you click the link on the top of my post it will take you to the good search page. I know The google habit is a hard one to break and I still do use it from time to time out of pure need but this works 90% of the time. One great way to do this is to make good search your home page. Also if you shop online at amazon, target etc. you can contribute just by using the "good store" there are even coupons.  I know these maybe small donations but why not at least give a little back while doing what you were planing on doing anyway. 

If you do decide to use this  I encourage you to give to an organization that has been hit by this current economic situation. Solidarity is awesome and if you have no ideas I'd encourage you to just go with that. Also if you don't have a job or you are searching for a new one think of using good search as a way to be generous while you hunt.

Thanks,