A Prayer for Our World...

Heavenly Father, you have called us as followers of your Son Jesus Christ to remember to pray not just for ourselves, but for the world, your world. Lord, please, in your mercy hear our prayers.

We pray for the poor and hungry and oppressed peoples of the world, that you would intervene, and bring justice and relief. We pray that you would show us how you would use us to make a difference. Lord, please, in your mercy hear our prayers.

We pray for the peoples of Iraq, Israel, Labanon, Gaza, Sudan, Congo, Korea and all places where military conflict abounds, that you would intervene and bring peace and safety. Lord, please, in your mercy hear our prayers.

We pray for our own leaders, those of all political parties, that they would make decisions in keeping with justice and goodness and peace. Protect them all from the evils of power and from political scheming, and work through their decisions for the greater good. Lord, please, in your mercy hear our prayers.

We pray for the leaders of the United Nations, that they too would lead in ways uncorrupted by power and self interest, that peace would more quickly come to our world. Lord, please, in your mercy hear our prayers.

We pray for the Church throughout the world, for her protection, for her ministers and her people, that you would protect them from persecution and terror, and use them as agents of good and light wherever they are. Lord, please, in your mercy hear our prayers.

We pray for the good and safety and health and pace of all peoples of all nations and faiths; yet we also pray for the success of the ministry and message of the good news of Jesus Christ, that for your glory disciples of Christ may increase in number and influence in every nation. Lord, please, in your mercy hear our prayers.

We pray for our community and the many issues which divide and hurt us. I call upon you to bring good and truth and wholeness and peace to us all in this place, in this city, that we would all live peaceful and tranquil and loving lives together in this place. Lord, please, in your mercy hear our prayers.

I pray for myself, as I relate to and contribute to the good or to the evil of this world. Make me into a vessel of good and peace that my life will be for the good of others and not of myself; that you might be glorified through me, and others lives made better because of me. Root out of me all that would bring harm, sadness, or evil to others. Lord, please, in your mercy hear my prayer.

Heavenly Father, the problems of this world seem so great, and we seem so small; yet you are greater than all of us. We humbly acknowledge our helplessness and our need of your work in our hearts. Lord, please, in your mercy hear our prayers.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is approaching.  The turkey's are talking apocalypse (or apocalopalypse haha).  Originally I had plans to just spend time in Houston with family and the girlfriend.  Then, my sister called me and said she had won two tickets to the Oregon/Arizona game but cannot go due to retail's obsession with Black Friday.  They were mine if I wanted them, she told me.  So, guess what!?  I am coming home for THANKSGIVING!! And I get to see all my friends, eat turkey with my parents and sister, go to bars with Heidi, Derek, Cat, etc. and remember the fresh air of Autzen Stadium while viewing the #1 team in the land!! I cannot wait! GO DUCKS!!!!

Gardener

My Birthday

I would just like to give a shoutout to all my amazing friends for wishing me a happy birthday today.  Seriously I think there are more text messages and facebook posts than I can count.  All of you are special to me and just made my day really special.  

To top it off, the Blounts had a cupcake ready for me when I got home from volleyball and a couple cards from them.  I am truly blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.  Thank you all!

Today was a good day

I will admit, I was not having the best of days today.  Work seemed to drag on like a clock running on a dying battery.  I felt completely overwhelmed with projects.  There was a span where I swear there were ten projects handed to me, all of which needed to get done either by the end of the day or by tomorrow...not exactly the kind of situation I like being in.

But then, I got enough of my work done to be able to go home in peace.  I thought I would forgo church tonight and just spend some time in my bed watching tv or something when the road I travelled on was completely blocked by construction.  Then my cousin called and reminded me that I had made arrangements to meet with some church colleagues to go over running the visual projector on this upcoming Sunday's sermon.  Basically everything that could've gone the way to get me to church...did.  Upon arriving at church I found that this was the place I needed to be tonight.  Everything that happened afterwards was a good thing.  There were good people there, good conversations, a good lesson and most of all, it took me out of my funk and put me in a good mood.  God is so great!  Seriously I felt that He made it happen to get me to come to church tonight, knowing that I would come out of it in a good mood.

To make things better, when I came home after church I noticed that I had received a letter from my car dealership.  Enclosed was a check for $70 because they goofed on my license fees.

Not a bad way to end my day! :)  Thank you, Lord for providing for me.  Thank you for keeping me in your blessings...even though I do not deserve it.  You have been so good to me and I hope that your kindness and blessings to me can be used to help other people realize and find out how wonderful you truly are! AMEN!

Sunday Bible Verse (10/10)

I thought for Sundays I would post a Bible verse since church is what I do pretty much all day that day.  I go to Sunday School, followed by morning church and then have church in the evening as well so my Sundays are pretty much booked go God.  That is the way it should be every day!  From now on, Sundays my blog post will be a Bible verse...starting now!

This has been and always will be my favorite verse.  I believe it gives people strength, motivation and a guideline to live their lives...

"Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." ~ Isaiah 40:31


Amen.

I Think Everyone Does This to Some Degree

Today was a full of many interesting feelings, thoughts, emotions, doohickeys, you name its, etc.  I don't know why but every now and then I look back at my life and say, "What could I have done in the past to better myself and my situation?"  This question popped into my head when I was looking at other friends profiles on Facebook and saw that many of them have jobs that I wish I had (specifically with an Ad agency, Sports team or Nike).

One thing that I wish I had done was pay more attention to things like internships, career fairs and clubs while in college.  It's too bad that I missed out on many chances to not only improve my job situation but also improve my creativity.  I fully believe that interning for a creative department for an ad agency or business would have greatly improved the quality of work that I produce today.

It seems that I am learning, through this blog process and researching what other friends/colleges have done, that there are ways to improve your creativity.  I just hope that it is not too late for me!!

The Subliminal "hi"

I know this is probably just me being weird but I figured I would have to tell this story...

I was driving home in the awful Houston traffic after a "not bad, not good" day at the office.  All I wanted to do when I got home was change into my basketball shorts, put on a t-shirt and watch the Monday Night Football game with the Dolphins and Patriots (which the Patriots spanked my Dolphins 41-14).  I was grumpy and tired.  My feet were killing me and my stomach was about to eat itself if I didn't get something to calm it.  All of a sudden, this car came around and passed me.  On the back windshield, written in window paint was "DOLPhiNS".  I assumed that it was the driver's child who wrote their pop warner football team name on the window.  

The funny thing was that I was on my way home to watch the Dolphins play on Monday Night Football and the two lowercase letters were the "hi" in the middle.  It was like someone was saying "hi" to me haha.  Now I know it was probably just coincidence but it made me laugh to think that, just maybe, it worked out perfectly just to make me smile :)

10 Steps for Boosting Creativity

I found this list from a guy named Jeffrey Baumgartner.  I have tried to implement this into my creative services.  There seems to be some good tips (even though some are a little weird haha).  

1.  Listen to music by Johann Sebastian Bach. If Bach doesn't make you more creative, you should probably see your doctor - or your brain surgeon if you are also troubled by headaches, hallucinations or strange urges in the middle of the night.

2.  Brainstorm. If properly carried out, brainstorming can help you not only come up with sacks full of new ideas, but can help you decide which is best. 

3.  Always carry a small notebook and a pen or pencil around with you. That way, if you are struck by an idea, you can quickly note it down. Upon rereading your notes, you may discover about 90% of your ideas are daft. Don't worry, that's normal. What's important are the 10% that are brilliant.

4.  If you're stuck for an idea, open a dictionary, randomly select a word and then try to formulate ideas incorporating this word. You'd be surprised how well this works. The concept is based on a simple but little known truth: freedom inhibits creativity. There are nothing like restrictions to get you thinking.

5.  Define your problem. Grab a sheet of paper, electronic notebook, computer or whatever you use to make notes, and define your problem in detail. You'll probably find ideas positively spewing out once you've done this.


6.  If you can't think, go for a walk. A change of atmosphere is good for you and gentle exercise helps shake up the brain cells.


7.  Don't watch TV. Experiments performed by the JPB Creative Laboratory show that watching TV causes your brain to slowly trickle out your ears and/or nose. It's not pretty, but it happens.



8.  Don't do drugs. People on drugs think they are creative. To everyone else, they seem like people on drugs.



9.  Read as much as you can about everything possible. Books exercise your brain, provide inspiration and fill you with information that allows you to make creative connections easily.



10.  Exercise your brain. Brains, like bodies, need exercise to keep fit. If you don't exercise your brain, it will get flabby and useless. Exercise your brain by reading a lot (see above), talking to clever people and disagreeing with people - arguing can be a terrific way to give your brain cells a workout. But note, arguing about politics or film directors is good for you; bickering over who should clean the dishes is not.

I LOVE MY DUCKS! RETURN OF THE QUACK

A new version of the amazing "I Love My Ducks" song.  I think I love this one more than the original.
 

Song of the Week (09/27 - 10/01)

In September of 2009 my favorite band, MUSE, released their 5th album, The Resistance.  Undisclosed Desires, the third track on the album, is profiled in the video I posted below.  I can honestly say it gives me chills every time I listen to it!

My First Blog

Hokay, so...I'm pretty new at this whole "blogger" thing. I did some research of my friends who are currently doing well with their creative jobs and they all had things that were common amongst themselves: 

1.) A portfolio with resumes posted online where anyone can view them. (CHECK)

2.) A profile on LinkedIn (CHECK)

3.) A blog where they posted whatever was on their minds. Whether that be a story, photos, audio or video (IN PROGRESS)

The goal of this blog is to continue to write and/or post things that I find creative or interesting. Hopefully I can update you every day with something interesting that happened. Some days it will be whatever is on my mind at the time, some days it will be a video or something. WHO KNOWS!

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELLY!