Movie: Fears of the Dark

FEAR(S) OF THE DARK is a wildly inventive and visually dazzling collection of fearful tales by six of the world’s most renowned comic and graphic artists...

Creativity: Anti-theft lunch bag

"Anti-Theft Lunch Bags are regular sandwich bags that have green splotches printed on both sides. After your sandwich is placed inside, no one will want to touch it."

Movie processor

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a movie about Joel and Clementine and actually we have the movie poster on our wall because it's Haircut's "favorite movie of all time." The movie makes you answer the question "if you could successfully erase painful memories, would you?" After a difficult relationship with Joel, Clementine decides to have a surgical procedure done to erase all memories of Joel from her mind for good by a company called Lacuna Inc.. Joel finds out about it and decides he's going to do the same thing only part way through the procedure he realizes that even though the relationship had problems he wanted to keep them because they were part of who he was. What happens from there is a crazy ride though the mind of writers Charlie Kaufman and Michael Gondry.

I've really been struck for the past year or so about what it means to be "in process." This movie makes me think about the importance of entire process of maturity and growth. If we had a choice we would all probably choose to not go through painful times in our lives. Heck, I have some memories I'd like to erase as well but those are the things that cause us to grow the most. The only thing worse than suffering is not learning from your painful experience. Anyway, I'm in the process of figuring out what being "in process" means for the things God has called me to and I invite you to do the same.

Writing a mini-saga

When a kid says "tell me a story" have you ever really considered what exactly are they are looking for? Facts? No, they want to be entertained and inspired. But story has the power to be memorable and to teach more than just facts. For the past year or so I've really been thinking about the concept of story. I have even thought about the primary way Jesus taught. He taught using parables. What are parables? In short they are stories. Some people are naturally great story tellers but I believe story is something we all can grow in.

One exercise in story is writing a mini-saga. Sounds funny but they are actually pretty interesting. A mini-saga has a beginning, middle and end just like a normal story but a mini-saga is exactly 50 words. No more, no less. A method for writing a mini-saga is write or find a story and begin removing all words that are not absolutely necessary. Begin reconstructing your sentences to so you end up with exactly 50 words. Try it and grow in learning the power of story. Feel free to share your mini-saga on the web site too.

Go here for more on mini-saga examples from people around the world.

A taste of something good

We all have different values when it comes to our daily lives. Something you may care about deeply might go unnoticed by someone else and the same is true of them with you. You may be passionate about Renaissance paintings and someone else just looks at them and goes "ehhh".

During and after college I never really placed a high value on food. To me it just wasn't that important. Just to give you an idea I REGULARLY ate one of the following items for days on end: rice, spaghetti, toast, ramen noodles, cereal. Once Haircut and I started dating she would come over for dinner and say something to the effect of "spaghetti again?" Variety in food is something she greatly values. She would rather have a little bit of food but with great variety than a massive amount of the same thing. So, I started branching out in what I ate for her sake. It's not that I don't like to cook or like to eat good food. I was raised on some amazing home cooking courtesy of my mom. It's just that if it's just me I'd rather spend money elsewhere.

Do you ever think of food as a work of art? Whether it's brightly colored vegetables or a nicely prepared meal I've begun seeing food as an extension of God's paint brush. One site that has really worked miracles for me with this regard is www.tastespotting.com. If you consider yourself a "foodie" this site is for you.

The incredible edible egg

Slovenian artist, Franc Grom creates egg art using an electric boring tool. The results are stunning and as laborious as the finest of craftsmen from centuries past. The eggs that Grom creates have approximately 2,500 to 3,500 holes (he has been known to drill up to17,000 in one piece). The results are simply amazing. Who would have thought that something so delicate could be made even more fragile and precious.

http://momeld.wordpress.com/2008/03/23/happy-easter-eggs/

Sleeping through pain

My friend, Corey, and I both work at the church and are prayer partners which basically means once a month he and I take a half day to talk about life and pray for one another. Back in October 2007 Corey and his wife Cyndia had their first baby named Ava. As he and I get together to talk about life he has shared with me the joys and challenges of having a new baby in the home. One of the challenges is sleep... or lack thereof.

As you can imagine, Corey and Cyndia want their daughter to sleep well through the night for her good (and for theirs). It is so difficult to hear her crying at night because she can't sleep. Corey said he often prays to God that she would fall back to sleep. Recently, Corey has been reading a book that caused him to think about things in a different light. The book suggested that we often don't consider the full scope of a situation when it comes to our prayers. I'm not suggesting that it's wrong to pray for Ava to get a good night of sleep but we often forget the ways God teaches us.

CS Lewis said that "God whispers to us in our pleasures... but shouts to us in our pain." While we ask God to alleviate the pain perhaps we're also supposed to ask God what He's trying to teach us through the pain. So, while praying for their daughter to have a good night sleep Corey also prays that he would know and learn what God is teaching him. As we wrestle with things like our health, a difficult job, a challenging person person, or an uncomfortable situation it's appropriate for us to ask God what is he trying to say to you.