Today’s the last day where you have the opportunity to make my failure your financial gain (or provide some good moral support).
Don’t know what I’m talking about?
Check out this post.
Thanks.
Archive - July, 2009
Soul 2 Sole
Saw this on Ragamuffin Soul‘s blog the other day.
It’s pretty cool and worth checking out if you haven’t already.
It’s a motion graphics piece on sneaker culture by this guy named David Parker who did it as part of his thesis when preparing to graduate from Parson’s School of Design.
Enjoy.
Soul 2 Sole from David Park on Vimeo.
Sanibona!
As you’re reading this, I should have been in South Africa for a few days now. If not, then, I hope I’m at least somewhere interesting.
There’s a number of purposes for my trip here.
1. To see family. Mom, Dad and Alfie usually spend about half the year here, and I miss them. So, I enjoy coming to visit them and hange out and everything.
2. Servant Life. Most of you know that in addition to my job at Student Life I get the chance to serve on the board for a little non-profit we started and support called Servant Life. Right now we partner with four ministries in three countries to send American students to work with them for short periods of time. Mission Sebenzela, my parents’ ministry here in South Africa, is one of those partners. So, I’m here with Maggie from Virginia and Brittany from Texas. I’m sure they’re having a great time.
3. Camp. What we’re doing specifically for most of the week is hosting a day camp for kids. We’ll see a few hundred and it will be a blast. This particular one is hosted at the school Alfie attends when he’s here in ZA.
4. Orphanages. Liza aand I have known we want to adopt for years Before Story came along we were really wrestling with whether or not it was time to go that route. Now that Story is here we’re not as in as much of a hurry, but it’s something that we still want to do. I’ve wanted to adopt from Africa since I was in high school. When Alfie entered our family, that kinda focused things for me. There’s a number of challenges to American’s adopting from South Africa (not all of which I understand), but I’m hoping to have the chance to talk to some people while I”m here just to begin to get a good grasp on what the process is going to look like when we finally get there.
5. Renewal. This trip isn’t really a vacation by any means. Rest and relaxation are definitely not the goals. However, these types of trips always help to focus me and kind of renew my spirit, if you will. Maybe that doesn’t make sense to you. Some people want to go lay on a beach. Others want to lose themselves amongst the mountains. Some want to explore a new city or immerse themselves in fine culture. I like all that, too. But for me, I’d much rather be hanging out with some kids in a country half-way around the world. But that’s just me.
Anyway, thanks for keeping up with me while I’m gone. Hopefully, I’ll be posting some more pertinent info about the actual trip.
Until then… Sizobonana!
Friend Friday: Learning 2 Walk
So, today I leave for South Africa. Internet access there isn’t always consistent. So, we’ll see how much blogging I’m able to pull off. At the very least I’ll hopefully be able to keep you guys updated just a bit through Twitter and Facebook. But, have no fear. That doesn’t mean that Enigmatic Meanderings is shutting down for a couple of weeks. I’ve got some blog posts ready and scheduled to go. They certainly won’t be the deepest or most enlightening things you’ve ever read, but they’re something.
Now, on to today’s post and Friend Friday feature: Learning 2 Walk.
Learning 2 Walk is the blog of Haley Nichols. I don’t know Haley terribly well, but she’s one of those people that you wish you did. She’s a pure soul. I met Haley when we went to South Africa together last year. She and some others from her Brook Hills small group (whom I lovingly refer to as the “Birmingham Girls”) went to work with my parents and host one of the camps we do in Mamelodi. God has obviously been working in Haleys life for a long time, but around that trip last year He definitely began leading here in a new direction.
Haley’s been a teacher here in the Birmingham area for a few years. Now, she’s preparing to embark on a new journey with Mercy Ships, a ministry utilizes large cruise-like ships as floating hospitals to provide free medical care to those in developing nations. Haley, amongst other things, is going to be serving as a teacher for some of the children of the crew. They’ll be primarily based at a little Benin on the south coast of western Africa. Check out her blog and learn how you can be of a support for her, if by no other means, then certainly through prayer. A big initial one is that her condo here in the ‘Ham still needs to be rented.
I don’t necessarily feature Haley here because of what she’s doing specifically or for her prolific blogging or anything. Instead, I wanted you guys to hear just a little bit about her story for this reason: there’s a lot of us (you know who you are) who continually talk about things we ant to do, big things. We wonder if God wants us to go and really do something amazing, make a big difference. For some reason, so many of us end up spending countless effort on trying to figure out what that thing is. We think of all of our commitments and responsibilities and what else is currently going on with our life and instaed sit in some perpetual state of discontentment. Haley hasn’t. She’s going. And I think that’s awesome.
Bon voyage!
Parachurch Youth Ministry = Baby Products?
One of my most favorite things about Student Life (which I’m sure, for some, would be the most frustrating) is that we never become complacent. We are always in a state of change, wondering how we can improve or innovate or do something new. For many of us, we get completely jazzed trying to figure it all out. At the same time, we can also get really tense, hoping and praying we get things right, that we know what we’re doing, that we’re fighting for the right things and ignoring the rest. We don’t always get it right. That’s for sure. But we try, and we try hard, and we do it all for good, I believe.
At any rate, we’re kinda entering one of those phases right now. Asking a lot of questions. Searching for the correct answers.
Inevitably when in one of these seasons we search for some help from “experts” that are out there. People who have been around in the worlds of ministry and business (since we are both) and know what they’re talking about (we think). However, one of the things that I find the most troubling in looking to these experts is trying to figure out just how to apply what they have to say to our “industry” (excuse the business terminology, if you will, but a lot of the guys we read are business dudes, so using their lingo just makes things easier). The reason, I think, it’s difficult to apply their principles is because our industry is really unique (by our “industry” I mean providing resources for youth ministry; I consider events a resource). So, one of the things I do is try to look outside of our industry to another that I might can compare it to.
Here’s the best I’ve come up with.
We’re kinda like the baby industry. Since I’ve become a father, I only realize more and more how true this is. This is what I mean.
When creating products for babies there’s a few different things you have to keep in mind.
1. The product has to work for the baby. It’s got to meet some need the baby has. It has to be appealing to them, entertaining to them. It’s got to be for them.
2. The product has to make sense to the parent. It’s got to be practical, easy to use, affordable. After all, they’re the one who’s actually going to be doing the purchasing.
Now some products will lean more one way than the other. For isntance, a toy is going to be much more designed for the baby. What parent wants some hunk of brightly colored plastic that flashes lights and plays annoying electronic xylophone music over and over? Most don’t. Believe me. But the baby does. However, when it comes to strollers, what does a baby really care so long as it’s comfortable. But a parent wants it to be lightweight, sturdy, have plenty of space to carry the rest of the baby’s stuff, have a cupholder for their coffee and look more stylish than all of their other friends’ strollers.
For most baby products, though, they are designed with a near equal consideration for both baby and parent, perhaps only favoring one slightly over the other.
Well, in the world of youth ministry resources, that’s pretty much what we do. We’ve got to make stuff for teenagers that works for them, appeals to them, meets a need they have, etc. At the same time it’s got to make sense to the youth minister, be affordable, help them in their ministry, accomplish their goals, etc.
Trust me, it would be much easier to make something for just one type of audience instead of trying to find the balance between two.
But who wants to do it the easy way, anyway?
Extra Baggage… And Lots Of It
First, thanks to those of you who had some reading suggestions for me. Between here and Facebook I think I’ve got some really interesting books to look into. If you’ve got some others, please feel free to leave them in the comments section of yesterday’s post. I’ll let you know later what I go with.
Now, on to today’s post…
If you follow me on Twitter or are a friend of mine on Facebook (I’m sure most of you do or are), then you know that I started feeling sickly the other day. Since I’ve got an international trip quickly approaching, I wanted to knock out whatever was going on with me. So I went to the doctor. I don’t always immediately go to the doctor. I don’t particularly enjoy doing so for a number of reasons. Usually I see if I can’t treat my sickness myself with OTC stuff, plenty of fluids and lots of vitamin C. Anyway, however, this time I went to the doctor.
As I’m sure you all know, one of the first things they do when you visit the doctor is measure some of your vitals. This might include, but not be limited to, your temperature, your blood pressure, your pulse, your height and… your weight. Now, I’m a big guy. I know. But I haven’t always been. I’ve never been particularly skinny (though during a particularly dark time in high school, I kinda stopped eating a lot and dropped to about 135 lbs.), but I spent the majority of my life at least at an average weight and decently healthy. Over the past, I’d say, eight years or so, that has ceased to be the case. I’ve progressively put on more and more weight. The problem for me, though, is since I haven’t been a heavy/overweight/obese/fat guy for most of my life, I don’t feel like one. In other words, I never really think about or realize how big I’m getting or have gotten until I’m forced to stare it in the face.
This has been happening more and more lately. First, a lot more pictures of me have been popping up. This is mainly because of Story. People want to take pictures of Story, and since I’m probably holding her half the time I end up being in a lot of those pictures. Then I see those pictures and think, “what have I become?” Second, my belt has started rubbing a sore on the front of my belly where my gut hangs over it while I sit at my desk all day. This sore hurts. A lot. So, either I endure the pain or stop wearing a belt. I’m a pansy. So, I’ve stopped wearing a belt. This means that my pants are always falling down. You wouldn’t think this was the case since, you know, I’ve got a big gut. However, the big gut serves to push my pants down rather than keep them up. So, now I’m one of those big dudes who’s either always pulling his pants up or revealing too much to the world around him. Third, I had to get weighed at the doctor yesterday. My weight typically fluctuates, not a lot, but in a range of about ten pounds. If you had asked me yesterday how much I weighed, I would have estimated around 270 lbs., definitely not light. When I stepped on that scale, I couldn’t believe my eyes. 290!!!! That means I’ve not yet reached the dreaded 300, but it’s still absolutely ridiculous and embarrassing.
It’s time to stop the insanity!
For one thing, I’m just not healthy and that’s not good. For another, I have a daughter that I’m sure is going to be a very active little girl once she gets moving around. I want to keep up with her and be able to play with her and run around and all that kind of stuff. Also, I think my obesity is mostly the result of sin in my life… gluttony… laziness… etc. Then I want to look good for Liza, and there’s also the fact that there’s a lot of things I want to do with my life. I want to have a long life in order to do all of them (God willing).
I’ve known things have needed to change for awhile and have genuinely wanted them to do so. I’ve tried a number of popular weight loss techniques with catchy names that worked, but then when I stopped adhering to the strict (and, frankly, absurd) rules I ballooned back up. So, I’ve known it would take a true change in lifestyle. I’ve been implementing small changes over the past few months. Drinking a lot more water. Cutting out most soda. Eating smaller portions. Introducing some exercise. Making better decisions about what I eat. Limiting fried food. Etc. However, the small things, while good introductory steps, just aren’t cutting. It’s time for big things. I don’t know what those are, exactly, but I’m working on figuring it out.
I also know myself well enough to understand that left to my own devices, I won’t do much. It’s too easy for me to convince myself to not excercise for whatever reason or why that large blizzard is okay “just this once” even though I know it won’t be just this once. So, a major part of this journey is going to be accountability. That’s where you can come into the picture if you want.
1. I give any and all of you full permission to call me out. Ask about what I’m eating, how much I’m exercising, what my plans are, how things are going. All of that. I won’t promise to always like it, but I will give my word to always answer you honestly. I just ask that you do so with the purpose of being encouraging and not amusing yourself with my struggle (I know how much you all love schadenfreude).
2. If you are in a similar position as mine, maybe you’d like to join me on my quest. We can work out some things to do together as part of our plans. Just let me know.
3. Maybe you have suggestions on the major changes I should make. Again, I’m not looking for the latest trends, a quick fix or something like that. I’m looking for a new way to live. This type of change doesn’t come easy and will have to happen over time whether than all at once. So, keep that in mind. You might also want to know that I’m not an early riser, I’m a pretty busy guy, running is not something I particularly enjoy doing and I have a wicked sweet tooth. I’m not saying I’m not willing to change/adjust/adapt any or all of those things. I’m just painting you a picture of where I currently am.
4. I’ll be putting regular updates of how I’m doing on this blog and elsewhere for the world to see.
5. Here’s the big one. My goal is to lose 50 lbs. in six months. That’s not a small goal, nor is it an unachievable one. I’m going to take the month of July to continue with my small steps, develop a plan and strategy and then start my six month journey on August 1. That would mean that if I achieve my goal I will have lost fifty pounds by January 31. If I do not achieve that goal I am going to pay $50.00 (that’s one dollar per pound) to anyone who comments on this post here on this blog (not on Facebook) in the next week (by July 8). Come on people, my failure could be your profit. If I achieve my goal, you owe me nothing other than a simple “congrats” and “job well done.”
So there you go.
Who’s with me?
