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In Ward
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments
For the past year I have struggled on and off with anxiety and mild depression (yeah, this is Joseph, and yes this is true). Being a man of deep faith, I have begged to God to take this pain away from me, this constant worry, this feeling of dread and hopelessness. The past month has been just about the most difficult yet. I have felt as if God was far away, or not listening to my cries. It is indeed a difficult place to be, when your spiritual confidence has taken a beating.
Tonight I was thinking about the story of Naaman from 2 Kings 5. Naaman was a great soldier, and well respected by his king (the king of Aram), but he was a leper. He went to the king of Israel because he heard he could be healed by a prophet, then Elisha told him to wash in the Joradan River seven times. He thought the idea was rediculous and was about to go back to Aram when his servants encouraged him saying:
“had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”
He washed in the Jordan and was healed.
His healing was from his act of faith — but to wash seven times. If he had washed 2 or 3 times, gotten fed up and left, he would not have been healed.
I believe that God is making me stronger through my suffering, or calling me to trust in him, to depend on him. I have not dipped seven times in the river.
I am not through with this pain, because I have not learned what it is he wants to teach me. Not yet.
Links to Follow: The story of Naaman | Streams in the Desert Article
Freaking Finally.
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments
So, for literally 2 years, I’ve been saying that I was going to get a new computer, but I kept putting it off (I hate spending money). Finally, the time came, and I bit the bullet and purchased a new computer, and it came today.
So I’m pretty excited. The only thing that’s kind of strange is that it has Windows Vista, which at first I wasn’t liking…and I still don’t know how I feel about it, but after changing some quick settings, it doesn’t appear to be much different than XP. We’ll see, but anyway, I have a new computer and I’m freakin’ stoked. It’s fast enough to do anything I want to do, and that’s awesome.
My New Cool Job
Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Today was my first day at out:think. To start the day, Tim and I moved in to our new office on the 10th floor of the Bank of the James building (downtown L-Burg). It’s freakin’ sweet. Not only am I doing what I’ve wanted to do for, I don’t know, 5 years, but I’m working Downtown.
I had forgotten how cool our downtown is. Granted, it’s not New York City or anything, but it feels fresh, and old at the same time — the air this time of year is crisp too, which makes it even more invigorating. We started the day with coffee from the little coffee shop in our building, and had lunch at the pizza place across the street. I’ll post a picture of the view from my office below.
Stay tuned; there’s more to come soon!
Who are we to change them?
Friday, September 12th, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments
The goal of the Iraq war was to bring overarching change to the middle east. To change the hostility between nations with deep seeded hatred for each other. We now have an occupation there, in a war that doesn’t make sense, and doesn’t really put us in any better position than we were in the first place, because now we are financially sunk because we’ve borrowed billions of dollars to fund this war.
In WWII, our country made sacrifices to fund the war, we banded together, we fought the enemy, it was long, and grueling, but we won. Everyone felt the weight of the war. The whole country was united in bearing the burden.
With the Iraq war, that’s not the case. Instead we go about our lives, watching the war on TV, not even too interested any more because we’ve seen it for so long. We complain about high gas prices, the high cost (economically and environmentally) of energy, and bicker about the solutions. All the while, we are going deeper and deeper in debt to fund a war hardly anyone understands, and most people disagree with.
We’re not going to change the middle east, because we haven’t stopped to consider the cost. It’s that same “Great White Hope” mentality that I abhor in the mindsets of American churches that want to send a team to whatever foreign country, save souls, then come home and everything is fine.
The truth of the matter is that the change must come from inside people, then inside governments, then nations. That is not a goal that can be achieved militarily, no matter how hard we try.
In the way of Missions, I do believe that Jesus Christ is the answer to the world’s problems. The solution to war is forgiveness, to hatred peace and so on. Where I disagree with the American mindset is to set small, unrealistic timetable and expect results. We can’t expect results in that manner, nor can we expect those types of results in Iraq. We have to realize what that change would really mean, and how long it would really take.
The overarching question is, can we afford it? And, is it really making us safer — in the long run?
I (still) Love Design!
Friday, August 15th, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments
I so often forget how much I enjoy spacial problem solving. I have been working with this website to plan out what it will look like in the future. Most of the reason is because right now it just looks like a blog…but later on, I hope to have a much more comprehensive website.
I was working on a logo design for a friend, and had come up with some cool ideas, but the right one hasn’t quite settled yet. While I was brainstorming and coming up with new ideas and designs…I paused, and smiled. I love doing this stuff. I guess what was never appealing to me was the idea of working for $10 an hour for a design firm that was going to use my design as their own. The lack of ownership in that always turned me off. Plus, I never liked the catty world of design; keeping up with the latest and greatest styles and trends always frustrated me too. Now, I’m not so worried about what others think, so I’m enjoying this process a whole lot more.
Design is beautiful.