Here are some pics from the walk:

over the break i have had the chance to just relax, hang out, think and study.  i was afraid that these two weeks between classes were going to drag by but i have stayed productive and busy, ie. helping friends move, going on road trips, reading some books and going to see movies.  so far here are my movie ratings… Wolverine (B+), Star Trek (A), Angels and Demons(B+).  i have been able to spend some time relaxing by going to the beach and to the lake and the pool.  i love the fact that i haven’t been sunburned yet. finally, i got to see coldplay sunday night.  by far, the best concert i have ever been to.  it was cold and rainy and coldplay came out in the rain with us and played.  love it.  well worth the trip up to atlanta.

my favorite part about the break has been seeing and reflecting on where i have been and what God is doing all around me.  WOW.  that is the only way to describe it.  as i see my friends preparing for hong kong, i am constantly encouraged and excited to see how great their opportunity is.  the conversations i have had and observations that i have made, i can tell God is moving thru missions more than i have ever seen or been aware of.  WOW.  one of the coolest things about the experience is that it is not just them that are being molded, shaped and changed.  I AM TOO!  it has totally changed my way of thinking and perceiving the missions field.  God has been preparing me to support them… prayerfully, financially, emotionally, etc.  WOW.  all of these situations and conversations have been backed up my what i have been studying and reading.  and that leads me to the topic of the post – love.

so love… i am reading and devouring every word of Francis Chan’s Crazy Love. chan takes things i know and things i am familiar with and applies them to practical things or gives examples of this is what you think you need but this is what God intended or how to get the most of something.  the thing that he talks about that was gotten me is the idea is Christ enough for you?  this will radically change you if you think about it and start to examine every area of your life.  Chan says ” Many of us believe we have as much of God as we need right now, a reasonable portion of God among all the other things in our lifes… God is not someone who can be tacked on to our lives.”  WOW.  am i willing to say, “God you can have whatever you want?” or do i believe and rely on him for everything every day.  i can see this question in my friends going to hong kong.  they are leaving their homes to go to a foreign country with just a few possessions.  they are having to rely on God to provide financing for them to be able to go.  they have to rely on God to use them.  they have to rely on God for everything.  can you imagine if christians everywhere grasped onto this idea?  WOW.

Chan quotes John Piper talking about is Christ enough… “The critical question for our generation – and for every generation – is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures  you ever tasted, and not human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?”  WOW.  i bet you were thinking that this place is pretty great… i know i was.  real gut check there.

Chan ends the chapter with this prayer…

“Jesus, I need to give myself up.  I am not strong enough to love You and walk with you on my own.  I can’t do it, and I need you.  I need you deeply and desperately.  I believe you are worth it, that you are better than anything else i could have in this life or the next.  I want you.  And when i don’t,  i want to want you.  Be all in me.  Take all of me.  Have your way with me.”

WOW.

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i have officially taken the week rest of the week off because i worked my butt of saturday through wednesday.  so i sat down today and looked up all the summer blockbusters and when they come out.  may looks jam-packed with great ones.  this summer should be great. here is the list:

04.24 – The Soloist (Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey Jr)

05.01 – X-Men Origins: Wolverine

05.08 – Star Trek

05.15 – Angels and Demons

05.21 – Terminator Salvation

05.29 – Up (Pixar)

06.12 – The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (Denzel Washington)

06.29 – The Proposal

06.24 – Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

07.01 – Public Enemies (Johnny Depp, Christian Bale)

07.17 – Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

also working on some cool things for easter at journey.  i would much rather do that all day than work on structures or geotech.

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While I was home I got to see two of the places Meredith and I are considering for a reception site.  The first is Avon Place (Red Mountain Church).  It is an old theater, built in the 20′s, that has been gutted and is full of architectural features.  The other is Matt Jones Art Gallery.  This site is unique, I would not have thought to have a reception in an art gallery.  The building is an old iron warehouse from the steel era of Birmingham and is also great.  They had a $75,000 commissioned work of Ringo Star that Ringo did not like once it was complete.  Dang.  Mom and I also ate at Saturday Gourmet for lunch… possible caterer for the rehearsal dinner.  All I have to say is wow… shout out www.thesaturdaygourmet.com .

I have been thinking about discipline a lot recently, in all areas of my life (relationally, spiritually, physically, and with work and school).  I feel like my life in the past year has gone from “i got too much time on my hands” to “time is tickin’ away.”  I am involved in many good things but even good things can go south.  I have to make priorities.  I have to say no to some things and yes to others.  I can do good things all day long but be missing out on the great things God has in store for me!  For me, the way I am wired, that means keeping a schedule and having somewhat of a routine.  Nothing robotic, just something where I can set aside time for priorities and then I can fill in my day with other things that come along.  I have decided to tackle the physical portion my waking up at 6:30 and running, even on days when I don’t have class til 11.  This allows me to have time in the morning to relax, spend time with the Lord and get ready for the day.  If I can’t run in the morning then it will be done in the afternoon.  (Hold me accountable to that!)  I am also viewing my day like I am at a job.  Classes are meetings and homework should be done in the day so I can have time in the evenings to spend relationally with friends and Meredith.  I started today and it was a success so right now I am encouraged.

I have also started reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan.  It has been great so far.  It is really easy to read because it feels like a conversation.  I will keep you updated on cool things I learn from it.

Final thought for today: Live the life God has in store for you.  Be able to recognize it and distinguish it from the things of the world.  That comes from constant surrender to him.  I will be working on that this week.

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to start it all off, we launched the new series at journey sunday called “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.”  It was great.  We had over 100 people in worship.  Hopefully they will come back and bring friends.  Eric has challenged the church to reach 2 services by Easter.  That means we need to have about 150 people.  Big expectations, but as I have been learning, if you want God to do extraordinary things you have to expect him to move extraordinarily!  To keep the momentum up and keep excitement buzzing, we are constantly thinking of new and better ways to operate on Sunday mornings.  This means making little and cost effective changes that make people go “hey something big is going on here.”  We could use some ideas…

On the school front, I got my first project management test back.  The class average was a 63.  Not acceptable.  The highest grade was an 85 and it was the only B.  The rest of the 35 people in the class made in the 70-55 range.  What does that tell you?  Something might be wrong with the test.  This is a graduate level class as in the highest level you can take in this specialty, the next step is the capstone project.  All projects are different.  None have the same qualities.  Even if you took the exact same building and placed it on a different site, you would have new and different things to deal with.  Therefore, how can you give a test of multiple choice and true/false?  This is not acceptable.  This is not a sophomore level weed-out class.  Give me a test that tests my critical thinking, application of my skill and knowledge of what i have learned in this class and others.  The only reason he gave for not doing that was, “do you know how long that would take to grade?  I have 170 students Elliott, and I have other things to do during the day.”  So my response to him is well i have 4 classes with labs to take this semester, do you know how long it takes me to read the chapter more than once so i can grasp the knowledge for your test, and i can fill my day with plenty of worth while things with journey and helping out places and not have time to do my homework.  Would that be acceptable?  Most would say no.  The same applies to him.  If I have to put that much time into learning the material i should have a teacher who will test and evaluate me fairly.  I am the one paying the bills here.

And now to the good part of the week.  On wednesday afternoon around 4:15, i asked meredith to marry me.  she said yes by the way. we kept it simple and personal.  i proposed at her apartment after she got home from work.  We then spend the next 2 hours on the phone calling and texting people, letting them know the good news.  After that, i surprised mere with a dinner at Ariccia with both of our parents.  It was great to have that fellowship that night!  Finally, after dinner, we joined our friends at Tim’s house for a celebration.  It was the best part of the night, next to her saying yes!  The Lord has blessed us with wonderful and extremely supportive friends who i can’t wait to spend years with.  Here are some pics from the night.

i know its cheesy but john tesh always says for every to do list you make, make a “have done” list.  this is pretty good advice if you stop and think about it.  if you look at the things that you have already accomplished, then maybe you will be motivated to continue the next day without getting bogged down in the pressure of what is next on the mental do list.  

project management has turned out to be a pretty cool class this semester.  i am getting a chance to discuss things in class instead of solving calculations all the time.  we actually talked about something relevant to my topic today.  we talked about the different types of power leaders have, some good and some bad and some good that are used in a bad way.  one power is that reverential power.  people want to be liked and approved of.  this is me all the way.  i can not stand it when people are upset with me or disapprove of something i do.  the people you are about are the people you want to do your best work for.  you want to do things for them, volunteer, go above and beyond, and more because it is almost like a symbiotic relationship.  they benefit from you doing things to help them out, and you benefit by helping them and getting joy from doing that.  i think this is a good thing, but can get out of hand if not carefully handled.  you say yes to much (me) and you can’t do your best for everyone, and if you do, it makes the experience dreadful.  you may get a great final project or result but is it worth the pain and stress?  i think sometimes saying no to someone can be just as good as saying yes.  good for them and for you; they can go get the help they deserve and you can focus on the tasks you have at hand.  they will respect you for that and will give you another chance later on.

eric, in staff meetings, always talks about being a good leader means you are constantly trying to put yourself out of a job.  finding someone to take your place and do the job as well or better than you.  i am a doer.  i like to jump in and just get things done.  sometimes it is easier.  well easier at the time.  in the long run it messes up things down the line.  this concept of passing your job along is nothing new to me.  i have always heard it, but recently i have started to embrace it.  so here it goes.  

hope you were able to get something out of this.  went on longer than expected.  

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mere got back from savannah, ga today.  she was at the georgia music educators conference.  what a great place to go!  i have always wanted to go.  talk about some houses and food! wowow.  now that mere has been, we can go back and she can show me around.

i know i talk about this a lot, but i continually see how God has blessed me with such great friends.  i think that is one way that God gives us peace and reassurance of his grace.  they constantly build me up and support me.  i was talking with a friend about how we both get stressed so easily.  i am figuring out that i put way to much pressure on myself.  i have always been self motivated and i hold myself to a high standard.  i feel like if i am going to do something the give it all you have and go all the way.  most of the time that leads to stress.  i build things up and make a bigger deal out of everything when i am my toughest critic.  i need to learn to pat myself on the back every once and a while.  i have some big choices to make here in the future and i am praying for God’s providence to be revealed to me.  He is in control and i need to trust.

on a lighter note, watched lakeview terrace tonight.  stay way… its the most aggravating movie i have seen in a while.  its one of those movies that bad things just keep happening and the main characters can’t do anything about it.  nothing redeeming happens, it is just a constant barrage of “crap, what’s going to happen now?”  

still working on what all i am going to put on here… 

here is a good reflection from Bible study and staff meeting this week… if you want God to move in big ways, you must expect him to and be ready for the results.  if i had the ability to heal some one and i said to them, “well i hope that Jesus can heal you, so get up and lets give it a try.”  how does that glorify God?  He desires and commands us to be strong in the faith and rely on him to provide that faith.  if you want to heal someone say, “In the name of JESUS get up and walk!”  That is my prayer, Lord give me the courage and strength to proclaim your name and your precious gift of salvation this week.  

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three weeks of class has passed and i don’t know where it went.  kind of scary.  

went to my second international dinner tonight.  i love hanging out with those kids.  they are so interested in learning everything, and that fuels my desire to learn more about them.

spring break is only two months away… time to start planning.  any ideas?

more often recently, i have found myself divided.  i feel like i am half engineer and half creative, and i can’t be fully successful in either.  i am wired like an engineer, everything has its place and i like order and stability.  then on the other hand, i long to be creative.  i think photography has really helped alleviate some of that tension.  i feel this makes me a well rounded person, so i can talk and have good friends on both sides of the spectrum.  come to think of it, most of my good friends are on the creative side.  i know that God has blessed me with talents and gifts in both areas and he has something planned for that.  i eagerly seek and wait for his future grace to allow me to glorify him in everything i do.  ”for from him, and through him and to him are all things!”  

what has God blessed you with that he has yet to reveal your full potential?

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