I was told to blog this by @brightheaded. You are welcome.

Men are like Mac OSX: simple to use and understand (for the most part) to the novice and expert alike. If you invest more and more time, you can get into some very complex and wonderful things, but you can also just skim the surface and still make movies and websites. At times there may be some confusion, but for the most part it’s all about big buttons and simple text.

Women are like Windows: you would think that it would be simple to use because, after all, you’ve been using it since you were a kid and your parents bought their first computer. But no. Nothing is simple, there is always some critical piece of software missing and it constantly tells you that you’re an idiot because you don’t know how to properly work it.

But are women really like Windows? Or more like Linux?

Yeah, women are like Linux: only a handful of people really understand how to use it and the rest of us pretend we do so that we can look cool.

So there you have it. Male and Female: We’re like computers.

I’m in a philosophical and theological mood. I’m thinking way up high and I can’t complete the basic tasks my job requires of me.

I wanted to write about family; about how we should spend our lives investing in people and now houses and cars and suits and careers. Those things will fade, but people will enrich our lives. But then I got sidetracked.

I started to think about writing to people who are afraid of church, afraid of religion, and letting them know that church isn’t for good, put together people, church is for people. All people. We all need God and that’s why we go to church, not because we’re already good. If we were already good, we wouldn’t need him. But then I got sidetracked again.

A friend asked me how to find purpose in his life, or rather how to find the purpose in his life—the purpose. I told him our purposes are not something we know at the beginning of a journey, but rather something we find along the way, something we observe as we travel. There is a goal: to serve and glorify God and be more life him, but our specific purpose, be it defined by vocation or some service we provide to others, is under that larger umbrella. But then, once again, I got sidetracked.

I started listening to snippets of C.S. Lewis audio books, but I decided I couldn’t listen to them and work at the same time. My head is still stuck in his books though. I scanned through Mere Christianity and The Problem of Pain in a philosophy class in college, but never really dug into any of them. Some things really stuck out to me though and I can’t seem to shake them right now. Mere Christianity. Mere Christianity. He put more effort into titling his books than most take time to think about. What about Christianity is meager enough to be described by that adjective? What we believe, why we believe it, and the hope found in it—these things are, all together and separately, earth shattering. Have I been missing this? Am I treating my faith as if it were mere Christianity? And pain. Having been subjected to some intense pain in the not-so-distant past, I can see the problem of such a thing, but the way God uses this pain for His glory—and the fact that He allows, and therefore condones it—is something striking. Pain has taught me a lot of things and in turn strengthened my relationship with Christ quite a bit. But I still don’t have the full understanding.

I need to read through these books again. I forget these things all the time.

Come to think of it, I’ll just post this. Thoughts?

I like to play music. A lot. One of my bachelors degrees is in music and voice was my concentration. Needless to say, I sing to myself quite often (feel free to judge). I love writing music, recording music, jamming with friends, and performing. I really, really love performing. The whole world disappears during a 45 minute set with good musicians and a good crowd. Recently, the main focus of my performing (used loosely here) has been on Sunday mornings at church. As the worship director, I’m often leading or supporting in a worship set, and sometimes just producing from from of house. I love that time that I have to bear it all and sing my guts out.

The issue I ran into when I was younger was actually performing during a set like that. Granted, I want to do well and I want the music to be great, but the main focus is to worship, not perform. In this context, that is a somewhat simple idea to grasp. But what about real worship? Is it playing music in front of a crowd? Or is it something more?

This weekend, Pastor Kent Chevalier (@kentchevalier) dropped some hard knowledge on us about worship in regards to Psalm 50 (check the sermon out at WWW.northway.org). The idea that he was driving at is this: does our 1 hour of worship on Sunday match our 167 hours of worship outside of church? We are creatures who were made worshipping; we are always worshipping something, the question here is what is/are that/those things?

To bring some clarity to this idea, that’s look at the first mention of worship in the Bible: Abraham and Isaac. Abraham says to his servants they should stay at the bottom of the mountain while he and Isaac go worship. Did he have an electric guitar and a sound system? No! He had a knife! His worship to God was being obedient and killing his only son, as the Lord had commanded. Similarly, Isaac knew they didn’t have a sacrifice and started to ask his father about it, but was obedient to Abraham and God and allowed himself to be tied to the altar and nearly killed. These men are displaying a life of worship, one that extends to every decision we make. Our worship to God is being obedient, being good stewards of what he has given us and honoring him with our gifts, time, money, actions, etc.

I am not here to say that I always worship God. I am a sinner and I don’t always do what is right. We all are in that same boat. How can we take steps to worship God daily? Start small. I hate that “WWJD” bracelets, but think about it: what would Jesus do when talking to a coworker? On a lazy Saturday afternoon? When an older person is in need? When presented with some responsibility? Do your homework, practice for rehearsal, do the dishes for your wife, pick up the kids for your husband; serve. Worship when it hurts, just like Abraham picking up that knife.

Thoughts?

About a month ago I deactivated my Facebook. It was really a long time coming, and I can’t think of a good reason why I kept it as long as I did (aside from letting my Nana stalk me). I did it partially because I thought Google+ was all the rage and going to take off (that didn’t pan out), but the root of the decision lies in a more personal place: I had too many friends. Someone just said to themselves, “But Joe, isn’t that the point? Connecting with friends? ALL of them?” To a certain extent, I can say that I’m missing all those random connections that I otherwise do not have, but that just doesn’t balance it out for me. Facebook was meant to mimic real life social interaction, but was it really doing that? I submit to you that it was not.

Think about it: how many people do you text on a daily basis? How many people know your daily comings and goings? How many people are that heavily invested in you that you tell them EVERYTHING that’s going on? Do you have a number? Mine is somewhere between 6-10. Now think about the number of people that you share information with on Facebook every time you post. Mine was 1200. 1200 friends. 1200 people knowing everything that is going on in my life at all times. 1200 people that knew when I was happy, sad, angry, mournful. 1200 people who knew the exact song I was listening to. 1200 people who saw my new family photos the moment my sister uploaded them.

That’s really weird!

Now, I’m not saying everyone needs to go deactivate their Facebook, but think about all of these people seeing holes into you and ask yourself this: do you want them to? I sure didn’t. Not everyone I know should be privy to all those details. Sure, you can set all the privacy features, but I prefer to just not have it. If anything, I prefer to keep Google+ because I really appreciate the way they organize your friends. They use “circles,” different groups of people who see different things. I like that idea, but in real life I’d like to take it one step further.

My old mentor, guitar teacher, and one of my oldest friends, Pastor Bryon White (@bryonwhite) told me this many years ago: friendships will determine the quality and direction of your life; you show me your friends, I’ll show you where you’re headed. That’s heavy, but so true. I’ve seen my life flow back and forth through different phases and go different directions depending on the people I was spending time with and the people I was letting speak into my life.

Who are you spending time with? What are they speaking into your life? Where are they leading you?

I like to think about my relationships in the context of Spheres of Influence. These spheres are circles, much like those on G+, that your group friends into, but if you think about it as a bulls eye, you can align these spheres with differing levels of influence:

Inner Circle: these are people that are mutually influential with you. You speak into their life and lead them in certain directions, and you do the same right back. These are your peers, your closest friends and family, significant other, etc. This is the heavy circle.

2nd Circle: these are people who influence you, but you don’t necessarily influence them. Mentors, parents, pastors, teachers. Choose these people wisely. They will make a serious impact on your life if you let them.

3rd Circle: these are people whom you influence, but they don’t necessarily influence you. These are people you are mentoring, your children, teachers, younger friends, etc. Be good to these people—just as you are putting a lot of thought into picking your mentors, they put a lot of thought into picking you.

4th (Outer) Circle: these are people that you are acquainted with, but you don’t influence them and they don’t influence you. This is everyone and anyone you meet. As a Christian, I am always trying to make a good impact on these people, but I’m not putting the same kind of effort in that I am on the 3rd Circle.

The whole idea of a system like this is seeking out people who exemplify qualities you’d like to see in yourself. Find people who love God and live their lives in line with His Word and are helping others do the same. It may be tough to cut out other friends, but the change will be overwhelming. I challenge you to try this for even a month and see what the results are. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Thoughts? Feedback?