Here is a first for me, posting from my iPhone! Fun stuff!

Today the top 5 will take you to a rediscovered passion in my life… Discipline! I am really trying to lead a disciplined life in several areas right now, and this is the current list of my top disciplines I’m passionate about.

Without further ado… the list.

Five: Not using the iPhone while driving. Though I answer or place calls (using hands free of course), I am doing my best to not look at alerts (texts, emails, etc.) and especially not send them. With the average age of kids getting phones being younger and younger, I can’t help but think that we are going to see an increase in the number of accidents due to texting (since most teens use text as their primary form of communication). So, I am going to do my part to avoid the temptation to look while driving! Join in please!

Four: Driving my kids to school as much as possible! Because I do have to travel from time-to-time I want to take advantage of the times I am home by getting the individual time in the car with Halle and Audrey. Right now I take Halle to school most days and do my best to get Audrey to and from school several days during the week. This helps me establish some regular “office” hours as well!

Three: Scripture Reading. Now, for those who want me to be super spiritual you’re wondering why this isn’t #1? Well, I love the Word, it isn’t a struggle for me to be in the Word, and to be quite honest this simply doesn’t take as much discipline as some of the others!

Two: Bike Riding (coupled with eating right). I do my best to get out on my bike 4-6 times per week. If I don’t get my 11.5 mile ride in at least 3 times a week I get a little cranky. It’s not that I love riding (though I like it), I love the feeling of being in shape and feeling healthy!

One: Personalized, passionate and disciplined prayer! I need to be more disciplined in this area. I want to see myself as reliant and respond accordingly. I have a love for the lost, I want to show that by how much I pray for the lost! I have a passion for Youthmark, I want that passion to turn to prayer. I love my family, I want to thank the Lord more for the family through my prayer life.

So, what disciplines are you working on? Any of mine strike you?

Grace,

Brian

As I sat down this morning to write out my top 5 list for the Top Five Tuesday series my brain was dead.  Writers block remained and I got to work on many of the other tasks that were far less important than the much anticipated Top 5 (I kid, of course).

About 20 minutes ago it hit me:  Commercials!

With Tivo and DVR’s we’re able to fast forward most the commercials on TV, so my criteria for today’s Top 5: What are the top commercials that I’ll stop the fast forward to actually watch? I added a criteria as well, I chose only commercials that are part of a series, an ad campaign, not just a single commercial.

Without Further Ado:  The List

Five: Fave 5, Tmobile, starring Charles Barkley and D. Wade. I debated putting in a whole category of “adult beverages” at the number five slot, because, c’mon, some of those commercials are just very funny.  However, I am happy to keep it cleaner and let Tmobile take to spot here.  I’m a basketball fan, so I understand this one isn’t going to be everybody’s favorite, but I find them pretty funny and they make the top 5 on the strength of some pretty clever wise-cracks.

Four: This Is Sportscenter.  These have been on for years now, and I’d say that 90% of them are absolutely hilarious.  The 10% that aren’t funny are the reason for the series making their debut at #4 and not higher on the list; some of them are just not good. Good work ESPN!

Three: Even a Caveman Can Do It. Never watched the show, these guys were only meant to be seen in a 30 second spot!  Love ’em.  I have no idea why Geico does the stupid “stack of bills with glasses” thing.  Even the Gecko ad-line is not very good.  But they hit a homerun with the Cavemen.  Clever, witty and makes me want to go give the cavemen and cave-hug!

Two: Jack.  Though a few of the commercials push the envelope, you rarely can go wrong with a Jack In The Box commercial, at least the ones that star “Jack.”  I just love the facial expressions and his dead-pan voice.  My kids (okay, really my wife), really love a recent one (pictured) where the woman ends by saying “Street Rad Crazy.”  The commercials are typically totally unpredictable; hilarious stuff.

One: Mac vs. PC.  No question, hands down the best advertising series out there.  Even if I have seen the commercials before I stop and watch them again.  Brilliant ad campaign because the people at Mac capitalized on the nebulous “PC” brand (which there is not a company called PC).  So, in order to counter the campaign one of the PC companies would have to step up the plate to take on Mac head-to-head, and in so doing would be advertising for all PC’s.  And, if Microsoft were to go directly after Mac, that would be stupid as well, since Microsoft designs some software for Mac (and with the Apple market continuing to grow, you don’t want to tick off the powers that be there, because soon they may be the ones paying the bills for you).  Obviously, I am a Mac-vangelist, but even some of my PC acquaintances (can I call them friends?… I kid again, of course) tell me, “I love these commercials.”

Perhaps next week (or soon) I’ll do the top 5 Mac vs. PC commercials!  That’d be a fun list.

So, what are some of the commercials I am missing?  Which ones do you agree with?  Where was I wrong?  Back it up!

Grace,
Brian

Thought I’d give you a different glimpse into my life today and make the top five a little more narrow and current. The top 5 things I am listening to these days on my iPod.

The criteria, it had to be on my iPod right now.

I have been biking and walking quite a bit lately, therefore, I have certainly listened to my iPod a lot more lately.  So, what am I currently choosing?

NW Bible Church, Dallas

Five: Northwest Worship. This is an album that really reminds me of my summer.  When Youthmark was launching the Gulf Coast trips this last summer in Dallas I was given this CD from my friend at NW Bible Church of Dallas.  The CD features the songs that NW Bible does on Sunday mornings.  It’s an upbeat worship CD.  One of the things I really appreciate about it is it feels very authentic and non-show-y.  Seems like this is a group and a congregation that really enjoys lifting up His name.

Four: U2, The Joshua Tree. This is quite possibly my all-time favorite album from any person or band. I have always been a U2 fan and this is just a classic album.  How can you argue with a first three set of “Where the Streets Have No Name,” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “With our Without You.”  I would guess that I listen to this album at least once a week; not bad for an album that came out in 1987!

Three: Hymns Ancient and Modern. This album, put out by the Passion tour folk (Crowder, Tomlin, Hall, Redman, etc.) is just plain good.  I love the modern spin they have put on old songs.  I was turned on to this album this last summer in Hawaii. It was the only album in the car I had borrowed.  Every day I had about an hour in the car driving to and fro the house I was using and the church we were serving.  30 minutes of worship songs each way really set the pace for the day and capped the evening of praise well.

Driscoll preachin'

Two: Mark Driscoll “Trials.” Long-story-short.  I have been biking a lot lately.  My ride around the Lake Youngs Reservoir is a 9.5 mile trail, plus a mile there and a mile back, totally 11.5 miles from my house.  Well, the 11.5 cycling circle takes me just about an hour; what’s really exciting is that a Driscoll sermon takes just about the same.  It’s been fun lately, because when I started biking the trail Driscoll was saying “amen” and I still had about a mile left on the ride, now I am finishing the ride before he is finishing his sermon.  It is NOT because he is preaching for longer, I’m getting faster!  Okay, back to the iTunes/iPod thing, in all seriousness, this series Mark preached last winter/spring has been excellent.  I’ve been challenged through the books of 1 and 2 Peter, I look forward to the ride so I can physically get the work out in, but the Spiritual workout has been equally as gratifying.

Funky Looking David Crowder

One: David Crowder, Church Music.  I just bought this off iTunes a few days ago, haven’t stopped listening to it since.  Not totally true, I have taken a few breaks, but pretty much every time I set up shop and plug in either on my laptop or on my iPod I have put Crowder on first.  I’m digging the funky tunes with great lyrics.

If you’re an iTunes person (or iPod, etc.) what are you currently listing to?  I’m certainly not asking “what is your favorite CD/music” my list may be a little different too, but what is currently in your dock or on the Pod that you would select if you could only choose a few?

Grace,

Brian

In case you’re new to the blog, I have a series of posts on Tuesdays entitled, “Top 5.”  Each Tuesday I come up win a new and random top five list.  Because this has come up a few times in conversation this last week, I thought I’d examine and explore the top five things I have done in life that I NEVER thought I would have done or become.

The criteria.  As a teen, if you would have come to me (or even my friends) and said, “Brian, you will ____________ later in life!” the blank represents the five things that I would have thought you were crazy to have told me.

I think you’ll get the gist as we get going with the list.

So, without further ado, the list:

Five: Fallen in Love with Coffee. That’s right, I said it.  I do love Coffee.  However, I am not going to lie to you, you may think that I am addicted, it may look like I am addicted (based on how long I am at coffee shops), but I can tell you, I’m not.  I just love the taste and the atmosphere that surrounds the local coffee shop.  Not only this, but it has become my favorite personal mission field!  Before I was about 20 years old I HATED coffee, so telling me that I’d even like coffee would have been a joke.  Now it is a joke to tell me that I won’t be at a coffee shop today (because I will!).

Four: Go To India on a Two-Week Mission. I never really had a passion to go overseas, before being a Christian, and even after I was called.  But, in the year 2000 I was able to lead a group of 15 to an orphanage in Kota, India.  This trip has such an incredible impact on my life and future ministry.  In fact, in many ways it has led me to have even a bigger heart for the mission at home as I watched nationals reach their own far better than us Westerners could have ever done!  I praise the Lord for this unusual experience!

Three: Be a President of a Ministry. This one would have been pretty laughable.  Though I had been “Patrol Captain” in 6th grade, yep, that’s right, I was the cross-walk Guard President, I didn’t think that I would parlay that one into running a ministry organization.  However, God has given me a passion to train students and leaders for a life of mission (no matter where we are/go), and I believe this is what is at the heart of what Youthmark is doing and will do–therefore, I get to do this for a living now!  How cool is that?

"A man of the cloth" Not me.

Two: Be A Pastor.  When I started to write this list I thought this would have been the number one!  However, I did think of one that tops it.  16 years as a Youth Pastor/Associate Pastor  was certainly something I never thought I would have done.  Even now I look back upon those years and think, “I wasn’t really a Pastor was I?”  I never really felt “Pastor-ly” (and some may say I never acted that way too? Ha).  However, during those years I know that God shaped my heart to be a shepherd.  I don’t think I will ever step back into the Pastorate (I will never say never, but…), however, I know that the words Pastor and Elder are synonymous, and I strive to be elder-qualified and to be a shepherd wherever God has me!

One: Write a Book (let alone multiple books).  See, I still can’t write the words “become a writer/author” because I simply don’t see it.  My wife is the author, she can wordsmith and craft a sentence with the best of ’em.  But, here we are in 2009 and I have a published book, weird.  Though I won’t admit it, I really do love getting my thoughts into written form.  I feel writing is a craft I can pick up, not a talent that I posses, but this excites me, because in especially this arena I believe the written word is a HUGE opportunity to get people to HIS written Word!  My hope and desire is to get teens, youth workers and adults into the Word of God so that they can see that is ALL about Jesus, the cross and His desire for the redemption of His children!  So, yes, I would have laughed if you would have told me that I’d write.  But I am certainly thankful that I have the opportunity!

Pretty fun journey we call life.  I am sure there are several other things I never thought I’d do or be, and many things God still has in store for me in the future!  Thank you Jesus!

What about you?  Anything on this list surprise you?  And how about your own life, anything you never thought you’d do that God has allowed you to be a part of or become?

Grace,
Brian

I needed a quick post for today and as I grabbed a banana this morning I thought, “hey, I could post my top 5 fruits!”

So, with no further ado, here are my top 5 fruits.

Five: Papaya. Fell in love with this in Hawaii this last year.  Fresh, ripe and avoid the seeds.

Four: Raspberries. Especially on some vanilla ice-cream.  Yummmmmm.

Three: Pear-Apple. Haven’t had one in years, but oh man, I can taste the juiciness as I type!

Two: Blueberries. Fresh or frozen, they are wonderful.

One: Strawberries. There’s something “meat-y” about a nice big strawberry!

Because this was a quick post, I would guess that I am missing many good ones.  Name ’em. (But just know that Apricots, peaches and nectarines are about the worst fruits you could ever mention).

Grace,
Brian

Yep, you read that right, I am going to take a crack at my top 5 cereals!  As I continue my Tuesday tradition of creating a top 5 list, this one struck my fancy as I gazed over to our kitchen and found myself longing to pour a bowl from the Cinnamon Life box ever so nicely perched on the counter.

The rule: Top 5 Cereals… period.  Not breaking it down by which are the healthiest, which are the best desert cereals or which is the heartiest, just plain and simple, best cereal (and then I’ll tell you why).

Without further ado; the top five:

Honorable Mentions: There are a lot of great cereals out there, a few that barely miss the cut include: Raisin Bran, Lucky Charms, Apple Jacks and a childhood favorite, Fruit Loops (the last two miss the top five because the top of my mouth just started bleeding thinking about the scratches caused by eating them).

Five: Special K with Red Berries. This is probably the healthiest of the lot, and if I were doing the healthy list this one would come in ahead of some of the other healthy cereals I like (including Raisin Bran and good ol’ fashioned Oatmeal).  Special K hit the jackpot by adding some freeze dried strawberries to the box.  You just make the K a lot more special.  In fact, I would probably just call the regular cereal “K” and now that you added the berries you can call it “Special K.”

Four: Cap’n Crunch WITH Crunch Berries.  Don’t get me started on the debate of with or w/o Berries.  Cap’n Crunch w/o Crunch Berries isn’t even in the top 20 cereals.  The Crunch Berries are what propel this cereal into the top 5 status.  Not sure why the Cap’n has messed around with peanut butter and chocolate in the past, stick to what you do best Cap’n and keep throwing in those extra crunchy sugary goodness we call Crunch Berries.

Three: Apple Cinnamon Cheerios. I am fan of all things Cheerios.  They are great for all ages.  Think about it, they are pretty much the first snack we give a baby when they move to any form of a solid (Cheerios melt in the mouth); they serve as a perfect companion to apple juice for PK Sunday School classes. Then they can be made into edible bracelets and necklaces for those younger elementary age classes and finally you add some fruit or some other sugary goodness (honey nut) and they become a great breakfast.  The most recent discoveries in the land of Cheerios is the Apple Cinnamon, Banana Nut and Multi-Grain.  I like them all!  However, if I am picking one for the top 5, I easily go with the Apple Cinnamon.  From this point forward you’ll see a bit of a trend, I have a knack for the sugary sweet/teamed with some Cinnamon.  I know that in Romans 3 it says we all have sin, but didn’t know that I was so prone to Cinn (amon).  Sorry, I am a dad and still sort of a pastor, had to get that joke in there.

Two: Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  This was a shoe-in #1 about three years ago.  But they pulled a late 1980’s Coca-Cola mistake and created a “new” Cinnamon Toast Crunch (one with 25% less sugar).  I’m calling for  “Cinnamon Toast Crunch Classic” to come out now!  Let’s start the campaign!  CTC (as I call it), is still great, but c’mon, you could still be reigning in the number one slot.  CTC not only tastes great, but is the ideal desert cereal as well.  No ice cream on hand for that 10:00 PM episode of Seinfeld?  No worries, your desert is served in the form of some CTC!  This cereal brings back memories of a group of guys I discipled through high school as well; about once every six-to-eight weeks was Cereal night, the star of the show was always CTC!

One: Cinnamon Life.  Mikey still likes it!  Thank you Mr. Quaker for keeping the formula the same.  This is a cereal that debuted in the top 5 and has never fallen away.  I even like your plain-jane “Life.”  But adding the Cinnamon catapults all other competitors and you safely land in the #1 position!  One of the nice things about Cinnamon Life–it’s great with or w/o Milk.  Now, I prefer it with milk, but if you have to go without and just need a quick snack, Cinnamon Life is there for ya!  It’s even good after 10 minutes and each little cracker has soaked up all the milk!  Mmmmm Good.

Are there cereals I missed?  Did I cause a gag-reflex for any of my choices? I want to hear your opinions!  Bring ’em!

Grace,
Brian

A few weeks ago, while on vacation, I did a series of posts entitled, “Top 5.”  They were a hit (from what I could tell tracking the blog stats), I had a blast creating them, so, I decided to keep them going with a series now called, “Top 5 Tuesday.”  Each Tuesday I’ll complete a Top 5 list, the only catch, I want your opinions, comments and reactions too.

It seems as if I have so much to do that I don’t even know where to start.  I’ve been working from my local coffee shop (Forza this morning) for about two hours and completed a couple small tasks (admin), but I know I have a number of MUCH larger tasks that are just begging to be completed.  So, I rather than working on them, I thought I’d just list them in the order of how much I need to work on them, but don’t necessarily want to work on them.

The only criteria… well, you should just read them, because honestly, some of them are great projects that I do want to work on, but are just overwhelming in the amount of work that needs to be done on them.

Without further ado, here is the list.

Five: Files and Data. Honestly, who likes doing data entry?  I have contact lists all over the place.  Both personal, networking and Youthmark related.  I need to take the time to get all this data into my computer and then onto my phone.  On top of this, my computer is completely full at this time (thus the external hard drive that was ordered and should arrive today).  Can’t wait to do this one!  Yeah right!

Four: The Prospectus. Each year (I say that as if it has happened SO many times) Youthmark will produce an 8-10 page prospectus (brochure) for potential church partnerships.  It is actually a very exciting project, but is time consuming.  We are in the midst of doing this years right now.  However, I had no idea that the demand would be here so quickly.  I literally have people asking me almost every day if they can see/hear about the new trips for 2010.  I can’t wait to get this done, but it takes awhile and does require a lot of creative time/space.  I am excited about the theme for this years Mission Ventures and the training (a later post).  This is not a “drag” or even an “I don’t want to do this” project, this is more of a “where do I start, there is so much to do?”-project.

Three: Receipts. I have a nice stack of receipts and accounting I need to get through in the next few weeks.  During the summer it was so go-go-go that I designated a drawer for all my re-entry moments back to the house.  Elisabeth appreciated not seeing all the receipts on my desk, the counter, the end table, the kitchen table, the side-board table, and anywhere else I have placed them in the past, but now it is time to attack and get all the books straightened out!

Eventually it could look like this!

Two: The Yard. Not just the yard, specifically the side-yard.  The front and back look manageable right now, however, both side yards, especially the one people can’t see is a bit “weed-y” you might say.  I told Elisabeth yesterday, “If I had a three day weekend in which I did just yard work I MIGHT have the yard in a place I felt good about.”  We’ve discovered that we really need the simplest of yards… namely because we don’t like weeding, and we kill stuff (whenever we plant flowers, gardens, etc.).  So, grass, evergreens and bark is about all we want.

One: The Garage.  You may have seen the pictures/post on the blog last year of my MAJOR garage cleaning (click here to read that post), well, this year it is in greater need.  The dining room to homeschool room to eventual office is only one part of the garage needing the renovation of space.  We now have Youthmark product (books, shirts, supplies, etc.), and of course the kids outgrow stuff faster than the charities we support can offload some of our stuff.  We officially “temporarily” moved Elisabeth’s car out of the garage last week, mine had been out since Youthmark products came in late last spring.  So, I have a two to three weeek window to complete this task!  Here’s what I hope it will look like soon!

Any jobs on here you’d like to do for me?  Maybe we could work out a deal… I make you my homemade lasagna and you come do my yard?  Sounds likea  great plan!  Thanks.

Grace,
Brian

For those of you who missed it last week, I did a full week of “Top 5” blog posts.  Well, I’m continuing the tradition, only I moved it to Tuesdays, so each Tuesday (at least for awhile, and if I remember) I am going to be posting a Top 5 list.

The debut: Top 5 Offices may seem like an odd one, but for those of you who know me know that I “office” out of coffee shops for the most part.  For whatever reason I have a hard time getting much work done at home.  So, todays post is all about the local places you may find me getting my work done.  I decided on “local” because I have had some pretty sweet offices (read: coffee shops) through the years and through my travels.

My criteria certainly included the quality of the coffee (if applicable) but also includes ambiance, noise, climate control, distance from home, Internet Connection, productivity for me, etc.

So, without further ado, here’s the list:

Honorable Mentions because I like them a lot: The Blend in Maple Valley, Cutters Point in Covington (near Fred Meyer), 5 Corners Sbux in Burien and The Met in Renton.

Honorable Mentions because I use them a lot because of proximity to home: Benson/Petrovitsky, Fairwood and Panther Lake Sbux.

Five: Seattle’s Best Coffee in Renton. I don’t visit here often enough, in fact, I probably hit it up once every other month, but I have a soft spot in my heart for SBC (the Fairwood Sbux was an SBC and my best work memories from Phoenix were from an SBC).  The reason I still come here is because it DOES NOT have internet service.  There are times you need to go to a place and not be distracted by the net.  I have one regular meeting here and then it ends up being a great place to get some work done before or after.  This is also the one place on the list where I don’t run into people that I know.

Four: Forza Coffee in Kent.  This is a new shop and I really like it and the Baristas.  Might be the best cup of coffee of the top 5 (seems to be a great balance of coffee flavor with my sugar free haz. nut and 1 inch of non-fat).  I also have loved my conversations with the baristas and the customers here.  In just 10-12 visits I have had more engaging conversations and opportunities to talk about Jesus with these new friends than at any other individual store.  Forza has a few things to do to help it move up the charts; in other words, it has some down sides right off the bat: it needs more furniture (a fireplace and some comfy couches would automatically give this two more spots on the chart) and for whatever reason, the entire store has NO garbage can out on the floor (you need to give it to the baristas or take it into the bathroom).  Weird.

Three: Cutters Point Coffee in Covington.  First, the down side, it is a little too far from home, however, I have more and more meetings out this direction, so it certainly has the potential to go up the chart.  I love BIG cafe’s because you can find hiding places to work; while at the same time I like the noise of a semi-busy coffee shop from time to time.  I have had a number of good conversations with Christians at this shop (whereas at other places I look to engage the non-Christians).  Great cup of coffee at Cutters, and I appreciate the ability to order a very large coffee (larger than a venti).

Two: Mike’s Community Cup in Seatac.  Wow, didn’t realize how much I missed this place until I’d been gone.  Mike’s is the place I meet with the Burien area network of Youth Pastors.  Great quiet atmosphere, until the boys all gather.  I am able to get a ton of work done here before the meetings and then it has proven to be a good atmosphere for our talks as well.  I like the coffee at Mike’s and they are very generous with the refills (never charging, even for the syrups).  The only down side is the distance from home, if it were closer, it would probably be #1.

One: Kent Kangley and 132nd Starbucks in Kent is my current favorite place to office.  I seem to get the most amount of work done here and it is so convenient for drop off and pick up Audrey for her school. Our new church is only a minute or two away and it has been nice to run into some new friends here.  In addition, it has proven to be a great meeting place for many south-end Youth Pastors as well. The coffee and tea are both so predictable to Starbucks, and though it isn’t “the best” it is pretty consistent at each one. However, I do feel this status is in jeopardy because of the recent switch to a bathroom key that needs to be obtained at the register… ease of bathroom list might be the downfall of the #1 for the mighty Bux.

You have some suggestions for me within a 20 minute drive of the greater Fairwood area?  You have a reason I should bump one of mine out of the top 5?  Let me hear ’em!

Grace,
Brian