Once upon a time Christmas was about more than endless shopping and wish lists. Christmas was about joy, peace, hope, and love. Most of us could all do with a little bit less stuff crap stress debt hassle in our lives. What if Christmas became a world-changing event again?
State of the House
The state of the house 11-8-09Originally uploaded by kerner Sarah put together a nice mosaic of the current state of our house. The cabinets are mostly complete, we should have countertops, a kitchen sink and trim installed this week. The contractor this morning told me that ideally they’ll be hooking up our fridge and oven today. Hopefully we’re getting close …
It’s a boy!
Ultrasound PicturesOriginally uploaded by kerner As many of you know, although I'm sure quite a few people don't know yet, Sarah and I are expecting our first child in late March. We had the ultrasound this morning and everything is going very well. Our baby boy looks healthy and about 8oz at 18ish weeks. We haven't finalized name choices yet, …
What’s In A Leader?
We had an amazing leadership retreat last weekend, and as part of the opening session Zak Lampert produced an outstanding video about the qualities of a leader.
Remodel Shopping ugh
We’ve started the process of shopping for all of the things that go into a kitchen remodel. I’m shocked at how many decisions there are. Sinks, faucets, countertops, cabinet hardware and the list just goes on and on. Once you pick a style there are materials, edges and even more choices. We’ve made some progress though. We selected a contractor, …
Unexpected Kitchen Remodel
Moldy FloorsOriginally uploaded by kerner We were planning to replace the flooring on the main level of our house with hardwood last week. This is what we discovered during demolition. Not a happy sight. A slow water leak, estimated to have started before we bought the house, has caused substantial damage to the subfloor and allowed for quite a bit …
Writer’s Block: Writing vs Talking
37signals has a post today that deals with a topic that I think is really important for those of us who speak regularly as part of our jobs. Especially if we have to write manuscripts of a sermon or a presentation. While they discuss writer's block as typer's block relating to a conversation that generates ideas, I think this …
Connect 2009
I spent last weekend at a retreat for college students from across Missouri. I've got to say it was a great event. Our speakers, Bill Stephens and Janie Stuart did a workshop for campus ministers on Friday before the event, and we had music from Don Chaffer. I'm usually pretty skeptical of MO Conference training events, but was very pleased …
25 Random Things About Me
Rules: Once you have been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits or goals about you. At the end choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you it's because I want to know more about you. 1. Like many others I wasn't …
MacGruber/Pepsuber Advertising
This past weekend as we were watching SNL I actually rewound the DVR to watch a commercial. Later in the episode we kept watching commercials just to see if there were more installments. Turns out there were. These ads are the best product integration as Jack Donaghy would put it. They're so tightly matched with the sketch from SNL that …
Reorganizing the arts suite
I'm a fan of how change can impact productivity. Yesterday my assistant Matt, our January intern (Ryan), and I reorganized the arts suite. It was really an excuse for a major cleaning – vacuuming under furniture, throwing lots of crap away, etc. I wish we'd have taken before and in process pictures. It actually occurred to me to turn on …
2009 in Three Words
@terrystorch and Shawn Wood tipped me off to a great post by Chris Brogan about goals for 2009. Last year I set very specific goals and did a very poor job of meeting them. I really like the approach of setting broader thematic goals rather than specific action oriented goals. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to keep these goals …