So Alece Ronzino is hoping to get a community of people involved in something that is different than a New Year’s resolution. I think it is a great idea, so I am in. Check out her one word and links to many others as well.

Some (but not all) of you know I had a pretty difficult year in 2010. In fact, the first 6 months of 2010 were some of the most difficult of my life. On January 24th, my mother Christine, died after a 5 month battle with cancer. It was especially difficult because 1. She was only 60 years and 2. She was doing pretty good just 30 days earlier. She was at my house for Christmas and was back doing every day things people do. Then one day she couldn’t keep any food or liquids down. She was admitted into the hospital and she died 2 days later.

Exactly one week after my mother died, our family dog Casey died. Some many not think that’s a big thing, but she was a wonderful and loving dog. Everybody loved her and that includes family and friends. She died in the back seat of my car while driving up to the animal hospital to have her put to sleep. We took her back to the house and buried her in the backyard.

Three months later, my father died. My father had been ill for some time and he had hepatitis C. He died from liver failure. Knowing his wife was no longer around merely accelerated his condition.

Because of the economy and the amount of money I spent between August and December driving to Tampa while my mother was ill (along with other poor financial decisions), our family reached a point of near financial ruin during the summer.

If I had a word for 2010 it probably would have been “endure.” But this is a new season. While I endured quite a bit in 2010, I also learned a lot. I grew stronger in my faith. I made new friends. My photography saw improvement. And I made a decision unlike any other I had made before. Going into 2011, I am going to be doing things that require a whole lot of faith.

In 2010, my faith was tested. In 2011, I am going to test my faith.

I go into this new year, with a whole slew of opportunities ahead of me. But I am going to have to make all kinds of decisions I never had to make before. When you’re an employee, the decisions are made within the workplace. Being self-employed, decisions I make will affect my entire livelihood. I’ve never done this before and most people when they do it, are still in in their 20′s. I just turned 40 this past August. In the economic climate we’re in, this is a big risk.

It’s a big leap of faith.

But I’m ready. It’s time. My hope is that this is what God had in mind for me. I believe it is.

January 17th, the adventure begins.

Faith.

What’s your one word?

image via Dex

So Christmas has come and gone. I always dislike the first few days after Christmas. It’s kind of a downer. There’s so much fun and excitement leading up to that day and then — POOF! — it’s over. It’s my favorite time of the year so it’s tough to see it go away.

Friday was indeed a full day. I was at the church at 2:00pm and after 4 services and getting my stuff together, it was just past 9:00pm when I left. It was a great night. Due to the construction going on, a stage was assembled in the middle of the sanctuary and the services were done “in the round.” I put together a video of the evening’s events. Watch below (please forgive my amateurish editing skills):

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For the first time…ever….we opened presents Christmas Eve instead of on Christmas Day. To be honest, I was really tired and we just wanted to sleep in the next day! Word of warning to parents with young children: As your kids get older, the quantity of gifts starts to go down, but the price of what they ask for starts to go up!

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So the Giants have officially moved into the “We suck” category. For a team with this much talent, they should have been rivaling the Atlanta Falcons for the best record in the NFC, not having to beat the Redskins (combined with a Packers loss) in order to make the playoffs. Prediction: No playoffs and Coughlin is out of a job. He’s got on year left on his contract and either they extend it or let him go. Bill Cowher is out there, wants to coach again and has a good relationship with the Mara family. In fact, I suspect almost anything less than a Super Bowl berth spells the end for Coughlin. It’s just time.

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The Netflix Pick of The Week feature is something I am really going to have fun with. I’ve already got the next few weeks already lined up.

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Greatest movie review I have seen in a long time came from Ed Stetzer:

Movie review: if your home heat is out, and Yogi Bear is playing at a heated theater, set your house on fire & stay home.

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Can DNA show that John Wilkes Booth was not captured 12 days after he killed Lincoln, but in fact, lived 38 years beyond that before killing himself? It will be interesting to see how this story unfolds.

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So how was your Christmas?

Yeah, it’s Tuesday. I know. I am still trying to recover from that Giants/Eagles game. I’ve been watching football for over 20 years. I’ve never seen a game end like that. It’s bad enough the Giants defense allowed the Eagles to score so many points in the fourth quarter. The Giants scored what looked like a punch to the gut touchdown with 8:17 left in the 4th which at the time, made the score 31-10. THIRTY ONE to TEN. With 8 minutes left. So when the Eagles tied the score with 1:16 left, I thought it was all good. That was more than enough time to get into field goal range and end this thing. But no. They had to punt. So I figured, “Ok. It’s going to overtime.” Not. A line drive punt that is muffed, gets run back. I’m still in shock.

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During the 90′s, there was nobody more self-righteous than conservative evangelical Christians. Culture warriors to the extreme, they were happy to call fellow Christians out as those who weren’t “real” Christians if they did not adhere to their conservative political agenda. I know how it was because I was one of them.

These days however, the abundance of smugness and self-righteousness comes largely from liberal evangelical Christians especially when it comes to social programs. It basically goes like this: If you didn’t support President Obama’s healthcare plan or you don’t support increasing taxes (which can then be spent on more social programs) then you’re not a “real” Christian because Jesus said we need to care for the poor.

Oy.

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I am cleaning out my office and my desk and the feeling is surreal. Normally I do this when my location in the office is changing (and that has happened quite a few times in the last 13 years). This time, I am doing it because somebody is moving into this office and I will be headed out the door.

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I am really looking forward to the Dream Year Weekend in Nashville next month. I’m looking forward to meeting Ben and also meeting and connecting with others trying to live out their dreams. I could still use a place to stay in Nashville when I’m there……

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I love this from North Point Community Church:

Many people would look down on this. First of all because the original song is called, “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” from the Charlie Daniels Band. Second of all, it references Santa Claus and Christmas is not about Santa Claus! “How dare they make reference to secular icon in the house of the Lord!!”

Really? Do people really think Santa Claus, Rudolph and Frosty The Snowman can really distract people from the wonder that is Jesus Christ? Give me a break.

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Christmas Eve our church will be doing 4 services. We’ll be doing some classic Christmas songs, but the kicker is going to be a cover of the Trans Siberian Orchesta hit ‘Christmas Eve In Sarajevo.’ After that, I will spend the rest of the evening at home with my wife and kids enjoying Christmas Eve which is probably my favorite night of the year.

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How was your weekend and what are you doing for Christmas?

If somebody were to ask me 20 years ago what I saw myself doing 20 years into the future, it probably would not have been anything like the scenario from last night.

When it gets below 30 degrees in Florida it is cold. But despite the cold, my wife and two kids decided to brave the cold elements to head up to St. Augustine. In the area known as ‘Old Town’ they have something called ‘The Festival of Lights’ where the entire area is lit up. Sylvia grabbed the image above. It’s really nice. There is park where lights are strung up amongst the trees and there is a huge Christmas tree with fake presents around it for people to take photos.

So we were there for about 30 minutes and then on the way home we stopped off at Barnes & Noble. I bought Michael a skateboarding magazine and Ally wanted one of those big notebooks you find in the clearance area for $6. We grabbed hot chocolate on the way out and headed home. All in all the trip took about 2 hours.

Simple.

But it is hard for me to imagine it being any better.

I’ve worked at the same company for over 13 years. It pays well and there’s security there. Unemployment is nearly 10% and some people have been collecting unemployment insurance for nearly 2 years. The economy is so unpredictable right now so the question has to be asked:

Am I crazy for leaving this job to work on my own?

Some people might think so. I don’t. Far crazier things have happened in our history. My leaving a full time job to go out on my own is mere drop in the bucket of things that people have done. But it is what I am doing.

On January 3rd, I begin a new chapter in my life when I join the ranks of the self-employed and go to work doing IT consulting and photography. Many of you know that photography is truly what I love to do. But it’s not time for that just yet.

How Staying Home From Church Affected What I Am Doing

One weekend it just one of those times when we didn’t go to church. Nobody in the house was motivated and before we realized, it was nearly 10:00 and nobody had showered or gotten ready and the decision was made to “skip” church. North Point Community Church was in the middle of a series called “Game Plan” so instead of going to church, I watched Andy Stanley preach online. Amazingly, that weekend he was doing a part in the series on employment.

My goal originally was to do photography full time, but I had to admit I was nervous about that because of the lack of a strong client base. One of the things that came away from Andy’s sermon was this. He said:

“Current opportunities can lead to other opportunities.”

It hit me like a freight train because a friend of mine had suggested that instead of just outright leaving my firm, that I should look for an opportunity to perhaps work for them on a consulting basis. I also realized that I could put the 13 years of experience I have in IT and project management to use for small businesses, churches, non-profits and other outlets looking for assistance with social media, infrastructure and other related issues. This would also provide me more time to work on my photography.

So that is what I am going to do. I talked with my boss, told him my plans and he was eager to keep me on as a consultant to do much of what I still do, but I’ll be able to work from home and do other things as well. It’s really an exciting time for me.

A Tough Year, But An Uplifting One

2010 didn’t start off well for me. On January 26th, my mother Christine died after a battle with cancer. She was only 60 years old. A week after her death, our beloved family dog Casey died. Almost 3 months to the day after my mother died, my father died. My wife and I made some very poor financial decisions and it has led to near financial ruin. And now I am leaving my full time job in the midst of one of the most volatile economic times we have seen in decades.

At the same time however, in the midst of all the sorrow, pain and uncertainty, there has been an incredible peace as well. That may not make sense to many people but it’s true. I have fostered some new relationships, cultivated new friendships and I have seen a marked improvement in my photographic work. Also, my wife and I are sensing that God has big plans for us. We’re not sure yet what that is, but we’re excited all the same. There have been trials, consequences and blessings all this year. I’ve learned quite a lot and I am really looking forward to what God has in store for us.

That’s it in a nutshell folks. But let me throw out some thanks to specific people:

My wife Sylvia – She’s my life partner. I love her more every day. I’m the big dreamer. She helps to keep me grounded from time to time when necessary. I wouldn’t have done this without her support.

Pastor Greg Peters – Not many people have the privilege of being close friends with their church pastor. I do. And that is a tremendous blessing. Greg assists me with the spiritual and I always assist him with the technical. For two guys born literally one day apart, it makes for good teamwork.

Rick Siboni – Rick is one of our church elders, a fellow drummer in the praise team, a mentor and a friend. He’s been a big help in this journey.

John Grow – It’s hard these days finding guys several years older than me that enjoy The Lord of The Rings, video games and geek stuff but John is one of them. John is a friend and successful businessman and I’ll probably annoy him to no end with questions from here on out.

The 8Bit Guys – John, Tom, Chris and Jared specifically. These guys are not just Twitter friends but have become real friends. They’re all awesome (their wives are even more awesome) and have been real supportive. Amazing too that they’re anywhere from 7-15 years YOUNGER than me. Our country is in good hands as long as people like this are around.

I know there are more out there I am forgetting right now. I’ll get to everybody.

The adventure begins…….

Every once in awhile, you get a phone call, email or text message out of the blue that totally takes you by surprise. I was on the receiving end of one of those recently.

For those that know about me, they know I’m a big fan of photographer, Chase Jarvis. He’s an excellent photographer, but my respect for him goes far beyond his work. Despite being a very successful commercial photographer with a client base that includes Apple, Reebok, Volvo, Microsoft, and others, Chase is really open to the photographic community.

He’s posted helpful videos, challenges the community creatively, and has no problem sharing with the community at large how he runs his business and what goes on behind the scenes at his Seattle studio. It’s this kind of open conversation that I believe benefits everybody in the long run.

He also spearheaded CreativeLive, a resource that provides 1-3 workshops on a variety of creative outlets from some of the top people in their business. The best part is that if you watch live, it is 100% free. The downloads of the workshops are discounted if you purchase before they event is over. I have some money invested in workshops taught by Zack Arias and Jeremy Cowart that should have cost me far more than I paid.

A few days after Thanksgiving, I received an email from somebody on Chase’s staff asking me for my address. They were sending me an autographed copy of Chase’s newly released book, Seattle 100. I hadn’t inquired about it or asked about it at all. I’ve written several blog posts about Chase over at ChurchCreate.com so I suspect some of it came out of that in addition and I’m sure too that others benefited from Chase’s generosity in this regard as well.

It was just a very nice gesture on his part and I am already enjoying going through the book. Check it out. There is more info here about it. All proceeds Jarvis gets from this book will go to 4Culture.org

It was family photo time over the weekend. Shooting at the same place I did the week before, the Petrin family were the subject this time. It was a lot of fun and shooting in cooler weather is certainly a plus.

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This weekend I also took care of a personal project that I wanted to do. I wanted to capture with my camera the routine of my church Pastor starting with the Saturday evening service until the start of the first Sunday morning service. More of this will be posted on the photography site, but here is one image I grabbed on Sunday morning of Greg going out for a run. He’s running a half-marathon on Thanksgiving and he did 6 miles this morning to prep.

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The Giants killed me last night and so did the refs (on one lousy play). I could not understand the Giants defensive strategy of only rushing 4 lineman so many times. The Philadelphia offensive line was playing great and giving Michael Vick plenty of time to throw. When the Giants blitzed (especially with different looks), Vick often made bad decisions. The Giants should have been blitzing the entire game. As for the refs, late in the game, after the Giants had taken a 1 point lead, they had the Eagles in a 3rd and 5 situation. No first down meant the Giants would get the ball back with a little over 4 minutes left to play. Instead, a really lame offside call was made against the Giants, and it was 3rd and 5. The Giants held them, but Andy Reid had no choice at that point, but to go for it on 4th and 1. They not only converted, but on what appeared to be a botched play turned into a disaster as LeSean McCoy ran it 50 yards for a touchdown. Right then I knew the game was over. Oh well. On to the next.

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I took the family to see the movie ‘Unstoppable’ this weekend. Is it worth seeing?

Here’s the thing: I saw this movie with no expectations other than to enjoy a popcorn action flick that was safe enough for my kids as well (there’s some curse words, but not much). And it delivered. Tony Scott is going to bring the action. The question is whether or not he brings characters we care about. He failed to do that in the awful remake of ‘Taking of Pelham 1,2,3′ but does it here.

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Some really major stuff is coming up for me in the next few weeks. Unfortunately, I cannot share details at the moment. Some of you know what it is, so please keep it under wraps. But if you pray, please do so for me. I have decisions to make that are literally are life-changing. Thanks.

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How was your weekend? What did you do?

The handsome guy on the left there is John Saddington. That’s Chris on the right. We’ll get to him soon enough.

What’s interesting about John is that I’ve connected with quite a few people in Atlanta through John, but I’ve met a number of them – Chris, Tom, Jared, Stephen for example – before I met John.

The first time I got to meet John in person was at Catalyst this year. It’s not hard to find good photographers in the Atlanta area, but John asked me to take part in working backstage at Catalyst, and I’m still not sure how much he realizes what that meant to me especially at this point in my life.

John is an amazing guy. His mind is constantly flowing with ideas. Big ideas. John is also a very confident guy and if you didn’t know him, you might think it was an air of arrogance he gives off, but John is also very humble. He has a beautiful wife, and the cutest daughter and has another daughter on the way. He truly appreciates his 8bit team and when he says “Thanks” to somebody for doing something, you know he really means it.

I connected with John via Twitter, and shortly after that he asked me to write a guest post for Church Crunch which I just noticed is nearly 2 years old! I maintained contact with John through email and other occasional guest posts, and a blog startup that unfortunately after some time folded. We built up a friendship that until last month was totally virtual but became close enough so that when we did meet, it was like getting together with an old friend.

I’m hoping to see more of John in the future and building upon friendship that came about from a little web based tool that limits communication to 140 characters.

It really was a lazy/busy weekend if that makes any sense.

Recently, we have started “family night” at hour house every Friday. We used to do it but it never quite worked out like I had hoped. I realized after listening to Rick Warren, the reason may have been that my wife and I were the ones choosing what we were going to do. Warren said at his house, each week, a different person chose. The only rule was that nobody else was to complain about what somebody had chosen. The consequence was losing your turn in the rotation. This past Friday was my wife’s turn to choose and we watched a movie. Specifically, ‘Iron Man 2.’ Great sequel.

Saturday we were off to Deland and the music festival they’ve had for the last decade. The downtown area of Deland is set up like most bigger cities, with a “grid” format for the streets so this makes it quite easy for the city to set up small stages in the surrounding areas. We got there way too early as the start time of 1:00 actually became 2:00. Still, it was fun and the weather was great. The image above is the band, ‘Anyone’s Guess’ a female fronted hard rock band. I thought they were really good. I was able to get some decent shots of them and some other acts. You can see them over at the photography site.

After that it was a trip over to a very very dangerous store. Dangerous for the wallet that is. World Market. It’s kind of like Pier One, but aside from furniture and other decor, it also sells wine, lots of different types of imported beer, different types of tea and also coffee. Their coffee is quite good, and at $8.95 for a 24 oz bag (whole bean), the price is also right. Sylvia wound up getting some ground pumpkin spice coffee and I picked up something I had been looking at so many times:

Chocolate + bacon.

You may think it sounds gross, but I bet some people thought chocolate covered pretzels weren’t all that appetizing as well. It’s hard to find something covered in chocolate that isn’t good. That being said, (and here is the product in question), I wasn’t impressed. I was expecting a piece of bacon covered in chocolate. Instead it was chocolate with tiny little bits of bacon within. As for flavor, aside from some of the smoke flavor, there wasn’t much to it. Oh well.

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Sunday truly was a “lazy Sunday” (I didn’t go see Narnia however). Despite the extra hour of sleep, I didn’t go to church preferring to just enjoy the cool Sunday at home. Sylvia started watching the 11:00 Northpoint service online. I tuned in because I heard the Northpoint worship team doing Chris Tomlin’s ‘Our God’ which is one of my favorite worship songs. Ryan Stuart was singing and he’s an amazing vocalist. I had a chance to meet him at Catalyst this year (I slipped into my IT shoes at one point attempting to get him connected to the crappy wireless we had) and aside from being a great singer, he’s an incredibly nice and humble guy.

I decided to keep watching when Andy Stanley came out to speak and the timing could not have been more perfect. They’re in the middle of their series called Game Plan and this week was about employment. It’s a message that spoke to me big time. I’ll explain further in due time. Check it out.

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Lost amid all of the craziness in the NFL yesterday was the thumping the NY Giants gave the Seattle Seahawks. We had gone out for awhile to Target and when we got home, I saw the Giants had gone up 21-0 in the first quarter. The final was 41-7. Next week’s game against Dallas is going to be a waste of time as Dallas has proven to be a joke at 1-7. The following week against the Eagles promises to be a fun game. The big showdown as it stands right now however, will be the day after Christmas.

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How was your weekend?

That’s Virgil of Salon Blondie (the name does sound odd. Half of the place is your classic barber shop with the other half being the more modern style hair salon). I was in downtown Deland early Saturday morning doing some location scouting and I happened to walk by this barber shop. Virgil asked me if I wanted a haircut, but I opted for an old school shave instead. It’s the kind of shave where you sit back, have a hot towel wrapped around your face and the barber uses a straight razor to do the work. It was quite the experience though I will say that Virgil needs to sharpen that blade of his. At times it got rough. Here’s a story with Virgil giving a trim to Rick Scott, who could be Florida’s next Governor.

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The elections are tomorrow. The GOP is expected to make big gains across the country. They would be wise not to see this as some kind of rising up of popular support for their policies. This has everything to do with voter anger and not party preference. If they forget this, they’ll find themselves in the minority again very fast.

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The San Francisco Giants are poised to win their first World Series title since 1954. Wow. It’s going to be very hard for the Texas Rangers to win 3 straight games. Also, if the Giants win, everybody who whines about the supposed lack of “parity” in baseball needs to shut up. Whoever wins, it will be the NINTH different champion since 2000 with only the Yankees and Red Sox winning multiple titles (2 each).

The NBA? 5 different champions in the same time frame. The Lakers have won 5 championships and the San Antonio Spurs, 3. The others were the Pistons, Heat and Celtics.

The NFL? Better than the NBA, but not MLB. 7 different champions with New England winning 3 and the Steelers winning 2.

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Our church had a ‘Trunk or Treat’ event last night. Due to road construction, it had been 2 years since we did it last. It was huge. There were about 45 cars that were decorated and loaded up. The event went from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. Candy started running out at 7:30 and that was with giving each of the kids 1 piece each. There were thousands of people there. Lots of great costumes, but this young boy had the greatest costume of the night (I’m a big Star Wars fan and R2-D2 is just totally awesome. Who wouldn’t love a sarcastic droid?):

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Our Life Group is doing the Francis Chan ‘Crazy Love’ study and although I have read this book before, reading it again is kicking my butt. If there is any chapter that will have you thinking and praying about your own spiritual life, it’s chapter 4 which has to do with lukewarm Christianity. There’s two things that stood out to me.

1. Chan writes, “Lukewarm people are continually concerned with playing it safe. They are slaves to the god of control. This focus on safe living keeps them from sacrificing and risking for God.

Some big changes are coming up for me in the next few months. Huge. And I have a confident facade, but inside I am a nervous wreck. I keep telling myself that at the age of 40, I shouldn’t consider doing such things. I should just be content with what I have right?

2. Chan also writes the lives of lukewarm people “…wouldn’t look much different if they suddenly stopped believing in God.”

Ouch. How do you deal with that? Ask yourself: If you suddenly stopped believing in God tomorrow, would those around you even notice?

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The Dallas Cowboys are 1-6. I LOVE IT.