Last week I met with a lady that comes to our church.  She and her husband have been coming for a few months.  They both work in the same office.  She’s a designer.  He’s a finance guy.  But, not your typical finance guy… he had an entire shelf (stacked at least 2 high) of jewel case upon jewel case filled with CD upon CD of a certain Seattle based band that formed in 1990 (whose name involves a synonym for jelly) that shall remain nameless to protect the innocent.  I know no other finance guy that has that kind of collection… and that’s not to mention the entire drawer filled with DVDs of live shows.  That’s just what he had in his desk.  I’m chomping at the bit to see his home collection.

I digress…

Back to my appointment with his wife.  She’s a designer.  I oversee all of the artistic teams at Crosspoint.  Music.  Visuals.  Promotions.  ART = PJ… Forget I put that… it seems a little pretentious.  Anyway, she’s interested in designing with us, so we sat at her desk and she showed me her portfolio of recent projects.  She’s going to be great to work with.

Then as I left, she handed me a Post-It© note with an address on it.  kristin2008.wordpress.com was all that was written on it.  She had earlier told me of a photo-a-day blog that she started last year.  This was the address for that blog.  Just a few hours earlier, I had been in a meeting with a guy showing me the benefits of WordPress over blogger… and I had just switched over to using this blog as my primary rant/rave space.  Kind of random.  I looked at the site.  It really made me want to get back into taking more photos.  SO, for the last few days, I’ve had my camera with me almost everywhere I’ve gone.

And if that weren’t enough, I came home to read an article in a design/church/media magazine that I subscribe to to find an article about a guy named Carlos Whittaker.  He’s a worship leader in ATL and has grown a HUGE (more like FREAKIN’ HUGE) following of his blog.  Collide Magazine described him this way : “He’s the blogger who readily admits he’s a ragamuffin soul, who posts family pictures, intimate confessions, and blunt truths about our selfish tendencies and then invites his readers to talk it out. He’s the social media ninja..” It’s this simple, “Here’s my life… I’m compelled to be real all the time… at church, at home, online…” concept that really got me thinking:  Why can’t we all be this way?  Why do I as a Christ-follower have a stigma attached to me that I can’t be real?  It’s probably because I feel the urge to be better.  Better than others… I know I can never have it all together, but I want to.  And, it’s exhausting trying to get it.

It’s a pretty odd thing to be working through this stuff at 27.  Maybe it’s because I’m going to be a dad soon.  Maybe it’s a quarter life crisis.  But, as a man, I don’t want anyone to find out that I don’t have it all together, that I’m phony.  But, it’s all bull.  It’s all masks.  I want real.  In others.  In myself.  For better or worse…

You know, inspiration has many different forms… a photo-a-day blog, a tatted-up guy that posts personal confessions and stories of his kids, an orange peel in the sink…

Anything & everything can inspire.  It’s how we choose to see it that changes our direction.

Thank you Kristin for the push on photos… even though you didn’t know you did it, I’m sure.

Thank you Carlos for your honesty, though we’ve never met.

Thank you orange peal for your color… and the taste of your insides.  It was excellent!