minimake: ornament decoration!

For the past few weeks we've had some clear glass ornaments and craft supplies available at the Help Desk for staff to decorate. I hadn't done one yet so today I picked up an ornament and some paint and set to it. The normal paints were missing so I ended up using sparkly paint.

My first step was to cover the bottom portion with blue paint and let it get mostly dry. After this I painted over the blue and about halfway up the side with white to create the effect of snow (with blue shadows below). After this had dried, I used green and painted two happy trees on the side of the ornament. I let these dry halfway and then added some white to highlight the branches with a bit of snow. The last step was to use "dimensional fabric paint" (which came in a squeeze bottle) to dot the top half with snow, accent the trees, and mark the horizon line more clearly. Here's the result:

It was a fun, quick project that I really enjoyed. Starting now I'm going to call this type of thing a 'minimake' project - something crafty or creative that is done quickly without being part of a larger project. Speaking of larger projects, I'm hoping to write out the general shape of my arrangement for O Come, O Come, Emmanuel over the next few days and get a lot of the recording done this weekend.

I'll leave you with a few more photos of the ornament:

Verse Selection

I have finalized the verses I plan to record as part of my December Project (a rendition of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel set to the traditional tune Veni Emmanuel). I especially like these verses not just for their poetic beauty, but also because they speak to many attributes of God that were exemplified in Jesus' coming to earth as a human.

The first verse speaks to the hope that Jesus brings as the physical answer to millennia of humanity longing to be reunited with the God it rejected, for the relationship to be restored on a deeply personal level. The second verse speaks to the joy we find in this restored relationship, with Jesus as the rising sun that eradicates darkness and pours life into a world ruled by death. The third verse speaks of Jesus as our protector and leader, showing us how to live and guiding us into God's love. The fourth verse again speaks of Jesus as our exemplar and ruler, the king of kings before whom all others reverently fall silent. He is the leader of his people, a just and kind ruler whose people can turn to him for wisdom and mercy in times of need.

The fifth verse is perhaps my favorite, depicting Jesus as the restorer of a fractured human race, not by homogenizing humanity but rather by eliminating our sad divisions - the differences we focus on that lead to hate, to war, to injustice. Jesus' life is filled with the removal of walls that were put in place to separate and divide people from each other. This could be its own blog post but to name a few instances I would point to his encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, his willingness to socialize with despised tax collectors, and his public defense of the woman who had been caught in adultery (among many other examples). At this time of year, it may be cliché to point out that God came to earth as a baby, born among the animals in a smelly cave, the lowliest of births for the most exalted of men... but it all bears repeating.

God came here. The name Emmanuel even means God is with us. He lived and breathed and walked among us. He died to save us and he was resurrected from the grave in victory over death. Perhaps the wonder of Christmas resides as much in Jesus' death as in his birth, but above all this season is about celebrating one simple, mind-blowing fact: God loves us. I pray that you will feel his love this season and throughout your life.

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
and ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O Come, thou Dayspring, come and cheer
our spirits by thine advent here;
disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
and death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, thou Key of David, come,
and open wide our heavenly home;
make safe the way that leads on high,
and close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, thou Root of Jesse's tree,
an ensign of thy people be;
before thee rulers silent fall;
all peoples on thy mercy call.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, desire of nations, bind
in one the hearts of all mankind;
bid thou our sad divisions cease,
and be thyself our King of Peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

Synthesis and Electronic Music

I have been fascinated by electronic music and music programming for a long time, at first more as a concept or technical exercise than an art form. It probably started in 1997 when my mom got a Yamaha PSR-530 keyboard for her classroom (she taught K-4th music) along with a MIDI interface box and Finale 3.7 for her school computer (a Power Macintosh 5400). The promise of being able to play notes on the keyboard and have them appear on the music staff seemed like pure magic. Unfortunately, due to either a problem with the MIDI box or a problem with how we set everything up, we never got that part of it working. I did, however, spend a lot of time writing out music after school and playing with as many features of the keyboard as I could wrap my head around.

Toward the end of my time as a student at Bethel College, the music department was getting rid of old gear, and I picked up a couple of keyboards for free, including a Yamaha PSR-6300. An early predecessor to mom's PSR-530, the PSR-6300 was a premier model in Yamaha's 1986 lineup. This one didn't have a power cord but I'm always happy to figure stuff out so I took it anyway. The first thing I did was to open it up and cut out the old power jack which took a nonstandard plug. As a temporary workaround (which has so far been permanent) I cut the end off of a cheap extension cord and spliced it into the wires which previously ran to the power jack. My plan is to eventually wire in a standard 3-pin power jack as is commonly found on computers and monitors.

Once I got the thing to turn on, I found that only two voices worked, and once you switched to the second one you couldn't go back to the first. I ordered a service manual and schematic diagram for the keyboard but never dug into it enough to sort out the problem. Finally, earlier this year, I did some additional research and found that the problem spot was likely buried deep inside the keyboard. I took the keyboard over to The Maker Hive in Elkhart, IN and made some new friends who helped me re-solder the bridge connector that had come loose. I put everything back together and it worked perfectly!

About a month after that, I ended up selling some of my camera gear and bought a bunch of music gear (I also paid off a student loan!) One of the items I purchased was the Alesis SR18 drum machine, which has MIDI input/output as well as a basic note sequencer that runs alongside the drum sequencer (ostensibly to program bass parts). The PSR-6300 also has MIDI input/output, so one of my first goals was to link the two units in order to control one with the other. It was easier than I expected and was just mind-blowingly cool. It felt like the dream I had held for the past 16 years was finally starting to take shape.

Another of the items I purchased at that time was a Korg MS-20 mini analog synthesizer. It's a modern recreation of a popular synth from the late '70s and early '80s. The newer model is functionally identical to the older model, except that it's scaled down somewhat (using 1/8" jacks rather than 1/4" in the patch pay) and that it has a MIDI input jack (via 5-pin and USB connections). The world of analog synthesis was another realm I had dreamed about for years but never been able to enter. It seemed so esoteric, versatile, and just plain cool, and I'm so excited to be able to experiment with it now.

Ever since my first exposure to a synthesizer (probably via Joy Electric's song Monosynth which incidentally was released in 1997) I've wanted to know more, to play with a real hands-on-switches hardware synthesizer. I fiddled a little bit with some software synths in college but they didn't really do it for me - it was too hard to mess around and figure out what everything does, but when you've got a panel full of knobs it's much more intuitive.

The main difference between a synthesizer and a keyboard is that a keyboard generally just plays back sounds that have been stored in it (especially newer ones) and while you may be able to modify or create expression with those sounds, they're more or less locked in. A synthesizer generates its own sound through the use of one or more oscillators which create an electrical version of sound waves, moving back and forth. Synths can produce different wave shapes which produce different timbres, or tone qualities. After that, the signal can be routed through any number of modules - filters that refine the sound, envelopes that define the volume of a sound over a period of time, low-frequency oscillators (LFO's) that can control some other aspect of the synth, and many more. Some synthesizers are an all-in-one package with pre-selected modules available for use, while others are entirely modular, being constructed in a cabinet of whatever modules the player chooses. These are then hooked together using patch cords. The MS-20 is unique in that it is semi-modular, with the ability to play it straight out of the box or to patch the signal through different modules as desired. It's not quite as flexible as I had hoped and some of the signal flow is a little confusing, but it's still an exciting world that I love exploring.

One thing I greatly admire about David Crowder*Band is their ability to use electronic sounds to enhance music in unexpected ways. Crowder further exemplifies this on his excellent solo album, Neon Steeple. Because of my respect for this aspect of his music and because part of the self-assigned challenge for my December Project is to use at least two tracks in the production process, I would like to use the MS-20 mini to enhance my rendition of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel in a non-melodic yet musical way. Figuring out how might prove to be difficult, but it's also going to be a lot of fun.

Tonight I played with the MS-20 and my Zoom H6 audio recorder in order to play with some of the non-melodic sounds the synth is capable of producing. I recorded them on the H6 and tried out the overdubbing feature which allows you to listen to one track while recording another over top of it. For the first track I tried to create a sort of wintry soundscape, and then on the second layer of audio I was just trying to create some kind of bleep-bloopy effect on top. This is what happened:

I was experimenting a bit with the Korg MS-20 mini as well as the Zoom H6 overdubbing and mixdown features. For the first track I tried to create a sort of wintry soundscape, and then on the second layer of audio I was just trying to create some kind of bleep-bloopy effects on top. This is what happened.

I'm not planning to use either of these elements directly in my song, but it was fun to play and get a feel for what I could do. I'm really looking forward to integrating some of this (particularly the wintry kind of sound) into O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

My goal with this song is to maintain a traditional feel that reverently acknowledges the glory of God coming to Earth as a human. I want the track to reflect the intense longing felt by a people awaiting the arrival of their Savior, and the joy we anticipate for his second coming. The final verse suddenly seems fitting, so I will leave you with it:

O come, Desire of nations, bind
in one the hearts of all mankind;
bid thou our sad divisions cease,
and be thyself our King of Peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
  shall come to the O Israel!

Christmas Song Selection

I have decided which song I will record for Christmas this year as part of my December Project, and it is:

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

I selected this song for a few reasons, enumerated below.

  1. It speaks to the theology of Christmas in a deep and meaningful way.
  2. The tune I'm using, Veni Emmanuel, is a beautiful and old French melody, dating from the 1400s or prior.
  3. The lyrical themes originated as early as the 800s, though the earliest recorded Latin text of the song is from 1710 (Germany).
  4. There are many widely-accepted verses, so I can choose the ones that carry the most meaning for me and include them in my recording.
  5. I was playing around on our piano today and came across a chord progression I liked - Gm6/4 moving to D major - and as I did a little more with it the melody of this song came out. It turned out to be in a key and range that was good for my voice so I felt my way through some chords for the rest of the song and settled on it as my choice.

One challenge I face with this selection is that I'm familiar with renditions of this song recorded by artists I regard very highly, including Peter Furler, Kevin Max, and David Crowder*Band - so it may be difficult not to borrow from their interpretations of the song. On the other hand, Christmas music is so widely recorded that people are used to hearing multiple artists record the same song.

I'm very much looking forward to recording O Come, O Come, Emmanuel and I look forward to sharing it with you!

Jeremy and Dayana

Yesterday I wrote about finding wins when you feel like you're losing. As part of that post I shared that a video I was working on wouldn't be done in time to include it in yesterday's blog post, which had been one of my goals.

Well, sometimes you have to go looking for wins, and sometimes the wins find you. Within 15 minutes of publishing yesterday's post, the rest of that video fell together perfectly and I was able to get it done very quickly.

Here it is:

If you want to learn more about Compassion or sponsor a child yourself, visit http://compassion.com

"But wait," says a hypothetical reader, "didn't you just say something like a week ago about not doing these videos anymore?" To which I respond: thanks for reading! You are correct. This is my last video from the Ecuador trip and probably my last video for Epic for a while. It feels good to cleanly close one chapter in my creative journey and move on to the next one.

This brings me back to my December project: recording a Christmas song! I'm still taking suggestions at this point and will probably start the recording process on Sunday or Monday.

Thank you for joining me as I attempt to move forward as a creative. It's remarkably encouraging to know that people have been reading along (readership has ranged from 7 to 78 over the past couple of weeks) and, as I had hoped, your support has helped me continue to do things and share them with the internet.

Finding Wins

I had a big plan for today, and today didn't quite go according to that plan. This is okay.

I have been working on a video that I had planned to reveal for today's blog post, and it won't be done until after midnight - so it won't be done today. This is okay.

I could have looked at my failure and thrown the whole "blog every day for a month" idea out the window. I've messed up now, so there's no point in continuing, right? That's what I might have said a few years ago, maybe even a few months ago. But this month is different. Because this month, I have decided that action is greater than inaction. That I'm going to use this website to move toward my ambition as a creative. That I'm going to finish things that were left unfinished for too long. That I'm going to find wins even when I feel defeated.

My win for today is to see the progress I've made and be satisfied with where I'm going as a creative. This month has been incredibly productive for me so far and having one day where I didn't hit a milestone doesn't mean I'm not moving.

Life doesn't always go as planned, dreams don't always come true, and people sometimes mess up. You might find yourself outside of where you need to be right now. This is okay. Find a win and use that to drive yourself toward your goal.

It's not so much about how close you are as it is about which way you're facing. If you find a perspective that points you in the right direction, any progress (no matter how small) will get you closer to whatever it is you're working toward.

Fun Day!

We'll return to the regularly-scheduled nerdery of making things and doing things tomorrow, but for today I wanted to share a fun experience I had yesterday:

In celebration of a successful Back To School project within OIT (yes, the semester is almost over but the BTS project just closed a month or so ago), everyone involved with the project went to Strikes and Spares in Mishawaka for an afternoon of bowling, go karts and mini-golf. By all reports, the mini-golf is nothing special, so I opted out of that in favor of (almost) two games of bowling and three races on the go-kart track. My first game of bowling was a little worse than my average bad game at 76 points. Our time on the lane ran out just before I threw my last or second-to-last ball, depending on how it went. Had I been able to finish the score would have been somewhere between 105 and 130 or so. Having finished that, the group that I bowled with headed over to the go-karts:

The go-karts here are electric, but the course is well-designed and the karts are faster than expected; definitely a good match for the track. We each got three races and it was very fun! Thankfully I didn't get stuck in a slow kart any of the times I raced and was able to drive competitively and pass at least one person in each race. Unlike Scott, I didn't spin anybody out or get spun out at all :)

I think Elias would really enjoy riding in the two-seat karts but passengers are required to be at least 4 years old and 40" tall, so it will be another year and a half before I can take him there. In other news, I'll have a 4-year-old in a year and a half. Yikes.

What kinds of group leisure activities do you enjoy? Let me know in the comments!

Leftovers Loco Moco

Yesterday I came home over my late lunch break and was looking to put something together fast. I had some leftover rice from a couple of days ago and a piece of DC Meats steak from the night before that I was planning to warm up when Caitlin mentioned that she and the kids had made eggs for lunch. Suddenly, inspiration struck and I was transported back to the summer of 2008 when I was completing a ministry internship at Kalaheo Missionary Church on the island of Kauai.

My very favorite thing about Kauai is its people, and when wheels left the ground on my way home, I immediately felt a sort of emptiness in knowing that it would probably be a long while before I got to see the youth group kids, church members, and the other people of Kauai again.

My second favorite thing about Kauai is its food - not just how it tastes but also the way that it represents a blending of many cultures that have been brought to the island with its residents over the years. Loco Moco however is a truly Hawaiian dish, having been invented there around 1949 (thanks wikipedia!) It is traditionally prepared with white rice, a hamburger patty, brown gravy, and topped off with a fried egg - so when I heard beef, rice, and egg, I knew what I had to try.

Leftovers Loco Moco!

Since I didn't have freshly-cooked rice, I decided to try making fried rice to form the bed of this dish. I'm no expert but I've made it a time or two and it was passable, so I dove in and gave it a shot.

My first step was to heat up our cast-iron skillet (carefully chosen because it was the pan already on the stove) and put my leftovers in to warm up a bit. I put the steak in the middle and spread the rice in a thick layer on one side of it. Next, I drizzled a little bit of soy sauce over the rice (unfortunately we only had Kikkoman Soy Sauce on hand and not the wonderful, amazing Aloha Shoyu which is abundant on Kauai). After this heated up for a minute or so, I cracked a couple of eggs on the other side of the steak, and broke one over the rice for good measure. I sprinkled some salt and black pepper on the eggs.

As the ingredients started to heat further, I flipped the steak over periodically to help it heat evenly. I also flipped the eggs and mixed the third egg into the rice a bit better, sort of chopping it into the rice with a metal spatula. I then flipped the whole rice/egg bit over and sprinkled some frozen peas on top:

I covered the rice/egg/peas portion with a glass lid to help steam the peas, but my photo of that part didn't come out at all. I was rushing about trying to put together a quick lunch, hence the cell phone photos.

Once it seemed like the peas had warmed up, everything else was cooked (the steak just warmed through, the eggs overdone - whoops!) so I stacked it up on a plate. Rice on the bottom, then the steak, then the eggs on top.

Amazingly, it came out looking something like Loco Moco, and it looked appetizing enough that Caitlin commented, "I wish I had someone to make me a lunch like that!" I knew what that meant and it looked like too much for one person anyway, so I chopped the whole thing in half and split the Leftovers Loco Moco onto a second plate. We both enjoyed it, so: success!

If I were making this again, there are a few things I would do differently. I would:

  • put just a little bit of oil or butter in the pan to keep things from sticking
  • wait a little longer to put the eggs in so they don't overcook (I'd still do the rice-egg at the beginning though)
  • add the peas earlier so they could warm up more
  • give myself more time to enjoy the food!

What's the latest dish you've concocted from leftovers? Let me know in the comments below!

Tortilla Pizza: easy and delicious

Warning: what I am about to share may change your life forever. It's a snack that checks all the right boxes--

  • Cheap
  • Easy
  • Fast
  • Delicious
  • Versatile
  • Won't kill you

I realize the last one may be negotiable for the male college-age set, but I think the rest of us can agree it's an essential part of any snack. What is this wonder-snack, you ask? Internet: Behold!

I present to you the amazing Tortilla Pizza!

Caitlin (or I, we can't remember who for sure) came up with this about two years ago, and it quickly became a go-to snack or easy meal. They're ridiculously simple to make - follow along with my simple instructions. I make cooking fun!

Step 0: Pre-heat the oven.

  • 425° or so. Depends on the oven. You'll figure it out.

Step 1: Grab a tortilla. Spread some sauce on it.

  • Use Dei Fratelli Pizza Sauce. It's the good stuff. Trust me on this.

Step 2 (optional): Add non-cheese toppings.

  • Sometimes we'll use pepperoni, leftover (pre-cooked) hamburger, or mushrooms - this time we used some thick-sliced ham, chopped up with some kitchen scissors. We also put small fresh-cut pineapple chunks on some of them.

Step 3: Season that thing.

  • I like to put some black pepper on the pizza, sometimes I will use crushed red pepper as well.

At this point you should have a half-naked pizza, like so:

Hello, pizza, you're about to be delicious.

But wait! Don't eat it yet! There is more!

Step 4: Sprinkle the cheese, homeslice.

  • And though I say sprinkle, don't be stingy. Load it up with a nice, even layer of cheese that goes almost to the edges of the tortilla.

Step 5: A little more seasoning.

  • I like to put a little bit of pepper on top of the cheese too.

Aw yeah: Four ingredients, two minutes. That's looking real nice.

Step 6: Into the oven!

  • You can use a baking sheet if you want to, but we found it's just as easy to put them right on the oven rack. Just be careful not to burn yourself or spill cheese.
Just a few minutes and these two will be perfect.

Just a few minutes and these two will be perfect.

Step 7: Wait a few minutes...

  • I forgot to time how long we left them in, but it should be in the neighborhood of 5 minutes. You'll want to take them out when the cheese is melted and the edges just barely start to turn brown.

Step 8: Out of the oven!

  • Use a pizza peel if you have one, or any biggish spatula should work fine.
  • Let the pizza sit for 2 minutes or so before you eat it so you don't destroy your mouth.
  • I like to cut the pizza into four slices using a pizza cutter or kitchen scissors.

Delicious with ham and pineapple, if you're into that sort of thing.

Bisect twice in a perpendicular fashion for optimal pizza ergonomics.

And there you have it!

Really tasty, simple, and fast. I love that the tortilla stays soft under the toppings and gets a bit crispy at the edge. It's a great way to make a quick thin-crust pizza, and we've had success with a wide range of toppings. It's amazing how well the tortilla holds everything up, even when it's loaded down with piles of cheese, hamburger, and mushrooms.

What toppings will you try on your tortilla pizza?

New features and a look forward

As of yesterday, I have been blogging here consistently for a week. I set this website up to force myself to produce content and to share my projects with the internet, and so far I feel like it has gone pretty well. With that said, I've made a couple of changes to the site that should help me move toward those goals.

New Features:

The first new feature is about accountability - it would be easy to keep posting random stuff every day without actually completing any of the creative work I set out to do. For this reason, I've set up a section in the right sidebar (look, it's there now!) which highlights the major project currently in progress and gives a quick update as to the state of that progress. Sure, this makes it easier for readers to see what I'm working on, but it has equal importance for me as a reminder to stay focused and keep moving on the things I want to do. It's a means of accountability between me and you; it is a means of accountability between me and myself.

The second new feature makes it easier to share my posts on Pinterest. Now, on any blog post featuring a picture, you can mouse over that picture to reveal a Pin It badge. Clicking this badge will take you to Pinterest and allow you to pin the post to one of your boards. If you are reading on a mobile device, simply tap the image once to reveal the Pin It badge, then tap the badge to share the post on Pinterest. I'm particularly excited about this feature because tomorrow's post just begs to be shared on Pinterest.

A Look Forward:

As I mentioned in my first post, "I am going to post something on this website every day for the month of December." Why I chose to start in December rather than opting for a fresh start in the new year is a topic for another post, but it does raise the question: What will happen to this blog after December? The answer is twofold:

First, I will be polling my readers to see what kind of content you like best (hopefully I still have readers by January 1). December is a month of vast experimentation here and while I will continue to work on projects that I find interesting, I also want to produce blog content that you all find interesting as well. I should also mention - I welcome feedback at any time (and comments are wonderful!) but the poll is coming up in January, so keep an eye out for it.

Second, I will be dialing back the frequency of posts in order to leave more time for other things and so that you don't get overwhelmed with too much content. It will probably be 2-3 posts per week but we'll see what happens when January arrives. This will likely be part of the poll mentioned above as well.

I'd love your feedback on the ideas above in the comments below! Also remember that I'm still taking song suggestions for my December project. Details in the right sidebar, or if you're on a mobile device, details are at the very bottom of this page.

My Cousin Joel: Part 2

Yesterday I wrote about my cousin Joel Metzger and his farm. Today I'd like to share a bit about my cousin Joel Runyon and his not-farm.

Joel graduated from Bethel College near the low point of the housing market crash and accompanying economic fallout, and it wasn't long before he found himself unsatisfied with a job search that seemed never to end. Then he realized that instead of waiting for life to happen to him - for good things to walk up and introduce themselves - that he could go out and seek to live a better story.

If that word story seems familiar, it's because he was inspired in part by Donald Miller's A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, a book that eventually led Miller to put together the Storyline curriculum. As you may remember from Wednesday's post, the Storyline process is what inspired me to start this blog. Apparently Donald Miller is inspiring to us half-Runyons.

After reading A Million Miles, Joel decided to shape his life around story-worthy events. Storyline calls these "inciting incidents" but Joel called it The Impossible List. He made a list of things he would have liked to do but considered impossible at the time, then set out to do them. In the several years since, he has accomplished a ridiculous number of impressive deeds that the 2009 version of Joel would probably laugh at. The list is quite extensive, so here's a sampling. He has:

  • started a successful blog
  • built a school through Pencils of Promise
  • run way too many marathons
  • gotten a "real job"
  • quit that "real job" to run his own business
  • created a program that helped me drop 16 lbs and get fit
  • pursued minimalism and owns under 100 things
  • done a lot of other cool stuff.

Joel's latest adventure is The 777 Project. In his words:

“777 is an endurance, adventure and philanthropic initiative by Joel Runyon & Impossible Ventures to run 7 ultra marathons on 7 continents in order to raise money & awareness to build 7 schools with Pencils of Promise and provide opportunities to those for whom a basic education can be impossible.”

The first of his 7 ultramarathons is in the books and I'm excited to see the 777 project play out from here! If you'd like to get involved, check out http://777.impossiblehq.com

*same disclaimer as yesterday: Joel didn't ask me to write this and I'm not being paid to promote him or his work in any way. I just think what he's doing is really cool.

Reminder: check out Friday's post and leave a comment with which Christmas song you want me to record this month!

My Cousin Joel: Part 1

Today's post is coming in late thanks to a long afternoon/evening. To summarize, our kids have ear infections just bad enough to warrant a trip to the doctor for a prescription; they'll be fine but we were gone for 4 hours taking care of everything.

Anyway, this weekend I'd like to turn the spotlight on my cousins Joel - Joel Metzger today and Joel Runyon tomorrow.

My cousin Joel Metzger and his wife Heidi have a smallish farm in southern Michigan, and what makes it unique is that everything they offer (beef, pork, poultry, and dairy products) is produced without the use of hormones, antibiotics, or GMO feed. When I visited the farm a few years back to take photos for their website, I witnessed chickens and turkeys that had lots of room to move around and fresh, natural food - they were kept within a sort of mobile fence that got moved to a new patch of pasture on a regular basis. The cattle and pigs also had plenty of room to move and seemed like happy animals (I guess they don't know how delicious they are). I also lived just down the road during the summer of 2010 and can confirm that they weren't just putting on a good show for the photographer; they run a great farm.

While I'm not the type to think the world will end if my hamburger was fed some GMO grain before it became hamburger, I can't deny that Joel's methods produce some really tasty food. In addition to the way that they raise their animals, the quality is also brought about by the types of animals they raise. For example, the beef from their Piedmontese cattle is tender and flavorful without being too fatty, and if you eat meat you owe it to yourself to try a Piedmontese hamburger sometime. If you want more information you can check out their website or contact them via Facebook.

*I should also mention that they didn't ask me to write this recommendation and I'm not being paid to promote them in any way - same goes for tomorrow's post about my (other) cousin Joel.

Reminder: check out yesterday's post and leave a comment with which Christmas song you want me to record this month!

December Project: Music

The Christmas season is among my favorite times of year. I love the concept (and reality) of our God coming to Earth - the Holy becoming lowly in order to find communion with his creation. That Christ would live among us, as one of us, is an idea that fills me with warmth and gives an unspeakable sense of hope, joy, and peace. I also really enjoy giving gifts and seeing family, so many of the traditions that go along with Christmas add an extra layer of happiness for me.

It should not be surprising, then, that I also really enjoy Christmas music. The theology that is often packed into it is powerful and moving, and Christmas songs have a unique ability to transport us to that time of year and all the feelings that accompany it no matter when we listen.

I have recorded songs before (I'll embed two of them below) but have not recorded any Christmas music to date. My goals with this project are:

  • to successfully record and share at least one Christmas-related song by Dec. 24
  • to record a performance video for this song
  • to use at least two audio tracks in the production process.

I have only done a little bit with multitrack audio recording in the past, so that will likely be the biggest growth area for me on this project. I have recorded single-take, one-track performance videos in the past, so that aspect of the project should be pretty manageable for me.

Neither rendition is perfect, but I am glad to have recorded these songs and put them out in public. I hope to feel the same about the upcoming project when it is complete :)

I'd love your input - what Christmas song would you like me to record? Comment below with ideas!

Wrapping Up

I enjoy building models. I don't do a lot of it, but I enjoy it. I started young, building snap-tite models of cars, then moving on to the Skill Level 2 models that require paint and glue to complete. I built cars and airplanes - they didn't usually come out that well but I enjoyed the process anyway. About a year ago I sat down to take on my first model in years: The USA-1 monster truck.

Painting and assembly went very well, but I never finished it. Our daughter Amelia was born before I completed the model, and since she's far more important the truck has been sitting almost-done on the shelf for the past 11 months.

I started this website as a way to share my creative projects; let's start with one that lay dormant for almost a year before completion:

USA-1 was featured in a video I watched many, many times as a youngster and it holds a special place in my heart because of it. In the future I'd like to get another USA-1 model kit and paint it to be the Stomper truck, another favorite from the Turning The Power On video.

It feels good to finally finish this project. I've got several more creative projects lined up, including a secret one I've been working on for the past month, which I'll be able to reveal after Christmas (shh... it's a gift for Caitlin!)

Here are more photos of the completed model:

Decision Filters

Yesterday I mentioned that the Storyline process has helped me create a decision filter so that I can respond appropriately to opportunities. I'd like to talk a little more about that.

One of the key elements of Storyline is identifying your primary life roles (mine were Husband, Father, Creative, and Business Owner) and then clarifying your ambitions for each of those roles. Once you know what you'd like to do in each of those roles - once you know where you're headed - it's much easier to determine whether a given project, task, or opportunity will lead you toward those ends or away from them.

About a year and a half ago, I made the first of what would eventually add up to over 40 videos for Epic Church (you can see many of them here). It is hard for me to believe that it has only been a year and a half because of the immense amount I have learned in that time. It has been a wonderful way to get my hands dirty in video production and I've had a blast - Caitlin can verify that I have spontaneously danced on multiple occasions out of excitement over what I learned or figured out for a given project. I've done studio shoots, event coverage, and even traveled to Ecuador, and I can't say enough about how much the experience has taught me, so I'll have to just leave it at that.

I say all this to frame how difficult it was for me to bring this chapter to a close.

You see, the time came when I realized that my work in this area was no longer leading me forward, and in fact was holding me back in many areas of my life. The projects were severely cutting into family time (Husband and Father roles), preventing me from pursuing other creative projects (Creative role), and costing more than I could afford to spend (Business Owner role). After a lot of discussion with people I trust, one or two false starts, and some-but-probably-not-enough prayer, I finally realized it was time to promote a change in this area of my life. I realized it may mean an end to my production of videos for Epic, and I came to feel at peace about it. Caitlin and I ended up meeting with the senior leadership of the church and discussing the issue for a couple of hours. We came out of that meeting with a significant sense of relief and peace, knowing that everyone was on the same page and that I could move forward with other creative endeavors.

When you know where you're going, you need not fear change.

Never be afraid to move your story toward a climactic scene. If you realize that some part (even a good part) of your life is not leading you in the right direction, prayerfully consider whether it is time to let go and move on. It may not be - conflict is an essential part of the growing process - but maybe, just maybe you will find yourself relieved or even refreshed to bring a good thing to an end.

Day 2

I'd like to share a bit about why I'm posting here - why I set up this website and what it's for.

This fall, my wife Caitlin and a group of friends have been going through the Storyline process developed by Donald Miller and based on the philosophy of Viktor Frankl. The basic premise is that fulfillment comes not from the pursuit of pleasure, but from the pursuit of a meaningful life. Miller presents this in the framework of story: Our lives are subplots in the story of God. God invites us to join in his story, but because we have agency - the ability to make choices and act - we may choose how (and if) we participate in that story.

The Storyline process has helped me clarify my ambitions in the context of my life roles (father, husband, creative). It has taught me that conflict is to be embraced as a healthy part of change rather than avoided in favor of a comfortable life. It has helped me create a decision filter so that I can respond appropriately to opportunities in order to move forward.

So, what does Storyline have to do with this blog? I'm glad I asked. Storyline has helped me realize that I was created to create. Our God is immensely creative, and I feel closest to him when exercising my own creativity (which is a reflection of His - after all, we were created in God's image). One of my biggest weaknesses is a sort of hybrid between perfectionism and fear of rejection that sometimes paralyzes me into inaction. I get stuck thinking that the world might end if I mess up and so I don't start a project or hesitate to share it with others. I set up this site as a way to force myself into action and to share that action with others.

Action > Inaction

Doing something is always better than talking about doing something.

I am here to create. To build. To repair. To learn how things work and why they don't. To reflect a little of God's creativity and to share it with those around me. I'd be delighted for you to join me.

December 1.

I am going to post something on this website every day for the month of December as a means of accountability for doing things and sharing them with the internet.

This is the first one. This post, and this website, are the first one.

See you tomorrow.