I am a Closed Book

I know, you probably never thought I'd associate myself with books but it's just a metaphor. Anyway, I say that because I don't understand people that just start spewing themselves without being prompted. I'm not talking about people who will start a conversation, I'm talking about the ones who can't stop sharing everything about themselves. Those people are open books...or maybe audio books.

But me...I'm closed. Not in the sense that my story is over, just that you have to open me and turn the pages. I probably wont ever really share anything about myself or any deep thoughts unless provoked by another comment or question. That's just the way I am, I internalize things. The kind of person who never wears his heart on his sleeve, I am just "OK" all the time. I will say, however, that I am a particularly well written book coming up on the end of my...say...third chapter. And you know what happens at the end of a chapter...something exciting, tragic, or plot changing...

Modest but Exciting Results

After a media onslaught for our fall festival, NightLight, we had an exciting turn out from the community.

The Numbers:

Designed, Printed, Cut
300 Full Color Glossy Door Hangers
500 Full Color Glossy 4x6" Postcards Mailed
500 1/4 Sheet B&W handouts
2300 1/2 Sheet B&W handouts
3600 TOTAL

Turnout (approximate)
65 Families
250 Total Visitors

I was not honestly expecting such a turn out but was pleasantly surprised. I know this isn't a huge turnout by any means but it's our first real community outreach event we've done on our own like this. I can already see my church gaining momentum toward even bigger and better things in the near future. It costs a lot of money and even more time from staff and volunteers, but we've always been pretty outreach minded and I don't think this will be a difficult direction for us to move in. I am excited about what God has for us!

The Trip Was Good But...

The trip to Galion was fun and eventful including a flat tire and stripped nut, seeing Man of the Year (good flick), and reading countless books like my new favorite Bear in a Chair. But what I really want to talk about is the conversation Bobby and I had upon my return last night...it was amazing:

[00:39] Bobby: If a tree falls and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

[00:40] Me: only if it falls on your head
[00:41] Me: but yes...the laws of physics tell us so
[00:41] Me: why do you ask?

[00:41] Bobby: Laws of physics also claim that "sound" is a wave, and what becomes the sound is when the wave hits an eardrum
[00:42] Bobby: ... so if it doesn't hit an ear drum than does it count as a sound or just a wave

[00:42] Me: oh we wanna get technical huh?
[00:43] Me: i guess the real question then is, what is the definition of "sound"

[00:43] Bobby: If you are to debate might as well debate on a technical lever instead of the level of an ape
[00:44] Bobby: vibrations that travel through the air or a medium and can be heard when they reach the eardrum

[00:44] Me: alright, well if sound is defined only as those waves made in the air hitting an ear drum then no...the tree did not make a "sound"
[00:45] Me: rather it moved air particles in a fashion that would produce the waves necessary to make a sound

[00:45] Bobby: I love you nathan

[00:46] Me: but then there's the chaos theory where you could technically claim that even that seemingly small instance when looking on a global scale may have not had an immediate impact on the world such as being heard, but that one impact and moving of molecules could have been the beginning of a series of events that would eventually in some way be heard
[00:48] Me: such as somehow being the catalyst of a landslide by way of causing a fly to change directions slightly, sending him straight into the windshield of a semi on the freeway startling the driver sending him off the side of the mountain he was driving causing the whole face of the mountain to begin sliding down toward the village below...then...the tree would be heard

[00:48] Bobby: Or in quantum mechanics the lack of sound will play out in every other manner possible in millions of microverses
[00:49] Bobby: I prefer the quantum mechanics view

[00:49] Me: alright
[00:49] Me: but what did you really want to talk about

[00:50] Bobby: Um, am I really supposed to know?

[00:52] Me: nope...i think it's better this way

* this conversation was slightly edited for readability purposes

Fall Break Baby

Takin' a break this weekend up in Galion, Ohio at Phil's house. Phil, Sam, Leslie, Danielle, Annemarie and myself will be taking off sometime early Thursday. I am excited becasue I haven't been away from it all in a little while so we're all going to take a breather, watch some movies, play some paintball, and hopefully bum around as much as possible!

Unfortunately I will be missing our big NightLight event this Saturday but I am confident that it will be aptly staffed with photographers and videographers. But if you are in the Springfield, OH area this weekend and have kids in 5th grade or under, it's the perfect thing to check out...for free...

Broken By Design

Interchangeability

I really love videos that help us understand why DRM sucks (which it does...big time). I thought this one was really creative and a good example of why locking down stuff we buy is a bad thing. If you liked it, share it and check out these other cute illustrations (Anti-DRM 1 | Anti-DRM 2)

If you live in one of those lovely areas where YouTube might be blocked you can download and watch the videos here: (Interchangeability | Anti-DRM 1 | Anti-DRM 2). If you cannot play .flv files try downloading the VideoLAN player which you should have anyway!

1500 Later...

With the Night Light event coming up soon we're promoting it like crazy. Yesterday I labeled 400 postcards to mail out and cut 1,500 half-sheet flyers to hand out to the Sonshine kids this week. I would be sick and tired of doing this stuff by now, except I'm really excited about what we're doing here. We're finally reaching out into the neighborhoods to bring attention to what we're doing here. I am proud of my church. We're not big, but we do big things, and we dream even bigger for the future.

So if you're the praying type, please pray that out fall outreach (Night Light) will go well and that the surrounding community will begin to see that Light through us more and more.

I Made the Team!

It's not a huge deal but a cool happenstance nonetheless, I made it in the Eroded Magazine: Blue Edition. You can check it out at 555design.org, enter the site and click on "Eroded Magazine" at the top (on pages 10 and 11). The piece is entitled "Blue is the Loneliest Number" which was adapted from a previous work of mine. It's nothing amazing, but like I said...it's kind of cool. Let me know what you think of my piece.