Download Larger Inspire Art (JPG)

Cy-Fair Fire Department Outside Home — Houston, Texas

We just found out that my wife’s grandmother in Houston, Texas lost her home and pet to a fire today, Saturday January 14, 2012. Please pray for them as they are devastated and unsure what to do. They unfortunately did not have fire insurance.

A space heater ignited and started the fire about 12noon on Saturday.

I was also asked by friends to post the link for donations to help the family find temporary and long-term accommodations. 100% goes to help Myra’s Grandmother and Uncle.  Send a donation.

Legacy or Leftovers Blog Post
What will you leave your family, friends and your community? A legacy or leftovers?

BIG Dreams Blog Post
Someone challenged me to define my BIG dream and asked if I still had it in me to go for it. Love it.

He Would Be Ten Today Blog Post
Remembering our three year on son Colby. We lost him to Leukemia in 2004.

Courageous Fighting Video
Myra and I sharing the tough times and mistakes we made in our marriage and why we chose to fight for each other.

America, Our Ever Present Past Video
This is the first time Myra and I talked about how we survived losing our son to Leukemia, her mom to Lupus and mine to domestic violence and what we did to keep our sanity during all of it.

Comment on this post

Great UX for product promotion via streaming video. Why? The video promo is clearly the priority for the page. It plays the second you click it (no loading… waiting… flashbacks to dial-up…) and the content is incredible (multiple customers using products, fun, great soundtrack). Check out how the video is shot and edited after to look like it is happening right on the page.

Apple builds, promotes and integrates better. If you haven’t seen it watch here MTV.com.  Then, visit your organization’s website and compare. 

I often hear this about successful leaders and can’t help but wonder how true it is — “You don’t know what they sacrificed to get to where they are.” And I can’t help to ask this next question ‘Was it worth it?’

A friend recently shared the “balanced wheel” for measuring if he is on track to leaving a legacy. This isn’t about Klout — it’s about impact, health and balance. It’s about living a life worth remembering. Is what you hold as “successful” really how you want to be remembered? By your family, friends and colleagues?

The tool above is a great way to track and hold yourself and each other accountable. To use it mark on each axis your current impact, health & investment from 0 (lowest) to 10 (highest) then connect each mark. The end result will hopefully be a circle and the goal is that it would roll. If not where do you need to invest? Are you sacrificing important areas of your life to focus on one or two other areas? Is it worth it?

Download Balanced Wheel JPG — Post Feedback

If you are a leader, designer or creative you know what I am talking about. Every few years and often sooner you have to reinvent what you do and how you do it. Today I stumbled onto Josh Hemsley’s design site. I am truly digging the attention to detail. Good work man. See Josh’s work and other talented designers on dribbble.com.

Is it time for you to reinvent? Post who inspires you.

Effects of No Internet (+ positive / - negative )

• Time with Sprint on-phone/ in-store (-10 hrs total)
• Progress on design/development projects (-10-14 hrs weekly)
• Stressing about project timelines (-1 hr daily)
• Television watching  (-1.5 hrs daily)
• Visits to Starbucks/Other for Wifi (+1-3 visits weekly)
• Chloe reading activity (+1-3 books weekly)
• Myra & I talking & hanging out (+2-6 hrs weekly)
• No Access to Xbox 360 LIVE (+1-2 hrs daily)
• Sleep (+6-10 hrs weekly)

Yes, we still would like to have Internet at the house, but it has been great in some ways to not have it available. The Internet or lack-of has changed the way we live. 

One of the organizations I follow is LifeChurch.tv. I visited their online resource site today Open.LifeChurch.tv and clicked the right arrow a couple of times to see “Learning Sessions” or webinars with the team to learn best practices, do’s, don’ts and to catch up on the latest resources they are making available (Open to everyone interested for FREE). These guys get it and have for some time now. Not just because they are open and available to all churches but because there is a common thread in everything they do. Open shows up in how they connect creative resources, developers, pastors, teachers and leaders at all levels of ministry and market to build the best tools and resources.

Open is a choice and at some point LifeChurch.tv chose to not keep their learnings and creative resources to themselves and the best part is they make their resources available to the public for free. This is not “new” news I know, it’s been going on for a while, but it’s obvious they are committed to the vision, they are committed to helping other churches have the greatest impact possible and they are committed to constant learning.

I want to challenge you to define where your organization is today. Are you Closed or Open. In creating and sharing new ideas, learnings and resources. It’s worth it. I bet you have some extremely valuable resources and contributors with incredible experience and ideas. I challenge you to redefine your goals and vision this year to include a focused effort towards Innovation and connecting with other like-minded organizations to achieve something greater than yourself.

Are you willing to be Open?

So what do you think? Good idea or not? To use such extreme content to get the attention of your audience? Was it effective or what would have been a better avenue? Smart content wins in my opinion — the CDC hit a homerun.

Is your organization primed to create good content? Comments

Part I – Us

I am working daily to clarify my BIG DREAM but as of right now it’s making sure our kiddos know they are loved and that they have a solid foundation for life. To find out how to consistently love my wife Myra in the way she needs. We are both so broken it’s tough sometimes. By broken, I mean we have survived excruciating loss. I’ll have to write a book on all that but trust me when I say broken for us is sometimes best described as a black hole. So the first part of my ‘dream’ is to get ‘us’ right. That’s a huge deal.

Part II – Connected 

I would love to start a “connected” community hub that integrates tech/design/new media & a mentor/relationship with real accountability for people who want to step off a path that leads to nowhere onto a path with possibility. Accountability for personal goals but also measurement for real world – real impact goals.

To underline that while we have this awesome time on Earth we also are a part of a larger plan. We were created to love Him and love others. To share His story of sacrifice for us. He could have come to this earth to destroy us… to punish us… which is what we have seemed to do very well on our own. But He chose to send His son to let us know there is a different choice, even in pain, hurt and wounds — we could still choose to love.

Part III – Discovery

I think my dream is to be what I have always wanted. A real encouraging, loving, friend. The issue, for me at least to is being able to look past my own void and actually be just that. Most of the time I am the exact opposite. Especially to those I love the most. Not cool but true.

That’s a start for me. What’s your BIG DREAM?