everything designed

It has now been a month since I have relocated to Paradise, Texas. For the first time in four weeks I have been able to spend more than three days in a row with my beautiful wife and two amazing kiddos! I thought it would be tough but tolerable to be here without them waiting for school to end and for the house to sell. It’s been tougher than I could have imagined. The good news is we are moving our essentials up this weekend!

Imagine 81 acres in the country with a stocked fishing pond, a metal barn that has been converted into a house and wide open space to roam. There is also a creek that cuts through the rock & hills lined with huge trees! Every bit of the area was created to photograph. Beautiful wild Texas flowers, tall grass perfect for horses, cattle and a spectacular sunset every night! God knows what we desire and in time He speaks.

This was a very tough transition for us relationally – we are starting over 100% in every way. For me things went quiet almost over night. Timing is never what we expect but each step has been one of faith – and believe me mountains have moved. For Myra she is leaving so many great friends and memories. But somehow it seems like God is underlining that He created us to do life together. He has a purpose for us that we do not yet fully see or even understand and that He desires our full attention.

Funny – how just two years ago I sat in my car in a shopping mall parking lot reading over with the faith of a mustard seed we could move mountains. I literally began to pray for mountains to move, for anything to move – for one particular brick on a wall to just move an inch! I trust God, I have faith that He loves us and would do anything for us – He truly does want to give us our heart’s desire – it’s just not the way we ask or expect sometimes. Honestly, I began to pray that He would give us Colby back – that losing him had caused so much pain – left wounds that we could not repair. Just as in 2 Kings – I expected for God to raise him and give him back to us. I truly believe God could do that and I wanted to see it happen. That we did not deserve to lose our son and that Colby did not deserve to go at the age of three – especially to Cancer.

For the next two years – I prayed, pushed, ran out of patience and let myself burn out. I was insistent on my timing for everything; our finances, my marriage, for leaders to lead & love, for negative or blinded people to find Jesus again – to forgive. I had faith that a mountain would move but I was more focused on my wants rather than His will. Even though I was not asking for anything out of the norm – I was unknowingly expecting it to happen now. I was fighting God. Again. I kept it up until I exhausted everything in me.

When we tell God that we are in control we are taking the first steps to totally messing up. I promise. We can move mountains without God – it’s called dynamite – it ugly and destructive. It’s impatience, selfishness and hurtful. Blasting your way through a mountain to get your way is not His plan.

When questioning His plan and thinking about heading out with our own He allowed us to go through some of the toughest yet most clarifying trials in our life. He hammered us with trials and storms and each brought a clear choice. Each one with very clear consequences. It was then I heard clearly “it’s your will or Mine”. In his grace, He allowed us to see that he was in control, that we have no clue what’s best for us. He knows exactly who we are and how He wants to use us.  We had to choose. Especially since we claim to believe that Jesus died for us – and that we are to spread His story to the world, but we could not be in His will without choosing Him every-time – not just when we feel like it. Every time.

Mountains have moved. Our hearts have moved. Our vision, passion and love have moved. Stone by stone I have seen the mountain move. I am grateful to have chosen Him every step of the way.

God thank you for who you are – we truly do get to experience Paradise with you, here on this earth if we simply seek and trust you. Thank you for calling us to a place where relationships are first – with You & with others. Thank you that we are on our way to being totally who you created us to be. Thank you for using us.

Wow, great article posted front page on the Sunday, October 11 Houston Chronicle Newspaper. “Praise for Technology: Tweeting during church services receives blessings from pastors.” Really excited that Pastor Kerry jumped in and is experimenting with new technologies and connecting with the congregation. I am still amazed and how church is viewed and how this sort of thing might create controversy in the public. Check out the comments and the rest of the article here: http://www.chron.com/disp/discuss.mpl/metropolitan/6662287.html

Seems to be a bit of a controversy Tweeting in church. What do you think? Cast YOUR VOTE. Also, fun note: just got off the phone with my other half and she said this is the main article on the front page of the printed edition!! Amazing. Give a quick hello to Pastor Kerry via Twitter and maybe follow Woodlands Church if you want to track with us.

Great article! Your comments and thoughts can be posted via the huge button below.

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named… be strengthened with power through His spirit in you and the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith.”

Ephesians 3:14

Thank you for today. You are our Father and you only want the best for us. Sometimes you let us see it through our choices or possible choices. Our hearts can be filled with so many things. Thank for time enough to slow down to make sure it is you.

Sitting Poolside at The Woodlands Resort and Conference Center. Beautiful place.

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Here it is, for a FREE website/logo/bc design pack all you have to do is tweet:

Post any questions for the contest here! Cya. Looking forward to creating your new site/logo/businesscard design!

READ ARTICLE HERE @time http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1902604,00.html

The summer internship that is hotter than your mom’s dog. NO LIMITS INTERNSHIP PROGRAM 2009. If that makes no sense to you at all and you still want to jump in and contribute/learn design, marketing or internet (and ministry), begin shopping here: http://www.woodlandschurch.tv/nlip – Apply early and often, three spots go quick. Cya.

Oh yea, be ready to submit your work online. If you don’t have an online portfolio you can upload some images or art to any one of these: http://www.creativemyk.com or http://www.flickr.com or http://www.tumblr.com/.

I am chilling at Panera Bread this morning before my son’s school dedication and award ceremony. He mentioned last night right after baseball that he was supposed to present an award this morning at school. Myra and I had not heard a thing about it but apparently the school was holding a dedication ceremony and presenting an award to W. Lloyd Meador this schools namesake. He was so excited, he looked straight at me and said “you have to be there”.

I am very proud of him. It is interesting how our kids and families help keep us anchored and focused on what is important. Over the past several weeks, some of my best and happiest moments have come from spending time with my family. Thank you God for your reminder of what is most important in this life.

Lloyd Meador Quick Facts from HCNOnline.com

Named in honor of a long-time Willis resident, W. Lloyd Meador Elementary features nearly 45 classrooms and six labs in seven hallways.

Born and raised in Willis, William Lloyd Meador graduated from Willis High School in 1942. His three children, including Precinct 1 Commissioner Mike Meador, all graduated from the school in the top of their class. William Lloyd Meador also served 14 years as a WISD trustee.

Link Here: http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2008/08/28/conroe_courier/news/wisd0828.txt

Ah the good old days. Sam Houston State University. So many great memories. Got the first full-time design gig as a graphic designer with the Student Activities department. I also transitioned studies from Graphic Design to Marketing and Mass Communications and where I met my beautiful wife! Sam was alot of fun in so many ways. On the design side we really got to touch everything from; events, clubs, fraternities, sororities, recreational sports and athletics. Even cooler is SHSU has it’s own printing press, got a lot of press experience back then. Also, I have to throw in Myra and i built our first websites together I guess it was 1996 and the coolest part, the domain name registration was FREE of charge. The Internet was such a strange thing back then!

Check out that sweet logo on #32′s helmet. Yes sir. I designed that bad boy, I guess it was in 1997.

I still remember the day I found out that Sam was looking to redo their logo mark for the athletics department. Thoughts of the logo being painted on football helmets, jersies and the field was pretty cool I have to admit.

Fast-forward about 5 years and the pizza guy shows up at the front door wearing the new SH/Kat logo on his cap. That next week me, Myra, Blake and now Colby jumped in the car and headed up to Huntsvegas (Huntsville) and picked up some new gear. I am always tempted to send some apparel art and get it on the racks. Maybe we can get a design contest started for best use, most creative and most popular apparel and part of the proceeds go towards SHSU Art Program college scholarships!

link here: http://www.shsu.edu
logo here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Houston_State_University

From Boston.com “News Stories in Photographs”. These are actually the first photos I have seen since Hurricane #Ike hit. Our power was out up until yesterday and the local news is not covering the story as much now.

“In its brief lifespan of only 13 days, Hurricane Ike wreaked great deal of havoc. Affecting several countries including Cuba, Haiti, and the United States, Ike is blamed for approximately 114 deaths (74 in Haiti alone), and damages that are still being tallied, with estimates topping $10 billion. Many shoreline communities of Galveston, Texas were wiped from the map by the winds, storm surge and the walls of debris pushed along by Ike – though Galveston was spared the level of disaster it suffered in 1900. “

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/the_short_but_eventful_life_of

Highway 242, The Woodlands, Texas – Waters Receding, on my way to Saturday Night services just after Hurricane Ike moved north.

Hurricane Ike Hit us Friday Night with about 70 to 100 MPH winds; trees fell, power went out and life seemed to stop for about 24/48 hours. Woodlands Church however pushed forward and held services as promised Saturday evening at 6:00pm. About 400 brave people decided join us for services (without power) in the Chapel in The Woods. Pretty cool service actually. Afterward we held sign-ups for those who needed help with trees, food, water, ice, etc and those who were able to get out early and start helping. Since then we have cleared over 100 homes of trees and debris, distributed over 50,000 meals, hundreds of thousands of bottled water, not sure about the hot meals, I think about 15,000 to 20,000 so far and we are just getting started.

Check out more information on what we are doing to help the community get back to par.
http://www.fotw.org/main/connect/churchimpact/