No, those two things don’t go together, but they’re both on my mind.

Usually I write a review on Thursdays, but didn’t end up having time yesterday, so I thought I’d share one today. I was blessed to spend an entire day in an Adobe workshop on Adobe CS2 products. With CS2 comes the Bridge application, which I had previously opened, looked at, and then quickly proceeded to shut down because I didn’t really know why I needed another file browser. Thankfully, my eyes were opened!

We spent a significant amount of time in the morning just on the Bridge, and let me tell you, it was worth it. So, designers, if you don’t use it yet, I highly recommend that you do.

Some things that I am already using:

• Favorites: These are favorite folders that you use on a daily basis that you can specify, and they always are quick to get to. No more digging for files. And since the Bridge shows you thumbnails of every type of Adobe file (.psd, .indd, .ai, .pdf, and probably more), you can see and find your files really easily.
• Metadata: Yep. You can tag and categories all your files. This is beneficial for searching, keeping track of versions, and attaching metadata that is Google searchable to your files. Very cool.
• Compact mode: This absolutely rocks. You can switch the Bridge to compact mode, which then basically makes it a Palette just like in any other Adobe program. It will stay in the forefront of all your applications. You can then just drag and drop any kind of files into any kind of Applicaction. No more having to do file > place all the time!

The bridge has already saved me a ton of time.

Secondly, Brian Bailey, author of The Blogging Church, has just posted a great series on blogging for ministry. Anyone who is getting into the church or ministry blogging world should definitely read these.

Well, I usually don’t write on Sundays, but I just had to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone at Lord of Life for being so wonderful to us today.   My wife and I were so blessed by all of you today.  You will be missed, but remember that we are still in town, and still a phone call, email, or blog comment away from you.

Moving on is difficult, but I am super excited to see where God will take us.  Tomorrow begins a new adventure.

Hey all!

 For those of you wondering, I am still alive.  It’s been a busy week, but God is so good.  I have lots to post on next week and will be back into a regular schedule, but I just wanted to give a heads up that you’ll have lots of posts to look forward to!

Just got back from a night of drama and music to raise money for a youth convention, and boy was I blessed.  God was definitely moving.  The youth room was transformed into a coffee shop, and it actually felt like a real coffee shop.  It was way cool.  More to come…

I went and saw Amazing Grace on Friday with a co-worker. Wow, what a movie. I highly recommend it. It was really well filmed, had great acting, a great story, and lots of great actors. The use of the hymn was slightly cheesy at one point, but that’s really the only complaint I have.

But, sometimes we think that slavery is over because we don’t experience it fisthand in the U.S. Read this post from my friend and coworker. He really shares some great thoughts and challenges.

Many of you have no doubt seen previews for the new movie “300,” the story of where 300 Spartans battle Xerxes and the Persians to the death.  What you might not know is a very cool account in the Bible where 300 men show up much earlier in history.

You can read the whole story for yourself, but I just have to point out how awesome Gideon’s trust in God was.  Gideon was going to ambush the Midianites with 30,000 men, but God said that was too many.  So Gideon told those who were afraid to turn back.  He now had 10,000 left, which was a great number, but God again said it was too many.  So God gave Gideon a sign that the men who lapped water from a river to drink were to separated from the men who kneeled down to drink.  300 men lapped water, and then God said something amazing to Gideon.

The LORD said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the other men go, each to his own place.” So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.” Judges 7:7

God dwindled Gideon’s 30,000 men down to 300, and they ambushed the Midianites and defeated them.

So often we think that we need all of our strength to get a task done, or to face a difficult decision, but we really need all of God’s strength. Today, if you’re struggling, ask God for His strength, I know I have been.

Personal:
I’m doing some more song-writing, plus I found out about a good electric guitar player who might be able to play on a recording.  I’m really excited about this, and hoping for sure that I can get some songs done soon and start recording this summer.  Please pray for diligence as I do this!

*Disclaimer: I am not endorsing graphically violent movies 🙂 Just thought I’d let you know!