“Lo, in the twilight days of the second year of the second decade of the third millennium did a great darkness descend over the wireless internet connectivity of the people of 276 Ferndale Street in the North-Central lands of Iowa. For many years, the gentlefolk of these lands basked in a wireless network overflowing with speed and ample internet, flowing like a river into their Compaq Presario. Many happy days did the people spend checking Hotmail and reading USAToday.com.

But then one gray morning did Internet Explorer 6 no longer load The Google. Refresh was clicked, again and again, but still did Internet Explorer 6 not load The Google. Perhaps The Google was broken, the people thought, but then The Yahoo too did not load. Nor did Hotmail. Nor USAToday.com. The land was thrown into panic. Internet Explorer 6 was minimized then maximized. The Compaq Presario was unplugged then plugged back in. The old mouse was brought out and plugged in beside the new mouse. Still, The Google did not load.”

Read the rest here: “In Which I Fix My Girlfriend’s Grandparents’ WiFi and Am Hailed as a Conquering Hero”

If there’s one album that I’ve had on repeat the last few weeks it’s The Great Awakening by Leeland. It’s only $5.99 on AmazonMP3 right now and I definitely think it’s worth it. Leeland’s lyrics always bless my soul and challenge me to greater thoughts of God. After 4 albums I’ve found that Leeland hasn’t lost the wonder of Jesus. Seriously, buy this record–you will be blessed.

I don’t have a Kindle or any e-reader for that matter, but if I did I’d be buying this $0.95 (yes, 95 cents!) copy of The Pilgrim’s Progress. Not sure how long this deal will last, so go get a copy of this wonderful book for cheap.

Buy it here: Amazon.com: The Pilgrim’s Progress: From This World to That Which Is to Come eBook: John Bunyan, C. J. Lovik, Mike Wimmer: Kindle Store.

I sometimes forget how much fun photography is. It’s really easy to get caught up in the latest trends, the great photographers out there, blogs, equipment, etc. and then just simply forget the part about having fun. After I took the above photo I laughed out loud. It was one of those moments where I thought, “I love it!” It doesn’t always happen like that, but apparently it’s the little things in life that really get me going.

I shot this wedding at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica and I was second shooting (assisting) Jen O’Sullivan. I realized later that it was 6 years ago this month that Jen offered me a job shooting for her… geeze, time flies. Here’s a link to a few more photos from the wedding.

The day we moved in went by like a blur. We had actually flown in that morning from Seattle, grabbed the brand new keys to our brand new place, rushed to our apartment to meet waiting friends to help us move, and then head to our new condo. Everything went great that day. Our friends were so helpful, and we were so excited about our new home. But that first night in our condo was…well, the beginning of a long battle I wasn’t ready to fight.

Though we had visited the condo twice before living in it, we never really heard the neighbors in the unit above our lower unit. Maybe they weren’t home when we visited, I’ll never know, but that first night we definitely heard them. In fact, we heard every little step they took. It’s not because they were obnoxiously loud, but the flooring beneath them is old and faulty. What we heard (and still do) are loud creaks and squeaks. Just so I’m clear, here’s a video I took just a week ago (Dec. 15th, 2011):

I’m now an expert in residential and commercial sub-floors. That’s the nature of our problem. The sub-floor in the unit above ours is just old and was poorly built in the mid eighties. Basically, the wood is jacked to the point that it’s pulling the originals nails up and down every time the neighbors above us walk around their unit. That terrible noise we hear are the nails and wood shifting up and down with the weight of the people above, and the only way to fix that is (basically) to rip it up and put a new floor in. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. To save you and me some time, I’m just going to say [insert two-years worth of phone calls, meetings, prayer, crying, etc. here to try and get the ceiling/sub-floor fixed]. You have no idea how much time I just saved you — be thankful.

I only share this with you because I am in a daily battle with what I will believe in: God’s goodness or my flesh. The creaks and squeaks never go away (unless of course our neighbors go on vacation, which is rare), and I often sit in my house just waiting for it to stop so I can keep reading my book or talk to Bethany or fill-in-the-blank. I pray for God to do something, anything to make it stop. It’s a mind consuming reality that I have had to live with for over 27 months now and I know that at least at this point I have done everything humanly possible to make it stop. And tonight (and many other nights) I have been drawn to 2 Corinthians 12 where the Apostle Paul talks about his own circumstances and writes

“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10 ESV)

It’s that last sentence that I just don’t really get. By “get”, what I mean is, I don’t know how Paul can say honestly say that. He’s content with his weakness, and not to mention his hardships! How can he say that? I’ve asked the Lord 100 times (not just 3 like Paul) to take this hardship away and I don’t always feel content. Honestly, I just feel angry at times. Angry, not so much at God, but that I can’t fix it myself. And that’s probably my main problem: I trust my flesh more than I trust God’s goodness to me. I have so much to be thankful for, so many things to praise God for, but I keep thinking about this “thorn” (aka: creaky condo) that I’ve lost sight of the wonderful things God does. You pray for me. Pray that I would have the faith to believe the gracious work of God in all things, even the hard ones. Pray for a fix and that the squeaks would go away. We wake up often because of this noise. It’s not easy, but we trust the Lord’s sovereign plan. We know He’s in control, but we just need to believe it (or at least I do). Pray that when I read “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col. 3:2 ESV), that I would seriously work hard to remember that though the ceiling is “above” me, it’s not what I should focus on. Pray that we would have rest if Christ. I’m tired, and I know in Him is rest.

Christmas Tree 2011 from Shay on Vimeo.

You hear it all the time, everywhere, but you don’t always believe it. “They grow up so fast” you’ll hear parents say in the supermarket, the department store, and while you’re at Starbucks. There’s just something about the speed of life that dramatically increases when you begin to watch your kids grow up. I only have one, but as Titus turned 18 months old today it’s hard not to think he’ll be 18 years old in a short time. He’s got a mouth full of teeth, he’s saying new words every day, and he’s “growing like a weed” (as my dad used to say to me). The last year and a half has been a joy. I’m thankful for my wife and my son as we enjoy the journey called family together.

Dr. Christine Hoff Somers is the author of a new book called, “The War Against Boys.” While interviewing her on my weekly radio program, Generations, she told the listening audience that the modern school is dangerous for boys. It is producing boys that are feminized, awkward, rebellious, or otherwise ill-prepared for life. Only 43% of students attending college today are boys, and that number continues to drop. Schools are increasingly designed for girls. Meanwhile, boys are disenfranchised and disinterested. Removing a boy’s unique purpose and preparation in life, setting him in a girl’s world, and then putting him in competition with girls will only produce devastating consequences for our social and economic systems. Actually, it’s already happening. The number of children born without fathers, where the father is nowhere to be found, has risen from 5% to 35% just in the last 30 years.

Older article, but still relevant. Read the entire article here.

Believe it or not, I wasn’t shooting a wedding when I captured this. I was actually in a wedding as a groomsman for my best-friend Zach, and this girl happens to be one of the pastor’s daughters. They had a backyard wedding reception and there was a tire swing in the very back that the little girl’s were playing on. I couldn’t resist once I saw what they were doing so I grabbed my camera and ran back there. I took about 3 photos and got this one. I was stoked.

Found our son playing in the tub with all of his bath toys — sans water and pants.

I had the privilege of sitting under the teaching Paul Tripp this past weekend at a conference called “Back to Heart of Parenting”. It was a great reminder about the power of the Gospel in parenting and Paul Tripp is a fountain of wisdom and I praise God for his ministry.

He’s been blogging a bit more lately, which I love, and a blog he published yesterday is just a great reminder about the “10,000 moments” in our lives that mold and shape us. He writes,

…biblical Christianity, which has the Gospel of Jesus Christ at its heart, simply doesn’t rest its hope in big, dramatic moments of change. The fact of the matter is that the transforming work of grace is more of a mundane process than it is a series of a few dramatic events. Personal heart and life change is always a process. And where does that process take place? It takes place where you and I live everyday.

Later he adds,

What leads to significant personal change? 10,000 moments of personal insight and conviction, 10,000 moments of humble submission, 10,000 moments of foolishness exposed and wisdom gained, 10,000 moments of sin confessed and sin forsaken, 10,000 moments of courageous faith, 10,000 choice points of obedience, 10,000 times of forsaking the kingdom of self and running toward the kingdom of God, 10,000 moments when we abandon worship of the creation and give ourselves to worship of the Creator. And what makes all of this possible? Relentless, transforming, little-moment grace.

Read the rest.

I strongly suggesting following Paul Tripp on Twitter and adding his blog to your RSS Reader.

One of my favorites sites right now is Goodreads. Their “About Us” page describes the service this way:

Goodreads is the largest social network for readers in the world. We have more than 5,200,000 members who have added more than 160,000,000 books to their shelves. A place for casual readers and bona-fide bookworms alike, Goodreads members recommend books, compare what they are reading, keep track of what they’ve read and would like to read, form book clubs and much more. Goodreads was launched in December 2006.

I’ve been using it for about a year now and I’m really starting to understand why I like it so much. The above image is data that Goodreads provides me about the books I’ve read over the past few years, with specifics to the amount of pages. In 2010 I read 1047 pages. So far this year I’ve read 861 pages. I can set goals on the number of books I want to read in a year (I’m hoping for 12 this year), and I can update my “current page” any time I want to see progress percentages and other info. You might be thinking this is pretty nerdy, and yes, it is. But the fun part about Goodreads is you can keep track of the books you own, get recommendations on books from friends, and kind of keep yourself accountable to a good reading schedule. I normally use their iPhone app to update my pages when I finish reading for the day and it’s quick and easy. Also, if you’ve never seen my “Bookshelf”, it’s a complete list of my books embedded in to my website that is automatically generated from Goodreads. Go see for yourself. So if you’re a reader (and I hope you are), then definitely check out Goodreads.

The rest of the episode goes on to show just how the parents “take back their lives” in a pretty amusing fashion. The furniture in the living room is rearranged just the way mom wants it. The dad and mom are high-fiving every time they “take back” another portion of their lives, be it the kind of pizza they order, taking a parent’s night out with friends, not dropping everything to cater to any one of their kids specific/immediate needs, etc. Bethany and I were just laughing in agreement as the parents actually start to rule the home and not let the kids run the place. The kids of course are completely taken back that their parents are now saying “no” and their efforts to plead with the parents to go back to the way things were before simply creates hilarity throughout.

It all reminded me of a blog I read just this week from Jay Younts of the Shepherd’s Press blog titled “Go to Sleep!”. It’s a critique of a new book that tries to humorously discuss why kids just won’t “go to sleep” and are annoying their tired and frustrated parents. The problem is, as Jay Younts argues, “Children were never intended to be installed as rulers of the universe…”. And often this is exactly what they are in families today, rulers of their own schedules, bed times, toy selection, and the like. But there’s already a ruler of the universe — his name is Jesus. And when children begin to rule their own universe (e.g. parents, household, etc.), and when parents reinforce this sense of dominion in the child it will only frustrate everyone involved. That’s why we need the Gospel. Without the Gospel, Jesus doesn’t rule in our hearts and stake the claim He rightfully owns (paid for by His shed blood) in our homes, children, and families. What we end up with is a war for authority of which each little battle is often won by the children who finally win the war.

By the end of the episode both parents finally “give in” to one of their child’s needs and basically go back to their old ways. The furniture is rearranged to the way it was, the parents drop everything to meet their children’s needs, etc. Honestly, they needed balance in their approach, but it’s still sad that they couldn’t stay committed to ruling their home as the authority in the kid’s lives. In the final scene, Franki (the mom) goes outside to get the mail and another mom with a toddler in a stroller are walking by. The child is obviously not happy about something and you hear the other mom saying “What is it honey? Whatever you need I’ll get it for you.” Franki quickly approaches the mom and says, “Don’t do it! Don’t give him everything he wants!” It was a last ditch effort to keep her dream alive of helping another mom change her ways before it’s too late! The concerned mom just gives Franki an odd look, helps her child, and keeps walking down the sidewalk. As Franki stands there watching them walk away we hear her say “She won’t listen”, as if to say “It’s a lost cause. In the end, the kids win. Parents lose.” You’re right, Franki. If parents keep letting their kids rule the universe, it’ll be a lost cause to try and rule your home. It’s only when parents see that their children were designed for authority and limits that blessing will come.