How To Melt Faces One Day

For those of you that attended Avalon’s Christmas services you witnessed one of the greatest musical moments in my life and I just wanted to say a few things about it.

 

I had the privilege of playing “Christmas Eve Sarajevo 12/24” by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra on the guitar with a Mr. Dusty Beach. I was so focused that week on learning my stuff that I didn’t really have time to let the whole thing sink in of what I was actually going to be doing. But now that it’s over I’ve had some time to think about it.

 

I’ve been thinking a lot about when I first started playing guitar and how frustrated I was to not be able to play the things that I wanted to play. I remember the hours and hours I would spend practicing in my room, much to the discomfort of my family’s ears. I remember when I first learned to play “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana or “Today” by the Smashing Pumpkins and how I would just wear those songs out because I was so exciting that I actually learned a song. And a few years later I crossed over to the bass and learned that it can be just as fun to back up really good guitar players as well as be one. I am always excited when I get to see someone wailing on a solo and I’m standing in the back thumping away at a tight rhythm and they get to do their thing. I think I just like being a part of something big. Part of it too was that I never really thought I would be a good guitar player, because mediocre guitar players can make great bass players, and I was fine with that.

 

After we played the TSO songs for the last service I had this memory flashback of when I was sitting in my room trying to stretch my hand to form chords and being very discouraged at my ability that everyone kept telling me was a “God-given” talent. If God has given me this talent, why is it so hard? I would ask myself. Well I got my answer. If I had just immediately picked up the guitar and was able to shred an melt faces then I wouldn’t have been so humbled and thankful to be a part of that service.

 

Newsflash!!! God is smarter than we are.

 

No matter what you are going through and what may seem very discouraging and tough. If you’re being stretched or if literally you’re stretching your hands and fingers, God has a reason for it. Only when we take the time to stop and look around do we see why. And I know it’s a hard pill to swallow at the time, but when you look at it in the grand scheme of things it makes so much more sense.

 

What are you hoping for, what are you struggling with, what is discouraging you? Just tell yourself, God is smarter than I am and do I trust him. If you do, then it’s all going to work out. It may take 13 years of playing guitar, or it may happen sooner than you think, just remember where you came from when that times comes.

 

Peace

 

Denomination Test

A friend at work sent me this test that you can take to determine what Christian Denomination you best line up with.

Take it yourself here.

I took it the first time and was shocked to find out that it said I should be a Seventh-Day Adventist!? I went back through the test to see why and realized that one of the questions asks if Sunday is the preferred day of worship, and if you answer no it will mark you as SDA. I think preferred is a bad word to use, it's really just tradition.

Since I wasn't happy with that answer, I took it again and got Southern Baptist as my number one answer. Needless to say I was devastated.

I took it again three different times with varying degrees of answers and I keep getting Reformed Baptist. So I guess I'll have to settle with that. Here is my top five.

#1. Reformed Baptist

#2. Church of Christ

#3. Southern Baptist

#4. Seventh-Day Adventist

#5. Presbyterian Church USA

Peace

I'm Bringin' Funny Back

Sorry for the long boring posts, i'll put the funny back in soon...

"Scrumtrulescence"

Peace

What is in a name?

Since we found out that Katrina is pregnant again, we’ve been going through all the usual activities. Like, deciding what OBGYN to use and where we’re going to put the nursery and what names we like for boys and girls. This has gotten me thinking a lot about names and what weight they carry, or rather weight they should carry. I don’t necessarily mean the biblical/super-spiritual thing where a child’s name means “God with us” or whatever. I mean more in the heritage part of it.

Let me try to explain better.

Since as far back as I can remember, I have been engrained with Scottish pride. I don’t know why, but my Dad and that whole side of the family have always had a passion for being of Scottish descent. We have records and stories of our ancestor’s journey to the states. They are also proud of the fact that not only are we Scottish, but we are McDonald’s, of the clan MacDonald, Lord of the Isles, from the Isle of Skye. “Be proud of your heritage, son!” is what I’ve been told since birth, I imagine. Don’t get me wrong, I love Scotland and I love my heritage. The “heritage propaganda” worked well on me, maybe too well.

Here is my point.

What is heritage? Your family’s roots and origins, right? And what is pride for your heritage? Being thankful for something that you had no control over? No, it’s embracing the struggles, the successes, the lives, and the history of your origins. And how is that pride carried on? It is carried on through family.

Here is my question.

The McDonald sides of my family are the most dysfunctional, disconnected, and spiritually disoriented people that I know. Plus, my Father only wants to have a relationship with my family and me when it works for him. So my question is, if familial pride is such a huge part of who they/we are then why do they neglect the “family” that they’re so proud of. I can’t wrap my mind around that rationale. It’s contradictory to say the least.

In conclusion.

I haven’t spoken to my Father (note the use of the word “father” not “dad”) since Nov. 2, my birthday. We didn’t see each other or speak over Thanksgiving for reasons that are too stupid to even write about. I know I am not totally innocent in the faults of our relationship, but I’m tired of playing his game. I look forward to the day when I can pass on the story of the McDonald heritage to my children and when I can pass on a love for all things Scottish. However, I pray that it will be passed on through my love for them and not just passed on through meaningless words.

Peace

Proud to be Protestant

Unfortunately a co-worker of mine passed away last week and his funeral was on Tuesday at a Catholic Church in Stone Mountain. Here are a few of the awesome things that I experienced while I was there. Keep in mind I have never been to a Catholic funeral much less even stepped foot into a Catholic Church before. To say it was eye opening would be an understatement.

Let me also state for the record that I have nothing against Catholic people or the Catholic Church (unless you count the hundreds of years of oppression, forced conversions and murder in the name God) barring that I have no problems.

Anyway, a lot of the stuff I saw I thought was only on TV. Here is a list…

• “Smokey Ball On A Chain” - You know the priest swings it down the aisle like he’s fogging for mosquitoes. Well it smelled like hippie’s B.O. Someone should have told me it was going to burn my nostrils! How can you enjoy a service when there are foul odors? Right, Kelli?

• “Golden Bucket and Dipper” – It’s kind of like a magic trick, he pulls this golden stick out of bucket and only when he flicks it does water… excuse me “holy water” fly out of the end of it. He slung “holy water” all over the casket. Why, you ask, I don’t have a clue. Maybe because he’s the priest and he gets to do whatever he wants.

• “Weird Homely Chick” – We had the privilege of having this weird looking girl lead us in some songs. Well songs may be the wrong word. I don’t know what the term is for completely annoying and high-pitched singing with organ accompaniment. One helpful bit was that she would let you know when it was our turn to sing the chorus by doing the “Miss America Parade Wave” and that was also how she kept us in time. Very resourceful.

• “Stand, Sit, Kneel” – I was actually expecting the church aerobics. This one is pretty standard or so I’m told. I just wanted to yell, “You’re out, Simon didn’t say!” There was a very convenient little padded bar that you could put your knees on. I tried it out, but I still prefer to just pray straight from my heart. Oooh, burn!

• “Catholic Stand and Shake” - The “en vogue” thing to do in church services these days is the “stand and shake”, spreads community I guess and germs. Well have no fear; the Catholics have not let this trend slip them by. The exception is you have to wait until the priest reads a specific scripture, then and only then can you stand and greet your neighbors, but you’re only allowed to say “Peace be to you.” Even if someone has a booger hanging out you can’t tell them you just have to stare at it and say, “Peace be to you, booger… I mean brother.”

There was so much more that I don’t have the time to go into it all.
It has been said that Catholicism is a more intelligent way to worship, well if that is true then I’ll just stay an idiot.

Peace (be to you)

Some Days Are Better Than Others...

Danny Harrison is one of my greatest mentors and he suggested that since I don’t talk about personal stuff, that I should write it down, so…

Get prepared for some personal stuff…

Some of you may know that I feel like I have a calling (burning passion in my soul) to full time ministry, and at the moment I am technically “on staff” at Avalon Church in a very part time status. And as some of you may or may not know I pray every day that I will get that magic phone call telling me that funds have been released and I can come work at the church full time doing what I love to do and leave a trail of smoke from my comfy desk here at Bennett as I run full speed straight to the church.
Some days are better than others. Some times I understand that it has nothing to do with me as an individual and a full time media guy is a luxury that Avalon cannot afford. And there are times when I don’t understand how a church like ours can’t afford not to have a full time media guy on staff when a lot of people decide to visit the church because of a mail out that I designed or decide to come back because of how “professional the graphics look”. Not to say that it’s all under my own power, I have been given a unique gift from God and he is the source of all my creativity and I give Him all the glory for it.
If I am being honest, I get jealous and envious of people that get hired at the church or moved to full time from part time before me. And the reality is that if we are truly a fluid church then we have to address the staffing needs by importance and not by who’s been in line the longest. There are a handful of other positions that the church needs to fill before they should hire a media/graphics person (e.g. – middle school pastor, small groups pastor, etc…) The problem of course is that I get excited thinking that the church is getting close to hiring me, and then for example the middle school ministry explodes and then there’s another major need there.
Another one of my great mentors (Greg Reed) once told me “nothing surprises God”. When you realize this, then you will also realize He is in total control, and He wants you to be wherever you are for a reason. It’s a hard pill to swallow, I know. But it can be very comforting too, to know that the creator of all life is in control of your situation and you're not!
I go to the church on my lunch breaks and go to staff events and retreats and live the fantasy of being one of the “staffers”. Last year when I was between jobs I worked at the church for 2 weeks re-designing all the interior signage. Those were two of the greatest weeks of my life. I have never felt more fulfilled in my work than I did those two weeks.
If Avalon never hires me full time and I stay part time for the rest of my life I will be thankful that I have a great church to call home and that they were gracious enough to allow me to use my talent for God.
Please God keep me from being jealous or envious and help me to be thankful for what I have. Amen.

Whew! I feel better. Thanks Danno.

Peace

Reel Christmas

Ok, so I haven’t posted in a while. Shut it! There are only like 3 people that read this anyway.
Lately I’ve been working on the Christmas graphics and intro video for “Reel Christmas” our new series that starts in December. Ritchie is going to be using some classic Christmas movies to illustrate his points. The movies are…

• National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

• It’s a Wonderful Life

• The Grinch

• Elf

I wanted to make sure I used some clips from these movies in the intro, which was a big step for me because usually I only do simple animations of the static image that I create. So this time around I worked completely backwards and started at the end of the intro and worked towards the beginning and then created the static images from the video. I grabbed the movie trailers of off www.imdb.com and made a “video wall” and animated that bouncing around so hopefully no one will notice that it’s all the same clips just 10 seconds apart. Then I animated the title sequence using a tutorial I found on-line. And when I say I used a tutorial I mean I totally ripped it off because it was awesome just the way it was and it worked perfectly.

Paul McCartney said, “Good musicians borrow, and Great musicians steal”. Well the same applies for graphic designers!

I hope you guys like it, you’ll see the final product in a few weeks.

Peace

Offending Co-Workers is Awesome

So, I offended a co-worker earlier this week regarding his religious beliefs. We were talking about how at Avalon we have Guitar Hero III in the youth room and his response was "Wow our elders would never let us have that! They freaked out when I grew a beard!" I told him I thought that was stupid and that his elders were "elderly" in their thinking because apparently beards are a sign of rebellion?! (According to his elders) At least they were in the 60's and 70's. Then I proceeded to tell him I don't think God cares about what we look like or our beards or length of our hair, he cares about the heart. And that Jesus's whole message to the Jews was that you'll never be able to follow all 8 Billion laws so just love God and your neihbor. I mean if God actually gets upset about our appearance or our clothes then Ritchie is going to hell, because there is now way God can love him when he's wearing his Hawaii shirts!
Well come to find out this guy is "Apostolic". Which is somewhere between Pentecostal and Snake-Handling. At any rate they all wear long sleeve suits every Sunday and the women wear denim skirts to their ankles and don't cut or style their hair and don't wear make-up. His reasoning is that they don't want men of their congregation to lust after the women,...this is where I offended him.
I said, yeah but unkempt chicks with long hair and denim moo-moos really turn me on!
He turned really red and said there was scripture to back him up, but he couldn't go into right now. I apologized later and said I was just joking and didn't mean to offend his beleifs.
I wrote all this to say that I am SO THANKFUL that I go to a true "come as you are" kind of church. At Avalon we focus on changing the hearts and minds of the lost not their wardrobe. I'd be willing to bet you that this guys church hasn't seen a salvation since the invention of the internal combustion engine (17th century) much less a baptism.
Thank you God for calling me to a church that is focused on reaching the lost and isn't appalled at people's appearance, no matter how awful they look in Panama Jack shirts.

Peace

MJ's Thriller, Coffins, and other Sacrilege

As some of you know, I work a full time job as a graphic designer for Bennett and I also work part time for Avalon Church as a graphic designer. Typically I go over to the church on my lunch breaks (because they're right next to each other) and I see what's going on and try to enjoy my break and visit with family and friends (also known as "Guitar Hero"). But what happens is I get sucked into the vortex that is a conversation with Ritchie Miller or I get stopped by some of the staff members and they ask me to design them stuff or help them print something or fix email or what have you. I hear this a lot "Hey, I'm glad you're here...".
Last week was a little different though, I walked into Andrew's office to find Dusty and Kirk planning this past weekend's illustration. The coffin. Thankfully they were gracious enough to include me in on some of the brainstorming. I don't want to brag,...but Michael Jackson's Thriller was my idea. And man was it awesome. The delivery, the sound, the lights, everything worked perfectly! I am still amazed at some of the things we do. At Avalon Church we are constantly striving to be more and more creative and culturally relevant.
I love it.
I want to thank Andrew, Dusty and Kirk for allowing me to be a part of that creative process. I look up to all those guys and I learn from them and their creativity every day.
I love you guys.
If you missed this past weekend or haven;t been to Avalon in a while, you need to come back. I promise we'll blow your mind and your brain and your head.

Peace

Is Anyone Out There?

Hello, and welcome to my blog. This is my first time, so be gentle...
Wow, the second sentence of my first post is already in the gutter. Let me go ahead an state for the record that my posts do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Avalon Church or its staff, which includes my mother, so I am sure she'll having something to say about that.
Anyway, I am going to try and post new stuff as much as I can. My posts will cover a variety of topics; sometimes it may be serious/spiritual stuff or it may be something funny/spiritual, sometimes I may post about Graphic Design or my job or the church or my family or about life in general. So, keep checking in on me and make sure you read Pastor Ritchie's blog and Dusty's blog, they're both very good. However one is better than the other I'll let you decide...

Peace