To give you an update of what our house church CasaRush is doing, we are going to give out bags of goodness to the men and women on the side of the road. We put our money together and came up with like 8 different things for each bag and we made 40 bags. We’re just 20 people trying to make a small difference.

What is the first thing you think of when you think of a homeless person? My first thought use to be a sun-aged old man with a thick beard, a cardboard sign, rugged clothes and a reflector vest (for those in Tampa). Some people feel lead to give them money or food and some people roll their windows up and make sure they don’t make eye contact or else they might actually feel bad for them. Or they’re frustrated that someone is trying to “scam” money out of them. The make assumptions that the person is too lazy to work and they result to just standing on the side of the road for handouts.

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I use to talk to a lot of homeless when I worked for the Tampa Bay Dream Center. I invite you to step in their shoes for a moment for a day. There are 2 major places to stay the night. Salvation Army and Metropolitan Ministries. When staying at Salvation Army “the Sally”, you have to stand in line to get a voucher for the week in order to stay there. If you get in line too late, you cannot stay for the week and must find a different avenue. All walks of life stay at the Sally. It’s not a safe place to be but it’s not on the street. Your personal items being stolen from you is a typical issue when you’re on the street. You have to go find work and be out of the Sally by 6-7am. Where ever you go, you can’t stay there.

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There are places to get day jobs but as you sit and wait for contractors to bus you out to the job, you realize that you might not get work today. If you do end up getting a job, you get paid minimum wage at best and the labor pool that you were hired through takes upwards of 40% for getting you the job and transporting you to your job for the day. So after working 8 hours hard labor, you walk away with $36 in your pocket. You can make more money on the side of the road begging for 8 hours and you’re not doing hard labor, you’re sweltering in the sun. Either option is very taxing on your body for a small amount of pay. During the week, there are certain places that serve free food but you have to make sure you make it there between the hours they are there. Now that you’re on the other side of town, you then have to make it back to the Sally by a certain hour so you’re not locked out and possibly voiding the week long voucher to stay there.

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Let’s change our view now. My wife was working one of her jobs the other day and talking with a girl she’s worked with for quite some time. This girl tells her that she was having troubles with her roommates and had to move out. Lot’s of financial strain has been put on this coworker and she doesn’t have a place to stay. She has a car, has a cell phone and has 2 jobs (maybe 3 actually) but has been living at the Sally until she can afford to rent her own place. My wife had to pick her jaw up off of the floor after hearing this as her heart now pains for this coworker. She says that she could easily pickup and move back with her family in another state but knows that she should be here and stick it out. She’s gone to college and has a degree but doesn’t have a roof over her head to call her own and she’s going to the locations that are handing out food so she’s able to save as much as possible.

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The Sally is not have very good living conditions on the girls side. She said there are holes in the showers and it’s just rough to be there. To see exactly what each person goes through, my wife and I are going to stay a night at the Sally. She’ll experience the girls side and I’ll experience the guys side (they don’t mix the two there for obvious reasons). We will come back with stories from talking to people there and our unfiltered feelings while being there.

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What can be done about people like my wife’s coworker? I’m still trying to figure that out. My first thought is to have a way for people to donate online or donate monthly and 100% of the money goes straight to an apartment complex (not to anyone’s hands) to pay for cheap housing temporarily for those in need. That and also have updates and stories of the people the money would be given to. People have access to food, people are always willing to give food. People aren’t always willing to give a roof nor a job without a roof. Maybe that would be the one step that can be done in the recovery process.

Two years ago, I began a print broker business called Toasty Print. With tons of promoting, dropping off business cards, post cards, flyers and mass emails, I still got back a limited response for clientele. My largest client came by accident!

I enjoy watching MMA and I took my camera to the events to record the matches. I was contacted by the CEO directly to remove the videos from Youtube or else they would sue me. I went on to explain to him how it would boost search engine optimization if the videos were linked back to their site. So at the next bout, I had tickets to watch the event but this time I was recording video for the sole purpose to boost their SEO! Worked out great for them, worked out great for me. In addition, I promoted my printing company and they were my largest client for about a year or so.

The biggest downfall of the whole business is that I was paying $100 a month to be a part of this printing network. Some months I didn’t even make enough sales to justify the $100 being taken from my bank account. It wasn’t until the large account that I started to get in the positive. I broke away from the printing network, created my own site and started printing with a different printer but at this time, I had lost most of my clients and the printing network consistently emailed my clients to take their business.

It was my first real adventure in business and I will take the experiences and knowledge to apply this towards my next business endeavor.

ShelterBox is a disaster relief charity which provides aid in the form of ShelterBoxes. ShelterBox has responded to more than 75 disasters in almost 50 different countries, including the Boxing Day tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, and the Pakistan and China earthquakes. ShelterBox also has an ongoing project named A Million in Africa, which aims to help one million people across the African continent.

Recently, Shelterbox sent 400 boxes to Haiti. Here’s the video link from the tents set up yesterday in Port au Prince :: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqQpMZUoirA

For those that don’t know what Shelterbox is all about, check out the video below.

I was able to get the chance to go with some friends to Alafia State Park to do some mountain biking here in Tampa, Florida! I have been to Alafia before but we took it a little easier this round as compared to other rounds. To be honest, I push myself a little past my capabilities and usually I end up hurt at Alafia. Don’t believe me? Check out this post here! This time, we were with new beginners so we took easy and intermediate sections.

Check out this 4 minute video for a quick look at some sections at Alafia!

(photo from http://www.facebook.com/therealrobbell)

I watch a lot of Nooma videos hosted by Rob Bell and I love the way he speaks and the way he presents his content. I had the opportunity last night to hear him speak for 2 hours about going through suffering. Here are some of the notes I took on the event:

There are insulators in place in our lives. If you are at a concert hall, see people dressed very well, hear an orchestra playing, see performers wearing outfits for dancing, you’re handed a schedule of the night, then you know you’re at a ballet. If someone handed you a squirrel, it throws off the insulators that tell you, you’re at a ballet.

When fundamental insulators get tweaked, it creates a disruption in your life. When things are comfortable in your life and you have everything in the same schedule, if one thing becomes different then it creates a disruption. The art of the disruption is the fact that you wouldn’t want your worst enemy going through what you are going through but yet you also wouldn’t trade it for the world.

In the movie “Old School” starring Will Farrell, it depicts a character that lives in a typical suburban area living a normal life. Here’s a quote from the movie:

Frank: I told my wife I wouldn’t drink tonight. Besides, I got a big day tomorrow. You guys have a great time.
College Student: A big day? Doing what?
Frank: Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we’re going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don’t know, I don’t know if we’ll have enough time.

The movie goes on to show a boring guy trying to find something to liven up his life. In some strange way, being so comfortable and free of suffering makes us bored. Personally, I started listening to harder music, watching mixed martial arts and some other things after I stopped working in the ministry full-time. If you do not find suffering, you might find yourself miserable.

A man named Scott use to be a high roller promoting nightclubs and fashion events. He was paid to be seen drinking a certain type of drink. Financially, he was set but he was still spiritually empty. Money cannot buy true long-lasting happiness, only happiness for the moment. He volunteered for Mercy Ships which went over to Africa with some doctors to help the sick. While he was in Africa, he saw that unclean water was most of the cause of the sickness. He started charity:water that dedicates 100% of the proceeds to getting villages in Africa clean drinking water. This is a man that found suffering and found a way to help suppress it. Suffering produces solidarity where success and riches do not.

During the first century, the Romans perfected the torturing device used to get their point across. The cross was a way to torture people while keeping them alive for the longest amount of time possible. To conquer cities, they would go and knock on doors and tell people to profess Caesar is lord. If they stood up for what they believed and replied, “No, Caesar is not lord” then they were hung on a cross at the entrance of the city to let everyone know what happens when you don’t profess Caesar is lord. The cross was well known throughout the land during these times as a device for suffering. It’s known as a fashion statement today.

When Jesus was hung on the cross, making a stand against the Romans, the people could relate the suffering He was going through while he was on the cross. The cross was God’s way of saying, “I know how you feel.” God came into this world and felt the suffering that the people felt and screamed alongside us. He understands what we go through.

I own a guitar but I can’t say that I’m really that good. When I hear my friend Caleb play my guitar, the thought runs through my head, “I can’t believe that guitar can make that sound!” I own the guitar but Caleb can possess the guitar. We can own numerous things but we may not possess them. Sometimes we are possessed by ownership. We can possess things but not own them. Rob tells a story of a city in Africa that is full of sickness that he is visiting when he overhears music and a lot of people singing. He goes up the staircase to this room to find people singing their hearts out praising God. Rob asked someone, “What’s going on here?” The man replies, “They do this during lunch everyday.” These people barely own anything but they possess everything. Life comes in possession.

In a sculpting class, there were two groups with two different assignments. One was asked to sculpt as many great sculptures in a certain amount of time that they can. The other group was instructed to sculpt one great sculpture in the same time frame. When time was up, the first group had some pieces that weren’t so good but they had a lot that were excellent. The second group couldn’t mold and make one good piece and ended up with a pile of clay. When trying to master one piece, it doesn’t work. You must fail to succeed. What every artist must learn is that even the failed pieces are essential.

We choose the way we look at the situations in our life and the way we go through them. One day it was raining and Rob’s daughter kept saying, “Stars, stars, stars…” Rob asked, “What are you talking about?” She continued, “Stars, stars, when the rain hits the ground it forms a star. The rain drops like stars.” We choose the way we perceve and handle the suffering in our life.

Did a little racing on an indoor track in Clearwater, FL. This is from my helmet cam. Sorry it’s pointed down a little! It’s hard to tell where the camera is pointing on the outside of my helmet. This is my boss in front of me the whole way!

The night the shuttle FINALLY launched, I was mixing sound for a concert event called Rich Party in Tampa. Right after the event was over, a lot of the people went out in the parking lot of this field of warehouses to try to watch the shuttle launch. Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera were 99% dead and I was only able to snap 2 shots before it quit.

I saw the sky begin to change color and I knew it launched but didn’t know exactly where it would be peaking over the warehouses. Once I caught the first glimpse, I tried to steady my camera on a post and take a long exposure to capture as much light as possible.

Where I am taking these photos is about 130 miles away from Nasa and we had a pretty clear view of the shuttle for about 8 second before the Discovery stopped shooting out the firey ball of flame that we could see from over one hundred miles away. It dipped behind some clouds and then we lost sight for about 45 seconds. When it rose above the clouds, we could only see a tiny light for a short time.

To see a few better shots of the shuttle launch from a closer view, check these links out here:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1457.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sefirephoto/3866089543/

http://twitpic.com/fp2gu

http://www.flickr.com/photos/victoriapictures/3866178445/

Last but not least is a video from the UK where this guy captured the external fuel tanks being released…did I say FROM THE UK??
http://newburyas.wordpress.com/2009/08/29/sts-128-orbiter-external-fuel-tank-pass-over-west-berkshire-uk/

I think there are a few others that would agree the fact that it has rained a bit too much here lately. Last year at this time, there was a ban on fireworks due to the lack of rain. There will not be a ban this year, I guarantee it!

On the way to work this morning, it seemed every street was gridlocked. I couldn’t find a good way to get to work, at all. I thought people just didn’t know how to drive in rain. The problem was on the corner of Westshore and Cypress – my exact route to work. This would be the reason why I couldn’t seem to find one single route to work! It was underwater, about 3 feet under water. Geniuses thought they could float their car across or something. Tow trucks were making bank today. I saw a lady in a pants skirt walking through our parking lot with no shoes on and a flipped inside-out pink umbrella on a cell phone today. Where oh where was my camera!

There were people trying to do U-turns but there was a median holding these low-to-the-ground cars from completing this turn. Their wheels were getting buried in the mud and the concrete barriers were blocking the wheels from moving.

I actually drained my pool down to the “normal” level because I thought I would be able to swim tonight! All to have the entire day soaked with rain. At least give us the weekend without rain…please?

So, I purchased two tickets for U2 along with Muse playing in Tampa, FL October 9th at the Raymond James Stadium. They are going to have a huge claw surrounding their circular stage and wrapping screen. This way they can perform in larger venues. I have the concept to the left here.

For those that know the RayJay, I’m in the 100′s section, row G. That is ridiculously close! I say all this, pumping up the event and realizing that I am not going to be able to go. I have to tickets sent to me from TicketMaster and I will not be able to attend this event.

If you looked on TicketMaster, the entire lower level was sold out within 20 minutes on April 6th when I purchased these. If you are interested in purchasing these tickets, Contact Me and make me an offer. I do have them up on StubHub and I know they will sell well so please do not send offers for $20 each, as they were much much more than that!