New Years Eve Post

One of my favorite things about blogging is writing a new years post!

This year was ridiculous....Many changes that seemed bad at first and ended up being good.

Got engaged to an amazing woman who I am looking forward to spending the rest of my life with.

Learned to trust that God has a plan and not to worry about things happening in the moment as much.

Looking back, overall it has been a pretty amazing year. Full of changes, growth, maturity and undeserved blessings. (emphasis on that last part) One that I am sure a lot of people will never forget....myself included.

New years resolutions? Hmm....To make myself more bold for Christ,(and in life) to be an amazing husband, to go to a real live race.(<--- random, I know)

I hope you have had an amazing 2010!

A Fascinating Tweet.

I refuse to use Twitter.. I feel the website would be more appropriately named "Stalkers R Us," nevertheless, I read a pretty awesome tweet earlier in the month. Kudos to Allan McCullough for writing it.



Joy, Fulfillment, Purpose. Are these your only reasons for following Christ? We must remember that these are not a CAUSE, they are a FRUIT.


There was one following that tweet about our walk with Christ being US centered and not CHRIST centered. Point being that as we mature as Christians, our focuses should shift. I can honestly say it has changed how I view things...

That is all, New Year Post to come!

Updates

So it has been awhile since my last post...which is sad because I learned since starting this thing that I love to write. On to updating the reader with recent happenings of life....

1. Wedding planning is going very well...I think? Lots of amazing advise from recently married couples helps alot.

2. God has answered many prayers lately....I'm very thankful. I have tried to include the phrase "if its your will" to all my requests...I feel alot of people get upset when prayers are not answered when it may just simply not be the best thing for them...

3. I still miss northern VA...(I may mention this every post) but it has gotten alot easier lately. Good people in my life helps with that!

4. This Christmas season is much better then last for me. I still don't like a majority of Christmas movies though....I love everything else about Christmas, but the movies for some reason are completely uninteresting to me.

Speaking of, I will more then likely be shopping on xmas eve....why you may ask? Because it's fun....I love the pressure and chaos of waiting until the LAST day...:)

5. I don't think I have cared as little about football as I have this season...Which is odd because I used to be really into it.

6. I have recently been wondering how much of the bible is lost in translation. I'm sure nothing God would want us as English speakers to know....but, I have always felt the bible is worded awkwardly in the English language and wonder the beauty of it's original word construction.

7. Video games have been fading fast in my life sadly....its gone from any game I can sit down and enjoy, to I can only play games that take years to develop and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to make. One such genre of video games I really really enjoy is car racing simulators, I love them, Look forward to their release dates, and research them before they launch. One such game that recently hit the shelves is Gran Turismo 5...The game does have its flaws but I am overall impressed! Maybe I'll do a few video game review blogs...

8. Why is it that everytime I tag God in my blogs, blogger forces it to be a lowercase G?...I am not a fan.

Anyhoo that is about it...MERYY CHRISTMAS Y'ALL!

Influences-Work

So as probably alot of you know, I (somewhat) recently started a new position with the company I work for, Genesis Fiber Optics.

It has been a ride to say the least, but I LOVE it nonetheless!

To backtrack a little, for the past oh....6 years or so I have been one of the guys in the field. (doing things like fiber repairs, inside splicing/installs/troubleshooting and so on)

Right around mid-way through my DC experience I started to hate it....like, really hate it. I didn't look forward to work, tried to come in as late as possible and leave as early as possible. I hated the company we worked for, the 24/7 on-call schedule,...pretty much everything about it. BUT, the job provided such an amazing life outside of work I told myself "it's ok if I don't LOVE my job...
I can tolerate it for what it provides."....ugh, what a mistake.

The problem with that viewpoint (as I see it now) is that eventually, doing a job you hate (no matter what it provides) kills you as a person. I've seen some scary examples of what a person can turn into after years and years of a passionless profession.

Work is one of the more influential of all my influence topics I will write about. It's what you do with most of your day, and will ultimately play one of the biggest roles of who you are as a person.

One of the things I did (and would highly advise against doing) is lie to myself about my honest views of what I did were, mixed with the false belief that I could do nothing else. I think another popular lie is to do what you hate for your family/kids/spouse Etc. I mean, not say there are crappy temporary jobs out there (there definitely are) but to realize they most certainly are temporary. (While also rejoicing that you have that temporary job.)

To work and provide for your family is not only what we are called to do as men, (if you happen to be of the gender) but also honoring to God. However, I don't believe it's in His plan to have us do this with no passion for our profession because ultimately, it leads to no passion for anything else in our lives....(I mean, it makes sense right? It's what your doing for most of your day)

God doesn't want us to be miserable
Deuteronomy 15:10
Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.

What made me come to this realization of what I did and didn't love, came about by me doing something I actually enjoyed (as of now, Admin and AP/AR) and compared it to how I felt doing something I did not....Unfortunately I am rather hard-headed and if God didn't allow that opportunity for me, I would have likely kept right on going till who knows what happened....

My brother Paul (actually I am sure this is a fairly popular quote) loves to say that "if you do what you love, you never work a day in your life." Seeing people do what God has designed them for, I believe it. I know for sure God has gifted each one of us uniquely to play the part of furthering his kingdom....and doing so, brings the kind of joy every single one of us was designed to desire, not the happiness the world says you need.


1 Corinthians 12:12-13
The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

Affianced/Betrothed/Husband-to-be, And Other Such Fun Synonyms

SO.....Last Friday (the 15th) I asked this amazing woman Jen Catalfamo to marry me on the beach of Virginia.....And she said yes!

1-What?? Nice!
2-I am one lucky man.
3-Welp, looks like I'll be getting THAT resized.

Up to this point, as I witnessed close friends getting engaged, planning a wedding....I always wondered what thats like. Whats it like to go to marriage counseling? To make a guest list? Have a registry, start a knot page? (link to come soon!) and MANY other things involved in this amazing event. I have heard things like "This is the most stressful thing anyone will ever endure." To "It's an amazing blessing for 2 people to go through." and just about everything in between.

I feel we as people tend to over-hype many things in our life which ultimately leads to disappointment....and while I tried not to do that before our engagement, I can say for me personally, this has lived up to every ounce of anticipation I tried not to muster up :)

I LOVE planning this with my future wife (and yes, I understand some things are just not fun to do...) I love that we both want to honor God in as many ways as possible in our wedding, and show others exactly what were about as a couple.

I love that we're both about a short engagement...:)

While I'll try and not make this blog about the things I love, I will make a point that God has clearly....CLEARLY blessed me with what I do not deserve (in many areas of life) and one of my goals in life is to honor him through marriage and a family...(eventually!)

Through this process, whatever it may look like for us, I'm pretty much one excited man who has much to learn in the marriage department....:)

The Difference

So I have read a few posts lately and want to copy their particular style of writing just once....here we go.

-I hate Canadian Geese. I mean really, they are the most arrogant animals in all the animal kingdom. Infact, if a flock of them were to cross infont of my vehicle, I wouldn't hit them obviously, but I would not feel bad about honking my horn and maybe throwing some sort of non-harmful substance at them.

-I like to wake board. alot. I have an amazing family and an amazing brother who taught me how.

-I am VERY curious about the afterlife. I think/hope one of the first things I do is thank God face-to-face for everything he has given me that I don't deserve.

-One of my best friends works in the discovery building in silver spring MD that had a hostage standoff today. God was amazing and gracious enough to allow the police to end it without any hostages being hurt....to quote my mom on the end result-"God is good!"

-Jen is moving down in the end of the month. It was a semi-stressful situation that thankfully has worked out.

-I miss NoVa....less since getting more plugged in down south, but it will always be my second home.

-I have been blessed with an awesome CG (community group) and they have since reaffirmed my suspicion that whatever church I go, to God leads me to the best people in it :)


-I am joining a gym with the overall goal to bike 100 miles in a weekend.

-I feel i know some people who are epic enough to be on tv. I really think that one day, as I am flipping through the channels, I will see these people and be totally siked.

-We are under hurricane Earl watch (or maybe warning now...) and I couldn't be more excited...I LOVE storms!!! I want to (but have been heavily advised not to) go stand on the beach for such an experience.

That is all....until next time!

Investing

I went to what our church calls a "house party" recently. Basically it's what you go to to get involved in a small group.

One of the things that was mentioned/stressed was the importance of A.commitment to your group and B. Investing your time into their lives.

It made me think alot about investing my time. How important it is for me to invest wisely, and what it actually means to do so. I kind of have been all over the place recently in alot of different areas of my life and I feel I need to hone in on the importance of what it is I'm actually doing down here.

When I think about investing, I guess if I were to answer honestly the idea itself turns me off and I immediately think of a faster, more efficient way to accomplish the same goal. But when it comes down to it, I need to realize there just is no other way sometimes then slowly going through the necessary motions, and investing your time for a greater goal then what would otherwise be accomplished by going the quicker route.

I feel this is especially true for God's plans in your life. He loves to teach me patience, especially the consequences of not having any. Not waiting on him, and investing my trust and time on what He has planned rather then what I do....

I think the idea of investing is pretty unpopular for most. Why wait when you can get what you want NOW? But if you look around, generally in life not waiting is what gets you in the most trouble and is usually the worst product compared to the same thing that takes time to make (Food, relationships, any sort of creation)

I have realized lately that investing my time and trust into what God has planned for me was definitely the wise thing to do. He required some action on my part of course, but also alot of trust in the sense that if I keep looking for the right church He will provide it for me....I dunno, pretty exciting to see that happen TWICE in life now :)

A note to new Christians about investing: I think that, as with any other relationship, it takes investment of time to get to know this awesome savior. I remember how hard it was for me to understand who Christ actually was and not what I heard/assumed about Him. As you draw closer to god, God draws Closer to you. (James 4:8) and in time I got a little clearer picture what Christ-like love looked like in day to day life.

Settling

Been awhile! Life has been rather crazy these past 7 months (I can't believe we're over half way through the year already.) and I finally feel God is settling things in my life....ish.

For starters I am working a new position in my job. Very excited about it! I think that might be a first as far as job things go....I feel much more motivated to have a firm grasp at what I am actually doing. I guess I never realized this until I started the new position.

Me and Jen have found a church we're both pretty excited about as well...Also something I wasn't really expecting. (Which I should know better you would think)

All in all I feel things are coming together quite nicely!

Influences-Music

Part two of my series of influential things. This time around its music.

The question for me on this topic is what do I think about when listening to a song? Unfortunately I can never just listen to music per say, but a song will almost always spur on a thought branch where I end up more thinking to a song that will towards the end become background music.

Depending on the type of music I listen to will influence what I think about, and thought life is essential

Like some sort of weird filing system, I associate events, people, times, places, and seasons of life to music. Heh. A few select people in the world knew me at a time where my music choices were....less then substantiate. I remember in those times how not ok my thought life was.

I think music is one of those things that work both as an influencer and a reflector of what has influenced you in life. As life changes, its interesting to see how my tastes change. Infact, I keep alot of old music around that I never listen to anymore to remind me where I came from, and to laugh at myself....:)

I guess as your goals change as a person, you listen to music that support your thought life and lifestyle....

I love to know what kind of music friends listen to! It's a great indicator of what kind of person they are.

One of the main ways I worship is with music. I believe this is what music was created for, to give praise to God. When church hunting (I am currently in the process of replacing the word "shop" with the word "hunt" to imply manliness) one of the main things I just couldn't overlook was how the worship was. Every church worships God differently, but I'm glad He lead me to one that I really enjoy. Even this blog is named after a song.... permeates everything about me, and influences my thought life, mood, and day.

Thats it I suppose...Till next time!

P.S. Read this its pretty awesome, and written by a key influencer in my life :)

Influences-People

Have you ever stopped to evaluate who/what influences you? People can and do go entire lifetimes without ever noticing one of the biggest influences of all, people.

As with almost everything in life, I feel I have a choice, and one of the most important decisions I will ever make is who I let influence me. I love observing what/how people make decisions. What factors go into their decisions. I think that's how I pick who influences me, how they live their life and what kind of decisions they make.

Another route I took in my younger years is the mistake of not consciously picking my close friends, and letting them pick me. It's very important whos opinion you value, because that person or persons are likely to be your close friends.

I feel it's SOO important to choose because of the tree of events that sprout from those who influence you. Chances are you will have similar thought patterns and decision making habits (atleast I tend to anyway) and that will pretty much decide how you live your life! Crazy when I think of the implications....

There are those in my life who are my friends for sure, but sadly, I cannot allow them to influence me in anyway. (And its funny how THAT leads to a path of mistrust and uncertainty with those people)

Not just anybody should be my close circle of friends, because whether I realize it or not, they will have an impact...for bad or good. (I think this is true for others as well.)

I am very thankful God has put many an amazing people in my life who have influenced me to be a much better person then before I met them....and Know He will do the same in my new home. I just have to make the right choice....that's what it all can be traced back to, a choice.

-Sean

Relationships

I love summer! I'm fairly certain my brain operates slightly faster in the warmer weather. But it is 100+ degrees outside at the moment....good time to write I think.

Life has been very busy lately. Plugging back in to the hampton roads area is an ongoing process....but it is progressing.

Onto a somewhat random topic that has been on my mind lately-relationships. From what I have experienced...not an easy venture in a man (or woman's really) life. Taking time, devotion, sacrifice, and patience (to name a few) to become successful.

Another thing I have noticed is how good relationships are always SO awkward in the beginning! It takes time and effort to become the kind of couple you probably had in mind when first starting.

FYI-Starting a relationship with Christ is very similar. Slow change from the inside out. I think alot of people feel with both relationships and Christianity that when you first start such things there's this instantaneous life changing moment where nothing is the same and everything is amazing from that moment on....Nope. I mean, some people start a relationship with God with the life changing moment, but I think for the most part it's a constant, slow, process that requires you to keep coming to Him.

Now that I think about it, pretty awesome to see how similar the two are. How awesome it is to see that when you allow God to steer you on His path, everything else falls into place. (not to say you get whatever you want yada yada)

A pretty good example of this is two friends of mine who recently got married. It's very clear to see how Christ-centered their relationship is, and it encourages me to have Christ in the center of mine. Congrats Brittany and Joel!

Relationships are clearly what a good amount of my friends desire. It's sad to see desperation take its toll though....desperation causes settling for anyone willing to be in a relationship with you.....not good stuff. Not to imply to wait for the PERFECT person....but that at the very least a set of standards is crucial.

On a happier note though alot of my friends are single and just fine with it (or are looking with a set of godly standards for their mate) and yes, it definitely takes longer, but once you find that woman God has in mind, its worth every second of the wait...trust me I know :) Hope this makes sense in some way or another....

-Sean

Treasure

As the name implies, what do you value in your life? Whats a treasure....something you sought for a long time and would be crushed to lose? Something you value but not just for a short time. The word treasure I feel implies long lasting value.

I realize there are many treasures in my life, and I bet there are a lot in yours if you look for them...as simple as being thankful for something.

One of my treasures I got to experience this past weekend was an adventure with some amazing friends from Nova. Catching up, boating, wakeboarding, and having conversations that make you think about very important things.


I cannot urge you enough to be thankful and consider the treasures YOU (not you compared to someone else) have. Some time and consideration will reveal what gifts God has blessed you with in this life.

On another completely random note; have you ever stopped to consider how active God really is in this world? How easy it is to miss it? I was talking to an old friend who recently got back from a mission trip to a third world middle east country and was simply astounished at how much God has used him over there. Subtle ways in individual lives. Nothing that would ever make the news or seem to have much of an impact at all but in truth...has a monumentous impack in the eternal kingdom. One treasure to consider is how God has not forgotten us. He is slow to anger and quick to guide us in His plan!

-Sean

Beginning of Something Amazing.

Life has been very busy lately (as I am sure most can relate) and I am very thankful for the rest Memorial day weekend provides.

Not to brush past the importance of this holiday, lives have been sacrificed so we can go have barbecue's, drink a beer or two, and enjoy the beginning of summer. It's horrible to hear about the stories of soldiers dying and in a fleeting moment you feel bad for their family and friends (I myself am guilty of this) and forget about it the next day. (heck, the next hour)Such a loss is NEVER forgotten among their relatives. I like to think God has a special view for those who sacrifice everything to protect others.

I think my summer will be spent less enjoying (atleast in the sense of the past summers I have had) and more plugging into my seemingly permanent home. God, through friends in NoVa, has prepared me for something amazing down here....

This weekend will be different from most. I'll be ACTUALLY relaxing as opposed to going somewhere...should be nice I guess. Too bad I always feel the incessant need to do things (thanks DC!)

I am excited to check out a new church this weekend though....lots of church-shopping lately with little results. Maybe too many choices is a bad thing? Rest assured if I was in the mountains and there was one church in 50 miles, I'm sure it would fit my criteria. But, God likes us to have choices, for which I am thankful.


Beginnings excite me.
-Sean

P.S On another very random note: my favorite TV show to date is Lost. I just watched the series finally and I really enjoy huge psychological twists that make you think in order to keep up....I highly recommend! Half tempted to write my theory but won't....

First New Blog In a Long Time

Now that I have things up and somewhat running I suppose I should write something!

I'll write about my weekend in NoVa...pretty amazing really. It involved lots of time with Jen, a sweet airshow (which frankly puts a Hampton Roads air show to SHAME), a birthday party with my old bible study leader Mike (who chugged the last bit of a vermonster....don't ask.)Tennis with some friends in the afternoon and Frontline afterwards....reminiscent of the life I miss :)

Not to complain though, God has brought me back to the 757 for a reason...what that reason is I'm not sure yet but I continue to seek it out.

On a random sidenote: the name of my blog is after a song by Phil Wickham....Check it out.

In other news I feel this year has gone by very fast so far...I suppose change will give that illusion though. Lots of changes both taken and will take place soon. It's very easy to become disappointed with such change without knowing God has your absolute best intentions in mind. I must let Him take the wheel. He has proven to me so many times in life that what He does in it will turn out for the best in the long run....I expect nothing less this time around.