Last night Rhett and Link (internetainers – see their site here and watch live on the web every Thursday at 9pm EST) were in Ohio for a live concert, so I drove two hours to enjoy the show! They drew a crowd of around 60 and really put on a good show. Thanks to Steve and Brian for hosting these guys and all of us! They won one of R&L’s contests and the prize was a free concert at your home base. R&L were pretty glad the winners didn’t live too far across the globe from North Carolina. You can see a few more photos I shot of the evening over here. If you want to check it out, you can listen to an interview I did with the guys back in April of 2008 on the God’s Mac Podcast here.

It really is pretty amazing that these guys were headed into a career in engineering, but are now full time with their talents on the web. Last night showed that they’re really connected with their fan base. And the fan base is pretty diverse in age, a result of their show, music videos and songs being clean and enjoyable. You’ll definitely want to check out all of their media that is available on their site, and watch for the new stuff that shows up frequently. You’re guaranteed to laugh, and I’m guessing you’ll even enjoy their Thursday live shows just as much. Thanks to R&L for making the flight up here, and for the enjoyable Thursday evening!

PRAYING that God provides great opportunities for R&L in the future. PRAISING God for allowing us all to use our unique talents!

We’ve been going strong (most of the time) since August of 2006 with the podcast over at GodsMac.com. The people, including our guests, those that co-host it with me, and our listening community, have all made it what it is. And this week is no different. It was my pleasure to chat with Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, for maybe 20 minutes. We had a great time chatting about blogging, social media (Twitter), and some really interesting things their organization is doing to lead publishing in the digital age.

At the moment Michael is in Ethiopia with WorldVision, along with his wife, Max Lucado and a few others. He’s definitely an example for other executives with how open he is with sharing his thoughts. During the interview it was powerful to hear him talk about culture no longer being interested in the large corporations, but in hearing from the leaders and people individually.

I’ve included the entire podcast in the audio player below. My friend Lee and I discuss technology, with Michael’s interview starting at the 30:20 mark and the discussion about free will and predestination with Kary Oberbrunner starting at the 50:40 mark.

PRAYING for Michael and the others, as they are in Ethiopia with WorldVision. PRAISING God for the opportunity to have a podcast, allowing people to share from their heart and make a difference.

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I was trying to think of a way to express this post. Then I remembered driving through a few large cities in Texas this month, and seeing some pretty crazy freeways like you see in the picture. It was pretty awesome to drive up the largest of them and look down on all of the crazy traffic. When writing this post I feel like I am standing in the middle of the busiest of all of them, on the busiest and most confusing day of the year.

What is it like to be self-employed and trying to finish too many projects, working a few hours per week with our church, traveling across the country with our family for the 52 Zoos project, going to our girls’ soccer games, having a previous employer approach me about doing freelance work, trying to stay focused on the Digital Disciples ministry here in Ohio, attempting to get back on track with our podcast at GodsMac.com, consulting organizations and friends on various technologies, not exercising like I should, etc. etc. etc.

After returning from those busy freeways in Texas (and some very lonely roads in the middle of nowhere), I’m struggling to get back on track. I’m getting there. It will take time. But my soul needs to get there first. Realizing in Jeremiah 29:11 that my God is there for me. Thanks to Kaye over at EngravedEuniques.com for our family plaque that reminds me of that verse today! Continuing to be insanely thankful for having any work at all coming in, when others are searching for work. To think of the engineers that built those chaotic freeways, and the amazing control their finished product now has over our busy schedules.

I write this to remind myself that I serve a God who engineers every second of my days. He will control, provide and stretch my life how He chooses. It’s my prayer that I hand over each day to Him, and give Him thanks when the sun sets. That’s the joy of following where He leads. It sure is taxing, but I wouldn’t sell this life for anything.

PRAYING for you and the hard days that you go through. I know I’m not the only one! PRAISING God for continuing to get my attention. That shows me He loves me even more.

While preparing for the presentation last week in Seattle, I was reading through a few books. My friend, Kary Oberbrunner, has a book called The Fine Line that really goes deep on studying our worldview / application of faith. I was studying the model that I’ve illustrated for you in the image used here. It’s something I haven’t really given much thought to before.

Some people have tried to tell me that the work we do might be given to us from God, but it in itself isn’t a spiritual practice (sacred). I’ve seen God work through it, so let me shoot that suggestion down quickly. Sometimes I have fallen into the trap of a Dualistic View, believing that I go to church on Sunday to be “Sacred” and that the rest of the week I am left to doing what I do or being “Secular”. That’s not how God made us, and that includes everything we do (1 Corinthians 10:31).

He made us in His image, to go through life as if it were all “Sacred”. If the God we serve has created and is interested in all things, then how can we try to keep Him fenced in to just moving on Sundays? This is one big reason why blogging, service, and fellowship throughout the week are important. It’s the actual practice of allowing God to move in and speak through us all. I’ll continue more in the future with this model. One blog can’t come close to studying all of it, LOL. How have you been able to see the things God has you “doing” as either “Sacred or Secular”?

PRAYING for my grandfather (fell yesterday down a few steps on way out of house, but seems to be alright). PRAISING God for providing new work just yesterday.

I will be sure to list some of the great people that God allowed me to meet, listen to, and challenge while at the BibleTech 2009 conference in Seattle this past weekend in a future blog post. All of the presentations that myself and others gave will be available in MP3 format in a short while.

God really opened my eyes at the conference to the fact that He is moving across the entire globe through technology. So many times I get wrapped up in my own little web that I don’t even try to understand what might be going on at a distance. There are unbelievable things taking place in Switzerland, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Israel, China, New Zealand, and many other countries. Individuals who have given their life to serve God through technology flew into Seattle from those countries to connect and hopefully improve the work our Father is doing.

I’m a few hundred yards behind with my personal workload, but I know God wanted to give me this time and it was very evident as I returned on my flight home. Ramblings will continue to show up about the conference as I blog more. Just thought I’d say thanks for sticking around, and pray as I tighten up my boots and get back to proclaiming Christ online. How is God working this week through you, either online or off?

PRAYING for my brother as he hosts Skillet in concert this weekend in Lima, OH. Dreams will come true, and God will rock the house! PRAISING God for speaking through us all at the conference. His Word is alive and being read, heard and seen by new people every day.