alexschwindt.com

reengage

Hey everyone.  I know it's been a few weeks since I've posted anything here.  The long and short of it is that I've allowed my life to completely become unbalanced by saying 'yes' to too many things.  Luckily nothing blew up in my face too badly, but yes, I do know that I've neglected this part of my life.  Thanks to those of you follow this closely enough to notice. 

a million miles in a thousand years review

This isn't going to be an objective review.  I tried writing that, but I just can't do it.  To write a critique of Donald Miller's writing would sort of be like critiquing myself, my life and my generation.  Not that I, or anyone else in my generation for that matter, can write as well as Donald Miller.  We can't.  But Miller is doing more than simply writing books or collections of essays.  In many ways Miller is writing the story of my generation, and every time I read a new book of his I'm reminded just how much he's writing about me. 

There are a few artists who come along every decade or so who do more than make pretty pictures, entertaining blockbusters or top 40 hits.  They are artists compelled to create work that will tell the world something about who we are as human beings, that will explain for future generations what it was like to be alive and engaged in this unique moment in time.  They are the voices of their generation.  John Mayer is one such artist.  Donal Miller is another. 

who I am, not what I do

So this blog is supposed to be about life, art and God, and I'm realizing I haven't been writing much about the journey lately.  The past year has been difficult for me in some ways.  Any time you step back from something you love (in my case being a worship arts pastor) there are bound to be some echos of longing for your old life.  The great thing is that God never stops growing us right in the hear and now.

I am more than what I do for for a living.  Finding the living, breathing reality of that truth has been extraordinary.

why I don't twitter

Yeah, this is pretty much why I don't twitter.  Not that I have people who I boss around, but just because it seems so unstoppably vapid. 

(props to dave ferguson)

the most important question

Over the last ten years I've had the chance to talk with numerous churches and leaders about reaching my generation.  I used to tell them that postmoderns weren't interested in what you could prove was true; they wanted to know what works for you.  It think John Burke has gotten closer to the real heart of the question being asked.  He puts it this way -

Postmoderns don't care about what's 'true'; they question they are asking is 'Do I want to be like you?'

Does that question rattle you?  It definitely messes with me a little, mostly because I think it's right on the money.  And so I have to ask if there's anything about me that would stand in the way of sharing the Gospel with my life . . .

saturation point

"Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh." - Ecclesiastes 12:12b

Lately, I've been reading a lot of books.  Books about ministry.  Books about the Bible.  Books about church planting.  Books about leadership.  Books about theology.  Books about culture.  

By and large these have been great books.  Many of them have been recommended by friends, and most of them have been really helpful.  Some of them have been encouraging.  A few of them have been outright inspiring.  But I'm starting to get a little bit warn out. 

One of the great points about this time in my life is learning about who God's created me to be.  And learning about what he's created me to do.  I love the action, the orthopraxy of The Commission.  Reading a great book makes me want to move. 

What's hard for me is reading 10 books and being patient.  Anyone else ever felt that? 

kingdom come at starbucks

So I was at Starbucks this afternoon.  The woman making my coffee behind the counter was someone I'd recently struck up a friendship with.  She asked me what I was up to, and I told her I was taking a couple of hours to read and pray about church planting.  As she handed me my coffee she pointed out another patron in the shop who was an Episcopal priest launching a new church plant himself. 

Of course, this was just too interesting of an opportunity to pass up.  I pulled up a nearby chair and began to engage the priest in an interesting and animated conversation about church planting and Overland Park.  Maybe ten minutes later another person sitting nearby had joined out conversation.  A couple of minutes after that two high school juniors joined our conversation to tell us about the Saturday bible study they had started last weekend.  Before the conversation was over, even one of the baristas had taken their break, grabbed a coffee and pulled up a seat to tell us about his church experience.  It was the Kingdom come, right there at Starbucks on a Thursday afternoon. 

So here's the encouragement for today - next time you're hanging out at your favorite coffee shop (like "It's a Grind" on 151st), make sure to keep your eyes and ears open.  I know it's awesome to power up the laptop, fire up iTunes, pop on some great headphones, left-hand clutch a double-mocha chai and get lost in a good book.  That's some goodness, but it's not worth missing a Kingdom moment.  So heads up!

dog tired

There are a few things in life that I never seem to be able to move out of the life-lesson-in-box.  One of those things is learning to balance my life.  For most of 2008 was doing a great job with this.  But then I started a new job.  At the end of November.  The week Church of the Rez kicked off it's Christmas series. 

So for the past five weeks I've been running and working like my hair's on fire.  Moving in.  Getting unpacked.  Learning a new job, a new operating system, a new editor.  Learning to find my way around KC.  Making new friends.  Knocking out a full-time class load.  Attempting to do the best work of my life while I do all of that other stuff. 

Trying to balance all of these things really pushed me to the limit of what I was capable of. Last week I was literally experiencing chest pains and headaches just trying to live up to my expectations of myself.  The plan was to just make it through to Christmas, so I could have just one day to do absolutely nothing but rest and recover.  Of course, you know the thing about plans . . .

On Christmas day this year, my poor wife and kids were completely knocked out with the flu.  I ended up spending the entire day taking care of all of them (which I really was happy to do).  What that meant, however, is that today I'm back into the full work swing again having not rested yet at all.

In 2008 one of my goals was to achieve a life balance that would accurately reflect my own personal values, not anyone else's.  So I guess that will be a 2009 thing too.  And this year I'm going 12-months for 12-months. 

Anyone else working on this?

change is good?

Since I was 18 years old, one of the mainstays of my life has been my old leather backpack.  Sometimes it carried textbooks.  Sometimes lunch.  Sometimes baby bottles.  Eventually, it started carrying my laptop.  It became a sort of through-line for all of the steps, both little and big, in my life.  I loved my backpack.

A couple of weeks ago, I had to replace my old beloved leather backpack.  There were things I needed to carry that that old pack couldn't fit, and so I had to get a new one.  It wasn't necessarily something I would have chosen, but it needed to be done.

And you know what?  The new one's not as bad as I thought.  It's actually lighter and stronger, and it feels a lot better on my shoulders.  It provides better protection for my new Mac laptop (which is another post entirely).  Basically, it's better for me right now.

There are a whole lot of things in my life that are changing now.  Some things I really wish hadn't changed did.  But a lot of the changes have been better than I thought.  Some of the changes have been sublime.

I'm not sure about the future.  There are so many paths God may lead me down, so many doors He may open.  But hopefully right now, today, I can learn to hold on a little more loosely to the backpacks in my life. 

back in the swing

Hey everyone.  So it's been a while since I've posted anything to this page, and I'm thinking it might be good to try getting back into the swing of blogging.  A lot's happened in my life over the past six months, not the least of which has been us moving to Kansas City a couple of weeks ago.

There are so many friends we have all around the country, and I hope this will get back to being a way I can stay connected.  Feel free to leave a comment below and say 'hey' . . .