andrew dodson

Over the last two months, God has proven His faithfulness to me.  After leaving CLS to pursue BADmedia full time, I was surprised by the number of calls and emails I started receiving – people seeking me to create websites or help them with graphic design needs.  After a few weeks, there was no doubt in my mind that BADmedia could be a full time job.

Along the way, I received a random email from Crossings Ministries.  They were in need of web design help for their side business – 524concepts.  At first, I was hoping they were looking for freelance help, as I was really enjoying working from home (or coffee shops, Panera, and other random places) with BADmedia.  After a few meetings and conversations, it turned into a full time job offer.  As I pulled into their parking lot one day for an interview, a strange calm came over me.  It was as if God was telling me at that moment, “this is where I want you right now.”  A few days later, I accepted their offer to be a web specialist for 524concepts.

The job starts on March 24th and I am fairly excited.  I’ve known the staff I’ll be working with for a couple of years, and they are really great people.  They all love their jobs, and it’s very apparent.  Crossings is a great organization that I’ve always respected.  It will be a tremendous blessing to work for a Christian organization that helps change the lives of kids, teens and adults in significant ways.

Along the way, I will keep reminding myself of one of my favorite verses:

Colossians 3:23 Listen

23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,

Two days ago on Facebook, I came across a new-to-me Bible reading plan.  It was created by Grant Horner, a professor at Master’s College (where John MacArthur is president).  The main gist of the plan is that you read one chapter from ten different books of the Bible every day.  In his description, he says it may take an hour a day, but I’ve done it in less than 40 minutes each of the last two days, and I’m not the fastest of readers in the world.

What I like about the plan is that it gives you such a broad view of Scripture all at once.  Right now – to start – I’m in Genesis, Joshua, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, Matthew, Acts, Romans and 1 Thessalonians.  The next thing that I like about the plan is that it’s not dependent upon reading the Bible in a certain amount of time (one year, six months, etc.).  If I want, I can double up and read two chapters per day.  If I miss a day, I don’t have to catch back up.  It’s a read-at-your-own-pace kind of a plan.

The tricky part of the plan, for me, so far has been using one specific Bible.  I’m the guy with thirty different Bibles, so when I read Prof. Horner’s suggestion to use the same Bible, I spent a decent amount of time weighing my options.  In the end, I’ve decided to use my ESV Journaling Bible.  It’s fairly small, so it’s easy to tote around.  It’s hardback, so it should hold up well to repeated use.  And, it’s meant to be written in, so I can highlight passages and take notes in the margins (and no, I’m not hard core about not writing in Bibles, I just don’t like writing in the ones I own – I keep a notebook/journal instead).

Time will tell if I actually stick to this plan, but it’s actually motivated me a lot the last few days.  Check out the link below for full details.

> Horner Bible Reading Plan

ABC has posted the video of their story on Mark Driscoll at the link below:

ABC Nightline video with Mark Driscoll.

Last night, ABC Nightline aired a story on Mark Driscoll.  Overall, I thought it presented Driscoll as he is – a little bit edgy, and someone who pushes the envelope (not in a bad way).  I couldn’t help but think while I was watching it that ABC was trying to make him look like a loon, but they just couldn’t.

Here is a link to a print story on their website:

ABC News: Pastor Dude’s Mega-Church Draws Crowds.

If I can find the video on YouTube, I’ll post that as well.

There is snow on the ground right now, and that is a very good thing.  We didn’t end up getting as much as expected in Frankfort, which is a bummer.  I was pretty anxious for the possibility of eight or nine inches of snow.  Oh well.

Snow days seem to be a good day for everyone to catch up with life.  I was just on Facebook and noticed a lot of my friends uploading pictures, videos, changing their profile pictures, and updating their status to the likes of “I didn’t go to work today, so I’m cleaning the house.”  I figured I’d use part of my snow day to post on the ol’ blog.

As of a couple of weeks ago, I am now a full-time freelancer.  After four and a half years, I decided to leave CLS.  I enjoyed my time at CLS, but really felt like it was time to pursue either BADmedia full-time, or see what other web and graphic jobs are out there in the world.  So far, I’ve applied for a few full-time jobs, but haven’t landed anything yet.  If I am offered a job, it will be a tough decision to choose between the security of a full-time job, or the freedom of freelancing.  I have really enjoyed freelancing for the past few weeks, and it’s been amazing to see God’s faithfulness in this time.  Despite leaving a good full-time job, I’ve been able to get by for the month of January, with jobs continuing to line up for February.  God is good.

In a way, every day has become a “snow day” for me.  I am able to set my own hours and do the work when I want.  I can work from coffee shops, restaurants, parks, bookstores, libraries – anywhere with free Wi-Fi.  It also means I no longer have the option of saying, “I’ve been too busy to blog.”  Hopefully that means I’ll be able to post more often, which I will enjoy.  Enjoy your snow day!

Christmas and New Year’s came and went very quickly for me this year.  One of my least favorite responses to the question, “How are you?” is something to the effect of saying I’ve been busy.  Seems that everyone is busy these days.  But, I can’t remember having a busier December than 2008.  CLS was rockin’, we were preparing and performing Behold the Lamb of God, I had a recording or two to work on, shopping for Christmas, parties to attend, and so on.  It was all very good stuff that I enjoyed, but it wore me out!  It wasn’t until this past New Year’s long weekend that I was able to catch up on rest.

The new year is always exciting.  What’s in store?  I tend to shy away from resolutions, but I do like to come up with mottos for each new year.  This year, I’m thinking “Humility. Faith. Obedience.“  Here’s what’s on my mind:

Humility

This may come as a shock to some, but I have not been blessed with a great amount of humility.  I am well aware of my self-centeredness the majority of the time, and the fact that I can often react like a jerk if a situation isn’t going how I would like.  So, this is an area I’d like to improve this year.  Thinking of others first.  Are their needs being met?  If you’re reading this and thinking, “I can’t wait to see how this plays out,” I would ask for your grace and patience while I try to better myself.  Humbly, of course!

Faith

Such an easy thing to overlook sometimes.  In my self-centeredness, I often forget how utterly dependent I am upon God.  Coupled with faith is trust.  Am I trusting God in every area of my life?  Do I have faith that He will continue working in my life just as He has done to this point?  Faith is a huge topic.  I could write for days on faith.  Not today, though.

Obedience

Bottom line – am I being obedient to God?  Do I do the things He asks and requires of me?  The first step in obedience is digging into the Bible to see what God wants from me.  The next step is putting those things into practice.  I haven’t always been the best at putting them into practice.  I’m hoping I can do a better job of this in 2009.

This inspiration for this motto:

Micah 6:8

8 He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

Merry Christmas everyone! I’m heading to Maysville this afternoon for Christmas with my mom’s family. I’ll be back home tonight, then Christmas at home with mom, dad and Jason tomorrow. Friday and Saturday, I’ll be in Ashland with Julie’s family. Should be a good few days of rest and enjoying family and friends.

Here’s a few random blogging items:

• I’ve added a new plugin to the blog that lets you share posts on different social networks.  Not that my posts are all that important, but just in case you want to share them, now you have the option.
• The New York Yankees are evidence of the problem with professional sports.  In the past few weeks, they have dumped $452 million into three players.  This is on top of their new $1.6 billion stadium.
• I picked up Rush’s Snakes and Arrows DVD last night.  It’s the first Rush DVD I’ve purchased, and so far, I really like it!  Neil Peart is an amazing drummer.  I was lucky to see them in Columbus several years ago.  I also found Alex Lifeson’s Barbie doll groupies pretty humorous.

Finally, let’s not forget:

Luke 1:68-79 Listen

68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71 that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Okay.  I’ve decided to blog again.  Yes, wishy-washy.  Just like I said I’d be.  The thing is, I really do have a lot to blog about, and the last couple of weeks has revealed this to me.

Wordpress 2.7

Wordpress just released version 2.7, which is one reason to blog.  Wordpress is one of my favorite things in this world, and it really shows how big of a geek I can be.  I was actually anticipating the release of 2.7.  I’ve used Wordpress for the past four years and don’t plan on using anything different anytime soon.  I’m sure there’s other blogging and content management solutions out there, but I’ve just fallen in love with Wordpress.

New in 2.7 is what you (the faithful blog reader) can’t see.  As I type this, I see a whole new look in the dashboard (i.e., control panel or “back end”) of Wordpress.  It’s been completely redesigned and it’s great.  As mentioned, the new version and the new look of the dashboard is inspiration enough to blog.

A Girl

For the first time in the history of this blog, I’m going to post about a specific girl.  Her name is Julie and she’s pretty awesome.  For those of you that keep up with me on Facebook, this is old news, but it’s new to the blog.

We’ve been dating for a couple of months now, and I’m pretty happy.  As my mom pointed out in a comment a couple of posts ago, she could likely be a reason for posts being scarce as of late.  She has occupied a lot of my free time lately, but if I had to choose between time with her or blogging, it’s a pretty safe bet I’ll pick time with her!  Both of our sets of parents met last night for the first time, and it went very well.  It’s been interesting that all of the “next steps” of the relationship have gone well, without either of us being nervous (meeting parents, meeting family members, meeting each other’s friends).  It’s been a good sign – it’s just felt “normal” in a very good way.  Prayers are appreciated!

Behold the Lamb of God

For the second year in a row, I was a part of performing Andrew Peterson’s Behold the Lamb of God at The Point.  We were fortunate to have the same crew as last year, with the addition of a couple of string players (who added immensely to the performance).  I am so blessed to have been gifted with the ability to bang on drums for the glory of God.  I am so blessed to be connected with so many amazing musicians that want to glorify God through their talents.  I’m not sure how many (if any) of the bunch will see this, but I just want to thank them for letting me be a part of it all.  It was beautiful.  And a special thanks to the Tomkins family for helping with sound and MediaShout.

My Blog’s Birthday

I started this blog on December 27th, 2004.  This week, it will turn four years old.  I can’t say I thought I’d still be blogging in four years when I started.  Blogs may be dying out, but deep down, I do enjoy getting on here and typing out my thoughts for the world (or, a few people) to see from time to time.  A lot of blogs have a central theme or purpose.  I like that mine is a mix of personal thoughts, sports, music, occasional humor, and most importantly – God.  I hope to continue to blog more about all of these topics more in 2009.  All of this to say, this blog isn’t going anywhere.  I’d miss it too much.

Merry Christmas!

I’ve been digging into my new ESVSB for the past couple of weeks since its release.  It’s by far the most complete study Bible I’ve yet to come across.  Last night I started reading from a few of the articles in the back – one of them being on the subject of archeology and the Bible.  Mentioned in the article is Megiddo.  Not being familiar with Megiddo, I hopped onto Wikipedia and found this:

Megiddo (Hebrew: ??????) is a hill in modern Israel near the Kibbutz of Megiddo, known for historical, geographical, and theological reasons.

Later in the Wikipedia article is this:

In 2005, Israeli archaeologist Yotam Tepper of Tel-Aviv University discovered the remains of a church, believed to be from the third century, a time when Christians were still persecuted by the Roman Empire. Among the finds is an approx. 54 square meter large mosaic with a Greek inscription stating that the church is consecrated to “the God Jesus Christ.” The mosaic is very well preserved and features geometrical figures and images of fish, an early Christian symbol. It is speculated that this may be the oldest remains of a church in the Holy Land.^[2] The remains were found within the grounds of a military prison, and Israeli authorities are currently speculating about moving the prison.

I don’t know about you, but I think it’s pretty cool to hear that people were worshipping Jesus in the third century.  Helps to affirm my faith.

Tomorrow, the ESV Study Bible will be released.  At long last.  There’s been a whole lot of hype and advertising leading up to its release.  Crossway has also generously given out samples from the book, promo videos and more.  I was able to hold and browse through an advanced copy at the Resurgence Conference. 

I decided against pre-ordering a copy.  I’m particular about my Bibles, so I’d rather walk into a store and touch and feel all of the different bindings and decide from there which one I like best.  Of course, the rather expensive calfskin edition is probably the nicest.  But, I’m not quite sure I want to drop $175 for it.  Okay, I’m positive I don’t want to spend $175 on that edition.  So, I’ll stick with the leather or trutone edition.