Category Archives: Videos

Friday (kinda) Fun | Rear Window.

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For fans of Rear Window (1954) directed by Alfred Hitchcock: here’s a 3-minute timelapse, featuring all original footage, with events in roughly same order as the movie.

(I say ‘kinda’ fun because if you know the plotline of the movie, and Hitchcock’s directorial tastes, ‘fun’ doesn’t quite encapsulate it.)

Rear Window Timelapse from Jeff Desom on Vimeo.

Music: Hungarian Dance No. 5composed by Johannes Brahms, arranged for easy listening by Hugo Winterhalter

Via Ben Arment:

You don’t know the meaning of the word ‘neighbor.’

Neighbors like each other.

Speak to each other.

Care if anybody lives or dies.

But none of you do.

But I couldn’t imagine any of you bein’ so low that you’d kill a little helpless, friendly dog…

The only thing in this whole neighborhood who liked anybody.

Did ya kill him because he liked ya?

Just because he liked ya?

 

What if you had Jedi powers?

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Happy Star Wars Day! (“May the fourth be with you…”)

As I’ve mentioned before, great talent alongside terrible character is a dangerous mix. Evil comes in many forms, often as greed hidden under the cloak of laziness. It looks like a lack of ambition, but is the symptom of something much worse.

Here’s a fun look at what a greedy person may do with Jedi powers:

Description:

“Master Dave just doesn’t feel motivated today. With great power eventually comes great laziness.”

 

Farther along.

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“Farther Along” – Josh Garrels from Josh Garrels on Vimeo.

(RSS readers click through for audio & video.)

Josh Garrels performs his new song “Farther Along” live at the Alberta Rose Theatre in Portland, OR, July 30th 2010. Video footage and editing by Dustin Whitaker.

Portlander Josh Garrels has generously made this album, “Love & War & The Sea In Between,” available as a free download.

The lyrics of Farther Along:

Farther along we’ll know all about it
Farther along we’ll understand why
Cheer up my brothers, live in the sunshine
We’ll understand this, all by and by
Continue reading →

 

How do we grow after we realize our need to change?

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We often talk about our long-term plans for achievement. What about pursuing long-term obedience and change over time?

When we feel conviction from God and desire to change, expecting immediate change can frustrate us. Here Ken Wytsma (lead pastor of Antioch Church, founder of The Justice Conference, and president of Kilns College) talks about our need to return to the spiritual disciplines as we pursue long-term change.

How do we grow after we realize our need to change?

How do we grow after we realize our need to change? from :redux — askquestions.tv

Obey right away, cheerfully, and see God grow you into the image of His Son Jesus. By the Spirit, through grace.

(Of course, we should mention that getting to a place where you truly desire to change — that is to change your character and not just get a new set of circumstances — is no small feat. From that place of discovery a whole new world of change can be found, which is an endless adventure.)

 

When you feel like you’re just a slinky on a treadmill.

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Some of my earliest memories are the fun we had playing with slinkies on the wooden stairs at grandma’s house.

Do you feel like you’re kinda like this slinky?:

That slinky is taking it easy. Let’s call it a Friday Slinky.

Now these slinkies are more like what we’ve been doing all week:

How will you rest and renew this weekend? (And not just “relax,” which is essentially just not working.) How will you rest — pause, reflect, replenish — and renew — transform your mind, become energized, get ready for whatever comes next?

 

Just having a conversation about Justice.

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Today and tomorrow I am at The Justice Conference, hosted here in Portland. So grateful to join in the conversation.

The Justice Conference 2012 is the second annual international gathering of advocates, activists, artists, professors, professionals, prophets, pastors, students and stay-at-home moms working to restore the fabric of justice. For some it means speaking. For others it means singing. For some it means going. For others it means giving. For all, it means living with mercy and love.

Justice Conference founder (and lead pastor of Antioch Church in my beloved hometown of Bend) Ken Wytsma writes on why justice matters to followers of Jesus and all who trust Scripture:

People matter to God and therefore they should matter to us – every bit of them from the salvation of their souls to the meeting of material needs (see 1 John 4:20-21).
Justice is rooted in the character of God, commanded in his Holy Scriptures and exemplified in the life of Christ and the history of the church.
Justice is the right ordering of our relationships with God and neighbor.
Justice, in all spheres and slices of life and especially in the social sectors, is biblical, God-honoring and right. Politics, theories or political platforms, however, are open to dispute and disagreement.

Because Justice is much bigger than “social justice,” he gives a helpful pie-chart to see how various kinds of justice are interrelated:

 

Hello (9 years after I caught on fire).

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Nine years ago she said Yes.

I proposed in an old fraternity building undergoing massive renovations, the least likely place she would anticipate. Yet, if you know me, it kinda makes sense. After using a Lite-Bright to ask the big question, we sat to thank God and in the middle of prayer my shirt caught fire from a rogue candle.

True story.

I can confidently say it’s been the best near-decade of my life.

Still get goose bumps when she walks in the room.