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20080530

the problem persists

We got a Wii at the house now, and I think I threw my shoulder out the first few swings of the racket in Wii Sports. It's a lot more fun than I thought it would be at first. Even adventure games are a lot more immersive because your entire body is engaged in the control of your character, and not just your fingers and thumbs. It reminds me of when I used to play duck hunt on the old NES at the Bolger's house. Speaking of NES, I have downloaded Super Mario Brothers 3 and the original Zelda. Wow, talk about a flashback.

So, I didn't take the Bound4LIFE staff photos yesterday, but I'll take them this evening as we ride into Charlotte on the LightRail. I'm loving this new lens that I got, but I think I'm going to also get something a little wider. It's a 50mm, but I think I might go to a 28mm or 24mm. I'm also going to look at selling the Nikon D50 and step up to a D300 or even a D80. Let me know if you're interested in a Nikon D50 with Sigma 28-80.

We had another India Trip meeting last night, and we decided on a name for our website, but I'm not going to tell you right now because it's not fully online yet. hahaha, suspense.

posted at 10:55 AM | 0 Comments | leave a comment

20080529

If you love me...

This is an older picture, but adorable. This was right before he got his hair cut.

posted from iPhoneSlide.com

posted at 11:14 AM | 0 Comments | leave a comment

20080526

we've taken the lead!

I'm still looking for a good desktop blogger app so I don't have to log in every time and fill out the web form. I might be lazy.

It's Memorial Day today, so naturally that means you're supposed to cook your food outside. I don't really understand these holiday traditions sometimes, like Easter. We celebrate Christ's resurrection from the dead by hiding eggs and eating lamb, Fourth of July, we blow stuff up, and who knows how St. Valentine translates to romance. Memorial Day is about honoring those who served and died to protect our freedoms and borders, and we do that by setting raw meat on fire. Don't get me wrong, I like steak as much as the next I'm kissing my wife as I type this ok I'm back, like I was saying, I like steak as much as the next American Patriot, but I still don't see the correlation. I'm not complaining, I'm just thinking through my fingers.

I'm going to go take some pictures of my boy.

posted at 2:03 PM | 0 Comments | leave a comment

20080523

num lock

The more I get to interact with Isaiah, the more I understand about how God must feel about me. Isaiah can do the most destructive thing to our house, put himself in danger, scream, hit, cry, or disobey, and I will still love the crap out of him. He's my boy, and I love him. I don't love him perfectly, and that's where I can't wrap my head around how God can love me perfectly. He doesn't mess up, He doesn't stop loving me, and there is no lapse in His love. I cannot love Isaiah perfectly, shoot, I can't even focus long enough to think about how to love him perfectly, but just in the ways I know how to love my son, It blows my mind to think that someone can do better. That's God for you, always one-upping us.

(that was my Jason Upton "storyaboutmykidwhilevamping" moment)

Recently I haven't been able to hold back tears. I guess I haven't really tried very hard my whole life, but lately I start crying at the oddest times. It's all had to do with physical and emotional exhaustion and memories of Amy. The crazy thing, and what gets me even more worked up is that when I think of Amy, I think of sadness and pain, but then my thought process brings me to realize where she is, and it just overwhelms me with the Majesty and Goodness of God. And I cry more because He's just so good. He didn't try His best on the cross, He gave EVERYTHING so that we could live forever with Him. I wrote a song about the goodness of God and how my insides can't hold in the praise, and I've been singing it in the Prayer Room at TheCause during my early morning sets, and I get a new picture of who God is every time I sing it. And so naturally it changes every time I sing it. "Someday I'll get to say this to your face, I'll use a better language, one that only speaks your name, I'll shine with you in Heaven, like you shine through me on earth, but until that instant turns into eternity, my tongue has limitations so my soul sings, hallelujah."

posted at 1:54 PM | 1 Comments | leave a comment

20080518

now you know. and knowing is half the battle!

Ableton LIVE 7 LE just came out and I've been playing around with the MIDI sequencer for my set at TheCause, and I'm having a lot of fun programming music. I played around with MIDI a few years ago, and it wasn't fun, this program makes it simple, and enjoyable.

So we're getting a Wii soon. I'm going to trade in a few more games and then I'll have enough credit to buy the system for like 50 bucks. I think we're also going to get Wii Fit as well. Heather is looking forward to that.

Another thing Heather is looking forward to is getting my iPhone. I told her I would give her the first gen iPhone when the new one comes out. haha, I'm such a tech-head. I'm actually VERY happy that she'll have one because she could really use the maps and internet when she's out and about. It's really a very helpful tool.

Sarah posted a really sweet time-lapse video on her blog. To me, it's a good representation of how I usually clean my room or office. I'll get side-tracked and take little micro-breaks in the middle.

Speaking of Sarah, I think she's coming in to visit us, so I'm trying to get a bed set up in my office as a guest room. And that's why I was cleaning my office.

posted at 8:16 PM | 0 Comments | leave a comment

20080517

Now you have to pray your way back

Andrew and I were just talking about Los Angeles and West Coast living, and I just thought, what if? What if I moved out to Hollywood and I was in the environment of movie production. Would I settle for mediocre PA and grip jobs? Would I be able to hold my ground on principle and ethics and not compromise?

I like asking "what if" questions. I like trying to figure out what the possible answers could be.

What if I won the lottery? What if I was wrongfully imprisoned? What if I died tomorrow? What if revival actually hit America? What if abortion was outlawed? What if I lost my memory? What if an earthquake hit right now?

Some "what if" questions bring fear, and that is to be guarded against, and most what if questions are just asked to make you think. It can bring perspective, truth, gratitude, but it can also bring pain, hopelessness and doubt. So be careful when you ask "what if" questions, but NEVER be afraid. Taking risks is what life is all about, and if we never ask "what if?", then we'll never take a chance. Even if it's for a fraction of a moment, right before you make a decision, you always ask "what if..." and it's how long you dwell on that question that usually determines the outcome of the choice.

So, what if you had read this yesterday?

posted at 10:32 PM | 4 Comments | leave a comment

20080516

the body needs some sun sometimes

My data and personal files are on a mass exodus from Yahoo to Google. I've tossed out orangestickman.com in favor of blogger hosted on levibethune.com, and even though I like Flickr's interface and features, I realy don't like the way that Yahoo corners my logins and IDs, so I'm leaving Flickr for Picasa. I've already been using gmail for a couple years now, but I've officially made it my email of choice, and so I am no longer reachable at levi(at)orangestickman.com, you can now find me at levibethune@gmail.com

I've been doing some early morning worship/intercession sets at TheCause base, and although I am not a fan of getting up at 6:30 in the morning, the chance to lead a set it probably the only thing that can do it for me.

We are still waiting on getting the title for the van that was given to us, and we need to have the rear axle looked at as well. I think it looks like a pirate ship.

I have had this desire lately to live in the city. Like on the 30th floor of something. I get inspired looking out the window of a skyscraper at a busy street below. And rain in the big city is always better than anywhere else. Charlotte, New York, Atlanta, San Francisco or DC, those are pretty much the only places I would move to at this point, and I would need a better reason than a 34th floor apartment.

posted at 10:02 AM | 1 Comments | leave a comment

20080514

My Switch from Boot Camp to VMWare Fusion

http://www.vmware.com/switchtofusion

I used to have to wait for my Apple Computer to re-boot before I could test a website with Internet Explorer in Microsoft Windows XP.

Now, with VMWare Fusion for Mac OSX, I can run any Window's application alongside my Macintosh Apps right on my Mac Desktop.

I made this video in a mad rush to meet the deadline and still go to work the next day. It is a video contest to be in the running for a macbook air computer. This is my entry.

Labels: boot camp, fusion, switchtofusion, vmware

posted at 10:59 PM | 1 Comments | leave a comment

20080511

Again and Again

posted at 11:40 AM | 4 Comments | leave a comment

20080510

Max 4.5A per receptacle

I don't know what to talk about. I'm kind of in a bad mood right now. I set up a photo shoot for Heather's website and then hardly any of the photos turned out the way I wanted them to. I just don't feel like a good photographer. Things like that really get me down, when I can imagine how I want something to look, and after I work on it, it doesn't look anything like what was in my head. How do I balance it?

Anyway, I'm at work tonight, and I'm not too happy about that either. When I was hired here I was very clear and was reassured that it wouldn't turn into a typical "get taken advantage of because it's a ministry" deal. And I'm starting to feel it. When I started, I didn't want to say "no", and now I feel like a heathen if I do say "no". I think I'm just tired of being pressured into working more than what I'm getting paid for. I don't mind working extra, and I'll bend over backward for something I believe in, but I don't appreciate being shoved into it and then taken for granted. I guess it's me, it feels personal all the time, so maybe it's me.

I think being named Max is a blessing and a curse. That's just what I can imagine though, I wouldn't know for sure.

So our good friend Brad Tretola (remember that name, he's going to be famous) gave us a van. It's a sweet 1994 Dodge Ram Custom Van. It needs some work on the rear axle, and we're waiting on a new title to be mailed from Minnesota, but we're excited about having a vehicle soon. Thank you God for providing! Now we just need money for gas to feed it's 8 cylinders of raging fury.

Speaking of guns, Heather and I are going to use some of the money from our government stimulus check to buy a gun for home defense. Probably a shotgun. And a few grenades. I just like the idea of the government paying for our weapons. :) South Carolina is nice, you don't need a permit, you just need a driver's license. I guess, by their estimates, if you can parallel park, you can shoot a gun. Heck, even if you can't park at all, go hunting. Welcome to South Carolina, here's your 12 gauge.

posted at 7:41 PM | 1 Comments | leave a comment

20080506

The Original Celebrated

Today is Day 14. What does that mean? It means that two weeks ago, full-fledged revival broke out at MorningStar with the Highschool Bible Class. Everyday since then we've had evening meetings, and I've been shooting and editing daily recap videos for practically every one of those meetings. Tiring, yes. Fulfilling, Yes. I'm seeing some really crazy stuff man. Arms growing out, hearing restored, people getting gold teeth, oil and gold dust coming out of people's hands... It's nuts.

And I've realized that God ALWAYS wants to break out like this in the church. I'm grateful that I'm in an environment that doesn't put him in a box.

Also, this morning I started playing a prayer/worship set at TheCause.

No Todd, not now.

There's no time!

posted at 7:25 PM | 0 Comments | leave a comment

20080503

CAUTION: MEN WORKING ABOVE!

So, the reason I've been absent from the internet lately is because of this following video. This is week one of the revival that is breaking out at MorningStar. I've been shooting and editing these daily updates and then after a week, I compiled them into a weekly recap. As you can probably imagine, I'm very busy, and very tired at this point. Please pray for Heather and I as I work 14+ hours per day to support this move of God. We are seeing miracles and witnessing people being touched by God. I've always been a skeptic of this kind of stuff, but you'll see footage of people acting like fools, and trust me, I know these people. They don't always act this way.

(sorry if this takes a while to load, it's 15min, so youtube wasn't an option)
UPDATE: Auto-play turned off.

tick-le (tkl)
v. tick-led, tick-ling, tick-les
1. To touch (the body) lightly so as to cause laughter or twitching movements.

Our Senior Pastor here, Robin McMillan, explained it really well. He said that the "stuff" that happens doesn't all come from God. He said that it's our response to the Power of God. Rick Joyner said that each one of his kids would react differently when he would tickle them. Some of them would go crazy, and other it just wouldn't affect. It's not that the ticklish kids loved their dad any more, or were being loved more, and it's not that the dad was tickling them differently, it's just in the individual reaction of the children, and how ticklish they are.

I'm not a very ticklish person spiritually. God is working on my doubt and faith is rising up, but I'm not the type of person that will collapse when I'm prayed for. But I'm not saying that it can't happen.

I have a friend here who is just like me, not very ticklish when it comes to these kind of things. He was standing there, facing the stage and Jason Hooper comes up from behind him, filled with the Power of God, and blew on my friend's head. Jason didn't touch him, he just blew on the back of his head, and my friend went down. I mean, dropped. He was out for the rest of the night with visions of Heaven, conversations with Angels... dudes, God is doing amazing stuff.

The beauty of it all, is that this is how God wants it to be everyday, especially in church. We just need to be willing to take a risk, and act a fool.

See more videos, and get more information at MorningStarMinistries.org

posted at 9:58 AM | 2 Comments | leave a comment