Crazy Disciple

Out of the game?

 

I’ve been in LA now for over a month, and I must admit that I am feeling so incredibly fortunate to have the opportunities I have here to learn, grow and experience this entirely new side of life.   It’s beautiful here, of course, I mean hey, it’s California…   Mosaic is also going great, it feels like a family that I have had for many years, in that there are so many like-minded people, each reaching for amazing and incredible goals in life and ministry, and also chasing God in ways that are admirable and inspiring.   There is absolutely no question that I am where I am supposed to be at this exact time in my life, and that feeling is awesome.

The picture above however, is not of LA (you probably knew that) it’s just a typical day from life in Paris, where I was just a few months ago.   The clouds are holding back the sun, and the thousands of clay chimney pots form their own little skyline if you are fortunate enough to find a high vantage point.   I don’t know if two places could contrast each other more, it’s amazing to experience the differences. 

Ironically, in the last few days, I have been feeling like I am out of the game now, by being in LA.   Realistically, and logically, I can see that this is NOT the case, but emotionally, and perhaps even spiritually, I am definitely experiencing this phenomenon.   Like I said before, there is no question that I am where I am supposed to be, but there is also this undercurrent that I have left my cohorts in battle overseas, and something inside of me yearns to see them and fight alongside them once again.  

I expected this, to a degree.   I knew that once life settled down a little bit here in California that I would feel the cavity left that is still France-shaped.  While I am able to find little reminders of my life there, and the people whom I miss so very much, it’s obviously not the same.   I have subscribed to a life like this though, a life where I love and engage deeply, and the side effect of this simply MUST be the feeling of loss whenever the time comes to move on.   One can only wonder what the future will hold?   When will I be able to come back to visit, will I (after two years in LA) choose to go back to Paris, or Europe and continue the fight?  Will I instead find a way to engage in the same battles, but from this side of the world?   I can only guess at those answers, and they seem different every day.   As the saying goes, only time will tell…   What I do know for now however, is that I am HERE to get everything I can from this experience and journey.  No matter where HERE ever turns out to be, that is all I can ask of myself.  

Onward and upward.  

By the way, if you are in Paris and reading this…   I miss you all so much.  I hope and pray that our paths will cross again soon, undoubtedly that time will be sweet and precious. 

Nurturing Creativity by Elizabeth Gilbert

Check out this talk by Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of “Eat, Pray, Love.”  We discussed this in a meeting this morning, and I think it embodies so much of what this journey towards God and creativity continually unveils.  I appreciate her candor, and personal experiences, and especially her perspective as a spiritual person, coming from a perspective that appears to be outside of the church.   I found her revelations to be inspiring and thoughtful… Take 18 minutes out of your day and enjoy.

Hank the Tank

See if you can spot Hank, the Mayan campus pastor in this great trailer for the Zombie Hunter experience happening near LA.  It’s always nice to know that we are truly impacting the world, even if it is only one zombie at a time… lol

P.S.  If you don’t know what Hank looks like, then he is the guy with the white t-shirt who comes in at the end to save the day…  This role is very much like normal life here in LA, can you say, Type casting?  (joke)

ROCKIN and ROLLIN

Whoa man, I don’t think things could be going any better here in Los Angeles.   I have been inundated with opportunity to both serve and even earn some money!   Man, you can’t argue with either of those.   You may also have noticed that I updated the top of my blog to show my twitter updates.   This took a little creative coding from a mildly rusty programmer, but HEY… it works.

So, what to say…   Hmmm, let’s start with this.  Before leaving for LA, I kept wrestling with the logic that I should be looking for a job, even before getting here.  Each time I started the process however, I just kept feeling like I had no peace about it, like I wasn't supposed to look until I actually got here.   After arriving, I immediately jumped in at Mosaic (see my previous posts) and after just a few days of getting to know people, it slowly became apparent to me why I needed to not have any prior conflicts with the job are, as it seemed that Mosaic was actually in need of someone with my skills!   WHAT?   Oh man, it took some careful planning and communicating, but as of October 1, I stepped into a role of not only volunteering at Mosaic, but also being paid for my services… SERIOUSLY.

Now don’t get me wrong here, I am not forgetting the original plan and am certainly watching out for “jumping the gun”, but the original plan was to find a job for 20 hours a week in LA.  A job that would allow me to focus on my learning and growing at Mosaic, while still affording me to pay the bills, and participate in many other elements of my time here.   I prayed about it a lot, and asked God to line up the perfect scenario, and it looks to me like he DID.

So, what am I doing at Mosaic?  Ironically, it is what I have been doing for several years with my dear friends at USIntegration.   I will be programming, and customizing a very robust Church management system that just happens to be written in the languages I have been using for years.   On top of that, I will be managing the podcasts, and working through restructuring their web presence, etc. etc.   The best part is that their needs equate to exactly 20 hours per week.   OH MAN, could it be any better?  

On top of that, there are some other opportunities on the horizon that are just as exciting.  I will update more on those as they come to pass.  In the meantime though, I have to get some sleep.  We have a big church conference tomorrow in Irvine with NewSong church.  It should be awesome!  Stay tuned!

Crazy Disciple: The Mission Continues

Welcome to CrazyDisciple.com!   If this is your first time here, you are definitely going to want to subscribe to my RSS feed.  My name is Scott or The CrazyDisciple, and this is the 'joint' where I lay it all out, and write about what's going on in this crazy world.   You will see a lot of writing here about my life traveling the globe chasing all that God has to offer.  Currently, I am hanging out in LA, learning and growing in a community called Mosaic.  It's amazing, and a lot of fun.  Catch up on my latest twitter updates and posts below.  Thanks for coming by, I hope you come back OFTEN!

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