Yes, in 10 days I will officially be married to the most amazing woman I have ever met! Bekah and I have been so busy getting all the last minute details taken care of. Planning a wedding in 3 months is a challenge, even if our guest total is around 30! We put together a website with info about the wedding. Check it out and be sure to sign the guestbook!
Randy Pausch gave a great talk in November of 2007 about time management:
It’s amazing how much can happen in a short time. One year ago, I was living in Dayton, OH, unsure of what lay ahead for me in this adventure we call life. A random email, a timely meeting, and a ride home from the airport brought me to where I am today. Living just outside of Tampa, FL, and about to marry the most amazing woman in the world.
On June 22 I asked Rebekah Sjogren to marry me in Central Park, and on September 6, 2008, we will be getting married! We are inviting our families and a few close friends to attend the intimate ceremony on a beach beautiful white sand, with the setting sun and roll of the gentle waves of the Gulf of Mexico providing the perfect backdrop. This fall we intend on visiting the Cincinnati/Dayton region as well as the San Diego area to celebrate our marriage with our friends
A wedding website is in the works and will be online this week. Stay tuned here for the link, where you’ll find out all the details you’ll need to know.
My girl and I are heading to the Big Apple tomorrow! Even though I grew up in state of New York, I never once made the trek over to NYC for a visit, so I’m thrilled to be finally going there. We have quite the itinerary planned out, from a death metal Nintendo-sounding concert Thursday night (we might even dress the part maybe we’ll go as Tetris?), to seeing “Wicked” on Friday, to visiting the Guggenheim, Central Park, and maybe even Ellis Island. We’ll also be checking out some cool restaurants, including a ninja-themed establishment serving Japanese cuisine. I think the food is delivered by ninja’s gliding down from the ceiling on ropes! Ok, not really. But that would be sweet! Pictures and stories to follow…probably. : )
Wow…how did a month go by since my last post? It’s amazing how quickly time goes as I get older! I’m going to set a goal of posting once a week, even if it is something short, just to get into the habit of sharing my thoughts, ideas, questions, musings, and memories. Each of us on the Coastland team is or will be blogging regularly, so look forward to continued thoughts on that topic.
Our Easter celebration at Coastland was awesome! A bunch of people came out, more than we normally have on a Sunday (something very uncommon for church plants), and God definitely showed up big time. We were able to give our Easter offering to an Ethiopian church in downtown Tampa. Leaders from the church were there to accept the offering, and we’ll be partnering with them in the future, to help them focus outward in reaching the 3,000 Ethiopians living in Tampa. I found out yesterday that our offering was 10x what they normally receive, so that should be a huge boost for them to be able to serve their city even more!
I’ve been staying quite busy in a number of different areas with Coastland, but mostly with the media aspect of the church. I’m slowly but surely learning Final Cut Pro 6, and will soon dive into the latest version of Motion. I shoot and edit all of our videos right now, most of which are interviews or man-on-the-street, but I definitely want to branch into more creative ventures that will come alongside the weekly message. You can check out the videos at Vimeo.
Another big project that is almost ready to be launched is a redesign of the Coastland website. We’ve teamed up with my good friend Mark over at AntistaticDesign to build us a custom site running on ExpressionEngine. I hope to have that live in the next few weeks.
Outside of work, I’ve gotten into mountain biking, thanks for my friend Eric. Right down the road from where I live is Alafia State Park, which has some of the best MTB trails in the state of Florida! I’m riding a Redline Monocog 29er, which is more or less an oversized BMX bike: single speed, no shocks, lightweight design, and those monster 29″ tires to roll over anything in my path.
The first time I went I hooked up with another group of guys and ended up following them down some seriously difficult trails, one rated a black diamond. They couldn’t believe I went down them my first time out because I was riding so well AND that I was riding a bike as “hardcore” as the one I was on. I’ll be honest…I felt pretty cool. I still have to check out the 3 other nearby locations that have trails, something I’m really looking forward to.
