by Greg

[From The Archive] Distorted View of God?

Highlighting Articles from the GregsHead.net Archives!I re-discovered this post recently via a few related links from something else I had been writing. I really can’t recall how I got there, but as it might have done for you, the title grabbed my attention. I wondered, Now what was I thinking here…

Turns out it was one of my more favorite “recent” discoveries of a grander truth in Scripture than I had previously seen.

It’s easy to have a distorted view of God. It can come from listening to the perceptions others have of God, and incorporating them into our view of who he is. (Even if your source is the most learned and revered theologian or scholar.) It can come from our own guilt or shame, pushing us further from the God who loves us. It can come from simply not knowing him well enough, from a lack of knowledge, understanding.

Whatever way it comes, it hinders our relationship with our Father, and our living life to its full, which Jesus said is his desire for us.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this one. Respond however you’d like (Facebook Page, comment below, or comment on the original article) but please do let me know what you think—agree, or disagree.

Original Article: Distorted View of God

by Greg

Disappointment

Everywhere I turn these days it seems I am dealing with disappointment. Failure. Unachieved goals, unmet expectations. Nothing is going the way it is supposed to, or like it used to…

One disappointment after another.

And I’m not just talking about being let down by other people. In fact, I think the disappointments that affect me the most are those that are perpetrated by me.

It’s most disappointing of all when you let yourself down.

And I think our Enemy knows that. I think he uses that. The forces of failure, and guilt, and inability to accomplish something you feel is within your power to do… all keep you down and out. And even can lead to deeper self doubt that leads to hopelessness, apathy, and even just throwing in the towel.

A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:10-12

I’m not throwing in the towel. I’m not even feeling hopeless. But I’m tired of being beat down.

You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
Matthew 5:3 MSG

I know. I know.

But right now, I’m just tired.

The beat down slowly erodes at my internal understanding of my friendship with God, of my worth (which he places on me) and then it depletes all of the reservoir of grace and other Spirit fruits whose abundance I can usually share with the people around me; starting with my family.

But when the cycle of disappointment takes too strong a foothold (and when I forget Who can break it) then there is a tipping point that is reached, and disappointment turns into despair.

I don’t want to go there.

I won’t go there.

These thoughts, and putting on my armor, and tapping into God’s living water and bread of life are definitely needed; they are foundational. But unfortunately, there are also consequences to action and inaction, no matter what the cause. (My fault, or some scheme of the devil against me and my household.)

So tonight, after posting my thoughts for the day (at 11:59!) 🙂 … sleep will come later as I must tend to some tasks that will put food on our table. There’s still that.

Thankfully I have not neglected things that are more important than food. I think that will have a more lasting impact than keeping bellies full. But, there’s still that.

And so… we press on.

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.
2 Corinthians 4:8

by Greg

Lord, Save Us From Your Followers

Being a fan of documentaries, and, having many thoughts on the nature and condition of the church, I was intrigued enough by the title and description of the movie above to click the play button on a recent visit to Hulu.com.

As the video began, I wasn’t entirely sure which “side” was being presented. I like that! I continued to watch and felt that the issues addressed were handled fairly and with an open mind. That’s pretty rare. Usually you just have to filter out the bias, but they really did a decent job of doing that themselves.

There were many eye-opening scenes depicting the blatant ignorance of Christian men and women, young and old, who were simply unaware of the arguments—no, the people—of the “other side”. There were also some incredible moments of true connection between people who really don’t see the world the same in most ways.

One particularly powerful scene was when the filmmakers set up a “Confession Booth” at a gay pride event in Portland, except, rather than taking confessions, they gave them. They confessed (and asked forgiveness for) the church’s treatment of homosexuals, its stance on AIDS, and other related actions taken by the church. The result was a unanimous (at least, what was shown) open, emotional, welcome response to someone for whom they previously harbored great contempt.

What happened was, they listened to each other. Each found a place where they could meet, and treat the other with loving kindness. It’s amazing how powerful that is: in life, and just to watch it unfold on the screen.

When you have some time—a goodly amount of time—I recommend a thoughtful viewing of this documentary. Particularly Christians, but I think the point the filmmakers are trying to make is that it sure helps when we listen to each other, no matter what our worldview. So there’s a bit of something for everyone, for sure.

Also, the filmmakers’ website: www.LordSaveUsTheMovie.com

by Greg

Education

Starting Early :)

I’ve had education on my mind again recently. There are certainly many ideas that word conjures up… some good, some bad. But I think we might have a skewed—or even wrong—understanding of it.

As you may have read in yesterday’s post (and noticed from the time of day of today’s post), I am focusing on some other stuff at the moment, which is limiting my writing time. That doesn’t mean that the mental gears are not still cranking. They are. But, unfortunately, I can not develop “on paper” the thoughts which seem to continue to churn out, despite the need for focus elsewhere. (Many “elsewheres”, actually…)

So for now, have a look with me at an article I wrote way back in 2009. It’s titled Different View of Education. Here’s a snippet from that post:

Academic learning is great, and has a place. But it is not education. I still feel that is the bonus. Get the other stuff right, and then the academic stuff is icing on the cake. Build character and integrity into your kids, and even just the confidence of knowing they are loved and accepted, and the rest of the stuff will come as it needs to. And, ultimately, we don’t want our kids to just learn facts and details they can parrot back to us, we want them to learn how to learn. That will serve them much better.

There are lots of ways to see it, and none are necessarily right, or wrong. (Though they are almost certainly all incomplete.) I’m definitely not locked into one way of helping our kids get an education, nor my own, for that matter. But I definitely am convinced that education is much more than academic learning. So much is much more important than that, it seems.

More thoughts to come on all this, but for now, please read (and respond to, if you are so inclined) Different View of Education.

by Greg

Working

Basic Web Design & GraphicsTime to write has been lessened a bit these days as work demands have increased for a variety of reasons. Definitely something to be thankful for when stories of unemployment rates frequent the pages of news sources.

And I am grateful.

I’m grateful that I have this job that allows me to work from home. This is definitely a blessing and a curse, as they say, but I can’t imagine any better option for our family. We’ve had a rough go of it for at least a year, maybe more like a year and a half. One thing after another it seems, piling on. That does seem to be the way things go… So in the midst of that, it’s really a blessing that I am able to both get work done—which helps keep food on our table—and can also be available for my wife and my children when I am needed even more there.

I’m grateful that God has connected me with a few other guys who do what I do (but also do things I don’t do) that make work even more enjoyable. First, we can get more done together than separately, which is mutually beneficial. Second, I thoroughly enjoy working together with these guys and the friendship we have beyond the work we do together. That, too has been a blessing in my work world.

I’m also grateful for the people I get to work for. Yes, I own my own business, so I don’t work for anyone. And truthfully, even though in a sense I do work for my clients, I really feel as though I am working with each of them to accomplish the goals they have for their business, or school, or ministry, or other organization. It’s a piece of what I do that I also really enjoy: getting to know the people involved, and seeing where they are adding their talents and daily effort to the public good. I enjoy that I get to be part of that.

That said, there are definitely down sides lately.

More working means less time for writing, which I love, and even feel that it’s something I’m made to do. Also means less time for reading, less time for fun in the kitchen (cooking and baking projects) and even less time with my family (though I do think that suffers least of any other way I can spend my time).

Also, I’ve noticed that I get to create less.

I was planning to make this a complete post of its own, but one thing I’ve been thinking is that with an extra workload (and because of many circumstances, less time to accomplish it!) I’ve found that I have drifted away from the creative side of my work. Somehow I spend most days administrating the various projects for various clients, communicating between clients and other developers working with me, and then supporting existing work.

It’s not that I don’t work in a creative environment. That’s still true, and I’d guess always will be. But I really do feel I am creating much less than I used to. Which, is probably not a good thing, except that it’s probably a “season” that I am in for now.

But again, as I said above, I will say again here: I am grateful.

I am also tired. 🙂

So, the reason for this shorter post being sufficiently explained… I’m heading to bed.

But if you need a website—big or small, short or tall, we really can do it all—or any graphic design work, or video/audio conversion, and even Mac hardware upgrades (and limited other tech support), I’d love to work with you. (You will have to wait in line right now, but … I would still love to chat with you.) Please visit my sadly neglected business website (the cobbler’s family’s shoes…) and contact me to see how we might be able to help.

OK, now, back to work!

Want to see some of the latest projects? Try this, and this, and this, and this. This one is coming soon, very soon! Oh, and here’s another that I was just working on this weekend. Unfortunately, we can’t really show you the one we spend MOST of our time working on (it’s an internal dealers site, not open to the public… and now there are two! But trust me… it’s enormous and amazing! Largely thanks to the coding prowess of this guy.)

by Greg

Strange Things People Search For

Google Search Terms from Google AnalyticsIt’s always fascinating to me to see the various ways people find this website.

First, of course, are direct visits: people using bookmarks or typing in “gregshead.net” into their browser’s address bar. Then, I know that the main referrer of visitors to GregsHead.net is Facebook.com. Some of that is from links shared by others, some shared by me directly, and probably the majority of it is from the automated daily syndication to the GregsHead.net Facebook page (facebook.com/gregsheaddotnet) of the content originally published here.

Then of course you have the search engines. That’s where it gets interesting! There are of course the standard search terms like, my name, “greg campbell blog”, even just “greg’s head”, and other obvious search phrases. But the best ones are (in the case of this website) the most curious, and, oddly, most common ones clicked through.

Nowadays, these sorts of things can be tracked using fancy do-hickeys and other such thingamajigs. (Otherwise known as Google Analytics, among others.)

Here’s a brief list of the Top 8 Search Phrases and the Posts They Link To from the past three months.

8. “Clean Your Bombilla”

You might not even know what a “bombilla” is, but apparently someone does! And, somehow this person must have had the same problem as me. Unfortunately, I’m not sure they got much help from my post about cleaning your bombilla… I just realized that it’s a good idea to do it! Good to know other yerba mate drinkers are stopping by for a cyber visit, though!

GH Post: Clean Your Bombilla

7. “Why Does Everyone Hate Glenn Beck?”

I have been a Glenn Beck listener and fan for well over a decade… which is well before most people decided to hate him. I think there were plenty of people who hated him, just not an entire segment of the population. 🙂 Well, it really did fascinate me back in 2010 (when the hatred was really ramping up) just how vile and personal many of the attacks on him were becoming. The article actually becomes much less about Mr. Beck, and more about how we (especially Americans) treat each other, and even more, how much—or little—we listen to each other.

GH Post: Why Does Everyone Hate Glenn Beck?

6. “Types of Sucker Fish”

Now this one is interesting, because it was the subject of a recent “From The Archive” post. Apparently, the way people get to this website from that search phrase is not really much of anything from the story (the word “type” is used once), rather, somehow the photo of our beautifully little sucker fishy is the third result out of about 214,000 results for that search phrase. Fascinating! Well, the curious Knowledge Seeker may not learn much about the various types of sucker fish, but they got an entertaining story about how indestructible those little “suckers” are! 🙂

GH Post: Super Sucker Fish!

5. “Hiccough Etymology”

My favorite part about this one is not that the article I wrote and posted is, at this point, becoming quite dated (though, with this subject, I suppose that is rather irrelevant) … it’s that the search term is “hiccough” not “hiccup”! Who spells it “hiccough”??? I guess I did… Click the link and learn what many (apparently) are yearning to know…

GH Post: The Etymology of The Word “Hiccough”

4. (Tie) “Spiral Illusion” and “Focus On The Dot”

Technically, these are #4 and #7, respectively. And interestingly enough, the lower one on the list (“focus on the dot”) maintains the Search Visitor’s interest the most of any other search phrase. (That means, those who click through to GregsHead.net after searching for those words, click through most often to more pages on this website. Crazy what they can track, huh?) This particular post (below) is discovered, like the Sucker Fish post, by a Google Images search. And the best part of all, the post was originally “inspired” by an email forward from my Dad! Nice!

GH Post: Illusions, and maybe also Optical Illusions

THE TOP THREE…

(Are you excited? On the edge of your seat??)

3. “Random Bible Verse Generator”

Really??? #3 is in reference to a very short post from 2008 where I offer a link to a small widget I discovered that displays a random verse from the Bible upon every page load. (You can see it near the bottom of the first of the two sidebars to your right, if you are on the main website…) It would seem that others, even to this day, are in dire need of a random Bible verse generator. Thankfully, they have this 4-year-old post below to guide their way! 🙂

UPDATE, MAY 2012: The creators of this widget emailed me this week and they are discontinuing the service. This post has been removed from GregsHead.net… where are people going to find their random bible verse generator??! 🙂

2. “Thomas Jefferson Rules To Live By”

My favorite part about number two on the list is that this post wasn’t even (mostly) something I wrote! I saw it on a friend’s blog and really liked it (was also reading a bunch of Thomas Jefferson’s writing at the time) and so I shared it on my blog. AND, apparently, it is needed information! (They really are quite interesting, and helpful… click below and read/re-read for yourself.)

GH Post: Ten Rules To Live By — Thomas Jefferson

AND, THE NUMBER ONE, MOST-POPULAR SEARCH PHRASE…

1. “Steve Burns”

Yes! The Steve Burns, aka Steve from Blue’s Clues! Having young kids in the house, we of course have seen our share of the animated blue puppy and her friendly owner, Steve. But, we, like apparently many other folks on the interwebs, were uncertain as to why he so quickly left the fame and fortune of this quite popular preschooler’s TV show, and needed to find out. After a bit of incredibly investigative journalism, Steve Burns current location was discovered and shared! And search after search keeps bringing people to this site to discover the truth: Steve is alive and well! 🙂 You know you’re curious, too …

GH Post: What Ever [sic] Happened To Steve?

And there you have it! The most recently popular search terms bringing people to the pages of this site.

What is the number one overall search term? By far it’s #3 above. But curiously, the #2 overall search phrase (since I began tracking with Google Analytics in 2007) is “fundamental transformation of america” which links people (most likely) to a post I am particularly fond of, actually, titled, The (True) Fundamental Transformation of America.

Now that you have enough reading for the week… better bookmark this post!

Enjoy!

by Greg

Letters To God

The reviews of Letters To God are either glowing, or not kind. And, I can see where most of them are coming from.

In some ways this movie was pretty hokey. Some of the acting was bad. Some of the story was a tad unbelievable. Some of the “Christian” part seemed a bit too forced.

But I’ve seen some bad Christian movies. (There’s one with Mr. T in it, that is really only watchable because it’s funny to see and hear Mr. T say he needs to get his guns to go take down the “Antichrist”…) And, don’t forget the Left Behind movies…

But somehow this one was just different.

Cheesy, yes. Hokey, yes. Christian, yes. But there was not a dry eye in our living room. All seven of us, down to even three-year-old Emma connected with the emotional messages in this movie. And we loved it.

First, the “Christian” part was fairly authentic, and not “churchy”. (Meaning, a major portion of the film was not set inside a church building, or at church functions. Those moments were rare in this movie.) The story unfolds in the setting of “real life”. I think the movie makers wanted to keep this film accessible to the widest age range possible, so some of the more “real” stuff is toned down a bit (which leads some reviewers to say it’s less “real”) but there were good discussions on many parts of the movie amongst the three decades of ages covered by our family in the room that night. (Ages 3, 5, 7, 10, 13, and 37!)

Without giving the ending away (though, since it’s based on a true story, you already know “the ending” going into the movie…) the very real, very authentic, deep trust that an 8-year-old boy lives daily in his God is so infectious that an entire town (it seems) is affected, even changed.

The best part for me was that everything this boy (sick from cancer and the treatments he underwent to try to cure it) was only focused on other people. On top of his sickness, his Dad had died not long before he got sick! And still he only thought of his brother, his Mom, his best friend, his neighbors, the new mailman (who has a world of his own hurt) …

Do you remember that I recently was talking with our teenager about what (generally) distinguishes heroes from villains? Well that clearly stood out in this movie again, too (though there weren’t really many “villains”). The clear hero of this story is Tyler, the boy who could so easily not care one bit about anyone else. He only thinks about everyone else.

It’s because his focus is on God, and not on himself, good or bad.

We really do recommend this movie. If you just hate anything that might present life with Jesus as a reality or a real possibility, then you probably won’t much like this video. But, if you love feel-good, family-friendly, make-you-cry, “heart-warming” stories that spawn multiple further discussions…

Letters To God is for you, too.

by Greg

[From The Archive] Super Sucker Fish

Highlighting Articles from the GregsHead.net Archives!It’s time for another trip to the Archive! This time, it’s the quite recent past—June of 2010.

One very hot night during that summer, after returning to our home after a few very hot days away visiting friends, we discovered a sight—and smell—that will stick with us for quite some time!

Super Sucker Fish! is the chronicle of the events of that fateful day (or two), and though in some ways it’s quite sad, it’s also full of some moments that will make you laugh, and, quite honestly, might astonish you! (They did me!)

Of course, if you own “sucker fish”, then you might already know their incredible powers of survival? After what we saw (retold in this story), they will definitely outlast all other life on this planet!

Enjoy, Super Sucker Fish!

by Greg

The Surface Issue

I have discovered a problem here in the Campbell home. It’s quite prevalent, affecting most members of the household.

Surfaces abhor a vacuum?

I know, I know. That’s not exactly the famous phrase. The slight variation though is definitely true in this home!

Is it that way for you? Do you find that any flat surface in your house is quickly filled up by all sorts of random goodies? The day’s mail, a book or a toy (or three), yesterday’s snack, last week’s underwear…

You get the picture.

EVERY time we clear of a flat surface in an attempt to de-clutter—to create a more simple, more beautiful space—within seconds something has been placed there to start the clutter parade. And it’s quick. It’s like a ultra-strong magnet, drawing anything light enough to be carried to the level of the available surface, and it doesn’t stop until there’s no more surface to be seen.

This used to also happen with our floors, but it seems as we have been diligently eliminating “stuff” from our home, that is happening at least a tad less often.

Surface, Oh Surface

But wherever you go, it’s true you know
That a surface abhor’s a vacuum
Both high and low, to and fro
You’re sure to find a sacked room

For surface you see is just the place that we
Seem to fill our deepest longings
For short or for long, at times with a song
Flat places are just where you store things

I think that might need to be posted on a wall of the Campbell home. Maybe all of them. It accurately describes our condition, our issue: We have a surface issue.

I’d guess any other large family reading this has a similar problem, but please… if you have discovered a solution, some way to keep at least some of your surfaces clutter-free… please explain in the comments below. Email me if it’s too private to share publicly.

Hi, we are the Campbell family, and we have a surface issue.

Now that we’ve admitted it … WE NEED HELP!!!

Maybe we are just doomed to this cluttered surface life forever. Perhaps there is no cure. I mean, right now I can’t seem to find the cause. It’s really just sort of magical! One minute you get it clean the next it’s got a whole new collection of surface cover!

Maybe our surfaces are just cold … they need to cover up?

If you know a way out for us, we’d love to hear it.

For now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go clean off a couple surfaces… 🙂

by Greg

And Life Moves On

Yesterday was full. I had a ton of work to do, I had bills to manage (and even more I needed to figure out how to manage), I had plans to attend to, people to meet up with, and even books I was trying to read.

My list of things to do was long, and the crossing off of some items seemed unequally balanced with the adding of others.

There wasn’t really a frantic pace to the day, just classic multi-tasking. A little of this, a little of that. Spinning several plates at once.

Around noon I decided to take a brisk walk to the bank—just around the corner from our house—to make a deposit to our account. I quickly put on my shoes and coat and headed out the door.

The flashing lights were the first thing I saw.

At the end of the road, at the main intersection in town, I saw the familiar red and blue cycling lights of a police car. As I studied the scene I noted that the car was “parked” at a 45º angle in the center of the intersection, but there did not appear to be any other vehicles out of place; just a line east and west, and a line to the south. Odd… I thought, and continued to assess the situation as my steady stride brought me closer.

Then I saw that a line of cars from the north were all turning to the east. Included in this stream of vehicles were a few more police cars with their lights also flashing. (But no sirens to be heard.)

A funeral… I realized, And apparently for someone in some sort of service due to the number of police cars involved.

Around the corner, heading the same direction as the train of vehicles before me, I spotted an enormous flag flying directly over the center of Main St. It was suspended over the road by four ladder trucks. Four trucks… from four different towns… Who was this guy?

I proceeded to my destination, and completed my transaction using the automated teller machine. Knowing that we live in a small town, I guessed that the tellers inside would know what was going on this day, so I entered the bank to find out.

“The funeral for Mike Murphy,” I was told. “Mike Murphy?” I asked, not sure why they said his name as though I should have known him.

“Murphy’s funeral home?” one teller clarified, “He was only 41 years old…”

We all took a moment then to reflect on the obvious sadness of this day for those that knew him. I’m not sure if any of the three ladies in the bank knew him personally, or his family, but regardless, we all knew it was indeed a sad day.

It struck me as I walked back past the fire trucks, now lowering their ladders and removing the flag that had honored the premature passing of this man only a few years older than I am, that this day was going so differently for them than it was for me. I thought of his family. I thought of my family. I thought of me.

I thought of what I’d been doing this day, and how important it seemed—maybe you can even still say that it is important, on some level—and how irrelevant such things are to his family and close friends today.

It fascinated me how life just moves on.

While they hurt, and grieve, and wonder, and ache, and just process the events of the past week… others—like me—are nearly oblivious, dutifully carrying on with the mundane tasks of daily life.

Life just moves on.

It’s surprising to me the flippancy and depth that those words carry simultaneously. On one hand, it seems as though there is little thought given to the untimely death of a fellow human being; a neighbor. On the other hand, the reality of the relentless procession of time is incredibly obvious as the world continues its endless motion around these people who are mourning.

Oblivious. Ignorant. Uncaring. Unaware.

The questions of the hurting, unheard by the rest who are likely dealing with their own individual hurts, or at best, enjoying a momentary respite from the cruelty of this broken world.

If that were the end—a brief, insignificant, mostly unnoticed moment to recognize a life created in God’s image… that would be pretty sad. Meaningless.

The amazing truth is, we are not unnoticed. (At least, not by the circles of people God has placed us within.) We have great impact upon the people we walk next to—not necessarily measuring by the standards of this world. Our family, our close friends, even mere acquaintances. Even if we only have one passing interaction with someone. We can have an impact.

Mike even touched my life today—though I never knew him. A moment I only noticed by coincidental timing caused me to reflect on the daily doings of my life; our lives.

We are not insignificant. Quite the opposite. Our lives have purpose, meaning.

And we are not without hope. Though each of us has a terminal disease from birth, we can live each day we get to its fullest when we recognize and find our life in Life’s Creator. I don’t know if Mr. Murphy lived that way or not, since I never met him. But you and I can.

And I hope you do.

That… is not insignificant.