Spiritual Mileage

As a new Prius owner for the past couple of months, I've been paying close attention to my mileage. I've been getting between 47 and 52 MPG for my first few tanks.

There's even a website where you can track your mileage and display it as an internet "badge"

After I filled up for the first time, I was going to post here how happy I was with my mileage. However, that got postponed, and then the second tank came and went, and then the third tank.

I then had to come to the grim realization that I just haven't posted here much. It occurred to me while my car's mileage is great, my "spiritual mileage" is about as low as it can get.

Like with the GreenHybrid link above, it would be interesting to track the ups and downs of my spiritual mileage on a chart. I have had periods of high mileage; right now its kind of low.

I can recognize it - I'm burned out. Even the smallest of tasks, like putting new information up on the church's web site, becomes a huge burden. I haven't really had a "Sunday off" in about 20 months, and it's very lonely as the web and media volunteer at our typical "aging demographic" Lutheran church.

I've been following a few online chat forums for Prius owners. Some owners are pretty enthusiastic about finding the best techniques for getting the highest possible gas mileage. What I need to to is figure out good techniques for increasing my spiritual mileage. I find great comfort and nourishment in the many online blogs I follow; that helps for sure. But for today, I think I'm just a bit "out of gas".

I've been Simpsonized

The Simpsons Movie is out today. I've always been a moderately casual fan of the show. I like the cultural references and social commentary the most. I'm not sure if I'll head out to the movie to see it, since my initial opinion was the same as the review in the Arizona Republic this morning - why not just wait to watch it on DVD?

Anyway, I recently stumbled on simpsonizeme.com, which will transform any personal photo into a Simpsons character. I tried it with my usual avatar, and this is what came out. I was actually pretty surprised at how well it worked. It even added a smile. I guess living in Springfield can make you happy.

From Blue to Green

New Prius
Originally uploaded by Andrew_Sandstrom

I recently experienced a saddening loss - that of my beloved 10 year old Jeep Cherokee. It was the best car I ever had: practical, modest, and always faithful. Unfortunately, I made a bad decision in lane changing and my Jeep paid the price.

I was short on ideas when deciding how to replace my Jeep. I didn't want any car that was too fancy (or too plain either), or a car that wasn't practical (I've got a lot of musical instruments to lug about). The Toyota Prius was kind of in the back of my mind but I didn't really think about it too seriously until somebody at church mentioned it to me as a good environmental decision.

So, in the end, this has become the new me. Still modest, still practical, and now, more green. Its not just the gas mileage (still working on my first tank after a week, but the computer is telling me about 43mpg so far), its also an AT-PZEV (Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle).

From the Christian perspective, I think its also a good choice, as far as being a good steward of God's creation (I even found a web site asking"WWJD - What Would Jesus Drive?).

Now, to be honest, I don't want to make this out to be the best thing ever. Its not like I've become entirely environmentally "pure" overnight. The Prius still does use gas, and there have been some studies questioning the entire energy consumption from"dust to dust", factoring manufacturing costs and other things. And I have discovered there can be a "holier than thou" attitude among Prius owners that I'm not particularly fond of.

But I do feel good that I've at least taken a step in the right direction. There are some passages in Jeremiah that describe the consequences of our poor actions and decisions. But I liked what Jeremiah 6:16 says:

Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it

I feel like I'm at the crossroads in this instance. Any major change can only start with small steps. I feel like I'm starting with some small steps.

We just recently saw Evan Almighty. In that movie, Evan wants to change the world but doesn't know how to accomplish it. God (Morgan Freeman) tells him that big changes start with small Acts of Random Kindness. So in Phoenix, the Valley of the Sun, where a car is by default mandatory for survival, I'm hoping this one small act of kindness for the environment.

(PS In the movie, I did notice that when Evan is sitting in a huge Hummer, there is a Toyota Prius behind him).

Why Anxious?

Naming something new is always hard. When I was coming up with a name for this blog last week I was trying to think of something technical at first. But I knew that I wanted to discuss other things that were perhaps less technical, but still related to outreach ministry.

So I decided I wanted a name that would reflect my general state of being. Number one - I'd like to be a disciple. Our church's ministry is about making passionate disciples. Check. Secondly, I also wanted to describe the passion I feel about my personal ministry of trying to help our church with technology. But at the same time, I wanted to reflect some sense of how overwhelmed I can feel.

While running through words in my head the word "Anxious" came up. Sure, I feel anxious a lot - I'm sure anyone who knows me can tell you that. Being anxious can often be thought of as a bad thing. Dictionary.com says

uneasiness because of fear of danger or misfortune; greatly worried

Well, OK, maybe a little extreme, but I have worry and fear some times when faced with the "great unknown" of technology for Christ.

But, here's the cool part. Anxious can also mean

earnestly desirous; eager

So...bingo. At the same time, I feel fearful and worried, but also very eager and passionate about what I'm doing. So, I'm the anxious disciple.

What's all this then?

So, then. It's the first post. The "hello world" program. The Initial Program Load.

Why am I doing this? Well, good question. I don't imagine many people will read this, and I think that's one reason I haven't started a blog before now.

For the longest time, I thought that blogs were primarily meant for other people. Over the last few weeks, however, I've been reading lots of other blogs, and I've come to the realization that blogs can be useful for organizing personal thoughts and writing things down. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, so I suppose its not shocking that I haven't realized this before.

I decided to start this blog because I wanted a place to write down, keep track of, and organize random thoughts about my involvement with technology and media ministry in our church.

Over the last year or so, I've been working in creating a web site for our church. I'm interested in web2.0 and exploring new ways of doing outreach through the internet and the web. I don't feel I'm "there" yet at all.

So I plan to use this blog to mention other stuff I've found that I like, write down where I'm at, and maybe where I'm not at either. So there you go.