Freeing My Mind

I’m baaaaaack! Hopefully.

Hey everyone, I have received your concerns, criticisms, and pleas for help. Have no fear, we at the Freeing My Mind headquarters have no intention of ending the blog. Life has been crazy, thus the recent hiatus. For instance:

I moved across the country two weeks ago. Lori, Cash, Whole-Grain and I sold our cars, packed everything we own into a moving truck and drove from North Carolina to San Francisco. We were homeless for a few days, but we got an amazing place right on the beach. The day after we moved in, we headed up to Alberta for a few days. I really love the people up there. I think it was my 7 or 8 time at that particular church. I think they keep inviting me back for their own entertainment, just to see what zany idea I’ll come up with next.

So, yeah, we actually did feel homeless for a few days. I think the first day we were here I called about 40 different apartment ads. We sat in the moving truck in front of a coffee shop and leeched off their internet. Of course, the place we ended up getting, was a simple God-ordained instance of driving by and calling a number. Going from a two-bedroom house to a two-room apartment is turning out to be more of an adjustment than I originally thought. Lori’s coming up with some creative ways to save space, but it hasn’t been easy.

We got an iPad, or rather we received an iPad. Our friends Shane and Jess gave us one before we left. Yes, you do need friends like that. I’m having a hard time going back to my laptop at all. It’s just so pretty.

I watched dolphins from my living room the other day.

Lori is still pregnant.

Cash is trying to get used to living in the city. He has only pooped on the sidewalk once. Good thing we were carrying groceries. The bags do a great job at picking up the poop so the nice Chinese man didn’t have to step in it.

I didn’t realize until I got out here and settled in, just how lifeless I had been feeling in North Carolina. Sometimes you don’t realize your having trouble breathing until you inhale fresh air. That’s what it feels like.

So, I’ve got two focuses for the immediate future. For one, the main edit is done on my book. I still have to go through it myself, but that shouldn’t take long. I’m still being wishy-washy on deciding the title. It’ll come to me though. I’m also focusing on getting our team out here. I think sometimes I take for granted how spontaneous Lori and I are. For most people it’s not easy to drop everything and move to California. Some would say it’s our incredible faith, I would say it’s our lack of thinking mixed with God’s grace.

I saw Christopher Nolan’s new movie yesterday. Inception. It really is a must see. I had heard some comparisons to The Matrix. I understand where the comparisons are coming from, but I would go into it without any preconceived ideas. Oh and set aside some time. It’s pretty long.

Ok, so my return to blogging is a little jagged and jumbled, but hopefully your’re up to speed. I’ll be back soon. Let me leave you with one question, what does it mean?

I’m on day three of my writing hiatus. It’s amazing how little writing goes into writing a book when compared to research and fact checking. Oh, if you didn’t know, authors are actually supposed to check their facts to make sure they actually are facts.

I think this is my last day this time around. I might come back up to this cabin tomorrow, but my wife and my dog miss me something terribly. I don’t know which is more depressed.

In order to clear my mind at night, I’ve been watching this show called “The Colony” from the Discovery Channel. The first season is over, so you’d have to catch it on DVD or Netflix. The premise is that about 10 people are taken to an abandoned industrial district of Los Angeles and surrounded my a reality that depicts a post-apocalyptic world scenario. The group must set up a “colony” in an old warehouse and create a living environment from the resources they find around them. Food, water and even packs of marauders are their main concerns. Don’t expect too much in the way of reality. They are pretty much set up with an ideal scenario. The people involved include a doctor, ER nurse, rocket scientist, a handyman that would put McGyver to shame, ex-Croatian military and mechanical engineer, computer and mechanical specialist, martial-arts expert, ex-con/general contractor, etc. It’s interesting to watch the engineering skills of almost everyone involved. From building a shower (not the scarcity of water), to electricity, to a “battle truck” and even a radio transmitter.

It got me thinking. (And, please…. please, do not take this idea seriously and run with it.) How hilarious would it be to do a reality show where you place a bunch of Christians in the same scenario, except that the scenario is the Biblical last days being played out. Me and a friend would be willing to dress up as Moses and Elijah in order to see the response. I’ve got the beard, a little dye and bam! I guess it would be a good idea if we wanted to inflict further injury to our cause.

inspire.

I’m eating my Cuban sandwich for the day. Once again, magnificant. Anyway, this has been a week of various milestones in and around me:  1)I started a blog. 2) Our closest friends in the world gave birth to their first-born. It was quite an experience. 3) The re-imagining and re-launch of our podcast, the AwakeCast (stay tuned for more after the break)  4) Finally got my entire prophetic school in audio form and placed it in our web store. 5)Lastly, our dog Cash, a goldendoodle, stayed home by himself outside of his kennel.

You might not understand why that last one is a milestone, but you don’t know Cash. He’s not your ordinary dog. Sure, like kids, most people say that about their dog. Although, Cash is a different story. He’s like my own personal Peter. In one moment he’s the greatest friend anyone could ask for. The next moment he’s a ravenous wolf attempting to eat children and destroy entire cities. Case in point 1: He eats underwear (women’s underwear to be specific. my wife’s underwear to be more specific.) He doesn’t chew underwear, he actually consumes it… whole. He usually throws it up within a day or so in the yard. Sometimes he doesn’t quite make it that far. One situation had two of my former interns, while wearing kitchen gloves, pulling a pair out of his back-side that couldn’t quite make it through. (No, I didn’t ask them to do it. They were housesitting.) Case in point 2: A couple of months ago Lori and I decided to sit down for a nice quiet evening and watch “Marley and Me“. The movie is about a golden retriever, who despite his destructive tendancies, becomes an objective of love and affection for the characters played by Owen Wilson(one of my favorite actors) and Jennifer Aniston (one of my least favorite actresses). During one of the more dramatic scenes of destruction by the dog, Marley, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Lori and I turned to look at the same time. There was our little “Marley” staring at us, a large bar of soap in his mouth and suds dripping out and onto the carpet. Maybe it seems funny to you.

Back to the milestone. We learned early-on in Cash’s life that he shouldn’t be left alone. Paint pens, clothing, documents and various other objects of importance would simply find their way into his grasp.  Well, I decided that along with the new me, that I should give Cash a chance to enter into a new stage of life. Lori was out of town and between my insane office hours as of late and time spent with the newborn in our “family” I wasn’t finding myself at home too much.  So, at 9:00am I walked out the door, leaving cash standing at the window simply staring. I don’t quite know the emotions that were sure to have been going through his head, but as I backed out of my driveway and onto Price Rd. all I could think about was the first time I stayed home from elementary school by myself. I believe a broken lamp and a “fort” made from every chair, sheet and blanket in the house were only midway up the totem pole of my destruction.

The day went by slower than normal. I didn’t even know if I should tell Lori what I was attempting. I didn’t know if my speech on it being a week of  ”overcoming mountains and reaching milestones” would really play out a thousand miles from the situation. After a day at the office and a few hours spent at Shane and Jess’ (the new parents), I decided to go home and face whatever was waiting for me. As I drove the 5 minutes to my house, I felt like a craps player watching the dice roll across the felt in slow motion waiting to see if this roll would be the same as his 20 previous or if this just might be the one.

As my headlights rolled up the drive and onto the full glass door of my cabin, there he was. Seemingly standing in the exact same spot as I left him. Had he even moved? I hoped not. I could feel orchestral music playing through my head as I grabbed my bag and walked up the steps to our deck. The tympani and symbols building to a crescendo as my fingers grasped the door handle. I opened the door just as the conductor brought the symphony down to a lull. And…….nothing. Well not nothing, but… nothing. Nothing was touched. Nothing was chewed, destroye

d or burned. Everything was as it should be. I walked through the house with my once 80 pound weapon of warfare walking at my side. It was as if he was guiding me through the house, showing me his accomplishment.

As I stood in the driveway that night throwing small branches for Cash to fetch and even as I sat on the couch attempting to w

atch a movie with the big guy barking at me 6 inches from my face, I couldn’t help feeling a sense of pride, both for him and myself. I had given him a chance and he took it. A few weeks ago, God gave me a chance to change my life and I took it. Even with this blog, to most people it might seem like a small accomplishment, but to me it’s a slain dragon. You see, being in the public eye, especially in ministry, people look at you in a certain way. They hold you to standard that not many people can live up to. So, what most people do is attempt to keep the every day and normal “them” out of the public eye. I’ve now committed to putting details of my life, my thoughts and feelings, onto the interwebs for all to see. Should it be a big deal? I guess not. Is it? To me, yes. I think I’m finally learning how to practice what I preach. Change the way things are by attempting to do something different. Color outside the lines. So here I am. Craig. A son, husband, brother, friend. A wanderer and a reformer. Someone who makes mistakes. A lot. But, someone who is also willing to acknowledge those mistakes and change. My hope is that what I’ve been saying is right: Those are the kind of people who change the world.

Oh yeah, my brother, Chris, wrote a blog recently about milestones as well. Check it out.

Your comments are appreciated. And now, my inspiration for today. Time to say goodbye and much love.

inspiration