Tuesday, July 31, 2007

What Do I Do? Part 3

This may be the last video I post as I'm having a hard time finding different videos that I've worked on. If I find some more I'll post them (if anybody is interested).

This is the first of six episodes (webisodes) for Samaritan's Purse called "Follow the Box". The videos show the progress and path of a shoebox from beginning to end. I worked on Episodes 1,2,5 and 6 - the latter two on location in Ecuador. I'll post some pics from that trip later.

Monday, July 30, 2007

What Do I Do? Part 2

You'll have to follow the link for this next video - I had to dig through the archives to find it. This interview was the first interview that Tony Dungy did after his son James died. This was recorded during the NFL owner's meetings last year in Orlando. Tony is, by all accounts, a person worthy to be looked up to. He was kind and gracious with us during the interview. The Tony you see on TV is the Tony you see behind the scenes.

Again, I was the audio mixer (in the field) for this job. I had to get the mics on Rich and Tony and mix/monitor for the cameras.

Tony Dungy Interview

Sunday, July 29, 2007

What Do I Do For A Living?

I get asked this question alot, so I'll tell you AND show you. This first video is from FoxSports. It's a segment called "Photo Finish". You can't see me but I'm off to the side operating the mixer. My job is to get the mics on the drivers and Chris and then mix/monitor for the cameras. I've worked on this segment for the past 4 years for Fox. Previously, the segments were called "10 Laps with Chris Myers".

I'll try to post a video a day of things that I've worked on for the next several days, assuming I can find the videos floating around the internet somewhere.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Our Captive Chains



A month or so ago, our family visited an Audubon Society Raptors Center. What a cool place if you're into seeing birds of prey up close. Big majestic bald eagles, red-tail hawks, falcons, owls... they really are incredible birds. There were nice displays and habitats to give the birds a home suitable to their nature. It was a small place, not like visiting a large zoo, but still enough to make the fee worthwhile. I would imagine that alot of school groups go there for educational field trips.

The last stop of our tour of the center was back in the main house where there were several smaller raptors on display with no cage or glass to keep them contained. Instead, each one was chained to a post to keep them in their place. One of the workers came out to introduce us to the house and the birds and whatnot. One of the things she said was "We're not being inhumane to the birds by having them chained down. They've had these chains since birth, so it's the only life they've known." They weren't chained up all day. In fact, they were only in the chains about eight hours a day - during visiting hours. But this got me thinking.

Those of you who know me know that I relate alot of our Christian experiences to parables, similies, stories and the like. As soon as she said those words "It's the only life they've known", I began to think about our own chains. Similarly, we are born into a world of sin, and so in a way, we also have these chains fitted to us from a young age. The chains clasped around the raptor's legs kept them grounded, kept them from being what they were created to be. They would probably love to fly off and do the things that a raptor does instinctively. But having been chained most of their life, do they begin to feel as though these chains were a natural part of their existence? As if, somehow, the chains were just another part of them. Not something external to be shed, but something so familiar that they allow it to define what they are and how they act. I think you can see what I'm getting at here. What are the chains in our lives? What have we allowed to hold us back, to keep us grounded from being what it is that God created us to be? Have our chains become so familiar to us that we don't try to shed them anymore? Do we even recognize them as chains at all?

As Christians, we have been set free. Free from the bondage of sin. Free from being clasped to the post of an unfulfilled life. But sometimes the familiarity of the chains is all we've known and instead of walking away free, we try desperately to refit the clasps around our legs. We're surprised to discover that they won't lock anymore - Jesus has destroyed the tumblers, if you will. So instead we hang around the place of our captivity, slowly venturing out further and further with each passing season, until one day we realize we really ARE free. And we began to fly and soar on wings like eagles.

Let today be that day. We really are free!

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Farting Preacher 5

An oldie but a goodie.

Our Brains

Click on the pics for a larger view.



Click on the pics for a larger view.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Pivotal Points



Most of our days are filled with decisions to make that are trivial to semi-serious, but certainly nothing that we would consider life-changing. Thinking back on my own life (as short as it is) I have noticed several what I call "pivotal points" where a choice was made that directly influenced the outcome of the life that followed. Sometimes we go through a pivotal point without even realizing it - sometimes it's very obvious. We certainly see examples of this in Scripture - some good, some bad. Think of Saul on the road to Damascus or maybe Moses and the burning bush. What about David with Bathsheba or Samson and Delilah? Choices were made in a moment that changed the direction of that person's life from that time forward.

Certainly we could all name that time when we first met Jesus and He changed our lives as our pivotal point. This is a given. What about other times? As some of you know, Kim and I were married before we were finished with college. During my last year in the music industry program, Kim got pregnant with Alison. We had a choice to make. I needed an internship to finish my degree. My professor/adviser wanted me to consider Yamaha in Los Angeles or somewhere in Nashville (this was where I wanted to end up). However I did not want to move us away from our friends and family when Kim (and I) would need them the most - in the middle of our first pregnancy! So we made the decision to stay in Boone and do my internship at church. My professor was disappointed in my choice, to say the least but he agreed to it. After finishing my internship, I worked as a maintenance worker for a local company. It certainly was NOT what I had planned on doing with my life. But God had made a provision for that time, and we walked in it. Not long afterwards, I got a call from Samaritan's Purse to come work in their Broadcast department, and thus my career in TV audio was born. I ended up travelling all over the world, meeting people I never dreamed of meeting. I even got to work on several Billy Graham crusades. In fact, my picture was in an issue of Decision Today magazine as I was mixing (for TV) a Billy Graham crusade in Nashville. God had opened a door that I was not even looking for. Had I chosen a career over family and moved us elsewhere, who knows what would have happened. But I'm pretty sure we would have gone down a path that would not have been good for us.

Another pivotal point was also in college. I had a friend at ASU that I had gotten to know fairly well our freshman year, but our friendship had kind of fallen by the wayside. He had gotten into a relationship with a girl that was not healthy and was causing alot of strain in his life. He and I had simply drifted apart - it happens to people all the time. One day as I was walking back to my dorm I saw him walking up ahead of me and I had a strong desire or urging to reach out to him. So I ran up to him and we started talking. We stood in the stadium parking lot for nearly an hour (in freezing temperatures) as he began to pour out to me all that he gone through over the past many months. The pain was evidenced in his voice and his eyes. But you could tell as we talked that God was moving in his heart and that things were changing right then and there. I think we may have prayed together before he left, I really don't remember. But I do remember that from that day forward he was a changed person. It was a pivotal point in his life. He began coming to church and Bible study and seriously started walking with God after that - he even became a missionary at one point. It was awesome to see. And as I think back on it, it may have been one of the most impactful moments I have ever had on a person. We, as young Christians, were always looking for those moments where we could reach out to people and see their lives changed. We generally called them "divine appointments" and often we treated them as super spiritual events that we needed great amounts prayer for and fasting over. They were times that we planned to go out and look for and took great care to do "right". I was humbled, because all God asked me to do in this instance was to call out to this friend as I was walking home and begin talking to him. Quite honestly, I wasn't even looking for it. I didn't have to give a sermon on turning from sin and towards God, nor did I have to impress anyone with my knowledge of Scripture. But I heard God speak and acted on it. Isn't that how God works? He blows our ideas on how to do something (when left to our own devices), with something simpler and much more effective.

What are your stories of "pivotal points" that you've seen in your own life, or in the lives of those you've touched?

Friday, July 13, 2007

Our New Boy




After much searching on the internet, we finally have our Golden. Sammy is a 3 year old Golden Retriever whom we found on Craig's List. His owner was moving to New York City and couldn't take her dogs with her. We just got him this evening. So far he has been a wonderful dog. He has a very sweet personality and is great with the kids. He seems to be happy with us. We are definitely happy with him.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Sleepless In Seattle



I just returned from a trip to Seattle, WA. It was a quick trip (left on Sunday, back on Thursday). I was working for the BGEA doing some interviews and testimonies for upcoming broadcasts and festivals. I'll post more about the trip after I have had more sleep. I flew back on the red-eye last night (Seattle to Philadelphia, Philly to Tampa) and am feeling the jetlag/sleep-deprived effects.

Friday, July 6, 2007

Don't Close Your Eyes



I've noticed for the last couple of years when I go to check in on my kids before bed, I notice how big they're getting and how quickly they're growing up. There's something about seeing your kids sleeping that makes you hyper-aware of how much they're changing. Alison will be 10 years old this year and Kasey will be 8. I've really enjoyed this stage of life, even with it's challenges. But when I look at them, it's as if I can hear the clock ticking down (no, not the puberty time bomb) on the years I have left with them. I look at them peacefully sleeping, and even though we've tried to make the most of every day, I can't help but feeling that my little girls are slipping away. I want something that I can't keep. I'm white-knuckled trying to hold onto something that can't be contained. It's kind of like the end of the movie "The Family Man" where Nicholas Cage sits in his bedroom chair trying not to fall asleep, knowing that when he awakens his family and all that's real to him will be gone, as if a dream.

Time marches on I guess, but sometimes I just want to go AWOL. It's heartbreaking when I think of it. Maybe it's just a bit of a mid-life crisis. I don't know.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Something To Listen To

















If you're looking for something different to listen to on the radio, check out Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion. I've listened to it a few times over the last couple of years after being introduced to it. Our PBS station here just recently aired a TV broadcast of APHC from Tanglewood. It contains witty comedy sketches with good music to boot, kind of a throw back to the great radio days of old. It's recorded in front of a live audience, sometimes out on the road. The music is generally folksy in nature. There was a movie made about the program that came out last year. I haven't seen the movie, so I can't comment on it. But the radio program, which airs weekly, is excellent. Check out your local NPR for broadcast schedules.