jhough's blog

When you build out a new design for site and realize when you look at it on your iPad or iPhone and see that all the styling is wrong it can be frustrating. Recently when I added search functionality to my own site this problem cropped up. WebKit which is the default web layout engine for Safari and iOS adds its own styling to input elements by default leaving the web designer to have to overwrite each one my hand in order to turn them off. This can be a headache.

Last week I celebrated my birthday and it was a great day. Not because something spectacular happened or even for big gift. It was a great day for the simple reason that I got to spend time with my wife and family. Family is the most important aspect of my life and despite our dysfunctional nature we accept each other for our strengths and flaws. To know someone even in their mistakes and still love them is true love.

When you worship do you worship with every ounce of yourself? I know I don't and I know I should. Though the thing about worship is that it should be practiced all the time, not just in the church, but in our daily lives. In my last few posts I talked about the missional church and moving outward to change lives, rather than only doing things in the church. The need for authentic worship is a part of that missional goal and direction. We must ask the questions:

Driving home last night from my church's gathering for National Day of Prayer I started thinking about all the different areas of our lives and the country that we were praying for. For a moment they all sounded distinct, but looking deeper the one prayer we should have been praying during the service is that we all put God back in our lives. 

For many years the church has been focused on internal issues, and by that I mean the focus has been on developing disciples to better understand the Word in the walls of the church, while ignoring the ability to put things into action. The study of the Word is a noble and necessary part of the Christian life; don't get me wrong on that. But my argument is based more on the fact that we have neglected the lives of those outside of our church. How are others won for the kingdom? Do they fall through the doors on Sunday morning saying "Save me"? New believers come to know Christ by the actions of believers and seeing disciples work.

My church has recently started moving towards being more mission focused in their approach, which essentially is being more people-centric rather than being program-centric. Many churches have been adopting this mindset because it aligns closely with the Great Commission and deals with meeting people where they are, showing them the path to God. This is a significant change from the way the Christian church tried to get people into the church rather than having the followers of Christ meet the lost in the community.

Having the heart of a servant is what all Christians should strive to achieve. The work that we do no matter it's significance is for the Lord and we must abound in that work with hearts of thankfulness. Why does that concept of serving our Lord always get skewed by thoughts of inadequacy, failure, or lack of time? We place our hope and seek the rewards in the things of this world while we forget about our Lord and the promises that He has already made to us.

A Little Perspective

You arrive at work and have a hundred emails in your inbox. (Oh, snap!) Then you notice that your manager has put three new projects on your desk on top of the four you are already working on. Instantly your mind goes into panic mode. You don't know where to begin and you contemplate hurling your computer to the floor hoping that the downtime will give you the time you need to figure something out.

During my church's Easter service I wandered off to find a cool patch of shade. I will be honest I could not handle the heat, and baking in the heat of the day. Though when I found my spot I was blessed to see all the people that had showed up for our service this year. Every year we perform baptisms towards the end of our Easter service, and this year I started thinking about what does it mean to make God the center of your life.

While the world and work might get me down at times, I know I'm meant to be different from the world and remain above the influence of this world. I let things, people, and details get to me daily, but it is how I react to those individual pieces that shows who is in control of my life. Do I want to look like the person who constantly is bitter about his situation? Or do I want to be the person who is strong in the pain and is an example for others to look up to?