Day 431: Ahead of Schedule

Today was another lockdown day; funny that I almost missed these kind of days. Basically I had to work on my assessments so I could then work on videos. I managed to finish and upload the only assessment due today before the afternoon, so I was able to simply relax and edit videos. I uploaded a few more videos from the Skillet concert (way overdue), and surprisingly they got a lot of views within the first half hour. In the evening, I picked up a couple important files for tomorrow's chapel; luckily the training I got on Friday should make the process easier this time around. I also have some big news, but I'll share that in a bit.

God bless,
Steven

Day 430: Short Life, Long Life

Today's mission oriented day was full of awesomeness. My Sunday mornings always start around 5:55 to get ready for my 6:30 call time; I was originally supposed to be observing the director for eventually doing that for church services, but due to a roster mix-up I ended up doing CCU (it's basically making sure that the colors on the screen look good). I hadn't done CCU in a very long time, so I felt pretty rusty; but I managed to pull it off thanks to the great leaders in the room. I wanted to take a nap when I got back, but I ended up working on my assessment; I'm not done yet, but I'll get it done tomorrow. In Jesus' name. Tonight's service was awesome; pastor Brian gave a message on two main facts of life and how we can use that to live better. His two points? Life's short, and life's long. The Bible says like a vapor we're here for a short time, then vanish; sure makes you think differently about life in general. Considering I didn't get much sleep last night, I'll be going to sleep now =)

God bless,
Steven

Day 429: Outnumbered 6 to 1

Today's main event was a video shoot for this coming Friday's chapel; basically what's happening is a few girls will be performing a special item that will also support the Colour conference happening the very next week; my oversight Lauren's idea was to incorporate a video to play in the background while the band was performing; so we spent a good 4 hours getting the video together. There were 19 girls in total for the video, so it was a bit awkward being in a van surrounded by females; I guess I should get used to it since Colour will have a few thousand woman in the same building at the same time. What's great about being on the college creative team is that I don't have to do things by myself; I have my own team to assist me! We took in a couple guys from the new intake that have done video work in the past, and whenever I have an upcoming video shoot, they come with me and help film it all. It definitely brings the pressure down on my part. The even better part is that the editing is shared amongst the team too; I'm mainly focusing on making sure that College News keeps coming, and the other guys work on the college creative projects. One of the higher power students sent me a link to a website where I could get some of the biggest video/graphic design programs for conveniently cheaper prices than normal; my ultimate goal is to try to get Final Cut Express so I can start learning how to use Final Cut Pro (which I may or may not be getting for free courtesy of the college once they receive new licenses). The Express version is much cheaper than the full program, and it gives you a summarized version of the potential of the program; so far what I've seen has impressed me a lot, but I'm going to need to dedicate a lot of time to figure it out. Another week starts, and a lot of work is coming with it.

God bless,
Steven

Day 428: Making HIStory

A while back my dad sent me an email with a small note to read Judges 6:12; Judges is one of my favorite books of the Bible, so I felt comfortable checking it out. There's only one part of this verse that has the potential to uplift the spirit: "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior." I've always questioned whether or not this type of word could apply to my life, especially the mighty warrior. I've certainly been raised to be a mighty warrior (thanks for that, mom and dad), but I'll admit I haven't lived like one consistently. I have at times a lazy, selfish mentality that takes over whenever I'm in a place I don't necessarily want to be; but sometimes God reels you in to show you something cool. Take today for example. There were a lot of expectations set on the TV team today for chapel; this was because we had a couple major things happening in chapel. One was a video to play in the background while an all girl band was performing a song by the Dixie Chicks (it's the one from Runaway Bride) which wasn't all that difficult to manage; the other, was a little something called College News. I was informed that in the history of college this has not happened before; there have been attempts, but they were unsuccessful. This week I was determined to make it happen; I've been pushing the idea since last semester! During the rehearsal, I dealt with a bit of technological letdown; the videos weren't playing the way I wanted them to. It was so stressful I ended up having to skip my only class of the day to make sure it was going to work. My ultimate saving grace came in the form of my good friend and fellow televisionary Hanna; she gave me a step by step crash course on how to convert and load videos onto the system, which is something I need to know for this year anyway (so double win for me). Before she came to help, I was so brought down by it all; this whole video thing was my proving ground, and it wasn't looking too good at the time. God decided to wake me up and used my friend Amy to encourage me for the day; she said that if we're not including God in all this and being task-oriented, then we don't have any use to play the videos. As soon as she finished talking, I felt so convicted; I realized right then and there how I was acting; I totally left Him out of the equation, and that was making it harder on myself. So as soon as everyone left to either class or to go home, I stayed behind, pulled out my Bible, and just talked with God. I looked back at Judges 6:12, and as I was reading I felt the words popping off the page and into my spirit. God's words were speaking right to me, and it was exactly what I needed to hear. From there on, my energy was renewed and literally everything was working almost perfectly. College News was an absolute success, praise God. It was the smoothest chapel service for TV I've had all year, praise God. And I felt such a peace in my heart from this whole experience, praise God. He was the center of the day, the main focus where everything else fell into place around Him. And it was the best day of 2011 so far.

God bless,
Steven

Day 427: Capacity

God, I would love to have more capacity in life. I'm super grateful for the capacity I have now; it did get me through this past year. But lately, I realize last year's capacity won't get me through this one; all I'm asking for is that I can get closer to You so that my capacity can expand. Don't get me wrong, today was awesome; I got to play keys for Misterhood for the first time since last year, I finished College News and got it approved, and I got to connect with lots of new people, but there were a few points where I felt like I couldn't handle it anymore. But in the end, I kew that above all else, You are good. You are for me, not against me. You are right beside me, so I don't have to worry. Thanks for that.

I'm just thinking about College News right now; it's never been done before (at least in the city campus as far as I know). God's using me to make history here; I couldn't dare take full credit for something like this, because if it wasn't for Him, I wouldn't be here. I'm excited to see this become a new medium that the college can use; there's been many people like me that started something that we're experiencing the fruit of. They had one simple idea, and now it's escalated to the big ministry it is today; Street Teams is one of those ministries that was started by a college student some years back. I just feel so privileged to be able to contribute to what's already an amazing school; I seriously can't wait to see what's in store for the rest of this year.

God bless,
Steven

Day 426: Last Minute Things

Today had a couple incidents where "last minute" pretty much defined it all. The classes today were awesome; I got so much from them, I feel empowered to see worship in a whole new way. In our music workshop, we did a great job with our rearrangement piece; I'm feeling pretty confident with the band and how we're doing. After class, I went straight to the library to work on a other project for College News; I got asked to make ads for a couple other things yesterday, and today was my only chance to actually make it possible. I started around 5:30 and finished around 7:50; the end product looks great, if I may say so myself. I also got asked while I was working on the ads if I could help play piano for worship during the Misterhood service; it's been a long time, so I'm looking forward to it!

God bless,
Steven

Day 425: Tight Schedule

Today just made me realize how busy of a person I am this year. There's so much going on, it's surprising how I haven't burned out. This morning I filmed an ad for Colour; it's going to be tricky to get this College News thing the way the leadership want it. For one, I'm limited to two minutes; one ad I worked on over the weekend was 1:34 by itself. I had to really cut it down while trying to keep it's message intact; not an easy feat. Tomorrow I have to find a way to make a few more advertisements while I still have time; it involves more stop motion, so give or take it could take me a while to make this one happen. I managed to make some time to talk with my family, but it didn't really work out; hopefully that will be fixed soon, because it was a bummer.. other than that, a great day.

God bless,
Steven