I don’t know about you, but when I know I have meetings about specific topics, it’s really easy for me to focus going into those meetings.  This morning, I had 2 meetings about Christmas preparations at our church.  One was about the design of our kidz venue and the other was about the design of our main worship venues at both campuses.  Now that those meetings are over, it’s time start working on the details and I am having a tough time keeping that same focus I had at the beginning of the day.  Maybe it’s just that my computer is running a little slow with SketchUp right now and I am impatient. Or maybe I just need to take a break.  I don’t know, but it’s frustrating.  I am excited about how things are going to turn out, but right now I just want to take a nap.  Can we make the ’siesta’ a normal part of the work day in America?

Twitter is just a fad (just like the internet).  What a joke.  Twitter has become a part of life for many people.  It is not a means to deep relationships, but it is a great supplement to existing relationships and great way to grow in your vocation by networking with others.  A questions was brought to my attention yesterday about monitoring the twitter feeds of the staff of a company (specifically the church).  Pete Wilson blogged about that topic here.

As someone who has been asked to delete a few of my own tweets, I think I bring a different perspective than a lot of the commentators on Pete’s blog.  With Twitter literally being at my fingertips with my phone, I sometimes tweet before really thinking through everything.  It’s not that I am being monitored, but with Twitter and Facebook being public forums, my leadership is bound to see what I write.  As I look back on them, I understand why I was asked to delete those couple posts, and I like to think that I won’t post anything else that I will have to delete in the future.  The thing is, I’m not perfect.  When I make mistakes, they are brought to my attention in a graceful manner, and I respect and appreciate that.

One of the comments on Pete’s blog was from Lindsey Nobles:

You represent your company. your tweets represent you. Hence your tweets represent your company. Be yourself, but make sure that your tweets are appropriate and use discretion at times.

I think she nailed it there.  The church as a whole has already left a bad taste in many people’s mouths.  As a member on the staff of a large church, I am pretty well-known as being connected to that church.  I can put the legal mumble-jumble of “these are my views and don’t represent the views of my church,” but that doesn’t change the fact that people will always associate me with my church.  To ruin the image of the local church in the eyes of someone who reads what I write can in turn skew how they see the church as a whole and furthermore alienate them from their search for what is missing in their lives.  If there is even a chance that I might make it more difficult for someone to enter a relationship with Christ, then someone watching what I tweet is the least of my worries.

I don’t want to misrepresent my church.  It’s not important what I was asked to delete, except that I understand why and agree with those that provide leadership to me.  They are not scrutinizing everything I write, they are just asking me to be a little more careful and think through things a little more.  Your public tweets are being monitored (directly or indirectly) whether you want them to be or not.  That’s the nature of them being public.

Yesterday I was looking for a reset button so I could start this week over.  I’m sure everyone has a week here and there that seems to have one thing after another that just keeps dragging you down.  This has been one of those weeks for me.  Knowing what has happened this week so far, if I could start it over, there’s a lot I would change about my attitudes, reactions, and even a few little things I did or didn’t do that really don’t matter much in the grand scheme of things.  If only it were as simple as the Staples “easy button.”

God has a better reset button though.  It’s different for each person because He has designed us each differently.  For me, He gives me a new day.  I almost just listed all the things today that could make it a bad day for me (I decided to delete that long list).  Even though I may have more than enough excuses to have a bad day, my God wants the best for me.  He did not design today for me to sulk around and be upset.  He designed it for me to breathe life, follow His guide, and have a better attitude, making it a better day.

If your week sucks, ask God to show you the reset button He has for you.  It might not be easy.  Sometimes you even have to lose something you are working on, but sometimes it takes a fresh start to actually get moving.

I am thankful that I have the kind of community at work that supports me no matter what I am going through.  It’s the kind of thing most people would expect someone to experience when working at a church.  Often times though, working at church can feel a lot like working anywhere else.  The day-to-day tasks and operational procedures are much like the rest of the working world.  There is just a different vision and mission.  If I were not working in a church right now, with the kinds of support that I have from my team, I don’t know how I would be able to cope with everything going on right now.  For them, I am thankful.  I am thankful for the support and prayers of so many people and family that I connect with online and on the phone, but today it was a difficult face to face conversation at work that meant the most to me.

Even though I sometimes don’t think through things before I act, they still care about me.  Even though I am easily distracted with other projects, they help bring me back to focus on what I need to focus on.  They genuinely care about me and my family, not just giving lip service to keep me around.  They believe in me even when I struggle to do the same.  They are my community.  They are the ones who intercede on my behalf when I don’t know how to pray.  They are the ones that encourage me when I am trying to stay strong in the face of adversity.  They are living as the body of Christ for me.  I am thankful to God for them.  Sometimes I don’t understand them, but understanding has always come when I stop and listen and trust.

First, let me thank all of you that have been praying for my father and my family.

My dad’s internal struggle (physical)…

We found out this weekend and Monday that dad has Burkitt’s Lymphoma (a type of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma).  From what I’ve read about this type of cancer, although it is very aggressive, it is also one of the most curable types.  As soon as there is a bed available at Shadyside Hospital, he will be transferred there and be seen by one of the best doctors in treating this kind of cancer.  Your continued prayers are appreciated more than I can express.

My internal struggle (emotional and spiritual)…

The tough thing for me is feeling helpless.  I don’t know what to do.  I don’t know how I should be feeling.  I need to be strong for my family, but I don’t know how.  I know that God is in control, but…  There’s that ‘but’ that keeps rolling around in my mind that I am having a tough time getting over.  I don’t even know what comes after the ‘but’, but it’s there nonetheless.

All I know to do is pray, visit my dad, and let him know that I love him.  Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever actually told him I love him.  I need to.

Last night I started looking into web hosting for this blog, including creating a domain name.  It seems like the next logical step in creating a strong web presence.  There are a lot of inexpensive options out there for hosting that are more than sufficient for my needs right now, but before committing to anything, I want to make sure my “brand” is something I want to stick with long-term.  I see great branding when I look at bedeviant.com, ragamuffinsoul.com, human3rror.com, flowerdust.net, and rhettsmith.com (no creativity necessary for branding when you have a cool name like that).  I can remember these brands and I know what I’m getting from them as easily as I know what I’m getting from a can of Pepsi or bag of Doritos.

So I guess I’m asking for your help.

Do I even need to change my brand?
Should I let emergingnow.com define my online presence?
Should I just go simplistic and make it tlamarca.com?  It would create consistency between Facebook and Twitter.
What defines a strong personal brand?
What do you think my “brand” should be (and please explain why)?