A surrogate is defined as an arrangement for a woman to carry and give birth to a child who will be raised by others. Might seem like an odd start to a post on a blog that usually is focused on the relationship between a Christian faith in God and the use of technology, but I think it will make lots of sense in a few seconds!

Without ruining the movie for you, it basically illustrates how people will be able to stay in their homes in the future, sit in a chair, and control an artificial intelligent (AI) version of themselves. The “computer you” would look just like you. It would go to work, parties, drive, etc. Might sound a bit crazy, but who knows if it really will end up playing out in reality in the years to come.

My point? I believe, even though our surrogates aren’t out walking around today, that many of us are living our lives with that mentality already today. We get our thrills off of being known as someone out in cyberspace, possibly someone that is who we dream of being in person. A few points from the movie labeled this mentality / reality as an invasion of being human. Opening up the possibility of achieving all of your dreams, but not REALLY. A virtual Bucket List I guess?

Are there times when you pour too much effort into your online identity / relationships? Are real-life relationships less of a focus than they need to be? Do you find yourself struggling to focus on serving / listening to / growing with others (and closer to God as a result?

A few great writers that I have close relationships with get the “you’re not a key author” slap in the face. I just heard someone use the “key author” title yesterday and it about made me puke. And guess what? Once a publisher sticks with a key author they usually get much more time (spent on picking something as important as a cover), and also much more of the budget.

I understand. You can’t expect a new author to be a hit right away, or deserve the time and budget of the publisher! I’ve heard it a thousand times. And it does make sense. But we live in the information age, an age where the thoughts of consumers are greatly impacted by a product’s visual flare. The truth is, even some of the best Christian publishers say they understand that, but apparently they don’t have a clue.

How do I know they could change for the better? Hire professionals (not just workers) who can create mini sites, marketing strategies (don’t just ditch social networking), and at least help the author out by giving them a cover that they’re not ashamed of! That’s called being a professional. And by being unprofessional, I’ve seen your decisions directly and negatively impact book sales.

Think outside the box, and don’t hold on so tightly to your own opinions. A huge part of your relationship with the author is making them comfortable with something they’ve poured hours into. You wouldn’t want someone having so much control of the destiny of your career and hurting it so badly. It turns my stomach to watch these friends books not sale almost entirely as a result of your cover choice / lack of marketing. God knows their story is good enough. The myth is a lie, today’s culture does judge a book by its cover.

Most of those films don’t offer the expertise of Hollywood (with this movie being delivered by Alcon Entertainment / directed by The Hughes Brothers). More details on the film here. For some reason conservative Christians might think of that as “being of this world” (John 15:19)? This film contained a unique mix of intense violence, gore and profanity, while Eli (played by Denzel) kept a clean mouth and shared many direct Biblical truths throughout it. As a co-producer of the film, I would love to hear what Denzel’s thoughts are on creating a story that made the truths of God extremely clear to the eyes of a majority of our country that don’t call Him their Father. Something Christian films fall very short of.

And for Christians. What would conservative Christian institutions have to say to me if they knew I was a fan of this “R rated movie”? I know the high school I attended sure would have given me the boot. Is our faith not strong enough to be in community with violence or vulgarity? Does just being among that kind of a lifestyle mean that you will fall into it? I guess I would much rather our faith (like Denzel’s) actually be seen and heard by those who might have never given it much thought than to rest on the ears of those who have heard it thousands of times and whose lives aren’t changed by it.

To end the review, I’d strongly recommend you go see the movie. You won’t be the same. I’m really glad and shocked that I didn’t share much of the storyline – it’s incredible! Here is a link to the official movie website.

Chuck Rylant, of Rockstar Fitness in Santa Maria, California, was referred to me via a mutual friend on Twitter! The next person that tells you social networking is for the birds, let them know that it’s fun to fly.
PLATFORM: WordPress

Click here to view the embedded video.

Jared and the band were looking to move their site from iWeb, so Matt Holley (a member of the band) and I worked together to deliver what I think is an excellent site!
PLATFORM: WordPress

This was my first attempt at a photoblog design, and the project (taking 1 new photo per day) is both exciting and challenging. I’m eager for my skills to improve, and to see what the site looks like after a year has gone by.
PLATFORM: WordPress

I am hosting the site, and customized the Fotolog Theme for WordPress 2.9. I opted to also connect the site with FotoMoto.com, a service that allows photographers to easily offer their pics as prints, cards or e-cards. Since most of you are tech-savvy, I thought I’d share how the daily process I am using taking and adding the photos to the site below.

1. Take photo with my Nikon D50
2. Import photo onto Aperture 2 photo software on my iMac or MacBook Pro
3. Use the Aperture to Flickr plugin to upload the photo to my Flickr account (keeping photo under 800px wide to fit into Fotolog Theme)
4. Create a blog post within WordPress, inserting the image using the URL from Flickr and the smaller size URL Flickr provides for the archives thumbnail on the site. Instructions provided on Fotolog Theme site.
5. Once the blog is posted, Twitter is notified using the WP to Twitter plugin and the Facebook page displays new posts from the site using Notes.
6. Repeat steps 1-5 for the other 364 days of the year!

I left the camera at my parents over Christmas, so I’ll need to make sure I get up there before the year rolls in! Maybe some of you will make into the project one day this year? Have you ever tried something like this, or might be able to share a link to a friend that has?

The first barrier? Distance. God planted the desire for the project in the hearts of a few Nashville, TN residents – but the pulse resounded throughout the world into places like Croatia (seen here) and Italy. It’s EXTREMELY awesome to watch God use technology to spread His love. And the other barrier crushed in this video? People without disabilities serving people who live with them every day. Disabilities might get in the way of doing a few things, but they cannot stop the love of God.

WARNING: This video is extremely powerful, and brings tears. Tears of a happiness in knowing that a piece of heaven fell to earth on 12/12/09.

Click here to view the embedded video.