Outchurched

I’ve been at RailsConf the past few days and am very sad that it’s ending tomorrow. Aside from the sheer joy of being amongst a congregation of ~1,800 other geeks attending awesome presentations about interesting and exciting technologies (Rails, Flex, Apollo, Slingshot, etc., etc., etc.), and making some very cool new friends, it’s been encouraging to see the proverbial “birthing pains” of social consciousness and responsibility within the Rails community. There’s been more than mere rumbling about truly making a difference in the world by using not just cool technologies, but in focusing the collective passion of the community to truly improve the world.

I’m a fan of Chad Fowler’s books and presentations (he’s a very engaging and interesting speaker/thinker/doer), and I am impressed and excited to hear about some of the things he’s prompting the community to engage. He posted an excellent blog entry today which is well worth a read titled “Changing the World.” In it, he poses some questions that we’ve made stabs at attempting to address here, and that many of Outchurched’s friends (Dorsey, SCP, Zeke, Craig Bob, and others) have tried to get a firm grasp upon as well. I don’t really know what the answers to these questions are, or if we’ve even begun to ask them properly, but I’m definitely in a sort of a state of awe that Chad Fowler is quite visibly beginning to step out and use his influence to promote some examination (and action) beyond the navel-gazing that we’re all so good at doing.

The real treasure I have to offer is my passion. I almost said “my time”, but I’m not talking about picking up garbage on the side of the road for an hour a week. I’m talking about “flow time”. Passion-infused time that grows into the evenings and early mornings because I’m on a roll and I just can’t stop. I’ve been known to do some really smart stuff when I’m in that kind of mode. And, of course, when I say “I”, I mean me and my friends and family. The people I know. You too (if you’re not already in that group). We’re all capable of actually changing things if we dedicate ourselves to really changing things.

I have “outchurched.com” on my badge as the “company” I’m representing here and that spawned a large conversational thread with a new Catholic friend, which has been quite engaging. Talking with him has reminded me about some of the good aspects of being involved in Christian fellowship, and has provided me with more anecdotal ammunition to shoot down the false idea that “All Christians are Assholes.” He and I are quite different, but there have been a number of times while talking with him where I’ve been reminded of the passion I used to have for the Church, and has reminded me that there really are sensitive, intelligent Christians in the world. There have also been a number of times where I’ve been reminded of how torn and conflicted the church experience was for me, but I don’t really experience that with the intensity that I used to… glory be to Science and Logic. :)

One of the things I’ve been personally challenged with recently is improving, maintaining, and managing my attitude. Wednesday, on the drive up to RailsConf, I told one of my friends on the phone that I just don’t ever seem to record/remember/celebrate the positive things that are happening in my world and around me, and that I should start to write down the good things that happen to me, the good things that I do, and to appreciate the fact that my life is a lot better than I probably deserve. Interestingly, our buddy Zeke posted about this very thing this past Thursday.

So, this week I began to take on the discipline of giving thanks. This consists of using my morning time (working out, the shower, commute time, etc.) for thinking about what I’m grateful for, then writing down at least ten things daily, then thinking of at least one person to express my gratitude to.

As I repeatedly said to my new Catholic friend, I’ve been observing a lot of synchronicity (Providence!? ;)). I can feel a sort of “electricity” in the air; something brewing beneath the surface. What it is, or what’s coming I can’t say, but I’m hopeful that it’s personal growth and maturity… to the point where I really can use the resources I have for something more important/better than just trying to keep my head above water and picking lint from my navel.

I’m really grateful for the relationships that have grown from my involvement with the OC podcast/blog, and I really can’t thank y’all enough for your friendship.

This entry was posted by Rev. Dan on Sunday, May 20th, 2007 at 12:58 am and is filed under Testimony. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.