Inspiration...

This is the time of year that I need inspiration. Not just an energy boost but I need to be inspired to know what is it that the summer will need to bring to the couple of thousand people coming to camp. 80+ staff people are coming expecting to grow in their faith and experience the community of faith. I need to listen to the Small Voice speak. Get away for a while to listen is important.

I may be going to the Spiritual Formation Forum in Long Beach this week, if time permits. I am sure that will touch my soul but will it inspire me? Sometimes I get more inspired being in "non-religious" settings and conversations. It seems like there is a jump from my spirit to my mind when I am in "secular" places and conversations. The reason I used the quotations marks is because I am not sure I believe they are not spiritual places even though they are outside of places that my religious friends would consider places where we find God and these words don't mean what we think they mean.

I like being with people who talk about their jobs as if it was ministry. And it is more than some of the "ordained" places my christian friends are employed. My friend Jordan works for an Apple store in Pasadena. My spirit comes alive when he talks about his "work." I was touched deeply when Jordan understood who I was when he bought me a subscription to Communication Arts magazine because he knew I would find inspiration in its pages. He knew.

I love hanging out with dear friends like Dan, Scott, Cosbys, Piñas, Michelle, CommonFire, Bill Dodge, Rudy, Sherry, George, Rich, Jamie, Mom and Dad, Ryan and Nellie, Enrique, Marc, and many others. I use to go visit a friend, I haven't seen in a long time, Frank Arnold. Frank was a sign painter in Fresno. He started painting signs by hand on his kitchen table. Then he started a company employing many people. It wasn't his success that inspired me, it was his heart and attitude. He used materials no one else was using for designing and creating signs and interiors. His use of colors were bold and innovative. The time with him brought out my soul. It wasn't his product, it was his thinking. Sherry and Jamie inspires me because these women are doing what we all talk just about. I see in their eyes what I want to see in the dust on my feet. Scott's intelligence and simplicity motivates and encourages. The men and women at Calvin Crest who faithfully show up inspite of change and confusion bring hope.

A sharp pencil and a piece of butcher paper bring out ideas for me. The feel of the pencil on the toothiness of the paper tactilely bring out my thoughts and it seems to add a little of its own.

What or who inspires you?