'Til death do us part

Chris Medina is a humble man of character, living a life of honor who unlike many, decided to keep his promise. For after all, what kind of guy would he be if he walked out on her when she needed him the most?

Eva Cassidy - Yesterday

You've Changed

The Quiet As We Wait And Wonder

Over a week has passed since my return from Costa Rica. Since then I’ve had a significant amount of inquiries regarding the details of this mission trip, and as I stated in my post upon my return, I’m uncharacteristically at a bit of a loss as to what to say about my experiences. Also about responsibilities, which include this blog. On one hand I want to share what I saw and what God laid on my heart. On another hand, I feel God helping me to focus on him, the work required of me at work for my job and my contribution to our companies’ chapel presentation, etc. The sense I have heard whispered through it all is a call to quiet. Something foreign to me.

In the past, people close to me have shared instances where they feel the Lord’s leading in their live’s, and frankly, I get a bit jealous. Jealousy is no doubt the wrong response in these instances–it’s just that I’ve always wished God would speak to me in similar fashion. What I’ve experienced since my return from Costa Rica makes me think that perhaps this time he is.

It’s no doubt made me pause and think. About my life, and recently about my work and priorities. So it is with a sense of change, peace, focus and realignment that I enter a new phase in my life. Fatherhood. My wife and I just received confirmation of something that was driven home for me in Costa Rica– that little ones all over the world are crying out for help, and that God is calling us to serve. Yesterday we received the written confirmation that we are deemed suitable to adopt. We are embarking on the journey of adoption of a baby from El Salvador. When I consider my condition, physical, emotional, and the responsibilites financial, I cannot say with certainty I’m up for the task. But I’ve realized that God thinks so, and he’ll bring a baby into this world in 4-7 months from today. Some woman who is alive today and doesn’t know myself or my wife, or perhaps not even the love of Christ, will give birth to one of God’s precious creatures.

God said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you, I knew you! Before I formed you, I called you to be something brand new.” With divine fingers God shapes every person in the womb into an image and form like his own. Each precisely etched embryo is a person whom God has laid out for his own use from eternity past. Each one of us has been known and loved since the beginning of time–even before the world was made!

The idea that we are all made for His glory sits well on my heart even though it's not something I always feel. But with God's grace and perfect timing (in our case that's been 6 years and counting), we’ll become first time parents, and I will draw on Him for wisdom.

As I write this I find even more reasons for quiet. For reflection. And until I find adequate words and time to share, that's all I have for now. I ask you to please pray for the woman who will have this baby. I can't imagine the circumstances leading to giving a baby up for adoption, but it is a courageous decision when you consider the alternative. A little over a year or so ago I posted about Mark Schultz. He is adopted, and he and Cindy Morgan wrote a song together called Broken and Beautiful which really illustrates this well. Check it out if you have a moment.

Great Quote: How Design Effects Profit

Came across this quote from Ben Terrett (Noisy Decent Graphics) from a roundtable he gave recently at the futuremarketing conference in London last week. It really struck me how this shows the tangible value some companies place on the role of the designer, and how design effects the financial bottom line. Not all companies understand this (though I've come in contact with a few recently who do). I agree with Ben this would be felt on Wall Street.

Imagine what would happen to GM's share price if they announced that (Apple's VP Creative Director) Jonathan Ive had joined their board as Head of Design - it would go through the roof. – ben terrett

John Piper: A Loving Tribute to Dad

Hello, My Father Just Died

Photoshop Online: No Big Surprise

Like others, I'd seen this coming. Here's an interesting article regarding Adobe's move to a hosted web version of Photoshop. It will be free, and the business model will rely on online advertising. I suggested in a couple previous BarryBlog posts here and here that this was likely going to be the case sooner than later.

( by Martin LaMonica and Mike Ricciuti Staff Writer, CNET News.com )
( via Damien at designwire's newswire )

IDEAS: Innovation. Creativity. CExO. Change

Profile of Jonathan Ive
“We try to solve very complicated problems without letting people know how complicated the problem was. That’s the appropriate thing…The way the parts [of the iPod shuffle] fit together is extraordinarily tight. I don’t think there’s ever been a product produced in such volume at that price, which has been given so much time and care. I’m really excited by that, and even if you can’t articulate its value, at some level I hope that integrity is obvious.

Gore-Tex is "fostering ongoing, consistent, breakthrough creativity"
“Bill Gore threw out the rules. He created a place with hardly any hierarchy and few ranks and titles. He insisted on direct, one-on-one communication; anyone in the company could speak to anyone else. In essence, he organized the company as though it were a bunch of small task forces. To promote this idea, he limited the size of teams — keeping even the manufacturing facilities to 150 to 200 people at most…[One employee says,] ‘Your team is your boss, because you don’t want to let them down. Everyone’s your boss, and no one’s your boss.’”

Coming soon: Chief Experience Officers
Adaptive Path interview with Lou Carbone: “When you look at the organizations of the past, [they were like] bus drivers driving buses along the prescribed route, [with a] certain number of stops to make and doing the same routine over and over again. And the customer really came along for the ride. Today, [when it comes to] doing business, the model is considerably more like taxis. We’re not even sure what the customer needs until the customer communicates [it to us] and we can anticipate what they want. Then what we end up doing is snapping together a set of capabilities to deliver the experience that they want. And that’s very, very different.”

Why is change so hard? Change or Die.
“Of course, radical change often isn’t possible in business situations. Still, it’s always important to identify, achieve, and celebrate some quick, positive results for the vital emotional lifts that they provide. Harvard’s Kotter believes in the importance of ‘short-term wins’ for companies, meaning ‘victories that nourish faith in the change effort, emotionally reward the hard workers, keep the critics at bay, and build momentum. Without sufficient wins that are visible, timely, unambiguous, and meaningful to others, change efforts invariably run into serious problems.’”

MORE of the same...

( via the geniuses 37 signals, and their Signal vs. Noise Blog )