Jeffrey C. Long » Writing

Moleskine Memo Pocket

jeffreyclong — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 13:36:17 +0000

I wrote awhile back about discovering cargo pants as a tool for carrying my multitudinous gadgets and stuff. I generally have a Pocket PC, iPod, cell phone and some form of wallet with me. I was also carrying a pocket notebook around with me called a Moleskine so that I could take pen and paper notes when necessary. This became bulky because I was also carrying a wallet. The Moleskine has a handy little pocket in the back, so I decided to put all my wallet cards in there. But then I discovered that I wasn’t using the notebook at all. So I discovered these. It’s an accordion little folder, like a pocket filing cabinet for 3X5 cards. This is just wonderful. It keeps my wallet cards, most important ones in the front. Receipts. And now 3X5 cards so that if I need to write something down, I can and it isn’t bound inside a book. I can hand it to someone, or put it in my inbox to be processed later. Neat!

Technorati Tags: GettingThingsDone, lifehacks

Running the race

jeffreyclong — Thu, 26 May 2005 18:35:19 +0000

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”

- I Corinthians 9:24

Our faith can sometimes feel too cerebral. It would be easier if we could see the goal of holiness in front of us in as a tangible object to be achieved. But even cerebral tasks require discipline. In the article Performance under pressure Sally Jenkins talks about the connection between discipline and the cerebral work of being a writer.

“I thought, why wouldn’t you, as a writer, treat your brain the way an athlete treats her body?? If you’re ambitious about writing, why wouldn’t you behave half as seriously about your ability as an athlete does?”

I think that our spirituality is very much connected with how we treat our body as a tool. We forget that the mind, where our spirit lies, is like a muscle, in that it can be stretched to perform better if fed correctly and exercised. Poor lifestyle habits will damage our ability to pursue greatness. This doesn’t just involve diet and exercise, but also disciplines like prayer and regular reading in the Word. We aren’t doing these just because we’re supposed to, but because they strengthen our ability to perform as athletes in the Kingdom of God.

This reminded me of an article Last Day’s Ministries published called Aggressive Christianity by Catherine Booth. She writes

“I have been reading the New Testament lately with special reference to the aggressive spirit of original Christianity. And as far as I can see, we come infinitely short by comparison. “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation.” Look at what is implied in this commission. I believe that no generation since that first century has yet fathomed the meaning of this divine commission. Look at it! Would it ever occur to you that it really meant, “Go and build chapels and churches, and invite the people to come in, but if they won’t – leave them alone”? “GO!” To whom? “To all creation.” Where am I to get at them? WHERE THEY ARE. “All creation.” This is the extent of your commission. Seek them out, run after them, wherever you can get at them. “All creation” – wherever you find a creature that has a soul – there go and preach My Gospel to him. If I understand it, that is the meaning and spirit of this commission.”

Christianity is athletic. It requires discipline. Only with regular exercise are we able to “run in such a way as to get the prize.”

Technorati Tags: writing

Where do you surf?

jeffreyclong — Mon, 23 May 2005 11:47:22 +0000

Following are the blogs I read on a regular or semi-regular basis. Please comment sites that you visit, or blogs that are in your news aggregator.

Bands

Jam Band bittorrents

Relix magazine

Jam band news source

Jam band fan blog

BrandYou! (Tom Peters phraseology) (personal business)

Seth Godin Author of Unleash the Ideavirus

The Occupational Adventure

Tom Peters Uber-guru of the new business environment

Josh Kaufman

The Personal MBA

Tom Peters Wire Service

Christian

Dunker’s Journal conservative Church of the Brethern member blog

Comics

Doonesbury

Calvin and Hobbes

Foxtrot

Garfied

del.icio.us

My del.icio.us inbox

Lifehacks

Open Loops

Creating Passionate Users. Excellent!

Frugal for Life

Lifehacker. Very fun.

Cooking for engineers. ‘nuf said

43folders

43folders del.icio.us

Lifehack.org

Metablogs. Blogs about bloggin

Blogaholics

Many2Many. Excellent!

Blogging Help

Tech

Slashdot.org rss feed

Macslash Mac spinoff of slashdot

Devon-technologies Maker of devon-think

Makezine O’reilley publishing hacker magazine blog

Smartmobs Convergence of mobile computing and society. Excellent!

Weather

RSS Weather

Whole Earth

Alternet Alternative news source

World Changing: Another World is here

Viridian Design

Beyond the beyond Former Whole Earth editor

Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools better as an email subscription then RSS

Writing

Coffee Blog

Neil Gaiman Sci-fi/Fantasy author. Excellent. Blog is better then his books

Just Thinking Nancy Nordenson’s Blog. Friend of mine

Journalisimo – Back to Analog. Blog on journaling

Technorati Tags: Anabaptist, blogging, brandyou, budget, coffee, comics, culture, delicious, devonthink, faith, GettingThingsDone, journaling, music, neilgaiman, RSS, slashdot, smartmobs, thinking, writing