It's August 30, 2008 and this is the last time that it's going to be this day...

Today is the last time it'll be August 30,2008. Ever.

I tend to take today for granted. I crawl out of bed, I don't jump out of bed, well rarely. I sludge through the day. Enjoying the idea that work is going to end at some point but not soon enough. Why don't I appreciate the day for what it's worth. Realizing that we only have so many to play with.

My week has been interesting. My girlfriend Christina went home to Indiana on Monday and I had 2 weeks of time to myself. I'd say that most guys would jump at that chance. Especially if you enjoy your "alone" time. I'd even say that some adore their free time away from their significant other. Well at the least it's been a week of introspection and God-seeking.

I've realized a lot about myself in the last week. I've realized that I was using the idea of "having a girlfriend" around which can be time consuming just by the very nature of it, often as an excuse to be lazy. When I got free time during the week or the weekend if she was working or something I'd make up an excuse to veg in front of the TV. "I mean I deserve it right?!" is just an example of one of my thought processes and shoot, I had to fight that urge just a little earlier today. Even though I have a ton to do and get organized and I was really looking forward to the process of cleaning some stuff up and getting some personal projects working. I still almost found a way to sit on the couch and veg. Where is this default way of thinking coming from? I know part of this has stemmed from what I saw my dad do for years and years. I mean "Those Yankees games won't watch themselves, right?" But I can't blame my relatives for decisions that I make every day. God has called us to so much more and if our parents were our excuse to not do things in life, then why not waste my life away, what good is doing anything unless it's for my pleasure?

Another thing I learned about myself was how I haven't been living with enough purpose lately. And in a lot of ways I was bringing Christina down with me. Not to say she isn't able to live for God without my help, but to lead in a relationship is to take the reigns on things when it seems like they're going astray and bring the topic up between us, so we can work things out in a fashion that honors and glorifies God. I definitely hadn't been doing that. I haven't been communicating well at all.

So the goal of this post was not to rant necessarily but to show anyone who could be reading this what's been going on in this mind of mine and ask for prayer in moving forward in a way that honors God. I have no interest in just talking about these things but actually doing something about them.

Thanks for reading.

Through Christ,
Matt Gavenda

Blogged with the Flock Browser

How to make arrows in Photoshop CS...

So I know this might not be true for Photoshop CS2 or CS3 for that matter. But for Photoshop CS which is the one I have on my work computer. I was always dumbfounded that there wasn't an easy way to make an arrow. Illustrator and InDesign have the options to make them through the Line Tool. So I found the option to make an arrow while looking to make a star shape. And I'll give a little tutorial as to where it is...


Basically, if you go to the Shape tool, most default to the Rectangle Tool in your toolbar.

Go down to custom shape. At the top of the page you'll see the options for that.

You should see a "Shape:" text with a box and a drop down option to the right of that.

If you click the drop down part you have a whole host of shapes there to choose from including the Arrow shape as well as other useful shapes like a heart, checkmark, target, lightbulb, copyright mark, registered mark and trademark.


So that's the easy way to find that and make use of shapes that before I found them, had to be created by hand in Photoshop and really were a pain and time waster.

Thank you for your time!
Matt Gavenda
23Design
www.mattgavenda.com

Blogged with the Flock Browser

How can I spend my time better?

I have tons to do today. But I definitely wanted to get some thoughts out on the web, here.

I seem to have a tendency to become addicted/interested in story lines through TV shows. The most recent example of this is the Lost series. I watched the first couple shows way back when it first came out, in the first season. But I had lost track of it (pun not intended). But now that I have the option of watching online. I decided to go back and watch from the beginning until I got through the first 3 seasons before I would watch season 4. I've enjoyed this throughly. But I've been spending a ton of time on it. As you can imagine. I don't have any other addictions, but it seems I have this quasi one in the form of these TV shows. Other examples include Chuck, Jericho, NCIS and Bones.

There is no real difference between this addiction and any other addiction. They just seem to affect different things. While this doesn't necessarily "hurt" me in any way. It does end up taking priority over things that could be of much more use.

I don't know how I feel about this. But the fact of the matter, is that it's taking up too much time. I could say that I'm not going to watch Lost anymore. Cut it off cold turkey...I could say that I'll watch through the rest of this season to catch me up and then I'll just watch when it's on. Or I could say, it doesn't hurt anyone.

But what am I'm called to? God wants priority. But how much of the time, do we give Him priority? It's easy and comfortable to waste time. Time is our most precious resource but most easily abused.

So I know what I should do. Now will I do it. Or stay stuck in my rut? Am I a man of God seeking His will in everything? Or am I posing as one? Ultimately serving myself?! This needs some prayer. I need to seek Scripture to back this up.

He wants our lives, not just 10 to 30 minutes a day, if that.

Are you giving God priority?

God's will and how it affects our lives. Part 1

I'm finding more and more that I seem to have issues with things such as work and what things in my life are really my focus. That sounds weird to say. But with my job, as much as I'm getting slowly better at what I do. I don't always feel like it's where I need to be. Now that I'm trying to play this out in cognizant sentences, I can't help but think that I only have a glimpse of what is really going on. I've talked numerous times in different blogs over the last couple years about God's plan. How as humans we have a hard time realizing what that is and how it's playing out in our lives.

A couple weeks ago, I had a long conversation with my pastor about this topic and numerous other topics. And I'm starting to see a longing to be doing things that have more of an impact for Christ. In our society that's no easy task. I can go after most anything that my heart desires at least if I have some form of money backing. But to go after "what God's calling me to" can very well be a phantom thing at times. It's blatantly there one minute but then I'm second guessing as to if it really is what God wants from me.

I think the hard line for me is when to take action. I think God makes it obvious sometimes as to what He wants or what He doesn't want. The question is, when is He speaking up for me to make a change in my life that isn't necessarily bad. I know part of that decision making process involves choosing what's "better or more right" in God's eyes. But sometimes it's a toss up. I guess this is just the beginning of this thought process for me.

Ultimately I need to get into the Bible more and see how God did this for Christians over the ages. Also I should seek out other Christians and see how they've been lead to the place they are at.

So we'll call this Part 1 in a series called "God's will and how it affects our lives"

The first of my blogging career!

It's Saturday. I'm watching my Indiana Hoosiers (college basketball) play on national TV. And of course it's stressing me out. I find when I'm a big fan of a team whether it's the Hoosiers, Bills or Yankees. I definitely get caught up to the point of visibly distraught. I've gotten better over the years. I find this to be an interesting feeling. It really blows my mind to think that I used to be worse than this. I think I was more vocal previously. That might have been the difference.

I think a lot of the difference in my attitude now, has to do with the realization that other things in life are more important. I used to put so much stock in sports. To the point of my life depending on and gaining value by certain teams and how they preformed. Of course this played out in my own life as well. I play basketball for a couple league teams and when I first started playing in these leagues, I put a lot of value on how well I did and well my team did. It was still fun but my happiness depended on it. That can't be.

My happiness needs to be solely based on my life in Christ and the salvation I have through Him. That's all I need! Some of this is backed up and helped by a good church body. Other Christians willing to keep me accountable as well as call me on things like obsession that could be going wrong in my life.

So I need to question where I am putting my allegiances? Where I am basing my life's value. Are they focused on Christ? If they aren't. I need to refocus!

Through Christ,
Matt