A must watch talk by Dave Gibbons. Everything that I have been processing, all beautifully articulated by him.

Newsong Irvine | {ME} Awaken Your Soul Pt. 3 [AWAKEN] “Jolt from Slumber” [02.28.2010] from Newsong Church on Vimeo.

It’s that time of year for me once again when Easter is quickly approaching. And for those who have my responsibilities as the Creative Director know that this can be the most trying season of the year. A time meant for celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus ends up being dangerous road to burnout for those in ministry.

How do we prevent that? How do I prevent that? I have some thoughts. I’ll let you know how it works out.

I recently took my daughter, Sophia, out in the morning for a father/daughter outing. What started out as a way to give mom a break from her hard work in raising our daughter became an awe inspiring moment of knowing a little more of who GOD is.

I took her to Newport Pier and played at the beach, had donuts (don’t tell mom) and walked down to the edge of the pier. And that is when we saw these magnificent creatures. Notice the Yellow heads.

I stood there with Sophia on my shoulders staring at these creatures. The beauty and the majesty of these Pelicans pointed to a MASTERFUL CREATOR. These birds were almost as big as Sophia.

And as we stood there looking out toward Catalina Islands, Sophia kept pointing out towards the horizon as to say, “what’s over there?”

Hawaii, Asia, India, Africa, New York, Texas and us. A full circle around the world. On this earth, it is amazing and overwhelming to think how many billions of people live on this earth. It is beyond comprehension how many types of birds, fishes, animals, plants, trees, etc… exists.

And in being one within this vast creation, I have been experiencing the unique love GOD has for me through this Story of Yellow.

How crazy is that? Out of all of creation including the universes, how can GOD love the singular me. How does HE make time to whisper to me and answer me? How does HE comfort and heal me?

Only explanation is that HE is GOD. Not the God that can be contained with three capital letters or even the bible, but the GOD who is the Creator, the Omnipotent, the Omnipresent and the Omniscient. The GOD who is LOVE.

A father’s love for his daughter can seem immeasurable? I can only stretch out my arm so much to express how much my love for Sophia is. So then, is it possible to measure God’s love for us or do we simply have to see GOD as LOVE.

I leave you also with a couple of questions I’ve been wrestling with.

1. If I never knew of the Bible, would I still believe there is a GOD?

2. If I didn’t know of Jesus, would I equate GOD to LOVE?

Love to hear your thoughts.

It’s real easy to fall into the trappings of trying to name/brand/label the work that we are doing. How many hours have I spent thinking of the perfect name, ideal domain name, catchy tag-line vs the actual hard work of doing something meaningful/productive?

I don’t think Jesus spent even a minute on marketing the work he was doing. He simply did it. Did Mother Theresa or Ghandi invest in marketing? I doubt it.

Maybe the best form of marketing is the natural overflow of stories that come from the actual work itself. It’s a by product of the work.

(This is my stream of consciousness at 2 AM)

I saw this banner on top of The Ideacamp website and it put a smile on my face. The Yellow Smiley face has been my avatar for @storyofyellow.

And the cool thing is that I’ll be there!

This evening, Daniel DK Kim, performed at Alta Cafe in Newport Beach, CA and he covered “Yellow”. Here is a tweet from him to me.

@Artisanwarrior meant a lot that you guys were all there. Thanks man. #yellow was for you! – @dkdanielkim

It made me think of the early days of Story of Yellow and how it has transformed my life. Below is a entry I wrote early on where I discovered where the song title “Yellow” came from.

(Repost from 10/29/2010 www.storyofyellow.com)

A part of this “Story of Yellow” project is also to discover stories around the “Yellow” I find in the world. I found an interesting fact, according to wikipedia, that ties two recent posts (Yellow Pages and “Yellow” – Coldplay).

Did you know that,

While composing the song’s lyrics, however, Martin could not find the right words. He was thinking of a specific word, which he deemed a missing key word in the lyrics, to fit the song’s concept. He looked around the studio and found the telephone directory Yellow Pages, which happened to be situated nearest to him.[4][5][6] Martin later titled the song “Yellow” as a reference to the directory. – Wikipedia

The Yellow Pages helped Coldplay thrust themselves to “massive popularity”. This personally is one of my favorites along with “Fix You”.

A simple yellow string can create such meaningful connection between people.

Today at Newsong, we spent time going around blessing each other with this Thai ceremony redefined to our context. It consists of tying a string around the wrist and giving a blessing/word of encouragement to them.

I saw a husband and wife cry, reconcile, bless and embrace each other and their children.

I saw a person race across to the other side of sanctuary to embrace and bless a friend, as it’s been too long since they last connected.

I saw my friends be loved on as they share their bold decision of how they are trusting God and proclaim freedom to the captives.

Keep it Simple and let God do the work.

Below is a photo Daniel DK Kim posted on Twitter.

As I share my thoughts, I catch myself being too verbose. If it is worth saying, I should be able to  communicate it concisely.

Love God. Love Humanity.

Recently, I have been experiencing God’s orchestration of unrelated aspects of my life playing beautiful music togehter. Even today, at Newsong, God beautifully orchestrated so many stories individually to tell a single story of His Love and Power to restore lives.

But the most interesting and diving moment was when Dave Gibbons repeated a mantra I had been thinking of as of late. As recently as last night: The idea of Loving God and Loving Your Neighbor.

When I first starting writing The Story of Yellow, I struggled with the idea of wanting to be significant. And today, I’m back but with a different paradigm. It’s one thing to Love God, but that is only the first thing. Secondly, God asks to love our neighbor.

So as I continue to understand how Chapter 2 of this story will be written, I have a feeling God’s up to something and it has to do with Loving Humanity.

Love God. Love Humanity.

To all that have been following and contributing to this journey, Thank You.

Today, begins the second chapter of this story. The first chapter was fun and really enjoyable. However, my soul is stirring once again.  I feel that a turning of the page and a new chapter must begin. This story has only begun and invite you to continue journeying with me as I discover the Story of Yellow.