I know I’m completely late on this movie, but I just finally got around to watching Inception (Date nights aren’t exactly easy to come by with 2 kids)

Just in time for people to produce some great infographic breakdowns of what exactly happened in the film.  These are total spoilers so skip over them if you plan on watching still.

First image from here, second from here.

When I get older… I will be stronger…

It’s Friday, and most people have dragged, if not clawed, their way through the week.

What if every week we creatively transformed something mundane and ordinary into utter fun for everyone?

Now I know the cynic in many of you is jumping out and saying what a ridiculous and impractical idea that is… but that’s fine – you keep living in your world, the rest of us will be busy creating ours.

Original youtube link.

I finally got around to compiling a highlights video of last Sunday’s Solar Crash event, Love Comes Down.

It’s pretty hard compressing a whole evening of footage, but I tried. I know less is more, but I tried to create one video giving everyone a bit of time.

Let me know if you’d like to help or be a part of the next one!

If you weren’t there, here’s a taste of what you missed. enjoy!

Solar Crash goes offline again this Sunday with “Love Comes Down“.

Creativity.  Spirituality.  Art.  Music.  Dance.  Community.  Cause.

Doors open at the El Mocambo night club at 6pm, Show goes live at 7pm.

You can still RSVP via

See you there!

Solar Crash – Event Highlights from serenaray on Vimeo.

I recently saw this add at a public transit stop that is supposedly going up across Canada. No one quite knows what it’s for.

We had an awesome anniversary. I don’t know about other guys, but every year I think, how on earth am I going to top the last year?

This year my goal was to spend no more than ten bucks on the night (I was so tempted to do the fancy dinner thing, but that’d just be too easy, wouldn’t it?)

I told Yvz that we had reservations (it was with the sunset) and we rushed out the door as our friend Gloria babysat.

We headed down to the beach and roller-bladed by the shore to find our food.

I was banking on a hotdogs (My wife loves hotdogs oddly) and Ed’s Real Scoop (a popular ice cream shop downtown) to keep it under five bucks each.

Unfortunately, I was shocked we weren’t able to find any hotdog stands! We ended up caving into some random sushi place (it was okay, hotdogs would have been way better)

I’ve got a bit of a fascination with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, so Yvonne made some for me from scratch! Check out how colossal hers were compared to the puny originals!

Earlier in the day I organized a speed-art project where we would both paint something that we loved about the other person.

Amazingly we had very similar concepts, though different ways of expressing it.

Yvonne’s, depicted my ‘fiery’ passion in the darkness, and how it lit up ‘sparks’ in other people. the folks to the right is our family (click for a close up), I love the cute baby Stellar she painted in!

Mine, was a silhouette of my wife and how God so often pierces her heart and brings about life-changing conviction. But it never just stops there. It always erupts out of her soul as she longs to share her passion with others, bringing light to those around her.

We painted them on canvas paper and added them to a new book of memories we’ll be creating together… memories we hope to be celebrating for all eternity.

It’s been quite the adventure! Here’s a few pictures from The National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY.

I’m in the bottom left corner tugging the car seat because the trunk was too full to get the stroller out!

Have you ever been out walking, noticed a dog, and stopped to play with it, and then realized you never once even looked at the owner in the eye? I did once, and when I looked back I saw look of disgust staring back at my blind eye.

A friend of mine came by a while back and jokingly asked if he could borrow Stellar… “Because chicks dig dudes with babies and dogs”

Lets break it down from a few angles.

Dude’s perspective. Why is it that we feel we need to accessorize ourselves for others to notice us? Could it be that somewhere down below I don’t think another human being would like me, just for me?

Chick’s perspective. Why is it that we have no problems giving direct and caring eye contact to babies and dogs? Could it be because we’ve been hurt by others in the past? Could it be because we know that dogs and babies won’t judge us? Or is it we who’ve judged, and ignored people because we see them as less than that? Less than God’s wonderfully divine creation. Less than the broken image of God longing to be restored. Less than beautiful?

Babies and dogs. When I look at my daughter, she is like neither of the above two. Stellar just is, the way she is. She doesn’t pretend or hold back feelings. She doesn’t judge and calculate whether you’re worth her time. The whole world fascinates her. She naively assumes the best of every person and that as another human being, you must care for her. Connecting and interacting with you, is her greatest joy.

Maybe this is why we’re drawn to babies and dogs. Though they may be raw and unrefined, we resonate with their authenticity. They just are the way they are.

And maybe if we were, the way we really were, we’d be more compelling, unique, and creative.

Imagine a community where people simply came as they are, flaws and all. Where they connected and interacted at the deepest levels of humanity. Where they actively helped one another become the unique person that God created them to be. That to me, is what the church ought to be.

A simple exercise we had in the class was to meaningfully finish the sentence -
“If you really knew me, you would know that…”

This is the closest photo I could find on the theme of today’s post. Ever seen The Neverending Story?

Continuing on our Creativity & Spirituality series.

I’ve been at IKEA seven times in the last eight days. I’ve found it extremely conducive for my school work, writing, scheming & dreaming. It’s got an excellent $1 breakfast, bottomless coffee or drinks, and a LACK of an internet connection.

I absolutely love having the world at my fingertips, but when it comes to my personal creativity and spiritual formation, the abundance that is offered by the internet doesn’t really help me.

There, I’ve said it. I know my wife will use this against me the rest of my life now.

There’s an interesting poster on the wall at IKEA that describes how their designers always begin by fixing a set low price before designing anything. ie. check out this simple innovation.

They say this forces their designers and engineers to be inventive and creative.

Could it be that our creativity and spirituality have been stifled because we have too much?

Here’s a great video of someone painting with simply ketchup and fries.

I think you’ll enjoy this one – recapping Stellar‘s first four months of life.

Make sure you’ve got the volume up for this.

If you’re having problems viewing the clip you can try here or here.

During our Creativity & Spirituality sessions I attempted to creatively take people through the overarching narrative of the Scriptures.

One simple and interesting exercise (inspired in a different context by Phyllis of Sketch) was this…

Take a moment and jot down the three most important and treasured things, ideas, or people in your life today.

My class had crayons and paper to write or draw this out, but that doesn’t mean you should just gloss over the question.

…

I’ll give you another moment.

…

It’s okay if you can only think of two. (so sad).

…

Done?

…

Now I want you to imagine that these things or people no longer exist…

…

They’ve been taken from you.

You’ve lost it.

It’s been ripped away from your soul.

…

Now, describe in a word or two how you feel…

(I’ll debrief on this a bit afterwards)