Hit the Back Button to Move Fwd by Gavin Richardson

chris brogan & trust agents : stories & philosophy of social media

today i spent my morning (and greater part of the rest of the day) with chris brogan. if you do not know who chris is, my quick description would be that he is the mayor of twitter & one of the most recognized people in the world of social media 'who gets it.' i stumbled across his blog some years ago and have been a constant reader since, many times sharing his postings via google reader or twitter. he's good stuff. so good, i even payed a decent penny to attending this sucker.

anyways, he has a new book out called 'trust agents' and was in nashville as per a promise in a psuedo book tour live web event. a crew of local tech geeks & other business types showed up to hear from the guru for a special 1 hour pre-web conversation with chris & then got to be front and center for the rest of the web event (which was an interesting thing to be a part of).

here is the footage i took from that 1st hour with chris. its on my mini tripod, so the angle is something you might have to get used to, but its doable. with that said, he's tall, but not nearly as gigantic as he looks in video.

Chris Brogan : Trust Agents conversation : Nashville 2009 from Gavin Richardson on Vimeo.

you can follow the twitter stream of thoughts and conversation by visiting #cbnash at twitter search. check in next week for some expanded thoughts off some of the footage i have from his live web session.

church in second life : religion and ethics expose

stumbled across this story covering the various church & spiritual experiences found in secondlife. i've chronicled here many times my happenings in secondlife. its been a few months since i 'hung out' there so it was like seeing an old friend as they visited the anglican cathedral and seeing other creative spaces that make up the imagination of the virtual world.

theology of twitter : spirituality and social media

emergent conversant, fellow social media friend, steve knight put together this presentation on a theology of twitter. it has some great content. maybe the greatest content is him quoting me from my spirituality and social media series i did with matt cheuvront.

The Theology Of Twitter

View more presentations from Steve Knight.

crummy church signs : thou shalt remember the sabbath.. or try

i've chronicled this church before and their interesting church sign sayings. this one popped up yesterday and all I could think about was "what about the sabbath?" suppose that is lazy even though god mandates that.

reflections on weeding : glad God is patient

Reflections on Weeding from Gavin Richardson on Vimeo.

so i finished weeding out my neglected garden (which i need to go back to since this was recorded a few weeks back) and i had some thoughts.

Matthew 13 The Parable of the Weeds

24 Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.

26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

27 "The owner's servants came to him and said,'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?' 28"'An enemy did this,' he replied. "The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'

29" 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'"

i am glad that i know a God which is patient in sorting out the weeds & wheat instead of how we in the christian community often argue who is in & out.

reflections on gardening : why i suck as a neighbor

Reflections on Gardening from Gavin Richardson on Vimeo.

so its been a long summer & as seems par for the summers my yard falls in disarray at some point. this summer, at this point, it was our flower gardens which were overrun with weeds and i didn't tend to them. much like my own soul (and i'd guess others as well) things that were not bearing of any beauty or worth creep their way into my life and overrun that which i want for myself.

tending to the yard, in my eyes, feels like it has a lot to do about my care for being a neighbor. its not that i want to have some envy of the neighborhood, quite the opposite, but i my yard might be the conversation i have with someone as they walk/drive by.. (not to mention i have my best conversations when i'm actually outside doing work on the yard) .. and i'd like for those to be positive experiences.

so its a deep breath day & hard work day to clean house (or in this case garden) and find ones self at a place of peace where you can begin to move forward. this is me, reflecting on a little gardening.