It's A Rant...But Read Anyway

I'm getting somewhat tired of people asking me what I'm going to do with my life. I guess there is nothing I can do about that, but it has become the default question whenever I am talking to someone. After they find out that I am a senior in college, the very next thing out of people's mouths is, "What are you going to do after graduation?" I usually answer with, "I don't know" and then follow that with what direction I am going in. I have a preset answer in my mind. But it just gets repetitive after the 500th time.

Again, it is not anyone's fault. I guess it is the natural question to ask a senior in college, and I understand that. I am just ranting for the sake of ranting. I do that every-once and a while.

So no offense to you if you have asked me this question in the past, again this is just a rant.
Plus, I have been accused of neglecting my blog for the past week, so I thought I'd better write something to satisfy the masses.

Also, if you'd like to see the direction I'm headed in life check out this post as well as some of my other previous posts. Just a hint, it relates to media in church.

Don't worry, there will be more posts to come in the next week before the new year.

P.S. I'm home until January 8th, so if anyone wants to grab coffee and catch up just give me a call, shoot me an email (jkburns@gmail.com) or facebook me (http://facebook.com/jburns).

Old Friend Encounters

It is so great to be able to see friends that you have not seen in literally over a year. And not only is it good to see them, but it is even better to get to catch up with them, and see how they are doing.

I experienced one of these encounters today as one of my friends from high school, Matt James, was back in town for the weekend. He has been down south working for "The Academy of Arts," (sorry I would provide a link but I do not have one). He is also going to school at a technical institute, majoring in Web & Graphic Design.

It is great to see how both of us have matured, and we have common interests so it was great to see what he has learned in those areas.

It is also crazy to hear that he is dating a girl that he is planning on marrying in the very near future. But then again, it is crazy to see many of my friends get engaged and married. And yet its kinda ironic because I'm sitting here, single and happy. LOL. O well, thats life, right? We all grow up, mature, get old, married, or stay single, and work. I'm quickly learning that is the way life goes. I'm learning this as people are asking me about school and such, but alas, another post for another day.

Are you running into old friends, or people you haven't seen in a while? Do you enjoy these encounters or loathe them?


A picture of me and my friends as seniors on our high school soccer team. I am second from the right "26" and Matt is fourth from the right "28"

the future

Thoughts about the future of my life have been looming in my mind over the past couple months, and especially over the past week. I went on this trip with my Camp Administration class, in which we visited 6 camps and conference centers in Michigan and Wisconsin. I was initially dreading this trip, but it turned out to be surprisingly interesting, and somewhat beneficial.

It was interesting to meet with the Directors of these camps to see how they are being run, and especially in this rough economic time. One of my interests of course was what kind of emphasis these places put on media and how they integrated that into their camp experience. There were some that put almost no emphasis on it, and others who had exclusive staff dedicated to it.

This just caused me to think more about my passions and talents and how I am going to use them in the future. I have a passion for sports ministry and reaching others for Christ through sports, and I also have a passion for media and the integration of it into different ministries and settings. So I am torn between the two.

Of course I know that these two things can be used together for some type of ministry, and I will see more specifically how this can be done this summer in my internship when I am leading soccer camps, as well as shooting and editing promotional videos.

There is also this huge burden that I have had for the local church and how it presents the gospel through media, and specifically in my home church in Kentucky. And I have had the privilege of seeing it done correctly in my church here in Chicago, so there are many ideas that I would like to take back to my church and implement.

Then there is also the desire to create my own startup doing podcasting, videoblogging, and live video. But I'm not sure how real that idea could be.

So all of these things are ideas that have been floating around in my head, and I just can't stop thinking about them, so naturally they come out in my writing on this blog. And they are all updates in the life of Josh Burns.