So, lets be honest.

Life is chaotic these days. Time seems to be going by faster, and faster, and faster. Technology has placed us on the edge of literally, everything. And whether we want to admit it or not, we are bearing the affects of that.

I know I have.

The last few weeks my family has been preparing for a big, cross country move. Our dog had 8 puppies. My mom had an accident and a surgery. My brother had an accident as is now looking at a surgery. We have packing and cleaning. I'm trying to be part time [full time] house cleaner and coordinator helper. I'm trying to keep my business running administratively, shoot and edit weddings and redo the face of my branding.

Oh yeah, then, there's everything with RevMedia.

Trip planning. New blog launching. Dear World book promotions. Writing. Managing. Organizing. Non profit work. The Ashes to Beauty multi-media project. The Risk Love multi media project [on hold as we seek the right profilers]. The20. Oh, and book plans.

It is absolutely in_sane.

No one expects me to go above and beyond "normal" life. I know this.

Except for one thing:

It's my calling.

If I have to work two full time jobs, break my bank, live in a shack, and get 3 hours of sleep a night... rest assured...

I am going to live out my calling.

So then, we move past the "can or can't" sphere and into the "will and must".

Practically, how does this work?

I had to sit down and talk this out with God about 10 days ago. It looked something like this:

"God, I don't know how to make this work. I don't know how to do this anymore. I'm exhausted. I'm discouraged. I can't do it all. But I know I have to. Jesus, what do you want me to do?" [At this point I threw my hands up in the air and, yes, started crying.]

Interestingly enough, God doesn't want us to be at our wits end as we fulfill our calling. He doesn't make things unnecessarily difficult. But our calling is the one way that we become closet to God and therefore, everything we face amidst our calling is to push us and pull us toward Him.

If the challenges we face with our calling - schedule, budgets, finances, projects, etc. etc. etc. - pull us closer to Jesus, know for certain that He will give us the answers which we seek.

And He did for me, too.

I came up with a workable schedule. One that is short term, but workable.

Mornings I will work with and for my mom, packing and cleaning. After lunch, I'll take a short nap [coffee has been too hard on my system of late], and then work on RevMedia projects in the afternoon. Help with dinner, and business administration and editing into the late night will wrap up my day.

Easy?

Not hardly.

Doable?

Absolutely.

With a little bit of prioritization, you could fit in a personal project too. Maybe it won't be as insane as my life - maybe it will. Regardless of this, rest assured: God can make a way for you too.

I know figuring all this out by yourself can make it seem impossible. So tell you what: Believe like philanthropic art is your calling? Give me a ring. We'll schedule a time to sit down, chat about your life, and how you may be able to incorporate some of philanthropic project of some kind into your schedule.

You may be a writer. You may be a designer. You may be a photographer, painter, or other artist. Hear me when I say this: The schedule may say no, the talent may say hope, the ability may be limited, but all this aside...

I have In_Sane belief that you can do it.

You may not be able to do it alone. But with a little bit of help, with a few tips, I know you can.

If it's your calling, hold fast to that In_Sane belief.

It'll come about.

- Christina

[The offer in this post stands with weighty seriousness. If you need help in working out your life as a philanthropic artist, give me a call [360 713 8971], shoot me an email [info@theRevMediaProject.com], or send me a twitter or fb message. I promise you: I want to, and will help. If you ask.]

This is the beginning of a new series of animations that I am starting. Thought you guys might like to see!

-Aaron

[The following is an article I wrote about World Changing. While it is not a direct update for a project, or anything specific about RevMedia, I believe it has merit to the philanthropic lifestyle. I hope you enjoy. - Christina N Dickson]
____________________________

The alarm clock sounds. You roll over and hit the snooze button. Most begrudgingly your brain begins to come to that point between sleep and awake. By the time the snooze goes off again, you have awoken to the thoughts of another billion things on your to do list. Between work, school, chores, family, friends, and the rest of life, you plug away, hardly able to remember the last time you actually felt like you accomplished something. Then you get that twitter update from RevMedia, tell you about what projects the are working on with philan - however you spell that word - art. If it's not bad enough, they also challenge you to do something yourself. Yeah. Right. Not even Stephen Covey's 7 Habits will help you sort through life enough to get to that point.

It may seem like the above is a good description of your life. But to be completely honest, I wasn't imagining a bunch of random scenario's from your life. Truth be told, I was describing the circumstances of my own.

Wait. Aren't I, like, the head of RevMedia?

Actually...Yeah.

The last 6 weeks has found me w.a.y. in over my head. Pick any area of life and you will find it a really interesting place. My family is moving. My friends are starting relationships. My business [finally] is growing. My ministry gaining momentum. My health declining. My projects - while rewarding - are demanding. A littler of puppies and a family accident completes it all.

This to say, my time has been spent in and out of touching all those areas, and at the same time, I feel like I've touched none at all.

This is a pretty tough place to be for someone who wants to be a World Changer. In fact, life during these times seem more like a complex survival season of Lost than they do of impacting the world.

At this place, when you try, and try, and try to clear away the lists, to make time and room for "changing the world", it's a good time to re-center on something.

A World Changer is someone who has been made aware of their affecting power and consciously taken up the identity of an "influencer" in the world around them.

World Changing may at some point in time involve breaking out fellow believers in restricted countries, but in all honestly, the life of a disciplined World Changer is consistent. It is continuous. It starts where you are and it builds from there.

World Changing is simply the acknowledgment that you are an influencer - today, right now - and a commitment to influence your world for the good.

On one hand, this gives us all an incredible freedom - not to pine away for opportunities or abilities that may never come our way - rather to embrace a passionate, visionary lifestyle even as it involves doing dishes, packing boxes, taking portraits, or making plans. This idea gives hope to our desire of making our life count - even as we work at a hospital, study chemistry, or plan a wedding For in a these situations, we influence dozens, if not hundreds of people. What kind of World Changing are we attempting there?

The challenge is not entering a new World Changers lifestyle, but submitting it unto the life you are leading right now.

At some point, you may have been able to point a finger at me and accuse "that's easy for you to say". But today, as I lay aside my philanthropic projects to take care of my injured mom, and plan a photography class for ladies, it's not easy to say. It's not easy for me to say as I lay aside my desire for traveling this year in exchange for building roots in my business and ministry administration.

Attempts at World Changing are never easy - no matter where you are. It sounds more glamorous and impressive to say our World Changing took place in Africa as opposed to a conversation over dishwashing; but there is equal merit, reward, and responsibility in both. World Changers tale these moments and attempt to influence as best they can.

So here's the challenge: Influence someone today.

Make an attempt at World Changing.

We can try it together.

The jet-lag is long gone, the bags unpacked, the images are key-worded, categorized and complete with basic edits...

And now the real work begins.

Wait...The images are shot, isn't the work done?

No, it has only just begun.

The focus now turns to lay-outs, graphic design, writing...and the task of narrowing down what the core of our message is all about. One can't even imagine all the road-bumps along the way. Computers dying and being out of commission for 5 weeks, one of the members of the team who is working on the project being in another foreign country for 4 weeks, trying to find the free, yes free, way to compile copious amounts of work among the various members of the team. As time passes and we get farther away from our time in Thailand, the fear of losing passion and momentum sets in. Life at home continues on and makes its demands.

Why do we choose to do this?

To expend our own resources for a project that no one asked us to do...no one but God.

We do it because God entrusted us with a vision, a piece of His heart that He wants revealed to the world. It's our responsibility and privilege to put our hands to this task and see it through to completion.

When in Thailand I came across a verse in Proverbs that took on a whole new meaning and we are applying it to this project. "The slothful man roasts not that which he took in hunting,; but the substance of a diligent man is precious." Proverbs 12.:27. We can go out and shoot the images, but not until we come home and prepare them to impact an audience and take them out into the world do they become precious. We must be stewards of the images that God gives us the opportunity to see and capture.

So computers are repaired, time is managed to the best of our ability, sleep is sacrificed for writing, the search for free networking options are explored. And through it all, God not only maintains the passion, but builds and deepens it. How could He more clearly stamp His approval on the project? We move ahead, making progress, carrying in our hands a precious story to be told.

- Hannah Brandau