This morning when I arrived at work I looked up at an old fridge we have in creative services and saw the Ford logo.

It’s difficult to see, but in the picture below taken on my Treo, if you look to the right, you can see the fuzzy Ford logo.

Being a guy, I am not a “natural” fan of journaling.  And, if I am going to journal, which I do from time to time, I am going to do it in an actual journal or on my blog.  

Well, as of March of 09, Living will be replaced by a new magazine called FUSION.  I have seen some samples of it and it rocks!  It’s smaller, so it is easier to carry or to fit in your bag, back pack or Bible.  Plus it is going to have a standing column by one of my favorite people in the whole world, Fred Stoeker (Every Man’s Battle and the Every Man’s Series…what a hero!), Dr. Jim Burns, Dave Ramsey and others.

I can’t wait to be able to use it.  It will be an encouragement to many and will help scores of people connect with God each week.  

One more thought, check out Jonathan Yandell’s recent post where he wants you to be involved.  If you don’t know Jonathan, he is the Sr. editor over this product (and many others), he is a champion, and he is looking for your help.  Check it out!

Now that we have nailed down our location for the venue, we are now forging ahead on a few final speakers and a worship leader.  It will be fun to release those names as the months roll on.

We are also working hard on the D6conference.com web site.  What is currently up, although helpful info, is not the final…just temp.  We plan to have the full site up by mid October.  In addition to that, our third party registration vendor is working on our registration model.  I look forward to taking a look at that and ensuring that the registration process will go smoothly.  Another item we are working on is the final promo video.  We should have that by sometime in October as well.

Splink is running, but the eblasts have not begun yet.  We are set to begin launching those via email next Tuesday.

Another new site we are launching, CLEARmagazines.com is about 60% developed and will be ready to launch in about 3 weeks.  It looks fantastic!  Can’t wait for this to be fully running.

A lot going on, but it’s all good stuff.  Back to work!

Check this out, for only $9.99 you can get an entire campaign for your church. It comes with 3 sermons for the pastor (In Microsoft Word & in pdf format), three 5-minute videos on DVD to play before your sermons or lessons, 9 different power point backgrounds for your sermon/presentation, promotional materials like poster, flyer and t-shirt.  It’s way more than you would expect for something that is only ten bucks.  We have valued it at 39 dollars.

The DVD has personal interviews with George Barna, Fred Stoeker, John Trent, Robert J. Morgan and a couple of other guys from Randall House.  It’s off the hook!  As a bonus it’s also packet with extra footage of these guys sharing their D6 stories and invitations to The D6 Conference.

Check this out!  I will never forget the moment I saw Marty McFly’s shoes lace up automatically! It’s here! Back to the Future is one of the best trilogies of all time (for sheer entertainment value), and I am glad Nike has finally done it.

If you haven’t seen it check out C2dvd.com

It’s a pretty cool small group study for young adults & teens.  If you like to discuss movies and being with your friends in small group, this is for you!

The point of C2 is to help individuals and groups to think critically about the movies and entertainment they watch.  You can pick them up either at a Christian store of just get it off of the web site. Enjoy!

We have all experienced this same situation in one form or another. Truth of the matter is, there is no better time for someone to shake your hand than right after you just washed because they are germ free! However it would be better to do this without having to indirectly communicate “I promise, it’s not pee, it’s just leftover water that the stupid, ineffective hand dryer didn’t actually blow dry.”

No more worries folks! There is a new hand dryer in town (well maybe it’s not new, but there are not many of them wherever I travel). Check out the Xlerator Excel Dryer.

While stopping in at a gas station last week I went in to the restroom to make my contribution to the local waste management system. After washing my hands I prepared myself to burn another 60 seconds of my life, but nearly had my hand de-gloved! Seriously, the skin on my hands was wrinkling and peeling back. It was as if they took a jet engine from a 747 and turned it vertical and bolted it to the wall. Less than 10 seconds and my hands were dry. I was so impressed with this thing that I immediately wrote the brand name down. Amazing. Finally someone listened to customers.

For years I have chosen paper towel over the hand dryer (not because I want to kill more trees, but because I hate ineffectiveness). Now, if I ever see an Xlerator on the wall, I will strap down my children, place my hands under the jet, and go for it!

How awesome would that be to have one of these in your bathroom at home as a hair dryer! We could actually get to church on time! (some of you will get that)

A lot of guys I know also use some sort of filter for their computer to protect their eyes from evil. After all Job says “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl” and Psalm 101:3 says, “I will set before my eyes no vile thing.” With all of the junk on the Internet today, it’s wise to have a plan for how you spend your time on the Internet and to have a plan for how you will protect yourself.

I want to be very open, raw and honest with you and share two easy things you can do to create a winning strategy.

First of all, don’t just get on the Internet to “surf.” Give me a break! We know better. How many of you have stumbled because you were just wasting time on the Internet, just burning time because you had nothing better to do? Far too many of us have. Not any more. Make a covenant with your self that if you get on the Internet, you are going somewhere with a purpose in mind. Act with purpose and intent, and you will be sure to cut down on opportunities for the enemy to attack you.

The second item that many men are finding helpful is an accountability software that works 100 times better than a filter. For a long time I used a filter to protect my eyes and truthfully it was a pain in the neck. Here’s why.

Each time I traveled I was unable to conduct business because most of the time, my filter prevented me from being able to connect to the Internet, check email, do research, etc. I got tired of this problem and began looking for a better solution, and I found one.

I now have accountability software that sends out an email to my 2 chosen accountability partners (my wife and a buddy of mine) twice a month. This works 100 times better because now I do not have Internet connect-ability issues. And for those of you who are tempted to view content you may not want to view, get this…if you turn the software off, it immediately sends a report to your accountability partners and tells them what just happened.

This is the best stuff I have seen as far as “filter” type of programs go. In my raw opinion, if you are man enough to begin these types of honest conversations with your wife, this will catapult you forward in your fight against lust. Oneness is the goal with your wife, and this kind of openness and communication with her will be beneficial to your relationship. This accountability software places more emphasis on the “relationship” of your accountability partner, which will cause you to make a choice as to how you will act, which seems to me so much better than a filter.

If you are interested in knowing more about this software, email me at matt.markins@randallhouse.com and I will get you more information.

Let’s be real, lust is a huge challenge, especially for men living in a culture that upholds sensationalism and exhibitionism. If it were not a challenge, Jesus and Paul would not have talked about it. Let me share two wonderful resources that I know are making an impact on helping Christian men around the US.

First off, my good buddy Steve, recommended this series that has been around a while and I am enjoying it still…the Every Man’s Series (several books within the series dealing with purity). More specific, Every Man’s Battle. This book, an honest conversation & story by Fred Stoeker (with a little bit from Stephen Arterburn).

The battle of lust and temptation is a battle every man deals with. Some more than others and in different ways, but it is clear from scripture and from the lives around us that this battle is real. This book is an honest, raw story of how Fred Stoeker partnered with Jesus to take up every man’s battle and fight with courage, all the way to victory. You can win with Jesus…this book is simply a weapon to help fight the enemy.

Tomorrow I will introduce another resource that I have found to be helpful.

D6 Stories – We are all faced with opportunities in life to seize a teachable moments with our children as they arise. D6 moms and dads even create and plan these opportunities. We call these moments D6 Stories. You probably have one, or two, or seventeen D6 Stories tucked away in that head of yours. The cool thing is, they can be uploaded to the D6 website so you can share them with the world via Video, Blog or Podcast. Many of these are funny, and all are inspiring. We can’t wait for you to see them and for you to be able to contribute.

Splink – Simple ways to connect your family together. We have been working on Splink for months, but we just gave it a name last week. One of our Star members came up with this brilliant name (if we do say so ourselves), and it truly defines what a Splink can do for your family. Essentially, a Splink is a simple, spiritual link. Looking for a way to talk to your kids about creation, grace, sin, redemption, transformation, Romans 8:28? The list is endless.  This kind of interaction will strengthen your relationship with your kids. The point is, we will provide a free weekly email resource that will go out to families across the world that choose to subscribe to Splink. In this email you will have 8 Splinks to choose from to use through out the week. Use all 8 Splinks if you choose, or just use one or two. Let this be a helpful resource to connect your family (or the families of your church) together. BTW, all of these Splinks will be archived on the D6 Family Website so you will be able to search for additional ideas as well.

That’s it for now. Be looking for the D6 Family Website in early March. More details will be coming soon!

The pair that I currently own are in desperate need of replacement; scratched lenses, stretched out, screws that won’t stay tightened. So, with that in mind, I have been on the hunt for a new pair. I really only have one prerequisite…I want a pair that his the new Wide Sides.

The Wide Sides for men look slightly artistic and make a bit of a bold statement (very “Richard VanKluyve” if you know what I mean). After visiting a few “Lensecrafter” type stores, I found scores of pairs for men that have that feature, but none that were affordable. I was pretty depressed. Even after insurance it was looking like my out of pocket expenses were going to be over $150.

Now, every pair of glasses I have ever owned have come from Wal-Mart. Why? One reason…price. I can walk out of Wal-Mart with a new pair of glasses and only pay $35. Because I really wanted the Wide Sides, I thought I’d try one of the major chain stores, but I just couldn’t bring myself to pay $150 after insurance. So, back to Wal-Mart.

The good news is that Wal-Mart has plenty of pairs that have Wide Sides. The bad news is that they are all for women. The Men’s section did not have one single pair that had Wide Sides. The unisex section had about a dozen pairs that have Wide Sides, but they all have pink accents or fake diamonds on them. That’s not unisex, it’s feminine. Ridiculous! I see men every week with these kinds of glasses on. I am not the only male customer in the US who wants a trendy pair of glasses, but who also wants to be a good steward of my disposable income. So, I settled on a pair that I really like from the front, but guess what? No Wide Sides.

Katie said that I am not very attractive when I pout. She’s right. However, I do hope that some manufacturer will get with it and begin producing this product. Maybe my voice will be heard so that other men won’t have to needlessly suffer. Ha!

So, I am counting my blessings and being thankful for my new pair.