Everywhere you look, there’s evidence of the global economic downturn recession thingy.

I studied all about economics at university, and had great fun modelling booms and busts and having Keynesian modelling parties.  Yep…

However, this is the first recession (shh…don’t say it again…) that we’ve had in Australia since I was at university in the early 1990s.  We are one of the few nations not to have had a downturn between 1991 and now.  I’m not going to pontificate on the myriad reasons, because I’d rather dwell on the good stuff.  God, specifically.

Right now, I see plenty of evidence that people in covenant with God are bucking the trend.  It’s not going to be everyone, but a great Biblical example of something like this can be found in Genesis 26 as Isaac prospered in the midst of a devastating famine.  In fact, verse 12 tells us “…Isaac sowed seed in that land and received in the same year a hundred times as much as he had planted, and the Lord favored him with blessings.” (emphasis mine).

While Diane and I are keen to see some of this harvest in our own personal lives, the company I work for (or rather, the company I run that employs me to keep it running is seeing blessing.  And I’m not just saying that like it trips off the tongue of so many.  I’m talking covenant blessing : the owner is Christian, I’m a Christ-follower, several of my line managers are Christ-lovers, not to mention quite a considerable number of the rest of the staff too.  Our management meetings begin with prayer.

So I’ve been tweeting about how I’m trying to recruit 5 people at the moment.  I’ve done recruiting in the past, but with unemployment rates rising (only v.slightly here in Oz…so far…), it seems there are lots more people looking for work than in the past.  And they’ve all applied for my jobs.  I’ve done a great form letter email template to make the “Sorry, not this time” process easier. But 154 rejections?  Usually we only get 10-15 applications!

All of which just makes the selection process more draining.

But…I’m so happy to be able to offer some people employment rather than the alternative.

And, if you fit the following criteria, feel free to get in touch – I may have something for you.

1. You must already be allowed to work in Australia (I’ve sponsored people before, definitely not averse to that, but usually only for highly technical positions.  It’s a painful process, made more painful the less technical the role is. Now you know.), AND

2. Experience in a broadly-scoped office administration environment, including accounts receivable/payable, OR

3. Experience in the sales of professional audio visual equipment, ideally including market expansion skills, OR

4. Experience in event support – specifically the communications systems used in large events like the Olympics, etc (thousands of FM in-ears, UHF radios, ClearCom matrices, etc)

5. But most importantly of all, you must be able to sell your overall brilliance to me.

So leave a comment and tell me why I should employ you.

(and why you’re worth sponsoring if I have to get you out here to Australia

Actually, if you’re serious, it might be a better idea to email me via my Contact page.  Seriously.

This post is part of the spring challenge over at Our Creative Community to share our various creative processes.  So after you’ve read this, head on over there and check out everyone else.

I’ll be honest, when OurCC left us this challenge, the very first thing I thought was “well, that’s one post for the week I won’t need to think much about then”

Except…that would be wrong.

Defining my creative process proved more difficult than I had imagined.  I also wimped out on being truly creative with my blog response; I should have done a vlog, but didn’t want it to be just a little talky, unedited one…and…and…and… :/

Anyway, here’s what I came up with.  All things considered, this took ages to write :

What ignites that flame inside you to create?

Quite apart from the fact I feel like being creative nearly all the time, I get inspired by others’ creativity.  A play, a song, a sculpture, a book, a solution…a tweet, a blog post.  Etc. I think it’s at the root of my being, which makes sense since God is there, and He’s the Master Creator.

What sparks that passion inside you?

I kinda answered this already above didn’t I.  Actually, is this really the same question presented in a different way?

How do you channel your creativity into a finished product?

With great difficulty.  I often get into the middle of something and divert over to something else.  Being part of this community and having some clear goals has helped me be more focussed and target oriented.  Learning Garageband and therefore having more flexibility in how I present what I do has been great.  I can’t believe I had a Mac for over a year without touching it!

Still, not knowing how to play any instruments well is annoying.  As is my concern for my neighbours, which therefore restricts how much I’ll let myself go with my vocals.  I know I can do a lot more with my voice – I do it at church on Sundays, and have done in choirs for years…so I might need to find a place to let rip that’s soundproof.

And, importantly for me, the creative process of songwriting includes the recording and production.  It’s not just a song, it’s how it sounds, what synth is used, what bass sound, how many different drum tracks.  It’s all part of the process.  At the same time, I love how someone else could pick up the raw ingredients (music, lyrics) and create something entirely different in their interpretation.

What do you do when you struggle to create?

Usually this means I’m over-tired and need to step back and recouperate.  At one time, I’d push through.  This never yielded results, so I’ve learnt from that.

How do you celebrate your wins?

I’m not sure I really know what wins I’ve had.  Putting something out there that is enjoyed is a win I guess.  But a bigger win in my book is being satisfied with something I’ve created.  Coming back to it later and not wanting to change anything.  I’ve done that a couple of times.  Not many times, but it’s been done

Do you enjoy your creative process?

Yes.  If I wasn’t enjoying this, there’d be little point in doing it.  I’ve often wondered what it would be like to have my creative process and my income stream intersecting; some fatigue would be bound to set in at times.  However, it’s less likely to be an issue than when you feel your income earning is pulling you away from your creativity.

At the moment, I am blessed with a better crossover than some people I know…but I’d still rather be able to create all day than have to work.  So come on benefactor, I’m waiting

How do you share your creative elements with others?

For my congregation friendly songs – in church.

For my electronica & other noodlings – on my blog.  And it’s pretty diverse.  I gotta say, I’m really enjoying the self-imposed challenge of writing songs for/about other people.

Hopefully combining the two at some point by doing some video-clips which can be played at church of the songs I’ve created which are currently only on the blog.  Though probably not the ones I’ve done for/about other people.  Or my “25 Things” song.

The ones I do for church are going to be recorded for our first ever worship album over the course of the year too.  V.excited about this

I receive my emails on my phone, just like everyone who doesn’t live in pre-history these days.  Yeah, I’m rude, you knew that but just didn’t want to admit it.

That doesn’t mean I do anything about them, but it does mean I can keep track of the hundreds that are piling up there when I don’t do anything about them.

Like what is happening right now…

One email I did do something about on Saturday was from Stickk.com.  These emails tell me one of five things :

1. I need to lodge a report on my own commitment progress (if this means nothing to you, head over to stickk.com and find out…).

2. One of my commitment partners/friends/fellow loons needs a nudge to lodge their report.

3. One of the above has lodged their own report, be it failure or success.

4. Someone has written on my commitment wall – usually telling me to get my butt into gear and report.  Or me making excuses.

5. Finally, it also congratulates or consoles me when I’ve made a report, depending which is appropriate.  Um, yeah, thanks stickk.com.

Anyway, this month, all was tracking nicely for my song (or rather, pile of songs…I always have lots on the go) when it all stopped to take part in some really fun stuff.  I also then forgot about some less fun stuff I needed to do for my church board meeting (I may have mentioned that before in today’s glut of posts).  Note: while it’s less fun, it does pay me cash, so I’m not complaining. Cash is useful. You heard it here first.

So, I get to the end of the month and my ambition has surpassed my reality.  But, as Mandy so astutely noted as she caught me out, I managed to fool stickk.com into letting me have success.  I feel so ashamed.  Please forgive me. 

No really, forgive me.

This is no longer a request.

Seriously, aren’t we all a little bit like this at times?  We get all feel-good about accountability with each other, but still manage to pull the wool over someone’s eyes (not everyone’s) about the reality.  It’s not exactly authentic is it, or imitating Jesus. Boo to me.

NB: I’m fine, btw, just snowed (oh the irony in an Australian summer), and I’ve also forgiven myself for this heinous lie.  Jesus has too.  You should now as well.

Oh, yeah, I’ve done the guilt-trip-on-my-readers bit already haven’t I…so next up is ”pour out the pity you feel for me in the comments”…it will give me more emails to do nothing about for another day or so.

In Australia, when you’re crossing the road you need to look to the right first because (clearly) we designed it based on being seated at the right hand of the Father to ensure you always look right first…or not, but it sounds good, hey!.

When I tried this on my first visit to New York about 15 years ago, I was nearly bowled over by a big yellow taxi. Never mind the fact looking left had the same result

Back on topic though

…if you look to the right of this post, you will see a funky new badge for Our Creative Community. It truly deserves being described as ‘fabulous’.

Click on it and you will be taken to far-away and mysterious land where people who were somehow lacking in stuff to do decided to commit to doing more in areas that really matter to them, and remain accountable to others for that commitment.

And yes, I’m one of them.

AGH!

Since this is what I was referring to in my last post, I thought I’d post to let you know that this is actually serious – we have a badge now!

Update 20 Feb 2009: now that I’ve changed my template and moved to WordPress, the badge is now in my page footer.   This may change again, but for now, looking to the right just won’t work for you…

**UPDATE: since I merged both my blogs when I moved to WordPress, the contents of this post are a little redundant – oh well…**

This week, I’ll probably not be posting here very much.

There is one thing I need to post which should happen on Saturday, and that’s because I signed up to the accountability/goal thingy over at inProgress.

For the rest of the week though, I’m posting daily at my Worship+ blog, which you can get to by clicking on the logo below. You should read it every week in normal circumstances anyway – it’s dead good.