The Five Stack

I know it sounds like a new option on McDonald's "heart-attack-guaranteed" menu, but the Five Stack has nothing to do with feeding the stomach. It does, however, have everything to do with feeding the mind. (Cheesy, I know, but stay with me. Haha, get it? "Cheesy"...it's like a five-stack with cheese!).

Wow...

Anyway, so the other day I was lamenting to my brother, Dave, that there are so many different topics that I want to study, but I don't have a good system for studying them. I love reading books, but I'm not very purposeful in the way that I read. I sort of just read whatever good book seems to be laying around at the time, without any systematic approach to what I'm reading or learning, if that makes sense. So, I wondered out loud to my brother if I should just choose a field of study, spend a few months reading all the books I could get my hands on surrounding that topic, and then move on to the next thing. For example, I really enjoy philosophy of religion. Should I just spend the next several months only reading that genre of books?

The immediate problem I saw with this idea was that it seemed like by adopting that method I would be forced to neglect other necessary areas of study, such as personal growth. Well, in the midst of my confusion, my bro dropped a knowledge bomb on me.

(A paraphrase)

Dave: What if you chose five different books from five different fields of study and read them concurrently?

MaxAC: Wait, you mean read them all at the same time? (I'm a little slow...)

Dave: Yeah, just stack them up. Read a few chapters from the first book, and then put it on the bottom of the stack. Next time you want to read, take the next book off the top of the stack and read a few chapters from that one. Then repeat the cycle until you've read all the books, at which point you can choose five more.

MaxAC: So, I'm just clarifying...read FIVE BOOKS AT ONCE?!?!

Dave: Uh, yeah.

Brilliant.

Thus, the Five Stack was born! To be honest, I've never done anything like this before. I'm the kind of guy who really has a hard time focusing on more than one thing at a time (I guess that just makes me a guy, huh?), but I'm trying this out as an experiment, testing my own ability to multi-task read. Just a few days in, I'm realizing that it's not so hard to keep these readings separate because they are all vastly different topics.

There's actually a lot more that I'd like to say, but this post is already reaching "too-long status." More to come soon...

One of those weeks...

You ever have a week like this? You know, one of those weeks where you just want to bury your head in a tree? This was one of those weeks for me. I think the best word to describe this past week is stressful. It was one of those weeks where several stressful situations collided at once to form an atomic stress-bomb. It all started with three days in a row in which three different close friends of mine came to me so that I might bear their heavy burdens with them. Combo that with some stress-filled situations in my own life, not the least of which is that I'm still deeply wrestling through my immediate and not-so-immediate future plans. All that to say, it was just one of those weeks.

I'm not the type of guy to lose sleep over anything. Seriously, I could be placed in a war zone with live ammunition flying everywhere, but when it was bedtime, I'd lay my head on a pile of hand grenades and fall asleep. That's partly just the way I'm wired, and partly I just really love sleep. Anyway, this week I had multiple nights of little to no sleep, which is EXTREMELY uncommon for me. My prayer this morning was just for the Spirit of peace to come over me, even in the midst of the chaos that is life right now. For those of you who have been praying for me this past year, I ask that you continue to pray that the Lord would guide and direct my steps. And, if anyone out there is experiencing a week like I just described, simply take a look at this picture...it makes me feel better every time!!!

Still Alive and Kickin' It

By now, you might be wondering, Is MaxAC still alive? Fortunately, the answer is: Yes, I'm alive, and living life to the max! Here's what I've been up to recently:

• going to a lot of youth sporting events
• teaching a Spanish class (more on this later)
• dealing with some drama in the youth group (of the teenage girl variety...my favorite!)
• not sleeping enough
• trying to keep up with my new house
• leading an awesome student leadership team
• spending lots of time with my girl
• preparing for a long trip overseas (more on this later, as well)
• not blogging

Life never stops, but unfortunately sometimes blogging does stop. However, there is much to share, so look for more from MaxAC in the near future!!!