These four values, what Bill Hybels calls his "endangered character quality list"*, are ones that I've tried to live by in my work and at play throughout my life. I know there are many many times that I have failed, but I've tried to mark every endeavor that I've ever tried or done by these traits. And now I have my own website! :) I hope that you will make yourself at home and browse around the site a little. Through this website, I hope that you will find material that stimulates and encourages you, makes you think, makes you cry, and makes you smile.
I wear many hats! :) First and foremost, I am a Christian who has been following the Lord for many years through many trials and many triumphs. I am a musician - multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, teacher, researcher. I am also a writer, poet, and historian. Finally, partially because I have to eat and because I enjoy computers, I've worked as an network admin, system analyst, programmer, support tech, and instructional designer.
Most of all, I have a heart for serving and a heart for people -- to minister to them, pray with them, to see their scars, and to get to know their hearts. You know, the heart of a person is what they're all about deep inside. It's what God created them to be, not who the world says they are. And that's what I feel God called me to do - serve people, walk with them, and get to know their hearts.
Thanks so much for visiting my website! Be sure to drop me a line on the Guestbook or send me an email.
Blessings, Ryan
*from Who You Are When No One's Looking by Bill Hybels (Zondervan, 1987)
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
- A Return To Love by Marianne Williamson (1992) -