Matthew Robinson

In class this morning I was reviewing graphing on the coordinate plane. We’re talking (x, y) and plotting points on the x- and y-axis and solving equations to find an ordered pair solution set. Think old school Battleship meets Find-the-Burried-Treasure meets longitude and latitude on readings from your TomTom or Garmin. Real, real-world stuff.

“So does it matter if I put (0, 5) or (5, 0)?” asks one frustrated budding mathematician.

“Yes. Absolutely.” responds one Is-she-really-asking-me-this-and-can’t-see-that-it’s-totally-something-different professor.

“Why?” quips said student.

“Because details matter.”

I’ll be the first to admit I’m too much of a perfectionist at times. Okay, most of the time. And I’ll be the first to admit that I sweat the small stuff, that I like to have a plan, and that I do worry about tomorrow without letting its troubles take care of itself. I’m a details guy. And I know the devil’s in the details. But they’re how my mind works and operates and plots and plans and thinks.

I believe in details. I believe that when they come together, you notice. Even if you don’t notice that any of the details existed. I think that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.

When I taught high school, I was junior class sponsor, and was charged with throwing an always-has-to-be-better-than-the-year-before prom. With a budget of over $25,000 from fund raisers and ticket sales and 400 – 500 people in attendance (I know, I know, I really think I could plan and throw a kick-a wedding in my sleep…one day), I quickly learned that details matter. The student government members never “got” this…they just wanted to have the big party, but from behind the scenes, I knew it would be so much more…special…if all the details were spot on.

One of the reasons that I love (and yes, I do really enjoy it) what I get to do at the Well is that I get to worry about and “oversee” a lot of the details. My mind thinks in a linear fashion, but in a rounded manner. I don’t know how to describe to someone else the top down and inside-out perspective I have, but I think it’s what makes me work and tick and feel that love for what I get to do.

I’m thinking about all of this becuase of three projects I’m working on simultenasouy: helping to create the master schedule at the high school where I used to teach (with some of those same SGA kids), overseeing and managing a huge curriciulum rediesgn project at work, and brininging together a dozen loose-ends with revamped systems and new looks at the Well. Each of these has 15,000 details involved.

This summer’s been refreshing and exhausting at the same time, and in the last day or so I’ve come to realize why: all the details. School, work, and church have all presented a mountain of them to juggle and balance. And it’s only been today, while driving home in the car, that I felt like I’ve started to accomplish many of my summer goals. There are still a few weeks left, and many more details to deal with, but I finally feel like I’ve stopped having to furiously tread water to stay a float and keep the ships moving.

And that felt good.

Yes, the details matter, and yes, I struggle daily to attempt to not get so caught up in them. But it all comes down, in many regards, to the quote that’s on my desk (where I work on many of the details):

“Today I gave all I had, and what I kept, I lost forever.”

Details. And people. And their experiences. They all matter.

Nana and Jim and David and Carol came and went, and time with the grandparents and English cousins was well spent. I’ll never turn down a trip to Outback (my order: Bloomin’ Onion, the best Caesar Salad in the world, and the classic Alice Springs Chicken). You can’t go wrong. You can go stuffed and sick. But you can’t go wrong.

Batman and Dark Knight was, well, dark. Heath Ledger was phenomenal, and the story, a classic tale of good versus evil, had me riveted. Throw in Bethany, Cold Stone, a random side of the theater text-er and a girl with turrets, and the movie was a more than pleasurable viewing experience.

And then there was Sunday..

The morning found us at Maclay Gardens for our second baptism service. I’ll put up with every headache in the world every day of the week from now until the end to continue to be a part of these special events. The simplicity of it all is what’s most beautiful to me, and a long Sunday was kicked off in high style.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp. That was the sound after the video played last night. A moment of reflection. And solitude. And celebration.

I’ve been privileged to travel to a few other churches and events with Dean these past few months (D.C., Atlanta, etc) and on each of those “fact finding” missions, we also find a lot of cool ideas. When teaching future educators and doing things for the Well, I strongly embody the C.A.S.E. method of operation: Copy and Steal Everything. While we were at the Whiteboard Sessions in D.C. in May, a similar video was shown following speaker Mark Batterson’s great idea. I stole it. And after several hours of work between services, a touching moment took place capturing the day’s earlier events.

I’d do it all over again, with excitement, too.

Another idea in the works…the lobby at Amos P. Godby High School:

As the Fall approaches, the way in which we “do” some things on Sundays is going to be imporved. It starts with the first thing, and first person, guests see on a Sunday night. The lobby is a work in progress (and thanks to my friends Stephanie, Sarah, and Donnie for their hard work out there) and the central launching pad for our Sunday evenings is undergoing a revitalization of sorts. I don’t think this area will ever be finished. I’m fine with the “work-in-progress” model as long as the work keeps getting better and better.

And what about Fady and the Du-wops last night? They pulled it off with more than finesse! (Though it did cost me a dinner, and is going to cost me a gold star). Everything came together. Not one real hiccup this week. And I went to bed earlier than normal on a Sunday night.

What a weekend! And what a Sunday! 4 more until Fall “begins” and only a week and a half of this long-short summer session left. Let the countdown roll on…

What a whirlwind week.  It feels like I’ve been on a roller coaster of travel, emotions, opportunities, excitement and discontent.  I have not run in three days and it’s getting to me and my sleep is lacking.  TGIF.

Dean and I sprinted to Atlanta (If Karyn’s reading this, I’m so sorry I didn’t call.  I was only around for a few waking hours!) and back for a twenty hour trip.  It’s amazing what a car ride of conversation can produce, and my mind hasn’t stopped whirling and brimming with activity and crazy thoughts about just what we might be able to do… went to 722 for the first time on Tuesday night before and after meeting with the folks from Corss Pointe.  Things are brewing this upcoming fall, I feel it and I believe it and what’s in store is so amazing.

Been thinking about this statement for a while: “Is this less about a movement or more about an option?”  All this work “I” am doing…all this work that I believe in…is it impacting the change we hope, or are people just selecting and choosing?  I can’t get this thought off of my mind!

Random note: I love school supplies.  And the Staples back-to-school preview Sunday circular weekly ad just landed in my inbox and I’m not going to lie…I got kind of excited.  No, I don’t need any more gel pens, index cards, or post-its, dividers or one cent (only one cent!) erasers caps.  But since I was a kid, I’ve loved this stuff.  The perfect store combo for me would be a Target-Staples-Publix-Banana all under one roof.

Another random note: I’ve been on this motivational speaker kick with my classes these past few days.  One section found out I was not 45 (my standard answer when asked “How old are you Dr. Robinson?”), but rather, 26.  They were amazed.  And enthralled.  And pissed that I’d “lied” to them.  The door was open to talk about goals and dreams and expectations and finding the one thing in your life that you can do better than someone else, and going after it with all you’ve got.  They actually gave me a round of applause when I was done.  I went off on a tangent for 14 minutes though.  Time well spent.  Time very well spent.

My Nana and Jim and some distant cousins from England are coming in town for the weekend, and I’m pretty pumped.  Nana and Jim lived with me for nearly a month and a half two summers ago when my parent’s house and life was packed into PODS, and apart from a quick overnight stay for graduation last year, my grand-rents haven’t been back.  It should be a fun weekend.

I can not wait for Sunday night.  Jeremy’s grandfather (as in Rachel and Jeremy) passed away on Wednesday, and the Boeselt’s wont be with us as they travel to Texas, but while they’re in our thoughts and prayers, the band will representing them well.

One class this morning down, and one more left.  And then it’s time for my Friday afternoon ritual:

An hour nap.

Can’t wait!

Some how it all came together. In some incredible, crazy, blessed way, it happened. And it happened with excellence and honor and glory. But if you had talked to me at 5:15 p.m. EST tonight, I would have told you there’d be no way.

Always on the tips of our toes…

I’ve been asked more than a few times this week about how we put Sunday’s together. The answer is never straightforward because the planning process is so fluid. But there are a few “rules” we follow Behind The Scenes @ The Well.

1. We don’t do it if we can’t do it excellently. There’s a difference between a good idea and a great idea. And there’s a difference in a great idea and a great idea that we can do excellently. We always focus on the latter.

2. To steal a line…shift happens. Being mobile, being volunteer based, and pulling off a major production with minor resources, things hardly ever work out “the way they’re supposed to…” If it goes wrong on stage, we joke about it and improvise. If it goes wrong behind the scenes, we do our absolute best to make sure most people don’t know about it. We shift and adjust and move accordingly. (One week, I’m going to record our walkie-talkie communications. The amount of the shift that happens across those really shows what’s going on bts@tw.)

3. It’s not my job to ask you to remain completely seated until the ride has come to a full and complete stop. We’re not here to take you on a roller-coaster adventure. Yes, there’s a certain point we strive for and desire to reach and all of our energy and resources and His spirit gets us there, but we attempt not to have a herky-jerky, peak-and-valley series of movements and events. Transitions, and getting them right, are HUGE.

4. Dean is only allowed to ask me three questions between 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on Sundays. Part of my job is to help him look great. Sometimes he doesn’t need to know all the details, hurdles, and hiccups. I respect him because he knows his limits, and helps me reach my potential. And we trust one another. This trust comes from first off, being friends. Second, he’s my pastor. And third, my “coworker”. And sometimes he doesn’t even ask me all three questions!

5. If someone is behind a microphone, it better be live and hot. Before they start speaking.

6. We always keep in mind the first timer. What would an un-churched friend of our most involved person who was invited and finally decided to come think and feel about what they’re seeing and doing.

7. We always keep in mind the regular.

8. We always keep in mind each person is somewhere different. Even though for an hour and fifteen minutes every Sunday, we all call the auditorium at Amos P. Godby High School home.

9. Debrief does not equal b!t$h session. If someone hasn’t thought of a way to possibly fix what they think is wrong, then it’s not brought up.

10. Some people in our congregation sometimes mistake our 3C’s (Contact, Connect, Contribute) for Complain, Critique and Condemn. It’s a welcomed treat when Compliment is thrown in to that mix. While every comment is evaluated, and considered, some are dismissed, some are acted upon, and all remind us why we strive for #1 above.

11. There’s a line in the movie “Miracle on 34th Street” where little Susan is talking about her Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade organizer mom and says “she starts planning next year’s parade even before Santa crosses the finish line.” My mom’s in charge of Gasparilla in Tampa, so I always related to that line, and at the Well, there’s some truth in it, too. We have a plan. And it’s long range. And projects a month away are looked at and worked on and refined to hit, again, #1 above.

But at the end of the day, He’s bigger than any cue sheet I print, any slide we show, any line we script or any transition we make.

That’s the fun part of the job to remember each Sunday…

The has been the most random week in a long while.  Taking a day to recover from last weekend’s festivities, Monday became a jam-packed catch up day.  Lunch and dinner with Dean and Matt Long and a bunch of friends proved successful in having something to look forward to.

Classes this week have been sporadic, and yesterday we had a welcomed day off at the College.  I’m in the midst of teaching factoring, one of my favorite concepts to teach, but one of the most difficult, and most abstract, for many students to grasp.  We’ll see how this little blib in the factoring radar with 24 hours of freedom between last seeing me proves beneficial for mis estudiantes.

I’m a to-do list person, and while I’m slowly replacing post-its with notes on my BlackBerry, the list keeps going on and on.  Yesterday: building a drum riser; lunch with a buddy; yard work and furniture moving at Karyn’s; a conference call for work; a haircut; returns (I hate returning things!); cleaning the Corolla; running; time with Sadie; practicing the guitar; videos and scripts for Sunday; watching the Daily Show; making dinner; and the list still kept going…

You ever have one of those days when it all got done?  Eerily so, yesterday I accomplished much that I set out to do.  I’m just glad tomorrow I get to sleep in!

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Back in Tallahassee.  And back in class this morning.  It’s been an eventful past few days, and I’m going to be playing catch up all week.

The wedding was phenomenal (pictures to come!) and family time was superb.  I’ve been to my fair share of weddings these past few years, and Heather and Chris’ was right near the top.

Sunday night was a blast, and there’s more big news brewing behind the scenes at the Well.

A great dinner with friends last night has me convinced of one thing: if you don’t have Table Topics out at a dinner party, you’re missing out.

More later.

Most Saturdays during the Falls of my adolescent and teenage years were spent at Ben Hill Griffin stadium in Gainesville, Florida. I grew up a Gator. I was born and bred a Gator. I’ve certainly converted at this point, but my father often refers to me as “his retarded son who went to Florida State.”

Heather and Chris met at UF, and after asking me to be in the wedding, they requested Chris’ groom’s cake be made…something Gator-themed, and something chocolate.

Another master creation in less than a week. I’m too tired to even count the number of hours that have gone into this, but it does look, and hopefully will taste, pretty damn good.

Back at the “home” in Tampa with Mom and Dad for the prep and beginning of the the grand Robinson-Clark wedding celebration.  Before I left Tallahassee left night, I’d put in four 19 hour days.  I knew it was going to be one of those weeks.  I played hard the four days before, and knew that to play hard again for the four days after I’d have to work hard, juggle the 100 balls in the air at the same time, and attempt to tie up the 100 loose ends simultaneously.  Such had been my life for the past four years, and only recently have I enjoyed seeing some room on my plate.

This week, the fat boy inside me visited one too many times the line at the grand buffet.  The plate’s been chock full.

Chatting for a second on the phone last night, Dean reminded me “that sometimes that long drive’s worth it; giving us a time to reflect and think and just let the wheels turn.”

The Corolla’s wheels turned pretty well for the five hour treck through the rain.  And, thankfully, so did the wheels in the mind of one Dr. Robinson.  Here’s some insight into my reflections:

-Chick-Fil-A goes a long way in curing most ills.

-Though I know and could write a book on assessment, there’s still some comfort in knowing that if all but two students passed my Wednesday test, I’d like to think I was the one who made some of that difference.

-I could produce right now a “Well Live” cd and making a killing.  Scott Simmons, and Rachel Boeselt twice in the last month, are phenomenal.  I’m lucky and not sharing my boot-legged service recordings!

-Anything worth having is worth waiting for.

-Anything worth anything is worth sacrificing for.

-Before I can learn to strum, I have to remember the beat.  And Heather Stuyverson’s final “need to work on” item on the list: “RELAX!” applies to a lot more than just my quest to learn how to play the guitar.

-My little sister, my one and only sibiling, the girl I’ve both loved and faught with the most, my little baby sister, is getting married.  And I’m thrilled for her.

-I can be a horrible keep-in-touch-with-er, but there is great comfort and being able to pick up the phone and talk to people from my past even if we haven’t chatted in over six months.

-There’s great joy in being able to sing at the top of your lungs.  And Natasha Beddingfield’s songs are perfect for that pleasure.  And calling Haley in Publix and hearing her laugh as I serenade is totally worth looking, and sounding, like a fool.

-I love what I do, in the classroom.

-I love what I do, at the Well.  “Something’s brewing…” and it’s amazing to be a part of.

-Gas gets cheaper the farther south you drive

I’m. Exhausted.

An incredible past five days, but I’ve checked in at ka-put. Heather’s wedding is in t-minus less-than-a-week and a welcomed trip back home in under 48 hours to begin the festivities is being looked forward to.

In reverse order…Birthday #2: Jovanna Gomez. One of my favorite new friends of the past few months, and proud recipient of what was quite possibly my most grand creation yet: un torte de chocolate.

Six incredible layers separated by a chocolate mousse and topped with a rich chocolate ganache icing and curls. Simply decadent. Celebrating with the newest 24 year old around and our friends at Sakura capped off a wonderful weekend (Jo did introduce me to sushi. Yes, I’ve jumped on that bandwagon a few years behind schedule; but better late than never).

Hiccups…everything that possibly could have gone wrong at the beginning of our service last night did. Air stopped working. Check. Computers (yes, that’s plural) stopped working. Check. Mics (yes, plural again) stopped working. Check. Two seconds away from throwing in the towel, we were rolling again and were completely blessed with our new Rachel, our new set, and one of our biggest summer turnouts.

Holding your breath is supposed to work to cure hiccups. Holding my breath last night kept me from losing my salvation!

A wedding…the newly minted Sarah and Lawton Graves (that’s Mr. and Mrs. Lawton Randolph Graves III, I’ll have you) were stunning and special. A wedding ceremony in Florida’s state cathedral was had with full Episcopalian galore.

The vows were heartfelt and touching, and Dean serving un-leven bread offered a chuckle. Sarah and Lawton have quickly become two friends whom I respect with high regard. To be able to celebrate with them was a treat, and I’m looking forward to being able to be a part of their new life together.

Birthday #1: Feliz Cumpleanos to America, baby! I love me a good 4th of July, and in Jax for the wedding, I extended my stay to visit with my college roommate and his wife.

Brian and Jenna (and Buster!) just simply “get” me. Friends from the start (at FSU freshmen year) we haven’t lost touch and I know we never will. Celebrating holidays small and large with the Braddock’s is like none-other. Their friends immediately become like my own, and the comfortableness because of past shared experiences we all have is unmatched. I miss them dearly and thank God for the role they have played in my life.

It’s a busy week that’s only going to get busier. I’m still holding my breath!