Pastor Martyred in Illinois

A pastor was speaking to his church family this past Sunday morning (in my home state btw) and was shot dead. I was chilled when I read this this story. It just reminds me that one CAN be martyred here in the USA for speaking for and about God. See video here. I'm praying for these mourners (pictured here outside their church building) and especially the family of the pastor.

Marc Driscoll asks some good questions as a result of this on his blog.

Thank you God for creating Bono

If you aren't listening to U2's new album, I highly suggest it! I have many faves (Stand Up), but Magnificent, for me, is a beautiful love song to God, the Magnificent.

Magnificent I was born I was born to be with you

In this space and time After that and ever after I haven't had a clue Only to break rhyme

This foolishness can leave a heart black and blue

Only love, only love can leave such a mark But only love, only love can heal such a scar

I was born I was born to sing for you I didn't have a choice but to lift you up

And sing whatever song you wanted me to I give you back my voice

From the womb my first cry, it was a joyful noise...

Only love, only love can leave such a mark

But only love, only love can heal such a scar

Justified till we die, you and I will magnify The Magnificent Magnificent

Only love, only love can leave such a mark

But only love, only love unites our hearts Justified till we die, you and I will magnify The Magnificent Magnificent Magnificent

Green Book Reflection Pg. 139

Fully immersed in this world, Christians belong to no world. Instead, while teased by each hope and every vision, they know them to be only hints of the new heaven and the new earth rooted in divine promises. And our yearning to become lost in God only intensifies our tears over the thought of leaving this life. Christian existence is a joyful nonsense. In a culture of seal-realization, the Christian's call is to renounce self; in the face of noise, silence is the preference, in a world of competition, the Christian's declaration is that the winners will be losers and the losers winners; in a culture is whose economy is intent on consumption, the Christian insists on simplicity; in culture structured by possessions, the Christian insists upon a high standard of life; and at every point, the Christian exposes the emptiness of fullness for the sake of the gospel's fullness of emptiness.
-Paul. W. Jones (The Art of Spiritual Direction as quoted in A GUIDE TO PRAYER FOR ALL THOSE WHO SEEK GOD).

Africa and Owies

As I have late shift nights (holding our baby so my wife can sleep during feedings) I am spending lots of time reading blogs, catching up on movies, or facebooking--with one hand. I saw this video today and was inspired.

I pray for Africa a lot. I've only been there once and it was amazing. I hope to go back one day with my family. I've also been teaching my 2 year old daughter through pictures about the water issues that that most of Africa faces. I've told her that African kids have "owies" in their tummies because they have dirty water and then we pray for them. She is consumed with people and their "owies." So now when she brings up Africa she says, "Kids have owies," and then we pray for God to HEAL! Right? Like I blogged before, we as the church need to believe this and do something. This video reminded me that God want to heal the sick AND simply change my life in surrender and freedom from materialism--willing to use all that I have for him

Happy Birthday Bambina!

Happy Birthday and WELCOME to our NEWEST BAMBINA!!!
Here's our (not so) little baby girl Gap. Luisa Kaye!!
She was a whopping 10.4oz, 20.5 inches! My wife's amazing! Baby Lu came out in under 10 minutes today at 2:17pm. It all happened so fast I couldn't even count as I was trying to pull out the video cam! Wendy and LULU are doing great! No complications. Luisa is pronounced: LU-EE-SA ( no z sound! S sound). Isella got to meet her little sister and then was singing, "Old MacDonald had a farm with a "Baby Lu."

Love,
Papa Gap!

In trying decide her name, one of our confirmations was this great little Italian restaurant we ate at in San Francisco! We took a picture to remember it .


We are all off the wall in love! There is nothing like seeing a baby created in the image of God come into the world. It's amazing. God was so present. I am overwhelmed. Thanks be to GOD!

Talk to the Hand

I've been playing around with this free iPhone application called Easyshot. I used it for Valentine's day and once in December, too. It's free and kind of fun. I took this picture recently of my hand and realized my hand was telling quite a story. Here's some of the highlights.

1-I'm a sloppy cook. Although I like to cook, I don't really make that much time to do it (Wendy's better), so when I do I rarely pay attention to recipes, go too fast, and don't watch what I'm doing. Hence, that shady spot represents burning myself twice in ten minutes.

2- I inherited my Dad's ginormous thumbs. Makes it very difficult for Texting (and using the easy shot application). Once people notice they often scoff....and then I smush them with it.

3-I am still wearing my orange yarn from summer in support of NOT FOR SALE and setting slaves free from human trafficking. I'm purposing not to just let this be a one time church theme, but a goal for my life. I'm sick to my stomach with the millions of people, many of them children, mistreated, used and abused for labor and sex.

4-I've always hated cancer and it's effects. But not until I've seen how it really working in my Uncle's life has it caused me to really actively fight through prayer about it. So now, I wear this yellow LIVESTRONG bracelet in honor of Daryl, and the millions of others, who are fighting and surviving cancer. Please pray for miraculous healing in his life as he still fights cancer's effects!
I talked with him today praising God that he's been survivor for almost a decade! I know it's God's grace so he could be a great husband to my aunt and father to my cousins.

5-The 5th observation is that I'm hairy, I blame my Italian genes. But if you look close you'll also see blue paint residue from my daughter. She's really a budding artist. I love being her dad.

6-You'll notice there is no # 6, but since this pic was minus a wedding ring since it was my right hand, I wanted my "hand story" to say something about marriage. I really love being married. I highly recommend it. It's a lot of work but so worth it. I am constantly sharpened and humbled. We are actually taking the LOVE DARE right now with our church. I'm so stoked to be married to Wendy in our 5th year this year and can't wait to add our 2nd Gap any minute (hopefully)!!!

Hands tell us a lot. Take a look at your hand. What does it say?

God HEARTS Ted

Ted Haggard, a former pastor who resigned after being caught in a sex scandal, appeared for his 1st ever interview a couple weeks ago since his scandal in 2006. Apparently HBO made a documentary of his life now and he's been on Oprah and Larry King to discuss it.

I watched some of his interviews with sadness and pity. I was also angry. Angry for the sin that he covered up and the lies that hurt so many people including his wife, family, and the church. I also was confused by some of the things he said and wondered where he truly is in relationship to God. I wondered had he truly, humbly, experienced God's love? I'll leave that up to God but it seemed obvious that he'd been hurt in the process of his discipline from the church. Ted once led thousands of people as a pastor, but never dealt or admitted his sin, past, tendencies, or ungodly behavior.

Ted admitted to being sexually abused as a child.
Ted admitted to using meth and seeing a prostitute.
Ted admitted to lying.
Ted admitted to still dealing with thoughts and tendencies.

At one point in watching these interviews I had to stop the TV and pray. I cried. I wept. I sat with Wendy saddened by the hurt, the sin, and the whole story. I empathized. I saw all of humanity in him, troubled, shamed, hurt and confused and I saw myself in him.. I was thankful as I cried. I was thankful for God's grace and healing in my life for blessing me with community and healthy relationships. I thanked God that I was able to be healed and experience freedom and I had been prevented from bringing pain and destruction to my life and the ones I love. At one time time years ago I was praying that God would heal me and make me whole "in the secret," so I wouldn't have to tell anyone my issues, my past, or my sin. But that's not how God works. God heals in community, for his glory, and so that others can find hope, too. We often won't let God heal us in His way and so we choose instead to be fake, like Ted, we choose to live a life of dishonesty and it ends up hurting others.. We won't be healed if we aren't willing to confess our sins and risk what people might think. James 5:16 even says that healing comes when we confess our sins and people pray for us. We must believe that God's love is enough and more important than what anyone thinks or says (so we don't hold back) so that we could truly see what responding to God would look like when we authentically experience God! For many reasons, but a couple come to mind. 1-For God's glory, 2-to prevent the pain caused in so many lives of unexposed, hidden sins and 3- so that we can actually experience the love and freedom God intended! I hope and pray that the church continues to be a place of freedom where people can share anything and receive grace, even pastors! I'm still fighting to believe and live this truth!

I got some new Dance Moves

We are still..... waiting..... for our Baby Gap to make her appearance. So I've been pre-preparing blogs so that when she does come I can have some to post. My NEW AND NEXT VLOG is coming out in a few weeks, updated with some new stuff. I've been looking for some new intro music and was recommended this song. I probably won't use it, cause I don't speak French and don't know what he's saying, but I may use some of the dance moves.

God's plan A

I have kids on my mind, especially as we continue to wait for the birth of our 2nd child. I love being a dad. I love the thought of being able to cuddle, hold, pray, raise, and love my children, but I'm saddened with how many kids are deprived this basic care. I'm often consumed with the staggering number of orphans in the world. There are different statistics (Read 1 here and another here), but estimates are millions upon millions. How can this be? Why is this so? I feel a heavy urgency with this Biblical command in James 1:27. My hope and prayer is that the church, all of God's people, seriously consider adoption as God's plan A. This video was passed on to me by Janet O'Brien who works with PCC in School Aged Childcare. I was in tears at the end as she described her trip and the emptiness she saw in these Russian orphans' eyes. Some of the kids used by pedophiles, others children of prostitutes and drug dealers, most with no hope of adoption. God, we pray for your justice and compassion.

Blah Blah Blah.....

I'm a mouth.
According to 1 Peter 4 we are gifted as speakers or servers. Peter seems to say that the gifts of God are generally in two categories. Gifts of speaking like encouragement, wisdom, preaching, and teaching etc.. or gifts of serving like helps, mercy, administration, etc.

As a mouth I often have to speak a lot of hard things. Things I often wish I didn't have to say. Confrontation is hard, I need to learn to speak the truth in love more.

I appreciated Mark Driscoll's words on the tongue from a recent blog. We are accountable for what we say AND DON'T SAY. Did you ever think that some day when you stand before God we'll have to take account for every time we overlooked sin and didn't take God's word seriously enough to speak out or confront? I'm also aware more and more how we need to love people enough to say difficult things and not care about what people think. I was rebuked in such a huge way a few weeks ago by a fellow small group member. It was AWESOME. Through humble tears I was reminded to be like Jesus. I still have a lot of growing to do.

We also have to care for how we joke around with our words, too. Are we lifting people up or tearing them down? Are we wasting our words on non-eternal matters? Do we avoid deep, caring conversations and settle for fake/surface talk? I know I have and I'm convicted to speak and seek more of God's truth. I especially need this as a husband and as a father, let alone as a friend and pastor.

God fill my mouth!

Valentine's Day and Stress

Well, it's Valentine's day and it's still just the three of us. We are still waiting to add our third little lady any day now. We hope she arrives soon cause we are very ready! So, until then, I say Happy Heart's day to the two beauties in my life right now! I love you very much!
But speaking of adding our next little one, one of my friends, and fellow PCC staff member, explained how stress and kids relate in a growing family. He just had his 4th child two months ago and said the most stress happened when he had his 2nd, but it decreased as they continued to grow. He charted it out on a piece of paper like this:

Many people confirm this was true of their experience, too, so we are preparing for it to be a huge adjustment, but still very excited. And hopefully, by God's will, we can grow our family to four and beyond. Bring on the stress!

LOL

I seriously laughed out loud at this. This is Angjelah Johnson, a comedian who also happens to be a Christian and friend of some of our PCC friends (the Ibarras). I hope we can get her to come up to RWC and do some stand up. Enjoy.



Sometimes you just need to laugh. This has been go-to laughter invoking for me!

I'm a witness

Like I said in this last post, I am so ready for more of God's power and praying to see him move more. God's kingdom is breaking through into our life, into our world! Last month I personally witnessed two people physically healed by God's people through prayer. Here's a story of Rashelle, one of the women in our church family, who was healed during a time of prayer on our young adult retreat. She was jumping up and down on her ankle that had been in pain and unable to hold weight. All of us there witnessed it and broke out in applause and thanks to God. When I talked to Rashelle, a few days after to see how she was doing, she laughed and said, "I went running for the first time today and I'm wearing high heels right now." Awesome. And that's not the only story.

Meet Richard.


I'm telling ya, God wants his power to amaze people and display his love and glory.
Richard was healed when we were praying with Street Church. We prayed for anyone who had any physical pain to be healed in the group huddle. No one specifically asked for prayer, we just did. After we finished he came up and said it was as if God was speaking right to him as we prayed. He no longer had the the pain he was dealing with in his arm and in his leg. In his words he said, "I feel light [not heavy]."

God is always here

I woke up one morning last week to my car wrapped in toilet paper and with shaving cream all over it. The "nice" thing was that the shaving cream spelled out encouraging things like "Man of God, God loves you," and "Man among wolves." So I had to make a visit to the car wash thanks to the midnight visit from some of the men (wolves-not that I'm naming names ROCKY & PORTILLO) in our young adult community.

The cool thing is God gave me a cool experience at the car wash. I took my daughter with me and it was a little scary for her. Those gas station car washes have those machines that you drive into and it goes back and forth washing, rinsing, and drying, etc. They can be loud and for a little almost two-year old, they can be scary. She was in the back seat saying, "Hold you, Papa." (Her words for: Hold me!). Since I couldn't get out of the car and go back there I just reached my hand back, cupped her cheek, and said, "Papa's here, I'll protect you." And for the whole five minutes she rested her head in my hand. It was so perfectly sweet. Her eyes darted back and forth watching the water pound the windows while I reminded her of my love and presence and in that moment God reminded me that's exactly what he does with me, even when I don't see him. He's always here.

Chris from Poland: Vlog Episode 6 TRT 3:26

This Vlog is a special one because I am reflecting with an old friend who started following Jesus with us in Redwood City. Chris (we call him:) Columbus now lives and serves in his home country of Poland. This was the guy I blogged about back in September (see it here). His story is one of God's power and truth to change a life and how truly living out God's design for relationships satisfies and blesses. The power of community!!

Good News for your Ipod: January Imix

2009 Winter Retreat Video

I finally finished editing the video from our retreat three weeks ago. As always, I continue to love our community and I am especially encouraged after spending hours editing. I always have sweet moments of prayer and reflection looking over clips (over and over again. And this time I did a lot of laughing). I remember what God did on the retreat for us as a whole but as I see the faces of the people in the video, and I also remember God's work in each of them individually. I seriously love thinking about how God has written each story and transformed each person, transforming us all. I completely enjoy my calling to pastor in our church family and to invest in the lives and futures of each of PCC's young adults. Not only is it fun, but it's deeply fulfilling and worshipful to be a part of this community, this awesome family of God!

Emergency Prayer Request for Angelina Jolie

I say that tongue in cheek, but I hope we really do pray for her, but not necessarily for the reason I'm going to share. I often like to tune into the newest films, music, and pop culture happenings like this and like that. Usually when I check the online news I see what's going on in entertainment (sometimes 1st sadly). But today I just rolled my eyes at the headlined "scandal" of the day. Angelina Jolie was.....wearing her dress backwards.
OH NO! Somebody call a paramedic! Brad, how could you let that happen? Would some stylist please save her, do her nails, or at least cover her up with a silk scarf from Dolce & Gabbana..Something! QUICK!!
Seriously what in the world? Every three seconds children are dying of hunger and we waste our time on this. Sometimes I wonder if all the high schoolers who refuse to grow up after graduation (even through they continue to age) make their way into Hollywood reporting. So, although somewhat sarcastic, I do still feel committed to pray for Hollywood. Think how many Hollywood types put on the "happy face" of fame, wealth, and satisfaction but suffer in secret sadness as they derive their value from the continuous public critique of their personhood, let alone their work (or clothing). So, that's one reason I pray for celebrities. And I pray for Hollywood because it's one of the biggest influences in today's culture..including the church so it must also be our mission field. God save us all....even those who are fashionably challenged.

Hankies and Aprons

I've been incredibly struck with God's power lately. I can't seem to get away from seeing his power revealed through scripture when I read it. I've also been so stoked on listening and reading Francis Chan's work (You can podcast his message free on itunes). Here's a page from my journal after reading and listening:

The Greek word for power (dunamis) in Ephesians 3: 14-20 is the same word for dynamite! POWER. Explosive power! God wants to display his power through his people the church. Are we seeing that happening today? I can't seem to get to get away from reading about God's awesome power to raise the dead, give sight to the blind, heal the sick, and do amazing things. I'm pretty sure God didn't just intend for us to get together once a week for a service and then another time for a small group. There must be more...I see it in the book of Acts (especially chapter 2!) I know those aren't just stories for "way back then." I mean, God even used handkerchiefs and aprons to heal people. Read this from Acts 19. God's power came out of stinkin' hankies. My mind is exploding. This can happen today. I'm starting to see a little more. I'm starting to believe a little more. God's opening my eyes. I want my eyes to open more!

That's why I need to have faith in situations like this, and remember God can do anything. And if you haven't, check out THE FINGER OF GOD.

Facing a Giant

Occasionally I get cool opportunities to live into one of my passions and hobbies--acting! This post isn't exactly about one of those opportunities. This week I was a "stand in" for a commercial. Not quite acting nor the most lucrative job in the entertainment industry by any means, (it's one of the lowest places on the film industry totem pole, besides being an "extra."). Although it pays fairly well by the Screen Actors Guild, most stand-ins (and extras) are not treated all that well. Extras are sometimes referred to as background furniture and another stand-in and myself joked how we were referred to as "things." That's why I often avoid these roles. But this opportunity gave us as some extra finances, the ability to give to a ministry we love to support, and it was a really cool (ironic) commercial. It was for a new MLB Video game featuring the SF Giants! That's the laughable part, I am the farthest thing from an actual baseball player. BUT HEY..I CAN ACT LIKE I'M ONE and this week I was the stand-in for an SF's celebrity, Tim Lincecum, the pitcher for the Giants. We just happen to both be 5'10" and 170lbs.

Tim's a phenomenon really. Look him up. Despite being quite the celebrity, he was really cool and friendly. No traces of arrogance or pride at such a young age, and that was cool to see. He was very willing to take pics or sign autographs. He even was willing to leave a phone message for a friend of mine who's a huge fan (who ended up answering), and autographed a ball for me, too. (I felt like a weirdo fan asking for it, but he quickly obliged, with the caveat it wasn't for me).

The cool thing about opportunities like that is that I am trying to be bold in my faith and I'm trying to make the most of every opportunity God gives me. I want to be used by God, so after spending the day in small talk and surface conversation I asked Tim if he needed any prayer (after the commercial wrapped). Yep! Awkward? Sure. Hard, yes. Intimating? Uh huh!..But hey, God put us in places for a reason and I don't ever want to be ashamed to pray or speak out for God..to anyone..celebrity/athlete or not. Here's how it went:
Me: Tim, hey man can I pray for you?
Tim: uh.. What?
Me: Prayer? Is there anything I could pray for you about? Do you want any prayer..for anything?
Tim: No, that's cool..oh wait. Sideburns. I really want sideburns. I can't grow a lot facial hair.
Me:...uh..what?.... OH...Kay... Sideburns. I'll pray for sideburns for you.

Usually, I offer to lay hands on the person and pray no matter what they ask for--(like last week when I prayed for a guy with a drug addiction outside Safeway or in a gas station when I prayed for a guy who wanted a dirt bike)..but this time I just assured him I'd pray. It's not that I don't believe God couldn't instantly grow Elvis sideburns the size of Mt. Rushmore on this face, it just wasn't quite the right time as other eager fans with sharpies requested his autograph on Sports Illustrated magazines and other random objects. So, I'm praying that crazy amounts of hair start growing out of the side of that pitcher's face and he remembers that he asked for prayer for it!

Here's to miracles and wonders. God please give me the faith and the Giant's pitcher MAMMOTH SIDEBURNS. Wouldn't that be awesome? Like a Bruce Almighty moment!

God working in a magician

This video Vlog from renowned magician and atheist Penn is very interesting and reminds me that others will see our love...even if they don't agree or believe in God and his love. 1 Peter reminds us that in our love we should be kind and respectful so that even if people disagree or disrespect us they'll end up realizing the truth.
Sincerity, looking people in the eye, and genuinely caring...hmmm..that actually touches people, even atheists.

InnerChange

This Sunday we have a special guest speaker joining us for our Street Church Team lunch (Sunday 1/25 12:30pm). His name is Matt Miles, he actually interned with PCC back in 1999. He now serves with Innerchange in San Francisco and has a great heart and ability to serve with the poor- seeing God's Kingdom come. This video here describes a little bit of what InnerChange is all about. If you are interested in hearing about innerChange and/or learning how this can help you be more effective in ministry please join us and RSVP to me at tonyg@peninsulacovenant.com

Baby Theology

We can already see my daughter's creativity, imagination, and theology coming out at 21 months old. She now says she's "pretending" and talks to her baby dolls and animals, showing them around, asking them questions and even answering for them. She has suggested we pray for them, too so I make sure to thank God for making teddy and koala bears. She has also used her Koala bear to lay hands on me when I asked her to pray for my mouth. It was really a sweet moment that I wasn't sure if I was going to laugh or cry. She also has started changing the lyrics to some songs, like Mary had a little lamb. Sometimes Mary has a panda, or a teddy, and sometimes a monkey. Today she was singing:

Mary had a little Jesus...

And actually, she's theologically correct. Jesus Christ is the lamb of God.

Dating...

Let's be honest it can BITE. Dating is not easy for a lot of people. It wasn't easy for me cause I brought a lot of relational and sexual baggage from my past. (And thanks to a lot of prayer, hard conversations, and years of counseling I was able to make a commitment and now enjoy a great marriage to my wife). That's why every year (at least once but it usually ends up being more) we have intentional conversations on the topic of dating, love, marriage and sex. It's one of my passions and callings in ministry: to teach and disciple people in healthy relationships and God's design for sex and marriage. If you are a PCC young adult please join us at my home, February 6th at 7:30pm, with special guests Debbie and Wyatt Anderson. A new movie coming out this year depicts just a few of the problems human beings face in the relationship department. Can someone please send the world a memo: THERE IS A BETTER WAY.

Meet one of my new mentors..

I don't know him personally, but Francis Chan is being used by God to speak to me. I'm getting ruined, messed up big time. He speaks God's word and I've been encouraged, convicted, and flat on my face humbled listening to the Spirit work through him.

Feeling the Love and Affirmation

We had a great Winter Retreat with our young adult community this past weekend (video coming soon). I had some good time connecting with people and most importantly with God. One of my prayers was to live and minister out of God's truth. Sometimes my insecurites and people-pleasing tendencies lead me to "feel" unloved when my contributions aren't acknowledged. I think it's a natural human issue but it's a sign of being unhealthy when we depend on the affirmations of others to feel loved or worthy. It's putting our value in what we do or what others think of us instead in how much we are loved by God. I just don't want my ego boosted I want to be solid in my identity as God's son. So I prayed about this and asked God to remind me that I serve him for his glory, not my own, and for his affirmation not the kudos of others (even though it's always great to feel appreciated, I just don't want to be codependant on it or pity myself if it's not there). So I prayed and chose to focus on God and I was doubly blessed. For one, I had some great conversations on the retreat and left feeling genuinely loved and love for others. 2-Sunday night I received a card from Leo and Ruby ( a great mentor couple in our church family) sharing one of my favorite truths on this very subject, and 3-I woke up this morning to my car looking like this. (totally anonymous by the way!)
Humbled, thankful, and feeling loved and affirmed by God and community.

Big Boys Don't Cry???

Warning: Soap Box Alert! Some of you may cringe, especially you parents. I must share- this is something I've always thought about doing, but never had the guts to do what I did yesterday. I offered unsolicited parenting advice. Well, not exactly, but here's the story.

My men's group was hanging out in Chipotle for dinner. We were having one of the deepest talks about some of our darkest hours of manhood. No joke, when we overhead a parenting conversation between a mom and her two year old son. They were leaving the restaurant and the little blond haired boy was upset he didn't have his toy to play with as he put his coat on. We heard her telling her son, "Big boys don't cry," and we all looked at each other realizing that WE DO CRY, sometimes. So boldly, with some humor, we had the following exchange:

Mom: Big boys don't cry. Stop crying. We have to leave.
Me: Ma'am, we can't help but overhear and we just wanna say, big boys DO cry... sometimes.
Mom: Do they cry when their dump trucks are taken away prematurely?
Me: Sometimes they do. This guy (pointing to Rocky in our group) just got a new car and he was crying cause his old car was jacked up. But he's happy now.
Rocky: I had a truck and it was a dump.
Me: Cars do make us cry, sometimes, so do girls, broken hearts, and any other time we're sad. Just want to remind you that it's OK for big boys to cry sometimes.
Mom: Your right. It's just an innocent peer pressure tactic that really seems to work his age.

Obviously I don't want to make this a habit but I really felt compelled. Thankfully the mom was receptive and jokingly accepted our quips. Maybe it'll spare this kid years of therapy and his future wife from complaining her husband is emotionally distant. I know from my own experience that these seemingly "innocent tactics" are dangerous and can have lasting, harmful effects. If I had a dollar for every man I know who has emotional issues, including myself, from some stereotypical, misrepresentation of manhood expressed to them growing up, I'd have a lot of money to give away. Regardless, I know parenting a toddler is hard and I pray grace on this mom and her son and the ability to live (and parent) with God's help and power.

Praise Jar

Happy New Year 2009!

Every New Year's day we read through all the year's blessings kept in a jar. Through out the year we try to write down every good and perfect gift that we are given by God so that we can remember God's goodness and provision, even in the challenging times.

Here are a few that stick out from 2008! We are so thankful. God gives, takes away, and answers prayers!

iPhone gifted by PCC young adults
Isella loves the nursery
2nd Pregnancy!
New place to rent in PCC owned home
Brother Chris is married
Great summer of ministry, Mercy Cafe
Safe and smooth flights from Chicago and Dallas
Great times with family and travel
God spoke to me through poetry
Our Niece was born
Fun weddings officiated
Financial gifts from friends and family (for anniversary and randomly)
Prayerful conversations with strangers (in dental offices, at weddings...)
Great ministry conferences
Seeing people come to know and follow Jesus
AND...
Free Starbucks

Here's to another year where we see God's goodness. This year was filled with challenges, on-going dental pain, step-brother's death, and the learning curve of being parents of a toddler, but we are choosing to trust God and his love for us.

Christmas Day

This year Wendy and I wanted to do Christmas differently. We really trimmed down our gift giving. For so many reasons (spiritual satisfaction, living on one income, avoiding materialism) we wanted a simple Christmas that focused on Jesus. I'm very convicted of my own materialistic tendencies. I confess I love to get and buy stuff, and I know that this Christmas I had to make some intentional choices to downsize the gift giving, so I can implement this more in my whole lifestyle. I told a lot of my family not to worry about gifts, and I really think it helped prevent the stress of the season from overtaking us.

For my daughter, our morning started out singing songs and making our way to our living room where she received three wrapped gifts (books) from us. With out so much time gathered around gifts (that she'll quickly forget about and not want anyway) we were able to spend more of our time simply being together as a family, playing, eating, etc. We gave her this one specially,created Dora book from Shutterfly, and it was so hilarious her reaction.

Wendy and I decided not to exchange gifts and to find other ways to express our love and appreciation. We really felt like we truly did get that this season. After our Dora book reading session, we made our way to our friend Jenni Ingram's house for what we fondly called, "WAFFLE BALLS!" They were out of this breakfast world. So good. It's actually called Aebleskiver, a Danish delicacy. They are like waffle donut holes. My daughter ate 2. I ate 11.
Too bad the gym was closed today.
After our waffle balls we took a nice, long, family nap. Then made our way to my in-laws for some more celebrating.
Overall, We enjoyed great times with family and friends in California and Chicago this Christmas 2008. We had times of intentional conversation and prayer. We were able to serve together and have time to reflect, read, and pray. I have to share this, though! Here's one gift I did get that had a positive effect on me!
Compassion International is a well-known organization that I love, and have sponsored a child with them for about ten years. It's a great way to give and help children in poverty. This was one gift that fit just right and felt good that it wasn't about ME! And since this is my 1st Christmas in California (since we are usually in Chicago) I was able to join our Street Church family to celebrate tonight, another great gift.Ending the day with my friends on the street was one of Christmas' true blessings! To be outside in the cold, simply celebrating with others by eating together and singing was a real gift. It was such a special way to for me to feel that the true celebration of Christmas wasn't lost in my busyness or the typical holiday commercialism. Thank you God for coming into our lives. Thank you Jesus for coming into our cold and broken world, being a homeless king, and choosing humility. We worship you and thank you.

Santa Stance

So, I'm a bit nervous with this post. I know there are a lot of hard core Santa lovers and I'm afraid I'll have a candy cane drive by tomorrow morning. So hear me out, and beware to all Santa believing children (and parents) that this post may be hazardous to your Christmas spirit. (Run for the hills--this post contains a SPOILER!).

My wife told me my Santa stance can sound self-righteous, and I really want to avoid that. But I have a problem with the Santa thing, and for that reason, we wont give presents from Santa, or set out cookies, etc. I admit, as a 7 year old kid I couldn't sleep Christmas Eve hoping to catch a glimpse of Rudolph and I'm not too messed up, but I just can't do it to my kids.

My buddy Matt posted his 2 cents on his blog and I'm feel the same way. It just feels like lying to me. I know it's about the magic of Christmas, but I wonder if all our Santa effort really does take away from the real meaning: God's love for the world through Jesus' birth. I was saddened while watching a documentary that talked about how commercialized Christmas has become that it practically squeezes out focus on Jesus.

I remember reading about a woman who's own personal faith in Jesus Christ was shattered when she discovered the truth about Santa. She remembers stumbling upon evidence that her parents were actually wrapping presents and writing out tags. (How many times has that happened right? Come on parents, get a clue.) This made her wonder about God and her belief in the "story" of Jesus. Had her parents just finagled some lie about the Messiah, too, just so she would be "good?" It caused her to walk away from Santa and her belief in Jesus. She wondered if Sunday School teachings were the equivalent of cookies and milk left out every Christmas eve. She had huge trust issues with her parents. Eventually later in her life she reconciled that Santa was a fairy tale and Jesus was the truth, but it didn't' come without heartache and difficult confrontations with her self and her parents. How could something so innocent as Santa damage a person like that. I believe it was about truth/trust which is a foundation to all relationships. Her story caused me to form a very strong conviction. Like Matt said, I want to tell the truth to my kids so that they trust me. I want to handle Santa the same as I would the story of Cinderella or any other fairy tale. This doesn't mean I''ll ostracize any parent who doesn't:) So, ok, to lighten this up a bit-have you seen Macy's ads? Trump, Jessica Simpson, Tommy Hilfigger..are you serious?

Too self-righteous? I hope not. Now, the bridge we'll have to cross some time in the future (your suggestions are welcome)is how to protect our kids from spoiling others hopes and dreams for ole' Saint Nick to drop by their pad every 12/24. Till, then, Merry Christmas. May we savor and enjoy time with family and the thoughts of how much God loves us that he sent his only son.

Dance Party

Chalk this up to another reason I love my daughter and being her father.


I hope she grows a heart to worship God like David did, with dancing and all her might. May this be true of every one of God's worshippers. May we all have a heart to worship like we do the things we love, for it is in living passionately like this that we bring God worship, too.

My recent movie viewing

Here are some of the movies I've seen over the past month.

In Theaters:

Bolt-Cartoon, sappy, silly, the hamster is the highlight. Rent it, or skip it all together. 

Twilight-Curiosity got me. Yes, I confess I saw it. Now, I know why we have a problem in this generation with unhealthy dating relationships. Why do girls go after the bad boys? Especially boys who could kill you by sucking your blood to death. It's not quite the next Harry Potter, but if your curiosity gets you, rent it. I saw it with two other dudes, and we were overwhelmingly outnumbered by female tweens. Not enough action, but great soundtrack. 

7 pounds-Will Smith. Who is really good? Twists and turns make this movie intriguing, just wait until the end. But afterward you wonder--what is the real message and is it a good one? It's a good conversation piece. It's no Memento, or Babel, but tries to be. See it with a friend and converse. What's with the title first of all?

On DVD:

What Would Jesus Buy? A wacky, zealous, weird documentary that convicted me. Sometimes I wondered if I was watching heresy, but it's actually a performance, and I like Morgan Spurlock's work. A traveling, musical, protest. It makes you think and challenges the American way. This Christmas we might not just be consumers but we might be CONSUMED.  The Reverend Billy reminds of a crazed out Bill Hybels. Rent it, converse, and stop shopping. 

The Visitor: Stellar performances. Diversity. Relationships. Questions issues of immigration. Heart-warming. Rent it and consider banging on a drum.

And again, I still recommend FINGER OF GOD. 

the fruit of the Spirit can grow in airports...

Seriously, this is how bad Christmas movies are made.

Airport cancels flights because of snow. People have to wait in long lines for hours, for their re-booked flights, to do simple things like print boarding passes cause machines were out of order.

Meanwhile five airline employees huddle together and talk to each other behind the counters while irate travelers cuss and throw luggage. These five women supposedly are only trained at putting labels on luggage. There were only 2 trained ticket agents for all hundred people in line. I manged to keep my cool, miraculously, and step in and talk to each person in line so that we could go to the front within ten minutes to make it to our flight. (Did I tell you they left our stroller in the snow and the pilot had to get it? He returned it to us with 3 inches of snow piled in it). Ug, thankfully God's Spirit reminded us to be patient and kind. He knows at times, I too, wanted to throw some luggage around and drop a few choice words, but I saw that behavior doesn't help one bit. 
And somehow, thanks to God, we managed to make it home with only a "pair of wings" pin to show for it. Our flight took 4 hours 49 minutes. Again, we were thankful to God that although energetic Isella didn't sleep one wink, (but fell asleep in the car 2 minutes before we arrived home) she was happy and not fussy on the plane. I have many ideas for a straight to DVD Holiday flick.

"Snowed In" Chicago

I've been spending the past short week with my family celebrating an early Christmas and my Dad's 60th birthday. It's been great. And today, it snowed all day on our intended departure day. A 30 minute car ride turned into 2-3 hours for many, including us to and from the airport.
Our flight said ON TIME up until the minute we got to the gate when it was delayed one hour. We then got on the plane bout 2 hours after our intended time, and they said they'd have to de-ice the plane for two hours while we sat on the plane. You can imagine how frustrating, and tiring it is in general being alone, let alone with a child. God was obviously with us as our little toddler was completely flexible and go-with-the-flow. We were amazed even more when they said our flight was cancelled (along with hundreds of others) and re-booked for tomorrow. I called my parents and they had just gotten home from dropping us off and turned around to come get us again.
Here Isella plays with other kids stranded and waiting in the airport. There was such sweet joy in this experience when all around people were cussing, angry, and short with one another. God used Isella to remind me to relax and be patient--not easy when you just want to get home!
We watched people snuggle up on airport benches prepared to wait out the night with no hotel or luggage in sight. Although our luggage is somewhere, hopefully destined to be in Sf at some point, I'm grateful we could come back to my parent's house for the night. As I put Isella to bed I did our usual routine. We prayed, sang songs and recited scripture. Tonight she said, "Again," in an unusual place. It was right after I sang her Jeremiah 29:11-13. Usually she wants me to repeat, "The Wheels on the Bus," or "Jingle Bells," lately. But tonight it was the reminder that God's got a plan. That was cool So, we'll try again tomorrow and see what God has in store.

Good News for your Ipod: Christmas Version

Javaluya

During Christmas we as a church hope for people to join us as we celebrate, right? This spoof is hilarious, again reminding me that Christians are weird, and sometimes we have to be really sensitive about our insider language to not ostracize those taking a risk to seek God with us. This video speaks for itself.

Lost and YOU FOUND ME

After hearing the bum news that one of my three fave shows Pushing Daisies is being cancelled, I stumbled on the new song, YOU FOUND ME, by the Fray. This great song is also being featured on Lost (one of my other faves). Cool thing is the Fray guys are all Christ Followers doing their music and art in the pop music scene. So if you listen, you can hear echos of their faith bounce through. I've also hung out with their drummer, Ben, as he married one of our young adult women (who also was one of the photographers at our wedding four years ago). So although I'm seriously bummed to lose this artistic and spiritual piece of TV, I'll now make room for Lost which starts 1/21!


PS. My third fave show is 30 Rock. I used to be in to Heroes the 1st season, but haven't made the time to watch any of the DVR recorded episodes since.

Make a Caption

One of my favorite magazines always has a comic caption contest. They post a picture and then have people send in their captions. I keep hoping to have one of mine published. It can be so funny how one picture elicits so many different responses. So, until I make it big, I thought I'd try it on my own. Post your captions to the picture below by leaving a comment. (This is not my daughter by the way).
Later in the next week I'll also post my "Santa Stance." What I think about Santa and how our family will deal with that little holiday "issue. "

72 hours of fun and craziness

What do rehearsing and performing a sketch, finishing a 10 page paper, hosting a young adult event, seeing my wife off to vacay in Portland have to do with each other? They all happened in the same 72 hours as I was solo dad with Isella.

Leave it to me to let that happen. Seriously, though, God really provided me with strength and power to thrive through it. I had AMAZING times with Isella. She was so fun and sweet. I finished my paper and felt good about it 1.5 hours before it was due to be emailed in Saturday Night 10:30pm. The sketch gave me some much needed creative outlet and it went off with out a hitch Sunday Morning at our Church's worship gathering. In-laws helped out, Wendy had fun and returned safe. I'm so thankful.

Every Church Christmas celebration needs a little nativity sketch. Here's one written and acted by Darin Adams (who is PCC's worship pastor for the month of December). It takes a different twist on the 3 Kings. I got to play a "wise-guy." The youtube video starts a little way into the story where the kings are bragging about what they've done to honor the new king. I play King Melchoir, "Mo," who is a little into his gold and gift giving. They visit Mary and Jesus...and then Bada Bing they're outta there.

Finger of God

It's after midnight and I have a Seminary paper now due in 11 hours, 51 minutes. But I'd rather be doing lots of other things. 1-Reading this film maker's blog, 2-Doing my own blogging 3-blogging about this documentary. 

Finger of God. I've watched it three times now. 

Watch the trailer below--or watch this interview (give some grace to the cheesiness) on this "supernatural" talk show.  (Supposedly all of the movie can be watched on YouTube). I really like this guy Darren Wilson, the director. He's real, humorous, honest, and he's witnessed a lot. Listen to his story. 

After viewing this film I've concluded:

We/I have a small faith. 

We/I am comfortable, lazy, fearful, and too busy to really experience God's power. 

We/I need to act on God's word, his promises... and I will...!

Just tonight, after viewing the film,  a group of men took to the street of Redwood City simply to pray for people and God is at work. I'm already getting text messages about the way God moved and opened up conversations for people to pray. 

I wish I could write more, there will be more on this, soon. 

Let there be lights, and more lights, and more...

I wanted to avoid shopping like the a swarm of mosquitoes on Black Friday. But we had set up our Christmas tree and of course we were short one string of lights. So, we made a dash to the mad-crazy Target filled with after Turkey day bargain shoppers. I beat my way through the crowds to the light aisle. The amount of lights to choose from is ridiculously big. I just wanted one regular, old-school strand of white lights. There is now a crazy 22nd century selection, Jetson style. Blinking, moving, mesh...you name it, they have it. Speaks to how this season has has the potential to be so glamorized that we sometimes miss really enjoying why we even have it to begin with.

On another note, I always notice when manger scenes have other random additions to Bethlehem. Santas hanging out with shepherds, snoopy leaning up on sheep, or Winnie the pooh on a Ferris wheel. Like this one. Did you know there were penguins hot air ballooning over the manger when Jesus was born?

Please share and make me laugh if you've seen anything like this on a front lawn near you.

Adoption and Foster Care

Kudos to the churches in Colorado! I hope this for our state, for our country.

Would you pray for the God's people to take up the cause of the orphan? Will you consider praying how you can support children in need so we can fulfill God's command.
I can't help tearing up watching this. I hope that I can be a part of bringing this vision to PCC and beyond.

Advent Conspiracy...again

I posted this once, but it's worth the reminder.



What are you doing to be different this Christmas? It's 24 days away.

How about serving in this way: Send a letter of prayer and scripture to one of our troops serving abroad.