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.