My Worship Revolution

That preseason is under way…and my Chargers are playin today?!  Given, it is just pre-season, but still.  Got a voicemail from Ed to see if I was watching the game.  To my joy and surprise, I turned on my TV to see the game on NBC, one of the three channels we get.

Got to it in time to enjoy an interview with the greatest running back of all time as well.  (LT if you were wondering.)  Speaking of, enjoy this video I saw at my sister’s blog, in celebration of football season.  This video is SIC!

This is the year.  I feel it.  We’ll see how our new coach is…the one we stole from these sorry saps up here.  (Sorry Marc, I had too!) 

It’s Sunday afternoon.  Football is on.  I hear John Madden.  Life is as it should be once again.  Here’s to another 6 months of great sport!

Sing with me:  San Di – e -go…Super Chargers…

and welcome to Christian Life Center.

I arrived at the church about 10 minutes after our lead pastor, Ed, this morning.  Here is what I was welcomed by.

Yup.  Rock through the front door.  Rock through a side window.  Oh well.  I think police are on their way for the report.  Then I guess we better clean up before our guests arrive!

Just another Sunday in Santa Cruz.  But my guitar’s still here.  Jesus is still in control.  I’m lookin forward to worshiping this morning!  Catch ya at the confessional!

It’s about 10 o’clock on Saturday night.  I’m surfing the web in bed before puttin my head down.  My wife’s reading a few chapters of her book.  And our usually quiet little neighborhood here in Soquel is alive with the sound of a very loud live band at a party nearby.  Wooly Bully.  Mustang Sally.  Hard To Handle.

I tend to sleep through stuff pretty well.  Rachel, not as much.

He’s singing Happy Birthday now.  Thus the reason for the party.

Anyway, we’ll see how much sleep we get and how tomorrow goes!

*UPDATE: The band stopped shortly after I posted that.  However, we couldn’t fall to sleep for another hour or more.  Guess we can’t blame the noise!

It’s been pretty quiet around here this week, I know.  It’s been a pretty busy week with a lot goin on.  So I’ll just give you one nice, lengthy post to recap the week.  We’ll go bulleted style, so maybe it won’t be too lengthy.  Here’s some of the highlights (and lowlights):

• Watched the Moscow circus down at the Boardwalk.  We’re cheap…parked free downtown and walked a mile to get there.
• Finished our first Life Group leader training with a final potluck.  Groups are launching the week after Labor Day with another cluster launching in October.
• Booed Bonds hitting #756 while at said potluck.  That didn’t make me very popular.
• Ordered a whole bunch of new equipment and scheduled getting some better speakers hung and our santuary tuned up.
• I gained some weight.  Bummer.  Check out the video here to see how much.
  
• I got my free copy of Photoshop!  Was working on Life Group sign up stuff and thought I’d goof around real quick and send Ed and Julie to The Bahamas.  They deserve it!
  
• Lost another Softball game.  We could very well go winless this season.  ’68 Bucs!
• 
  Wrote a ten page paper on Baptism in the Holy Spirit, a book by Koo Dong Yun.
• Visited a local aquarium with Rachel and Caleb for this weeks Play Group.  My first time at play Group.  (Haven’t actually done that yet, but by the time you read this, I probably have!)

Numero diez-y-ocho.
Check it out!

Here’s the post where we got the idea for the rain.  Made for a really cool visual and audio effect in the service.  Next we should probably try the heater part.

How was your corporate worship experience?

As we journey through this life, we all pick up some bumps, bruises, and wounds along the way.  People that have hurt us.  Situations that have impacted us.  Words that forever rattle around in our heads.  I’ve had a few of my own.

I’ve discovered that many times, just when I think a wound is really on it’s way to healing, along comes something small, or big, that rips the scab off and I recognize that the pain is still there.  Part of me feels like it’s a cruel joke from God sometimes.  Part of me wonders if God doesn’t allow it just to remind me that it’s still there and I still have work to do.  But most of me thinks that God want to remind me that healing is a process.  A long process.  He needs to be the healer.  And that even once a wound is healed, the scars don’t ever go away.  I guess that’s kinda where I’m at today.

A while back I read this post at Ethos, and the following quote has really stuck with me ever since.

"We must take our pain and burn it as fuel for our journey."
-Japanese poem

Right now I need to be reminded, by God, who I really am. 
I need to be reminded who He’s created me to be.
I need to look to him for my worth, rather than seek it from men.
Today I need to be complete in Christ.
Last night I came to the harsh realization that it’s been a long time since I have really felt complete in Christ…ALONE.
I need to just "be."

So I’m gonna start working on that more for now.  I don’t know exactly what that looks like.  But I know it’s necessary.  It’s crazy to think about what the title of this blog has come to mean for me.  God truly is revolutionizing – completely reorienting – what my understanding is of worship to Him.  Everyday.  Don’t ever be confused by the title and my job.  It’s really not about the music.  It’s about my life.

And it’s a long journey.
It’s tough.
It hurts.
But it’s also great.
Thanks for caring.
Thanks for walking…with.
Thanks for praying.
Thanks for being a part of the journey.
I need to find myself fully complete in Christ once again.

How about you?

Wow…11 weeks already.

current pledges = $25.01 per pound

weigh in:      173.2 lbs
week1:        168.2 lbs    total loss:  5lbs         =    $125.05
week2:        166.6 lbs    total loss:  6.6 lbs     =    $165.07
week3:        163.6 lbs    total loss:  9.6 lbs     =    $240.10
week4:        165.8 lbs    total loss:  7.4 lbs     =    $185.07
week5:        164.4 lbs    total loss:  8.8 lbs     =    $220.09
week6:         ummm…
week7:        163.2 lbs    total loss:  10 lbs      =    $250.10
week8:        161.2 lbs.   total loss:  12 lbs      =    $300.12
week9:        161.2 lbs.   total loss:  12 lbs      =    $300.12
week10:      160 lbs.      total loss:  13.2 lbs   =    $330.13

And this week…Check it out below!!!

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Make a Pledge – Make a Difference

2 weeks to go!

And I’m slightly giddy about it.  (Is giddy an ok word to use?)

Here it is, closer to on time this week.  So you all got double the confessing this week.  So there ya go Julie.  Didn’t want to disappoint ya this week! 

It was an awesome week as we closed out our series.  Check out the vid below!