My Worship Revolution

I wanna encourage you to take a few minutes to pray for and be challenged by Melissa and Dan.

Meet Melissa.
Melissa lives in Santa Cruz and works part-time at Elevation Church.
Melissa has lupus and a failing kidney.

Meet Dan.
Dan also lives in Santa Cruz.
Dan is a music teacher and plays drums for The Wild Rovers.
Dan has an extra kidney he doesn’t need.

As I type this Dan is in the O.R. beginning the procedure to give his kidney to Melissa today.
At 8am, Melissa goes in to get it.  And it will radically change her life forever.
Possibly even save it.
You can find out what’s going on at her husbands Twitter feed, @randyboose.

I’ve never had surgery.
The idea of voluntarily giving up an organ honestly scares the crap out of me.
I wish it weren’t the case, but I’m challenged when I ask myself if I would take that step for a friend.
Thanks for an amazing example of what it means to live sacrificially, Dan.

First, please say a prayer for the two of them.
And then, ask yourself what you can do to give yourself away in some small way to someone else today.

Oh…and check out this blog post about it from their pastor, Chuckk.

This past Sunday, and at Life Group last night, we talked about the environment.  We talked about taking care of the planet and resources that belong to God.  It’s not a political issue.  It’s something God honestly does care about.

Then, last night, while in line for Harry Potter, my wife and Christal were handed this pamphlet.

Anyone else kinda wanna see that lion go for that doll looking girl’ss head?
Sorry.  moving on…

From the front cover –

They have a website too.  ChristianVeg.org.

Umm, sorry, but when I consider ‘going green’, a “planet based diet” isn’t quite what I had in mind.
Anyone wanna join me at Betty’s Burger?

Hanging out with the boys this morning I took some video.
Caleb loves to tickle Micah.
Micah has a great little laugh going on.
Caleb just needs to work on not tagging Mich in the face.
Check out the video.

Now find a reason to go laugh a little today, too.
Have a fun one!

Some top stories this evening…

• Lots of people sitting at Neverland hoping to get a glimpse of Michael Jackson's body.  Not gonna get that.  No public viewing will take place.
• The state of CA is now issuing I.O.U.s in lieu of actual money cause they can't balance a budget.  Enough said.
• Lady was complaining about the drought plan in place that only allows watering lawns on certain days only.  She's concerned about all the brown lawns that will pop up and the kids wanting to play in the sprinklers in the summer.  Sorry, we have no more drinking water, but at least the lawns are green!

Really though?
This is the state I live in.
But I love it anyway!

I love getting to see my wife excited and passionate about something God is putting on her heart.
Actually, it’s quite a turn on.  But I digress.

Due to budget cuts, lots of the libraries in our area are closing down their story times.  Rachel and several other moms have loved going to these and connecting with other moms.
So Kendra and Rachel saw an opportunity to create community around a need in Santa Cruz.
They both have a heart for kids and have worked with kids for years.

So this week they are passing out flyers at library story times as they are ending and turning their current Friday morning play group into a more structured, creative story time for kids and families.
Check out the website that Rachel put up at santacruzcreativeplay.org.

It starts July 17th.
I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes.
And I just had to brag on my amazing wife a little bit.

What opportunities are there to meet a need and bless people in your community?
What opportunity are you uniquely created to meet?
Something to think about today.

When I was in high school, I had a curfew and I got seriously busted if I wasn’t home by then AND hadn’t bothered to call.
Now, my mom, and the rest of family for that matter, keep tabs on each other via Twitter, blog, and Facebook.  When I don’t call for a while now, my mom usually comments that she’s glad she knows I’m alive cause I’ve Twittered.

I kinda had to laugh when I saw this cartoon and think about how nice it could have been to have Twitter in my teenage years:

Maybe Twitter can help us be better parents, too!
I knew there were more justifications out there for my addictions.

One of my new favorite worship songs over the past 7 months or so has been "How He Loves Us."
The second verse of the song contains these lyrics:

The first time I heard the song, I must admit, the sloppy wet kiss line kinda caught me off guard.
Then I thought about singing those words from the stage at church and I was sold.

I kinda joke, but I really have come to love that line.  So many worship songs are so cliche.  The thing I've loved about that song from day one was the depth and poetic nature of the verses.  A good balance for the rest of the song which consists of, "He loves us, how He loves us so" many times.
That lyric gives such a cool word picture of God's unabandoned, not "safe," passionate love for us.

Well, if you haven't heard yet, David Crowder's version of the that song came out on iTunes yesterday.
I've only heard a little bit of the version.  But yesterday, thanks to @loswhit, the Twitterverse was all abuzz about the song.  Why?
The lyric change:

I must say, I was quite disappointed.  But that actually isn't my point.
As I read people's comments and Twitters, 95% of people had a strong opinion about it.
Apparently it's one of those lines that you either love or you hate.

And to me, that is one sign of great art.  Art that causes you to react.  That isn't like all the rest.
It reminded me of something Guy Kawasaki said about the art of innovation at Catalyst West Coast.

So, use your art and your life to polarize people.
I have to wonder, if the things you create don't bring about some reaction, are you really doing anything great?  Take a risk!
God didn't intend for us to live safely.

Now go create…and polarize.

Some of you may be familiar with Randy Elrod.
He is the creative genius behind Recreate and a bit of a social networking guru.
I wanna ask you to help him out.

You see Murphy-Goode, a winery in Sonoma, is offering a dream job opportunity.
6 months.  Home in Sonoma county provided.  A car, PDA, computer, and a great salary.
The job: to publicize their winery through social networking.

All of the applicants made a one minute video that is up at the website.
Now you can vote for the one you like best.  Currently, Randy in #4 out of 692:

Here’s how you can help him get to #1…

• Click here
• Put in your email address to vote for him
• Go to your inbox and look for an email with a link to confirm your choice
• Click on that link
• Repeat steps 1-4 with every email account you own
• Finally, ask all your friends, distant relatives, and neighbors to do the same

And to Randy…how about a drawing from people who blogged about it for a free bottle of wine if you get the job.  Just an idea.
And maybe a second free one for me since I came up with. 
It’s kinda like profit sharing.

OK, now go vote people!

Looking forward to a Father’s Day dinner at Dave & Busters with friends tonight.
Hope you’re having a great Father’s Day too.

As we all take today to celebrate dads and being dad, I thought I’d share some more video with you of Travis sharing what it’s like daily to be the father of a son with hemophiliac.
Check out this video and have a great Father’s Day!