My Worship Revolution

A couple of mornings every week, I wake up early with Caleb to give my stay-at-home-mom wife a chance to sleep in.  In the last couple of week, I’ve noticed something kinda interesting.  Caleb now likes to go find a toy, or often times a book, and rather than play on his own, he brings it back to me and wants to just sit in my lap while he plays or reads (well, not really…looks and rips pages).  He does this once in a while at other times too, but in the morning I don’t mind it so much as I’m still waking up myself.

It got me thinking, though.  He could be off playing on his own, but as his day starts, he really wants to do what he’s doing while spending time in his daddy’s lap.  How often to I come to God with that same sort of attitude?  I have all sorts of stuff I like to do as I start out my day.  Making breakfast, reading blogs, reading a chapter of a book.  But how often do I insist upon doing none of it unless I’m sitting in my daddy’s lap?  How often do I settle for doing "stuff" all alone rather than starting my day aware of God’s presence?  Thanks for the reminder Caleb!

How about you?  What does the start of your day look like?

So I’ve mentioned in the past that I seldom put any political posts on this blog.  Not cause I’m not opinionated, just have to care a whole lot more than I do to give people another reason to dislike me.  But hey…it’s an election year!

And I’m kinda curious what the readers of this blog think. SO…in the left sidebar, I’ve added a little presidential polling box.  Go for it.  Let us know who you support.  I’m curious to see how diverse, or not, the views of this community are.

So everyone participate now.
RSS readers, make a rare stop over and make a quick pick.
The more participants, the more fun/interesting.
Why not?  It’s all anonymous. 
And if you wanna be less anonymous (I know plenty of you aren’t exactly shy)…make your click and then let us know why.

Oh, and as for me you ask…still undecided.  I admit it, I’m a Republican.  And yeah, that’s probably how I’ll vote.  But haven’t figured out who to pull for yet.  Just know I’m ANTI-Hillary.
Maybe I should start by registering to vote now that I’m in a new county.  So much for having my say in the primaries.  Oops.

A few months ago I was at a "First Impressions" workshop.  Just before that, I had a morning gathering with our CLC host teams.  At both of those gatherings, one of the questions we discussed was: When was a time that your expectations were exceeded?  You see, when our expectations are exceeded, whether it be at a restaurant, a customer service phone call, or a church, we tell our friends about it, and from that point on, all other experiences are measured by that one.

The one that came to mind immediately every time was this conference.  It put all other "conferences" to shame.  Especially the food, which I can’t stop talking about.  I attended last year for the first time one year ago, thanks to being informed by this blog.  (Read about it here.)  And ever since I left I couldn’t wait to go back this year.  I even asked about the possibility of me being able to attend when I was in the interview process at CLC.

3 more days.
Then I’ll be on a red eye to TN.
With my wife this time.
I can’t wait.
And either you will be there, or you’ll wish you were.
That’s all.

Okay…I’m back…sorta…

Life’s been crazy.  And to top it all off, I’ve had no cell phone and no internet at the house.  Here’s the quick recap w/a few pics thrown in:

Retreat:  Spent Wed. thru Sat. on a staff retreat in Tahoe.  Thanks to the Balch’s for a totally SIC cabin.  I should be back there in March with our young adults, so maybe you’ll get the video tour then.  Caleb’s first time in REAL snow.  Check it out:

Great time at the retreat bonding with a great staff and seeking God together.  Spent some time listening to some podcasts from Andy Stanley on the 7 Practices of Effective Ministries.  Check em out.  Well worth it.

Anniversary:  4 years.  The best 4 ever.  Celebrated that on Thursday at the retreat.  With all the chaos it didn’t get it’s own post, but I can’t believe it’s already been 4 years of being with the most incredible wife EVER.  I cant wait for at least 4 more decades…forget about years!  So where did we spend our anniversary exactly…

The Slopes:  As part of the "bonding" experience, our staff spent the day at Homewood together.  Hands down, the best day snowboarding ever.  (Those others lame-os were skiing).  The snow was incredible.  And it was actually kind of a special way to celebrate the anniversary.  The last time we were on those exact slopes, or in Tahoe period, was four years ago on our honeymoon.  Going home after skiing wasn’t nearly as exciting as last time. 

My Phone:  Oh yeah…I hate my phone.  Pulled it out of my pocket on the way up to Tahoe.  It read "JVM error 545."  Happened last week too.  That time it reset the whole phone.  This time it wouldn’t do jack.  T-mobile said they couldn’t do anything till I tried reloading new software.  Couldn’t do that till getting home and now that I’m home I still can’t get it with no internet.  Blackberry Pearl sucks.  T-mobile sucks.  That’s all.  Using my old RAZR for now til I get it fixed.  (Which doesn’t have MyFaves ability.)

Worship:  Great Sunday experience.  Talked about our roles as the "royal priesthood."  Confessional coming soon.

Moving:  After getting all moved and unpacked only 10 months ago, we moved again on Sunday.  In the rain.  Moved from Soquel to Santa Cruz, to the parsonage across the parking lot from the church.  Good amount cheaper.  Made it well worth it.  With the retreat and all, weren’t as packed as we would have liked.  But we managed.  Thanks to all who helped with the move.

Settling:  The old house is all cleaned up.  Built the shed in the new backyard, as well as a platform for it to sit on.  House is full of boxes, and we leave town in 4 days.

So that’s a quick glimpse of the past week.  And there’s still more coming.  More about that to come.  Here’s some hints:

Leaders Huddle
San Diego
Tennessee
Oregon

Catch y’all later.  In the meantime, a few pics to send you out:

Will I ever grow up beyond Jr. High?  (I hope not!)

There’s two main reasons I’ll be rooting for the Patriots in a few week.  And here they are:

AND…

Enough said.
19-0.  Let’s go Pats!

Twitter.
A.K.A. "blogging on crack."
I’m in.
You’re turn.
Especially my Santa Cruz friends.
I need to know what you’re up to.
Come find me.
That’s all.

Read these over at Two Blonde Boys’ blog today.  Thought they were definitely worth sharing.  Originally from this blog. 

Check em out:

You know you are not leading when . . .

• You wait for someone to tell you what to do rather than taking the initiative yourself
• You spend too much time talking about how things should be different
• You blame the context, surroundings, or other people for your current situation
• You choose not to speak the truth in love
• You are more concerned about being cool or accepted than doing the right thing
• You seek consensus, rather than casting vision for a preferable future
• You aren’t taking any significant risks
• You accept status quo as the way it’s always been and always will be
• You start protecting your reputation instead of opening yourself up to opposition
• You sleep a little too sound
• You procrastinate to avoid making a tough call
• You talk to others about the problem rather than taking it to the person responsible
• You don’t feel like your butt is on the line for anything significant
• You think what you say doesn’t matter
• You ask for way too many opinions before taking action

A few head nods.
A few punches to the gut.
Bullet points 2, 3, 6, and the last one hit me.  Good reminders.
How about you?
How well are you leading?

(Or I guess if you’re not a leader, how well are you following?  Wow.  I think that might need to be a whole different post all of it’s own.  Stay tuned.)

Going without so we can give within our community.

I’ve always said I want our Life Group to take church way beyond Sunday.  I’ve wanted to see a group of Christ followers who take what we’re learning from God and see it really make a difference in our everyday lives.  Now that it’s happening more and more, I think it kinda scares me sometimes.  I think I’m being challenged more than I expected.  I love it.  The story:

Last night we talked about our second week in Revolution: Dare To Change The World, our current series.  After brainstorming some ideas of places we could volunteer as a Life Group, Elias spoke up with an idea that had been rattling around in his dome.  He realized that most of his budget went to eating out.  What would happen, he wondered, if we all committed to fasting once a week, praying for those in need in our community, and then doing something with the money we all saved from those meals.  With potentially hundreds of dollars at the end of the month we could give it to a shelter, stock the food pantry for homeless at the church, or just fill up a grocery cart and hand it out to those in need.

After staring blankly for a few moments, Shawna spoke up.  "Wow, that’s kinda…radical.  Kinda revolutionary, I guess.  I think that’s a good thing."  Thus we’re giving it a try.

For the next three months we are going to fast every Thursday.  We’ll focus on and pray for the needy in our local community, then pool that money to make a difference somehow each month.  We’re excited to see what could result.  Both from fasting together as a group, and from giving.  Check out the "Cause" we created on Facebook…and feel free to join us.

Do you go to CLC?  join us.  Invite your Life Group to join us.
Live in Santa Cruz?  Join us.  (There should be a way to donate at Facebook within the week or so.)
Don’t live near Santa Cruz, or Cali for that matter, jump in and grab some peeps from your area to bless your local community.

Here we go!  Let’s change our proclamation into demonstration!

That’s right, the first one of 2008!
I know I been slackin, but it’s a New Year suckas!
Probably won’t be a whole lot better, actually.  But here we go.
This is the low down on 01.13.08.
Enjoy.

That’s right.  Today is my wife’s birthday.  The big 26.
She’s the raddest wife, mother, ministry partner, and friend in the universe.
I’ll just leave it at that.  I already shared how amazing she is a few months ago.  Even though that’s barely the tip of the iceberg, I won’t exhaust you with repeats and extras right now.
Instead, just cruise over to her blog and give her some birthday love!

Happy Birthday Babe!!