Filed under: Finding God in the Ordinary
It’s amazing to watch God provide. I felt before that giving someone my two cents could wipe out my savings, but I don’t think I’ve ever really been in a place where issues like finances or basic needs have seemed hopeless. There is always enough. I’ve never been blessed with incredible riches, but usually seem to have enough for what’s actually needed. God has proven to be faithful time and time again.
Just thinking back over this past year, when my wife and I were wondering how we would keep our heads above the rising water of bills and debts and the pressures of ordinary life, we’ve somehow stayed afloat. It often gets a nod as a nice coincidence when an unexpected check comes in the mail or an opportunity to pick up some extra work comes from out of the blue. We experienced each of these things once again just this week.
I want to be better at recognizing God’s hand of providence in our lives more often. When He moves in subtle and unseen ways, I hope that I’ll see it for what it is – God’s hand at work. Then again, I would also be entirely open to Him working in extraordinary ways as well, right out in the open for everyone to see. I also hope that I never have to go through a time of great testing and trials in order to grow in this area.
Can you remember a time when God has clearly provided for you? Or, do you think it’s really all just about the luck of the draw and the coincidences of life?
Filed under: Finding God in the Ordinary
I’m up in the chapel at Calvary right now running tech for a memorial service. It’s a strange thing to be sitting only a hundred feet away, yet be so far removed from everyone in the room below as I sit up here in the balcony. The strangeness is not so much a matter of physical proximity, it’s really a feeling of an emotional distance.
I don’t know Eldreth, the woman whose life is being remembered and recounted from the pulpit right now. I don’t even really know her family. Yet, as I hear the sniffs and the singing and the laughter from below it’s amazing how I get drawn into the extraordinary life of this 90 year old saint who loved her family and her Lord so dearly. The joy, the faithfulness, and the hope found in her legacy is so evident even from way up here.
This is a part of my job that in many ways I cherish. These types of services always have a way of refocusing my mind and heart. It’s a great reminder to the brevity of this life. And, an even greater reminder to value every moment, every memory, and every friendship that we have. More than all of that, it’s an encouragement to know that for those of us who believe, it’s just a transition. We have real hope and the sorrow that’s felt is only for a moment in light of eternity.
Filed under: Finding God in the Ordinary
This afternoon I went with Tammy Harris and hung out in Huntington Beach at Walt Eby’s house. He’s a guy with a great servant’s heart who helps out with tech here at Calvary.
The Sunday before VBS, he felt an intense pain in his knee and had to go to the hospital to find out what was wrong. Turns out he had a staph infection in the knee which had been surgically repaired almost a year earlier. They put him up in a sweet room in Hoag overlooking Balboa Peninsula and then took out his fake knee, stitched him up, sent him home and have been pumping him with antibiotics ever since.
He doesn’t go back into to get another knee until mid October and then faces a month or two of rehab before he’s back to normal. Can you imagine being laid up without a knee for months? It makes me so thankful for simple things like joints that all work right. Walt is definitely handling the situation better than I could. After talking with him, I feel like he’s the Great Kneeless Eby – an inspiration of patience and trust, and a reminder of both God’s goodness and our utter frailness.
What really interested me the most is that he spends most of his time now watching old movies. At least it would be great for a while, I’m not sure about 3 months. What would you do if you were laid up and couldn’t go anywhere?
Filed under: Ordinary Life
I often feel like I’m juggling responsibilities. My position at Calvary plays out in so many different ways. I oversee all the live tech production for events including sound, lighting, and video. This also branches out into helping with service and event planning. I also have a small hand in staging, room ambience and visuals. Then there’s the whole side of design work for both print and web, along with bigger pieces like signage and banners. Plus, there’s audio and video production and post production with it’s associated duplication.
There are some fantastic people who do much more than I could ever do in each of these individual areas – but it sometimes feels like I’m in some way responsible for keeping the balls moving in most of them. With all that, what do you think my job title should be? Is there really one or two words that sums that up? It’s not like I care too deeply about what I’m called around here, but I want it to be helpful so people know what I do without telling them a paragraph. Maybe Communication/Event/Production/Planning/Tech/Media Guy?
Beyond the problem of clarity with a title is that sometimes I feel like I can’t possibly keep up and balls do get dropped. What do you do when you feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the pile in front of you? How do you manage to keep all of those extra things people expect from you at bay without everything crashing down? I yearn for simplicity. I long for it to be easier, clearer, more manageable, less consuming. I want to do fewer things, and do them much better. Is that just wishful dreaming, or is a better more balanced way attainable?
Filed under: Ordinary Life
I think a good car can dramatically increase the quality of your life. This week, I get to cruise around in my Dad’s Chrysler 300m. It’s a few years old, but it’s really fast with great big, black leather seats and all sorts of little extras. My dad actually offered to sell it to me a while back, but with no offense to him – it is a bit of an old man car. I think if I won the lottery, one of the first things I would do is get a great car. Or, maybe a couple of great cars.
I am such a car junkie even though all I own is an ‘01 Rodeo. I’m pretty sure they branded it “Rodeo” because it feels like you’re riding a wild horse sometimes. In case you were wondering, the photos on this page are the two cars I’m talking about. The 300m was shot on 17 Mile Drive up in Monterey – a highlight of our honeymoon. The Rodeo was taken last winter in Big Bear.
I even like just going to car shows to walk around and look at cool cars. What is the fascination with wheeled objects all about? Is it just because they’re cool? Is it an appreciation of an art form? Is it the status one receives from having them? It’s probably all of those things. Above all, a great car can take the ordinariness of life and give it that extra something. We all have to get from point A to point B each day. It’s how we get there that in some ways defines us as people. What do you think your car says about you? And, what would your dream car be?
Filed under: Finding God in the Ordinary
This last weekend was strangely eye opening for me. It was full of stark contrasts and mind-numbing, completely overwhelming moments.
It started with going to see 3:10 to Yuma on Friday night. The first theater we sat down in was annoying to the point of aggravation. My beautiful wife and I got up and left. We never do this. The crowd was just that bad. There was another showing in about 20 minutes, so we just switched theaters. Much better crowd.
The film’s overall theme seemed to be how do we define a successful life. I think the answer was mostly about a willingness to be heroic, to take risks, to gamble everything in order to do the right thing. Strewn throughout the film were references to scripture and it got me thinking at a deeper level. Is it possible to hear the whisper of God’s voice in the midst of the rowdy crowd, the violent movie, the rush of the OC lifestyle? Can the whisper really be found in the roar of the storm?
With that thought rattling around in my head, we went to KROQ’s La Invasion on Saturday. The amount of beer, pot, and foul language was almost unbearable. As I sat there listening to groups like Cypress Hill, Velvet Revolver and Kid rock and watching the spectacle unfold – I began to see the masses in a different light. What were they seeking? Were they pursuing a high, a buzz, or just an escape from the emptiness of this world?
Later in the night, the Foo Fighters took the stage. Their performance seemed to rise above everything that preceded. They managed to lift the crowd up and take a small moment and make it larger than life. Their music actually moved me.
The next morning, I managed to make it to church. As Eric talked about David vs. Goliath, it made me think about how the culture around us is like a giant and the church just has a few small stones. Are we as believers willing to take our shots when they come? Can we really stand up and match the volume and intensity and competition that the world presents?
Finally, the weekend ended with the Just Timberlake show at Staples center. Phenomenal. Talented. Entertaining. Epic.
With all that, the biggest thing that struck me is the contrast of the crowds. From the two theaters, to the Home Depot Center, to Calvary Church, to Staples – each crowd had a unique vibe. They all seemed to be searching for the same thing in very different ways. My prayer is that as the roar of the storm swirls around us, may we find moments where the whisper of God creeps into our hearts.
Filed under: Ordinary Life
I can’t believe I’m doing this. In my absolute ordinariness, I’m following the herd into the blogosphere. There must be something to it. Something that compels us to share our take on life. This is my attempt at relevance. We’ll see how it goes.
Mostly, I’ll be sharing my thoughts on those rare glimpses beyond the surface of the ordinary. There is always a deeper story, a truer true, or at least a different perspective on the obvious. I tend to gravitate towards those types of things and look for them around each corner. (Or, I may just wind up posting random bits of nonsense and web junk. Only time will tell.)
The search for the extra in the ordinary begins…
