Filed under: Extraordinary Life
The AP photo above by Damian Dovarganes is of a home in Modjeska Canyon, only about 10 miles from where we live. We could see the flames on top of one of the nearby hills the other night and it seemed so incredibly close.
As the fires continue to burn throughout Southern California, the question that many are asking and I’ve often found running through my mind is “What would you save from the fire?” If you only had a few minutes to rescue what was most precious or irreplaceable, what would you load into your car? Let me know – what would you save?
Filed under: Ordinary Life
I’m sitting in the tech booth surrounded by 700 women. It’s strange to be such a minority. They’ve even converted the men’s room here in the worship center at Calvary into a women’s room for the day. The entire worship band is all women. The entire audience is all women. There are a total of 4 men here: myself and Ryan running tech, Randy in the bookstore and Elizabeth George’s husband. We’re greatly outnumbered. The key is to keep a low profile and try not to be noticed. You never know if the crowd will turn… But hey, at least it smells good.
Filed under: Ordinary Life
Found this article today. It’s amazing how rumors can run rampant with no real merit to them.
___________________
U2 have moved to deny claims that Bono has written a song with the Spice Girls. It was recently claimed the singer in the Irish rock legends will contribute to the new album from the returning pop icons. However, the band’s manager Paul McGuinness insisted there was absolutely no truth in the reports, speaking to a UK tabloid at the Q Awards. “We’re great fans of the Spice Girls. But rumours that Bono is to join them as a sixth member are sadly not true”, commented McGuinness…
___________________
I think this rumor spread so quickly because U2 has been so quiet. They’re overdue for something new. There is a u2 shaped hole in the world that only Bono can fill. Come quickly, Bono…. come quickly.
Filed under: Finding God in the Ordinary
Stumbled across this video today. Hilarious stuff. Also really thought provoking and a little too true.
Check out www.thechurchyouknow.com and watch all the videos. What do you think?
Filed under: Ordinary Life
I finally took a day off today. I often get part of a day to not work. It’s much more rare to get an entire day with nothing on my plate. I did spend a little bit of time keeping caught up on some important emails. I finally took a load of stuff to Goodwill that had been piled up next to the kitchen door. I did the dishes and some laundry. I took a nap. Watched a special about comic books on the history channel. I made dinner for Leslie and I – some pollo asada with spanish rice, wheat tortillas, pineapple salsa and a delicious mexian cheese blend. So, it wasn’t a complete waste of a day. But, it was definitely relaxing.
Yet, in taking today off there are all sorts of things I had to put off. There are several people at Calvary who are waiting on things from me. I didn’t get anything updated on Calvary’s website, which needs about an hour of work to get back to current again. There are also several tech related projects that have been lingering for months and are a constant nag because they’re still not done. All of these things and so many more are always looming around the corner and I have to resist the urge to feel a sense of guilt. Then again, I also have to fight really hard to not burn out. Almost everything I do involves creativity. You can’t be really creative when you’re constantly grinding away at the overwhelming pile in front of you.
I also didn’t manage to get any real exercise in my ongoing battle to get in shape. I’m also really interested in learning how to play the guitar and didn’t even manage to get it out of the case. So, I guess it’s not just work I avoided today either.
So anyway, I feel like I took a real day off. Now, I have to face the mountain afresh tomorrow morning. Do you ever feel like you need a whole day to really just do nothing productive or at all work related? If you do, what do you normally wind up doing?
Filed under: Ordinary Life
Below are some of Victor’s comments about what’s going on this weekend at Calvary. I’ll be helping out behind the scenes. There has been a lot of planning and work to make it happen. It’s part of our Global Missions Weekend. Hopefully it all comes together and a bunch of people come out to support some great causes.
____________________________________
“Hey everyone, If anyone out there is free this Saturday or Sunday come over to our church for two awesome nights of live acoustic music and artwork. I’m pretty excited and overwhelmed with this whole thing right now but I wanted to give you all the heads up on this cause I want as many people to come out as possible. Basically what we’re doing putting on these nights to raise money for two organizations called KidWorks and Kids Around the World. We’ve gotten some awesome people who are volunteering their time for this cause and it’s turning out to be completely amazing. So far we have AJ and CPO, Mike Barnet, Molly Jenson, Ian Gallagher, Marnie and Paul, Harrow, the AltarBillies, and the Brian Geis band. Like I said, it’s gonna ROCK!!! So be there and come say hi to me and my awesome staff and support some awesome causes. Go check out this site for more details…. www.CalvaryLife.org/Concert.”
Filed under: Ordinary Life
Wednesday night got to see Jars of Clay at the House of Blues at Downtown Disney. Interesting show. The opening act was Needtobreathe. I had never heard of them before this show, but they’re rapidly becoming one of my favorite bands. Very cool, down to earth, powerful, talented, with a great sound.
Of course, the main reason we went was to check out Jars. They did a ton of songs. There was a great mixture of old and new stuff. In fact, they played two or three songs from their new Christmas Songs album, which we got to pick up a copy of for only $10 before it has even been released to the public. It was weird listening to “Christmas” music in October, but it wasn’t like they were singing carols. They were just songs with a clear theme of what Christmas is truly about.
Overall, a really good concert. I’m glad we made the time to go.
Filed under: Finding God in the Ordinary
Yesterday a bunch of the staff here at Calvary went for a little retreat to nearby Irvine Park. We spent some time in the Word and prayer. Had some pretty good food and then had about an hour of bonding while playing games. It was amazing what 3 hours away did to rejuvenate and refocus the staff. I especially appreciated the time we spent meditating on Psalm 34. I read the passage after hiking to the the top of a nearby hill that looked a lot like where David would have been writing from in Israel. I wish I could find moments of calm and reflection like that in my life more often.
Then in stark contrast… Last night I did sound for Matt Davis as he led worship for a room full of parents and their preschoolers. It was mostly chaos. I don’t know how Matt held it together. Kids randomly screaming and running around while Matt was trying to create an intimate moment of worship looked about as easy as herding cats. Is it even possible for preschoolers to really connect in a moment like that or maybe it was more just for the parents. Anyway, it definitely made for an interesting evening.
Filed under: Finding God in the Ordinary
This past weekend was full. Friday night we went to Disneyland with my brother’s family and Leslie and I renewed our annual passes, which had expired back in June. The park is cool enough and it’s a great excuse to do a lot of walking if you can get past the overwhelming sea of people. Plus, it was really fun hanging out with our nephew for a few hours. On Saturday, I worked tech for a concert at Calvary. It was an outside event, so we were just the venue. Spanish rap. About 7 hours of thumping, loud, flashy, Spanish rap. After a few hours of sleep, it was back to church on Sunday. Really great services. Finally, went to the OC Auto Show on Sunday afternoon. Always a highlight of the year for me. The common theme throughout the weekend seemed to be bling. All expressed in different ways, but always blingin’.
I thought this was really interesting in the context of a post I was reading by Kim this morning at the Tostada Times about the balance of cultural relevance vs. biblical faithfulness. Thinking back now on the Christian, latino rappers on Saturday or the worship on Sunday morning – that balance is tricky. As we incorporate the latest lighting and cool sounds and even fashion, are we doing so to be relevant or just flashy? When compared to the Magic Kingdom and the latest offerings from Detroit – are we even in the same league? I feel like it’s a battle sometimes to keep the message of Christ clear enough, in spite of the bling. May we as Christ followers be wise enough and creative enough to keep His transformational message elevated above the hype, but not be so lofty that we become irrelevant to the culture of our surrounding communities.
Filed under: Ordinary Life
I ran in to Matt Doan Friday night and told him I would blog about my random encounter with him and how much we enjoy reading each other’s blogs. There was someone else there, too – but he doesn’t have a blog so he doesn’t get to have his name mentioned.
Later that night Leslie and I were at the Brea Jazz Festival when some random, nameless guy asked my wife if her name was Wendy. Turns out she looks like some girl he used to know from church. Then, on Saturday we were at “A Night of Film” at Coast Hills where Leslie thought she saw an old, college English teacher of hers that she really liked. But, she never went and talked to her.
It reminds me of how just last week I reconnected with an old friend from high school who is now an airline pilot living in Japan. He found me through Facebook and it was cool to catch up with him and see what he’s up to. Meanwhile, I have friends right here in Orange County that I have completely neglected because of busyness, or apathy, or I don’t know what.
Finally, on Sunday Brent taught on the importance of friendships in our series on The Pursuit. It’s amazing how we ignore some people for silly reasons, or how others are constantly looking to reach out and reconnect with old acquaintances, or we completely neglect good friends for all the wrong reasons. I hope I can be brave enough, vulnerable enough, and good enough to be a better friend to the people in my life.
