Filed under: Ordinary Life | Tags: bands, concerts, entertainment, Leslie
This weekend was supposed to be amazing. It was going to be epic. I had been looking forward to it for months, ever since my beautiful wife splurged on an anniversary present by getting a VIP package to see U2 at the Rose Bowl.
The weekend began when I woke up this past Saturday with a bit of an upset stomach, but thought it was just something I ate. Didn’t feel well enough to go to a friend’s housewarming party that afternoon, so sent my wife without me. I then spent the next few hours in unexpected agony and threw up about 6 times on Saturday. No bueno. I could barely stand and laying down hurt too much, so I spent most of the day and night trying to find a comfortable sitting position.
Sunday was better, but not great. Decided to pull it together and go to the concert since my wife had saved up a lot of money towards this and there was no way we were going to miss the experience. I was managing the discomfort okay, thankful we had easy VIP parking right next to the gate and a short walk to our seats in the 5th row. Spent about half the show sitting down as the Black Eyed Peas opened the night and I thought the intense amount of low end would be the end of me, but I did okay. Glad I did, because we got to see Slash come out and join the Peas doing Sweet Child of Mine. It was an awesome moment.
When u2 came on, it was surreal. The stage was so amazing and the crowd was electric. I was starting to feel pretty good. Unfortunately, I think Leslie caught something similar to me. She wasn’t feeling great during the VIP party, but she decided to ignore it and enjoy the show. About 10:30, 90 minutes into U2’s set, I looked over and she had tears welling up from her stomach pain. I think her tears were also partly because she didn’t want to be the reason we missed out on anything that night. However, I love my wife… way more than I love U2, so we left and missed the last hour of their set. I’ll see the end of the show someday on DVD. I’ll be with my wife for the rest of my life. It was an easy decision. I guess in some ways, it was still an amazing weekend afterall.
Went yesterday to “A Night of Film” at Coast Hills Church in Aliso Viejo. I was impressed and inspired by each of the films, which were collected from some cool endeavors like 168 Hour Film Project, The Doorpost Film Project and Grove Films.
I think the highlight was definitely the short documentary below about Scott Rigsby’s story called “Unthinkable.”
Throughout the evening, each film was followed by a brief interview with the film’s creator. What was so great was after this documentary, they actually had Scott there. He shared a little more of his own testimony and a couple stories of people who had been really effected by his journey. God so often uses what we see as our biggest weakness for His greatest glory. You can read more about Scott’s ongoing story at his blog
Filed under: Ordinary Life | Tags: blog, entertainment, Football, travel
Finally found a few moments to catch up after a very busy week. The trip to Vegas was interesting. The GodBlogCon conference was underwhelming in terms of production, creativity, content and insight. Ironically, the overall geekiness and self-absorbed tendencies along with the ever present delusions of grandeur of personal blogging that were on display almost made me want to quit blogging forever. A couple real standouts that were really good were the sessions with Andrew Jones of Tall Skinny Kiwi and John Mark Reynolds at The Scriptorium Daily. Mark Joseph was interesting as well. You can listen to their podcasts here.
Of course, the best part of the whole weekend was hanging out with old friends and meeting some new people. I really liked Tim’s advice, “What’s really important about each session isn’t so much what’s being said up front – it’s who I sit down next to and meet.” While that’s great advice, it’s also one of the harder things for me to do. I’m a total closet introvert. I often try and pretend like I’m friendly and sociable and even gregarious. Really, I’d just assume stick to the familiarity and comfortableness and safety of people I already know and trust. I’m glad though that I met some truly engaging and even fascinating people like Dave Bruno at guynameddave.com and Brett McCracken at stillsearching.wordpress.com just to point out a couple.
Some highlights of things outside of the conference included Football Central at the Hilton with eight games at once on a GIANT screen, the $5 pizza deal at the Silverton, the fountains and garden at the Bellagio and best of all – Red Rocks. On the way out on Monday, got to drive out with Michael to Red Rocks National Conservation Area and also got to walk through the Red Rocks Resort. If you’re ever out in Vegas, take the time to get away from the glitz and trash of the strip and visit an area like this that is truly extraordinary. I’m always looking for cool things to do in Vegas that won’t get me into trouble and won’t make me spend a lot of money. Let me know if you have anything that fits that bill…
Filed under: Finding God in the Ordinary | Tags: church, entertainment, sports
Nothing beats a free night out. Leslie and I got to go to the Angel game tonight for free (they won!), where we parked for free (it was a nice night for a walk) and saw a really cool firework show for free (better than Disneyland).
When things are free, they always seem just a little better. I think all the expectations get lowered and you’re just able to enjoy yourself a little more. In fact, I’ve been to three Angel games this year. All of them free. I’m not sure I would even go to an Angel game if I had to pay for it. It makes me wonder if we should find a way to make as many events as possible that we do as a church – free.
Filed under: Ordinary Life | Tags: Calvary, church, concerts, entertainment, ministry, music
We are going to have an amazing concert at Calvary this Sunday night. Tyrone Wells, Trevor Davis and Erika Soto will be performing. And it’s only $10. It’s called Concert for a Cause – in support of Project Hangout, a local outreach organization. It’s on the patio, so if you can make it plan on bringing a beach chair and a picnic dinner. You can find out more at www.calvarylife.org/concert
Filed under: Extraordinary Life | Tags: entertainment, Family, food, Football, fun, life, travel, vacation
After wrapping up VBS last week at Calvary, I got to follow it up with a great weekend away. Leslie and I headed out first thing Saturday morning for San Diego.
We met up in Old Town with my brother Ty and his wife Shelley and our favorite nephew Connor, who had already been down in SD for a few days on vacation. From there we headed over to the harbor to go on a SEAL Tour. It’s one of these huge open-air bus/trucks that drive you through the city and then drives right into the water and becomes a boat to take you around the harbor. Our tour guide was really funny. The whole experience was like one big smile. (even though in the photo below, they’re both too busy looking cool bother with smiling)
After that we grabbed some good grub at Buster’s Beach House and Long Board Bar. The rest of the fam headed back to the OC and we spent the afternoon shopping and chillaxing (that’s a word our tour guide used, and Leslie immediately knew I wouldn’t forget it.)
At about 5 pm we got on the Green Line train from Old Town to …. Qualcomm Stadium! It was the very first game of the preseason with the Chargers playing the Cowboys. It was my first time going to an NFL game. We got there almost 2 hours before game time to take in all the pregame warm ups and see all the sites we could. Leslie had gotten us tickets as a gift for our anniversary back in July.
Sunday was perhaps the most relaxing day I’ve had all year. I felt a little twinge of loss for missing out on the big One Service we had at Calvary on Sunday to close out VBS. But, that feeling drifted away as I listened to the breeze blowing through the giant pine trees around the pool I was floating in.
We were able to extend the weekend into Monday as we celebrated Leslie’s grandma TooToo’s 90th birthday. Her family all got together in Laguna at Las Brisas for brunch. We just hung out all day with her and wrapped it up with dinner at Mike’s in Whittier. It was like a perfect Toot day and great way to end the weekend.
Saturday, Leslie and I went to an LA Derby Dolls bout. It was the Fight Crew vs. the Sirens in old-school roller derby action. I know what most of you are thinking…. they still do roller derby?…. and you went? I’ve got to say, the scene was expectedly unordinary and also surprisingly cool. It was in a bare-bones, converted warehouse now called The Doll Factory in Historic Filipinotown. It was a sell-out crowd. We went because Leslie’s sister Lisa is involved. She mostly helps out behind the scenes. It was cool to check out something that Lisa is really in to. I’m glad we went and got to experience this mixture of sports and entertainment first hand.
We also went briefly a few weeks ago to a fairly lame version of it at Holiday Skate in Orange. Having a huge crowd, bleachers and grandstands, along with an awesome banked track made it all so much cooler than the same thing at a normal roller rink. Even little things like the quality of the venue’s tech, live music, food and security were so much better in LA.
The environment and ambiance of an event are such critical factors in relation to how effective something is. While this was obviously true of roller derby, I think it’s even more true for the Church. How we package worship services is essential to how people perceive the validity of what we’re doing, how they relate to what’s being presented and to each other in that space, and how the elusive “buzz factor” is created. Yes, even the LA Derby Dolls can teach us something about how to do church better as we strive to be relevant and engaging without compromising our core message.
I got into watching the Next Great American Band. We even went to a taping of it earlier in the season. It was cool to see real bands with real musical talent rise from various levels of anonymity through the show. It was also great to see such diverse groups make it deep into the finals. Their was bluegrass, gospel, big band, country, rock, emo, pop, funk and more. Some of the bands had struggled for years to make it in the music business, while others had literally just begun with very little experience. My favorites throughout were Denver and the Mile High Orchestra and the Clark Brothers. Both bands were full of believers and used the show as an opportunity to shine some light into the darkness in subtle but meaningful ways.
Last night was the finale and I was so thrilled to see The Clark Brothers win it all. They have a vulnerable authenticity combined with an unflinching passion. Their background as a traveling family doing music for big tent revivals in the South is like a storybook. But, their love for the Lord and their commitment to their faith was evident throughout the show without being preachy or phony or annoying. One of the best moments was captured in the photo below. It was taken just seconds after they were announced as the winners. They didn’t jump up or thump their chests or scream – they spontaneously and in unison fell prostrate. It was their natural reaction to being overwhelmed and it just seemed to fit the moment so well.
To top it off, the Christmas “medley” (I hate that word, so I felt urged to put it in quotes) was actually really good. Ricky Minor put it together and it featured all the different bands mashed up and combined into a bunch of little super groups doing Christmas songs. Each song fit so well and featured each performer perfectly. It managed to not feel overproduced or cheesy somehow – it just felt joyous. And now for the obligatory please comment on my blog questions… Did you manage to catch the show? What did you think of it? Who was your favorite band?
