Early on after having Caleb I remember thinking about what it would mean to really hold him and my family open handed.
I wanted to be able to trust God no matter what, but when I saw that kid and fell in love with him I knew how hard that would be.
I asked myself if I could fully surrender him to God.  Would I be OK if God took him from me.
Last weekend some friends of mine had to actually come face to face with that reality.

That’s Scott and Stephanie.
And their daughter Eisley.
Eisley turned 3 a couple weeks ago.
Then last sunday morning, she just didn’t wake up.
The memorial service is in Costa Mesa today and they have been on my mind all week.

It is a sobering reminder that NONE of us are promised tomorrow.
Several times this week I’ve hugged my kids a little tighter.
The other night I checked on them before going to bed, and took a moment to feel Caleb’s breath on my face and breathe in the smell.
I’ve taken a little extra cuddle time with Micah on the couch watching Umi Zumi, even though I knew I should get back to work.

It’s also been pretty awesome to see the outpouring of love for their family from their faith community.
There has already been over $25,000 collected to help them pay for all the expenses that are coming.
Click here to check it out, and consider helping them out too.
And if you’re the prayin type, please say a couple for them this week.

And go love harder, hug more, and appreciate the people around you.
They’re worth it.

Lots of churches take the opportunity of the cultural holiday to bless their communities and provide a safe environment for families to celebrate for Haloween…errrr…Harvest.  I get it, and for those doing it, that’s cool.  Go for it!
For me, several years ago my take on that approach started changing a bit, though.  I was always the, “let’s produce a big event” guy.
But something started getting to me about Halloween.
(And no, it’s not that I decided Halloween is evil and we shouldn’t participate.)

All year long, many of our churches encourage people to stop spending all their time at church and get to know their communities.
We encourage people to get to know the people that live around them and actually get involved in their lives.
Still I’ve had church people admit to me that they have no clue who their next-door neighbors are.  Like many in our culture, they go to work, come home, drive into their garage, close the garage and go inside til the next morning when they open the garage door long enough to drive out and go to work again.
Then, on the one day a year that most of our neighbors come knocking on our door, we ask people to leave their house and come to the church, which nowadays is often in a completely different community.

So the question is, if we are going to be at home, how can we be more intentional about being there.
Oh, and the answer ISN’T give each kid a piece of paper telling them what you believe and that they should believe it too.
Here’s a couple ideas:

• One friend told me about a neighbor who would make Root Beer Floats in the front yard and it always ended up with a bunch of families milling around having floats together.
• It’s a bit cold where we live for floats, so Rachel and I are hoping to have some hot cocoa and/or cider along with candy to warm people up and give em a chance to stop and drink for a few before moving on.
  Speaking of, anyone have a hot water heater with a spicket or a big thermos container I can borrow?
• Throw a Halloween party.  (Actually, can’t wait to go to our neighbors party earlier in the day. It helps having awesome neighbors and they know how to throw a party!)
• Simply ask if they’re from nearby and introduce yourself as you hand out candy.
• Just have a few friends from the area over to watch a festive movie with or have some drinks and play games with each other while you wait for trick-or-treaters to show up.
• You could make your house into a cool maze for people to go through.  I always loved those houses as a kid.
• Ante up and give out full size candy bars.  You’ll probably end up with all the neighborhood kids coming to your house before long.  That being said, we aren’t planning to do that one!
• What if churches split up the money they use for the big event and gave it to home groups to do something fun at a nearby park or a house in their community?  I’ve heard of a couple churches doing this and it sounded like a pretty good compromise between the two.

What can I say?  I’m an extrovert and love opportunities to get to know people and make a few more friends.
What other ideas can you add?
What are your plans this Halloween?

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.

Created for a Good Friday service in 2005, it's a great reminder what today is all about.
The suffering he endured so that I, so that we, wouldn't have to on this Good Friday.

In addition to that, as a little sidenote, this video kinda has a new sentimental meaning to me now.
As I watch, so many of these faces bring back so many great memories.  Some not so great memories at times too.
But many of the people I still know and love.  People I had very little history with when the video was made.  Now, each face has a story.  Has years of walking with God together behind it.

So tonight I'm thankful for two things.
The sacrifice He made so that He would be glorified.
And the relationships he's blessed me with to share the journey with.
Enjoy, and reflect.

I realized on the drive home (which left lots of time for thinking) that this is a microcosm of how I view and approach life.
1.  It's more about the journey than the destination.
2.  The journey is all about the relationships.

So my encouragement…slow down today.  Take a moment to stop sprinting to the finish line without much regard for the people or the process.
Don't get me wrong.  The finish line is important.  But the reality is, in real life, it is either moving or just leads to a new finish line.
You'll spend a lot more time on the journey.  So put a little extra investment in a relationship along the way today.  In the end, it will probably be worth the time.

Yup, a visit by the Coast Guard.
Unfortunately, they didn’t exactly have everything they needed.

So next, the Coast Guard came by our boat.  And boarded.
It started slightly tense.
It ended with them pretty much hangin and partyin with us, and making some nice inappropriate passes at eh ladies.
Made for a good story and some great times though!

Oh…and of course I got a bunch of it on video.
Glad I had the SD1000 handy.
Always gotta be ready for bloggable material!
Check it out:

A few thoughts and recap of the day for those interested:

Facebook Birthday:  Social networking can be great.  I had people posting Happy Birthdays all day long.  In reality, lots of them wouldn’t have without the ease of Facebook.  Some look at that and say it isn’t worth much then.  I, on the other hand, appreciate hearing from everyone and appreciate the ease it allows for in communicating.  So to all you who wished me a Happy Birthday on Facebook, thanks a ton!  I was surprised how much it actually brightened my day.  If you said it on MySpace, haven’t even checked it yet.  Didn’t occur to me til now.  You should be using Facebook instead anyway.

And that’s not to downplay those of you who called or sent snail mail.  Even cooler.  You get my point with the Facebook thing though.

Community Service:  Today instead of having our typical gathering, to end our Outflow series the church left the building to do service in our community.  So consider this my Worship Confessional as well.

We gathered and sang 2 songs.

• Stir In Me – an oldie for me, but only the second time we’ve sung it here.  It’s an all-time fave for me and I couldn’t resist eventually introducing it here.
• Be Glorified – A real oldie, but also one of my old faves and thought the words worked well for the morning.

From there we did a few announcements then organized to go.
I led a team doing yardwork and other maintenance for a couple neighbors right around the church.

Met 2 other neighbors while we were out.
One was very thankful for the work we were doing in his next door neighbors yard and said he was really glad we never moved as a church.  Glad to have us around.
Good to get to know neighbors and create a positive image!

Creative Planning:  I then spent from 1pm-4pm in a meeting planning creative elements for our next series, One Prayer.  If you haven’t heard about this series yet, check out the website!  over 1300 churches, over 787,000 people.  We’re starting a week late cause of our service weekend.  but hey, we’re Santa Cruz.  We show up late to everything and we like to be the rebels.

It’s been way too long since we’ve had one of these creative meetings for our services.  It makes a big difference and I am REALLY excited about plans for this next series.  The video teachings may be a stretch for our church, but if we can get past that, I think this series really has the potential to be the highlight of this year!

80’s Themed Surprise Party:  My wife told me we were going to Maggiano’s for dinner, then out to see Indiana Jones.  I was wiped and oddly looking forward to a low key evening.  I walked in the door and a bunch of people dressed funny yelled surprise and the party was on.  I’m a people person and an extrovert, so it didn’t take long to shift gears and have a great time.  A quick shower and a 5 minute 80’s outfit creation and I was ready to go!

Rachel, although apparently it way stressed her out all week, did a great job planning this without me finding out.  Unfortunately for her I do have “Spider Sense” and the thought breezed through my head for some reason as I was walking up the steps, but I still didn’t really expect it.

The house looked awesome.  As you walked in it said “Welcome Back To the 80’s” and had pictures of me as a kid in the 80’s.  None of our picture frames had our pictures in them.  They all had pictures like the Seaver’s, the Cosby’s, a 3 picture tribute for the King of Pop himself, Ronald Reagan, and Paula Abdul just to name a few.  Thanks to Shawna for helping her decorate all afternoon.

Our friends James and Jill hooked me up with a gift I’m totally stoked about.  My Nike +.  Really wanted this probably more than anything.  Will be great for my workouts.  Thanks guys!!

Another Friends Birthday:  And it just wouldn’t be right to finish this post without recognizing my good friend Jamie who shares the same day of birth and celebrated her __th with a different last name than last year.  Swing by her blog and wish her a Happy Belated Birthday.

Now, I’m really wiped!  And with that, friends, I’m hittin the sack!

Our church holds 3 core values.
Intimacy with God
Community with insiders.
Influence with outsiders.
It’s all a work in progress, but that is what we value and that is the CLC mark of a maturing disciple.

Life Groups are our number one priority in helping people to experience community.  It is the number one place we want people to move to from the Sunday Morning Gatherings.

Last month we started 5 Life Groups, 3 brand new and 2 that were formerly in existence.  This has taken us from 12-15 people in Life Groups to 52 people in Life Groups just a few weeks ago.  At the end of this month we start 3 more life groups.  Hopefully that will bump that number up to 80-100 people by the end of the year.  I guess I should celebrate that as success, and i do.  but at the same time, I want to see even more people having the opportunity to experience the relationships that come with a Life Group.

Rachel and I are stoked to be starting our own Life Group at the end of this month.  We’ve made some friends, but even as a pastor here we don’t feel super connected.  We long for those deep relationships that can only be developed through spending time together weekly.  If that’s how we feel as leadership involved in our community, it makes me wonder how much more that is felt by guests.

Are you in a Life Group?  If not, jump in!  I can’t wait to get goin again.

He knew I was a Padres fan.  And he let me come and root or my team.  It didn’t help.  They got whooped.  Too bad we didn’t go last night.  They won.  Still up in the Wild Card race.  let’s go Pads!!

Tom and Annette Balch also have tickets and brought along Ed and Julie Tyler.  So we left the comfort of our club level seats and civil fans to join them in the outfield benches for most of the game.  Tom didn’t like sitting next to me.  Was afraid he’d get hit by a beer.  I figured it was a good way to get free beer.

Steroid Cove                                        Willie Mays


From the outfield benches                    The crew



From Club seats                                   Just cause

And here’s the shot that really makes you wanna heave…

Thanks again for the invite Jono!
Wild Card…here we come!

In February of last year, we spent a weekend at a cabin in Big Bear with a group of friends from our Life Group.  Charlie and Bridget, Stephen and Stephanie, and Will.  They were the first group of people we told that Rachel was pregnant, even before our parents.  Needless to say, they have been significant people in our lives.

Since then, a lot has happened.  Two kids have been added to the mix.  I had the privilege of baptizing Charlie at Revolution.  I’ve seen Charlie and Bridget step it up as amazing Life Group leaders and seen them grow together in their relationship with Christ by leaps and bounds.  Rachel and I have very literally lived life with Stephen and Stephanie, living with another couple, a three year old, and a newborn in a four bedroom house in Cerritos.  I met weekly with Will along with a few other guys before work every Friday morning, sharing our lives, praying for each other, and growing deeper in our understanding of God together.

Now, a year and a half after that Big Bear trip, they all joined us in Santa Cruz for Labor Day weekend.  We had a blast together.  Visiting San Francisco.  Cruising around Pac Ave.  Watching the surfers at Steamer’s.  Playing games at Ed and Julie’s.  Grilling burgers at our pad. 

As I drove home from taking the last of them to the airport, I began to think of the significance of their visit for me and the lengths they went to to be here.

Charlie and Bridget.  Charlie owns his own business.  Things are getting better and better, but they definitely aren’t rolling in dough.  Yet they valued our friendship and time together enough to make the sacrifices to be here to see where we’re at and spend some time with us.
Stephen and Steph.  Woke up at like 5am on Sat (trust me, that alone is big! ;)).  Spent over 6 hours both directions in a car with a three year old and a three month old to be here.
Will.  Who likes to have everything planned and doesn’t like spontaneity.  After calling to tell him he should join us this weekend didn’t even think twice and bought his plane ticket before any of us could blink an eye.

We each have our own issues.  None of us are perfect.  When we get together, us guys tend to push the boundaries of appropriateness to where our wives think we’ve all reverted back to Junior High.  We laugh a lot.  We bicker a bit.  We pick on each other at times.  But I know that every single one of them would go to bat for me in a heartbeat.  I know some of them have already come to my defense in discussions behind my back.  And I would go the extra mile for them, too.

In our Life Group training at CLC, one of the primary purpose we’ve been discussing for our groups is to allow for spiritually significant relationships in peoples lives.  These friends are an example of that for me.  As I drove home last night, I realized how much I personally miss the times with them.  And it made me long again for those types of relationships here in Santa Cruz, which I know will eventually come.  They take time.  And it’s well worth the wait.

Thanks for a great weekend guys.  And thanks for being such great friends.  Rachel and I are blessed to have so many great people in our lives.  These are just a few of them.  And…oh yeah…as you can see below, we added another to the group while cruisin down Pac Ave!

2007 – Pier 39, San Francisco                 DT Santa Cruz…with Robert Pinky!