My Worship Revolution

Had a fun day with the fam yesterday at MY Museum and ice cream at Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey.
Here’s some pics, just for fun.

OK, so she didn't exactly swim, bike, or run.
But I think she sacrificed way more than I did in order for me to race Wildflower this past weekend.
For every Saturday that I was out for 4-6 hours riding and running, she was playing the single mom role at home.
Many of the Sundays that I went on long runs after working at church all morning, she was the one putting two kids to bed by herself.
For every stroke I took on Saturday, every mile I rode, and every step of the run, she had sacrificed time as a family, my help around the house, and me just being around.
All so I could accomplish that goal.
So the way I see it, she owns the accomplishment as much as I do, if not more.

So today is for her.
I am unplugging and disconnecting.
If you call, there's a good chance I won't answer.
I'm dead to the world…
So that I can give some much needed and much deserved time to my wife and kids.

I honestly couldn't do the things I do without her support.
And I wouldn't want to.
Yeah, I pretty much have the best wife ever.
Single dudes, there's hope.  I'm sure there's still a second best out there somewhere.
Thanks babe!

This was perhaps my favorite video from Tripp and Tyler at Catalyst West Coast.
Used to intro Craig Groeschel.
If you watch Craig Groeschel much, it's even funnier.
Enjoy:

I had a conversation earlier today with Ed and Brandon, as we were planning out our series for the year, about whether or not you can repeat a series, basically using the same points with a new spin.

To a certain degree, my take is that people aren't gonna remember it for he most part.  Repetition is often how we learn.  A mentor of mine said that's why he figures there are 3 synoptic gospels in the Bible.  God knew it would take us hearing it that many times to even begin to get it.

Anyway, I figure if one of the legends of animation can rehash the same clips over and over, why can't we do it to?  Check out this video that Rachel's friend sent her of Disney movie scenes that are virtually identical!  Hilarious!

As an added bonus, I'm just curious…
How many of you who go to CLC remember the 4 main points we focused on through Advent Conspiracy last year?  Without cheating!

So day one of Catalyst actually wasn’t Catalyst.  It was the pre-Catalyst labs put on by the beginnings of The Origins Network being developed by Erwin McManus, Dan Kimball, and Dave Gibbons.

It was a great day of teaching, art, and hanging.  Here’s some notes and quotes from some great sessions I attended.

Erwin McManus
Erwin, author and lead pastor at Mosaic Church in L.A. shared at the opening session and wrapped it up some in the closing session as well.  REALLY great stuff that I think will stay with me and even shape some of my language in the future.

Here’s the gist of his message:

He used Acts 17, Paul in Athens for his text.
Paul reasons in the synagogue first, then the marketplace, and then was invited into their space to share.
The point:
We tend to start in the first space where we feel most comfortable.  This is where people think and look like us.  For us, this is church.  No matter how well you do in the first space, it’s never going to dramatically effect other spaces.
The second space is the market place.  This is where we interact with people who don’t agree with us.
The third space, however, we must be invited into.  This is where others invite us into their first space.  This is where true change and influence happens.

Here are some quotes that were worth writing down as Erwin shared:

• We can feel the warmth of another persons skin and still be light years apart.
• What kind of first place are you creating?  Exclusive, or a space for humanity? Because everyone needs humanity.
• Is it possible for us to create a first space for the world, not just for Christians?
• When people ask me how to get their people to engage culture, I ask what they ever did to get them to disengage from culture.
• I’m a pastor. That’s like saying I’m a cannibal. Wanna have lunch?
• Marketplace people aren’t looking for information, they’re looking for presence.
• God sounds like you. Except when He’s mad and he sounds like your wife.
• In the second space you have to live a life that earns you the right to be heard.
• By the time you get to the 3rd space you will lose the confidence of those in the 1st space.  To reach the 3rd space, you need to be willing to lose your reward and respect in the 1st space.

Naeem Fazal – Essentials Of Transformational Growth
Naeem is the lead pastor at Mosaic Church in North Carolina.
First of all, I was way stoked to walk into this session and see a good friend of mine Nate who is the worship leader at the church.

Naeem shared a whole lot about his own story of moving to the U.S. from Pakistan and eventually being converted from the Muslim faith to faith in Jesus Christ.  Very good, very powerful story.  He went on to share a bit of the story of his church and talk about transformational growth.
Some quotes:

• I really loved progress and a packed house more than I loved following God.
• I was a leader that hoped more than he prayed.
• I tried to delay the inevitable.
• The reason our church is big right now is transfer growth, not transformation.  I wish I could say that wasn’t the case, but it is our current reality.
• I can’t keep talking to God and avoid the conversation about transformation.
• I don’t have all the answers, but I don’t think we are asking the right questions to begin with.
• I really don’t think we have the guts to look at ourselves as leaders and say, I suck.
• If we’re gonna see transformation take place in our churches, we need to discover our voice, and not be someone else’s echo.
• What is the 1 line message of your life?
  • What has God done in your life and why aren’t you talking about it more?
• We need to be led more than being driven.
• When is the last time you heard God say something to you personally?

The Origins Network

Like I said, Erwin, Dan, and Dave finished by sharing about the new Origins network that they are starting.  Feel free to check it out over here.

Heading down south to Catalyst West Coast in the CLC van with part of the Santa Cruz contingent.
Ed has a Verizon wireless card, so we’re workin the network in the van.
Lovin technology.

Should be a good week!
Who else is gonna be there?
Let’s hang.

And here we are in the van:

Julie’s in the drivers seat.
More to come as the week progresses.
Now back to the roadtrip!

I mentioned a big announcement I was gonna make on here.
Well, that's it.

That's what I will be doing from August 24th-29th this summer.
Sound crazy?
Yeah.  I think I'm actually a bit frightened too!
So why am I doing it?
Check out this video for starters:

Hemophilia is a cause that is close to my families heart cause of my cousin and his family.
In the past, we have used this blog to raise money for Invisible Children while I lost weight, or to encourage you to check out Compassion International.
Now I want to ask you to help me give towards my cousins blood disorder as a way to care for the people right here close to me.

The goal is to raise $3500 by August.
Remember those shots you heard about in the video?
Each one cost $4300.
That's $560,000 a year.
The money I'm trying to raise wouldn't even pay for one of those shots.

So, I'm asking you all to join me and help make a difference.
And over the next several months I'll be sharing pieces of my cousins story, info about hemophilia, and sharing my training to get ready with you.
There was so much great info I got video of while iChattin with my cuz.
And a pretty funny outtake too!
I'll share it with ya as we go.

So here's the deal,
For the homepage on this blog, click here.
For my fundraising page, click here.
To join the Facebook cause, click here.

Please consider partnering with me and giving.
And please help me to spread the word.

Thanks y'all.
And I can't wait to share the journey with you.
Here we go!

So I said this would be coming last week.  Then Easter hit, and Catalyst West Coast is next week, so it’s been hard to find time to hit the blog like I wanted to.  But as promised, here’s a quick rundown on my last race a few weeks ago.

If you wanna skip all the details, just jump down to the takeaway.  And make sure you don’t miss the bold paragraph at the bottom!

Pre-race
So my friend James is the one who talked me into this one.  Actually, he was kinda the reason I jumped into doing the triathlon thing, and we had yet to race together.  He raced the sprint while I raced the Olympic distance.

It fell exactly 4 weeks before my very first half-Ironman, the Avia Wildflower.  So I figured it fit well into the training schedule.  I was under strict orders from Dan the man to not think about the finish line at all.  This was just another training day and I needed to to be listening to my body and learning what I need to do for the next 30 days.  As you might see in the report, that was tough to do.  Kept going back and forth between thinking about it and not.

*As a sidenote, the biggest thing I came away thinking was, “What in the world was I thinking signing up for Wildflower?!”  Everything I read says Wildflower is an “iconic” race in the sport and one of the hardest long courses in the world.  Oh yeah, perfect race for my first.  Haha.  Needless to say, I was a bit discouraged, but now I’m back on track and fired up for Wildflower.  Now back to this race.

The last couple races I’ve liked to be in the transition area really early to be set up and feel like there’s plenty of time to be ready to go.  I was leaving at 8am, and James at 8:45, and we were staying about 15-20 minutes away.  We decided to compromise and leave around 6:20.  Transition area opened at 5:30am.  When we got there, transition was already PACKED.  I found a place to lean my bike against a fence in a corner.  That was a bit disappointing.  Transition area was way to small and kinda unorganized for the number of people in the event.  Granted this, was also quite a bit smaller of an even than the Tri-california race I did.  And this one is put on my the Tri team Cal State SLO.

Swim/T1 – 50:06.9
For some reason there was only a timing mat on the way out to bike and out to run, so no split on the transition times, so I’ll group em together.  There was actually some confusion on when I should leave.  Based on USAT rules, I should be in the 30 category because I turn 30 this year.  But they had me in the 29 age group.  It was hard to find that out.  Asked once and they said they didn’t have time to check, but I should go with 30.  Went back 10 minutes before start, and they checked the computer and it said 29, and that was my cap color as well.  So I went down to start at 8 instead of 8:05.  Then when the times came out, it had me in the 30-34 age group.  Since there was no mat at the start, that sadly could mean I took 5 min. longer than they think.  Not sure.  But I wasn’t there for time anyway, right? 

It was a deep water start so we all jumped in and warmed up for a bit.  After a while, the guy next to me and I were thinkin it had to be past 8 already.  When were we starting?  And they hadn’t told us where to start from.  Some guys were still out there a ways and we were discussing this when we here them shout out that we start in 45 seconds.  Guys were swimming in to get back in time to start with the rest of us.

Finally we were off.  First mistake, I just took off with way too much gusto right from the start.  A couple hundred yards in I realized it and already started to run out of steam.  A little too excited from the beginning instead ot remembering to just pace myself for a long swim.  Also, this time I was racing with my surf wetsuit on.  I wasn’t sure I really believed Dan and Patty that it was that big of a difference.  After those first couple hundred yards, I knew I was dead wrong.  My arms felt way heavy and I could just feel the weight and lack of mobility in my wetsuit.  I decided for the first time to start the race at the front in the middle of the pack to see what it was like.  Needless to say, it wasn’t long before I felt a wave of dudes swimming right over the top of me.  I knew with my wetsuit and quick start I was in for a long swim.  So I just buried my head and tried to enjoy it.

The other thing I noticed was I need to do a better job sighting for Wildflower.  I kept realizing that people were swimming way to the left of me in this counter-clockwise swim.  So I probably swam the extra .3 miles I’ll be doing in the long course.  That was the plan, of course.  All part of the training, eh? 

I finally finished the swim just as James’ wave went out, so it probably took just over 45 minutes.  As I was jogging to transition, I saw James dad, brother and brothers girlfriend, gove em a quick shout hello and continued on.  Transition took a lot longer than I expected getting into my shoes and all.  But I got everything covered, took some electrolytes, pounded a gel, and it was off to the bike.

Bike/T2 – 1:53:39.3

Bike was pretty normal and actually not too bad.  The 25 mile bike was basically just 2 loops of the sprint course.  There was a pretty steep hill heading out and then again coming back in, so we got to hit it twice.  Even though it was a short steep one, I was glad it was there cause I need some hills to help get ready for Wildflower and Nasty Grade.

Overall, I felt pretty good on the bike.  It was a beautiful ride out there.  There were a few decent hills out there, but nothing really major, mostly cruising alongside Lopez Lake.  One of the goals for this race was also to try out my nutrition stuff which I had just gotten a couple days before from Hammer.  It seemed to work out really well overall and I have since been training regularly with the gels and capsules to have my body ready for them in a few weeks here.

Toward the end on the way in, I kinda wondered if my back tire was going flat by the way it was sounding, but with my momentum and no extra tube on me, I wasn’t about to stop and check.  I had 2 flats in that tire on the ride leading up to this race so I was a bit paranoid.  I forgot to check when I got in or even after the race.  But James brought the bike back from SLO on his rack for me, and it was really flat when I got it back, so who knows.

Got into transitio
n, and being that I don’t have any bike shoes right now, those didn’t have to be changed so not much to do.  Lost the helmet, moved my race number around to the front, pounded another gel, and threw another Hammer flask in my jersey.  Unfortunately forgot to take a few more electrolyte capsules.  not sure how that affected me, but wish I would have remembered.

As an added point, I must say it is a bit discouraging realizing not many people are left to finish the bike and hearing them anounce that the awards ceremony will be starting soon while you’re in transition, all the while knowing you still have a good 6.4 miles to run.

Run – 1:40:29.8
Yup, this was definitely the most brutal part of the race.  You’re reading that number right, and it actually works out to a 14:02/mile pace.  Ouch.

From the very first step, my left knee and my right calf were killing me.  They had been hurting for a while, and I’ve since visited the doctor regarding the knee.  He says it sounds like Runner’s Knee and I’ll be hittin some physical therapy next week to try and at least get it under control before running 13.3 miles at Wildflower.

Toward the start of the run I passed James coming in from the sprint and told him to relax at the finish, cause it was gonna be a while.  Helping out were a bunch of guys in some military outfits.  Not sure what braanch or who they were, but they were actually very encouraging along the way, so that was cool.

I hit the sprint turnaround a bit quicker than I expected and kept on jogging toward the Olympic turnaround.  Pretty much all trails on this run.  And the run to the turnaround was pretty much a long uphill run.  Good training for Wildflower, not good motivation when you are in pain and already feel like you’re sucking.  Kept on running most of the way, at least that’s what I called it, but did have to stop and walk a few times more than I would have liked.  Everyone I passed who was coming back kept saying, “Once you get to the turnaround, it’s all downhill from there.  You’re on the hardest part!”  Pretty much the same thing I told the few people I passed on the way back.  But it selfishly was nice to at least pass someone on the way back.  There were times out there that I seriously couldn’t see anyone in front of or behind me and thought I might be the last one in.

About mile 4 the dull cramp like pain in my right calf became a sharp pain.  I had to pull up for a minute and stretch it a bit.  As I did, a few girls heading the other way said, “No shame in walking!  Just gotta finish.”  I smiled at em and encouraged them as they passed.  Then I thought to myself, sure there is, and started up again at a slow jog just wanting to get back.

I finally got to the finish line to be greeted by James.  He then said to me, “The foods been pretty much cleaned out I think, but there are still a few bananas left I think.”

The Takeaway
Overall, I was glad I did it.  It was an eyeopener.  And even though it wasn’t the most encouraging race, at least after my last Olympic, I can say I properly completed one now.

It got me bumpin up my training for May 2, and I’ve had some encouraging workouts since then.  This tri was definitely tougher than PG was, and it helped me to get my mind off the need to do Wildflower in any sort of time, but rather to go into it with the attitude that finishing my first half-Ironman, especially at Wildflower, will be a success in itself.  Probably a good mindset to be in as I head into this race.

Good experience.  Fun race.  Not sure it’s one I’d wanna sign up for again, but glad I did it, and had a fun weekend with James and part of his fam.

Unfortunately, on one hand, Wildflower will probably be my last tri of the year, and the first of the season for most people there!  On the other hand, that’s because I have something BIG coming up later in the year.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about yet, you will soon.  Hopefully I’ll have the details for that announcement tomorrow, but worst case Monday or Tuesday.  And you’ll wanna hear this one, so please stay tuned!  It involves the whole community here at my humble blog. 

We are all riding to raise money for the cause of hemophilia.  This is a cause that is close to my heart and my family’s.  My cousin has a seven year old son, Zach, who lives everyday with hemophilia.

Check out this video to hear a little bit about the ride and to meet Zach and his family for yourself:

For those of you who haven’t heard of hemophilia, the simple explanation is it’s a blood disorder that causes a person’s blood to be unable to clot.  Because of that, people like Zach who have hemophilia have to take a shot every other day that allows clotting to take place.
There is currently no cure for hemophilia.

The money raised through this ride will go to send kids from 7-18 to a camp where they can be active with other kids just like them with specialized care available at all times.  It will also go to help find a cure for the disorder, as well as to help and care for the families that are a part of these California chapters.

There are 2 ways that you can partner with me to make a difference:

• GIVE
  In order to go on this ride and have a large majority of the money go to the Hemophilia chapters, I need to raise $3500.00 in funds.  This is really a minimum.  I would love to see us obliterate this number to really make a huge difference for the cause.Please visit my Active.com fundraising page to donate and be a part of this effort.  Every little bit helps!  Whether you can give $5, $50, or $500, I need your help.The Active page is the preferred method of giving, but there are 2 other options as well.  If you’d prefer to pay by cash, check, or credit card, email me and I will send you my address and a donor sheet to send in.  All checks should be made payable to HASDC.
  There is also a Facebook cause page I setup as well.  Again, the preferred online method would be Active.com, but if this works better for ya…they’ll take it!  And even if you don’t give there, come join the cause!
• Spread The Word
  CLICK HERE for info on the iPhone Giveaway!
  I need your help to share this with others as well.  I am excited to not only raise funds, but also to raise awareness through this project.  Many people have no idea that there are people living with this disorder and especially what the families go through.  I sure didn’t, until it became a part of my family 7 years ago.  And there’s still a lot I don’t know.So if you have a blog, please share about this race in a post.  Embed the video and send people here to find out more.
  Join the cause on Facebook, and then invite others to be a part as well.
  And share the link to the Active.com page via Twitter, Facebook, blogs, emails, and conversations.  I would love to see hundreds of people be a part of this with us.

Over the next 4 months as I prepare for this ride, I will share the journey here with you at the blog.  As part of that I’ll be sharing pieces of Zach and his family’s story so you can get to know them.
They are the reason I’m riding.
And I can’t wait to share the ride with you as much as possible as it happens via Twitter, Facebook, and of course, this blog.
You can see all the posts about the ride, hemophilia, and Zach here.

Thanks a ton for your support.  And welcome to the journey

Yeah, this is a repeat post for those of you who have been around here for a while.
But every couple of years I gotta share this video again.
It's probably one of, if not the favorite video I've put together.

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.