My Worship Revolution

3 or 4 years ago, in a class at Vanguard, one of my professors (I think it may have been Roger Heuser) talked about the value of taking a silent retreat.  A day or two or three to just get away and spend the entire time in complete silence, and hear from God.  If you know me, you’ll understand why that sounded like total hell to me.  Which is why I figured it would be a good discipline for me to practice sometime.

So for years I have talked about wanting to do that.  Then I was in Atlanta a few weeks ago and met Eric (@double3).  A few days after I met him, he spent a night at a monastery in silence and solitude.  Thinking about that, I decided it was time and started looking around.  Rachel’s parents are coming into town this week, so I figured I could get away and not be leaving her alone with the kids.

So as soon as I’m done typing this, I’m gonna leave to head to Big Sur Hermitage and spend about 24 hours in silence and solitude with Benedictine monks.

To be honest, I feel kinda weird about it now that I’m heading out.  I was up a few nights ago cause from 3-4 am cause it was so quiet I couldn’t stop my mind from racing.  Thinking about plans, dreams, disappointments, celebrations, concerns, vision, etc.  Add to that the unknown setting of a monastery, I’m kinda nervous, but looking forward to it at the same time.

All that to say I’m gonna go enjoy this view…

…with these guys…

…and do this.

Taking my Bible, Guide to Prayer, My Utmost For His Highest, and a sketchbook/journal.
And will hopefully hear God speak in the silence.
Catch ya on the flip side!

Feels like a busy week.  But in a real good way.
Basically it's less about the next couple days, and more about having to prep ahead for multiple things next week.

• Sunday – heading to a hermitage in Big Sur to live the monk life for a day with God. (More on that soon)
• In-laws in town Sun-Wed.
• Teaching first week of 1 Corinthians Bible Study Wed. night.
• Teach (and possibly lead worship) at youth Thurs. night.
• Leave Fri. for weekend jaunt to SoCal.

All that to share what I'm up to and say I'll get to bloggin when I can between putting some sets together, studying for 2 messages, and promoting the family concert night we're having while I'm gone.

Oh, and coming down to the wire for Coastal Ride fundraising too!  Check out the progress at my fundraising page and help me top off the giving!
Thanks!

For the past couple of months, we’ve been talking as a Life Group about how we can be a positive, visible force in our community, outside the four walls of our living room.  We felt like this needed to look like something we could do on a consistent basis, rather than some sort of 1 time service event.

So last month we had our first barbeque out at San Lorenzo Park.
San Lorenzo is a park near the County building in downtown Santa Cruz.  It’s kinda known for it’s homeless and drug dealing population.
On the 3rd Saturday of each month, we are taking our families out there to grill burgers and dogs and give it out free to anyone who wants to join us.

Last month is was a blast, not to just feed a bunch of people including homeless, but to actually spend time getting to know their names and just hanging out with them.  I love having Caleb doing ministry with us, learning early on to have compassion and recognize the God given dignity that each and every one of us inherently possesses.  There are so many stories behind each person, and lot of the ones we tend to judge by appearance are really not so different from us.

Here are a few pics from last month.

I’m looking forward to being out there again tomorrow.
Anyone who wants to join us, Please do!

You can meet us at the park at 11:30, or help us load everything up at my place at 11.
And if you can bring 5 bucks to help with all the grub, that would be great too.

Looking forward to meeting some new friends tomorrow and being Jesus to our community as a Life Group.

I wanna encourage you to take a few minutes to pray for and be challenged by Melissa and Dan.

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.

This past Sunday, and at Life Group last night, we talked about the environment.  We talked about taking care of the planet and resources that belong to God.  It’s not a political issue.  It’s something God honestly does care about.

Then, last night, while in line for Harry Potter, my wife and Christal were handed this pamphlet.

Anyone else kinda wanna see that lion go for that doll looking girl’ss head?
Sorry.  moving on…

From the front cover –

They have a website too.  ChristianVeg.org.

Umm, sorry, but when I consider ‘going green’, a “planet based diet” isn’t quite what I had in mind.
Anyone wanna join me at Betty’s Burger?

Hanging out with the boys this morning I took some video.
Caleb loves to tickle Micah.
Micah has a great little laugh going on.
Caleb just needs to work on not tagging Mich in the face.
Check out the video.

Now find a reason to go laugh a little today, too.
Have a fun one!

Some top stories this evening…

• Lots of people sitting at Neverland hoping to get a glimpse of Michael Jackson's body.  Not gonna get that.  No public viewing will take place.
• The state of CA is now issuing I.O.U.s in lieu of actual money cause they can't balance a budget.  Enough said.
• Lady was complaining about the drought plan in place that only allows watering lawns on certain days only.  She's concerned about all the brown lawns that will pop up and the kids wanting to play in the sprinklers in the summer.  Sorry, we have no more drinking water, but at least the lawns are green!

Really though?
This is the state I live in.
But I love it anyway!

I love getting to see my wife excited and passionate about something God is putting on her heart.
Actually, it’s quite a turn on.  But I digress.

Due to budget cuts, lots of the libraries in our area are closing down their story times.  Rachel and several other moms have loved going to these and connecting with other moms.
So Kendra and Rachel saw an opportunity to create community around a need in Santa Cruz.
They both have a heart for kids and have worked with kids for years.

So this week they are passing out flyers at library story times as they are ending and turning their current Friday morning play group into a more structured, creative story time for kids and families.
Check out the website that Rachel put up at santacruzcreativeplay.org.

It starts July 17th.
I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes.
And I just had to brag on my amazing wife a little bit.

What opportunities are there to meet a need and bless people in your community?
What opportunity are you uniquely created to meet?
Something to think about today.

When I was in high school, I had a curfew and I got seriously busted if I wasn’t home by then AND hadn’t bothered to call.
Now, my mom, and the rest of family for that matter, keep tabs on each other via Twitter, blog, and Facebook.  When I don’t call for a while now, my mom usually comments that she’s glad she knows I’m alive cause I’ve Twittered.

I kinda had to laugh when I saw this cartoon and think about how nice it could have been to have Twitter in my teenage years:

Maybe Twitter can help us be better parents, too!
I knew there were more justifications out there for my addictions.