My Worship Revolution

It’s a few days late, but you didn’t think I was gonna let it go, now did ya?  Here’s a little talk through from Sunday night.  Lighting kinda sucks, but you get the point.

I was doing my daily RSS check this morning when I came across a post at Ragamuffin Soul.  Every so often I come across something as a result of someone’s blog that really hits me and effects my day, my outlook, makes me really think.  The post directed me to check out this message.

It’s a message from this past Sunday morning from a church that is in serious crisis.  It was one of the best messages I’ve heard from a church dealing with a moral failure that I’ve heard.  It was also one of the most heartbreaking, scary, and encouraging messages I’ve heard in a while.  Strange mix…I know.  If you haven’t yet, go listen/watch.  The reasons it raised those emotions in me:

• Heartbreaking.  I don’t know any of the pastors at this church.  I don’t know any attenders at this church.  I am only somewhat familiar with a blogger who attends the church.  Yet I still felt like I had to choke back a tear or two as I heard the news.  I guess I just imagine the amount of pain in the lives of those directly involved as well as the entire community in and outside of that churches walls.
• Scary.  Scary on 2 counts.  1)  I know that as time goes on there will come crisis that I cannot control.  It’s just a fact of life.  I’ve had a couple, but I’m reminded that I probably have my fair share ahead.  I know I have Jesus and can make it through, but I still don’t look forward to them.  But I loved the reminder that God is not nearly as concerned about my comfort as he is about my character, that I be shaped and formed into the image of Jesus Christ.  2)  I have within me the potential to mess up.  I know myself and that I am just as jacked up as the next guy, and the next pastor.  We all have the capacity in us to sin.  It may not be in the same way as this pastor, but we all screw up.  I will keep on clinging to Jesus and trusting that he can keep me from the big stuff.  I hope my fear of falling hard will be just one of many factors to help keep me from that.
• Encouraging.  The best part was the reminder that God still uses jacked up peeps like me.  I often wonder if I can truly be effective in ministry because while I know my strengths, I am probably doubly aware of all my weakness.  I fear that those weaknesses will keep me from being an effective leader and pastor, and I tend to focus on them.  But it’s great to know that it really isn’t about me!  That’s something I think I needed to be reminded of this morning.  God can and will use me and the way He has uniquely formed me to radically impact peoples lives for Christ.  That being said, I’m gonna go make a difference with the rest of my day now.  I invite you to go and do the same.

Sometimes this kid cracks me up.

No, not Caleb.  So you can stop worrying.  My other baby…my Martin.

Ed is in my office helping me move some furniture around when he looks over at my guitar and the words come out of his mouth.  "Bobby, did you get a crack on your guitar or something?"

I respond, "No, what are you talking about?"  And then I see it.  My heart sinks.  See for yourself:

Or how about a closer look…

No clue how it happened.  And it’s bigger than it look in the picture.  It was just sitting in my office.  No fall.  As far as I know, nothing bumped it hard.  Luckily, because there really is no sign of impact, it looks like it should be mostly covered by the warranty.

It still makes me sad, though.

And so I have given into the peer pressure of one blogging friend, Mr. Carlos Whittaker, to join in the list of those sharing our worship experiences each week.  I kinda half way gave in a few times with the Behind the Scenes videos, but today marks the beginning of my worship confessionals as I share this journey at CLC with you.

They should get more creative in the future, but no time today.  I need to get out of here to celebrate the resurrection by playing games and being a glutton.  Have a Happy Easter!  (And Jamie…you’re next.  I expect to see some of these poppin up on your blog soon!)

Watch and enjoy:

This is a video I edited together a few years ago for a Good Friday service.  It’s been on my You Tube for a while now, but I just felt like it was worth reposting on this Good Friday.  It’s probably still one of my favorite videos I ever put together.  It’s continually been a good reminder to me of what Christ endured as a result of my sins.
Reflect.

Today for lunch I head out with our pastor, youth pastor and children’s pastor for lunch at Acapulco’s. 

It’s a Mexican place downtown in Santa Cruz…thought I’d see how the Mexican grub is up here in NorCal.  Of course I didn’t get a real good feel for it being that, as Jane pointed out, my BBQ chicken quesadilla isn’t exactly the most Mexican dish there.

However, I must say it was pretty darn good!  We met up with Sam who is on the worship team and starting a pretty rockin "Deliverance" ministry up here and Ryan who’s in it with him.

So yeah, all that to say, it’s kinda weird to be back in that place of getting to know the people I work with and will be sharing my life with for the coming years.  It’s been an interesting transition already.  There have been the great parts and the difficult parts.  Not difficult as in bad though.  Just adjusting to going from a place where I totally knew what I was doing, what was going on, and overseeing moving ministries to jumping in and trying to learn the culture and systems.  Luckily there are lots of great peeps around to help in the process.

And in the midst of it all I’m getting things ready for my debut Sunday which just so happens to be Easter Sunday!  What a ride!!  And finally, I think some of them staff and CLC peeps need to start some blogs soon, cause there are like five people named in this post and I can’t link any of them.  I guess I’ll have to start a CLC bloggers list in the sidebar and let it stay blank as a glaring reminder to those who visit that we need some new bloggage, or you need to direct me to the one you have!  And to you CLC’ers…welcome!!  Stoked to be on the journey with ya!

Well the move has been made!!  Except for the rest of my family who is in Canyon Lake until our other car gets fixed.  I miss my wife and son! 

Thank you so much to everyone who helped load in Cerritos and unload in Soquel.  You all rock!  And as noted by the title of the post, I discovered in this move that we have way too much junk or somethin!

There’s the back of our 17 ft truck we stuffed full.  According to the website, this truck is supposed to fit Apt./Up to 2 rooms.  "We’re moving into a fairly small 2BR house," I thought to myself.  Surely this truck would be able to fit it all.  Besides, the next size up was pretty much double the price.

Boy was I wrong.  We packed stuff into every nook and cranny on that truck and were left at the end with a handful of stuff with nowhere to go.  And when you’re move is a 6+ hours drive, there is no "I’ll come back for it on the second trip." 

So, it was either unload the entire truck, take time to find a bigger truck and trade it in, and then reload a new truck, throw away a whole bunch of stuff, or…

…add another 12 ft to the 17 ft truck.  And so we ran out (with the help of Bart Boulton…THANKS!) to pick up a trailer to throw on the back of truck.

After a great day cruisin up to SC with my brother-in-law, Tim, we had like 15 people from CLC meet us at the house and had the whole thing unpacked in 30 minutes…woohoo!  So I have now made a dent in the unpacking and hopefully my wife will be here soon to join me in the daunting task!

Free Queen size mattress and box springs available.  You just need to be able to pick it up tomorrow in Cerritos.  I’m throwin it on Craigs List, too – first call, first serve.  So if you need it or know someone who might want it, we’d love to give it to someone who needs it.  Call me – 714.728.5129.  (Don’t know if I’d typically advertise my cell # on my blog, but I’m gonna have to change it soon anyway…so what the heck!)

And oh yeah…vacation was great!  Wish I had time to share, but we gotta get packed.  Packin the computer soon, so won’t have Internet for a few days.  But no worries, I’ll be back in full effect soon enough.  (Although you probably weren’t all that worried or concerned.  Did you even notice?)    Hopefully it won’t be too long before I get a Mac and can throw together our vacation videos on iMovie.  Better yet, Final Cut Pro…but probably not.

*UPDATE:  Put the bed on Craig’s List.  Got a call about five minutes later.  It’s gone.  Sorry!  Hope you didn’t need it!  (But if you do, you can still call incase the guy doesn’t show up.)

Sunday is the day we load up the Uhaul with all our belongings before heading to the land of Birkenstocks and dreadlocks (that was for you Tim).  Anyway, we’d love your help gettin everything in the truck.  It will be a party!  And we’ll provide the pizza.

We’ll probably around 10am and we’ll keep goin till it’s done.  And the more the merrier!  Leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail if you’re able to help.  Thanks y’all!!  See ya Sunday!