My Worship Revolution

Another friend of Christal also jumped in to be a part of Art For AIDS.
Paul De Worken works with her and he is a great local artist who does mural work.
You can see some of what he does at his website, Monterey Bay Murals.

Christal tells me he did the mural at their school and it’s pretty sic.
Here’s some video of him doing a live painting in San Jose:

Maybe next time we should see if we can get him to do something live with us.
Did I mention that Paul is a Raiders fan?
Well, no one’s perfect.

Glad to have two pieces of art at the event from Paul.
Advance tickets available till noon today!

I met Jon Talbert a couple years ago when he shared about Beautiful Day at an event in Santa Cruz.
Jon oversees Beautiful Day in San Jose which I believe has raised more money than any other organization in the history of the AIDS walk in San Jose if I remember correctly.
Jon has a huge heart for people and for the issue of AIDS.
And the guy is funny, too.

I had heard that Jon was doing comedy at clubs in the area, and knowing that he cares about the issue of AIDS and is a great performer, we asked him if he would be a part of this event as our featured comic.  He was glad to help out and we we’re stoked to have him.
Here’s a little more info on Jon from his bio:

Jon Talbert is a well known Bay Area comedian and motivational speaker who has performed to young people and Universities throughout the nation.  Locally, he has done shows to packed venues such as the Heritage Theater, Rooster T Feathers, The Improv, The Ice House, The Santa Clara Civic auditorium, and the Mountain Winery.  Jon has also performed with national headliners such as Brad Stine, Tommy Drake, Mark Lundholm, and Clinton Jackson.  Jon also serves as the chaplain to the San Jose EarthQuakes.

Check out this video of some of his comedy:

He also said he’d bring along an opening comic.
So Charlie Thayer will be coming to do some material as well.
I don’t know anything about her, except that I’ve seen her do some pretty cool whiteboard art once and another friend of mine said she’s hilarious, so I’m looking forward to hearing her bring it to open the evening tomorrow night.

Advance tickets will be on sale til noon tomorrow.  After that, they’re 5 bones extra at the door.
Come ready to laugh!

Another friend of ours that is donating a piece of art for the event is Michelle Nicely.
She has become a good friend of ours after Rachel and her got to know each other at Creative Play.
Michelle used to work in the entertainment industry down in the Los Angeles area before coming up  to Santa Cruz, so we had the SoCal connection right off the bat.

Michelle is donating a piece with 100% of the money going to Santa Cruz AIDS Project.
Check out some of her artwork at this website.
I’m way stoked to have Michelle as a part of Art for AIDS.

Another really cool venture we’ve been able to watch Michelle get started with is her own clothing line for kids.
She designs all of the clothes and sells them locally, and they are ALL made with fair trade.  The clothes are super creative and super cool.

We have a couple of things we got from her for Caleb and Micah.
If you’ve got kidlets or know someone with kidlets who need a good Christmas gift, you need to go to her website for 3 Little Stars NOW and get something.
Such great clothing, and you’re supporting a local artist and fair trade.

And then get a ticket for Art For AIDS to check out her artwork this Saturday.

As part of Art for AIDS this coming Saturday night we asked some of our friends who are artists to display some stuff and sell it with a portion of the proceeds going to Santa Cruz AIDS Project.
There will be a couple pieces up and all of them will be for sale via silent auction.

The first artist we were able to get for the event is a friend of my friend Christal.
His name is Lukas Wenger.
He’s a photographer.  Primarily landscape photography.
And you may have to try and outbid me for one of his photographs.
I checked out his stuff online and his stuff is money.
You can check out his website here.
Here’s a shot from Natural Bridges to give you an idea.

There’s a lot more on his website and it’s amazing.
He’s donating 100% of the profits from 2 pieces for us.
Super generous and we’re super grateful.

It’s gonna help create some great atmosphere Saturday night and raise some extra money for AIDS Project.
Get you tickets and come get a piece to take home with you.
If you bid more than me.
And swing by his site and get something anyway.  It would make a great Christmas gift and support a local artist.
See ya this Saturday!

Only 4 days till Art For AIDS!
If you haven’t gotten a ticket yet, grab it now.
More info at www.createhumanity.org.

Thought I’d throw up a series of posts about some of the talent contributing to Art For AIDS this weekend.
A good friend of mine who is part of Missio Dei Community is Dan Lingenfelter.
He plays drums for The Wild Rovers, an Irish band based here in Santa Cruz.

They’re the featured band for the concert.
I’m stoked that they’re playing for the event.  I’ve seen em several times at the Poet as well as The Catalyst last St. Patty’s Day.
Not only is the music great, but they are just one of the most fun bands to listen to.  It’s perfect for holding onto a drink, being loud, and singing along.  Unfortunately, I hear they probably aren’t doing my favorite tune that night.  “Have a pint!!”

Which reminds me…I need to email Kuumbwa and find out if Guinness is on the beer menu at their bar.

Enjoy out a couple of tunes from the widget below and then come hear them live on Saturday night!

Rachel and I have been home without the kids for 4 days now.  And we have a week and a half left.
I’d be lying if I said I’m not enjoying the freedom at times.
Last night we went to the AIDS vigil together, and just decided to grab dinner after.  Then we could grab a movie or just go home.  No planning needed.
Weird.
And nice.

But last night we also talked to them on the phone.
As we sat in Kianti’s, I cupped one ear to block out the sound as Caleb told me all about drawing a picture in the snow today of him and Micah and mommy and daddy and grandma and grandpa.
He asked me when we were coming back and told me he missed me.
Micah got on the phone and said Lord only knows what.

I sat there for a moment and thought about the fact that while it’s fun not having the kids for a couple days, I would MUCH rather be stuck at home with the kids not falling asleep when we tell them to than to not have them at all.
I can’t imagine life without them anymore…and don’t want too.
I LOVE being daddy.

I miss our kids like crazy already.

During Pastor appreciation month, somebody gave us a Ralph’s World CD for the kids.
All you have to do is turn it on and Micah’s eyes light up and he starts to really boogie.
He was a little camera shy when it started, but he warmed up real quick.
It’s not a short video, but I didn’t wanna take time to edit any out.  Besides, kept me entertained the whole time.

Once again, I miss this little guy like crazy.
And yeah, I kinda miss that house too.

Each year, Dec. 1st is recognized as World AIDS Day.
It started in 1988 as a way to raise awareness and remember those who have passed as a result of AIDS.

In case you haven’t heard yet, I thought it would be a good time to share about an upcoming event we have with Missio Dei Community.
In just a week and a half we are hosting an event called Art For AIDS.  It’s at Kuumbwa Jazz Center.  It’s a night of comedy, music, and art, and all ticket and art sales will go to benefit Santa Cruz AIDS Project.
Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door.

It’s gonna be a blast and you don’t wanna miss out!
Over the next week or so, I’ll put up some posts to share more about the event and the artists involved.
But today in honor of World AIDS Day, the first 20 tickets sold with the code aidsday2010 wil get 20% off their ticket price.
Click here to buy some tickets.
For more info, check out www.createhumanity.org.
And of course, check out the Facebook page, too.

Also, as another cool resource for the season, check out this Advent calendar that specifically focuses on the issue of AIDS around the world.
See ya at Kuumbwa Jazz Center  on December 11th!

As promised, I snapped a few quick pictures while I was in the house this morning.
The story of what happened, in case you missed it, is in the post below.

Living room when you walk in front door:

Rest of living room:

Kitchen
You can see where they went throughout the house poking holes in the ceiling trying to find the fire:

Bathroom:

Hallway (where fire started):

Kid’s bedroom:

From back room, all the stuff from kids room in the yard, including burnt to a crisp bunk bed:

Several of you saw on Twitter what happened at our house tonight (last night now?) and said keep you updated. Hard to do in 140 characters, so thought I’d write a quick post. I’ll post more tomorrow with pictures.

The quick info if you missed it – our house caught on fire.

Our next-door neighbor invited us over for dinner.  We went over and enjoyed the evening with them.
About 5 minutes before we were planning to leave, James comes running through his house yelling, “Something’s going on at your house!”
He had smelled the smoke from his kitchen and looked out.
We ran out to see smoke coming out and hearing smoke alarms go off.

I heard Rachel tell me that James said not to open the door.
So naturally…I went straight to the door and flung it open.
We have (had?)a floor furnace I HATE.  When it runs, the metal grate can seriously burn the kids.
I had thrown a rug over it cause I thought it was off, but apparently the thermostat was low.  I figured that was the case so I thought I’d get the rug out and all would be good.

House was full of smoke from floor to ceiling.
James was behind me with a fire extinguisher.
I buried my head in my shirt and went in to put out the rug.  I got most of it out, but not all.
Ended up emptying 3 extinguishers.  Including a fire I noticed behind the Lazy Boy.

Right after that, the fire department showed up.
They went in, took care of it, and said it was contained.  The damage was contained to the hallway for the most part.
But they were also trying to get under the house to make sure it wasn’t going on under there.
And lots of smoke was still coming out for a while.  I knew something more was up.

Eventually we see them climb on the roof and start poking holes.
Suddenly TONS of smoke is pouring out and we start seeing some pretty big flames.

Long story short, the fire actually started under the house.
Apparently the wood down there got pretty dried out over the years.  The rug helped keep some heat in and that’s all it took for the wood to start burning.
It burnt under the floor back to our kids closet.  There was some remodel in there in the past, and there was some pipe that went up and wasn’t enclosed.  The fire traveled up that into the attic.

For the most part our stuff is OK.
The kids bedroom was pretty much engulfed.
That one is way gone.
The rest of the house is a mess.
Hallway is pretty much toast too.
Holes poked in ceilings, etc.  Like I said.  I’ll post some pics tomorrow.

Most important thing…Rachel and the boys are fine.
Not sure how Caleb’s gonna take his room being totally gone.
We’re at our neighbors house for tonight, and were already planning to head south for Thanksgiving.
Unfortunately, we can’t host the Monday Night Football party we had planned tomorrow night.
Now we’ll need to figure out where to stay for at least a couple months it looks like.
Fun stuff.

So that’s the update for y’all.
Truth be told, I’m a bit frustrated with it all and with life right now, but hopefully some sleep will improve that a touch.
Just this morning at Twin Oaks we talked a little about God churning our hearts in difficult times to prepare us for what He has and to see God glorified through it all.
So it’s another opportunity for God to work in our lives and for us to be satisfied in and with Him.  Period.
Doesn’t make it any more pleasant.  Ready for 2011 I think.
We’ll see what happens from here.
And as I promised, I’ll try to take some pics tomorrow.

It’s after 1am.
I ‘m going to bed.

A friend sent me this quote today from Gabe Lyons’ book The Next Christians.
It’s from an anonymous letter to a Roman scholar, Diognetus, in the 2nd-3rd century at a time when followers of Jesus were under serious persecution.
As you read, ask this question: Is this the experience of people outside the Church today?

The Christians cannot be distinguished from the rest of the human race by country or language or customs. They do not live in cities of their own; they do not use a peculiar form of speech; they do not follow an eccentric manner of life…. Yet, although they live in Greek and barbarian cities alike…. and follow the customs of the country in clothing and food and other matters of daily living, at the same time they give proof of the remarkable and admittedly extraordinary constitution of their own commonwealth.

They live in their own countries, but only as aliens. They have a share in everything as citizens, and endure everything as foreigners. Every foreign land is their fatherland, and yet for them every fatherland is a foreign land. They marry, like every one else, and they beget children, but they do not cast out their own offspring. They share their board with each other, but not their marriage bed.

They busy themselves on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the established laws, but in their own lives they go far beyond what the laws require. They love all men, and by all men are persecuted….. They are poor, and yet they make many rich; they are completely destitute, and yet they enjoy complete abundance.

To put it simply: What the soul is in the body, that Christians are in the world.”

From Gabe Lyon’s book The Next Christians, page 185, 186, quoting Cyril Richardson’s book Early Christian Fathers, pg. 175. Note: From the primary document “The So-Called Letter to Diognetus: The Mystery of the New People

So…is this how most people perceive Christians today?
Why or why not?