Garage sales

There's somethin' about garage sales that always brings you back to reality.
You're giving away a driveway full of crap for quarters...and these are items that had great value to you at one point in time.
Today we made $75 and baked in the sun for hours as we watched our treasures slowly make their way into the back of pickups and minivans.
We should all have garage sales to remind ourselves that it's all just stuff...and at some point a weird guy with a fanny pack is gonna bargain you down to $1.50 for an item that you paid $100 for five years ago!
Here's to moths and rust.

Who's ready?

I'm starting a band that sounds like the Left and Leaving album by The Weakerthans. If you've never heard it you need not apply :)
I keep listening to this album and it bums me out that I'm not playing music. 2010 is the year Dan starts rockin and rollin again! Stamp it! Tell your friends! Prepare yourselves.

Golf

Went out this morning with Pete for the first time in months.
I grew up golfing...love it.
Something me, my pops, and my brother could always do together.
When I go to Riverside it is always on.
I think it's funny because I have the best gear in the biz because I always get my dads hand-me-downs which are amazing.
But I never play...bummer.
Gold Hills is a cool place.

Mo

Love it.

18 peeps in my living room

I love the first night of a Life Group.
Who's gonna show up?
How many awkward moments?
Is anyone gonna show up?

18 amazing people came through the door tonight...I'm stoked.
This next season of my life will include getting to know these peeps more.
We have singles, students, engaged, married, married with kids, and a retired couple.
Community. I can't wait to see what happens.

We just wrapped up a series on discipleship at the Stirring.
I asked our group how many of them are in discipleship relationships right now and almost all of them said they were. Amazing.
WE LOVE. WE MAKE DISCIPLES.

It doesn't get better than this!

I'll let you in...

If you're not ready to have your life changed then quickly close this tab. Here's your assignment for tomorrow. Go to Los Gordos on the corner of Tehama and Pine. Order two pastor tacos "el jefe" style.
Much thanks to Jeff Humbert for going to Los Gordos so much and ordering your tacos in such a way that the entire restaurant now excepts "el jefe" style as an actual way to order your tacos. Was that a run on sentence?
They melt chesse between the two corn tortillas before they pound on the pork, onions, and cilantro. $5 that will change your life. You can thank me later. I realize this picture is probably from a weird picnic and there is an anglo handling the plate so you can bank on it not being authentic...but it's the best google could come up with. The chips with pico top it all off. Jeremy and I were there today. It's a once a week staple. Meat, grain, dairy, fruit, vegetables and Los Gordos!

Wireless

Anyone else have their router set up in the bedroom on one side of the house because it's the only room that has a phone jack in it and have their computer on the other side of the house and use the internet with wireless and it goes from 0 bars to full bars every 5 minutes?
Was that a run on sentence?
Steamed right now!

It's official...

...Mo is walkin'! He walks down the entire hall now without falling. Crazy. Now if we could just get Sof talkin'! This year is gonna be intense. Zeke in first grade. Sofia turning three, getting potty trained and talking. And Mo is officially mobile. It's exciting times to be a dad. All the kids were wrestling in the play room tonight and I was lovin' it. Of course that was minutes after Mo had grabbed Sofia's potty that she had just peed in and poured it on himself.
It's my life!

Blog face lift

Anyone out there want to hook a brotha up with a sweet new look for my blog? I could use a sweet new banner.
Ian...I love the banner you made for me but it's been a couple years and I've gotta get the revrock out of the banner since I'm danlance.com now.
Don't have a lot of money, but I have a surplus of respect, hugs, and admiration for anyone that would work with me :)
Let me know.

It's been quite a summer

Today is Labor Day...my last post was Fathers Day...oopps
Sometimes you need two and a half month breaks from things in your life...like exercise!
Here's my summer in bullet points
- In-laws visit Redding...got a ridiculous amount of projects done
- Lake Siskiyou with the Gafners...amazing
- Mom came to town...Alyssa and I got away to Sac to celebrate being married for 10 incredible years.
- Camping in San Simeon with great friends that are now spread up and down the coast
- Went to Indiana for a week to hang at a lake house for a huge family reunion. All of Alyssa's side lives out there.
- Came home...Zeke started first grade
- Staff retreat on a house boat
- Mo's almost walkin'...Sof is almost making sense when she talks
- It's a good time to be alive
- See...now you're all caught up.

In the midst of all this my job has changed significantly. I now oversee our staff at the Stirring and define most of the systems that we operate under as a church...I love it.
I still speak about once a month and lead worship here and there but I also hire and fire and figure out how we will retire. I've also been known to change a mean tire :)
In the midst of the job switch the Stirring was presented with a building that we are praying about purchasing. Because I've owned more homes than anyone on staff I'm the "experienced one" when it comes to these matters so I'm leading the way in figuring all that stuff out...it's been an adventure.
I love my church...I love our team...I love what God is doing in Redding and around the world.

It's been a great summer...I'm back.

Fathers Day

Thanks for the picture Emily.
We dedicated Moses on Fathers Day this year. As I was praying for him it all hit me again that this kid was an unbelievable miracle. It's crazy how you can forget that kind of stuff when you're not sleeping and changing an ungodly amount of dirty diapers.
If you don't know my story...my wife and I adopted our first two kids. We always wanted to adopt...just thought it would happen after we had our own biological baby. We struggled with infertility for 7 years. Then out of nowhere when we are finally settled and content with our two kid life, God gives us Moses. What the heck...God is funny.
Being a dad of three is awesome. I love the chaos of my life. I long for quiet moments at times but I could not ask for a better life. It was a great Fathers Day!

Sofia's not so sure about photo booth

Next few days

Leave tonight for camping...Lake Siskiyou (ridiculous amount of vowels)...Gafners...smores...amazing!
Get back...Lead worship at Stirring...mom comes into town.
Leave kids with moms...Alyssa and I head to Sac for 1.5 day to ourselves...celebrating the 10 year anniversary...a little late but much needed.
Getting ready for all this to happen with 3 kids can send you to the loonie bin!
Cya in a few days!

Zeke lost his first tooth!

Zeke's cousins are in town and they gave him some gum. An hour later he comes over and his tooth is gone.
He had no clue.
I think he swallowed it!
Unbelievable.
I can't believe I have kids that are loosing teeth.
He said something about a dollar from the tooth fairy. I told him the tooth fairy has been hit like everyone else in the economy.
Be happy with a quarter!

Back to the clean face

There's a possibility of me having to talk to some important city people this week and I figured the handlebars might be a little much for them.
I like to keep a new look just long enough for people to start thinking..."Is he seriously going to keep that thing on his upper lip forever?" When I reach that point...I keep it for 4 more days...then...something new.
It's the curse of the bald man. I gotta switch it up.
I think the eyebrows might go next time!

My blog life

I used to be the man with blogs.
Pumped em' out on a daily basis.
One to two a day.
Kept the blogs current from the Stirring.
Then...Moses.
Blogs became shorter...more like bullet points.
But I still got them out there.
Then...Facebook.
Perfect solution to the short blog.
I could upload them through Twitter on my phone.
Quick...easy.
So what to do with my blog?
I'm still thinking about it.
Any ideas?

Good advice

Eric and I meet every Friday morning...have been for a long time.
Every Friday is great...today was really meaningful to me.
After a french press and a lot of good advice I went into the office.
Closed my door...locked it...sat in silence...then picked up my guitar.
Not to put together a set...not to work on a new song.
Just started playing some chords and began to worship.
It was awesome and very needed.
Psalm 42- As the deer panteth for the water...so my soul longeth after thee. You alone are my hearts desire and I long to worship thee.
Couldn't even get through it...tears.
Thanks Eric...your friendship this year has meant the world to me!
God is good...Get alone in his presence...It changes everything!

No longer in kindergarten

Wow!

Shoes

Thanks for the pic Brent...I stole it.
Today we finished off the last of the handing out of shoes at Cypress Elementary School. If you didn't know we raised money with a music, art and film festival called Erase the Dark, and we took the proceeds to put shoes on all the kids at the school. We handed them out last Wednesday and the kids flipped. When we left we got an order for 28 more shoes. Kids that had transferred in late. We got those to the kids today. All in all we handed out over 250 shoes! As we walked through the halls today I saw our shoes everywhere on kids feet and I couldn't stop smiling. Thanks to everyone that helped make this happen.
This is my 900th post. I've been doing this for a while.

It's official...

I grabbed www.DanLance.com as my domain.
Right now I'm forwarding my blog there until I have the full website running.
I know it's a pain but if you could update your readers I'd appreciate it.
I bought it for a few years so I promise you won't get another switch from me soon.
Thanks.

Hello again...

I realize it's been a month since my last post and that's really weird for me. I haven't stopped reading your blogs, I just haven't felt the need to blog for myself. I guess I kind of got the wind knocked out of me when someone stole my domain name. But I believe now that all of that happened for a reason. It forced me to dream about some new possibilities.

www.DanLance.com

I haven't bought it yet but it's available. I want to have a central hub where I can keep all the things that are going on in my life. Social networking, my blog, the Stirring, my book, and my album. The website would be motivation to get on those last two parts...my book and my album. I have about 6 rough chapters to my book that I haven't looked at since Moses was born, and I have about 10 songs rolling around in my head that I'm dying to get recorded. So hopefully this is motivation.
Yesterday I spoke at the Stirring about wanting to live my life loud. The blogs, and books, and albums that stay locked up in my head and room have no chance to change the world. So here goes...we'll see where this goes!

Easter

Amazing

Have you seen my nephew yet?

Joshua Thomas Lance
He's got the Lance forehead for sure.
I was leaving Costa Mesa at the conference we were at right when he was born. We were hoping it would happen when we were down there but he decided to chill for a week past his due date...bummer.
Can't wait to give him a noogie and hype him up on sugar...you know...good uncle stuff!
Congratulations Mike and Becky...he's amazing!

Lawn mower

Got a new mower today.
It' electric.
You can hear yourself think when you're mowing...it's awesome.
We had someone give us a mower which was a huge blessing but it only had one height setting and our yard grows like it's taking steroids.
I'm learning how to maneuver the whole chord thing but I like it.

Lame

Someone hacked my domain. Revrock.org has officially been stolen.
Godaddy is gonna get slapped!
I didn't get any notifications...it just expired...then some dude jumped on my url and is holding it for ransom.
Pissed!
What do I do?
In the mean time I've redirected my url back to www.reverendrockstar.blogspot.com

Answered prayers

So Alyssa made the flight with the three kids safely.
I was praying for God to send someone that would sit across from them that would help them out.
Alyssa just called me.
A bald guy with tattoos that looked like me sat across the ailse from them and Moses watched him the whole time and was calm.
God's awesome.
He sends bald, tattooed guys onto planes to entertain my son.
Thought I'd share.

Tomorrow

It's Alyssa and the kids last night in Riverside.
They leave to go back to Redding tomorrow.
Here's the scenario:
Alyssa, Zeke, Sofia, Moses, no dad, on a plane back to Sac.
Then a 2 hour drive back to Redding. Pray for my family.
I'm stickin' around for a couple days and then going to the Catalyst conference in Irvine.
Redding peeps...Do me a favor and keep an eye on my family while I'm gone...life of a single parent with three kids is intense.

When home stops being home

It's happened before.
I'm fourth generation Riverside, born and raised.
But I went to Simpson college in Redding almost 10 years ago...wow, I'm old.
The first two years I was there, Riverside was always home.
I just went to school in Redding.
But the third year something happened.
When I would come to Riverside on break, things felt weird.
I missed my Redding friends, Riverside skies looked extra brown, and catching up with friends here wasn't as easy.
Right when Redding started feeling like home I moved back to Riverside...it was weird...it took a while for Riverside to become home again...but it did.
Well, a year and a half ago we moved back to Redding and it's happened again.
Redding is my home.
I love Riverside but it's not home.
My family is here and I miss them, but I miss my family in Redding.
I'm wondering what's going on and what I'm missing. I love my church. I love the blue skies. I love the pace of life. Redding is my home again...weird.
When we would go home last year to visit Riverside I would say I'm going home for vacation. Now I just say I'm going on vacation.
I love seeing friends and family here. Riverside will always have a special place in my heart but Redding is home now.
Anyone else experience this...it's weird.

Vacay

Next couple weeks:
Tomorrow- practice with worship team...enjoy time with fam
Sunday- Easter: 30-40 baptisms at the Stirring...unbelievable!
Monday- Sabbath...playin' some music that night...stoked
Tuesday- Work...all day staff stuff
Tuesday night- leave for Riverside
Wednesday - Wednesday- chill...hang with friends...family...hopefully see my nephew if he decides to be born while we're there...golf...chill...nap...turn 33...chill!
Wednesday - Friday: Catalyst conference with some Stirring homies
Friday night: Drive back to Redding...get home about 4am!
Saturday: Back at it!
It's gonna be a good couple weeks.
I'm might even blog a little more than I have been...don't count on it.
Shalom.

You're welcome

Every parent needs a poop machine!

Well Alyssa left last night for women's retreat so it's just me and the kiddos for a couple days.
Moses was up last night at midnight, 1am, and 4am...yippee.
Zeke and Sofia were up playing forever in their room till 10pm.
That didn't stop Zeke from waking me up this morning at 6:30am...good times!

On to the poop machine...
Every morning we feed Moses and stick him in this weird jumper type contraption.
He poops instantly. It's amazing.
There are times he just looks at weird jumper type contraption and poops.
Every parents dream.
Scheduling poops is a little slice of heaven.
You're running out to the store...quick 5 minutes in the poop machine.
The play room actually has a moment that it doesn't smell like Satan's underbelly...to the poop machine.
It's the greatest thing ever.
They should make an adult version!

Busy weekend

Sorry for the blog silence.
Saturday was an amazing day.
Got up...helped Patrick and Bethany move...came home...dug out 5 stumps in my backyard...went to Sean's house...climbed a 75 foot tree in his front yard with a chainsaw and cut it down.
Not gonna lie...some of the most intense moments of my life...I captured some pics on my phone that I put up on Facebook.
Yesterday I led worship with an amazing team for all three gatherings...the Heaven series has been great!
We also finished up the caulking and painting of the pantry...Thanks Eric...it looks awesome!
More to come. I'm gonna enjoy a Sabbath with the fam today.
I preach this weekend at the Stirring...Salvation is the door...that's all you're gonna get...you gotta be there or grab the podcast :)
Shalom.

Thanks Josh!

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I'm intrigued

I want to read this.

Did you see this?

Jason sent this to me...amazing.

Sabbath

Got out of bed today after 11...unbelieveable.
Haven't done that since pre-Zeke.
There were a couple times I was up to help out but the sleep was much needed.
My wife is a superstar.

Today it's been a lot of baseball with Zeke.
That's been the routine lately.
Here's the interaction we just had...

Hey Dad
Yeah Zeke
I want to hit the ball at your face and crack your head open!

I don't know if I've ever been more proud

Here's my short U2 review.

First off...Erase the Dark ruled...that post is coming later.

Hagabeefy has some good thoughts about the new U2 album.

I like the album a lot more than he does but he'll come around in a couple weeks...just wait.

Here's my quick review:
- Really like the title track. Love the weird little pull off thing the Edge plays. Riff reminds me of Even Better Than the Real Thing meets The Fly.
- Magnificent blew my mind...love the lyrics...great!
- Moment of Surrender sounds like a great gospel song with the Edge playing Pink Floyd riffs in the background.
- Unknown caller. Love the music. But I'm a little weirded out by the monotone vocals in the chorus. Sounds like they're all drinking the cool-aid during the chorus.
- I'll go crazy is my favorite. Almost the Miracle Drug lick at the beginning. Love it. It's not a hill it's a mountain...love it...did I say I loved it.
- Here's the lull in the album: Boots and Stand seem like filler. You don't get that much with U2. A little disappointed. Both the songs have moments...but only moments.
- Fez is cool. Starts off a little shoe gazer.
- White as snow is great. Love the melody to O come O come Emmanuel.
- Breathe is epic. Love the cadence in the verses.
- Ceders is really cool. Mellow.

I really love the album as a whole.
You can definitely tell Lanois and Eno were writing with them...real different vibe.
It doesn't have your typical soaring anthem that you look for on a U2 record but I like the direction they went.
Every time I hear it I like it more.
I love albums that grow on you.
There aren't many bands that will get me out to the store on the release date but I will be at Best Buy when the doors open if U2 puts out an album when Bono is 98.
There the best ever and I will cyber punch you if you have somethin' to say about that.
Go buy the album and let it soak in.
It's like a great marinade!