My buddy Rob

Well...he might not know we're buddies...but we are!

Just when I thought Christians couldn't become any weirder (is that a word?)

I run across this website. That's right...holy ghost tees. Tee shirts with prophetic words of "tounges" on them. That's sure to change people's mind on how weird we are! Only 45 bucks for one of these bad boys that looks like something I could iron on for 2 bucks. Wow.

Bono on American Idol

Tonight and tomorrow, one in ten Americans will sit down in their living rooms and tune-in to American Idol for a special episode called "Idol Gives Back."
We are excited to announce that Bono will be making an appearance Wednesday night on behalf of ONE urging the millions of Americans watching the show to join us in the fight against extreme poverty. Bono will meet with the Idol contestants to talk with them about ONE and the difference your advocacy is making in the lives of the world's poorest people. The Idol contestants will also perform "American Prayer," a song written by Bono and Dave Stewart about the AIDS emergency in Africa.
We need your help to make sure your friends and family are watching. Spread the word about tonight and tomorrow's shows! This is a great way to introduce friends and family to ONE. Invite them to join you in the fight against extreme poverty.
Forward this e-mail to friends and family and ask them to join today by visiting: www.ONE.org
Wednesday night's show will be a two-hour special hosted by Ellen and featuring appearances by Celine Dion, Kelly Clarkson, Gwen Stefani, Earth, Wind & Fire, Il Divo, Keira Knightley, Hugh Grant, Josh Groban with the African Children's Choir, Jack Black, Helen Mirren, Rascal Flatts, Quincy Jones, Carrie Underwood, Annie Lennox and many more.
We are excited about what the next two days could mean for the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty. Because of your continued support and involvement, extreme poverty is getting the national attention it so badly needs. When millions of people come together as ONE voice, anything is possible.

I preach at the Grove this weekend

I'm sharing about adoption this weekend and my working title at this point is "Too comfy to consider." I'm giong to talk about how the prophets in the Old Testement were constantly reminding the Israelites that they had forgot the covenent to bless the world and turned their focus on themselves. The prophets were always yelling at them to remember the poor and the widows and orphans. They would say things like, "remember your slavery in Egypt." In other words, remember what it was like before you were adopted and loved and cared for. Why do we constantly forget these things. Could it be that we are too comfy to consider others. We know that a life of service to others would cause us to focus less on ourselves.
I ran across this quote from Mike Yaconelli who passed away a few years ago and I thought it was very telling of how I'd like to end my life. I might share it this weekend. Here it is:
If I were to have a heart attack right at this moment, I hope I would have just enough air in my lungs and just enough strength in me to utter one last sentence as I fell to the floor: “What a ride!” My life has been up and down, careening left then right, full of mistakes and bad decisions, and if I died right now, even though I would love to live longer, I would say from the depths of my soul, “What a ride!”

I'm officially old...31 and counting

31 years ago today I started my life on this planet. 10 years ago I remember looking at people in their 30's thinking life had officially ended for them. What the heck...I still feel like I'm 11. Today I watched my son who turns 4 in 9 days ride his bike through our living room for 20 minutes and thought to myself...when did all this happen...life is fast...my goal is to make the next 31 years a lot slower. I'm going to kiss my wife more, put my son on my shoulders more, listen to the birds more, walk through my neighborhood more, and listen to people more. I'm finding God more in the small things in life. I think the rest of my life is going to be a journey into obscurity and smallness. The kingdom doesn't need any more neon signs and flashing lights. I know this is starting to sound like my obituary so I will stop. When you get old you start to ramble. Grow old well folks!

Unbelieveable

ABC's Lateline had a news article about the aftermath of the Virginia Tech University massacre at the end of which was an interview with Linda Mcguire from the "Tommie Zito Ministry Evangelist" group. She said...We came here to encourage but most of all the reality is that some of those students who were shot are in hell today and I wanted to come and let the other students know that (we didn't, they didn't) some went to hell but they didn't have to go to hell that we have a choice that we can say yes to Jesus because he is the only way to heaven.

This made me extremely sad and angry and other things that I won't share with the public. I also enjoyed the NRA lunatic that said the problem was that no law abiding citizens on campus had guns because then they could of shot him and stopped things! More guns, more killing, more bombs, more yelling and screaming, more troops, more genocide, more violence, more racism. At what point does that argument run out of steam? When there is no one left to shoot at?

Anthem show tonight!

Come check out the show tonight. Divide the Day is actually going to headline the show. They were added last minute. Rock!

Ask a ninja...famous last words

Thanks Christi...you gotta love ninjas. I still go with a pirate any day of the week though! Sound off people...ninjas or pirates?

Alyssa's artsy vacation pics

Vacation pics

Santa Cruz and Mt. Hermon (where Trav and Annette are living) is amazing. It's seriously one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. The are about a minute walk from this ridiculous redwood forest and 10 minutes from the beach in Santa Cruz. We went to the beach, took bike rides, went to the aquarium, ate at this great Irish pub, hung out in cool book stores, saw Blades of Glory (amazing), went to Vintage Faith on Sunday (Dan Kimball's church...awesome). It was a great week...restful and great time spent with friends.

Other side of the arguement

So this guy commented to my Global warming post and disagreed with what I was saying. I think it's important to hear both sides of any issue. I appreciated what he had to say and I have my ideas but I would like to hear what you think. Please respond and be nice :) Here's his post:

I guess my point on the "Global Warming" issue is that I remember when I was a kid, the air was dirtier, i remember how bad the smog could be, and i also remember being taught that because of pollution we were quickly entering a new ice age (1976.) Now the air is cleaner than it was back then and we are hearing that it is global warming? I like clean air, clean water, etc. I am not opposed to pollution controls but I believe there is nothing that will touch us that God hasn't allowed. This is April 17th and there is snow all around me in Scranton, PA. I would like to experience this global warming, trust God and break out the swimming trunks. I mean no offense, but the religion of environmentalism stands in opposition to the Alpha and Omega!

I'm back!!! The neck beard says it all!

You know it's been a good vacation when you come back rockin' a sweat neck beard! Santa Cruz was amazing. It was great spending time with the Osborne's (Not Ozzy and Sharon). Check out how my chest hair is trying to creep up into my neck. It's hard to tell where the beard ends and the chest hair begins. Don't be jealous! More pics to come from vacation in the near future.

For all my single peeps in the house

This guy, Love in Longbrake is money. I have no idea who he is, I just read his blog but he posts amazing stuff. Here's a great perspective on staying single. I apologize if I have ever said something dumb to my single friends.

Say it aint so...

Please tell me this is a joke. I apologize to anyone who doesn't follow Jesus. We have got to be the weirdest subculture I know of. Why can't we just throw shows?

Jesus died and now he lives

He's calling to death things in my life everyday so that I can live in the fullness of the kingdom that is here and yet to come. It's not just an old story that we hear once a year. Happy resurrection day!

Vacation is callin' my name

That's right folks. I'm leaving tomorrow morning. Actually, the mom of one of my good friends from up north passed away this last week. I'm going up to be at the funeral in Woodland tomorrow. From there I am heading to San Fransisco with my buddy Nate, pastor at the Stirring. (side note...I came up with that name and he stole it...it's all good). We are going to see Muse that night. Then I'm headed to Redding for a couple days to see old friends and chill. Then I'm driving back down to Santa Cruz to hang with Trav and his fam for the rest of the week. Alyssa and Zeke will be flying up to meet me as I'm driving down. I'm strangely looking forward to the drive and getting away for a little bit. I'm not really looking forward to the gas prices. (That's a whole different rant that I'll save for later!) I got my ipod stacked with podcasts and audio books. (Thanks Steve) I've got books that I'd like to read as well. Finish Sex God and Colossians Remixed, Start Jesus and Empire by Richard Horsley and The Heart of Christianity by Marcus Borg. I might blog when I'm gone...I might not. We'll see. I know your day really breaks down when I don't post anything so I'll see what I can do :)

The secret message of Easter

Novel concept

Randomly stumbles across this...
A farmer raises sheep. He has two ways to keep them in his pastures. The first option is to build a fence. This will keep his sheep inside, near home, and it will keep other animals out. His sheep are protected from all outside influences.
The second option is to dig a well. Yes, all of the animals in the region will water there, but the sheep will stay close.
People are rather like sheep--and our churches are rather like fenced pastures. But the Man we claim to follow, Jesus, claimed to be a spring of "living water". I believe Jesus is a well. He doesn't place fences around his believers, nor does he keep others at arm's length. Instead, he welcomes everyone to drink freely.

Tony C. throwin' down

If you have 11 minutes to watch this, it's worth every second.

Who's the idiot in this video?

I'm goin' with sweaty white guy. I like the "loser" artist. What do you think?

This is a must read

This is a story of a girl in Uganda. I have been reading this guys blog ever since the conference I went to at Mars Hill. It will take 5 minutes to read but you won't regret it!

What's your excuse?

What's wrong with these two pictures?

I took both of these pictures standing in the same place. How is that ok that we are putting that crap in the air within feet of the beautiful ocean that God has given us? Please don't tell me that is just steam!