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The prez is comin' to Redding tomorrow. I'm gonna make my way to Air Force one and see if he'll sponsor me for Hackfest. I heard Bush is pumped on the Stirring's first church plant so I'm thinkin' I can get at least 20 bucks out of him. Keep your fingers crossed!
Today I was reminded of my tendency to be a ding dong. I made some remarks in the last couple days that sat wrong with a friend and they let me know. It was brought up intentionally...it was straight to the point...I left understanding how I made this person feel...and I was given a chance to talk about my feeling on the subject.
I love the community I'm surrounded with at the Stirring. Everything is current. I piss you off and you let me know, I have a chance to apologize and we get over it and move on. No built up bitterness towards anyone...no walking on egg shells...it's how things should operate!
Staying current and being honest should mark every Christian community but it doesn't. As we are being transformed more and more into the image of Christ we need to be speaking the truth in love to our brothers and sisters that have signed up to follow Jesus. It should just be a normal part of community. Why do we shy away from confrontation? Thoughts?
I can't imagine what Joel Osteen feels like getting to talk to that many people every week. It's taken me a couple years to get this voice. I'd probably be trying to do something big like stop the wars in the world and start feeding hungry people and maybe getting some folks to care about the earth...just a couple ideas. When my blog is reaching 40,000 a week it's on like Donkey Kong!
And Joel while your at it...use your influence in Texas to get the Astro's back in those jersey's from the 80's...classic!
Drove to Sac this morning to pick up Zeke after 10 days with my folks in Riverside...he had a blast. My mom got his hair cut and he kind of looks like Loyd from Dumb and Dumber but it's all good. It's awesome to have him back. We picked up a bed for Sof at Ikea because the crib is going to Moses. Sofia and Zeke are officially sharing a room. Sofia fell out of her bed tonight...glad we got that out of the way in the first night.
The countdown is on...27 days...crazy!
I put the 3rd car seat in our Vue tonight so we would start feeling the weight of what the heck is happening to us. It's starting to become real...wow!
I'm a dad with a car that has three car seats...when in the world did that happen?
This guys blog is awesome. He pairs up some well known pastors as superhero's. Thought it was fitting with the conversations we've been having at the Stirring.
So yesterday morning I got a call from the manager from the place we're moving into and she tells me we don't qualify! Five days of jumping through every hoop on earth to get in...she says the whole time that everything is perfect...she actually told me she'd call in the morning just to tell me that everything was ready but instead I got the shut down phone call. She fought for us but the person that owns the place wasn't havin' it for some unknown reason.
SUCKS!!!
Felt like someone kicked me in the teeth. Alyssa and I had both really come to agreement on moving and we were stoked. Alyssa's mom was flying out to help us pack up the house. We down scaled a bunch of stuff and started putting things in boxes. Super frustrating. I guess we are supposed to be here longer for some reason. Oh well.
I was talkin' to some dudes about Ephesians 4 and 5 yesterday and we got on the topic of greed. God is really calling us to be a family that is marked by generosity. Somewhere along the line that distinction has been really blurred in the church. When the church is really living out its call in the world it is always subverting the predominant trends in culture. When the culture is calloused and immoral sexually, the church should be showing the world through our relationships and marriages what God is like. When the culture is angry and hates and demeaning towards segments of society we should be a refuge of reconciliation and love. I think the one that's really hard for us is greed. When the culture around us is bent on more and is never satisfied we should be sharing our stuff, balancing injustice, bringing people into our homes, not living in excess, and living out of contentment.
I gave the example of the goal of our living situations in the US.
If you're poor and living in the ghetto you are most likely living in an apartment. More than likely you've got some extended family living with you to lower the bills. People are always around and in your business because of the close proximity. The goal is to move out of that situation and get into a house and to lose the extra family or friends living with you. Preferably a house with a garage that's attached to the house so you can pull in and not have to deal with neighbors. The goal after the first house is the second house that is bigger and further away from neighbors because you need your space. Then you're looking for the huge house in the gated community and now someone needs to know 4 digits to come see you and a guard gives you the "once over" if you look a little shady.
Greed breeds isolation. Our desire for more drives us further away from people. The American Dream is a joke and has nothing to do with living in the way of Jesus. Jesus said he's going to prepare a place for us in his fathers house. (John 14:1-4) That is wedding language talking of a groom that goes to add a room onto his fathers house to bring his bride back to. Only the Father can tell the son when the room is ready. Then the son goes and brings the wife to live with him and his family. Living in real community is what eternity is going to be like. I have a feeling "mansions" are going to have no place in the new heavens and new earth. I'm pretty sure we'll know our neighbors and be close to each other. Wouldn't it make sense for us to start practicing for eternity now? Just some thoughts. What do you think?
Satan
The anti-christ
Kirk Cameron and bad eschatology
The nature of evil
Hell
Nah...Let's tackle "the rapture" that'll be fun. Ok so I might get into some Kirk Cameron stuff.
If anyone starts getting crazy on this post I will shut it down...fair warning. I just want thoughts...not attacks.
For those of you that read my blog and aren't steeped in church culture...the rapture is a made up name that the church came up with to describe what will happen at the second coming of Jesus. There's some trumpets, Jesus appears, (I Thes. 4:16-18)we are zapped up to heaven in the twinkling of an eye (I Cor. 15:51-53), and people that don't know Jesus are avoiding un-manned, out of control cars on the freeway and then the world blows up. There are some variations to that train of thinking such as: tribulations, 1000 year reigns, I'm not gonna get into all of it. I have been refining my thoughts on this subject for my whole life.
Ultimately I believe Jesus is coming back!
How he decides to do that is his business. If I've got it all wrong I'm ok with that. If I end up chillin' on some clouds with a harp but I'm with Jesus...I'm good. I don't think that's what the Bible teaches but I'm not arrogant enough to think that everything I think about God is spot on. I've refined my positions on a ton of things so I'm open to growing and refining more.
I really like what N.T. Wright has to say about "life after life after death." Revelation 21:1-5 talks about a new heavens and new earth that we look forward to and God's dwelling with his people. He's written two amazing books that get at this. Simply Christian and Surprised by Hope. Here's a little taste from Surprised by Hope (122)
Most first-century Jews, and virtually all early Christians believed that history was going somewhere under the guidance of God and that where it was going was toward God's new world of justice, healing, and hope. The transition from the present world to the new one would be a matter not of the destruction of the present space-time universe but of its radical healing.That's the hope that I'm looking forward to. What are your thoughts? Be nice.
I THINK WE'RE MOVING!
Not back to Riverside...sorry mom.
About a block down the street.
We're ironing out the last details.
We qualified for some apartments that hook you up based on your income...God bless America!
We will save a bunch of money a month which will be awesome.
The only problem is I can't find a pause button for creepy floating baby.
We're moving in the last month of pregnancy...at least it wasn't 118 degrees today...oh wait...it was!
It's a three bedroom...smaller than our place now but all we need.
No garage...that will be interesting.
We've been married for 9 years and lived in 8 places...my wife is amazing!
1. Parkwest apartments (much love to Azoulay ct. Good times with the Yoders)
2. Grandpa's house (during the Ember days)
3. Linwood (built in 1914...hands down coolest house ever)
4. Rangpur (stupid house...way too big...trying to build my empire...learned my lesson)
5. Palm (lived on a freeway next to tweekers...killer fireworks show...added 800 square feet...good times)
6. Mt. Diablo (great house...still renting it out)
7. Sunset Oaks townhomes (it's been a good 6 months...we'll miss the pool...Thanks for getting us in Don)
8. Shadowbrook apartments (here we come)
Stay tuned for details of when. I will put out a shameless announcement to get people to help. Don't worry...it's supposed to be really cold in a week!
My life is hilarious.
182.0 this morning
That's down 1.4 pounds since the last weigh in...12.4 total pounds down
It's going slow but I'm stoked that it's still comin' off
I didn't write anything down the last couple weeks, I'm gonna get back on that.
Sean and I passed up some rice crispy sample thingys this morning at Starbucks.
It's easier to say no when you're with a friend that's trying to say no too.
Gotta get back on the bike. Next week is supposed to be less hot (and smokey I hope)
Here I come 175...I'm gonna own you!
I was driving to work this morning (refuse to bike when it's 115 degrees outside) and I saw this guy in a huge truck with his finger in his nose up to the knuckle. He was really going for it. I couldn't take my eyes off of him. As a turned the corner I felt this strange urge to jam my finger in my nose...it was weird. It was like my finger just knew what to do when it saw another finger serving its whole purpose being thrust into a nostril.
So here's my question...I know yawning is contagious, but what about picking your nose? Anyone else ever experience this? Am I alone?
Side note: There's a lot of crazy stuff going down right now with RevRock and I can't get myself to blog about it yet so I'm leaving you with everything my brain can handle...fingers, knuckles, and noses.
Side note...I've used the word knuckles more in the last few days then I have in my entire life time.
Pray for us...we've got some decisions to make...all good stuff...don't worry!
The Dunlap's have officially entered the blog world. Go give them some blog love.
When we left Riverside these were two of our hardest goodbyes.
Love you guys! Keep the blogs comin.
This is part one if you're late to the conversation.
Here's the final question you have to ask yourself when you enter the realm of shaving your arms...what do you do with the knuckles???
I shave my arms because my arm hair is like Sherwood forest and my tattoos become unrecognizable under the fury coat.
I usually shave my arms about once a month with the clippers. You always get to the end and ask yourself...do I leave the knuckle hair?
It looks kind of weird to have baby smooth arms and fury knuckles so I went for it today!
I am also now convinced that I should never make important decisions when I'm grooming because I think of the strangest things during these moments in my life.
Until next Sunday...
Tonight we are getting into Ephesians 4.
Last week Nate started the chapter but spent the whole night talking about verse one. We talked about three words in the verse: live, worthy, received. Podcast should be up soon. It was awesome!
Tonight we are going to talk about the type of church we want to become.
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.Everyone's a minister. God has placed you in your family, your neighborhood, your job, your city for a reason. Live out that calling in every way possible. The only reason we have leadership in the church is to empower and equip all the other ministers through the week. We spend a good portion of our week trying to replace ourselves. We want to be known for our team, our community, not our superstars. (Maybe that's why God hasn't given us any superstars but a bunch of messed up, goofy followers of Jesus!) If you had to give us a grade at the Stirring for our "teamness" (an amazing word that I just made up) what would you give us and why? We are trying to grow in this area and we'd love to hear your feedback.
Our fan is two feet from our bed cranked on high.
Our ceiling fan is on high.
I now share my bed with a body pillow and an almost 8 month pregnant wife.
I had a dream last night I was in the Wizard of Oz and my house was being taken away in a tornado but I woke up and it was just the wind storm that I now call my bedroom.
What's awesome is that Redding hasn't even shown its full fury yet. Bring it on July and August!
Saturday July 12th, 11-1:30pm
Mom's show up with their kids at 11am at the Nazarene church.
We're taking portraits of the moms with their kids that we will print off and give as gifts.
Mom's leave the kids, we have a crew that will spoil the kiddos.
Mom's carpool with another crew that is taking them to Tierra Oaks for lunch...our treat.
While they're gone we got a crew that will be washing and detailing their cars.
We have 6 moms right now and we can take around 10. Know a single mom that needs some love? Send em' our way.
I can't think of a harder job in the world then raising your kids by yourself. We want to be the kind of community that takes care of our single moms!
Our hope is that this one event will turn into long term investment in the lives of these families. We want to be a church that is known for our love...anyone down to help?
My mom leaves tomorrow at 6am and she's takin' Zeke for 10 days.
He's gonna be rockin' swim lessons, VBS, chillin' with family and Riverside friends.
He'll get spoiled out of his mind.
It's gonna be really weird just havin' Sof with us. She's gonna be super bored. No one beating her up every five minutes...what will she do?
It's gonna be the longest that we've been away from Zeke...it will be strange...quiet...and not as much fun!
In just over a month we'll have 3 so we will take a long deep breath for 10 days and prepare ourselves!
My parents are driving up and we'll meet them in Sac on the 14th.
Does that countdown seriously say 39 days till the baby comes???!!?
I just threw up in my mouth.
Tasted like bloomin' onion.
At least there's no other stress in our life right now :)
I don't know if that smiley conveys sarcasm but it should!
I'm starting to take sign ups for baby sitting.
Our kids are super easy :)
There's that smiley again.
If you'd like to hear the podcast it's right here. Paul shares his story then prays that we would understand God's love that surpasses knowledge. Thoughts???
Alyssa and I realized something weird as we were out at coffee last night. We were actually having time to talk and think without kids and it was amazing. We realized we should probably finalize the name for the baby and we are going with Moses. Unless Jesus wakes us up and tells us we have to name him something else.
While we were on the subject of Moses we started talking about the amount of people that are so excited to see who he will look like. We've had countless people ask us, "aren't you so excited to see who he's going to look like?" It's weird but neither of us have thought about that at all. This might we the weird piece of having two adopted kids but it hasn't crossed our minds at all that there is a pretty good chance that this kid is going to look a lot like both of us. Is that weird?
Most people are like, "oh I hope he gets my eyes, and her hair, etc..."
We just honestly thought about it for the first time last night and thought that was kind of strange. The only thing I hope for my son is that he gets my wifes looks (without lookin' like a chic) if that's possible, and that he gets my hair, my height, my humongous forehead, my two bottom front teeth that are yellow because they got the enamel knocked off of them when I was a baby, my crazy chest hair, and has good skin for tattoos! If he gets all that I'd be stoked.
What's funny is that both of our kids already look like me.
God is pretty hilarious though...I bet Moses comes out and is the one kid in our family that looks nothing like us...what if?
