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Today Alyssa and I got away to Chico.
Lunch at the Pita Pit...awesome
Went to see Get Smart...really funny
Nap
5th street Steakhouse...awesome
Hour of conversation at Starbucks with my wife...priceless
Thanks for watching the kids mom...we really needed this.
Be back tomorrow
This is a picture of me 9 months ago...September 12th 2007.
That was the last diet coke on record to enter my body.
I realize it's a coke zero...don't get hung up on the details...it's what I had at the time.
I was severely addicted to Diet Coke.
It helped me lose a lot of weight because I was drinking them for snacks in the middle of the day. Usually 3-5 cokes a day...sometimes more.
I decided I did not want any more of that crapito in my body and I gave it up cold turkey...not one more...I got all straight edge on it!
Still aspartame free today...livin' the good life!
It's harder to lose weight...I'm not gonna lie...but it's worth it.
Do I get a coin to carry around after a year?
What do you need to give up?
Tomorrow my mom shows up after the Stirring.
She's staying till Thursday then she's flying with Zeke back to Riverside for 10 days.
My mom and dad are going to drive back to Sacramento after the 10 days and we will meet them there, hang out, then drive Zeke back.
It will be good seeing mom. We really do miss our family. My mom is crazy about our kids and it's hard to get surrogate grandparents with that amount of craziness!
Alyssa and I didn't really get a chance to get away for our anniversary so we are sneaking away on Monday to Chico to stay for a night while my mom is with us...can't wait!
Tomorrow I'm leading worship at the Stirring...Ephesians 4...Nate's gonna bring it!
Chuck Norris has a unique gift to bring balance to a blog when it gets too serious.
Go check out the facts here...good times.
Which one's your favorite?
Here's mine: There is no chin behind Chuck Norris' beard. There is only another fist!
Christian sent me this a while ago. It's a great video with Chuck Colson, Greg Boyd and Shane Claiborne talking God and politics. If you know me I lean heavily on the Boyd, Claiborne side but there is some great discussion. Love to hear your thoughts.
I came across this today. I would never pay that kind of money for something like that but I wonder if this type of this is going to make books obsolete. It would save a lot of trees, and my backpack would weigh a lot less. It seems like the books version of moving from cd's to an ipod. I love the feel of a book and I highlight everything and write notes all over in the margins. Would you read a book like this?
Since the last weigh in I'm down another pound...183.4
What's cool is I have a whole new wardrobe that is waiting for me when about 5 more pounds come off. I have about 4 pairs of shorts, 2 pairs of jeans and a bunch of shirts that are getting close to becoming wearable again. I could care less about clothes or fashion (as most of you already know) but it will be something tangible to work towards. I tried to put a pair of the shorts on today and I'm not quite there yet. I could pull it off but my legs might turn purple and fall off because of lack of blood flow! Soon!
I'm riding my bike today.
I know by the time I get to work it will feel like I've smoked at least a pack of camels (not lights)
There's still smoke everywhere but I think I'll survive.
If you see me laying on the side of the road be a good Samaritan and put me on your donkey and pay for my medical bills and a couple nights at a hotel. Preferably something in the Super 8 range...those are classy!
Last night we are closing our Love and Respect group in prayer. Alyssa is praying and as the word amen is coming out of her mouth Tracy's phone goes off and it's Marvin Gaye's "Let's get it on." I started dying laughing, it was the greatest ending to a prayer in the history of prayer.
This is the only small group moment that tops that one...
We are sitting around in a circle in our first house in Riverside. We open our eyes from prayer and our dog Jonas has laid a hot piping loaf right in the center of our circle.
And weeks before that Jonas ate Philippians 2 out of Kyle's Bible...classic! I hated that dog.
Share your best small group moment...
if anyone cares. You can grab it here. I covered Ephesians 2:11-22. Love to get feed back.
Here's another excerpt from my book. It comes from the chapter: Coffee, Cohiba's and Newcastle
These are my thoughts. They don't represent any of the places I've ever been employed.
I get at the whole issue during the chapter but this is just to give you a taste. I'd love to hear your thoughts though. When I get the book blog set up I'm sure this will be the chapter with the most attention. Here goes...
My point is that if you are of age and you act responsibly and you’re not smoking something against the law I do not think there is anything wrong with drinking or smoking. Doing either in excess can be bad for you. But to be honest eating cheeseburgers in excess is probably worse for you. I think its funny that pastors can be morbidly obese and have completely unhealthy stress levels, neglect their families and have a ridiculous work-load but that’s considered part of the job. But if they have a beer with dinner or smoke a cigar with friends on occasion they are skating on the fringe of the dark side. It just seems to be pretty hypocritical.
I say lets try to be adults. Let’s start making grown up decisions. The issue is not black and white. There are times that it totally makes sense to refrain from doing something that would make others uncomfortable. There are other times were it would make all the sense in the world to celebrate or hang out with friends in this way. For some people like my parents the tension has caused them to totally abstain and I respect them greatly for that.
It’s just really weird to me that the most natural and deepest community I’ve ever shared with a group of people usually entailed doing all the things the church told me to stay away from growing up. Is that weird to anyone else?
Slept in
Family time
Good food
Read
Nap
Movie
Friends
More good food
Time with the wiffy
How was your day of rest?
This was the analogy that Nate gave me for what life looks like right now. I think that sums it up better than anything else. I feel like I have 28 crazy things in the air right now but I'm running forward and hoping they all stay in the air. There are a lot of loose ends and a lot of decisions that need to be made. Not a great combination. But I'm trying to spend a lot of time with Jesus and hoping he can juggle too! No complaints...God is awesome...I love what I'm doing...just trying not to get clocked in the head with one of those bowling pins!
Preachin' Ephesians 3
Love that surpasses knowledge.
Paul had all the knowledge in the world. Damascus changed everything.
Read it...give me some more ammunition.
I've been asked this question about 30 times over the course of my time being a pastor. I think it's pretty funny. People ask me what I do for a living...I tell them I'm a pastor...then they say, "I know you're a pastor but what do you really do for your job?" Hilarious!
I think I'm gonna try this out on some people. I'm going to ask teachers what they really do for a job. Hey mr. electrician...I know you play around with those different colored wires all day but what do you really do for a living?
Being a pastor is a people job so when people are around they get our attention. So I guess it could be easy to assume that all we do is hang out all week. It probably doesn't help that I do all of my studying at Starbucks because I don't function too well in an office.
So here's your chance. There's a handful of you that read this blog everyday. I'd love to hear what you do for a living...even if people don't think it's work. Sometimes I feel like I'm spilling my guts out into an empty void so this would help me get a better picture of all of you when I'm writing. Lets hear what you do...I want to hear from all of you!
My brother is a huge Laker fan. I can't stand them, but I gotta give it up to Mike...he never gives up on a team. He has been a fan of the Lakers, Chicago Bears and Dodgers since we were little kids. Maybe next year the Lakers will square off against my Pacers!
I'm watching "The Golden Compass" with my wife. I actually found myself dead asleep half way through it. It was probably Jesus making me sleepy to solidify my salvation and keep me away from the world's poison :) Too many things to keep up with in the movie. My brain already hurts with the amount of stuff I'm thinkin' about. I don't think it has room for Satanic movies right now!
So last week I ride my bike like crazy every day. This weekend I eat 3 slices of pizza for the first time in forever...get on the scale...lose 2 pounds!
184.4 pounds
Exactly 10 pounds less then what I started at, I'm stoked!
I have no idea how weight loss works. My new theory is lots of pizza!
Thanks for keeping me accountable.
175...here I come.
I've had some people asking about a copy of the poem from this week. For my old school Porch peeps this will sound real familiar.
EVERYONE is welcome inside
the sinners and saints
the frail and the faint
the rich and the homeless
the happy the hopeless
the red and the yellows
the hyper the mellow
the blacks the whites
the ones that start fights
the gays and straight
the true the fake
the simple the scholar
the open the follower
the addict the abused
the forgotten the used
the liar the cheater
the gossip the stealer
the shorts and the sandaled
the dockers and pleats
the tattoos and piercings
the prudes and the freaks
the punks and straight laced
the old and baby faced
the jocks and geeks
the timid and meek
the married and single
the ones that just mingle
the widow the divorced
the one’s flying off course
the atheist and skeptic
the one’s that don’t accept it
the muslim and mormon
the believer in God’s son
WE ALL NEED GOD’S GRACE
WE ALL NEED A FRIENDLY FACE
WE ALL NEED A PLACE TO FEEL SAFE
I John 3:18
Let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions. NLT
