.jpg)
Posts
All Comments
Happy Sof
Not happy Sof
This picture is better than birth control. I think I'm gonna save this one and give it to my kids and the people they choose to date to remind them what kids are like and that they can wait till they're married to have sex!
Last night Nate wrapped up our "When God Dreams" series with a message on encouragement. He talked about how Jonathan's armor bearer isn't the focus of the story in I Samuel 14 but how crucial he is to the story. We want to create a culture at the Stirring where people are living out God's dreams and they are encouraged and supported in every way possible. We need those people in our lives that are speaking words of life into us. I shared at the end that Nate has been huge for me in this area. If left to my own thoughts I naturally find the negative and I can be very cynical. I also find that my attitude is shaped by the people I spend the most time with. In moving to Redding I had several conversations with Nate where he spoke hope and encouragement into my life. He brought out the things that God has put inside me and it has changed me into a different person. I want to be that person for others now. I want to be an armor bearer for people in our community. I want to speak God's words of life into people. If you are not a Redding person you should really go here and listen to this last series on line...the teachings are really shaping what we want to become as a church!
...when my son could fit into his Weezer shirt. It still doesn't fit too good but who cares...it's Weezer. How cool is this band? Never change their logo...just rockin' the arial font...writin' great songs. Quick poll: Favorite Weezer songs
1. My name is Jonas
2. Only in Dreams (best bass line ever written)
3. Pink Triangle (that was a joke)
Ok...what's your favorite Weezer song?
N.T. Wright has a new book coming out and I'm just hearing about it now. It comes out in two days. Do yourself a favor and pre order. Here's the tag line...Rethinking Heaven, The Resurrection, and the Mission of the church. Can't wait. I've been needing a new book to dive into.
I noticed a couple of days ago that Erica is having this same problem with her kids. Both of my kids love dog food. We pull Sofia out of the dish at least 5 times a day. And now Zeke is intrigued by things he's never tried. Today he asked if he could have a dog treat (see pic). My new response is..."sure!" I'm tired of saying no 400 times a day. So he takes a huge chomp out of the treat and gives me this face like, "why in the world did you let me do that?" He tries to play it off but then I see him spit it out and go for his juice. Earlier this morning he wanted to eat a coffee bean. I said, "sure!"
Please hold back all of your Father of the Year nominations...I get embarrassed when people recognize me for my superior parenting skills!
Side note...please don't call CPS on us for my sons forehead. He headbutted the counter yesterday.
I've been looking at my blog and realizing that I need to spruce it up. I haven't given any link love in forever. I apologize to all of you that should be on my blog roll. I haven't added anyone from Redding...basically I've been slacking. I like the way that wordpress sights look but I have a feeling that they are a lot more work. Any ideas. I could reskin the sight with a new template but I'm not sure that will change very much. Ideas???
.jpg)
This is a picture of my son after he took some scissors this morning and decided to cut his bangs off. You can't really tell in the picture but he was a spitting image of Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber.jpg)
This picture was taken half way through me hacking Zeke's hair off..jpg)
This was the final product. He was really happy with me.
This hair cut was in response to Zeke's school. They told us that to keep up with the dress code we had to cut his hair! You know I always respond well to issues like that so I decided to stick it to the man by shaving it all off. It's a non-violent protest. I'm planning on doing a sit-in next week.
Now you can check in with weird floating baby on the sidebar of my blog everyday to keep up with our pregnancy! I like to call him Moses...but you probably already knew that! Casey has a weird floating baby on her blog. I had to drop Casey from my reader because I couldn't keep up with the overwhelming amount of blogs she is pumping out :)
Come on Case...you started this whole blog mess...we need more love!
I love that on a weekly basis I see a ton of blogs talking about their Sabbath now. Nate has just started his own blog and he blogged about his Sabbath this week. Everything is new right now so it is taking me a while to find my rhythm with Sabbath. They say the three most stressful times in your life come with 1) You move 2) You get a new job 3) You have a baby. Just in case you're keeping score that is check 1, check 2, check 3 for the Lance family! New friends, new neighbors, new stores, no Trader Joes, (but take heart world...one is coming!), new office, new church, new school for Zeke, no family, new sleeping patterns, new feelings of have no idea what to do with a biological baby that actually comes out of your wife...you get the picture. Along with all this my new Sabbath is Monday...still getting used to that. And I usually shut my phone off but now we don't have a home line. That shouldn't really change anything but now I have this overwhelming sense that the world is going to fall apart and no one is going to be able to get a hold of me. Again I need to remind myself that I am not important! Anyways, I am in process. Yesterday was relaxing...all day with family. Food, wrestling, movies, books and laughs.
I love my new life...it's just taking a while to get used to it!
Thanks for all the love with the pregnant news...it's fun to be able to share your joy with your world!
are you ready for this???
not yet...
now...
not sure...
here comes the biggest news in the last 7 years of Lance history...
now are you ready???
still not sure...
hold on to your hats and glasses...
Alyssa is PREGNANT!!!! We're having a baby!!!
For those of you that know our story...this is a miracle in every sense of the word. We have struggled with infertility for 7 years.
I remember pleading with God almost 5 years ago for a child and we became parents in a day to Zeke. Last year we brought Sofia home and now I'm gonna be the dad of three...what the heck!! We waited to let people know because we wanted to make sure that everything was ok with the baby. Alyssa is over 4 months along...check out that belly! She is doing amazing. I think it's going to be a boy and if it is his name is Moses! Alyssa is pulling for a girl so we'll see who has the better prayer life. I can't believe we are going to be a family of 5!
God is awesome.
That's all I have to say about that.
Bomb officially detonated!.jpg)
It's been a long time.
Last week I was meeting with the Stirring leadership in the Bethel prayer chapel early in the morning. I watched the sun come up over the mountains and I was reminded that God starts every morning by flooding light into darkness. What a picture of what he is consistently doing in this world. Then I thought of the beating of my heart, reminding me that God is holding everything together. Stuff that is always there but sometimes it just hits you in a huge way. Here's what I wrote.
Cant' hold back the morning
Every morning you arise you flood the earth with light
Reminding us that you will never change
The beating drum within our hearts the rhythm held within your life
Reminding us that you will never change. You will never change
Because when you appear you drive out the fear
And in your light there’s nowhere to hide
Every day the same story Evening can’t hold back the morning
And creation is longing to be bathed in your glory
Everyday the same story Evening can’t hold back the morning
And creation is longing for you
I hope to start recording some things soon. I like how it turned out. It's nice to be writing again.
Redding local commercials have to be the most hilarious things you've ever seen. We just saw a car commercial that had a guy that painted his face green, wearing a fuzzy green body suit, and a kermit the frog taped to his head jumping around the cars yelling REBATE...REBATE...REBATE.
Hilarious!
So the Stirring community of bloggers is starting to take off. Go check out the blog roll on the side. It seems like I'm adding people every day. The Riverside crew is in full effect. Why is it that I'm having a hard time finding the motivation to blog? Could it be that I am sick again...that's right folks...I can count on one hand that amount of days I've been well in Redding. Honestly, I don't think that's it. I'm enjoying reading other blogs and sitting back like a proud papa of two really cool blogging communities. I think you should all become friends and then my joy would be complete. I just sounded like the apostle Paul.
Anyways...I'm hoping the fire will come back soon. Keep givin' love to the Rev...you know he always brings the rock!
I was at the C3 conference in Dallas and we were super busy. They had a ton of sessions and we spent a lot of time talking about where the Stirring is going. It was a great time. The speakers were really good...T.D. Jakes can throw down. I'm so mad that I didn't take a picture of our sleeping arrangements. Nate and I shared a double bed...it was amazing! He wrapped himself completely in a sheet to avoid any accidental touching. There's a lot of ways to grow close to your staff but I can't think of anything that will do it quicker than sharing a double bed!
So Nate, Patrick, Nate's dad (Dale) and myself are in Texas for a few days at the creative church conference. Felt like we were traveling all stinkin' day. Up at 5am...took off at 7am...2.5 hour layover in Denver with delays...delays on the plane on the way to Dallas...get a rental car...get to the hotel...don't even get out...check in and drive for an hour looking for the church...find it...go through the first session...come home...drop off Nate who's felt like he's gonna puke all day...grab some Burger King...nasty...blog...bed. I'll let you know how tomorrow goes.
Last night we had Sean and Rebecca and their two little ones (Skylar and Caleb) over for dinner. Sean is the executive chef at Tierra Oaks so Alyssa was having panic attacks about the meal but she knocked it out of the park. Chicken Marsala, rice pilaf, bread and this salad that was amazing. We had a great time. It's nice to start making memories with new people. When you first move to a place it's kind of like summer camp and there's this weird feeling like you'll be headed back home soon. But that feeling is starting to wear off little by little and nights like last night are making it a lot easier. Thanks Gafners!
The church is the single, multi ethnic family promised by the creator God to Abraham. It was brought into being through Israel's Messiah, Jesus; it was energized by god's Spirit; and it was called to bring the transformative news of god's rescuing justice to the whole creation. pg. 200
N.T. Wright (Simply Christian)
Nate and I snuck out last night for the late showing of There Will Be Blood. Daniel Day Lewis does some of the best acting I've ever seen. He's one of those guys that isn't in a ton of movies but every one he's in is epic. I've seen him in Gangs of New York, Last of the Mohican's, In the name of the father...great in every one. I could talk for a long time about this movie but it needs to be experienced. Any one else see it yet?
Bought this CD for Alyssa on Valentines Day...it rules. First song seriously blows my mind. The passion, dynamics and harmonies that come out of two people, an acoustic and a piano are ridiculous. Go see the movie, go buy the soundtrack, it doesn't disappoint.
We went to Tierra Oaks for dinner with 3 other couples and had a great time. Our friend Sean is the executive chief there and he makes amazing food.
I love my wife...she blows my mind. Our first date was on a Valentines day thing our church put together. I was 17 and she was 16. That gives us 14 years of being together. I'm 31 now and I love her more every year that I get to know her. It's amazing that you can know a person better than anyone else in the world and still learn things all the time. I'm a lucky man. I love you Alyssa!
Up at 4am for some reason...come down stairs and start reading the bible. We are talking about new heavens and new earth this week at the Stirring. There is so much to chew off...I can't read fast enough. 7am is prayer with Nate and the advisory team. 8-11am. Nate and I at our weekly Starbucks ritual of caffeine, bible, dreaming, N.T. Wright, questions, journal, talk about Life Groups and sermon. Back to the office...meet with the principal of Cypress elementary school at 3pm...we are raising money with our music, art and film festival to purchase school supplies and basic necessities to kids that live in poverty...the school is pumped. We are starting a long time relationship with this community and school. Painting, making films, designing their school shirts, moving some sheds, sanding some chairs. Lots of needs...can't wait to get started. Then we went to city hall. The mayor and city councilman was there. A teacher from the Stirring created a program with her students to prepare them for the work place...awesome stuff. They are talking about starting the program throughout the county. Came home, dinner with the fam, ichat with mom, movie, bed. What does tomorrow hold?
Yesterday was the first time in a month that my throat felt good. I was so pumped that this thing was ending. Today I woke up and the above pictured part of my throat is killing me. I've got to get this figured out...it's killing me.
Side note: When did my chest hair get so out of control? There is very little distinction between where my beard ends and my chest hair begins.
Side note 2: Yes...that is my Cush shirt that I have been rockin' since 2000. Steve and I have the same shirt and we still wear it. I rock mine almost every morning and when I work out. It's more pink than it is red now but I'm down with pink. At least the neck isn't stretched out. :)
Side note 3: If you don't owe Cush's first album your life is not complete...period!
I just posted on the Stirring blog about last night. If you play guitar you will feel my pain...if you don't you'll still realize what an idiot I am. How many times have you done this Adam and Mike?
Trav, Annette and the kiddos came up for a couple of days. Today we went to the snow to go sledding. We had a lot of fun...although both of our kids sound like they have the bubonic plague and Jonah's asthma flared up because of our dog. We found our way around all that and had some great time hanging out. It's always great to hang with the Osborne's and we miss them a ton.
This picture sums up every snow experience we've ever had with Zeke. When you tell him we're going to the snow he will talk about it non-stop for two weeks. When you actually get to the snow he will lay down and cry for 90% of the time. Seriously...the picture says it all. And no...that's not Zeke's powder blue puffy jacket. We forgot his so he's sporting one of Payton's extra jackets!
This last pic is our daughter dressed like the abominable snowman and rockin' the slopes for the first time.
I've been at the blog thing for about a year and four months now. I'm averaging about a post a day. There's a ridiculous crew in Riverside that blogs now and the Redding crew is just getting started. I'd love to hear who's been comin' around revrock since the beginning and who's new. It's been a fun ride. Posting has been a little more sporadic in Redding but I'm still trying to find my rhythm up here. My blog is kind of random if you haven't picked up on that yet. I post about family, kingdom, sports, music, books, politics, non sense and funny stuff. It's a way for me to decompress my day and stay connected with people. I love the fact that I still have a community in Riverside that I can keep up with through their blogs. Anyways...sound off if you're a Revrock regular. It's party time...500 posts baby!!!
Did anyone see this comin? I already loved watchin' the Suns. Now I don't have to watch Marion launch up those ugly 3's!
And let be just get it out there before I get some Laker fans on here talkin' about Pau Gasol. The Lakers are still horrible...now they just have a real tall, awkward guy in the middle!
I'm still voting for Jesus in '08 but I'm thinkin' it would be pretty cool if we didn't have a ding dong in the white house so I'm headin' out to vote. Alyssa and I didn't declare a party when we moved so we can vote in the Democratic primary and the final election. For some reason you have to be registered Republican to vote Republican...doesn't make a lot of since. I'm not giving away who I'm voting for but the name starts with a letter towards the beginning of the alphabet...followed by another word for stone....middle name is the last name of a deceased dictator from the middle east...last name rhymes with yo mama! (No one's figurin' that one out) I got love for other candidates...who you voting for? Is that illegal to share in cyber space? Leave it in code like I did and no one will ever know.
...was so much fun at the Stirring. I posted some thoughts here. I was leading worship at the 7 o'clock gathering and we ended with the song, "God of Justice" by Tim Hughes. It was the first time a lot of people had heard the song but they were really diggin' it. We kept the music going and I was singing and all of a sudden I look down and Nate hands his handheld mic to Jake. Nate gives me the keep playing look (you've gotta be a musician to know that look!) Jake starts bustin' into "The enemy has been defeated" by Hillsong. It was amazing. The song had the same chords...he realizes it...the message is perfect with what Nate has been talking about...so he starts leading everyone from the front row...it was awesome!
Then we have this older gentleman that has been coming to the Stirring that gets up to pray. He has been meeting with us about his heart for Ghana. He's from Ghana himself and his prayer was ridiculous. It was one of those times that no one plans for but turns out better than something we could of planned out for 30 years. Great night.
I've been trying to upload pics on my last three posts and it hasn't let me. Is it a blogger thing or am I doing something wrong?
In retrospect...given the choice now...I'm not sure what I would chose.
It sounded like a good idea. I needed a desk for work and we need a desk at the house.
IKEA is no longer 45 minutes away for us. 2.5 hours down and 2.5 hours back makes for quite a day with the kids and a sick wife. Getting the desks into the car is being written into history right behind the miracle of turning water into wine...it was out of control. There were boxes looming over both of our kids car seats in pretty precarious positions. It was raining...windy...freezing. For some reason we ended getting the kids in and out of the car 37 times. I was so stressed out when we left that I ran through McDonald's and ordered a hot fudge sundae and a large diet coke. I haven't had diet coke or aspartame for 4 or 5 months now. It was crazy...I used to live on diet coke and now it tastes like battery acid! The sundae was amazing though. And those little Swedish meatballs were a little bit of heaven.
We made it home...we have two desks...we have two headaches!
What do you think? It's total bare bones...no pics...no nothin'. What are some things that you think would be cool for our church's blog? Does anyone want to make it really cool and show me how to do a word press site? That was a huge hint Ian if you weren't picking up on it...but I'm not going to use any names.
Jesus Manifesto is keepin' it real. Great voter guide. I'm goin' with Jesus in '08!
Isaiah 42:1-9
5 God, the Lord, created the heavens and stretched them out.
He created the earth and everything in it.
He gives breath to everyone,
life to everyone who walks the earth.
And it is he who says,
6 “I, the Lord, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness.
I will take you by the hand and guard you,
and I will give you to my people, Israel,
as a symbol of my covenant with them.
And you will be a light to guide the nations.
7 You will open the eyes of the blind.
You will free the captives from prison,
releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.
8 “I am the Lord; that is my name!
I will not give my glory to anyone else,
nor share my praise with carved idols.
9 Everything I prophesied has come true,
and now I will prophesy again.
I will tell you the future before it happens.”
...and two didn't show up. I guess I should watch how excited I get when I talk about community...people are taking it seriously! I think our group is going to be rad. People seem excited to go over the Book of Luke. We are going to go through The Voice of Luke which ties in a lot of context and background to the scriptures. We also talked about this last weekend when I shared and thought of ways that we can include the least in our family. I got a tent for the two homeless women I ran into on Monday. We have someone that helps with a free dental clinic at the shelter twice a week that we might be getting involved with, and we are thinking of ways to contribute to our art and film festival that is raising money for Cypress school (an under resourced elementary school in downtown.) Not bad for two meetings together. I'm really excited about the direction our group is heading. I just hope we can fit everyone in our house!
Today was great. I was exhausted from last night and Alyssa let me sleep in...she's awesome. Hung out with the kids till it was time for Zeke to go to school. We went to our weekly Monday lunch at Chipotle. He eats rice with a couple bites of chicken and I usually get a chicken bowl. He spilled his water everywhere which was awesome. I took him to school. Went to work out. The whole time I was working out I saw these to homeless women holding signs outside a McDonalds. As I left I asked them if they'd had lunch...they hadn't...we had some lunch. Dawn and Holly. They were sleeping in a tent. They said it was so cold last night that they woke up this morning with wet shoes that had actually frozen to their feet and they had to pry them off with tent stakes. I asked if there was anything specific they needed and they said a sleeping bag. I told em my buddy TJ is collecting bags for people that need them, so I hooked them up with him. I got two big stinky hugs as I left. Came home...took a nap while Sofia was sleeping...went to pick up Zeke. Made our first trip to the mall to exchange some Christmas stuff. Came home for nachos...We're about to put the kids to bed. It's been a good day of rest. Ready to get at it tomorrow!
When God dreams is the series we're in. My message in a sentence is...When God dreams he sees everyone in families...especially the least. I'm showing God's plan for family throughout the story...Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, the Prophets, the Psalms, Jesus, the early church, Paul, James, and Revelation. Then I'm contrasting God's dream with the American Dream. The question after all that is what would it look like if God's dream for families was a reality in Redding? I've got two questions at the end of the night: 1)Do you have family? 2)Are you inviting others into that family...especially the least?
I'll let you know how it goes. Pray that I have my voice by then!
So last night we have a gathering at my house with some people that want to get a better understanding of the Stirring community. So Nate (no blog yet???) and his wife Erica (great blog) come over and we have a group of us hangin' out in our living room. For some odd reason we bring up the word placebo in a story. It becomes painfully obvious that Nate does not know what the word means when I call him on it and he says..."oh yeah, like in that song that the band Live sings." Immediately I knew what he was referring to and I said, "actually, that's not even close to what placebo means and things just got weird!" Here's the lyrics to the song. The word is the second word in the second line of the song. I'm pretty sure that's not a placebo!
Nate turned red and I died with laughter. Good times!
After four different days and 6 total hours on the phone (refer to earlier post) I am officially cutting Dish Network out of my life. It's been a good relationship for 3.5 years but the breakup has been brutal. You broke me down and you broke my bank. I don't want to just be friends...I prefer just loathing you! This is now how we roll when we watch TV. I turn the couch 90 degrees and we watch full episodes of stuff on our Mac.
And here's my other beef. We had a 4 month relationship with Netflix and has officially crashed and burned. It doesn't hurt as bad because we don't have the history that we had with Dish. For the second time they sent us a DVD that has a huge crack in it. It wouldn't even read that a DVD was in the player...good times.
I'm actually excited about this new season of life. We hate TV anyway. We only watch a couple shows anyways and you can watch most of them on the computer. It's hard when you have kids because you put them down at 8pm and there's no leavin' the house together. And you can only play so much Scrabble and Parcheezee (we don't own either of those...just making a point).
So here's the new plan...prepare yourself...
No more regular TV watching...occasional couch turning TV watching on my 20" Mac screen that won't really show full screen so you're looking at about a 16" screen. No more Net Flix. We are going to Hollywood Video...they have a deal for $15 a month were you can rent 3 movies at a time...bring em back within 5 days and rent 3 more (unlimited rentals a month). I'll tell you how it goes.
This long standing relationship with my TV is something I've been trying to walk away from for a long time. Thanks Dish Network for taking $350 from me and forcing my hand. I already feel better without you.
BTW...As I was in the crescendo of my breakup with Dish I informed them that I was going to tell everyone that I thought would listen that I think they're the worst company on the face of the planet. So there it is world...Death to Dish Network!!!
In retrospect I think it's exactly what Jesus would do :)
I'm a jerk
Now I'm off to pray
Just wrapped up our first group and I'm really excited about it. We had no idea what to expect. We had 15 total and 2 that are gonna show up next week. The group is stoked to serve together, and live out what we've been talking about at our Sunday gatherings. I think we are going to go through one of the gospels and I'm gonna supplement a bunch of context from books that talk about the political, social, and economic climate that Jesus entered into in his ministry...if you don't know...I'm a junkie when it comes to that stuff...should be amazing. I'm just excited to start living this out with a group of people. 17 groups started this week plus about 10 that aren't being advertised. I'm sharing on Sunday about God's dream for everyone to have family...especially the least. Can't wait. Hope I have a voice by then!
My wife can capture moments like no ones business! This picture sums up life in a house with 4 sick people...good times. Pray for our wellness.
This is the bank outside our townhome this afternoon. I couldn't make a snowman or anything but it was still pretty exciting. My kids were lovin' it.
Adult admission for a movie ticket (full price, no matinée, no coupon, not a senior, not a student) = $7.25
When we were out at our District conference I saw Juno for the second time. It's amazing. Great characters...great story
Tonight I went to The Great Debaters with Alyssa. Moms in town so we are cashing in on the free babysitting that we've taken for granted forever. Another great movie. At times I thought Jesus was writing the script. Seriously...really good!
Leading worship on Sunday
Just transposed 5 songs so Jaime can lead if I'm knocked out
Blogging in the dark
Just got blankets out to sleep on the couch. (I'm coughing like a mad man right now and there is no way my wife could sleep next to me tonight)
Anyone else sick? Is something going around? I never get sick...except for the weeks that I play at church...is Jesus telling me something?
Greg Boyd wrote "Myth of a Christian Nation" and it blew my mind it was so good. He weighed in on some politics in this post.
I don't want to ever be on this guys bad side because he owns people when he throws down!
Got back from District Conference. It was good to hang with our team. I tried really hard to have a good attitude during the general sessions...I didn't do very good.
I lost my voice for some weird reason...I'm leading worship this weekend...good times.
I'm going to pick up my mom at the Redding airport in a couple minutes. That's right folks. You can fly right into Redding on Alaskan Airlines to come see us. You have to fly from LAX and the tickets are @ $250 roundtrip as opposed to $100 on Southwest...but hey...I won't have to drive 2 hours to Sac to pick you up!
Should be good to have mom around for a little bit...the kids are missing her and the other grandparents. We just bought an aro-bed (I think I spelled that wrong). We shelled out the big bucks because we are going to have a steady stream of visitors up here in the future. Aaron Foor used to rave about his aro-bed so we went for it.
So no more excuses folks. Come up to Redding and visit the Lances. The bed and breakfast is complete. I will take you to Burrito Bandito and you will meet Jesus all over again!
Nate, Derrick, Meghan, Patrick and myself leave for District Conference today. We are a church plant of the C&MA. We are going to use the time away to have kind of a mini staff retreat. Talk about where we're going...pray for each other...should be cool. I've got other buddies from this district that are in our denomination so that should be fun too. I'm interested to see the differences in the northwest district.
I get back Thursday and my mom is coming up that night through Monday morning. I'm leading worship again this weekend and all our Life Groups start next week. So there are a couple things going on. Not sure how much internet or time I'll have to blog. We'll see...have a great week. Pray for Alyssa and the kids...Leaving for 2 days at this point won't be easy.
So we've settled into a little bit of a rhythm here in Redding. Monday's are going to be our Sabbath here. Alyssa let me sleep in this morning because I was pretty wiped out after our gatherings last night...she is awesome. We took a freezing cold walk with the kids. And we are starting a new Monday tradition. Daddy lunches with Zeke. I took him to Chipotle then dropped him off at school. It's a cool time every week that I'm really going to look forward to. Then it was off to the gym...rested at home...picked up Zeke...we have some friends (Patrick and Bethany) bringing us dinner tonight...and we have a video chat date set up with Alyssa's parents tonight with the kids. Great day. Family, friends, food, recreation. I love that God knew we would need times like this on a regular basis to remind us how amazing he is, and to remind us that our ability to work is a gift. I'm glad to have a semi normal schedule going on. How was your day of rest?
Just realized I haven't posted a picture in a few posts...so you get an annoying photo booth picture of me! This morning we had 25 Life Group Leaders jammed into our front room for 2 hours. I was laying out vision and sharing my heart for where we hope our community is moving. This was the reason I was asked to come and I felt alive! We have an amazing team that wants to share the load and wants to transform Redding...I can't wait. We talked about keeping things simple...becoming family...and we emphasized the language and posture that we want to use to create the culture at the Stirring. Life Groups is our only program. We don't do anything else. It's the only funnel and I couldn't be more excited. Everyone seemed pumped and our team is awesome. God is good. I love what I get to do for a living.
20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father's nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,
"Cursed be Canaan!
The lowest of slaves
will he be to his brothers."
26 He also said,
"Praise be to the LORD, the God of Shem!
May Canaan be the slave of Shem.
27 May God extend Japheth's territory;
may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,
and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth."
What in the world is going on in this passage? Anybody???
I'm thinking about starting a little mini series of posts containing "Things you see in Redding that you wouldn't necessarily see in Riverside." These post will contain a little stereotyping but it is all in love. I just want my Riverside peeps to get a better understanding of the place that I now reside.
#1 Just saw a mom in pajamas (not like...oh, those could go either way...these were pajamas) pushing her baby in a stroller in the bike lane of a busy street, smoking a cigarette. Went to fast for me to take a picture.
#2 Dudes in the grocery store with their shirts off. Not so much now when it's freezing but I definitely remember this from before during the summer. I seem to remember mullets as well. I'll try to grab some pictures for you in the future.
I love the things that make my town unique! I'll keep you posted on new sightings of Redding goodness.
Moving to Redding has been amazing. We have had people bring us a B-day cake for Sofia (thanks Jeff and Jaime)...Nate and Erica took us to dinner...Sean and Rebekah made us dinner and had us over for dinner...Derrick and Danielle brought us dinner and hung out...We have plans to eat with Patrick and Bethany and Matt and Anna. Yesterday Chris and Cassey had a box of organic fruit and vegetables sent to our house...amazing! I think the food we bought from the store is going to go bad. We have felt welcomed in every way possible. We miss our families and the Riverside crew but our new and old friends up here are making it a lot easier.
For most of my life I have read through the Bible with a check list mentality. I used to get stickers in class when I'd finish portions of it. I've read through the Bible quite a few times. Straight through, Chronologically, Yearly Bible, randomly. It's crazy that it took me 30 years to start seeing the Bible as a story but it has changed everything in my reading. Everything connects, there are no isolated stories. It's a narrative, start to finish. We find our story within the story. Context is king, and the Old Testament is essential for the New Testament.
Anyways, this year I'm going through one of those reading plans that give you some Old Testament and some New Testament to read every day. Right now I'm reading parts of Genesis, Matthew, and Psalms. I stumbled across this website yesterday and it sets you up with a pretty good plan. I know this has been out there forever but I've never done it. Has anyone ever read through the Bible this way? It's a little confusing because you are reading all over the place, but I like the fact that you get insights into different parts of the story every day.
I feel a need to get the content from the scriptures in me on a yearly basis. I'm a pretty undisciplined dude in this area of my life and plans like this help me. Anyone else trying to read through the story this year?
Meeting with Nate and Derrick
Staff meeting
Coming up with goals and prep for meeting with Life Group Leaders on Saturday
Leading worship this Sunday
So it begins...
Can't wait!!!
Last nights one year anniversary at The Stirring was amazing. Lots of awesome stories!
I couldn't imagine the pressure these candidates face with the issues facing us as a nation right now. Terrorism, billions of dollars spent on war, rising gas prices, a crumbling health care, global warming epidemic, energy crisis, terrible situations in education, people ready to build walls and sniper illegal immigrants, homeland security issues, and the list goes on...
The debate was pretty heated last night. A lot of attacks and a lot of defense. Romney and Clinton were getting beat up pretty bad and countered with some red faced political jujitsu. I still love Obama, thought he countered arguments well. Edwards was really passionate and well spoken. It's just funny when a guy with ridiculous amounts of wealth is constantly talking about fighting for the middle class. Clinton was sticking to her experience card but didn't get too specific about what that experience entailed. Seemed like see was trying to knock Obama down most of the night. Richardson actually said some good things but no one is voting for that dude. McCain seemed to hold himself together pretty well on the Republican side. Huckabee had a few good things to say. I felt like punching Guliani in the face. Ron Paul is awesome but his views are so extreme that no one will ever take him seriously.
All in all it was a very interesting debate. Ultimately the Kingdom of God needs to advance in the homes and neighborhoods of those that follow Jesus. That is God's plan for bringing the world to rights. He doesn't need governments and politicians. But this system is a reality that we live in so having leadership that has their head on straight would certainly be helpful. I know you're not supposed to talk about politics but I figure it is going to saturate life in 2008 so I thought I'd see what you think. Be nice!
2nd day here and I bring a hurricane...what the heck?
They said winds last night were anywhere from 60-80 mph.
It felt like our town home was going to fly down the street, Wizard of Oz style.
I think I slept for 15 minutes...The rain was so stinkin' loud...pounding our bay window.
You could literally see the water off the road blowing down the street.
It's good to be back in the 530.
Prepare yourself 951...our storms hit you a day later...board up your windows and buy bullets.
What do you do when you're couped up in the house all day? I'm thinkin' about giving the kids some Tylenol PM...putting them in bed...and going to rent some movies!
That was a joke for people that are unable to read sarcasm on a computer screen!
9 hours and 45 minutes. Beat that Trav!
2 adults, 2 kids, 1 dog, 4 bags and 1 stroller strapped to the top, all available space utilized...
2 stops (Paso Robles, Woodland...represent Sam Boone)
Dog only puked once!
2 videos (Cars and Baby Einstein)
MVP of the trip...Sofia (she did amazing)
Most questions of the trip...Zeke (54,239) Most common question...why is Redding so far away?
Coolest thing that happened on the trip...We stop at a Quiznos in Woodland and Bill Russell (the basketball hall of fame player, not the cop) walks in. He had to duck to get through the front door. If I was my brother I would have got an autograph and picture, but I just watched him order and blogged about it.
We are here...finally...feels good to be settling in.
Come on up and visit...the Lance bed and breakfast is officially open for business!
Pray for our trip tomorrow. I don't know if my kids will last. I'm shutting down the computer. Next blog will have the Redding love.
Two days left in Riverside. Yesterday I sang one of my songs to close out the Grove services. It was nice to be a part of one last thing at the church I've been a part of for so long. Tonight we are getting together with a bunch of friends to celebrate the New Year and say goodbye. Tomorrow we are having lunch with our families to celebrate Sofia's B-Day and say goodbye. Wednesday after lunch we are taking off. Lots of goodbyes, a couple loose ends to tie up, then Redding here we come! I'm ready to get into some "normal" life and get our kids into a routine. Staying with our families has been awesome, they've been a huge help. Alyssa and I went out to dinner last night and saw Juno (great movie). We haven't been able to do that in forever. (Thanks mom and dad). We will miss you all. I'll try to be consistent in blog world so we can stay connected in nerdland.
Zeke only watches one movie...Cars. He will quote you every line. And his new obsession is Legos. He makes these crazy cars every day. I go to help him and he makes me leave. He just sits in his room and comes out with these crazy things. I seriously think he's going to be a gear head or a mad scientist. Watch out world!
That's my brother Mike, his wife Becky and my daughter Sofia at Christmas. Mike turned 30 today. What the heck...I'm old. He kicked my butt like usual in golf today. I have great memories of playing golf with my brother. Neck and neck finishes, chip ins, long drives, good times. Usually it entails a lot of trash talk and me telling him how much I hate the Lakers and he tells me Kobe is the best thing since sliced bread. I don't know what that has to do with golf but it is a subject that never gets old with us.
Happy Birthday bro. I'm really proud of you. You and Becky are a great couple. I'll make sure we get tee times when we come down to visit. Have a great 30th year.
There is a possibility that Alyssa and I will actually get away to see a movie in the next couple days. We haven't been to the movies in forever. There looks like a lot of good flicks out right now. If you've seen anything great that is a must see please leave a comment. There is nothing worse than not seeing a movie for 3 0r 4 months and then going to a dud. Help a brotha out!
This is my grandpa. He is an amazing man. This was his second Christmas without my grandma and I know it's extremely hard for him. He's lived a great life and he's said on more than one occasion that he is ready to go. Whenever we get around a table as a family to have dinner he prays and it always moves me. My grandpa knows Jesus. When he talks to him you can hear the relationship come through. I hope at the end of my life my grandkids know that I have a real relationship with Jesus. One that doesn't just show up at church every week and pray at meals. But a relationship that gives my life away to my family and friends and the least. It's pretty powerful to have an entire family around a table that follows Jesus. Because you know it has a lot to do with the old guy at the end of the table and the prayers of his incredible wife. I know you'll never read my blog grandpa, but thanks for the example you've shown me my whole life of how to follow Jesus!
This is Zeke's Christmas performance from last week. He is in the first row, fourth from the right on the screen. He's rockin' the argyle sweater and he's also the one that is squirming and doubling over. Two seconds after I stopped the video I ran up and grabbed him and ran him to the bathroom. He peed for 5 minutes then I ran him back and he didn't miss a beat. We were so proud of him. I love how he caps off his performance with thrusting half his finger up his nose. His last performance he stood up there and pointed out the lights and didn't sing a word. This time he sung every word and knew all the hand motions. I think he might have done even better if his bladder wasn't about ready to explode! He's growin' up.
Go check it out if you get a chance. This was my first time sharing with the Stirring.
Things have been so crazy I failed to realize I had my 20,000 visitor last week. That's pretty weird. Thanks for sticking with me through this crazy year. I'm so glad I started blogging because I had no idea what this year had for us. It will be fun to look back at all this in the years to come!
So the two weeks away from my family was nuts but this two weeks with them might be equally as nuts. I went from no wife and kids and hangin' with people every second to being at my parents all day with my family, my wife throwing up all day, and me taking care of two crazy kids. I'm really looking forward to Christmas and New Years with a bunch of friends but I long for some normalcy. I'm a pretty structured dude. This not having a house or schedule is starting to kill me. Sorry if blogs are spread out over this time. Life will get normal at some point.
Got the compass rose done tonight. He had it run behind the verse from Philippians on my arm. 2.5 hours of sheer bliss. This arm has been designated to tell my story and this compass is the next step in telling the story of my journey. God is definitely setting me in new directions and the emphasis of the compass is pointing north. 600 miles north to be exact. Redding...here we come!
Playing golf with my dad and my brother. I've been doing this since I was 12. My dad is an incredible golfer and my brother is usually a couple strokes better than I am. We love to get together and play golf. My dad is awesome. I'm 31 and I've still never paid for a round of golf in my life. It's been a great way over the years to get the Lance boys together and hanging out. Always good trash talk and competition. Today I shot an 87. I usually shoot in the low 80's. I didn't bring any of my stuff down from Redding so everything was borrowed today. It didn't matter. I had a great time. I'm sure i'll still get some golfing in when we come down to visit but I'm really going to miss getting out there as often as I have in the past. Thanks for the great memories dad. There's been a lot of life shaping done out on the links!
I made it to Riverside about 4pm yesterday. Saw my family for the first time in 17 days...it was amazing. Couldn't believe how much I missed them. Now we're staying with my moms and pops till the 2nd of January. It's funny how you can be 31 years old, married, and have two kids and still find yourself staying with your parents for 2 weeks like it's no big deal. We stayed for month a couple years ago when we were fixing up our house. It's good to have family that will let you invade their lives at the drop of a hat. I'm looking forward to chillin' and spendin' time with friends and family before we head back.
God is awesome. This morning I'm packing up to head back down to Riverside until January 2nd. The only stress and loose end that we still have is that we haven't rented our house on Mt. Diablo. I get a call at 8:47am that says they have money in hand and new tenants move in on January 1st! Around the holidays is a terrible time to get something rented and we thought we were going to have to make another mortgage payment that we don't have. I am so pumped right now. And on top of all that I get to see my wife and kids in six hours. It's been a good morning.
And by the way, last night was awesome at the Stirring. Amazing response from people ready to take what we've been talking about and start living it in the communities that they are involved in. I am really blessed to be a part of the team up here! Can't wait to see the Riverside crew.
These are my buddies, The Myriad. This is the front page of MTV2's website. What the heck. We just watched them on TV. They just won this contest out of 4000 bands. The last two winners have been Yellowcard and Taking Back Sunday. They are an amazing band and I am so proud of them. My band and these guys go way back. We have stories of shows and the road that should stay in a vault somewhere. Way to go guys! All of Redding was glued to the TV today.
Here's our two room office that I'm moving into. Meghan works in the front room (first 2 pics). I'm sitting on a love seat with my mac in that first pic. That's where I've been working lately. The last two pics is of Nate's office. The last picture is a shot of my books in boxes and a chair. That's where I will end up. Nate and I are working out office dynamics. It's going to be awesome. It's crazy moving to a 2 room office from a 50 room office. We use laptops and cell phones...no network...no pc's (yeah!!!)...no phone system. Just three people in an office trying to follow Jesus. I love it!
I get to speak at The Stirring this Sunday. I practiced in my front room today and I think the drywall got saved. I am so excited to share. I'm talking about the power in a broken and poured out life. Jesus calls us into a way of life around a table with bread and wine. He's not just asking us to remember, he inviting us to break our lives open and pour our lives out for others. I got so excited in my living room that I almost lost my voice. I haven't been this excited to share in forever. If you think about it, pray for me on Sunday that God would give me just the right words for this community and that we would except the invitation to this way of life around his table. Thanks.
I've been trying to wrap my mind around why the pace of life is slower in Redding and I think I've come up with something. I think it has a lot to do with driving. In Riverside, everything is spread out. Getting from downtown Riverside to Orangecrest takes anywhere from 20-45 minutes depending on traffic. Being in your car for 20 -30 minutes is usual. Traffic is a given anywhere you go. Freeways have 6 lanes and you are always conscious that it will probably take you longer than you think to get somewhere. In Redding, everything is within a 5 mile radius. All the freeways have 2 lanes and you can get anywhere at any time without a lot of traffic. Going places is less of an ordeal because you can count on how long it will take you to get there. It allows you to relax when you're getting ready. There's not a lot of road rage, because there aren't a whole lot of frustrating driving situations. Multiply this across the board to everyone in a city and you have a different take on life. Driving and traffic shape a culture. Being tense and rushed, even if it doesn't add a ton of time to your day, rubs off on the people around you. Anyways, just some things I'm learning about pace of life. I heard someone the other day complaining about traffic on Cypress st. I think it took them 3 minutes instead of 2 to get where they wanted to go. Hilarious. It will take me a while to decompress into this way of life but I am so ready for it.
Sorry, but video chatting with my wife and son is the only thing keeping me sane being away from my family. The blog love will resume. I got priorities!
My house officially has blinds! It only took a week. Check out the nine foot weeds in my back yard. And yes I have a view of a huge grove of trees, the local mountains, and I can see mount Shasta from my bedroom. Not to shabby.
Dang...I got some hairy forearms!
Joined a gym in Redding today. Just like Riverside...$12 a month for me...$9 a month to add Alyssa...and they have childcare for a dollar an hour...and it's month to month...I can quit any time. I had to refinance my house to go to a gym down south.
I'd just go outside and walk to work out but it's freezin' buns up here. I rode my Vespa for two miles today and I couldn't feel my feet for half an hour after I got off...good times!
Tonight I led worship for the first time in forever at the Stirring...it was amazing!
I wrote this lyric a long time ago and it feels fitting tonight:
"Can you open up my mouth and let the song ring out that you planted in me the day I learned to breath? Can you open up my heart even if you have to tear me apart? It's like the first time that I felt the rain and there were no words that I could use to explain your love. Can you feel the rain?"So excited about what God is doing in this community of Jesus followers. I'll blog more later. It's 12:35. I never stay up this late. I miss my family. If you see them around give them long hugs for me!
I read this on Andrew Jones blog this morning...classic...I could totally hear my son saying this because he refuses to say the Lord's prayer with us. This is probably what's going through his head when he hears us.
KIDS IN CHURCH
3-year-old Reese:
"Our Father, Who does art in heaven,
Harold is His name.
Amen."
Riverside weather for Saturday and Sunday
