Hillary...

So about a week ago I went to the International 'AIDS and the Church' summit at Saddleback. First of all, Saddleback is ridiculous! It's alot like my gut during the holiday season... Slowly growing to the point of being unattractively huge, yet still part of an overall attractive entity.

So Bono wasn't there this year (it would've been sweet if he was), but we did have our own celebrities this year. Senator Clinton decided to drop by and offer her solutions to the world's problems. She had lots of solutions, and even more secret service agents (both of which weren't overly impressive).

So, I've always been pretty fast... I was the fastest on my sports teams in high school, and though I'm no 'spring chicken' any more, I would like to think that I can still hold my own. So I was relieving myself next to one of Hillary's SS agents, and honestly considered grabbing his gun and making a run for it. I figured with advantage of surprise, along with the time it would take him to 'gather himself' I could have a great head-start. But the fact that I am not overly familiar with the Saddleback campus, and that I got winded walking up the stairs the other day, made me think twice. And so I resisted the temptation and went on with the week-end.

Really good conference... The church in the U.S. doesn't do enough about AIDS, and it probably never will. We are pretty self- focused, which I believe, makes God's heart break. I hope that I will start to care more.

Phil

The album I'm listening to most right now...



I love it!

Music really is good for the soul.

Hume n' Beans

It's 11:14pm right now, and I'm sitting here in the Meadow Ranch coffee shop at Hume. I got here yesterday afternoon, and after one day up here I have realized something. I miss God.
It's kind of a weird thing to say for me, a pastor who teaches out of God's word every week... But it's how I feel right now. As I was sitting with 270 high school guys and their leaders, around a campfire, singing worship songs and taking communion, I realized how much I miss my God.
I'm not sure what this means for me, but I love Jesus, and want him to restore my heart.

breakfast pastries

Ever since my office got destroyed by the fire I have been visiting many of the fine eating establishments in our area, using them as a temporary office space. -(hilarious movie)

In these visitations I have sampled many of the pastries that these "cafe's" have to offer. I must say, I have been quite disappointed with the lack of flavor and attention to detail that I have been presented with over the last couple of weeks.

If I find a place with good bagels... they have bad toasters. Good toasters- bad bagels. Muffins are drab, and lack the abundance of blueberries that are necessary for a delicious breakfast experience. (Even the muffin-tops aren't what they used to be ;)

But I have found my pastry of choice! Amongst the coals, I have found my diamond!


The Tart Cherry Scone at Panera is excellent! Topped with a dusting of powdered sugar, these scones are fantastic. Not to sweet (like starbucks) yet with the perfect texture. It is loaded with delicious semi-dried cherries, and is the perfect compliment to a cup of hot coffee.
The $2.49 price tag is a little steep for my liking, but is quickly forgotten after the first bite. I suggest you try one, the are scrumptulescent!

Whats in a name?

Growing up in the O.C. we didn't really develop a nickname for our home town. Tustin was Tustin, Orange was Orange, etc...

When Natalie was going to Biola, there was the odd "Guada-la-habra", but nothing like we have down here in San Diego.

Since we moved down here, I have heard more nicknames for the towns I've lived in than ever before. Our first rental (yeah... we'll never own) was in Escondido. Within the first two weeks I heard "The dido", "Escon-ghetto", and "Sweats-condido".

To the north of us we have "Hot-mecula, or Temec-u-far" (Temecula)

To the south there is "Chula-juana" (Chula Vista)

And then there is the home town of Rancho Bernardo. Natalie and I didn't want RB to miss out, so we nicknamed it "the Nardo". The name stuck and was beginning to be widely used, but since the fires there have been some new names being suggested. There has also been a new town slogan that is circulating the web...

The suggestions for name changes include "Rancho-burn-hardo", and "Rancho Inferno". Both of these names were brought up by people severely effected by these fires... You've gotta love humor in the midst of tragedy.

This made my mind start racing with new ideas for names and slogans for our church (1/2 of which was burned down)
-Can you imagine the possibilities?

What do we do now?

What do we do now? How can I help?...

If I got a dollar for every time I was asked these questions in the last week, I would be retired, driving a Ferrari, and sitting on my beach front house in Barbados.

This just goes to show that we are in uncharted territories, and that life has taken a significant turn down a road we did not expect.

A lot has taken place since the last time I blogged.

-I Met the fire fighters that saved our church:


(The told me that if I stand with my arms crossed, it would make me look buff)

We sifted through the ashes of Stan and Shana's house...




Since most of their stuff was burned, Natalie and some of our high school girls took Shana (15 yr old sophomore) to the mall for a shopping spree. I am so proud of how the kids @ rbbc have been there every step of the way.

We also:
-Set up a relief center @ our church
-Cleaned up multiple houses of their ash, burned fences, shrubs etc...
-Got interviewed by CNN, 700 club, local news, and more... (So begins my career as a televangelist)
-Had our first church service using only our downstairs facility
*If you are looking for church unity, just burn down the main sanctuary
-And last night had our annual harvest festival, where we had over 400 people from our community come and celebrate God's faithfulness with us.

All this to say -I am sooooo tired- It hit me Sunday after noon, and I have barely been able to function for the last 3 days. My emotions have been all over the place, I almost fell asleep (standing up) while taking Bo on a walk.

Where we go from hear is uncertain, but I know that this is our journey, and I know where it will end.

Out of burn't ground...

Sorry it took so long for this post to get up, free wifi has been hard to come by the last few days.

Dan and I were able to play the 'pastor card' to get onto our church campus with our insurance adjusters.
It was really erie driving into this silent neighborhood where complete devistation had just taken place. Very different from driving down to San Diego the first time after the fires started. When I drove down on Tuesday I felt overwhelmed with this impending sense of doom. With the black clouds billowing, it was kind of like I was entering the land of Mordor with Frodo and Sam.
But when I drove through this neighborhood, it was just sad, not scarry, just sad.
Walking into the sanctuary of our church was crazy. So much of it was standing and there, and then I saw the stage:


I just taught on this stage 2 weeks ago and now it's gone.
But there is good news! All of our offices were untouched, all papers, books, and computers were dry and undamaged! Oh yea, except mine. My office got got jacked up. I have a skylight above my desk, a complete set of shakespears works (from the mid 1800's)- special waterlogged edition, and a slightly messier than normal desk:



We walked around the church and saw that God had incredible grace and mercy on this place. There were multiple places where the fire burned all the way up to the building and just stopped.






I think this is the first time where I personally feel an incredible debt of gratitude to our police men and fire fighters. They are aaamazing! 9/11 was too far removed for me to really feal the impact of it, but after this experience, I seriously want to seek out these men and woman to thank them.

I really don't know what else to say at this point, there's too much going on.
RBBC is setting up a crisis center for our neighborhood (the neighborhood should re-open today). If you want to help you can go to our Web sight rbbaptist.org and give your donations to the place you feel lead.

The way the church is coming together in this time of crisis is awesome. I was so proud to be part of our team last night. A table full of people (some whose house had burned down) coming up with incedible ideas about how to serve others. It was christians being christian. It was beautiful...

I can't write any more right now, but I will as soon as possible.
Despite what it looks like and how it feels, God is here.

...and then my church burned down

(House down the street from the church)

"... and then my church burned down."
I think it sounds like a line that you throw in the middle of a story that people are losing interest in.
Kinda like- "... and then I found $5"
And then when it really happens you don't know how to react. It's so weird how one day changes what life and ministry are going to be like for at least the next two years.

300 house burned down in Rancho Bernardo. I have no clue how many of those people I know. I have no clue if our condo is still there or not. (good thing we rent) - I think...

I'm at my parents in Laguna Niguel, my friend Rick and I are gonna drive down in the morning to see if we can get into town. He's 99% sure his house is gone. (he's married with 4 kids)

Crazy

I'll update with new info tommorrow.
God is here.

soggy bottoms

Soggy Bottoms... my gals got-em. Yes my wife sat on a wet bail of hay today at the pumpkin patch at Irvine park. It was fun and entertaining to say the least. I saw the Biddles (I love that family) and an old friend from high school who used to go by Laura and now goes by Jane. All in all I would give it an 8 out of 10.

P.S. never call your wife a 'muffin top'. I thought it was funny and sweet, but it turns out that it is a name given to girls, who wear tight jeans, and have their excess 'poof' bulge out over their pants like a muffin top. Lesson learned.

mmmmmm....

Cheesy Potato cakes from Claim Jumper are awesome!

I'm eating them right now, and am happier than a blind dog in a meathouse!

The Mexican Dream

So I went down to baja last weekend to work with some deaf and mute kids down in Ensenada. While I was down there I came to some conclusions...

I will never experience the American Dream. I'm pretty sure I'm never going to own a house. I don't have any kids. (I blame 5 years of Jr. High ministry for that one. It's like I have a target on my nether-region) So I've come to accept that the typical ideals for the American dream will never happen for me and my wife.

But!... The Mexican dream just might be possible for Natalie and I. Being a Mexican citizen I have a chance to own my own little piece of the madre-land. I can have my own house, with a satalite dish, and my own business that I run from my front yard. I was also thinking that I could buy mas quantities of beach front property and "lease" it out to families from the US that don't want to get involved with the 99 year leases that the mexican gov. sets up. I just may own my little slice of paradise yet.

For Some reason that makes me feel better about life, and I don't know why.

Beauty from splinters

So one of my high schoolers dropped my guitar off the top bunk at Hume this year. It was pretty jacked up, the top was all split. I didn't really friek out because I have decided not to care about stuff as much as I used to, but I was still pretty bummed. It was my high school graduation present from my parents so there was a little sentiment there as well.

So, I thought I was without my "knock around" guitar from now on, and would only have my breedlove to play. But low and behold the kid showed up to church 3 weeks later with 4 hundi for a new guitar! So I went to guitar center with my friend Paul (who gets fatty discounts cause he used to work there) and decided to purchase the martin DX1. The guitar is pretty simple -no frills, and it doesn't even have a natural wood body. I was super skeptical about getting it, but I've had it for a week and absolutely love it. The tone is warm, the action is great... I actually like playing it more that my breedlove. All of this and I only paid $346 for the thing! ($499 normally). I highly recommend you get one!

Pastors Union

So I was listening to the radio the other day and heard that the grocery store clerks were going on strike... again. Then my wife tells me that the nurses in her union at Sharp medical center went on strike last month, and they all got a $2 per hour raise.

So I have started fantasizing about developing a pastors union.

One that gives us every other Christmas off, 40 hour work weeks, and no phone answering obligations on our days off. My union would also pay extra for overtime, and we would be rewarded for good work with stock options. Thats right, you could actually gain ownership in the church. (I would start with the sound equipment) I figure since I'll never own a house because I work at a church, I mind as well get some sweet sound equipment. We would also be able to tell repeat 'complainers' that they were not allowed to comment on the services anymore.

We could also go on strike. I can just see it now... Sunday morning rolls around and all of the pastors are outside their churches with signs, yelling "scaaaaaaabb!!" to the old lady who plays the organ and the nursery workers as they walk in the doors.

This would help the congregation to have compassion on us pastors, it would help them realize that just because we are pastors, doesn't mean we have taken the vow of poverty.

Hahahaha, though not a reality, it sure is entertaining to think about,

I think I need a day off.

Ship Shape

So, I'm on this mission to finally get my life organized. I've been at my church for 3 years now, and I thought it was about time to get things 'ship shape'. (what does that even mean???)

Step one: Blow apart my office, and make it into a room I actually like to be in.

Step two: Rent a giant dumpster and load it to the brim with all of that "we might use it someday" stuff.

Step three: Drink a quad americano, and make rash decisions about the new color scheme for our youth room.

Step four: Follow up on those rash decisions and have a youth "fun day" to paint the room.

Step five: Hire a painter to redo everything

Step six: (final step) Lure Lois Chandler away from Calvary and have her come down and run my ministry instead of Erics...

I like my plan ...

Hotter than Hemmit

Yeah so, it's hot... and so I've been thinking of hell a little more than normal.

I saw these two Mormon guys walking down the street in Poway yesterday, wearing the full garb, and I thought... "Better get used to the heat". So here I am making jokes about a real persons eternity... The thing is, didn't really feel bad for them at the time.

Here I am, Tim the Christian, making thoughtless comments about 'Mormon Joe'.
I don't like that I didn't really care about those two guys. It actually really bothers me
right now. But at the time all I could think about was getting out of my crappy, burning hot, 94' camry and getting some food in my belly.

It just shows how my personal comfort is connected with my willingness to have compassion for others.

I wish that wasn't the case...

Part of the band...

So last night I volunteered to play the bass this sunday for our youth praise band. This created some problems because I don't play bass, and I've never played with a band.
The fact the most of the band is composed of new freshman helped with the 'not being able to play bass part.' My struggles were not as noticible as they could have been. And the 'being in a band' dynamic was really fun.
We practiced two new songs that we learned at hume. ("campaign" was aaammazing) It took about 2 hours to go through 5 songs. Kinda long, but still fun.
So I've decided I want to be in a band now. I don't really care what I play... bass, or guitar are possibilities (drums and vocals are out). I don't have time for it, or the ability to play really well, but I still want to do it. I can add it to the list of things that I don't have time for, or good ability in. Oh well, at least I'll have eternity to work on some of these things.

Free Wi-fi

I am a follower and I'm cheap. Two things I've never really myself to be. I'm a follower because I've followed Eric Wakeling and Matt Doan to the Blogosphere, and I'm cheap because I only blog at Panera Bread because they have free wi-fi and I don't want to shell out the $40 a month to get it at my house.

I used to think I was a great support system, and that I was frugal with my money, but now I pretty much realize the those were just 'Tim' words for 'follower and cheap'.
So until that changes, this is where my blogging will take place. Over a delicious cinnamon crunch bagel, and cup of coffee (only $2.78 total!) Hooray for free wi-fi.