Messed Up!

I have been messed up ever since I taught through the book of Revelation, and read 'the Mark of the Lion' series. I thought that my thoughts of impending doom would dissipate, but they only seem to get stronger. Track with me a second...

1) Revelation: (our future) things get really bad because people will not repent of their sin, so they abandon God and his ways. Satan deceives the world into following him, fights God, God wins. But it gets ugly for Christians in the process.

2) 'Mark of the Lion': (the past) Story takes place in the 1st century as the church is being established for the 1st time. People who are followers of Jesus are followers of Jesus.. They regularly die for him in the Arenas, are looked upon as vermin and anarchists. The people are united with each other, and their hearts are not divided -because they can't be. Christians are living like Christians. God is pleased with his followers.

3) Constantine: (years later) This emperor basically nationalizes Christianity, persecution stops, corruption begins. The world is filled with "Christians" who no longer die for Christ, but rob, steal, and murder in his name. God is grieved with those who do these things in the name of Jesus Christ.

4) Today: God longs for authentic followers again. We are returning to conditions like those in the 1st century because it's what we need in order to have undivided hearts.

So welcome to my mind... I haven't been talking to people about this stuff, it's just thoughts that I have that I can't shake. I expect things like prop 8 to pass, people who obviously don't love God to be elected, and for the church to finally have to take unpopular and (depending on what happens) illegal stands for what God says in His word. The Church needs persecution! I think God is tired of the way we are "following" Him. I think that a time is coming where we'll have to weather the storm and be found faithful to our Savior, or abandon Him for something else.

Death of a dream...

So I've always had these secret aspirations of being a Chef. I love cooking almost as much I love eating, and that is saying a lot! Natalie and I don't own a house, we don't spend much on clothes or gifts for each other, we go out to eat. Anniversaries, birthdays, special occasions, and non-occasions are filled with food. Our vacation routes are determined by what restaurants we would like to experience on that trip, and the restaurants that we go to are often the highlight of the trip.

My dreams of being a chef stemmed from the food my mom would cook for us. The way she shows love us is by cooking for us, and the way we show love back to her is by reveling in her creations. I am very good at showing her love! As I worked as a waiter in various establishments I paid attention to what was happening in the kitchen, asked lots of questions, and started to get a feel for cooking.

This, along with the inherited ability to create tasty dishes brought forth the desire to someday have a little place that would serve delicious satisfying meals. I always knew that this lifestyle would take work, but I never realized how much until I read my most recent book. "The seasoning of a Chef" by Doug Psaltis. It was a great read and thoroughly entertaining (for foodies at least).

Reading this book brought by dream to an end. If I want to be a Chef I need to be single, no way around it. 12-15 hr days 6 days a week don't scare me, but my marriage would disinigrate and my life would be all about food. I love food, but I need my life to be about people. So I will continue to eat, and leave the cooking to those who truly love it.

Cheesy girl books

So I decided not to watch T.V. late at night anymore... (despite my secret obsession with Steven Colbert- sorry Conan, you've been replaced) And so I've been reading before I go to bed. Since I'm not a fantasy geek like Wakeling, I've been reading a series that my wife owns, called: "The Mark of the Lion" by Francine Rivers. (Sorry Eric, but it's true)

What I'm really surprised by is how encouraging these books have been to me. They take place around 40 years after Jesus' death and follow the lives a Jewish girl, a family from Rome, and a German gladiator. Anyway, I don't know how historically accurate Rivers is in her writing -it seems like she's done her homework, but for the first time I feel like I've been given an inside view of what life must have been like for the early church (at least in Rome and Ephesus.)

Accurate or not, reading this series has made me think about, and want to love Jesus more. For that it's been worth my while. I'm not a big fiction reader, but this in case, it's been fun.

Any good books i need to add to my list? -let me know

Inspiration

I don't have much inspiration to blog lately. Typically it's something I enjoy doing, but lately... not so much. So I will give the super turbo update of the last 2 months:

Humelake was awesome, I was totally burn't out and wanted to run away to live in a cave, things got better when we hired another pastor, I realized I was being a jerky husband and have been working on it, I lost all the muscle tone I had gained over the summer, I got in debt because of a ticket - a broken windshield - and a trip to Pittsburgh, i didn't win fantasy baseball, and I finally saw Batman.

Now that we're up to date, I'll try to blog more often

Themed Bowling

Randomly this summer we decided to have a weekly event at Poway Funbowl. It started out as something that the Jr. High volunteers did after our Wed. night Bible study, and has grown to over 20 people. We dress up in different themed outfits from "nerds", to "gangsta's", to "business attire". It's not an official event by any means, I have no responsibility, I just show up bowl and leave. The thing that's frusterating is that our bowling nights have been more successful than events that have taken days if not weeks to plan... I don't get ministry sometimes. Any way, here are some Pics...

Pittsburgh

So I leave for Pittsburgh on Wednesday night to be in my good friend Steve's wedding. This will be the first time I've ever been to the "Steel City" and I don't know what to expect. The first couple of days are going to be filled with the wedding but I have Sunday completely to myself. My plane doesn't fly out until 8:30pm Sunday night... So, what do I do?
-Any good churches, restaurants, or sights that I should make sure I see? I love food, I could go to a Pirates game, etc... I need suggestions so I don't spend the day sitting in the terminal.

Consistancy!

I have found very few things to be constant in my life.
My dog Bo is always excited to see me when I get home for work,
My wife Natalie consistently shows me love when I even if I am a total jerk,

and then there is there is the Americano!


In a world where coffee is burnt, weak, old, or just plain bad, there is the Americano.

Three shots of espresso + hot water = consistency

You get the punch of the espresso, without risking any bitterness and inconsistencies that come from a regular cup of coffee. The price is also a big bonus! Usually around $2 the americano is by far a more economical way to enjoy a specialized drink.

So matter what starbucks, coffee bean, pete's coffee, or mom and pop shop you go to; when you order an Americano you know what you are going to get. A hot, fresh, and delicious cup of joe!

Quotes...

Every once in a while you run into a quote that smacks ya. This one's left it's imprint on me this month...

"What you think about, when you think about God, is the most important thing about you."

- A.W. Tozer

The Great Food Tour

That mind as well have been be what our vacation was called... "The Great Food Tour" aka 'Get Tim Fat'. It was awesome! From grandpa's beer battered trout, to my Prime Rib,
it was a-mazing. The best was when it culminated in our visit to 'The City' (San Fran)
for some seriously good eats. We had lunch at Zuni Cafe and got this awesome table that over looked the kitchen while they cooked. I felt like I was in ratatoullie where they are watching amazing food being prepared.
It made me want to open up my own place and serve delicious food that people would think about for the next 2 months. The food at Zuni was amazing, fresh and simple, with the perfect combinations of flavors and textures.

We stayed in the city for dinner and ate at an incredible restaurant called 'Aziza'. It was this gourmet Morroccan fusion restaurant that serves some of the tastiest food ever. The highlight of my meal was the rabbit. It was absolutely fantastic. Anyways, it was a great vacation and I hope to continue this food tour throughout my whole life.

G -MAN

Becoming a Godly man is really hard! I was talking about this with my friend James today over a Western Bacon cheeseburger, and I realized that there is so much more to becoming a Godly man than meets the eye. You must be disciplined, loving, and active in the things that matter to God. A loving husband and father (if you have kids). You need to be a student and follower of Jesus Christ with the openness to do whatever he asks of you. Courage and strength are traits that Godly men seem to possess. Passion with restraint, and wisdom with zeal are characteristics that embody this Godly man.

I see some of these in my life, while others seem to illude me. I know it's a journey, and I know I have a long way to go. But it's good to know that at least I've started.

Weedin' the garden

In preparation for our Easter sunrise service, I was pulling some weeds up on the hillside to clear an area for people sit. Most of the vegetation and trees were burnt out by the fires or removed since then. This has dramatically decreased the number of people who used this area to indulge in their various libations and narcotic activities.

We have received our fair share of rain in the last 2 months here in San Diego, and new life has been emerging from our scorched earth. So as I'm clearing the area up on the hillside I all of a sudden find myself faced with this...


Now, I'm not sure what processes in the whole pot smoking preparation went on up on that hill, but this guy was growing there, plain as day. So I quickly went from pulling weeds to harvesting weed. I don't know if someones 'secret stash' was un-earthed, or if our hillside is soon to be graced by a 'forbidden garden', but whatever the case, it made me laugh...

Book Quiz...

This makes me happy...

You're Babar the King!

by Jean de Brunhoff

Though your life has been filled with struggle and sadness of late,
you're personally doing quite well for yourself. All this success brings responsibility,
though, and should not be taken lightly. Life has turned from war to peace, from damage
to reconstruction, and this brings a bright new hope for everyone you know. These hopeful
people look to you for guidance, and your best advice to them is to watch out for snakes.
You're quite fond of the name "Celeste".


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

The Best Week Ever!

I love spring break camping trips. I have incredible memories of times at Leo Carrillo, but the work it takes to put on a trip like this is astronomical. So this Spring break we are trying something new. We are having 4 separate events over the week and are calling it "The best week ever"!

Event #1 - Friday - Saturday
We are driving up to Orange County for a student lead worship night at calvary church. We are going to spend the night up there at different peoples houses, and are going to have a Downtown Disney scavenger hunt in the morning.

Event #2 - Monday
Guys are going paint balling, girls are shopping at Cabazon.

Event #3 - Wednesday
Beach day with bonfire and worship/guest speaker at night.

Event #4 - Friday
late night pizza and broom hockey

Kids can go to whatever they want according to their schedule, but if they go to every event they get a sweet discount. Is this going to be more or less work than a trip? I have no idea. But hopefully it will be "The best week ever!"

Ridiculous!

God is ridiculous! For some reason he decided to put it on our friends hearts to help us replace our 94 toyota camry. They invited us out to lunch the other day and handed us a check for $5000! We had mentioned that we probably would be looking for a newer car sometime this year, and before you know it... bada-bing! So all of a sudden the market we were looking in dramatically changed! This along with the $1200 gift that the government is giving all of us couples this year, we were able to buy an 08' Honda Accord! It is awesome! 30mpg... need I say more. Why God did this, I don't know, but He is good, and sometimes ridiculous!

Death

My grandma is dying right now. She has anywhere from a few hours to a few days to live. Last week one of Natalie's co-workers who was married and had two kids (7 and 9 years old) died of cancer. Then two days later one of Nat's friends had her mom die unexpectedly.
I'm not to sure about where I stand on the whole death topic. I know what I believe happens after we die, but I don't know what I think about death right now.

I've always felt as if I would die at a relatively young age (some time before 50yrs), and thats never really bothered me. There's nothing in life that I desperately want to experience before I die. It would be cool to be a dad I guess, but I'm satisfied with what God has allowed me to experience until now.

I've started to adopt this attitude that treats anything I get to experience in this life, other than what I already have, as a 'Bonus', instead of what I "should" get to experience. It has made a lot of the little things I used to take for granted seem like blessings, and things that used to seem like blessings become incredible acts of grace from my God. It's been pretty cool.

I guess I find myself holding life loosely, and in turn have started to hold death loosely. Maybe this is me starting to embrace the inevitable, or maybe it's me in denial... or maybe a little bit of both.

The drive

Nat and I drove back to San Diego from her grandparents house (by Chico) on Wednesday. It was the most beautiful drive through central California I've ever been on. Everything was St. Patrick's day green. I was reminded of Scotland, or what I imagine Ireland to look like.



Not only was it beautiful, but it was a great drive for my wife and I. We were able to laugh, enjoy God's incredible creation, sing sweet 80's songs, saw 4 rainbows, and stop for a really good lunch at our new favorite stop at Harris Ranch (near Colinga). What a great way to spend 11 hours of a Wednesday.

Middle aged man

I am a middle aged man...
It's my 29th birthday, and I am using all of my birthday $ to buy new knives to cook with... I am old! I love to watch sports center, am trying to get good at golf, I just bought a Honda accord when I could have gotten a sweet truck or something fast, and use phrases like "easy turbo" or "don't get your panties in a bunch"... (what does that mean anyways?) So in other words, I don't feel as young as I used to.

Addiction

I'm not sure if I have addictive tendencies, but I may need some help. I think I am addicted to Jetman. Jetman is a game that someone introduced me to over facebook, and I love it! I love to sit in Panera, listen to my podcast sermons for the week and play jetman the whole time. It's just mindless enough to not distract me from what I am listening too (ADD) but competitive enough to want to do well.
Right now I have the 2nd highest score of all of my friends who have this application. I love it, and you should too...

A 1st for everything

I am sitting at Natalie's grandparents house up in Paradise California right now. We just finished eating some burgers, and now are sitting next to the fire in the living room.
I'm supposed to be in Mexico right now getting ready to wrap up a house building trip with my high school group. So why am I here instead of there? I'm not really sure...

About 5 weeks ago I read an article about all of the sketchy things that were happening to people traveling throughout Baja. A bunch of people got robbed, and worse... This is nothing new for places we go for missions trip (look at L.A. Urban), but for some reason I couldn't shake this out of my head. Instead of fading as the trip got closer, my uneasiness grew, all the way to the point that I decided to do something that I have never done before... I canceled our trip.

Now, this isn't like me... I've never been one to avoid situations that God has called us to because of an uneasy feeling, but I couldn't bring these kids down for this specific trip for some reason. I don't know if it is because I feel alot like a protective father to some of the kids that were coming on this trip, or if it were something God put on my heart. Whatever it was, it was weird, and I think it was the right decision to make...

Irresponsibility is fun!

So someone broke into our church and stole 6 guitars (two of which were mine)...
One was a graduation present from my parents (a beautiful breedlove guitar), and the other was a Martin DX1, that someone gave me $ to buy, to replace my guitar that was broken at Hume Lake this year (see previous post). These were major purchases that I don't normally make, and that I probably will never be able to make again.

So we filed a police report and all that fun stuff. Now, I didn't know if our church insurance would cover the guitars, and Natalie and I don't have any home owners insurance to cover these losses. So I thought that the guitar playing phase of my life was over. But, it turns out that our church will cover the stolen instruments!

In order for this to happen we had to go to guitar center to get the serial #'s to the stolen guitars. On my way over to the store I calculated what it would cost to replace my 2 guitars, and so assumed that this is what I'll get from the insurance company... (assuming is a bad idea) As we walked in, my friend, who had 3 guitars
stolen, suggested we go look at possible replacements (another bad idea).

So to make a long story short, here is my new guitar bought with $ I hope is coming from the churches insurance sometime soon.




It's a gibson hummingbird custom quiltback...



I absolutely love it, and it sounds like butta!

Irresponsible... yes.
Would I do it again... probable not.
Am I happy I did it? HECK YES!

Hairspray

Every now and then Natalie and I will suffer through a movie that the other really likes and wants to watch @ home. The worse one to date for me was "Bring it on".
So for the last 3 weeks Natalie has been bugging me to watch "Hairspray" with her. I was hesitant but slightly curious about this movie.

So a day after watching John Trivolta dressed as a fat middle aged woman, and watching the main character dance in ways that made me quite uncomfortable, I have officially decided that I did not like this movie.

Christopher Walken was hilarious, and some of the characters were well cast, but that wasn't enough to make this a "Sure, I'll watch it again" movie.

It's on my black list.

Humanity

So our church has added a 3rd service to our Sunday mornings. Partly because we don't have that much room since the fire, and partly because it is going to help solve some of the music issues that our church has been unable to resolve. (lame)
So for better or for worse I am the primary speaker @ our 3rd service called "Awaken".
I don't know if it is because of this new responsibility or what, but have been spending alot of time thinking about humans.

Eric Tonnas is a biola prof., and some friends of mine just heard him speak @ hume. One of his main points was that the human being is the crown-jewel of God's creation. I tend to stand in awe and marvel @ sunsets, the ocean, or the mountains, but I overlook God's most incredible creation all the time. I makes me think that I am just not getting it when it comes to people.

People bother me, get in my way, make my job difficult, and are everywhere. I love them sometimes, and want to avoid them at all costs @ other times. I don't know if it is human beings or their fallen condition that I tend to dislike, but I don't want to get the two confused.