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.