Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Mount Hermon Summer 2016- Day One

(Family packed and ready to drive)
It's Tuesday morning and we're loving our time here at Mount Hermon. The kids are doing well. Isaiah is napping right now and Charity is really enjoying it up here. Our morning's are starting early and the nights are long but it's so rad being here!

I'm going to do my best to give a recap of the day before. This post will actually cover Sunday night and Monday since we arrived later Sunday. Upon arrival we got landed in our housing then headed up to Ponderosa. I immediately connected with Matt who had been awesome! It's been really fun to see how much our kids are enjoying this experience!

(The girls)
The theme this summer is Through the Woods and we're studying Romans 8. Each night I'll be preaching on a handful of verses from Romans 8 and at the end of the week we will have covered the entire chapter. I really love how Mount Hermon is tackling some tough passages in Scripture and helping to shape this generation of believers! Sunday night we had forum and it was an introduction for me. I shared my life story in 4 minutes and then we opened it up for some Q&A time. I was super surprised at some of the questions:

  • What do your tattoos say?
  • What is your greatest regret in life?
  • What is your favorite color?
  • What is your favorite sports team?
  • What is your most embarrassing moment?
After forum I kept the girls around to hang out. We've met some great counselors who are really loving our kids this week! 

Monday morning came early after a late night but we had a good time as a family at breakfast. The girls checked in to their first morning of day camp and we kept Isaiah with us. Most of the afternoon was spent around the pool. Sophie passed the swim test but decided not to jump off the diving board. I was hoping she would but a three foot board is scary when it's just a little smaller than you!

Monday night we had a great forum. I started out with Romans 8:1-13 and talked about how our sin, flesh and the law can't separate us from God's love. I talked about the Prodigal Son to help illustrate this point and even used a blow up crocodile to help show how we don't have to be afraid of sin (not that we need to participate in sin, we just don't have to fear it). Overall it was a great first day! 

Saturday, July 23, 2016

City Impact Conference- 2016

This morning we rushed out of the door, loaded up the kids and headed to one of the most dangerous parts of the city. As we drove the Tenderloin we talked with our kids about what was about to happen. We shared that we might see people who are far from God. We talked about watching where you walk and how to talk to others. I'm not sure they had any clue what they were about to experience.

You can tell someone about the Tenderloin but until you've experienced it for yourself it's hard to realize. The smell of urine and feces on the sidewalk can be horrid. The sights of men and women sleeping on the sidewalk can be hard to handle. Watching people use drugs, at 10 am, is quite the experience. But there are also some great people. Many smiles. Lots of dogs. And wonderful people serving the area in Jesus name. People who are there to intervene in Jesus name.

We parked the car and began heading to the conference. No more than two blocks into the walk (we only parked three blocks away) I witnessed my first drug deal. It was two young men looking to score a bag. The first man they approached didn't have what they were looking for. As I heard them ask to score, I wish I would have stopped them and told them where this lifestyle would lead them.

Just a few short steps away we made it to the conference. I was able to hear John Ortberg speak and he is amazing; it was very inspiring! Worship was next and followed by an interview. Afterwards we went to our service site. It was a quick introduction and then right off to serving. Our girls went out to find a place to serve while I got Isaiah situated (Charity was already working registration). Sophie and Leah found the Tattoo table and were working alongside a young lady name Kiley (I think) who was so amazing to them.

Now these girls didn't just sit there and beg to partake in the carnival. These girls served other kids their age. They prepped the tattoos. They helped to put the tattoos on. They picked up the trash when it fell on the ground. They asked kids their names and gave out hundreds of tattoos. They sat in the hot sun and served their Savior by loving on other kids. It was so precious to see. At one point, as I thought about serving with my family, I almost shed a tear because it was so precious.

The time to serve came to an end and we decided to head home early so we could prep for my speaking engagement next week. As we talked about the time serving it was great to hear the girls thoughts. It was fantastic to see my wife so fully of joy. Charity said, "We should do this every weekend!"

When we got in the car looked at me and said, "Daddy, next year can we come here again and do the same thing?" She got it! My kid got it! It reminded me of the words of Christ:
"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45
When you think about your life, is there room to serve? Many people are serving already but maybe you could find a time to serve with your family and find the joy our family did.



Thursday, July 14, 2016

Charity's Birthday Celebration 2016

I've been super blessed to celebrate Charity's birthday with her since 2003. The first time we celebrated we weren't even dating, we were "just friends". (Although I did try to hold her hand that night at the San Diego Zoo). 

Fast forward to 2016 and times are different. We've been married for over 11 years, have three kids and we hold hands now. This year our daughters started the celebration by making Charity presents and cards. They decorated the table and we hung our happy birthday sign over the window. I went out the night before and got Charity flowers (orange of course). 

During the day Charity enjoyed hanging out with her friends, getting lunch with some great friends and then heading to the beach. While at the beach she called me, during staff meeting, to invite me out. My staff was so kind that they wanted to sing happy birthday to her. It was super cool! 

When I got home we packed up quickly and took Charity out to dinner. With having kids we couldn't go out to a nice dinner. We went to our favorite burger joint, The Counter. It was a great evening and our kids did super good! 

As I look at these pictures and think about the day. I think a few things:
1) My wife is awesome 
2) My kids love their mom
3) I am so blessed 



Thursday, July 07, 2016

Young adults and Spiritual Growth

A few months ago in our Young Adult ministry we were preaching through the book of Colossians. During one of my sermons, I can't tell you which one, I made a comment about spiritual growth. It was actually more than just a comment. It was something to the effect that most of the young adults in the room had a five year plan in their career or personal goals but no plan to grow spiritually. It was one of those times in preaching when you see you struck a nerve. Faces looked down. Wheels began to spin in people's minds and I could see the Spirit working in lives. It was awesome!

It got better! After the night was over two different people came up to me and asked if I would teach them how to create a plan for spiritual growth. My first thought was, "This will wear off, they will forget." I said I would look at my calendar and get back to them. Well it didn't wear off, it actually gained momentum.

My team helped out and we put a date on the calendar. I thought we'd have maybe 5-8 people show up. We created a Facebook Event for the night and to help it be a success we decided to make it a BBQ at my home (if you feed them, they will come). As the date approached I kept hearing an increased interest. The number was growing and it was super encouraging!

Sunday night came around and we had over 20 young people show up at my house looking for ways to grow spiritually. I was able to pull out a bunch of my old seminary papers, shorten them, tweak them and share what I've learned in the last six to seven years since I began making spiritual formations a huge part of my life. We had a wonderful conversation as we talked about being healthy adults, spiritually growing people and connected in community.

I shared several books that impacted my life. It was great seeing the conversation as others talked about their spiritual life. The questions were fun as you could see people who were longing to grow but felt stuck in life. It was great to talk about the whole things not becoming legalistic but flowing out of a healthy relationship.

It leaves the question, how are you growing spiritually? What is your plan to have a healthy walk with Christ and not jut a five year plan for your employment?

We left the night with a decision to meet back up in three months and talk more. I encouraged the group to come up with their own personal plan. I shared some spiritual growth plans from other people and shared my own. It was good for me to see how badly mine needs to be edited. Once it's done I'll share it on here and talk more about how you can create a plan to grow.

Tuesday, July 05, 2016

Happy Fourth of July

Yesterday we celebrated the Fourth of July. Like many Americans we enjoyed the holiday. We relaxed more, spent more time outside and were around more people in our community. As a family we've started some traditions that we really enjoy.

The first family tradition we've been doing for the last four years is the annual Village parade. Our neighborhood has a great parade where many people gather to walk down the street and end up at our neighborhood park. It starts at 11am. 

By 10:40 the street is filling up with families, kids, grandparents and more. This war Charity said, "it's like a small town. You get to see everyone you know and don't have to worry about your kids." It's true. Our kids go and find their friends. We talk with people from school or church. Everyone is enjoying themselves and then we all walk TJ the park. 

One at the park many people BBQ. The local police and firefighters are there and let the kids ride their vehicles.
One we enjoy the fun we head out for lunch for our next tradition. 

For lunch we head to In and Out Burger. Charity and I have been doing this for years. It's feels great to be American and eat a burger before we BBQ. 

In the evening we enjoy having some neighbors over to BBQ and laugh. It's a great time to get to know others and share stories of the year and what is coming up next. 

Happy Fourth of July! I hope you had a great one.