Check out this ministry...

Our church is a part of the "Advent Conspiracy" where we are committing this Christmas season to:
1) Worship More
2) Spend Less
3) Give More
4) Love All

Part of us "loving all" is us giving to a global ministry. We have chosen Living Water International. I spent some time looking at their website...they are doing some amazing work.
Here's some info I took from their website: The world's number one killer is unsafe drinking water. This killer takes the lives of nearly 14,000 people each day and is responsible for 80% of the world's illnesses. According to the World Health Organization, more than 1.1 billion people lack access to clean drinking water.
Drilling water wells is one of the most common solutions to this problem. So this guy from Living Water International developed a portable well drilling rig that can be driven to remote areas. Short term teams help drill these wells. LWI teams meet physical needs through the provision of clean water and spiritual needs through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Pretty awesome, eh?

My 5 year old is writing Scripture...what's yours doing?

This morning, we found that Jonah apparently believes there is some Scripture left out of our Bible...so he wrote his OWN verse! We have been memorizing verses from the Bible together lately. Here's the one he wrote:
"God is grat (great). God or Jesus and he want to help and do not be afraid." Then Jonah gave us the "address" of the Scripture: it is apparently found in "Robert 4:50". (Robert is his middle name).

I'm proud of Jonah. I'm not sure his verse will hold up to the tests of canonization...but maybe we can include it in the Apocrypha?

A hospital visit with my friend David...

Today I had the privilege to drive to Palo Alto to visit with my friend David Huddleston. He is in the Veterans Hospital right now with a TBI (traumatic brain injury) that he suffered while in Turkey with the Air Force. Man, it was sure good to see him. David isn't able to speak (yet) and he slept through most of my visit with him today...he has been uncomfortable at night so he doesn't get much sleep. It's OK because I'm used to young people sleeping when I start talking!
David was in my youth group back in Riverside. He is one of the greatest guys you will ever meet. We would go snowboarding together with a couple of the other guys and gals from The Grove.
I am so impressed by David's parents, Patty and Steve. They have been at his side this whole time (about 6 weeks now). The recovery that David experiences will be largely due to his parents and the tireless care they are giving him. They have him pointing at things, shaving his head and face, pointing to words on a chalkboard, and even communicating when he needs to go to the bathroom!
As I think of my visit with David today, I realize that after I heard about his accident, all I wanted to do was to SEE David and to be WITH him. I didn't have the greatest words to say...but it wasn't about my words...it was all about being NEAR my friend who is hurting right now. It sure was good to see my friend today...

Jonah and the scissors...

Tonight, I noticed that Jonah was in his room alone and quiet for about 15 minutes. This ALWAYS means something is going on in there that shouldn't be! So when I opened the door, he is sitting on the ground and shirtless. He has his scissors in hand and he has SHREDDED his green soccer jersey with his scissors. All he said was, "My soccer jersey is too long!".

His jersey looks like he got into a fight with a bear. It is reminiscent of the crop-tops I used to wear in the early 80's.

Payton's "Stay Up Late" night...

Tonight was Payton's "Stay Up Late" night. She dressed up as a firefighter and left her costume on while we played games together. We played pick up sticks and a game of "speed" with playing cards. Good times...

Marshmallow Baseball was a "hit"...

Well, let's just say we had a legendary game of marshmallow baseball with the youth last Sunday. The kids and leaders brought their "A" game. The leaders won the game with 71 runs. 6 of my leaders scored the maximum 10 runs for their at bat...I scored the "1" run.
On a deeper note, it was cool to see that these young people are looking to have fun and get crazy...and so were my leaders! A jr. high boy named Joseph Stickel (nicknamed "Stick") took the Defensive MVP award...he snagged the marshmallow three times in a row and shoved it in his mouth AFTER it had been on the dirty floor and passed through some hands.
I find that the kids in our group have nicknames that they like to go by:
- "Stick"
- "Yeah-Yeah"...this kid looks just like the boy in Sandlot
- "P.K." ...he's the pastor's kid
I feel weird calling them by these names, but they seem to prefer it. I'm trying to get them to call me "T-bone"...it's not working.

Mountain Bike Ride through the woods

This is a picture of Henry Cowell Park which is less than a mile from my house. Today, I worked at 4:00am again and I was off at 11am. I thought I was going home to take a nap, but it was such a BEAUTIFUL day that I decided instead to take a ride through the park. I strapped on my camel back, grabbed my Bible & Journal, and put some new David Crowder on the iPod and took off. It was such a good time. I stopped at the ocean view bench where you can see the beach just beyond the mountain valley.

If you ever come up to visit us, I will take you on the mandatory bike ride through Henry Cowell Park. There are rivers, railroad tracks, bridges, trees, and dirt paths...all outside my front door. The list of the "lucky" ones who have taken a ride so far are: Mike Rodriguez, Trevor Christmas (2x's), Dan Lance, and David O'Rafferty. Who's next??

4:00am...seriously

I've been working the early shift at Starbucks...4:00am! Which means I get up at 3:20am. When I get out of bed, my nipples are so cold they could cut glass. Getting up that early is great when you're going snowboarding, but not for work. The amazing thing is that people are at the door at 5:00am when we open. I'm glad I don't have THEIR jobs...

Marshmallow Baseball

Tomorrow at our youth gathering, I'm introducing one of my favorite games: MARSHMALLOW BASEBALL. It is a game that was thought up from the bowels of youthwork at The Grove. It involves hitting marshmallows with a baseball bat, while others retrieve the mallows and throw them at the person who hit it. There's also the element of eating the marshmallow after it's been hit and scooted across the dirty floor and through some dirtier teenage hands.

I'm a little nervous introducing this game to my new youth group. It's kind of like saying "I love you" for the first time to your girlfriend. Will they accept it? Reject it? This game is such a deep part of who I am as a man...as a follower of Christ...as a human being...and as a barista. I guess I just have to put myself out there and hopefully they'll return the love.

The youth ministry has been good so far...challenging in some ways, and exciting in others. We currently have about 500 people in our church, and about 10-15 youth (6th-12th grade) that show up for the youth gathering. I've decided to take us all through the book of John these first few months. We're looking at WHO Jesus is, what He SAID, what He DID, WHY He did it, and asking HOW should we respond to all of it.

We had our first leaders meeting at our house last Sunday. There are about 10 great adults who are committed to these young people (10 adults and about 20 youth...pretty cool ratio, eh?). Trevor, the youth director before me, did a good job of recruiting some great people to work with these youth...I'm thankful for these people. Today, one of my leaders, Eddie, took some of the youth to a place called "Sky High". It is a huge room of trampolines. I couldn't make it with them, but it's so cool that he initiated this event.

Think of us tomorrow around 11am as we smack white puffs of sugar around a dirty gymnasium floor...

Why I enjoy working with youth...

Today was our first day teaching Sunday School for the youth at our church. We played the game "2 Truths and a Lie" where they write down two things that are true about themselves and one that is not true (we try to guess which one is the lie).

So one of the teenagers says this: "I OWN AND OPERATE A SPEEDO!". Now that's funny...I'm going to like this kid.

Props for the Volunteers...

My heart is filled with gratitude as I post these pictures. They are just a FEW of the countless men and women who have VOLUNTEERED their time to minister to young people in our youth ministry. (by the way, BORIS never received one penny for his/her appearances at camp). You see, for most of my life, I've been compensated financially for the time I put in leading a youth ministry. I would go to camp or Mexico for a week with the youth ministry (get paid for doing it), THEN I would take a week's vacation with my family. But most of our volunteers use their own vacation time to go on those same trips. They also work all day and/or go to school and STILL make time to teach and help out at youth group or have a group of students over their house for a small group Bible study.

I just want to say thank you...you are an indescribable blessing to me and the teenagers. You are each a hero to me.

Today, I got a glimpse of this. I worked at Starbucks from 6am-2pm, then drove over to church and put in a few hours preparing for youth group this Sunday. I'll do the same thing tomorrow. Tonight, Annette and I talked about our summer vacation and how we will possibly need to schedule it AROUND a camp or outreach trip with the youth.

I wish I had a picture of ALL our previous volunteers...just know that I'm thankful for you and young lives have been changed through your faithfulness.

Changing deodorant brings World Peace...

OK my friends...if I read one more blog about how you're switching deodorant, I'm going to shove pencils in my eyes. According to all of you, changing the stick that you put under your stinky pits:
1. lowers the global temperature by 15 degrees...
2. provides affordable health insurance for everyone in the western United States...
3. makes cats and dogs become friends in perfect harmony...
4. brings Brittany and K-Fed back together again...

Thank you. Next year, I'm voting that you get the Nobel Peace Prize.

Speaking of deodorant, my record for days without showering is 9...what's YOUR record? Mine happened while I was in Chile last year...quite impressive...but mark my words, the record will NOT stand!

Here's something to pray for...

(this picture is from our first night at the New Grove Property...we stuffed as many freshmen as we could in front of the camera. You'll notice a couple of our seniors snuck in the center of the picture)
I want to give a brief update on what God is doing in our lives. It has been almost 8 months since we left The Overflow at The Grove. We have had plenty of time to rest and be refreshed. A few months ago, we started looking into some possible ministry opportunities around the country. Some of these are AMAZING churches and everything looked good on paper...but we simply had NO PEACE about joining any of them. As I talked with the leaders from these churches, I felt like I was breaking up with an old girlfriend because all I could say was, "It's not you...it's me." The only thing we were sure of was that it wasn't time to leave Felton yet.
We love the church we are at right now (Vintage Faith). Two weeks ago, I decided that it was time for me to get back into the lives of young people, so I decided to contact the youth director at our church and be a volunteer leader. I showed up that night for youth group and to my surprise...it was his last night as the youth director. (OK, God...what are YOU doing??).
Since then, we've been in communication with the leadership at the church about leading the youth group during this time. They are in need of someone to be a volunteer youth director for the next few months as they figure out what to do next. Annette and I told them we would like to be considered for the volunteer spot. This is how we see it: The local church we love and are a part of has a need...and that need just happens to be an area that I am passionate about, have previous experience in, and just at the time that I was ready to jump back in to that area.
The most important thing is that we feel God's peace with this opportunity. (Isn't it funny how we did NOT have peace with the jobs that would pay us full time but we DO have peace about a position that isn't paid and keeps me working at Starbucks?).
We are EXCITED to be in a place where we are needed. We are EXPECTANT of God to do His mighty work in the lives of these teenagers. And we are ANXIOUS about starting all over again (will they love us? will we love them? are they as awesome as Riverside kids?).
Will you please pray for us and the young people we will be ministering to? I am meeting some of the youth ministry leaders tomorrow night and staying for the youth group. I just hope they like 34 year olds...

Look out WCS baseball team!

Jonah LOVES to play baseball. We have this routine where I pitch the ball the same way to him every time, but each time I say I'm throwing him something else:
"Okay, here's my fastball...Okay, this time it's my screwball". If he swings and misses, he always asks me to throw the same pitch again, "Dad, throw the spitball again!".
With the way my pitching is being hit, I feel like I could play for Poly High School!

Backstage Pass for Jimmy Eat World

Just in case you haven't heard about how cool we are, we got back stage passes to the Jimmy Eat World concert in Santa Cruz last Tuesday. So Zach, the drummer brought us and our friends to the tour bus to hang out with him before the show. Then Annette and I watched the show from the side of the stage. We're sort of a big deal around here... (actually, a couple of friends we met in our Bible study group are related to the drummer and they got us back stage...thanks Jared and Colleen!).
The show was AMAZING! I highly encourage you to see the band when they come into town. I was first introduced to Jimmy Eat World on our 2 and 1/2 day drive to Houston with the youth group. I remember sitting next to Curtis Warren as he sang all the songs...good times.

I love January...

Well, we've just celebrated all three of our kids birthday parties in the last two weeks. Yes, our kids' birthdays are Sept. 26, Sept. 27, and October 8th. I love January...

Mom and Dad

My Mom and Dad came up to visit us and the kids this weekend. It was so great to see them. They also got to go to church with us, too. Today, they stopped by Starbucks to say goodbye to me before they left. They told me how proud they are of me (even though I was wearing an apron at the time). They have always been proud of me no matter what I was into:
- When I wanted to be a heavy metal rock star in 6th grade, they were proud...
- When I was 90 pounds and I wanted to be a major league baseball player, they believed in me...
- When I was a youth pastor, they bragged to their friends about me...
- And today, when I was wearing an apron, making coffee, and working at a cash register, they still took the time to tell me how proud they are of me...

Thanks Mom and Dad...everybody needs to have someone believe in them they way you believe in me.

A visit from some ladies...

On Saturday, we were visited by Nicolle, Kelsey, and Corisa. The came all the way up to our area for a "Regatone" (sp?) concert by somebody named guy named "Daddy Yankee". Who in their right mind would listen to music from a guy named "Daddy Yankee"??? Anyway, it was great seeing them and chatting with them. Thanks for stopping by, ladies...

Nice Hat...

Today was Jonah's 5th birthday and he wore this SWEET hat! I took him bowling (he bowled a 67...I bowled a 164...he had to buy the root beers). We then went over to the arcade and played POLE POSITION. Do you all remember that game? It is only a quarter to play because it's so old, but Jonah can't tell the difference (I'm such a cheap skate). I also played a game of Tetris for a quarter.

Two men with guns for arms...

My friend Micah and his mom, Patti, came to visit us yesterday. He and his family just moved to Salinas which is only 45 minutes away. I took Micah with me to St. Francis Soup Kitchen where we served lunch to about 150 people. Micah has a heart to serve others, and I could tell that the people there were encouraged to see him there.

Whose side of the Family does Davey get this from?

The other day, I asked Davey to put on a sweatshirt before he goes outside to play. This is his response (I see so much of his mommy in him!).

Too Bubblicious...

The other day, I was making an Espresso Macchiato and I was told by the customer that my bubbles were too big...I had to make it again for her. I tell you, if I had a nickel for every time I've been told my bubbles are too big...

Friends

I've been blessed to visit and talk with some good friends this past week. I went up to Simpson University and took out 5 former Overflow kidz to In-N-Out burger (it made me feel like a youth pastor again!). I got to spend time with Holly Gilbreth (pictured here in Guatemala...she's the one in blue).

Tyler Ellis and Daniel Santo have been roomates at Simpson all four years! It was great to hang out in their room and talk about what God is doing in their lives.

I also got to hang out with Brittany Thomsen and Melissa Hart (not pictured). By the way, these pictures I posted are from four years ago...they're all older now and have bigger hair.

On the way home, I was able to talk to my buddy Ryan O. This picture best captures Ryan...caring for others whom the world has overlooked. This picture is from 2003 when he led a team of teenagers to work in an orphanage in Guatemala. When we came to join his team, the founder of the orphanage waited a few hours just to tell me what an AMAZING job Ryan and his team did...and he said they were welcome to come back anytime. It was so good to talk to my buddy, Ryan a few days ago. WE ARE BOTH WORKING AT JOBS THAT REQUIRE US TO WEAR AN APRON!!! I hear that aprons are like Hansel..."they're so HOT right now!".

I was also visited by Trevor White and his family on their way up to Seattle Pacific University. It was so encouraging to talk to him and his mom, Becky.

Trevor and Arden Christmas stopped by for a few nights, too. Trevor and I "boned out" one day and took our mountain bikes:

---through the woods

---across the river

---alongside the railroad tracks into Santa Cruz

---had lunch at Pizza My Heart

---took the city bus back to Felton.

...Normally, Trevor doesn't enjoy "outdoor" events, but I took him anyway. Arden and Trevor even watched the kids for us one night so I could take Annette out on a date! Thanks, guys. And Areden brought up some of her famous cookies...

Dan Lance is stopping by tomorrow night.

On Wednesday, I get to hang out with Micah Risinger. Micah and I are going to serve some lunch at the St. Francis Kitchen to about 150 friends who could really use a meal and some encouragement.

It has been a great week...

Off to Simpson University for the night...

After work today, I'm driving up to Redding to visit some friends at Simpson University. The picture on the left are of some ladies I graduated Simpson with a long time ago. Mildred is in the lower left corner...she was a PARTY ANIMAL!!!!
I'm going to hang out with Phil Vaughn (Youth Ministries Professor) and chat for a little while. I also hope to see Tyler Ellis, Holly Gilbreth, Daniel Santo, Brittany Thomsen (and her "Bo"), and Melissa Hart...all former Overflow kidz.

Jonah's message for Nana Sharon

Hey Mom, I thought you would like to see a short update from Jonah and his first week at Playschool.

Sleeping Boys

Here is a short video of our kids after a day at the zoo. Turn up the volume to hear Davey snoring.

Notice the kid who cuts me off!

This is a short demo of my snowboarding talents that I'm planning on sending to the local skate shops so I can get sponsored by them. I'm the one in the colorful red vest. By the way, I blame this event on the kid that cut me off!

7 months later...

This picture of my wife and I was taken 7 months ago right before we left Riverside to go to Felton for the health of our boys.
(I am the one on the right...wearing the watch and glasses...with the darker blue jeans on...with the thermal undershirt on to make me look 5 pounds heavier than I really am). The other person (on the left), well that's my wife. She's the one wearing the headband and clasping her hands together...she's the one wearing the black shirt...directly under the RED balloons (I am the one directly under the black balloons, while the white balloons are sort of diagonally to the left of my head). Just wanted to be CLEAR, because CLARITY is what we are seeking most in our lives right now...

Old Skool is in the house

Hello, I'm Old Skool. I'm sort of a big deal around here. Tons of people from the Parks and Rec calling me to be on their city league basketball team...but I'm holding out for bigger things.