Captain Jack Sparrow and the Mistake

Thanks to the genorosity of a family in our church, my wife Marie and I and our daughter Lily went to Disneyland Wednesday for free
Here is a picture of Lily (age: 21 months)

We had a great time exploring Disneyland through the eyes of a 1 and a half year old. As we were nearing the end of our day, Marie and I decided to take Lily on the new updated version of "Pirates of the Caribbean." Our friends had taken their toddler on the ride the week before and they had told us that he loved it, so we thought Lily would do okay.

What happened next absolutely broke our hearts.

Lily freaked out. She was scared by how dark the ride was, she cried when the music started, she hid her face from the pirate characters...She cried almost the entire ride. Marie and I just looked at each other as the ride progressed, wondering "what were we thinking?

For a little 1 year old girl, pirates are scary:

Fortunately we were able to go on "Small World" after our troubling experience with Captain Jack and hopefully all is forgotten, but Marie and I learned a valuable lesson Wednesday.

As parents, we are responsible for protecting our children in regards to what they are exposed to.

I know, I know, I sound a little like a home school parent, but it is true.

We have such an importat job as parents to protect our children.

When I was 12 years old, I went to the movies with my junior buddies to watch the forgettable movie "Iron Eagle"

While I was watching the movie with my friends, my Mom heard from her friend that it was rated PG-13 and contained "inappropriate scenes."

She drove down to the theater, walked into the movie with a flashlight and usher and took me out of the movie in front of all of my friends!

Wow, you can just imagine how mad I was at her.

But looking back, I kind of get it now.

She was so concerned about what I was potentially going to be exposed to,

that she risked her reputation and status as a "cool Mom" to rescue me even against my own will.

The question comes down to this for any parent:

What will I allow my child to be exposed to and at what age can they make their own decisions?

I pray God gives me and Marie wisdom in this area as we raise Lily.

Teaching tough texts to High School Students

I spoke on 1 John 2:3-11 at our High School Group gathering today.

This passage has been kicking my butt all week as I wrestle with how to teach it properly to a high school aged mind. Here is the passage for you to see:

3And by this we know that we have come to
know him, if we keep his commandments. 4Whoever says "I know him" but does not
keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5but whoever keeps
his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may be sure that
we are in him: 6whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in
which he walked.
7Beloved, I am writing you no new
commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old
commandment is the word that you have heard. 8At the same time, it is a new
commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you,
because[a] the darkness is passing away and
the true light is already shining. 9Whoever says he is in the light and
hates
his brother is still in darkness. 10Whoever loves his brother abides
in the
light, and in him[b] there is no cause for stumbling.
11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the
darkness,
and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has
blinded his eyes.

According to the context, it seems that John is challenging us to obey this command from Jesus
34A new commandment I give to you,
that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one
another. 35By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have
love for one
another." (John 13:34-35, ESV)

So here is the challenging aspect of teaching this text. It seems to be saying that if we say that we are Christians yet do not obey God's command to love one another (and specifically) Christians, we are liar's and the truth is not in us! This is so hardcore...

Most commentaries say

John is writing to Christians who need to be shaken up a bit in their faith in Christ and that John is not saying from the text that we can lose our salvation. Instead John is giving Christians a "test" to see if they truly are "in Christ."

So my challenge was, how do I teach this passage to students:

#1 - Assuring them that those "in Christ" cannot lose their salvation

#2 - Clearly showing the command from Christ (John 13:34-35)

#3 - Asking students to "test" their faith and examine if they are truly "in Christ"

I pray that God used my words to communicate his Word accurately and clearly today. What a challenge!

This is why I love going verse by verse through a book of the Bible.

It forces us as Pastor's to struggle with tough texts, become more dependent on God in our teaching ministry and ultimately look to the Lord as the authority.

Wow. I am tired, time to go home.

Circles and Ergonomics

Calvary Church School and Minstry Staff

Every church has its own unique dynamics and structures.

At my church, Calvary Church of Santa Ana,

we meet every Tuesday morning for what we call

"Pastor's-Director's meeting."

It takes place in an upstairs room at our church

and consists of discussion, planning and praying.

Most churches have some type of weekly staff meeting.

There is nothing new about the fact that we at Calvary also have a weekly staff meeting.

But what I find interesting about my church is how we conduct our meetings.

We sit in chairs in a circle:

While it makes sense to sit in chairs,

I have always wondered how sitting in a circle

affects the dynamics of our staff meetings
(both in positive and negative ways).
I have always pictured board meetings, staff meetings, and the like to take place at big solid oak conference tables:

Sitting in a circle minus the solid oak table, makes the meeting feel more confortable, less formal and perhaps more intimate.

Yet without a nice table to rest your papers and arms on,

the back tends to get sore after sitting a while.

I wonder if this makes us more likely to want the staff meeting to end, therefore making our discussion, planning and prayer less meaningful and engaging.

The term for all of these thoughts is called ergonomics, defined by wikipedia as:

"Ergonomics is the application of scientific information concerning humans to the design of objects, systems and environment for human use. (definition adopted by the International Ergonomics Association in 2007). It is the study of the interaction of man and machine and its effects on human physiology."

Why do I am brining any of this up?

Because of a nagging question that has been replaying lately in my mind.

Do ergonomics play a role in our worship gatherings?

Do comfy chairs, appropriate lighting and air-conditioning rooms really impact how we worship? The short answer here in Orange County is: YES!

Mariners Church, Irvine, Ca

Should ergonomics really affect how we worship God in our weekly worship gatherings?

The short answer is: No!

Good stuff to think about as we lead God's people here in Orange County, California.

I end this post with a picture of a simple one room church in Honduras:

Wednesday Night, Jesus, Zacchaeus and Baja Fresh

Wednesday night is our mid-week high school group night. The name of our group is EveryDayLife. We named it that because we want to remind high school students that Jesus should be part part of every day of life, not just Sunday's and Hume Lake.

I love Wednesday nights:

#1 - Because it is a great middle of the week reminder of this truth

#2 - The students who come all want to be there, they are not forced to be there (like some are on Sunday mornings)

#3 - Students bring Non-Christian friends

Tonight I spoke from Luke 19 on Jesus and the cheater (Zacchaeus).

Here is a tree in Jericho like the one Zacchaeus climbed to see Jesus:

Here is what I imagine Zacchaeus looked like: Danny Devito

I spoke for 45 minutes tonight. It is difficult to condense the story of Jesus and Zacchaeus any shorter, but I need to be careful not to talk to long...Students have been sitting in school all day long.

I loved tonight though. We spoke about how Jesus called a known cheater Zaccaeus to follow him. I shared my own past struggles with cheating and gave an opportunity for students to confess their own struggles with cheating to Jesus and challenged them to "make it right" with a teacher or person they have cheated against. It will be interesting to hear in the coming days if students follow through on that. Cheating is a huge issue for high school students and I have seen it be a real stumbling block for our students.

I pray that students felt God's grace mixed with conviction tonight and were challenged to become Every Day Life Christians. Finally, a comment about Baja Fresh. The Bean and Cheese Burrito at Baja is dang good. But I have to say it ranks only 4th on my list of best bean and cheese burrito's in Orange County. Here is the list

#4 - Baja Fresh (great cheese)

#3 - Wahoo's (BIG)

#2 - Pedro's (98 cents and great beans)

#1 - Taco Bell (Cheap and ohh so tasty)

A Bible Passage I Have Never Seen Before

1 Corinthians 14:20.

The Bible is an amazing thing. I have read it cover to cover 3x (okay, really 2x).

Today I came across a passage I have never noticed before...

It really stood out to me. I want to like an innocent child when it comes to sin (evil)and like

a mature adult when it comes to the things of God.

(Okay I have read the Bible cover to cover 1x).

Check out these versions of this brief passage:

1 Corinthians 14:20:

20Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults (NIV)

20Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. (ESV)

Dear brothers and sisters, don’t be childish in your understanding of these things. Be innocent as babies when it comes to evil, but be mature in understanding matters of this kind. (NLT)

20 Hermanos, no seáis niños en el modo de pensar, sino sed niños en la malicia, pero maduros en el modo de pensar. (Spanish)

20To be perfectly frank, I'm getting exasperated with your infantile thinking. How long before you grow up and use your head—your adult head? It's all right to have a childlike unfamiliarity with evil; a simple no is all that's needed there. But there's far more to saying yes to something. Only mature and well-exercised intelligence can save you from falling into gullibility. (Message)

Nerds, Blogs and Beginnings

Being a self confessed nerd, it was just a matter of time before I started my own BLOG.
So here is the beginning of my Blogging career, March 19, 2007.

I am the worst type of nerd. A nerd who is computer challenged. This means, I have no cool pictures as of now (Because I don't know how to add them), I have nothing really to say today (because all I do is read) and I probably won't write another post until next month.

But that being said, I am very excited to add my thoughts to the information overloaded society. So here is goes, the beginning...I am a blogger.