Smelly Car

A few days ago I gave a homeless man
a ride to a shelter.
No matter how much I have tried to air it out
my car has smelt like BO
ever since.

It got me thinking,
when we who are Jesus followers
follow the example of Jesus
and love others,
it comes with a personal cost.
Sometimes this cost can be a minor inconvenience,
like how my clothes used to smell like cigarette smoke
everytime we would leave the low-income Motel Ministry
food outreach we used to run every Sunday.

Sometimes this cost can be major,
like it was for a missionary from our church
named Lanny Arensen who lost his wife a few years ago
to a drive by shooting in the mission field of Africa.

One of the biggest inaccuracies making its way around Christianity
is that following Jesus makes your life more comfortable
and prosperous.
I believe this is false thinking
because as I study the teachings of Jesus and
begin to live them out in my life,
I realize the cost could be anything from
living with a smelly car to giving my life.

But it is so worth it when you consider
the cost Jesus paid for us. by Mathis Grunewald, 1500 AD

Cupcakes for $3.50?

Only in Orange County.

Actually that is not true,

this trend is sweeping

the nation.

Cupcake specialty stores are in for 2008.

We have one in Newport Beach

called Sprinkles.

It is the place to be these days

with lines going out the door

at all hours.

Marie and I packed up the kids

and headed over to Sprinkles

yesterday.

3 cupcakes = $9.75

$9.75 seems like a lot for cupcakes

but that's what people said about coffee a few years ago as well.

So how do Sprinkles cupcakes stack up?

Here is my personal cupcake best list:

5. School birthday party cupcakes (usually stale, but contain great amounts of frosting)

4. Hostess Ho-Ho Cupcakes (remember these glorious treats from your lunch box?)

3. Sprinkles Cupcakes (recently featured on Martha Stewart TV but that doesn't make up for the fact that the cake part of the cupcake tastes like something you would buy at Starbucks)

2. Pacific Whey Cafe - Newport Beach, Ca (right down the street from Kobe Bryant's house, this cupcake contains the 3 F's: Frosting, Freshness, Fluffiness)

1. (tie)My Wife's/Mother-in-law's/Mom's cupcakes - There is nothing better on a warm 4th of July evening than homemade works and a family made cupcake

If you want to get serious about finding the nations best cupcake click here

My Phone is Alive

A few months ago, a friend gave me thiswhen his company issued him a new Blackberry.

I love this phone and its easy to text letter pad

which comes in handy in responding to students

text messsages.

But something interesting comes with this phone,

a mind of it's own.

Several times in the last few months,

my phone has unknowingly to me,

dialed random numbers of people

programmed into my phone and then hung up.

These people have seen a missed call from me

and called me back.

I know you are thinking,

"wake up Sherlock Holmes,

your phone is simply being pushing numbers

as it moves around in your pocket"

and I would agree with you

but here is the weird part:

Each time my phone has accidently dialed

someone, it has been a person who is going through

something, they really need to talk to someone about.

It is like my phone knows.

I wonder if Verizon will give me free minutes

for these calls?

I voted for him

Tonight in our young adult gathering at Calvary
we played a game where each table group had to come
up with a sentence of 13 words or less describing topics
like the Super Bowl, the Academy Awards, California history
and a few others (I know, I know, riveting game).

The crowd-breaker was done to set-up my message
on the 13 words of Romans 8:1 which wonderfully
say, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus."

Anyways, the best group response to the crowd-breaker question
of using 13 or less to describe this year's Presidential race was,
"vote for the candidate that you dislike the least."

With that being said, I wish Huckabee still had a chance.
I don't agree with some of his political ideas,
but he seems humble, down to earth and normal,
something you rarely see in modern politics.
Did you see him on Saturday Night Live last weekend?
Check it out, this is really funny:

It's 6:30am, do you know where your kids are?

I know where one of mine is...

Samuel's internal clock is pretty well dialed

into this glorious hour of the morning,

which makes for some great bonding times

before his big sister wakes up around 7:30am.

My Dad

My Dad, Larry Doan, is a pastor at Santa Cruz Bible Church,a great church with an incredible history,

the place where God transformed my own life

in my High School years.

This last week the church had their

Senior Pastor resign and had to

release 6 staff members because of budget cuts.

Obviously, it has been a rough week for the church.

My Dad and worship leader Paul Sampson

co-lead this past weekend's services

and shephered the church with such humility

and care, gently reminding the church keep the focus on Jesus.

I have never been prouder to be a product of

Santa Cruz Bible Church and I have never

been prouder to be Larry Doan's son.

Click here to download the message

Serving Juice in Tijuana is Better

This weekend me and 80 of my favorite people

from Calvary Church ventured down to Mexico

to build a couple of houses for 2 families we barely know

but authentically love.
Tonight, these two families who make about
$100 a month for families of four

will spend a cool Feburary night in newer, warmer, bigger homes.

Our group was filled with so much joy and unity

this weekend as we banged away trying to create

a house.

Our High School group used to take President's weekend

and go snowbording at Mammoth Mtn.

These were fun weekends filled with great adventures

but you know what?

Our High School students actually seem to have more fun and become

more unified serving others in Mexico than they ever do snowboarding.
Why is that?

I think it is because serving the poor and serving others in general

is something we were designed by God to do as real-life followers of Jesus.

Therefore it brings joy and unity like nothing else.

I love Jesus words from the upper room:

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Jesus, quoted in Matthew 25

Saturday afternoon, I was passing out juice to little kids at our construction site.

We had given name tags to all the neighborhood kids so that we could call them

by name when we played with them.

So here I am passing out cups of juice to all of these kids who are surrounding me

when I realize I am pouring juice into a cup of a little boy with a nametag

that says, "Jesus."

Never before had the words of Matthew 25 ever been as real to me

as they were in that moment.

The Blog you need to read daily if you...

1. Are a follower of Jesus



2. Love Sports


Prayer for Blowouts is the name of the Blog.


It is amazing.


http://prayersforblowouts.com/

I love my wife

My wife Marie is my best friend.

She is an incredible person.

She is so funny, so smart, so beauiful.

She loves Jesus .

She is a great Mom.

She is such a gift from the Lord.

We celebrated Valentine's Day

a few days ago

at one of our all-time favorite places

the Hotel Bel Air in Bel-Air, Ca.

We stayed at the Hotel Bel Air on our honeymoon,

so it is always a special place for us to return to.

I love my wife.

My Take on the Grammy's

My old college roomates,

Eric Balmer

(guitarist for the most amazing band of the 90's, Plankeye)

and

Andy "bulldog" Blunda

(guitarist for the tooth-n-nail band Driver 8 and later for the band Fastball)

used to always joke that if I liked a new song they were working on

then for sure the general public would like it, because my music tastes were

in line with the Average American. With that in mind, here are my takes on last nights

Grammy Awards:

Best Moment: John Mayer and Alecia Keys singing together. They seemed to really be into the performance and the energy in the Staples center seemed electric in this moment.

Most Awkward Moment: (tie) Kid Rock and some old lady performing some jazz number; Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis performing (those guys are still alive?)

Most Inspirational Moment: Josh Groban and Andrea Bochelli singing together in tribute to Pavarotti

Stupidest Moment: Amy Winehouse winning a grammy...How is this girl famous?

Most Informative Moment: Until last night, I had never heard of the late, great jazz drummer, Max Roach (I plan to learn more about his music and influence)

Here is a Max Roach drum solo from 1983:

I found this today at the doctor's office

Today was our son Samuel's day of reckoning,

3 month shot time (Dr. Sears style).

He did pretty well,

taking the shots like a little warrior.

As we were packing up,

I noticed this great quote on the office wall:

People are often unreasonable, irrational and self centered, forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives, be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some
genuine enemies, succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere, people may deceive you, be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight, create
anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous, be happy
anyway.
The good you do today will often be forgotten, do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it may never be enough, give your best
anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God, it was never beween you
and them anyway.

-Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Imago Dei

We began a new Wednesday night series tonight
called, "Friends with Freaking Hookup Benefits"

The 4 week series will look at how
to have healthy friendships with the opposite sex,
how to survive the world of freak dancing at the next high school dance
and how to honor God in a "hookup/friends with benefits culture. "

Tonight, I got the series going with a foundational teaching
we felt the students needed to know before we jump into the series.

What do our students need to know first?
Genesis 1 v26-27

26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

During my message we showed this video in the background as a secondary communication tool:

Rick Warren goes on Stephen Colbert Show

Stephen Colbert is one of my favorite comedians
on the Comendy Central Network...

Here is a interview Colbert did with Orange County Pastor
Rick Warren last week:


Being interviewed by Colbert is not easy,
he specializes in making guests look dumb...

How do you think Rick Warren did?

I am thinking about becoming a Major League Baseball Owner

Now that the Super Bowl is over (What a game!)

it is time to prepare for baseball.

Randy Newsome, a minor league pitcher

with the Clevland Indians

has come up with an interesting idea.

You can invest money into his career

with the promise that if he makes

it to the major leagues you get a

percentage of his salary.

Here is the article..

Here is the company Real Sports Investments

mission statement:
RSI is committed to providing security to players and allowing them to achieve their dreams of playing in the major leagues. Furthermore, RSI wants to enhance the sports enthusiast's spectating experience.There is considerable risk to investing in a professional athlete. If the athlete does not play a day in the top league of his sport, there will be no return. But with great risk comes great reward. If you can pick which player does make it big, then you will be rewarded with a handsome return in the form of a steady stream of cash.

I think I am going to do it,

It is like Monopoly, fantasy sports and the stock market all in one!