Ride-Along

Monday morning I traveled down to the Santa Ana police station along with our Senior Pastor (and Police Chaplain), David Mitchell to meet with our city police department and think through ways we as a Church could partner with the police department to reach out to the homeless families living on the streets of our city. It was a exciting meeting and I believe God is really at work in our city.

After our meeting, I had the honor to go for a "ride-along" with an officer who has attended our Church. It was exciting afternoon, riding around our city in a black and white patrol car. One of my childhood dreams was to be John Baker from the TV Show CHIPS.

There is a part of me that still wants to be a police officer and so riding "shotgun" was an awesome opportunity! I have so much respect for our police officers who put their lives on the line everyday in order to keep society from unraveling. The Santa Ana police department is made up of an incredible group of people. I pray for them everytime I pass a city patrol car as I drive around town.

On the other hand, the ride-along was incredibly sobering as we patrolled the streets of Santa Ana and I saw firsthand how sin has a such a strong grip on our city. From public drunkeness, to family disputes, to kids in gangs, I once again was reminded of how badly our city needs Jesus!

I can understand how Jesus felt in Matthew 9, where it says,

"36 When He (Jesus) saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

The needs of the crowds can be overwhelming.

I pray that God continues to raise up workers from our Church and other local Churches to continue the important work of going out into the harvest fields of Santa Ana to proclaim the good news of Jesus to our city. May we be Christians who are involved in our city and see our cities like Jesus does, with compassion.

Orange County Church Turned Into Private Residence

A sad story out of Laguna Beach. St. Paul's Lutheran Church was recently sold to a private owner for 2.1 million and will be turned into a giant residence. I wonder what happened to this Church? Did its members die out? Did the Church split or move or simply lose its passion for Jesus? Read about the sale here.


My Prayer for the Churches of Orange County
"Father, protect the Churches of Orange County. May our Churches be places that proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, worship God with fervor, love one another authentically and serve the marginalized and broken of our communities with humility until You, Lord Jesus, return. Amen."

The Message of the Bible

You are more sinful and weak than you ever dare believe, but at the same time you are more valued and loved by God than you ever dared hope.”

Tim Keller

Happy Father's Day!

Two of the most Godly men I have ever met!
My Dad (with Lily) and My Father-in-law (with Marie)

"A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society."

-- Billy Graham

Conversation with Jim Belcher and Mike Erre

2 Pastor's I really respect here in Orange County, Jim Belcher (Redeemer Pres in Newport Beach) and Mike Erre (Rock Harbor Church, Costa Mesa) both recently stepped down from their Churches to pursue new ministry opportunities. Here is a recent interview they both sat down for to talk about their decisions and what is next:

Mike & Jim from ConversantLife on Vimeo.

To the Rescue at Target

I made a late night run tonight to the local Target to pick up a few grocery items we were needing for the rest of the week. As I was nearing the checkout area, a middle age woman about 5 feet in front of me, collapsed to the floor! What do you think I did next?

A) Immediately began CPR (Thanks to Kimball Smalley's training), revived her and received anything I wanted from the $1 section as a thank you from Target

B) Helped the woman up and shared with her that the love of Jesus was the motivator in what compelled me to help her

C) Froze in shock and disbelief, until the Good Samaritan shopper behind me, stepped up and assisted the woman

D) Stepped over her in the aisle, thinking to myself, "cool, one less person to have to wait for in the notoriously slow checkout lines at Target."

Weigh in with your comment on what you think I did...I will report back later.

***Update on What I Did When the Lady in Front of Me Collaspsed at Target***

Option C). I froze in shock and disbelief, until the Good Samaritan shopped behind me, stepped up and assisted the woman. All I could get out, was a faint whisper of "are you okay?"The lady ended up being fine. She got up on her own power and was laughing about it. She must have just felt lightheaded or faint for a moment and then quickly came to.

I am sorry Kimball Smalley. You are a great CPR Teacher, I don't what heppened to me. In a moment of heroic proportions, I failed. This is the second time this month my medical response help has been unworthy. A few weeks ago, I suggested to a friend at Men's Retreat who had hurt his shoulder, that it was most likely dislocated and we should try to "pop it" back in. We were seconds from pulling a Mel Gibson shoulder move, when another friend suggested, "maybe we shouldn't do this..." I reluctantly agreed and the friend went to the ER for treatment. It turns out he had broken his shoulder! I was seconds away from trying to "pop in" a broken shoulder. Oh boy.

The Newfound Faith of a 1st Basemen

Did you know I am an absolute nut for the Oakland A's baseball team? Stop your laughter...I grew up in Northern California and at the age of 7, my Dad took me to my first professional baseball game at the Oakland Coliseum. I was too young and naive to realize this wasn't a very nice baseball stadium! To me is was magical. The grass, the giant scoreboard, the larger than life players. It was in that first visit that I became a lifelong Oakland A's fan. I still love them almost 28 years later, while living 2 exits from Angel Stadium here in Orange County.

The San Francisco Chronicle had a great article today by beat writer Susan Slusser, on how Oakland A's first basemen Daric Barton recently became a follower of Jesus! Click here to read about his journey of faith.

Overheard on the Field After the US/England World Cup Match

My Thursday with the Benedictine Monks

Our Pastor-Director-Associate Team at Calvary had a unique opportunity today to drive down to Oceanside, Ca to spend a day in silence at solitude at the Prince of Peace Abbey, a Benedictine Monastery. We spent 3 hours individually alone with God, then ate lunch as a staff and a variety of guests of the monastery and then spent another hour or so being led by our Executive Pastor, Eric Wakeling, in a powerful time of reading Psalm 4 together as a Church staff. We did a head count as we left to make sure we didn't lose a staff member to the cloth (I believe everyone was accounted for).

When spending extended time in silence and solitude, your location makes a world of difference...I came across this amazing chair made out of wood and sheep skin in the monastery library...

But our High School Associate, Doug Brown was quicker than the eye...

But thankfully Doug's speed caused me to wander outdoors, where I stumbled onto this incredible spot overlooking Oceanside.

I am thankful to the monks of Prince of Peace Abbey for providing a great place for us to get away and I am thankful I am part of a Church which financially supports our vocational staff in ways where we feel encouraged to take time away to meet with God during work hours.

Here is the Church, Here is the Steeple

A few days ago, I found myself all alone at our Church as construction crews worked to place a refurbished steeple on one of our buildings. I took the photo above standing alone in the parking lot...

43 years ago

In 1967, the Orange County Register newspaper and over 300 elementary school kids from the nearby public school (who got out of school early just for the occasion!) were on hand to see the original placement of the steeple.

How Times Have Changed...

Garage Sales are for Bibles (Now)

4x a year the great city of Santa Ana allows its residents to host a weekend garage sale.

Last weekend was one such occasion. I love garage sales. But let me be clear, I don't really like buying things at garage sales (that takes cold hard cash, which I have none of, especially after today's parking ticket). Why I love garage sales is because of the challenge of trying to find things around our house that no longer have any value to us and taking these items, placing them on a folding table on our driveway and selling them for $3. I am telling you, it is an amazing adreneline rush.

One of my prayers in this season of life

Boldness. I have asking the Lord to make me more bold in my faith. As I was walking around the house on Garage Sale Eve (Friday Night) looking for items to sell, I felt a strong impression that I should go collect a bunch of used Bibles from my office at Church and give them away for free at the garage sale the next day. A few legitimate excuses popped into my mind trying to convince me why this wasn't a good idea. But fortunately my prayers for boldness where answered in this moment and I decided to go for it.

What Happened at My Free Driveway Bible Giveaway

I was able to give away 20 Bibles both in English and Spanish. It was amazing! I just sat out in my driveaway and prayed that God would direct exactly who He wanted to see the sign and stop and pick up a Bible. One guy who picked up a Bible began opening up to me about his life. He told me how he had lost his job the day before, hadn't told his wife and was driving around shopping at garage sales that morning while his wife thought he was at work! Holding his new Bible in his hands, he looked at me with such sincerity and told me he was going to get back in his car and drive home to tell his wife the truth. Another guy walking by with his family, noticed the Bibles and recogized me from Baseball Chapel, a ministry we both served together in 5 years ago. Turns out his family just moved in down the street from us a few days before. We would have never run into each other if I hadn't been out there with the Bibles. I left the Bibles out in the driveway all day. Later in the day it was so cool to be working inside the house, glance out the front widow, see a car slow down, see someone get out, grab a Bible and then jump back into the car and drive away. How many times does that happen!

Garage Sales Will Always Be About Bibles For Me From Now On

It was so fun and meaningful to give away the Bibles last Saturday. I almost couldn't sleep Saturday night, I was so excited about what happened. I don't think I can ever go back to simply selling used Weezer CD's and unopened wrapping paper for $3 again.

I Met with Several Doctors Today and Didn't Even Have to Get a Shot

A few years ago, our Church was given the opportunity to purchase an adjacent 2 story medical building. We had no idea what we would use it for, but we bought it in faith, praying God would reveal his purposes. The building pays for itself on a monthly basis from the rental income of the existing medical practices.

Today, a few of us from our Church met with 3 local doctors to discuss and dream what it would take to open a free or low cost medical clinic from one of the available suites in this building. I believe that the Church should seek both spiritual and physical ways to care for the needs of the poor in our community. Good works and the Good News of Jesus Christ (the Gospel) can and should go hand in hand. A medical clinic would be a real practical way to meet a physical need of those on the margins of our Orange County culture. I only know of 4 free medical clinics in our County (OC population: 3 million + people), so the need is great.

We are a long, long way from turning this dream into a reality, but today felt like the first step of what could be a really exciting journey. Stay tuned!

It's your Birthday, Where Do You Want to Go?

My daughter turned 5 yesterday! We had a great day celebrating as we went to Legoland with our friends the Bassett's and then to dinner as a family.

Where do you think our newly crowned five year old requested to go to dinner?
Pizza? Fast Food? Chinese Food?

Her request...Tommy Bahamas in Newport Beach!
No, we didn't make her wear an "Old Guys Rule" t-shirt or deck shoes, but we did have a great time eating and talking and enjoying some quality family time together.

This is my prayer for our new 5 year old:

"Lord, I pray you would make her an impact player for your kingdom.

I pray you would protect her in amazing ways.

And I pray that you would make her a girl of courage, compassion and conviction.

In Jesus name, Amen."

One Final Post on Coffee

Just When I get the green light to enjoy coffee (in moderation) again

I come across this article today...

"Caffeine Addicts Get No Real Perk From Morning Cup"