Wet Month

This last week has really ripped by... really busy. As a result, there are several things I could write about, but I'll hold it down to a relative few.

We are making history here in the bay area. According to the TV weather people, this month (ready with that drum roll...) will be the wettest in March in history, at least in terms of number of days with rain. In SF the record was 23 days in 1904. Yesterday tied that record, and today or tomorrow will set a new one. To boot, April will start wet as well. At least the hills will stay green a little longer this spring.

Virginia started her new job with the Antioch PD Monday, and she really likes it so far. She has been impressed with the professionalism and efficiency of the department as well as her supervisor's management style. Part of her orientation to the department is to spend time with other sections. One day she was with the dispatchers for 2 hours; she also did ride along and witnessed an arrest for a burglary. The software she'll be working with is pretty complex, but she's excited about the learning process. Now, if she would just get over that cough that keeps hanging on.

Lots of others have been blogging about the Nancy Grace show last night on the minister's shooting death in TN, so I won't say too much. In a way it's sad, because for so many in our culture suggestion and perception = reality, and too many count on the media for their perceptions. In a way, the strident history of at least some of our fellowship seems to be providing a brush with which to paint us all... really too bad. I guess I'm grateful for at least a couple of things: I'm grateful that Rubel Shelley was our spokesperson (and shudder to think what that show might have been like with some from our fellowship); I'm also grateful for this new challenge to embody Jesus to those around us. Live graciously...

Elite Eight!

OK... I just have to say something. I just watched the UCLA-Gonzaga game. I must admit that UCLA looked like a mediocre high school team in the first half, but what an unbelievable comeback to win!!!! I don't know if they can handle Memphis in the regional finals... they are so young... but I was blown away by their comeback tonight, so who knows?!?!

And, speaking of wild finishes... did you see the end of the Texas-West Virginia game? Talk about bang-bang 3-pointers...wow!!

And Duke eliminated... that means the two most likely candidates for the college player of the year (Morrison of Gonzaga and Duke's Reddick) are out of the tournament. Wonder if that'll increase the likelihood of someone else taking that award??

Oh well, that's enough... basketball isn't life. :-)

Spring for Real!

Wow! Today was a beautiful day! For the first time in quite a while I left the front door open because it was warmer outside than it was inside. That 70 degree air coming in just permeated the house... nice!

Earlier in the day I headed up over the hill to Contra Loma Regional Park. With all the rain we've had I wasn't sure if the trail over the hill would be muddy or dry, but thought it was worth a shot. There was a little mud in the low places, but easily avoidable, and trail running it much better than pavement... even with the hills. I decided to head out the south entrance to the park and run on Stewartsville trail for a ways... more trail running and a fairly decent grade to negotiate as well.

By the time I got home I my legs were letting me know they appreciated the outing, but it was definitely enough. What a great day for a run.

Spring?

Well, after a pretty nice weekend we had rain and 50's today... with snow down to the 2500 foot level. Doesn't sound much like early spring in the Bay Area, eh? But I'm not complaining... I've seen the blizzards and floods in other areas of the country... it's just sorta strange.

This is our third spring here in Antioch, and each one has been a little different from the other two. The weather hasn't been nearly as predictable as it was in Oxnard growing up. That's not a bad thing... just an observation. It's actually pretty nice, being surprised by the weather. Just goes to show you that, to quote Morgan Freeman's character in Robin Hood, God "likes wondrous variety."

I'm enjoying our spring... I hope you're enjoying yours.

Sunday... full and rich

Today was a really great day. I started out the day a little stopped up and raspy from my allergies, but steam, Claritan, and pseudophed fixed me up so I could talk and sing.

I've really enjoyed the bible class I'm leading this quarter. It's a small group of us and we've been examining prayer and our prayer lives for several weeks. Everyone is so open and our conversations have been honest and transparent. I know God will use out time together in this class to shape us.

Our worship time today was one of those special days. Everyone was really into the singing... lots of enthusiasm. We introduced "Show Your Power" from True Lift's My Everything CD, and the church responded well. We'll sing it again soon.

At 4:00 most of our praise team folks gathered to work on new songs. We spent most of our time with more songs from My Everything, and we also worked on "I Belong to Jesus," a powerful Dennis Jernigan song from ZOE's Consuming Fire CD. I think it will be a compelling song for Easter Sunday.

We ended our day with the youth group... singing (voice shot at this point), laughing, talking about this summer's mission trip to Tuba City, AZ... just a good time with the kids, Brian & Laura, and Mike.

We came home a bit on the tired side... but it was a good Sunday... full and rich.

What's Up?!?

Nothing ground-shaking to blog about, but there seems to be a lot of stuff going on.

Virginia passed her physical, the final "hurdle" for her new job with the Antioch PD, so she'll start that Monday the 27th. In the mean time, it's really crunch time at JetTax, and Virginia's training her replacement since there'll be two weeks left in tax season when she leaves. Cherry has been so supportive of Virginia. Thanks, Cherry!!

We're driving to Fairfield this evening to eat dinner and so VJ can use her notary skills to do a signing of some sort. We'll call it a date. Wonder where we should eat?

Praise Team will have a new song practice Sunday afternoon. We'll work on some more music from True Lift's My Everything CD... and maybe some others as well. Our group is so good about learning new stuff to incorporate in worship. I feel really blessed to work with folks with such good hearts.

Our next East Bay Praise Team rehearsal for the Pepperdine Bible Lectures is the following Sunday at Tri-Valley in Livermore. That's going really well also. If you're at Pepperdine in May, be sure to come worship with us at 2:00 on Friday afternoon in Elkins. I think you'll be glad you did.

My mom's coming our for a visit in May as well, and we're really looking forward to that. Then, Kaleb will be with us for a little while in June. Hey... that's the summer... I'm getting too far ahead. :-) Better go for now... I'll leave you with a pic of the police facility where VJ'll be working. Enjoy!

March Madness

OK... I like college basketball and the NCAA Tournament as much as the next guy... I mean back in the day I was a huge UCLA and John Wooden fan. I mean way back when they wore those short basketball shorts. So... do they call them longs now? Just wondering. Anyway, as I was saying before I interrupted myself, I've always enjoyed the NCAA Tourney. But I just don't get all the hype that surrounds it now. And March Madness??? Hello... they play the finals in APRIL. What's up with that? Shall we go with April Psychosis??? I heard on the news that it is estimated that upwards of $4 billion in productivity would be lost to American businesses the next 2.5 weeks due to water cooler and internet time given to the Tournament. And for gamblers... wow!!! Think of all those games they can bet on!! Gambling... sort of like a voluntary tax for those who are really bad at math.

Enough ranting. I'm pulling for UCLA... guess I should check on when they actually play. Now... where did I put that tournament bracket............

Supper

Virginia is one step closer to her new job with the Antioch PD. She went for her physical this afternoon and passed with flying colors. They did say, though, that she might want to get her contact prescription changed in the near future... hmmm maybe that's why she still thinks I'm "handsome" :-) Well... I digress... after all, you'll notice that the title of this post is "Supper."

Because of the physical, she was pretty late getting home from work, so supper was up to me. Now, I'm not the greatest chef in the kitchen, but I am pretty creative... especially if it can be cooked in one pan. First a little olive oil... then 4 eggs to a soft scramble in the pan... add some steamed vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, sliced yellow squash) and mushrooms... I sensed it was asking to become a south-of-the-border creation, so black beans came next, followed by some salsa/ranch yogurt I had made up... a little salt and pepper and a light dusting with 3 kinds of cheese, and all that remained was some simmer time. Virginia got home, so we started with a spinach Caesar salad before digging into the main dish. It was surprisingly good... and pretty healthy to boot.

Hmmm... I wonder if it would fit a category at the county fair???

Weather Transition

Today was one of those really strange weather days. It was really sunny and pretty (although a bit chilly) this morning into early afternoon. Then the wind picked up and clouds started to move in. By this evening it was cold and rainy, and not too far north and west of here, there has been snow down as low as 600 feet!! Now, for those of you who live in what we might euphamistically call "snow country," I realize that a little snow at that elevation is no bit whup, but for we Californians, any snow near the coast... especially in March... is worth noticing. True, true... if we want real snow we have to go to the Sierras... and they had 4+ feet of the white stuff in the ski areas over last weekend... but any snow around here will be fun.

It's supposed to be pretty cold throughout the bay area (lows 20s and 30s, highs 40s to 50) for the next several days... with rain and chances for snow. Me... I'm hoping to wake up one morning and see snow on Mount Diablo... or maybe even on some of the hills between here and there. Now that would be really cool Here's a shot from 2001.

Continuing to think transition, in a only few weeks, it will stop raining altogether for this season, the green in the hills will peak, things will slowly dry out, the hills will turn that California golden brown color, and by the late summer or early fall we'll be worrying about fires. The hills that look like this right now...

will soon look like this...

Now, that's not all bad... just life out west.

For now, I guess I'll enjoy the cold and rain... looking forward to soon being out on my bike and planting that vegetable garden.

Wednesday Already!!

Wow! I can't believe it's Wednesday already. After the busy weekend, I had sorta hoped for a slowdown this week, but... maybe tomorrow?!?

The church corporation meeting went smoothly Monday night. Brad did a good job as the MC, and there were some good ideas expressed during the "let's-talk-about-whatever-you-want-to-bring-up" section. People here at Eastside have such good hearts, and it often shows in surprising ways.

Speaking of which, after our Budget Sunday service on the 26th, I was talking with a couple of ladies about something else the next Sunday night. Somebody asked a question about the budget, and during the discussion it was revealed that one of the ladies gave up smoking after 40 years so she would have more to give; the other (on a fixed income) decided to increase her contribution as well, and the next day she received unexpected check that would cover 15 weeks of her increase. Cool stories!

The youth minister search is narrowing... more on that as we go along.

Tonight is our 3rd Wednesday night Oasis, and we have the most signed up to come that we've had so far! Speaking of which, I better go make sure things are set up... "If you're happy and you know it..."

Weekend

Whew! What a weekend! Friday after lunch Jarrod and I drove to Sacramento to get set up for our roles in the Northern California Spiritual Training Seminar at Cordova Church of Christ. We got the lay of the land and grabbed an early dinner at Chevy's with Chris Goldman, his family and some of the other presenters. Back at the building I met with the singers from Cordova (Vicki, Tim, Keith, Bill and Perry) to work through the songs we were singing that night and Saturday. As we rehearsed, Karen, Lauren, and Virginia arrived, so we had a full praise team.

Our worship that evening was really rich and set a great tone for the weekend. Everyone really joined in as we sang. Just before our worship, Larry Nunley from Valencia did about 30 minutes of comedy... funny stuff! He also did some teaching with the teens during the weekend.

Saturday was a full day. I taught 2 classes on Missional Worship and led twice more. There were several presenters, and about 200 folks benefited. Jarrod did a 3-hour in depth look at preaching through Acts. Dewey Howard from Lubbock did Adult Ed. Mark Henderson from Oklahoma City did the Leadership track. There were others as well... GREAT equipping weekend.

By the time we got home, I was bushed... went to bed a little early... nice!

Today, Shawn and Dee Collins joined our bible class to share about their possibility of working on a project with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Shawn just finished a degree in 3-D animation, and Wycliffe wants to do an animated bible that can be used in many areas of the world for the deaf. Shawn and Dee have asked our class to be their prayer support group as they go through the process. After church we went to lunch with them, so we got to talk a lot more. Such a great couple... so willing to go where God is leading them.

After lunch we went to Walnut Creek Kaiser Hospital to visit Nancy Low. She's doing some better, but she'll be in the hospital until she can eat regularly and get some strength back in her legs.

Tonight at church we did an"old fashioned singing" complete with requests and several song leaders. Just before church, Ruth called me to let us know she had taken Tim to the hospital with chest pains. We went by after church, and it looks like he had a mild heart attach. He's in good spirits and will have further tests tomorrow.

It was a busy weekend... but it was full of good stuff. Thank you, Lord, when you help me see with your eyes.

Oasis 2

Last night was our 2nd of six Wednesday night specials we're calling Oasis, and it was great again this week. The food was really good... can't believe we got a huge sloppy joe, green beans, salad, fruit, and ice cream for 3 bucks. And the energy was amazing... everyone enjoying one another... kids doing a sticker project with Ms Ruth... good singing... and time in our small groups. It was a good evening... one of those We Are the Body of Christ evenings.

Praise Team rehearsal was really good as well. Good songs, good mix of voices, great energy, and prayer. What a way to top off an evening.

Money and Church

Sunday was "budget Sunday" for us at Eastside, and it was without a doubt the most uplifting service of that kind I have ever been part of. From the get go, I sensed that nearly all our folks were able to set aside that part of us that usually tightens up when we talk about money at church and focus on things like a God who loves us, our many blessings in Jesus, all the good our financial gifts do, and even how God grows us through our giving as we allow Him to work in our hearts.

It was a challenging day for some of our Eastside family, but our shepherds all were spirit-led in their comments, and I keep hearing of families who are praying, asking God to help them grow in their giving. What a great day Sunday was!! I'm really looking forward to seeing God work among us over the next weeks and months.