Mid-Week

Whew! This week is ripping by! Kyle is on board and already connecting with kids and parents. He even recruited a couple of the high school guys to help him paint his office. Not much painting experience among the three of them, but they're getting the job done.

Jarrod's time is winding down, and I'm already beginning to miss the talks we won't be having. In a way, however, for him and for all of us as well, the quiet tension of him having to live in two worlds right now will soon be over... and there will be a sense of relief... or closure. In the mean time, I plan to enjoy the time we have left.

I love our praise team folks... so willing to use their gifts... so not ego driven. I know there are probably other churches that have singers with more talent than we have, but I'll take heart every time. Of course, it is nice that we can mostly sing the right notes too. :-)

Tonight Brian Koonce told me that someone with a PhD in math told him that there is a math reason why time seems to go faster the older we get. (Guess I need to check that out with Jennifer.) I'm hoping Brian is wrong or mis-heard what his friend said... I'm having a hard enough time keeping up now, and I'm not sure I can go any faster. :-) Have a blessed end of your week!!

A Good Sunday

Today was the Sunday we officially welcomed Kyle Sapp as our youth minister, our elders challenging him and all the rest of us to partner in equipping our youth to face the faith challenges of the journey we all are walking. We shared and expressed a wonderful time of worship, and I'm prayerfully looking forward seeing God grow Kyle and his ministry with our kids.

A few posts back I mentioned Virginia's sunflower and posted a pic of a generic sunflower. Well, I finally got around to taking a picture of hers... and... ta-dah... here it is. If you look close, you can see a bee working on pollination.

Also, I promised to post a link to a Comcast Photo Show of our Friday Angel Island trip with Ron and Tresa. Just click here for some shots of SF, Alcatraz, Tiburon, the GGBridge, and much more, all from Angel Island State Park. I think you'll enjoy the views... even though it was overcast most of our day. Mt Livermore, the peak of Angel Island, is almost 1000 feet, so there is a really cool 360 panorama of the whole bay. For those of you who live back east... read anywhere east of the Bay Area... note that we're wearing jackets in many of the pics!



Our tomatoes and zucchini are doing well. I decided to leave this one on the vine an extra day or two for a special recipe. God bless!

Angel Island

When Virginia and I went to SF for our anniversary a few weeks back, we really got only a taste of Angel Island, the island State park in the Bay just off the town of Tiburon. Soooo.... we made a date with Ron and Tresa Skrehot to go back and spend a day hiking and enjoying the panoramic views.

Well, that day was Friday. It was VJ's day off; I took a vacation day; Ron and Tresa were able to get off, and we had a blast. It was cloudy/foggy the first part of our day, so the views, though spectacular, don't translate into photos as well... as you can see in the shot of Tiburon and Belvedere above. But the coolness of the day was perfect for hiking the hills and trails, and the sky cleared the last part of the day for some truly breathtaking views of the bay and the surrounding vistas.



A kind fellow hiker took this shot fairly early on... pretty overcast, with the GGBridge in the background.













This one's a little later in the day... with the wind stirring up our hair.









We'll put some more shots up on Comcast Photo Show, and I'll link to it in a day or two. In the mean time, give thanks to God for all those little moments of joy.

20 Years

In 1990 Virginia, Jennifer, Jeremy and I moved from Cabot, Arkansas to Houston, Texas to begin a new phase in our lives. After many years as a public school teacher, coach, counselor and volunteer youth minister, God led us into full-time youth ministry the summer I turned 40.

We spent over 13 years in ministry with the Sugar Grove church, making relationships that will last a lifetime and beyond. One of those special relationships is with Mark and Karen Howell... Mark is the preacher at Sugar Grove. This summer marks (no pun intended) their 20th anniversary with Sharpstown / Sugar Grove, and the church is throwing them a big party. They even invited us to come back and be part of the weekend celebration in a couple of weeks, and we're looking forward to that.

Virginia was also asked to put together a video perspective of those 20 years, so we're working on that today. We're trying to make it meaningful and funny at the same time... very appropriate for Mark and Karen. Not sure how it will turn out, but we're having fun making it. We'd be glad to show you the finished product if you want to drop by.

In the mean time, if you're reading this and know Mark and Karen, please don't mention any of this to them. I think this post is relatively safe from their eyes, so let's just keep this between you and us, shall we?!?

Kyle Has Arrived

Well, our new youth minister, Kyle Sapp, and his step-dad, Gary, completed their cross country U-Haul trek and arrived safely Monday afternoon. His mom, Caroline, flew in, rented a car, and drove out to meet us all at the house where Kyle is taking up residence. We had a pretty good cross section of the church and youth group to meet them as well... unload the truck... set up the house... grill hotdogs... and just welcome Kyle to the Eastside Family.

We'll welcome Kyle in a more formal way Sunday morning. In the mean time, pause and just give thanks for a safe arrival and the beginnings of his new ministry with our kids and families.

Windows

Ever wonder why houses have windows? I know... I know... there are lots of good reasons to have windows. Maybe the most obvious is that windows fill up the hole that would be in the wall is we didn't have windows. OK... maybe that's too obvious. Let's see... windows let in light, keep heat in or out, slide to let a breeze in, lock for safety, have screens to keep the bugs at bay, have blinds or curtains or drapes for privacy, give us a great view of the hills... and collect a lot of dust and dirt that diminishes the view.

I think windows are a good idea, and we have some that are pretty big, so we may collect more than our share of dirt. Last year we replaced the original ones (with an R-value equal to a sheet of newspaper) with some really nice double paned ones that do a much better job of most of the stuff I listed above. However, they still collect dust and dirt.

Soooo... today Virginia and I washed windows... upstairs and down. Not that bad a job if you do it together. Most of our windows are too big to be the tilt-in-easy-to-clean kind... they slide instead. Actually, the bathroom windows are the only ones that tilt in.

I climbed out on the roof to wash the outsides of the front upstairs windows, but our bedroom windows are strictly two story, so I washed them with a product Windex makes that hooks on the end of the hose... worked pretty well. Inside and downstairs outside were simpler.

So, now that view of the hills is a bit more pristine than it was this morning... and our clean windows still let in the breeze when we open them.

Thursday

Today was a really beautiful day... sunny and warm... refreshing breeze from the west most of the day. So, what does one do in Antioch on a near perfect day? Well, I'm not sure about other folks, but here's what I did:

sipped coffee and watched Today for a while
ran about 7 miles at Contra Loma Regional Park without overheating
washed clothes
worked in the garden (picked tomatoes and squash, pulled up bean plants, tilled)
mowed and weedate (is that a word?) our tiny lawn
watered the grass and the garden
fixed the sprinklers on the hill
folded clothes
grilled chicken

and zucchini for supper

Virginia and I capped off the evening watching a Harrison Ford movie called Firewall... not great, but not too bad.

Virginia planted a sunflower seed on the front hill a while back. At this point it's about 4 feet tall... she's pretty proud of it and having fun watching it grow.

Well, I'm pretty tired... think it's time for bed. Hope your Thursday was a good one too.

Praise Team

Tonight was another really good praise team rehearsal. Sunday Jarrod will be talking about being in God's presence... listening to... seeing God... from Moses' experience with the burning bush, so we're singing several really good and thematically connected songs. Songs like Surely the Presence, Holy Ground, Have Thine Own Way, Jesus Draw Me Closer, and Open the Eyes of My heart just touch our hearts and draw us to worship. We learned a Keith Lancaster arrangement to Open the Eyes of My Heart, and the gang picked it up quickly. I'm looking forward to Sunday.

The other reason I'm looking forward to Sunday is that we're doing the Lancaster arrangement of Awesome God, and Josh is doing the lead. Everyone has had fun learning their parts (especially the basses), and Josh is doing a great job with the lead. We'll close out our service singing about our Awesome God! Hope you can join us!

Selecting Leaders

When we first came to Antioch nobody wanted to talk about selecting leaders. Whenever I mentioned that it would be good to have additional elders, I usually just got a knowing smile and, "You don't want to go there." I'm not sure what all took place four or so years ago, but it apparently resulted in hurt feelings, some heated confrontations, and no additional elders.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, so, needless to say, I was apprensive about our current leader selection process... even though it was time for one and it will be good to have additional shepherds. Well, as reflected in last week's bulletin article below, things seem to be going differently this time... and... God seems to be blessing our humility and common love.

When I get involved in a new activity, I’m usually surprised by something I didn’t expect. How about you? Sometimes that’s a good thing, and sometimes it’s not. I guess that’s just the way life works.

Our Leader Selection Process has been like that for me so far. I am new to this particular way of selecting leaders, so I didn’t know exactly what to expect. Thus far I’ve been pleasantly surprised. I know these processes can sometimes be messy... I’ve been at churches in the past where there were fusses, arguments, and hurt feelings. I know that shouldn’t be part of our church experience, but let’s face it... we’re all broken people, and sometimes we treat one another in sinful and hurtful ways. All that to say that it’s been pretty refreshing to see our current process unfold in a spirit of love. I believe that brings a smile to God’s face.

I was particularly encouraged by Jarrod’s lesson on what we often have called the “qualifications” for leaders. I know it’s always been easier to think of those passages in Titus and 1 Timothy as “check lists”... I’ve even been at churches where we printed them off as check lists, complete with little boxes for check marks.

We know Paul never intended those lists to be used that way, or he would have given the exact same list to both Titus and Timothy. Also, the lists seem to be incomplete... Jesus talks about the servant heart being necessary for those who lead, and Peter writes about the importance of humility for elders, to mention a couple of other qualities.

Does all this mean Paul’s words to Titus and Timothy aren’t significant? No, it does not. His words paint a character image of just the kind of man God seeks to serve as a leader in the local church. And I’m not surprised that we seem to be seeking just that kind of man to serve the Eastside Family.

San Francisco

For our 35th anniversary Virginia and I decided to use some time share time in San Francisco. Sooo... she took off a little early Thursday, we got a ride to BART, and we spent some very enjoyable time in SF, returning Saturday evening. We were pretty much tourists, and we hiked around the city quite a bit. Saturday we rode the ferry over tho Angel Island State Park... didn't get to stay as long as we wanted, so we plan to go back another day. The shot above is from Angel Island back across toward Sausalito.

This shot of downtown is from Telegraph Hill, location of Coit Tower.

This one of the city is from Pier 39.

We got some really good pics... way too many to post here. Just click here if you want to see them. It's a pretty cool Comcast Photoshow.

Most of all, we just enjoyed being together. Times like this weekend really make me grateful for the wonderful relationship we've shared for 35 years. I am a truly blessed guy!

Various

We finally got all the rebate stuff for our new washer filled out and in the mail. What's really cool about that is that by the time the rebates finally get here we'll have forgotten about them, so it will seem like someone is sending us free money. I put my first load in the new washer this morning... it's going as I write. One thing I'll have to get used to is the length of the cycles. I guess there has to be a trade-off in there somewhere... less water and electricity... less detergent... larger loads... cleaner clothes that aren't battered by an agitator... but... longer wash cycles.

Last night our praise team practice was fun and inspiring. We had a big crowd... 3-4 on each part, and there was a great spirit in the room. We had fun learning the Ken Young arrangement to "Higher Ground." It's one of Ken's earlier arrangements of an older and familiar song, but the message is the same, and it's a fun, energetic arrangement. I think the church will pick it up and have fun just proclaiming it's message as we close our worship Sunday morning. Also, for some time I've been wanting us to sing Keith Lancaster's arrangement of the Rich Mullins classic, "Awesome God" from the CD by the same name. Everyone's been working on it at home, and we tried it together last night for the first time... went great... and Josh did a great job with the lead. We'll work on it again next Wednesday night and use it on the 20th.

Virginia and I are heading to SF this afternoon for a short anniversary trip at a time share hotel downtown. We're riding BART to avoid the $40/day parking fee, and it'll be fun to use the Munis and cable cars to get around. Let you know later what we did... maybe even a few pics. Well, better get going... stuff to do to get ready.

Hospitality

How often do you think about hospitality? I mean, we all appreciate people who are truly hospitable, but how often do we think about it? How often do we pray for God to give us hospitality as a gift? How often do we think about hospitality as a spiritual dimension of who God desires us to be?

Paul encourages hospitality in his writings and even expresses appreciation for some who have shown it to him. In Romans 12 hospitality is in some pretty good company

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is
good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another.

We experienced hospitality twice today. For lunch we joined Georgia Jones and some of her family and friends at her house. The food was good, and it was really neat be with all of them... especially Georgia's guad grandkids.... but perhaps the best aspect of our visit was just the comfortable ease that characterized our time there. Everyone was totally comfortable, and some of us had just met each other for the first time. I believe that's a result of Georgia's gift for hospitality influencing all who were there.

This evening we joined a whole bunch of teens at Brian and Laura Lescure's house for a cookout and swim party. It's sooo obvious that they love all those kids... they share their home and lives with them in so many ways. That's just who they are.

Hospitality... one more way to spell the love of Jesus.

Beautiful Weather

Today is one of those days when the weather is... well... almost perfect. We actually get those days here pretty often... spaced throughout the spring, summer and fall. It's one reason why so many people live here. :)

When we lived in Houston we'd have a really nice day or part of a day like this a couple of times a year, and Virginia and I would call it "California weather" as a visual aid for our friends... not sure they really understood. I may have appreciated days like today at some deeper level then just because they were sorta rare... but I really feel blessed to be able to enjoy them more often now.

It was cool and breezy as Randy and I ran in the hills this morning. I was pretty tired by the time we finished but not totally drained by the heat like a couple of weeks back. In fact, my legs had enough left in them to handle a 6 mile hike with VJ. I was pretty trashed by the time we finished, but we stopped a little over half way so I could introduce her to Zack's... a new coffee place not too far from us. We each had an iced coffee and completed our trek.

Such days enhance my gratitude to God for so many things... certainly the creation all around us... my relationship with Him through Jesus... the family who shaped me and who will live on after me... my brothers and sisters in Christ in so many places... our Eastside Church Family... and the day-to-day reality of almost 35 years married to a woman who is more of a blessing than even the weather.

Washing Clothes

For a number of years now, I've been the main laundry person in the family. You ask why? Fairly early in our marriage we discovered that Virginia had a real knack for keeping track of the finances, and the more computerized that function has become, it's even a better fit. Neither of us is a real house cleaning freak, so we typically share not enjoying that task... sometimes she does a little more and sometimes I do. Both of us enjoy cooking... and (more importantly) eating... and we both have our favorite things and ways to cook. I must admit, however, that she is much more accomplished in that area... my culinary arenas are mostly the grill, creative uses of leftovers, and whatever can be cooked in a skillet with eggs.

So, years ago... mostly to keep Saturdays free for family stuff... I took over doing the laundry... usually on Thursdays. For years Thursday has been my "day off," and doing the laundry seemed a natural task. I've also folded all the clothes as well... but everyone has to put their own clothes away.

My mom was the laundry person in our family when I was growing up, and she taught me well before I went off to college. Of course, as a student doing my own laundry, I honed my skills... learning what fabrics and colors one can wash together... yanking shirts from a spinning dryer to hang them up thus avoiding ironing. Sometimes pain was the best teacher... those metal snaps, buttons and rivets on jeans get really hot in college dryers.

Our washing machine is on its last legs, so we decided to get a new one. We settled on one of those new front loading energy efficient models from Sears. It's supposed to wash clothes better than the old style... not that I've ever noticed our washer not cleaning well... but I guess we'll just have to see. The mail reason we decided on this style is really three fold: 1) it was on sale (duhhh!!), 2) it uses 70% less water and electricity than the older models (that's a lot), 3) we're getting about 1/3 of the cost back in rebates. It still more expensive than the traditional model we were looking at, but we think saving that much water and electricity is important.

Sooo... today I'm doing my last load in our current washer... waiting for Sears to deliver and install the new one. Thursdays may never be the same...