The Year in Pictures

January: G-Dub is blessed by church members as he begins his new role as youth pastor of Fair Oaks.



February: We were thrilled to reunite with our Canadian friend Lillian, who we met in Kenya, when her drama group came out to California.



March: Ladies from Fair Oaks' Women's Ministry show up on my doorstep to take me out for bowling & BBQ.



April: Our youth mission trip to New Orleans over spring break really taught us the power of prayer.



May: Gary and I celebrate our 8th anniversary with a road trip to Arches National Park in Utah.



June: This month marked a youth ministry rite of passage of sorts, as this year students that entered our first youth group as ten year olds became high school grads.



July: Summertime = Camp



August: More Summertime = More Camp


September: Our fall small-group kickoff means yummy snacks!



October: Gary's 30th b-day celebrations brought in some special guests!



November: The National Youth Workers Convention in Atlanta was a refreshing time of connection, growth and worship.



December: Forty students go without food for 30 hours to raise $4,000 for hungry children around the world. (In this picture, students are preparing food for homeless women and children while they go without.)

Advice, please!

I am preparing to teach a series on "Bible Basics" and would like to have my class learn a song with the books of the bible. I will be teaching to teens, but a kids song would work just fine.

Anybody out there have any recommendations? I know there are many versions out there, but I need to be able to purchase a cd so we can play and sing along.


Thanks in advance!

Home Sweet Home

Well, after a great Christmas week visiting family, we've made it back home, tired but in one piece. Though I'm glad to be home, it's always sad to say goodbye when you feel you'd just arrived. I'll be holding on to these Christmas memories:


My hubbo's wonderful family


Reliving childhood fun on Christmas Day


We gave Billy his own blanket for Christmas - he loves it (despite the scowl in this picture)!


Caroling with my mom's classical guitar group


Pirateology: the funnest neverending pirate game I've ever played!

A Family Christmas

Last Sunday after church, Gary and I packed all our stuff into the van and headed out for the long trek down to So Cal to spend Christmas with our families. We went to Gary's family first, in order to meet up with the Bonus before he had to get back to work. We calculated that our last Christmas together was at least four years ago, before the Bonus' stint in Minnesota, so this was a very special reunion.


On Christmas eve, we spent hours telling stories and catching up, enjoyed a Christmas ham dinner with all the fixin's, traded presents, tried out Gary's new board game, and watched a silly Christmas movie. Christmas morning included more family visits, a local church service, then a hilarious trip to the park to test out the boys' new toys: remote control helicopters.


Our time together ended all too soon before it was time to say our goodbyes, get back in the van, and head to my parent's place in Simi Valley (where I'm blogging from now). We were blessed with more great eatin' (turkey this time), a visit from my brother, and more fun gifts. Gary and I gave my parents the game Hoopla, which led to much silliness and laughter. Tonight, my parents are hosting a Christmas gathering with friends and neighbors, and we look forward to the musical festivities that await.

After the busyness and stress of the past month, I've found the time away with our families to be refreshing and relaxing, and I can't help but praise God for the gift of loved ones.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Guatemala Feature in the Contra Costa Times

This week, the Contra Costa Times is running a series on Mayan immigrants from Guatemala. They are telling the stories of men that came from Lake Atitlan to the Bay Area, looking for work. This is the region of Guatemala that we did missionary work in last year, and to which we hope to return this coming summer.

You can check out the Contra Costa Times feature articles here, or see a picture slideshow here.

How are you celebrating Christmas this year?

In the spirit of recycling, I thought I'd dust off a hardcore Christmas rant I put up on my xanga blog two Christmases ago, just as I was preparing to leave for our year long mission trip. It's a good reminder to me to see how much Christmas greed irked me as I prepared to sell my house and car to be a traveling missionary.

Now that I'm back, I don't really know how I feel about Christmas. This year, I just don't feel that 'Christmas-y'. I didn't decorate my house. I hadn't bought many presents (well, until a last-minute mall spree today). In the big scheme of things, there are so many things I'm looking forward to more than gifts (namely, returning this coming year to serve others in New Orleans and Guatemala). I will get to spend some good time with family, which I am looking forward to, but it's definitely been difficult to get a grasp on the true 'reason for the season'.

Perhaps simplification is the key...

"Bah, Humbug", or "Merry Giftmas"?

So there I was, a few days ago, listening to the Staci Orrico Christmas album, when something I heard made me stop in my tracks. In her rendition of "O Come All Ye Faithful", she sings an added line... "Jesus Christ was born on Christmas Day". Sounds religious, right? Well, let’s stop and think.... If we have Christmas to celebrate Jesus’ birth, then obviously he couldn’t be celebrated until after he was born. Additionally, scholars estimate that Jesus was actually born in the fall, not on the December 25th date we hold so sacred. So actually, Dec. 25 was designated the day that we celebrate Jesus, but has nothing to do when he was actually born. Dumb song.

Ok, so it really doesn’t matter what day we celebrate Jesus, as long as we celebrate him, right? Well, yes. But you have to realize that Christmas celebrations are nowhere to be found in scripture. Christmas day is a tradition that wasn't celebrated by Christians until the 4th century, as they attempted to inject Christian meaning into the pagan holiday Saturnalia. We as American Christians have now adopted this time of year to be the ‘season of giving’, a time to spread joy by putting up cheesy decorations and spending money we don’t have to buy people we don’t like items that they don’t need (thank you, Tyler Durden).

Just think about these typical ‘holiday’ thoughts:

*When decorating my house, an 8 foot OC Chopper Santa will look much more festive then a nativity scene.

*I must bake cookies, even though I’m always complaining how I really should lose a few pounds!

*Gotta buy my kids some really cool stuff so they’ll know how much I care. Too bad I’ll be too busy working to see them enjoy it.

*I’m so stressed out. I wish my family wasn’t expecting me to spend the holidays with them.

*You should join me in boycotting this retail establishment because they won’t say "Christmas" in their advertising.

*If I don’t get such-and-such that I really want for Christmas, I’ll just buy it for myself. In fact, I may just hit those post-Thanksgiving sales and buy it anyways.

*I need to get those 200 Christmas cards in the mail, so all these people will know how much I really care (even though I haven’t spoken to them, well, since the last Christmas card I sent them).

How is Jesus possibly glorified by these things? Is this how you would want someone to celebrate your birthday? I think not. Why then, do we show such disregard for the savior of the world? This is such a shame, because there is a real opportunity to celebrate Christ in a spiritually meaningful way. I want to show honor to Christ, but I just don’t think that Christmas as we know it is the way to go.

Perhaps we should stop thinking we’re religious because we give so many nice gifts... wasting money to satisfy greedy selfish desires is not Christlike.

Perhaps, as G-Dub suggests, instead of buying stuff at Christmas, we should sell our own belongings and give the money to the poor.

Perhaps, instead of Christmas, we could celebrate Passover with the Jews, and celebrate the fact that Christ is the lamb of God, who shed His blood to purchase our eternal life.

Luke 12:15 Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

Matthew 19:21 Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

James 2:15-16 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?

Ok, rant over. I warned you it was hardcore! All that aside, what do YOU do to keep Christmas meaningful and enjoyable?

Hip Hop Chess Federation

"Using chess, music, and martial arts to promote unity, strategy, and non-violence..."



ht: YS Update

I think I'm in this picture...

If this pic was taken last year, I should be somewhere in that crowd. My family was standing right under the IMAX sign. I'd be the one sporting cardinal and gold...

OFFICIAL USC TROJANS PEP RALLY

On Sunday, December 30, at 6 p.m., Rose Bowl fever comes to Universal CityWalk as the USC Alumni Association presents the official Rose Bowl pep rally featuring the USC Spirit of Troy Marching Band and the USC Song Girls.

The pep rally is open to all and is free-of-charge – general parking for CityWalk is $10. Come down and celebrate all things USC with hundreds of your fellow Trojans and friends.

30 Hour Famine Report

"30 Hour Famine was amazing. I never knew that fasting for 30hrs would be that easy. I felt kinda bad the first night but then I felt really good the rest of the time but I was still tired. I had sooo much fun praising the Lord and hanging with Bryan, Josh, Carol, and the one girl who's name slips my mind. We got so much done and the dinner was soo rewarding. I'm never going to forget this."

This past weekend, G-Dub and I gathered at the church for a 30 hour fast with about 45 of our students. As part of World Vision's 30 Hour Famine program, we spent approximately 24 hours together, worshipping, playing games, and serving in our community, all while fasting and praying for world hunger.


Highlights of the event included:

-Powerful student-led worship and prayer times.
-Crazy JH games! Nuff said.
-Watching students pour into their various jobs at the Love-A-Child mission.
-HS students making a banner with their hand prints - each hand print represented 100 children that die every day due to hunger and hunger related diseases. The banner was so long it stretched allllll the way way across the front of the church.
-Great conversations with lots of different kids.
-Movie night watching Invisible Children.
-Last but not least, a phenomenal 'break the fast' meal of slow roasted chicken and mashed potatoes. Mmmmmmm...


Our weekend was not without it's unexpected twists, but God provided and everything ran smoothly. It was such a joy to see students fasting for the first time, to see their hearts touched for the poor and oppressed, and to see them so excited about making a real difference in other kids' lives with the money they raised. I am thrilled to report that at this time, our students have raised at least $3,600 , which is enough to provide for ten children for an entire year! Praise God!


This is the press release we sent out prior to the event:

Wars and natural disasters all over the world dominate the daily headlines. Behind the scenes and far from the spotlight, though, hunger and preventable diseases claim the lives of 29,000 of the world's children each day.

Right now, more than 850 million people around the world don't have enough to eat. Annually, more than 10 million children under the age of five die from disease and malnutrition as a result of hunger. But world hunger is 100% preventable and teens from Fair Oaks are ready to be a part of the solution.

This weekend, students from our junior high and high school groups will be participating in the 30 Hour Famine, an international campaign to fight world hunger. Our students will go without food for 30 hours to get a taste of what the world's poorest children and families face everyday, and to seek God's help on their behalf.

Prior to the event weekend, students have sought donations with the knowledge that every $30 they raise can help feed and care for a child for a month. Funds raised by 30 Hour Famine participants help feed and care for children in poverty-afflicted countries around the globe. 30 Hour Famine funds contribute to World Vision's response in areas where famine, conflict, and other crises make children vulnerable to hunger and preventable disease. Since 1992, 30 Hour Famine has raised more than $100 million, representing countless saved lives. World Vision works in 100 countries, helping approximately 100 million people every year.

During our event weekend, we will worship and pray together, play games, and learn about God's heart for the poor and hungry.

Students will also serve at the Love-a-Child Mission in Bay Point, a shelter for homeless women and their children. We'll be helping this incredible ministry in any way we can: preparing and serving a meal, minor construction projects, and relational ministry with the ladies who live there.

The 30-hour fast begins after lunch on Friday, so participating students shouldn't eat again after that. Junior highers will gather at the church at 6:30pm, and high school students at 9:30pm. We'll spend the night together at the church, and the event will culminate in a "Breaking the Fast" celebration meal at 6:30pm on Saturday night.

How Do You Know?

An in-your-face video clip for people that believe they are Christians:



Readers, I would love your comments on this one:

Do you agree with Paul Washer's proclamations?
What do you think of the method of delivering the message?

ht: Anthony Jacobs

The Golden Compass

Because I am a Christian, and because I enjoy following pop culture, especially movies, I've found myself unable to escape the recent hype about "The Golden Compass". Of course, the more hype a piece of work draws, the more curious I become. And, as a person that frequently interacts with young people and their parents, I was also interested in being able to speak for myself on this movie. (For those of you that haven't read about the controversy, scroll down to see the quotes at the bottom of this post)
In any case, last week G-Dub and I found ourselves headed to the theater. I evaluated the film on two fronts: cinematic and artistic value, as well as potential areas of concern for Christian families.

As a film buff, I actually really enjoyed the first half of the film. I felt that writer/director Chris Weitz did an amazing job creating a sense of place: a parallel Earth, identifiable yet discernibly different. It carries the weight and feel of a futuristic novel from the 1800's. Oftentimes, this comes off as cheesy, but it definitely works in this movie. The casting was superb, with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig working their delicious magic, and phenomenal newcomer Dakota Blue Richards as young Lyra.



Unfortunately, these elements aren't able to sustain the storyline once Lyra heads north with an unconvincing talking polar bear. Story elements become weaknesses when tediously overused (We're left hanging with the introduction of every new character... good guy? bad guy? Unfortunately, we never find out the answer until long after we've stopped caring). And don't even get me started on that alethiometer. Ultimately, I found the movie to be either too long, too slow, or just too boring. On this basis alone, I recommend you save your $.


As a "Christian viewer", it seems that most of the book's controversial material has been watered down or left out of the movie. At face value, I doubt one would walk out of the theater feeling offended on behalf of God or the church. That being said, there are numerous articles suggesting that this is an intentional strategy: parents see the movie, deem it harmless, then go buy the trilogy of books, much more blatant in anti-Christian propaganda.

The one aspect of the story most likely to be confusing for children is the concept of "daemons". In the movie, a person's soul lives outside of their body in the form of a talking animal companion, called a daemon. To a child, the idea of a talking furry friend would be utterly fantastic! To a Christian however, the word demon suggests evil and rebellion against God, and parents may not want to attempt explaining this dichotomy of concepts to young children.

In general, I don't tend to get on board with attacking the corrupting influence of the week. What is most dangerous to the Christian faith, I believe, is not atheists trotting out their beliefs, but Christians not living out theirs. So, before you hit "send" on that next e-mail forward demanding a boycott of this movie, why don't you stop and say a quick prayer for all those who will read the book or see the movie, that they would know the truth and experience of God's love.

What others are saying:

A concerned e-mail forwarder:

"It's one thing to be an atheist, and something else altogether to draw children in with the agenda to kill God in their formative years. Let's make this movie a failure, by letting people know what's behind it."

Blogger Andrew Seely:

"Why put so much time, effort, money into stopping such (in the grand scheme of things) trivial things? It baffles me that if we as christians spent a fraction of the time, energy and resources that we pour into stopping the major immorality of the week, we might actually do something that jesus and god are proud of."

To me it seems that when we take so much time to oppose things such as movies, the underlying tone is that we fear that god isn't strong enough to handle whatever it is that is or isn't attacking god."

One of my students:

"First off all kids should kno its just a moive and second off if ur family believes in god, then ur kids should kno that god really cant b killed. i mean how can u kill sum1 u cant see? exactly. plus if ur kids think that, theres so many ways to help them."

A synopsis of information available at snopes.com:

The movie has been described as "atheism for kids" and is based on the first book of a trilogy entitled "His Dark Materials" that was written by Phillip Pullman. Pullman is a militant atheist and secular humanist who despises C. S. Lewis and the "Chronicles of Narnia". His motivation for writing this trilogy was specifically to counteract Lewis' symbolisms of Christ that are portrayed in the Narnia series.

"Clearly, Pullman's main objective is to bash Christianity and promote atheism. Pullman left little doubt about his intentions when he said in a 2003 interview that "my books are about killing God" and in a 2001 interview that he was "trying to undermine the basis for Christian belief." He has even stated that he wants to "kill God in the minds of children". It has been said of Pullman that he is "the writer the atheists would be praying for, if atheists prayed."

"Straight No Chaser"

These guys could come caroling at my door any day:



ht: caljoy

Learning to Relax 101

Hello, friends. Well, for those of you that have been following along, I believe the coin funnel of my mind has quieted a bit, for now, at least.

The past couple weeks have been really rough, personally. That's not to say that a lot of great stuff hasn't happened, but man, there've been a few really hard days!

Part of the problem is that I'm coming to that place of realization that I can't do as much or run as hard as I would like. I'm a passionate person, driven to pour myself out to serve the Lord... it may sound honorable or spiritual enough, but I'm starting to find myself on that dreaded fast track to burnout.

I'm going to have to force myself to learn how to take a day off, to be ok with not constantly trying to be productive (I'll seriously have to resist some genetic forces for this to work!).

I'm going to have to take the advice of the 9th grade girl that just reminded me, "Even God rested!".

I'm going to have to learn how to 'take my thoughts captive' and fully engage in whatever I am doing at the time, to not get overwhelmed by everything else that's waiting for me.

I do have a couple strategies I'm trying:

-I've set up an office in the back bedroom, to help resist the urge to check my e-mail every 2.3 seconds.

-I've determined to develop and live by a daily schedule, to resist the paralysis brought on by 147 non-urgent but still really good things to do.

-I'm giving myself permission to chuck that schedule on the weekend, so I can sleep in and have fun and not think about important stuff, so I can come back to it refreshed, eager, and ready to change the world!

World AIDS; Every Day...

MBABANE (AFP) - Nearly a third of Swaziland's children are considered orphaned and vulnerable as AIDS takes its toll on the country, a study commissioned by the state's emergency response council said Friday.

"There are currently 130,000 OVCs (orphaned and vulnerable children) in the country, which represents 31.1 percent of all children countrywide," the study said.

"However, it is projected that the OVC figure could rise to 200,000 by the year 2010."

It added: "HIV and AIDS is permanently altering the structure of Swazi society. It is expected that by 2025 there will be a thinning of the older age groups and the very young."

Life expectancy in the country dropped from 60 years in 1997 to the world's lowest of 31.3 in 2004, while the mortality rate has sharply increased across the entire population over the past 15 years, the report added.

According to UNICEF's website, HIV prevalence among 20 to 30-year-olds is nearing 50 percent, higher than the national adult average.

In Swaziland, close to 40 percent of adults are living with HIV and AIDS, the highest infection rate anywhere in the world, UNICEF said.

Spinning, spinning...

Do you know what a coin funnel is?


I used to see them occasionally at malls, huge funnels that you can toss your coins into. You get a quarter started at the top, and watch it make slow, looping circles. As it begins to descend through the funnel, it spins faster and faster into a vibrating hum until it finally drops through the hole at the bottom. Even as an adult, I can't help but watch, mesmerized, as the coin makes it final descent.

(If my description leaves you unsatisfied, click here for a video clip of the thing.)

Sometimes I feel as if my brain approaches thoughts the same way. I may come across an idea in something I read, or have a memorable conversation with someone, and it's as if a quarter has been set in motion.

Perhaps a week later, the same topic comes up in another article, a sermon illustration, a different conversation. The quarter is picking up some speed. Now, it's got my attention. Perhaps its a new idea to explore, or a problem to solve.

Then suddenly, it's everywhere at once. I've had several conversations, I've thought it through. I'm ready to move on. I'm no longer interested, I'm annoyed. Tired of talking, tired of thinking. The quarter is spinning so fast I can't even focus on it anymore. I couldn't catch it if I tried. All one can do is wait for it to run its course.

This is where I am now. My mind is buzzing, and I'm desperately tired of it. Depression, relationships, identity, disappointments, hope. My place in the world, and among the people who inhabit it. Spinning, spinning, no rest, no peace. I try to slow down, but I don't feel refreshed, just behind.

I both envy and disdain people who can shelve their struggles in the depths of their subconscious; then I feel guilty for good measure. That just wouldn't work for me, anwyays. I need something more real, more final. An epiphany, perhaps. Springtime of the soul. A new week. I don't know.

What I do recognize is that the peace I seek, true peace, won't be found outside the loving arms of my Father. He will hold me, He will guide me, He will help me make the best sense I can of this crazy world. I must remind myself that I'm not alone; He is with me and He understands. This is something I can hold on to and accept.

Selah.