my thoughts as of today

LA Trip Photo Album

2006-08-25T21:45:00.000-07:00

Forgot to include this in the last post - it's a link to our online photo album of our trip. Who we saw, where we went etc etc. It's a flash file, so will need flash installed in your browser for it to work. If you're not sure, try it - if it doesn't work, you can install flash here - it's quite quick, and lots of websites use it. Flash (note - uncheck "install Yahoo tool bar")

When you click on the Photo Album link a window will pop up showing the download progress - it's takes usually just under a minute on a high speed line. Enjoy.

Click here PHOTO ALBUM

Church Visit 1 of 3 "Saddleback"

2006-08-25T14:15:00.000-07:00

We hit the Sat 6pm service at Saddleback which was pretty much full. We were there early enough to catch the end of the 4pm service, which was also was full. The main Worship Center holds 3500 people.

The whole SB campus is how should I say, HUGE!! If you click on the pic below, you can see it full size. Here’s an overhead shot of the place – the main roads bordering it on 3 sides. Note the blue dot – that little building is the main 3500 seat Worship Center, just to give a bit of scale to the size of their property.

The part that has been developed so far is very nice, very California. These are the steps leading up to the Worship Center.
The Worship Centre, or from now on, the WC (and yes, I do know that ‘wc’ has other meanings) is just one option for worshipping on the weekend. A couple of years ago they began a concept called “Venues”, of which now the WC is just one of the multiple “venues” you can attend. The WC is where the main speaker is “live” vs “taped”, and there are 2 services on Saturday & 4 services on Sunday. The concept behind the “venue” options is that some people like gathering in smaller numbers, and people have different preferred music styles for worship.

Some of the “Venues” are held in these type of tents

And others are held in rooms in one of the buildings (never got to seeing these). They had 3 different “Tents” set up, all complete with great sound & lighting setups
This is one of the smaller tents. The one where the youth events are held in was much larger, more/bigger speakers & lights.

So, if you visited Saddleback on the weekend, you could now choose one of the following "Venues" (descriptions from their website)

This is where you hear all the familiar sounds of Saddleback. The teaching is live every weekend and is videocast to our other venues. * ASL Interpreted (6 services)

Get away to the islands for a time of worship, complete with hula and island-style music. There is a potluck “luau” right after the service on the first Sat. of every month. (1 service)

Gospel Music / big choir worship experience / videocast message / their most popular venue (2 services)

I think you can guess the style of this one – their description is all in Spanish (1 service)

Enjoy a lower volume worship experience with a mix of classic hymns, old favorites, and cherished choruses. / video cast message (1 service)

Enjoy a relaxed atmosphere where you can experience a deep and passionate encounter with God. / videocast message (1 service)

Single adults who like current Christian radio hits. After the videocast message there’s a special event planned each Saturday (1 service)

For those who like guitar-driven rock band worship in a concert-like setting that you can FEEL! (2 services)

So, if my math is correct, there are 15 services every weekend!!

Here's an inside shot of the main Worship Centre.

It was a great service overall. Different flow of course, but we enjoyed it. Sound mix wasn't bad - was a little vocal heavy, and low on the instrument side. Here's how the flow went:

1 Opening song

Video Announcement

Say hi to people around you

Extented singing time (probably 5 or 6 songs)

Sermon (about 35 min)

Special Music (offering taken during this)

Ending Song (reprise of opening song - basically just a verse & chorus from the opening song)

Most everyone started walking out during the ending song. There was a baptism that followed the service, which we stayed around for. An open invitation went out at the end of the service for anyone interested in getting baptized. They had a booth set up outside with shorts & t-shirts to give to everyone getting baptized - so you could decide on the spot to get baptized. After people were changed, one of the pastors went to a group of candidates and just talked through what baptism was all about etc, just to make sure everyone knew what and why they were doing this. It appears that that was the baptism class - at least for those who made the decision that night. Maybe 30 people stayed around to watch.

It was a good evening.

Friends - 15 years later

2006-08-22T10:41:00.000-07:00

Well, the first 5 days in LA were pretty amazing. Not only did we attend 3 different churches on the weekend, but we got together with 19 friends (7 couples & 5 individuals). Not at one time, but 12 separate times, either over breakfast, lunch or supper, for at least 2 - 3 or more hours each. We drove 1030 km in those 5 days (pretty much from one end of LA to the other). We've just about finished an online pic album which I will link to in the next post. If you click on the map image - you should get a full size image where you can see all the names/locations of everyone we got together with & the 3 churches.

It was quite amazing, after 15 years, to get together with all these friends and to jump into conversations as if we had never been apart. I was great to here each person or couples journey, and what they're up to now. I realize more than ever before that these are very unique relationships, forged 30 years ago in ministry together. These are a gift I can never take for granted. We didn't get to everyone we know there, but feel incredibly blessed by being able to see everyone we did, to which I owe Connie big time as she was the one who orchestrated this entire plan - emailing everyone, getting contact info, arranging times and locations to meet - fitting them all in a 5 day period. I am one VERY lucky man!

Coming away from those conversations about life, the future, the times we had, I was inspired, challenged, grateful, encouraged, moved - it was like going to a restaurant that was serving a buffet of all my favorite dishes - I just wished everyone else could have come along and heard each ones story as we did. God is good. I will remember this for a long time. Hopefully it won't be 15 years before we do this again!

On the next post, I'll update re the churches we went to.

ARGGGGGHHH!!!!!!!!!

2006-08-17T11:39:00.000-07:00

It’s not my fault – REALLY!! We moved into a hotel on Sunday after a whirlwind week of visiting almost everyone we know (more on that later), and 3 churches on the weekend. It said on the hotel list of amenities “High Speed Internet” (Read: we couldn’t get any wireless signal in the suite we were in, so I had them move us the next day to a suite closer to the lobby, and the wireless access point, and was looking forward to ‘blogging away’ accept that now the wireless wasn’t working properly so a tech was called only to discover there is a problem with the hardware and a new one is ordered and will be installed on Thursday, the day we leave, so every now and then we get a connection, for about 15 sec’s, just long enough to almost retrieve my email…but not quite, so I’ve given up till we go back to our friends on Thursday)

I’m typing this in my room, and then going to attempt to upload it to my blog through the hotel lobby computer which stays connected only slightly longer than my computer – so if you’re reading this – it worked. Pic’s and stuff to follow when I get reconnected to this wireless world. It has been strange to be offline for 4 whole days!!

(note: - hotel computer didn't work - we just arrived back at our friends, and once again are connected - but this is also our traveling day, so won't be able to upload lots today, but I am working on a bunch of different posts, so stay tuned, and again, sorry for the silence on this end)

LA Trip - Day 1 "Can anyone say In & Out Burger?"

2006-08-10T08:25:00.000-07:00

To begin, I must correct my english from the previous post - I said "alas", when what I should have said was, "at last" - I sit corrected.

So, our first day, we arrive, pick up our rental car, program the gps to get us to our first destination (our friends Hank & Cindy where we will be crashing for the next 5 days) and head off. We arrive in good time, so now have some time to kill. We decide to look for a place to eat near where we are, Venice Beach (Read: there is no parking anywhere near Venice Beach) but gave up quickly, so starting cruzin' down Washington Blvd. enjoying once again rows of palm trees, which occaisionally we do miss,

listening to my favorite radio station 'the wave' (actually, when we first set out from the rental car place, I turned the radio on to Barry White - which just seemed to go well with moment)
not seeing too many options of where to have lunch, when all of a sudden we see this billboard of a place just up ahead - SCORE!!

The perfect place to eat our 1st meal in LA!!!!!!

For those of you who have not been blessed with an opportunity to eat at one of these places, here's the menu - that's it (except Connie was able to order something not shown here - basically a burger without the bun - looks like a lettuce wrap with a burger in the middle) - anyway - you pick your option, then wait as everything is being made fresh

Behold - THE best burger and fries you will ever eat! And, only those who have eaten them know what I'm talking about. If I had my choice of whether we could have a Krispy Kreme in BC or an IN & OUT Burger - no competition.

The item on the left of the tray, Connie's lettuce wrap looking burger.

Anyone's mouth watering yet? Sorry Raych - I shouldn't be showing this - couldn't help it though.

Then, after a nice walk on Venice Beach (now parked at Hank & Cindy's underground parking) we were taken out for dinner at another place that just got up and running before we left LA, the Cheese Cake Factory. Another AWESOME meal, with about 30 different kinds of cheesecake to choose from for desert. Here we are with Hank & Cindy

this is Connie's meal - a little different from her noon lettuce wrap

and Cindy's meal - they were all so visually amazing.

End of Day 1 - off to a very good start!

Sabbatical - Day 17 - We made it!

2006-08-09T07:28:00.000-07:00

Alas! We have arrived in LA, safe and sound, and are staying out at Marina Del Rey (2 blocks from Venice Beach). I was going to have some pic's up this morning, but the morning has escaped me, and we're leaving in a few minutes to connect with some friends - but when I get back tonight, I WILL post more about our LA adventure so far, with pic's, so check tomorow.

Weather is gorgeous! Looks like Van weather could be raining :( Hard to believe we're here. Some of you may not know that we lived in LA for 15 years, working for a missions organization called 'World Impact'. It's been 12 or 13 years since we were last here. Looking forward to catching up with a lot of old friends, as well as going to 3 different churches this weekend!

Got to run - back late tonight to continue...

Sabbatical - Day 14

2006-08-06T09:37:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I just sat quietly on a Sunday morning, no responsibility, no place to rush off too, no problems to solve. Just to be still. It's a gorgeous sunny day, very peaceful...I am very blessed. After 2 weeks, I feel like I just beginning to slow down, inside. I'm sure I'm not the only one who struggles with this. "Regular" life seems so full of tasks, responsibilities, email to respond to...almost an endless barrage of 'things to do' on many different levels, that to slow down...be still...has become 'unnatural'.

The moment there's a bit of empty space, the mind races to think through all the options of what it should be filled with. Why is that? Why is it so hard to 'stop'?

In my first class at Regent we went through the whole book of John. Of course there are a number of instances where Jesus and the Pharisees get into issues around the 'sabbath'. Darrell went off on a small trail about how our culture today has lost our understanding of the need for and purpose of the sabbath, and how we are ultimately paying for it. He brought out how God's command re the sabbath wasn't merely about just giving us another law to follow, but rather helping us realize that that is how the Manufacturer designed the equipment to operate. He read a quote from Time Magazine "our pace of life does not fit the species". Even Time Mag 'gets it' at one level. Darrell made another statement that the "fourth commandment gives us the 'rhythm of life'".

I realize that creates another whole dialogue as to "what then does one do or not do on the sabbath?" Or is that even the question. A dialogue for another time, if anyone is interested - maybe in the comment field. I do think this is something that we need to keep challenging each other on - there is SO much pushing all of us the other direction, do more, in less time, the pursuit of efficiency. We (I) have forgotten that even in the area of efficiency, I may do far better to follow THE Manufacturer's 'operating manual'.

Some musings for a Sunday morning. Now, off to be creative with some music!!

Sabbatical - Day 9

2006-08-01T14:44:00.000-07:00

Well, its been a couple of days since my last post, and having been publicly chastized by my other daughter in the comment section, I return to update. We've finished the two week course with Darrell Johnson on Friday - what an incredible couple of weeks - I will never look at the book of John the same way again. Now the challenge...absorb...process...apply...ponder. I took probably 30 pages of notes on my laptop. I'm looking forward to our time away in LA, in that space to go over all we learned in the last two weeks. There was sooooo much great stuff, don't even no where to begin.

For now I'm into the 2nd course at Regent:

"Theology Transposed - Rediscovering the Gospel through the Arts, by Jeremy Begbie (I'll have a pic of him tomorrow.) This is a very interesting course as well - and is taking HUGE amounts of concentration, trying to wrap my brain around all the stuff coming out of his mouth. It's been a long time since I was in school, and the art of concentrating steady for 2.5 hrs on a lecture is not as easy as I thought. I can stay with it all, but very tired by the end.

Very thankful for the latte's every day. Speaking of lattes - I did get a pic of the 'latte artist' I mention last week. His name is Paul

and here he is making another one of his amazing creations, as you'll see in the next 3 pic's

Remember - he's just pouring the milk in, and when it gets to the top, this is what it looks like. Pieces of art!!

On another note, when we got back to our car on Friday we noticed that back of this large creature sitting inside the car next to ours...first a baby car seat, then this HUGE dog...so I went around to the other side, and fortunately the window was open so I could get a clear shot. He/she seemed thoroughly disinterested in our attempts to communicate and our camera. No smile, no happy face, nothing!

Anyway, tomorrow I'll get into some of the interesting concepts coming out of this current class.

Forgot to mention the weekend - had a great time attending a local church on Sat/Sun - they even invited me to do sound!! How much fun is that! Interesting though, I seem to reconize a lot of people in the bands. :)

PS - feel free to comment if you feel so inspired...then it won't look quite so much like this is the only way my family communicates with each other.

Sabbatical - Day 3 - "where did THAT branch come from"

2006-07-26T21:43:00.000-07:00

So, as promised, more pic's. Why don't I start with say, this one

For anyone who's been to our house, when you look out the front door, you don't normally see this huge branch hanging in the middle of the lawn. Well, somewhere while we were at Regent, my guess is that some very HEAVY squirrels decided to hang out on this branch, and hey, it broke off, right here

and is sitting neatly in the 'Y' part of this other branch, so now I have to figure out how to get up there and disconnect it from the tree, and dispose of. That should be fun!

Here's me at class, drinking what looks like to be a VERY large latte...either I have a very small head, or this is a Big Gulp version of a latte.

Anyway - my view from here is from the back of the class. Somehow, over the years, I think I've always sat at the back of the class. Here's my view

Nice size room. Now, on to the latte's. Ok, these aren't bad, but the one I really wanted to take a pic of, well, that guy wasn't on again today. How could it be better than this...

well, they just are, and when I get the pic's, you'll see why. This design came from struzelling some chococlate liquid stuff from a plastic squirt bottle, followed by another contraption that dumped a chocolate power star. This other guy creates art just by pouring the milk in. Hopefully tomorrow.

Class was awesome again today - so much to take in...now I just need to carve out some time to absorb it all.

It was a good day (except maybe for the branch creating an extra unplanned work project). I feel very blessed. God is good.

Sabbatical - Day 2

2006-07-26T08:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry, no pic's today. Today was a little more relaxed than yesterday - just the one class, and not too many other things on the agenda for the day. That may be one of the biggest challenges, slowing the pace of life down. One gets use to operating at a particular pace, and so what is "natural" is to keep operating at that pace, even when you're attempting to slow down.

Class was great today, and I will share one thought - probably the most challenging. In John, when Jesus washes his disciples feet, he then says that just as he washes their feet, they are to wash each others feet. As it was pointed out, he didn't say, as I wash your feet, so you should wash mine - as that would be easy, we'd love to wash his feet...look at all he's done for us...we'd love to express our gratitude to him by washing HIS feet - but we are to wash each other's feet.

He then quoted an author (don't remember the name - I can only type so fast) who put it this way:

"our neighbor is the appointed agent authorized to receive what I owe the master".

He then read it again, many times, but changing the second word...our spouse is...our children are...my boss is...my co-worker is...that person I don't like is...

If Christ were here, we'd love to lavish our love on him, do whatever we could to express our love and devotion to him...but he isn't here...therefore he says "wash each others feet" ...and "love one another, as I have loved you".

Lots to chew on! Pics tomorrow, I promise.

Sabbatical - Day 1

2006-07-24T14:21:00.000-07:00

Day 1 Part B

So, this is where Connie and I get to hang out for the next two weeks! Actually, we've been there 1 week already, and having an awesome time.

Being taught by this man

on the book of John, while drinking one of these each every day

I just found out that that one large latte (mine on the right) is the equivalent of 3 8oz cups of regular coffee!! Now they tell me.

Brief story as to why we're taking this class - when we first lived in LA when we were in missions, we started going to this church where a man named Darrell Johnson was the preacher. We fell in love with his teachings and stayed there till our missions org started their own church. (Leaving his teachings I would consider one of our sacrifices of being in missions) Anyway, he moved to a number of places in the world, and currently is teaching at Regent - so when I saw he had a summer class, it didn't really matter to me what he was teaching, I just knew it would be worth it to hear him again.

We've been there one week already, and I've never been so inspired by the book of John as I am now.

Connie and I are taking the classes together which is great cause at our age, we'll need each other to remember all the good stuff. Once I have time to absorb it a little more - hopefully I might share some of those thoughts.

To wrap up day 1 - it was an awesome day! Class in the middle of the day, and then another 'free' lecture in the evening (also by Darrell), with friends (Matt & Cristina & Aaralyn) followed by frappachino's at you know where. I consider myself very blessed!

Tomorrow I hope to be getting pic's of the guy who makes our latte's - he's very good (I would say a Latte artist! You'll see what I mean when you see the pic's. He wasn't there today, and it was proven, not all latte's are created equal :(

Day 1 Part A
Ok, having been chastized by my own child on the lack of regular postings, I am now going to be posting at least once a day, for the next month for sure. My original material was actually just a way to set this up and test it SO that when I began my sabbatical, I could start this daily routine of reflecting about this whole "sabbatical" experience, never having actually been on one before.

This of course is not the post, but sort of a 'pre' post. I plan to do most of my post writings at the end of each as a way to reflect back - so, more to come tonight. This is just to say, this post will now be more about this 'sabbatical' journey, than about my dog, though I'm sure she will continue to get some air time & pic's here...so back later at the end of the eve.

It gets hot here too!

2006-06-26T20:43:00.000-07:00

So today, we did get over the 35 degree mark, not as hot as other places in the world mind you, but for us on the west coast, its on the warm side. So, being as it's my day off, a trip to home depot I did make and purchased two things - a water cooling type fan (blows air through a mat that's kept wet, which cools the air) and a screen for our front door (having lived here now 15 years this coming weekend, thought maybe it was time to invest in a screen).

So, the cooler went together well, and am quite happy so far with the performance. The screen, well it's up now, but not till an extra trip to home depot to grab a major part of the screen that broke itself - defect - hopefully not a sign of it's potential longevity. It's finally up, and working well, except that it looks somewhat invisible. I tested it with the dog - sure enough, just about walked right through it. So hence, the solution - paint something on the screen - thus the following pic's. The funny part was, Rebekah and I were watching from the inside and Connie was painting away with a paint brush - but from where we stood, it seemed she must be using invisible paint - this is what we see...some green tape, and her swooshing the paint brush across the screen - with invisible paint...we can see nothing - I did consider getting a video camera as it did look rather odd.

So then I went outside, and behold, she is using real paint. Of course, it's double the work as she'll have to paint both sides, and hopefully it will make sense to the dog and she won't try to run through it. I'm invisioning 3 1/2 hours of work down the drain the first time someone rings the door bell!

At least now, for the moment, we have air flow through the house. The weather's supposed to continue hot all week. Need to enjoy it while it's here!

Family Room

2006-06-26T20:38:00.000-07:00

Well, again it's Koala, this time in one of her favorite positions, laying on her back. I'll lay down for a nap, and she's on the floor, laying normally as most dogs do. Then I'll wake up and somewhere she's flipped herself over, like this...

But, when she is laying normally, and she's sleeping, and then she awakens to find a camera sitting on the floor in front of her, she looks something like this...

Day 2

2006-06-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

A much better picture I think - she will prefer this to the previous one. The sun does enhance her coat. Here she is, looking out the front door, over her domain. I do wonder, what actually does go through the mind of a dog while they're just sitting there. What does a dog ponder about.

Day 1 - What should I write?

2006-06-15T18:17:00.000-07:00

This is a pic of Koala, with the face we see. She shows us this face to make us believe this is how she is feeling at any given time, so that we think she is quite a content, happy dog.

However, just the other day, when Koala didn't know I was looking, I caught her in a pose where her guard was down, and was showing through her face, what she is really feeling most of the time...bored!! Two seconds after this pic was taken, she saw me and quickly changed her composure to the pic above, once again wearing her pasted on smile...her happy face!