My 51st Birthday

Time has gone by. I feel like I have lived generations of different time periods. I grew up in the 60’s when Kennedy was president and when he was shot. The Watts riots in LA. Martin Luther King being shot. A man being shot on my front lawn. The Wall family and foster home life where I lived with a ton of kids. My baptism at 16, My first computer at 35.

I watched man land on the moon on TV with Walter Cronkite on CBS. I went outside looking up at the sky hoping to see the capsule go around the moon. Now its the space shuttle program and Hubble telescope.

The Vietnam war raced by. I was still to young to be drafted. I was nervous as to what I would do if I had to be called up to military service. I seriously thought of skipping out and dodging the draft. I never had to make the decision.

Teenage life, long hair, girls, college, and moving to a California mountain community. Moonlight walks up Mt. Gorgonio in the San Bernadino mountains with Bonnie who impacted my life more than any friend I ever had. I learned to laugh again. She’ll be one I will never forget.  Hiking, rock climbing adventures, sliding down an ice shoot at Mt. McKinley.

Politicians year after year who never keep their word, trying to control our lives. We just vote them out and try again. I’m glad we can do it. What a great country God has given us. We are not free in this country, but we do have the opportunity to be free.

I remember near fatal accidents like when I spun in the snow nearly hitting several other people putting snow chains on a mountain road and all the times the hand of God kept me safe.

Marriage, first house, ministry and being a coach.

I remember holding you when you were first born. What a gift you are not only to us, but to everyone you meet.

My life has been anything but easy, full of adventure, failures and victories. One can’t do without the other. I’ve seen a lot, appreciate new things, embrace change easily and love simple things like a smile or planting a seed.

What a great life I am living. I am in better shape than I have been in 25 years. If I am fortunate I will live 20 healthy more years. I hope I don’t get to old or jaded to miss out on what life has to offer. I think about death more. I guess it can’t be helped. Did I do enough to make a difference?  Should I even contemplate whether it matters. I have to believe hope is a good thing. It springs new ideas, imagination and possibilities.

To my daughter. Make a difference. Hope springs eternal.

Live a full life,

Dad

For My Daughter – Our Journey Together

I know this video isn’t our family, but it doesn’t matter. I thought I would give you a glimpse of what I feel watching you grow up. I cry tears of joy in my heart as we go through our journey in life together.

What I learned about going to Church

I’ve been looking back on my religious experience seeing how I got to believe what I do today. Many of the church experiences I participated in hindsight were distractions and fluff vs having a pure faith. I had great intentions yet most of my time I did activities and tasks to create environments to attract people to fill up the church building so someone else could tell them about Jesus, They say a prayer and poof !!, a new Christian is born and a new number to tell everyone we as a church were growing. Unfortunately it seems we have been turning out lots church goers and volunteers doing the same thing I was doing.

If I can be honest. I don’t like being around church goers much anymore. Most of them are lifeless, boring and drain the life out of me. My unchurched neighbors seem to have more life in them. Their life challenges and struggles are the same as most people in church but they don’t hide behind religious words and smiling faces. I don’t want to convert people to say the almighty prayer and become church goers. I want people to experience the reality of Gods presence in their everyday lives, not a manufactured one most church environments create on Sunday.

I am just going to follow Jesus and with his help try to do what he did. .

I am fortunate to have wonderful Christian friends. They are dynamic inside and outside the church building and have a real and active faith.

To everyone else reading this. Let Jesus be an everyday part of you. Don’t ever settle for the status quo. It’s ok to go to Church to experience it and participate in the ministry it provides. Just don’t let it keep you from the real life God has for you.