Summer highlights

Time to get back to bloggin' My good acquaintance, Phil has unknowingly put some fire under my tail...Good as I feel a kindred spirit...Acquaintance cause I don't know him all that well. We work in the same Mission and see each other about once every two years. His blog is refreshingly short, sweet, original, to the point and thought provoking. I always feel the need to write these huge epistles so the thought of writing overwhelms me. So there we go. Help me people. Let me know if you're reading.

This summer has been great and a bit too full. Huge full, but that's ok...we made it. Some highlights...

Thailand...read more details on previous posts but what a beautiful country. The people and culture taught me so much. It was great to experience freedom like we do not have here in the USA. Life is not outrageous there (it has it outrageous spots but on the whole...). It was, I don't know, a bit more simple. Less ridiculous.

Fireworks...well, we lived through running a 6 day fireworks fundraiser right after Thailand. It was hot, tiring work. I know way too much about morning glory sparklers and Mad Dog fountains. The best memory is preaching to the traffic out on the Dale Rd side walk about the wonders of fireworks in the southern black preaching tradition..."I'M TALKIN' 'BOUT FIREWORKS! ARE YOU READY FOR AN EXPLOSION TONIGHT!!" Oh yeah, and when Josh and John taped fireworks to their bodies and we lit them while playing the hallelujah chorus.

Hosting Teams...we had a Canadian youth group come and be with us to help us in our work here with the homeless. This team completely re-made our friends room who stays at a residential motel...new paint, sheets, everything clean, DVD player, cooking supplies, etc. It was awesome! We also worked with some local groups as well to BBQ for our friends on 9th St and in Chavez park.

Marine World...we got to take the kids for a couple of days to the theme park. The park was fun. Amie and Josh got to touch a dolphin and feed him. We walked through their beautiful butterfly room, saw sharks, a killer whale and loads of other animals but our most fun time was at the hotel, in the pool. Go figure. Oh and I only had one Clark Griswold moment when I realized how much park food costs!

Finding the homeless church...There is a really cool man in our town that runs a church meeting for the homeless at Legion park every Sunday. He feeds a meal, shares the word and loves the heck out of his congregation. It so nice in this horrible system to actually find people that make sense. A sight for sore eyes.

Modesto Nuts...I finally saw them play. The team name is the Nuts. They lost. It was awesome. I'm going back. I bought a hat that says Modesto Nuts with the mascots on it...Wally the Walnut and Al the Almond.

YWAM West Coast Conference...this we just got back from. It was 4 days of refreshing, re-visioning and remembering some basics. It was great to worship with a bunch of crazy YWAMers again, see and make friends and just relax for a bit. Chidcare was provided so Amie and I could attend some things together. It was a really good time. We were also made an official YWAM location by our regional leadership. Many gathered around us to pray and speak blessing over our work and life here in the valley.

Well, I did it again. I wrote a big thing. I'll be brief next time, I swear.