Wednesdays

I find it hard to explain what it is that we do here in Modesto. If I look at the practicals, meaning I pick up old bread a lot and go give it away to people so it won't get thrown out, that sounds kind of silly and, well, not really worth while. Bread is cheap. Pastries areunnecessary , not healthy. So, why? Why all this trouble worrying over a van, fuel, insurance, and volunteers? I mean, I know way too much about bread and the little nuances of what makes a banana box sturdier than others. So here's a snap shot of the in-betweens that make the fuss beautiful and grace.

Wednesdays we deliver boxes of groceries made up from our account at the food bank. Every week our office gets from 4 to 9 calls from families in need. Our food pantry is there for emergency, supplemental food relief. A typical box is made up of healthy staples like cereal, canned goods, pasta, sauce, meat and some treats. Keeping our food pantry stocked and in compliance takes a bit of our week but it so worth it! We have a very generous donor that has been funding our pantry and we love our relationship with our local food bank. These partnerships have blessed many families trying to get by.

After our boxes are delivered, we take our daily offering from O'Brian's Market to the South 99 trailer court. This is a small group of mobile homes on a dusty lot in no man's land between Ceres and Modesto off South 9th St. The people there are friendly and this community is very family oriented. The people are kind to us and each other. There are several Hispanic families. Most are working folks just trying to get by and they are very grateful for the bread. I get the feeling that they truly utilize it to help augment their grocery budget for the week. Every now and then we remind these folks through a pamphlet or something that we are Christians, we care for them and so does God. We offer prayer and encouragement but honestly, have yet to make a good solid connection. It's kind of hit and miss.

If we have enough food left over, we drive over to Shiva's Motel. We've been going there for at least 4 years. We drive a wonderful 15 passenger van with 2 of the benches out to fit in bread along with up to eight of us but usually just 4 or so. The Shiva has families, disables people and various people in transition and turmoil. We stay awhile, offering food, friendship, prayer and ideas. Usually, our Wednesday time at the Shiva is short as we go back there on Friday. At the moment, there are about 8 kids that live at this motel.

Imagine a small motel room, not well kept up with a tiny, sub-standard bathroom. There are no cooking facilities, the carpet is never cleaned andthere's just enough space for a small entry area and you can walk around a bed. There has been a family of 6 living there, in one room, for at least 3 or 4 years. They are caught in a cycle, very short sighted and just plain stuck surviving. We play with these kids, read bible stories, try to pass on some grace and peace. We help however we can when it seems like it will be truly beneficial. Even if someone is making bad choices, the kids aren't. We walk some fine lines. We make mistakes. Some days are outright frustrating. Some days we weep as we witness God at work.

After the Shiva, we drive over to Hatch Road to a small house with a tiny dirt yard. The back yard is bigger with some grass/weeds but it is also filled with trash, old branches, salvaged scrap and some old structures that used to house migrant workers. These have fallen into severe disrepair. You must walk this yard circumspectly as there is animal filth, diapers, trash and sharp things all about. This is a playground for the 8 or so children that call this lot home.

They know we are coming on Wednesdays. We met them at the Shiva motel. They had it better there. This is a tiny, 2 bedroom house and two trailers in the side yard. The traffic in and out of the house are all unconnected adults who I assume come to make connections to feed their addictions. The occupants of the house beside the children are a loosely group that do what they know how to survive. They tolerate us coming because they know the kids love it but it seems they'd just as soon not have us there. They are indifferent to the children, stuck in addictive behavior and rarely open up to us.

We spend about an hour here, playing games with the kids, engaging them with stories, personal time, games of make believe and recently, an art project. My co-workers, Jimmy and Aaron made a movie with them that I hope we can get on our website soon or make available in some way. We head home around five to sort out our feelings, do our best to leave the things we've seen in God's hands and try to be open to his direction of our team in engaging all these precious people with the goodness and grace he offers.

So, that is one afternoon of what I mean when I say, "we take donated bread to some low income communities in our city."

Please pray for us. Pray for wisdom and guidance. Pray for continued ability to meet emergency needs and grace to not enable unwise behavior. Pray for favor in relationship at the South 99 Trailer Court. Pray for the people stuck at the Shiva. Pray for the kids and adults at the Hatch Road house. Pray we walk our lines in God's peace and strength. Thank you.

The Star Wars festival was awesome!

Ok, here's Josh, Sam and their cousin Evan on Tatooine...is that how you spell it? This event was great...and we're all nerds and ok with that.



Here's Josh and Sam in the Trivia contest...notice the light saber in the foreground...there were sabers a plenty. And here's one of me beating this kid in the trivia game. We got free passes to Galaxy theater. Ahh yeah!



The 501st legion of Stormtroopers was there...they were nice to the boys but not so much to me...





We got to watch "A New Hope" on a big screen, we talked to the guy who was in the Vader outfit for the special edition and the video games...it was a great day to be a nerd and even Stella found someone to relate to!

Some pics from Kentucky...

Alrighty, let's start by showing you some ear candleing...



These are at your local health food store...you light one end and stick the other in you ear and it gently pulls the disgusting wax out. We look like we're in a cult. Careful...always follow instructions!



I love Kentucky food and there's one place you only understand if you grow up with it and that is White Castle. I thought I'd educate Stella while she's young...



She seemed to take to it. Mmmmmm...sliders!



We were visiting and helping to do some business for my Dad. Here's all my sister's family, my Dad, and us...



And some final pics of my favorite part of Southern culture...the front porch. We spent hours out there talking, drinking sweet tea, playing, reading and just plain ole sitting. My Dad and Stella really connected on the front porch...





Thanks for the prayers and nice messages while we were in Kentucky. We had a great time and much was accomplished.

Oh, Come to the church in the wildwood...

Last night was a wholly unique experience for me. Now, I've been a lot of places and attended many churches but none could have gotten me ready for what I was in last night. Perhaps, better said, all of those experiences were getting me ready for last night. The little, 3 hour service in a small village in Romania, the sticky, hot, crowded service in Jamaica, even the more recent visit to the Iglesia de Critso in Ensenada, Mexico where I played a really out of tune guitar along to "Este es del dia..."

My cousin, Darrin Pentecost is a preacher and a pastor of a little country Baptist church in central Kentucky. It is a small white building with a steeple set in the green countryside near Central City, Kentucky. Darrin was preaching at another church last night that is holding revival meetings this week.

We drove 40 minutes to my Aunt's house for some sweet Kentucky BBQ...that's a pork roast cooked all night, fat pulled off and pulled apart and thrown into a slow cooker for another day with awesome sauce that infuses into the already tender meat. That's right folks, a two day process. Then we drove 40 more minutes into the country to attend the revival. This is not on a highway...this is back into the country on small roads. We passed several makeshift signs in the shape of crosses. One said, "Lord, let your millennium come..." Another, I'm not kidding, said exactly this, "Jesus said John 3:16 and a whole lot more." We passed many little country churches along the way and many of them were holding revival meetings this week. My cousin told me that it's kind of the season for it. I had forgotten that but now I remember it, it's true.

We finally pulled up to a small building with many cars parked around it. The lawn was a bit unkempt and there was a covering in the back with several picnic tables under it and a kids playground next to it. My sister's family and ours walked up the steps to friendly faces and the congregation literally gasped when we all walked in...all twelve of us. The carpet was brown, wood paneling on the walls and the pews were wooden with a little padding and the back went straight up and down. We crowded into two pews and filled them up including my Aunt Mary-Lou and my cousin Gail, her husband and kids....right up front.

The choir sang some boisterous old gospel songs along with an upright piano and a guitar. The congregation sang very loudly with hands in the air and when they didn't know the words they shouted praises and encouragements and blessings. Our eyes were wide. During one song, an older, bare footed lady from the choir loft came down and kind of danced up and down the aisle...it wasn't really a dance...more like a hopping walk while happily making eye contact with folks in the crowd and encouraging them to sing along. It did not seem that she was show boating but she was just being happy and doing what seemed good to do.

At one point in the music another woman approached the small alter in front of the communion table, in front of the pulpit. She knelt down in the middle of it and immediately, the church gathered around her and prayed for her as she cried at the alter and the music continued and people sang and prayed and no one said the prayer was over, they just all stopped. The lady left the alter (the music, singing and shouting is still going) and took her place back in the choir. This happened several times during the night...someone going to the alter, many gathering around them to support their prayer and in all stopping spontaneously all the while the service is continuing from the stage area.

A special quartet sang about five songs, three women and a man called "Heavenly Highway" doing gospel songs to soundtracks and the roar of "Amen", "bless 'em, Lord", etc. There was the classic "Beulah Land" often heard on the Gaither Gospel Hour and they ended their set with "Oh my my! Glory, glory, glory!" That was the name of the song. During their performance, the pace continued of random pray-ers at the alter and spontaneous, all-at-once prayer for them.

Then my cousin got up to preach. He does not mess around. I knew it when he did not take the mic from the host pastor. He did not need a mic. His mic is his mouth. My baby, Stella, sat rapt by his speaking. He went off right from the start. No warming up the engine. Straight into high gear. I have sifted his message down into these key thoughts...

God loves us and has our best interests at heart.

God's enemy (ole Satan as Darrin calls him) hates us and wants to tear our lives apart

The only way we'll survive is to hold on to God in prayer and Bible reading and support one another

Be on guard, love each other and pray

This is a good message. The culture of this little Baptist church is unlike any I have ever witnessed. It felt like we were inside a movie. It was loud, free-form, chaotic but somehow structured. My cousin exploded with a heart full of passion for God and his people.

When we were kids, our visits to central Kentucky were a few times a year. We'd play, run and have fun. I didn't know this but Grandma (on my Father's side) would often look at Darrin and tell my Aunt, "He's going to preach someday". Well, it took a while but a few years ago Darrin yielded to God in his life and very soon afterward heard the call to preach. His little church is growing the right way...non-Christians are becoming Christians and staying in their fellowship to be discipled. They minister in prisons and in Mexico and to the country folks of Mulenburg County.

I was amused by the things that were different than my experience but the evident Spirit of God moving through my cousin is humbling and challenging. Darrin prays and is available. The only thing in this life that counts.

In Kentucky...

I'm in Kentucky with my family visiting my sister, her family and my
Dad. This is a difficult trip. My father is suffering with a
dementing illness and this is the 3rd or 4th new phase we've entered since
this thing began to crop up. It is hard on everyone. It's hard on
Dad. Every once in a while he understands that things have changed for
him...he can't walk right or take care of himself in any of the ways that you
and I take for granted every day. Life is a tough chore. Every
movement, every sentence, every thing is work and it is frustrating.

We are having fun though. Josh and Sam are having a blast with
their cousins...it's quite the household right now...8 kids, 4 adults and 1
dog. My sister owns my favorite dog in the world, BB. She is a
dachshund/beagle and all old and cuddly. We took the boys and Dad out to
Cracker Barrel and Spider-man 3 yesterday and had a great time together.

So there is joy here but for my sister and my cousins who are here for the
long haul, it's hard because dementia changes someone every day. So,
it's mourning a kind of death everyday. If you're the praying kind,
please pray for us that our visit will be refreshing. Pray for my family
here, that they can have more joy in this journey. Pray for my Dad, for
healing, grace and peace in this phase of his life.

Gardening as a metaphore.

Our most recent gardening experience has had a rocky start. First, a team was here from Canada and they helped us prepare our plot of land at our host church. We shoveled in real cow poop and gave it a good tilling. Another team came and helped us till a bit more, make rows and plant seeds. Then it got unseasonably cold again and then came some bird issues we think. Over half of our seeds didn't make it. then came the weeds. We were warned about the weeds as this happens when you use real cow poop. They took over faster than we could work.

Then today, we got a tiller again and walked through the garden and hidden in among the weeds, were plants...the real deal. We shoveled them out and set them aside.



Now, in another garden project when we first moved here...just a little family garden, I was digging out some weeds in our plot under Amie's Grandmother's supervision. I off the cuff-ily said, "Why is that seeds grow so easily and the good stuff takes so much work to grow?". Grandma looked up at me very slowly and seriously and smiled and said, "That'd be a good topic for you to do a Bible study on." She literally scared me.

As we pulled these straglers out of the weeds, Jimmy said, "This is what we do!" God's heart is to find the good among the weeds, take us out, clear the weeds and replant us in a good, open place. We did it literally today. It is good work. It's filthy and feels so clean. I can hear my dead, gardening, Kentucky Grandfathers laughing at me as I learn as I go. My Father in Heaven is laughing right along with them. They know I'll get it someday.

"He brought me into a spacious place because his delight is in me" Ps 18

You've gotta see this...

Ok, there's a Kyrgyz man (as in...from Kyrgyzstan) coming to stay with us here in Mo-town for about 4 weeks. He is John's friend Jengish and we met up with him while in Mexico?! ...he was in Ensenada dong his DTS. Well, happy for us, he could not get his visa to Peru to go with his team so he is joining us for the remainder of his outreach time. You've got to see his photography blog of images from Kyrgyzstan.

jengish.blogspot.com

This & That

Ok, I haven't had a computer for a week so here's some random stuff...

Fair Trade...



I found a great way to make sure you're stuff isn't from a sweat shop...besides justiceclothing.com...have someone you know make you clothes! Diana made me 3 pairs of shorts and a pair of pants for my trip to Mexico. They're way comfy!

One Day...



We gathered with other area youth groups to do service projects around Modesto. Our little New Hope team worked alongside Laloma Grace Brethren Church to clean up a park where we usually give out bread on Thursdays. We saw quite a few friends there. See the little Modesto Bee article here

Adobada...



In Ensenada, they stack up pork on a spit with half a pinapple on either end to give and receive juices...



Then they put it on a tortilla or in this case a torta shell with fresh salsa and toped with some of the "juiced" pinapple from the bottom...



This is Shelly eating one...we ate these a lot whilst in Mexico. Really, really GOOD!

And finally...

In my continuing search to live in greater health, I've begun a topical blog...read it here...healthyintegration.blogspot.com

Enough already...I'm outta here.

Mexico

I'll probably write more about Mexico later as I process it more. It was a great trip. It was so many things coming together...my church and YWAM team (John and I) serving with another church's youth ministry...us as a group serving the YWAM team in Ensenada...we as a staff serving the high school students...the high school students learning and growing together...the YWAM team there ministering to us (one of the guys on our team became a Christian on this trip)...the donors that helped us raise the money to go...the little mexican church that embraced us and prayed for us...all working together to build a house for a single mom, abandoned and robbed by her husband. Her and her four kids were living in a dirt floor shack with nothing.

We were able to raise enough to build the house, furnish it, stock the pantry and buy her oldest son a few months supply of epilepsy medicine. And while we built the house and played with her four kids, our translator on her spring break from Biola university spent the week with the mom explaining the gospel to her. On the last day, just before the key ceremony, with a local pastor and his wife there, this beautiful mom and her sister tearfully gave their lives to Christ.

And it's not some big thing...like we did anything great. It was God doing the great thing. He cares about us. He cares about the YWAMers in Ensenada. He cares about high school students. He cares about my little church. He cares about big churches. He cares about Mexican churches. He cares about abandoned, single moms and their kids. So he will scheme and orchestrate to bring a bunch of weird groups together. It's His kingdom come, his will being done on earth as it is in heaven. It's what we pray for but one can only stand in awe when you get a glimpse of it because there's no way you could have pulled it off.

Commercial?! Who says?!

March

Well, May has been quite the month (do I say that every month?). And it started out with a bang. Our friends John and Shelly Wason from YWAM in Vancouver came down with their kids to spend 10 days in ministry together. John performs one man plays where he dramatically presents entire books of the Bible. He brought "James" and "Philippians" to share at area churches along with other shorter dramatic pieces presenting life and faith creatively. We had a great time together with our old friends who we knew and worked with in YWAM in Ontario.

It was great to be able to connect with local churches, youth groups and a school but perhaps my favorite performance of the week was when john performed some of his shorter pieces for a small group of kids that we have befriended in South Modesto. They sat wrapped in wonder as John moved and spoke in their little dirt yard declaring God's love, life and freedom. I don't know if they had ever seen anything quite like that before.

At the end of the Wason's time here, we had another team come in from YWAM Pismo Beach. This team of 17 came to reach out to our friends in the South 9th St. motels with a BBQ. They also spent time preparing our garden area to grow vegetables to share along side our weekly bread distribution this summer. We'll have about 50 tomato plants...with squash, cucumbers, egg plant, peppers, beans and more.

Then after a week of our normal outreach schedule, I left for Winnipeg, MB up north of the border. I was invited to speak in YWAM's missionary training school there. I spent the whole week with the 6 students in their program training them on evangelism as they were preparing for their mission to Uganda (they are there now). We had an awesome time together.

All that time, Amie has been faithfully educating the boys and managing our home. She is a very hard worker and such a wonderful support to me in all my craziness. She has also started up a small, children's dance class at our church. She has about 7 students from our church and the home school community. She hopes to resume dance training at our local junior collage this summer.

Joshua is bigger than a mountain and is a great help to us and loves to read. Samuel is reading very well too and loves comic strips. Stella is up walking full time now and currently is very crabby because she caught some virus along life's way.

Amie had also been caring for her Grandmother who fell and fractured her pelvic bone about 3 weeks ago. She's been in hospital and now in a convolesant home. Amie has been back and forth with all the errands and laundry, etc that come along with this kind of thing. Grandma will be released with a clean bill of health on Easter Sunday. She is 90 years old.

Please pray for Amie's Grandma, Margret. Pray for my Dad, Al, who has come out of the nursing home in Owensboro to live in a house with his new nurse, my cousin, Denise. My Mother's sister, Anita recently died and her daughter and son have moved to help with my Dad's needs as he struggles with the effects of multiple strokes.

Pray for our work here among the poor. For connections in the community, for our growing network of friends and co-laborers. Pray for the children we continually meet that suffer from the poor choices of short sighted, addicted parents. We need wisdom to serve these families the best that we can.

"where two or three are gathered in my name..."

Last night, I had the great privilege of going, with some of our youth guys from church, to a meeting called simply “One”. This is a joint effort from our local youth ministries network. We have begun to, every now and then, get our groups together for an hour of worship through singing, reflection and prayer. No agenda...it is what it is. With Good Friday coming up, we pondered the cross of Christ together.

Just before that, in the afternoon, I had the great privilege of gathering with a group of ten children at their south Modesto home. There are at least 5 families represented on this small property. This group used to live in the Shiva motel...that’s where we got to know them. They finally found a house but it is still not the greatest situation. Addiction, need, substandard conditions mixed with too many people in one house does not make for an easy childhood.

A few months ago, a team came from Canada and helped us clean up the kid’s back yard so that they would have a place other than the small, dirt front yard to play. Yesterday, a lady in our church had given us Easter baskets for these kids with some simple toys in them. The boys got baseball bats so we all headed to the back yard for the most fun and most chaotic and probably the most “ignoring of the rules” baseball game I’ve ever been a part of.

After the game (the kids won), we sat around in the front yard and read the story of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection to them. Afterward, we had a prayer together...the kids prayed out their thanks to God. We all put our hands together in the middle of our circle and said “AaaaaaaaaaaaMEN!”

This Sunday, we celebrate the resurrection. I get the privilege of gathering with a Mexican church down in Ensenada this year as I’m leaving to help a youth group on a mission this Saturday. But I feel like I’ve already had my celebration. Some will celebrate Christ’s life in multi-million dollar facilities this week, some will gather in simpler structures, some will huddle in a cave for fear of being discovered, some will be in a house, some will be outside. Some will be decked out in their finest clothes, some will wear the only clothes they have.

But all these meeting will be more or less they same thing...just what we did in the little dirt yard in a slum lord’s house. We will reflect on Christ’s cross and the miracle and hope of his resurrection. We will pray out our thanks to God. We will put our hands and heart’s together to celebrate the life of Christ among us. And I know that God is pleased with our sincere efforts, even childish efforts sometimes, to put words around who he is. I know that God can hear the thanks of ten little kids in a backwards town. Together with all the prayers around the world, before his throne, brilliant with majesty, he hears “AaaaaaaaaaaMEN!”

“From his temple, he heard my voice. My cry came before him into his ears” Ps 18.

Things you owe yourself...

You owe it to yourself to rent “The Corporation”. I watched this film up in Canada and am still processing what I saw. Much of the movie is spent looking into the disconnect between the value of the people that work in corporations and the values of the corporation itself as it’s own entity. You may not agree with all of the film’s conclusions. You may not agree with the world view of all the commentators. It is over 2 hours but many compelling facts, scary scenarios and challenges for change. If you watch it, let me know what you think.

If you are a Modesto local, you owe it to yourself to go eat at Minnie’s (downtown near five points...with the tiki statues outside). Now, since we found Thai food (thank you Kevin and Janet) I have kinda sworn off Chinese food but Amie and I went this past Thursday and it is awesome! With a menu that hasn’t changed in taste, quality or value in 50 years (this I’m going on hearsay...from our trusty church accountant, Marge). A $4 plate of fried rice...plate is the wrong word...heaping platter is better...could have fed Amie and I alone but we also ordered Kung Pao vegetables and deep fried asparagus. A great atmosphere and a friendly staff make for a wonderful chinese experience.

You owe it to yourself to do nothing. I’ve been meditating on the way of the smoker lately and I think they have something. Now, I’m not advocating smoking but I can identify with being stressed out at my smoking friends during some work project cause they can justify taking more breaks than us nonsmokers. You know, you’ll all be working away and somebody says...”I’ll be back in a few, I’m going to step outside for a smoke.“ Why can’t we all step outside more often? Lately, I’ve been stepping outside for a breathe. A little fresh air and sunlight can do a lot to get you through.

You owe it to yourself to turn off the TV more often. Today, I found myself channel surfing and I woke up to the fact that I was sitting in my room and had stopped on a Chris Doughtry music video! You know, the guy from American Idol...wow! That’s really quite a thing to come to terms with. Before it got too far, I turned the TV off, stepped outside for a breathe, sat on the front porch and picked up my long neglected C.S. lewis book, “That Hideous Strength”. I’m in the middle so don’t tell me what happens...I just read about when he sees “the head” for the first time...creepy and a great read. I’m glad I left Chris Doughtry and his ilk behind.

Now lest I come off as a bit too much for my own good, let me just say that I am fully aware of much shortsightedness in my life. I waste time, I procrastinate, I sit idly, I tend toward laziness (my taxes! I haven’t done my taxes!), I get sucked into silliness, I don’t live with great perspective, I despair, I give up. That’s probably a bit of my motivation to write. I’m writing to me. I need reminders to be more educated about my choices, to celebrate good local endeavors, to not be so busy and to stop wasting time. These things I hold in tension because we live in a corporate world, the multinational chain is homogenizing our communities, we are stressed to the brink of insanity and the media would love to eat up our soul. To actually rely on prayer and not our own understanding, to read the scripture and take it’s wisdom to heart, to involve ourselves with our family and neighbors, to live lovingly, selflessly. To let go of sin and self to bask in the good life that God offers.

Lately, I’ve been saying that it feels like I get so crazy in my life that I just start to make the minimum payments...shoot up a quick prayer as I run out the door, glance at scripture or make a symbolic gesture toward my family and friends. But it’s not God I am shorting...it’s me. Everyday we have the choice and so much more than our personal peace rests on our decisions. Today, I want to live in love. I owe it to myself.

Evangelizm week...

I've been away in Winnipeg teaching in a YWAM Discipleship Training School(see their blog here). One of my former students is now the director, along with his wife, of the work up there. They have an evident heart for the city, their community, our mission and the church. I had a great time sharing with the students and God led me in a way that I have not really experienced before. Teaching in a DTS has always been something I'd like to do but never really had the opportunity until this past year. Jimmy, Aaron, our friend Josh and I went to teach the students in Bishop, CA this past Fall and had a blast. The DTS is a great idea. What better way for younger people to catch the vision of ministry than to bring them along with you for a few months?

As I prayed about what to share with this class, I sensed very little instruction to share any of the teaching I've developed. I love teaching. I love the process of tackling an issue and trying to put the truth around the matter into understandable language. I love communicating how much God loves people. I love it all.

My topic was "Evangelism" and as I prepared, I seemed to be directed to just share me with this group. Not my nifty thinking about evangelism, but just to share stories about my life. I did share 2 prepared lectures and we watched a movie together...but the rest of the time was discussion and story telling. It was thoroughly enjoyable. And isn't that the heart behind what true evangelism is? Sharing our lives and the good things that God has done in us with one another. To encourage one another down the road.

The word "evangelism" comes from the Greek word that means "the reward given to a messenger that brings good news." It's also the root for our word "angel." We shared together about the disconnect in our minds between our everyday life and "evangelism". Why do we think that way? It's our pleasure to be able to carry with us the good news about Christ...into our world. Not the romantic image of the missionary leaving for foreign shores, of course, that's included but what about carrying Christ to your children, spouses, friends, co-workers, neighbors, fellow church members, the poor, the lonely, etc.

I almost don't like to use general terms anymore like "the poor" or "the lonely" because that conjures romantic images to our minds. We disconnect that from where we live, convince ourselves that you have to go somewhere else, be something else and do something else to reach "those people." As if that was for someone else, not us. But, as Christians, our ministry is to Christ...the real Jesus. And how do we minister to Christ? We feed those without food, give drink to the thirsty, clothe those who do not have clothes, visit the sick, visit the prisoner and welcome the stranger.

Who in your life is hungry? Who is thirsty? Who needs clothes? Who is sick? Who is in prison? Who is a stranger? If you will, take some time to write these things down and put actual names beside them. We all know them. We all have ready access to them. Pray for these names and ask God to lead you in not only ministering to these needs, not only ministering to these people but in doing so, have a mindset that you are actually, not poetically, ministering to Christ himself.

If we cannot bring the good news to one another, how will we ever bring it to a broken hurting world? It starts where we are and ripples ever outward. Do not wait for whatever it is before you commit to become Christ's messenger. It's as close as the person next to you. "Let's have coffee.", "How can I pray for you?", "What can I do to help you?", "Can I share my story with you?" These and only these will change the world.

Roll up the rim to win!

In Canada...there is a coffee shop that I love. the coffee is cheap and has a cheap coffee smell and taste but there is just something about it. It is Tim Horton's. Coffee, donuts, muffins, bagels, sandwiches...they have everything.

There is also a special time of year at Tim Horton's that my friends in Ontario hallow almost like it's Christmastime. We would wait for it, plan for it, celebrate it. It's "Roll up the rim to win" time! That's where Tim Horton's hides free prize vouchers under the rim of their paper coffee cups. You roll up the rim to see if you've won. There's cars, bikes, TVs, ipods and free donuts and coffee under there.

There is also "Please play again" under there. Boo.

So here we go...almost in real time...I will show you what it's like to anticipate a free donut or something under your rim. Here goes...

Here I am with a "Tim bit"...a tasty little donut ball...



I drink my last bit of coffee...



I roll up my rim and...



Boo! "Please play again." I'm 0 for 3! Oh well, I'll just have to try again tomorrow.

How Canadians have fun

Well, I'm spending some time with the Discipleship Training School in Winnipeg and last night we had a "fun" night...which really meant we played some crazy games together. And to start off the festivities was....indoor, mini-smores...

Get some kebab skewers, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips and Golden Graham cereal...


Get some candles...
























And that's that...quite tasty...indoor, mini-smores. You need to eat about 15 of them to actually feel like you've eaten something but hey, it kept us busy.

On the concourse...

This is the Chicago airport...ridiculous! There are soooooo many people here today. I am on my way to Winnipeg, MB to share at a YWAM Discipleship Training school. But I have to wait here for about 2 more hours. I've been here about 2 already. I knew this and was ready for it. So I settled in for a 4 hour haul. I found my distant, other terminal gate, found an ok Chicago "kinda" pizza place called Uno's and called Amie while I was eating. After I hung up, I hear, "Passenger Whitler, your flight is leaving in 1 minute, if you are not on board...blah, blah, blah". I freaked. I downed my soda, throwing it in the recycle container on my way to the gate...I know I made it in under a minute but the plane was pulling away. I interrupted the clerk helping another customer, "I'm sorry to interrupt but did you just call my name? I'm Whitler and I'm booked for the 6:25 flight!"

She barely looked at me, "oh" nonchalantly (is it possible to do something "chalantly"?)..."it's gone", still not looking at me.

"Well, am I still booked on the later flight?" I say intently...possibly chalantly.

"I wouldn't worry about it..." She says, trailing off. Service these days...cheesh. I won't say what airline but I will say I wish this worker had been more UNITED with my idea of customer service. Well, I went to the customer service desk where I guess they specialize in this sort of thing and found that everything was worked out. Yay! I have 3 hours to wait.

Oh, my in-flight movie was "Stranger Than Fiction" with Will Ferrell and Emma Thompson. Mind you, I saw the "edited for content" version but it was very good. Not at all like the trailers made it look. While funny, it is not mainly a comedy but a nice and thoughtful look at life, connection and the things that make it all worth it.

I'm sad that I missed our first St. Patrick meal at New Hope this morning. But Amie and I started our new St. Patty tradition. We bought Irish soda bread and if you haven't had it...go get some now! With real imported Irish butter, then we ate the whole thing. So yummy!

When Amie and I were in Ireland, the Irish liked to remind us "mutt" Americans that it's because of Patrick that we were all Christians...I don't think the logic works but I do know that we serve a scheming God that likes to make strange connections. Long story short, Patrick evangelized Ireland and inspired the celtic monastic movement, who in turn evangelized Europe and that is the way my ancestors received the gospel. It's not the only way they could have but it is the way it happened. Patrick's life and obedience to go to his former enslavers with Christ's love can be an example to us all. Suddenly, it's not so tough to walk downtown or across the street with the same stuff that enabled such forgiveness and devotion in Patrick.

And the soda bread doesn't hurt either.

Sweet Podcastness

Hey everybody...I found a great website today full of down loadable old school YWAM teaching! I listened to Keith Green teaching at a Discipleship Training School. It was awesome! Go here and hear some great stuff!

YWAM Podcasts

Playing Ebert

Josh noticed the lack of pictures of him on this blog so I thought I’d indulge him by showing him doing something awesome...some rock climbing in Columbia, CA. I think they were pretending to climb into Mordor.

So, The Bridge To Terebithia - I officially take back my previous blogging about the movie being different from the book. The movie trailer is actually very different from the movie which is very faithful in spirit to the book. A warm, funny, sad story about a friendship between two misfits in a small, rural community. Some nice special effects to highlight the children’s magical kingdom but very well done. I recommend it.

Also, One Night With The King - Amie and I rented it just in time for Purim : ) As a movie, it was better than I thought but not as good as it wanted to be. Did it take too much liberty with the story? I mean you gotta take some liberty don’t you to make an interesting movie. I found it a bit plot confusey and a little too happy about it’s “Lord of the Rings” like sweeping special effects shots but all in all, it wasn’t an awful viewing.

And finally, An Inconvenient Truth - OK, not bad. Mr. Gore presents some compelling evidence, good food for thought and hopeful seeds for change. By no means do I eat tree bark in my cereal but I know there’s things we can all do better. As americans, we tend toward a lazy, irresponsible view that leads to sleepy, excused actions. He addresses those issues that conservatives raise about the natural warming cycle of the earth as opposed to what’s happening now. His facts are based in credible studies and the film was well done and caused me to think more about my way of life. So...I liked it and recommend it.

So that’s that...two blogs in a day and two “Lord of the Rings” references in this blog. I know...I’m a nerd...I don’t care.

Canadians

This past week we have hosted a team from Canada brought by my friend and mentor Dave Skene. He brought 6 university students as part of a leadership training program put on by our friends in Global Youth Network up in Ontario. They are all interested in justice issues around the world and gave up their Spring break to come and work with us here in Modesto. Here’s our week...

Saturday - It was the nicest day of the year so far and since the team had come from the Great, White North, we took them into San Fran to fisherman’s wharf and to see the ocean. But what we really did was sit in traffic and get lost. They were good sports about it even though we didn’t have time to drive by the “Full House” house.



Sunday - They attended our New Hope service and then we went to our “formerly of the 9th St. Motels” friend Dean’s apartment building and threw a BBQ for his whole neighborhood. We all had a great time meeting folks, sharing some good chili dogs and helping Dean meet his neighbors.

Monday - We cooked the team a nice breakfast and did a bit of orientation. After lunch, we took them on a tour of poverty in Modesto and discussed the issues that keep people down.

Tuesday - A family that we know recently got a house and moved out of a 9th St. Motel. The house is trashed and definitely owned by a slum lord but we went to clean up an area in the yard for the 7 kids that live there to play soccer in. We cut, mowed, stacked, chain-sawed, dragged and played our hearts out. The team even bought them a new soccer ball!

Wednesday - We worked and worked and worked at the church...cleaing up a bit of the junk pile in the back field and preparing the garden area to be planted.

Thursday - Rain kept us from finishing the garden...we got a good start on it though. We watched a great documentary called “It Was A Wonderful Life” about women who are homeless in L.A. then the team helped with our Thursday bread run.

Friday - We had a bit of a debriefing session where we got many encouraging comments from the team about the week. They made us poutine for lunch, a wonderful Canadian delicacy of fries, cheese and gravy and then we prepared for a BBQ on 9th St. A lot of people showed up to eat...120 burgers and 60 dogs later we packed up and took the team out for dinner at the taco trucks.

Saturday - Jimmy and Aaron took them to see Yosemite National Park

...and at 3am Sunday morning, I took them to the airport. We had a great time with them and made some new friends. They are gone now and I’ll definitely miss them but after church, I plan on sleeping the rest of the day.

A bunch of stuff

Amie’s Surgery - You may or may not know that Amie has a pacemaker. Well, she does...since she was 13. She just came through her 4th surgery to renew her batteries and everything went fine. She’s all healing up and stuff, has a lot more energy and should get her stitches out on Valentines day...heart...valentine’s day...there’s a joke there but I couldn't think of one good enough. Aaron wants me to fast bad jokes for lent.

Fresno Zoo - We spent a day down at a nice little zoo in Fresno. It was cheap, the animals seemed happy and cared for, the kids loved it...we’ll definitely be back. Not quite as daunting as a trip to the bay area and it was definitely a better experience than the Oakland zoo. While they had most animals that you look for in a zoo, ironically, there was no gorilla...

Terebithia - The boys and I (by which I mean Josh and Sam) are reading The Bridge To Terebithia in preparation for the movie release this Friday. The trailer looked cool so we decided to read the book first. The book is a nice story about a friendship between a boy and a girl in the fifth grade. We are 3 chapters from the end and so far, there has been none of the cool stuff we’ve seen on the trailer. I’m thinking that the movie will be nothing like the book...oh well, what did I expect? It is a sweet story...kinda “To Kill a Mockingbird”ish but much more simple.

A Perfect Day - I had the realization that this past Friday was absolutely perfect. Everything I want to do and experience, I did on Friday. I was up early to order my day and start it right, I exercised, I did a little manuel labor at the church, I did a little office work, I met a new youth pastor for lunch, went with our team to share food, friendship and Christ with our friends on South 9th St., came home to a nice supper, had some good time with my family, some time reading and early to bed. Ahhh, I gotta do that more often!

Bacon-wrapped, Deep-fried, Caffinated Balls of Sugar - Years ago, on a mission trip to new Orleans, some friends and I tried to come up with the most unhealthy food imaginable and this is what we imagined. Later, we shot a commercial for the imaginary product and tried making it for the skit. As it turns out, they're not bad! You take a chocolate donut hole (providing the caffine, the 'deep fried' and the 'ball'), wrap them in freshly cooked bacon, sprinkle them with icing sugar and tada...you've got a very unhealthy, tasty treat! If you're turning up your nose right now just think of the taste when you dip your bacon in pancake syrup. It's the same kind of effect. I made them for a friends going away party we had a youth group last week and most of the group liked them...so there.

See these five paragraphs...they coulda each been an entry but I can’t just do things simple can I? No, I have to wait and wait and take a bunch of time to do it all at once. I’ll learn some day...

Old books

I recently read "Prophetic Untimeliness" by Os Guiness. I would recommend it. In it, the author echos the advise from C.S. Lewis to mix up your reading a bit. Throughout history, the "whatever's now" modern perspective usually carries with it the idea that if an idea isn't new, then it's not valuable. So Lewis advises, if you read a new book, choose an old book next time. It's a good idea to gain perspective from more vantage points than a modern one.

My friend Aaron tells me about the concept in G.K. Chesterton's writing around the "democracy of the dead" as a great voice to look to as we form ideas and world views. Chesterton said, "Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about." They have left behind their writings for us read and we should let them help us. And that is our problem, isn't it? Admitting we need help.

Well we do. We would do well to listen to older people and read older writings. G.K. Chesterton and C.S. Lewis have both entered into that democracy and their writings are a great help to us now. We are not re-inventing the church. We don't get to do that. The church wasn't thought up...it was born. And we, surrounded by a very real "great cloud of witnesses" would do well to not presume our ideas are new and/or better.

No Sweat!

I finally found a really good sweat shop free site to shop for clothes! Enjoy...

Justice Clothing

Some Catch Up...

Again, another season of no bloggy so I’ll play a bit of catch up....

Grieving - At it’s most basic, grieving is living through the shock of death and summoning the mental, emotional and spiritual strength to press on and rework your life around this huge gaping hole that your loved one left. There’s no way around it but sometimes you feel like just sitting down and not walking for a while. Everybody says the wrong thing and you give them grace for that because no body knows what to say. For being “not okay”, we’re doing okay.

Youth With A Mission, Modesto - We’ve reworked our web site by adding some things...there’s music there now and our family’s January podcast is available.

Las Vegas - Speaking of YWAM, we took a little trip recently to drop our last local volunteer off at her Discipleship Training School in Pismo, Beach. Then we headed to Joshua Tree national park for two nights of retreat and on to Vegas for a YWAM South West business meeting where they told us we have a new regional director...she’s great! It was a good time and I’m looking forward to the future with YWAM here. But Vegas? mmm...a bit too spendy and confusing for my tastes. I love the YWAM team there..they love the city and are working to be real lights in a truly dark place.

Eregon - disappointed in the book, disappointed in the movie. The book got better the last 150 pages, the movie got worse in the last hour. The dragon was nice to look at though.

Apocalypto - Jimmy, Aaron and I saw it last night and it about wore me out. It was really violent, bloody, stressful and well done. While it is not for the weak of stomach, it is beautiful and moving with many things to say about the decline of a society, what’s really important, identity and what’s worth fighting for. For me, worth the journey...if you haven’t seen it...proceed with caution.

Speaking of decline of society - the movie theater was a mess last night! People talking loudly and about 10 kids snuck in through the exit door. But Jimmy complained and we got some free tickets. Yay, I guess...

Good news and bad news - A family that has lived in the motels for years now recently got a house. It is way better than the motel but still in a slum. The landlord does not care for the property, just his money. It’s better though as there is more room and we can now play soccer with the kids in their small yard (no grass but you take what you can get). The bad news is that better housing does not change the heart of man. These kids are still in the care of shortsighted, immature adults. We need wisdom for our contact with this and so many other families and the patience to pray and let God do his more perfect work.

CAROLYN ANN HEWITT OCT. 30, 1944 - DEC. 30, 2006 Carolyn Ann Hewitt, 62, of Modesto, went to her rest on Saturday, Dec. 30, 2006. She leaves her husband, Paul Hewitt; her children, Kevin Hewitt, Cyndee Hewitt, Amie Whitler, and Daniel Hewitt; Nine grandchildren; her mother, Margaret Nelson; her brothers, Larry and David; and a multitude of other loving relatives and friends.

Carolyn was born to Elmer and Margaret Nelson in Minneapolis, Minn. on Oct. 30, 1944, the youngest of the three children. She graduated from Hopkins High School. She married Paul Arthur Hewitt on Feb. 7, 1964. She spent the last few years as a caregiver for seniors.

Viewing services will be held at New Hope Christian Fellowship, 4204 Dale Rd., Modesto, on Thursday, Jan. 4th, 2007 from 5:00- 8:00 pm.

Family and friends are invited to celebrate her life at New Hope Christian Fellowship, 4204 Dale Rd., Modesto, on Friday, Jan. 5th, 2007 at 1:00 pm.

Funny Christmas Things

A funny thing on Christian radio...

Last night, I had to make a Save Mart run for Stella. She’s teething and boy, was she upset and we were out of baby pain killer stuff. So I got out of bed and went like all grumpy, tired fathers before me.

Amie had left the car radio on the christian station so I let it play. Now I’m not a regular listener of christian radio but it’s nice every once in a while (I used to be a DJ at one back before YWAM and I think I just had my fill). Anyhoo, there was this guy going on and on about keeping Christ in Christmas...all the stuff we hear all the time this time of year. And when we talk about such things we really like to use words that rhyme like...hustle, bustle and reason, season. Well this guy didn’t do that which impressed me. He actually found new ways to say those things we all already know. Dickens, Capra and Schultz are really all I’ve ever needed.

So right after this big encouragement to remember what Christmas is all about, the song that follows is a sultry CCM artist singing, “Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful...” I had a nice, ironic, christmas chuckle on the way to the store.

A funny thing in San Francisco...

We had Stella’s 3 month post-operation check up on Monday. We decided to take the boys with as it was my day off, stay in the city and see some seasonal sights. I looked online and found that the library had an interactive display of the Polar Express so we decide to do it. I had visions of being able to climb aboard the engine or a big coach. The boys were excited...well...Amie and I were excited.

Stella did great for her check up. Her team of doctors are really impressed with how she’s healed and is developing. Afterwards we got some great pizza at Blondie’s and parked near Union Square where we saw the big tree and headed up to the library. We figured out which bus to get on, got off at the right stop and went in the library. Excitedly, I kept looking around for the big model of the Polar Express train. I asked the information lady about it and she pointed us in the right direction. We walked up to it and it was a tiny model train in a glass case with Thomas the Tank Engine as well.

We just laughed, Sam enjoyed it and we sat in the children's library and read the Hanukkah story. It was nice...the boys had been asking about Hanukkah so now we know...cool story. We caught the little trolly back to Union Square, looked in the big Disney store and looked at some shop windows then came home. Whew!

Wal Mart...

Here. The Pastor is from my hometown. That's funny strange, not funny haha to me...probably no one else. This is something that I would like to see happen but I do not have much hope for it. I think we are just going to have to find other ways to get our stuff if we want to shop with conscience. It's really hard but I know it's possible.

Something Amie said...

And finally, Amie had the realization today that Dr. Phil is a classy Jerry Springer.

On that note, Happy Christmas and New Year!

City Council

I shared with our city council in Modesto this past Teusday. It was alrighht. They listened. They have to! There is a section of thier meetings called "Oral Communications" and any citizen can go and speak for 3 minutes about anything he wants. So this is what I said...well...read cause I was so nervous.

"My name is Chris Whitler working for Youth With A Mission, Modesto at 4204 Dale Rd. I have lived and worked in the Modesto area for 5 years now. I came here to develop ministry in Modesto mostly to our poor. I have worked with various local church communities and organizations to help people in need. Mostly, I have walked the parks and South 9th St with a small team to make friends, bring food and help folks as best we can.

I'vecome here today to finally speak to you on behalf of the poor here in our area. I am grateful for your willingness to serve our community. I appreciate the initiative to get a winter shelter for single men and women. It is a good start. And I am thrilled to see Agenda item 5 in tonight's meeting. The need is overwhelming in our community and if we do not start talking about simple, sufficient, cost effective housing for our poor things are only going to get worse and they will not go away. To give our whole city over to the commuter house developer and the big stores the people in those houses crave is to sell away the heart of our community. The target worker cannot afford to live in the community target serves...this is not a dead statistic to me...this is Diana and Stella who care for kids and grandkids.

It will be you and the bi-laws you implement that make way for the opportunity for all of Modesto's citizens to have what all people in all communities deserve - the dignity to make a way for themselves in this world. The poor continually face discouragement, rejection and difficulty. It is leadership's responsibility to make a way for the poor IN society...to provide a way for them to exist in the community you serve. This council cannot impose long term change on an individual, you can only make ways for our city to change to accomodate individuals in their process. A good friend was recently evicted from his home by our city bi-laws. He was staying in his sister's backyard in a camper. The camper area was clean, he took care of the yard, he maintained sobriety and lived quietly. The house got a letter stating the set up was illegal and my friend had to move out. The city of Modesto prefers him homeless.

Our society does not want homeless people sleeping hidden in the parks or on city property and yet this happened. We've got to do better and think more creatively. I ask that you start by letting families help out their own by allowing back yard campers to have people in them...and of course by-law enforcement would be implemented in any situation where a yard is unsightly or neighbors act unruly. Let's start to talk about a legal camping area, a non-profit, co-operative trailer park or a safe parking area for people that sleep in their car.

For thousands of years, many different people groups have made a way for themselves with dignity living in tents. Shelters are temporary and do nothhing for families with kids or the mentally ill who cannot bring themselves to sleep in a room full of strangers. Our team wants to work with you and others in our city. What's is happening in our city toward these ends? Are there things of which I am unaware? What can we do to help?"

After I read this the Mayor said, "Thank you" and that was that. I sat down with Aaron and then the Parks director came up to us and requested a meeting. So we're going to get together. Then a police officer approached us and asked to talk out in the hall. He is an outreach officer who committed to helping us however he can. All in all, it was good. I an really grateful to live in a place where, even if my view aren't shared, that I can be heard.

On track

I've been getting up early for the last week and a half. It all started with the "fall back". Instead of sleeping in I just woke up that much earlier. The trip to the airport at 3am last week I'm sure did not help. I went to bed around 10pm on Wednesday night (skipping "Lost" by the way...don't worry, I taped it) and waking around 2:30 am. I stayed up the whole day and went to bed at 11 that night. Still, I woke up really early. So I decided to start going down to the track at MJC.

Now, I did a stint at the track earlier this year which many of you will remember resulted in my knee not working for a while and my doctor laughing at me and while shaking his head saying, "You tried to run?! Let me settle it for you for all of time, you are NOT a runner." Then after giving me some ibuprofin he sent me on my limping way saying something about the pain being a good teacher for me.

Ok, so I'm not a runner. I just assumed I was. I got close to being able to go a mile when I blew out my knee. So I'm a walker. I like the track. It's much better than walking through a neighborhood. For one, the track gives way. Concrete is unforgiving. What I like most about it is that the 12 or so people there when I am there are all there for the same thing. Everyone is huffing. Everyone is trying to improve and no one is looking down at you.

In a neighborhood, the runners are all sending a silent message..."I'm totally better than all you lazy, fat people still in bed!" Ok, maybe that's unfair to say but it feels true. I was walking along a neighborhood road a couple of years ago when a car drove by and some guy inside felt the need to stick his head out the window and say, "You'll never lose weight, Fat %#$!" Wow. What a life that guy must lead. Just driving around discouraging others. "Oh yeah! well...you'll never be...er...nice?"

I was just about to write "I can never think of a good comeback when I need one" when I realized that this entry could very quickly turn in to a Ziggy comic. So I'll just sum up by saying we're out there in the mornings...there's the older lady who runs circles around me, the really skinny girl who floats by me on the wind, the "plus size" lady who looks so determined it's scary, the guy who looks like he's beating on the devil up every time he comes back down the stadium steps, the friends who are strolling and talking, ipod girl and me...the fat "you know what" huffing along resolved (one more time again) to prove that idiots in cars are wrong.

Awesome!  I'm blogging in a widget!  If you don't know what a widget is then you're just not in the know.  You wouldn't understand...it's a Mac thing.  Ok, that was awful but it's true.

Discipline before delight

In my last blog, I mentioned that our YWAM computer had died and I am very happy to tell you that a generous supporter has donated not one but two new computers to our team! We are blown away. So, no more excuses for not posting...

I was thinking today about my younger years in Youth With A Mission. In the fervor of joining a missionary group, there is much new excitement and feelings of spiritual intensity. You can tend to get a bit ahead of yourself. It seems our mission's strength is that we put young people out on the field right away. The energy of youth and the zeal of fresh experience with God is a wonderful propeller for the gospel message.

Our mission's weakness is that we put young people out on the field right away. Without the temperance of wisdom and study sometimes things do not go great. I've seen both of these in action...many times on the same outreach!

I remember a speaker that came through our training campus down in Texas and he spoke to all of us about having grace for ourselves and one another. He talked about not beating yourself up if you miss a day or so of personal prayer time. And then he said something that really sticks with me to this day...personal prayer must be a discipline before it becomes a delight.

This is right where I am 15 years later. Having grace for myself after missing the mark on daily prayer and scripture reading and coming to the understanding that it will not just happen magically. I have to make space for it. Discipline is purposefully killing our laziness...the tendency to let down.

Something we've been saying a lot lately is that it's OK to have an off day every now and again, we're going to live forever. But you can't let your off days pull you along. With your spirit tuned to God's Spirit, you must tell you mind to let your emotions and your body know just who is in charge. With grace for the times we fall short, we must throw off our laziness and get to it. Our time here is short and there is much to do.

Play by play...

Well, it’s back to some old ways. Here’s a recent play by play…

We moved the first of this month. Both YWAM Modesto families live in Salida now as housing at our church became unavailable. So we moved. That has “busy” ramifications of it’s own. We like our new place. We live with Aaron near Modesto Christian school in Salida. It’ll do for now. We are content.

Last weekend, we had family here…Amie’s brother and sister-in-law from Oregon. They were here for Amie’s grandma’s 90th birthday party! They all stayed with us. We had a lot of fun staying up way too late, eating Thai food and solving all the world’s problems.

Last Friday at the last minute, our friend John came through town with his Discipleship Training School (DTS) team from YWAM Bishop, CA. They are a wilderness DTS learning discipleship principles and outdoor survival techniques. It’s pretty cool and John is flourishing. They came through to BBQ with us down on 9th St. and spend the night at church. We had a sweet little BBQ cooking for our friends down in the motels, hanging out with them and praying for people. It was awesome to see this team go for it with their witness and just pouring out love.

Monday, we had another team arrive from down in southern California to host a “night of missions” at New Hope. This was also kinda last minute but a great time. This team is YWAM as well and all they do is travel the states and Canada to promote missions in churches. They are independent of any “base” and are truly representing all of YWAM when they are on the road. They toured our city and we shared our heart with them for the poor of Modesto. We worshiped God and prayed together on 9th St and again, this team just went for it…crying out to God to change our city and bless the poor.

And this week, horror of horrors…our computer totally died! Like dead dead. Ahhh! So, I will not be too terribly internetty for a while. I am stealing time on Marge’s computer at the moment in the wee small hours of Monday morning to blog and catch up on email.

So, that’s that. Change is in the air. Please pray with us…we have some fairly heavy stuff going on in the life of our church community and our family, we have much work to do to, we have some specific needs as far as support and whatnot go and we need a computer. But “life is an adventure to be lived, not a problem to be figured out” and even hardship is an invitation to run deeper into the heart of God.

The Shiva is done for

The Shiva Motel is all but shut down here in Modesto. The place got condemned by the county who looked the other way at this filthy, run down place for way too long. The oppressive management has charged people ridiculous rents to live in squalor, taking advantage of the fact that many are willing to pay high rents for shelter if they don’t have to pay first and last and a deposit.

Most of our friends there have found new places to live...better places...not much better but better. We went and visited one friend in his new digs yesterday. It’s a small studio apartment complex on 9th Street. Others have moved to the airport district and still others to different motels.

Please pray for the displaced, dysfunctional community that lived at the Shiva. A horrible season has ended for them. We are privileged that we were able to meet these folks and be a part of their lives. Their tenacity humbles me. We are still in touch with some of them in their new locations. Pray the kids do well in new schools and new places and that we can manage keeping in touch and stay faithful to friendship in a new way.

Er...um...

Yesterday I realized that there is something wrong with me. I can sing the entire theme song of America’s Funniest Home Videos from the early 90’s and the Facts of Life theme, Differ’nt Strokes, Gilligan’s Island, The Brady Bunch and most of the theme to Muppet Babies but I have not memorized the Apostle’s Creed. I’ll get right on that. wow.

It's starting to rain

The Autumnal equinox was September 23rd but today is the real first day of Fall. The clouds have been gathering for a couple of days now and the sky finally cracked a bit this afternoon. Nights have been getting cooler and the wind is picking up.

Change is in the air too. My community is having a bit of a “heart equinox”. We moved this week to a house in Salida. We’ve been blessed with a new (er) car. Our season living at the church has come to an end. A good friend is dealing with the joy and sadness of his grandfather passing. Some truly wonderful people in my life are facing unjust accusation and the sting of petty, uncaring betrayal. This is a bittersweet time.

This is a time when I just want the people in my life to know I love them. Once in a while, the dumb stuff disappears from view and you sink down to the essentials. Good relationships, good, honest work and Jesus. Have you ever just been so hungry for him? I mean the real Jesus. Perhaps my advent season is starting a little early because my heart cries out for Emmanuel. How long, O Lord? Don’t let us miss the point.