A Charbroil Upgrade

My ten year old griller has been upgraded, anyone want the old one? The new infrared technology worked great last night on a rib eye, and I plan to do alot more veggie grilling on this one. The shiny new guy has a smaller footprint and those side tables fold down to less conspicuous when not in use. Grill cover is in the mail from Amazon but missed a bit of monsoon dust and rain that coated the stainless steel and led to a cleaning.

Had breakfast with friends headed to Kauai and we shared some sightseeing ideas and wished we were on the plane with them. They are going to see Pearl Harbor for the first time, a must do if you get a chance, reminds you why we cherish the nation.

Getting back into leading worship service tomorrow, like bike riding you never forget, but you are a bit rusty.

End Times Expert

We encountered a new huge SUV type vehicle that had an unfamiliar name and new design in California last month.

I have been listening to a set of DVDs by a popular end times expert. He has so many points and proofs that it is hard to slow down long enough to see if he is explaining scripture or twisting it.

He predicts the absolute certainty of WWIII and a death toll of 2 billion people. He predicts that anyone who takes the mark of the Beast to do business will go to Hell, so, my choice is to be lost in the nuclear war. That being the case, there is not much to do in being Christlike and compassionate in this current day.

If, this man is sincerely wrong in assigning future literal meanings to the mystery texts in Revelation then we have a very confusing and contradictory division in the church, and people so convinced there is nothing we can do to prevent a religious war that they become willing to foment its certainty. I really resent it when these experts say "The Bible Says" and then insert some fact or idea that they have connected and interpreted to be the same thing.  Ex. The wound that was healed in Revelation is the reuniting of Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall????? And he knows this How?????

Events that changed me

I loved the dumping bucket at kids area at Knotts Water Park.

Having begun my 46th year of faith I am reminded that while I am still loving the head of the Church, there are many events and experiences in life that change us for good or ill. Here are a few.

Encountering Churchianity- a ho hum culturally bound religion which is just going through the motions of church life for social and cultural reasons.

Rediscovering Vocation- I tried to run from Churchianity and discovered struggle that convinced me that I had to keep working within the existing structure to help things change.

Ministry outside the walls of the church- in which I learn to love people in my community and church as they are.

Courage to try to escape the Bible Belt- following a call to the desert west.

Discovering the great difficulty of change within church leadership- great time of dissapointment.

Discovering God was with me- rescues from dissapointments.

Helping a church grow- a time when things were working.

Watching a church implode- a time when disunity destroyed something that was working.

Realizing its all bigger than me- when health challenges change us and we change with them.

All the above are statements that represent parts of my experience in vocational ministry, they are part of my story and I am comfortable in revisiting them, in learning from them, in not being totally defined by them, and in learning in the messiness of history, we still have great pleasure in following Christ.

The Nine Year interesting occurrence

Window shopping in Palm Springs.

One of the reasons I like to celebrate the beginning of my personal faith, which does not by the way coincide with church attendance which I did off and one up until my conversion experience, is because two other dates of memory brought that date into my mind and helped me to mark some major changes in my life.

After that evening when I began to think about a call to ministry I of course set my sights on college, and then seminary, and then openess to my first place of service as a pastor.  All that occurred and we set a service of ordination to mark the official beginning of my ministry. Turned out to be June 27th, 1976, and I realized that from the night of my conversion to the night of my beginning of ministry was exactly nine calendar years.

Of course the next week, my first message as an ordained pastor, with on July 4th, 1976, our nations 200th Birthday which had all that celebratory hoopla to make the week very special.

I wish I could say the church was as healthy and America was as well off as we were back then, but that's another story, I am just glad to still be in the game, living every day for the joy of the Lord.

June 27, 1967

Tomorrow is my spiritual anniversary. 45 years of being called to follow the Lord. No regrets, lots of blessing and living, lots of change and lack of change forgiven. Friends, travel, good experiences, a share of frustrations, some confusions and misteps, lots of thinking, meditation, prayer, and the books that helped me on my journey.

Nothing matches the big thought, that I have a good Shepherd leading me into paths of righteousness for His names sake.


I am not that young man who cautiously placed his faith in a God he could not see late one evening.....wait, yes I am, and His mercies are fresh every morning.

Wineskins and Wine

During seminary I read a seminal book by Howard Synder? that discussed the gospel and how we deliver the gospel. When you attend worship no matter how you slice it there is singing and praying and teaching, but the structures that surround those elements need to change with time and changing needs.

Yesterday I attended a church that had grown from 600 to over 6000 in five years, the kind with police and parking attendants to get people in and out of the parking lot. I was living here when it started and know it was built to 600 on the Bill Hybels seeker sensitive model and for years met in my kids high school.

Five years ago the new pastor came on the condition that the church would adopt a different and more purposeful missional model which was styled on Micah 6:8. live justly, love mercy, act humbly. In other words instead of worrying about how to get butts in the seats they want to get butts out into the world to help and serve. The bells and whistle of the wineskins were not the attracting....look at our coffee shop, see our cute themes, are'nt we cool christians? Let us help you have a better family, a sexier sex life, ect. ad nauseum.

This church had all the new bells, comfortable theater seating, darkness and mood lighting for the singing, but here something was different, here the new wine was served. It was about Jesus and the gospel and families giving themselves for others. The baptism service was moving and the testimonies tell of people who had fleeting or poor church experiences and how this fellowship had helped them sort through the false and find the real.

These people have the bells and whistles that caused so many of us problems as we dealt with people resisting change with appeals to tradition and threats of leaving or fighting, or anguished appeals to "we've always done it this way".  The people at this service came along after all those struggles, and they are benifitting from getting wine from new wine skins that fit this culture. I was impressed, and a bit envious.

God talk

A Candle in the Wind, now a statue in the park.

12 years ago now, I began a personal quest. Like most quests, most books, most major life changes it began with some painful experiences of disunity. People who loved me suddenly hated me, supporters became detractors. The struggle was about religious views, things I had been taught all my life that flowed through me with ease and made life understandable were causing others who had different life views to be alienated. Sadly, all those people whom I loved and cared for are no longer in my life, but God, as He often does, provided a way forward, a rescue of sorts, and a place to reflect upon my little crisis.

The issues were parsed to simplicity, two simple but enormous questions emerged that have settled into my mind and heart as the rudders for the remainder of my life. What is the nature of God like, and what is this Good News that He announced to the world in the New Covenant? With those two surgical instruments I was able to go back through my spiritual, emotional, relational life to cut and to heal, knowing that my conflict were being experienced in many similar ways in this world of evangelical thinking.

Now that I have some new answers and have left some old ways of thinking behind, strangely I do not have much inclination to fight for my new ways of thinking, nor do I have much desire to try to create healthier patterns in what I now believe are dying ways of life. I am, however, still called to share and comfort people raised in that same world, many of whom have never questioned the boxes that provide the limits of their views. I cannot really tell the old, old story, when I have some new, new exciting ways of telling that story.

Bridge building is my necessary task, and I am back at it tomorrow.

Not a Bucket List Vacation

Well, the golf on a course the pros play was, but mostly it was a change of location, a change of pace, and as I approach my 62nd Birthday and bit of reflection about the future. Two years ago yesterday Laura and I spent a magical day driving "The Road to Hana" in Maui. The stops we made, conversation we had, pictures I took, all made that trek of hallowed Hawaiian beauty something very special.

The whole underlying issue in the Bucket List movies was about sickness, approaching death, and whether the real joys in life are seeing and doing things, or spending time with your family and loved ones.The rich guy provided the money for extravagant travel, and incredible memories, but the thinker, the reader, the collector of Jeopardy facts was the one who taught the lasting lessons about what is ultimately important.

Laura is reading a book about the Eiffel Tower, and I am wondering if I really want to spend the time and money to get there someday, or just be content to see a picture. My heart says travel but my bank account will probably say, read a book. My faith says, people matter more than places, even though it can be a bother getting to know and understand them, and serve them.

The last few days I just hung out, like a retired person would do, around the house. I had thought about a road trip with a friend, but instead I did a few relaxing things and wondered how my life would be when no one was expecting me to show up and preach or teach.

I suppose the answer about the Bucket List is not either/or.....but, both/and.... There are things I would love to see and places I would love to go, but home is where the heart is.

7436 moments of joy and transport

Tree art, only God can make a tree, but a good trimmer can transform it into this crazy door decoration.

I love music, all kinds. My almost four year old I pod contains most of the CDs my family has collected, and lots of cheap downloads. Amazon runs monthly 5 dollar album sales that are terrific.

Unlike some of my younger friends, I am no longer much into searching for new groups, but finding music that I enjoy that fills a gap in my collection.

One of my earliest memories of a song deeply affecting me was Bridge over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel. I have collected many of their albums. 20 years ago Paul Simon introduced Ladysmith Black Mombasa to the world.  This is an African mens group over 50 years old, still being directed by its founder.

The African beats and sounds are so hauntingly beautiful and in this months album they help various artists interpret songs and spirituals in new ways. Entitled Ladysmith Black Mombasa and Friends there are 30 songs and over 2 hours of joy for 5 dollars.

The Avengers

A new Chevy Camero was rented by our kids to drive to the coast. Very powerful and it has a projection of the speed on the window in front of you.

Went to a movie on my vacation day....alone, while Laura shopped. She is too much of an adult to enjoy a Comic Book adventure. I enjoyed the film as a demonstration of heroism, teamwork and action shots that were believably real when the aliens where working carnage on NYC.  The bad guy was good too, can't have a hero with a power hungry bad guy.

Fully Functional Washroom

One of the first things we needed to do was to finish the installation of new cabinets in our washroom and yesterday. Dave our handyman did the job of hooking up the water and hanging our multipurpose decorative storage shelf. For some reason I am a person who is always carrying things back and forth from home to office, and this piece allows me to not clutter other surfaces with my collection of transportable stuff.

Our cat is very happy to have companionship again and seems to relish the closeness and the touching after 10 days in solitary. He has always been an affectionate creature. I really felt bad to leave him alone so long. Last long trip he had his mom kitty as a constant companion.

The view of the San Clemente Public Golf Course from the Hampton Inn is so nice that I asked for a third floor room this year and we enjoyed our morning second cup of coffee on the balcony.

I had a prayer of healing and anointing with oil for a dear friend yesterday who is dealing with cancer. I count it a great honor to be asked to do this.

Office catch up day

I always enjoy watching painters painting. Once up at the painted desert I asked a painter if I could take a picture of her working and she was very incensed about it. So now I just take pictures of painters unaware, the person below must have gone for a coffee break and was nowhere to be seen.

I always ask my folks not to get sick or leave the earth while I am out of town and they did well with my request this year. One of the things that strikes you about vacation is the way Americans live when they recreate.  No one thinks about sickness and death, they focus on living and enjoying.

In Sun Lakes and other retirement areas we never quite get to forget about sickness and dying because of our age and our neighbors, but we still focus of life and moment by moment joys.

So, today I catch up and prepare for a few things while I continue a few more vacation days ahead. The relaxation was real, the grand kids were fun, the golf was very special, the kindness of those who helped provide this break deeply appreciated.

Home to the heat!!!

Woke up to an ocean 57 degrees, arrived home to a desert 112 degrees, now thats what I call contrast! 400  miles, a Taco Bell lunch, and McDonalds coffee break and home to a very lonely kitty who is so glad to have us back. Thanks to our excellent Kitty sitter Joan, she was well fed and watered.

Last night we saw a cloudy sunset, did some rock collecting....there are a lot of places along the California coast that throw up a lot of rocks to enjoy or avoid.

This morning after we packed up we made a visit to the San Clemente Library book sale room to score some low cost reading for the kids and Laura.

Love the sand cliffs in SC, as well as the Hampton Inn Suites which does a great job at hospitality with a fine breakfast, nice beds and great views out both sides of the hotel.

Next summer we are having a family reunion in Pensacola, Lord willing. White sand, warmer water, no rocks.

Almost Over

Headed home tomorrow, last day at the beach. We have enjoyed it all. Dinner at a lovely Mexican place last evening, today the parking lot at the beach was overflowing and the crowds heavy. A family of dolphins entertained us just beyond the wave break.

Ben loved burying himself, Shannon and I went rock hunting on a walk and then she buried them near our chairs and could not find them??

This is the one time a year when I do not have two toned legs, and the sunburn on my feet is stinging.

What are the odds?

We found San Clemente Beach in 2006 and this is our fourth time back, although we have not visited in three years.. We love the downtown, the pier, the restaurants, and our favorite beach. We vacationed twice several years ago with dear friends we do not see much of late, one of which is Shannons baby sitter, and we ran into them on the beach today and they had a great time.

First day of sunshine in several weeks and we spent six hours at the beach today. Last night we ate downtown with the Whole Trottier family and entered and shopped at some stores downtown. Saw this artists rendition of the pier area.

Golf memories

The back nine of PGA West Palmer Course, which we played first contains some very scenic holes that criss-cross over an irrigation canal and are bordered by the mountain on the right. Larry hit the rocks on this par three 120 yard hole and bounded into the water, I hit the gourse and found my ball.... amazing and against the warning that their were diamondback rattlers in those rocks. As a former caddie and broke kid I just love finding and using someone elses lost ball, and then promptly losing them again.

We saw hole 2 on the Nicklaus course which contains a huge rock blocking the approach to the green that must be crossed. That hole was featured in several skins games, also the hole that Lee Trevino aced one year.

This plaque commemorates Duvals 59. Richard, playing with us, does not lay up, and he hit a 235 yard 3 wood to within 10ft of the pin, all over water. He plays a game I am unfamiliar with.

Palm Springs is a golfer's mecca, I am coming back.

A Golfer's Dream Day

Out and 7 and back at 5, I sit by the pool on our last night in Palm Springs. Today was so special. A friend of a friend got us on the private PGA West Arnold Palmer Signature Course. This was the last round for many years at the Bob Hope Classic. An eagle led to a final round historic 59 for a win for golfer Dave Duval.  Lots  of skins games were played on these courses over the year.

To top it off, we played it alone, no one leading or following us, so we took our time and heard stories of what happened here and there. It was incredibly hard for me to reach the greens and putt well but it was so much fun.  This is also the course featured in Soaring Over California in the scene where you get bombarded by a golf ball.  The kids were impressed.

We lunched at the Nicklaus Grill over at the stadium course and saw lots of memorabilia

The whole bunch of us had a blast at Knotts Soak City yesterday riding slides and bouncing in the wave pool. Many moons since we did something that active in the water, I am sore and sunburned. Off to a cooler and overcast San Clemente to watch and listen to the ocean for a few days.

A Candle in the Wind

 We walked down Palm Springs main drag last evening, Its more of a winter destination and much of the hype beckons back a few decades when Frank Sinatra, and Pat Boone and Marilyn Monroe visited the desert.

This impressive bronze of the famous movie moment weight 34,000 lbs and is on loan here for a year. Our dinner at Ruby's also brought back the feel of a 50s Diner. Good food.

Playing a Golf Digest Top 100 course was a treat with Larry and his friends, I did find some of that water on the back nine. Today we head for the water park to enjoy the rides and hope to avoid the heat with some shade here and there.

Today we enjoy the Knotts Water Park and hope we can find a bit of shade to rest in between slides and waves.

"Yune" is Palm Tree Trimming Time

When we bought a home with tall palm trees, we learned they grow quickly and leave dead fronds, and must be trimmed yearly. June is the time and the streets are full of trucks doing this all over town.You can clearly see a before and after look in this snap taken on my walk.

 We enjoyed another relaxing day and met our friends for Pizza and saw how the newer part of town is a mecca for resorts, enjoying a massive Marriott property in Palm Desert.

The Pizza place was hosting lots of season ending baseball parties for the kids so it was full of young families.

Heading out to play a Pete Dye/Gary Player designed course called Mission Hills today, right next to the DinahShore course.

Puttering around

There is nothing like Putt putt golf to bring back memories of growing up. These attractions predated the video game revolution. The kids enjoyed it although the afternoon sun was intense. They charge alot for this game but I don't think they have fixed the carpets since the 70s!!!! I remember many trips with youth groups to enjoy these recreation areas.

Saw a beautifully green golf course on my walk yesterday and look forward to playing tomorrow although this hard mattress has done a number on my left hip, I could barely get the ball out of the hole yesterday. Ah, the aches and pains of aging.

I actually read a mystery novel recommended by a friend. It was enjoyable poolside fun. Dick Francis is a British writer who was a jockey and this was set in England and featured solving an old mystery while filming a movie about horse racing.

Serious Worldwide Shoppers

We went to the largest outlet Malls I have ever visited in Cabazon CA yesterday. People and tiny dogs from all over the world, and many sporting Disney hats from their recent visit were doing some serious shopping. Ben got a Ferrari hat, the girls some necklaces and Laura a Coach handbag, the women has a special thing for handbags.








I loved my morning walk through the neighborhoods, and our first excursion to a Starbucks to get a taste of that bitter stuff they call coffee there. I don't get it.









Ralphs Market takes Frys Cards for discounts, good to know. We had a store bought meal on the back patio. Oh, we also found the Walmart for some needed supplies, including another pair of clip on sunglasses for me, and a bet as to how long it would take me to lose or break them.

I bought a boring blue Van Heusen shirt to replace my aging boring blue preaching shirt with a button down collar that has worn out.


It's Sunday, and I try not to think about my usual Sundays and know that our congregation will be fine today. God bless you for letting us get away for a bit of relaxation and re-creation.

Hooked on Sweet

We are now a mostly Stevia family, but today I drink coffee with cream only. We forgot the artificial sweetener. We are settled into the digs at Casitas Del Monte, very nice large 1600 sq. ft. condos with a nice pool in a quiet corner of Palm Springs, backed up again the mountain.

Marveling again about GPS installed on the Xoom and how you can find almost anything...that is if you can follow the directions without forgetting them.

We are planning outings, two golf days for me with my friend Larry, who is here for the 14th annual "It's a Dry Heat" Tournament with his northern California friends. The Outlet mall is near, as is a Knotts Farm Water Park, and some museums.... mainly just the change of pace and venue revive the spirit.

We even have our own back yard, shared with a Bunny Rabbit. After my unsweetened coffee I am headed out for a morning walk.

Recompense

We washed and vacuumed the Kia for travel last evening and laid down the back seat for loads of stuff for four.

D-Day survivors are becoming rare. Every soldiers who died would be very old had they lived, but they did not live. The fact that Laura's mothers brothers remains lie under a cross in Lyon France and not in Edinburg Cemetery in Mississippi tells the world that a price was paid at Normandy.

One of the facets of the restoration of all things that I think about quite a lot is the truths behind the word "recompense".  Very crudely, it means payback for that which was lost. I cherish the hints I see in the character of God that promise that sacrificial loss is not final loss, that things can indeed be restored and fixed. That life can go on for the life cut short.

The mindset of vacation is upon me, a hallowed place where family and a new location and a relaxed mental state produce deep recreation. Recreation is a theological word, amusement is a word that talks about not thinking, ie sitting in a bar drowning your sorrows. Re creation is about looking and experiencing. So....we pack and we are off later this morning..

Vacation Protocols

Son Clemente Beach has one of the most spectacular daily sunsets which I plan to photograph each evening at the end of our week in Palm Spritns.

I have been blogging daily since August of 2008, I am not taking a break, although the time may be more flexible each day.

I will post more pictures of things that interest me, including facebook picts with my smartphone, so you are more than welcome to friend me if you have'nt.

I have three books, a spy novel, and the whole Kindle library to read by the pool.

I will eat healthy (he said to himself), and walk every day.

My flickr account must be renewed this week, I have been neglecting it, I think you access it by typing in pastordoninaz in the search cell?

I cannot really get away from my church family. I love them. We have been together almost a decade, so I will be updating the prayer requests remotely. This reminds me that people run their business from laptops all over the world, we are connected.

I will sit by an ocean, one of God's grand gifts to the planet.

Checking in with my old friends

I left my denomination in 1995, but I still know lots of minister friends and appreciated my decades with the PCA. I notice a lot of effort to keep folks in the boundaries of their doctrine, which can be good, or not so good. Any group unwilling to discuss where culture, science, and faith meet might find it hard to keep people in line.

I listened to a song leader in a local PCA church who won a grammy for her song Blessing, which reminded me what I most loved about the church I grew up in. God can speak through pain and He does, we don't have to live in complete happiness with all our desires being met to trust God. Laura Story wrote this song when dealing with her husbands brain tumor and I found the lyrics to be very encouraging.

I do not really feel separated from them, although they would be quick to point out that I am no longer in fellowship. My view of the body of Christ includes them, and lots of others folks.

Getting all the last minute things done before some travel and sightseeing. Palm Springs has been for us just a chance to see the wind machines dotting the mountain passes before heading to LA . We will pause and see why she has attracted so many people to live and retire there. I want to see the pond where the LPGA golfers get baptized at the Dinah Shore tournament.

Dear Medical Researchers

We are excited to spend a few more delightful days next week in that quaint seaside town named San Clemente, home of  Johnny Weissmuller and Richard Nixon.

Dear Medical reseachers, if dementia and Alzheimer's are caused by environmental or nutritional issues, please let us know. If we can stop any practice or start any treatment please let us know. Watching vital human beings wither before my eyes seems more than I can take.

Observing husbands and wives becoming totally tethered as a permanent help mate is so hard to see.These folks cannot let their loved ones out of their sight. Trying to help the children of these victims make responsible decisions is difficult.

Yesterday Bill, a kidder and joker and a man who enjoyed singing and helping was unable to engage me in conversation, barely able to walk, and obviously overwhelmed by the prison of his mind. Heartbreaking.

Please find more drugs to halt the violent behavior of formally sweet people and the accidents and loss that occur when seniors take the car for one more drive and end up in the desert or lost miles from home.

Lord give strength and wisdom to any family suffering with this disease of aging.

Break Time

I was delivering Jack's juicer to his home when Greg and Michelle, mutual business friends, offered me this really nice Hamilton Beach juicer. I am so grateful and thankful for the gift and for all you guys have done for me in our new relationship.

G&M helped me move my retirement savings to more stable and less risky products two months ago, right before the stock market and its attendant mutual funds went back down the chute. No more chutes and ladders for me.

In a few days we will be taking some time away. We stayed pretty close to home last summer with my heart issues, and getting out of town is something I look forward to. Armed with copious amounts of gift cards from Starbucks Laura and I will focus on rest, recreation, leisure reading, pool side relaxation, restaurant conversationing, grandkids spoiling,  sightseeing, and indulging my photo hobby for a few days.

Love your enemies

Lots of Arizona Diamond Backs in them there desert hills.

Is this riskier than "handle your snakes"? Perhaps, but it has alot more support from the words of Jesus and the description of love fournd in I Cor. 13.  Love seeks not its own, it acts out of the love God places in the art and includes the persons before us, friend or enemy, and God says it is the most God like of qualities and practices.

You can have your snakes, Southern Appalachian faith dude preachers. I will follow Jesus in the way of the cross, in the way of love for mankind.

New Cabinets installed in our washroom. We are the second owners of a home built in 1989 and we are slowly updating the rooms. We will now chose the faucet style, new switches and plugs, and a really cute wall storage unit in the space as it is the place we put our stuff when we enter the house through the garage.

The Cabinets now match the new kitchen and give it a nice look. The ladies in my family, wife and daughter are to be commended for their style and taste and determination to maintain the home and increase its value and usability.

Jack the Painter did a great job on the wall repair and painting as usual.

Branded!!!

A snake handling preacher in West Virginny dies testing his faith, and the headlines link him to me. A preacher of faith, and people laugh.

I preach on the admonition of Jesus that we pray for our enemies and do good to those that seek to harm us and I am laughed off the stage in a manner of speaking.

To the world in all looks ridiculous and to us who read the book one looks presumptuous and the other looks impossible.

I like the quote by the former Jewish prime minister that has been floating around my FB page. The Arabs will make peace when they start loving the own children more than they hate us. Jesus told me that God loves and forgives His enemies, that I was one, and that to deny that love to someone whom I consider at enemy is to fail to walk in love.