rob's thoughtful spot

campus life story, feb. 2012

2012-02-08T22:43:00.000-08:00

I think the weather had me a little down today- this morning I prayed for encouragement- and God came through big time. I also prayed that He's use me to speak at campus life at castillero middle school- I think He blessed me with that too. castillero has got to be the most intimidating environment I have, or maybe ever will speak in. its a public school- with public school kids- not a church with church kids. I'm a nobody there. these kids don't know the bible, or church, or traditions, and there is no powerpoint, or microphones; and everything is super-distracting all the time. there are always loud speakers going off, kids moving in and out, its wild. and you can tell right away how you're doing as a speaker. and I have bombed before. I always try to bring my very best ideas and creativity to these situations.

today I was speaking on the story of Lazarus. I had the book "a series of unfortunate events" with me. we started talking about reading, then the book series, and then I switched gears and said, "sometimes life feeels like one long series of unfortunate events- especially when you're in middle school." one boy chimed in and said, "wow. good illustration. I like that..." II was surprised and caught off guard. I stopped and said a heart-felt, "wow. thank you! what a kind thing to say..." and then kept on going.

I RARELY get feedback from a middle schooler, let alone positive feedback- and this from a public school kid. that encouraged the socks off of me- and the rest of the message seemed to go over too-

thanks God.

God is love.
-rev-rob

youth sponsors

2012-02-08T09:45:00.000-08:00

if you work in a youth ministry, or have worked in a youth ministry, or have been in a youth ministry, what do you call the volunteers? I think about this stuff. there are lots of titles to give them, and all create a word picture of what their role is. here are some examples-

:: volunteer- this word has some pros and cons. the pros are that everyone knows WHO you’re talking about when you’re talking about “the volunteers.” I don’t like this title because it can be used negatively. for example, one time I asked one of my volunteers for a more regular attendance and commitment and they replied, “what do you expect? I’m just a volunteer.” (our relationship didn’t last long). I don’t like this title because the people who serve in ministries are way more that JUST volunteers.

:: staff- this is my go-to title for volunteers. I often refer to my team and the middle school staff. this creates an idea that these people have a position of authority- but it can be confusing, because some people from an older generation think of the “church staff” as the PAID staff. this got me in trouble recently when I said in a meeting, “the middle school ministry has the best staff in the world!” it made it sound like I was calling MYSELF the best middle school staff pastor in the world, which I wasn’t trying to say…well, not really…

:: leaders- I have heard this used quite a bit. I like this title because it communicates who the people are and what they do. I think it creates confusion about WHAT they lead. small groups? the ministry? who is the leader? are we all the leader? I may be over thinking it, but its still a good title that I should probably use more.

:: counselors- in ministries that are really into camp, they usually use this. camp almost always refers to volunteers as counselors. I like this because it creates a sense that this group of people are there for individual relationships and counseling. whenever I hear ministries use this title, it always sounds a little outdated, but it’s a good word to describe what the people are there to do.

I’ve heard a few other names that are a little wonky to me- facilitators, shepherds, servants, mentors and others. the other night I was talking to this middle school dad who grew up in the early days of youth ministry. he was telling me about one of our mutual friends who was his leader when he was in middle school and he said, “yeah that guy was my sponsor all the way through high school.” I have heard that title used a lot by an older generation. I have always felt like it sounds off, but in that conversation, it sounded so comforting-

:: sponsor- it sounds like a person who is dedicated to another person- who is there to see you through a tough time, an advocate, a cheerleader, a supporter. when my friend said that, I couldn’t help but think to myself, “what a cool title for a staff person!”

whether you are a staffer, or a volunteer, or a counselor, or a leader, or a youth sponsor, give it your best today. whatever your title is, make sure you know what your role is- to shepherd kids toward jesus. I like how paul puts it in 1 thessalonians 2:8:

“We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.”

here is a picture of me and a couple of guys who invested me:

did you have a sponsor when you were a kid? take some time today to pray for that person, and send them a thank you for investing in you in a time when you needed it the most.

God is love.
-rev-rob

my take on rick warren-

2012-02-04T16:42:00.000-08:00

I’ve been thinking a lot about Rick Warren lately. One of my friends used to work closely with Rick Warren, and he tells me stories about amazing this guy and his church is. He also gave me this book about his life. I’ve read Rick Warren’s books, and have heard him speak a few times. I have visited his church and even got to meet him once. I have always had a big respect for him, but after reading this biography about him and hearing stories about him, I come away with a whole new admiration of him. here are a few of the things I respect the most:

:: his capacity- rick warren runs a huge church, plus a network of pastors, plus several charities, and still seems to have room to tweet, and interact with people as though he were not hurried at all-

:: his friendliness- I have heard it said that rick warren can meet with the president of a country, and then a busboy at a restaurant and treat them both with the same level of kindness, interest, and respect. he has friends on the left and on the right and from all walks of life-

:: his message- a lot of people want to be famous or influential, but few have a message that is as concise and as accessible to as many people as Rick Warren.

:: his intellect- rick warren is a genius. he goes through at least a book a day and can converse with anybody about anything and at a high level. he is extremely curious and loves learning.

:: his faith- if you ever read through the story of how he planted his church and how he acquired the property, you’ll discover that he is a man who believes that God can do anything.

:: his humility- I have heard Rick Warren often speak of how he was given a simple honor by a fellow pastor, and that honor brought him to tears. when you’re that successful and that humble, it’s a rare combination.

:: his generosity- Rick Warren seems to have coined the phrase “reverse-tither” where he lives off of 10% and gives away 90%. most of that goes to AIDS victims in africa.

:: his contentedness- his book the purpose driven life is possibly the best selling book of all time- and yet he did not buy a new house or even a new car after its release.

:: his character- it takes a special man to point attention away from himself and onto Christ and onto the people who are hurting in the world. it takes a special person to say no to riches and fame for the sake of others. it also takes a special character to be put in the spotlight and to be found with integrity.

I used to think it would be cool to have a church like Rick Warren, or a book, or notoriety like him, but I don’t really want any of that. what I would like is the qualities I’ve listed above. I’m not asking God to make me a super-star pastor or author, but if He wanted to make me into something like that, I would want to have the character that could survive that kind of attention and money.

and that’s what I’m after these days.

God is love.

-rev-rob

photobooth pics of dad and jane:

2012-02-01T12:12:00.000-08:00

jane's geek out's of 2012:

2012-01-27T18:58:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I wrote about the things that I geek out on, today I'd like to share some of the fun things that my 7-year-old Jane particularly loves:

:: hello kitty
We have hello kitty everything- especially tiny little figures and the houses that they live in. Sometimes all of the houses and kitties get together in the living room to form a kitty-city.

:: the color pink
Everything is pink in Jane's world.

:: cherry lollipops
Her candy of choice.

:: Calico Critters
These little figures used to only be sold in local toy stores like wooden horse- now you can find them in Toys r Us and Barnes and Noble. She loves them.

:: roller-coasters
She's a ride-warrior. She'll ride those all day long at Great America, the boardwalk, Happy Hollow and sometimes Disneyland.

:: Nintendo DS
She plays little kid games on this for long stretches at a time. Gamer.

:: Santa Cruz KOA
My kid likes coasters and camping. Did she get any of my genes?! She would rather go here than Disneyland!

:: Toy Story
We've seen these movies a trillion times. They have influenced an upcoming series for 678 called 'I am His.' She could quote those movies from start to finish-

:: bookstore cats
Most used bookstores have a very lazy and friendly cat that lives in them. While dad is browsing the local history section, Jane is usually charming the bookstore cat with conversation and head-scratches. She makes an effort to ask each bookstore owner if they have a cat, what the cat's name is and where the cat can be found. The cat on the right is Bob who lives a Recycle Books in Campbell.

:: TV-
Jane loves the strangest shows: Wipeout, Wheel of Fortune and America's Funniest Home Videos. She watches a bunch of kid-shows too.

:: books!
She likes quite a few books about pigs: the Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems, Mercy Watson books by Kate DiCamillio, and of course, Amanda Pig books by Jean Van Leeuwen!

:: a few others include:
french fries, dairy queen and her name in print- all of these things are super-cool according to my kid.

Being a dad is fun.
-rob

homemade toys:: amanda pig and lollipop figures

2012-01-26T23:20:00.000-08:00

rob's geek-outs of 2012:

2012-01-26T18:16:00.000-08:00

I'm always looking for a good ice-breaker question. My latest go-to is "what do you geek-out on?" Or in other words, "what is that subject that you are fascinated with; that once you start talking about, you can't stop?" I find that this is a great way to learn about someone.
Here are about 10 things that I currently geek out on in no particular order. If you know me well or read this blog these won't be a big surprise to you.

:: U2
I love these guys. I have all of their albums. I have every book ever written about them. I've lost count how many times I've seen them live. I love going to U2 shows because its an arena full of people just like me- geeking out on the best band ever. Its like coming home to my home town. We all seem to understand each other and speak the same language. We have shared history.

:: local history
I love to know the stories of how streets got their names and who were the first people in town and what brought them here. I love hearing about where they shopped and worshipped and lived. I have been fascinated with the histories of Modesto, San Jose, New Almaden, Los Gatos, San Francisco, the gold country and the beautiful golden state of California. I spend much time and effort collecting and reading local history books, and visiting their sites and museums. Used book stores always have the best local history books. One of my favorite shows about California history is California's Gold with Huell Howser.

:: kindles
I'm a kindle-evangelist. I have an original kindle, the kindle fire, and kindle for blackberry. Its a very enjoyable way to read a book. I recommend them often and often find myself talking about them a little too much.

:: 1st century biblical history
I love the story of the apostles, the early church and the land and culture that the church was born into. I also love the story of the Maccabees and the time in between the old and new testaments of the bible. If there is a book, documentary or podcast that focuses on these times, cultures and characters, I either have it, seen it or heard it. One of my favorite shows about biblical archaeology and the 1st century is the N*ked Archaeologist on the History Channel. I'm a geek for this stuff.

:: hardware and fixing stuff
I enjoy hardware stores, and I enjoy using tools to fix or upgrade something. I find myself just wandering in hardware store and checking out all of the cool things and options that they have. I love watching shows about fixing and building things, especially New Yankee Workshop with Norm Abram.

:: Local options for kids
When I meet a dad who is new to San Jose I usually start telling them about all of the great options for kids in the South Bay- and I can tell that my enthusiasm is a little overwhelming. I geek out on cool spots like Children's Discovery Museum, Bay Area Discovery Museum, Happy Hollow, Gilroy Gardens, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Oak Meadow Park and the Jungle. All of these sites are a delight to families and have their own rich histories.

:: Disneyland
Disneyland is fascinating. Its history is fascinating. I love to go there with my family, and I love learning the secrets and stories behind every detail.

:: TV-
I've mentioned a few shows already- but 2 show that I seriously geek out on (and are unfortunately no longer on the air) are Heroes and Alias. I've seen every episode of those shows; and when I saw them live, they always left me breathless.

:: Movies-
I barely see any movies. I'm not opposed to them, I just rarely make time for them. There are a few movies that particularly interest me, and I enjoy learning about them: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Mary Poppins, any of the Star Wars movies, and Goonies.

:: Dr. Seuss
This guy is so talented and profound, it makes me both awestruck and jealous. I use his material often in my teaching to the students.

:: the book of romans
there is a quote out there from Martin Luther that every Christian should memorize the book of romans and quote it every day. I'm with Martin on that one (we agree on some other things too).

:: a couple of cool guys-
Elvis Presley-
and
Fred Rogers
I love these guys. Once I start talking or reading about either of them, its hard to stop.

I've geeked out on a bunch of stuff over the years, but this is my list right now. I love discovering something new to geek out on. I guess that makes me a little geeky. What about you? Do you have a blog? How about you make your list of geek-outs and share them with me? Send me a link to your list in the comments section below. (Sorry if its a pain to leave a comment- I was getting a bunch of dirty-ads in the comments!)
Geeks are cool!

God is love.
-rev-rob

more photos from quicksilver park-

2011-12-31T22:04:00.000-08:00

there is a map at the entrance of each gate of the almaden quicksilver park-

it has several historical sites listed on it. I made it a goal earlier this month to see all of them. today I accomplished that goal! these hikes have been a great way to exercise, pray, review my memory verses and get quiet and be refreshed. here are some photos that I took with my phone along the way-

my favorite books of 2011-

2011-12-31T21:40:00.000-08:00

Last blog of 2011-
according to amazon, I purchased a bunch of books this year, and by my calculation, I finished about 20 or so of them. Some were ok, but some were incredible- here are my 10 favorite books of 2011:

The Pastor by Eugene Peterson

I got to hear Eugene Peterson talk about this book live at a conference- and the book was so much better. This book is Eugene's story of working at a church. It is incredibly honest, insightful, and delightful. His love for the Bible, the ministey, and the people he served comes through in every page; and his take on ministry is so refreshing.

Replenish by Lance Witt

Lance speaks at my church every now and then. I always enjoy his messages and I have met him a few times. This book is for pastors and is about the tending of a pastor's soul. I have read a few books on this topic and this one is the best by far. It has short readable chapters and is full of practical insight. I read this book slowly and savored every page. I didn''t want it to end!

Scouting the Divine by Margaret Feinberg

I got to hear Margaret speak about this book at a conference and was so blown away by the idea of this book. it's an idea that I wish I came up with myself: she went and spent time with a real shepherd, a farmer, bee-keeper, and a vintner (wine-maker) and asked them to give insight on what the bible says about sheep, farming, wine, honey, etc. and the things that she discovered are fascinating. she is a wonderful writer- this is another book that I was delighted to read.

Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki

This is basically the "How to Win Friends and Influence People" of today- but for the Silicon Valley. This book gives practical advice to leaders and businesses on how to enchant their customers. Its almost too much wisdom for just one book. I also heard and met Guy Kawasaki at a conference a few years ago- he is wonderful to listen to and his other books are great too.

Great by Choice by Jim Collins

I have been waiting for this book to come out for years. Jim Collins is one of my favorite writers and writes the best books for businesses and leaders. All of his books are pivotal, and this one is just as good as his previous ones. This book gave language to some of the frustrations and wins that I have seen as a leader in recent years. I hope that its not his last book.

Sticky Faith by Kara Powell

I heard Kara Powell speak on this book at a conference in town, and my mind was blown. She uses the latest research to explain whay students are leaving the church as they enter college. so many leaders have had ideas on why this has happened, but Kara Powell gives research to back up her ideas as well as strategies to turn this tide back. This book has completely changed the way I speak and lead as a youth pastor. This may be the single most important youth ministry book ever written.

The Genius of Generosity by Chip Ingram

again, I heard this author speak on this topic. I was so delighted by his story that I texted him (totally name-dropping here) and told him that this story would make an excellent book. He texted me back and said that it already was a book and sent me a copy. This story that he shares here is such a clear picture of what generosity looks like and how wonderful and fulfilling that it can be. Chip is so credible. When he makes points from the bible or makes a list of things the bible says about a topic- you know that this has come from years of study, not just copied and pasted from someone else's material. I loved the book and the messages that went with it. I've got a lot of love and respect for the author too-

Cinnabar Hills; the Quicksilver Days of New Almaden by Milton Lanyon and Laurence Bulmore

I'm actually reading this book right now. in the last few weeks I have become very interested in the New Almaden Mine near my house. This book is out of print, and is written by some men who were children in New Almaden in its heyday and were first hand witnesses to the colorful history of that community. It is full of very old pictures that were taken on site 150 years ago. I am absolutely loving this book. If you're interested you can get a copy of this and other books on the subjest at the Quicksilver museum in New Almaden.

Jesus Manifesto by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola

I also got to hear Len Sweet at a conference this year, although he didn't speak on this topic (I went to some good conferences in 2011!) This is my favorite book of the year, and maybe one of my favorite books of all time. I have proably given away 10 copies of this book to my friends and co-workers.This book brings everything back to Jesus. He is the beginning and the End- He is our past, present and future. He is our message, He hold it all together, it all comes through him and to Him and is for Him. its all Him. this book was so encouraging, I can't even put it into words. get this book. I have purchased and read several other Len Sweet books this year after reading this one. they are all wonderful, but this one is the best.

last but not least-

Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss

(I wish I could say that I heard Dr. Seuss at a conference this year!) I have been a long time fan of Dr. Seuss but have never read this book. I saw it once in the bookstore and decided that if it is as good as his others, it will be worth the while. This book is so profound on so many levels. this book has many insightful thoughts on faith in the unseen and the value of a life. this book inspired a sermon-series that I developed on faith and on serving that I will deliver at our ministry's spring break missions trip this year.

I also read all of the books on hell that came out this year- lots of controversy and talk about those, for the sake of avoiding all of it, I'll just say that each of us should know what we believe on THAT topic with the SCRIPTURE (not tradition or good thoughts) to back it up. I also read some great books by Craig Groeschel.

leaders are readers-

God is love.

-rev-rob

2012 resolutions

2011-12-28T21:54:00.000-08:00

every year I make new year's resolutions- last year my resolutions included:
// continue to aggressively eliminate debt and not go in ANY further.
// continue to have a great attitude
// celebrate TEN YEARS at the church in july
// get to the point where I ENJOY running and look forward to it.
// I want to drop weight and pants sizes
// I want to see how long I can go no soda, no candy. yikes! (in other words, no 7/11 in 2011)
// I want to be able to quote the entire book of romans by the end of 2011.
I did pretty well.
we eliminated some debt and made some more-
I think I had a good attitude, although I definitely had some moments that I'd like to do-over if I could,
I had a wonderful 10 year celebration this year- thanks to many friends and family members,
I dropped 50lbs and 6 inches in the waistband-
I did go no "regular soda." I had quite a bit of the diet soda, but none of the hard stuff.
I also went no candy or friench fries.
and I finished memorizing romans earlier this year.
I never got into running, and I doubt that I will- I have enjoyed hiking in the local foothills very much.

now for 2012!
nothing crazy- just more good stuff:
// this year I want to memorize galatians, ephesians and colossians, which should go over pretty well with my awesome group of verse-memorizing-accountability-friends-
// I want to maintain my weight and pants-size.
// I want to continue to upgrade and improve my home.
// for my food-fasts: no fries, no candy, no soda until christmas 2013.

there's lots that I want to do that can't be quantified-
I want to have a good attitude at all times- (1 Thessalonains 5:16-18 is becoming a theme verse for my life)
I want to be fully-present in every conversation- especially with my family; but also with students, co-workers and the team of volunteers at the church.
I want to do an excellent job at my work-
I want to grow in my ability to create and deliver a message from the bible-
I want to learn and grow in my fascination in new fields-
I want to respond in a godly way in every interaction and issue that I face.
I want to grow in my generosity- not necessarily to strangers, but to people that I know and love who could use the help.
I want to be a great dad to my kid-
I want to be a great husband to my wife-

a lot of these things can't be checked off of a list- they are areas to grow in, and this year I want to grow into a better me.

and I hope that this year is a year where you accomplish your goals both tangible and unquantifiable-
the world is counting on you to be the best you that you can be at any given moment,
because you never know when its your moment to stand and deliver a skill and character that only you can provide-
have an amazing year!

God is love.
-rev-rob

2011

2011-12-24T11:54:00.000-08:00

while I was on my hike yesterday, I worked through my memory verses and then started reflecting on where I was at this time last year, and what kind of year its been.

sadly, I went immediately to the negative and thought about the conflicts, the heartbreaks and the things that went less than perfect this year, and there was quite a few of those-

but then I moved on, and remembered so many wonderful things that happened this year- and I’m going to celebrate those here:

:: as far as family is concerned, we walter’s had a pretty good year. we got to get out to Disneyland, we discovered camping at theKOA, kite-flying, soccer and the beach. jane especially enjoyed going to VBS this summer at the church- and of course, deanna and I love that too.

:: the middle school ministry has been amazing this year. we had some amazing events, some amazing weekend services, we had an amazing midweek program, including our pirates vs. ninjas journey competition; and the staff team has been incredible. we went on this summer camp, elevation, and in my mind, it just doesn’t get much better than that camp. this year we started putting all of our messages on dvd which allowed me to have 3 middle school services, and yet not have to be at all of them- that was pretty cool! we also added 2 new interns, brett and sarah, who have been a huge help.

:: I celebrated 10 years at the church in july, and my friends and family all surprised me with a huge party- that was seriously one of the highlights of my year.

:: I got to see U2 again, and was directly under the band for a moment:

:: our student ministry built a new student center in our Ranch House- it turned out very well.

:: me and some friends experimented with an off-site, missional youth ministry called AM Fuel which reached quite a few kids before they went to school-

:: I got a couple of new bosses this year who were very influential and helpful to me- the first was named Forrest- that guy knows a lot about everything and was instrumental in helping us get the ranch house and the new interns. I learned much from him. I also got a new boos this year named Tim- who has also been very helpful and encouraging. I’m looking forward to working with him more this year.

:: and on top of all of that- I lost 50 lbs this year!

this is me last christmas:

and this is me last week:

this year has been full of good and less-than-good- and through it all, there have been some things that have grounded me and helped me to be focused-

:: deanna and jane have been so wonderful this year. after many hard days, I pulled up to my house to see jane’s face peeking out of the window, waiting for me to come home- nothing can steal that joy-

:: my homegroup has been another constant source of support and encouragement-

:: this year, my friendships with my friend Mike O, Bruce and Dave have been a huge encouragement to me.

:: I have been working on memorizing the book of romans all year- and all year long, those ancient words of the apostle paul have been right there with me through it all. I often review my verses while walking along the los gatos creek trail. when I start my day with a walk through nature and with the words of the apostle, I feel like I can handle anything. at one point this year, the following words from romans 8 encouraged me so deeply, that tears ran down my face as I quoted them on a walk:

“What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

when you stop to think about all that was beautiful in the year, all that was ugly gets chased away. 2012 will be even better-

thanks for reading my blogs!

God is love.

-rev-rob

the history hike at new almaden

2011-12-24T10:53:00.000-08:00

I went on another long hike yesterday- I went on the history hike which was mapped out by a local eagle scout- here are some of the photos I took with my phone:

there is some talk online that this is al capone's car. the legend goes that he escaped from alcatraz and fled the police and they caught him at th quicksilver mines. I don't think this is true- but the car is definitely there and the story is cool!

you can't really tell from this picture, but you can see all the way to fremont from up here:

this is the powder house where they kept all of the explosives. it is the best-preserved building in the park. the thought that those guys went tens of thousands of feet under ground and then set off explosives makes me shudder.

this is a pretty well preserved area where ore was worked and put into rail cars- looks like the quicksilver ride at gilroy gardens:

this gives you an idea of how peaceful and quiet a walk in the quicksilver park is-

there are a few blocks like this around the park. the miners took hand-drills and drilled into solid granite- all while being thousands of feet under ground.

this was definitely the highlight of my hike- this is the only mine that you can still enter. it goes in about 100 feet and is super-creepy. you have to have the map to find it.

here is a view from inside the mine, past the barrier that blocks further entry into the mine. when I walked in, even a few feet, the temperature immediately dropped, and the air felt damp and cold. I feel so sorry for the men who had to work in these mines every day for so little- and I feel so bad for all of the current miners today!

view from inside the mine-out

this area was put into the mines in the 1940's and is fairly modern compared to the other equipment that came in the 1840's. this is where the mine took things to the next level and used motorized trucks and tractors to work the ore that they dug up.

this marker shows where the original cinnabar cave was. for centuries, native americans viewed this site as a holy place and used the red rock in their paintings and medicine. they ended up showing it to some military officials at mission santa clara, and the rest is history. I tried to find the original cave and the mine that followed, but in the 1940's the government sent in workers to dismantly and cover up almost everything.

a high and holy place

2011-12-09T21:13:00.000-08:00

I've often been interested in the spiritual history of places, especially places I live. for many years I have been fascinated with the california missions, because they represent the spiritual history of my state. a few years ago, I found this book at a local bookstore:

this book tells a story of a church made for miners and their families in the new almaden area, which is near my house and near the church I work at. the church was built in 1875, and to my knowledge is the first protestant church facility in south san jose.

I was immediately excited about the idea of visiting this church and creating some kind of connection with the first ministers in my neighborhood. the church I work at is kind of big and influential, but this church was the first one to reach this neighborhood- its like the ministers who served there are like my vocational ancestors- the trailblazers. in this book, it details who the ministers that served here were, who they ministered to, who they baptized, attendance reports, everything. this was a very active church that reached hundreds of miners and their families.

I got a copy of this book for myself and my then-boss and suggested that we go and find the church and stand in its pulpit and thank God for those pioneers. he thought it would be a fun idea, but we never did.

I heard from some friends that htey had visited the church. for a long time I thought that I should go up there to make my own pilgrimage to this high and holy place. a few weeks ago I went hiking up in the new almaden area to go and find it. I hiked for hours and over miles and miles and found nothing. I later discovered this video on youtube only to discover that the building is long gone:

there is a photo in the book mentioned above taken in 1919 of the church after it has been abandoned and run down. in the 30's a group of conservation corps workers went in and dismantled all of the buildings from the mining town, including the old church. I would never find it.

I went back a week later to continue my quest. and it really began to feel like a quest. something in me really wanted to make a connection to that old ministry and to those old ministers. each time I hiked up to this spot, it was miles up steep terrain. but I concluded that if I couldn't find the building, I would at least find the site. I tried to line up the horizon with this picture that I found of the old church:

I went to a site that seemed to fit what I was looking for: right horizon and angle with a flat spot big enough for a church. I even found an old foundation. but when I got home I found another photo that confirmed that I was in the wrong spot again.

this picture shows the church in relation to the map house. I know where the map house is, and if I just went to the map house, then up that hill and to the right, I would find the spot it was on, and I'm pretty sure that I found it today.

the hill that the church used to sit on is huge and is covered in old oak trees and weeds. but I found a flat spot that seemed to fit the spot I was looking for. I found some old foundation blocks and some pipe that makes me think that this was the site of that old church.

I think this is the site. and if it isn't, it was at least close to this spot. all I can conclude is that on this spot, 140 years ago, a ministry happened. scripture was read. prayers were offered. hymns were sung. decisions were made. the building is long gone- but the decisions that were made on this spot will endure for eternity in Glory. that is a foundation that will never decay.

on this spot, guys like me tused the bible to tell people about jesus. they listened to people and loved them and prayed for them. they taught them how to live for God. guys just like me moved to this spot, to this neighborhood in response to a call and they gave their lives for that call. it was an honor for me to pay homage to them at the site where they ministered.

who knows? maybe someday someone will come looking for the spot where I worked. maybe someday my place of work will be a historical site too!

God is love.
-rev-rob

the jane-doll

2011-12-04T07:58:00.000-08:00

I have written a couple posts about jane and dad dolls here and here. the other day we were in walgreen and I saw THIS toy:

I said, "pink shoes? blonde hair? hello kitty shirt? jane- THIS IS YOU!" jane thought it was hilarious.

we did a side by side photo just to be sure:

of course we we picked one up (and a friend for toy-jane. lucky for me these things are only $5 a piece).
when I got to the counter, I said, "excuse me, why are you making toys of my kid without our permission?!" jane thought that was pretty funny too, but the clerk did not.

so, toy-jane and her toy friends have been living in jane's room and having all kinds of fun.

but you know the weirdest thing? I saw ANOTHER jane-doll at disneyland- and this one looked EXACTLY like my kid! I need to call my lawyer!

being a dad is fun.
-rob

vacation + birthday #7

2011-12-04T07:47:00.000-08:00

a few things kind of fell into place that made it the perfect time to make a quick run down to disneyland. we had never been there during christmas- and jane was turning 7 that week- it just all made sense.

jane had been looking for a surprise from us- and she found it here:

the big surprise! from rob walter on Vimeo.

we immediately made the long trip down to anaheim. there was quite a bit of holiday traffic, but we had lots to listen to, watch and talk about.

while we were there, we rode lots of new rides; as well as all of our favorites-

we saw the parade and the fireworks- we were planning on seeing the "world of color" water show, but it was broken.

we met up with my pal chris,

and we took a bunch of pictures.

and last friday, jane celebrated her big #7 birthday.

deanna made a cool surprise for her by stringing yarn all over the house. jane had to follow the yarn to get to some birthday cards and gifts.

sigh. I can't believe that she's already 7! its all flying by so fast.

being a dad is fun.
-rob

track-star-stories part 02

2011-11-22T15:39:00.000-08:00

I mentioned in my last post that I had one season as a track runner that I went undefeated in the 400 meter dash. I went undefeated in the regular season, but then there is also a post-season. that season I was also city champion, county champion, but then there was sections. by competing in the section meet, I would be racing against students from all over northern california, and it would see if I was eligible to run in the state meet.

when I got to the sections meet, I saw the other guys I was going to be running against. these were not kids from modesto or stanislaus county. they had trainers. they were sponsored by nike and adidas. they looked like they must have been 7 feet tall and had legs like horses. they all had the best gear and the biggest muscles. my winning streak was going to end; I knew it. but in my egocentric, 16 year old mind, losing was going to be the worst thing ever- so I had to come up with a plan to save face.

I thought I had a perfect one: when the starter started the race I was going to intentionally false-start. normally, when a runner does a false start, everyone takes a break and tries again. but at this level, a false start meant disqualification. my plan was to false start- and then when everyone asked if I won, I would say, "no, I false-started. but I'm sure that I WOULD have won, if I just didn't make that mistake."

since I wasn't going to run the race, I didn't jog all over the place getting warmed up. I didn't stretch my legs, because I wasn't going to actually race!

at the time of the race, I set my blocks in my lane- something like lane 6. the starter called out "RUNNERS TAKE YOUR MARKS!" we all kneeled down into our blocks. he raised his gun and shouted out, "SET!" we all raised up, and after a second or two, I bounced out. the gun fired off twice meaning that there was a false start. my plan had worked. I sold the lie with a bit of acting- like I was really upset to lose the opportunity to run this race- and that I was mad at myself. I started to walk off of the track when the starter yelled out, "RUNNERS TAKE YOUR MARKS! ... LANE SIX! TAKE YOUR MARKS!"

uh-oh. he was telling me that I WASN'T disqualified. I protested a bit- saying, "no- no- I should be disqualified..." but he said it again, "LANE SIX! TAKE YOUR MARKS!"

I had to run.

when the pistol blew, I shot out of those blocks- I had a great start. but these were the best runners in northern california; and I had not warmed up or stretched. I was left in the dust- barely able to compete with these guys. I think I may have even finished the race with a limp.

"Pride goes before destruction,
a haughty spirit before a fall."
-proverbs 16:18

God is love.
-rev-rob

track-star-stories part 01

2011-11-21T17:11:00.000-08:00

I was reviewing some verses about running this week, and it reminded me of my days back in high school when I was a teenage-track-star-
I don't talk about it much, so I thought I'd share a few of those stories with my blogger-pals-

when I was in junior high and high school, the only sport I was any good at was track. it didn't involve hand-eye-coordination or getting hit by gigantic students, so I was up for it- and I got to be pretty speedy. I won a bunch of races, especially in high school-

here are the basics:
:: I ran track for Grace Davis High School in Modesto
:: I tried a bunch of different races and events, including the hurdles, the 200 meter dash, the 100 meter dash, the 4X100 relay, but in the end, my specialty was the 400 meter dash and the mile relay.
:: the 400 meter dashs is essentially a lap around the track- or 440 yards in football terms. the mile relay is just 4 guys running 400 meters one at a time, each one handing a baton to another.
:: the 400 is an ugly race. it isn't a quick sprint like the 100, and you can't pace yourself like you can in a mile, you run as hard and as fast as you possibly can for somewhere between 45 and 60 seconds. when the thing is over, students are exhausted, often falling over, barfing, spitting thick spit or leaning up against a goal post. its not for wimps.
:: my relay team was nicknamed the untouchables- we went several seasons undefeated in competition with the other schools in Modesto.
:: those guys were really fast- and we all had respect for each other, and by the time I was a junior, i got to be the anchor-leg of the team, running the final leg.

one season was really good for me. I went undefeated in every 400 meter dash that season up to the final track meet of the season. the school that we were racing against had no 400 meter runners- which was good, because that meant that a Davis student would definitely win the race. the bad news was that the only way that I was going to go undefeated that season was to race against the untouchables. I had gone undefeated up to this point, so I definitely was capable of winning the race, but you just never know- those guys were all really fast.

I got up to the starting line and lined up against the 3 other members of my relay team. before I stood in my marks, I knelt down in prayer (tim tebow style) like I often did. one of my team mates tapped my shoulder and said, "what are you praying for?!" I said, "oh- you know- I just want to win- I'm trying to go undefeated..." he said, "you're going to win this race."

the starter shouted out, "RUNNERS TAKE YOUR MARKS!" we all stepped into our starting blocks. "SET!" we all raised up. BLAM! went the starter's pistol. I was out quick- for the first 100 meters my head was usually down and my hands were pumping in time with my legs. usually on the second 100 meters I would look up and see where the comptetion was- they were no where. I must have had an amazing start- or maybe one of them fell; or maybe someone false started. but when i looked back, the untouchables were jogging and chatting with each other around the track. they threw the race to let me go undefeated.
what a cool bunch of guys-
I met them at the finish line and we all hugged and celebrated my undefeated season. the untouchables were untouchable that day.
that's what team is all about isn't it? respect, others-centeredness, and friendship.

God is love.
-rev-rob

in gratitude for normal

2011-11-21T12:02:00.000-08:00

have you ever longed for things to be normal?
like maybe you were in a crazy situation, and you regretted the decisions that led to it and you wished that instead, things could
just be normal?

there have been times when someone I’ve loved was sick or in the hospital, or the car was broken, or there was major conflict, or a big bill in front of me; and I’ve said to myself, “I wish that this episode was over- or that it never began; and that things could
just be normal.”

sometimes I think to myself in those situations, “wouldn’t it just be awesome to just sit down for a meal with my family, and not have this issue to worry about?”
“wouldn’t it be wonderful to just roll into to work without this situation to explain or to have a conflict waiting for me?”
“wouldn’t today be so much better if things were
just normal?”
we take normal for granted don’t we?

I’ve been thinking about this because we narrowly avoided a major accident the other night. we were at a stoplight and the car was sitting behind another car, and sitting on the lightrail tracks- and I saw that the lightrail train was coming toward us. I made a quick decision and pulled the car into the next lane to pull around the car in front of me and get out of the way of the train- but I didn’t look first, another car was already in that lane, and coming in quick. it hit the brakes hard to avoid an accident with us and their brakes screeched really loud. if they hadn’t responded so quickly, their car would have hit the side of the car that both jane and deanna were sitting on. my heart was racing- it was hard to settle down.

I was laying in bed the next morning and thinking, “what if that car HAD hit us really hard? things would be very, very different today.” I wouldn’t be in my bed, I would probably be at the hospital with my wife and daughter. I wouldn’t be laying awake pondering things, I would be laying awake, regretting my decision to have jane sit on that side of the car, regretting my decision to pull out without looking first, regretting my decision to pull onto the tracks while at a red light, regretting my decision not to buy some kind of indestructible Volvo car…

I would be in communication with health insurance companies and car insurance companies and the other driver, and my friends, and my family, and my team down at the church and with God pleading with Him for them to be alright. I would be thinking about how we were going to get a new car- I would be thinking about everything, and I would be feeling sad and sorry and stupid. and I would probably give anything to turn back time, re-think those decisions, and for everything to
just be normal.
normal would be heaven in that moment.

but none of those things happened at all. I wasn’t in the hospital- I was in my warm bed. I could hear my wife sleeping soundly. my baby-girl was cozy in her bed without a care in the world.
things were just normal-
and I wasn’t going to take it for granted-
I was grateful for it.
that morning, I hugged jane and deanna a little bit longer; I moved a little bit slower and was so grateful for the fact that
it was just normal-

I began to thank God that He allowed that guy to stop in time, and I began to thank Him for my family, and for our home, and for warm beds, and food in the fridge and for cars that work- for everything.

later that day I thought to myself, “right now, jane is sitting on the sofa, watching cartoons and munching on some cereal; Deanna is reading her books, making to-do lists, and working with jane-
all is well, and well is wonderful.”

are things just normal for you today?
thank God for that normalcy- it’s a gift;
a gift that you might give anything for under different circumstances-
take time to thank God for normal today- don’t take it for granted!
be grateful for what you have.
don’t compare yourself and what you have with others-
what you have is beautiful- appreciate that today.

and another thing- drive safe! there are some crazies out there.

“be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” -1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

God is love.
-rev-rob

from my 10 year anniversary party-

2011-11-15T16:53:00.000-08:00

thanks to everyone who was in on the surprise!

everyone loves mail!

2011-11-15T16:45:00.000-08:00

everyone loves to get a letter in the mail-
what is it about mail? when it comes in an envelope- its like a treasure, waiting to be opened and discovered-

I was reminded of this a few days ago-
jane loves to read books by one of her favorite authors, Mo Willems. she has all of his elephant and piggie books, plus several other dvds and books about his other characters too. I discovered on Mo's blog, that children often write to him and include their own stories and illustrations of his characters. I told jane about this and she got to work drawing a picture for Mo. she sent it off in the mail and hoped that it eventually got to him.

a few days later, Deanna came in from getting the mail saying, "you've got to check this out!" I looked at the envelope, and it appeared to be a hand-written letter from Mo himself!

I immediately began to think all kinds of thoughts:
"wow! did he really write this himself?"
"does he respond to every kid that writes to him?"
"how much time must that take?"
"what a cool guy!"
"I mean I already thought he was cool, but now I think he's really cool!"
"he's like the modern-day Dr. Seuss! and he wrote my kid! how special is this?!"

jane opened it up, and it really was a special note from Mo.

to jane- this was cool- but just about as cool as a letter from Grandma. she thought about what she might write him back- now that they are letter-pals or something.
but to us, this was really, really cool and thoughtful.

and it reminded me just how special it is to get a handwritten letter in the mail.
if you know me at all, you know that writing letters is one of those things that I often do.
people often refer to it as something that has been meaningful to them- many students have shown me letters from me that they have saved for many years.

like Mo- I have invested in special stationary, envelopes, stamps, stickers, etc-
but after receiving that letter in the mail-
I'm that much more committed to spreading love and grace through the post office and the mail box.
I want to take the special-ness and the thoughtfulness of my letter writing to the next level; and I'm already so inspired with ideas of how I can make this tool more effective.

if you're a leader in any way- I want to encourage you to invest in some stationary. custom is best, but if you can't afford that, then just pick up some cards from hallmark. send something to someone in the mail every week; and people will begin to think thoughts about YOU like the ones I thought about Mo-

God is love.
-rev-rob

home-made toys:: amanda pig clock

2011-11-14T15:32:00.000-08:00

jane loves the character amanda pig, we recently made her some stuffed animals, and a wooden model, but recently jane has been learning how to tell time, so we thought it would be cool to make our own amanda pig clock! here is how it turned out:

(by the way- being someone who is REALLY into knowing what time it is, I found myself geeking out on #1 on the fact that I was making a clock, and #2, that my kid is into telling time!)
being a dad is fun.
-rev-rob

raab and the monkey

2011-11-01T09:32:00.000-07:00

I had so much fun re-reading my old stories about Raab the Rabbit that I thought I would give Raab an update- and a new friend:

"once upon a time, there was a brown rabbit named Raab- who worked each day in the land of cats, telling the kittens stories about jesus.
time had passed for Raab- and things in his world began to change-
his brown fur began to turn grey- and the little church in the land of cats became a big, big church!
and Raab got to tell his sotries about jesus to many, many kittens.
as the church grew, Raab let others tell stories about jesus to the unicorns-
Raab missed being with them each week but he kept in touch with them-
and even told stories about jesus at many of their weddings!
many of them joined Raab in telling stories about jesus to the kittens.

another thing that had changed in Raab’s life was a new friend to teach the kittens when they got too old for Raab’s class- this new friend was a short and silly, and hairy monkey named Dave. (well, Dave the monkey was not so hairy on top of his head; but he was mostly hairy.) Dave was a very silly monkey- he liked to do funny dances around Raab and give him awkward hugs. He was also a stinky monkey- he often passed gas near Raab- which Raab did not appreciate. there were days when Raab said to himself, “this silly monkey is turning my brown fur grey!

but even though Dave was stinky, and silly, Raab enjoyed Dave’s friendship very much. Raab the Rabbit and Dave the Monkey took the kittens all over the land and had many adventures together. they met many strange animals along their journeys and always had much to talk about and laugh about. Whenever Raab and Dave went on a trip together, Raab always made sure that he was driving his favorite white cart- monkeys are not good drivers.

Raab and Dave spent many days and years working at the church together and telling the kittens stories about jesus- they spent many, many hours talking to each other, encouraging each other and laughing together.
silly monkeys and quiet rabbits don’t always make good friends,
but in this case, they did.

middle school seniors

2011-10-24T10:25:00.000-07:00

yesterday I got to visit the seniors class and seek their help at an event for the middle school ministry- and I couldn't help but feel confirmation about a theory that I have had for a long time: the seniors class has a whole lot in common with my class of middle schoolers.

I have passed by this class on dozens of occassions and have seen this class playing games, telling jokes, and laughing out loud- just like the middle school class! they often like to take the church bus to camp or to some fun event- just like my middle schoolers-

yesterday I was in there and the man leading the group stood on the stage with his microphone trying to get everyone seated, but they were too busy chatting with each other at "the goodie table" and catching up- "wow" I thought, "where have I seen THIS behavior before?!"

here are some other similarities that I have noticed between the seniors class and the middle schoolers:

both groups feel a little left out by the rest of the world.
both groups are misunderstood and often misjudged. people tend to either love or hate both groups- which is sad because both groups are so loveable-
neither group is particularly cool, and they are kind of ok with that
in both groups, you've got to watch out for the drama-queens and the flirts-
both groups have a facination with facebook
both sets of people really love coffee and candy.
both groups have much to give to those who are younger than them- and when they get connected to those who are younger than them- things really start to happen.
both groups of people tend to be a little clumsy- and if you're going on the road with either group, make sure you bring a medical kit stocked with band-aids.
both groups enjoy getting a little silly every now and then-
both groups love a good game, a good joke, a good story, and a good laugh
both groups seem to handle difficult times with stride and grace
both groups have a choice to make about their attitude- and both groups can be sour or delightful depending on their attitude
both groups have a bright sparkle and brighten my sparkle when I'm with them
and when God gets a hold of middle schoolers, and when God gets a hold of seniors, watch out- big things are about to happen
I love both groups- they are a delight.

God is love.
-rev-rob

raab and the baby-bunny

2011-10-24T10:08:00.000-07:00

once upon a time, there was a rabbit named raab.
each week raab told stories about God to kittens and uni-corns at the church of cats.
raab’s life was quiet, orderly, clean and predictable, and he liked it that way.
and then, one winter night while raab was telling stories to the kittens, he received an urgent message from his wife-
she was going to have a baby-bunny!

raab was excited and afraid.

“what kind of daddy will I be to this baby-bunny?
will I be too busy with the kittens and the uni-corns?”
but raab was afraid of something bigger- he was afraid his heart was too small.
his heart was so full of love for God and his wife, the kittens and the uni-corns-
would there be any room left for love for his baby-bunny?
would the baby bunny take raab’s love away from everyone else?

and then the day finally arrived- a baby-bunny was born- a baby-girl-bunny.

raab named her jenny. jenny-the-bunny.
she was all white, with pink eyes and a pink nose and pink on the inside of her ears.
her pink nose wiggled as she breathed.
raab was overwhelmed with love and joy-
and as he held her, he experienced something he had never experienced before:
his heart began to grow.
now there was plenty of room for jenny-the-bunny
and there was more room- and raab found that with room in his heart
he loved his wife even more and he loved God even more-
he loved everyone even more!
raab held jenny in his arms and whispered into her ear-
“mommy carried you for so long- and now its finally my turn to carry you-
and I don’t want to let you go”

raab’s clean and quiet world became messy and noisy with jenny’s toys and laughter-

but raab didn’t mind at all-
jenny danced all over raab’s little rabbit hole- and raab laughed and danced with her.
raab found that boring things that he used to do were now fascinating with jenny.
watching her yawn or sneeze or smile kept him entertained for hours.

one morning, jenny was chomping away at carrots-
raab said to her- “jenny, can I have a hug?”
jenny hopped over and hugged raab, still chomping away-
as he hugged her, he could hear her heartbeat, her breathing, her chomping-
and he thought to himself- “its still early in the morning, but its already been
the perfect day.”

in the days to come, raab and jenny shared many adventures,

and many special times together
jenny loved to ride horses and to meet bears.

sometimes jenny got mad at raab-

she had a special way of expressing that.
one night, jenny was angry with raab
when it was time to say goodbye to her friends the horses-
raab just held her, smiled and whispered into her ear
“even when you’re angry with me, you are still my source of joy.”

when the uni-corns and the kittens met jenny they said,

“cool a baby-bunny!”
“when do we get to bunny-sit, raab-the-rabbi-rabbit?”
raab paused and said “I’ll get back to you on that…”

raab and the uni-corns

2011-10-24T10:04:00.000-07:00

raab didn't know much about uni-corn school,

and he didn't really care for coffee-beans-
but he loved those uni-corns.
he took them in his garden cart on many adventures-
and those uni-corns helped many different animals in the land of cats and the land of sharks.
that made raab proud of the uni-corns.

one lovely spring, raab loaded the uni-corns into his garden cart

and took them to the land of clams near the beach.
the uni-corns wanted to sleep on the sand-
and to eat their meals at the beach and go three days without cleaning their fur!
again, raab was a very clean rabbit.
he loved to be clean and wash his brown fur often.
this was going to be a stretch for raab the rabbit,
but he was looking forward to some quiet time with the uni-corns.

but it wasn't quiet at all.

broncos and foxes ran around the beach growling and snarling,
morning, noon and night.
they growled and snorted during raab's stories-
one night as raab looked up at the stars in the land of clams,
he thought that this wasn't such a good idea after all.
just then, a group of foxes screamed by.

some of the uni-corns were in love,

some of the uni-corns were upset,
and one uni-corn kept getting lost because she was wandering off and meeting dogs.
and all along raab was there- trying to tell his stories.
even with all of the noise of the broncos and foxes
some of the uni-corns fell asleep during his stories!

when raab got home, he cleaned his fur and enjoyed his quiet little rabbit-hole.

raab loved those uni-corns and loved to meet with them over some carrots.
raab and those uni-corns shared many adventures in the days to come-
and they met and helped many wild animals together.

raab and the garden cart

2011-10-24T10:01:00.000-07:00

once upon a time, in the land of cats- there was a church of cats.
and at the church of cats, there was a bunny that taught stories to the kittens.
his name was raab and he was brown.
all of the kittens called him raab-the-rabbi-rabbit- even though he wasn't a jewish bunny.

one day, while raab was exploring the land of rabbits and the land of sharks,
he discovered a large blue and white garden cart.
it wasn't brand new, and the paint was chipping, but it had a special character to it.
raab thought to himself, "how could I use this large garden cart?"
"i know!" he thought "I can bring this back to the church of cats
and use it to cart around my friends, the kittens."
"I can use it to take them to the snow and to the lake."
"I can use it to take them to play games- the kittens will love it!"

so raab began to pull the garden cart back to the church of cats.
it was a little heavy when it was empty- how would he pull it full of kittens?
so raab asked for some help in pulling his blue and white garden cart.

he asked a friendly grizzly bear named bruce and a dalmatian named christopher.
with their help, pulling the big garden cart was no problem for raab at all.
raab loved pulling the garden cart with bruce the bear and christopher the dalmatian.

raab took the kittens all over the land with his blue and white garden cart.
he took them to the magical kingdom ruled by a mouse.
he took them to the ocean to visit the dolphins and the crabs and his friend mary-ann.
she always had ice-cream for the kittens.

he took them to the big tank of sharks to watch the sharks play games.
when raab and bruce and christopher pulled the garden cart,
the kittens would sing and play games in the cart.
raab loved to hear them sing.
sometimes the kittens got sick too-
maybe it was hair-balls, but they seemed to throw up in the garden cart a lot.

raab didn't just bring kittens in his cart-
he brought other animals too-
a jay-bird, a pando-bear, a zebra, and a vegetarian raptor.
all of these animals made raab's cart slow

and he was often passed by jaguars, mustangs, and thunderbirds-
all laughing as they zoomed by.
once raab's cart was even passed by a pinto!

one summer, bruce the bear, christopher the dalamatian and raab the rabbit
took the kittens to the land of skinny-dogs. (very skinny dogs)
it was very far away.
along the way the garden cart broke three times!
and the kittens had to get out until christopher was able to fix it.
the kittens sat on the side of the road yelling-
"dag-nabbit-raab-the-rabbi-rabbit!"
everything on the cart seemed to break on this trip.
raab began to wonder if his cart was strong enough to travel so far away.
but christopher the dalmatian fixed it- he could fix anything.

when raab, christopher, bruce and the kittens arrived in the land of thin-dogs
they discovered that it was very hot there.
they met a dog named way-sos, who was very thin.
the kittens loved way-sos and gave him things to eat-
and way-sos was happy.

the land of thin-dogs was very hilly and raab's cart was almost tipped over while he,
bruce and christopher were pulling it, full of kittens.
raab was very worried- but it never did tip over.

when raab, bruce and christopher
got the blue and white garden cart back to the land of cats,
raab decided to fix up the busted garden cart.
he painted it all white and lined the floor with straw;
so it would be more comfortable and so it would soak up the kitty barf.
raab and the kittens had many other adventures in the white garden cart
they sang many songs in it and traveled to many wonderful places
and met many wild animals with it.

raab and the cows

2011-10-24T09:56:00.000-07:00

a long time ago I had a blog on myspace where I wrote these autobiographical stories about a bunny named raab. I found some of them on my hard drive and thought I would share them with you- see if you can spot what the animals symbolize:

RAAB AND THE COWS:

once upon a time, in the land of cows,
there was a brown rabbit named raab.

raab lived in a big tree for a long time.
and raab loved God
and raab loved to tell the calves in the land of cows stories about God.
every week, raab would meet the calves in the church in the land of cows
and tell them stories about God.

raab had many adventures with the calves in the land of cows

and he became friends with many of them.

in time, raab the rabbit felt that God was moving him out of the land of cows

and into a land of cats-
raab the rabbit was very sad to leave the calves in the land of cows,
but he knew it was the right thing to do.

so raab moved out of his big tree and traveled a long way away to the land of cats.
the land of cats was a beautiful place.
raab moved into a little rabbit hole near a beautiful pond.
when raab went to the church of cats, he met the group of kittens that were there.

the kittens were frisky, wild and untamed.
these kittens would wrestle each other
and dig their claws into the walls of the church and sometimes into each other!
raab the rabbit discovered that kittens are harder to gather than cows-
raab the rabbit thought to himself,
"these kittens are going to turn my brown fur grey!"

the kittens were a little confused about raab- they thought he was a jewish rabbit-
so whenever they saw him they called him "raab-the-rabbi-rabbit;"
when they got mad at him, they would say:
"raab-the-rabbi-rabbit- dag-nabbit!"

raab never understood why they thought he was a rabbi-

he wasn't a jewish bunny-
but in time, the name stuck and he would answer to it.

when raab entered the land of cats, he was sad, because he missed his friends the calves-
but those frisky kittens of the land of cats grew on him-
and he soon discovered that he loved them very much too.
they reminded him of his friends the cows
and they helped take away his sadness of missing them.

one summer day raab went to his favorite place to think and be quiet in the land of cats.

and there, he thought to himself:
"telling stories to calves seemed to be so much easier than telling stories to kittens.
"these kittens are wild and untamed, but I love them so much-

"telling stories to kittens isn't always easy, but it always is fun!
"I think I'm going to enjoy myself here in the land of cats."

and so began the adventures of raab-the-rabbi-rabbit in the land of cats.

in the days to come, he would tell the kittens many stories and take them to many places,

and meet many new animals along the way.
raab the rabbit would even see some of the kittens grow into cats-
and yes, his brown fur began to grow grey.
raab stayed in contact with some of the cows-

especially the red-bulls.

bibliophilia

2011-10-22T11:44:00.000-07:00

i love books.
I've got a lot of them.
I spend a lot of time, reading to them, listening them, organizing them, trading them-
they are in every room of my house and in my office.

recently, I downsized my office and sold nine boxes of books. I didn't realize that parting with them would be such an emotional experience for me.

I have not been buying as much paper-books lately because I'm low on storage space- I've been getting most of my books through my amazingly-wonderful little amazon kindle.

I recently organized my books and I noted that there were a number of re-occuring authors. there is a short list of people who can write a book and be guaranteed that I will buy it the day it comes out. they are as follows:

phillip yancey- this guy is my favorite author. hands down. I've have all of his books. I even got to meet him a few years ago. when his last book came out, I was listening to it while painting and I had to actually stop painting and wipe away tears from the beauty of the stories that he told.

jim collins- this guy has written the best and most influential books for business over the last 15 years. he has something insightful to say on ever page of ever book.

erwin mcmanus- what can I say? I love this guy- and no one says it better than him. I have been able to meet him a few times and actually had lunch with him way back when I was in college and he was still unknown.

donald miller- I love his books and stories. I will get every one that he writes.

malcolm gladwell- what does he write about? kind of everything. and its always incredible, profound, and well said.

leonard sweet- this is another one of my favorite Christian authors. he has such a delightful way of writing and preaching. I met him a few months ago- he is amazing.

rob bell- this guy has sparked all kinds of controversy about his views on hell recently- I can disagree with him and still enjoy his books, and speaking. I was also able to meet him recently.

there is also a list of authors who I enjoy very much, and no not have ALL of their books, but I have many of them. these people include:

henri nouwen- on faith and spirituality
patrick lencioni- the guru of business leadership
stephen covey (I might have all of his books)- on leadership
chip ingram- how cool is it that my boss writes books?
bill hybels- on church leadership
tim sanders- on likeability and workplace leadership
craig groeschel- on christian living
guy kawasaki- on everything business
neil t. anderson- on theology and freedom in christ
mo willems- for my little- she loves his books! so do I. (she could probably create a list of favorite authors too)

recently I was organizing books and jane was helping. I found a book that I didn't want, and I didn't think I could sell or trade. I said to jane- "jane- you can just throw this one in the trash."

she said, "you mean- just throw it away? ...how sad."

it is sad when a book has no one to love it.

leaders are readers.
God is love.
rev-rob

lectio divina:: psalm 22

2011-10-18T18:13:00.000-07:00

they say that when jesus was on thew cross that He said 7 words-
they are:
1.Father forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34).
2.Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43).

3.Woman, behold your son: behold your mother (John 19:26-27).
4.My God, My God, why have you forsaken me, (Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34).
5.I thirst (John 19:28).
6.It is finished (John 19:30).
7.Father, into your hands I commit my spirit (Luke 23:46).

I have heard it say that maybe He wasn't saying these words from the Cross, but singing them-
that's a wild thought isn't it?
that when jesus was hanging on the cross- covered in blood and writhing in agony, He was actually singing?

how many of these 7 words come from psalm 22?
psalm 22 opens with the phrase:
"For the director of music. To the tune of “The Doe of the Morning.”
A psalm of David." it was a song before it was a psalm-
and jesus had it memorized-
and as He was hanging on the Cross, dying for your sins and mine- He sang it-

can you imagine Him singing these words there?

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning?
² O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, and am not silent."

(we actually have it recorded that He said this in matthew 27:46)

"Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the praise of Israel.
⁴ In you our fathers put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
⁵ They cried to you and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not disappointed."

(even while dying He is praising His Father in heaven-)

"But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by men and despised by the people.
⁷ All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads:
⁸ “He trusts in the LORD;
let the LORD rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.”

(we have it recorded that the crowd who saw Him said this as they passed by in matthew 27:42)

" ⁹ Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you
even at my mother’s breast.
¹⁰ From birth I was cast upon you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
¹¹ Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help."

(the Christmas story and the story of Good Friday are intersecting as He prays to God about His mother-)

" Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
¹³ Roaring lions tearing their prey
open their mouths wide against me.
¹⁴ I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted away within me.
¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.
¹⁶ Dogs have surrounded me;
a band of evil men has encircled me,
they have pierced my hands and my feet.
¹⁷ I can count all my bones;
people stare and gloat over me.
¹⁸ They divide my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing."

(those soldiers must have been like bulls and lions around Him- nailing Him to the cross and gambling for His clothes- keep in mind that this psalm was written hundreds of years BEFORE the cross-)

"But you, O LORD, be not far off;
O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
²⁰ Deliver my life from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.
²¹ Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
²² I will declare your name to my brothers;
in the congregation I will praise you.
²³ You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
²⁴ For he has not despised or disdained
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help."

(even from the Cross He is telling us who fear the LORD to praise Him- even. from. the. Cross.)

"From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear youwill I fulfill my vows.
²⁶ The poor will eat and be satisfied;
they who seek the LORD will praise him—
may your hearts live forever!
²⁷ All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
²⁸ for dominion belongs to the LORD
and he rules over the nations.

(even from the Cross- at His lowest moment He declares that God wins and that God is in control. whew.)

" All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
³⁰ Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
³¹ They will proclaim his righteousness
to a people yet unborn—
for he has done it."

(from the Cross He is looking forward- because this is not the end for jesus-
the last line says, "He has done it." or said another way:
"IT IS FINISHED.")

when God put these words in david- He was planning the crucifixion of his Son- and preparing for the redemption that paid for your crimes and mine-
I wonder how long jesus had been planning to sing this song with His dying breaths-
since He was a boy?

God brought together the words of David, and the cruelty of the Roman Empire, and the innocence of His Only Begotten to form a moment that would be remembered from all time-

the Word of God was quoted by The Word in the form of a song-
a love song-

God is love.
-rev-rob

standing tall this fall: 2007-2011

2011-10-15T10:50:00.000-07:00

pooh-bear pictures

2011-10-12T10:12:00.000-07:00

I love these photos of jane and I walking from behind:
maybe it started with a childhood memory of this picture by ernest shephard:

my friend rachel took this picture of us walking in the park across the street from our house- we did not realize that we were being photographed- this maybe my favorite photo of jane and I, it is in the living room, my bedroom, my office and its my desktop wallpaper:

so when we had our pictures taken recently, I made sure that we posed for another one!

being a dad is fun.
-rob

homemade toys:: amanda pig

2011-10-09T20:18:00.000-07:00

jane's favorite character is by far amanda pig. she has all of her books, she draws pictures of amanda, writes books about amanda, records videos about amanda, tells stories about amanda- she is amanda's number 1 fan.

unfortunately, amanda pig is a fairly obscure book character- there are no new books about her, and certainly no toys. we have made amanda pig dioramas out of scans of the book, but recently I decided to make an amanda pig out of pieces of wood from the craft store, paint and a ton of wood putty. I think it turned out pretty well-

being a dad is fun.
-rob

fantastic-friday

2011-10-09T07:42:00.000-07:00

last friday was fantastic.

deanna, jane and I went camping at our favorite KOA in santa cruz, then we came home and I worked on one of my home made toys for jane, then we went out to eat. as we rolled into our parking lot, I got a call from my friend dave. he said that he locked his keys in his car and needed a ride- I told him I'd be right there. then he called again and needed some help moving some stuff. I rolled my eyes.

I met him at the church, grabbed the chairs that he needed to move and walked into one of our church's main rooms, venue 2. as I walked in, I noticed my ministry's logo on the screens. I thought, "who left these screens on?! who is using my logo?!" and then the lights flipped on and a crowd of friends jumped up and yelled "SURPRISE!" I thought, "did I just mess up someone's surprise party?" and I saw that all these people were MY friends! this party was for me! they had all gathered to celebrate my ten years at the church. they totally got me good! the place was filled with the faithful 678 volunteers, parents of students, former students, current students, and my former college students. best of all, deanna and jane soon joined the crowd. I couldn't belive that they would go to such an effort for me- and that they all kept it a secret from me!

what followed was one blessing after another. there was a video with photos and touching testimonies from students and former students-
leanne shared many meaningful memories- niki did as well. the words that they shared were so deeply encouraging that I haven't fully taken them in yet. jeff got up and played a version of "where the streets have no name" with a new title, "our super-pastor." so cool. it was definitely one of those "this is your life" moments.

Dave asked me to get up and I shared what I could remember of an earlier blog post of what I might say in this situation.

I received many thoughtful and gracious cards, notes, and gifts- the thoughtfulness and generosity of these friends was overwhelming. this was one of the most humbling and beautiful experiences that I can remember.

everyone kept telling me about how long they have been planning this and how hard it was to keep it a secret. just the other day I was talking with Dave and noting that no one had noticed my ten year anniversary at the church. he just giggled.

it made me think that God must giggle like that to Himself quite a lot. down here, we lament and complain about all kinds of things, and I'm sure that He is up there thinking, "you have no idea how I'm going to bless you! I've been planning this for so long! I have gone to such great lengths to prepare an amazing surprise for you!" and He must get such a kick out of seeing us react to the amazing blessings that He brings into our lives. I wonder if He has a sense of excitement as we are about to discover something new from Him.

"for I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." -jeremiah 29:11

"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him." -1 Corinthians 2:9

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, whohave been called according to his purpose." -Romans 8:28

all of you blessed my socks off. I can't thank you enough for the effort that you went to to make me feel special; and I can't thank God enough for allowing me to have all of you as friends.

God is love.
-rev-rob

wonderful-wednesday

2011-09-25T08:44:00.000-07:00

last wednesday was wonderful.

it started out in the morning with my daily weigh-in. I had been hovering around -48 pounds for weeks. some days it was -48.5, others it was -49, but never-50. but on wednesday morning, I saw that number on the scale that I had been looking for for weeks: -50lbs! nothing could wreck this day after seeing that.

my wonderful wednesday continued when I got to work. I have been out of an office for almost 4 months (more on this later). there was a lot of remodeling going on, and I was displaced. I had heard that I might be landing soon. I heard that a specific office was picked out for me, but it was occupied by another worker- they still needed to move out. for days I peeked into the window and saw that nothing had moved, but on Wednesday, I looked in the door and saw that the office was empty! it was mine to claim- a blank canvas to fill- I was elated.

my wonderful wednesday continued when I went to a big meeting with our family ministry team. we did one of those SWOT analysis talks where we went through each ministry and discussed the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. I felt a little nervous about what people might say were the weaknesses of my ministry. When it was my ministry's turn to be discussed, my boss asked, "what are the strengths of the middle school ministry?" and my peers said the kindest, most gracious and most encouraging statements about me and the middle school ministry. I have often wondered how they saw the work that I do, and hearing their kind words encouraged the socks off of me.

after that meeting I drove to another meeting and on the way, I called my wife and told her the wonderful-wednesday that I was having. she was very excited for me as well.

when I got home, I walked up the stairs of my condo and saw a big CONGRATULATIONS banner hung on the stairs. I unlocked the door and walked in, but didn't see or hear Deanna or Jane. I did see more banners as well as lots of colorful balloons. just then, Deanna and Jane jumped out from behind the couch and yelled, "SURPRISE!!!"
"what is all of this for?" I asked.
"we just wanted to celebrate with you your great day." they said.
jane handed me a wrapped present- it was a drawing of our family that she made and had framed- for my new office.
after that, we all went out to dinner and had chocolate fondue for dessert!

what a wonderful-wednesday-
and what a wonderful-wife and daughter.
I've got no complaints- only thanks-

life is good.
God is good.
God is love.
-rev-rob

fall vacation 2011

2011-09-12T17:00:00.000-07:00

last week, deanna, jane and I took what we think was our best vacation ever-
we went over the hill to a place that I have often taken students- the santa cruz koa.

I knew that jane would love this place- they had a jumpy-pillow-trampoline, bikes to rent, and little cabins with bunk-beds. I wasn't sure how she would deal with the bathroom building and the outdoors, but she loved every minute of it- and so did deanna and I.

while we were there, we did a lot of relaxing, a lot of book-reading, swimming, beach-combing, and a lot of game playing. each night there, we made a fire and had family-game-night. one night we went to the beach and watched the sun set into the pacific ocean while we sat next to a fire-pit.
what made things even more relaxing is that we were basically the only ones there.
we're already talking about visiting there again-
here are some of the memories that we captured with our blackberries:

this is a picture of jane playing her nintendo DS, and me reading my kindle out in front of our cabin.

on the second night we were there, jane tried something brand new and slept on the TOP BUNK!

being a dad is fun.
-rob

lectio divina:: 2 chronicles 20

2011-08-17T16:57:00.000-07:00

I was reading in 2 Chronicles today at lunch and found something that I haven’t found before- it’s a story about king jehoshaphat- and he has a big problem-

verse 2 says: “Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Sea.”

that’s a big problem. what does king Jehoshaphat do in response?
I guess the bigger question is, “what do you do when you have a big problem?”
what do I do?

I usually freak out for a bit- worry, feel sorry for myself, and think about how I’m going to get out of the big problem. sometimes I try to just work and work until my problem is fixed. some people talk about the problem or throw money at the problem (unless money IS the problem). look at what Jehoshaphat does:

verse 2 says: “Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the LORD, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.”

Jehoshaphat first response was to pray about the problem. I need to develop this habit. Jehoshaphat resolved to pray about the problem- and he invited everyone else to pray about it too- because it was their problem too. I love what it says in verse 4: “The people of Judah came together to seek help from the LORD; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.”

I love that! even though it must have been really scary, everyone got together and prayed and sought God and His help. this is a cool moment.

as a leader- I really appreciate jehoshaphat’s humility here. as leaders we want everyone to think that we know what to do in every situation. we want everyone to feel like we’re the best person for the job because of how smart we are.
but in this situation, Jehoshaphat doesn’t know what to do- or maybe he does.
the best thing to do is not to preach or teach or administrate or delegate, the best thing to do is to pray. even his prayer are pretty cool.

verse 5 says, “Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the LORD in the front of the new courtyard and said:
“O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?”

he doesn’t start his prayer with a big “HELLLLLPPP! fix my problems! get me out of my mess! be my magic genie!” he begins with worship- and reminding God (but really himself) just how powerful that God is.

then he gets to the requests:

verse 10 says, “But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, … coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us.”

verse 12 is my favorite part: “…we do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”

I love that prayer! it represents so much humility and wisdom-
and I think it was the tipping point that urged God to act. what happens next is pretty amazing:

verse 13: “All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the LORD. Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel … as he stood in the assembly. He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.”

how wild is that?! they were all just standing there, waiting for God to answer, and this message bursts out of this guy Jahaziel- wouldn’t that be amazing if that happened every time we prayed? I think I would pray a lot more! and I love his message to the people: “for the battle is not yours, but God’s.”

when are motives are right, and our cause ir right, God has the freedom to step in for us like a big brother and say to us, “I’ll handle this…” and He is so much better at handling our problems than we are. there have been several situations that I can remember where I have been stressed over a problem and God just seemed to handle it for me. I didn’t need to get in an argument or confrontation, God stepped in and made it all better.

verse 17 says, “You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.’”

that will give you confidence- the LORD will be with you- and we can have that confidence if our cause are our motives are right.

I love what the Israelites did as they stepped into this battle:

verse 18: “Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the LORD. Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the LORD, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.”

they didn’t get overconfident, they just kept on praying and worshipping.
I wish I could say that I did that too in every problem that I‘ve faced-

verse 20: “Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.” After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:
“Give thanks to the LORD,
for his love endures forever.”

how is that for leadership?! “you guys are in charge of the singing and worshipping!” somehow jehoshaphat knew that prayer and worship- and really humility, were the keys to winning this battle and getting on the other side of this problem.
God loves humility- and its amazing how people are drawn to it and want to work with humble people.

God did defeat their enemies just like He said He would. Jehoshaphat worshipped his way into this problem, and then he worshipped his way out of it-

verse 27: “Then, led by Jehoshaphat, all the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned joyfully to Jerusalem, for the LORD had given them cause to rejoice over their enemies. They entered Jerusalem and went to the temple of the LORD with harps and lutes and trumpets.”

I love it. what a model of humilty, faith and leadership-

I don’t know what problem you’re facing today, but before you talk to your friends about it or seek advice from the internet, talk to God about it. before you act and start fixing it, stop and tell God that He is big enough to step over the obstacle that is in front of you. take time to say to God, “I do not know what to do, but my eyes are upon You.”

God is love.
-rev-rob

a brand new me-

2011-08-01T22:36:00.000-07:00

a few months ago I started counting calories, and I have now lost 35 pounds! that's kind of cool!

its fun to have my clothes fit loosly on me and to get good news from the scale in the morning.

I miss a lot of the junk that I used to eat- especially starbucks and mcdonald's- but I'm really grateful for skinny cow ice cream and KFC grilled chicken!

I've got some weight-loss resolutions- or things I've seen other people do when they've dropped weight that I don't want to do:

I'm not going to judge what people eat or how they look. you won't catch me saying "are you areally going to eat that?" I can't stand that.
I'm not going to start flirting. I've seen a bunch of guys lose weight and think that every lady out there is after them. its sad and it does a ton of damage to people.
I'm not going to give people unsloicited advice on how to be healthy, how to eat right or what they should or shouldn't be eating. ugh.

so many of my friends have inspired me with their own healthy choices- my friends chris, adrian, niki, marc and my wife deanna. thanks for modeling for me how to make good choices and how to get results. I'm hoping to drop a few more and to keep it off for a long time just like all of you have done.

-rob

ministry-artist

2011-08-01T22:18:00.000-07:00

a friend of mine gave me a copy of eugene peterson's book, the pastor- I just finished it this morning. it too awhile to finish- but its not a book that you want to read too quickly. its very similar to his translation of the bible- every word is chosen carefully, and each sentence takes time to digest.

peterson introduced a concept in the book that has had my mind spinning- the pastor as artist.

artists work for art, and they work for art for free- because they love art. they are compelled to create. they don't do it because they have to or even expect to be paid for it- as a matter of fact- many artists work a job to pay the bills- but that job doesn't define who they are or what they do- who they are and what they do is art. their jobs may be menial, but their art is serious.

artists would love to make it big and get paid for their paintings, their sculptures, the acting or dancing, but even if they didn't get paid, they would still do it, because being an artist is a vocation, not a job. its a calling, a burden, a service to the arts itself.

peterson writes: "Being a pastor is a vocation, not a job. But when I became a pastor, I soon learned that I was living in a culture that didn’t know the difference between a vocation and a job. Artists were the first men and women who gave me a way to discern the difference."

there are thousands of pastors around the globe who function as artists. they do a job to pay the bills, but they aren't defined by that job- they are defined by the mnistry that they create- they are pastors. they don't do their ministry to get a paycheck, they do it out of service to the Good Pastor- the Good Shepherd Himself. what they do is a calling, a service, a burden, a joy, a vocation.

the prophet jeremiah said,
"But if I say, “I will not mention him
or speak any more in his name,”
his word is in my heart like a fire,
a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;
indeed, I cannot."

he was an artist.

I'm an artist too. although sometimes I forget that. sometimes it doesn't feel like art at all. I don't want to become one of those artists that made it to the big time and started getting paid for their art- the ones who care more about the pay than the art.

peterson asks, "how do I keep the heart of an artist? how do I keep myself from thinking that what I do is just a job? How do I keep my calling and my vocation from becoming just a job description?"

I don't have an answer. but I think that his words have got me on the right path-
or maybe back on the right path.
I need to remember that whether paid or not, I'm an artist serving the Creator-
the ultimate artist.
and I need to remember that when I began this journey- it wasn't about pay or a title, or a status or an image, it was all about the art; and the exhilaration of creating something that would endure forever. in the end its not about a job, its about a vocation.
being a pastor is a vocation, not a job.
"never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord."

God is love.
-rev-rob

10 years

2011-07-13T10:55:00.000-07:00

well, I did it.
I made it 10 years as the middle school pastor at my church.
I've been looking forward to this milestone for a long time. when I first got to the church in 2001, I had heard a stat that most youth pastors only last about 18 months- so for me, a decade is pretty cool.

the day came and went without any big deal, which was fine for me. we had saturday night service that night, and most of the students were focused on the fact that it was my birthday (and that I had brought a pinata full of candy).

I don't think I would ever draw attention to this milestone in public; but for you, my gracious blog readers, I'll share what I might say if I was asked to talk about this in some sort of public setting-
it would go something like this:

"first I want to thank this church for believing in me and for trusting me with their students. thank you for hiring me, for investing in me, and for having hope that I could make a difference. thank you for giving me my dream job- I absolutely love working here.

thank you to every parent who trusted their student with me and my team over the last 10 years. thank you for your wisdom, your support and your grace. being a voice in the life of your student has been an incredible honor and a privilege for me.

thank you to every volunteer that has ever served with me on the middle school team. thank you for using what God gave you to invest in the life of a young person. thank you for the countless hours that you have given to these students. thank you for your wisdom, your attitude, your joy and your patience. thank you for all that you have taught me.
thank you especially to niki sterling, who has faithfully served with me on this team, all 10 years that I have been here. she is a gift from God to this ministry.

thank you to judie christensen, my admin and partner in ministry for the entire 10 years that I've been here. your steadiness, organization, and care and concern for families has shaped the culture of the middle school ministry and the entire student ministry department. thank you for your friendship, your wisdom, your endurance and your enthusiasm. I'm so proud to be on a team with you.

thank you to my amazing wife deanna, for your love, support and wisdom all of these years. I love you and am so grateful for our life together.

most importantly, I thank God for the amazing privilege it is to serve Him vocationally and to represent Him to others. I thank Him for His grace in allowing a quiet farm kid from Modesto to be a leader in anything, let alone His Church.

finally, thank you to every student who has walked through the doors of the middle school ministry. you have brought so much joy into my life. working with you has been a dream and an adventure. I want to remind you that I love you, and that I'm so proud of you, and that I'm so excited about who you are and who you're becoming!"

its been a great run; and I feel like i'm just getting started. my passion for doing this work is greater than its ever been.

God is love.
-rev-rob

last night-

2011-07-13T10:30:00.000-07:00

last night I got home after 11pm after a very late night at youth group. I walked in the house and deanna says, "did you get my text about the shower?"
"uh- no- what's wrong with the shower?"
"it won't drain. it's plugged up."

so I went into the bathroom and there was standing water in my bathtub. gross.
so I got the little plastic-zipper-unplugger and tried to fish out the plug, but I couldn't even get it to go do wn the drain. this was a serious plug.
so I got my shoes back on, went to the 24-safeway and got some draino.
on the way back I remembered that I have a super-plunger and that would surely do the trick.

when I got home, I got the super-plunger and started pushiing water in and out of the drain. it wouldn't budge. it seemed like something solid had getten into my drain!

I dropped the draino in and nothing happened.
it was really late and I didn't want to use a snake on it (we live upstairs in a condo, and I didn't want to make noise for my downstairs neighbor), but I thought I would take apart some of the hardware on the tub to see if I could at least get the plastic zipper down the side pipe.

as soon as I got the plate off of the stopper on the tub off I heard a CLUNK, and all of the water started gushing out. I groaned.

my wife rushed in- "what happened?!" she said-

"you had the tub stopper on."

she laughed so hard she started tearing up.

I told her I would get back at her for going viral with the story.
I can't be too upset- I didn't figure it out either. at least we didn't call the plumber!

God is love.
-rev-rob

update on your pal, rob; july 2011

2011-07-04T21:41:00.000-07:00

its so cliche- but "wow! its been so long sonce I've written on my blog!" I've been getting some kind comments on some of my "lectio divina" wrirtings, and I need to get some of those on here again soon.

a couple of big things have come up since I last posted:

:: I went and saw my favorite band U2 in oakland with my friend mark! we had an amazing spot on the floor in front of the stage. the band had these bridges that floated over the audience, and at one point bono, the band's lead singer was right over my head, within reach!

:: my daughter has become quite the ballerina:

:: and quite the illustrator!

:: and she went to her first ever VBS at church. she loved it- and I loved seeing her get excited to go to church.

:: at work, we just finished up our first camp of the summer- the next one is in 2 weeks.

:: and for the first time in 15 years of working for churches, I don't have an office! I moved out of my old one, and my new set up won't have offices! when its completed it will be a starbucks-stye youth facility where you can work wherever you want, but no one owns anything. sounds crazy, but it will be amazing. until then, I'm fully mobile.

:: I started counting calories about 7 weeks ago, and so far I have dropped 27 pounds! I'm so excited about this- none of my pants fit anymore and my belt is on the tightest loop. I'm really hoping that this is more than just a fad for me and more of a whole new lifestyle.

:: probably the biggest thing I'm excited about is that July 1 marked the 10 year anniversary of our move to San Jose. I love this city. July 9 was my first day of work and will mark the 10 year anniversary of my work with middle schoolers at the church. this is a milestone that I have been looking forward to for a long, long time!

there is so much in my life that I am grateful for right now.
God is love.
-rev-rob

me and seth

2011-06-01T18:40:00.000-07:00

a couple of years ago I wrote a blog about a friend of mine from high school named seth. when I first became a Christian at 16 years old, I needed some new friends quick, and seth and his circle of friends from first baptist were there for me. like I said in the earlier post, seth and his family now attend my home church in san jose. he has been doing a lot of work for the church in helping us remodel and whenever I see him meeting with one of our pastors I always pop mt head into the meeting and say, “if it wasn’t for this guy and his family, I might not have stayed in the church!”

one day seth and his wife came upstars to the middle school ministry. I thought they were there to volunteer. actually, they were there to drop off their son! I said, “you’re old enough to have a junior higher?! that means that I’M old enough to have a junior higher!” for the longest time it was so surreal to see seth’s son at the middle school ministry. this boy’s dad helped me to grow in Christ and now I had the incredible honor of helping seth’s son grow in Christ- its some kind of full circle effect.

for the longest time, seth’s son would get so embarrassed every time I saw him, because I would always say, “this guy's DAD was MY FRIEND when I was a student! I am so grateful for this guy’s dad!”

a few months ago seth’s son came up to me and said, “hey pastor rob? can I ask you a question? would you help me get baptized?” I almost burst into tears. “sure buddy.” I answered. “it would be an honor.” when I talked with seth about the service I asked him if he would join me in the tank in baptizing his son.

seth has 6 kids- all adopted- and that day we baptized 5 of them. when we were back stage I was back there with seth and his kids and there was so much joy in the room. I was thinking about all of the memories that we had and how huge of a moment this was. I wanted to share everything that I was feeling about this family, but for the sake of time I said, “we have 5 brothers and sisters getting baptized this morning with their dad seth. they were all brought together into seth’s family through the miracle of adoption- and by their faith in Christ, they are all brought together with us as our brothers and sisters in Christ, adopted into God’s family.”

this was seriously one of the greatest honors of my 15 years of ministry service.

God is love.
rev-rob

let's go fly a kite!

2011-05-30T17:18:00.000-07:00

yesterday we went out and got a kite! we went to vasona park in los gatos, tied on our string and let it fly! jane is a natural kite-flyer! we had so much fun that we went 2 days in a row. a reporter from the san jose mercury news was walking by and snapped a few photos and they should be in the newspaper on May 31!

another broken bus story-

2011-05-28T13:39:00.000-07:00

I've written a few broken bus stories on this blog- here is my latest:

last night the middle school ministry took the 8th graders to their annual goodbye party at the boardwalk in santa cruz. it was pretty much a perfect night. we had a good crowd of students, a good group of volunteers, the traffic was mellow, the boardwalk wasn’t crowded and the weather was perfect. I noticed that my cell phone battery was draining a lot faster than normal- and while we were at the boardwalk, it actually died (which is something that has never happened on a youth trip before.) I didn’t have a car charger and no one else had one that fit my phone.

after we went to the boardwalk, we went to seabright, where our high school team was waiting for us with a bbq and bonfire- again- everything was perfect. when it was time to leave, we got in the bus and drove off. while I was on HWY 17 I noticed that the power steering was a little stiff. I pulled over in Scotts Valley and could tell that we had lost it- and there was no way that I was going to take a bus full of students home on 17 with no power steering!

we called in the other cars who were with us and the high school team and got the students home safe. I stayed with the bus. dave called my favorite bus towing company, and they told me that they would be by in 45 minutes. so there I was, parked at a little church in scotts valley, waiting for a tow truck with just the bus and me and with no cell phone. I kind of started freaking out. something in me needed to have contact with the outside world! I saw a gas station over an overpass and thought they might have a car charger for my phone. I don’t really enjoy bridges, heights or edges- and especially when the go over HWY17 in the pitch black dark, but I went for it. I went to 2 gas stations, a grocery store and finally a quik stop to get this car charger. I was actually sprinting because I was afraid that the tow truck might come and I might miss it. they had the charger- I got it and sprinted back- all the way back to the overpass, over it, and back to the bus.

I was so relieved to see my phone charging up- I really can’t explain how excited that made me. the first call I made was to the tow company. they told me that the guy was 20 minutes out. then I called Deanna, then paco. the tow guy didn’t come for another hour. when he did get there, I discovered that he saw an accident and stopped to help even though they didn’t ask him to in order to get the commission. he told me that a little pulley under the hood has worn down and that kept the belts from staying tight and took out the power steering. it couldn’t be fixed, it had to be towed. when I got in the car, he said, “actually I was hoping that you would be the guy from the radio- I love that guy! I listen to him every day!” he was talking about my pastor, chip. I said, “yeah- he’s pretty great, I like listening to him too.” he said, “my lady lives right behind your church! I asked her, ‘can you just feel the presence of God radiating from that place?’ she said ‘no- actually they are kind of annoying- they’re really loud!’”

we actually had a great talk about some of the questions that he had about the church and the bible- he was a really cool guy. most of the tow guys I meet are pretty cool.

my journey over the hill started at about 8:30, and it ended at about 12:30am- sheesh! that vehicle…

well, at least everyonne got home safely, and I got a new story to tell-

God is love.

-rev-rob

mid-year resolutions

2011-05-26T15:59:00.000-07:00

I started this year with several resolutions, and some of them have been going great, some not so much- so I'm going to do some mid-year tweaking.

I started off saying no candy or soda in 2011- and I ended up replacing candy with cookies and soda with sweet tea and starbucks mochas. not a big upgrade in nutritional value. so now I'm going to do the points system- or monitor and limit my calories. I've been doing this for a week, and I'm already down 8 pounds. I still want to avoid candy however. Instead of avoiding soda, I'm actually drinking only diet soda. so I still get all of that caffeine that I love, but not all the calories.

memorizing romans has been going along just fine. I'm excited that I now have 3 other friends from the middle school staff doing this with me. this has evolved into one of my favorite parts of this year so far. each morning I get up early (well, kind of early...) and go for a walk on either the Los Alamitos Creek Trail or the Los Gatos Creek trail with all of my flash cards and review paul's letter to the romans. this has become an exercise that centers me, prepares me, coaches me encourages me and rebukes me. lov it- can't wait to 2012 to learn some other books too.

we wanted to not use the credit card at all this year and that went pretty well until the cars broke. now its time to get back on the saddle.

its been a wild 6 months- lots of new students and volunteers at the church, lots of incredible camps and services-
like I said in my last post, jane is growing up way too fast and is absolutely loving her life.

I'm full of hope for the future.

here is a little blessing for you from the book of romans, chapter 5-
"since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through Whom we have gained access into this grace in which we now stand. and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character and character hope. and hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us. you see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, and for a good man someone might possibly dare to die- but God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

God is love.
-rev rob

jane's graduation from kindergarten:

2011-05-26T15:43:00.000-07:00

I am super proud of both jane and deanna for completing their first year of home school. jane did a great job on all of her schoolwork, and deanna did an amazing job as her teacher. last night we went to a little ceremony for the local homeschoolers where they were able to get a certificate and show off their work. jane read her book, "amanda pig goes on a hike." after watching her do this, I think my face was literally glowing with pride. I was so impressed with my little girl.

jane's graduation story from rob walter on Vimeo.

security!

2011-04-25T13:39:00.000-07:00

over the last few years, the church has grown quite a bit- because of this, I'm not on stage as much as I used to be and not as many people recognize me as one of the pastors; I(by the way- this isn't a complaint- this doesn't bother me at all!)

also- our church has implemented security to make sure that the hallways that have children in them are secure- if I want to go down one of these hallways during church, I need to show my employee badge- which I rarely carry.

last sunday, I was walking with a student up to the middle school roomm where I was met by 2 security guards- I could tell that one of them didn't recognize me. he said, "hi- this area is secure." I said, "oh- I work here- I'm allowed to go through." he said, "do you have a badge?" I started digging through my pockets- (as if it were in there!)

his co-security-guard partner was a lady who knew me from years ago- she said, "what?! don't you know who this is?! this is rob walter! he is a pastor here! don't you know who this is?!" the other security guard apologized and let me through-

all that is to say is that I felt like some kind of celebrity, if just for a moment- and that was kind of fun.

God is love.
-rev-rob

my favorite clip.

2011-04-15T20:27:00.000-07:00

several years ago I was sick at home, flipping through channels on the sofa. I saw this clip of fred rogers and I found it to be the most caring moment I think that I have ever seen on tv.

I searched for the dvd and bought it.

the church was doing a volunteer appreciation event, and i showed this clip and spoke about caring, individual attention, and affirmation.

I have often done a series for hte middle schoolers called "liking yourself" where I talk about biblical self-esteem and Gods love for us. I often show this clip and make the point that God loves us in spite of the way we feel about ourselves, or even the way the world has treated us. God loves us in spite of our weaknesses with an unconditional love- says to us, "its YOU I like, not the things you do or have."

it may sound hokey, but this is the kind of minister and dad that I want to be. the way that fred rogers makes this kid feel is the way that I want to make the people that I interact with feel. I have a lot of heroes for the various different roles that I play and things that I do. I have preaching heroes, and leadership heroes, and i also have a hero when it comes to the art of the interpersonal conversation- and its fred rogers.

there are days when I am overwhelmed with details and my mood is sour. I know that I need to care for the people that are on their way to meet with me, and I know that I don't have the capacity. in those moments, I watch this clip, learn from the master, dry my tears, and get back in the game. this clip inspires me to care, to listen, to affirm, and to leave others with a blessing. I have watched this clip a hundred times, but it still does not inspire me to sing to, or with middle schoolers, but its still effective. (the first 5 minutes of this clip is what I'm referring to).

God is love.
-rev-rob

rob the black swan

2011-04-04T10:56:00.000-07:00

Last weekend the middle school ministry that I lead launched its 3rd weekend service. We pulled out all the stops, a ton of students came out, and we all had a blast. This morning I was reflecting on this weekend, and the fact that I get to do what I do, and it dawned on me, that when I was a kid, I had absolutely no intention of doing any of this.

I’m essentially a farm-kid from the central valley. As a kid, I loved being by myself and I still enjoy solitude; when I was a kid I had no desire at all to be in front of a crowd, the center of attention or anyone’s leader- and yet here I am.

One of my friends read a book with me called “the black swan.” The book says that when you look back on your life or on history, things seem to follow a natural progression; but if you remember being there in those moments, things actually happened fairly randomly. There are these moments- called black swans, where a random event occurred, but it completely affected the future and changed the course of your story. As believers we prefer to think of these black swans as God’s plan, God’s grace and God’s providence.

Here are some of the black swans that led me here:

• When I was a teenager I worked at an ice-cream shop. And while I was there I met a friend who invited me to church.

• The church just happened to be near my house, and it just happened to have an amazing youth ministry.

• I became a Christian in that church and somewhat randomly got involved as a leader in my youth group, with special attention, training and mentoring from the youth pastor and volunteers.

• This church just happened to have an intern program ith monies set aside for intern salaries and graduate schooling; and I just happened to be chosen as an intern and had my schooling scholarshipped.

• When I finished school, my church did not hire me, even though they had openings. I was hurt by this, but it sent me on a search for a new ministry-

• And somewhat randomly, I met my former pastor galen and los gatos Christian church.

• I just happened to run into the most incredible bunch of leaders and students on the planet.

• The church just happened to merge with another church in town, and I got to team up with my friend justin and his amazing team, and all of the sudden, the little youth ministry was a big one.

• The senior pastors of that church retired, and the church hired a well known speaker and author.

• And all of the sudden, that big youth ministry became a bigger one.

• And added to that, I found myself in the sweetest, most wonderful family with my favorite people in the world, Deanna and jane.

And the crazy thing is that I didn’t make any of these choices. This farm-boy from the central valley just seemed to find myself in the midst of these changes and opportunities. and when I start to think I’m something special, I just remember that I didn’t navigate this course or create these opportunities- they are all a gift of grace. And it makes me wonder what black swans are coming up ahead. As a kid, I never wanted to be anyone’s leader or to be in front of a crowd, and to be honest, it always intimidates me; but I wouldn’t trade this story and life for anything. I’m absolutely in love with this stage of my life.

This summer our youth ministry is studying the psalms, and I think of psalm 23. And I can say with David that the LORD is my shepherd; and He has been leading me on the most amazing journey- and my job is to be His sheep; to follow Him closely, and to enjoy the ride.

God is love. -rev-rob

strength and bravery, 2/2011

2011-02-18T22:11:00.000-08:00

jane and I have been spending a lot of time at chuck e. cheese lately. they got all new games, and in the daytime, the place is clean, quiet, and a super-cheap way to have some kid fun. at the one closest to our house, there is a little air-hockey table that she loves to play on. I consider myself to be a fairly good air-hockey player, but I always let her win. lately, its been getting easier to let her win! she’s got quite an accurate shot!
a few weeks ago, I scored a goal on jane and she pulled the puck out of the side, placed it on top of the table and said, “wait a minute, dad.” and with her most serious face, she made a heart shape with her hands, pointed it to the ceiling, and then grabbed the puck with a determined look on her face.

“what was that?!” I said. with a straight face she said, “that’s my strength and bravery.” “WHAT?! where did THAT come from?!” “oh- I just made it up.” and she continued her game with fierceness and resolve.

strength and bravery shows up all the time these days. during yatzee games, uno games, anytime jane needs to gear up, she gets those heart-hands out and her strength and bravery comes out.

yesterday we went to the jungle and I told jane that I would get her a toy if she rode the orange slide. jane has been avoiding the orange slide for years. it has a dark section to it, it involves a wobbly net-bridge, and its been intimidating her ever since we have been going there. she responded to my offer by saying, “I have enough toys.” I offered two toys. a lunch at burger king. I appealed to her age- after all- she’s six now, she’s not 3 anymore. nothing worked. I brought her flashlight with me and told her she could use it in the dark section, and she was not interested. finally, I said, “what if you got your strength and bravery. I bet that would help you do it.”

she took a deep breath. her lip kind of quivered, and those heart-hands went up to the ceiling. she gave me that serious look and simply said, “flashlight?” I handed it to her and off she went. she was strong and she was brave. she slid down that slide so fast that she flew out and landed on her bottom. she had tears in her eyes, but she did it. she faced her fears with strength and bravery. I was so proud. she slid down that slide 20 more times, and we got the last one captured with the cell phone.

we drove to burger king, and the preacher in me was thinking about all of the spiritual applications from what we just experienced- about trusting your Father, about the passage in psalms that calls the bible a light for our feet and a lamp for our paths- and i was thinking about strength and bravery- and who it ultimately comes from.

“this is my command—be strong and courageous! do not be afraid or discouraged. for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” -joshua 1:9 (new living translation)

I’ve taught jane much- and she is teaching me much too. imagine what we could accomplish if we could remind ourselves to be strong and brave whenever we are afraid, intimidated or overwhelmed?

God is love.
-rev-rob

chuck e. cheese videos

2011-01-20T17:33:00.000-08:00

if you follow me on twitter or facebook, you have probably seen these, but if not, here you go! we have recently rediscovered chuck e. cheese and have been spending quite a bit of fun times there lately. and jane has discovered some fun new games that she is really good at! (all of these videos were taken with my new blackberry and tweeted onto twitvid.)

and here is a bonus video- you can hear me chuckling in the background-

being a dad is fun.
God is love.
-rev-rob

images from vacation-

2011-01-02T15:54:00.000-08:00

I took a week off between Christmas and new year's- it was a daddy-daughter-week! here are some pictures of our fun week together:

we went to christmas in the park with aunt susan,

opened a bunch of presents in san jose and in modesto,

worked on some puzzles,

saw a couple of movies-

made a couple of new dolls- amanda pig and lollipop-

made a new lightswitch out of pottery,

we worked on our basketball skills,

and we played about a million games of yahtzee, nearly wore out our dvd of the ginch cartoon, went to togo's for a snack each day, ate at a bunch of different restaurants, and drew lots and lots of pictures. what a relaxing and fun week together! now deanna is ready to go back to being a teacher, jane is ready to go back and be a student, and I'm ready to go back to work at the church.
being a dad is fun.
-rev-rob

out of 2010, into 2011-

2010-12-29T19:05:00.000-08:00

what a wild year.
I didn't blog much- twitter and facebook have been my outlet for short, random thoughts. I have written a number of blogs only to delete them minutes after they have gone up. I guess I'm becoming more choosy about the stories I tell and share. but its been a great year- one of those years that no one could earn or deserve- but I'm keeping it.

when it came to my new year’s resolutions, I did ok.

• I wanted to go the whole year without using a credit card, and I made it all the way to December, but my trusty explorer found a way to break just before the year ended. It broke earlier in the year too- so did our VW, but in those cases, we were able to pay for those out of our bank account.

• I wanted to go to the gym 300 times this year; but in January, the craziest thing happened: my right ear exploded in a very quiet mixture of pain and ear fluid. I was on pain meds for the entire month. I also added a few evening meetings to my week which made it almost impossible to get to the gym often.

• I wanted to have a great attitude this year, and that went ok. On one occasion, I was actually commended by my boss for specifically having a great attitude; and on other occasions, I had to apologize for not having the best attitude. My attitude-study eventually turned into one of my more popular teaching serieses this year.

• I also wanted to eat NO FRIED FOODS all year. aaaaand, that was an epic fail.

• last- I wanted to take Janie to Disneyland, and I was able to that twice this year- and without using the charge card!

this has been a wild year at work too-

// in middle school, we added a saturday night service to our weekly ministry; which means that I was with students, speaking to them, 5 days a week this year- sheesh!

// we did some experiments with our programming-

:: we went on a new kind of mission trip, focused on ministering to children in need- and it was a blast. we want to do it again this year.

:: we did our first ever summer camp that was just for us. it was the craziest week that I can remember- more on that later.

:: we took our journey program to the next level- and had a ball with it- we want to go bigger and better this year.

:: and I restarted my ministry to kids at Princeton plaza on wednesday mornings.

:: we got a new member of our student team, in addition to saying goodbye to another.

:: our volunteer team added new faces and said goodbye to others-

:: and I celebrated 10 summers at hume lake in July.

personally, this year has been amazing.

• my daughter turned 6! and she and deanna started HOMESCHOOL! jane loves it and does so well. so does deanna.

• I started memorizing bible verses with a friend

• we have cut down debt

• we celebrated 14 years of marriage

• and I still made it to the gym a lot.

• jane is growing up- and had her first “friend-birthday party”

• and she fell in love with the Toy Story franchise. we saw all of the movies, rode the rides, listened to the audiobooks, a trillion times. we also bought a ton of the merchandise.

• jane has also become an accomplished author, uno player and yatzee competitor.

as far as goals for 2010, they are pretty simple:

// continue to aggressively eliminate debt and not go in ANY further.
// continue to have a great attitude
// celebrate TEN YEARS at the church in july
// get to the point where I ENJOY running and look forward to it.
// I want to drop weight and pants sizes

and for the BIG goals:

// I want to see how long I can go no soda, no candy. yikes! (in other words, no 7/11 in 2011)
// I want to be able to quote the entire book of romans by the end of 2011.

a year can bring so much- so much grief and drama, and so much joy and opportunity. we’ll see where 2011 takes the walters, and you.

God is love.
-rev-rob

monterey bay aquarium 11/2010

2010-11-27T21:49:00.000-08:00

this place was fascinating. can't wait to go again!

well, this just blew my socks off!

2010-11-27T10:52:00.000-08:00

I do my best to encourage the socks off of the local youth pastors, but this time, a friend of mine out-did me by about a million times!

homemade toys:: disneyland pt. 2

2010-10-25T09:09:00.000-07:00

last time we went to disneyland, jane was inspired to create some toy-rides for her hello kitty toys. and ever since we got back from our 2nd trip to disneyland, she has been making more and more rides for the kitties to enjoy. she made a pretty elaborate buzz light year bllaster ride that I wished that I had taken a picture of. it had a blacklight, toy story figures, and all kind of cool features. she also made a toy story mania ride out of legos that had targets for the kitties to shoot at and carts for the kitties to ride through the ride on. it was very similar to the actual ride.

the other day jane said, "what should we make next?" I said, "well, what rides did you really like?" she said, "I liked the swing ride. why don't we make a swing ride?!" that took a lot of thought. deanna suggested that I go take a long shower to figure that out. I do some of my best thinking in the shower. the warm water must warm up my brain. she was right. at the end of my shower I knew how I was going to make it. I made a quick trip to homme depot. I used a lazy susan that we had in our pantry, a dowel for hanging up clothes, some string, some industrial velcro, a bucket-lid, and some clips for hanging mini-blinds as seats. and it works! of all of the toys I have made for jane, I think this is the one I'm most proud of.

being a dad is fun.

-rob

disneyland part 3

2010-10-16T08:46:00.000-07:00

this year, jane has REALLY been into toy story 3; and it didn't take us long to decide that our next vacation would have a toy story-focus down at disneyland!

its halloween-time over at disneyland- and kids can come dressed in a costume. on certain days, disneyland closes early to allow for a special halloween party with unique music, decorations, character-meet and greets, trick-or-treating, and a special halloween parade and fireworks show. we were elated when my friend chris surprised us with tickets for this exclusive party! jane got to see her first fireworks show- and she loved it. and she got to dress up in her jessie costume and take pictures with some of her favorite toy story characters:

keeping with our toy-story theme, we also played several rounds of buzz light year's blasters

and we even tracked down buzz and got a photo with him.

we also discovered an awesome new ride: toy story mania! it was broken for most of the time that we were there, and the line was super-long, but we did get to ride it twice. it was worth the wait.

probably the most special toy story moment that we had was during the toy story parade. my friend chris knows jessie and told her that her biggest fan was in the crowd. she made an extra-special effort to wave to jane and blow her a kiss. then she sprayed us with water.

we had lots of other non-toy-story highlights too.

jane discovered the swing ride at california adventure:

after-swings from rob walter on Vimeo.

we also got to see disney's new water and light show, world of color.

jane was in tears when it was over. I thought she was scared- she was sad to see it end.

we had such a fun time as a family. I am constantly surprised at jane's great attitude, patience and ability to adapt to new situations. as usual, we got to take lots of pictures, we got to ride lots of rides, and got to meet some of our favorite characters. here are some more photos and videos of our time together. like I often say, being a dad is fun.

tigger from rob walter on Vimeo.

jane's point of view

2010-09-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

awhile ago, deanna was getting ready for her day and jane was looking for something to do- so deanna gave jane our camera, taught her how to take pictures and let her take pictures around our condo. jane put on her safari outfit and considered it an adventure. the pictures turned out to be very interesting! here are just a few of the MANY pictures that jane took:

pictures of jane reading

2010-09-19T06:19:00.000-07:00

for some reason, it just makes me happy to see my daughter reading a book. maybe because it reminds deanna and I of ourselves when we were her age; maybe its because we know that when her eyes are on a book that she is engaging her mind, her creativity and her imagination all at once. here are just a few of the many photos that we have of jane reading books:

here are some as a baby girl:

and here are some from more recent days:

we've also got lots of video of jane reading books, but my favorite of all time is when jane either read or quoted a funny little book about thomas the train called "stop train stop."we've also got lots of video of jane reading books, but my favorite of all time is when jane either read or quoted a funny little book about thomas the train called "stop train stop."
stop train stop! from rob walter on Vimeo.

homemade toys:: schoolhouse

2010-08-31T11:28:00.000-07:00

now that jane is a schoolgirl, she is very interested in her little dolls going to school. so we made a little schoolhouse playset!

the floor is a piece of foam-core that you can get from an art store, with some wood-grain contact paper on top. the walls are also foam-core, with some digital cuts and pastes that I pullled off the web. i used a few photoshop tricks to put the images on the walls seamlessly, and I created the images in publisher. I just printed them out and glued them to the foam-core. all of the accessories are bits and pieces that jane already had. in this scene, the students are playing a get-to-know-you-game with their teacher.

I had lots of fun dreaming this up and making it- and when jane saw it, she flipped. now I'm thinking up other kids of rooms that I could make!

being a dad is fun.
-rob

profiles in attitude: the israelites in the book of numbers

2010-08-31T11:20:00.000-07:00

I just started my sermon series on attitude at the Los Gatos Christian chapel yesterday. it made me think of how far I need to go on my attitude, and how much I need to work on my attitude each day. this morning, I was reading in the book of numbers and I saw that the Israelites put on a clinic of how to have a bad attitude- and God also reveals how He feels about our bad attitudes.
:: numbers 11:1 says, “now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, and when he heard them his anger was aroused.”

bottom line: complaining makes God angry. because complaining is essentially telling someone else, “what you have given me isn’t good enough.”

:: in numbers 11:4 it says, “the rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, "If only we had meat to eat!”

bottom line: being discontent with what you have infuriates God. God had given them all the food they could want- they just wanted options. so God gave them so much quail-meat to eat that they barfed it out their noses.

:: in numbers 11:21 God tells Moses that He is going to feed the Israelites enough meat to fill them up for a month. moses thinks God is exaggerating and reminds God that there are 600 thousand Israelite men and that’s a lot of meat. God’s response to moses’ lack of faith is, “Is the LORD's arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you."

bottom line: an unbelieving attitude doesn’t score points with God either.

:: in numbers 12, moses’ sister Miriam, and his brother aaron start talking trash about Moses’ Cushite (African) wife. they start spreading the word that they might be better to lead israel than moses. God calls Moses, Aaron and Miriam to the tent of meeting and says, “ When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions…but this is not true of my servant Moses; …with him I speak face to face, …why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"
Miriam got leprosy for spreading her criticism and gossip.

bottom line- the attitude of our words matter to God- and He can’t stand the criticism and the gossip. we ought to think twice before we criticize someone that God has placed in leadership.

:: in numbers 13, a group of spies are gathered to scope out the promised land to see what its like before the Israelites enter. 2 of them come back thrilled at the opportunities- 10 came back complaining that it would be too hard to conquer and that they should just turn back. their negative attitude spread throughout the community and the people started to freak out.

bottom line: a negative attitude spreads and it escalates- so if you have one, keep it to yourself.

:: in response to everyone’s bad attitude, God tells the one who are afraid that they will never enter the promised land, and that Israel will wander the desert until the last one is dead.

bottom line: a negative attitude takes away your opportunities and keeps you from the great things that God has for you.

:: the two spies that had a great attitude got to go to the promised land- I love what God says about the spy named caleb in Numbers 14:24 “but because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.”

bottom line: an awesome attitude brings opportunities from God.

and the ultimate bottom line is that: my attitude is a spiritual issue.
its really not reflective of how I feel about my environment or my relationships or my status, its about my connection to God. again, God says of caleb: “but because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.”

a great attitude comes from following God wholeheartedly;
and when I stop following God with everything,
the way I see life
and people
begins to warp;
and my attitude turns sour.

so how has your attitude been?
has it been limiting you?
or is it creating opportunities for you?

probably the better question is, how closely are you following God?

is attitude everything?
pretty much.

God is love.
-rev-rob