13 CARS

At least 13 cars were broken into today, while their occupants were at CHURCH!!!

We have limited parking so we have asked some of our key people to park in the more remote places off site. As a result, most of the people who had their cars broken into today are our regulars. At least 4 are our staff or their families that I'm aware of. One girl from our high school program lost her purse and the pearls her mom gave her for graduation. One guy from our high school leadership team lost an ipod and an acoustic guitar he uses for our weekend services. Our middle school director lost her ipod.

Crazy I tell you. If I find the guilty party... I'm not sure whether I'm supposed to invite them to church or punch them on behalf of my friends. I hate it when people steal stuff. Maybe I should punch them and then invite them to church. But I'm guessing that won't work so great.

Loving your enemies is easier said than done.

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HOW TO CATCH A SEA GULL

HAVE YOUR FRIENDS LAY OLD BREAD AND POPCORN AS A TRAIL LEADING UP AND ONTO YOU. HIDE UNDER A TOWEL.

WAIT FOR THE BIRDS TO GET ENOUGH GUTS TO EAT FOOD ON YOU.


WAIT FOR ONE TO STAND ON YOUR CHEST.

MOVE FAST AND TRY AND CATCH ONE.

IF IT DOESN'T WORK. TRY AGAIN WITH A FRIEND THIS TIME.

MOVE REALLY FAST


THEN UNWRAP THE BIRD YOU JUST CAUGHT


GOTTA LOVE BORED HIGH SCHOOL MEN. THEY ARE PURE COMEDY.

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ALL DAY AT THE BEACH

We took our youth group for a summer kick off party of at South Mission beach yesterday. Sucks to live in San Diego, but I guess someone's got to do it. 12 hours. 10am to 10pm. Surfing, volleyball, bocce ball, frisbee, fire pit, laughter, friendship, hot dogs, smores, sunsets. Tough day at the office.

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FATHERS DAY PICS

Last Sunday we celebrated Father's day with a trip to church, followed by a trip to see Kung Fu Panda (super funny- you should see it). I then took a nap of which I awoke from to experience an amazing "Land and Sea" dinner dreamed up by my wife and her mom. We then polished it off with some ice cream cake and a few presents. My family made me a custom coffee mug with pics from my year of field trips. So great.

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IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW #3

• BRIDES ARE SAVING MONEY: by buying cakes that only have a real top layer. The rest is just frosting covered styrofoam and guests are served look-a-like cheap cake. HA! That's great!

• MY TURN ON FAITH: Newsweek has this article every week called "myturn". This months article is from a gay man and is titled, "let me worship as I am". It's a search for faith and meaning in the Christian church while feeling designed by God to be gay. He ends up finding it in the Episcopal tradition. The quote that made me think was this one, "I wish I could be spiritual but not religious thereby bypassing early Sunday rising and the challenges of community". I wonder if escaping community is really a helpful step in affirming ones spirituality. I don't think it is.
  

• WIKI BIBLE: Wikipedia meets the Bible. Ever wanted to write your own translation of a book of the Bible? Well, now's your chance. They are assembling a user generated translation of the Bible. My old boss used to call brainstorming, "pooling our ignorance". I used to hate that phrase. But here it seems oddly appropriate.

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IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW #2

These are from reading a few of the latest TIME magazines:

• This guy named Dave is challenging people to get their material possessions down to 100. He says it's to kick consumerism in the head. Mother Teresa had it down to two. I'm a far cry from both. I want to say I believe in simplicity and I'm trying to fight my own consumerism blood that runs too deep, but maybe I'm just lying to myself..., but this would mean I would have to eat with my hammer and wear nothing but an extension cord. I'm so getting rid of the forks and pants before my tools go.

• It is evidently illegal to use your neighbors unsecured wireless network. I recently rode all the way to LA and back with my kid for a Disneyland trek and sat next to a dad who works for the DMV to catch identity thieves. He says you're an idiot if your wireless network is not password encoded and if someone uses it consistently for illegal stuff, well the feds just might kick down your door and confiscate all your belongings as evidence. So, word to the wise... put a security code on your wireless router.
  

• China is spending 20 billion on Olympic training through 3000 state run boarding schools that have some 400,000 hand picked students based from cities and remote villages. Why? One reason: to beat the US in the Olympics for the most number of Gold medals. How's that for the spirit of competition?
  

• Obama got so annoyed by the rumors about his faith and family and patriotism and stuff that he started his own website to compete against them. www.fightthesmears.com

• If you love almonds. You're supposed to eat 23 at a time. That's evidently the same amount that fits in a shot glass (if you love vodka too) or the amount that covers a classic square yellow sticky note (if you love all things sticky noteish too). This is a website devoted to all things almonds if you want help. Um.. I so just eat them by the handful. Maybe that explains a few things.
  

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