Tomkat

What is a picture of this guy doing on my blog, you may ask? I don't know if you saw the news, (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070627/ap_on_en_mo/tom_cruise) but it seems Germany wants nothing to do with Tom and his wacky Scientology. He was in town to film a movie when the government recognized the deceptive nature of his religion and pulled the plug on production. Government in action, way to go! This gives validity to the sermon I preached a few months ago when we were in our series on cults. It doesn't take a whole lot of study to discover the comic book nature of Scientology. Don't forget, L. Ron Hubbard was originally a science fiction writer who just kept on writing when he created Scientology.

In our town there is a controversy brewing on the upcoming Padres game that simultaneously promotes "Kids floppy hat night" and Gay pride. (See the front page of today's Union Tribune or visit www.signonsandiego.com and navigtet to "Today's Paper.") Nice timing on that one Padres. Pastors I know personally are fighting this one and I plan on joining the fray.

Yesterday I took a group of people from out of town up to Mt. Soledad. I got to show them the cross and explain how a small group of extremely vocal atheists and mostly non-Christians have managed to push their agenda and potentially see the cross come down. It's the same thing the the minority Gay community has managed to do, push their agenda on mainstream America. I believe it is our job as Christians (with love, not hate that is unfortunately usually associated with Christians voicing their opposition to the Gays) to push back.

Living the high life

What a great weekend I had. I got to see the new movie, Evan Almighty as well as attend game three of the Padres-Red Sox series.

What a strange thing to hear my name repeated over and over on the big screen. Growing up, my name was rare and I was usually the only Evan anyone knew. I was pleased to see prayer, Bible reading, dialog with "God" (Morgan Freeman) and a man finally surrendering to God's plan for his life in a mainstream movie.

I don't know how many of you have seen this movie, but I thought it was great. I keep hearing negative reviews on the movie and can't understand why. Either I am no longer in the "too young, too hip, hard to please demographic" or just enjoy good clean movies. I hope it's the later. Once I passed 40 I gave up trying to like all things "youth" just to be cool. I can't tolerate MTV and it's whiny 20 somethings who try to convince us they are having a "quarter life crisis." Give me a break. Whenever I hear some angst-ridden 22 year old complaining about a lousy love life on the radio (think Blink 182 and all the bands that sound like them today) I can't change the station quick enough.

All that to say, I really enjoyed Evan Almighty. I thought the movie did a great job of allowing us to see what it must have been like for Noah to build an ark and follow God's "crazy" plan in the midst of scoffing and disbelieving friends and neighbors. The bigger lesson in the movie was that when God has a plan for your life, you are foolish to try and avoid it or run from it. (Think Jonah also.) Evan Baxter does that for the first half of the movie. Once he comes to his senses and starts doing God's work, he has peace and a clear sense of direction. Now there is some good theological lessons for us today! Let me know what you thought of the movie, I'd love to hear your comments.

Finally, I need to thank Steve Bishop for treating Zach, Ben, Eli and myself to a luxury sky box Padres/Red Sox game on Sunday afternoon. (Forgot to bring the camera, sorry.) There was all the food and drink you wanted, plus killer seats right above left field. Unfortunately the Padres lost and there were way to many Red Sox fans at the game. (I'm guessing a lot of transplants from Boston who hate the weather and now soak up the San Diego climate but feverishly root for their home team.) It's fun to live the high life for one afternoon and pretend you can afford something like that.

I too am blessed with an amazing wife

If you have been following the news about the Graham family, you know it was just a matter of time before Ruth Graham died. She lived a full life and no doubt it was her time to go and be with God. As is often the case when a couple is married a long time, don't be surprised if Billy Graham dies soon also. Makes sense to me. When two people devote their lives to each other, they are connected in so many deep ways that it really is hard to fathom. Look what happened with Johnny Cash and his wife June Carter-Cash. They died within months of each other.

Certainly the main reason that Billy Graham had so much success over the years is that he was used by God in a mighty way. He was/is a humble man who has managed, (by God's grace) to stay out of any major public trouble. I can also guarantee that a major part of his success was the support and love of his wife. She basically raised the 5 kids while he traveled the world preaching the gospel. She was the behind the scenes hero of that family. God bless her.

This may sound bad, but I'll be excited for Billy Graham when he dies. He'll get to see his beautiful bride again as well as join her in the presence of God Almighty. I fully expect the world-wide media to laud praise on Billy Graham for the work he did over his lifespan.

On a personal note, I have a much, much smaller platform that God has allowed me to preach from. I am extremely grateful for the ministry I have at Coastlands Church. So, I just want you all to know right now that the secret to the small time success that God has given me is also due in large part to Kelley. When we met 21 years ago, she had no idea she was signing up to be a pastor’s wife and eventually the mother of our 5 children. She is an amazing woman and it has been my privilege and joy to watch her grow and develop into a great wife and mother. When my time comes to go and be with the Lord, I hope people recognize the huge significant factor she has been in my life and ministry. I am one blessed dude. Thanks Kelley. I love you.

A bunch o kids

(Lots of kids enjoying lunch, and still missing two babies in the house!)

Even though we serve a big God and we do our best to dig deep into our theological understanding of how he works, at times it doesn't all make sense. Granted, God has the right to be angry and "hate" whoever or whatever he wants to. On Sunday we'll take a look at this word "hate" and how it applies to God.

When we talk about God's hatred toward Esau it does not involve disgust, disdain or a desire for revenge. That better describes human hatred for another human. In the story of Jacob and Esau, Esau is really just the one loved less. Hopefully that will get you interested in coming on Sunday and hearing the rest of my thoughts on this topic.

Last Saturday we had the Wards over with their four kids. Needless to say we had a housefull of kids counting our 5. It was good fun, we all swam (except for the Mom's who are waiting for the pool to reach 90), but also needed to tend after new baby girls in each of our families. Roch and Laurie have a great story with their kids. After the doctor telling them they "could not" have babies on their own, they had the triplets via surrogacy. Then God blessed them with their own biological baby. And that my friends, is a prime example of how even when we dig deep into our theology, God can still astound us! I love that part about my Christian life. Please God, astound me all the time.

Surf Bus

Now there's a great photo. I know a lot of people consider the Woody the only Vintage Surf Vehicle, but for us VW Bus owners, the buses are right up there in the coolness factor. Besides, it's a lot easier to camp in a Bus than a Woody.

More surf stuff

I remembered I had this funky picture on the back of a t-shirt. Now if only the car featured would've been a 1960 VW Microbus deluxe...

A surfers memorial

It’s one thing to read about the Lex talionis in Exodus 21 and yet a whole ‘nother thing to see how that applies today. This topic became especially relevant with the current death of a local surfer in La Jolla. He was beat to death by four of his “friends”.

I was thinking that certainly the family of Emery Kauanui who was beat to death must want just punishment for these four men. Yet in talking with Henry Wagner after church I learned that his mother has been talking about forgiving these four men. Now that is an amazing application for this Old Testament passage. That ties in perfectly the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:38-42 where he tell us to "turn the other cheek" and forgive.

One big hint that allows us to better understand this mothers forgiveness is that fact the the memorial service held before the paddle out (pictured left) was at Coast Vineyard Christian Fellowship. For the mother to be able to start to forgive her sons murderers, is truly an act of God. I pray that the words spoken by the pastor at his service will communicate the message of God's love and forgiveness for everyone involved in this tragic death.

Lunch at Chipotles

Every other Sunday a group of people head over to Chipotles for lunch. Here is actual proof! It is a harmless enough activity and a great way to get to know others from our church. Please come on by, especially if you are looking for ways to connect.

Bible passages we may not understand

It seemed like things went pretty well on Sunday. We dove into difficult bible passage number 2. If you have any additional thoughts you'd like to add from our discussion on Sunday, post away!

I'll go ahead and post the sermons for the rest of the summer. If you have any insights into these passages you 'd like to share before we actually cover them on Sunday, I'd love to hear from you.

Here are the passages we'll look at this summer:
From the Old Testament:
June 3 Gen. 1-2:4 The creation account, God's omnipotence etc.
June 10 Ex. 21:12-36 Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, retaliation?
June 17 2 Kings 23:26 The Lord did not turn away his fierce anger
June 24 Malachi 1:2-3 God loved Jacob but hated Esau

From Jesus:
July 1 Matt. 5:27-30 Adultery/sins of the heart
July 8 Mark 10:11-12 Divorce and remarriage
July 15 Matt. 10:34-36 Jesus did not come to bring peace but a sword
July 22 Matt. 22:14 Many are called but few are chosen
July 29 Mark 3:28-29 The sin against the Holy Spirit

From Paul:
August 5 Rom. 6:2,7 Dead to sin?
August 12 1 Cor. 14:33-35 & 1 Timothy 2:11-12 Silence in the churches/No women teachers
August 19 2 Cor. 6:14 Don't be yoked (married) with unbelievers
August 26 Phil. 2:12-13 Work out your salvation?

Belief in God

For those of you in church on Sunday, I hope you enjoyed the introduction to the summer series, "Difficult Bible Passages." Obviously I was speaking to those who already believe in God. My premis was if you believe in God, then believing that he created the heavens and the earth as well as all living creatures should be a natural step. From there, that should help you to believe other passages of the Bible you may not understand.

At our elders meeting after church, Josh made the point that maybe we need to "prove" that God exisits first. That's a whole 'nother topic and sermon. In reality, no one can "prove" that God exists. Either your heart is soft and willing to listen to the voice of God to even become a believer or you are stubborn and prideful and don't want to believe in God.

What do you all think, can we prove that God exists?

Foundational beliefs

Genesis 1 is foundational to our faith, how we view God, theology, the Bible etc. It is packed with key verses that form the basis of our understanding of God and the Bible.

If you can believe God has existed eternally, created the universe, man and animals, then you can believe that the rest of the guidelines God has for us in the Bible really are good for us.

So many people want to jump ahead and wrestle/debate other "crazy" Bible stories after all, who can believe them? You know, Adam and Eve, the fall, sin. Noah? The ark, all those animals? What is the purpose of all those "wierd" OT laws? Moses, the plagues. Jesus and the claims he made. His virgin birth. Miracles. Walking on water. Rising from the dead, the list goes on for many people.

All those can be answered and settled with a fundamental understanding of Genesis 1.

(This has been a special sneak preview of Sunday's sermon. Come to Coastlands Church, 9:30am on Sunday to hear the rest!)