Honestly, this weekend wiped me out. It seemed like about every minute was spoken for. The hard part too, was that I had an unusually high number of meetings throughout the week, so I felt a little bit like I was running on fumes. I know I’m supposed to say the following (this would be a cliché warning) but it’s absolutely true: God seemed to sustain & strengthen & keep me engaged.
• ANOINTED WORSHIP – I needed it! I love how God waters our souls as we declare His wonders, cry out for help, sing of our marvel at His mercy in our lives. Something about doing this together is so cool. I’m grateful for our team that leads us without getting in the way.
• DAD’S TRIBUTE – We put together a cool father’s day tribute. While we looped pics of dads & their kids that we had taken a few weeks ago, our band did a killer version of “Little Wonders” by Matchbox twenty or Rob Thomas. Silas Dobbs destroyed!
• GRAN TORINO MESSAGE – This was my favorite movie of the lot. I shared that I have been a long time Clint Eastwood aficionado, and lived close to Hmong people while in Fresno. I was a little thrown by a couple of complaints that people lobbed my way about the rough language in the movie. However, I believe this was the most redemptive movie that I’ve seen in a long time. The challenge was to limit the number of redemptive threads woven in the fabric of the story that I pulled on. I could tell that God was speaking to people during the message & have gotten a lot of feedback to that effect already.
• GRAN TORINO THE CAR – I love the cherry on top of the Sunday that our team brings to weekends. We had our car people looking all over from someone that had a Gran Torino. Butch Whitely knew a man named Gene Fisher who had a black one & was happy to let us have it out front. It was a little dirty (by his standards) so he was going to buff it out a little. Instead, he just REPAINTED THE CAR IN THE EXACT COLORS OF THE ONE IN THE FILM! Wow! Gene & I talked after the service & I got a mini education in cars, why that particular model was only made for one model year, why they are so rare. I’m not a car guy, but I love being around car guys. I think it made Gene smile to see how many of the dads & their kids were taking pics by the car for father’s day. It was cool. Pray for Gene! (I’ll post more pics when I can round them up) 
• SPORT MEMOROBILA SHOW – this has become a tradition for Father’s day. I love it. This year I brought my Phil Jackson signed game ball over. Thanks to Roger Sevier.
• SATURDAY WAS DAVID’S GRAD PARTY – we did a group open house with 4 other of David’s friend’s families. They are all musical so they played for everyone, which was fun. Brian Berry kind of MC-ed & led a great prayer for them at the end. I’m so grateful for our student ministries at Journey – speaking as both pastor & even more as a dad.
• WILDNESS FOR DAD’S DAY – my brother & sister in law were down from No Cal with their little guys for dad’s day. They are doing a week at Legoland. The kids are awesome… but crazy. I was hearing – “can you blah blah Uncle Ed” in my sleep. 
• SURF REPORT – finally got back in the warm water (about 65-67) for a sanity restoring surf session today.
There it is. The weekend that was. Now… GET OFF MY LAWN! (Gran Torino ref)
