Has it been that long?

I can't believe it's been a week since I last blogged. Leading up to Easter Sunday, things have been ridiculously busy; in fact so busy I've blogged less, slept less, read less, even my personal thought time has been much less. When it gets busy though a few things that I absolutely refuse to let go of are the following:

Journaling/Reading the Bible
Prayer
Family time

All of the above are my non negotiables in life. I won't replace these, negotiate them, make a deal on them or any other way you wanna slice or dice it. I refuse to let my non negotiables leave my life. What are you non negotiables?

Sunday Recap

-You know that feeling you get when you enter into Disneyland "This is one special place" Yeah I got that when I walked into our church today

-The smells coming out of the kitchen were amazing, but the smiles on BJ's and Aunty Carolyns face were mo betta.

-Thousands of bacon slices later, and my hands still smell of pork product. My favorite smell. Still think Glade should put out a Bacon Smelling Air Freshner. Reminds me of camping.

- So we cooked for the community today, we had a great turn out. Timed things a little off, but Troy Lepisi and his imagination are incredible. (Tap your man)

- All I can what the Easter Production crew did today with the amount of space that they had was incredible.

-Bre, you still got it girl. Let me know when your ready for Victory Symphony. BTW I'm thinking a Saturday night, something totally out of the box, big time promotion. Huge lights outside, coffee house prelude, live music, then it's all yours.

-PBen was totally honored by what Milpitas worship team did. Whose idea was that? Honor and appreciation are wonderful things. PBen, thanks for everything, keep up the great work.

- It was awesome seeing some close friends of mine make it for this weekends event. Gia I know you read this blog, we're praying for ya. You got family at CWC don't ever forget that. It was great seeing you and Cara.

-I love putting my boy Santz on the spot, you should see his eyes when I setup him up to do something he's not expecting to do.

-Final dance routine was awesome. Slap some white mask on that dance crew and you have the Christian Jabbawockeez.

Good times today at CWC Milpitas. Thank you everyone who worked their tails off, cooked their tails off, and put their tail on the line to make it all happen. San Jose campus is going to rock next week. I'll have a video up soon from this weekend. Much Love everyone and Thank You Jesus!

Confessions of a Pastor

So I'm watching Hells Kitchen tonight. There's this guy, can't even remember what his name is but he annoys the heck out of me. This guy is so driven that he tries to produce fancy dishes that nobody even knows what they are called. The other two guys on the guys team just have a good time and honestly I would much rather have a meal from the guys that just have a good time cooking. I realized I'm the guy that is so driven. My standard is so high I can't even meet it anymore, I can't even have fun at times. I love God, and the reason why I am in ministry is because I can't help but do something for Him because He's touched my life. The ministry idol has to die, it has to. A scripture that I read this week 1 Corinthians 16:14 "Do everything in Love" keeps ringing in my head. I love God, I love people, I love life and I don't want to mess it up. I am nothing without God, without His Love and without Him leading my heart, I'm just some foolish guy that is crazy enough to live with huge dream, and crazy enough to think that God can use him to touch the world. Practically speaking I'm finding myself needing to get back to heart much more often as I dream bigger and chase closer. I constantly have to go back to heart because otherwise I'm just crazy.

Fruitfulness pt. 2

How do you measure fruit?

Recently I took the family to Southern California and along the way down highway 5 orchards are a common sight. Since spring was around the corner the trees had blossomed and it looked like snow. Every single blossom represented a fruit or a nut that would eventually be harvested. Just about every orchard that I saw also contained smaller trees, trees that had not yet produced fruit, but they would eventually, they just needed some time.

I believe this is the picture of our lives when Jesus said we are to bear much fruit. Fruit is the litmus test of Christ present and active in my life. Fruit is the condition test of my heart. Fruit is the measuring stick of my maturity. Fruit is the influence test of my character. Fruit is evident in every part of my life. Is my marriage growing? How have I grown as a parent? How have I grown as a Christian, and the list can go on.

I believe you measure fruit in three areas.

1) How is my heart? Without transformation of my heart there is little to any fruit at all and what's there will eventually spoil if the heart is not constantly monitored.

2) How is my growth? They key in seeing if any plant is alive is verifying it's growth it's the same in our lives. Is my marriage, parenting, character, spiritual life growing?

3) Am I duplicating? Is my life producing something in others. Fruit is not too keep it's to give away. Generosity, forgiveness, serving, love, just some of the areas that fruit is easily monitored.

Faithfulness is just showing up, it's showing up to a church, a job, a marriage, and parenting.
Fruitfulness shows up and then some, it produces, it's alive, it's constant and consistent.

"I don't want to just show up in life, I want to show up and then some..."