Snow is not very common here on the north coast of California. In fact the most snow in a 24 hour period was back in 1907 (can you say global warming, oh wait that was too long ago, never mind) when we got a whopping 3.4 inches. Yesterday, certain areas of my homeland recieved a dusting of snow (seen in the pic below). I wept with joy and attempted to make a snow/hail angel before it melted, to no avail. I can only hope I’ll be alive in 2107 when it is sure to happen again.

P.S. In the last few days we’ve had a 5.4 earthquake and snow. I’d think twice if you were considering moving to this hell hole.

Those of you who know me are fully aware of the fact that I’m a lover of fine R&B and Hip-Hop.
In the early and mid-nineties there was an interesting string of hit R&B songs that were originally country songs. Hip-Hop of course has always had samples from earlier funk, and soul music and occasionally some rock as well. The newest trend that is kind of interesting is acoustic versions of some of the top Hip-Hop/R&B stuff.

Here are a couple for your enjoyment:
Hey Ya, by Outkast - covered by Obadiah Parker
Crazy, by Gnarls Barkley - covered by Ray LaMontagne
And here’s a humorus Blue Grass version of Gin & Juice by Snoop Dogg - covered by The Gourds. (profanity included)

We had a pretty good shaker at 4:20 this morning as a 5.4 earthquake woke us up.

I’ve just begun reading an interesting book called “The Myth of a Christian Nation.” The central thesis is that it’s impossible to build God’s kingdom within the framework of our political system and that the myth of America having been a Christian nation isn’t true - and so the statement that we’ve heard of “taking back America for God” is based on false pretense.

Why is it impossible to build God’s kingdom within the current political framework of America? Because the two are vastly different. The kingdom Jesus sought to build was based on servant leadership. You can bet there were political issues just as hot as gay marriage and abortion in his culture, yet the only cultural issues Jesus ever stood against publicly were religious ones.

Can you imagine if Jesus had used legislation to change peoples lives? Passing a law against abortion doesn’t change people. What Jesus did was spoke to the hearts of people and the revelation they received pin-pointed their sin and was the impetus for change. Policies, legislation, and law don’t change lives. Jesus does.

It’s time for the evangelical nation to realize that and rally behind Jesus again and not a political candidate - we’ve seen where the latter has lead us.

I just learned how to make .gif’s - you know, those annoying flashing pictures that you see all over the internet. Watch out, because I’m going to be throwing them all over the place.

Here’s one I made for our college group:

Things are finally slowing down a bit after a quick start to the year. Between church, traveling, and family visiting we’ve been super busy. As I look down the road at this year it seems like this is probably going to be a trend. We have a wedding a month to go to, starting in June and going through November, with a 2 week mission trip to Thailand in between. Several friends of ours will be leaving the area this year for school or other adventures so it will be interesting to see what life looks like at the end of the year.

I was telling Jess the other day that I remember a day when the longest I would look ahead in life would be a couple of months and I find myself now looking ahead a year at minimum. Maybe that’s another mark of adulthood?

As a weekend blessing, I would like to share with you Hip Hop how it was meant to be. Several friends from my YWAM days have joined forces to form the Hip Hop super group Sparrow Love Crew. They recently finished a West Coast tour and have cut a modest little mixtape which you can listen to by clicking the picture below. You can also hear some other tracks at their myspace.

Have a great weekend!

I think one of the big ’signs of the time’ that gives the most accurate picture of spirituality in America is a little cult called Scientology. This ‘religion’ has been getting a lot of attention because of Tom Cruise and seems to be very popular amongst the hollwood crowd.
But seriously, why would anyone adopt a religion that was founded by a guy who wrote sci-fi novels? I have this feeling that L. Ron Hubbard is chuckling to himself and thinking, “the best fiction I ever wrote was this Scientology stuff…suckers.”

It does make sense that Hollywood would latch onto it though. Think about being an actor. You’re always preparing for the next role, pretending you’re someone you’re not, and literally living and working in a fictional world. So it makes sense that an individual who lives partly in la, la, land would have no problem adopting and fully believing in a ridiculous religion.

Current spirituality in America today very accurately represents the values of our culture. In a world of consumerism where we have endless options, it’s no surprise that religions are being so muddied and blurred that no one really knows what they believe.

What is truth?