Tree to Firewood

So we took some large pieces of a live oak tree trunk and made them into firewood this evening with some help of friends and a log splitter. It almost made me feel like one of the Ax Men on the History Channel. Below are pictures of the progression, from tree to firewood.

A living Live Oak tree ...

the tree that was cut down at the Bradley Lodge ...
a few of the logs we needed to cut ...
splitting one of the massive logs ...

a sample cut log ...

lots and lots of cut firewood, getting ready for the 2009-2010 winter ...

Thriving Musician Summit

I had a fantastic opportunity to act as a "Break Out" team lead at Bayside and Christian Musician Summit's "Thriving Musician Summit" Friday and Saturday that was presented by World Vision. It was amazing to see all of the Bayside volunteers and staff work together to pull off a great conference, not to mention getting all of the class rooms, worship center, lobby and courtyard changed from a conference setup with rented chairs and tables, massive exhibits and A/V equipment to a fully functioning church in 30 minutes. The Musician summit had some amazing speakers and artists at it, everyone from my friends, to Mia Fieldes and Ben Fielding from Hillsong United and Hillsong in Australia to Phil Wickham (who I got to drive back to his hotel) to Paul Baloche to Jeff Scott and Norm Stockton to Tom Brooks (who I also drove) and Brandon Yip. Then there was Lincoln Brewster's "CD Pre-Release Concert" for "Today is the Day" at Bayside Friday night. Although I did not sit on the floor, I did watch from a room above the Worship Center, so that was pretty fun, and I saw a few friends from First Covenant that I had not seen in a long time.

"Today is the Day" video - filmed at Bayside's "Come Together 2007" at Arco Arena in Sacramento.

Ray at the Shore

Ray Johnston, one of Bayside's pastors spoke at the Shore tonight to what was probably a record crowd of 500+. Just a year ago when I started going to ministry was large with 150-200, now it is one of the fastest growing college and 20 something ministries in California. But in all reality, the numbers themselves mean nothing, it is about the lives that are and have been changed because of the ministry of Bayside, the Shore and countless other churches and ministries throughout the world. Tonight Ray spoke about "Miracles in Someone Else's Life," explaining how God uses weak and imperfect people, like us, to do his work.

Where did your city rank?

So normally I don't really care about research studies about cities, but I thought this one was interesting. The Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners Best Performing Cities Index ranks U.S. metropolitan areas by how well they are creating and sustaining jobs and economic growth. The components include job, wage and salary and technology growth. In 2007 Sacramento ranked number 25, but with recent economic downturns and home foreclosures throughout the Sacramento region its 2008 ranking plummeted to number 58. Bakersfield was the top California city at number 12, although I'm not planning on moving there anytime soon.

To see where your city ranked, check out the report.

California Museum

I had the opportunity to actually go in the lobby of the California Museum (I drive past it every day on my way to work) today. I normally just see the backs of the decorated Mickey statues, but this time I saw what they really looked like. It looks like it would be a great museum to actually pay and go into, so maybe one of these days I will go in. I think the only problem with living in a city is that you never do the "tourist" things, even if they are good. I also got to see California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Body By Jake' "Jake Steinfeld" at a press conference where Arnold gave Jake a limited edition "Terminator" watch, so that was fun too.

Events at Bayside

Bayside's Olympic style ministry faire took place this weekend, it was great to see everyone in their Olympic clothing. From boxing to badminton to track and field, all train hard and continue to go for the gold in their daily and weekly ministries.

Upcoming Bayside events that you don't want to miss ...

Thursday, September 18 ... Ray Johnston (Bayside's Senior Pastor) will be speaking. Friday and Saturday (September 19 and 20) is the Thriving Musicians Summit, I will be there as a volunteer. If you're not a musician, but want to see an amazing concert, you can do that too ... Friday, Lincoln Brewster and Phil Wickham will be joined by Mia Fields and Ben Fielding from Hillsong United for an awesome Pre-CD Release Concert of Lincoln's new CD "Today is the Day." If you're busy Friday night, then come to Bayside Saturday or Sunday and join Lincoln Brewster for weekend services (Saturday at 4:30 and 6:15 pm, Sunday at 8:15, 9:45 and 11:30 am)Some of your may remember my post from Consumed in February, the Shore will be having another retreat, next month. Awakened.

Carpet Cleaning

So I was just going to quickly shampoo the carpet in my bedroom because there was a small stain on it .... 4 hours later, the whole house was done, oops. It was worth it though. Also, I had forgotten to post a project that my dad and I worked on a few weeks ago ... another new fence. It looks great and gives us a few more feet of clearance to park our trailer.

Remember

Seven years ago today, our country and the world stood still. People were in shock, air travel was halted, people watched wall to wall television coverage, people prayed, people gave. Today we took the time to remember. Memorials were dedicated, people stood silent, people reflected. After hearing Mindi Russell speak tonight at Bayside's The Shore, I was reminded that our country can come together in times a tragedy, I was shown how "God can take a tragedy, that He did not create, and do amazing, powerful things."

Greater Things

"Greater Things," an interesting choice of words in a week that reminds us of the tragic events that happened on September 11, 2001. How could something so tragic remind us that "Greater things have yet to come?" Church attendance was up 25% in the five Sunday's after 9/11 (The American Church in Crisis); the county showed a renewed sense of patriotism; we remembered our fire fighters and other public servants; and we rallied to help others, but seven years later, have we forgotten? Yes, memorials have opened and others are in the works, but I still have to wonder "are greater things still to come?"

Mindi Russell, a Sacramento area chaplain and senior chaplain at the World Trade Center site after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, will be speaking at the Shore this Thursday, to both remind everyone of what happened and to share some of the great things that have come since and are still to come. Perhaps "Greater Things" are to come.

Timber ...

Unfortunately, some pine beetles felt they should eat a tree on Bradley Lodge property a few months ago, this week the tree came tumbling down with the help of a local lumberjack.

This weekend's Bradley Lodge visit was busy. Most importantly, Luke and family came to the Lodge so that they could experience the "earthquake" that happened when a 60 foot section of the tree finally came down. We also took our final four loads of pine needles, leaves and dead wood to the yard waste recycler (a total of 19 trailer loads went this year, hopefully there will be less next year). For fun we went to Spicer Reservoir for the one year reunion of Erin and Eric's Wedding. It was really kind of cool, not just to see everyone again, but because the day after they got married was the first day my family started looking for what would be the Bradley Lodge. Who knew that after seeing over 4o cabins and lodges, we would buy the second one we saw.

Labor Day Weekend 2008 marked the one year anniversary of the Bradley Lodge and hopefully we will have many more fun weekends and years at the Lodge.

Joe's Crab Shack

Well, I have boycotted Joe's Crab Shack in Old Sacramento since my first visit after it opened about 5 years ago, until tonight. My first visit featured a long wait for a table, despite being able to see about 30 open ones throughout the dining room and was followed by bad food and worse service. Tonight's visit had great company, a group of 10 from Bayside and the wait was only about 30 minutes. It was going so well. Then they brought out 8 of the 10 main dishes, forgetting 2. So I'll give Joe's a "B-", maybe when I try it again in 2013, they will have it perfected.

Anyway, it was still a lot of fun to walk through what remained of Gold Rush Days in Old Sacramento and to hang out with everyone and their iPhones.

Good Times

I had the opportunity to see and be inspired by Nick Vujicic this weekend, he was amazing. Check out his Web site for more details. We also did some work around the house ... finished a new front fence and mowed the lawn. Then it was off to hang out with friends at a pool party and game night.