Capture the Flag!!!

Every year on Thanksgiving or the day before or after, I rally a bunch of people together and we play a huge game of Capture the Flag.  This year, it wasn’t quite a huge game since pretty much nobody showed up, but it was still fun.  Bart, Austin, Johnny, Brandon, Chris, Austin’s friend, and I all went to the park behind the Boulton’s home to play this original Olympic game (that’s not true).

While it was fun, it did feel like it was missing something for a while.  I realized what it was when 4 cop cars came driving up on the grass with their spotlights on us, and saying over their microphone, “Get on the ground and put your hands at your side.  Lay on the ground!”  It was really kind of funny because they probably thought we were in a fight or something, but it is just a bunch of people playing a kids game…awesome.

It was less funny when I realized that they all had their guns drawn ready for action.

Apparently somebody driving by called the cops because they saw another one of Austin’s friends shooting at us with an AirSoft Gun that they didn’t realize was an Air Soft Gun.  We didn’t think anything of it because we knew they were just messing around.  The cops were not as understanding.  They found the kid and harassed him a bit, took his gun, but eventually let him go.  Once they let him go, the kids that had the Air Soft Guns joined us in Capture the Flag, so our game grew a bit.

It only got better when, in the final game, Austin’s friend David grabbed the flag and as he started running away Brandon accidentally threw him in the pond.  In the process, Brandon’s momentum dragged him into the pond as well, but only one leg.  His iPhone was spared…thank God.

Maybe this story will inspire those of you who wanted to come last night, but slacked and didn’t show up.  I know I would want to get a gun drawn on me and maybe get thrown in a pond…you totally missed out.

See ya next year!

I Love our Church Staff…

I know many of us feel this way, but don’t say it enough.  I am going to list the reasons why I love everybody on the Revolution Church Staff.

Jen – She is the glue that holds the whole thing together.  She busts her butt doing stuff that everybody takes for granted.  In addition to that, I love her heart for her family and her friendship.  Truly beautiful person.

Christopher – If there is one person that has blown my mind over the last year, it is Christopher.  He has stepped up in ways that most people don’t even know.  In some ways, he has picked up Revolution and put it on his back to keep the ball rolling.  His heart bleeds for ministry.  He is a great teacher and leader with a huge heart.  I love this guy.

Elijah – His ability to create an experience where you can encounter God through worship is uncanny.  Musically, he is amazing.  He loves God and loves to worship Him.  I love this guy.

Jenny – Her heart for kids is certainly one that is enviable.  She probably creates the most change in people’s lives of anybody at Revolution.  After all, you have the best chance to reach people for Christ when they are children.  In addition, she is a good friend to me and my wife and is especially pretty with braces .

Andrew – He cares so much for the people at Long Beach Campus and has a huge heart for serving others.  He is extremely generous and has an awesome heart for God.  He is a good friend for whom I am very thankful.

Keith – He has one of the biggest hearts of anybody I know.  He is basically the tall, male, redheaded version of my wife…who I love.  He is so talented (music, drama, art, etc.) it makes me jealous.  I appreciate his warmth and sincerity.

Devin – He is ridiculously creative.  I love that about this guy.  He is passionate about Jesus and reaching people for His kingdom.  In addition, he is freaking hilarious.

Jim – He is a volunteer staff member…enough said about his heart for ministry.  He is a guy that loves people and encourages people better than most anybody I know.  He is wise and brings a sense of unity to the staff.  Love him.

Darrenn – One of the most positive people I know.  He has a huge heart for his family, which I appreciate.  He is an awesome youth leader and great with the kids.  He is also freaking hilarious…I love being around him.

Pete – He is an amazing leader.  His list of accomplishments is huge and they all are out of the pouring over of his heart.  He is also hilarious and I am blown away by how calm he is during craziness.  That is craziness itself.  He’s the man.

These are the servants of Revolution Church.  They have been charged with leading volunteers and a church to do God’s work…and they love it.  That’s why we love them.

Morning Update to this Post:  Look at the comments.  I actually love what Angelo said.  It is impossible to completely put into words all of the positive things we feel about our church staff.  I can’t do it alone.  I would love it if you guys could keep this comment chain going.  How do you feel about our church staff?  They all read this so it is a good opportunity to tell them.  Keep it going!!!

Afternoon Update to this Post: It has been brought to my attention that Patti was somehow left off of this and that is a travesty.  Patti gets the very desireable job of having to handle the church’s money.  Let me tell you that is a tough job.  But, you know what…she does an awesome job at it.  I love Patti as she is part of the tag team that is my “Mom” in CA because my real mom is in TX.  That is a way tougher job than the money.  Love her…

NC and Wedding Recap

What’s interesting about flying across the country is you can leave at 6:45 am and not arrive until 5:00 pm.  That is life flying on Southwest Airlines.  My mom works for them so we always fly for free, but it always seems to be freaking early when we can get on a flight standby.

North Carolina is beautiful this time of year.  It has what people in other parts of the country call “seasons” and right now all the trees are red, orange, and yellow.  Of course, it rained on us all week so that wasn’t so beautiful.

It was a fun time.  All of my old friends were there and we hung out all weekend.  The most stressful part for me was being the best man in my best friend’s wedding.  There are actually quite a few responsibilities, none of which are more important than the toast.  Michael (my best friend), is an awesome orator and gave the toast at my wedding.  I wasn’t comparing, but I definitely wanted the toast to be remembered.  I thought about doing a completely ridiculous skit at the reception with somebody dressed as a chicken, but my friends and wife helped me think better of that.  So, I did what I think is the next best thing.  I wrote a toast that was accompanied by a video that I showed before the toast on a projector.

The maid of honor (Marla, Jennie’s sister) and I teamed up for the video.  We wanted it to be funny, crazy, and memorable.  We shot it in one hour, and thanks to Tara (videographer), edited it in about 4 hours the day before the wedding.  The premise for this video is that I had been having bad dreams about the toast and one of my dreams had magically been captured on this video.  I followed it up with a sentimental/funny toast.  Check it out

#1 Cause of Divorce…

A few weeks ago during the announcements at church, I let everybody know how much I hate laundry.  It is officially my least favorite chore.  What’s worse…Bridget hates it too.  It’s not that I don’t like clean clothes, I just hate the process required for the payoff.  I really don’t know that it’s worth it.

*Disclaimer* Bridget and I live in an apartment where it costs us $2 for a small load.

Until recently, laundry has been one of the number one causes of arguments between Bridget and I.  We both hate it.  We both treat it the same way, as if the other person should always take care of it.  Well, my friends, that’s how you end up with 2 weeks worth of laundry and enough resentment to fill a hot air balloon.  I believe that laundry, not money, is the number one cause of divorce.

Enter Spin Cycle: the saviour of marriages throughout greater Long Beach.  Spin Cycle offers full laundry service…FULL.  They will even pick up and drop off the laundry (We don’t use that…it’s right by us).  They charge 95 cents/lb.  It may sound like a lot, but it really isn’t much more.  What we have found is that it costs roughly about $10 more for 2 weeks of laundry.  Considering the time and frustration saved, not to mention that it saves marriages, it is so worth it.  I love it.

The Mecca of Marriage Healing

This place can heal Britney and K-Fed, Madonna and Guy, Mike Tyson and Robin Givens.  It is amazing.

Other features: Free Wi-Fi, Always staffed, Can have your laundry done by the end of the day if you drop it off in the morning, Starbucks coffee, and uses a debit style card so you don’t have to keep up with 100 quarters.

Bug a Boo 2k8

The title of this blog post alone sends shivers down my spine.  As many of you know, Bug a Boo is typically the craziest, most physically taxing day of the year for me.  It has always been a huge carnival that takes place on Halloween night and we invite the community to come and hang out with us.  There is always a huge payoff, but also a huge sacrifice for volunteers and staff members at Revolution.  In addition, there has always been a Life Group competition for the best game booth at Bug a Boo.  That is extra added stress for me due to my extremely competitive nature.  Everything changed on Friday, October 31, 2008.

Bug a Boo this year was a scaled back, local, more organic version of previous Bug a Boos…and it rocked face!!!  Not only did it rock because it didn’t occupy my soul for a week, but it was ridiculously effective!  All the Life Groups have been echoing this feeling that I have.  There were 4 Bug a Boos spread out through the greater Long Beach area (1 in Carson, 2 in Lakewood, 1 in Los Alamitos), and all 4 had great turnouts.  If I had to guess, I would say that at least 300 kids came to ours alone!  If you multiply that by 4….well friends, you have the biggest Bug a Boo ever.  Now, size doesn’t always matter, but there were “real” conversations going on between neighbors and people from Revolution Church.  It’s weird what happens when people see a group of people blessing their neighborhood with no strings attached.

Here are some pics of our Bug a Boo.  We were with Dave and Judi Thomas’ Life Group and Ron and Peggy Watson’s Life Group.  Enjoy!

The Punisher is totally hooking up with Batgirl! What will the rest of the Marvel Universe think?!

Mrs. Incredible, Bat Girl, and Super Girl

Just a few people that came by…even beelzebub made an appearance!

Even Hiro had a chance to stop by!!!

Just a few Superheros getting some relief

Best Costume of the Night

Cutest picture of the night

Bug a Boo 2K8

The title of this blog post alone sends shivers down my spine.  As many of you know, Bug a Boo is typically the craziest, most physically taxing day of the year for me.  It has always been a huge carnival that takes place on Halloween night and we invite the community to come and hang out with us.  There is always a huge payoff, but also a huge sacrifice for volunteers and staff members at Revolution.  In addition, there has always been a Life Group competition for the best game booth at Bug a Boo.  That is extra added stress for me due to my extremely competitive nature.  Everything changed on Friday, October 31, 2008.

Bug a Boo this year was a scaled back, local, more organic version of previous Bug a Boos…and it rocked face!!!  Not only did it rock because it didn’t occupy my soul for a week, but it was ridiculously effective!  All the Life Groups have been echoing this feeling that I have.  There were 4 Bug a Boos spread out through the greater Long Beach area (1 in Carson, 2 in Lakewood, 1 in Los Alamitos), and all 4 had great turnouts.  If I had to guess, I would say that at least 300 kids came to ours alone!  If you multiply that by 4….well friends, you have the biggest Bug a Boo ever.  Now, size doesn’t always matter, but there were “real” conversations going on between neighbors and people from Revolution Church.  It’s weird what happens when people see a group of people blessing their neighborhood with no strings attached.

Here are some pics of our Bug a Boo.  We were with Dave and Judi Thomas’ Life Group and Ron and Peggy Watson’s Life Group.  Enjoy!

Nobody likes a vegetarian!!!

So, last weekend I accidentally didn’t eat any meat.  I didn’t even realize it unitl Saturday was pretty much over.  I thought to myself, “For breakfast I had eggs, for lunch we went to a vegetarian cafe, and for dinner I had cheese pizza.  I’m totally a vegetarian today!!”  Although it was kind of a joke, I was kind of challenged by the possibility of being a veg.  The more I thought about it, the more it excited me.

It has been a week now, and I haven’t eaten any meat.  Although I feel un-American and definitely un-Texan, I think I can totally do this!  It makes things a bit easier since Birge is already a veg and has tested  what works and what doesn’t.  She was basically my guinea pig.  I think it will actually be more healthy for me as well since I basically never ate vegetables before.

Self-Portrait

It actually makes life a bit easier too because now we can just make one meal for both of us!!

Knowing Charlie’s Blogging History…

Why Blurred Gaze??

First, if you know me at all, you are probably thinking this is another feeble attempt by me to start another blog.  You may be right.  I make no promises anymore.  I have learned to under-promise and over-deliver through the years and I will do that now.

Why Blurred Gaze? – I feel like God has me in a very specific situation in life right now.  Currently, God has me serving him in Long Beach, CA and that’s awesome.  I never thought my life would look like this though.  I expected to “have it all together”.

Enter God…I’m learning that my plan for my life is not necessarily God’s plan for my life…enter flexibility.  I felt like I had a vision on where I should be in life by now, but God shook that out of me.  My vision became hazy.  So hazy that I can barely see what is standing right in front of me.

Honestly, it’s kind of exciting.  I am learning to trust in God more than ever before and letting him truly lead my life.  After all, the more I try to look deep into the future the more I find that I have a Blurred Gaze.