This is what the tri-tips looked like after being in the BGE for 1.25 hours at 250-275 degrees.

Here we are taking the tri-tips off after searing them for 8 minutes at 550 degrees.

Here is the grilled pineapple. Sprinkled with a little salt to bring out the flavor. This smelled amazing when you opened the Big Green Egg. It smelled like a dessert all on its own.

Here is one of the tri-tips sliced and looking nice and pink from the smoking process.

Here is the final product. Great tri-tip with sauted mushrooms, grilled pineapple, baked beans and cole-slaw. Aaron, the beans were amazing.

Jay-Zeezer

Well, I am not normally a fan of rap and hip-hop, but I do realize it has a lot to do with the lack of time I have put into listening to the different genres of music. I was pointed to this site earlier today, and I have been loving it. It is a mix of the Weezer "Blue" album and Jay-Z's Black album. If you are a Weezer fan, you will want to give this a listen. But be careful, because you might start to like the tempo of Jay-Z's rapping.

Some Good Eats

Well,

I would post about the amazing steaks we had last night, but Aaron Friesen did that for me. So, check out his post and pictures.

Some Good Hip Hop

Thanks to my man Wess, I have been enjoying some free Danger Doom hip hop courtesy of adult swim.

Much to Rejoice

This weekend has been one of those kind where there is so much to be thankful for and to rejoice about. My family was down for graduation, and we were able to spend it in our new place. So far I have really enjoyed homeownership, however, I have come into contact with the "list". Basically, as you go about the home, you realize all these things you either need to do or would like to do, and immediately there is a list of things to improve in your head. I know that I need to pace and relax myself, so I can truly enjoy the journey and not lose sight of the fun of this adventure with Shannon. Take for example right now. I am sitting outside on our patio, enjoying the bottle of red wine my brother brought back from France, and loving the 70 degree temperature on a lazy Sunday night, and breaking in the Big Green Egg BBQ I received this weekend as a graduation gift. I seriously cannot wait to BBQ some food on this thing. I was trying to explain to Shannon just how good the chicken would be, and she just rolled her eyes as I held back tears. It will be that good, and I will post some pics of the final product...if I remember. Well, I will continue to enjoy this night outside, in the cool breeze, enjoying my glass of wine with the smell of 100% lump charcoal. Ahhh, it is so good.

Emergent Conversation

Tony Jones offers two great articles (scroll down for the first one) on the Emergent movement. I am always struck by how the Modern world has a hard time not boxing people into definitions or labels. I know that living with some ambiguity was one of the hardest things for me when I joined this conversation, but now it is incredibly liberating.


BTW thanks to JR for the link to these articles.

Where do you fall in the Theological scale?

This is how I came out in the theological/doctrine test to see where I fall.



You scored as Emergent/Postmodern. You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology.
You feel alienated from older forms of church,
you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this.

Emergent/Postmodern		79%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan		54%
Neo orthodox		54%
Roman Catholic		46%
Charismatic/Pentecostal		43%
Modern Liberal		32%
Classical Liberal		29%
Reformed Evangelical		21%
Fundamentalist		11%

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

Pat Robertson--He will Pump You Up

You need to check out CBN's website, saying that Pat Robertson can leg press 2000 pounds. Nope, I did not make a typo, but I hope they did.

Youth Film Festival

Shannon joined me as part of my class headed to downtown Los Angeles for a youth film festival. The festival was hosted at the Bresee Foundation. This community center offers amazing services to the Pico Union, South Central LA, and Korea Town population. It was quite remarkable to see the many different resources and services they offer to a community that could easily be overlooked. I was impressed with the range of ages they serve. When you first walk into the building, you come across the medical clinic, which offers low cost/no cost medical attention to children. Down the hall is a Computer lab, offered to adults 18 and over. The cost to use this computer lab is $5 for a year!!! Down the hall from that is a Youth Center, filled with a pool table, games, food, and just places to hang out. The schedule of the center goes like this: from 3-4pm, the teens are able to come in, unwind, and just hang out. From 4-5pm is a mandatory homework time, monitored by the tutor volunteers. After 5 they have many different programs, workshops, and services for any and all to attend. The programs can range from tutoring, digital editing, college prep, chess clubs, and any other specialty offered through the volunteers. Once a week from 6:30-7 they offer a time for the teens to explore current questions on politics, religion, culture, and world news. Needless to say I was amazed to see such a wonderful place, transforming the community around them. I love the fact that it is a non-profit group, run by a church, but it is not merely a guise for evangelism. They are all about building continued relationships with the youth and adults of the community, seeing this as an active way to live the message of Christ in a broken world. Now I just need to find a place similar to this one that is close enough to volunteer on a permanent basis.

Joy of Being Active

Yesterday was a blast. Shannon and I hurried home from work, went grocery shopping, and picked up a soccer ball on the way home. We then went down to the Rose Bowl to just kick around the soccer ball before the sun went down. I can't wait to do more things like this when school is done. It is amazing how much public space is provided down at the Rose Bowl. The parks and fields provide endless opportunities for fun and play. Maybe I will run down there later this week to throw the baseball around. Who knows?

Evolution of Dance

I give props to Nick Connell for showing this one to me. Check it out

Detached and Hypocritical

Well, I am winding down the school year with my last class. I have loved the reading and reflecting I have been doing on the inner city, homelessness, and the response of the church, but I am still feeling detached and hypocritical about the whole thing. The problem is that I do not live in the urban setting that I am reflecting on. Yes, Pasadena is a city in many different ways, but it is a far cry from Skid Row. Here I am, born and raised in the suburbs of Southern California, and I am supposed to offer some insight to how the church should engage the problem of homelessness in the city. I am leaning towards reflecting on possible ways for the suburban church to respond in a holistic way, beyond mere guilt and shame for the "great white flight". Hopefully I will get some more direction before I start writing this weekend. Oh yea, and I have senioritis...I just want to be done.

Still Healing from the Trades

So, the new baseball season is off and running, and I must say I am still excited about what the Dodgers can do this year. I am concerned about our catching and the fielding we have seen so far from Furcal, which could mean that Izzy will actually be able to come back to his old position. Even with all the positive aspects of this season so far, our starting pitching and hitting, I am still healing from the trades and break up of the team two years ago. I still remember opening up the newspaper to see that Paul Loduca had been traded in the middle of the season. I will readily admit that I cried when I read that story. Paul had become my favorite player for the Dodgers, showing that he loves the game, loves to hustle, was a great leader, and enjoyed playing in Los Angeles. The fans loved him, he had the best average on the team, and we were in first. But then we traded him for a soon to be injured Penny.

The tainted history of this and the other trades has left me feeling tentative about finding a new favorite. Right now Repko is probably my favorite player, but that makes me think I will just be more disappointed when he is traded mid-season. I know, I know, that is just bitterness talking, but like this title said, I am still healing.

Where Does the Time Go

Wow, I have really stunk at reflecting on this blog lately. It seems like with the prospect of moving, finishing classes, and work, I hardly find time to think of anything interesting to say. So, I will comment of the book I am reading, The Brothers K. The book took me about 80 pages to get into, but now I don't want to put it down. Issues of family, religion, identity and baseball are all wrapped up into this wonderfully written and often hilarious novel. I laughed out loud at least three times last night in bed. I think Shannon finds me ridiculous when I laugh out loud to myself, but what can I say, I even laugh out loud when I am watching TV or a movie alone.

Pat Robertson Spreads the Love Again

Once again,

Pat Robertson is at it again, spreading the love of Jesus by declaring radical Muslims as "satanic" and bent on world domination. Pat also goes on to say that Islam is not a religion of peace and that it is all about world domination. I wonder if Pat is willing to look into the different interpretations of the Qur'an out there, where there are many faithful and loving/peaceful Muslims who are trying to serve their god well. I can think of quite a few times in history where Christianity has represented itself as bent on world domination in the guise of evangelism. Oh well, just thought I would rant and rave a bit.

What is Mission?

Okay, I know it has been a long time since I posted anything on this blog. I am going to chalk it up to the full time job, the two classes I am finishing up, and my new found love of poker. That last part is a whole other topic altogether, one that I may post about some day.

My most recent class of Spirituality and Mission was quite interesting, since our Professor stepped out of her usual method of teaching. There was no lecture, just a question about how we define mission. Of course, there were all sorts of different answers, spanning from the modern idea of proclaiming a "truth" to a people who "need" to hear it, to a idea of a missional lifestyle, living out every day and each contact with people as a chance to reflect the love of Christ.

But then...things got really interesting. Our Professor reflected on a recent article she had read about the typical Modern, Western method of Missions. This usually involves a big T propositional Truth that some group has had revealed to them (the gospel) and sharing/proclaiming this Big T truth to a people in another context, finding some way to sneak the story into some format they can understand. Within this method, the Gospel is usually understood as 1) All are sinners 2) You need to repent 3) Ask Christ into your heart. Now, I know this is an extremely simplified version of the message that is preached, but this is pretty much what I get from the people on the street corners in Old Town Pasadena or at 3rd Street in Santa Monica. Basically, it is the watered down version of the Warrior attitude the Church adopted to evangelism in Modernity...We must prove them wrong!!!

Our Professor then went on to talk about how she has a major problem with this understanding of Mission, especially because it is centered on propositional evangelism. The idea that there is a Big T truth out there and that we know it is arrogant and borderline dangerous for our own faith, especially within the particular cultural context we come from. It is so easy for the Western Church to walk into another cultural Context, lets say Kenya, and to present this individualized Western concept of our faith, assuming that it is the correct way of understanding the narrative of Scripture and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. What this fails to realize is that the other context is subverted because it is primarily a context centered on community, while ours celebrates the individual.

So, our Professor argued for an approach that honors the particular historical context that God chose to reveal himself through Jesus Christ. We must bring this context and continuing biblical drama to anyone we are sharing this story with, so they are then able to read it within their own context, seeing how God has invited them into this larger narrative of love, relationship, and kingdom living. What is interesting to me is that people in the class wanted the Professor to draw it out in a diagram form. Once we try to develop a formula or diagram, we have succumbed to some of the negatives of the Modern, rationalistic mentality. There are some things we can participate in that still remain a mystery...isn't that what it is all about to live and walk humbly with our God. There are things we know of and participate in with our living Creator, but there is still so much more we don't know...and it is alright to admit this.

I was glad that we had this discussion in class. It was interesting to see that the majority of questions and comments about defining mission centered on the "decision moment" of evangelism and conversion. We didn't even begin to describe the holistic aspects of Mission, including Social Justice, care, ethics, loving our neighbors, and many more could be added to this list.

It was also interesting to hear many talk of how many people THEY had brought to a decision to follow Christ. The moment we think WE can do this, we have lost sight of the kingdom work we are doing. We have the privilege and honor of participating in the work that God is doing across the world, but we do not have a monopoly on God. We need to realize that by the time we come to any "decision" moment with a person, God has already been working and planting seeds in this persons life. Now it is our job to help them participate in the body of Christ and avoid using and living phrases like "my God" and "my Jesus". I am not discounting the relationship a person can have with this wonderful, living God, but we are called into the community of believers. It is all too exciting to see what it looks like to live out the fruits of the Spirit in a daily context, participating in the wonderful work that OUR God is doing.