I recently spent about a week in my hometown of Yucaipa, CA touching base with old friends, family, and those that pray for and support me and my family. It was a pretty incredible trip. Here's a recap:
- First of all, I got to meet with many individuals over coffee or lunch and tell stories about Story Church. That was a huge highlight. Only a year ago, there were no stories to tell! Now I could go on talking forever about the people, the life change, and the growth and excitement we are experiencing.
- One night I got to hang out with some friends who were former students in my youth group. There's about 8-10 of them that gather every week just to pray together and talk about Jesus. They are about 20 years old. How cool is that? Blows me away. Anyway, I shared with them a bit about what God has been teaching me, and then they all laid hands on me and prayed for me. Very humbling. Very awesome.
- I spent one evening with my best friend and his family, eating dinner, laughing, sharing stories and just catching up. I miss him and his family a ton.
- Another night I got to catch up with another friend and his family. He's kind of my arch-rival. In a good way. We are both super competitive and we love to compete in whatever way we can. This time it was one of our favorites - FIFA on the PS3. We used to be neighbors and we spent many nights doing this same thing.
- On Saturday I got to reignite another passion of mine - baseball. Before moving I was a coach at our local high school. This day they happened to be holding some tryouts so I got to head out to the field and hang out with a bunch of young talented players and all the coaches. They put me right to work evaluating players and I had a blast.
- Later that day I headed over to my aunt's house for a BBQ. It was great to see my cousins, aunts and uncles and grandma. My aunt Missy made her famous Skor bar cake in my honor. Doesn't get much better than that.
- Sunday was all about telling stories with my home church. I had the opportunity to get on stage in front of both services and thank them for loving us well, sending us, praying for us, and supporting us.
- That evening I got to go hang out with some other friends who are planting a church in the neighboring city. I love seeing what other church planters are doing and learning from them.
- On Monday I got to hang out with another former student and encourage him. He's had a rough couple of years, spending some time in jail and fighting addictions. Pray for Billy.
- Finally, Monday I spent a little time in heaven. In case that's not totally clear to all of you, I'm referring to Angel Stadium - the home of Angels baseball.
It was a jam packed week but really a great time reconnecting with people. The goal of the trip was to raise some personal support and to thank those that have supported us for these two years. In that regard it was a successful trip and I'm thankful for the opportunity I had to go, thanks to my friends at Converge.
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