Micah's Neighborhood

To Save A Life

2010-09-02T23:42:00.000-07:00

I have to confess something. I, like many other Christians, have an innate characteristic to be cynical towards most things "christian." Whether it is bumper stickers or shirts or movies if you're like me you cringe at most things produced for Christian consumer culture.

I will also admit that the movie I am about to praise was introduced to me by a student, whose suggestion I did not take too seriously because the movie was "christian" and for that I admit I was a pompous fool. :/

This evening I was pretty blessed to spend some time with a few of my high school guys. The movie we watched together was "To Save a Life." With a cursory glance at the movie trailer and title and a superficial glance at the movie itself it seems to be about a kid learning the value of not living a self-centered life void of caring for others. It seems that when youth take the time to look outside themselves and their own desires towards others there are many peers who are in need of friendship, support, and ultimately love. If I were to tell you this was the plot of this film I would be seriously understating what we watched.

This film truly is centered upon the idea that life is meaningless without an authentic relationship with God. He is the one who is indeed saving and redeeming lives. In this movie many issues are tackled that the church seems seldom willing to: adolescent pursuit of partying with alcohol, pre-marital sex, teenage pregnancy, teenage suicide, cutting, hypocrisy, fake or luke warm people in the church, divorce, divisive destructive "church" people, true christian community, reconciliation within the church body, adoption, abortion, facing persecution for authentic pursuit of Christ and believe or not facing hardships in life after pursuing Jesus and wrestling with God's justice amidst! As one can imagine this movie is a bit over 2 hours long but it is definitely worth watching.

With that being said I have to say God blessed me tonight with my boys. I am always amazed watching Him teach them and in watching them I learn so much. It was obvious initially there was much to process from the movie and some things were missed. But along the ride home it was great talk. One of my students was claimed a character was "confused" because he was showing mercy towards a undeserving character. Out of that we were able to briefly remember the unthinkable patience and grace we Christians have the capacity for when we truly are recipients of God's grace towards us. Another student wondered if our church had ever treated others poorly based on harsh judgement and even caused them to leave the church. We were able to talk about the difference between healthy church discipline and unhealthy self-righteous judgement. I am excited to see where God is taking my boys and I can't wait to see what he has for our youth this upcoming fall!

To close this unnecessarily wordy blog let us remember ultimately God is the one who redeems men, gave His life so that we would have one and if we engage with Him in authentic relationship He will teach us how "to save a life."

The Love of Our Father

2010-07-23T11:02:00.000-07:00

So I read this this morning from Biola Magazine. This article was written by a great man of the Lord, Professor Matthew Williams. This man set a great example for me as he taught me through the Gospel of John. This particular article also stands out to me because the Lord gave me an opportunity to teach it during a main service. Enjoy this overlooked, small, but very important details from the Prodigal Son.

http://magazine.biola.edu/article/10-summer/the-prodigal-sons-father-shouldnt-have-run/

May-July "the shack"

2009-07-02T12:02:00.000-07:00

So its been awhile since I've last update. But its been a pretty busy couple of months. Heres the update for May, June, and up to today.
May was an interesting I found out that my position at Neighborhood Church was being eliminated as of June 11th. I can't say that this was a complete shock because I have become accustomed to being ready for just about anything but it was a shock nonetheless because of many good times with Omega. So the month of May was pretty eventful and joyful but definitely covered in a shroud of a mystery to what my next chapter in life would be filled with. I coped with the idea of leaving behind an apartment where there was always something going on, a small group of guys who definitely had their lows but also encouraging ups, and a high school group that God has been transforming into a solid family. On a ministry level things were great; kids were becoming more transparent, camp was finalizing, and we had a few things on the planning table. On a personal level it was tough because I was trying to find ministry jobs but no one seemed to be hiring or my resume was not up to par with what they were searching for. So I slowly watched my time creep away with no idea again for the future. But God blessed me with an awesome Monday night small group who provided a night to relax and receive prayer, great friends and students who would continually drop by for hangouts and sleepovers etc.

June creeped up fast. I was slowly getting some closure at Neighborhood. My leaving Omega was now pretty public knowledge, I had a great talk with Larry, and although I was not completely filled with joy at leaving without a job lined up I still felt like these people I call family understood my situation a bit better. It was a couple weeks which went by pretty quickly and it was time for me to take off. My last night at Omega was pretty awkward/epic. Awkward because I wanted to have a testimony night where the kids shared about what God has been doing in the past year while we highlighted a handful of events. The students eventually warmed up to it but it was pretty new so there were plenty of awkward pauses. But they eventually began to understand why we did it. Its easy to forget what God has done when we are always focused on the future or in the moment. It ended on an epic note as Ryan ran up before we dismissed and gave an impromptu goodbye to me. Every kid surrounded me in prayer and a handful lifted up some amazingly encouraging words and as Paul mentions in Galatians, it was all the more encouraging because the praise to me was founded in the fact I helped bring others closer to God. The night finished on an appropriate note as The Dom came out on the office balcony and yelled to all the students "Hey!....its time to party" as he lifted a boombox blasting Andrew W. K. over his head and hurled it to the ground, shattering into shrapnel causing the students to go inside to party and eat food. I couldn't have left under any other circumstances.
The following week I pakced up my stuff and cleaned up the apartment and with the help of some friends moved out to Manteca...in a lot of ways my own personal version of Young's "The Shack." Ironically Mark Blevens had told me to read this book as I left.
A brief but much needed background: The house in Manteca is the house I grew up in during high school. My parents live there and currently I am the owner. I am the owner because my parents are, in many ways, not able to take care of financial situations and my grandmother, the previous owner, willed it at her death that I was owner to make sure they were always taken care of with a house.
As we arrived we discovered the house was pretty tore up. Through the past 5 years I had been away from home and my grandmother had been gone, they had accumulated a ton of junk, (baby clothes, stuffed animals, literal garbage, old food, furniture, old computers, clothes, knick knacks, etc) , 5 birds, 4 dogs, various stray cats, 3 fish, and a variety of spiders who had moved in with the hundreads of flies. The house was packed and because the 4 untrained dogs had lived in the house the floors and some walls had been saturated in feces and urine. That combined with the rooting food in the kitchen, the house smelled pretty rank. We found the only place to place to put my stuff was on my bed but by then it was night and I did not have any place to actually sleep. So i returned to CV to sleep in the apartment and the guys took my furniture and TV back.
The following day and rest of the week I spent trying to clean up the house. By Thurs I had taken 8 car loads to the dumps, cleaned up two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and the living room started to look a bit better. But this happened to be the day my mom was also tired of me cleaning. Due to mental circumstances she became violent because she believed I was stealing and/or throwing away all their personal belongings. Also she felt I was trying to slowly remove them from the house so I could live in it without them. Although I own the house she was effective at kicking me out. So thats when the cleaning came to halt and I was left in the situation of wondering where I should live, where I should work, etc. I let things simmer for the day and stayed one more night at my house and then spent the weekend in the bay. It was a nice break as I celebrated Josh Belvin's bachelor party, hung out with the Foxworthy's, and checked out 2.3.
I came back up for Father's Day and took my parents out to lunch and movie hoping things would improve but stilll weary. The following week I was battling off light depression as I had a ton of freetime waiting on jobs, not being able to clean, and feeling like my home was hostile rather then a refuge. This is where the Shack sort of comes into play. Many of my afternoons I just spend reading the Shack or other books in the park. I had finally come to the point where God was literally my refuge and He was the only one to retreat into. But He definitely chose a painful way to bring me into this place.
The next weekend I took a trip to So Cal for Jon Bates' wedding. It was another great retreat and I was able to see a lot of good friends, support Rob, stay with Tyler and Austin, and see my small group bible study. I finally returned home Monday night knowing that I was slowly trying to avoid Manteca and I knew that running was not the solution. So i returned and Tuesday and Wednesday went pretty smoothly as I worked on some bills for my parents, encouraged them to neuter our male dogs because they were trying to make puppies with the females, and also working with my brother to pay his bills. I felt useful again and some of the depression melted away. Yet today Thurs (july 2) I woke up to hearing my mom making calls to friends saying that "Micah increased our rent. He can do that he's the landlord." This happened about 3 times before I finally walked into the living room and asked her why she was telling people this. She happened to be on the phone at the time and had me talk with her payee (someone who is in charge of her finances). He had no idea why she was saying that as did I. So I hung up and asked my mom to call her friends and please tell them I had not raised her rent. At this request she once again became violent and attacked me, accused me of ruining my parents' lives, and told me to leave once again. So I am at Starbucks (my home away from home since june) catching up the blog, debating whether this was appropriate to share online but all in all this is the situation.
I do not see this as reason to hate God or question his existence. In fact there are many things to praise Him for in this time: Austin Foxworthy and his family, Heather Wulff and her family, Starbucks, providing for my financial needs, parents, the church, and old students who still want me to be involved in their lives, a loving step-grandfather, a small group who cares, surrogate families, a generous brother who cares of my financial needs despite fighting a war in Afghanistan, great friends, I could go on and on.
I honestly feel that God knew that exiting college I desired to "getaway" and spend some one on one time with Him. Ironically working in ministry I sacraficed much of my time personal time with God because I allowed myself to be happy with ministry being my time with God. In many ways I am happy that God is very adamant about people being authentic. I had claimed I wanted more time with Him and truly did want it but I honestly didn't make time for it and now He has in a few ways brought me to proverbial "shack." I ulitmately hope this blog as dramatic as it seems and possibly bleak as it seem is an encouragement to not doubt God, become filled with anger, hate His church, and accept defeat or depression but embrace life as it comes. No matter its circumstance enjoy the Lord and know that He is with you. He desires your honesty with frustration, your humble acknowledgement that life is not about you, and the trust that He is in control for the best and most perfect good. I'll be honest I am looking forward for this time to come to a close. I want to be in a safe place that I can call home, I want to be working and having that feeling as a responsible man, I want to be in a place of stability. But until or if that day is the will of God I will rest in His consistent track record of being "Good."

Teddy R. and Apathy

2009-05-18T10:34:00.000-07:00

courtesy of ArtofManliness.com

Mexico.

2009-04-20T11:50:00.000-07:00

We left one day early for our trip. If you caught the last blog I believe part of the reason I chose to leave early was so that I would feel a bit more in control of this hectic, somewhat spontaneous trip. But God seriously began showing us that this was going to be a trip where He planned our daily events and then inform us the morning of, or sometimes hours before.
We arrived in Long Beach about 9:30 pm where we were warmly greeted by LBAC. A group of their college students along with Kerry Scott Kaufman, Guy Blatt Jr., and Kevin Parr joined us for some hang out time at Starbucks. We stayed until security kicked us out and then we were covered with prayer in the parking lot. It was awesome and encouraging to see God's family lifting each other up whether they were long time friends or brand new ones. We went back to the church and crashed for the night but not until we played sardines until 2am. Unwise? maybe. But LBAC is still the best place to play sardines in my opinion.
Friday began with us driving out to Huntington Beach where the guys split up to spend a solid hour or so in quiet time with God. It was nice to relax and spend some time with the Lord before crossing the border. We shared some lunch at BJ's and headed out only to stop for our groceries and supplies in San Diego. (visit Bob's 76 and ask for the keys to the bathroom)
Crossing the border was a bit nerve racking for some. It was Glen's first time in Mexico and he was driving. Imagine what he must have felt driving through heavy rain into a semi-violent area and seeing policia and border patrol carrying M-16's. Then after driving in Mexico for about 20 mins we were lost. Glen is a champ though. Showed no fear. I called for directions and before you know it we were sliding down a mud slide road to YUGO. We literally slid. Apparently most of the roads away from central mexico are a muddy clay. When it rains schools shut down because the roads are too dangerous to drive. Not for Glen and the cross-streets van though!
We arrived at YUGO only after all the guys getting out the van to push it up a hill in the mud. We made dinner prayed and looked forward for work.
Saturday started off a little slow and I began to be a bit worried. We were supposed to meet Pastor Martin at 10am, receive an orientation on Mexico, then lunch, then work at an orphanage. 10:30 came and still no Pastor Martin. Chuck, the YUGO rep, decided to give us a tour of the ranch and eventually gave in to my pleadings to let us do some work on the ranch while we waited. We were able to help Chuck out with some grounds work and stealing some soil. Pastor Martin did not make it but being able to give Chuck some company, hear his concerns, and help alleviate his seemingly endless grounds work was pretty great. We eventually made it out to the Grace Children's Home and met Lionell and his wife. He was an elderly Canadian man with a genuine heart for orphaned kids. We put in a few hours of work around the facility and when quitting time came we played soccer with some of the most amazing kids ever. In fact when some of our team was shoveling sand, some of the kids were trying to help. Afterwards we attended the youth group. It was amazing as well because we were able to meet Lupita. She had lost her father that night and instead of mourning alone she came to youth group to be with her family in Christ. That night we had some time to hang out and talk about our book and our view of service and then we slept because we had an early day.
Sunday morning came pretty quickly as we were up about 5am. We headed over to the church to prepare the Easter brunch. It was a semi-sweet morning. As we were having fun making 200+ french toast slices and fruit salad we could hear the family of God above us celebrating Christ's sacrifice and defeat of death. They congregation quickly poured in and started eating. Im pretty sure they either did not like syrup or they had never had french toast. We had a ton of syrup left over and it looked they thought the fruit salad was the real topping. I guess I can't blame them. We spent the rest of the day hanging out with the church at a park with pools. This day I believe taught us that service does not always need to be physical labor, yet sometimes it consists of breaking out of comfort. Sunday was a day where our service was to create relationships and not become the awkward guest at a party needing babysitting. In fact at one point when our group was being anti-social loners, a couple kids on horses rode by and chucked rocks at us and laughed. You know its God at work when that is interpreted as a sign to shake off loner-dom and go join the party. Aside from that the day was filled with volleyball, soccer, a zombie rabbit, hulk hands, and awkward rides home. We ended spending time discussing 1 Corinthians 15 and the importance of the resurrection of Christ. Amazing day and amazing gift!
Monday began and we headed over to the church to make some lunch for our little friends. We were a bit late so we served some food and spent the afternoon giving piggy back rides and playing tag. Afterwards we headed out to help a bit on the ranch and cooked up some hotdogs. This day was supposed to be a great "planned" outreach. It turned into a awesome "non-planned" outreach. The local youth group was supposed to have been present with their youth pastor, they were also supposed to have has spread the word around town about this day of soccer and hot dogs. While making the hot dogs we were informed that the church had not told anyone and the youth group and pastor would not be present. We decided to press forward anyway. We grabbed the ranch worker, Eddie. He spoke a bit of English so we asked if he would grab some people to come hang out. He got some of church friends but we really wanted some people who did not know the Lord. As Eddie gathered his friends we went ahead to the soccer place and were shortly met with three car fulls of non-Christian guys randomly coming by to play soccer. After playing soccer for a couple of hours and sharing lunch I asked Eddie if he woudl check if they wished to hear why we were there. The guys were ok with this so Marcos was going to share his testimony. Unfortunately Eddie did not speak "that much" english but God brought forth one of the non-Christian guys who spoke english to share Marcos' testimony and the Gospel to his friends. Amazingly enough we had met this guy's sister on Friday. She is a Christian and they had recently lost their father when he died Friday night. We talked with Ricardo for a big and he invited us to his father's memorial that evening. We attended and spent some time with him afterwards where he exchanged contact info.
Tuesday was a great last day. We once again were able to serve our young friends as we made floutas and gave piggy back rides. We came back later and weeded the church. It was a simple task but I was so proud of the guys because they were willing to do such a tedious job even though we may never see this church in this life. They were willing to out in the last few hours there with some dirty work without expectation of gratitude. It was beautiful true servanthood come to a physical embodiment. It began to rain which was, I believe, God saying move now to clean up YUGO. We got back in the van before the roads were undrivable and cleaned up our places at YUGO. We shared one last meal with Chuck and shared sometime talking about servanthood and Mexico as we finally slept knowing home was ahead of us.
Wednesday was short and sweet. Glen drove a straight shot from Mexico to the bay area. Seriously The Glen is a champ! We got home and what a sweet test when God placed us right in the middle of our youth group's service week! More opportunities to serve and share God's love? Bring it on.

Pre-Mexico...

2009-04-20T10:17:00.000-07:00

So about a week ago I was spending my Easter in Mexico. If you have been reading any headline news in the beginning of April you are probably asking why I choose to vacation in Mexico during one of the most heated drug cartel wars in the history of Mexico? Well because its cheaper and more exciting. jk
At Neighborhood Church student ministries we have declared 2009 the year of action. Pretty much what this means is that when God calls us to do something we are going to try not to hesitate but just go. This year Omega was also thinking of restarting its mission trip program alongside our Spring Break Service Trip. Mexico has been a country we have had worked with in the past. Our church wished to branch out to new areas of Mexico so our trip would serve to begin new relationships and discover new service opportunities so we began planning our trip...
As the trip approached the political climate of Mexico was heating up. Apparently the new Mexican president wanted to begin fighting drugs more effectively and in response the cartels became more violent. This violence included kidnappings, shootings, police killings, etc. Eventually the Mexican military was sent in and US Home Land Security sent agents because it was centralized along the border cities...to a few people's dismay we would be in those border cities.
The group consisted of Glen Thornell, Malachi Mata, Marcos Hopken, Kyle Wharton, Ricky Wright, and myself. A pretty solid group of guys so I was pretty confident we would be able to handle most complications of the trip. So in preparation we began meeting together and reading Improving Your Serve by Chuck Swindoll. Our hearts and minds were pretty set on this trip as we were hoping God would stretch our concepts on servanthood to bring Him more honor and serve the lost.
The trip was about two weeks out and communication with YUGO and Pastor Martin was sparse. The itinerary had not been verified and I was beginning to fear that our group would become a burden rather then a relief. Basically because it started to seem that YUGO and Pastor Martin would have to scramble to find jobs for us to do while we were down there...
The trip was finally upon us. I had a shaky affirmation that the itinerary was workable but could change at a moments notice. I had a handful of family members of students who were worried that our trip was poorly planned because of the risk and danger. Lastly, I also had a group of guys excited to serve that I did not want to let down if this trip's service opportunities fell through on a daily basis.

March

2009-03-23T12:05:00.000-07:00

March...wow.

This was the month where I lost one thing but gained. It was within the first week that I realized that my relationship with Mal needed something. It just happened to be that we needed to adjust our relationship. We went back to being friends which is an amazing blessing as well. Most couples when not dating end up being awkward and avoiding each other. I feel like God definitely is guiding us and because of that we had a great time in dating and are adjusting and having a great time as friends again. In short I am honored to have this girl as a friend and even more honored that she still desires our friendship. :)
The first week of March also brought my parents down. It was their birthday and I was able to celebrate them and Don. They are great parents, a challenge, but nonetheless amazing parents who God has used greatly in my life bringing me up.
Omega moved forward from the Love, Sex, Dating series and we were back in Acts! Danny has been doing an amazing job sharing the Word of God in its context but also bridging the culture with relevant examples and application. It is honor to be able to serve with him and to see his passion for God's Word. This month has also brought me to the point of praying over where God wishes me to ultimately be ministry-wise. As I wait where that leads I'm a bit nervous and excited. But in the mean time I'm busying myself with rappelling down walls, planning on the Mexico trip, and searching for our lost air-zooka.
The big highlight of this month by far though has been the wedding of Ryan Suzuki to Jessica Stott. A bunch of Biola guys came up for this event so it was like a mini-reunion. The wedding was great with so many friends and family present in support of this amazing relationship. It was truly a blessing to be a part of Ryan's wedding! I have known Ryan since I was in about 2nd grade. Through the years I have many fond memories of sleep overs, trips with his family, summer camps, youth groups, and college. I have to be completely honest here. In the recent years I feel we have grown some distance between us but even that cannot overshadow the years of great friendship that God has blessed us with. To see Ryan meet the woman he truly loves and marry her was a gift, that I believe, is one of the best i could have received this year. I am looking forward to seeing more of my friends embark on this committed journey.
March is still moving on so maybe I'll be able to update a few more times. For example, the amazing Brenda Monk and Dani Cromwell both got engaged this weekend! Amazing!

Catching Up cont....

2009-03-23T11:45:00.000-07:00

January / February.
The morning of the New Year was awesome. Getting to hang out with Rob and Deya before the devotional morning was a huge blessing. Just being able to relax in the company of old friends gave me a well needed smile. We went back to the students and Rob and Deya encouraged them to live their lives for God in active ways this year.
January also contains Mal's birthday so it was my pleasure to take her out and spend that special day with her. This began the many times I would be able to spend some great nights with Mal. One of my favs happened to be taking her out on I guess what would be her first "official date." By that I mean where a guy plans out some great things, they both get dressed up, and have an amazing time together. So we did just that. Dressed up, drove out to "The Fat Lady" in Oakland at Jack London's Square and spent the remainder of the night by the water. Hopefully it set the standard high for other dates for her in the future. :)
February came fast and Omega was focusing in on the topic of Love, Sex, and Dating. The month began with a panel of men who would speak to our guys and a panel of women who would speak to our girls. The focus was biblical manhood and womanhood so of course our game was focused on worldy stereotypes. The girls had to complete "guy tasks" such as shooting air soft, belching, and tent building, etc. The guys had to change a baby, make a sandwich, and give a makeover, etc. It was a great night to kick off the topic of love!
Pretty soon it was Valentine's Day. I was super excited for the time I would get to spend with Mal but there was one problem. I had a gum infection and swollen mouth that was in great pain. :) But that wasn't going to stop me from having fun with Mal. We spent the day shopping and hanging out. At night we went out and brought in Chinese, shared a movie and exchanged some sweet gifts. I had this huge flower arrangement hidden in my apartment that I was so excited to give her but it was pretty huge and my apartment is well an apartment. So there were a few close calls where I finally hid it behind a bed when she wasn't looking. ;)
The following week I was sharing in Omega about "True Love" what an amazing topic from God's perspective. I encourage anyone to observe the world's definitions and compare them to God's and I guarantee you will have a laugh, be incredibly burdened, and then experience some amazing relief! Ultimately what I had learned was that God defines, embodies, and gives true love. If a couple wants true love in life they must be striving towards God and if they truly love and want to share love with their partner they must want and encourage their partner to strive towards Him as well.
February was also a great time because there was a group of amazing people who had left for Israel. The Foxworthy's, the Teyler's, and of course The Dom. I was pretty bummed I couldn't go but I had the awesome experience of being the nanny for Luke and Josh Teyler. Before you question, the job was primarily for Erica but the girls were out of town the first weekend. I had a great time taking care of the house and Luke. In those short two weeks I feel like the Lord blessed my relationship with Luke and we were able to break down some walls. (fyi Luke is one of my students who has some great potential for leadership) Those weeks also contained a late night party with Andrew W. K., silly string, and a failed attempt at give Erica an awkward night.

Catching Up

2009-03-23T11:13:00.000-07:00

There is a lot that can take place in one's life in a matter of 4-5 months. I was just reviewing where I last left off in my blog and I was posting a link to an Onion report....so appropriately satirizing the economy which would plummet so drastically in the following months. Fortunately my life has not been too affected by the economy so far but there has definitely been much milestones going on.....so let the sharing begin.

December:
December was a pretty hectic month. My brother, Nicholas, had soon arrived from Afghanistan to stay with me for a short time before he was flown back into service. It was great to have Nicholas around and wanted to show him all that I was doing now that I was graduated from college. I gave him the tour: the port, the apartment, my office, and of course the highlight "Zuki's Arcade. While hosting him I was also starting to hang out with a special woman who would soon be a special part of my life for the following months, Mallory Strange. While my brother was out with friends, I was out with Mal and although wanting to ask her "out" I also knew I had to be available for my brother and parents. So she patiently waited. :)
We celebrated Nicholas' birthday with a lunch at Red Robin's and a movie later that night. I celebrated my birthday a week later with hanging out with friends. Thanks for coming Heather!
Christmas drew closer and because the Army needed my brother back over seas before Christmas Eve, I was able to enjoy my family Christmas a bit early. My mom, dad, and brother all were in my apartment and we had a typical Lemon-Christmas. One filled with awkward gifts, cheap food, interesting people, random arguments, but a ton of love. Shortly there after my parents went home and my brother was on his way to Afghanistan.
With this free-time I was finally able to focus on Mal and asking her out. :) This was a sweet Christmas, not going to lie. I was working on Christmas Eve and had been praying for God to help me out with woo-ing her. ;) All-in-all I thought it was a pretty fun day with the finale being an excited beautiful girl saying yes. Christmas Eve was spent with the Strange family and the next big December event was the Omega New Year's Disney Trip.
New Year's came along and I found myself on a trip with a hundred or so high school students on our way down to So Cal. Mal and I left a day early to relax and set up some things for the group. We were able to catch a quick Ultimate Tourney the next day and I was able to see a few old students which was great. Omega arrived in two busses filled with excited tired students. We took them up to Signal Hill for a night of prayer and worship then settled in for the night.
The next day was Disney Land all day! Amazing time and amazing memories. nuff said. We headed out the next day after a morning with Rob Zimmerman and Deya Slayde sharing a devotional.
Needless to say, between having family in town, celebrating Nicholas' birthday, celebrating my birthday, starting a relationship with Mal, Christmas, and a New Year's Eve Trip it was pretty busy. :)

An Interesting Take on the Economy

2008-11-17T17:00:00.000-08:00

Due to the fact that Ryan Suzuki has failed to bring funny life moments to us this week I will have to double my blogging efforts and bring you this interesting video.

"The Onion" it truly is a beautiful embodiment of journalistic integrity. But seriously folks I enjoyed this satirical take on our economic strategies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyS5n0ByLag

Finally Guitar Hero for Christians!

2008-11-17T14:59:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone you can finally play a Rockband/Guitar Hero with guilt-free sinless righteousness!

So "blast that solid Christian Rock!"
http://www.guitarpraise.com/ecard/v1.php

and if you like dance but have always been burdened by the sinfulness of Dance Dance Revolution now there's a God inspired (believe it or not) dance game.
http://www.dancepraise.com/party.php

The End of Fall Explosion but the Beginning of Something Beautifully Simple

2008-11-10T11:57:00.001-08:00

Fall Explosion was an amazing time that's for sure. Each week was a time of extravagant fun that included a night of "talent", a night where I witnessed a 71 yo pre-school teacher attack a flaming grand piano with a pick axe while 140+ high school kids looked on in fear, a night where I saw some of the most interesting movies (some border lined on creepy crimes), and culminated with a night of interesting costume choices walking down a runway to looped techno music while judges looked on with mouths agape. In the midst of all the amazing activity there was a clear message being purveyed by Nick Hart: "God loves the rejects! God aggressively pursues us with perfect Love even if we run! God lovingly gives us new names! God takes our ugliness and repairs our brokenness if were willing to be broken by Him!" It was a month of God's blessing that's for sure. check out pics here: Fall Explosion Pics

The week following Fall Explosion month you'd think you'd find me in the midst of another night of Omega struggling to keep the huge influx of new students by performing more events, preaching compelling messages with colorful worship in song. But ironically you would find me sitting in a nice vacation home with the office staff. The view from the balcony was amazing. In some spots of vision you could barely see where the wall of beach homes ended and the ocean began. Before you scream "Micah, you selfish idiot! Why were you not in trenches of ministry while the crowds were huge!" I want to assure you I felt the same way. But God did much humbling that week. One the main lessons I believe our entire office staff learned was that we must be willing to relinquish much of the responsibility God was wishing to bestow on His church. What I'm trying to say is that in many ways we, the student pastoral staff, was pretending we could be Jesus. When Scripture says we are part of the body of Jesus. We needed to stop being the evangelist, the community organizers, the food servers, the game planners, the healers, the "insert spiritual gift here" and do our ministry which was shepherding. We realized we not empowering our students and staff to be the community of Christ but we were enabling them to be dependent on us for all their spiritual needs. Needless to say God did amazing things in Aptos, Ca that week. Don't get me wrong there was a lot of Rock Band 2 in the midst of enlightenment but lets be honest...when is there not?
If you're asking then what happened to Omega? Well young James Teyler exercised his gift of teaching. At 18, just graduated high school, he stood before a 100+ students and challenged the Christians with Galatians. Reminded them of the freedom that God had paid for. God gave us the ability to be sons of glory, princes of the most high king instead of slaves to sin addicted to emptiness. Then James ended with a somber story of how just like Cambodian prostitutes can be bought from a brothel and returned from their families, they can still run back to that life because of heroine addiction and be willing to be locked in cages and used for the empty satisfaction of drugs and in the same manner we can run from the freedom God has given us and waste much of our abundant lives on emptiness. I cannot do his sermon justice so check it out on our podcast. Omega Podcasts

Fall Explosion, Fort Night Sleep Overs, Weird Wedding Party, and Even Weirder Internet

2008-10-04T21:39:00.000-07:00

So this past few weeks have been pretty busy. Paul Keim, our pastor of worship, has moved out of the office we shared and into the main sanctuary. So we repainted the office and now I have a "big" desk with my own phone so please feel free to call and leave interesting messages. Or don't and leave messages related to ministry its up to you. The office is in the midst of yet another change and now we have a receptionist station which is being manned by Dani, our admin assistant. This is sweet because people won't be so lost when they come into the office anymore. Thanks Dani for taking that hit.

We also kicked off Fall Explosion, our month long evangelistic event. We kick things up about 10 notches in the area of events to kick the school year off right, have fun, and try to give a lot of hopefully new students an amazing first impression of Omega. This first week was pretty sweet. Team Spirit night with a bit of American Gladiator thrown in for good measure, add some inflatables, a bunch of weird costumes, two insane gladiators, dodge balls, and a guest speaker who talked about having a butcher for a dad and you have sort of glimpse of our first night.

Check Out Some Fall Explosion Stuff Here
pics courtesy of Cathy Breslow. (please don't post these all over without giving her props)
video
This afternoon I sat in my apartment and experienced one of the weirdest events of my life. Below my apartment a wedding reception was taking place. Now this shouldn't be too weird seeing as how I live in a church. I knew probably 90% of the people below me, including the groom. Also it was a pretty boring Saturday so it seems like a perfect recipe for me to see a bunch of old friends, eat some free food, and congratulate an old friend. Yet the kicker was I wasn't invited. Now don't get me wrong, there are no hard feelings except it was awkward torture to be sitting above a party, bored out of your mind, and not wanting to crash a wedding. I wouldn't necessarily suggest it but if you're into that sort of thing go for it.

Lastly, to my rescue came Ryan and Jess. We went for some coffee and frozen yogurt in the ghetto paradise that is Bay Fair Mall. (trust me this was far better then listening and seeing people party 10 feet away but feeling the social awkwardness of not crashing a wedding) Had some sweet dinner at Ryan's and then stumbled upon some amazing websites. You must see them to believe them.

A Thrift Store Sweater Gallery

Some Dude Who Believes He's Helping the World by Wearing a Tron Costume

Oh yeah and last night I had my first fort night sleep over in about maybe 10 years.

Vote Me?

2008-08-29T13:49:00.000-07:00

apparently there are people out there that want good ol micah to change the nation.

http://www.news3online.com/index.php?code=80Y200FpZ428nK6L4INW

Simple Worship

2008-08-29T00:52:00.000-07:00

So I know I have to catch up with these blogs. I have missed writing about Hume, Omega, and even the Day o' Fun. But this cannot wait.
I had been talking with my friend Paul a few weeks ago and he was sharing how he once played in SF with friends and made some money. With this money they bought some food and went around hung out with the homeless of the City by the Bay. Immediately I wanted to go if he went again. Tonight God presented me with that chance.
These group of recently graduated high school guys, who by the way have been an amazing blessing to me as I've adjusted to living up here, were talking about how they wanted to do the same thing Paul did in SF after 20/20. I asked if I could tag along and they said yes.
We got in my car at about 10pm and had no idea how this thing was going to work out. I only knew how to get to SF on BART and none of these guys knew how to get there either. They also had never done this before so they weren't sure where or how to do this or even if people would be out that late to give them money so that they could serve the homeless.
As I was driving along with only the excitement and feeling that God had something planned I kept going. I suggested we could hit up Berkeley instead because I was familiar with the area and remembered the strong need for truth and love along Telegraph St. We ended up parking outside Buffalo Exchange and walking the strip until we stopped in front of Rasputin and the boys began to play. I, not being a musician, started walking the street to grab the guys some hot drinks and myself some food. I saw so many crowds: party girls, prep dudes, homeless skaters, groups of what appeared to be Asian abroad students, and the local pot head / hippies. I was excited for the boy's eagerness to be adventurous in serving God and I felt God calling me out to pray. As I bought some food and walked to the coffee shop I met a lady digging into a trash can, her name she wouldn't tell me. So I asked her for a clever fake name and she replied, "Rosey." I compimented her beautiful yet false name and we talked about her foot fungus and aversion to pizza. I invited to hang out with us as the guys played worship music but she said no and she walked on, while I prayed that she would maybe change her mind.
I walked into a vegan coffee shop ignorantly holding my cheese pizza slice. I immediately offended the barista but after 5 mins of talking he came around and realized I meant no harm. He told me he was a Berekley transplant and he had moved here because he had fallen in love with his wife. The Lord was already creating relationships of vulnerability. I talked to him a bit more, got a bit of a discount and walked back to the guys.
As I walked back down the street there were the guys playing and singing to the Lord yet they now had a dancer. Debbie was her name, which she reluctatnly gave as she stared me down with distrust. She was a Berekly regular and as another homeless declared the "one and only." She LOVED worship music and the guys singing it. She claimed they were better then Johnny Cash whom she knew personally. She later went on to grab another homeless man by the scruff of his shirt, he laughed and affirmed she could kick his a**. She firmly asked "you have money on you?!" He put his change in her hand to which she smiled walked over to the boy's guitar case and placed it in.
Shortly after a homeless guy passes and I notice he has drum sticks. I stop him and ask if hes a drummer to which he proudly declares, "Master drummer!" I ask him if he wants to chill for a bit and play so he just starts to hit the sticks together. I knew he had rhythm so I eventually grabbed a trash can lid and gave it to him. He beat the crap out of that lid but loved singing with us. He was a world traveler and eventually found himself living in Berekley. He was soon moving back to Nigeria.
All the while the we had mixed reactions from the students and passerbys who either ridiculed or were impressed that young guys would spend their late thurday night singing to God on a street corner. It was great the kids that walked by staring and making fun of Debbie usually didn't seen the raise in the sidewalk and ended up tripping feeling quite stupid.
The money that was given was there for the homeless. I started taking some out when I saw a guy or woman walk by. It was great just having random conversation about their life, giving them a small gift and letting them know God wants them back.
To make a long story short we had a couple guys who loved worship music started to sing with us, I danced a song with Debbie, we had a run in with the cops but all in all it was a great night. By the way "Rosey" finally showed up and smiled and wouldn't take our money but said she would enjoy the music. She shared her dream about one day owning her own house where she could care for other homeless.
Last by definitely not least we walked away meeting Pink Cloud. A self proclaimed cultist. He was a kind old man who had a vast knowledge about history. We talked for a bit and he told me about his movie "A Big Fat Homeless Party." He knew my name was a book in the Bible and was impressed. We talked about the Bible for a bit before he went back to history and we eventually parted ways because Austy had a bedtime. But Pink Cloud gave me his card and wished us well because he was worried we had taken BART which had closed at 11pm.
God is indeed AWESOME! He does the work and when He calls us to be a part of it its always an honor to go along for the ride. I hope that this becomes a regular thing. Three guys wanted to just experiment with playing worship songs on a street pretty late at night. One guy was excited to go along and had no other skill to offer but his cute looks and sweet charm (Im talking about me not Austin) Not sure what would happen. An hour later there was a homeless dancer, homeless drummer, and crowd of on lookers hearing amazing worship songs declaring the greatness of God. Thank you God, honestly you are amazing, astounding, awesome, holy, loving, and your feats are completely creative and unique. Thank you guys for letting me tag along and thank you God for letting us tag along.

Pink Cloud

Don't Try This At Home Olympics

2008-08-15T23:32:00.000-07:00

To read about crazy Olympian fans wanting to "keep up" with their fav sports from in front of the TV click here.

Great Story

2008-08-14T16:59:00.000-07:00

amazing story. nuff said

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7559881.stm

Modern day Job but no where close

2008-08-08T00:26:00.000-07:00

This is a note I posted on Facebook back in Oct 07 about some events that had taken place in my life. My house was burglurized while everyone was home. My laptop with my parent's financial records, years of memories through pictures, music, and years of work was stolen. My iPod stolen. My keys stolen. Lastly my cell phone stolen. In a matter of minutes. Two days later my car is stolen from in front of my house in day light. I post this because I care for a friend named Will. I pray that maybe this will inspire him to revisit one of the greatest challenges that prevents us from knowing our Creator. pride.

so i was debating on whether to write down my contemplations on the past weeks' events. part of me was thinking it would be rather cliche or come off contrived. But nonetheless why should i keep the lessons I've learned from suffering bottled up until another poor sucker has to experience it for themselves.....so here you go world.
Entitlement. It's what I believe we as Americans, maybe even people across the globe, suffer from in this dying world. We wake up each day and feel as if we are deserving of our luxuries, money, friends, respect, etc. (often demanding them on a daily basis) We expect that those things should be readily available and accessible as if we have earned them by just being born or, for a few, feeling as if we have earned them through labor and kindness.
Yet as anyone comes to realize at the point of experiencing a sudden loss beyond one's own self control, we should not assume these things will always be within reach. It is a humbling reminder that we are not in total control of our circumstances and hopefully reminds us of human depravity. At these times I personally have no other choice to acknowledge that things I take for granted are indeed temporary and can easily be displaced. Sudden loss of temporal things forces me to latch onto the only thing that is eternally secure, and ironically it is the thing that I am least entitled to, my relationship with a Holy God.
Before I lose some of my audience at the mention of God, please hear me out. Its interesting that my natural reaction to being a victim of burglary is to seek justice, but not necessarily pure justice, more so a vindictive justice. (honestly, most of the items stolen can be considered priceless. A phone that connects me to my loved ones and stores all their contact info, a computer with tons of personal info and records of memories, and my means of transportation.)
But honestly after taking a breath, looking in the mirror, I had to humbly rebuke myself. Where do I get off at firstly thinking I was deserving of being born into America with so many privileges and luxuries, and more importantly how did I come to think I was so far less deserving of punishment then this thief. In fact after reflecting on the ugliest stuff I've done I had to have pity on this guy. He must be in some trouble already if he's committing these acts.
Job lost his possessions and as the progression of the story would prove, he lost his family which would be a far greater loss, and he was reminded that when it comes down to it, were human and God is God. Let us never forget there is a HUGE difference. If God allows these things to happen, then so be it. He created it, blessed us (sinful, broken people) and if He choses to remind us that He owns all things and we need to be dependent solely on Him then why not?
I was awakened to the fact that I was putting way too much reliance on myself at this point in my life. In losing those things I also was reminded of what I did have, a God who cared enough to remove some distractions to help restore a broken person back to holiness. My heart honestly goes out to this guy who robbed us. I can't be mad. He is a broken man, like myself, succumbing to empty promises this world offers us. While I at least have come to fear God and in that have at least some defense and knowledge against the empty enticements of this fake world.
I hope those who took the time to read this can take some time to remember their own brokenness and flaws. If you know Christ take a min to thank Him for pulling you out of the darkness. If you don't then at least take the time to reflect on how temporary "stuff" is and maybe ask yourself why it is that we have come to feel entitled to anything.
God wrap us up in your whirlwind. Refuse to answer our demands as to why you allow us to be victims but instead remind us that you are God and we are man. Nothing more needs to revealed because in that realization begins true knowledge and a peace that satisfies our "entitlement."
Job 38-39, 42:5-6

VBS / GFI

2008-07-27T19:09:00.000-07:00

The first week here at Neighborhood has been pretty eventful. Each day begins at about 9am and I have been able to stop by the community VBS for our JH students and then later the community VBS for our k-5th. The junior high is called GFI (go for it). Joe Koski's been bringing the Word to these young kids in Koski fashion. I can't remember a time where I have heard the Gospel presented by saying that we deserve a sword in the face but God is merciful and offers us grace.
VBS @ Redwood has also been crazy fun. My first week serving and I'm already wearing light up shoes on a stage in front of hundreds of kids from k - 5th grade. Experiencing the rallies were heartwarming. Hundreds of kids cheering because they were excited to be a part of something that placed Christ in the center, pretty amazing. All things considered I would have rather heard the Joe talk about how we deserve the proverbial sword in the face instead of the "Champions for Jesus" song. true it is catchy but thats also one of its greatest flaws.

Welcome to Micah's Neighborhood

2008-07-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

So basically this is a blog in which I will attempt to communicate my life experiences to all of those who are interested while I live youth ministry and the bay area for this summer.......and possibly for the long term future.....guess we will find out in God's time. If you have any specific questions about aspects of my life feel free to let me know and Ill try to answer. (mind you this all pretentious thinking that anyone would be that interested in me...) or maybe you'll just take advantage of my completely random and ridiculous life as if it were one of those embarrassing reality shows. Except if I had to sum up my show it would be as if Flava of Love had a Christmas Special and you walked away thinking......man that show is screwed up but it somehow touched my heart. :: insert single tear::