From My Heart and Mind

I grew up in Anaheim, California.  We lived in three different places during my childhood but all within a couple miles of Disneyland.  When we first moved there, I could literally throw a baseball onto the hotel property.  I went to the three schools closest to Disneyland-- Palm Lane, Ball Jr. High and Loara High School. Of course, as a kid you don't always realize the significance of things.  I didn't know that I was growing up in a really great place because I didn't know any different.  We would go to the beach once a week in the summer, we would play "ditch" in the summer in our neighborhood and then watch the Disneyland fireworks at 9 pm and afterwards we knew it was time to go home.       I have often been asked, "Wow, if you grew up next to Disneyland, then you probably went all the time?"  No, not really.  Disneyland was (and even more now) expensive and I grew up in a broken home.  I probably went as often as any othe...

February 11, 2015 Dear Brian,    You don't know me but I have watched the agony that you have had to go through this last week with great sympathy.  I had my own life-crushing disaster about five years ago and I watched from afar the train wreck that you are having to experience.  If you are like me you are saying to yourself, "This can't be happening."  "These things happen to other people."  "What am I going to do now?" And a thousand other questions mostly difficult to bring to total consciousness. We are similar.  We are both the same age.  I have you by two months-- 3/3/59.  I assume you are class of 77 also.  I hope you didn't have to wear a leisure suit to your junior high graduation like I did or at least you threw away the pictures!  We got to be the first ones to hear Elton John, Boston and Queen.  Music was great when we were kids.   And you are far more successful than I have been, at least in most peop...

In the fall of 2009 I started working for myself. No salary guarantee. No regular paycheck. And it was in the depth of the recession. Scary times. But here we are in 2015 and I am alive. God provided. I am still married and we have money in the bank. We pay out of state tuition to one of America's best universities. We are not "rich" by American standards but we are ba-zillonaires by the standards of most of the world. Since only 10% of the world's population own a car and we have uh, several....yeah, we are ba-zillionaires. During these times of uncertainty I had to rely on God a LOT. I studied the scriptures to claim God's promises of provision. As I read this week's reading in The Story of God's provision to Elijah I thought again about how God's provides: Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to ...

Michael Jordan, undoubtedly one of the best basketball players ever and one of the best athletes the world has ever known said this about failure:   "I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." The story is well known that Michael Jordan didn't make his high school basketball team.  I grew up playing baseball.  I love the sport.  I could walk to Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California as a kid (it was a long walk admittedly) and grew up loving the Angels, played Little League and dreamed of a playing professional baseball.  At the time I didn't realize how much failure was involved in being a baseball player.  And I got cut from my high school team in my senior year.  I still love baseball though.  Instead, I took up golf which has become a much better adult sport. ...

My son Kyle got married this week.  Because of the threat of rain we had to move both the ceremony venue and the reception venue with only hours notice.  Weddings can be crazy anyway let alone moving venues at the last minute.  The original plan was to have the wedding at 4:30 on the beach at Sand Harbor State Beach, Lake Tahoe.   This is an absolutely stunning place. On a sunny, warm, summer day it is a place hard to beat for beauty.   But the forecast was ominous—steady rain, thunderstorms, hail and high winds.   The forecasts were correct.   It rained most of the day and the beach was a wet mess.   The day before I wandered into a beautiful church right in the middle of Incline Village.   I waited until after the Sunday service and went to try to find the Pastor.   There were only a few people left and I found a small group of people in a hallway. I recognized one of the guys in this small group and said to him, “I know you…....

As of this month, I am finishing a 13-month term of being the Interim Pastor of the church we have been attending for the last four years.  I was asked in April of 2013 to commit for six- to twelve-months to be the Interim Lead Pastor by the founding Pastor and wife who were moving back to the midwest to be closer to their aging parents.    It has been a different kind of ministry assignment than I have ever had before.  I consider myself a strong leader and a visionary.  An Interim (like a substitute teacher) is there to keep things going, help in the "in between" and not alter the DNA too much.  That's tough for me.  I like to get my hands on things.  I like change.  I like momentum and growth and dynamism.  I also followed a very loved and long-term founding Pastor and wife couple who were the glue of the church.  They had been there fifteen years.   Overall, the experience for Sallie and I was positive.  I was ab...

Proofs for the Resurrection by Pastor Bret Johnson The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is either the greatest event of human history or the biggest hoax ever pushed onto the human race.  Here are several proofs that show it is the greatest event in human history: Crucifixion --  The Romans were very good at executing people and knowing when they were dead.  Any question about it?  Run a spear up into the heart sac.  Jesus was dead.  Why is this important?  Some critics of the resurrection say Jesus “swooned” and revived in the tomb, moved away the stone and appeared as the Lord of life.   The Stone -- a 2-3 ton stone was set in place when a tomb was built.  The stone would be “set” to roll down hill and lock into place.  It could be opened but only with difficulty and with several workers using a fulcrum to move it up hill again and re-set it.   Roman Soldiers -- Roman soldiers were sent to guard the tomb of J...