Minister Of Mocha

This weekend I make a trip I hadn’t taken in just over 16 years. I went to prison. I’ve been trying to get involved in prison ministry since I got out on Feb 19 of 2002. It’s been a tough trial of rejection because of my past. The miracle came through about a month ago…

One of the hardest things I do each week is trying to narrow down the past week to one thing for the blog. I knew there would be stuff with my birthday that would fit. I knew I could count on “life” to come in and give me material. I was right on both accounts.…

We took a CR road trip this weekend. There was an opportunity to present “CR Sunday” at our sister campus in Lone Pine and we all jumped. And the Enemy pounced. I was so excited to have the opportunity to share our ministry with the people in Lone Pine. I’m admittedly biased, but I think…

This weekend I saw an amazing play. It is the second play in the “Elliot Trilogy” and is called Water by the Spoonful. I was encouraged to see it based on my recovery background and all that I knew going in was that it had to do with addiction and recovery. In 25 years of…

I was not alone in watching the Super Bowl last night. Despite the “fake news” from DC about people not watching the NFL this was the 9th highest rated Super Bowl broadcast. Being a Steelers fan I was decidedly against the Patriots. I just don’t like those guys. There are lots of reasons, but if…

I spent some time in the car this weekend. We had friends who were doing a party for their son. Asher was turning 3 so he had a dinosaur themed “Three-Historic” Birthday Party. I gotta say, that is an awesome theme! The party was held at a park on the coast in Pismo Beach. It…

Recently I was sitting in a group of men. As we introduced ourselves we started with the standard CR intro of “I’m a grateful Christian believer who struggles with…” Then one person borrowed (and slightly changed) a line from Ghost Busters. He said “I don’t know Jesus, but I like his style.” That thought has…

I guess it’s a sign of the times or maybe just proof that I’m not really that old after all, but I frequently find myself thinking in emjois. This weekend was a busy one as we took in a hockey game and a concert on consecutive days. Living out in the sticks as we do…

As we closed out 2017 and headed into 2018 Celebrate Recovery had a fantastic New Year’s Eve. I got to church at 6:20 am to prepare for a full day. We left long enough to have a brief lunch and to change clothes, but otherwise stayed until 12:30 in the morning after our New Year’s…

Life…am I right?!? So often I feel like life is a continuous diet of two steps forward, one step back. That can be so frustrating. But it’s still forward progress. If you watch football at all you are probably familiar with the concept of forward progress. It’s where they place the ball at the most…