Family Vacation: Thursday – Beaches

Today we hit up Long Beach and Huntington Beach. It was 95 degrees out and beautiful as always here. This evening we had a great dinner with our friend Doug Fields. Unfortunately his wife Cathy was a bit under the weather and unable to join us. Praying she gets well quickly.

Family Vacation: Wednesday – Hollywood

Today we drove up to Los Angeles. We took a 2-hour tour up Hollywood Boulevard, through West Hollywood, up Sunset Boulevard, up through the Hollywood Hills, Beverly Hills, etc. where we saw homes of celebrities both present and past, down Rodeo Drive, up Mulholland Drive where we had the scenic overlook over L.A. and up to the Hollywood sign, and back down to the Chinese Theater. It was really fun! After the tour we did a little shopping then had lunch in the newly opened Hard Rock Cafe on Hollywood Boulevard. As we were eating I recognized a guy walking in as Cousin Sal from The Jimmy Kimmel Show. I said hi and he shook my hand and greeted us. After lunch we went into Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum which the tour we had purchased also included. We had a very fun time in there as well.

You can see a bunch more of our pics here. I haven’t had time to label the various houses we saw, but …

Into the Wild

This past weekend I read the book Into the Wild. It has also been made into a movie which I will surely watch in the near future.
From the cover: “In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter …”
It was a gripping yet tragic story with many great talking points about family, forgiveness, relationships, ideals, materialism, simplicity, planning, and other important topics. You can order it here.
(One of the final acts of Chris before his death was to take this photograph of himself.)

Daughters Baptized Today!

Today I had the tremendous joy and privilege of baptizing my daughters. They have both accepted Jesus to be the Leader of their lives and were baptized today as a step of faith and obedience. Here are a few pics. I am working on getting the video and as soon as I do I will upload it.

Lecrae "Background" Featuring C-Lite (whose performed @ Planet Impact!)

For all you Elim peeps, notice my main man David Ham in there a few times.

Belize Hurricane Update from Pastor Ron Braaten

“What a shock to see so many beautiful tree uprooted or broken. My yard looks strange. The carport was dismantled today and now we begin again. Three vehicle were damaged. This all can get fixed. My family and friends are all safe. Thank you Lord. Our church lost the entire back section we put up for the Sunday School. We will have to start over. The power meter and lines were torn off the building as well. We may not have service tomorrow night. Keep praying for the recovery and rebuilding process. And the funds we need to do that. I’ll send pictures.” – Ron

Here are a few pictures of the back section of the church that was there when we were there this summer, which was lost in the hurricane. Friend Pastor Ron on Facebook for updates.