Labor Day Part 2

Went to church on Sunday. On the way to festival - dropped off some stuff. "Hillarious Givers" Judd and Pete. Carmen, Jake, Mom, and Michaela deliver items from Journey church to family. We will be building them a house in December!

Labor Day Road Trip Part 1 - Estero Beach

Just got back from a quick jaunt downt to Ensenada. Along with our family we had Carlos "The Cuban" and his wife Carmen, Pete and Irma, Dallas Cowboy "Chris" from LA - and his betrothed Joan - from the mean streets of Brentwood. Judd Wheeler served in the role of scout.

My New Passion - Homes for the working poor

10 years ago Stephanie and I began an organization, Baja Bound Ministries, with the goal of serving the needs of Christian ministires throughout Baja. Over the past 10 years we have had a significant impact on ministries in Tecate, TJ, Rosarito Beach, Routa De Vina, and Ensenada.

This year we began a new phase of our ministry with the construction of our first home for migrant workers south of Ensenada. I AM HOOKED! Ben Gaines and I have set a goal of building 100 homes in the next 10 years for the working poor. If you are interested in getting involved, we have already begun reserving weeks for groups next year. So contact me NOW!

Bellow you can see a brief overview of our project.

House Part 1 - In The Beggining...

I am not always the most organized person - but God has always given me grace by providing the right person at the right time for the right job. The first week of our summer Chorus church from Temecula partnered with my church teen ministry to get the project started right. We were blessed with the very talented "GORDO" - who supervised the building. Note his lucky Trevor Hoffman shirt. Don't worry - Gordo is a better closer than Trevor nowadays...

House Part 2 - Boston Comes to Town

My boy Todd from Grace Chapel in Boston has partnered with us for many years, and always brings a hard working group. In fact, if they would ever shut up about the Patriots, Clam Chowder, and the Red Sox, they might be my favorite group. Oh - and they are still convinved that Bill Belichek did not cheat.

Boston served with great energy - and managed to get the house wrapped, finish the framing, and put the plywood on the roof.

House Part 3 - The Norsemen from Minnesota

Our summer project was completed with the help of 36 folks from Crossroads church in Minnesota. As fate (i.e. GOD) would have it - thier youth Pastor James Racine has worked as a framer: As Hannibal used to say in the "A" Team - "I love it when a plan comes together".

Middle picture shows the entire team praying for the home before handing keys to the family.

Bottom picture is the one I will remember the most from this summer. When a family that previously had nothing entered into thier new home.

The Joy and the Pain of Youth Sports

This hurts! For the past season I served as manager for Michaelas "Blue Dolphin" softball team. We managed to draft an incredible team - loaded with unbelievable talent. In a league of 12 teams - we were certainly in the top 3-4 teams. Our "Dream Season" continued as we pulled a first round bye for our tournament. In the second round we won our game fairly easily.

Then came "Dark Saturday". We had a double-haader. The first game was against an extremely good team. We battled to a tie - exchanging leads several times thought the game. We played two innings of sudden death. We came up with our lat at bats behind by 4. We scored two runs quickly (one of which was by Michaela stealing home). Then with a runner on and the tying run at the plate...ground out...we lose.

We returned for an evening game against a team that we had handled easily all season. To make things even more favorable - they were short a player - and only field a team of nine instead of ten. WE LOST. Season over.

Woke up this morning pretty bummed. Was thinking to myself - the thing about sports is - there is no ambiguity. You either win or you lose. As Jim Rome says "Scoreboard".