THIS MY FRIENDS… is freaking hilarious!! Excuse me, but I have to go get my wife and a donut. I laughed for like 20 minutes…

or just plain LOVE a good deal… and especially if you live in San Diego…

then I have 3 sweet websites I use or have recently been recommended for local steals and deals.

Each day they send out some main deal and maybe a “side deal” where if “x” number of people sign up, the coupon is activated and you can buy it for a set price. Every deal is different, but they give you all you need to know and each of these websites gives you 24 hours to buy it or lose the deal if you don’t want it.

I subscribe to their daily e-mail updates and most of the time, I have to hit delete 3 times, cuz 95% of the time, I don’t use the item. BUT… 5% of the time I do. It might be an event ticket, a date idea, a class, a restaurant gift card, etc..

So far, I’ve bought:

• a nice date breakfast at a restaurant I otherwise never woulda found.
• Paintball passes we’re gonna use for 20 students in our ministry.
• Surfing lessons and…
• A romantic date on a crazy italian gondola thing in a bay near Coronado.

If you want some great deals. Here’s 3 things to check out (thanks Stina for the heads up on the last two today!)

• San Diego Reader Steals
• Sign on San Diego
• Groupon (this one is customizable and may be available in your area, even outside of SD. you should check it out!)

After working with students for a really long time now, this last week of meetings and conversations with both current and former students has me on my knees again. Probably never should have left there… but that’s another blog post.

Theologically, methodologically, and practically speaking… there’s lots of “new” in my youth ministry thinking these days.

I have at least 10 questions I’m asking now that I wasn’t asking when I started this phase of my life (or at least I couldn’t have articulated them if I did).

1. How can I create an environment where students can think about faith genuinely and live out their faith intentionally?
2. Is it even possible to raise 5 teenagers in one home who love Jesus and serve God in a way that is both genuine and owned as an individual? What kind of parent do I need to be if that is going to be a reality for my family?
3. What is the effect of facebook, social networking, and computer screens on a faith and community?
4. Why do so many of our students date people who don’t share a common faith system with them?
5. Is the good ol’ fashion work ethic really that old fashioned? Why are so many young adults around me just plain lazy?
6. Why are homosexual and lesbian lifestyles increasingly being embraced by students and how can I create an environment where this is openly discussed like any other decision/issue students face?
7. Do my own kids want me to be their youth pastor? What are the benefits and dangers inherent in that?
8. If faith is more caught than taught, what characteristics are contagious in me and the ministry around me? What is being “caught”, regardless of what is “taught”?
9. What am I doing as a norm in ministry that I will genuinely have to apologize to the next generation of youth pastors for?
10. The Bible, plain and simple, is not being read by well over 90% of the students in my ministry. Period. Is there anything I can do to change that?

Today was a reminder of blessings of my family and especially the mom’s in my world.  At this point, I have 3 of those… my own mom, my wife, and mom #2 I officially gained at marriage.  All are amazing women who bless me. I was able to celebrate this Mom’s Day with the later two and my kids at my in-laws.

Here’s how we rolled after church:

We went to grandma and grandpa’s house for pictures.

We ate a dinner with so much food we decided we have more than enough to feed us all again tomorrow night.

And we went fishing. Yes, fishing… like 50 yards from grandma’s house in their backyard is a community pond (pond = like 25 x 40 yard thingy)  People do catch and release only fishing in this thing.  I couldn’t believe it.  TJ actually caught a big ol’ cat fish and a small bass inside of an hour.  Tyler caught a turtle.  Yep, a turtle.  Yes, I set it free and it’s fine, but a turtle?  Seriously, who woulda thought that we’d go fishing at grandma’s in San Diego.  I think we’re gonna be catching the same fish so many times in the next few years we’re gonna name ’em.  Jake already named the turtle.

This video has been making the rounds about our office and across the land of churches like mine today. I saw it tweeted and linked and e-mailed in several ways. At the time of this posting, it’s been played like 40 thousand times on vimeo.