I Leak the Gospel

This morning, I was eating breakfast and was amazed watching Faith and Isaac. The way their little hands move (well, they aren’t so little anymore) and they slurp up cereal is pretty incredible. I still love watching them sleep.

After breakfast we headed to the couch for devotion time. Their sweet little spirits encouraged me. They have heart felt simple prayers. I have been so blessed to spend lots of time with my children this summer. I am extremely bias, but my kids are absolutely amazing.

Last week Michelle’s adrenal glands went into what doctors call “fatigue”. This basically meant that she was unable to get out of bed for four days in a row. Day one (last Thursday) was OK, I had to re-arrange a few things to stay home with the kidos but hey, I have great kids, no big deal. Then Friday came and Michelle was out of commission and Saturday too. By Saturday night I was just plain frustrated. Not that Michelle could do anything about being sick but just the situation. You would think after six years of practice with a sick wife, my attitude would be better, especially after such a long run of good health. Sunday morning worship was great and was refreshing to weary bones, but by Sunday afternoon my frustration began to play out as anger toward my children and Michelle. I finally caught myself and tried to figure out where all this anger was coming from? As I prayed, the Lord slowly began to show my idol. See Jesus was not enough in my life, I needed Jesus plus health (healthy family). I had not planned on going to church Sunday evening but I decided I need to hear the Gospel again. I went to Harbor Uptown and the Gospel was so sweetly proclaimed. When I came home I had to ask forgiveness to Michelle, Faith and Isaac. Man, the whole climate in our home changed. Grace and repentance are great medicine of idol makers. GLORY!

Faith starts first grade at Ocean Beach Elementary on Tuesday. Yesterday, we all went down and walked the halls and met two of the three first grade teachers. They were both great. Faith is excited and ready to get back to school OB Elementary is a beautiful 90 year old school. I have been doing prayer walks around OB and keep being drawn back to OB Elementary. It is in the center of town, on the corner of where the two main roads in OB cross. I would love to have Harbor Ocean Beach Church meet there. I have no idea if that is even an option. Please pray that the Lord would open that door for us.

The little things aren't so little

Michelle and I began leading a small group of young singles this week. This is a group that has been meeting for years in various locations with several different leaders. Stephen Phalen who is now planting a new Harbor congregation in the City Heights community had been the most recent leader. He called me back in June and asked me if I would be willing to take over teaching this group. Most of the folks in this group live in Ocean Beach or Pacific Beach (just north of OB). Needless to say, I jumped all over this opportunity to connect with so many folks who live in this community.

So, Monday evening we had around twenty singles for our first time together. It was so amazing on many levels. First, this group has so many sharp young professionals that have a clear passion for Christ. They come from different theological backgrounds but their diversity makes for great exploration. Second, and what may seem little was huge for us, was the opportunity for Michelle and I to lead the group together. It has been over six years since my life and ministry partner and I have been able to minister officially side by side. Half way through our lesson while Michelle was sharing I became overwhelmed and quite emotional. I was flooded with all the memories of all the sick days Michelle suffered. It was so good to have her there sharing. In many ways she is more gifted than me and is a great ministry partner. Most of the singles did not give it a second thought about having this couple teaching their lesson on Monday night, but I am was so thankful for God’s graciousness and mercy to allow us this privilege of teaching together. It was a huge deal for us. Finally, it was so fun to see these singles wrestle with God’s word. We are beginning a series on Sonship for Singles. One young man named Andrew called me this morning to tell me that he has not been impacted by a bible study like this in a long time.

Final thought: Michelle’s health is great. I have not seen her this strong since she first got sick. She was a wild woman yesterday painting our dinning and living room. I thought for sure she would pay for it today, but as I type she is out grocery shopping. We live day by day but this is a very good trend. (Photo is the a typical scene of the surf line up from the OB pier).

Prayer and Fasting

When should we pray and fast? Scripture tells us that these two spiritual disciplines should be practiced when seeking divine guidance, intervention, protection, and to break through spiritual strong holds. I am looking for prayer partners who will begin praying and fasting for the spiritual strong holds here in Ocean Beach. I found a great verse from Isaiah yesterday that has helped rekindled a passion for prayer and fasting, "Is it not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?" Isaiah 58:6

Our goal is not to manipulate God (See Acts 23:12,14) or to impress people but to be drawn deeper into the presence of our Abba Father. Fasting reveals the things that control us and actively demonstrates repentance, grief, humility, and wholeheartedness. These attributes are rare attributes for me. Please join me in the season of seeing God's kingdom advancing and captives being set free.

Update
First, Greg Langley also known to my kids as Uncle Greg, arrived on Saturday. Greg is selling his partnership in his pediatric practice and is moving out in six weeks to join our church planting team. He has been out getting all the details nailed down with his new position with San Diego's Children's Hospital . We are so excited to have Greg out here with us. Also, last week I was able to spend some time with a neighbor (Denesh), and discovered that he and his wife have been praying for our neighborhood. Denesh has been such an encouragement since our initial conversation. He invited me to a Bible study that meets on Thursday mornings. What an amazing group of men. What is so cool now is I see most of these men through out the week out surfing. I have been getting up around 5:30 and surfing for and hour or so. When I paddle out now, all these men greet me, I feel like Norm from Cheers.

Finally, Michelle still is plugging along, pushing herself. She has not felt very well for the past few days and needs to slow down.

Prayer Wall:
* Pray for Dustin, young single guy who is originally form Atlanta I've met surfing. He is a believer but has gone through a tough season recently. He quit smoking two weeks ago. Partner with me in prayer for strong holds to be broken and FREEDOM!
*For grace awaking for my neighbors Steve, Kelly, and Mugs

Small Town Feel

Ocean Beach sits just minutes from downtown San Diego but has a small town feel. OB is a community of mom and pop businesses and unique locals. The bohemian locals have intentionally kept national chains from moving in. Businesses like Starbucks have tried for years but unfortunately they have set up shop. Protests continue. Michelle declared today, "I love OB." She spent forever in the local hardware store just looking around and admiring the old building that has been there for years. Also in OB, you can go by a business and they may have a sign on the door that says, "Open at 10am but might not be in until 12pm. If the surf is good, see ya tomorrow." It is the laid back feeling from everyone at the local auto shop to the post office.

Couple cool things to share. First, Faith was "Choiced into" Ocean Beach Elementary last week. The school she was zoned for was one that none of our neighbor's children attend. San Diego School District allows families to choose any school, as long as they can provide transportation and there is room. Faith was able to get one of four spots, so she is in. We were so excited. Next, we have the opportunity to have some folks over this week for dinner. Please pray for our time with this young couple.

Finally, we have a new babysitter. She is an RA @ Point Loma Nazarene University. I spelled out in the job description that she would be "adopted" into the Huster family. Faith and Isaac are excited and I have been very impressed with her maturity.

I passed my driver's license test!!! Now I have to go through all the hoops of getting my truck registered. If you have ever lived in CA, you know all the red tape this beautiful state requires! Michelle is next to go through the hurdles.

Lunch with Dick Kaufmann

On Monday, I got a call around 10 am from Dick Kaufmann asking if I had lunch open. There where a few things going on but nothing I could not rearrange. We met at 12:30 at Dakota's. There was the brief normal pleasantries and within a few minutes "it" started again. I say again, because back in March, I had my first lunch with Dick. "It" being deep, spirit filled conversations that can impact a persons direction in life. It is not forces on contrived, "It" just flowed out of him so naturally. I love the way Dick looks at life.

The conversation began with where to begin my ministry. He shared stories of hospitality toward neighbors. Not hospitality to manipulate neighbors into Christian fellowship, but hospitality for ends in itself. He unpacked the idea of "open houses" he and his wife Liz have practiced for years. Interesting side note is how his children, who are now grown and have children, are missionaries in their neighborhoods. It was something they caught early on in life. There was so much more, I wish I recorded our lunch.

This is just one of the many reasons why I am so thankful and blessed to be on staff at Harbor. The men and women I work with just ooze the gospel in all that they do.

Finally Online

It only took 12 days but we are now connected and wacky, world, web surfers! Man so much has been going on, where to start. First off, everyone is healthy. Katrina left a week ago and still is coughing, so we are almost all recovered from what we call the Texas crud. Shamrock TX was where we all woke up with runny noses and sore throats.

This week between unpacking boxes, assembling stuff and wrestling with Cox cable (internet provider), we played the role of tourist. Tuesday the family and the grandparents went to the San Diego Zoo. The San Diego Zoo is hard to describe. Think of a huge Disney World without rides but animials. We were told that you cannot do the entire zoo in one day and they were right. All told, we saw about 1/3 of the zoo. On Friday, Michelle's folks, the kids, and I went just three miles south to Point Loma National Park. It was a beautiful day to visit the point (well everyday is beautiful). Point Loma is basically a mountian ridge that goes out into the Pacific Ocean and creates a peninsual. San Diego has so much to do and the weather is sooo nice. We are in somewhat of of a heat wave, it was 77 today (normal is 74).

While we were at the Point, Michelle was downtown having lunch with all the Harbor Pastor's wives. She was so encouraged and really felt connected. Because Nanny got so sick, Michelle's folks had to cancel their plans for more travel and stayed an extra week. They flew out Saturday morning to spend a few days in Colorado. It was a hard, tearful goodbye, they were such a blessing to us.

Faith and Isaac have made so many friends here in the community. The pool has turned out to be a great place to get to know people and our kids are getting so tan and blonde! The kids play in the streets ( we live in an a private neighborhood), the adults join in and it seems to be such a great place for families. God put us right where we need to be.

Today, I preached at Xcross Roads Church in National City, it was so cool. The Lord helped me. There is nothing better that sharing God's Word and you sense He is using you in a special way. I'll be keeping my blog more current now that we have the internet.

We Are Slowly Getting Settled

After a week of living in Ocean Beach, things are starting to feel like home. We can now pull Michelle's van into the garage, so the boxes are slowly disappearing. Michelle and my mother discovered a second hand furniture store, which has saved us hundreds of dollars. So, we have a dinning room table and furniture to sit on in our living room. Mix in a few pictures and Michelle has turned our new home into a nice warm place.

We we very sad to see my mother, and Katrina and Kahli leave on Saturday. Thankfully, Michelle's folks are going to spend this week with us before heading back to North Carolina. They had planned to travel north and do some sight seeing, but because of Shirley's health they decided to stay and rest. Shirley is doing better, just weak.

I am officially making my new office Point Loma Nazarene College Library (where I am typing this blog). It is only two miles from our home. It sits right on the the cliffs of Point Loma and overlooks the Pacific Ocean. I'll post a few pictures once we get out home Internet service set up. Hopefully, it will be Tuesday or Wednesday?

Michelle and I are slowly getting over our colds. We try to ouy cough each other at night, but the battles are slowly subsiding. And I have had two quick chances to surf. They were SWEET!

Our newest newsletter will be out in a day, so be on the lookout.