One month already?

Aaron is a month old, and he's changed a lot since his first days in the "real world". For one, he weighs in at 11-1/2 pounds now, up from the 7 pounds he was born with (!!) I created a video montage of his first month that showcases the highs and lows of those first 31 days. Enjoy!

Aaron's First Month

Healing or Discipleship?

I'm going to be one of the speakers at the Soul Restoration Project conference this weekend, and was asked to write a blog post for the conference blog. I thought I'd post it here too...

One of the passages in the gospel of John that has always struck me is the lame man at the Pool of Bethesda in John 5. In it, Jesus asks a crippled man who has been hoping for healing for a long time if he wants to be well. What the man doesn’t realize is that Healing himself (capital-H) is standing right in front of him.

I often feel challenged, especially when I see ways I myself want to be healed, when I read this story. I say “I know what I’ll look like when I’m healed”. And I want that. I want a result.

But Jesus offers relationship. For Jesus, healing came as people followed him. In John 5, the result the man was hoping for (legs fixed) was just the surface of all Jesus wanted to do in this man’s life. The truth was that the man had gotten accustomed to being needy. Complaining had become his friend. And Jesus wanted far more than just fixed legs for the man. He wanted to give him new identity. New purpose. A new way of relating to people -- all things I’m sure the man had no idea he needed.

I think I’m like that man a lot. I have my certain “broken legs” I’d like fixed. I want to procrastinate less. I wish I had better relationships with peers. And too often, I seek after those things, those results, rather than seeking after Jesus himself. We must learn that the healing Jesus desires for us is not just deeper than anything we already want for ourselves, but that it also only comes in following Jesus as a disciple, fully obeying him, and responding to the relationship he initiates with us.

Whole Starts? Public Service Announcement

So I don't frequent The Coffee Bean too often, but as I was here today
I saw they've jumped onto the oatmeal-at-coffeehouse bandwagon
Starbucks introduced us to several months ago. And they took up it up
a notch with an entire "WholeStarts" line of good-for-you food (to
ease the guilt as you wolf down a jumbo caramel frappu-blended?)

Well eagle-eyed sleuth I am, I looked down the flyer to see the kinds
of offerings this WholeStarts thing has, and I stumbled across this
cold cereal variant (they call it one of "our recipes")...

PEANUT BUTTER CUP LRG 5.00
Cocoa Puffs • Peanut Butter Chips
Chocolate Chips • Chocolate Syrup

Now I'm no health expert, but I'm willing to put myself out there and
say that's maybe not the smartest beginning to your morning.

<end Public Service Announcement>

The best latte in the universe

This morning I got to spend a couple hours in what has become a
favorite spot of mine here in Los Angeles. Urth Caffe. Sure the
fireplace inside is nice. Yes, the bakery behind the windows is cool
to watch.

But the real magic at Urth is the latte.

I first discovered this gem several years ago at their Melrose
location. Then they opened up downtown... and the rest was history.

Oh, and just to be clear, the latte you want to get here is the
Spanish latte. Apparantly they steam honey directly into the mill
before they pour it (and make those amazing latte art designs... how
DO they do that??)

Thanks Urth Caffe for a great escape from the Starbucks-ed world I
otherwise live in.

O-Ba-Ma! O-Ba-Ma!

Yesterday Larissa and I headed down to the new LA Live complex downtown to watch history happen along with a couple thousand other Angelinos. It was awesome -- all the people there were fired up and ready for change.

Don't lie, you are too.

The best moment was when Obama began his inaugural address and our little son began kicking, a sort of pre-birth "yes we can!" Apparently the little guy liked what he heard.

He kicked for Aretha Franklin as well, but something tells me he was just surprised by that huge bow. Me too, little guy.

A seriously amazing coffee joint

This is my first in (what may turn into) a series of reviews of local spots in Los Angeles...

Prepare yourself for a whole new level of coffee aficionado ...ness. Cafe Corsa is a decidedly "un-LA" kind of coffeehouse. It's not big on hype and glamour, and it certainly isn't mass-produced. No, this is the wine bar of coffeehouses, and it even comes complete with its own "so-that's-what-a-coffee-aficionado-is-like" guy behind the counter.

Rick's love for coffee will begin to draw you in from the moment he opens up one of his eight to ten canisters of fresh, imported beans and first invites you smell them (noting the wafts of cocoa, hazelnut, citrus, or what have you). He then proceeds to make your coffee in his Clover machine, (don't know what a Clover machine is? Google it -- you'll be glad you did) and then out comes the most delicious cup of coffee you've ever had.

So what I'm saying is go here. Go now.

And my guess is once you've met Rick and the kind of coffee and atmosphere he's serving up, you'll be going often.

[***** 5/5 stars]

CAFE CORSA
2238 S Figueroa St
Los Angeles, CA 90007

Participating in Hollywood

What do you do when you live right in the midst of the entertainment capital of the world? Right in the middle of "where the magic happens" (as Universal Studios Hollywood is wont to say)? Well, if you are me (or married to me... thanks, Larissa) you get involved.

Last night, as part of our "let's-do-lots-of-fun-and-unique-things-together" date series, Larissa and I decided we'd go and see a live taping of the American Gladiators since they had taken over the LA Sports Arena, just a short walk from where we live near USC, and are taping there all last week and this week.

It was pretty fun, I mean, who wouldn't want to watch the Hulkster interviewing contestants right before they go at it through the most intense obstacle course ever ("The Eliminator", but you all knew that already)? There was some crazy action -- the best being the swimming part where they lit the top of a pool on fire and the contestants had to begin by diving under and swimming to the other side. Nice.

And just a few days ago, I tried out for what might be my fourth game show appearance since moving down here to LA ten years ago. Hey, I grew up on game shows, why not be on them?

The name of the show is Catch-21, and it's a new show being picked up by the Game Show Network (GSN) as an original series. Basically three contestants, each trying to be the first to get cards that add to 21, blackjack-style, or getting the closest without going over. In the audition, they were basically looking for who could have and sustain lots of energy (I can do that) and who can understand the rules of the game and employ basic strategy (I can do that, too).

I felt bad for the woman next to me; the contestant handler kept telling her to have "more energy", and to "project her voice". Also, she wasn't that good at the game itself (I manipulated her at one point to give a card to the third guy and effectively knock him out of the game).

I'll be hearing back from them in the next week or two if they've selected me as a contestant, and when my tape date will be. I'm excited to know who the host of this show will be. Oh, and the prize for winning the bonus round is $25,000. Not too shabby. Who couldn't use that?