Finally…some thoughts to begin and/or end a week:

• Fall has arrived!!!  It truly is my favorite season and is such a great shift from the heat.  We broke out some fall decor at the house and have been burning some candles to give it that whole feel.  This week we may even fire up the outdoor fire pit!!!  Gettin’ crazy!
• Just launched “the six”, our new evening service @ The Crossing.  I’m personally really enjoying it.  Great vibe, great group of people, and just all around awesome.  And some new folks as well…
• I was at the gym Friday working the abs (kind of) and a couple fellow gym dudes approached, introduced themselves, and let me know they had been at the six the previous week and loved it.  Saw them again tonight… love creative ways to reach more folks.
• It has been a losing weekend around the Coate home.  In order:  -Rough loss in LL baseball Saturday, attended UNLV football game Sat. night and watched them get slaughtered, loss by Red Sox (swept), Yankees win (can’t stand Yanks), Arizona loses on a fluke off the foot interception and…Patriots lose.  When it rains, it pours.
• Three from the Crossing are headed to India tomorrow morning for two weeks of ministry and prep work as we begin a new partnership planting churches in India.  We’re hoping to be able to get some video uploaded from them while they are on the ground.
• Studying and prepping for message from Philippians chapter 2 next week…
• Played golf for the first time in three months on Friday… good time, great weather.
• Planning on heading to Utah a couple times over the next month to catch some fall leaves and even cooler weather.
• If college football would adapt a playoff system (ala NFL) and the NFL would adapt an overtime rule that makes sense (ala College football) everyone would be happy… right?
• Looking forward to Halloween and some trick or treating.  We fall back that day…so an extra hour won’t hurt.  Need to stock up on movie candy for the rest of the year… lots of Reeses Peanut Butter cups.
• New unearthed Babe Ruth footage discovered recently… pretty cool… check it out
• One of the LL kids I coach took a ground ball off their face on Saturday.  No lasting damage but a lot of swelling of the lip, some blood, and the laces left a nice mark on his face.  Hey, at least he knocked it down.
• Starting last week teaching a class on Tuesday evenings at Lincoln University here in Vegas.  Pretty amazing dialogue with students and I’m enjoying the prep process and interaction.  This week, they’re watching the movie Chocolate (old but good) and we’ll be discussing it in class.
• The World Series hasn’t even taken place yet… and I’m ready for Spring Training!!!!
• Finished reading “Prodigal God” by Tim Keller with my Tuesday morning group…great, easy read with some challenging thoughts especially for “us” elder brother types.  Pick it up and give it a read…I highly recommend it.
• Went to a Las Vegas “pumpkin patch” with the fam on Saturday morning.  We were there approximately 20 minutes…just long enough to snap a few pics of the kids, pick our $5 pumpkin, take a glance around, and that was that.  Things definitely change a bit as your kids get older.  Face painting and bounce houses just don’t mean as much to them anymore.
• God keeps reminding me of the power and place of encouragement.  It’s great to receive it, but also extremely powerful to honestly and authentically give it.  Encourage somebody this week…they need it.

Have a great week!

Ahhh is it possible fall has arrive in Vegas?  Probably not, but today was beautiful.  Pre-fall Ramblings…

• NFL kicked off this weekend.  It’s my first without Fantasy Football… and I actually am enjoying it.
• Turn on any Christian radio station and 9 out of 10 times, you’ll be listening to Chris Tomlin.
• Wow, watching Serena Williams freak out at the US Open was uncomfortable.
• RIP Patrick Swayze.  Though he will be remembered for Dirty Dancing, I spent an entire summer as a teenager watching “Red Dawn” over and over again on HBO.   Very unrated movie.   Wolverines!!!
• Our new Control Room worked like a well-oiled machine on Sunday.  Lots of work by some great technicians made it all happen.  Love it when a plan comes together.
• Austin turned 11 today (14th) and we celebrated with some Pei Wei (his favorite spot) and trying out some bikes.  He’s determined to ride to school…mom and I are not so sure.
• Lost a pet frog this week.
• Starting reading Prodigal God by Tim Keller.  Two chapters in and it’s messing with me already.  The story really demonstrates the grace and character of God especially to the elder son.
• What is the saddest movie you have ever seen?  Old Yeller?   I have a couple, but feel free to add your own.  Most of them are “chick flicks” but actually one of the best and most moving pics I’ve seen is Simon Birch.  Pretty underrated and underseen, but a great movie.  Jim Carrey even makes a cameo.  What’s your saddest movie experience?
• Saw the entire Kayne West moment on the VMA’s.  As much as I’d like Taylor Swift to step out of the limelight for a bit (her music is played continually to the point of painfulness)   I felt really bad for her.
• Man I’ve got a post I want to put up… gotta think through it a bit more before I put it out there.

Sitting here watching a little SportsCenter, pondering the past few days… so I thought I would throw some Ramblings together.

• It is astounding what takes place when a wall is placed in a certain position and it effects everyone on either side of it.  I stood on the beach in Tijuana amidst a pretty shabby existence and started across the water at downtown San Diego, one of my favorite city.  The two locations are seperated by only a wall, but are millions of miles apart.  Strange.
• My family went to San Clemente to hang on the beach as I headed south of the border.  Glad my wife got some R&R…she deserved it.
• Is there anything better than the smell of fresh cut grass?  Did the whole yard thing tonight, watched the sunset, and sat outside for dinner.  Fall is on the way!  Still pondering this year’s Halloween costume.
• Had a great post-Mexico breakfast with my men’s small group this morning. They are pretty fired up and talking about heading back down to Mexico to adopt and build a house for a family at Christmas.  Love it.
• What is it about me wearing a tool belt that makes my wife think I’m a stud?  May try leaving one in my truck to wear into the house when I come home from work everyday.  Might bring a little spark to our marital bliss.
• I learned that Mac’s don’t like it when you upgrade operating systems and then try and backpedal.  Time to wipe the machine and start over.  Get thing I finally started backing up that computer.
• Don’t mean to stir it up… but I’m still confused about all the furor over Pres. Obama’s speech to students on the first day of school.    I would hope wherever your political stance, we would find a little more common ground and reasonableness.  My daughter shared a weird experience in her English class that went like this:
  Teacher: “I like Pres. Obama as a person, but disagree with his politics.  However, I read the speech and found nothing wrong with it so tomorrow I will show it to you in class.”
  -New FB Poll Suggestion:   Do you want your child’s 8th grade English teacher giving their political perspective and censoring our President?”  Yes?  No?  
• Just discovered “The Zac Brown Band” on my trip to Mexico.  I’m sure they’ve been around awhile and I just missed it, but nonetheless if you’re not familiar, get familiar.  Great stuff.
• A few days on the other side of the border will sure adjust your perspective in a hurry.
• Nothing like authentic tacos at a neighborhood taco stand in the heart of Tijuana.  Downed about 6, but one of our guys went double digits.  They are amazing!  Don’t ask about health codes and don’t watch them prep them… just put your head down and eat to your hearts content.
• In the middle of Crazy Love series through the Song of Solomon at The Crossing. Great feedback so far. So many marriages and relationships that are stressed and complicated especially during these tough economic times.  Praying for strengthening marriages.
• Great Weekend ahead… First week of the NFL season.  Sweet!  No predictions here.
• Hilarious video we used last week… be careful it’s catchy and get’s stuck in your head.
  
• Got my first glimpse at the new fence installed at the Mexican border.  Pretty crazy how symbolic that fence is and what it separates. So glad to be so blessed.
• This is my first year of retirement from Fantasy Football.  I was tempted for just a moment to pull a Brett Favre but resisted.  Now I can watch the games for the score rather than how many yards the third-string running back may have gotten.
• Decided to finally fix the broken faucet in our kitchen after two months.  Was getting tired of watching my wife wrestle the water on with pliers all the time.  Thought it would take an hour…turned into three plus two additional trips to Home Depot.    Only had to use three beach towels to wipe up all the water from different issues in the installation process. 
• I love Home Depot.
• Starting to read and study “Prodigal God” by Tim Keller with my guys group on Tuesday mornings.  Haven’t read it.  Excited about it.
• We’re undergoing major equipment and operational shifts this week at The Crossing.  Changing our system to SDI which includes new side screens, switcher, camera backs, plus… wait on it… two new Mac Quad Core computers.  All this will make for a better system and is part of our upgrade for “the six” Sunday evening worship venue.  Sometime tomorrow…it should all come together.
• Craving some really good sweet tea right now.

Saw this on a local churches website.  I had mixed emotions.  I give them compliments for embracing their “niche”, being who they are, and not apologizing for it.  However, looking deeper at their Top 10, the tone is off-base and I don’t agree with all the premises they claim to be “benefits”  Take a look? What do you think?

After having been on a little hiatus…thought I would catch up on a few random thoughts

• I really, really still enjoy The Food Network. Peaceful, Relaxing, Fun!  If I could cook more than Mac N Cheese, I would attempt to be the Next Food Network Star.   Finale this coming Sunday… I believe Melissa is the odds on favorite.
• “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Eleanor Roosevelt
• Finished up my three weeks of our “15 Minutes” series @ The Crossing.  Completely enjoyed the prep and study as well as the joy of communicating it.  This week… Henson.
• Used the phrase “promiscuous grace” this past Sunday.  Accurate?
• Three weeks of good eating, lots of exercise…trying to take off some lbs that mysteriously appeared (mainly around the waistline).  So far, so good.
• I think I enjoy Twitter more for the random, fun comments people make.  It’s shallow and meaningless…and I love it.  All the other deep, “fortune-cookie” thoughts are great, but bring on more of the “I’m thinking of making a late night donut run”.  That’s effective communication.
• During the third and final service on Sunday, the microphone pack on my belt came lose in mid-sentence, falling to the floor and yanking the mic off my ear.  Awkward!  What was probably 10 seconds felt like 10 minutes as hundreds watched me scramble and fiddle to reattach the mic.  Hasn’t happened in two years, so much like a plane accident, I guess the law of averages are with us.  So… I took one for the team.
• A couple days in San Diego on the beach and a Padre game are in my immediate future…mainly this coming Friday-Saturday.  Have to say, San Diego is my favorite city.   2nd visit this summer.
• I hate dead grass.  Have some huge dead spots in my back yard.  119 degrees and water restrictions will do that to you every time.
• We made the mistake of walking into Whole Foods on Saturday afternoon.  It is such an amazing store with lots of fresh and intriguing items.  We were there for some Larabars (saw them on Food Network) but left with a bit more.  Hold onto your wallet people because good organic food costs a fortune.
• So I sat through “West Side Story” at the local outdoor live theater.  Arrived two hours early to get a good blanket spot, had a little picnic dinner, and then listened to my Ipod for an hour.  Show starts, I lay back on the blanket and my handy pillow to listen and stare at the stars.  About 45 minutes in, my wife smacks me for snoring.  Didn’t mean to disturb the people around me, but man, tons of singing, not enough dialogue or action.
• “More To Love” is the new reality show starting next week.  I won’t be watching, but it does continue to shock me what makes it on TV.
• BTW…Springer probably has a special warm place waiting for him when he passes on.  Caught a little of the show while working the treadmill last week and between the cat fights and name calling… wow!  Looking for the lowest, darkest side of the human race?  Available daily on the Springer show.  His smug smile is just a bonus.
• My wife and I celebrate 19 years of marital bliss next weekend and I wouldn’t change a thing.  When you find your soulmate…nothing more matters.  Don’t really mind growing old, just glad to take the journey with her.
• End of summer read…“Heart of the Game” which is the story of largely minor-league baseball player Mike Coolbaugh who was tragically killed two years ago by a batted ball while coaching first base in a minor league game in Little Rock, Ark.    Great quote from the book, ‘This baseball game will break our heart.’  It always does.
• Watching previews at the last movie I went to I realized that Fall is the season of romantic comedies.  There are quite a few forthcoming and I believe I will be present for most, if not all, of them.  Could be a new blog…”Man Review Chick Flicks”.  ..May be onto something.
• TMI ALERT!!! (Skip ahead if necessary)  It’s true.  As you get older, unwanted hair does grow in the strangest places.  My trimmer is working over time.
• Football season begins in earnest next week with the opening of NFL training camps.  Looking forward to it, but College Football is really the game.  First year of my retirement from Fantasy Football and no, I won’t be pulling a Favre and returning.
• And lastly, as I learned from Mephibosheth this week, “I was not invited into relationship with God because of what I had, but to enjoy what I could not provide.”  Gotta remember – that.

Have a great week!

Bonus Ramblings Questions:

• A lot of churches are doing the online campuses.  I think it is a great way to reach more peeps, but am a bit unsure of the entire “online church community” thing.  And is it really live if it is on tape?
• Do you understand grace fully?  Not sure I do or ever will.
• Why do I have “Ecclesiastical” days?  Those are the days when I just want to go “meaningless, meaningless”.
• Why do people complain it’s hot when it’s July in the desert?  Surprise.
• Do we really think it is necessary to sanitize the Bible to make us all feel more comfortable and clean?

• Starting a four week series this week we’re calling “15 Minutes”.  In the context of this series, I’m going to be looking again at some biblical characters and their unique moment that speaks to our life experience as well.  Should be fun.
• Feel very bad for Steve McNair’s family.  The real tragedy is another guy who is living a double life outside of his family.  He was a great competitor, football player, and contributor to his community.  However, come on guys, we can’t reap all the accolades while spending time with a 20 yr old in another apartment.  If I do that… I’m not a great man.
• REALLY looking forward to the baseball All-Star game next week…
• Really grateful I got to connect with some of our neighbors whose son played on my baseball team this past Spring.  I gotta tell you… anybody who does what I do for a living has to stay connected to just regular people.  That’s where life really takes place.
• I think I am a closet pyromaniac.
• Here’s the audio of a recent interview I got to do with Blair over at Mix 94.1 in Las Vegas.  It was an awesome opportunity to spend a half hour talking about what is happening at The Crossing to a wide audience in Vegas.  Check it out.
• Read way too many book all ready this summer… I’m a bit burned out.
• Anybody else rent movie with every good intention of watching them… only to see them sit and build of late fees.  I bet “Defiance” is a great movie… maybe I should open the case and give it a watch.
• Had a little health scare this past week so I’m headed in for the whole series of cardio tests this week.  Gotta run on the treadmill, etc.  So looking forward to it.
• This week I was really craving Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries.
• We got our 10 yr. old his first phone this week in prep for 5th grade.  He has discovered texting.  The only problem is that he has no one to text besides our family so I get random texts from him on a regular basis like “hi”.  Kids.
• I mentioned to someone yesterday, “Whatever happened to Waterbeds?”  They had no reasonable response.  We had one.  Got extremely tiresome to pump the water out of the thing every time you had to move it.   Do they still sell them?
• The next six weeks is the time you DO NOT want to be in Vegas as we experience 100+ temps.  Gotta love the dry heat though.
• Turned off my XM radio today.  With my Iphone (pandora, etc.) there is really no need for it anymore.  Goodbye $22.00 a month.
• Finally, thoughts on MJ:  He was an extremely flawed and disturbed individual who made incredible music and was magnificiently gifted by God.  I remember standing in a locker room in 1983 getting ready for BB practice and the boom box (that’s right, I said Boom box) was playing Billy Jean.  As the years went by, the stories got crazier, his behavior more bizarre, and the accusations more serious.   He is an easy target for our desire to feel better about ourselves, our own flaws, and the disgusting part of each of us.  It is not for us to make final calls on a person’s life and legacy.   Be careful (see Matt. 7:3-5)  If my life (and yours) were to be fully on display would reveal deep issues as well, perhaps of a different nature, but unpleasant and unpopular all the same.  For more great thoughts on this, Click here.

Have a great week!

• Put a slip and slide out for the kids yesterday afternoon – didn’t know about the whole liquid soap secret.  They had a great time on a 20 x 3 ft. piece of plastic.   My grass sure took a hit though.
• Re-reading Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz book as a part of the group of guys who meet on Tuesday morning.  It really is good stuff.  If you haven’t visited it in awhile, it might be worth a second look.  Great passage in chapter 2 has been haunting me a bit throughout today, “I wondered what it would be like not to live in a house of mirrors, everywhere I go being reminded of myself.”
• Did a little 30 minute Radio spot with Blair for 94.1 regarding the work of The Crossing here in the Las Vegas community.  Pretty cool, but man 30 minutes is a long time to feel.  It was great to get some free airtime for The Crossing.
• Got to speak to our students this past Sunday… always a thrill, but man I feel a bit ancient when I walk in there.  Had a few flashbacks of some great years, but confident I don’t have the energy to ever attack that again.
• Why is it that Father’s Day feels so different than Mother’s Day?  I have to believe that the female gender has put much more emphasis on their whole holiday deal than we men have.
• Plan on wearing flip flops as often as possible this summer.
• Twitter is taking off like crazy.  It will be interesting to watch how the usage evolves moving forward.  Life is now being lived in 140 characters or less.
• Been watching The Next Food Network Star with the wife.  Good summer reality while everything else is off the air, but hard to take seriously since none of the previous “Network Stars” are doing anything.  Reminds me of when ESPN was holding competition for SportsCenter anchors.  I think the winner is now doing the 3 minute local sports spot somewhere outside Des Moines.
• The whole Jon and Kate thing is a fiasco.  Never watched the show… something about the whole concept made me extremely uncomfortable but my family loved it.  Another example of an abnormal life leading to predictable results.  The most ridiculous part is they insist on continuing the show.  time to move on…your 15 minutes were up awhile back.

So since a lot of you had to put up with my endless twitters and Facebook updates from various locales in So Cal, I had to put a few rehash thoughts in place.  Here we go…

• Did some post Vacation Restaurant review yesterday.  
• Kids got to ride the Giant Dipper roller coaster at Mission Beach.  Listening to the thing scared me to death as it rattled and rolled, but they had an awesome time on this classic coaster.
• Austin made the Little League All-Star team even though he was still recovering from his surgery.  He is healing up well and will start practicing tomorrow night with the team.  Never made an all-star team myself so I’ll be living vicariously through him.  Is that ok?
• I’m pretty pumped up about the US Open (golf, not tennis) beginning this week at Bethpage in New York.  Great course, great competition, great event to watch.
• Vacation is great because the clock becomes meaningless and time slows down.  We spent a lot of time by the pool at our hotel just getting sun burned, reading, and listening to some great music.  I felt guilty for a few moments…but got over it quickly.
• Finished reading “An Unlikely Disciple”.  Gotta tell you, the book was really appealing and had some great perspectives.  If you are a Christian leader or consider yourself a Christian, you should get this book and read it sometime this summer.   You won’t be disappointed.
• Getting pretty excited about the fall launch of our Sunday evening worship service, the six.  Lots of work to be done before it launches, but this will open up a lot of new possibilities for The Crossing.
• Laid out and read all afternoon by the pool… realized how white I am.  Or was…Now I am bright red and pink.
• As I said earlier this week, anything you eat by the pool tastes really good.  I forgot to add, “it also is EXTREMELY expensive.”
• I find myself more and more wanting to be around people that inspire, motivate, and have passion.  Life’s too short to be pulling people along all the time.
• Starting to read Blue Like Jazz with my Tuesday AM group.  It has become a classic, but most of my guys haven’t been exposed to it so it will be a good, light summer read.  It should inspire some great conversation as well.
• I’ve played golf once in the last 3 months.  Is that a good thing?  Maybe.
• So the whole “church online’ thing is really taking off with more and more “campuses” popping up everyday.  We do a live feed each service with the accompanying chat but I wouldn’t quite call it “church” just yet.  I consider myself progress (my perspective only) but I’m still not sure this is ultimately going to be all it’s cracked up to be.  Can something be so attractive because it is innovative, yet have little impact?  I think so.
• Life’s a bit serious right now.  Need to find some stuff to laugh and write about.
• If you need some refreshing perspective,  listen to a baseball game on the radio.  From first pitch to last.

Vacation is designed to relax… and eat.  Having just returned from a fabulous week in Southern California, I thought I would post up some Restaurant Reviews.  We decided to hit some different places to eat that were a bit out of the norm.  Here’s a quick review of a few.  If you’re in the area, drop by some of these.

-”I Love Bagels” stopped there for a quick breakfast between LA and San Diego.  Was a little sketchy and considered a Panera or Einsteins (standard and predictable) but it was worth it.  Bagels made on site that are amazing.

-“Lucha Libre Gourmet Tacos” saw this in magazine as one of the best cheap eats in San Diego.  Located on Washington St. just of the 5 south, this is an unbelievable experience.  Themed with all the wrestler paraphernalia (think Nacho Libre), the tacos are amazing.  Tried the Turf and Surf Taco which was carne asada, shrimp, and a fabulous sauce.


-”Wahoo Tacos” in La Jolla.  I understand this is a chain, but the outlet in La Jolla is very cool and the fish tacos (both blackened and grilled) were amazing.

-“Casa Guadalajara” is located in the Bazaar del Mundo shops in Old Town.  Just renovated, the atmosphere is awesome
with outdoor seating, fire pits, and all the festive decor.  Big portions… so we shared. “

-“Ciro’s Pizzeria” we actually followed one of those dudes with a big sign into this little pizza joint just off the beaten path in the Gaslamp district.  Two slices of pizza and a drink for six bucks met the budget and didn’t disappoint.  The guys behind the counter actually flipping the dough made for a great atmosphere.

-“The Living Room” has a couple locations in San Diego (we went to the one in Old Town).  Incredible coffee and some outstanding desserts in a really chic atmosphere.  There was a small meeting taking place and other conversations when we were there so it definitely is a gathering point.

And Finally… A Confession:
The last night of our vacation we were going to eat at Anthony’s Famous Fish Grotto on the pier, but the line was too long, our wallets were too empty, so we headed to the OG (Olive Garden) with a gift card received for coaching baseball.   Exciting?  No.  Lame?  Yes. But a nice transition back into the normal world… and you know it’s all about the breadsticks.