• A Favorite Thing About Harbor

    Each Sunday, during the worship service, our church invites all the children to come up and play instruments during one of the songs.

    Too often we push the children of the church away from the adults and I think that’s a real mistake that accidentally sanitizes intergenerational worship. This small action each week is symbolic of a place that provides voice and value to all equally. I love it! The leaders are crazy enough to think that they can change City Heights.


    Pint-Size Jam Session from Kristen McLane on Vimeo.

    HT to Kristen

  • Late December Pictures

  • Waiter Rant by Steve Dublanica

    Kristen and I like to eat out. A lot. In fact, if we could figure out a way to afford it and not gain 1,000 pounds we would probably eat out for every meal of the day 365 days per year. We love the experience of going to new places, trying new things, and watching people.

    I’m not going to lie. Waiter Rant exposed just how much I ignore the people who make our dining experience enjoyable. We rarely converse with wait staff and I tend to treat waiters like a caddy. In my opinion, the best waiter is quiet, prompt, and available to answer questions. Steve’s stories of a life in the restaurant business have likely changed my perception of waiters forever. While I’m far from a jerk customer, listening to the waiter’s tales taught me a valuable lesson about the Golden Rule.

    Waiter Rant gives readers a behind the scenes look at what it’s like to work at a restaurant. The author explores it from a lot of unexpected and fun angles. He dives into the emotional side as he realizes that his temporary gig turns into 6+ years. He documents the power struggles between the owner, the chef, and the waiters who ultimately decide if the place succeeds or fails. He delves into he pecking order and how that relates to the best shifts and subsequently the most money. He documents what makes a good customer and a bad one. He shares what it means to get a bad tip. He even goes as far as to talk about the nasty parts of restaurants… dirty kitchens and waiters who do things to your food. He places owners, chefs, and waiters into understandable categories. The book even has a couple of appendixes. One is for waiters, so they can know what to look for in an employer. The second is for customers, providing an insiders guide to know if a restaurant is well-run.

    This book isn’t about restaurants or even waiting on tables. Waiter Rant is about Steve’s search for his life calling in the midst of dealing with the hand he dealt himself. I think anyone can identify with Steve’s predicament. Sometimes we all get caught up paying the bills while in full knowledge that, while we may enjoy our present situation, it isn’t the dream we’d had for ourselves. In the ebb and flow of that we see the waiter master his life position and then lose control of it. As he feels himself lose control of his once expertly maintained head waiter career, he tailspins out of control in many areas of his life. Anger and bitterness slip in where joy once lived until he could take it no more. Smack dab in the middle of this angst-filled time Steve discovers his true calling as a writer. (One letter off from “waiter,” by the way.) Amidst the toughest of times the waiter see’s his blog, Wait Rant, become a best selling book. Life is just like that.

    You’ll certainly never look at a server quite the same.

  • Top 10 George W. Bush Moments



    It’s worth noting that I’ve loved having GW Bush as President.     No sarcasm in that statement. While it’s become popular to poke fun at him, call him names, and insist that he’s an idiot… I don’t feel that way at all. I recognize that he has been the President we elected, exactly as presented. Had he been more flexible he would have been more popular. But I don’t fault the guy for being who we elected. All of these quaint things that people liked about him (see the video) in 2000, we now make fun of him for.

    I predict that public opinion of him will greatly increase after his presidency ends. As more is known and the Messiah’s crown begins to tarnish of the Obama Presidency, we will stop hearing that he was “the worst President in our history” and begin to see a broader picture of what he was trying to do. Eight years later I can still say that I’m glad he won the 2000 election and Al Gore didn’t.

    Back to the video. A fantastic orator, Bush is not. With 24 hour news I don’t know how they managed to narrow it down to a Top 10 list!

  • Reigning in Christmas

    This was the 3rd year where Kristen and I really controlled Christmas instead of Christmas controlling us. We’ve always had a desire to keep Christmas in it’s rightful place. It seems like it is finally sinking in and becoming a habit.

    The good news is that anyone can control Christmas!

    Practically, we are celebrating another Christmas paying for everything in cash. (Gasp! You can do that?) Around Thanksgiving Kristen and I discussed how much we wanted to spend and we did a good job sticking to our gift giving budget. (Our big splurge was the new TV. The crazy thing about that is it was the first TV I’d ever bought!)

    We don’t have the best history as far as gift giving goes. Like a lot of couples, we completely overspent for years. In those earlier days of our marriage, when we had more cash flow than wisdom to handle it, we managed to spend way more than we could afford and got used to paying off Christmas debt well into Spring.

    My only encouragement to those who want to make a change is plan early and pay cash. I don’t mean “buy early” as that’s not the best way to get deals. Just plan early and set aside some cash to buy gifts. From there, commit to not dipping into savings or using a credit card.

    Here’s the kicker. We’re less stressed out about it and it gives us a chance to teach our kids about Jesus. Now that Christmas is over I have zero guilt about what we spent. The secret is that the kids are just as happy with fewer, smaller presents, as they were when we spent a lot! The Incarnation didn’t happen so we could get further entrapped! He came to fully release us from bondage. That means the bondage of sin. But it also means that Jesus’ taking on flesh is a reminder that we can be released from our other indebtedness.

    A simpler Christmas is over the top fun. I just hope we can be even more disciplined in 2009.

  • Shut up and dance

    Love this video. I literally laughed out loud. Not the fake “LOL” kind either. I’m sure it was a choreographed stunt… but man it is still really good.

  • War is Over?

    If you are involved, celebrate how much has been accomplished and let’s look forward to 2009! If you’re not involved in bringing justice, mercy, and peace to the world make 2009 the time when you will get off your butt and do something.

    Learn how you can get involved with Invisible Children.

  • Saturday Tunes

    Late December. No mans land for all things blog heavy! I have lots of heavy thoughts floating around that will be fantastic blog posts one day. But the simple reality is that it’s a good time to just chill out and not try to change the world too much this time of year. Truth is, had Luther posted his 95 Thesis in the week between Christmas and New Years the movement now known as Protestantism would have never gotten off the ground.

    Nice weather returns to San Diego today. With that in mind, Kristen and I are hoping to take the kids to the Ocean Beach Pier. We’ve wanted to walk out there and it looks like today is the day!

    As I wait for it to warm up outside (currently 41, high of 61) I’m jamming to some music. Here are the next 10 songs on my playlist. As always, completely random and ratings included.

    #1 Drifter by Decemberadio *****

    #2 Take Me by Vineyard Generation ****

    #3 One Step Closer (Live) by Linkin Park *****

    #4 New York by Cat Power ***

    #5 Black Water by The Doobie Brothers ****

    #6 Only One by Lifehouse ****

    #7 All Creatures of our God and King by David Crowder Band ***

    #8 Counting Blue Cars by Dishwalla ****

    #9 Walkin’ by Miles Davis *****

    #10 New Soul by Yael Naim *****

  • Congrats to Notre Dame

    On December 24th Notre Dame Football brought home their first bowl victory since January 1st, 1994. After checking the record books… I was a senior at Clay High School in South Bend the last time the won a bowl game.

    It was an impressive waxing of an offensive heavy Hawaii team. This team of freshmen and sophomore players gave a glimmer of hope for next season. Jimmy Clausen was unstoppable. He had 300 yards  and 3 TDs in the first half. At Notre Dame that is unheard of. Without touching the ball in the 4th quarter he finished the day with 5 TD passes and 401 yards. Of course, it’s worth mentioning that Hawaii’s pass defense ranked 118 out of 119 Division 1 teams.

    For fans, there were some reasons to be excited about this game.

    #1 Not a word about the Charlie Weis death watch. With this win, you won’t hear that again until their first loss of the 2009 season.

    #2 The team had fun. In Weis’s early years he relished in having his team wound tight and nervous. I think we finally are seeing a new philosophy breaking in. These are college kids in Hawaii so let them have fun!

    #3 Jimmy Clausen proved he wasn’t Ron Paulus. (Notre Dame’s Quarterback coach) Like Paulus, Clausen was highly recruited and everyone assumed he was the next Joe Montana. Paulus was extremely talented but never lived up to the hype. Clausen finally showcased his talents in a big way. Now we need to know if he can do that next year at Michigan or at home against USC?

    #4 They broke the losing streak. Sure, it was against lowly Hawaii. But the Warriors were favored to win in their home stadium. Notre Dame not only won but they completely dominated this game. This is a great lead in to 2009. And when they get to a big bowl next year they won’t have the record over their heads.

    #5 It was clear they needed to get better in the secondary. The defensive front four and linebackers are very solid for next year. They’ve long struggled to have a decent secondary… maybe it’s time to convert some tall offensive players?

    #6 I love how exciting the special teams have been. Blocked punts, long kickoff returns, ridiculous speed returning punts. Let’s hope Weis keeps putting first string players out there on special teams.

    #7 Keep Weis in the box. Just like Lou Holtz was a better coach without the headset on, Charlie Weis is a better play caller from the press box.

    #8 The tide is turning in South Bend on Charlie Weis. I’ve heard that Weis is doing some things in the area to endear himself to the locals. The Bend is still a small town… if you don’t manage the politics the politics will manage you.

    #9 Great for recruiting. I’ll presume that some high school kids, sitting in their living rooms, could envision themselves having fun at a bowl game and scoring lots of touchdowns for Notre Dame. Playing on Christmas eve had few advantages… but being the only game on during a terrible TV night was one big one.

    #10 I think the coaching staff should stick with the Rick Warren costumes. Hawaiian shirts at the opener against Nevada?

    Bonus: Looking at the 2009 schedule two things pop out. First, they have a favorable schedule. Second, until October 31st they don’t go more than 4 hours from home.

  • Christmas Photos


    Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.