Radical Sabbatical - Day 18

Friday Jan 18 – Sunday Jan 20, 2013

On Friday we said goodbye to Vegas and headed west into California.  Our destination was to be the home of our good friends the Rohde’s, but some extenuating circumstances intervened in their life (Ashe’s dad was admitted to the hospital, and she had to fly back to Alabama), and so while on the road we called our friends Carlo and Ricarda, “can we come visit you, like, today?”   A new address set into Google maps, re-routing… and we are now headed to Valencia, CA.  Blessed are the flexible.

It was great seeing Carlo and Ricarda, and their sweet daughters Talia and Azaria!  They are so awesome!  We pulled into Valencia, chowed down on some awesome “Mex-Fresh” food, and barged in.

On Saturday Carlo was in the hospital with his dad all day (pray for Gerry Perez, he’s having serious liver problems), so Tammy and I decided to head to the coast.  Carlo recommended El Matador Beach in Malibu, so we headed across the canyon and to the coast.  The drive through Malibu Canyon is spectacular.  I’d forgotten how beautiful southern Cal is.

El Matador is such a beautiful beach.  From the high cliff, you walk down a trail and several staircases to a small cove nestled along the rocky Malibu coast.  There are rock outcroppings that go out into the water, creating private sandy beach areas.  We brought a light lunch, some books to read, and settled in for a quite day on the beach.  

We decided to stay until sunset, as it’s been a while since I’ve seen a west coast sunset, and we weren’t disappointed.

Sunday we decided to check out a church called Reality LA.  I heard about RLA several years ago, when I read an article in Christianity Today that talked about a church in LA that was seen as an enigma:  A church that is very conservative it’s doctrine, solid bible teaching, spirit filled, and not afraid to confront the sensitive issues of our day, such as homosexuality and abortion.  While this might describe a typical Baptist church, this church was attracting young people like crazy.  After reading the article I Google’ed the church, and subscribed to pastor Tim Chaddick’s podcast (click here).  Apparently there are a lot of twenty-something’s looking for truth and transparency over hype and showmanship.  We arrived at Helen Burnstein High School in Hollywood, took our seats in the auditorium, and watched the place fill up.  The worship was simple, not showy at all, but sweet and from the heart.  Pastor Tim came up and shared a powerful message about grace and the church, and then closed out the message with an invitation to take communion and enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ.  One thing that was unique, the worship team came back up and led the congregation in another thirty minutes of worship AFTER the message.  Wasn’t expecting that, but it was powerful.  It allowed the message and conviction and conviction of the Spirit to really settle into people’s hearts.  People kept coming up for prayer, even up to the end.  The power of God, and the move of the Spirit, were in that place.

After church Ricarda took us to her favorite restaurant, Chin Chin, on Sunset Avenue.  Ricarda used to work with her dad as a talent scout right up the street, and Chin Chin was her fav place to go.  The food was excellent, and we were blessed to get to know her new friend Kelly, who had joined us for church along with her two girls.  Kelly shared her “God story” about how she moved from Texas, met her husband, and how God had done amazing things in her life and her family.  I always love hearing people’s God story!

After lunch we drove up into Hollywood hills, up to where the famous Hollywood sign is located. There is a trail you can follow to the sign, but the girls didn't feel like walking, especially after one of the locals informed us that there are coyote's and bobcats that live in the area.  From the lookout though, you can see all across the LA basin.  A beautiful site!  (I shot the photo below using AutoStitch, an app that will stitch together several pictures).

Well that’s it for today, tomorrow we are hoping to check off another item on Tammy’s bucket list: the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

Love you all!


Pastor Clay & Tammy

Radical Sabbatical - Days 8-10

Jan 10-12, 2013

On Wednesday we hit the road again and headed northeast for St Louis MO.  Neither Tammy nor I have ever been there, and its on our way to Denver, so it was our next target.  Rolled into town at about 4 pm and started looking for a room. I just gotta say it, the iPhone is the greatest travel companion ever!  Within a few minutes Tammy found us a hotel downtown, just a few blocks from the Missouri River and the arch.


The hotel, the Roberts Mayfare, first opened in 1925, and I tell you the hotel still has the feel of that bygone era (if you're interested in such things, click here).  We felt like we were walking onto the Titanic!  The rooms have been updated with modern amenities, but they still have that 1920’s feel.  I don't usually write a paragraph about our hotel, but this one was an exception. One HUGE complaint though, the heating system is apparently still “old school,” so we had no control over the temperature in our room.  It must have been 80 degrees in the room, which did NOT make for a good sleep.

The next morning we visited the St Louis Arch. I didn't expect much, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it a top-notch park.  The Arch is a monument to the voyage of Louis and Clark, and is considered the gateway of the westward expansion of America. Of course we rode the tram up to the top, where you can see for thirty miles in each direction, but they also had a great museum area that chronicled the westward expansion.  It was a bit heart-breaking to hear how many US agents, and the government, basically steam-rolled over the native Americans in our quest to expand and grow.  Initially the Indian tribes were willing to share the land with the white man, but as is usually the case, western people want more than they currently have.  Little by little we relocated, renegotiated, and even forcibly moved the Indians onto land that wasn't deemed valuable. Oh, and we killed off all of their food sources, namely the buffalo.

Tammy and I both came away a bit torn:  one the one hand, expansion, growth, and new technology are all forces that have greatly benefitted all of our lives.  American drive and ingenuity has not only improved our quality of life, but has done more to help the world than any other nation.  Health, medicine, food production, transportation, freedom of all people regardless of race, freedom of religion; our world would be a very different place were it not for the birth and expansion of the US. But there are some dark stains on our past, and our treatment of the Native American Indians is one of those stains.  Lord, forgive us as a nation for how we have treated others.

After the arch we hit the road again, this time for a LONG STRETCH, as we needed to be in Denver CO by noon on Saturday, because… we scored tickets to the Bronco’s – Raven’s playoff game!  Total score! So on Thursday we drove for eleven hours and made it to Colby KS, about 200 miles east of Denver.  We learned something; the temperature drops quite a bit between St Loius MO and Colby KS, like all the way to thirteen degrees!  We got up early Friday, and hit it again, and the farther we drove, the colder it got, and the icier the roads became.  By the time we got to Denver, it was nine degrees.  But we had tickets to the playoff game, so we layered up, bundled up, and along with 70,000 other people, headed into Mile High Stadium.

Mile High is a great stadium; its clean, well designed, has lots of bathrooms and food vendors, and you can actually see the game!  Even from our top-of-the-stadium-nose-bleed section, we had a great view of the field.  And man, do the Denver fans LOVE their Broncos!  The energy was amazing, and I learned about the “Denver Thunder.”  Each time the team lined up for a play, the entire stadium started stomping their feet on the metal floors, which made the entire stadium shake like thunder.  The Broncos lost in OT by a field goal, but overall it was a great game.  Once the frostbite on my toes and fingers thaws, I should be able to use them again. ☺

Even though we are getting to see some cool places, I think the best time of the trip is when we are driving and praying.  Long hours in the car provide ample time to pray for all the people, and all the things, that due to our busy schedule don't make our prayer list.  So if you are involved in our life in any way, we’ve probably been praying for you!  If you serve the Lord in ministry at CCW or another church, we’ve probably been praying for you!  And if we missed you, I am sure we’ll get to you, as tomorrow we have another long day in the car!

So today (Sunday) is worship, do some laundry, get reorganized, and be ready to head for the Grand Canyon tomorrow.  Oh, and I think we’re gonna go see Zero Dark Thirty tonight.

PS if you want to see the pics from our tours, check it out here

Love you all!


Pastor Clay & Tammy

Radical Sabatical - Days 5-6

Tuesday, Jan 8, 2013

So yes I’m skipping a few days, as Sunday & Monday were pretty light days.  We made a valiant effort to make church on Sunday, I had wanted to attend National Community Church, but obviously the evil “prince of the lost tourist” was more powerful than Google Maps. Sad.  On the way out of town we drove right by the Air & Space Museum, so we stopped in for a quick look.  Pretty amazing.

Monday we drove.  And drove.  And got to Nashville, checked into a great low-price hotel that has free food and a hot tub.  Major score!

Tuesday was our “do Nashville” day, and it was a great day.  We dropped onto Broadway St, the main drag, and our first stop was lunch at Piranha’s Bar & Grill, where I ate the most amazing sandwich I’ve ever put in my mouth.  Fresh Italian bread, piled high with meat, cheese, fresh-cut fries, slaw, then more bread.  Its called “Piranha way” and you pretty much cant get the sandwich any other way.  Their motto is “our way is the best way, so we probably won’t do it your way.”  They’re right.

After Piranha’s we dropped in to Gruhn’s Guitars, the most awesome guitar shop in the universe.  Racks of 1960’s & 70’s Gibson’s, Fenders, 1930’s Dobro’s, if you're a connoisseur of fine instruments, Gruhn’s has you covered, that is, if you have a spare $2,500 - $10,000 lying around for a guitar purchase.  My budget?  I got a shirt.  It is a cool shirt.

Then we took the tour of Ryman Auditorium.  At first I was a bit sketchy on touring an auditorium, I mean its just seats and a stage, right?  Wrong.  Ryman Auditorium is rich with history.  It was built in the 1880’s by Thomas G. Ryman. Ryman was a riverboat captain and bar owner who attended a tent revival of evangelist Sam Jones.  Jones preached against the sins of the city (which Ryman made his living from), and Ryman intended to confront the preacher and heckle him.  Instead of heckling Jones, Ryman got saved, and then made it his life mission to build and an auditorium where Jones could preach.  I’ll spare the entire history, but the Ryman became the home to the Grand Old Opry, from 1943 – 1974 the Opry performed every Saturday night, and many country music stars got their start by performing at the Opry. Its an incredible venue, and the acoustics are amazing.  Tammy and I were standing at the top of the balcony, and we could clearly hear a couple standing on the stage.

Next?  Ok, Nashville is honkey-tonk central, so we had to step into a honky-tonk and hear some music.  What better place than Honky-Tonk Central?  Broadway is lined with establishments that have live music all day and night, and HTC was no exception.  I have no idea of who the band was, matter of fact I later learned that the band members had only met each other that day.  A thrown together group of musicians, that played song after song, and were TIGHT!  Nashville is full of awesome musicians, ready to play, hoping to “make it,” but most will squeeze out a meager existence playing in honky-tonks.

Tuesday night we struck gold. On a whim I booked a table for the 9 PM show at the Bluebird Café, a place billed as the “one of the world’s preeminent listening rooms.”  I had no idea what I was getting us into.  We pulled into the parking lot at 8 pm, and there was already a line at the door. Luckily we had a reservation, so we got in.  The lineup was Jeff Cohen, Kristian Bush, JT Harding, and Jon Nite, who were seated in a circle in the middle of the café.  I’ve never heard of any of these guys, but as they started playing it dawned on me that “I’ve heard these songs.” So I started Google’ing  the lyrics; Big and Rich, Sugarland, Keith Urban, it quickly became apparent:  These guys write the songs that people hear on the radio! Jon Nite’s songs have been placed on One Tree Hill, CSI, and Vampire Diaries.  If that weren’t cool enough, the MC started calling up people from the audience, and up steps Scotty Davis, who performed “What Faith Can Do” (a song he wrote, you've heard it on K-Love, Kutless cut the tune).  Ha, the next night Vince Gill and Amy Grant are scheduled to play.  If you ever go to Nashville, do not leave without going to the Bluebird Café.  I promise, you wont be disappointed.

Today was a chill day, getting ready for the next drive - tomorrow we head for St. Louis MO.

Pastor Clay & Tammy

Radical Sabbatical - Day 2

Yesterday was a pretty chill day, we slept in, had some devo and prayer time.  Our word was from 2 Peter 3:

…grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. – 2 Peter 3:18

I’ve always loved that verse, because to me the most powerful thing we can do as Christians is to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Savior.  When we know His grace, we’ll give His grace.  When we know Him, we are on the path to becoming more like him.  Spurgeon had a phrase that hit me “the man that does not grow, refuses to be blessed.” In other words, when a person refuses to grow (meaning, refuses to study their bible, pray, commune with the Lord), that person is in effect saying “Don’t bless me God.”  For me, I’d rather be more like Jacob, who said “I will not let you go unless you bless me” (Gen 32:26).

So we headed out - the weather was beautiful, the traffic was light coming into DC, and we listened to a good bit of “Killing Kennedy” on the stereo.  Whether or not you appreciate Bill O’Reilly’s show on Fox News or not, the man is an incredible writer, and a gifted orator.   We listened to Killing Lincoln on a trip last year, and were so impressed with the non-biased, historical, and informative aspect of that work, we had to get Killing Kennedy.  So far we’re not disappointed (next up on the list, “Erasing Hell” by Frances Chan).

We got checked into our hotel (so blessed a friend hooked us up at the Sheraton Four Points, which is downtown and so everything you would want to do is within walking distance.)

To be honest I’m still finding it hard to untether,  have this underlying urge to check email, etc.  Don’t worry, my wonderful mate Tammy is doing a great job of assisting me in this effort – “Clay, put the phone down…”  - “…but I was just going to take a picture!!!”  I think it’ll take a week or so to really let go.

We capped the night off with a walk to Chinatown, which is about ten blocks from our hotel.  Tammy & I LOVE Asian food, I think we might end up as missionaries to Thailand one day!

Today we are going to do one my favorite things: wander around aimlessly and go into whatever museum or monument we find.  There are two we have to see:  The Holocaust Museum, and he Air & Space Museum.

We’ll be praying for you all today, we miss you already, and we love you!

PC & Tammy