THE VIEW FROM UP HERE

Mindful Mondays: Soul Care During The Pandemic

By Gina Buccini, MS, Transformational Growth Coach In the midst of this pandemic, I couldn’t help but think about Pastor Todd’s recent sermons on the rhythms of life. He spent the month of January on sabbatical seeking the rhythms of his own life and returned in...

Determine what is best

HOW TO DETERMINE WHAT IS BEST

This is my prayer: that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you determine what is best.  Philippians 1:9–10.   Our culture thrives on binary categories. Good and evil. Black and white. Left and right. Republican and democrat. Right and...

Mindful Mondays: Connection Counteracts Chaos

By:  Katrina Harris, M.A., LMFT & Andrea Lundeen, M.A., AMFT   Anybody feel that life suddenly became an involuntary game of 52 card pick up?  What was business as usual has become a wave of change, loss, fear, separation, uncertainty and feeling like things are out of...

letter 2

A LETTER FROM ANOTHER LOCKDOWN

Locked down. Uncertain future. Separated from loved ones. Sound familiar? The apostle Paul wrote an affectionate letter to his friends at Philippi when he was in prison. But the tone of the letter is joy and gratitude for the partnership Christians have with Jesus and each...

Mindful Mondays: What Exodus Taught Me About The Current Pandemic

  By Shetal Desai     Last week was Passion week……which means, as usual, I could be found watching the epic drama The Ten Commandments on television. And who couldn’t resist the 3-hour long dramatic re-creation of Exodus starring Charleton Heston as Moses? A Hebrew slave by birth, raised by the...

keep your eyes on Jesus

KEEP YOUR EYES ON JESUS

Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame,...

take church home

TAKING CHURCH HOME

The doors are closed but the church is open.   A year ago this week we opened the doors of our church building in San Juan Capistrano. After twenty-two years of wandering from place to place, we finally established a home. Now it sits empty. The church...

youtube coronavirus

WHY DOESN’T GOD DO SOMETHING?

  Last week, someone commented on a video I posted on YouTube entitled HOW TO USE JESUS' PRAYER TO FIGHT THE CORONAVIRUS,    “If God exists, either there's nothing he can do to stop it, or he chooses not to. Those are the only two choices.”   Are those the...

you can practice social distancing

YOU CAN DO MORE THAN QUARANTINE AND CHILL

The serenity prayer is one of my “go to” daily prayers:   “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”   We can’t change the fact that we are in the middle of...

pray against fear and coronavirus

PRAY AGAINST FEAR & CORONAVIRUS

You can pray against fear and against the coronavirus using the prayer Jesus gave us.   Our Father in heaven . . . You are Jesus’ Father and mine too. You love all your kids and invite us to seek you on behalf of everyone.   Hallowed be your...