“When they started their night, they appeared one way. When they returned, they were different, better. Clearly, something magical had happened” he said.

I hoped he wasn’t exaggerating.

He reassured me. Whatever happened on that night with those couples — the ones he observed — was detectable on them. When they dropped off their kids for child care prior to the last Mariners MV Date Night, all the observable pressures that weighed upon them were no different than our own: bills to be paid, schedules to keep, people to impress, carpools to sort out, lunches to be packed, friendships, in-laws, old issues, new issues, insecurities to try to bury, and  jealousies to silence. But, something must’ve happened, because upon their return to pick up their kids,  they appeared to be different. The old pressures surely weren’t lifted. They didn’t win a bag of money as a door prize to help deal with their debt. There was no counseling “a-ha” that helped them to reconcile a deep wound from either of their pasts. But, they were different nonetheless.

Mariners Date Night is no marriage overhaul. It’s brief and lighthearted. It’s time spent elevating the importance of that one most important of all human relationships — the relationship we have with our spouse. We don’t make anyone confess anything into a microphone. We don’t spend two hours in a Bible study. We don’t do counseling. Amanda and I will talk briefly about one or two things to tune up your marriage. Then, we send you out. Mariners MV will watch your kids (until 9:30pm).

On Friday, February 12th we’ll host a Date Night. A number of people, looking for a different take on Valentine’s Day have told us that this Date Night has become their Valentine’s dinner. Doors will open at 6:30pm. There will be plenty of great hors d’oeuvres. Amanda and I will share a few thoughts before sending you out on your date. Don’t miss it. Let us know you’re coming and whether or not you’ll need child care by registering here. Perhaps after a short date night you’ll  come back a bit different, too. Maybe it’ll even be “magical.” Who knows?

See you soon,

Jeff

Join the men of Mariners Church Mission Viejo for breakfast and a special guest speaker. Learn about Men’s Ministry and see how we encourage and challenge one another to be the men God calls us to be! More info here or search “breakfast” on our website.

Sat, Feb 13, 8-10a, Upper Room, $10

Come as you are for this nine-week study about God’s promise of hope through His son, Jesus, and the life we are called to live as His children. No cost. Bring your Bible and a journal. More info here or search “women.”

WOMEN’S STUDY
Thursdays, Feb 18-Apr 14, 6:30p-8p, Upper Room

I’m not much of a baseball person. I do like going to the games, though. Eating overpriced bad-for-you food with forty thousand of my closest friends and then having the freedom to toss the food wrappers and empty cups on the floor in front of me is about as good as it gets. But, I have a really hard time watching it on television. Baseball, the sometimes stately and other times ornery grandfather of all American sports traditions, will start soon. Within the next few weeks, teams will start gathering together for spring training with the intent of getting all team members on the “same page.” It’s about making sure that everyone is prepared for what is coming in late May: the start of the season — when it all counts.

Some players, I’m sure will be overjoyed to be back on the field. For others, it’s just more practice: more drills that have been done and redone countless times. Yet, it’s out of practice that freedom to play comes more naturally and with greater aptitude. In other words, hitting baseballs and running bases, and working out in the gym enable a greater likelihood of success when real opponents are faced.

Lent, like baseball has a spring-training air about it. Lent is a season of spiritual practice. Spiritual practices, or disciplines, prepare and free us. Lent is the 40 day run-up to Easter. It involves a heart-preparation and a tuning in to God. It is a time to free ourselves from things that have mastery over us by fasting (going without certain things) from the little comforts we deem to be necessities. It is a time to identify with Jesus’ ministry, suffering, and journey toward the cross. It is not, as some have come to know it, a second shot at unfulfilled New Year’s diet resolutions. It is not a way to garner spiritual brownie points or later-to-be-used indulgence credits. The Lenten season starts next week at what is called “Ash Wednesday.” As such, Mariners MV will hold an Ash Wednesday service at 7pm on February 10th.

For people in a number of Church traditions, Ash Wednesday services may be familiar to you. For others, like myself, who grew up in churches that eschewed such practices on the belief that things that felt like “ritualistic” were either irrelevant or perhaps harmful, we have often overlooked the power characterizing such gatherings. We’ll sing. We’ll hear a brief teaching from the Bible. We’ll respond by receiving the mark of the ashes upon our foreheads (an identification with our own mortality and a traditional symbol of our need for a spiritual u-turn). Then, we’ll make personal commitments to surrender some things during the next 40 days that may have mastery over us (traditionally called a “fast”).

Everyone is welcome. For people with kids younger than kindergarten age, child care will be provided.

See you soon,
Jeff

Begin the season of Lent with worship, reflection, and preparing our hearts for the journey to Easter.  Search “Ash” on our website or click here for more info.

ASH WEDNESDAY SERVICE
Wed, Feb 10, 7p, Worship Center

Women coming together to seek and experience genuine faith.
IF is about a generation of women coming together in a spirit of humility and unity to seek and experience genuine faith and pray that God will work in even greater ways. For more info, click here or search “IF” on our website. Contact Erin, iflocalsocal@gmail.com, with questions.

Fri, Feb 5, 5:30-9p & Sat, Feb 6, 9a-4p, Worship Center
$10 suggested donation, $10 boxed lunches available

“So God created mankind in his own image,  in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
– GENESIS 1:27

NOTE: You’ll have to indulge me a bit today. I’m going to brag about one of my own kids. Every parent undoubtedly overstates things about their kids — good and bad. In fairness, I owe it to you to give you a chance to prepare yourself with whatever “grains of salt” you need to enable you to read on.

I was looking back through some of the things in one of those “drawers” in which we put all the stuff we feel guilty getting rid of, but don’t really know what to do with. That drawer used to be full of all kinds of coupons for fast food restaurants (i.e. buy a burrito, get a burrito free) and expired oil change discounts. Now, it’s largely populated by kid-art I’m not “allowed” to throw away. There are cloudy landscapes and rainbows. There are a number of pages with my kids’ names inscribed with several different colors. There are saved pictures comprised entirely of stickers. But, every so often there are a few surprises. I came across this picture of a bird that I had placed in such a drawer a few years ago. Upon rediscovering it, I was overjoyed it wasn’t thrown away. My son painted it when he was nine years old.

I’m still struck by it. I have to remind myself that this is the work of a 3rd grader. I have a hard time fathoming how he was able to communicate all the intricacies and details of this bird and its shimmering reflection through the end of a brush.  In looking at it, it’s hard not to say, “he was made for this.”

He has a five-foot by five-foot homage to Jackson Pollack on the wall in his bedroom that he painted a few years ago. Every drop of paint had an intention in color and placement despite its apparent randomness. He rarely goes anywhere without something on which to create. He draws cities and roads in perspective. He makes cartoon characters. He draws action figures. Sometimes what he puts in a notebook is little more than a rough outline or a doodle. Other times, he’ll disappear into another world that is silently bursting with creative force. To see him at work in art, is to see him fulfill what appears to be a part of his intended destiny.

We have lots of ways to describe this kind of person or the work they create. We say it about athletes, other parents we admire, people with great business acumen, comedians, actors, and leaders. We’ll use terms like: “They’re in their element,” “they’re a natural,” or that they have “God-given talent.” Of course, to observe a remarkable other person, it’s not uncommon to find something deeper within us in which we wonder, out of a place of shallowly buried insecurity, if we’re one of those people too. Or, more specifically, what if we’re not?

Said differently: is there anything about which we can say, “I was made for this?” Not many of us will have the gifts to become professional athletes, nor captains of industry, nor our idealized version of anyone. But there is something for which all people were created. It’s something about which everyone can say: “I was made for this.” The answer is both utterly spectacular and decidedly simple. And it’s the basis of our new teaching series. It’s the one thing for which everyone was made and the one thing in which everyone always needs help in figuring out.

This week, we’ll kick off our new series. This is a perfect opportunity to bring people who are wondering about big questions of purpose, meaning, and belonging.

See you soon,
Jeff

Refreshing Your Marriage offers a yearly tune-up for your relationship. Whether you require a major overhaul, some minor repairs or just a healthy adjustment, RYM offers something for every stage of your relationship. RYM is almost full (only 45 spots left for couples).

Register and more info at refreshingyourmarriage.com
Registration promo code- MarinersMV ($80/couple)

Refreshing Your Marriage
Jan 29-30, Community Center (Irvine campus)
Friday, 6-9:30p, Saturday, 8:30a-4p