Mike McClenahan

We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito. And the incognito is not always hard to penetrate. The real labor is to attend. In fact, to come awake. Still more, to remain awake. C. S. Lewis

A shepherd calls I listen I recognize I follow A shepherd leads I am protected I am supplied I have all I need A shepherd lays down his life I am rescued I am included I am resting This shepherd is my shepherd I am known I am saved I am blessed He is lord He is good

Last post was a brief recap of the three marathons I ran in nine months (December 88 to September 89) and training while our boys were 12 to 24 months old. The Los Angeles Marathon in April 1989 was a learning experience. I learned that you can beat your previous time if you (a) run the whole way instead of walk and (b) break through the inevitable wall and finish the race. The marathon starts at the Coliseum and takes you through LA neighborhoods: China Town, Korea Town, Japan Town, Hollywood, and back to the Coliseum. There were so many people on Figueroa that it took me 10 minutes just to cross the start line. And with so many people it's easy to start out too slow and then set a pace that is way too fast. But the thing that surprised me most was the wall that I hit at mile 21. I felt it coming and didn't want to finish. My hips were aching, my feet were dying, but I wanted to finish the race at the Coliseum. My brother Pat recorded the marathon from one of the local s...

I was thinking back to 1988, a very significant year in my life. That summer Amy and I decided to train for the Honolulu Marathon with some people from our congregation in Glendale. This was not intended to be a competitive marathon, but a friendly marathon with about 20 who wanted to get off their sedentary rears and get in shape. The Honolulu Marathon was started by two cardiologists who wanted to test their theory that post-op heart patients could train for a marathon within a year of surgery if they trained slowly and methodically. So we trained for about six months, following a  strict schedule that increased our endurance and joining each other on Saturday mornings for group runs.  The challenge for us was we had year old twins. Amy would feed them and get them ready for bed so that when I got home from work we would run with the boys in the twin jogging stroller. Amazingly they fell asleep as we ran, we'd put them to bed and enjoy our post-run dinner.  We made i...

This has been a red-letter year* for Amy and me. We knew at the outset 2010 would be special: wedding in March, we turned 50 in April and October, we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary in June, and we spent four months together on sabbatical. As always, we planned but God has his own plans to make this year special. It was a joy, after performing over 100 weddings to be dad and sit with Amy at our son's wedding. It was an awesome day to remember God’s goodness, his faithfulness and his love that brought them together. We are so happy to see them settled into life in Pasadena together. Another son continued his masters and sang in several operas this past year. He came on staff leading worship at our evening service. What a joy to see him using his gifts and developing his music skills, and to see him become more and more of the man God’s calling him to be. We underestimated the significance of our sabbatical pilgrimage, especially to the holy land with...

Last weekend I asked the musicians what it was like performing in our sanctuary. All but three of the 48 musicians are from the San Diego Symphony and they have played in every kind of venue and for every kind of audience. Many have played in our sanctuary for 15 or more years. Their response was unanimous: they love playing each year in our sanctuary because our people are so appreciative. They are inspired by the congregation. I asked the choir the same question. This is not a professional choir. Every choir member (except for our soloist) is a volunteer who responds to the call to lead our worship services. They sing from the heart and believe what they sing. Dan is a great conductor and minister of music who chooses the texts, develops the program to communicate the message of Christmas. Their response was unanimous: they love singing with the orchestra. They are inspired by the amazing musicians. I asked those who attended the services. There were 2500 people who attended our...

Wednesday night we tried something different for the Thanksgiving Eve Worship--we incorporated Students in each part. Students played in the band, read a litany and shared the reflection on Psalm 100. They also served communion alongside pastors. So how was it? I think the students felt honored.  'We are the whole message?'   'We get to serve communion?' Spencer and Molly and intern Rachel did a great job reflecting on Psalm 100 ... personal, funny, deep.   The congregation clapped after each meditation, not as a performance, but I think out of gratitude . Junior higher Grace and intern Jessica read the litany of thanks. Stew led us in a reading of Psalm 100. 'Best service.'   'Students have so much to teach us.' 'Inspiring.' Jamie shared his experience of asking junior highers, "What celebrity would you swap for a family member?" None of them answered the question, saying, "I don't want to lose anyone in my family...