Stephen De La Vega

This is the framing of the lower floors of a planned 24-story office tower that will open its doors next year. It will boast dramatic 360° views of San Francisco, the Oakland Hills, UC Berkeley, and the surrounding areas. Shorenstein Properties ‘dubs’ it 601 City Center , and I highlight ‘dubs’ because it's just a block away from the Golden State Warriors headquarters. Shorenstein broke ground in Q2 of this year and they expect to build for another couple of quarters. That’s about a year of construction. Occasionally, you might find a person or two staring at the work, but, for the most part, people just walk by this everyday activity. Business as usual. We are more amazed when buildings are demolished. We have a peculiar fascination with the quick destruction of something grand. What takes months, maybe years, to build, can be destroyed in only days, or even hours. Society pays more attention to the quick fall of the mighty than it does the day-to-day, continued effo...

Have you ever tried fasting?  I mean fasting as an intentional step toward a deeper relationship with God or greater dependence on Him.  I understand there are many reasons to intentionally fast – some spiritual in nature and others legitimately not spiritual, like for the purposes of medical lab work.  This blog post is about my experience with an intentional fast for the purpose of depending more on God.  I imagine our experiences will differ, so this blog is not a lesson as much as it is an account.  It is also not a commentary or exegesis of Bible passages about fasting.  It is an expression of my own personal experience and results. So why did I fast?  I led a study on fasting.  It was the closing session of a series on a healthy spiritual diet.  So, on one hand, I did what a leader should do.  I led by example.  (Leaders:  Our message is superficial if we don’t lead by example.  Enough said.  Different...