This is a love letter to the Bay Area. A love letter to San Mateo. A love letter to the surrounding areas. 

It’s also the first post of the Dwell Church of the Peninsula blog! 

(You can register here if you want to be notified when a new blog is posted!) 

This post is also about a key spiritual principle and how I learned it. You see, it's a crucial spiritual habit to love the place that God has put you. 

Its deeply spiritual to know and love the place you live. We are made to do more than merely exist - we are made to live. 

An old saying for followers of Jesus goes like this: the glory of God is a person fully alive. And loving where you live is part of being fully alive. 

It’s also a post in which I bash Los Angeles a bit, if that gets you reading. But ultimately, I learned to love it. 

But above all else, this is a list! I’ve been collecting favorate places in the Bay Area, San Mateo, and the surrounding area for 6-10 years. 

So I am going to share my list(s), and I need you to add some of your own on our social media platforms! 

Cheap, awesome, stunning places in the broader Bay Area: 

• Cavallo Point, especially The Farley Bar: A historic hotel at the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge, you can get an affordable burger and sit on the grand lawn on a nice day. 
• Presidio Tunnel Tops: The play space is stunning and free, but the general Presidio experience is amazing. On some saturdays the archeological digs are open (The Presidio has been a military base of some kind or another for 300 years). 
• Taco Bell Cantina: Stunning seaside Taco Bell that serves adult beverages. Right on our closest and favorite beach. 

Fave spots in or nearby San Mateo (you probably already know them) : 

• Kaizen Coffee: Walking distance for us, and the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had. 
• Philz DT San Mateo: The official Dwell Church moble office - spacious and warm. 
• Devil’s Canyon Brewery: Great beer and clever business model. 
• Western Top of 26th Street: Beautiful on a clear day; great on a horrible day. Like when I walked to the top in the rain with my loyal dog after the Chiefs lost to the Patriot in the 2018 AFC Championship. 

Delicious Eateries: 

• Any StarBird -  Bay Area original!
• Gorilla BBQ  - The costal bbq scene is legitimate. Although,maybe some prefer Breakwater BBQ instead. 
• Adamson’s French Dip in Sunnyvale - 2nd best sandwich in the South Bay

Help me learn of more amazing places local to the Bay Area or near you that you just love. 

Now here is the story of how I learn to let go and love where I live: 

I moved from Kansas City (which I loved) to Los Angeles in 2005. I loved LA for 9 months. It was novel and exciting. And then I parked at a Target and couldn’t open my van door. 

I even climbed to the back to the back of my Chevy Astro to try the sliding side door. It was too narrow even for a sliding door. This wasn’t a compact spot. Normal spot. Normal Target. A rage descended upon me; LA was too crowded. 

But then, about 9 months later, I was in the hills of Sierra Madre on New Year's Day. It had rained the night before. The smog had cleared and I could see all the way to the ocean. I was in love again. 

‘This is amazing,’ I thought to myself. ‘I get it now.’

About that time, three things happened: 

1. I heard about people trying to walk all the way across Los Angeles - from Pasadena to Santa Monica. (Here’s a later example.) 
2. My wife and I discovered this book about people walking across LA through secret and beautiful stairways. I’d seen some along the 110 and always been curious. 
3. I heard a fantastic talk about the the spiritual habit of loving your locale. 

There is a really challenging story in the Hebrew Bible. In Jeremiah, the israelites have been conquered by Babylon, and deported to serve the Babylonians. 

And God tells Jeremiah: 

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare….10 “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.’

They are living in a locale they ostensibly have every reason to hate. They are living as captives. Yet the redeeming God of love instructs them to love the city. 

I was meditating on this, learning about people walking (!) across LA, and hiking the secret stairs of LA. I learned to love Los Angeles as a spiritual discipline. 

Then, in 2011, I moved to the Bay Area. It was much more intuitive to me to love this locale. Plus, I’d been training in Los Angeles. 

So I fell in love with the Bay Area, especially since I’ve lived in San Mateo. Driving north on Alameda de las Pulgas towards my neighborhood from work there is a large majestic hill from which you can get a stunning view of the City. For almost 6 years I joyfully prayed for the region, my kids, my neighborhood, and my neighbors. 

And across this journey I have learned the spiritual habit of loving my city. 

This is in the guts of  Dwell Church of the Peninsula. To love where we live and to seek its welfare. 

And to empower the people we come in contact with to be fully alive.

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