update

Havent blogged in a while...


what has happened in the past few weeks
Australia VISA got denied... I was so bumed about it...
CCC Internship was offered to me by Joseph... I was excited for thhat
I found out I might need another job by the end of the year...
started going to ruths small group... fun small group
school ended... i think i did pretty bad this semester.. havent checked my grades yet...
outreach with percy and mike and friends
youthleader status... fun fun


so much happened!!!

SALVATION

I thought it was a pretty good movie... for some wierd reason the ending threw me off though. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time but when it got to the ending, I thought how they kinda will be dragging the whole series to another step kidna killed it.. but hey it was a great movie nonetheless... i LOVED LOVED LOVED the symbolism on salvation... the four horsemen, the resistance, the lil kid, the saviour, the seven seals, the old woman at the end, the cross in the beginning, the heart. so many.. hahahaha

watched it with mike. right after serving at benevolence, we rushed to the theaters to catch the movie. we were quite late for our leaders meeting thoe. i felt so bad. and this time it was reall ymy fault. i had chosen to eat before we went to the eladers meeting an dthat took 30 mins. we were already late when we got out of the theaters but yeah. well i kinda went cuz i knew mike was starving. but hey i was hungry too so it didnt hurt me to go eat out. i did once again spend too much money this time. $30 and my balance is in low threshhold again. but im so glad bank of america tells me these things. cuz i would blow it all off in an instant

so yeah... leaders meeting was cool. i feel like i belong there... or i feel like i need to be there cuz i these people are such great Barnabas' and man its amazing when we just get together and it down and be real with each other. i hope i will be able to open up later on in the future but yeah.

well i have lots to do so i will blog ore later

Caffiene

So caffiene has the opposite effect on me. or maybe it has the right side effects but its goes through really fast for me. I do get super hyper for like a munite then my body feels like it is drained of energy.. well not my body actually., more like my mind. i find myself constantly yawning but my body keeps moving.

yesterday during my american history class, I left to go buy a rockstar. that kept me up. but here were the side effects. dry mouth and parched throat through out the whole afternoon. dizziness during small group, and constant yawning. my mind was drawing total blanks for a while. i even left intermediate voice cuz one, i had to pick up abbey, and two my throat was so dry my vocal chords were super raspy when making sound. I wasnt alowed to sing in beginning voice, which sucked, so i was the one playing the songs for everyone. the erson who amazed me was the japanese guy. HIRO. He usuallyu sang with a soft voice but man he imrpoved with this song. he was strong and held his tone very well. he even sdid some appogiaturas and what nots. Constance was of course amazing. she has an amazing voice. and that guy who use to sing really high and off tune was matching pitch. man mr green is a good voice teacher.

so anyways. hahaha. caffeine has a wierd effect on me.

today i brought a banana in from my house after lab hours at school to work... and i asked drew to make me a zebra mocha chiller with my banana. that was a pretty good drink. hahaha paul said it was alright. drew didnt even want to try it. YA'LL ARE TRIPPEN. it was pretty good.

ok so im suppsoe to be studying I TOTALLY FORGOT. hahahaha see what caffiene does to me.

Christ-founded

This weekend was kinda ehh... a lot of things happened. Thing sthat i wanted to happen, things that shouldnt have happened, things that needed to happen and things that were random.

Friday night, Cru had a worship night at Crossroads which used to be my church when I was lil'. everything was kinda last minute for that night and nothign was prepared very well. but it went well. I was able to share Andrew's story which is always cool. slept over mikes house... snored hecka loud again which made mark want to go home. i felt bad but yeah. went to a youth leaders meeting at taylor's house. his house is nice. and its so close to my house too. hahaha. mike and i woke up at 846 and we were like OH CRAP we hav e to be there at 9... so we rushed. then after the leaders meeting, went to take the recyclable bottles to the recycling center.. THAT WAS GROSS... people put their trash in with the recyclables. but yeah,... for some wierd reason it was something that i wanted to go again. help out in that way cuz i know people dont want to do it but hey its gotta be done cuz all the proceeds go to PROJECT GREECE to stop human trafficking. OH THE WORLD WE LIVE IN...

then went to work. that was fun. drew and alysha were there. we hecka cleaned up early then went home early to just chill. it felt wierd for me to hang out with mike cuz we always hung out. but yeah. i knew soemthign was up cuz he was different. i still think he hasnt told me everything but thats ok. in due time. but yeah... sunday morning i woke up late. WOW. the first time i actually sleep well before work, i sleep in. hahaha so i got there at 650 instead of my usual 615. then worked till 230.

went to yo land with jessica? That was interesting. dont wanna put out too much info here but yeah. so anyways. then went home. then off to yo land again?! with mark and mike. twas there that mike told me he needed sometime alone, which i approved of, not sayign that i need to approve of anythign he does for him to do it but i think we all need soemthing lik ethat. but yeah. before he left we went to joes to watch LOST. played uno for a while. that was fun. hahah then LOST. it was interesting. hahahha.

then dropped off mike at the church. we had a good talk. established where our friendship stood. directly under God. out of all my best friends, mike and our friendship is the only one filled with God entirely. not saying my other friends were not but everything mike and i do is about God which is amazing. My past friendships were based on going to the same church or going to a similar church or going to school or going to the same class or havign something in common. that was its foundation. i do now have many friendships which are now founded on Christ, like Jongs. miss that guy. but yeah this is my very first friendship that solely finds its foundation in God and nothing else. iono. its something special as is my other friendships. im just kinda shocled at how this friendship kinda started and how fast its grown. and im glad he's taking a break from everything cuz we both know he needs it. and frankly, i spend way too much time with him anyways. hahahaha. i need alone time too.

Love the people in my life and am excited for all the people God's goign to put in my life in the future.

Vow

so yesterday was kinda a wierd day for me... beginning sucked... ending was great. I woke up and went to class... then went home after spanish??? didnt even go to my other classes. Ima just e-mail the teachers saying somn came up... then i ate some macaroni n cheese with hotdogg... WORST COMBO EVER!!! I dont think the hotdoggs were cooked yet... i fell asleep for four hours... i guess thats how tired i was from the weekend. THen wok eup ith crazy diarhea. hahahah still have it... i think i have minor foodpoinsoning. oh well. then went off with mike to get his haircut at marks.. 2 HOUR LONG HAIRCUT. wow... i just sat in mikes car for a good hour and a half typing stuff. waste of life. but hey. he's looking fly for the ladies now so i guess its a sacrifice im willing to take? hahahaha. no homo.

then went to eat and talked with mark for a bit... i gotta get to know that guy a little bit more... then went to mi casa and ended up talking with mike till 12 again... but what we talked about was kinda cool... remeniscing about how we became friends at such a fast rate... almost best friends actually. then we made a vow to not forget the otehr when we do get into relationships cuz the friendship we have always points to GOd and we want that friend who will always point to God no matter what situation, single or in a relationship... talked about how much bad of an influence we are to each other but i think he was implying that i have been particulalry bad on his account cuz man i have hung out with him everyday for the last week and everytime we would hang, he would get home late and then just go to sleep... no hw or alone time... im sorry. he was running on my schedule... which is bad cuz he needs to run in his own schedule... anotrher thing i need to change. im glad i met mike. he's been so uplifting after i lost some of my best friends.. well not lost but drifted away... God knows i always need that companion to stick with and every single moment of my life, when a friend drifts off a new one comes in and im thankful. =)

late night bloggin at mikes

late night blogging.. pretty amazing.. sweet thoughts.. with jon foreman on the back ground
in mikes room once again.. dont really know why cuz hahaha we didnt really make them strawberries we planned. i did see that his roommates had strawberries...

i wonder...
well ima go to sleep now.. dont wanna keep mike awake lik elast time.. and plus i have work at 630 and i plan on doign the whole STRAWBERRY surprise to my mom at 6.. gotta get some rest.. NIGHT KIDDOS!!! I LOVE GOD

Blood donation

wok eup super early this moring (its about5:50) now... cuz mike and i are donating blood... raising money for my australia trip!!! This guy is awesome... he is scared of blood and needles and yet he wats to help furtehr the kingdom of GOd by donating blood and supporting my trip to aussie land. thanks mr mike =)

OH man

GOD IS GOOD

Friends

The past few weeks has been a rollercoaster... I have been quite amazed at how God brings people into each other's lives and yet i find myself resisting at times what God has in store for me. I have gotten quite close to Mark and Michael, hanging out with them pretty much everyday or talking with them as much as I can. God has put them inside my life for a reason and I am thankful for them. I do feel like I have DRIFTED away from so any people in my life. It sucks but I know God uses people and uses me in specific instances for a reason. Maybe its not my time yet or their time to be used in any specific purpose in my or their lives. I do miss them very much. Ericson left a couple of weeks ago. Im not quite sure if we were super close really but I know God used him to show me what I dont want to be. hahaha not to talk bad about him but yeah... his priorities were so different than mines that we did not find ourselves clicking very much. Paulo is almost the same btu i find myself so comfortable with him everytime i see him that i do constantly think about him. Amber is still missed. what happened still haunts me though and it does get hard at times. Jong is soemthing else. I love the guy to death. I guess we just drifted apart cuz i was always complaining about me me me or telling him things he didnt need or want to know but yeah. I do miss that fellowship we had in the beginning. I miss our talks about GOd and whatnot... but I guess we'll see what happens there... I also miss having chats with David.. tall david not my bro david.. hahahaha. i grew so much from him... God mostdefinitely used him to plant me in faith. I am so thakful for him. him, and daniel has pushed me past the walls the devil has placed in front of me...

in the process i made many new friends... i grew closer to David my brother. I am barely seeing his passion for God and his passion is so much stronger than mine in certain aspects and yet he grows from what I teach him in certain aspects. I also grew super close to mark and mike as i said. I spend day and night with these guys. However i do recognize the trend. that is how i start my amazing friendships and then it fades away. I dont wnat that happen but if god puts me in their lives for but a season then its cool. God always sends those who i need when i nee dthem the most, God is awesome. God is amazing. I love God so much and i pray that in my life His will be done.

Money falling from Heaven

NO KIDDING!!! I had such an amazing time with God last night... so beautiful is the Word of God. I set my paths straight with God last night and man he is blessing me left and right today. I cant believe how blessed I am... God is good., Praise Him, and may my praises build up His kingdom. But man i didnt realize it till now but I have been so blessed today. I have this peaceful feeling for my trip to Australia. I got notification that I already have $2000 for the trip from my parents and I recieved $150 in checks from people. I also recieved $20 from my PCC club coordinator all randomly after going to the PCC CCC meeting. I met new friends at PCC who are involved in CCC. I am now sitting in front of a new $100 that I will deposit for my trip... and I have $70 in my wallet for my trip to Virginia tomorrow. I feel confident about my spanish test tomorrow. I finished my work book for Chapter 2... I was able tutor this guy in my spanish class.. although I couldnt tutor him as much as he wanted to, I tutored him to the best of my knowledge. I also receieved a $500 check from one of my mom's patient's sons... however... its made for the wrong name. It was made for Campus Crusades for Christ while the other checks went for my name. Eric also let me borrow hi sipod for the week which was random. I was just alking to joe and then he hooked it up with the ipod. I also got a free airlien ticket to go to Virginia and back. Man God is good. Erin called me, who is suppose to pick me up so that ride from tita michelles house to harrisonburg is dealt with. Man I am so blessed. I cant believe God loves me this much. I want to do so much things for Him and ofr the people here on earth> I cant wait to get there. But as of now, I am goign to move where I am at and fill this place with light and act as a fingerprint for God wherever I go.

Self-Decieved

I had a wonderful time in big bear. I was able to get to know the people I work with at epic and I was able to really evaluate where I am at Spiritually. I believe I was there for a reasona nd the day sthat I spent there were eye openers. I was able to bond with Mike from summit and Eric. I dont really know how but I was able to listen to part of their life stories. It just amazes me how much God works in their lives. I feel like I have been decieving myself all along. I have been growing but then somehow I stopped. But these guys are living their lives with such vitality and yet are still able to focus on God. I feel so empty inside. Honestly I didnt think much of Eric being all close to God. I didnt. I saw him as a goofball who everyone likes to hang out with. I never saw the spiritual side of him until recently when Percy invited me to their Biblestudy. I think that was pretty cool ho wthat happened. I randomly worked on a Tuesday... I NEVER work on Tuesdays but that one day I did... and so I was invited to go to their Biblestudy and thats where I kinda found out that I was wrong about eric. Slowly, I kinda now look up to him. HOw outgoing he is and how a goofball he is but still able to serve God. Im not putting a pedestal on him cuz I know, as a guy, we fall a lot. I just admire how he is such an extrovert. I have always wanted to be there. I am such an introvert. But Eric kinda showed me that its okay to act like a goofball sometimes... I still want to get to know him a little bit mroe cuz i think he is living such a great life and I want to live a life like that. Im not saying that my life sucks.. It doesnt. I like my life. But i know that if what he told me, I can live out, I will just that much more closer to God. He really challenged me. So did Mike. Friday night, I go to the cabin and take a shower. I try to have a quiet time but everyone was being loud upstairs so I go downstairs and read. Mike was sleeping down stairs and we started talking. He's a pretty cool guy. He too challenged me. I want to follow their footsteps. I have so many peopl ehave been speaking in my life and i dont want to be a person who just sits there an dnods their heads... I want to be a person of action... But something holds me back. Its so hard to fight it back and I havent done anythign yet. But i can feel it. I can feel a change going on and I kno wthat God can only fill that emptyness. God is going to work through me in such ways I wont even guess. Im excited. Im moving on. THank you God for putting people in my life such as eric and michael. They are such a blessing and I i want to be like them so that I can be a blessing to others as they have been to me.

I Can Go the Distance...

But I can't reach the notes to sing it. Wow Michael Bolton sure sings high. I am to pick a song for intermediate voice class to sing for a solo and wow the song I picked was in a really high key. I could barely reach it top of my falestto range. Key of D is wow. hard to reach.Gotta change the song. How embaressing but oh well. My fault for procastinating on picking the song. Jasson and Steph did really well doing their solos thoe. I wish I had a great voice like them but yeah. IN due time I will hopefully increase my voice range.

I was able to sing it at home thoe. Iono why I couldnt do it in class. I was filled with nerves and my vocie just kept shaking. At the end, I even landed on a flat. errr. OH well. I need to find a nice baritone friendly song.

Other than that the day was pretty much amazing. I was doing crossword puzzles in my car inbetween classes. I didnt know those were so relaxing. hahaha. I finished 3 of em in between my first aid and history class.

Gotta practice the songs for the advance. I thank God for giving me the opportunity of using the talents He gave me to worship Him. He has constantly moved me up from band to band, challenging me to the next level. I am not the keyboardist I was 2 years ago. I still am no very good but I am better at following things. THanks God

Without a doubt, I am already there

The problem I have is I dont worry. Wierd sounding? Kinda. Most people worry. I dont. I just take it as it is. I dont complain too much, I dont say anything, I dont flinch or squirm. I just kinda stand there and stand thorugh it. God said dont worry. I dont. But why is it a problem of mine. Its because Im not following the rest of that commadnement. It says to trust in the Lord. What I am doing is kinda not worrying but at the same time not trusting. I am just taking as it is, leaning at my own understanding at that time and workign things out as it passes by. How can I stand there and say I am a Christian when what I am drifts me farther away from God. Ive known this of myself for a while and Ive been trying to fix it. I know God has been speaking to me through other people cuz i myself am not listening to the Spirit in me. God is using His Spirit in other people to reach out to me. It is time to not just stand. I need to move.

On friday, I had a meeting with Friz and she was giving me ideas on how to raise money for Australia this summer. I learned alot. One of the things she said to me is that "Do not worry. God has already planned where you are going to go in the future. So techinically, without a doubt, I am already there." Its true. I should trust God more so that I am more than ready to go when I am sent.

I have a spanish test tomorrow. I feel like I know most of the things. Its so easy. But yeah. I am still stressing a lil bit. Well not really. I say stressing but I dont stress like everyoen else. Me stressing is me studying for an hour and understanding it then questioning myself if I do then go back anotehr 5 mins then done. Everyone else goes crazy and posts everything on their facebook and what not and wait for people to agree that stress sucks. lol. I like to agree sometimes. But there is way too much I HATE LIFE CUZ OF STRESS FROM SCHOOL notifications. way too much. How about enjoy life. Ok maybe i shouldt say that cuz I myself sometimes do it but then lets just say I am saying to myself too so then techinically I can say it. YEAH.

Work was tiring today. I got there at 615 and yeah I was tried the whole day. Work went by fast thoe. Im gonna miss it since I wont work for the next two weeks. issing next weekend cuz of the advance (WOOT WOOT) then Virginia the next weekend (WOOT WOOT EVEN MORE) I cant waity for Virginia!!!! Im so excited. I want to meet the people Im going to Australia with. I also want to know how the rooming is going to be. I know there is only 4 guys in the team but I hope we wont have to share beds like in the conferences. The last two people I had to sleep with were crazy. But I move alot too so I dont want to be all crazy if I share a bed with someone. Also I snore a lot so its hecka embaressing too. I snore very loud. Ive been trying to train myself but.. not working... anyways back about work. Nothibg too crazy. Julie intimidates me cuz she's never there and I always think she's gonna pop out of nowhere and see me do somn wrong then say YOUR FIRED!! lol. worked with zac in the bookstore today. it was hecka boring. I was just roaming around the whole time helping people. Zac did all the register stuff.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeent home.. took a nap and BAM... now IM here. I have a song to do for voice class tomorrow. Its the song I Can Gg The Distance from Hercules. But when I picked it I didnt know there was other parts. ITS SO HIGH!!! I have to sing falsetto most of the time. I mean it doesnt sound too bad but its kinda straining. But yeah. Trying to improve my range and the quality of my vocie cuz it sucks right now. I also have to learn all the songs fo rthe dvance by Tuesday night. I need to start working on that after classes tomorrow. I did such a bad job the last service I need to work harder cuz I want to do things for God in excelence.

I love my life. God sows me things I need to work on and I work on em. Its a wonderful life. I can look back and honestly say, I WAS THIS AND NOW IM TOTALLY DIFFERENT. Thank You God

Start with Leap then walk on a road not paved

Christine Caine is such a phenominal speaker. Its such a blessing to have her speak at my church. I learned so much as a future-evangelist. Scratch that. Why does it have to be future. Evangelist. But anyways. Like she said a life worth taking is a life with Jesus which is risky. But many of us avoid,for our whol elives, getting anywhere near the risky scene. We try to fill it with matreialistic scenes and hide behind that. Or if we do want to do somn we want it have done already so we can take it step by step. No risk at all. But God didnt call us to stay in our comfort zone. Its a lead of faith... not a sit of faith. We must pave our own roads.

Birthday Man... Faith is Expectations

Today I had a divine appointment from God. I wasnt expecting anything cool to happen today . Thinking back on what Pastor Kelly said last night about faith, we are to expect that God is going to work in our lives. That is faith. We'll God caught me off guard. I was playing FFXII this morning just kinda procastinating on doing some errands. But around 1130 I finally get off my butt, get dressed, and drive to church to getr my pay check. I always pick up my check on Fridays, cuz I always think IMa lose it if I pick it up during Summit. But yeah. I picked it up and drove to the bank. Nothing out of the ordinary. I go in, deposit, then come out. As I walked to my car, there was a man sitting by the bushes in front of my car. He looked at me and I at him. I knew this was from God. He said he needed held and I was open to help him. His name was Alejandro but Alex in short. He said he was released from the hospital today, on his birthday. He still had his tags on and a wrist band saying he was from a hospital. He said he lived in the streets and was hungry. I offered to take him to Baja Fresh. His eyes light up. It was like I had nothing else I could do but help. Its almost automatic... but not me working.. but the Spirit. It was amazing. There was a reason I was there at that time and a reason why he was there also. He praised God for bringing me to him on his birthday. I bought him food and then gave him a $20 gift card to baja fresh. His eyes were amazed seeing a stranger help him out. I was glad God used me today. I was open and He used me. I was ab le to tell him about faith community church and the set free groups. He said he will go. I hope so. I expect that God will work in his life as He does to mine. Its not arrogant to say so. Its faith. Its faith.

"When You See Fear, You Bring Faith"

Pastor Kelly said that quote. There is more to the quote but this caught my attention. Itrs true. Sometimes all we do is bring fear. But the moment we become Christians, there is something else that can take that place of fear. It is faith. Why are we so scared in walking acrross the street to talk to that woman in need? Why are we so bent on going to another nation only to follow a trend cuz its IN to help others in other countries but not the people in our communities in need of help. Its fear. We are scared of ridicule from people close to us, even if its physically. But we shouldnt care. When Moses said OH I CANT SPEAK... God wasnt saying OH I DIDNT KNOW MY POWERS DEPENDED ON HOW YOU SPOKE. Nope. We are but ashes compared to God. And ashes is being generous. I am not being critical on anyone else. God will not force us to go out to the world unprepared. He will open doors when we are prepared. I am being critical with myself. I have had so many opportunities but ive just passed them. I want my faith to not just be a stance on things. We are not called to stand. It even says in Psalm 1:13 "Blessed is the man who does not... stand in the way of the sinners." There are two types of sins. Sins of Commision, sins that we do and think. But there are Sins of Ommission as well, sins against God by not obeying what He has ordered. And fear can lead up to the sin of ommission. Simply put, my faith must take the place of fear.