Saturday, October 25, 2008

Finishing the Race


Earlier tonight, actually about an hour and a half ago my Grandma finished the race. She is in Heaven now. I'm not sure what to write or how to write it, but I do know that my hope is in Christ and so was her's. She passed away quietly after a week long battle with some medical issues.

She was such a blessing to me, she had a contrite heart and was a servant of servants who also had a heart overflowing with generosity. She paid my way to New York by herself!

Our household is doing well. I was leading witnessing tonight when I got the text message. It struck me at first but that was quickly followed by a peace that surpassed my understanding. I expected to come home to a weeping house, but instead everyone was about their business, although a little somber. My mom is doing incredibly well. I don't want to sound morbid but I'm glad she passed away; she is with her husband again but she is also with her first love, Jesus.

So please pray for our family if you find time to remember. We appreciate it.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Whirlwind Weekend

This past weekend I was in New York with the SWAT team. New York is a very cool place to visit, especially if you are a fan of American media. There you get to really experience the melting pot that makes New York city what it is.

While I was there I experienced a lot of things, felt a lot of emotions and thought a lot of thoughts but something really was amiss. For me, this wasn't the best SWAT trip I've had. Maybe my heart or mind was in the wrong place. There is a lot going on within me that I've been thinking about. I have a lot I need to give to God still.

There's so much that I want to do, so much I want to become. What do I want to become? Just a man of God and anything else secondary will do. I tend to be critical of a lot of things, especially myself. I pick myself apart and see that I don't know enough scripture, I'm not well versed enough. I don't generally know generic facts that I believe I should know being where I am in my walk. I understand I'm not perfect but I want to continually strive to be better. I'm reminded of Philippians 3:12-13
"Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead."
There's things about me that I'm not content with that I need to change. Lord, conform me to your son's image.

Monday, October 13, 2008

New York Approacheth


October 16th-21st I will be in New York city with the SWAT team sharing the gospel. I had the pleasure to go last year also. The city surpassed my expectations, I fell in love with the city. I had some of the best conversations I've ever had as a Christian. The people were a bit calloused but that level of callousness was always shown to be covering a thicker layer of pain.

This trip we will be venturing outside of Manhattan and tackling some of the boroughs of New York like the Bronx, Queens or Brooklyn. That will be very interesting in and of itself. So I'm not sure what to expect, but I'm putting my trust in the Lord's promises that he will get me through the length of the trip. My prayer is that through this SWAT trip I would experience exponential growth.

Also, if you want to stay updated on what I'm doing in New York check out my Twitter.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Critically Christian

So I was sitting inside my Philosophy 76 class, Critical Thinking, like normal. We were covering whatever chapter we were on and had to explain a section of it as a group. I have been in the group that I am in since the class started and I have built up a relationship with these guys for the past 6 or so weeks.

In this particular class we have had group discussions and class discussions about various topics including the war in Iraq, affirmative action, politics, etc. As a side note, I haven't been super outspoken about being a Christian to them. I haven't shoved it in their face and I haven't tried to attack their worldviews and so on. I have mentioned that I was a Christian, but they must have missed it. Then the topic for group discussion today came up and it was: Religion in school.

The three other guys in the group began yapping about everything you can think of. They gave their own experiences with various religions and gave their arguments. One of them justified their actions by saying they believe but they don't practice it that much, that he only attends church every now and then. They said things like, "one should try all different religions to be sure, even Satanism." Weird. Each of them pretty much made the case that religion is a bad thing. The person next to me told the group how he has had very bad experiences with Christians who condemn homosexuality and himself (who revealed himself to be a homosexual. I knew it.) He even mentioned the Christian group at our school (Christians @ Chaffey College) that I attend and how that group somehow is bad as well.

I sat and listened to this banter from a Catholic Satanist/Hedonist, Mormon(alleged) and a homosexual for about 6-8 minutes. During their discussions the Holy Spirit was ministering to me that now was the time to share with them. So after they all took a breath, I jumped in and took my chance by saying, "I'm a committed Christian, I attend church about 3 times a week and I go to the Christians @ Chaffey College club."

Every argument they made was almost exactly the opposite of me and everything I stand for. But I said my above statement with love and had my entire behavior from the past 6 or so weeks to back up my claim. Immediately they started excusing my claim by saying, "Oh but you're different," or "You're cool you don't condemn us like that." My behavior demonstrated a Christian behavior they had not encountered before.

Now I can sit here and reflect on how bad it is that they haven't had such an encounter before, or I can Praise Adonai for the example I was able to be. They had not experienced before the love I was able to show them throughout the earlier part of the class. By the grace of God, I was able to associate the love that I have been showing them with the love that Christ had shown me on the cross. I just pray that throughout the next coming weeks I can live up to what God has called me to do and continue to be faithful to share God's love and truth with them.

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Spiritual Gifts

So I took this test off of kodachrome.org which analyzes your responses and generates based on your answers, your spiritual gifts. Its just a test some Christian made up, take it with a grain of salt. But I found that my results are fairly accurate.

My Top 5 Gifts:
1. Faith
2. Evangelism
3. Discernment
4. Exhortation
5. Wisdom

Those were my top 5. Now, you need to take the test for your own edification!! The test took me a good amount of time, make sure you take your time and answer as honestly as you can.

Take the Test here @ http://www.kodachrome.org/spiritgift/

If you want, comment your Top 5 spiritual gifts. I got 0 on both interpreting and speaking tongues lol. I also got a low score on celibacy... Time to get marrieds!

Witnessing: Friday Night


Friday Night Witnessing with SWAT is happening!

Here's the point: You need to come out. I get to lead it again and I'm stoked! I'm preparing the devotional as I type this, but please come out I need to man/woman power!

This week we will learn how to EXPLAIN the gospel.