My Finger is on the Button

I am ready to activate this weekend at Winter Camp!! It should be a blessing to retreat from the world and then go straight back to work. :( lol

I'll see you in the mountains!

Digital Media Project 1

Since Allison posted her art projects I'm gonna post mine too!!

Our first project was to create a movie from still pictures, a stop-motion film. So me, Josh and Karen went to In-N-Out by Ontario Mills and filmed this.



I got an A. :)

All Things

This blog is a follow-up blog to my older blog, Scheduling Scare.

So I reported earlier that I got dropped from my math class that I needed to get one of my AAs. So the only option (other than retaking the 1st math class in summer and/or the 2nd in the fall) However, there was another option that I asked a counselor about, and that was retaking the placement test to see if I could place into another math.

I took that class Monday after work and not only did I place well, but I placed beyond where I needed to place! That means I don't have to take any maths to get my AA :)

I'm so stoked! (Rom 8:28) RJ ;)

The Importance of Faith

January 27

"For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith."
-Mark 11:23

Did Jesus tell us to pray that the problem, obstacle, or mountain which looms menacingly before us might be removed? No. Did He tell us to study the Word that it might be removed? No. He said, ‘Say to the mountain Be thou removed, and it will be cast into the sea.’

We often hear that prayer changes things. But that’s not entirely true. Faith changes things. Prayer changes us. Jesus didn’t say, ’If you encounter a mountain, pray that it might be gone.’ No, He said, ‘Have faith in God and then verbally, audibly tell the mountain to be removed. Speak faith.’

Why is verbalization so important? Why did Jesus tell us to speak aloud to the mountain? Why does Paul tell us to confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord (Romans 10:9-10)? Why does the writer of Hebrews tell us that when a promise is given to us we are to boldly speak it out (Hebrews 13:5)?

Because that’s when faith kicks in. It’s easy for me to think quietly or pray inwardly for the mountain to be moved because then if it doesn’t move, no one will know I prayed otherwise. There’s no step of faith, no risk involved if I don’t speak.

What mountain is it which intimidates you? Fear concerning an unsaved child? Depression over a business about to go under? Worry about a diseased body or a broken heart?

Jesus tells you and me to go on record in the ears of our kids, our parents, our peers, our co-workers and to say, ‘Be gone.’ After all, it was as Jesus did so Himself in the ears of His disciples that the stage was set for them to believe (Mark 11:14).

Maybe you’re praying intensely and hoping passionately that a certain problem or a certain situation will somehow be solved. But the fact is, Jesus said it’s not enough to simply hope or even to pray. Rather, to whatever mountain intimidates or discourages you, you must say in faith verbally, ‘Be gone. Be removed. Be cast into the sea.’ And then watch what happens.

This Daily Devotional is an excerpt from the book "A Days Journey" by Pastor Jon. "A Days Journey" is a collection of 365 short devotions from the New Testatment.

Amen!

Let My People Think

So earlier this Friday KC, Michelle, John and Aaron and myself had the blessing to go see Ravi Zacharias. There are only a few people in the Christian circles that I really look up to and Ravi Zacharias is one of them. He has a radio broadcast called "Let my People Think" and is available for download from iTunes for your listening edification.

So Friday I was very excited to see him in person and hear him teach. The topic of his message was "Need God? What if I don't?" He never opened his Bible but there wasn't anything he said that I remember doubting that it had its roots in right doctrine.

He also had some great quotes, for example:

"The New Atheists are better at smelling rotten eggs than laying good ones."

"Jesus answered the man's question, "Who's image is on the coin?" They replied 'Caesar's.' Jesus said give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's. (Matt 22) What image is on you?" (Imago Dei)

"This generation listens with their eyes and thinks with their hearts."

Such a blessing to hear this man speak with such fervor and tenacity. He was kind enough to let KC and I take pictures with him without getting a book signed. :)

Scheduling Scare

Okay so in one of my last blogs entitled "Semester Fenal" I cataloged what my schedule was for this Spring semester that has just started. But something has skewed that.

I went to my math class to find out I'm not on the roster. So I sit through class and go to admissions and find out my prerequisite wasn't met. D: So now I am in another class called Intro to Multimedia where I get to make videos! That's actually one of the things I really, really like to do but haven't had a chance to do because of the expensive cost of that hobby (video camera, computer, software.)

I'm excited.

Argument against Literal Communion Elements

So I was spending time with the Lord this morning and I opened up today's entry to Jon Courson's devotional A Day's Journey and he made a really good argument against the Catholic belief surrounding communion.

According to the Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiaion the bread and the wine actually transform into the actual material blood and body of Christ. Personally I do not believe this and I think there are a number of great arguments against it. However, in this blog I will detail only one of them.

This isn't the only time people have confused Christ's words for something material when they were supposed to be spiritual. Jon Courson writes:

In John 3, Jesus said, "You must be born again."

"How does a man enter into his mother's womb the second time?" asked Nicodemus. Jesus was speaking spiritually, but Nicodemus was trying to figure it out physically.

In John 4, Jesus said, "I have water to give you which if you drink you shall never thirst again."

"Give me this water," said the woman at the well, "so I won't have to keep drawing water from the well." She was thinking materially, but Jesus was speaking about the water of the Spirit internally.

In John 6, Jesus said, "Unless you eat of My body and drink of My blood, you can have no part of Me."

The crowds, thinking He was talking about cannabalism, began to turn away from Him. Again, He was speaking of the spiritual realm, but the people couldn't see past the material realm.

This seems to be our nature to generally not comprehend what Jesus is talking about unless the Holy Spirit tells us.

Semester Fenal

Yes it is the final semester for me. At Chaffey at least.

This semester is going to be a doozy! Me and Liz already talked very briefly about how wack this next semester is going to be. One thing is different already is that I'm taking Tuesday/Thursday classes instead of my normal Monday/Wednesday classes. I have a full load of classes which include:

Tue/Thur
Elementary Algebra - 410
Fundamentals of Interpersonal Communication
Intro to Eastern Philosophy
Sat
Self-Defense/Personal Safety (.5 Units)
Online
Using the Internet

So this semester I will really need to lock down and focus. Ministry might suffer a bit now, but that's so it can flourish in the future. Also, my Philosophy teacher is requiring that we get 5 books. 5!!! He also recommended 5 others. That class is going to be intense.

Also Thursday nights my Eastern Philosophy class @ Chaffey Rancho ends at 7pm which is a problem because I have to be in Orangecrest at 7pm to make it to this Greek class that Dr. Burdett is providing us for basically free. Our first class was last night, I might post another blog detailing how hard my brain hurts.

Prospects of a New Year

So I haven't posted a blog since before Christmas, I didn't want to make a Christmasy one. While I am not fond of what Christmas has become I am fond of new beginnings and that's why I like the New Year.

The New Year is always another chance to get things right and do things they are supposed to be done. Now I don't expect for 2009 to be the year I live sinless, I don't expect that anytime soon! But for me its going to be a new beginning of a focal point in my life where I will try to live a holy life.

I'm just glad I don't have to do it on my own. We are promised in 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." I love this fact that we are regenerated and made perfect in Christ's image from the Father's perspective.

Now its time to practically become like Christ in this 2009.

"Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me." Psalm 51:10

Gimme Dat!

Freedom is such a great thing. The Lord is so good for giving it to us. I could write probably 5 blogs just on that. But instead, here is a cool reminder of what the Lord has for us and when we put ourselves under the bondage of sin what we get.


The Ambassador - "Gimme Dat!" Official Music Video from Cross Movement Records on Vimeo.

Be unsatisfied with sin.

Truth

Truth is like Water

Water deludes.

Water refreshes.

Water gives/sustains life.

Water erodes.

Water polluted is toxic.

Leadership Christmas Dinner

So every year the high school ministry puts on a Christmas dinner for either the high schoolers or the leadership. This year due to booking issues it was only the leadership. It is definitely refreshing to fellowship with my co-laborers in Christ without dealing with the joys that come with serving.

The food was good, the fellowship was fun, the worship was sweet and the devotion was awesome. The gift exchange was also done differently this year, there wasn't really any stealing. Last year during my turn to pick the gift I prayed and the Lord led me to a grip of re-writable CDs, DVDs and a Joshua Harris book. Score! Then this year during the gift picking I prayed again! Then when it arrived in my hand the Lord confirmed it and I opened my gift of a Spider-man bank! YES! Double Score!! The Lord hooked me up and he gets all the credit! Thank you Jesus!

Also, during the message Jason Powell quoted a short story that I really thought it was cool. So here it is here:

Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.

He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself...

While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.

I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life. Source.

Our God is good!

Spring 2009 is Looming

So I realized that I received a my spring catalog a while back and realized I probably needed to register before all the spots were gone. So I did.

I got all the classes I need too! So I'm taking

1. Philosophy 81 - Intro to Eastern Philosophy
   
2. Math 410 - Intro to Algebra (D:)
   
3. Comstd 4 - Fundamentals of Interpersonal Communication
   
4. CIS 68 (Online) - Using the Internet
   
5. PeAct 31a - Self-Defense/Personal Saftey

The Eastern Philosophy will complete my AA in Philosophy: Religious Studies and Math will complete my General Ed. The Comstd and CIS 4 are courses im retaking because I either forgot to drop the class or I dropped the class lol. The Self defense class is .50 units and without it I have 11.5 units which is .5 short of the 12 full time units. So I figured that would be fun, but its Saturday morning instead of the other Tues/Thurs classes.

I like registering for classes way more than taking them, lol.

That Day of Giving Thanks

I enjoy thanksgiving just like anyone else does. Food and fellowship is always great but this thanksgiving was a little more difficult. The reason why is because the seats around the dinner table weren't filled like they have been the past 22 years of my life.

I didn't realize it fully until my Dad led our family in prayer. As a family we've had 4 significant deaths from people that we loved in 2008 so far. Our friends Corey and Casey Todd lost their father Jerry Todd. Daniel Hooper and I even made a visit to the hospital where he was in critical condition. The Todd's have been close family friends and we labored with them during this time of uncertainty and loss.

We also lost my Grandpa Harry, who was actually my step Grandpa since my Dad's mom was widowed early in his life. He was a sweet old man who had a calm demeanor and understood what it meant to walk by Faith.

Then we unexpectantly lost my best friends mom, Barbara Brown. I lost her too. This woman was my second mom and I love her dearly. She was one of the Godliest women I have ever encountered. She was somehow able to sternly discipline without showing any kind of wavering love. And believe me, I was disciplined without hesitation. She was a prayer warrior of warriors. You cannot even grasp the kind of battles she prayed through by any amount of writing that I could make appear on this page. She prayed. She sacrificially gave her time, suburban gasoline for shuttling us ALL, money, sweat and prayers. I am still so amazed at what Christ had been doing in her and through her. I still shed tears when I think of her and her Godly example.

I also recently lost my mom's mom, my Grandma Alice who I've written about in past blogs. I will probably never know what kind of trials and tribulations I was prayed past and through by this woman. She was faithful to seek her King and longed to see Him more than anything. This woman loved wholeheartedly and she forgave.

All these things rushed through my mind during my Dad's 3 minute prayer and our family Amened with teary eyes.

This year, I'm thankful for my family staying resolute in their commitments to the Lord. I'm thankful for the Godly examples the Lord has given me in my life. These people turned my life upside down for Jesus. Now I want a better legacy. Thank you Jesus. Maranatha.

I don't feel like blogging right now

So I will definitely not be posting any kind of blog.



LoL

Preach the Word

Okay so the Preach the Word conference is happening now. It is being hosted at my home church any there are some amazing speakers teaching and giving biblical principals on how to Preach the Word. And I'm not there.

This is wack. I'm not gonna candy coat it, I'm pretty bummed. I'm watching everyone's status updates online and I kinda envy them. I do hope that my friends continue to be blessed by the conference and I can only pray that they will keep learning God's Word. Hopefully there will be a dvd or something that I can gleam onto.

Maybe I can do something useful while everyone is at the conference...

It's the Lord who's faithful

So not last night, but the night before I had this dream. Let me precede my dream with a little reality check. So this past weekend and even the latter part of the week I had been feeling really down. I had been my own victim to a lot of spiritual warfare that was happening. I felt like I had lost my sense of direction and really was lacking any motivation spiritually.

But then last, last night I had this dream. Granted it was a weird dream if you were there with me but this one part stood out. So this girl (who will be unnamed) makes a cameo and just walks out between two cars, hands me a gift and leaves. So later I'm handling the gift and I look at it and it has writing on it. It says something nice on it and also written on it is Philippians 1:6. Shortly after that I wake up.

The funny thing is I know the verse if I hear it, but I am not familiar with the chapter and verse location. So I look it up and it says, "being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;" Wow. I've never had a dream with a Bible verse in it before. I was so excited after I looked that up and meditated on it. God is so good and faithful to give us just what we need when we need it. Needless to say, I know where that verse is now.

Cool Down

So I realize that I don't post all the time and when I do they are huge detailed blogs. Thanks for reading them, I appreciate it. But I think I need to make room for some randomness in these blogs. Here you go.


Dogs rule. Cats drool.

From Chaos to Order

It's been said numerous time that Chaos cannot turn into Order. That's false. Let me explain.

Friday night witnessing started out like any other Friday night. On a side note, yesterday was Billy Graham's 90th birthday - I thought going witnessing was a cool way of celebrating it. Anyways, nothing unusual was happening up to this point. Actually I will mention that group selection was kind of weird I noticed. I had Josh and Brennten in my group; just thought that was odd. But the night continues...

The groups felt weird to me, then we left for the Plaza off of Central ave. Most of the car groups had arrived when that pesky little truck with the lights on top drove by our congregation and of course; stopped. Kenny was talking with the security guy and I noticed he was talking for way too long. I knew this wasn't good. Long conversation short, we got the boot so we decided to roll over to Tyler to salvage the rest of the night.

Earlier, everyone had been arriving late because of supposed traffic on the 215 and 91. So with that considered we jump on the 91 fwy and blast towards Tyler avenue to hit up the Galleria. Everything's going good so far, my car was jammin to some Ambassador when we pass Van Buren ave and hit dead traffic. Noooooooooo! So this is like 7-10mph traffic. I'm bummed at this point. First we get kicked out, now a grip of traffic. I figured we're all going to be sitting in the Barnes and Noble parking lot waiting for everyone to show up. So we continue creeping along forever and to my just to see a car smash his brakes and get rear ended! My jaw dropped and everyone in my car exclaimed at what just happened. So we mergy merged and found ourselves in the parking lot waiting.

So my group members were actually there fairly quickly so we grouped up and prayed. As a side note, we did get the Day7 fliers to each other before we left Harvest so that worked out. So after we prayed we wander inside, the girls and Brentenn had to use the restroom. Then we walked up the stairs and towards the other end of the mall. We get upstairs and noone has gotten in conversation yet. Personally, I was feeling kind of exasperated. Then Brentenn calls me out and said what I was thinking and told me to lead my flock! I smiled and said, "Okay!" Right then, on the top floor near JC Penny, these two guys were about to cross our path so me and Brentoni hit em up.

Turns out that one of them is the son of a missionary of Cambodia. That same guy, his name is Travis, his dad is the pastor of a church.. in his house! They have a small church that meets and they study the Bible together. I asked his friend where he goes to church he pointed to his friend and said, "his house." I laughed, I thought that was so cool. So I keep probing these kids to see where they're at with the Lord by asking different questions. I had discerned from the beginning that these guys were Christians. I could see it in their eyes. Discernment is one of the gifts the Lord has blessed me with; I can look into someone's eyes and I can recognize if they have the Holy Spirit or not. So at this point in the conversation I just started to encourage them. These guys were solid Christians too, it is such a blessing to run into those kinds every once and while. I encouraged them to find out specifically where God is calling them. This is something I've been agonizing over, so I had a lot of insight to give them based on some of the things that I've read. So I prayed with them, told them I'd see them in Heaven again and we could catch up on all the work that we've done for the Lord then. So they walked away with joy on their faces and in their hearts into JC Penny.

Afterwords, Brentoni and I were basking in the conversation we had. It was such a refreshing conversation. But consider this, after all of the crazy things that happened: the time to set up groups/cars, the time to drive to the plaza, the time spent talking to that security guard, the time driving on the 91, the time sitting in traffic on the 91, the time grouping up all the way until the time we spent walking upstairs - we met these guys and talked to them about Jesus. That's so cool!! All of a sudden everything we labored through earlier made sense.

The only way Chaos can be turned into Order, is through an intelligence. Only God can turn our Chaos into Order. Amen.

Promises of a Future and a Hope - Part 2

If you've read my past blog post and are still reading: Thank You! This post has gotten larger than what I expected it; but I believe it's results are most intriguing.

Although I had just gotten the text that my grandma had just passed away I knew what my responsibilities were. There was a quick pain in my heart after reading it, followed by a constant flowing of peace that continues as I write this. I didn't have to rush home, my grandma wasn't there. I led the Christian soldiers back to Harvest and had a fun time setting up chairs for the Sunday morning service. In more ways than one the Lord blessed that night.

I returned home expecting a weeping mother and sorrowful family. I couldn't find them. My mother had one of the calmest composures I had ever witnessed following such an event.

Anyway, this blog wasn't supposed to be about my Grandma's passing but what happened earlier today at the funeral. So now to the intriguing part.

I had to work today. That stunk. So I vroom from work to the Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale. The chapel that the ceremony was in was the same place my grandpa, her husband was at many years ago. The place had shrunk since then. Leading the services was Pastor Jim Schultz who pastored the church my grandma used to attend in Glendale. He was a very kind man who had bright white hair accompanied by a deep preacher voice and was nice enough to cancel his other plans to do this ceremony for our family.

It came time for the open mic session of the ceremony. Many friends of the family and family members stood up or went to the front and shared kind, inspiring memories at the Godly woman my grandma Alice was. Pastor Schultz asked if there was anyone else who wanted to say anything. I raised my hand sheepishly but my dad blasted out of his seat and said some nice words and gave thanks from the family. After my dad sat down the Pastor gave a last call. My other grandma who was sitting next to me saw me raise my hand and nudged me to go for it.

I stood up, but I didn't just stand up. I walked to front of the stage, but I didn't stand there. I walked all the way to the mic'd pulpit and placed my bible down. I didn't have anything written down or prepared but I shared John 11:25 and also Galatians 5:22-23 from my heart. I just briefly talked about how the fruits of the spirit were evidenced in her life.

Then I left the pulpit and went to sit down. Pastor Schultz returned to his pulpit and rhetorically asked me from the pulpit, "David, have you ever thought about becoming a preacher? That was great." Actually I have thought about it. I can't seem to stop thinking about it. My grandma gave me praise for my kind words and echoed the pastor's sentiments. She said that mantle was being passed on to me from him. I understood what she meant but as I was writing this I now understand the significance. She was referring to 1 Kings 19:19 which says, "So [Elijah] departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him." I was complimented also the brother of my grandma who was just encouraging me who is also a preacher. Lord, this seems to be where you're guiding me.

I talked with Pastor Schultz a little after the ceremony and he invested a few personal moments with me and where I thought the Lord was calling me. In fact, (I told him) I was reading a book entitled, "Is God Calling Me?" We talked for a bit more and he shared his own experience being called to serve the Lord. All of this was very refreshing and encouraging for me. Throughout the day I also received a couple other encouraging words, comments and pieces of Godly wisdom and advice from family members. I am thankful for all of those. But this is where it gets interesting.

Years ago my Grandma Alice (the one who passed away) shared this story with me when I was much younger. My mother also confirmed this story, you can ask her! According to my grandma the night before I was born my grandma had a dream. She had a dream about me. I've never shared this with anyone outside of the family, but she had a dream that I was speaking in front of a large crowd. She said I was speaking to a crowd like Billy Graham did. She said that I was a Pastor.

Weird, huh?

"For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. - Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT)

Lord, show me your plan! Bring it!