On Parties and Such

So last night Andrew held an awesome party that he also called my party. It was so awesome to see people show up and fellowship with each other. 

No alcohol needed.

I love that about our friends. We can have a great time learning about each other and teaching each other things that are valuable to our lives in Christ. In my eyes, a party should be about serving the people you are around, not yourself, even if it is your birthday. I think life would be so empty if we didn't serve one another. One of my favorite rewards for doing something is seeing someone smile. 

The world needs more of that.

I think God totally created us to smile, to fellowship, to love one another with no reservations. I for one, fail at this a lot. I learn so much from those who are awesome at loving others (i.e. all of my brothers and sisters in Christ). Last night was full of laughter and smiles. That makes me happy. I hope I get better at it someday. Writing these thoughts here really helps me to reflect on what I need to work on. 

Yes. It takes actually writing it down to keep my attention. I guess it kinda sucks, but i feel at peace when I write. 

What I want to do overall here, right now, is thank all of the beautiful people who have had an impact on my life.....

You truly spark a desire in me to follow Christ even further.

And the Day Ends With....

Today was a nice day. It began with learning God's words....which is always awesome. After we got out of church, my good buddies Andrew and Kevin went over to Quiznos to grab some food. Then, we drove over to the game store, where we stood around and did nothing pretty much. Liz and I spent some time together before meeting up with Burnell. We went to Mae's cafe, where I ordered the most bomb french toast on the planet. Andrew's B-day is tomorrow, so that's really awesome. It's always a blessing to know God has created such awesome people, and seeing them every day is even more awesome. I'm very glad to say that Andrew is indeed my best friend, no matter what. 21! whew. Anyway, I'm excited to see what the day holds tomorrow, and I am off to bed.

A Simple Resting Point

So I am exhausted after a long day of work, but I feel extremely rewarded. I work with kids, and I love working with kids in general.....It's the reason I'm getting my BA in education. They had a family night tonight, and it was awesome. All of our staff put in so much time and effort, they rock. Each of our classes did a little skit for their parents. They were so excited! It brought great joy to my heart to see them working so hard at something. Believe me.....they worked very hard. You know what......I'm super proud of them. So all in all, a great day, and I thank our great Lord for the air we breathe. 

Wash Away the Dirt

So today I will be washing my extremely dirty car. It will be a task to remember. Other than that, I will go to work, then to Youth Group. I love Youth Group, the kids are so rad. It's a place I can go and be completely immersed in the fellowship and love of God with these kids. I'm very thankful to share in the group with all of the awesome, God-driven people. All of this is significant, because like a dirty car, I'm still fighting to wash away all of the "dirtier" parts of my life. That "dirt" being my sin. I really feel that God has been pushing me to become a more structured person, with more guidelines as to what I do with my money, my time, my friendships, and any other aspect I am working with. Anyway, gotta go get that car washed, I will write later.

The Revealing of a Day

7:30. I am at home about to get up and drag myself to the liquor store, where I will be purchasing a tasty beverage......you guessed it.....a Diet Coke.

Funny.

How used to drinking such a strange tasting thing I have become. 

8:00. I will resume playing Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, part of a series of Anime-esque games that I absolutely love. 

Funny.

The game always makes me want to go to disneyland, because it is based around disney characters. I'm such a dork. 

So this is what tonight looks like:

go to the liquor store, buy a nice cold diet coke.

go to my room and relax while playing Kingdom Hearts. 

Sound good? 

Awesome.

All the while remembering that the only reason I can sit here in my room and drink my coke and play my videogame is because God hand picked me to live. He hand picked all of us to live.

EVEN YOU. 

And He loves you no matter where you're at. Take His word for it.

It's the only word that matters.

On Heroes

I have realized that a lot of the people I consider heroes are all from one place...

the Bible.

Paul is my best example. He was what I want to be, and always fail to replicate. He began as a 

sinner,

and ended as an outright lover of Christ. This is what I wish to be at some point. I wish that I could say that I speak about God every second to every person I meet, but on a worldly agenda, 

this will never happen. So right now, right here, I want to say something very important. I am thankful to our Lord for giving me the ability to love and cherish people. I am thankful for my beautiful girlfriend, who is my partner in Christ. I am thankful for the beautiful parents he has put in my life. I am thankful for my brother. I am thankful for all of my brothers and sisters in Christ because to me, they are in my immediate family. I'm thankful for the really hot summer days where one will sit in the shade of a tree and listen to the sounds of the birds and the trees whispering. I am thankful for the abilities I have been given; to hear music in a completely different way than some others. I am thankful for my guitar playing abilities. I am thankful for the very little artistic inclination that I have. Most of all, I am thankful for You God, my Father. Without You, nothing is possible, but with You, anything is possible. Without You, the birds of the air wouldn't sing and the trees wouldn't whisper in the wind. Without You, we are broken, lost, lonesome children without a dwelling place. You gave this beating heart to me, You gave this mind to me, and I love You so much for that. You are my everything, my soul redeemer, my reason for breathing every day. Now that I have said all of this, I will make what feeble attempt I may to honor You in all of this Lord. 

Good News for Those Who Enjoy It

So I was recently informed of some rather pleasing news. The Led to Victory show (my band), will be free as opposed to the recently mentioned $3 ticket fee. This is exciting because people won't have to pay to come see us for the first time! I would love to see all of my friends out there, because they truly mean so much to me, I love them all. I am so thankful to God to be where I am, under the people that I love, hopefully serving to my best effort. Shows are extremely exciting. I have played many shows in the past, and they have almost always been a lot of fun. I should only hope for the same at this one! I'm super excited to kick start a great venture with my great friends and band mates. Hope to see you June 13th, I'll post more details about directions here soon!

Sick Sickly

So I'm still a little bit sick. I really dislike colds, they are no fun. I have to go to work in less than an hour, and already I feel the day wearing on me. But it's good to keep a positive attitude so I will just be quiet and do it! I woke up today and read a bit of Purpose Driven Youth Ministry, and it really opened my eyes to a couple of things. First off, I need to rely way more on God than I do now. Secondly, I need to take a breather, speak to God on where I am at, and ask for His grace to power me, because I'm nothing without it. I am not perfect, and the moment I truly realize this, things will change, and God will have room to work. If I am ignorant of the fact that I have flaws that can move mountains, how will I ever get to the point where I can move mountains with my faith? God is our only answer to so many questions, yet we refuse to take the time to acknowledge that. God is great. God is the answer. God is love.

Read Me!

Yesterday was a good day; it went super smoothly. God really put a peace on my heart I haven't felt in a while. After work, I went to buy some meat for the kids' cinco de mayo celebration ( I work at Boys and Girls club as an instructor). Then Burnel and I went to Dustin's house and watched 3:10 to Yuma. It's such an awesome movie, not to mention super heartfelt. Our band is signed on to a show in June, so if you are reading this, please come out. I will post more details soon. We will be playing with a band called Envera. The cost will be $3. I'm feeling pretty sick right now. I've been relaxing all morning, so we'll see where that goes. I'm super excited for the last day of recording Boombox Tragedy. Nate and I will be doing guitars and bass for their last few songs, then, it's done! Anyway, I will write later. Good day!

A Nice Day for Sun Rays

Pretty simple day. Woke up, went to church to hear some awesome words. Then band practice. Finished and perfected our 6th song and are working on our 7th song. Pretty awesome if you ask me. Later, we went to dinner with some awesome people. I had probably the most amazing pasta ever. Cheesecake Factory, Four Cheese Pasta, that's where it's at. Now, I'm sitting in my room. It's really peaceful in here. I can hear the wind chimes again. Liz is great. She stuns me with her beauty every time I see her. I'm so happy to say that she is a huge part of my life. I am pretty sleepy however, so I think I will hit the hay. GN.

A Safe Haven

I want to fall asleep to your voice,

to hear your soft spoken words,

to breath your eternal air,

because that is what keeps me alive.

I am not my own,

I am an image of what you are,

O God,

my Love,

my Savior,

my Reason,

my Keeper,

my Redeemer,

O Great Redeemer.

I feel as if I'm in a safe haven when you hold me,

you never let go,

I believe because you have created me to believe,

I breath because you, Lord, have placed oxygen in my lungs,

to praise you.

my Lord, 

my God,

my Safe Haven.

2 o'clock, and I'm sleepy, but I can't sleep. Strange, but I feel at peace. I spent some time with a couple of my best friends and my beautiful girlfriend. I'm very content right now, which is unusual because I can usually find a reason to be selfish and complain. I'm again going to attempt to fall asleep, after reading some of God's awesome word. Good night. 

What a Day

An interesting day today. I woke up at about 8, then fell back asleep until about 11:30, was too lazy to get up and take a shower, so I lied in bed for a while. When I finally got up, I took my shower, got dressed, and went to the bank to go pay my credit card bill. After that, I went to Albertson's to pick up some stuff,  then went to lunch with my better half (the beautiful Liz). Then work. I'm still very into the Devil album, and I know I will continue to enjoy it. I need to start getting on top of my spanish homework, cause I am waaay behind on it. My dog and I are sitting in my room (he's a Basset hound, and he's cute, and his name is Rocket). I like my room, by the way; it's very peaceful in the evenings. If you lay quietly, you can hear the wind whispering, and the birds in the trees singing, and my favorite, the wind chimes. I become overwhelmed sometimes. It feels so peaceful, and I can really appreciate God's presence in those times, which i sometimes take for granted cause duh, I'm totally not perfect. I can really focus on my imperfections and what God wants to happen to my heart. My parents come in every now and then to talk to me, and that's super awesome. My mom's voice is super soothing to me, always has been. My dad has to be one of the most charismatic people I have ever met, he always puts a smile on my face, even when I'm bummed out. So as I was saying, my room is super awesome when it's quiet. I don't really deserve all that my parents have done for me. I used to be the most ungrateful child ever. I still to this day feel horrible for the way i treated them and talked to them. I love them so much. I thank God for them so much, cause without Him, they wouldn't exist. On another note, Alex and I will be writing new material for Led to Victory tonight, which will be awesome. We are almost completely done with our set, which is encouraging. We will have around 8 songs for live shows. The plan is to play a couple free shows (which I will definitely post on here), and then release our debut EP/CD. As soon as we get artwork on it, I will post it on here for everyone to see, and I will add an "exclusive" track once we get one recorded, just for all out there who want to hear us, if that's anyone, haha. Anyway, gotta go, Alex and In-n-Out await. 

A Day of Many Exploits

So today's adventures consisted of me being at work until around 7 p.m., then driving somewhere out in Cypress to do some recording with the band. We recorded an acoustic song for a final recording project for a student at Cal State Fullerton. After finishing said recording process, we decided to venture to obtain some victuals for our empty bellies. Of course, Taco Bell was the first and only choice... well, besides In-n-Out. So Taco Bell it was. Since I am currently not eating red meat, my order was as follows: Bean Burrito no onions, seven layer nachos (mmm mmm!), and a medium Diet Pepsi. For the record, Diet Coke is way better than Diet Pepsi, except for at Taco Bell, for some random reason. The inside of the restaurant was closed, so we went through the drive thru and ordered to go. We took it into the parking lot and sat in Micah's van to enjoy our tantalizing feast. Needless to say, the food was great. We spent the next two entire hours talking in the parking lot. Then, it was time to part ways, so we took off. Today, I thought a lot about Liz, and how much she is a blessing in my life. She makes me a lot better than i could be. I love that she completes me, kinda like the missing puzzle piece, except she's cooler than cardboard. As for music, I am totally all for The Devil Wears Prada's new album, "With Roots Above and Branches Below". It's such an awesome album, and goes so deep lyrically. I love that the lyrics are so God-centered. There's a line in one of their new songs that goes, "beyond this world, is what is always breathing, beyond this world, is worth dying for." I love that line, cause it's so true, what's beyond this world is so much better than what's here. I missed Vision, which I'm bummed about. I love all of the people there so much, they are my brothers and sisters in Christ, and I'd pretty much do anything for them. Well, I am up way too late, I think I'd better hit the hay. Gooooood Night!