Fear Factor

So Dillon won but Stephanie was the faster of the two. She really inspired me as she mowed down those Stinky Twinkies faster than anyone I have ever seen. And the worms...well, I wouldn't have wanted to be in either of their shoes.

Back So Soon

Well I am back and barely adjusting. The Lord revealed so much to me on the trip, especially about my own heart. After looking at so many amazing sights and hanging with so many amazing people the Lord was constantly reminding me of what is important. The ruins of all these ancient cities, the atmosphere around Jerusalem, and even floating in the Dead Sea cannot compare to the fact that we have the Spirit of Almighty God dwelling in our hearts. We can have access to the Father here in Oceanside just as easily as in Israel. Well, I guess its time to dive back into reality and grow where I'm planted, even though I miss views like this and the adventure of it all. I'm back and already planning my next trip...El Salvador or Mainland Mexico sound appealing but we will see what doors the Lord opens.

Israel!

So I have been trying to post some stuff for the last few days but I haven't been able to...sorry my bad! This place is awesome, safe and the food and icecream are off the hook. Start saving your nickels and dimes because I would love to take all of the Junior High on a trip to the Promised Land. I have learned more about what Jesus' life and ministry was about than two years of Bible college. My day usually consists of waking up at like 5:30 to watch the sunrise and get in the Word, than I go for a run and/or swim in the Sea of Galilee, breakfast at 7:30 than on the bus by 8:00. Just today we went to the mount of Beatitudes, Bethsaida, Chorazin, Tel Dan, we saw the country of Syria blah blah blah. Everything is sooo close you really get a perspective of what Jesus ministry must have been like. Anyway, I leave to the Dead Sea area tomorrow morning so I will try to post again then...by the way this picture is of me overlooking the valley of Armageddon!

2 days left and where is my suitcase?

So I leave in two days...I haven't gotten my suitcase down or anything! I did wash my clothes though yesterday so that was a bit of an accomplishment. It took me like 1 hour to pack for 5 months in Peru so 2 weeks shouldn't be a problem! I am looking forward to trying to keep you all updated on the ins and outs of my trip. There is so much to be done up until when I leave I know Jesus has to do it! My prayer for this trip is that He breaks me down even more to desire to do His will and His will only. I look forward to spending some much needed time with Jesus!

The Mystery of the Disappearing Cell Phone and its Guardian Angel

Many of you know that my phone left me on the first ride of the day. Apparently it does not like roller coasters and chose to bail. Everybody was telling me that I would have to buy a new phone and that there was no way that I would ever get it back. But I prayed for a miracle. For some reason I had faith that I would get it back. That day I figured in my mind that the Lord wanted me to take a few days off from being dependent on the phone. I probably was spending too much time on the phone anyway.
What an amazing few days that was. Instead of checking my phone every few minutes or having my fingers go raw because of texting I was free! It was glorious. By Thursday I was actually to the point where I felt like I didn't need or want a phone at all. When I was living in Peru I actually had a goal of not getting a cell phone when I came back, but for ministry purposes I have one. Just at the point where I was thinking i would have to buy a new phone...it showed up on my doorstep! I guess it prefers the slow moving ride that the United States Postal Service delivers than Tatsu at Magic Mountain. I guess it was no big thing to God but a huge thing to get my phone back. I wouldn't be surprised if he dispatched an angel just to catch it and set it down gently. What a good God we serve! Magic Mountain was so much fun, everybody had a blast and I am stoked that they actually sent me my phone!

Poor Baby!

So I got Delilah the snip snip. It freaked me out thinking that Delilah was going to be going through the custom of women shortly. As a single dad I was a bit nervous about giving her "the talk" about what the boy dogs were up to. I planned on being the overbearing parent and locking her in the closet, but i opted for the surgery instead. She really does not like wearing that cone thing, but I told her it made her look special so she is getting used to it!

Fasting

So as many of you know, me and a few other people felt led by God to go on an eight day, water only fast last week for the week of prayer and fasting that we had at the church. In all honesty I love eating. But as we were studying through the book of Daniel I kept noticing how Daniel and his friends were constantly praying. Jesus even made mention of it in Matthew 17:21, ..."However, this kind odes not go out except by prayer and fasting." Of course He also said, "Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countanance. For they disfigure thier faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly." Matthew 6:16-18
The whole reason I chose to go on the fast was for a variety of personal and ministry related things that I wanted to seek the Lord in. Now I should say that there are many types of fasts. There are partial fasts, like eating only one meal a day. Or not eating for a day. Some people fast from a particular food, like candy or coffee. Some people fast from watching TV or movies. And yet others fast from their favorite sport like skating or surfing. Either way the motive should always be to seek a closer communion with the Lord. It was amazing all the free time I had to pray and read my Bible. I thank the Lord that I am in a position where people understand that. Fasting should be practical and personal. Especially if you are young you need to pray about it and ask your parents. I am still amazed at the things the Lord revealed to me and I feel is doing because of the fast. Eight days in all is not that long. Jesus, Moses, and others fasted for forty days! I am praying about maybe doing that one day. The hardest part is that I was fasting from surfing...it would be hard to do that for forty days! My point is I felt led to do it and I know that it had to have been the Spirit of God because I like to eat, and without God's help and sustaining I know I would not have made it.
How did I break it you might be wondering? Pastor Adam, Armondo Perez, and myself went to Soup Plantation on Saturday night. It was glorious, the only person that was missing was Eli (the girl who fasted with us). I thought that maybe I had forgotten how to chew but I didn't. Food had never tasted soooo good. But then I over ate and went from being sick of not eating to being sick of eating all in one day! Anyways, I believe its a lifelong spiritual discipline I am going to implement. By the way, like the verse stated I did not suck in my face to make myself look holy! I lost 22 lbs in eight days which I am sure qualifies as dangerous. That is why IF you feel led make sure your parents are ok with it and you research it.

Get Expelled - The Movie - Super Trailer

This might be one of the only movies actually worth paying money for!

Baja Malibu

So I cruised on Thursday morning to Baja Malibu's down in Mexico. It is a punchy beach break that never seems to disappoint. I would have taken pictures of the waves but it was kind of foggy and you couldn't really see them. Went with one of my best friends named Zion. Good time but this was my favorite picture...it looks Baja enough.

mileage

So it must have been when me and Jonathan went out for Sushi on Thursday night that I hit the 177, 777 mark on my truck. I had been planning on taking a photo of the mileage, where I was at, who I was with and everything. I took this picture at men's group the Nautical Bean in the morning...but it's just not the same. Going to the Israel Meeting now. Hey with all the trips Ive been on and all the time driving in cars, planes, trains, boats, bicycles, horseback, hoofing it...I wonder how many miles I have traveled. That would be too interesting

Snowboarding

I'm glad I have insurance is what I was thinking right after I fell on my head. Memories of friends with broken arms and backs flooded my head after I unsuccessfully tried to negotiate a rail. As I laid there I thought about all the times that I had seen people being carried off the mountain in a stretcher or heard the horror stories of people never walking again. Praise the Lord I wasn't down long and before I knew it I had come back and conquered that rail. All in all everybody had a really good time. David Martinell was taking the inititive to throw himself over and on every obstacle on the mountain, Ashley Cambell and Bethany Contreras, (two sixth grade girls) inspired and put to shame most of the boys, Justin Rizo (sixth grade boy) nearly got hypothermia. We stopped at In and Out on the way back. The Lord worked everything out and the trip was over all one for the books.

Adventure's over...

So I'm back, sunburnt and stoked. We surfed a place called "El Capitan" in the morning which breaks right on the rocks. Its a long pointbreak so if get it from the outside you can ride the wave for like 300 yards and it has a couple of barrel sections. Guys were getting tubed. I got a couple of them but it wasn't until we surfed a place called Sandspit that night that I got really barreled. It was a long day. We surfed three times, both new spots to me but it was a fun little adventure. The best part of the trip was hanging out and fellowshipping with my friends from Bible College. They are really encouraging friends and we had the best one day trip ever!

Ventura

Well its not Costa Rica like SOME youth pastors are blessed to experience but I'm up in Ventura. I surfed Oceanside harbor tonight and it was good glassy barrels. Six foot and getting bigger. Me and my friend James from Bible college, who is an amazing surfer, drove up after getting some fun waves at Oceanside. Our friend Josh and Matt who we are meeting up here said that it was huge up here tonight so it should be firing in the morning with good winds. Right now James is sharing Jesus with one of Matt's friends. He hasn't stopped talking about Jesus the entire ride up here. Praise the Lord for good friends! All right, if I don't drown or freeze tomorrow I will update with pictures and barrel stories! Lates

The Comencement

So we just cleaned up from the show tonight and it was rad. I usually don't like rock like that, but Scott's band rocks! I was totally blessed by the night, as I hope everyone that came out was. What blessed me more than everything was the way the Lord put it together. I didn't have a whole lot of time this week but He put everything together and anointed the night. We had people from several churches and it seemed everybody had fun and was blessed. All the glory goes to Jesus. Big thanks to Scott, Chris, Robby, Tommy and also Jordan and Morgan for leading worship...All you guys are anointed!

Allow me to re-introduce the Christ

I love poetry, I love poetry that is honest and speaks the truth, I love writing poetry and listening to poetry readings. This girl loves the Real Jesus and she loves His Word. This is powerful, check it out...She speaks the truth.

Wow

This is one cell. You have between 10-100 TRILLION of these that make up your body, each one a world of its own. It takes a lot of faith to believe in evolution.

The Inner Life of the Cell

Heavy

When I was in Junior High I had a pair of big black baggy jeans. I think they were size 45 or something. No lie, I could have fit four people in my pants! I still think that I would rather have those than all the skin tight jeans guys are wearing these days, but that is another story. Those incredibly baggy jeans were what the kids were wearing, and I wanted to fit in. I was looking for my identity. I was looking for what I could change about myself to be accepted. I should have been looking at my heart. I have been reading about the story of David in 1 Samuel the last few days. When everybody else was running away from Goliath, David was running towards him saying "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. (1 Sam 17:45) David knew that Goliath wasn't just attacking his country, Goliath was defying his God. David had spent his life as a shepherd, talking to God, singing to Him, meditating on Him. David was angry at the right things and he stood up for righteousness knowing that God would have his back. David knew who he was and he knew who his God was. He didn't look like a person that would help deliver his country and family. But God doesn't look on the outward appearance, God looks at the heart. That's heavy!

Blown Away

So I'm sitting in my office after two weeks of retreats trying to remember all of my new goals and things that I have written down. My office is a mess and I have about 300 post it notes and things written EVERYWHERE! It went down like this: after Junior High Winter Camp I went straight to the staff retreat where I was able to review the past year and start planning for this upcoming year. I left early on Tuesday night from the retreat in order to go to June Lake for three solid days of snowboarding with the college group ministry, (I know, tough life, right? But somebody has to do it...) The retreat was sweet and the day after getting back from snowboarding I left for a Youth Workers Conference in Murrieta. There were many things that ministered to me during that time away, but one of the things that the Lord keeps pressing on my heart is going deeper with Him. To truly get real with the Lord. Looking back at 2007 I am simply blown away by what God has done in my life and heart. Like Joshua 21:45 says, "Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass." I am looking forward to 2008 with more anticipation and excitement than any other year of my life, not for anything that I will do, but for what He will do. There is no limit to what He wants to accomplish in our lives this year! Looking forward to serving and being with you all in what God wants to do this year. Lates!!!