My Jesus is worth living for!!

I’m a part of the Fellowship of the Unashamed. I have Holy Spirit power. I’ve stepped over the line.The decision has been made.I’m a disciple of His. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still.My past redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I’m finished and done with low living, sidewalking, small-planning, smooth-knees, colorless dreams, tame visions, worldly-talking, cheap-giving, and dwarfed goals.
I no longer need pre-eminence, position, promotion, applause or popularity.
I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded.
I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience.
I’m uplifted by prayer, and labor by power. My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my God reliable. My mission is clear.
I cannot be bumped, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of my adversaries, negotiate at the table of my enemy or ponder at the pool of popularity.
I won’t give up, shut up, let up until I’ve stayed up, stored up, prayed up, preached up for the cause of Christ.
I am a DISCIPLE OF JESUS.

Jesus:
I will fight for You!!!
I will die for You!!!
I will go For You!!!
I will live For You!!!

quoted from Jeremy Johnson on the Worth Dying For Album

December 2nd and my Christmas Music

It's the day after Christmas, so I thought I would share a bit about my Christmas music addiction.

December 2nd is the day Christmas season officially starts in our home. My son's birthday is on the 1st, so we give our son the focus before we decorate and play our favorite Christmas tunes. I know many people start way sooner and stores bust out their stuff the day after Halloween. My problem is I always have to refrain from playing Christmas music when Thanksgiving comes and goes. It might seem strange, but I really like Christmas music. I have about 15 CDs of the stuff and every year I seek out at least one new one. Now I know you think that most Christmas music they play on the radio is horrible. Unless it's oldies, I do agree. But the stuff I have rarely does get general market radio play. This year at work Sabrina and her co-workers were annoyed constantly about the horrible "Christmas" music that is piped in at Verizon. They usually turned it down. Finally Sabrina took some songs and put it onto a memory card and they got to enjoy about an hour or so of real good Christmas music. Funny thing is they can play a type of Christmas music but can't say Merry Christmas.

If I was allowed to I could play Christmas all year round. I cannot pinpoint on when I got "addicted" to it, but when December 2nd rolls around, I load all the CDs onto itunes and pick my favorites and put it on my ipod. It might be unusual to see me rocking out to Christmas music, since my style is the more raaaar kind of stuff. There are rock bands that take traditional songs and make it there own style, but I do enjoy the soothing soft tune about our Saviors birth. I am even playing it now as I type out this post. The main CDs I enjoy are put out through the years, by Tooth & Nail Records or BEC Recordings (Happy Christmas Vol.1-4 and X Christmas). Various artists from their labels and a tiny bit from others, get together and record their favorite Christmas songs or sometimes they write a new one. No matter what style I tend to enjoy them all. Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby and the like are hard to find cheap, so I only have a sample of their stuff. If I could I would love to get every Christmas CD I ever wanted. I don't like the chorus, orchestra,country, unnamed artist compilations, Lennon/Oko, and most general market radio wannabe Christmas CDs. Other than that I like tons of Christmas music.

HAPPY BOXING DAY!! The Christmas music by the way gets packed up on New Years Day. That's our boxing day.

Baby Jesus: How special was his birth?

I put this is a little newsletter article to the youth, I thought I would share it with you. I will continue to elaborated on Christmas even. It obviously will go beyond Christmas, but the celebrated of Jesus' birth should not go beyond one day.


Prophecies fulfilled, a miracle birth celebrated like no other, gifts given fit for a king. So fragile and small, the child could do nothing, but eat, sleep and cry. But this one child would be celebrated and revered by so many. One man would live until he saw this baby (Luke 1:25). This child was also a fugitive of a king, but wise men still sought him (Matthew 2). The story of His birth has been told to many from His first day on earth and will be continued to be told to many more. Songs, plays, movies, and many more presentations, tell of His birth in some way. His actual day of birth is not clear, but one day was chosen to celebrate it.
December 25th and the season leading up to it, is celebrated around the world by many walks of life, on every continent. No other birth is more celebrated and told of than the Birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is seriously amazingly ridiculous that one child would have such an impact on the world, before he was even a year old. His birth so celebrated, is also unforgettable by the fact that it shows how it was a start to how He lived and died, and then conquered death for us all, that too is seriously amazingly ridiculous!!!
I hope you to will celebrate His birth thinking about how special it was. I hope you will also celebrate His birth beyond the CHRISTmas Season.

My Daughter Asks: Are you going to vote for me?

I voted today. My youngest asked me a question before I did. She asked "Are you going to vote for me?" I am not sure if she meant something else, but I responded with: Of course, I am voting for your future. She responded by asking: "For when I grow up and be a teenager?" And I said "Yes." (She is 4) I was thinking of her, my other kids when I voted. I wanted to show I cared what happens in California and the U.S. I wanted to show that I am letting my voice be heard, even if the outcomes do not go my way. I was also thinking of all the other kids in the US.

I do want to go off about the Propositions but I will spare you all. As a Christian I do want to say, think about kids. What do they need to really know? What does there future hold with the decisions being made? What does the Bible clearly say? If you are a Christian why be for things that are clearly against God's Word? Even if we are sinners we are not to practice sin. This has to do with everything we do, not just what is popping up in politics.

"Love is to be serious. Hate what is evil." Romans 12:9. It does not say anything about hating people. It says don't embrace sin, but flee it. That's why I voted for her.

Day 4 (or 5) of National Youth Worker Convention 2008 in Sacramento.

Day Three (or 4) Youth Worker Convention

My day was not as fun as yesterday, but it was a blast too. It was fulfilling and challenging. It was a weird thing also my ring fell off today while I was clapping. It has really come to a point that I have lost a lot of weight. I did not lose the ring, so don't worry. No stupid remarks today, which is good, hehe.

What I did for the day I got up after falling asleep last night trying to watch a movie. I slept so well that I did not wake up until 8. Which is rare since my kids never have done that and my schedule won't allow it. We all got ready and went to the exhibit hall. Rode the unicorn, played some boat game and looked at all the cool wares and freebies people had. I even won a big pickle, which Sabrina and the kids would have loved. Then we went to the general session, which the comedy and worship were great but the speaker bombed. I'm not trying to be mean, but it was just like a lecture. We left early to lunch (a long with many others) and then went back to the exhibit hall. David and Amara bought a bunch of resources and stuff for their youth group. I just had fun getting all the freebies and chatting with people. Later we all went to separate seminars and then met up to got dinner. After dinner we went to the general sessions and stayed for the comedy night. It was awesome, I laughed so much my face hurt. One guy (Thor Ramsey) even changed his act and went on to tell jokes that people got bent out of shape about. None of them were bad, but I guess some people are rigid and can't take a joke. Equally funny of how he told of how people reacted to them. Then we came back to the hotel, hung out for a while and went to bed.
Who did I run into Lon and Carla Hanson. They have been helping with the youth in some capacity at Central Christian Church for 22 years! I remember Lon and this other guy Mark, the teacher sitting in on youth group boring us to death. It's not that they were bad, Mark's teaching was just over our heads at times. Lon and Carla have stepped in every time a youth pastor has left. They have basically kept the youth group a float during the time with no Youth Pastor. John Watts was just a parent of two kids that were in my youth group at Lemon Grove Christian Church. Now he is the Youth Pastor there! He seems to be doing well, and soaking up everything at the convention.
Where I ate Magnolia Grill, for lunch. I had a avocado and turkey sandwich, with a Henry Wienhard's cherry creme soda (yummy yummy),and for dinner we traveled to Elk Grove at Deahna's sister Cheantelle's house. We had BBQ chicken, rice and corn. The dessert was awesome, it was banana pudding, and some sort of cookies from Pepperidge farm and bananas. I had too much of it, it was hard to resist.
What I thought about the seminars and general sessionsMissed the first seminars, general session was a disaster of a history lesson. Again not to be mean, it ws a lecture that brought back the days of taking Western Civilizition in college (is this in the test?). Second was awesomely funny. Mike Pilavachi, a youth pastor from England. He had told hilarious stories from the Bible that were a little messed up humorously. He said it was the Greek, well what he got from it, which was equally funny. His accent added to it too. He used the stories to show how God can work in people no matter how. He also reminded us of the youth we have and how God can use us to reach even the most resistant. Amongst all the laughing It help me come to full circle in what I was already contemplating about how things are going at Easy Valley.
And what mood I am in Not satisfied. Why? From all the seminars, general session, conversations with people, I have come to a point about how I am doing things presently as a Youth pastor. I have been so content and have grown reluctant to push. I just do not want to do the things at East Valley that I had done to me in former ministries. So I resisted change and to move us as a group. But when you hear constantly what not to do or go beyond the basics in Youth Ministry. It's time to move. I don't want to be a hindrance, I want youth to be stretched and not so comfortable. So that's why I am not satisfied. I want more!

The Magic Unicorn!


Me in a moustache, getting ready to ride "The Magical Unicorn. " You gotta be macho!


Me riding the Unicorn.


David riding the unicorn.


Some boat balance game we played. David beat me three times.

Day 2 of the Youth Worker Convention - officially day one

Wow what a day it was! This was a packed and fun filled day. Very inspiring speakers and with wild and crazy thing to do.

Dumbest thing to say while in elevator: "Oh no, there goes the weight limit" - I said this as a joke but did not realize the lady coming in was not here for the youth convention. We were pretty packed when she came in.


What mood I am in I was in pain and anguish for a while there. My lips then burned of the feeling of them being on fire for a while. Why? I ate a nice tasty orange pepper called the habanero (which they use in pepper spray/mace!). It was yummy then bam it hurt, it burned, it tickled in a bad way (I can't explain what that means) I felt dizzy a bit, I could not talk, tears came out, my nose ran, I could not really function other than run around in pain. It was not like a jammed finger or stubbed toe pain but, like almost breaking a bone, but in your mouth pain. I know that's a weird way to describe it, but David just cracked up as I was in anguish. Amara was a trooper and ate a less hot one a serrano pepper. She was sweating and tears coming out of her eyes. I did not see her eat it because I was dying myself. David laughed at her too. We should have recorded it all on video. Why did I do it? I got $60 bones to use on Sermon spice, an illustration, and creative ideas for lessons web source. I am in a good/great mood now. It was a fun day and can't wait for tomorrow!
Here comes the pain & suffering. There is Amara about to eat hers too.


Suffering from pepper


Even more suffering. If you can see I was crying and my nose started to run.



What I did for the day: Well it all started with the early bird seminars. I went to one called Spiritual Sabotage (with an additional longer title. David went to the seminar: Rap it, Tag it, Speak it. Then we all met up and ate lunch and went to the general session. I was supposed to go to a seminar afterward but none of them seemed interesting or I already did not know. So I walked around the exhibit hall where everyone is advertising there organization ans selling their whatnot's. I later found David and Deahna hanging out at the pool, which was a tad cold, but the hot tub was, well hot. We all went to dinner and then to the next general session. After that David, Amara, and I went to the exhibit hall and then back to the hotel room. We were watching a movie but I fell asleep.
Who did I run into: Wow it was several today. First person was Ken Rawson. He was texting me trying to find where I was, he even left his seminar to see me first which was kind of funny and cool. He texted me "look for the fat guy". He's not fat though. It was cool to see him again. It's been over ten years since I have seen him, but we have talked over the phone, e-mailed and trash talked each other on Fantasy sport leagues. We later ate lunch together with his wife Jen, to catch up. Then I ran into a former youth Mike Collins who was there helping out. He is a youth pastor in Tracy. I did not remember his name at first, so I ashamedly asked him. It was cool that he remember me, but I am the type to be unforgettable (hehehe). I ran into another former youth who is a youth pastor at a church in Modesto, Russ Cantu. Then at one of the general sessions, I ran into Kevin Neuner, and his wife Danielle. We went to school and had many adventures together. He is a Youth pastor at Abundant Life in the Bay Area. Sadly there was even some people I did not remember who they were or even recognized their face. I just said hi and the normal hey how's it going stuff.
Where I ate We ate at the popular place everyone seems to go to at these conventions, Upper Crust Pizza. It's all you can eat Pizza and salad. Yummy ( A youth workers dream). For Dinner we went to a Sushi place. I had a Bento box (Teriyaki) and some soup, and everyone else had sushi. It was called Amakari. It was scrumdidlyumshish.
What I thought about the seminars and general sessions: The Seminar I went to was cool, it was about preparing youth beyond their years in Youth group and getting them ready to be in the world and not be of the world. A times we just have them do their time and as they leave they leave behind their faith. David and Amara's was about bringing the Hip-hop culture into view and just using it in a way for youth to express their faith. Which is a cool way to do things with youth.
Wow! The first general session was awesome. Sherwood Carthen was the speaker. He was so intense,uplifting, and very funny. "Amen by myself" - his favorite saying. He spoke on us being in the wilderness (Matthew 4)
The Next seminars I skipped (lazy I know). The next general session was a bit different. We had three speakers, who had about 18 minutes to speak and then we texted questions to be asked after we discussed the subject with people in the crowd. The first speaker was not really impressive, but the next two were cool. The second one talked about reaching out to the gay community (by Andrew Marin), which is probably the last subject you would think about hearing at a youth convention. It was good to hear since we don't even talk about it at our churches. Since we reach out to other sinners, why not all? It's those sexual sins that we seem to frown upon more in church than say gluttony or hypocrisy. Even so it is a hard subject matter, but I do think we must go at it with gusto and not reluctance. After the second speaker, Shane Clairbone came on stage. He is the cross between a hillbilly, a hippie and radical Christian. Which is not bad, just funny and quirkiness all together. He talked about how his ministry/community and some other stuff. His basic idea was we need to be more focused on our people than stuff to reach people. The three speakers and then discussion was unique and cool at the same time.