Hands held high

After service my wife stayed to help with the baptisms and I got to take the kids to lunch and hang out with them. As we began to drive off I turned on the CD player which happened to have a worship CD we had been listening to. My daughter asked me to put on the song she really enjoys, so I did, and I asked her to sing for her brothers and I. I sang a few bars with her then came to a stop light and tilted the rear view mirror down to get a glimpse of her singing. Much to my surprise my daughter had her hands held high, head tilted upward and eyes closed as she was singing the song aloud....I was surprised and very proud. Interesting thing is my wife and I have never showed or taught her how to do that, she just did it on her own.

It was explained to me that hands raised during worship is a sign of surrender to our Lord. It was awesome to see my little 2 year old girl surrendering to the Lord in her car seat as we drove to get Lunch. She kept her hands up the entire song....

Church is NOT a routine!

Recently after a service at our church, my wife and I were discussing how GREAT and REFRESHING it was to be able to listen to the message, learn, and have an opportunity to stay engaged with God.

I remember not so long ago prior to being saved and attending my new church, I felt like my previous experience in church was a routine. My wife and I would come in, follow the protocol, kneel, stand, kneel, stand. We knew what to say and when to stay it without really listening to the message. We knew when the tithing basket came around, when communion was, which was the 45 mins mark (15 mins left!! woohoo) and shortly after was the closing prayer which meant we were almost done.

I don't feel like that anymore, but I think its important to note there was something missing in our life. Church was the same week in and week out, and we didn't have the vigor and energy we have now. We actually stopped going to church for a LONG period of time (6 years). In hindsight we were contributing to making it routine and putting up a front with everyone including ourselves in which case the sad part of it all is we were not allowing ourselves to be guided and healed through GOD.

Each church is different, so seek a good church with a good simple mission who are welcoming, caring, and involved with their members. The interesting thing is, we felt GOD led us to our church and we didn't have to look very far!

GOD in my business meeting?

For those that know me, I am a bit of an entrepreneur. So lately business has been looking quite good, and starting to progress upward (no pun intended). I believe a large part of that is GOD feels I am ready to take on the next steps in my business endeavors.

I was in a business meeting the other day and my client asked me a question which seems to be coming up quite often. "Are you a Christian?"

I am not offended, nor ashamed when people ask me that, but I find it interesting after all these years in business, I am being asked this question. (most recently within the last 2 years, which is when I turned to Christ). Even more interesting is the people who ask me that question are NOT Christians.

My responses are usually simple and direct, cause I am in a business meeting with my partners and associates and want to keep on task and professional. Then I am asked more questions about my faith, next thing I know I am inviting them to my church. My christian brothers who are my business associates, trip out on how this just happens.

What I have learned so far:
1.) The discussion topic of GOD can happen anywhere.
2.) GOD is leading the conversation.
3.) GOD will NOT just use you at church.
4.) GOD is a wonderful partner to have in leading your business
5.) Don't be afraid to openly discuss your relationship with Him when asked. Who knows what it might lead to.

Bible In a hurry?

Bible In A Minute - barats and bereta

As I watched this. It was funny, however I thought to myself how our world is all about "Getting it now", "Learn Fast", and "Summerize everything". Don't be in a hurry to understand GOD's word. I expect to read and re-read the Bible again and again, and I know I will never be an expert and know everything in the Bible. But what I will gain is a closer focused relationship with GOD as I continue to learn, study and ask questions. So dont be in a hurry.

Still on a High from worship night

My church had its first worship night in the new building. This was my first ever worship night so I was really excited and honored to serve on tech team for this event.

As the event neared, many of the people I spoke with who going to attend were anticipating the wonderful music they will get to sing, the opportunity to have a good time with friends, and have fun like anyone would in a concert. But it really is much more than that, here is where it hit me.

5 mins prior to the start of the event we prayed, our worship pastor said something that stuck in my head. "This is another opportunity for Christians to renew their relationship with GOD" Once I heard that, my perspective changed about the event and began to think of other reasons . The opportunity to build, to encourage, to strengthen your relationship with GOD.

When people were standing in the long line waiting for some good music, ready to have a good time with friends, and just have fun like anyone would in a concert........They walked out afterwards RENEWED, they felt ENCOURAGED, they were STRENGTHENED in their relationship with GOD.

How do I know? (I am sure you are thinking)......I walked out of the room I was serving in and stood for a minute or two to watch peoples faces and their expressions as they exited the building. I saw tears, happiness, joy, blessed thanks for the opportunity to praise and glorify our GOD Almighty that evening!

Season's Change, its God's Will

In just the past few weeks my pastor in my ministry (Tech Production) and good friend had decided to go back to the high tech life of corporate America. On top of that the co-pastor at my church (pictured with me) had a tug in his heart to migrate his family to Redman, WA and become the lead Pastor at Timberlake Church, another big surprise.

Some of my first initial thoughts were:

"God, what the heck is going on here?"
"I don't want them to go?"
"They cant leave now, I still need them"
"What am I going to do now?"

Its funny how quickly our thoughts immediately take a selfish turn when "change" you don't want to happen in your life occurs. Its human nature to get comfortable and we want it to stay the same. However if GOD allowed it to stay the same we would not grow in our faith nor grow as individuals. Their season at Eastlake church and their ministry has been fulfilled.

Each season in a year is beautiful (although in San Diego we have only 1 season ;)) when your in the middle of it, but when its time to change there is that ugly, messy, or awkward transition to get to the next season. The interesting note is, the environment eventually adapts to this change as we go into the next season and so on.

Our Heavenly Father has a plan for all of us. Lets not pray to Him to ask Him to change things for our own selfish reasons, but rather seek his guidance, take the next step in our faith, and continue to build our relationship with Him.

Its clear to me, that GOD's will for these two gentlemen are to help others seek Him as I have, not to hurt our current church family. Jesus says to go and make disciples and they have.......and they are continuing to do so.

Temptation - Can you resist it?

I was in Las Vegas on a family vacation this past week. We had a lot of fun and adventure for the whole family even though the highs were 122, we were lovin it.

We had to stop by the mall to pick up a few items and beat the heat, then again everyone had the same thought. Parking was a pain. A parking space was nowhere to be found. We finally found a couple who just walked out of the mall so we started to follow them to their car. As they approached their car I turned on my turn signal so people would know my intentions. Another car (minivan) was motioning they were going to take the spot, and we motioned back indicating the same thing. I finally rolled my window down to tell them we had been following the couple, and they responded they were following them. It was starting to get ugly and I KNEW I had the rights to their spot. They kept talking and a women hopped out of the minivan and stood in the spot to ensure I didn't get it. I was pissed, we were all pissed. We slowly crept up pass them and decided to let it go. I looked at them and they gloated and stuff. I rolled my window down and said the only thing that came to my mind. "God Bless You". They all laughed and said something about my comment, and yelled out, "and we got your space too"

Boy did I want to get out and give them a little bit of "Thunder and Lighting". I didn't. in those few moments I calmed down, let it go, and forgave them. It was hard, but I did it.

15 secs after passing them, I drove around front of the mall (even though parking was scare I had to get around to look elsewhere) a parking spot was empty and waiting for us in the front of the door to the mall. 100 times better than the spot I was about to argue for. It made my day!

All roads will lead you back to HIM

I have a friend who I looked up to as a Christ follower. You can tell his relationship with our Lord is strong. In the recent past his focus with GOD has not been as strong as it once was, to a point where there was a bit of resentment towards GOD. It made me think, how can one resent GOD? Turn your back on GOD? Isn't that bad? Won't GOD be mad at you?

Our GOD is a loving GOD who forgives, and I have learned through this process of observing and engaging with my friend, it is OK to question Him. Its natural to have emotions which we as humans express, and when things start to go badly, it is normal/natural for us to express our feelings. We have to be careful cause some emotions can lead us to follow our own path which is set by ourselves and not GOD's will.

GOD has a path for you whether you know it or not. Sometimes you will try to drive your path in a direction you are not meant to go, but convinced your desire to go in that direction is correct, yet you are met with a brink wall or a room full of headaches and a backfull of rocks. It is only until you stop and listen to how GOD is guiding you, will you know your path set by our LORD, even then, you will NOT know your final destination.

You must continually have a loving relationship with GOD.
+ ENGAGE Him. PRAY and Worship! He is listening and he will answer you
+ LISTEN to Him- He is always speaking to you (in more ways than one)
+ SURRENDER - Only then can you engage and listen
+ OBEDIENT - Honor Him through your obedience. You will be Blessed.
+ SURROUND - Surround yourself with people who act on the first 4 bullets

My friend strayed but was able to brush the dust off and rebuild a relationship with GOD. I proud of my friend. I had not seen a smile from him in a long time. I am happy he opened his heart to receive HIM.

Tornado's In California?

When I heard there were tornado's in California which touched down and caused a train to derail so close to home, It certainly caught my attention, especially so close to my in-laws home (about 15-20 miles away) off the I-215 close to March AFB. Earthquakes in California are a dime a dozen, tornado's not so much. What could possibly be next on the horizon?

Money Study - "It Just Makes Cents!"

Tonight was my 3rd week in leading a money study small group at my church. This study teaches GOD's principles about money. This experience has been wonderful thus far and the group is committed to the study. There has been excellent dialog and there have been some good questions and I hope I can guide them with the best options or guide them (as I identify) to the appropriate subject matter expert.

This evening we went over the curriculum and we provided a nice sheet of good advice which was provided to me <here> when I was going through training for this study. Here are a couple of some good take aways from this blog:

1. Save for retirement now
2. God blesses those who tithe
3. Live by a Budget
4. No spontaneous purchases

I look forward to next week with my small group.

The amazing Jesus

Here is a little comic relief for the day.

Conversational Prayer...Its my Kryptonite Part 2

I mentioned the other day how conversational prayer is my kryptonite. Well its interesting how this weekends message was speaking directly to me, and I happened to check out Ben Sigman's Blog (Eastlake's co-pastor) and person who taught the message over the weekend.

His message and his blog were quite helpful and answered my questions. I prayed for an answer, and received one, now I need to put this into practice.

Is the Bible True? Evolution vs Intelligent Design?

My small group has gone back to the basics and its wonderful. Our leaders have delved into the Eastlake Church archive for our small group discussion titled, "I Believe - A Foundation for Faith". For me this is a perfect timing to go through this because I have had an experiential experience in coming to Christ and being saved. Now I want to educate myself

I am getting questions from my children about dinosaurs etc and from others who are seeking Christ and ask, "Is the Bible true and accurate? How do we know we have the Real Bible? Frankly, I am not well equipped YET to answer these question. Its scary because my response to these questions are important. As one of the small group leaders says, "It's OK to say, I don't know". I have learned in this study its OK to question GOD. It one of the ways you solidify and continue to build the relationship with Our Father. Seek the answer.

I happened to be seeking answers to questions and ran across this trailer <Here>. It seems to be a perfect documentary to see as a group so I shared with my small group family. Perhaps we will all put the kids with sitters and we will all take a field trip to watch this together. It opened recently in April and It looked interesting.

I am excited as I continue to feed myself and grow as a Christian. We have a very strong small group and I only see our faith grow stronger as we all learn and share together. I feel blessed.

Here are some resources to check out if you have questions:

WEBSITES

1. http://www.drdino.com/
2. http://www.creation.com/
3. http://www.allaboutgod.com/
4. www.ibs.org/bibles/about/index.php

BOOKS

1. The Case for Faith - Strobel
2. The Case for Christ - Strobel
3. More Than a Carpenter - McDowell

Amen!

Today at lunch my oldest son wanted to share with the family he can recite the alphabet in Spanish. (He goes to Spanish immersion school - all curriculum is taught in Spanish). We were gathered around listening to him recite his alphabet proudly, at which point when he finished his younger brother said excitedly, "Amen!" and was about to dig in to his lunch (he is only 4). It was hilarious!

I am happy see he knows to pray before eating, but concerns me, cause i am sure he was only thinking of the delicious food in front of him.

I have some work to do. At least its a fun adventure for all of us.

Warning! Beware of Creamsicles!!

When I look at this picture now I see an excited young child ready to devour the delicious goodness of a creamsicle aka 50/50 bar....Little does he know he is in for a hurtin.

I accompanied my son to his friends 5th Birthday party, Yeah! It was his first birthday bowling bash! Upon leaving the party, my son saw the ice cream vending machine with the mechanical arm that retrieves your selection. I thought it would be cool to watch and also cause I was eyeing the 50/50 bar for myself. My son decided on the chocolate eclair, those are quite delicious as well, but my sights were on the hard orange Popsicle shell and vanilla inside. As I open his ice cream eclair and walked out in the scorching sun, I opened my ice cream bar ready to devour like that young boy in the picture above. Upon my first taste of the childhood favorite, my lips and tongue were stuck to the Popsicle!! (Think Dumb and Dumber - Tongue on ice cold pole scene). I attempted to pull the bar from my lips and tongue and they would stretch out stuck to the bar. Every time i would try to lick the areas which were stuck on my lips with my tongue, my tongue would keep getting stuck as well. Well in the moment, I panicked and started to twist the creamsicle to release my lips from the ice cream bar...it worked, however in the process I pulled chunks of skin from my lips!! Picture(s) attached.

This was definitely a teaching in patience and humility. I mean, I was walking out in broad daylight and had a creamsicle, "the childhood favorite" stuck and hanging from my lips and tongue, with blood running down by lips and the ice cream bar as I am twisting my lips from it and at least 20 - 25 people looking at me...yup I was embarrassed.

Conversational Prayer, its my Kryptonite....

I officially have lead my first small group (really not so small, there are about 18 in my group out of 80+) this evening. I rarely have no problems with public speaking, teaching, guiding in front of people. As a matter of fact once I get going its really hard to shut me up.

Although when it comes to starting or ending in prayer my heart starts to race, thoughts start to get cloudy...I FREEZE up. I hear the words "lets pray" or "we are going to do conversational prayer so please feel free to pray and participate", and I start to cringe like superman does when Kryptonite is near. In tonight's small group I felt like I barely got through the closing prayer. But I did it and I didn't feel 100%.

I also realized in my current couples small group I have not participated in opening or closing prayer. Is there something wrong with me? Does this make me a bad Christian follower? Do others have the same problem? I pray daily at home with the family and have no issues, why is this different when with others?

I know my heart wants to, but I feel like my brain is going to lock up, and all people will hear is either "crickets" or "umm, ahhh, hmmm.....", next thing I know the next person is already praying in the group. I am really starting question my praying ability in a group setting.

Lord, I pray for strength and wisdom. I am not looking to lead the perfect prayer and pluck the perfect verse from memory, I just want to say something and be authentic and share my heart to You and others.

I love witnessing and hearing GOD's work - Part 2

I was invited by a friend from my small group and a pastor at my church to accompany him to a different church in Santa Barbara CA. He was asked to guest speak and give the message.

Earlier that week I has been thinking of a high school friend cause my wife and I just bought our son his first drum set and was thinking how cool it would be for my friend (Ronnie Manaog) to teach my son.

On the way to Santa Barbara my friend asked me out of the blue if I have ever seen or heard of Saddleback church. I told him I have heard of it but never seen it. We decided to take a detour and check the campus out. Earlier that month I just got back from MinistryTECH 2008 in Oklahoma, so I saw this as another opportunity to see what this church does from a techs perspective.

We decided to sit in the main sanctuary and listen to worship. At the end of the set I noticed a person on the big screen and asked my friend of the person playing drums was Filipino. I told him I think that is my friend from High School. He responded with, "No Way, whats his name?" I told him Ronnie Manaog. We happened to be in the green room and I decided to ask what was the name of the drummer. The WL told me Ronnie, umm, and I said Manoag? He said yes thats him.

Ronnie is not a regular drummer at Saddleback he is a professional drummer on call. He was not suppose to be there, but was called last minute to play. I was not suppose to be there, I was suppose to be there, I was suppose to be on the road to Santa Barbara. This is definitely GOD's work. I wonder why He led me to Ronnie? I will keep you posted.

I love witnessing and hearing GOD's work - Part 1

I happened to run into my friend who recently was baptized. He shared with me an amazing story of GOD's work.

He and his wife had finally made the decision the day after their baptism (a Monday) to Tithe 10%. It was a huge important decision for them. He mentioned also they own a commercial building property which his practice occupies and has been seeking a tenant to lease a vacancy. Several days days after much praying, discussion, and deciding to tithe, he received a call from his agent (Wednesday) telling them both the vacancy had been leased and contracts signed.

They has been struggling to lease the vacancy for over 5 months!!! GOD work its amazing.

Great job to my friends for being obedient to our LORD. He has blessed you.

When thrown under the Bus...Fight or Flight?

I had a bad day at work today. In my position I am placed in a catch 22 ALL THE TIME! But my business sense tends to drive me to follow process which in many cases can be unfriendly to clients and especially sales people. Well in my effort to be helpful (uh-oh), to be kind, to be flexible, to be willing to drive the business forward as they (corporate executives) say. My team was put in a position to provision a HUGE trial client, but was given horrible data (which was suppose to be validated) which we executed against because Sales set an expectation and need my team to save their butts. Needless to say what we implemented didn't work (due to bad data), we were blamed, emails were sent out about me and "comments" I made - Yet I NEVER had these conversations with these people- WOW! I defended my team, I provided facts and data, and was still thrown under the bus.

I have extremely thick skin and I know I can throw blows with the best, but I really have a problem. I question myself? Am I losing my EDGE and not going for the jugular for what was done to my team and I? In the past I have made my mark for burying my competition and others who tried to bury me, one leg on their body and me beating my chest. But now I am torn. I don't want to be a jerk and I don't want to seem weak, yet on the other hand I want to be justified and not looked upon as someone who can be walked on and will take being thrown under the bus. WWJD? Pray for me.

Baptism...Its NOT for little babies anymore.

In my BC (Before Christ) days. I thought Baptism was for little babies who got sprinkled with water in the face and/or in some cases dipped in cold water in a marble bowl (Poor thing). Well its not for little babies. It's for people who choose Jesus.

My small group and I were invited to witness our friends baptism yesterday. When I've watched people in past baptisms at my church, the anticipation reminds me of how I was feeling when my kids were born. I was a bunch of emotions all rolled up into one, anticipating the moment. This was an important milestone in Peter's and Anita's life and I am extremely happy for them. My small group and I are so blessed to have wonderful friends in our lives.

Its interesting as I was watching people get baptized, since I have been to a few at our church, there is a special moment I look for. The moment is the first few seconds as a person is lifted out of the water. Do you ever wonder they are thinking? I watch for it in their eyes. I seek that moment in time a person has who has just publicly announced Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. It's that moment which reminds me how awesome our GOD is. Because of Him a commitment was possible. It reminds me how important this commitment is and to stay true to that commitment. It is amazing, no wait, its a blessing to see people change in your life through GOD. Peter and Anita you guys ROCK, I saw in your eyes how I felt when I was lifted out of the water when I was baptized. Its an amazing feeling, Right!! I am so happy you made the decision.

Here is a pix of Peter, Anita and our small group leaders Paul and Alana. Paul and Alana If we haven't told you, the both of you guys are awesome small group leaders. Your guidance in my walk is always welcome and your friendship is truly a blessing.

I love all you guys!

I did it...I joined Twitter!

Twitter in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo.

I am skeptical with this new social networking tool, but I am always willing to try something new. Here to being adventurous

MinistryTECH 2008 Review

I was invited to attend a Ministry Tech conference with my pastor in Oklahoma last week. I had a cool time.! I wasn't sure what to expect but the couple of days i spent there was definitely time well spent. Here is a blazing fast recap of that time while I hang with the guru's in the church IT & AV world: Private LifeChurch tour with Miles campus pastor (Rocking Church, cool cross), Tastey BBQ (Porks GooOOD), Jawbone (GooOOD, just don't wear it all the time, eeW) Flying monkeys (See pix and u make up ur mind), Henderson Hills church from aerial looks like USS Voyager (perhaps the perfect shape for all the techies hence the location), Tony Morgan (Hot wife with Stang and duck tape story, boy did that raise a Hullabaloo with the tech guys), 10 Reasons Why Techies Scare me, Monkeys with Glocks (Watch it), Hullabaloo (Tony is this good enough? Hook a brotha up), Server Virtualization (It's GoooOOd), Corner Stone Church (Cool peeps!), Multi-site church solution on public networks using MPLS & QOS protocols (Eric we are going to make this happen), Information: The I in IT (Strategic prioritization & Opportunity costs..he sounds like me...a little), Map Point (Visualize your membership), Jeff Hook on IT Strategy (Careful its a Hot download), Tornado Watch! (Scary), Hideaway Pizza (Perrtty Good), Late night Coffee talking Multi-site with Dennis Choy (Cool Doood very insightful)), Helping the Hotel IT guy (James) til 1pm to fix connectivity in the Hotel (Note to Hotel, Wireless connectivity + IT guys attending convention and sleeping in hotel = Good, No connectivity in Hotel with IT guys going to convention = no network games to play for IT guys, Very Bad), Eggs with Cheeze Whiz (My Pastor Loved these, he just won't admit it), Terry Storch and "Tech[NO]babble"..Doh he changed it to "You need to be an Idiot!" (Great move, GOD lead him and that presentation, (Lord I was listening). I found it fascinating that he looked like a Rock Star talking about Tech..(Oxymoron? ) Oh wait, I know, he reminds me of David Cook from Idol. (hehe can you see the resemblance) all kidding aside he Rocked it), Idiots embrace idiots, Acts 4:13, Idiots are comfortably uncomfortable; "I don't follow a comfortable Jesus!", Idiots exposed their weaknesses, John 10:10, Life Balance, Accountability, Sharpening, Painful, Faith, Weakness, Addiction (The LORD has something planned for me, I TRUST Him!), Offline With Terry Storch (He's Normal), Basic Equipment To Start a Multi-Site Church (interesting), Overcoming Technology Challenges In a Multi-Site Church (More of the same). Key takeaways in words, inspiring, encouraged, productive, innovative, kind, collaborative and authentic.

In Oklahoma...Tornado Watch

Currently at a technology conference in Oklahoma.

As we were leaving for the day, the emcee made an announcement.

We are currently on Tornado Watch.

This picture was taken shortly after the announcement......(clear sky)

Service Producer on last weekend of March

I had been prepping for this weekend since my Pastor and Ministery Leader needed to take some well deserved PTO. So he left me in charge of the entire tech team for the weekend. Talk about a kid in a candy store, but I suppose in my case, a big kid in a room off of gadgets and electronics. I know the Lord's presence was with us all including me. I was not nervous, scared, or overly excited. The team did outstanding and we rattled off 4 well executed services.

During the services I was able to step back a moment and notice how in each of the services how people were worshiping and praising our Lord and during closing prayer how an entire family embrassed one another as they prayed to our Father.

Those are the small things which confirms our Father had his hand on the team and guided each and everyone of us.

Perfect Day, Perfect Parking..Jesus has Risen!

Yesterday was Easter Sunday. I woke up excited and ready to go and ready to serve in the Parking ministry. People were praying for me cause we were told there would be about ten thousand visitors attending this weekend. But for some reason I was not scared, worried, nor hesitate to serve yesterday morning.

It was a perfect day, not a cloud in the sky. The air smelled clean and refreshing. When I arrived i stopped in the lot to look out and soak it all in.
As I anticipated the rush of cars, it was amazing how SMOOTHLY everything went. Everyone in their cars were smiling and happy. Jesus has risen!

I thank you Lord especially on that Easter day, to have the opportunity to honor, worship and serve you.

Why Serve...Or Not?

Someone asked me why do I serve so many ministries? I pondered the question a moment and answered it this way. "I don't serve out of guilt, I don't serve cause I feel obligated to, I serve because I want to, and feel it is my opportunity to use my gifts given from God to impact ones life, and help them find our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

"So how does working in parking and as a producer impact lives?"

I paused, then replied. "Many people associate 'impacting lives' with a major significant act, which in many peoples mind is some miraculous way (through God) they caused an individual to see the light and change their ways and ultimately changes their lives, but not me."

God is good and God it great. Although major significant acts transpire, I see God's greatness everytime I serve through the tinest, insignificant acts.

In Parking how you greet a newcomer as they are contemplating and struggling in their mind whether or not to come to our church for the first time. Your 'hello' may have change thier mind to sit in service and hear God's word....

In tech ministries as a Producer, I am just one piece of a larger group of individuals doing small acts. In this ministry we dont directly interact with an individual, however, how the service is percieved could have changed the view of ones perception of the church and took their mind off a stresser they were thinking about, and allowed them to open their hearts during worship to hear God's messege.

"Tiny insignificant acts make all the difference. You may never know that you have impacted ones life, but trust in God, through Him all things are possible!"

Think about it and ask yourself why are you serving or not?

Guard Chicken??

This is comedy!! I wonder where I can get one of those chickens?

Happy Birthday

Its my birthday today, the BIG 35....I cant say I am excited for presents or a party like my children are. I cant say I am excited to be older like I was when I was much younger as I couldnt wait to be older so I could drive, vote, or drink.

I was at some good friends house yesterday as they were hosting a friends baby shower yesterday and my mind wondered cause I knew I was getting older the next day. During that time I listening to their playlists of 80 music remembering my youth and wondering, if on my birthday, I could get younger instead.....Fat chance. haha!

As I get a little older, I am excited as I look back on a spectaular year and look ahead, I and am thankful for awesome friends in my small group, thankful for a wonderful family, and I pray to continue growing my relationship with our lord and savior and thankful for everyday he gives me to worship and praise Him.

When your hungry, what language do you speak?

The family and I were looking for a place to have dinner. I had my mind set for 'Chili's'; it's relatively good food, decent selection, kid friendly and pefect on the pocketbook.

As I was driving through the local mall of restaurants in the neighborhood, my boys were asking about different restaurants and what they serve. My oldest asked the following:

6 y/o: What's that place?

Mom: That's P.F. Chang's

6 y/o: What do they have?

Mom: Chinese food.

4 y/o: Chinese food? Nah! We don't speak Chinese!

Urghhh, He prays tooo long......"Hurry, say Amen!"

Everynight before bed, my boys say their prayers. Its always interesting hearing prayers from a 6 and 4 year old. Tonight was no exception.

My 4/yo started to pray and said,

"Thank you Lord for this day, please protect us, and keep us safe from the bad people, and thank you for keeping us healthly, and protecting us, and taking us to our grandparents, and watching us, and..., and...., and..., and..., and...,and...," (lasted about 4 mins, seriously :-) )

During his prayer his older 6/yo brother chimes in..."He is praying tooo long, its my turn now.......HURRY, say Amen!"

4/yo says,"amen."

6/yo starts to pray, "Thank you Lord for this day, Amen!"

4/yo says,"Thats too short, mine was better cause it was longer." (Smiling grin)

When my boys are bickering about prayer in prayer, rather than hearing whining from them about who took what from whom or who hit and hurt whom.

It was a good day.

A Moment of Clarity...

I had an a-ha moment! I teared up as soon as I realized it.....I get it!

My father and I were not close, but when my mother left us just before going into high school, that changed. He had prostate cancer and he knew he was going to pass, so he left to the Philippines on the first week of Feb 1993 to shield me from his death. He died on 2/13/1993. I was 19 years old when my father passed away.

I loved him very much. He taught me to be strong, be a man, be the best and don't take crap from anyone. My time with him was short. Too short.

I was angry. I was mad at God. Perhaps thats why I really didnt have a need to seek Him back then.

As I was worshipping at service yesterday, I was praising and singing to a song called, "Made me Glad". It had an impact on me. Enough of an impact, I wanted to hold back tears.

When I got home I decided to download the song and lyrics to listen to. I noticed this song was based on a verse in the Bible:

Psalm 144:2 (NLT)
He is my loving ally and my fortress,
my tower of safety, my rescuer,
He is my shield, and I take refuge in him

Thats when it hit me.

We all have a physical father who raises and guides us on earth and we have our Almighty Spiritual Father who raises and guides us.

Although I lost my earthly father and have been sad, angry, and at times hateful. I realized my spiritual Father, Our God, was reaching out to me in a way he knows I respond to. At that moment of listening to the song and reading the verse in the Book, it was clear to me although my earthly father is no longer with me to share his guidance, his wisdom and in my failures and successes. Our God, Our Father was reminding me He is here, with Me always, to lean on, to ask for guidance, for wisdom and to share my successes and failures. He would be my fortress, my shield, my strong tower, my rescuer, my loving Father.

To my earthly father Romeo - I truly miss you and love you.
To my God the Father - Thank you for reminding me I am not Fatherless.

Quiet and Free time is overrated.

My kids are with their grandparents....My first thought was what do I do next?

Its so silent in the house. It relaxing and erie and the same time. How weird, when I want silence, I finally get it, but miss the noise.

I finally get free time and I seem to catch myself say, I wish I had free time, now I have it but dont know what to do.

Perhaps this is Lord's sense of humor saying becareful what you pray for.....?

Speak up says the Holy Spirit!

Interesting week at work...We had a fairly significant client reach out to us to activiate a backup service they has been paying over $4k a month since 2002. I was responsible for the dreaded RCA aka Root Cause Analysis. Here was my dilemma:

1. I was asked to attend a conference call with the client and discuss the service from a technical standpoint, answer any questions and confirm we would activate the backup service during a maintenance window. [What my boss and sales people said to me prior to the call- We know it not set up so please dont discuss with client the details just answer technical questions and confirm date]


2. As a result of the RCA I discovered the service was NEVER setup from the very beginning. YIKES! And they had paid over $100k in total MRC since 2002 (monthly recurring charge) [First thought in my mind popped, We have to inform the client, apologize and refund their money!]

Here is what is interesting, before following my current path with our Lord, I probably would not have cared to say anything or think to say something, cause in my mind it didnt impact me so why should I put myself (my job) at risk with my company for bringing up such thoughts. I wouldnt want to be exiled at the breakroom because I was the cause for the company losing revenue.

But when the Holy Spirit tuggs at me, its by no means a small tug. Its like he is saying, "SPEAK UP silly, you know this is wrong", but with a megaphone inside my head! I spoke up and informed my VP how I felt and what I believe. He listened, he hemmed and hawwed and pretended to understand to pacify me. After that conversation I decided to publish my findings in my RCA! (Please note RCA goes to all Executives for review). Per my boss he said, "Please lead deep dive of RCA and publish all facts". I did just that. I published ALL the FACTS......I have not heard anything since, but will find out more next week. I think I still have a job (LOL)! I believe my actions were appropriate; Just because I am at work doesnt mean I have to follow a completely new set of rules and values which would comprimise who I am, and when I am in my personal life, I go back to following the Lord. It doesnt work that way....and when you stray off the path HE will gently remind you with a megaphone. ;-)

I am happy I left my old self behind and spoke up...

A suggested way to read the Bible..WHO KNEW?!

As a relatively new Christian, I started to read The Bible and thought I would just start reading from the beginning starting with Genesis, Exodus and so on til I get to the end. Until recently I enrolled in my churches e-discipleship study to continue to grow in my walk and build my relationship with our Lord.

I am glad I did! I learned there is a suggested way to read the Bible! Who KNEW!!!

e-discipleship snapshop of lesson

First, begin your reading with the gospel of John, then read Matthew, Mark and Luke. All four gospels will give you a well-rounded perspective on the three year ministry of Jesus.

After reading the four gospels, then begin the book of Acts (written by Luke) which tells how the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ was disseminated throughout the world. Continue on to the end of the New Testament (Revelation) and then start again with the gospel of John only, and then read from Acts to Revelation.

Repeat this about four times, each time starting with a different gospel. When you begin the Old Testament, be sure to read some portions of the New Testament as part of your daily reading.
Try to read the Bible for about half an hour each day, and that should get you through the whole Bible in about one year.

This is super cool! WHO KNEW! I hope within 1 year I will be celebrating this achievement. Pray for me that I am diligent and focused.

Is it Business Tyme?

This an opening Video to our sex message at Church a couple of weeks ago "Thank God for sex". Everyone thought it was hiliarious! I thought I would post for fun and enjoyment.

Called Service

This past weekend I was scheduled to serve as the front of house producer at my Church. It was exciting because there were so many details to go over and review during rehearsal. The service was more complex than usual. I felt comfortable in the middle of chaos. I know its odd thing to say, but in the midst of all of the different things going on at the same time, to me, it was not disorderly, it was controlled chaos. I must clarify we were not disorganized, we just have alot of things going on and a short amount of time to pull together.

I was excited about rehearsal on Thursday and Saturday I felt confident. Everyone did awesome at rehearsal and Satursday evening, although I was pretty critical about my performance on Saturday. When it comes to execution, I strive for perfection and when I make a mistake I take it pretty hard (I am my worst critic). I went home and reflected what I could have dont differently... and asked myself what could I have done better? I actually went home reviewed my notes, made more notes and rehearsed several times in my head.

On Sunday, I hopped in my car and listened to my worship CD, driving in a light sprinkle. As I arrive in the lower parking lot I sat in my car cause it started to rain harder. (I had an umbrella, but it was my kids polka dot umbrella and it was really small, kid size.) I prayed in my car before going to church and the rain went back to being a light sprinkle.

The services were Awesome! I love it when plans come together.

Something interesting happened during the first service at 0930. One of the guys I serve with asked me what I normally did for a living, I replied Engineer and he was surprised. He asked, "Have ever done producing before?" and I told him no. He was surprised I was not in this line of work (production) before and said, "You look at home in this setting." This comment came out of the blue, his comment was uplifting to me. It made me forget about what I felt I was doing wrong, but bring into perspective what I was doing right. I appreciated his comments, his timing could not have been any better. Many times its the tinest comment, which helps lift and guides ones life and path. Its interesting how so few words can make a difference in ones day....