Faithfulness

I went down to Murrieta to work on a guy's computer... kind of a side job. Anyway, it was a little frustrating. I was just trying to install a new hard drive and install windows xp on it... simple right? For some reason, it wouldn't boot from CD... when I finally got it to boot from CD, it wouldn't recognize the hard drive. It was being a royal pain! Soo... I am going back tomorrow night to see if I can get this thing working. God was good in that I got 4/5 on my quiz today. I realize that is a B... and I don't particularly enjoy B's, but these quizzes are very difficult (very specific questions based on like 50 pages of reading at times). Anyway, I am very thankful for that. I just started reading Judges as of yesterday... Judges 2:6-7 caught my attention.

When Joshua had dismissed the people, the sons of Israel went each to his inheritance to possess the land. The people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the LORD which He had done for Israel.

When I think of the nation of Israel in Biblical times, I think of a nation that is constantly falling away from the Lord. While this is true, take a look at the above verses. Reflecting on my ups and downs in my walk with the Lord, it is very possible that the nation of Israel was more faithful to Him than I am (at least at times like this). It is amazing that after all God has done for me, I still choose to be disobedient to Him at times. It doesn't make any sense. It is exactly the same thing as saying... "God, I really would rather not have your best." This sounds completely stupid... and it is... but we do it all the time. My prayer is that God would constantly remind us that He has our best interests in mind even when we feel the urge to do things our own way.

The silence

School has been going fairly well. We had a couple games yesterday. I went 0 for 6... ouch! Maybe 0 for 5 with a sacrifice, but neither are good. haha I played center field the first game (at least the part of the game that I was able to make), and then catcher the second game. I got hit twice in the same spot on the wrist at like 80 mph... not the most pleasant feeling (but it's not as bad as you'd think). I have been really wanting to go to the Rebelution Conference in Dallas at the end of June... so I came up with an idea (hehe). If total donations to the Daniel's Texas Rebelution Conference Fund exceed $150, I will run a 5K (3.1 miles) on Saturday in a suit and tie. :) I might do it anyway, but don't tell anyone that. I was reading Psalm 62:1-2 this evening, and it reminded me of the need for listening through the silence.

My soul waits in silence for God only; from Him is my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken.

Life has been a bit busy lately, and I would have to say that I am definitely lacking in the "waiting in silence." If you would keep me in your prayers, I really do need to slow down a bit and listen to Him. I have noticed a couple times recently where I said or did something that surprised myself (in a bad way). I know that this comes from not being focused on Him... much of this focus comes from quality time spent in prayer and in His Word (which has been lacking these last few days).

Friends are graduating...

We went to some friend's senor recital last night. It kind of brought me to the realization that friends are graduating and moving away. It is very exciting to see what God has done and is doing in their lives... but it is also a been sad to see them go. Tomorrow night is our last Bible study for the semester. I guess it all has to come to an end at some point. I am really looking forward to tomorrow night though. I finished up 2 Peter today. I love the exhortation that he gives at the end after talking about the end times and how we will be challenged in our faith.

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

8 weeks until summer!

This quarter has been good so far. Today was probably the longest day that I've had so far, but God was good. I have been doing some research (on my own) about water powered cars. Technically, it is hydrogen powered, but I call it water powered because it wouldn't require the storing of hydrogen in the tank. It would do the electrolysis only when needed. I still don't have quite enough understanding to know if it will work, but it looks like it has good potential. I thought of a method that might speed up the electrolysis process (separation of the water into hydrogen and oxygen). A previous graduate of La Sierra called our school regarding their relative who lives down here having some computer issues. My instructor passed on the information to me, so it looks like I have a job fixing his computer. Turns out that his wife just passed away very unexpectedly, so I spent nearly two hours on the phone with him while working on his computer remotely. It still needs a lot of work. I actually had him order a hard drive online so that we could start over from scratch. I know that it is a "job", but it is definitely an opportunity to share the love of Christ in this difficult time that he is going through. If you could keep me in prayer, that would be great. 2 Peter 2 was a very sobering passage to read. It really describes the heart that is full of wickedness... and there are definitely things there that I see in myself. I don't know why I tend to look at passages like this and think that it is talking about "wicked" people. The reality is that I am full of sin just like they are... and it is only by God's grace that I am what I am. He is the only source of any good that is in me.

Learning more stuff....

I am taking this systems analysis class this quarter. It is more of a business class than it is a computer science class (in my opinion), but it is still very important. There are a lot of things in it that are related to programming and deciding if some software will be worth the time to program it. Even though it isn't my favorite class, I think this information is going to be very useful when it comes to being out in the real world. :) Baseball practice was fun and a bit tiring. I actually slept in a bit today (until 9)... it was quite nice to feel completely rested when I got up. I am planning on playing basketball in the morning, then heading off to work again. 1 Peter 3 was a blessing today. It gives a very good explanation of how godly relationships should function... something that I am thinking more about these days. Verses 15-16 are about being ready to give an answer to anyone... something that has definitely come to be practical a lot more during my college years. I learned how unprepared I really am. You usually don't have time to go look something up, it needs to be right there and ready... and it isn't like a sermon where you have prepared just for that topic before hand, this is like a random quiz of the Bible. It is essential that we study the Word so that we are prepared just like we are commanded to be.

To His marvelous light!

Today was my busy day at school, but it went quite well. I'll admit that I was a little bit lost in my systems and network programming class. Why does everyone have to use C++? haha Oh well, I guess I will learn some more new information. It is also in Linux, so that adds a whole new dimension. I think I'll be fine though. :) Monday night is my night to make dinner, and I got this sudden urge to make banana bread... so I did. It actually turned out surprisingly well. Miracles still happen. ;) I really enjoyed reading 1 Peter 2 this morning and discussing it with a friend this evening. Check out verses 9-12.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

That is an awesome purpose statement... to proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light! I also love the encouragement to behave in an excellent manner. The Biblical example that comes to mind is Daniel... they couldn't find anything wrong with him except the fact that he prayed to God three times a day. What an awesome example of living for the Lord!

Back to Bible study

It seems like it's been forever since we had Bible study. I am so thankful for the friendships that I have through the Bible study. There really is nothing like a group of solid, Biblically-based Christans. It has been and continues to be a great blessing and encouragement to me. Several of the girls got together this last week and practiced a quartet of Amazing Grace. It was... amazing (pun intended). :) Worship time was a sheer joy. I absolutely love leading worship, and to be with a group that sings whole-heartedly to the Lord... and sings very well too makes worship just that much more enjoyable. I thought it was going to be the last Bible study before summer, but apparently we are going to have it one more time in a couple weeks. I am already looking forward to it. I started reading 1 Peter today and was encouraged to pursue holiness in verses 14-16.

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY."

If we just let ourselves go with the flow, we will definitely not living holy lives for long. We need to pursue holiness... it doesn't just happen. When it says, "all your behavior", it means it! Just thinking about all the things I do in a day, and how holiness relates to each of those things is a bit overwhelming. For example... how I spend my time in the morning, am I simply going with the flow or am I pursing righteousness and holiness? How about driving to school... am I honoring the Lord in the way I drive and in my time spent in the car, or am I acting selfishly? How about preparing for class... am I doing it for the glory of God, or am I doing it just to get by? How about my conversations with others... am I revealing who God is, or am I hiding the fact that I know Him around people that may not approve? How about baseball... am I doing my best all the time for His glory, or am I giving up when it gets tough and taking the credit whenever I do something good? The list can go on and on. My point is, we really need to be pursuing Him in all areas of our day, not just that 15 minutes where you read your Bible and pray.

Stop!

I had a slightly interesting experience today. I was stopped at a signal in the left hand turn lane on my way back from lunch. I notice a car a few cars in front of me looked like it stalled. I see people start to go around. Now, I am the car right behind her... and she keeps trying to start her car. The problem is that every time she does this, more and more smoke is coming out from under her car. I pull up next to her and honk/point toward where the smoke is coming out, and give her the hand across throat signal (like... stop trying to start it)! She yells a frustrated, "I know!" through her window and keeps trying to start it. She obviously didn't get what I was telling her although I have no doubt that she saw the smoke. I went around her, made the left turn, and parked nearby. I ran over to her as she was still attempting to start her car. I was like, "You really don't want to start your car when there is smoke coming out!" I got the "oh, I didn't think of that" look, so I told her to put it in neutral and got her pushed out of the turning lane and over to the side. She said she had a friend coming to help in a few minutes, so I headed off to class. As I was thinking about this... lack of common sense and all, it reminded me that I can be so caught up in the moment, my common sense to depend on God can be thrown out the window very quickly. I was thinking how unprepared she obviously was for this kind of situation. She really had no idea what to do. I realized that I could be the same way when it comes to depending on God if I am not continually filling my mind with His Word. We need to be prepared for whatever satan may throw at us. We must be deeply founded in God's Word. In the heat of the battle, it is essential that we just stop for a second and submit ourselves completely to His ways.

Or... not!

Well, I was (emphasis on the was) disappointed this morning. My teacher came in and said that we are going to have to have class on Friday! We all just about died right there. haha The new plan is... Monday for two hours and Friday for two hours. This means I don't have class until 1 pm on Tuesday and Thursday. For those that don't have class before 1 pm on chapel days (Tuesday/Thursday), they don't have to go!!! So, I no longer have to sit through save the earth, woman's rights, black appreciation, aids awareness day, etc. Praise the Lord! I'm not saying that these things aren't bad, but the put that kind of emphasis on them is definitely unneeded and unhealthy. It would be nice to crack a Bible open every once in a while. ;) Anyway, I am very happy about that. I may even have more time to work than I had expected! Anyway, I'm back to work tomorrow and then off to baseball. I need to get some sleep. I have a little bit of a cold.

School has begun once again

To be honest, I am quite excited about this quarter. I am taking six computer classes if you count the internship and computer science/math seminar. One thing that is great about this quarter is that I only one 8 am class which is on Monday. I only have one class at 3 pm on Wed., and no classes on Friday (thanks to a teacher making class 2 hrs on Monday and canceling Friday's class for the whole quarter)! How cool is that? It looks like I may actually have time to get some money flowing toward the bank rather than away from it (some people call it work). ;) I spent a couple hours running around campus today trying to finish registration for school. I needed approval from the head of math & computer science for my internship and for a directed study. Then I had to get a couple signatures from my advisor and another teacher. When I went to add the classes, I was told that I had to go up to the dean's office to get a signature of approval to take 19.5 units. I guess they don't want people that are failing their classes to be taking more than 18 units. I met with the person that deals with applications for graduation. We went through the entire thing and all I am waiting on now is for sign language to be approved as credit for the modern language department's requirements. If you could pray to this end, that would be much appreciated! I have been reading in James and really enjoying it, but it definitely is convicting at times. The reality is that when we sin, we are not trusting that God knows best. This is a lack of faith. We can't just say that we have faith and not live accordingly. James has been an excellent reminder to me of this truth.

Long day, but a good one...

I played basketball this morning at 6 am. It was a lot of fun... winning more than losing is a bonus too. :) After I got back, we went to the park and played frisbee golf using poles and random objects as the "baskets." I spent a lot of good quality time talking with mom today, and that was a huge blessing. I really am enjoying reading Psalms right now. It has been a big blessing being able to spend more than normal amounts of time in the Word and in prayer. I had an important meeting today which went well. I am definitely learning to trust Him with everything. It seems like the more I trust Him with.... the more I realize I haven't been trusting Him with. I am so thankful for His faithfulness in drawing me to Himself. I was reminded again today that I need to be a godly leader even right now. Honestly, I naturally lean toward following. I have a hard time leading, but this is just another thing that I need to grow in. I have been meditating on Psalm 84 the last few days, and it has been very refreshing (especially the last couple of verses).

Spring break is flying by...

I had a wonderful time reading through a bunch of Psalms this morning. After that, Christina, Jonathan, and I went to the gym to play racquetball while mom did her morning workout. It is always fun getting to spend some time with them. The gym has a basketball court too, so we went over there and messed around for a bit. Mom joined Jonathan and I and she asked this guy that was playing on the other side of the court if he wanted to play a game. I felt kind of bad... I think my little brother made the only basket for their team. I wasn't even trying hard for rebounds or anything. My mom impressed me though... she can shoot pretty well from short range! Anyway, it was a lot of fun. I have an important meeting tomorrow night, so if you would pray for wisdom, and for God to override my will where needed... that would be great. :)

Spring break continues...

I played basketball this morning. I was definitely a bit tired afterwards considering I got about 3.5 hours of sleep. I took a nice long nap though. I'm pretty confident now that naps are not for the kids, naps are for the adults. Thinking over the years of being a kid, I never remember needing a nap, and my parents never made me nap either. I have taken more naps in the last year than I have probably my entire life combined (if you don't count the naps that every baby takes). haha Anyway, I am greatly enjoying the time off. I really didn't do a whole lot today. I had a couple good studies in the Word today. It is such a blessing to be un-rushed. I can actually slow down and think about the things that I really want to think about rather than cramming my head with school information. I'm not saying that school information is useless, otherwise I wouldn't be paying the big bucks for it... but it can definitely be a hardship when it comes to focusing on God. I can't tell you how thankful I am for the commute to school and back. It provides a quiet time where I can settle down and focus on Him. I thought I'd share a couple of my favorite verses from Psalm 139 (verses 23 and 24).

Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.

It isn't always pleasant, but is always refreshing to let God search the deepest parts of our heart. This can be a two-edged sword. If we allow God to reveal the things to us that we need to repent of, and we do not repent, we are cutting off the Holy Spirit! We must listen to what He says, and be completely obedient no matter how hard it is. This is essential for spiritual growth!

I got to hold my nephew!

We just got back from Northern CA. My first Gabriel holding experience wasn't the best one. haha He spit up all over my shirt... three times. I really didn't mind too much actually. I really enjoyed getting to see him and hold him. This morning, we went to my uncle's church, and honestly, it was the worst Easter service I have been gone to. The music selection was awesome, but it was as if the building was void of the Holy Spirit. It was very saddening to me. The pastor only talked about scripture passages like two times. I would guess that fewer than 10 of us in the entire congregation actually opened our Bible. I don't even know how to describe it. I just felt like I was the only one feeling this way. I looked around, and everyone seemed to be enjoying the sermon, but there was nothing to it... it was the wisdom of men. We all talked about it on the way back, and we all agreed. I just am really saddened by the fact that these hundreds of people are coming to church and not being fed. They are learning dependence on a pastor's wisdom rather than dependence on God's wisdom. I pray that God would keep me in tune with His Word so that I am not lulled to sleep when it comes to discerning man's wisdom versus His wisdom. On a side note, I have been to this church a few times before and the sermon was fine... so it may have just been today, but I definitely have doubts.

Spring Break is here!

God has continued to show His grace to me. I honestly thought I completely bombed my religion finals (we had two separate finals for that class). By nothing other than the hand of God, I got an 84% on one of the two. We had to write a big essay during the exam about a book that we had not read (a book that other people did presentations on). I had no idea that we were going to have to do that. I missed classes due to baseball, so I barely heard anything about the book. I knew that it was about Jews and I was pretty sure it was around WWII. I can tell you absolutely nothing about the book other than those two things. I seriously made up the whole entire essay and talked about how the Jews turn to God in the hard times, etc. It actually came together pretty nicely other than the fact that I knew nothing about the book or if those things were true according to that book. I kept it very vague. God is amazing! I think all of my other finals went fairly well. I am so glad to be off of school for a week. :) If all goes as planned, this week is going to be quite full with exciting things. I get to see my nephew for the first time! I found great encouragement in Psalm 84:11 this morning.

For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

What an amazing promise! God gives His very best to us, let's not pursue anything less.

Studying...

I have three finals (two for one class) on Tuesday, one on Wed, and one on Thursday. I am preparing my study sheets right now. Church went well this morning. I am continually blessed by the teaching of the Word. I signed up for a four day intro to Biblical counseling thing. I am really excited about it. There is a couple that is looking for a house to move into soon. They are moving out here to be part of our church. The plan is for him to be the assistant pastor, and then start a new church in the area. It is quite exciting! I can't wait until they move out here. This afternoon, I had a baseball game. I missed the first game due to church, but I played part of the second game. I went 0-2 at the plate... grounded out both times. God doesn't always choose to bless with such superficial things as hits in a game, but he certainly has in the past... either way, He is deserving of all of my praise. It may sound weird, but I am thankful for those two ground-outs. I know that it was His plan, and I don't want anything other than that. I have had some wonderful times in prayer this last week. I am really looking forward to what God is going to do in the upcoming weeks. Please keep me in your prayers as I try to listen and obey God's voice.

Finals already!

It seems like this quarter has gone by so quickly. Finals are next week! I guess that is a good thing since it is probably the hardest quarter ever. I don't know what my GPA is going to look like this quarter... but it's not going to be 4.0 unless points fall from the sky. As dad always reminds me, the plans are up to us, the answer is up to Him (Proverbs 16:1). I struggle with this verse daily. There is always more time that I could be putting into school. At the same time, there are lots of important things other than school. In fact, looking back on this quarter 15 years from now, I probably won't care about what my GPA was... but I have the responsibility before God to do my best. I have a very hard time defining what my best really is, so I tend to go with... studying until I feel prepared enough to do well on the exam. Test taking definitely isn't my forte. It's kind of funny... if you look at my physics exams, I lose almost all of my points on multiple choice. The actual problems, I do very well on... go figure. I actually have a physics quiz in the morning, so I should be studying for that. I haven't decided what I want to study next, so I have been reading some Psalms. Honestly, I kind of did the flip and point method today. Not exactly, but it was completely random what I chose to read. Psalm 101 looked interesting, what can I say? :) It was a refreshment to me, and a great reminder of fixing my heart on God. Take a look at the first three verses.

I will sing of lovingkindness and justice, to You, O LORD, I will sing praises. I will give heed to the blameless way. When will You come to me? I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart. I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not fasten its grip on me.

I love those words... "I will set no worthless thing before my eyes." What an awesome example of pursuing the things that matter! There are so many things to be distracted with. One of the main reasons that I rarely watch movies is because they are very time consuming. Another huge reason is the content in them. In almost all cases, the content is less than wholesome. I'm not saying that it's not okay to watch movies. I'm not really a fan of watching movies in general, but I think this concept of not setting worthless things before your eyes should be considered as you watch movies. It is okay to get up and walk out of a movie! You aren't tied to the chair. Those were some random thoughts... this has so many more applications, but movies is the one that came to mind.

Children's Church

I was given the opportunity to teach children's church for the first time. It was a very good and interesting experience. I taught about making promises that we can't keep. We studied in the gospels where Peter tells Jesus that he wouldn't deny Him. We did a few songs at the beginning. Honestly, I thought I was going to run out of things to say. I have this amazing ability (if that is what you want to call it) to condense everything that I can think of to say to an extremely short period of time. haha Well, that definitely wasn't the case. We finished the song time, and did the memory verse, and I got through not much more than half of what I was planning on saying before church let out. I did get through the main point, so I brought it to a closure. I wish I could have done a better job at tying it to Biblical truths rather than just those examples of Peter. Anyway, I think it went pretty well overall. It was a good experience. We had a good time going out ot eat with my grandparents for a late celebration of Christina's birthday. I find our conversations to be so empty sometimes. It is very hard to get a good conversation going with them. They need God! Please keep them in prayer for that, as well as my grandpa... he is having his other knee replaced on Wed. This evening, we went to the women's choir concert. It was a blessing. The one thing that really bothered me during the concert was that the director seemed so focused on the music and professionalism that it distracted from the focus on God. I sensed that it also rubbed off on some of the girls. It still was a blessing to me. :) Well, I have one more week of class before finals! I have a whole lot to do before I am ready for finals. It's going to be a crazy week. Please pray that I would be fully dependent on Him.

Waiting...

This morning, a very good friend of mine text mailed me as I was reading Jeremiah in my car before class. His computer was stolen last night after someone broke the window to his office. Thankfully, he has something called logmein set up on it... actually something I told him about. :) If whoever stole it will get online, I should be able to look up the IP (internte protocol) address, and then the ISP (internet service provider) should be able to give law enforcement the street address of whoever took the computer! They also stole the backup hard drives. He is completely trusting God in this situation, but I know that he would like to get his computer back along with all the important information on it. Right now, we are just waiting to see if they are going to get online. Please pray that the information would be preserved on the computer, and that this person would bring it back (or get online soon). Another blessing is that it is a desktop, so we don't have to worry about it being online on some other network quite as much. School went pretty well today. I am glad that the week is nearly over. I got to have lunch with the music leader at church... he works about 10 minutes from where I go to school. It is always fun getting to talk with him, and learn from him. Keep me in your prayers as I prepare to teach children's church on Sunday.

The end is in sight!

I can't believe it! I only have one week of normal classes after the week, and then finals. I am really ready for a little bit of time off. Lord willing, I'll get to see my nephew. :D I am in the midst of making some important decisions, so prayers for that would be awesome. This week was probably the busiest week of the quarter aside from finals. I am pretty much done with the crazy stuff this week. I think I did pretty poorly on my music appreciation test, but we'll see. I missed an important class period for that, so I might be talking with the teacher about it. Life goes on! :) I have been reading in the Psalms quite a bit. They are extremely refreshing. I plan to finish up Jeremiah next week some time. We had a ton of running practice today. By we, I mean myself and two other guys. We are all in the same class, so we miss practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We missed the running that the other guys did, so we had to make it up today. It was good excersise though. :) Well, I'm headed to bed!

Grand Slam!

Church was very good this morning. Music went well except for the 2x speed on "In Christ Alone." haha I am continually growing in my understanding of scripture. It is a huge blessing. Pastor Tim challenges us to think... I love it! I had two baseball games today. I missed the first one because of church. The 2nd one, I started in left field. It went pretty well... I caught a fly ball or two, and threw a guy out going to 2nd base. There were too many errors, and the pitcher was getting hit a lot too, so they scored 11 runs in the first half of the game. Coach put me in to pitch for the last half of the game. God was very gracious. :) Only 1 run came in during that half of the game making it 2-12. They put in a new pitcher, and he was having some difficulty throwing strikes. He walked a couple people, and there were a couple base hits. It was 5-12 with the bases loaded by the time I got up to bat with 1 out. The first pitch was low for ball 1... the 2nd pitch was right down the middle inside... right wear I wanted it. So, what did I do? I let it go. Ugg! I hate when I let the perfect pitches go. Well, he gave me an even better pitch to hit the next pitch. I hit a hard line drive above the left fielder. At first, I thought it was going to go right to the left fielder, but as I was running toward first, I saw him going back, and then I saw him give up... so I started really watching the ball... and I couldn't believe it... it went over the fence and into some trees. I have never hit a home run before, no less a grand slam! God is so good to me! He deserves all of the glory for this! Last time I missed a game for church, several were wondering why I couldn't miss church for a baseball game. It was a great blessing to me that several of the guys asked me about how church was today--a good improvement over the last time. :) I am excited about what is doing on the baseball team. Still have a whole lot of work to do, but I have definitely seen progress... and I am very thankful for that. I think of people like Jim Elliot who didn't even get to see the fruits of his work for God, and it reminds me that when God allows me to see visible evidences of His work, I must embrace it whole-heartedly and continue what He has called me to do. I am also glad that my parents got to be there. They are such a wonderful blessing to me.

A God given opportunity!

I am still insanely busy, but God has been good in helping me complete the things that I need to finish. I have a physics quiz in the morning which I really don't have a good understanding on just yet. There was a malfunction in the computer system, so I ended up having to do four homework assignments tonight. I was able to finish my lab and write a paper yesterday afternoon. My computer teacher allowed us to work in the lab on our project instead of class which was a huge blessing. I have almost all of it done now... just some minor changes before debugging (fixing unknown problems). God gave me an incredible opportunity today. We had breakout worship today which is like chapel, but in a smaller group. The athletic director leads the one that I go to. Last time, he talked about what we mean when we say "I". Let's just say that it wasn't the most spiritually fulfilling topic I have ever listened to. Today's topic was about what it means when we say, "I am saved." So he went around the room and had each of us give an answer. It was very very sobering. There were about 35 of us or so, and I would say that all but three of us had something that was Biblical. This is a pretty good representation of the answers that other students said... I don't know what it means... I don't care what it means... it is a continual process... it is like when you almost get in a car accident, but you are saved from it... I don't think that God would send anyone to hell, so we shouldn't use that term... it is like having one day where you have absolutely no problems in life... it is where you go to heaven... it is a personal relationship with God. I was really happy to see that the last answer mentioned was from a guy on my team. Please pray for an opportunity to talk with him more about this. I think he is saved, but I would like to encourage him to stand firm. This whole thing gave me an awesome opportunity to share the gospel. We only had a few seconds to answer, so I crammed in as much as I could. I said that there are a couple kinds of salvation that we can think of... physical, and spiritual. Physical would be something like being saved from a car accident, but spiritual would be referring to being saved from sin. The payment for sin is death, so it requires a personal relationship with God who sent His Son to die on the cross to save us from our sin. I am praying that God will use this truth in the hearts of those in the room. A girl that spoke a few minutes later said that she really had no clue, but now she has a better idea of what it means. I don't know what she is leaning toward, but I am thankful for the opportunity to present the gospel when she is still searching. Not only was it a blessing to be able to share the gospel so openly with these other students, but I also got a survey of where people are at spiritually without having to do anything! :) Keep praying for opportunities! God is amazing!

Busy!

I really don't have time to say much. We have 7 games from today to Sunday. It is a lot of fun, but very challenging on the academic side of life. I am supposed to read some 570 page book and get a summary of a character in it. I don't see that happening with everything else. I am getting the idea that I'll be skimming it rather than reading. I am supposed to have an exam in physics on Monday. I have four homework assignments for physics due this week. I am a bit stressed for sure. Prayers would be greatly appreciated in this area! My coach prayed with us before the game today! I was very excited. I also had a good opportunity to talk with a couple guys about relationship issues and why I am waiting this last week. Please pray that God would continue to give me opportunities like these... and the wisdom to respond correctly.

No more excitment needed

There has been too much excitement around here in these last couple weeks: my nephew being born, Christina having her little accident, me getting a black eye, and a little 911 call for mom. I am very thankful for God's grace in all of these situations. I played ultimate frisbee yesterday morning and was right behind a guy on my team. Let's just say that he was a bit uncoordinated. The frisbee was thrown pretty hard right to him and he missed it, but barely tipped it. This caused it to go up just enough to miss my hands and hit me solidly in the face. haha The good news is that there aren't a great deal of nerves in my face, so it didn't hurt too much. I figured it would be a black eye no matter if I continued to play or not, so I continued to play and had a great time anyway. :) It really isn't that bad either. Mom had an allergic reaction to something last night. We think it may have been salsa from Jack in the Box, but we don't know for sure. What we do know is that she was having a great deal of difficulty breathing, and had a horrible head ache. We ended up calling 911. The firemen arrived first and were very kind. They advised that she go in the ambulance to the hospital when it arrived. It arrived a few minutes later and they were very persistent in telling her that she should go to the hospital with them, but they said it was her choice. She started feeling a little better and couldn't decide. I decided it was time to speak up. I said something like, "Based on what I've seen in previous incidences, I think she is okay to go to the hospital in the car." Apparently, mom liked this idea as well. This was a big blessing because ambulances are not cheap, and we don't have a ton of money to throw around on 5 minute rides. Long story short, mom was able to come back home last night without any treatments. She obviously felt pretty horrible the entire time. She threw up once as well, but God was gracious! On a funnier note, the fireman said, "You are the worst respiratory patient I've seen all day." Mom (in the midst of distress) says, "Yeah, I'm probably the only one today." He said something like, "it's been a busy day", but he didn't deny it! haha

Church was awesome today. A missionary from Kenya spoke today. Their testimony was awesome. They sold their house and left for Kenya with that money. God brought them back 5 months later because of health issues. They came back with nearly no money left, but it was amazing to hear how God provided for them. A lady basically gave them a house to live in for a year and paid their electric bill on top of that. They were given a car. A guy gave them free oil changes and even filled up their gas tank when he did it. They were given a truck and a 35 foot trailer to travel/live in until they leave for Kenya in August (Lord willing). It is just amazing to see how God provides for those that step out in faith and do what He has called them to do. I was really amazed by the openness of the people. It makes me want to go over there. I don't feel like overseas missions is a long-term calling for me, but I'd love to go on a short-term trip some time. I don't see it happening before I graduate in December, but if I'm not starting graduate school in January next year, maybe that would be a good time to do it. Pastor Tim always reminds me that once family happens, things like missions go to the back burner and never happen. This is not always the case, but it is true almost all the time. Because of this, it is likely that this would be my only real chance to do something like that. I know that God will use me no matter where I am if I am willing to serve Him. The thing that draws me toward going overseas is the fact that they are so ready to accept the gospel, but there is not enough time or people to tell them. It would also give me a good perspective on what God is doing in other places where life is not so modernized. It is something to at least consider and pray about.

Some events are good, and some are... scary

School went pretty well today. I think I did well on my quiz in music. I woke up this morning actually excited about the day. It is amazing what extra sleep can do for you. I got to school a bit early and was able to read some in Romans (I didn't feel like strugging with Jeremiah today). I probably should have read it anyway, but Romans 1 was a blessing to me. You may not find this encouraging, but check out these verses (20-21).

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

I just find it so amazing that God has chosen to reveal Himself to us. He could have made us follow His will all the time, for His glory, and never reveal Himself to us. Instead, He gave us a free will, and made Himself known to us not only through Christ, but even in looking at what He has created. Let us honor Him and give thanks to Him for the freedom we have to love and serve Him with our own hearts.

Christina got rear ended today. I got the phone call, "Christina has been in an accident and she is hurt." This was not exactly the message that I wanted to hear. I was just starting to work on a large project that is due tomorrow. I found out that she was pretty close to school, so I litterally ran to the car and started driving over there. I'll be honest... I was going 10 mph over the speed limit wherever possible. I shouldn't have done this, but that is the truth. I called her and found out that she was okay, but her back and neck hurt. Somehow I got the picture of my little sister with pieces of glass from the windshield stuck in her face and everything. I was very relieved to hear this. I arrived and made sure that we got all of the guys information. I told her to call the police and get a police report because I wanted to make sure everything was done right. Poor girl.... she was crying off and on the whole time I was there. Dad, mom, and Jonathan came out and mom drove her home. She was definitely not ready to drive home after that. The car has very little damage, and that will all be taken care of by the insurance company. God is good! I am very thankful to still have my sister in one piece.

I got my sister this book called "Emotional Purity" for her birthday (which is tomorrow). I highly recommend it to anyone! It is Bible-filled, practical, and very insightful when it comes to relationships and staying completely pure for the lifetime spouse that God has for you. I am almost done reading it. I had to proof read it you know. ;)

The week continues

Believe it or not, I got 12 hours of sleep last night. I decided not to go to Awana since I am sick, so I was going to sleep for a few hours (6 - 9 pm or so) and then do some homework. Well, I didn't wake up until 4:30 am. It is a good thing that I did, because I didn't set an alarm. I remembered that when I woke up, set it for 6 am, and crashed for another couple hours. I woke up still a little sick, but very refreshed. This evening was very profitable. I got my physics homework done for Thursday and wrote three papers. God is good! I have a very large project due on Friday which I have barely started. Prayers to that end would be great. Honestly, I really don't know what I'm doing. I haven't got much out of Jeremiah in the last couple days, but 1 John has been a continual blessing to me. Pastor Tim reminded us on Sunday that we are not to be dependent on others. We must fully depend on Christ alone for everything. As soon as we start placing our dependence on others, we are placing undue expectations on them that are going to fail. We need to rely fully on God so that we are free to enjoy the great blessings that others bring to our lives without placing expectations on them that should be reserved for God, and God alone.

A little sick...

I have a lot to say, but no time to say it at the moment. I think I did okay on my physics exam although the first problem required an educated guess. God was good though! I spent the majority of last night studying for that exam. Tonight, I am spending most of the night studying for my music appreciation exam tomorrow. This is not the ideal way of preparing for exams, but with everything that I need to do... one day in advance is about as much as I can do at the moment. I have way too much to do, but I know that God will provide the strength to get them done. It would be helpful if I got well soon, but regardless, I know God will give me strength. I am reminded in Jeremiah 45 that we need to be seeking the things that make God's glory known. It is easy to get caught in the trap of living for myself, but I need to take all that I am and use it to show God's glory.

Relaxing Saturday

I posted a picture of my nephew here. Isn't he a cutie? Today was a very relaxing day. I really didn't do too much. I worked on the video camera for a while trying to fix it. I think I just need to get a head cleaner for it, but Target didn't have one. This evening, I spent some time with a couple friends and had dinner at their house. It was quite a bit of fun. I am looking forward to church tomorrow. It is going to be slightly weird without my family being there, but I guess I'll survive. As I read Jeremiah 43 and 44, I was captivated by God's grace on my life. For some reason, it is easy for me to get the idea that these people are different from myself, and God isn't like that today. These people are normal people that are not living for God, and God is the same yesterday, today, and forever! The people are undergoing a lot of judgment, and yet God has been extremely gracious to me... especially considering that we all deserve death. It is essential that we are obedient to His Word. If we truly want God's best for us, we will get it by obedience! It's simple, but we make it complicated by throwing in things that we think is better than God's best. We cannot beat God's best!

Uncle Dan's team won a game!

It is true! I am an uncle now! Gabriel Alex was born at about 6:10 pm. If I'm not mistaken, he weighed 7.5 lbs and is 19 inches tall. Thank you for all your prayers. Deborah and baby Gabriel are doing very well. Mom, Christina, and Jonathan got the news at 3 am this morning that she was going into labor. They left the house at about 6 and their plane left at 8 am. Southwest has been very gracious in allowing us to change flights around as needed in order for them to get up there as soon as possible. Dad will fly up there tomorrow morning. Christina will fly back tomorrow afternoon (I think). It is also true that we got our first win of the season tonight (23-3 vs. Cal Tech). You would think that with such a high score that I hit well. Actually, it was by far my worst hitting day. The pitching wasn't even that great and I struck out twice in my 7 at bats. UGGG! I did manage to get one (maybe two) base hits. The clean hit brought in two runs, but overall, I hit very poorly. Life goes on. God has His way of keeping me humble. :) I am really worn out, so I'm going to hit the sack. I had a great time this morning playing basketball and going out to breakfast with Pastor Tim. He is a great encouragement to me.

He knows best!

Classes went well today. Actually, my last class was canceled. Although it was nice to not have class, it wasn't nice because that meant that I could go to baseball practice and I didn't have my baseball clothes with me. I ended up doing some homework and going over to my physics teacher's office to get some help before our quiz on Thursday. It was a fairly productive day. I am a bit swamped with studying and homework at the moment. I need God's strength right now.

God has been amazing in how He has blessed me and still keeping my humble. We have a baseball page on our website with all the latest news. It usually highlights the key player on each team. The other day, I pitched for four innings, and scored twice. I was expecting to be on there, but God didn't allow it. The other day, God blessed me with going 3 for 4 at the plate and bringing in two runs. Again, I expected to be on the baseball homepage, but God didn't allow it once again. I am thankful that He allowed me to see this. He keeps reminding me that He is the One in charge. I don't want the praise that He deserves. Thank You, God for taking that temptation away! I was encouraged by Jeremiah 42:2-6 today.

And said to Jeremiah the prophet, please let our petition come before you, and pray for us to the LORD your God, that is for all this remnant; because we are left but a few out of many, as your own eyes now see us, that the LORD your God may tell us the way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do. Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, I have heard you. Behold, I am going to pray to the LORD your God in accordance with your words; and I will tell you the whole message which the LORD will answer you I will not keep back a word from you. Then they said to Jeremiah, May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with the whole message with which the LORD your God will send you to us. Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will listen to the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us when we listen to the voice of the LORD our God.

I often pray for God's guidance, but I want His answer to be the answer that I want. I need to be obedient no matter if I like what He says or not. He knows what is best!

Another day of school

School went well for the most part today. I didn't completely finish one of my homework assignments for this morning, so I ended up turning it in like 75% done. :( Life goes on. Homework and big projects are starting to pile up. I could definitely use some prayer as I try to stay on top of things. Thankfully, I only have a game on Friday during this week. Last week, having six games in five days really made school work hard. It was a lot of fun, but it makes for a lot of catching up from missed classes. I have not learned much from Jeremiah these last several days. It is not easy reading right now. I keep reminding myself that all of God's Word is profitable. I am continually amazed at how God blesses even when I am so undeserving of it. I am so unfaithful to Him, and yet He is always faithful. I am thankful for His mercy and overwhelming loving kindness.

More games... more fun.

Sorry about my posting being so sporadic these last few weeks. School and baseball has pretty much dominated my time. I got the opportunity to pitch on Friday against Redlands University. We lost by a lot, but I only gave up 2 runs in the first 3 innings (which isn't great, but isn't horrible). The 4th inning, we had 4 errors and they scored 6 runs. I did manage to score two times (half of our runs). I also stole third base on the pitcher. He wasn't watching me for a second and the third baseman was playing deeper than normal, so I decided to just go for it. I'm glad I made it, because I'm sure I would have heard about it if I didn't. After I pitched, I moved to right field. I didn't bat too well. I got on base two times, but they were by errors. Today, we had two games. I missed the first one due to church. I was reminded of the movie "Chariots of Fire." One of the runners hands Eric a note that says "God honors those who honor Him." I am definitely not deserving of any honor, but God blessed me with the opportunity to play left field again today. He also blessed in that I went 3 for 4 at the plate which puts my batting average back at .500. I thought that if you struck out and got on base anyway by means of the catcher dropping the ball, it didn't count against your batting average, but I guess that is not the case. Anyway, God was good! Several guys asked why I was late. Many of them said things like, "dude, you can't skip church for a game?" I am hoping that this will make some of the guys think more seriously about their relationship with the Lord (or the lack thereof). I don't feel that I can really address cussing because it is so widespread. It would be like spraying a forest fire with a water gun. It would make people upset, and wouldn't change anything. At the same time, I hope that by putting God first, and not cussing like the rest of the guys, I will have some opportunities that I would not have had otherwise. I'd guess that nearly all of them would claim to be Christians, but they don't live for Christ in any way, shape, or form. I am excited about what God is doing. We have a game a couple hours away on next Friday, so I may have some time to talk with some of the guys. Keep me in prayer for that. Church was great as usual. We covered some very foundational truths of Christianity which separate us from other religions. It was a very good study.

I got to play!

Well, God was gracious in several ways today. I left a little late for school and caught some construction traffic which made me about 8 minutes late to physics class. When I walked in, everyone was taking a quiz. I had no idea that we had a quiz. I started working away, and then a couple minutes later, he turned it into a group discussion quiz. One of the guys was like, well... since you haven't had time to do all the problems, I'd recommend these answers (he told us that we could change answers). So, I ended up with 9/12 rather than probably 4/12. God is good! Another blessing was that I got to play left field today. I had prayed the other day that I would get to play, and God answered that by coach putting me as the designated hitter. I wasn't expecting to play today, I was hoping to be designated hitter again... but I got to play left field!!! I wasn't feeling too confident during warm ups... especially because the sun was really bright and exactly where most pop flys would go. I actually lost it in the sun and tipped it into my head as I ducked for cover. It was just way too bright. Thankfully, I didn't have any of those during the game; however, I was involved in a lot of plays. It was a blast! God also blessed in the area of batting. I went 3 for 4 with one double which raised my batting average to .500! :) We lost pretty badly, but it was a lot of fun. We play the University of Redlands tomorrow. I may have the opportunity to pitch because we have pretty much used up all of our pitchers in the three games these last two days. I haven't pitched in a long time, so we'll see how that goes (if it happens). Please continue to pray for opportunities to have serious conversations with other guys. Also, please pray that God would continue to cleanse my mind of the things that are not honoring to Him. I find that filling my mind with God honoring music, and with the Word really helps in this area. :)

Incredibly busy... but God is good!

I figured that I should post something lest someone think I have fallen off the face of this planet. I had lab today which I finished about half of because I had to run off to my baseball game. We played twice against San Diego Christian College again. I didn't play the first game at all and we lost 20-4 (ouch)! The second game was much better. Coach put me as the DH (designated hitter)! I was very happy about this because it is a lot more fun than not playing! My first at bat, I hit a lined drive right at the shortstops feet. It was one of those hits where it was a good hit, but just bad location. My second at bat, I hit a line drive into center field for a base hit. I got walked with four straight balls in my third at bat (maybe they were scared... okay, not really). My last at bat, I popped out to the right fielder. We ended up losing 8-5, so it was a decent game. We have another game tomorrow against Bethany University (they are from Santa Cruz I believe). I am guessing that they are on a baseball tour or something because that is a long drive for one game. I need to get this computer architecture homework finished. If you would keep me in your prayers as I try to be a good witness to the other guys on my team, that would be great. Also, with all these games and missing classes, it is hard to keep up, so prayer in that regard would be awesome as well.

Busy Saturday

My parents were able to go to the marriage tune up conference thing that our church was putting on. I like to see them get out because they don't get to do it very often. Jonathan had Awana Games and Bible Quiz practice this morning. Christina and I did a lot of cleaning because my grandparents were coming over this afternoon. After we finished cleaning, we went to Cal Baptist and played ultimate frisbee. It was a lot of fun. On the way back, we had to pick up Jonathan, but we were a bit early, so we were forced to go to Baskin Robbins and have some ice cream. :) My grandparents got here at about 1:30, so we talked for a bit and then headed over to our favorite Mexican restaurant (La Fogata in Hemet). I ate way too much, but it was good! The salsa was unusually hot, so they brought out some chunky mild salsa for us as well. Well, I put a bunch of it in a buttered corn tortilla, and was eating it (to be honest, it was almost like tomatoes... it was very mild). Well, my grandma did the same, and she said her mouth was burning up and that it was more hot than the "hot" salsa. Apparently, she was the lucky one that got the hot part. I got a really hot part later on, but it was really funny because mom and I were really confused as to why she thought it was hot. Haha Passages like Jeremiah 38 are difficult for me to understand. Unless I am mistaken, the king told Jeremiah to lie so that he wouldn't be killed. God's Word is clear that lying is always sin, but there are examples such as this one and Rahab that seem "okay." I think that in both of these cases, God would have taken care of them if they told the truth or refused to answer. I struggle a bit in understanding things like this.

Long practice

God was gracious in the fact that I didn't get all my homework done last night and couldn't figure out a problem that was due today. My teacher said that we could turn it in anytime today, so that was very very helpful. God is good! We were not supposed to have baseball practice today, but we wanted to practice one more time before our games on Sunday. We started at 1 pm, and I thought it would be the usual 2 hour practice. I was definitely wrong. We practiced for 4 hours! We did a lot of running today. I was pretty happy... in our 90 foot (the distance between bases) sprints, I was the fastest. :) I hit pretty well today too. Other than the length, and having that "almost throwing up" feeling for a while, it was a good practice. It reminds me of the disipline that we should have in our relationship with the Lord. We must work hard at it! I really need the kind of "washing of the Word" that Paul talks about in Ephesians 5:26. The filth of not only the language that they guys use, but also what they talk about needs to be replaced by meditation on the Word. It is really important that I am continually letting God's Word penetrate and cleanse my heart and my mind. If you would pray for that, it would be much appreciated. Also, please pray for my witness on Sunday. I am missing the first game because of church, and pretty much everyone knows that or will know it soon. This may open doors of opportunity to talk about it, because this shows them that I take it seriously.

First game of college baseball

I think my physics exam went okay this morning. I struggled with some of the problems, but I think I figured them out. It would have been nice to know the content better so that I wouldn't have had to even think twice about it, but oh well. We left school at 11 am for San Diego Christian College. We actually were given directions to the school rather than to the field, but my dad saved the day (since he teaches there, he knew where the field was). Anyway, our warm-ups were very much on the rushed end, but we got started at 2:30. I didn't really get to play. He put me in for our last half inning so that I would get to bat once. That was a lot of fun. I didn't do anything incredible, but I did put the ball in play and advance the runner at least (that was a nice way of saying that I grounded out to the third baseman). They got 4 runs early in the game, and then we came back with 3, so it was pretty close. Then they got 5 more runs over the next few innings making it 9-3. In their last at bat, they scored 15. Yes, I did say 15. It was not pretty. So the final score was 24-3. The game was actually a lot closer than the score sounds. I am hoping to play more than just one at bat per game, but I must leave that in God's hands, and do my best regardless of if I get to play or not. I talked with the coach about the possibility of me pitching some. He seemed very much in favor of the idea. I had kind of kept the fact that I pitched throughout high school a secret because I didn't think that I could throw hard enough to actually pitch. I have changed my opinion on that. I was expecting guys to be throwing in the 90's, and I'm sure some will, but high 70's and 80's is decent if I can throw strikes. We have practice tomorrow, so I am hoping that I'll get to throw some. Anyway, it wasn't the most ideal first college baseball game experience, but it was fun. I am looking forward to more games! I got to know another guy quite a bit better today. I was able to get to the point of asking him about his religious background, and I found out that he is Catholic (obviously not a practicing one though). Anyway, thanks for your prayers in that area. One thing I realized today is that I will definitely have times during this season that I will have to stand up against things that everyone else is in favor of. This will take a lot of courage, but it must be done. I was reminded in Jeremiah 37 that doing what is right is what needs to happen, no matter what the cost may be.

Getting busy

I think I can officially say that life is getting busy. On Monday, I had physics homework due, computer homework due, a quiz, and a paper due. On Tuesday, I had more physics homework due, a physics quiz, and computer homework due. Today, I just had lab and a quiz. Tomorrow I have a physics exam and physics homework due as well as a baseball game which I am completely stoked about! I don't think I have much of anything on Friday. On Sunday, I have two baseball games (they are Seventh Day Adventist, so they don't play on Saturdays). My coach is okay with me missing for church. I will probably be there for half of one game, and the whole 2nd game. Sunday night, I am planning on going to a Bonner Singers concert. I need to do four concert reports for my music class. Next Monday, I have an exam in my Religion class, and homework due in physics. I'm not looking forward to that exam for a few reasons... I don't like the content (Greek Mythology), the teacher goes so fast that we can't even copy down the notes (test is based only on the notes), and the teacher has some very weird views on things. Oh well... I shall live. Tuesday, I have a music exam. I am missing the review day tomorrow because of my baseball game, but it should be okay if I can find time to study. So, I guess you could say that life is getting busy. It's somewhat overwhelming to think about all these things at once, so I try to take it a day at a time. I know it would be better if I could be thinking ahead, but right now, I am just trying to stay on track. God has been very good to me thus far, and I have no doubt that He will continue to give me the strength that I need to do well for His glory. If you could pray for God to give me opportunities to talk with others (specifically those on the baseball team) about things that really matter, that would be awesome. I am really looking forward to Bible study on Friday, and my dad's (late) birthday celebration on Saturday. I was reminded in Jeremiah 36 that it is essential that we pay careful attention to what God says in His word. We can't just ignore things because they don't fit our idea of what we think it should be like. God knows everything, and we need to trust and obey!

Depending on Him

I am going to keep this very brief because it is late and I'm not feeling 100%. God has been doing massive amounts of work in my heart in regards to dependence on Him, and helping others depend on Him. God has revealed some areas in which I am prone to taking His rightful place. Taking God's rightful place always ends in a disaster. I am more thankful than ever for God's grace in working through my failures, and pressing on towards complete dependence on Him. I realize now that even husbands/fathers are to guide their wife and children to full dependence on Christ except for those things that are the the husband/father's God given responsibility. Even in those, they will be indirectly depending on God if he is depending on God in those areas. I want to have a God-dependent family someday.

Sacrificial love

Church was awesome today as usual. Music was a bit interesting because Adam & Kristi weren't there due to Kristi having a baby. Yay! We got to see pictures... really cute baby. My sister did her first major drive without mom or dad being with her today. She drove like an hour to where her choir concert was. Mom and I went over to Pastor Tim's for fellowship groups. It is such a blessing to be able to learn under his teaching. He does such a good job at presenting what God's word says! The sermon today was from 1 John 3:11-18. It was about Christ-like love. I can't even fathom what Christ did for us. He had all the rights to stay in heaven and be worshiped by the angels, but instead He not only came to earth as a man, but took our place in death. It is a love that doesn't even make sense! We are called to love like He did. Love chooses self sacrifice for another person regardless of if their response, their love for us, or if they deserve it. The only measure of how much love we should have is how much God loved each of us. One thing that really caught my attention today was when Pastor Tim said that growing in unconditional self sacrifice is a good indicator of our spiritual growth. We must put our desires behind us, and love others with all that we are.

Standing out

Christina and I went to Lake Forest area to see a friend (Andrew) get his Eagle Scout award. It was a lot of fun. Jonathan had a soccer game, so mom and dad were with him and were planning on joining us. The soccer game ended later than expected, but we were invited over to their house... or that is the understanding that I had. Then I handed the phone over to Mrs. Van Vlear to give my parents directions, and found out differently--slight miscommunication somewhere. She was extremely gracious, and made dinner for all of us which we were not expecting at all. I felt incredibly horrible, but they were all very kind. As we were driving over there, I was praying for God's wisdom in knowing when to leave. They didn't mind us staying for a while, so I almost forgot about that request, but God answered it anyway. It turns out that the highway closes at 8:30 pm due to construction stuff. Well, when I saw the sign for that, it was 8:17 pm and it said 11 miles ahead. I called mom and dad who were right behind me to see if they had seen the sign. I said... "I am going for it." I must confess, I did take the turns faster than the marked speed limit. It wasn't unsafe, but I shouldn't have done that. God was gracious, and we made it about 30 seconds before they closed it. If it would have been closed, we would have had to drive about 15 miles back to the freeway, and take a really long route to get home... like over 2 hrs. This doesn't excuse going faster than I should have, but I am very thankful that we made it. In Jeremiah 35, there is an example of a family that was committed to obedience. In this case, it was to not drink wine. They stood out from among the Israelites. It makes me think, what "little standards" do we have that are standing out to others as a godly example even though we may not realize it? We must remember that living for God in the small things is just as essential as the big things.

Fellowship

School went fairly well today. I did poorly on my exam the other day. I honestly thought that I did very well... but apparently not (I'm not the only one... that doesn't help me though). Anyway, I talked with the teacher about the possibility of making up points on the exam, and he said he would think about it. I got quite a bit of homework done, and then I went to get my sister a birthday gift (shhh, she doesn't know). While I'm on the topic of Christina, she and Jeff both passed their drivers tests! Congrats to them both. I grabbed some lunch on the way back, and was planning on eating it in the car... but I saw guys out on the field! It was like 2:05 pm, and practice wasn't supposed to be until 3 pm. I guess the coach changed the time and forgot to call me... so my chili fries rested in the car for 3 hrs until practice finished. I attempted to eat some of them afterwards because I was really hungry. Cold chili fries just aren't on my top ten list of favorite things to eat. Oh well, life goes on. Bible study ended up being worship, prayer, and fellowship time tonight. It was a definitely a blessing though. We had several good conversations about a bunch of different topics. One of these topics was concerning the Babb's good friend that just passed away. I was talking with Mrs. Babb about praying for her, and praying that God would be glorified. I was trying to convince God that He would be glorified greatly through a miraculous healing, but God had other plans. As I am reminded almost every morning by my computer alarm clock--God is God, and I am not, I can only see a part of the picture He is painting (God is God by Steven Curtis Chapman). Jeremiah 34 served as a good reminder to me that obedience isn't something that we do, and then go back to disobedience. We must continually be obedient to what God has commanded us to do. Remember that obedience comes from the heart. It isn't something that we can delay on. Delayed obedience isn't obedience!

New friends!

I was up past 3 am last night studying for my exam this morning. I think it went fairly well. After class ended at 10, I had the opportunity to spend the morning/afternoon with some fellow moderators on the Rebelution forums whom I had never met (Nicole, David, and his sister Christina). It was an absolute blast! I wish we could have spent more time together. It was a great time of fellowship. You can read a more detailed account here. Christina (my sister) and Jeff Babb both have their drivers test tomorrow, so if you would keep them both in your prayers, that would be awesome. I was really encouraged by Jeremiah 33:8-9 today.

I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me. It will be to Me a name of joy, praise and glory before all the nations of the earth which will hear of all the good that I do for them, and they will fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for it.

The forgiveness found in Christ is truly incredible! So often, we think of how we benefit from His forgiveness, but His forgiveness and cleansing is for His glory... so that we would praise Him! Let us never forget the incredible gift of forgiveness that He gives us each and every day.

Yay for exams

As stressful as exams can be, they can serve as a great relief too. Generally, when exams come, homework is less. Surprisingly, I haven't been overwhelmed with homework quite yet. I do have a lot of it, so I need to keep on top of it, but God has been good so far in giving me the energy needed to finish everything. Another great thing about my exam today was that I finished in about 30 minutes which meant that I got to go to baseball practice. :) We pretty much just worked on hitting today. I can't wait for games to start! The first game is only 8 days away now! I was reading in Jeremiah 32 today. There were a couple verses that caught my attention.

27 Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?

42 For thus says the LORD, Just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them.

Verse 27 caught my attention because I have such a lack of faith. I guess you could say that I have the head knowledge. I know He is everywhere, and that He can do anything, but often times, I don't live in this reality. Verse 42 caught my attention because I was just talking with a friend about one of their close family friends that passed away. I realize that this promise was for the Israelites, but I know that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I have seen Him use some ugly circumstances for His glory, and for the best of those that experienced it. I don't think this situation is any exception to that. God is always good!

A day off!

It was nice to have a day off! I spent most of the day studying for my exams this week. I feel nearly ready for my music exam tomorrow. It shouldn't be too difficult. I am hoping to finish it quickly and be able to go to the majority of baseball practice tomorrow. The sermon yesterday was awesome! It was focused on envy and jealousy. I never really saw jealousy as the road to murder (jealousy to hatred to murder). If someone were to ask us if we were going to murder someone, we would probably respond with something like "I would never do something like that." The reality is that when we are envious, we are headed down that path! It is amazing how sin will take us farther than we want to go. This applies to all areas of sin. Think about lust... it can lead to adultery. No one says "I think I will go commit adultery today." We must get rid of every hint of sin in our lives! We must come up with Biblically based plans for resolving these issues. They don't just go away. We must attack the root issues. For example, if we love people like we should (wanting the best for them)... we would have no reason to be jealous! If we were thankful like we should be, we would be content with what God has given us. Jealousy is telling God that we know what is best for us. If something was best for me right now, I would already have it. God does not withhold His best from us! Do we really want to tell God that we know what is really best for us? I don't think so! Another aspect of jealous is humility. When it comes to being popular or whatever, we should rejoice with the successes of others while being humble enough to learn from their example. Let's be content with God's best!

The joys of fixing computer problems

I actually do enjoy fixing computer problems. This doesn't mean that I am not annoyed by them at times. Right now, I am at the annoyance point with my computer. I have no idea how it happened, but my file menu and toolbars in windows explorer (this is what you view your files in) are gone. I have done a lot of research on it, and have found a lot of solutions that don't work. I created a few messes for myself... for example, after running some utility, I couldn't really see anything on the screen, getting the blue screen of death at start up due to an edit that one of the utilities made in my boot loader, and other smaller things. I have finished backing up all of my files to my server, and I have fixed all of the problems that I created in trying to fix this. I am thinking about reformatting my hard drives, but that is a pain. Oh well, life goes on. Jonathan had a couple soccer games for All-stars today. They got pretty much worked over in both games, but they had fun. I had to ref a game as well. This was the first time that I was a ref for an All-star tournament. I was pleasantly surprised at the kindness of the coaches on both teams. One team actually prayed before the game. I was really glad to see them win. I was really encouraged by Jeremiah 31:14 today.

I will fill the soul of the priests with abundance, and My people will be satisfied with My goodness," declares the LORD.

It is so easy to get worry about the material things of this world. Truth be told, complete satisfaction can only come through God. I am amazed that we know this, and yet we look to other things to make us happy. Let is be completely satisfied with all we have in Him.

Wow, life has been busy

I got about half way done with what I was posting yesterday, and I never got around to finishing it. Here is what it said. I was going to post last night, but decided against it since it was past 1 am by the time I finished preparing for my physics exam. I think I did well on the exam. We'll see when my grade comes back. It was a very profitable day today. Physics exam this morning, finished my VGA display controller, wrote a music paper, played guitar for extra credit in music class, did well on the quiz for music, and did my physics homework. Now onto today... classes went well. I finished my homework, but I have quite a bit of studying to do for exams and such. Baseball was a lot of fun--we had a little scrimmage in practice today. God was very good to me. I played very well (made several plays, and got 2 hits and a walk). I had a small opportunity to get to know a guy on the team a little better. We were both going over to the gym to get our arms iced after practice, and he didn't have a car there, so I was able to talk with him for a couple minutes. I am praying for more opportunities like this. It is very difficult to talk with people in group settings... at least in a profitable way. Bible study was very good tonight. I know that this will be very helpful for me. I tend to be naive, and it is essential that we are not deceived by the philosophies of the world. We must let God's word penetrate our hearts because it divides right from wrong.

Rest is on the way!

I didn't do as well on my physics quiz as I would have liked. I was rushed for time, and didn't understand what a couple things were asking me to do, so I did them incorrectly. On a more positive note, my VGA display controller wasn't working right and I was trying to figure out what was going on with it. Turns out that the new software doesn't work right, so it actually wasn't my fault (amazing). Another cool thing is that I get to play guitar in my music appreciation class on Thursday for extra credit! Also, I am pretty sure that I aced my quiz in music appreciation. I miss baseball practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays because of class, but I will have practice tomorrow at least. There is no lab tomorrow, so I don't have class until 1 pm!!! This makes me quite happy. :) I have a lot of work to do though. In Jeremiah 30, I was reminded of God's amazing work in correcting us and drawing us back toward Himself. I long for the day when we won't have the sin nature, but until then, we must remember that God has equipped us completely so that we can be obedient to Him all the time.

His plans are plans of hope

School went fairly well today. My religion teacher seems to cram everything in at the end. I don't like when he goes so fast that you can't even take notes on it. Oh well. I have to tutor 4th graders for one of my classes. It was really sad for me. I was tutoring this girl... and she could only get the right answer about half the time for addition problems (after drawing out a number line and all). Needless to say, it was more difficult that I expected. I'll be working with her once a week throughout this quarter. Prayers would be appreciated. There is very little teacher support. I honestly don't know how she got to 4th grade. That means that for 4 years, teachers have totally ignored the fact that she doesn't understand math. That is a bit upsetting to me. If you could pray that God would give me wisdom in teaching her math, that would be great. Jeremiah 29:10-14 had some great encouragement for me. We are so deserving of punishment, but even when we are punished by God, He has our best in mind. Take a look!

"For thus says the LORD, 'When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 'Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 'You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 'I will be found by you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.'

I love what God says here... "I will be found by you." This is a promise! May we turn whole-heartedly to Him without having to go through long trials to come to a point of full submission to His will.

Homework

It is one of those late nights of homework. It is due at 11 pm tomorrow night, so I think I am going to leave the remaining 5 problems until tomorrow. Church was good as usual. Christina had a choir concert tonight at her orthodontist's church. He is a really neat guy! This is rather short. I am headed to bed, but I should have more to say tomorrow. I was reminded today of the importance of waiting on the Lord during one of the songs that was sung tonight (Isaiah 40).

Baby Shower

My sisters baby shower was today, so we got up very early to finish preparing for that. I drove down and picked my sister up at the airport. It was fun getting to spend some time with her. I don't get to see her too often any more. It was quite funny... about half way home she says, "You drive a mad stick shift." I was like, "Is that a good thing?" Apparently, she didn't realize that it was stick shift that whole time, so I guess that is good. haha While she went out to lunch with her college roommates, we set up a bunch of tables in the gazebo at the lake. It was a beautiful day! We couldn't have asked for better weather. I did a lot of running back and forth to the house... giving rides to people, getting random things from the house, waiting for people that got stuck in traffic, etc. It was a good time though. She got a lot of neat gifts. I had a random urge at 10:46 tonight to run around the lake (about 2.4 miles including the distance from my house to the lake). It was definitely a challenge. If you know me well, you know that I don't like running just to run. As I was running, there were several times that I wanted to just give up and start walking, but I had determined to not stop. This reminded me of running the race that God has set before me. There are so many times where I feel like just giving up and taking the easy way, but we are called to press on! Never stop! It was a great time of encouragement for my heart. In Jeremiah 28, I read about some false prophecy. It fits very well with what we talked about last night in Bible study. One thing that is pretty much always true of false teaching is that they tell you what you want to hear. This is very dangerous! The Bible doesn't always tell us what we want to hear, but what we need to hear, so those that teach God's Word won't always tell us what we want to hear. We need to be constantly comparing things with scripture.

Back to Bible study!

School went well this morning. I worked on homework until like 2:30. I am designing a VGA display controller (basically an extremely limited video card). Deborah's baby shower is tomorrow, so we have been preparing for that. Bible study started up again tonight. It was really good for me. It was about how easily we can let false teaching slip into our minds. It is a bit scary! We must come humbly to God, knowing that we do not have wisdom on our own, and that we do not know truth except for by Him alone. We need to have our minds so saturated in God's Word that we instantly recognize false teachings. It is so easy to get tired of fighting for truth, but it is essential that we depend on God for strength to continue fighting that battle even when we don't feel like it. He gives strength to the weary! As I spend a lot of time with the guys on the baseball team, I need to be dependent on God for strength to stand up for truth. I cannot become complacent! I am looking forward to the opportunities I will have to talk about God with the guys, but if it comes down to my faith or baseball, baseball is gone. Keep me accountable to this! If you see me slipping in any way, I want to know!

Another act of God's grace

School went fairly well today. I actually got out of my music appreciation class early. It took forever to get home because of an accident, but I guess it is another opportunity to grow in patience. God spared me once again today. There was heavy traffic in the right lane as cars were merging onto the freeway, but the rest of the lanes were moving well. I was going somewhere between 65 and 70 mph in the lane 2nd from the right, and the cars were going about 35 mph in the right lane because of the merging. As I was passing a semi truck, the car in front of it decided to change lanes. The problem was that I was going almost 70 mph, and he was going about 35 mph. The other problem is that he did this about 2 feet from the front of my car without looking or signaling. I am still not sure how I managed to miss him. I knew the lane next to me was open, so I yanked the wheel over and ended up skidding sideways and making all kinds of lovely noises and tire marks... then straighted it out. It was really a display of God's grace on my life. I couldn't have missed him by more than 6 inches, and that would have been a messy one. God is good! I was reminded as I read Jeremiah 27 that there are always false teachers. We need to be comparing everything to scripture, because false teachers aren't going to tell us that they are teaching false doctrine! They will be from within the church. Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).

No lab?!?

Not having lab would usually be a nice thing, but it was slightly frustrating today. This wasn't something that just happened. They knew that there would be no lab, but failed to communicate that to us. I could have stayed home until noon! Oh well. I did get a lot of homework done during that time, so that was good. Baseball practice was a lot of fun again. We scrimmaged against ourselves. I got on base on fielders choice and hit a pop up. Not the best batting ever, but at least I put it in play. I did manage to steal a couple bases. I also made one play to get a guy out at first. We have tomorrow off which will be nice. Arm is a little sore after throwing a lot... takes a little while to get back into it. If you would start praying for good opportunities to talk about spiritual things amongst some of the guys, that would be great! There was a little more inappropriate language today. I could use wisdom in how to deal with that. I was reminded in Jeremiah 26 that God is faithful in taking care of those that are obedient to Him. He promises to give us the words that we need when facing persecution for His sake.

Baseball!

Classes went pretty well today. The homework has begun to pile up already, so I'll be doing a lot of that tomorrow before baseball practice tomorrow. I had practice this evening and absolutely loved it! Baseball teams tend to come with a lot of inappropriate language and discussion topics, but it really wasn't too bad. I was very pleased! I don't know what position I will be playing yet, but I played shortstop for most of today. They may already have a shortstop... I don't know. Regardless, I'm going to do my best at wherever he puts me. I got home just before 10 from practice, but once we move to our new field next week, the hours should be a lot more convenient. I was reminded in Jeremiah 25 that God deals with sin very seriously. We must not take His grace lightly.

First day of school

I left early this morning hoping to pick up my books and parking permit before classes start. Neither of them opened until after my first class started, but I was able to get them later in the day. I really like my physics teacher. It won't be an easy class by any means, but he is a fun teacher, and that makes a huge difference. My computer architecture class and religion in three cultures class look like they are going to be a lot of work, but God will provide the energy and endurance to do it. He always does! :) Baseball practices start tomorrow! I can't tell you how excited I am about this. It will be interesting meeting the team for the first time and all. I really don't know what I'm walking into, but I am still looking forward to it. Pastor Tim recommended that we meditate on the truths of 1 John 3 throughout this week, so I am going to try to do that each morning before school this week. I should have read Jeremiah 25, but due to being exhausted, I decided to just review Hebrews 12:1-2 which we read as part of our family devotions this evening.

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

There are so many distractions that come with the busy-ness of school. It is important that I remain focused on Christ. The phrase "fixing our eyes" reminds me of a couple things. The first thing that comes to mind is pitching. You focus your eyes on that glove and then throw straight at it with all that you've got. The second thing that comes to mind is when I watch the 100 meter dash. There is an incredible focus in their eyes... looking at that finish line. That is the intensity that I want to have in my pursuit of what God has called me to do.

School here we come

Today was a great last day before school. I couldn't have asked for anything better. Church was absolutely amazing today. I got my room clean for the most part. It wasn't bad, but it needed some straightening up. I went to the batting cages with Jeff again. That was a lot of fun. I tried the 80 mph cage for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised. I had no problem hitting it. After the batting cages, Mr. Babb hit us some balls for field practice. The grass was quite soggy, but it was a lot of fun. We had fellowship groups tonight. It is fun to get to talk to people for longer periods of time and get to know them better. We had a great study in 1 John 3:4-10 this morning. It was a great practical application of the passage. Four reasons not to sin: Sin is lawless opposition to God (verse 4), Jesus came to take away sins (verse 5), sin is the devil's work and plan (verses 8 and 10), because God's seed is in us (verse 9). The fact is that sin is satanic. It is not simply something that everyone does. That is not a good excuse. We are literally joining Satan's side when we sin. Seeing and knowing Him changes who we are and how we live.

Soccer Regionals!

God blessed in holding up the rain until after I finished reffing the soccer game this morning. It was my first game that I've reffed at the regional level. Usually, the games are a bit more physical (meaning much more calls and stuff), but the game that I reffed was very clean. I'm sure I made a couple calls that were un-liked, but definitely nothing that would change the outcome of the game, which I was very glad for. Jonathan had his first game right after I finished reffing. God blessed them with a win! Honestly, I didn't expect them to win, but the other team only had seven players, so it was 11 against 7. Their second game was pretty much the opposite. I think the score was something like 10-0. They got slaughtered. Jonathan kept his head in the game and played very well though. In Jeremiah 24:7, I read about those that God had chosen. This is an amazing promise!

I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.

I think that I try to do too much on my own. The reality is that everything that is good comes from God. I hate those times that I feel cold toward God, but the fact is that God is the One that gives me a heart for Himself. It is God who has the power to change my heart, I cannot change it by myself. I pray that He would give me a hear to know Him, and to be committed to Him with my whole heart.

One last weekend

It is the last weekend before school starts. Today was a pretty relaxing day. We had an orthodontist appointment this morning. Jonathan had one of his good friends over for most of the day. We had a great time of family worship this evening. I took my car back to the repair place because they wanted to check for leaks again. Everything seems to be working fine. :) I was reminded in Jeremiah 23:23-24 that God is everywhere, and sees everything.

"Am I a God who is near," declares the LORD, "and not a God far off? Can a man hide himself in hiding places so I do not see him?" declares the LORD. "Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?" declares the LORD.

At times, we may feel that He doesn't hear us, but we can be assured that He sees absolutely everything. His quietness often causes us to grow in faith, to draw near to Him, and to seek Him with our whole heart.

Help the helpless

I got out of jury duty right before lunch today. I was able to get a few hours in at work, so that was nice. Mom did me a huge favor today and went down to La Sierra to pick up my books. They only had one of my books in! :( Hopefully they will get the other ones in soon. I found the excuses a bit humorous. There was one gentleman that claimed that he has a big mouth and likes a good story, so he couldn't keep his mouth shut about the trial if he as on the jury. He did get dismissed, but pretty much everyone laughed him out the door. I met a guy a little bit younger than myself that also had jury duty for the first time. He struck me as being a Christian, but I didn't know for sure, so I did some fishing. We got to the topic of school, and he was mentioning that he wanted to transfer to a 4 year school soon. He listed a lot of public schools, so I asked him if he had considered any private schools... then I found out that he was indeed a Christian. That opened the door for talking about different Christian schools in the area, and what church he went to. It was really the highlight of my day. I read in Jeremiah 22:3-5 about God's commands to Judah, and the consequences for not being obedient.

Thus says the LORD, "Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor Also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place. For if you men will indeed perform this thing, then kings will enter the gates of this house, sitting in David's place on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, even the king himself and his servants and his people. But if you will not obey these words, I swear by Myself," declares the LORD, "that this house will become a desolation."

God places a pretty big emphasis on the helpless. We do need to stick up for those that can't stick up for themselves. I don't know about you, but I would not want to hear these words from God. God always follows through with His promises... the good promises, and the not so good promises. Let us live to please Him!

God shows no partiality

I went to jury duty this morning. It is definitely a unique experience. I would describe the first part as something like sitting in the emergency room. The called my name for the second group, so we had a break from 10:30 am - 1:30 pm. That was quite nice. Much thanks to Pastor Tim for being totally flexible and meeting with me today rather than on Friday. I really benefit from his insight and example. When I went back, we were sent up to the court room. I had never really been in a court room. I really liked the judge.... he was quite funny. For example, there were people sitting in the juror seats because we didn't have enough space for everyone to sit in the other seats, so he gave people the option of sitting on their laps when they were called to go up there (joking of course). It kind of feels like a waste of time since I will be dismissed tomorrow (Lord willing). He said that being a student is a good excuse to get out of jury duty, so it is just a matter of me getting the opportunity to state that I am a student. It would have been nice to be able to do that today, but that's okay. I guess it was a good learning experience. I think it would be kind of fun to serve on the jury, but it is very time consuming. The case is supposed to go until January 16th or so which makes it impossible for me to be part of it. I had the opportunity to read a few chapters in "Shadow of the Almighty." It was a great encouragement to me to read about the God-centered life that Jim Elliot lived. I read in Jeremiah 21 today. It definitely serves as a reminder that God doesn't show partiality. He even said that He would fight against Judah! When we sin, we have placed ourselves under God's wrath. All the more reason to praise Him for the grace that He pours on us each and every day!

One last day of relaxation

Honestly, I didn't do much of anything to day. Dad made us a wonderful breakfast this morning. We enjoyed spending the day together. We played some games together, had family devotions together, watched some of the USC game, etc. I actually found an online broadcast of the game that was free (not something we usually do). Anyway, it was great being able to relax and spend time with my family. I have jury duty in the morning and then work on Thursday and Friday; thus the reason for today being my last real day of relaxation. Honestly, I didn't get much out of Jeremiah 20. Jeremiah is an excellent example of doing what God calls him to do at any cost. I want to have that kind of commitment!