Hot Air

ouch...

2008-10-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

wow. I haven't pulled a muscle in a long time... I've forgotten how it feels. Well it's painful. This morning I went out to run. I prepared myself like normal: Heavy meal night before, 16oz of water 45 minutes before i take off and and half a protein bar.

All those things help me have fuel and help me not to cramp up. But i guess i didn't stretch well enough. During mile 5, i started feeling tight and then about a 1/4 mile later... owww!

I pulled what i believed to be a groin muscle. oh wow. What pain. I hate stretching, and the pain i felt while i stretched it out made and eye gouging seem appealing.

i could barely walk for a while, but eventually i thought i shook it off. I said: let's go another mile and see how i feel. Nope! I ran about 2 minutes and said that's it! I turned around and walked to my car and went home.

i hate my body right now.

check out this sweet website

2008-10-03T06:32:00.001-07:00

this weekend we're launching a slamming new series entitled: "Parables. Stories about You" It is going to be awesome. why you say? because it simply is...

also we're doing something very cool to add to the series. we've launched a website called storiesaboutyou.org You want to check it out. Testimonies from members of our church share their story of how God has changed theirs lives through the power of His Son... here at CF.

be encouraged.

please pray

2008-10-01T17:50:00.000-07:00

hello to all the members of my extended on-line family! I wanted to share a small prayer request with you all and I hope that you all would remember me in your own prayer time.

I have a sister and her name is Leandra. I love her very much... we are really alike; in looks, height, qwerks, we both sing... the list goes on for miles. She's found herself dealt a bad hand in a few things in life. Not to be cryptic, but I don't feel it necessary to put all her stuff out there.

Some things around here aren't working out for her, so she's moving to England to go to school and work. I don't want her to go (she's my sister) but we all know, my family and I, that this decision could really help her become successful in life... sometimes we need a fresh start to turn things around.

She isn't seeking God. So before I begin to ask for you to pray for her needs, I ask you to pray for her to be reconciled to God. That's of the utmost importance. nothing else has a higher importance in my heart.

so last week she left to England with my mom. (she's gonna be with her for two weeks) The student visa stuff didn't go through... it's a huge complication that presents problems, needless to say. She's going to have to come back home to re-apply (i believe) and declare the visa HERE in the U.S. to be able to begin take classes by the 13th!! It's really close.

So please pray that it all works out for her to get all her paperwork together and is able to get back to England and start school. Also please remember my family in general in prayer as well... we really need it. Thanks!

room for improvement

2008-10-01T14:41:00.000-07:00

ok... so september was a slow month for blogging. but here is my desperate attempt to redeem myself in october. A few things to come on the blog this month:

1. All Hallows Eve - gotta love it

2. what happened this weekend that you weren't supposed to know...

3. birthday blog (a definite)

4. The return of the volunteer spotlight

5. The office. Why it's ruining my life

6. Movie reviews to flicks I haven't yet seen.

7. The pesky foul that terrorize my backyard which shall remain nameless...

8. Re-living over-usage and miss-usage of grammar and punctuation

9. Obama vs. McCain. Who would win in the octagon

10. My lovely girlfriend

just to name a few. Oh yeah, I'm training for the Ft. Laudy-daudy half marathon in november. Stepping up the training schedule. any ideas where i can get a "fuel belt" and some good - cheap - long sleeve thermal shirts? and any useful training tips as well... i can always use them

working it out

2008-10-01T14:20:00.001-07:00

this morning was cool... me and lauren worked out. She officially hates me now. But on our run back, God really showed me a truth about how to do life made by a parallel I came up with. (I didn't even come up with it. i didn't even intend to say it) Check it out...

We began our workout by fueling up... we didn't start until about 6, but i had taken half a bagel and about 16 oz of water at 5.

she didn't.

so she had it around 5:45. She hadn't really done that before her workout so it was already a little different to workout with me for her. We ran to the gym, did legs, shoulders and abs, then ran back. Because she normally didn't eat anything before she worked out, she didn't really like how she felt and said she wouldn't eat before again. I told her to eat earlier (like and hour before) but you've got to eat.

i told her that we are asking a lot out of bodies right now... we said: "body, wake up at 5 in the morning when you would rather be sleeping, run to the gym while you'd rather be sitting down, lift weights while you'd rather lift the remote and then run back while you'd rather not have gone at all! And oh yeah... i'm not going to give you anything to fuel you." that's too much to ask. our bodies need to be empowered by the fuel that food and water provides.

We can't put ourselves through so much harsh training to not replenish what was taken out. We can't require so much of it to not fill it back up.

It's kinda like ministry... we ask so much of our volunteers. we must invest back into them. find ways to refuel them and energize them. give them the tools and the fuel to continue to endure the stress we put them under.

It's kinda like how God is... he has placed such an amazing call on our lives. to go into all the world and to carry His name to all those who need to hear it. To bear a cross everyday, to be a disciple of Christ. How could we do it with out God himself pouring himself into us. He fuels and refuels constantly with the indwelling of His spirit. He understands that these days are trying and challenging, but he doesn't allow us to endure what we cannot handle and we never face it alone.

isn't that sick?

Acts 4:31 "after they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly."

awesome wknd

2008-09-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

This past weekend at CF was awesome. All weekends at CF are awesome but this sunday was particularly sweet.

We had a bunch of folks get baptized at Bill Baggs sunday. What an experience. It was cool to see families that i've seen progress in CF follow through with baptism. (will try to have pics up later)

I was blessed to lead the church in worship as well. It's always cool to do it then because members from all of our campuses are represented, so it's like worshipping with all of Christ Fellowship!

As well, Homestead had a good weekend. We had about 350 on campus. Man, it was great. The worship center was bumpin! New interested guests, energized members... Let's keep the momentum to 400!

Ten Things I won't say from the stage... After this weekend

2008-09-19T08:21:00.001-07:00

ok. so there are a few things I refuse to say on a CF stage or any stage in general. They're not necessarily profane (not at all really) but i am choosing not to use them after this sunday out of sheer awkwardness. So here we go, the ten things you won't here me utter from the stage...

1. Jank

2. Poopy Pants

3. Sloppy wet Kiss

4. To do me from the inside out

5. Gehzunteit

6. Bosom

7. Sexual depth

8. Phallic

9. Dirty Bobby (i'm not sure either)

10. Jesus or Die

Trust me this is for all of our own good.

engaged in an epic struggle for the ages

2008-09-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

hey i haven't made a post in a while, so allow me to catch you up on what's been going down lately...

on one fateful sunday morning, i was loading up my car and preparing to head down to church. It was humid and moist that morning, and i live near a mangrove, so you can imagine that there were plenty of mosquitoes hanging around. I managed to walk from the front door to the car and back three times without getting bit... that's an accomplishment.

but as i opened the driver's door and entered my vehicle, one brave mosquito followed me. I noticed him right as i started driving and out of compassion, i opened the window to shoo him out. "Ok mister mosquito, i don't want to hurt you. Run along and suck on someone else's blood" i said. But he refused to leave. So i decided to play hard ball.

He hid in between the windshield and the dashboard so i decided to 'smoke or freeze' him out. So i turned my AC all the way up and changed it to the windshield setting.

He felt it!!!

he started flying around like mad. So i opened up the window and gave hime the same option: "Ok mister mosquito, i don't want to hurt you. Run along and suck on someone else's blood"

It had appeared that he flew away, because i had to take my eyes off of him for a second because I almost crashed.

I was good. I went by the PB campus to grab my guitar and i was headed for homestead. I get on US-1 and at quail roost, that stinking mosquito comes back! He never left.

Dang his persistence.

one last time: "Ok mister mosquito, i don't want to hurt you. Run along and suck on someone else's blood." And he doesn't go... now it's time for him to GO!

I put the window back up. And now i have blood on my mind. I cranked the AC and he starts squirming again. So i'm watching him fly all around my windshield and i'm ready to pounce. On three i'm gonna squash him...

BAM!!!!! Crack!!! simultaneously as i strike the mosquito, my windshield cracks!!!!!!

ugh! i immediately begin laughing hysterically. Why, you ask? i didn't even kill the bug... i missed.

he bit me before the car ride was over

the bema seat.

2008-09-11T04:47:00.000-07:00

tuesday, my small group studied the Bema seat of Christ. It was very eye opening and affirming. It was one of those studies that were great for OUR group... it was awesome to look at scripture and analyze to two different uses of the word judgement.

The judgement that Christ has for believers and non-believers are two completely different things. God will judge the unjust and those in sin without mercy one day, but to imagine that the same type of judgement would await those who are in Christ just doesn't add up.

The judgement seat for us, christians, will be like a ceremony. A time of evaluation and reward. God will show us all of the things we did with His son for His glory and reward us based upon that. More than likely, we will be able to see the opportunities we may have missed, but at that point God will not be in the business of condemning or punishing.

it'll be an exciting time! i'm really pumped to keep studying the revelation. like pastor rick says: 'God is up to something good'

pics or it didn't happen...

2008-09-11T04:45:00.000-07:00

just for you rich.

although, all i'm giving you is the artsy, edited picture... just to still add more intrigue and mystery to her TRUE identity!!!! haha.

children's ministry

2008-09-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

I figure i've been cryptic for long enough... (like anyone cares) a phenomenal person has stepped into and blessed my life recently. wow. i never thought i would be at a place like this you know? Because of mistakes and misfortunes, you kind of get down on yourself and assume the worst. Because things hadn't worked out for me in the past, romantically, (due to my insistent disregard to wise counsel) I figured I was a hard-headed, irresponsible, failure who should straight up - do the 'Paul thing.

and that would not have been bad... maybe

But God does see the heart of every person. He sees us, not through the scope of a critic, but through the eyes of a compassionate father. He gives us second chances, not because we've earned them, but because he believes in the work he has begun in us so much, that he entrusts us with gifts... kind of like Lauren.

Lauren has been my buddy. now she's 'my girl.' for a while now i've concealed her identity just to control the talking... (CF is huge, but it gets small in a hurry!) up until this date, in all blog posts, she was 'Children's ministry.' - no lie, check the history of blogs... every time children's ministry is used since May of this year - it's been her. so i guess you can see where i've been coming from... but now that we've been official for a minute, i think it's cool to unveil her.

She's amazing.

simply, yet complexly amazing.

i'm very grateful for her. you know what's cool? today she met my mom! it's only a matter of time to she wins her over too. I'll give her a week.

chop 'em down

2008-09-10T21:40:00.001-07:00

so lately i've become quite the lumberjack...

here's some shots of me and my dad after cutting down a few trees.

tomorrow morning we'll be back at it again... please pray for our safety. I get worried about my dad sometimes. He fell off a ladder not to long ago and he passed out for a minute. He's cool now, but the man is a worker. Please pray that God keeps him safe when he does this kind of stuff without me. It's just tough for me you know?

any way... his prize coconut tree was truck by lighting in one of the storms last week, so we have to cut it down. it's terrible! that thing would bear fruit like no other!!

wha...?

2008-08-30T09:50:00.000-07:00

did you see the DNC closing benediction? The senior Pastor of Northland (a church in Central Florida) closed the Democratic National Convention with a Benediction and prayer. it's a little different for some peoples because he's not a democrat. (no big deal to me)

but pay close attention to how he ends his prayer... am i the only one who is a little uncomfortable?

everything in moderation

2008-08-27T09:56:00.000-07:00

as pertaining to the matter of comment moderation, i also will be proactive in the issue of content on the blog. From here on out there are 10 topics i willing choose to not give or no longer give airtime to:

1. The killing of Palmetto Bay Ducks

2. Immigration Laws

3. How many homes/properties John McCain and Barack Obama may or may not own

4. Graphic Art

5. The influence of Hip Hop music on Country Musicians

6. Why I do not have a Facebook anymore

7. My present intimate feelings towards Jeff Reed

8. Top 5 favorite love stories

9. My inability to correctly pronounce the word "birthday"

10. My volunteer band members' current dating situation

basically, these are subjects that i willfully decide to stray away from. i will say this though... Jeff Reed is a heck of a man!

what just happened

2008-08-26T23:07:00.000-07:00

ok. I'm not really sure what just happened, but here's what i know... i went to my small group and i came home and my blog had received, how do you say... a lot of traffic.

yes, it was very funny and lighthearted but, it was a bit much. I just learned how to moderate my comments so now i will be.

please don't be offended if i don't allow the comment you post to be seen, i have a few loyal readers and i have their best interest in mind. This blog was intended to be a small snapshot into the ministry and maturation of a young pastor, but sadly, today it has become something else.

nevertheless, I still am committed to my friends and would do just about anything to see them experience godly, healthy, lasting relationships but what happened here was not the way to go about it.

i apologize to anyone who may have been a bit turned off to the whole thing. i assure you this will not happen again... i hope.

uncoverin'

2008-08-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

The weekend was nuts... Homestead had such a great vibe. I had a chance to meet a lot of guests and returning visitors. Awesome services all around.

tonight my small groups starts a sick new series: "Uncovering Revelation." it's happening in small groups across all of CF. If you're not in a small group yet, you're missing out. GET CONNECTED!

and if you're a young adult living in Homestead, you can come check out my group. we'd love to have you... drop me a line.

what do you think?

2008-08-21T16:59:00.000-07:00

check out this link. Don't make any judgements all too quickly... this is what i want to talk about: how does the church, hillsong, planetshakers and christians in general respond and bounce back?

i'm not that crappy anymore

2008-08-21T15:52:00.000-07:00

so my graphic art is apparently getting a little better... at least Jeff thinks so.

here's a little bit of what i've done so far... it's not much, because i apparently stink it up pretty bad.

"cry room"

debuted last week. @ CFPB only.

"Children's check-in"

i tried to make the palm tree a little more subtle.

"guest reception"

i really just inverted a couple colors ad that was it...

"Congratulations"
the K5 kids had a graduation ceremony and i made a lil' sum sum for them.

"volunteer spotlight"

Andy kinda touched this one up for me.

check out his myspace... he's really good. i think he's cheap too!

"welcome to CF"

the new Hotness!

how beautiful is patience

2008-08-21T15:35:00.000-07:00

everything about God is beautiful to me. his creation, his works, his faithfulness, it's all beautiful. when He saves a life, when a life is recommitted to Him, when His people are lifted up... more and more beauty.

now here's something that is beautiful about God that I've never really noticed or given attention to: God is always patient. But when i'm patient with God... that is beautiful. because the result or the dividends of it are so sweet.

this is what i think, and this isn't gospel: to be patient with God is to be completely and willingly reliant in His way of thinking. to be totally reliant on the work of His hand, even more than the desires of your own heart. God rewards those who patient with Him.

"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." - Isaiah 55:9

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." - Hebrews 11:6

-photography by

Vay-kay

2008-08-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

last weekend, i took a little time off in a town called sebring. me and a couple of friends from my SG went up and spent sunday to wednesday at my parents house. It was awesome. I led our first devotional on monday about King David. it was basically about how david was surrounded by Saul's armies. Saul had his entire band pinned down in a cave and David began to praise God before he had even seen victory.

sick. what faith!

at the end, i challenged everybody to get alone for a few minutes and just like the psalms, approach God with your troubles and struggles but praise Him for what he'll do in the midst of it... just like one of David's psalms. ------This is really the overflow of what God had done in my life over the last few months, really the last year or couple of years. His plan was to bring me out of my mess all along. here's what i wrote down:

Who is the man that I am becoming? At times the mirror reveals an image to which I am unaccustomed... My many pursuits of self righteousness have fell countlessly in immeasurable form. How quickly and suddenly I've widened my narrow path and skewed my straightened persistence.

In such an unbelievable fashion, you've lavished your love upon me. You once made your joy my delight and holiness my goal. Once spotlessness and purity were my aim, now they have become a curse to me. I once prayed "more of you and less of me," now the inverse is the reflection of my unstable heart.

All to often, I lock myself in an inaccessible prison of my own sin and pride. I trap myself away and force the once 'MAN OF GOD' into slavery of his own mind. But into the darkest of all black days and the coldness of a fallen man's world comes an amazing, redeeming, incomparable and victorious light! From death's old home now rises new life partnered with an unexplainable hope. Shining into all the earth; a glorious light that liberates.

Now this light comes to me. Although I had formerly fooled my soul into a debilitating despair, my spirit cannot help but to rejoice and be glad! New connection, new communication and new commitment is now flowing from the spirit of love and peace to a helpless, hurting man. Praise the Lord! Because He never leaves me. Whatever my burden is, he make me new.

my apologies

2008-08-12T08:32:00.000-07:00

i just want to formally apologize if my words in an earlier blog were a bit harsh... i used the word 'kill' a few times.

I was having a rough day and now i feel terrible. I would never kill... end the life of a duck. I just was frustrated that my place of residence was being defiled. Although, i can't say the say for my neighbor Brandon. This very morning he confessed to shooting a duck four times in the butt with a pellet gun. That's is horrific! I was shocked, appalled and many other descriptive adjectives that end in the suffix -ed.

i hope he got 'em though.

do play an instrument?

2008-08-12T07:34:00.000-07:00

Just an FYI...

if you live in the homestead are and attend our campus or any of our campuses for that matter and you play an instrument, we are looking for you. We are having an audition on saturday the 23rd at the Palmetto Bay campus. This isn't the 'American Idol' ordeal people may put it up to be...

My desire is to provide an outlet for you to serve the Lord with your gift. Don't get me wrong, it is still an audition. Skill is very much required, but don't make yourself nervous by making it a stressful ordeal. Have something prepared and be ready for me to ask you to slightly improvise with me.

We serve a great God who wants us to use the talents and gifts HE had given us to bring glory and honor to Himself. If you're interested please r.s.v.p because we will be providing lunch for you. Email me or give me a call at church. Be there!

seeing the fruits

2008-08-09T06:03:00.000-07:00

about a month and a half ago, we participated in a reach beyond in Homestead. The function was a Military Family information fair at the Keys Gate Country Club. Initially this was Jorge's gig... but of course in supreme Jorge fashion, at the last minute he decides to hand it off to me, thus relieving himself of all responsibility. sounds like him eh?

the event was actually pretty cool. my goal is to make myself a more visible member of the Homestead community and this was an awesome way to do that. We setup a large screen t.v and played our guest dvd and night of worship dvd. Also we handed out free bottles of water and our CFH invest and invite cards. It was sweet! we got to meet some other churches and members of the homestead community. i was very glad to be a part.

the best thing was this... we had a chance to invite a family to church and the next sunday the husband (who is in the military) comes the CFHomestead and accepts Christ! now the whole family is plugged in and getting involved. Last night at our small groups meeting, i met his wife and to my great excitement, their going to be leading a small group for the next series with their friends and neighbors. that is awesome.

i guess i'm not that mad at Jorge anymore...

SG

2008-08-08T06:47:00.000-07:00

my small group is off the hook! (awesome for the ebonics impaired)

last week we had a cookout for our off night at he Kendle's house in Homestead. check out the fun we had.

If you're not in a small group i'm not sure what you're waiting on...

a time to die

2008-08-08T05:40:00.000-07:00

this is a side of me that i don't like to show all to often. Lately i've recognized that i have a bit of pinned up aggression inside and as of late it hasn't been a problem. but along came the ducks.

about a month and a half ago, i realized that a small family of ducks were taking refuge in and around the mangroves behind my house. it was no big deal until they were fed by someone at the house. normally they just ate the busted mangoes on the ground 10 yards from the door but on that day they ate bread on the carport.

like any other animal in the animal kingdom, there is a pathway that leads from the mouth (in their case beak) to the butt. and all things that go into the mouth will in fact exit through the butt in a much more disgusting form. well that definitely happened, multiple times, all on my carport. i get home to a once asphalt colored driveway to what is now a squishy, brownish, fly infested heap of concrete and dropping walkway.

this is were the aggression begins to build.

rather than complain, i decide to just clean it up and shoo them away the next time i see them. but the next day, they leave the carport even worse. luckily for them i didn't see them or it would have been their last quacking day on this earth.

fast forward a few weeks and i leave for bolivia. on the flight back all i can think is: "if those ducks are there when i get back, i'm going to kill them." so i get back to the house and lo and behold... duck sauce all over my driveway. i say to my self: "self, take a nap. worry about it later." so i do. and then i wake up and i hear them. So i get in my truck and i try to scare them away... but they don't flinch! so i get out and start pelting mangoes at them and that begins to work.

i end up chasing them about 30 yards into the groves and they haven't come back. i always said that if they came back again i was going to do it. i would kill them. then there was last monday. I came home and frankie was shooing them away. i guess i have no choice now.