"You Put Your Flesh Before Blood"

No Innocent Victim screams this convicting truth to those who listen to their track "Your Freedom". The scream of conviction has truly been resounding in my head and my heart...

"Sow with a view to righteousness,

Reap in accordance with kindness ;

Break up your fallow ground,

For it is time to seek the LORD

until He comes to rain righteousness on you"

~Hosea 10:12~

Comfort... in no way can you find peace and comfort in the skin you are in when you neglect to seek the Lord to feed your spirit. No way can the flesh and body that we have from God give us the same satisfaction that comes from being filled by the Spirit of God.

Being full of craving and selfish desire can easily drown out the voice of the Holy Spirit. Truly, I have been convicted of the need to become empty. To empty out all I have to glorify the Lord and to be filled with all of His goodness, wisdom, love, peace, and blessing.

Crazy and awesome how the conviction and voice of God is spoken in such mysterious ways. Whether it be while I am at work and hating customers that come in when I am wanting a bit of a break, or simply talking with a dear friend about their experience in ministering and serving the hungry homeless of downtown Houston... the Spirit speaks through anything, anyone to make you realize how He wants to use you... you simply need to open your eyes and see the greater picture that lies before you...

Emptiness I need. Emptiness I desire. Break up this fallow ground of comfort within my flesh and heart and gain the vision, the spirit, the path that God seeks for each of us.

Flesh before Blood? before the Blood of Christ?.... how can we go on settling with that.

Thank you for the phone calls, the texts;), encouragement, the love, the prayers.

You know who you are.

Please don't stop... I won't.

God Bless You All.

RanDoM

I have an ear for a lot of different music.


But the top band?







Hands down...

the mustaches are the cherry on top...

Different Soil- Same Heart- Same Fire

What's up? How you doin?...seriously.

Well, it has been a week since I have been back. Though it has been an interesting and long week, the call to serve and work has not been lessened.


10 of this week:

+ I started working at HYP camp; working with the lil'kids... they are fertile ground. I hope to plant something.

+ I returned to work at SushiMan; visit me! I love the people I am around when I work here.

+ By weeks end, I will have worked approximately 66.5 hours... Thank You Lord! I am truly blessed to be working this much in tough economic times such as these.

+ Seeing a small Toyota pick up truck on my way to work with a lawn mower and other gardening tools in the back. Instead of reading Tacoma Pre-runner, the writing on the tail gate was modified to read- 'Taco Runner'... ghetto ghetto.

+ I have been thanking God for all that He has blessed us all with. For me, its my health, being able to laugh and smile about everything in life, the relationships that I have and time spent with those brothers and sisters, and just tuly seeing that regardless of what happens in life- staying faith-full will get me carried through.

+ I passed on being able to go to Scream The Prayer Tour... yeah Sleeping Giant was playing but I wasn't looking forward to pay to be surrounded by high school scene kids with emo hair who think they own the place... my taste is maturing I suppose... Anberlin and Taking Back Sunday have caught my ear.

+ Me doing groceries with my bigbro since coming back from Costa Rica- "okay...well I'll be in the rice and bean aisle"
why change my diet? lol. Its cheap, healthy, and it gets the job done.

+ Methodist churches look nice and traditional service reminds me of catholic mass- but more Jesus.

+ Never thought I would attend another Vespers service once I left Taylor U... but I was wrong.

+ Brown and White go well together...

Here below are the final 10 pics that I will post from my internship trip. Pretty much they highlight the things, people, and places that struck me the most in the last week or so while there...

Somehow I got natural highlights in my hair that got stronger while away...
I blame the sun- but I am being asked if I surf a lot more now...

Working and pounding concrete with a sledge til my hands felt funny.
That was a good day.

The Beach...

Will- no one else could I have imagined to have been able to put up with me so well as their roommate in a space no bigger than a walk-in closet. You taught me the beauty of living and sharing experiences with other people. Life ain't the same without people to share it with. Life and Relationships.

The traveling 'extranjeros'. Tammy, Carolyn, Sarah, Ben, Will, and a mix between Cheech and Chong...Awesome people I lived with who are full of passion to serve the Lord.

Charlie. You taught me the importance of leading and pastoring groups of people and of how it is possible to convey Christ-like character while still being the genuine person that God made you to be. I respect you and the great vision you have for Strong Missions...
God willing, I will be helping to shape that vision.

The food caught me off guard. This 'burrito de carne' was deep fried, the size of a deck of cards, and 98% black beans and cheese/2% carne...

A typical casado plate- I miss this... its love on a plate that is super cheap (about $3) and plated in about 5 minutes.

God's Creation.

what?! me all up in it...lol

- "But Peter and John replied, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.”" ~Acts4:19&20

- "But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves." ~James1:22

-"No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us." ~Phil3:13&14

*I like NLT more than before.

God Bless You. Thank You for letting me know how this all has impacted you.

PEACE.

Home is wherever God has me.

Beginning this week I was more than bummed and discouraged at the fact that I will be returning back to the States and leaving Costa Rica. It was hard for me to get over the huge calling that the Lord has placed upon my heart and life to enter the missions field for more than a mere few weeks or portion of my summer. As I have mentioned in previous posts I´m sure, but I finally have gained insight as to where I am going in regards to my career choice and choice of lifestyle.

MISSIONS- this is my passion and is what God is calling me to pursue and do.
So realizing that I need to return back to the States and away from the foreign field- was somewhat of an overloaded barbell upon my shoulders to say the least.

However, throughout this week of travel and adventure with Will and the other interns Becca and Rebecca, I have been able to listen.
Though I have reached the point of finally feeling at home here in Costa Rica, the deeper truth is that Home is wherever God has me.

Since my start of college, I have never really had a sense of being at home. Even in my hometown whenever I visit my parents, home is not home in the sense of it being where I belong.
I am always traveling. Everyone is always traveling. Going somewhere different. Traveling spiritually and physically. From highs to lows. From deep growth to superficial distractions that blind us all from the greater panorama of life.

Coming to understand that my home is wherever God has me has given me such as huge and overwhelming sense of PEACE. So going back to San Diego and wherever after that, its the deep peace and truth that is: I am where I am for a purpose.

Whether it be to learn a life lesson, to prepare for something greater to come, to impact those around me in a way to see Spiritually, or to simply be patient.
Its all for a reason and a season that ultimately only God Knows.

So why hate where you´re at? Why worry on the future?(which wont ever really turn out how you expect it to anyways)
Why think that you do not have a special purpose, a special mission Right Now wherever you may be in life?

The world wants to keep you blind and afraid. break away from it. Make a difference beyond this world.

¨A man will not be established by wickedness.
But the root of righteousness will not be moved.¨
-Prv12:3

¨Whom have I in heaven but You?
And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.¨
-Ps73:25

I choose to stay true to my name and my maker. I choose faith and peace in the name of Jesus Christ. I choose to see the greater panorama of wherever I am and make my home wherever God has me.

What do you choose?



And...below is what happens when you backpack for too long surrounded by Sugar Cane fields...enjoy.

*more to come*