events preceding His word…

16 June 2008 Scripture: 1 Kings 19: 11-13

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was and earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Observation

Several natural disasters preceded the actual coming of the word of the Lord to Elijah. Although the Lord was not in the wind, the earthquake or the fire, I believe that they happened to capture the attention of Elijah and also to provoke him to action. What you wouldn’t know by just reading the scriptures above is that the Lord told Elijah to leave the cave where he was hiding to save his life but he refused to move and leave.

Application

When the Lord tells us to do something, we should do it. He would never lead us into temptation nor would he lead us to our slaughter. Our God is love and desires the best for us, so nothing that He would ever ask us to do would be to our detriment. Now onto another topic of natural disasters—I believe that the Lord is can speak to us and in fact is speaking to us through these natural disasters that we have been recently experiencing as a global community. I believe that things in the natural happen and mirror those things that are happening in the heavens…just think about it. The winds bring about new rains, they clear out pollution, they bring a refreshing to a hot day—in the spiritual, winds mean that change is coming and also it happens due to angelic traffic and activity. Earthquakes in the natural take place when there is a shaking…much like I believe that the heavens are shaking and the kingdom of darkness will be coming down and leveled to the ground. Fires in the natural consume everything in their path, much like the Holy Spirit will consume us and burn up anything within us that is not like Him. Fire brings with it heat and a burning! If we as a people of our God could only perceive Him in nature…He speaks to us through everything. His voice is not loud, rather it is quiet and we have to quiet ourselves to hear Him.

Prayer

Lord, please continue to speak to me and NEVER STOP. Everyday I pray that I may become more and more sensitive to your leading and to cultivate the ability to perceive you in everything. Please help me to understand why You reveal earthquakes to me prior to them happening—all I know to do right now is to pray. Is there some other hidden meaning to the impressions that You continue to give to me? Why are so many natural disasters happening lately? What are you trying to tell us? What are you trying to tell me? I have so many questions.

Thank you for being forever faithful to me. Thank you for everything. Amen.

arise, come…

10 June 2008 Scripture:  Song of Songs 2:11-13

See!  The winter is past; the rains are over and gone.  Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.  The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.  Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.”

Observation

The lover is speaking to his beloved, telling her that the seasons have changed.  The seeds that were planted during the fall and were watered during the winter are not blossoming forth in spring.  He beckons his beloved to come away with him.

Application

 My God wants me to come away with Him.  He wants to love me and spend time with me and to tell me how beautiful I am to Him.  I can sense a shifting in my life and that the season that I was in is not starting to change and a new season is upon me.  My God wants to draw me away to Himself and wants to show me a love that I have never experienced or felt before.  There were seeds that were planted and watered in my life.  The seeds have budded, sprouted and grown and now the first fruits are beginning to form and mature.  These are exciting times, and I must say, there is nothing like knowing the Lord in a new and exciting way.  I have been in love with my Lord for some time now, but nothing compares to Him calling me to arise and come away with Him like this.  He has called me His darling, His beautiful one, and He wants to spend some intimate and alone time with me.  How romantic.  He surely knows how to capture my heart and captivate me.  He is singing a love song to me.

Prayer

 Lord, I will arise and come.  I know that you are beckoning me to experience your love in a whole new way and it is exciting.  Take the lead.  Lead me where you will and I will surely follow You to the ends of the earth.  Thank you for being the lover of my soul and the keeper of my heart.  Amen.

days 1 and 2 at the travel channel academy – santa Barbara, ca…

First let me start off this blog with praise to my God. He is the most amazing person that I know and He has blessed me beyond measure. Words are not enough to express all of my love and affection that I have for my Lord and my God! I wish that there was something more that I could do to show my love for Him, but all He requires of me is my heart and my worship.

I am moved to tears just thinking about the past 2 days of my life. I have learned so much and I have been sitting (literally) in the presence of kings. My desk, which is in the front row and in the very center, resides no less than 2 feet from the instructors’ desk.

For anyone who knows me, where I would sit in class would be far from the front and nowhere near the center—I’m more of a middle-to-back row and on the end kind of student…with that being said you can imagine my initial stress of being in the front and in the middle at that. BUT GOD knew exactly where I needed to sit and boy-o-boy did He set me up. Remember the instructors’ desk that I was talking about? Well, the main instructor of the class and school is Michael Rosenblum.

You may be asking yourself, “who the crap is Michael Rosenblum?” Don’t worry…I asked the exact question…and to be honest, I still don’t think I understand the full weight of who he is. (Trina…you may need to help me out in the comments section to let the people know). All that being said, I am in the midst of a major blessing and they are hitting me from the left and the right…something that I have never experienced at this level before. I am in a class that people and instructors that would literally pay hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars to get one-on-one time with them…let alone have them edit my actual film footage and give me pointers.

Look at the amazingness of my God! Ahhhhhhhhhhh…it’s just so good, I can’t contain it all.

So today, Friday, 2 May 2008, I edited and finished my first piece. As a class our work was critiqued by all of the instructors, of which were the VP of the Travel Channel and Michael Rosemblum. I could honestly say that with me not really understanding the weight and clout of these instructors, I wasn’t as nervous as I probably should have been. When my video was played I got to see it for the first time on the big screen and I witnessed, first hand, Michaels’ reaction. I was the one and only person that he has ALL positive praise and he asked me, “Have you ever done this before? This is really good,” to which I responded, “No, not at all.” This was not the first time in the class that someone asked me this exact question…and it’s really caught me by surprise. I am here to learn from the best and just take in all that I can before this experience ends, and here are these instructors asking me if I have ever done anything like this before. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or not, but it is both humbling and inspiring to know that people who have been in this business are complementing me and even pulling me aside privately to let me know they like my work and to tell me about other programs that I would be a great candidate for. All I can say is, WOW.

Guys, I am doing what I love…and I encourage anyone out there to follow their heart and do what they love. We only have one life and we might as well live it doing those things that the Lord, our God, has placed within us…those things that we have a never ceasing passion for. Whether it be world missions, business, traveling, dancing, singing, writing, or whatever it may be…just do it. Do what makes you happy…pursue what your desires are, for they are from our God and were placed in your heart for a reason.

I am looking forward to what tomorrow will bring—I am going to a Polynesian/Hawaiian dance studio that is right off the beach, to get some footage…and as an added bonus I am going to a local glass blowing studio to grab some awesome footage there as well. It’s only half over…2 more days to go.

WOOOHOOOOOOOO…YEAH!!

(by the way…Trina…this is a pic of me on the phone with you…I accidentally did it up close…but I think its pretty nice anyway)

seed, time and harvest…

The past couple of weeks have truly been a testing and proving ground for my faith in God.

While watching the Benny Hinn show one Monday, Oral Roberts dropped some serious nuggets on the topic of ‘Seed Time and Harvest Time.’ The one thing in particular I remember is when he said, “What most people think is wrong is sowing out of a need. Many people think that as Christians that we should not have needs because Jesus is all we need…but let’s use wisdom and be practical. If a man wants an apple, he will sow an apple seed into the ground. Time must pass to allow that seed to die in the ground but then it will rise and push through the soil to blossom into a beautiful and fruitful apple tree. If a man wants an orange, he will do the same and will yield the same. The same is true with money. If you need money, then sow money. The seed which you plant into good soil will rise up and yield more of that which you sowed. It’s that simple folks.” Those simple words of wisdom were words that I had never heard before in my life. Those simple words opened up a whole new world of possibilities to me…possibilities in and through my God. This man, Oral Roberts, was sitting there pouring out the wisdom of his 90 years and he was so ‘matter of fact’ about it. His words resonated deep within me and were planted in the soil of my soul and heart. His words were the words of our God…words and truth that I bought and would never sell.

desire…

 

I am sitting here in the quite with only the faint sound of the jet engines of planes passing far overhead. As I lay on my bed with only my tiny IKEA light on in the corner, I read. I must have put this book down dozens of times—for the sake of tiredness, for lack of concentration, for escape, for other more stimulating and time consuming pleasures in life—and yet every time I pick this book back up, its’ words are not only timely, but they speak into depths of my heart, my soul, my very being. I am reading Desire by John Eldridge and his words have awakened within me a portion of my heart and soul that I knew existed, but I lacked the know-how and ability to unlock their mysteries. He has put word to my innermost feelings and as a result has touched a proverbial ‘decompression button’ in my life that has lead me to begin experiencing the fullness of what God has for me here on earth and in heaven.

Have you ever experienced something so deep within you that mere words escape you? Where you’re left with nothing but an indescribable feeling within a simple and yet incredibly humbling fleeting moment of time? A moment where perhaps only the most seasoned of writers can capture with vivid detail and picturesque prose the feelings that perhaps only a few people may ever dare to associate with or even acknowledge. The divine wrinkle in time where the intellect, the truth and the hearts never ending journey of desire come together—where something remarkable happens, even if but for a split moment, where both a heart and mind experience something more than they have yet to know or come to terms with.

Perhaps it is only in the quiet times of my life that I can truly try to understand these moments in which I lack the vocabulary to describe. As my mind races to find the right words to say, my mouth opens but nothing comes out. With the pressures of this world weighing down on me, I wondered if anything within the inner recesses of my being was real or just fantasy, of God or of the enemy. Was I trying to escape my current situations through wanting more from what my current life offered me? I questioned the legitimacy of my own desires and yet I knew that there had to be more than this provincial life. I knew that I loved God and that as a Christian I follow Christ, but why, then, did I (and even today) find myself wanting more if God was (and is) supposed to be all sufficient for me? Desire has evoked within me emotions that make me want to smile, laugh, weep and grieve—all at the same time. I have willingly accepted John’s invitation to both discover and travel on my own journey of desire—encountering and embracing along the way the peaks and valleys life may reveal and bring my way.

My mind cannot wrap itself around the enormities of God—the depth and breadth of His being. I am humbled when He reveals to me in a flash a small part of His magnificent plan for my life. His love for me is more than I will ever know and even the smallest glimpse into His eternal glory makes me literally want to explode—it is too much.

Friends, God wants to journey with us. Although He goes before us and comes after us, I believe that many of us forget that He also wants to walk alongside us. You are not alone in this world nor are the longings and desires within your heart irrelevant or out of place. There is a summoning, a clarion call if you will, for the sons and daughters of God to take inventory of their lives, to examine their hearts, and to face the lies and deceptions of the enemy head on. I appeal to the real you—the person deep within who wants more from life but is afraid to ask because it seems selfish. I am inviting you on a journey of your desires. Do not allow the fear of the unknown and of past disappointments stop you from going on this journey with our God who never disappoints.

Although reading Desire may be a good start, it is really up to you to allow it to speak to the private and hidden areas of your life. First, before you buy this book, please allow me to share with you a couple of things that this book is not. This book is not a blanket answer to the hundreds of real issues of everyday life. This book is not something that you can read while multitasking with dozens of other things. This book is not for the faint of heart. Now, please allow me to tell you what this book is. This book is a door that will give access to many other doors of your life that may have been hidden or not even known of, if you allow it. This book is a tool that the Lord our God can and will use to illuminate the true you that has been hidden in the shadows of disappointment and doubt. This book will propel your forward into a life of purpose and significance. This book is life changing.

Friend, I encourage you to take 30 days to read this book, to reflect upon its truths (no matter how hard to hear, read and digest), and to allow the work of the Holy Spirit to take place in your life and within your own soul. I promise you that this book will speak to you in one way or another and shed light on a thought or feeling (no matter how “un-Christian” it may seem) that you thought was unique to you. Much of what you experience from day to day is apart of the human condition, but that does not make it ok to simply navigate through this thing we call life as a drone—numbed and callused to the God given desires within you. Both you and your passions are needed and I know that there is so much that you have to offer this world. We need you and God needs you. If you have been looking for direction in life, I challenge you to take a journey with our God into your desires…

i’m back…

After about a month hiatus I am finally back on the blogging scene. It’s been a long time and I have missed you all.

Here’s my reason for my lack of blogging…

Basically, my job blocked the wordpress website so that I could not blog anymore…it’s as simple as that. I can honestly say, though, that my journaling has suffered tremendously…as I haven’t really been doing it…well, that’s an understatement…I haven’t done it at all since wordpress was blocked. But look at God…I’m able to blog from Microsoft word 2007…at home in the comfort of my own room and in my own plush bed. AMAZING!! I feel that I think my best when I am alone in a quiet room that is just my own (soon it will be my own home and it won’t just have to be my room).

But I digress…

Like I said, it’s good to be back and blogging again…I’m here to stay!

blogging from microsoft word 2007…

So I am posting this blog from microsoft word 2007…hopefully it works!

More later…

sid dickens blocks…

I found something awesome…something new!  These are the most amazing pieces of artwork that I have seen in a long time.  The 30 blocks below are the ones that I want to collect.  I’ve never had a collection of anything (other than DVD’s) so I’m pretty excited to be collecting these beautiful pieces of artwork.

Check out the Sid Dickenson website when you get a chance…there are tons and tons of blocks other than these.

A little bit about the blocks…

Memory Blocks are hand crafted plaster, 6″ x 8″ x 1 1/4″, finished to a porcelain-like quality, cracked to create an aged look and feel.

Sid Dickens’ work is produced by a group of 30 young emerging artists in a studio space in Vancouver, Canada. Each Memory Blocks is hand poured hydrostone plaster, all tiles are hand painted (the Iron Series requires 3 coats), silver and gold leafing is done by hand, and finally the Memory Blocks are hand stained. We consider each Memory Block a piece of art, there are over 5 people that do work on each one of them. There are many copies on the market, which have the look of being mass produced, as most of them are. The hours of work that go into creating each Memory Block make them each an individual collectible treasure.

Sid Dickens Memory Blocks are best displayed in wall-mounted groupings. The size of the groupings is unlimited. One prominent collector displays 80 Memory Blocks in the foyer of her home. You can start with a single tile and build your collection according to your budget. Unlike static works like paintings, Sid Dickens Memory Blocks can be grouped in many arrangements of different sizes, shapes and sequences. As your decorating needs, feelings and moods change, your display can also change.

These Memory Blocks provide an affordable way of decorating your home with hand crafted original works of art at a starting price far below that of posters, prints or paintings.

home and garden show 2008…

 I’m so excited right now because there is a Home and Garden show at the Santa Clara Convention Center this weekend!!

Show Dates & Hours

Friday, January 25 12:00 pm    - 8:00 pm Saturday, January 26 11:00 am    - 7:00 pm Sunday, January 27 11:00 am      6:00 pm

Admission

Adults: $10.00 With paid adult admission, Children 12 and under: FREE

Show Venue & Location

Santa Clara Convention Center 5001 Great America Parkway Santa Clara, CA 95054 408-748-7000 Santa Clara Convention Center

 I can’t tell you when it happened, but I have to confess that I am a lover of the HGTV (Home and Garden Television) channel and the DIY Network (Do It Yourself) channel and the FINE LIVING channel.  All of these channels focus on creating a home from the bare bones and 4 walls of a house. 

I am not alone though…my friend Stephanie is a junkie too!  This is gonna be an awesome adventure!!  YEAH!!

economic stimulus package…

By William Neikirk | WASHINGTON BUREAU | January 25, 2008  

WASHINGTON – In a rare display of election-year bipartisanship, the Bush administration and House leaders agreed Thursday on a $150 billion economic stimulus package that would send tax rebates to 117 million American families by spring.

With a possible recession looming, both sides made concessions that they normally might not have made, acting out of apparent fear over being punished by voters for doing nothing. And they did it swiftly, reaching an accord in less than a week of negotiations.

The proposal, which still has to pass muster in the Senate, would send slightly more than $100 billion in rebates to individuals, including many who paid no taxes last year, and provide nearly $50 billion in tax incentives for businesses, chiefly through faster tax write-offs of investments.

Whether it will stimulate the economy is open to question. Much depends on how quickly the money gets into Americans’ pockets and to what extent people spend or save the extra few hundred dollars they’ll receive from Uncle Sam.

The vast majority of taxpayers would receive tax rebates, totaling $600 for individuals and $1,200 for couples, plus another $300 for each child, with no limit on the number of children. Those earning under $75,000 ($150,000 for couples) would receive the full rebates. Rebates would gradually phase out for those earning more than these income limits.

In a big concession to Democrats, the administration agreed to provide rebates to Americans who paid no income tax last year, as long as they earned at least $3,000. But their rebates would only be $300, and double for couples. They also would get another $300 per child.

Some House Democrats were unhappy with Speaker Nancy Pelosi for agreeing to drop the extra employment benefits and food-stamp increase from the legislation. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said, “I do not understand, and cannot accept, the resistance of President Bush and Republican leaders to including an extension of unemployment benefits for those who are without work through no fault of their own.”

Pelosi said, “I can’t say I’m totally pleased with the package, but I do know that it will help stimulate the economy. But if it does not, then there will be more to come.”

Though Pelosi promised quick action, the Senate always moves with more deliberation, though senators will face the same political pressures as the House and the White House in coming together on a package. Paulson said the government could begin sending checks 60 days after final passage, excluding another two weeks in April in which the Internal Revenue Service will be preoccupied with a flood of annual tax returns. “Speed is of the essence,” he said.

But it could take 10 weeks to mail all the checks, he said, causing some to speculate it could be June or later before everyone gets their checks. Some economists said that could be too late to head off a recession that could be starting in the current quarter.

At the White House, Bush said the plan provides “an effective, robust and temporary set of incentives that will boost our economy and encourage job creation.” He added that the agreement “was the result of intensive discussions, many phone calls, late-night meetings, and the kind of cooperation that some predicted was not possible here in Washington.”

The tax-rebate plan is the government’s latest response to a housing-induced credit crunch that has tightened credit conditions in many markets and slammed financial markets, raising fears of a worldwide downturn.  Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, slashed interest rates three-quarters of a percentage point earlier this week and is expected to announce another cut next week.

I have a few comments here:This package is great, but under the right circumstances.  It’s good that Uncle Sam is giving out money to his tax payers, but at what expense?  Are we as a country putting ourselves into greater national debt?  Where exactly is this money coming from? 

The thing that sucks here is that this plan is perpetually feeding into the nations insatiable need to spend, spend, spend.  I can see how this idea is good in the sense that it will get the American people back out there spending their money to do their part to stimulate the economy, but at the same time, this is just a temporary fix.

What’s going to happen when the money runs out? — these people will be right back where they started, but with a new 27″ Flat Screen TV.  I can almost, without blinking, and with confidence say that over 90% of the American people will not apply this money to paying down their debt, but will rather spend it on things that may put them into more debt.

Although I will accept this check as a gift from my federal government, I’m a mixed bag of emotions right now and I’m sitting on the fence about this whole issue.  As someone who I going to put my $600.00 check straight into paying down my debt, I worry for the other American out there who aren’t thinking about their debt or paying off vital bills that will in the long run, if paid off, will keep more money in their pockets.

How will you spend your check?!  All comments are welcome.