One night on the way home, I felt the burdens of this world upon my shoulders and I needed to go to my place to talk to God. After letting Iirai know that I needed to stop by the park, I became anxious to hear what the Lord was going to tell me. We parked the car and I headed to my little bench on Mission Bay that looks out into the water.
As I opened in prayer, the Lord asked me to sit still and just listen and wait. As I sat in His presence, His peace came over me. And over to the right was a family setting up a little bonfire.
They placed the wood palettes nicely in it's spot and arranged some old newspapers on the base. The kids took a little stick with a flame on the end of it and slowly touched the strategically placed newspaper rolls. Quickly the fire spread through the wood and joy filled the air. Warmth suddenly embraced me as the area that was once filled with darkness was now filled with light.
As I listened, I could hear the crackling of the wood, nails, and old newspaper all working together to fuel the fire...
You see the Lord showed me what must happen in our Christian walk and why it is necessary...
The nails and the wood represent His nailing to the wooden cross. Through what He did at calvary, we now have an opportunity for a relastionship with the living God. Through the nails and wood, He can start shaping us and building us. He can start using us to do work in humility and to serve.
I never really thought much of the palette before, but now I noticed they were used for many things. To carry different loads and to help get the job done. Always staying on the bottom not trying to be noticed and often kicked around, chipped, and stepped on.
But even then, they are often looked for and made to be useful. And when the time is right, they are used to provide light and joy. They are gathered together and put to the test.
The old newspaper symoblizes the old news of our lives. Those scars and burdens that keep coming back and won't seem to go away are the articles on these old reports.
God places them strategically and touches us with His flame. The trials come and we start to feel the burn. But as we endure, we notice that people around us start to come together. They start to feel the warmth of Christ as it continues to burn. The light gets brighter as the old things burn away.
God uses us to shine His light and His warmth allot of times, through trials. Not just after the fires have subsided, but during the trials. If we hold on to the Lord during the times that seem hopeless and we feel like everything is just burning away, He will shine bright and we won't even notice the people gathering to feel the warmth and light of the Lord.
Praise God and may He bless all of you.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
The old clothes and shoes
When I moved into Iirai's place, she threw away all my socks and most of my white hanes shirts because they had so many holes in them and allot of stains. I knew it was something that needed to be done so I would be presentable in someone else's house or the workplace, but I guess I was just lazy to do so. Getting rid of old clothes and getting new ones is not only good in the physical realm, but is necessary in our Christian walk.
The Word of God tells us that when we become reborn, we put off the old person and put on the new. We do away with the old, worn out self, and the Spirit of God gives us a new self. We are new creatures in Christ.
You see our old selves worn out with dirt, holes, and wrinkles from all the hard work. In our old lives, we were always trying to keep up with the world and it's pleasures. Always trying to make ourselves happy and known.
Now that we are reborn, Jesus gives us a new wardrobe. This clothing should be worn at all times to be presentable to those around us. This wardrobe includes kindness, peace, gentleness, mercy, forgiveness, all wrapped up in love. It even comes with new shoes of peace to walk in God's grace and to go spread the gospel of Christ. What's amazing about these clothes is that they never get old. They may get dirty every now and then, but they are washable and cannot stain.
Every morning we should wear the things that the Lord has given to us. But we have to start with Jesus. We have to speak to Him first thing in the morning. And it's not just a matter of thanking Him for the morning and providing for your breakfast. We should aslo ask Him to clothe us with new clothes to be presentable to the world. And as we walk in all these new, presentable clothes, people will start do notice. The time may come when someone will ask you where you got your shirt of patience, love, or grace. It's then, when you take the oppurtunity to share with them, who the Designer is and what He's all about...
The Word of God tells us that when we become reborn, we put off the old person and put on the new. We do away with the old, worn out self, and the Spirit of God gives us a new self. We are new creatures in Christ.
You see our old selves worn out with dirt, holes, and wrinkles from all the hard work. In our old lives, we were always trying to keep up with the world and it's pleasures. Always trying to make ourselves happy and known.
Now that we are reborn, Jesus gives us a new wardrobe. This clothing should be worn at all times to be presentable to those around us. This wardrobe includes kindness, peace, gentleness, mercy, forgiveness, all wrapped up in love. It even comes with new shoes of peace to walk in God's grace and to go spread the gospel of Christ. What's amazing about these clothes is that they never get old. They may get dirty every now and then, but they are washable and cannot stain.
Every morning we should wear the things that the Lord has given to us. But we have to start with Jesus. We have to speak to Him first thing in the morning. And it's not just a matter of thanking Him for the morning and providing for your breakfast. We should aslo ask Him to clothe us with new clothes to be presentable to the world. And as we walk in all these new, presentable clothes, people will start do notice. The time may come when someone will ask you where you got your shirt of patience, love, or grace. It's then, when you take the oppurtunity to share with them, who the Designer is and what He's all about...
Friday, March 28, 2008
Continuing the race...
Yes, i am finally writing once again which is something God has wanted me to do for a long time. Praise God for the brothers and sisters keeping me accountable to doing the things I say I'm going to do. Convictions from the Spirit are always a reminder that He is sanctifying us.
First, I would like to praise God for the beautiful wedding that He planned out for us. Also for the beautiful wife He has given me which I totally do not deserve. The wedding was so amazing because it glorified Jesus! We pray for strength and guidance to continue to glorify Him as one flesh and we pray that those of you who are married will do the same.
There's so much I want to write and I'm going to get the parables together once again.
Let's begin...
First, I would like to praise God for the beautiful wedding that He planned out for us. Also for the beautiful wife He has given me which I totally do not deserve. The wedding was so amazing because it glorified Jesus! We pray for strength and guidance to continue to glorify Him as one flesh and we pray that those of you who are married will do the same.
There's so much I want to write and I'm going to get the parables together once again.
Let's begin...
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Different or the same?
I had this dream one night which was still pretty clear to me when I awoke. It didn't seem to have any meaning to it, until I prayed that morning. God revealed to me what the dream meant. This is what I saw... (Remember, scripture says not all dreams are from God)
I was walking into a store holding a little fish in my hand. I could feel the love i had for this little fish and i felt happy that i had him with me wherever i went. The first thing I noticed in the store when I walked in was a fish tank will all these fishes in it. A thought came to my head that this would be a good place to put my fish while i look around the store. I then noticed that all of the fish in the tank looked like mine and so before I put him in, i took a marker and marked him on his side. It was a very clear mark and I could tell which one he was from the others. I went on my way into the store to look around. When I came back, i looked at the tank and saw my marked fish with all these other fish grouped closely together following mine. It was strange i thought, but i knew my fish was special. As i watched them something happened that freaked me out. My fish got too close to the filter and it sucked him into it! Then all the other fish were sucked into it as well! I unplugged the filter as fast as I could and turned it upside down so all the fish could fall out back into the tank.
When all the fish fell back into the tank they all looked fine except that now, I couldn't tell which one was mine anymore. The filter washed my mark away. A great sadness came over me and then I woke up.
The interpretation from God was this:
God loves us so much. He is always carrying us around in the palm of His hand. Even though in rough times when we don't seem to have any water it is He who gives us life. Although God wants to guard us from all things, He still needs us to go back into the world to share His love. So He places us back in the aquarium to swim with others. But He marks us before we go back into the world. When He comes back and looks into the tank, He see's us shining His light on others and leading others to the Truth. He feels good and knows we are faithful and that by abiding in Him others will follow. He knows we are special to Him.
But then the trials of persecution comes. The world sucks us back in and all the others with us. The rough friction of the world spins us around like crazy. God steps in and pulls us out and puts us back into the tank to find us. But the trials and persecutions of the world caused the mark to disappear. We now look like the world and everybody in it. A great sadness comes over God and He knows that we have been lost again.
We know that our salvation is secure in Christ. But let us remember not to be of the world but of God. For the times will come when we are persecuted and when we are down and out. And people will be watching to see how this God of yours makes you strong. So let us keep abiding in Him, so that His work will shine and people we see us as different.
Please remember that God is still watching and loves us especially through the rough. And He wants us to share the same love with others so that they to will be special and marked by Him, just as you were.
I was walking into a store holding a little fish in my hand. I could feel the love i had for this little fish and i felt happy that i had him with me wherever i went. The first thing I noticed in the store when I walked in was a fish tank will all these fishes in it. A thought came to my head that this would be a good place to put my fish while i look around the store. I then noticed that all of the fish in the tank looked like mine and so before I put him in, i took a marker and marked him on his side. It was a very clear mark and I could tell which one he was from the others. I went on my way into the store to look around. When I came back, i looked at the tank and saw my marked fish with all these other fish grouped closely together following mine. It was strange i thought, but i knew my fish was special. As i watched them something happened that freaked me out. My fish got too close to the filter and it sucked him into it! Then all the other fish were sucked into it as well! I unplugged the filter as fast as I could and turned it upside down so all the fish could fall out back into the tank.
When all the fish fell back into the tank they all looked fine except that now, I couldn't tell which one was mine anymore. The filter washed my mark away. A great sadness came over me and then I woke up.
The interpretation from God was this:
God loves us so much. He is always carrying us around in the palm of His hand. Even though in rough times when we don't seem to have any water it is He who gives us life. Although God wants to guard us from all things, He still needs us to go back into the world to share His love. So He places us back in the aquarium to swim with others. But He marks us before we go back into the world. When He comes back and looks into the tank, He see's us shining His light on others and leading others to the Truth. He feels good and knows we are faithful and that by abiding in Him others will follow. He knows we are special to Him.
But then the trials of persecution comes. The world sucks us back in and all the others with us. The rough friction of the world spins us around like crazy. God steps in and pulls us out and puts us back into the tank to find us. But the trials and persecutions of the world caused the mark to disappear. We now look like the world and everybody in it. A great sadness comes over God and He knows that we have been lost again.
We know that our salvation is secure in Christ. But let us remember not to be of the world but of God. For the times will come when we are persecuted and when we are down and out. And people will be watching to see how this God of yours makes you strong. So let us keep abiding in Him, so that His work will shine and people we see us as different.
Please remember that God is still watching and loves us especially through the rough. And He wants us to share the same love with others so that they to will be special and marked by Him, just as you were.
Microsoft Outlook Conduits
Hello everyone! It's been a while since I have updated the blog, and I am sorry. The good news is that i've been keeping tabs on things that God has been showing me so i'm going to post them now. This one might be a little confusing at first because it was shown to me while I was installing Palm Pilot software on our COO's (Craig) notebook, so here goes.
I was called to hook up Craig's Palm Pilot to his computer so that he can transfer his contacts from his Palm to his Outlook on the computer. He also wanted to transfer the meetings from his computer to the Palm. So I went along my way with the software and sat down to work on it. After the software was installed, I plugged in the Palm, and waited for it to sync up with Outlook, but it did not. I noticed it was syncing to it's own little Palm application that was installed on the computer from the software I used.
Craig was watching and told me that he really needed it to work with Outlook not another application. The only way he can work is from Outlook. It made sense though because our company and most companies are so dependent on Outlook it's crazy! Without it, they would be lost!
Anyway, I knew the problem was with something called "conduits". The conduits is what allows the application to communicate properly with the Palm Pilot. There are different types of conduits from different applications. Well, when I installed the software, it defaulted to us it's own Palm software conduits instead of the Outlook conduits. To try and shorten the story, I finally found how to replace the Palm conduits with Outlook and right away the Palm was ready to be synced with Outlook.
Before we could run the sync we had to make sure we transferred the Palm contacts into Outlook and then the Outlook meetings into the Palm. So we selected the appropriate settings and all the contacts appeared in Outlook. Then we set the other setting to transfer the meetings and it prompted us "Are you sure you want to overwrite old meetings on the Palm?" We said "yes". After that completed, we were able to test out the syncing process which was successful.
The Outlook application, since so widely used and people feel like they're lost without it, symbolizes God the Father. The Palm Pilot is a human and the Outlook conduit is Jesus. We all feel lost at times especially when we don't know God and what He originally created us to do. When an unbeliever searches for that fulfillment he tries different things, or conduits. But only one will work properly which will enable him to communicate and develop a "syncing" relationship with God. That one is Jesus. Once we know Jesus, we can "sync" up with God for He is our mediator. Now before we start our relationship with Him, there are things we must give up. One of the big things to give up to God is who you are hanging it out with and the places you go. Or the "contacts". Once that is lifted up to God, He then gives you his original plan for you life, or the new "meetings" and schedules. But it will overwrite your plans or "meetings".
Now at this point you have a choice to be totally synced up with God in your walk every time you come to Him every day. All we have to is click "yes" and until then, our walk with God will never "sync" up correctly.
May the peace of God be with you always and may His grace pour upon you. And may you have the strength to overwrite your plans for His.
I was called to hook up Craig's Palm Pilot to his computer so that he can transfer his contacts from his Palm to his Outlook on the computer. He also wanted to transfer the meetings from his computer to the Palm. So I went along my way with the software and sat down to work on it. After the software was installed, I plugged in the Palm, and waited for it to sync up with Outlook, but it did not. I noticed it was syncing to it's own little Palm application that was installed on the computer from the software I used.
Craig was watching and told me that he really needed it to work with Outlook not another application. The only way he can work is from Outlook. It made sense though because our company and most companies are so dependent on Outlook it's crazy! Without it, they would be lost!
Anyway, I knew the problem was with something called "conduits". The conduits is what allows the application to communicate properly with the Palm Pilot. There are different types of conduits from different applications. Well, when I installed the software, it defaulted to us it's own Palm software conduits instead of the Outlook conduits. To try and shorten the story, I finally found how to replace the Palm conduits with Outlook and right away the Palm was ready to be synced with Outlook.
Before we could run the sync we had to make sure we transferred the Palm contacts into Outlook and then the Outlook meetings into the Palm. So we selected the appropriate settings and all the contacts appeared in Outlook. Then we set the other setting to transfer the meetings and it prompted us "Are you sure you want to overwrite old meetings on the Palm?" We said "yes". After that completed, we were able to test out the syncing process which was successful.
The Outlook application, since so widely used and people feel like they're lost without it, symbolizes God the Father. The Palm Pilot is a human and the Outlook conduit is Jesus. We all feel lost at times especially when we don't know God and what He originally created us to do. When an unbeliever searches for that fulfillment he tries different things, or conduits. But only one will work properly which will enable him to communicate and develop a "syncing" relationship with God. That one is Jesus. Once we know Jesus, we can "sync" up with God for He is our mediator. Now before we start our relationship with Him, there are things we must give up. One of the big things to give up to God is who you are hanging it out with and the places you go. Or the "contacts". Once that is lifted up to God, He then gives you his original plan for you life, or the new "meetings" and schedules. But it will overwrite your plans or "meetings".
Now at this point you have a choice to be totally synced up with God in your walk every time you come to Him every day. All we have to is click "yes" and until then, our walk with God will never "sync" up correctly.
May the peace of God be with you always and may His grace pour upon you. And may you have the strength to overwrite your plans for His.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
The Grace of God
I don't think I've ever written down where I really came from. Where God found me and what he pulled me out of. So this day I will make a summarized list so that I will be reminded of God's amazing grace for all who believe. Remember this is only the things I remember clearly.
Childhood Days
- My dad smacked me so hard in the bathroom that I flew into the bath tub and layed there for a long time. This was because I kept bugging my mom for batteries for my toy.
- My sister and I were kicked out of the house for a whole night. We were just little kids and we climbed up to our neighbors patio.
- I was kicked very hard in the stomach when I came home late. He thought I was trying to fight back so he made sure I wouldn't get up.
- Whipped by a belt so hard that a chunk of flesh came off of my theighs.
Teen Days
- Locked out of the house for coming home late for a few days. I slept on a baseball field dugout and drank beer stolen from a cooler left outside someones garage.
- Beaten in the face and as blood flowed down, all I can hear was "I'm going to kill you!" over and over again. This happened after the school bus did not show up so I went back home.
- My sister and I got into drugs and alcohol and I became hooked on crystal meth.
- Sold drugs on the streets for more money and pleasure. Binge drank with my sister at the bars and no longer cared about going back to the university campus.
- Joined the Navy to get away from my dad. Found crystal meth sources and sold on the ship.
Adult Hood
- Kicked out of the Navy after two years after the NIS found me selling and using meth. On restriction for 3 months on the ship, I continued to sell drugs and doing drugs by sending out runners off the ship. My dad disowned me.
- Mom took me back in, but my dad kicked me out when she went to visit the phillipines.
- Christians took me in when nobody else would. I stayed with them for 2 years, while they secretly prayed for me.
- My dad left my mom for someone else.
Born Again
- God spoke to me through the easter message in 2005. He continued to bug me in my mind.
- Struggled with what I was doing with my life and broke down privately several times. Why would God want someone as bad and bruised as I was?
- During grave yard shift alone at work, i asked Jesus to help me and to show me who he was and if he was real.
- That hour I believed, i stopped smoking, cussing, getting drunk, telling useless dirty jokes, lusting after material things and sexual images. God taught me how to forgive my dad. :) To this very day, I continue to be transformed by His Spirit.
This is when I knew God was real. Because this was not something I could do on my own and these things weren't something I thought I would give up or even had to. But it was all God's work and for some reason He saved me. Out of all people, he chooses the weary, beaten, and bruised! And the reason is because of his Grace. Grace is God's undeserved love for mankind. Jesus pulled me out of the mud and I will never ever go back. But my purpose now, is to tell others that He desires to give them the same gift He has given me. Now I know why Christians all over the world share the Truth to the point of death. It's because of Love.
"Come to me all you people that are tired and have heavy burdens. I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).
"I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance" (Matthew 9:13).
Childhood Days
- My dad smacked me so hard in the bathroom that I flew into the bath tub and layed there for a long time. This was because I kept bugging my mom for batteries for my toy.
- My sister and I were kicked out of the house for a whole night. We were just little kids and we climbed up to our neighbors patio.
- I was kicked very hard in the stomach when I came home late. He thought I was trying to fight back so he made sure I wouldn't get up.
- Whipped by a belt so hard that a chunk of flesh came off of my theighs.
Teen Days
- Locked out of the house for coming home late for a few days. I slept on a baseball field dugout and drank beer stolen from a cooler left outside someones garage.
- Beaten in the face and as blood flowed down, all I can hear was "I'm going to kill you!" over and over again. This happened after the school bus did not show up so I went back home.
- My sister and I got into drugs and alcohol and I became hooked on crystal meth.
- Sold drugs on the streets for more money and pleasure. Binge drank with my sister at the bars and no longer cared about going back to the university campus.
- Joined the Navy to get away from my dad. Found crystal meth sources and sold on the ship.
Adult Hood
- Kicked out of the Navy after two years after the NIS found me selling and using meth. On restriction for 3 months on the ship, I continued to sell drugs and doing drugs by sending out runners off the ship. My dad disowned me.
- Mom took me back in, but my dad kicked me out when she went to visit the phillipines.
- Christians took me in when nobody else would. I stayed with them for 2 years, while they secretly prayed for me.
- My dad left my mom for someone else.
Born Again
- God spoke to me through the easter message in 2005. He continued to bug me in my mind.
- Struggled with what I was doing with my life and broke down privately several times. Why would God want someone as bad and bruised as I was?
- During grave yard shift alone at work, i asked Jesus to help me and to show me who he was and if he was real.
- That hour I believed, i stopped smoking, cussing, getting drunk, telling useless dirty jokes, lusting after material things and sexual images. God taught me how to forgive my dad. :) To this very day, I continue to be transformed by His Spirit.
This is when I knew God was real. Because this was not something I could do on my own and these things weren't something I thought I would give up or even had to. But it was all God's work and for some reason He saved me. Out of all people, he chooses the weary, beaten, and bruised! And the reason is because of his Grace. Grace is God's undeserved love for mankind. Jesus pulled me out of the mud and I will never ever go back. But my purpose now, is to tell others that He desires to give them the same gift He has given me. Now I know why Christians all over the world share the Truth to the point of death. It's because of Love.
"Come to me all you people that are tired and have heavy burdens. I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).
"I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance" (Matthew 9:13).
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Fires
The fires were devastating and they continue to be a problem to those who have lost thier homes. So we continue to serve and help those who need it.
What it reminds me of is our spirtual lives during firey trials and persuctions.
Just as the fires swept california there are fires in our lives that seem to never stop burning. They die down for a while, but then burn up again spreading like wild fire. As they continue, they destroy things in our lives that have to be rebuilt back up and sometimes destroy things that are lost forever.
But just as the San Diego fires brought the whole city together and brought out so much love for one another, so does the trials in our lives. God uses them to take things away that we don't need in our lives and to make us stronger. He uses the trials to make us pull together as a family to love, to serve, and to engourage.
Just as some people in the fires didn't want to leave their homes even when the fire was close, there are things we have a hard time letting go of. But if we can just leave them to God and evacuate to His place of refuge, which is prayer, He will make the outcome the most beautiful thing ever seen. It will be something bigger and eternal.
God bless all of you.
What it reminds me of is our spirtual lives during firey trials and persuctions.
Just as the fires swept california there are fires in our lives that seem to never stop burning. They die down for a while, but then burn up again spreading like wild fire. As they continue, they destroy things in our lives that have to be rebuilt back up and sometimes destroy things that are lost forever.
But just as the San Diego fires brought the whole city together and brought out so much love for one another, so does the trials in our lives. God uses them to take things away that we don't need in our lives and to make us stronger. He uses the trials to make us pull together as a family to love, to serve, and to engourage.
Just as some people in the fires didn't want to leave their homes even when the fire was close, there are things we have a hard time letting go of. But if we can just leave them to God and evacuate to His place of refuge, which is prayer, He will make the outcome the most beautiful thing ever seen. It will be something bigger and eternal.
God bless all of you.
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