A light break from a heavy world

Well the last post was pretty heavy. I have come to terms with the world, and then I became pleasantly distracted by this website that allowed me to see what I would look like if I went to highschool in the 90's, 80's, 70's, 60's even as far back as the 1950's. Here's what I would have looked like (sort of).




And I really couldn't resist this one!





Let me know which one is your favorite! I think mines the one with the bowtie, or all of the ones as a girl with my five o' clock shadow!

Tough times!

So it's been a few days since I posted, partly because of time constraints, and partly because I just didn't feel like it. I feel like this guy lately:

Life comes at you fast sometimes, and sometimes I don't feel like I catch a break. At the cusp of adult life, there is an optimism and a hopeful, bright outlook on the great potential one has in the years God chooses to grant him or her. This optimism is justified and should not be disregarded, but there is also a reality check that comes with the great responsibilities that accompany and characterize being an adult. I welcome these, but they are new, and some of my obligations are very hard to accomodate right now.

God has been gracious to me, though, and I trust He will continue to be (He doesn't change afterall). He reminds me that He uses these times to teach me and grow me. I trust Him, and I know He knows best, but man it gets rough sometimes.

These words give me much encouragement these days:

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
(Romans 8:26-28)

If you are reading this and you are in Christ, you can find encouragement from these words, if I were not in Christ, I would have no real encouragement at all.

Not again!

That's Sacha Kljestan as the wistle blew. I was in a similar position in my living room floor yesterday at 6:50am eastern time (most of China is 12 hours ahead of us).

If you know me at all, you know that I am a huge soccer (the real football) fan. One of the things I get the most excited about is international soccer. Players play their hearts out for the pride of their country. I am very pleased with the growth of our soccer program here in the USA, but I am continually disappointed with our results in the big tournaments.

The Olympics in Beijing are no exception. We started off strong with a win against Japan, a tie against the Netherlands (who are the favorites to win the tournament), and a heart breaking loss against Nigeria (above) that knocked us out at the group stage. We just can't seem to get passed the group stage!

I am in mourning with the team and coaches who represented us in China, and I really hope that at the 2010 World Cup I will have more than 3 games to cheer on my fellow countrymen. Come on South Africa!

p.s. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, that's ok. I know I care a lot more than most of you. But you should check out our national team, they have a lot more talent than most people give them credit. Dont' write them off like some, just because they aren't a perennial world powerhouse like USA has in basketball, football, baseball, hockey or a host of other individual sports. Try to cheer on your countrymen as theywork hard to be contenders in the world's sport!

Ryan and Becky's Pittsburgh Wedding teaser...

This past weekend one of my best friends, Ryan Johnson and Becky Johnson tied the knot. The ceremony was great, the whole weekend was fun hanging with Ryand and fam during the most stressful/joyful time of his life! I have to get up super early in the morning, so here's a teaser for now.

Crossroads

Whew, it's been a long week. After being a server for so long, this construction business can where me out! It's been fun and educational for me, and I'm grateful God provided a job ( He knows I need one). That's just what i do everyday, but there has been more going on this week. I find myself at a crossroads. The Merriam-webster dictionary defines a crossroads as "a crucial point especially where a decision must be made." I am at such a point, three months post graduation, where I must choose between opportunities for ministry. This is a difficult decision, and a trying one. I have changed my mind a couple times, but now I am just seeking God's wisdom and direction (I had not because I asked not). This decision pretty is pretty much what I am focusing on these days.

With this decision weighing on my heart and mind, I took a Sunday drive, just to have some quiet time with the Lord, and just some solitude for a while. I was going to take my own picture of a crossroad to put up here, but my battery ran out. But before it ran out, I was able to take these photos while I was musing...

I figured it was time to take a self portrait, so here it is...

Work!

I wanted to give a quick update. God finally provided a job for me! I am working for Cornerstone Custom Framing. The owner goes to my church, and when I ran out of options for work, he hooked me up. It's been three days, and not too hard yet, but tomorrow we start a new job. Me being the new guy means that I get to tote lots of heavy wood all day (part sarcasm, part glad I get a mandatory workout)! well, I will post a more detailed update soon, but for now this will have to do, gotta get some rest for work...

Venezuela part Dos!

Ok, finally here's the rest of my photo-diary of the trip to venezuela. In the last Vene. post, I showed you some of the construction work and the party at the nursing home. Now I want to show you the carnivals we did in the street. We concentrated on loving on the children, we played music, games, painted faces, made balloon animals and hats, etc. It was a ton of fun, and a ton of pictures. Here are some of my favorites:


This is the Basurero (in english, the dump). 3 million people's trash living in and around Maracaibo go to this dump.

There are communities of people who are so destitute, that this dump is their livelihood. They find their food, things to sell, clothing, anything that can be used to sustain life in this dump. They have set up their communities as close to this dump as possible to ensure that they get in first each day to get first dibs on the trash. These are some of the communities that we ministered to.

Up next: The ninos!

Don't you wanna love on 'em?! We did too, here it is

And the staff:

McKenzie (a.k.a. Big Mac)

Alfredo and his wife Audia

Josue (a.k.a. El Juahito de Fuego) and his wife Dayana (a.k.a. Cabezona)

Kenny (a.k.a. El Negro de Muerte) and Adriana





Laurie the water nazi

Chris (a.k.a. El Gringo de Magico) and Isai and Sandra (whom I regret to not have a photo of)


Oh, yeah, and me (a.k.a. El Mexicano de Futbol)



The two weeks we spent in Venezuela were awesome. We had a ton of fun, enjoyed each others fellowship and hanging with our Venezuelan homies! It really was like coming home, and it was incredibly hard to leave...


It's impossible to summarize the trip in a blog, it helps to have pictures, but nothing replaces the experience, the relationships, the stretching of faith of actually going. Those of you who came know, and those of you who didn't, I pray that you take an opportunity to serve with our brothers and sisters overseas.