so i haven't written in here for forever.  been busy... school's not cool sometimes... though senior year's not bad.  must say though it's not like crazy super awesome- i think that's a bit high of an expectation.  fun yes, super duperly fun, not really.  or maybe that's because of the excessive homework in gov and the extreme craziness of physics class.  but anyways... i was inspired to update because i've been thinking about doing if for awhile and current conversations.  most of my relatives have come down to my grandma's, where i'm staying, because one of my grandma's brothers died.  so a lot of people are here and they keep up with this here and they like what i write.  so i decided i should go update for them.  plus i've had this urge since summer to write like devotionals here every week, but i just didn't have time to do it.  i wish i did but for now this will have to be me trying to get back into xangaing

for recent news... i am at my grandma's now because my dad is in his intense month of chemo.  he's undergoing multiple, very intense chemotherapies this month and he won't be done till the end of october so please pray for him to get through it.  but i have had a cold and i can't be around him cause i can't get him sick due to the chemo wiping out almost all his white blood cells.  so i'm staying at my grandma's, waiting to get better.  it's pretty nice here... i'm basically free to do whatever.  kinda like college... i guess... but i still spend almost all my time inside the house doing homework.  blahhhhhhh

anyhow... i've been continuing the read the bible through in a year attempt that started last janurary.  it's been pretty good... i just finished up the old testament and now i'm in matthew.  i think it's a bit disappointing though that through the old testament, especially in parts i didn't know, it was somewhat boring to read and i would zone out.  but oncei  started matthew, i literally perked up and paid closer attention.  now i know that the old testament is older and not everything in it applies to nowadays after Christ and that it's a lot more confusing, but still, God's Word is God's Word.  i should value all of it, not just the half i find more interesting or the half we happen to study more often.  sometimes God showed me jewels that i found in the OT and i've tried to memorize some of them because they're really good.  one of them was micah 6:8 "and what does the LORD require of you?  to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."  that's like a perfect sum up of the christian life.  so it's not tha the OT is not full of anything good.  it's just the way i look at it.  and i think this is probably an issue for most christians.  like when we're told to open to a book in the OT, usually there's some grumblings or muttering of oh why do we have to do this?  but in reality, it should be as precious to us as the NT.  just my thoughts...  i think i and the rest of us who struggle with this just need to fix our perspective.  if it was a true joy to read God's precious Word, i'm sure we'd have a different attitude.

i don't know about the rest of you, but i grew up in the church since i was little.  i've known the bible stories for a long time... and so do most of my friends.  we've heard about daniel in the lion's den.  we've heard about jesus healing the leprous men.  we've heard about the man lowered through the roof by his friends.  we've heard about jesus casting demons out of men and into pigs.  so we kinda get calloused to the fact that these were miracles and we lose the picture in our heads of how amazing those miracles must have been to see in person.  like if i one of my friends became leprous and was separated from society, but comes back a year later cured of leprousy and talking about a man that had healed him, i would be amazed and seek out this incredible person to know the true story.  but when most of us christians read this we're like... oh yeah jesus did that.  big whoop.  this is only like the 100th time i've heard it.  we lose that awesomeness of what God has done and the amazing works of Jesus's ministry.

i think god has used my current circumstances to demonstrate this point.  you all know that my dad has cancer and that it's hard and no one in their right mind would want to see their loved one go through it.  so if there was a Jesus right now, walking around and healing people, i would totally want to seek this Jesus person out and beg him to heal my father.  i wouldn't care what i had to do... whether i had to travel across the country or whether i had to break some roof tiles and lower him through... i would do whatever it would take for the chance that my dad could get cured.  so it helps me to understand what these people in the bible were feeling.  their desperation, their desire, their perseverance in seeing Jesus no matter what was told to them... it makes everything seem so much more realistic.  and how much i would love to have Jesus heal my dad and say it was because of my faith.  but... only time will tell what happens.

another thing i've noticed is from the famous passage where jesus is fasting in the desert and the devil is tempting him.  this is the passage from chapter 4

1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."

 4Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'^[a]"

i find it interesting to note how exactly satan went about tempting Jesus.  if you notice the first the method he uses is to tempt jesus to use his gifts for himself and plays on his pride.  satan tempts us in the same way, trying to convince us to use what we have for our own selfish purposes and not to rely on God.  satan encourages us to be impatient and do what we need to satisfy ourselves instead of waiting on God and what he wants for us. 

5Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:
   " 'He will command his angels concerning you,
      and they will lift you up in their hands,
   so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'^[b]"

 7Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'^[c]"

satan also tempts us by trying to make us test God and twisting Scripture to make us doubt God.  you see, satan is very tricky.  he uses the word of God, which is supposed to be a christian's sword to fight satan himself, and twists it around out of context to make us think he's telling the truth when in reality he's full of lies.  this stresses the importance of knowing the scriptures and what they say and mean in context.  many people will try to convince us that what we believe is untrue or irrational by pulling verses out of context and that make christianity seem contradictory.  we need to know the bible so that we can stand firm in the Word and know what we believe, for both defending our faith and for teaching others. 

8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9"All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."

 10Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'^[d]"

 11Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

last of all, satan tries to lie and appeal to human desires and take us away from god.  he does this by trying to convince us he has someting better that what god has in store, and disguises himself as the master of this world.  however, the truth is that the devil is merely a masquerading leader who's end is coming slowly but surely enough and that we need to serve the real God.  We cannot let Satan get his ways by trickery or by making us doubt; we must be firm in the faith and worship God in heaven only.

well those are just some of my thoughts so far.  don't be afraid to disagree with me or point out something else.  i'll try to post my thoughts later... and i encourage everyone to read the bible through in a year at least once.  you learn some pretty interesting things...

sooo haven't updated for like forever.  thought i should.  

so VBS was awesome.  sorry i'll try to put up pics later.  the summer was fun but it went by too fast... hence why i never updated

RAV was pretty good.  i'll be speaking about it tomorrow.  basically it was totally awesome going to mexico.  good bonding between the church people... and it was a good experience to see the poverty of mexico.   and the area we were at... they weren't even that poor.  like they had outhouses and had decent clothes.  but still... just to see what it was like and be in the place where they lived... would not want to be there.  so it was a new thing for me as i've only been out of the US once before and that was when i couldn't remember much.  but yeah twas a good trip.  i liked seeing teh mexican church service... they're crazy when it comes to worship.  they were all in a circle and jumpin around and around for like ten minutes straight and the music was awesome.  if our congregation ever heard it... they'd probably all leave and we'd be left with a church of people like 40 and younger.  hahaha but it was awesome

i did have a pretty pessimistic attitude for a bit in the mornings until i finally realized i was trying to do things too much on my own and not depending on God.  i'll be elaborating on that tomorrow... but basically god helped me realize that even if i'm pressed for time i should not cut out my daily bible reading and that if i pray something like 'god, help me to love these children as you do' it's much easier to really love them and see them in a new light.

so school started... depressing.  oh well.  i came late by over an hour on the fourth day.  hahahahaha.  i thought it was funny.  stupid alarm clock.  but i had nightmares the night before so maybe i sleptwalked and turned it off.  cause i know it WAS on the night before.  i had this dream that these little kids were following me around in some shady area and when i looked away one of them like jumped on my neck and started choking me.  then the rest of them like tackled me and i passed out from lack of air.  then i woke up sweating.  it was horrible.  traumatic. 

but high school musical 2... oh heavens blessed.  it was pretty good.  i liked it... thought the first was better.  but i like the second one's songs too... i just didn't like how the girls are so ditsy and screamy in the second one.  and i'm glad i was two cents short on iTunes to buy the CD cause kara is bringing it home so i'll have it.  but ASB did the dance to we're all in this together at the ASB rally wednesday so tyler taught me the dance.  totally awesome... hahahaha.  just ask me and i'll show you.  tyler and i do it in cross country and the 'cool' sophomores are like you guys are stupid/gay.  but that's why they're sophomoric. = P

so i will put up pictures of this summer now... since there's not much else to do at this moment.  here goes

from mt hermon

the awesome cabin

Happy All The time SMILE!!!!

two of my biggest spiritual heroes

we're hecka cool

VC!

cute picture, especially on the right side

funny picture.  if the yearbook staff is going to steal a picture from my xanga and put it in the yearbook without telling me, take this one cause i think it's funny

pretty in pink crew

jumpers

gotta love them monkeys

santa clara

my cabin this year

the cool shirt

me and krabby = P

rafting

a weird portapotty in pismo

my family at golfland

Hyper formal

family in pismo

rachel's bday at the beach

postfuneral

words fail

VBS directors

proof that ghosts exist

the awesome VBS staff

the codirector and his gifts

a DID: daniel in distress.  

where's rachel?

so there's my pictures.  hope you liked them.  gotta go do school stuff

Currently Listening All of the Above By Hillsong United see related

Mt Hermon 07 Senior High

wow my last year.  dang... it's so hard to believe.  that week was seriously like the best year ever.  it was a taste of heaven.  so many people together worshipping God and like a huge loving community.  i wish it didn't end... but then it wouldn't have been so special.  anyway this was THE way to end senior high camp.  so much fun... so much conviction... so much learning... so much joy and reflection.... so much goodness. 

it's so funny the way things worked... cause i remember on my one on one during the first free time, my cabin leader jesse asked me if i had prayer requests.  after i thought about it, i said "I want to be convicted."  and sure enough that night was the most convicting message i've ever heard in my life.  i think everyone in the camp was deeply moved by pastor dave's words and that cabin time was the deepest ever.  people were sharing their deepest struggles all over the place and it was like instant bonding in the cabins.  well what i was convicted about was my life.  dave went over teh signs of rebellion and it was shocking to see them in my life.  cause like i'm not a rebellious kid and i think that's not a word taht describes me at all.  yet lately my lifestyle had been trending in a way i didn't want and i never realized exactly what was happening until he spoke.  The signs for me where little communication with authority about some things i had been doing, about having lame friends that were influencing me more than i influenced them, a lack of gratefulness, and low feelings.  the last one was super true because there was a time during school where i was hecka emo and like depressed.  and i nearly went two classes in the morning without saying a word and i just wandered around school alone.  and now looking back i can see what i was doing and why all these things were happening. 

this emo time also marked the beginning of the time when i just lost connection with God.  i just didn't feel God there anymore... like our relationship was being stopped.  and no matter what i did i couldn't get it back... and then i'd usually forget about even trying.  i remember it lasted all the way up to camp and i tried so many different things to get myself back into life spiritually but i coudln't jumpstart myself.  and now i think i realize that my problem was my focus.  i was totally focused on what i wanted to do, what i needed to do, about my plans, and not about God's plans.  granted, AP testing didn't help me out at all cause i focused a lot on school but it was an example of how i devoted my tiem to the things i wanted to and not things that God wanted me to.  like my quiet times lost meaning.  i still did them... like i'm still on track for reading the bible in a year.  but they were empty.  it was like me talking to a wall.  and i think it was cause i lost sight of the fact that this life is about His Will, not our own.  i was too wrapped up in my selfishness to look beyond my fragile, miniscule life and search for God's great and glorious plan in this life.  i ceased relying on His strength and instead depended on myself.  basically i let my pride get to me and it was corrupting my life.  like i thought i knew more than my parents and there were times where i was dead wrong but i was too proud to admit i was wrong so i just argued back and made things worse.  things like that were happening to me and turning me into a monster that i didn't want to be.  like seriously... there were times i'd sit in my room and look at my life and wonder what was happening to me.  i felt so... destructive?  like i was ruining my life and the carefree person i once was

but mt hermon brought me back.  i'm so glad i went cause it was like a spiritual reminder.  it was a place where i was with people to worship God and learn about him.  i think it helped that it took me out of my normal routine so i was able to focus better because i didn't go through things like empty rituals.  but mt hermon also gave me good message that i can apply to my life.  pastor dave went over the passage about spiritual armor.  dave himself is a good speaker- he knows how to keep people awake and how to engage people so they don't zone out.  but his messages were so powerful and i love how he made them applicable.  he went over every piece of armor, related it to how Romans used to use their armor, and then told how to use it.  usually in messages we hear what we need to fix, but the application part isn't given and that's pretty vital.  so it was awesome that he told us how

The Belt of Truth- this is the identity of the Christian.  Truth is part of who Jesus is.  So in order to put on the belt, we have to make the BIble our authority in life.  in order to do that, you have to know the bible and use scripture to examine your thoughts.  the belt of truth protects your mind and its thoughts.  we are to use the belt to examine every thought and make it captive to Christ.  if it's something we shouldn't think about, then we shouldn't let it enter our mind

The Breastplate of Righteousness-  this is Christ's righteousness taht protects our emotions.  this is a big one for most people cause we can be so emotional.  in order to put on the breastplate, we have to determine the right thing to do and then carry out that course of action

Shoes of Peace- the Romans purpose for shoes was to stand firm and not be pushed back in war.  For Christians, the shoes of peace are found in the gospel of peace.  the key to standing frim is confidence in God and this comes from daily confession of our sins and repentance. 

Helmet of Salvation- i didn't quite understand his thing about justification leads to sanctification which leads to glorification but i know he mentioned it.  so to put on the helmet, you have to know that victory is coming; that Christ will come and be victorious over the prince of this world.  so to put on the helmet in battle, one must agressively live the Christian life knowing the batle is won.  the helmet protects us from discouragement that Satan throws at us because we know in the end, Christ has won and nothing will change that

Shield of Fatih- the shielf is our faith in God to be our shielf.  basically it's personal trust in God and his character and trust in His promises.  we wear our shield by constantly and consistently trusting God and in His goodness rather than doubting Him

Sword of the Spirit-this take much training to master.  not only do we have to hear/read the Word, we have to meditate, study, memorize Scripture, apply Scripture, and repeat everything until it becomes second nature to us.  Then we will be able to use Scripture to fend off Satan's attacks and strike back.  I think the Sword is especially important because without Scripture, we can't really stand firm in anything.  It's like the cornerstone of the piece of the armor in a sense- not the Sword being the cornerstone, but Scripture.  so that's why it's so important to memorize Scripture

i never really looked at it that way but now i see Scripture in a totally different light.  It's not just this old book that i SHOULD read through.  the bible is God's Word, meant for me.  as dave said, it's a love letter to me.  this is full of God's promises, descriptions about Him, and His great plan for this world.  Now i don't look at it the same way.  now it's so much more meaningful and beautiful to me.  and now i'm making it my goal to seriously commit myself memorizing verses because now i think it's of utmost importance to live a meaningful christian life.  so what i'm doing is making flashcards of verses and i'd welcome anyone else to try it.  if it works for vocab at school, why can't it work for verses? 

so that was in effect my whole mt hermon experience.  limited to the sermons and stuff.  but social time was awesome too.  and all other sorts of things like that.  i'm too lazy to put pictures up.  go look on myspace or something.  or ask me and i'll show you some.  well i hope mt hermon was good for the rest of you too.  i'm gonna be in pismo this friday to next so i won't be online pretty much at all.  so take care... and check your email if you're from our church.   there's important stuff in your inbox... hopefully. all right night night

Bulk up time

Focus time

edit: after reading ben's post i think i worded things wrong or they're open toa different interpretation. so i'm going to try to be more clear

so usually when you prepare for something big, you focusandprepare for it.  like training.  if you have a race coming up, you run more miles to get in shape and be ready.  if you're going to have finals, you study before it and if you want to do well you don't cram it in the night before.  my point is that in life, when big events come up, we prepare by getting ready in our own ways for whatever the event is.  so should it not be the same when it comes to spiritual things?

so in light of mt hermon coming up, i think if you take camp seriously and it's purpose, you should be focusing.  and how exactly do you focus to get the most benefit?  well i think you first have to get your priorities straight and have the reason you're going to mt hermon cemented in your mind.  the purpose shouldn't be to see friends, though that's like a bonus.  the purpose shouldn't be to check out people.  the purpose shouldn't be to go mosh and jump around crazily during worship.  the purpose shouldn't be to get out of the house-that's another bonus.  the purpose for going should be to get to know the Creator, the Almighty God better and to grow to love Him more through this experience.  After all, that is the first commandment.  "love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind,and soul."  And once you get to know Him more, hopefully your walk will become stronger with Him and Your Will should conform to His Will, including following the Great Commission. 

so what should you do?  well there's a lot of different ways people use to meditate on God.  but i think you should take time out of your schedule everyday to just sit somewhere and think.  but make sure you're not distracted with like music or TV or something.  like find someplace you can think... even if that means you have to be doing something while it.  cause for example, i can sometimes have the best quiet times when i'm running.  so take some time and think.  pray that God will move you this mt hermon and that you'll learn more about Him.  i would also pray for your cabin and cabin leader, that you will lead and encourage each other throughout the week and will get along. 

i think you should also make an effort to just set yourself with God.  when you pray, it should be about bringing him glory and praise, not about doing what you want.  this life is about bringing Him praise, not yourself. 

i think we should keep these verses in mind as we prepare out hearts and minds for camp:

20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.  ~Ephesians 3:20-21

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.  ~1 Corinthians 10:31

and i don't mean to say you should only focus once a year in preparation of things like this.  we should do our best to always be focusing on God. but the thing is there will be times in our life where we fail to do that and then there are times whereI believe God requires more prayer and meditation beforehand than usual.  for example, if you're working on bringing a friend to Christ or bringing them to an event where they'll hear the Gospel, you'd be praying for them beforehandand maybe more than you would normally for this person.  i think this goes along the same lines- you should pray to get the most out of it and to be truly affected, not just get a camp high to lose it in the valley

 i believe that because mt hermon is such a good chance to get away from everything and to focus yourself on learning about God that you should focus on making that your priority instead of just going in without prayer.  i guess the way i'mlooking at is how we're praying for VBS and RAV in advance.  my opinion follows Lester in that those who prepare their hearts and minds through prayer and meditation before trips usually get the best out of them and come back changed the most.  i don't know what everyone else wants out of mt hermon, but peronsally i want a huge chance cause i've just been drifting, if not sliding backwards in my walk.  i believe now ihave made clear my point.  so i guess if you're not doing so well in your faith and are kinda at a spiritual low or have been stuck in one place too long, this post was for you.

Currently Listening United We Stand By Hillsong United From the Inside Out see related

Formal and other stuff

so this again!  we haven't talked about it in awhile but just wanted to remind everyone about it.  the formal.  so yeah... once again just reminding you... it's for our youth group or people who come often enough or to big stuff.  ummm yeah josh and i decided to push back the RSVP date probably till about a week before it happens.  because there's so much going on and then mt hermon's in 9 DAYS WOOT WOOT!!  can't wait for that... but anyway... yes this is a reminder not to forget and mark your calenders for july 20 which should be a friday.  it's the friday before VBS.  so just reminding everyone

so now i'll update on my life.  well it's been fun this summer so far.  work can be tiring but it's also rewarding... especially the money.  hahaha.  but tsutomu is a very good teacher.  my sensei... love him to death.  i really dont' think i could ask for a better trainer.  and yeah sleeping nine hours each day is wonderful.  especially when you go to bed at 1 or 2 i nthe morning.  hahaha lovin it

but then we had a surprise party for ben on sundy.  and the unthinkable happened... because i brought cake.  silly me i was only trying to get rid of it.  but then jen gets the brilliant idea of caking me.  and so she was scheming with people like five feet in front of me and i was like .... oh no you're not going to!  so i kept my distance and ran into the house.  but then they have no boundaries so they got me in the house after some people left.  originally ben stuck it in my face, but he didn't get much cause i grabbed his hand.  then jen being the instigator she is took it out of his hand and basically smeared it all over my face.  oh man... and then i grabbed some and tried to stuff it in her face but got it in her hair and then she started complaining about cake getting on the floor so i was like whatever and stopped.  but then she stuck more cake in my face!  that girl has no sense of when to quit.... so i went to the bathroom and cleaned off my face.  then she kept trying to make a truce with me and i would allow no such thing.  not till i got my revenge... which came wednesday

wednesday was the beach day.  so the day before i was running for like half an hour and plotting exactly how i'd get my revenge.  so i came up with a great plan.  but then at the beach...all my plans changed because a better oppurtunity came.  she was face down on a towel soaking up some rays... and the wheels started turning in my brain.  mwhahahaha i had seen this before from went i went to the akaogi's house.  kenta had used the technique on mits before.  so i copied him... which was i sat on her, pinned her arms under my knees, and tickled her.  oh sweet revenge!  hahaha but i must say... mits is more squirrely when getting tickled than her.  but still it was great to do.  and then later it was even better when jen kept throwing balls at tyler and he picked her up, ran to the ocean, and just dropped her in.  hahahaha that was the best.  she came up wet and angry.  oh man my wife is so funny.  and if you don't know her you'll meet her rafting.  cause she's cominggggg. 

so yeah... that's about it.  maybe on myspace you'll see some pictures up from caking and whatnot.  or maybe here.  anywyas... i should go practice since i'll be working tomorrow.  DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE FORMAL!