CHRIST, rhymes, & Life

" Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself." - Ephesians 5:25-28 Men, it's time for us to step up too. Whether you're married or not this is the way we should treat women. God's way should be our standard. Not what the world tells us. The beauty of a woman is not defined by their outward appearance. That's just flesh. Meat on bones. It fades! Would you want guys checking out your daughters, not seeing past the skin, with sex on their minds? I know for a fact I wouldn't. It is disrespectful to so many people. God. Her. Her parents. Her future husband. Think about it. We need to have a Godly perspecti...

" Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;    but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised." - Proverbs 31:30 Man, I used to be so shallow. I had it all wrong. I used to have such a worldly view on what beauty was. I was blind to what true beauty was. I expected to have a fine woman as my wife. That's what the world had me thinking. Outward appearance used to attract me so much. But what good is that? What is pleasing to the eye is not beauty. It's superficial. That all fades. I hate seeing girls try to attract attention to themselves, doing anything they can to make themselves look better. I hate seeing guys fall for this too! Sorry if what I say in this offends anyone but this is just what I believe. I do not want to walk around and see that everywhere I go. It's disgrossting to me! I see too many girls wearing pieces of fabric and calling it clothing. So much makeup you can't even tell what they really look like. Yes, we're all a little self-...

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever." I am so thankful for having an amazing God, who loves me in a way I cannot understand. For the cross. For every single blessing in my life, from family to friends, all of which I do not deserve. All I have is from Him, and I should not have any of it. I can go on and on listing everything but to put it simply, I have all I need. Thank you God, for everything.

" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." - Romans 11:36 I've seen so many people give glory to creations rather than the Creator and turn their focus from Him. Yes, God's creations are beautiful and His blessings are nice. But we tend to look at these rather than God. He's the only reason these things exists. Jesus spoke the universe into the existence and created everything we know! So why do we often give so much attention to these things rather than the one who deserves it? " Do not love the world or the things in the world" (1 John 2:15). Many prayers begin by thanking God for blessings. There's nothing wrong with this. But when most of the focus is on that, it's a problem. It's selfish to just thank God for what He's done in your life! He does not exist to just give us a bunch of things. He is not good because He blesses us. He's just good. "'No one is good - except ...

" This is the day that the LORD has made;  let us rejoice and be glad in it." - Psalm 118:24 Every day I remember that verse, thanks to a good friend of mine. I used to wake up in the morning and think, "Ah man, another day..." Now I wake up and think, "Man, another day!" There's no such thing as a regular day. Every day is special because God has made it. He planned it out. He blesses us with another day and we can choose to either go through the motions or find joy in it. Of course, not every day is going to be rainbows and sunshine. But I definitely appreciate every one and try to treat it as special. I know I'm living in the Christ and God blesses me abundantly, so I can just rejoice and be glad because I know I have God. The fact that every day is a new day holds more meaning to me. Every morning and every night I ask God to renew me. Just as Jesus said, "Each day has enough trouble of it's own" (Matthew 6:34) . In the mor...

" When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" - Psalm 8:3-4 There are times when I just think, "Who am I?" When I spend time with God in prayer and I'm about to ask for something for myself, I think about how much I don't deserve anything. Too often, I think I'm important or want attention or think what I've done deserves something.  But in reality, I'm just a sinful man. I fall and turn my back on God every day when I disobey Him. And the conviction from the Spirit weighs pretty heavily on me. Yet, " neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38) . Through it all, He loves me the same. God is ...

" Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:6-7 I am at peace. I would say that I'm a pretty stress free person compared to most. I don't worry too much about things that people usually do and even with all that I have on my plate, such as school and ministry, I don't ever really feel overwhelmed. For example, throughout the college admissions process, I wasn't really worried about where I was going to go and even as I was about to begin at UCSD I wasn't nervous. Some people called me crazy for this but I just knew that God was in control of things and still is. He's going to put me where He wants me and do what He wants with me. I trust Him with my life. " And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, ...

Prelude to a Kiss by Alicia Keys

In a commercial, Michael Jordan thinks about the question, "What if?" I know it's not good to dwell on the past, but who doesn't think this? I do it so much. Our past experiences have shaped us to be who we are today. But what if they were different, what if we could change them? Then life would be perfect right? Of course, it's easy to see the mistake after we make it. A wise man once told me that hindsight is always 20/20. Coulda, shoulda, woulda. It's tough for me when I look back on my past. There's so much that I don't like about it. I can easily laugh at how dumb and immature I used to be. But I'm disgusted by it. There are so many things I would I could change or just never happened. But what good would that be? It's easy to recognize flaws. Negatives often overshadow positives. But in reality, what I've been blessed with far outweighs the crap in my life and I'm sure this is true for most, if not all, of us. After all, I hav...

" I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." - John 10:10 Everyone says they want to live life to the fullest. A lot of people say they are doing it. But for so many people this consists of things such as partying, drinking, drugs, sex, and other things of this world. That lifestyle is all empty! Although I was never a part of that lifestyle, I've seen it all too much. The value you put into things like that is a waste. It gets you nowhere. Sure, you can enjoy it for the time but it's all temporary. Things of this world are temporary. You can be the biggest baller but " what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?" (Matthew 16:26) Of course, people say that you only live one life so you might as well enjoy it as much as you can. However, as I heard Pastor Barry of Community Bible Church say, we are not human beings living a temporary spiritual experience but spiritual beings living a temporary human experien...

" 'Woe to me!'...For I am a man of unclean lips..." - Isaiah 6:5 Every day I remind myself how unworthy I am of God's love. Even last night, as I was reflecting on my past, I was disgusted. It's so crazy what God has done in my life and is still doing. I am blessed beyond belief. Now, I'm about to take a big step. I've been blessed with such a great opportunity to do His work. I'm humbled by it because I know I am so undeserving of it. I just graduated high school, barely starting college, and only 17. Yet, God has put me in such a position of leadership. This is a huge commitment, but I'm ready for it. Not by myself, but by the Spirit. That's the only way I'll be able to do this. I know He will continue to work in my heart and prepare it so that I'm able to do this. I don't know what He sees in me, but I trust Him. I'm excited and I look forward to being a part of what He's doing. It's time to step it up. As high ...

" For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." - Matthew 6:21 We all value something. These are things our minds focus on. Things we put a lot of time and energy into, whether in thought or in action. Whatever meaning they have to us, these things have a lot of worth to us. And whatever we value, it has an affect on our lives. In a non-idolatrous way, I value music and sports. Throughout the day, if I'm not listening to music, I have some going through my head. During football or basketball season, I can't go a week without watching it and I keep up with it throughout the week. I love these things, but at the same time I would definitely prefer to go to see Alicia Keys live rather than just listen to her album or watch Kobe Bryant in person rather than on TV. I'm sure that whatever we value, we would exchange it for something even more valuable. In Matthew 6 , Jesus talks about how we should store our treasures in Heaven rather than on earth. Th...

Well, I was invited by a friend to Mira Mesa's See You at the Pole this morning, so I went. I was blessed to see how God is working at this school as well as the fruits of past leaders, including myself. Although I start school tomorrow, I know that it will be a lot different from high school, which I will miss. There are a few things in particular that hit me pretty hard when I think about them. First of all, I know I won't be playing football, mainly because my school is lame and doesn't have a team. It's one of the few things I have a passion for. I think about it every day and wish I had the chance to go back and experience it all again, from practices to game days. I hardly ever say I deserve anything, but I feel like I deserved a lot more than what I got. I know I worked harder than anyone on that team, except for maybe a couple, if even. I put in work on my own, spent extra hours in the weight room, pushed myself in practice, never complained, did all the little ...

I know you're gonna miss me. It's been great but it's finally over. I start college next week. It was cool having so much free time since I didn't have football practice. I got plenty of sleep, which I loved a lot. I had so much fun, playing basketball, finding an interest in poker, going to Young Life camp, and everything else. Of course, you brought a lot of changes in my life. I am no longer a high schooler. And I actually miss things in high school. Like football and interaction with people. But I am looking forward to what's next. Some relationships faded away, while some grew. It's crazy 'cause I hardly talk to some of the people who I were pretty close with a few months ago. And I grew closer to people that I wasn't close with a few months ago. Like Jarwyn and Stacey. I actually miss some people too. Just like Gordie said in Stand by Me, "Friends come in and out of your life, like busboys in a restaurant." People left for college, includ...

"And what does the LORD require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy    and to walk humbly with your God." - Micah 6:8 All God wants is to have a relationship with us. He died for that! And this is all He requires from us in that relationship. It's pretty simple. Nothing big. It doesn't matter what we call ourselves. It's not about having a name or title. What matters is our walk with God and our relationship with Him. Our faith is our own. So value it. Take God seriously. Because it's the most important relationship in our lives. It's not something we live out at church, Bible study, around a certain crowd, or when we feel like it. It's more than Sunday. It's a lifestyle. Act justly. Just because we are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8) does not mean we can do whatever we want. If we choose to follow God, He calls us to live in righteousness (1 Peter 1:16) . He didn't save us so that we would live in sin. God is in the l...

One of the things I wanted to do my senior year was type up my testimony and give to my friends to read it. Not to draw attention to myself but to let people know how God has affected my life. I had the chance to speak on this in front of the Christian clubs a few times and I've even told it to a few people personally, but I never got around to doing this. Here it is. I was born on February 5, 1993; the third out of four boys: Frank, Robin, me, then Brandon. My loving mother worked her butt off to support the family and continues to do so, while my dad didn't really fulfill his role, not showing any of us how to be a man. I was never really close with any of my brothers on a personal level, but I looked up to my older brothers and learned from them. Growing up, our family considered ourselves Buddhist, though we weren't religious. Socially, I wanted others to like me. I wanted to be cool. I took my cues from what I saw around me, whether it was people, music, or televisio...