God polishing his watercolor skills...

The following pictures were both among the greatest I have taken in my time in SB, but also one of the most costly. It wasn't costly in terms of time, it was priceless to watch nature's beauty unraveling right before my eyes... but in the three locations that I moved to snap some pictures there were pesky mosquitoes to keep me company. Three days later, I'm still periodically itching my legs and arms. But hey, it was totally worth it.

Check it out... the last couple pictures probably explain why I posted this as God touching up on his watercolor, it was absolutely amazing. Looking at this stuff all but confirms my belief in an awesome, powerful, sovereign God that created us in his image and loves us unconditionally despite our sinful nature. Heck, he came down in the flesh to live amongst us, see these spectacular masterpiece sunsets from the ground, and ultimately bore the brunt of ALL sin so that we could have everlasting life. It absolutely blows my mind just writing this.

I can only wonder, conjecture, and muse to how spectacular and awesome sunsets are going to be in heaven...

Enjoy!

A Bitchin Bike from Bitchin Parents :)

To celebrate my 20th birthday, my mom and dad fulfilled a lifelong dream I had and got me a beach cruiser! When I went home for Thanksgiving last year, my dad took me down to Pacific Beach to look at them and I fell in love with the one I have now the second I saw it. First of all, I love the color of the bike... very similar to the color jade don't you think? The handlebars look way cool, and to top it off the logo of the company has a skull with rifles! Who wouldn't dig that?

Anyway, to commemorate its off-roading prowess going where no beach cruiser has gone before, I took some pics of it during one of the sunsets from last week.

I wonder what my parents will get me this year? My birthday is only 5 weeks away... I wonder if they'll get me some fine wine and classy wine glasses... I can dream can't I?

:)

Pics from the week

Well right now I'm in the library, getting ready to gear up for some intense hours of studying, and I'm thinking I'll probably have to blog more often in here, I just posted 3 pictures up in less than 30 seconds. At home, this would take about 5 minutes. Haha.

Overwhelmed

This past week has been quite overwhelming. I had such a fantastic last weekend down in Long Beach, I was able to bond with a couple of my guys and meet tons of new, cool people!

But after the awesomeness of the retreat, I was pulled back into reality. I had a midterm on Monday, that didn't go all that great, and then was swamped with work and bible study and other engagements. Before I knew it, it was Friday, and I'm was totally not ready for my three midterms coming up this week.

Now its Sunday, and unfortunately I'm falling in that same predicament. On Tuesday I have a midterm at 8am, for my history of photography class, which I have to have 80 slides memorized by year and photographer. Then at 3:30, I have a second midterm for my Gender Communication class. I'm feeling fairly confident for that one, as I've outlined all the lectures and done the readings. Then Wednesday I have my Persuasion Comm class... which is going to be pretty difficult I think.

I've been falling into the pit lately... thinking that even if I fail to adequately prepare for my midterms God will still love me unconditionally. Yes, this is totally true and it really has transformed my life. However, I am using that as an excuse not to study very well... which (to me) isn't a good thing. I'm using God's unconditional love for me as an excuse to do poorly.

My housemates have this philosophy and I always scoffed at them last year when they would be content with just barely passing classes. Maybe they have a point, maybe I'm too prideful in my schoolwork and God is trying to humble me a little bit. Or maybe they're using God as an excuse too? Did Jesus die on the Cross for us to just do the minimum to scrape by in our responsibilities? In my opinion, I think we're not bringing him glory if we're using that as an excuse.

There's a lot I don't know and that I am unsure about, but what I do know is that I'm going to have to kick it into high gear tomorrow with no screwing around.

I wish I had more time; I miss blogging and I've taken some awesome, awesome pics over the past week. I'll try and post them sometime in the coming week. Freedom for me is Weds afternoon. Then after that it's Halloween Time in Isla Vista. The Craziness beckons...

Busy busy week!

Well, I'm predicting this is going to be my last blog for awhile. I've got a lot on my plate with a small spoon at my disposal. Lame metaphor I know, but hopefully you get the idea.

This week I've been busy planning bible study, leading a bible study, and being in a bible study. On top of this, I've been meeting with friends to have coffee, I've worked at my video camera job, and I've gone and taken pics of the sunset; some of which I'll post on here.

In the next couple days, a plethora of stuff needs to be accomplished. I have class at 8 tomorrow (Thursday), and 3:30, so I'll have a nice gap to study for my midterm on Monday for my Comparative Politics class on Political Violence. I'll also be doing other readings so not to fall behind. Why all this ambition to study and get ahead you ask? Well, on Friday, I'm going to Long Beach for a Campus Crusade retreat. It's going to be tons of fun to connect with a bunch of new freshmen and transfer students. I'm stoked for it; but two weekends in a row with little or no work is not good!

Well that's it for now, this should be my last blog til Monday or Tues, but its all good! Here's some cool pictures of a sunset, its the first we've had in a couple days cause we've had constant rain!

Enjoy!

Pics from the weekend!

Now that I'm struggling adjusting to reality (aka schoolwork) I figured it would be fun to reminisce about this past weekend and post some fun pics. Enjoy!



This was taken our first night, it's a fountain at the new attraction Pixie Hollow. Yes I know that's girly, but I think it looks pretty cool. I used a color accent and I think it looks cool; granted, I may be biased.



I have a picture of the entrance to Adventureland with no people! What a marked accomplishment right? Well not really. On Saturday we got into the park at 7:00 and we were able to ride some rides in Tomorrowland, but they have Adventureland/Frontierland and the others connected to it closed. We made sure we were there early, cause we wanted to ride the Haunted Mansion before the crowds. During Halloween they deck it out with stuff from nightmare before christmas, and its pretty much one of the coolest things ever in my book (although don't tell my sister that cause I'm not a Disney nerd :P)




My mom and sis on the Matterhorn, the ride is always pretty bumpy, but it also always is a good time!


Like I mentioned in my last post, this trip was set at a leisurely pace. This pic was taken on the Mark Twain Riverboat. I just happened to look down at the top of the railing and saw all our faces! Kinda weird and artsy I guess.

The two pics down below are part of the revamp going on at California Adventure. They've considered the park a failure apparently and they are trying to boost its popularity by changing the look of the park. The Ferris Wheel looks pretty unique, better than the awkward Sun they used to have on there.




My last pic I took with my Mom and sis, this was on the double decker bus! We've been going to the park for years, but had never gone on the bus before. It was cool looking at Main St. and the rest of Disneyland from the second story of the bus!

Great Weekend

The past couple days have been... Awesome! I got to go to Disneyland con mi mama y mi hermanita, and it was so great to see them. I drove down Friday morning and met up with them in the early afternoon to hit the trail at Disneyland!

It was a weekend that truly flew by, but every minute was priceless. I love my family, I have no idea I've been blessed with such awesome parents and sister, but I thank God for them as often as I can.

Halloween and autumn is in the air, and Disneyland takes every opportunity for promoting that stuff. It was cool seeing the park decked out in Halloween colors is cool, but some of the stuff was over the top. They had a really cool fireworks display honoring the villains of Disneyland, but that is when the "over the top" statement comes into play... on three occasions they had characters that said 1) I'm going to cast a spell on you 2) Let's scream loud to awaken the dead 3) Let's get the spirits of Halloween to come forth

Now I know this is all in good-natured fun (which I'm all for it) but it was a little bit weird to me. Anyway, I don't want to be a debbie downer and say that Disneyland is wrong to say these things, it just wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world.

On a hugely more positive note, I had a lot of fun joking around with my mom and sister. For the first time in a year (such a long time right?) we had our annual passes again. Usually, we get in the park right at 8, and stay until about 2 when it gets super crowded. I actually prefer it when we are staying in a hotel, as we can go at a lackadaisical pace and do things we don't normally do.

On Friday night, we checked out this place called Pixie Hollow that was real peaceful with cool fountains and we got to take some fun pictures. We also saw that cool, but slightly weird firework display (which we rarely see cause we leave during the day). On Saturday, we went on the Mark Twain riverboat and sat down at the bow of the ship and that was cool/interesting. We also got to see Fantasmic! That was pretty legit, not gonna lie. My sister is obsessed with it and was able to give us all the lowdown on the new dragon they have. Apparently it's called 'Murphy' in reference to Murphy's law, meaning whatever can go wrong will happen. Don't ask me how she knows that, it scares me. ;)

Anyway, I'll post some pictures later on, I have a lot of work to do in little time!

Walk Forgiven

This past Tuesday, our second bible study went pretty well. Our discussions were a little bit better as the guys started to divulge more information and answering questions. It is still a work in progress, as some of the readings are difficult to produce good discussion questions.

Our first reading was from Luke 7:36-50, with Jesus visiting a house of the Pharisees and then a women who enjoyed the life of the town (i.e. most likely a prostitute) came and washed His feet with an alabaster jar of perfume. The Pharisees scoffed at the idea that this "prophet" would allow someone of such a grimy social life to touch his feet. Jesus stumps the pharisees by telling them one of his many parables, that if a man who owned a debt equal to one day's wage vs. 50 days, and canceled them both, the man with the greater debt would love the person more than the person with the small debt.

This relates to the sinful nature of man, that those who have sinned more and then are redeemed, will love God more than those who were fortunate enough to be raised as a God-fearing man or woman. I've seen this in my own experience, as there are guys who become Christ-followers that have their hearts on fire to follow Jesus rather than supposed lukewarm Christians.

In this story, the faith of the woman saved her from her life of sin. Our faith redeems us in the same way. For me, it is a little bit different because I have either known about or experienced a relationship with God pretty much my whole life. In some ways, I'm like the Pharisees-- although I'm (hopefully) not as quick to judge others and that I don't doubt the reliability of Jesus.

From this study, we investigated how we should walk forgiven and no-one is beyond forgiveness. We did another reading for this, which can be found in 1 John 1:9-2:2, which we essentially learn that Jesus is our defense attorney fighting not only on our own behalf, but on behalf of the entire world! This is trippy, and something that once again I can not wrap my head around. But I'm okay with that, like appreciating the beauty of a sunset, I do not need to understand but just know that he's taking care of business.

Well that's enough for now, right now I'm with my mom and sis at the Happiest Place on Earth, so my next blogs will consist of the happy travels from this adventure!

Til then, cheers!

Distant Rumblings

The last couple days have been a bit of a whirlwind for me. Numerous appointments with friends, catching up on reading, and other commitments have consumed the vast majority of supposed 'free' time. It's great being, busy, I'm certainly not complaining. It's tough though. It's tough to maintain consistency across commitments. Inevitably, there are some areas that are not getting the attention they merit. Unfortunately, I've pushed some of my schoolwork off the platform to focus on other commitments. Of course, then I realize that the reason I'm here in the first place is to go to school. Or is it? Did God put me here (and I'm 100% sure He indeed desired me to go here) just go through the monotony of school and pursue research grants for my own glory? I'm thinking probably not. I'm thinking he put me here for something bigger, though I'm not exactly sure yet. It could take the form of leading a bible study, something from this experience might stick with me for some time. It's all a mystery, and in due time I suppose I'll come to know it. Until then, I'm just gonna keep living without losing touch on what really matters. In my mind, that includes doing decent in school while maintaining an active social life that glorifies God. I don't know all, nor will I ever claim to, but I'm pretty sure doing well in school brings glory to His name too. After all, that's why we're put on this earth isn't it?

Okay this should end my blogging blitz for today, I've got class in a few minutes and after that I'm going to be busy busy getting ready for bible study. We have our second one tonight, I'm excited to see how many guys show up and I'm also excited to hang with them afterward. Eric and I are going to invite them out to Campus Point after for some prayer and/or worship and just hang out. It should be cool, I'll def blog about that when I get a chance later on in the week. Love you all!

Some More Pics from the Weekend that Was

Proof that I take my own pics!

In case their was any doubt that I don't take the pictures I do, I now have proof!! From that sunset a couple days ago, I took an egocentric approach to capturing this beautiful, natural process-- I took my own picture along with it!

So here's the proof...

I know I should be sleeping...

...but I've had an urge to blog all day and it would be impossible for me to find rest unless I do so right away! Kinda kidding but not really. Anyway, I'll try to keep this brief so I can hit the sack soon.

Since this morning (well since yesterday really) I've had the urge to go out and take pictures of another sunset and just as I was starting to settle in to do some reading, my instincts took over and I got together my travel pack and my trusty beach cruiser and hit the road!

However, it was a battle with the elements. As I mentioned in my last post I wasn't feeling a 100%, which probably it wasn't the best idea that I had this impulse. My illness was compounded by the fact that I was biking into a headlong wind (not to mention uphill!) for a considerable time.

Luckily no one else was out and about because I was coughing up a real storm for awhile there. Anyway, I took my beach cruiser offroading in a place where no other beach cruiser should ever go, but I'm hardcore and I like stretching the limits a bit. Then I cam across a spot on the cliffs about 3-4 miles from my house that was absolutely beautiful. It was almost a raised platform to look at the sunset, and had a cool contrast with three patron palm trees that have seen countless gorgeous sunsets. In addition, there was a vein in the cliffs that formed a path down to the water; if I had been in better health (and athletic shoes more sturdy than a pair of vans), I probably would have ventured down the path to snap some photos from the ground. All in all though, I think some of the pictures turned out pretty neat. Here's a few of them... Enjoy!

A Weekend Indoors

Santa Barbara is absolutely beautiful this time of year. During Fall there is certain crispness in the air and the sunsets seem even more majestic than usual. For the past two days, however, I've missed it.

Since Thursday night, I have been consigned to the confines of my room. Swine flu has been going around here in SB like a wildfire on a dry, grassy knoll. A couple of my close friends that I have been hangin out with day in and day out had the symptoms of the dreaded flu but would still want to hang out with me. I've been busy busy busy for the past two weeks, and in my reflection times (which have been considerable as I would lay drowsily in bed)I realized I had not taken a "sabbath" in quite some time. I was doing something every evening for the past 12 days or so, which probably led to my getting sick.

I slept all day on Friday; I could scarcely walk 5 paces to use the restroom that's connected to my room. I was sapped of all strength and was quite miserable. I had lots of time to pray in my lousy state, and it was encouraging to realize that God is sovereign over all things. I may be afflicted with an illness, but I know He sits on the throne of the universe and that was comforting in a way.

Now its Saturday, and I have been able to do a host of activities today that I was unable to do yesterday. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll be feeling well enough to get on with my objectives for the week, as it is going to be quite busy indeed.

With any luck I'll be able to celebrate feelin better by taking pictures of a glorious sunset tomorrow!