Mike's life...and everything in between

new blog

2006-07-03T22:25:00.000-07:00

I decided that I was frustrated with MySpace blog and I'm back on Blogger (though I will still post on MySpace occasionally.)

New blog is here: http://godismintyfresh.blogspot.com

moving to myspace

2006-03-23T21:54:00.000-08:00

I'm going to stop blogging here and do my blogging on myspace because more people are reading there. Follow this link to get there: blog.myspace.com/sneakypig

airsoft

2006-02-06T10:16:00.000-08:00

During the Super Bowl halftime show a bunch of guys got together to play airsoft at the Frandsen's home. It was a blast. There were twelve guys playing and five of them had automatics (the rest of us had spring pistols.) During the first game Dale decided to leave me with three wounds (see picture) on my arm. During the second game Deven left me with a very sore pectoral as he hosed my chest from about 5 feet away. All in all - most fun I have had in a while.

C & H

2006-01-29T14:09:00.000-08:00

Some days I feel like that.

pandora

2006-01-24T21:22:00.000-08:00

Check out this cool site on the web. Pandora is an internet radio. You tell them which artists you like and they play artists that correspond to what you put in. It's pretty sweet.

www.pandora.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2005-12-31T20:31:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year -- yeah I know I'm not posting this at midnight, but I have to drive back to Redding tomorrow morning. Hope all of you had a good night and didn't party too hardy.

Talk to you again next year....

sunshine -- gotta love it

2005-12-30T09:27:00.000-08:00

Well, after an 18 hour drive (the drive took 5 hours longer because of traffic from Sacramento to Blythe) I arrived in Mesa at 2:30am on Wednesday. I have never been more tired or sore in my life. The last couple of days I have just been hanging out with the family playing games and talking. It has been relaxing and wonderful. The best part about the trip so far has been the sunshine. It has been no clouds and the temp is low-to-mid 70's. After all the rain Redding has been having I forget how much of a blessing sunshine is.

I'll be driving back to Redding on Monday. Don't miss home....yet.

One of the best sites of 2005

2005-12-21T15:27:00.000-08:00

There's a great website you should check out, it was named one of the best in 2005. I checked it out today and, let's just say I had to change pants because I was laughing so hard...

Stuff on my Cat

trip

2005-12-20T22:27:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let you all know that I will be traveling to AZ next week. I'll be there from the 26th to the 30th or 31st (all depends on how much I love my family.) I'll be staying at my grandparents. Looking forward to getting away for a few. Things have been pretty stressful. Plus having a good 15 hour drive with the Lord will be good. Bummer though Mikaela can't come with me, but like the saying says "absence makes the heart grow fonder."

Until then...peace.

CoN

2005-12-09T03:18:00.000-08:00

Well I just got home from watching Chronicles of Narnia. And all I have to say is......WOW!! The movie was really good. If you are a fan of the books than I believe you like this movie. The 4 children (Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy) do a good job; none of them stood out as being a fantastic actor. But I do have to admit Georgie Henley, the girl who plays Lucy, is just adorable throughout the entire movie.

Weta Workshop (who did the effects for LOTR) and ILM (owned by Lucas) do the effects in the movie and I have to say that the effects are top notch. Each animal has individual hairs (Aslan has incredible detail that it's almost breathtaking) and the centaurs, fawns, and minotaurs also look amazing. The only special effect that is slightly cheese-ola is the snow. You can tell it's all potato flakes, which all in all is not bad for being my only gripe. Throughout the movie is the wonderful witty, and sometimes dry, British humor that does bring a chuckle or two.

The scene that is just riviting is the scene with the Stone table. The parallel between Aslan and Christ is very powerful. I was actually brought to tears because I flashed back to moments in the Passion. An incredibly powerful moment when once again Christians are gently reminded of the sacrifice of Christ dying on the cross for sins. As Aslan paid Edmund's debt, so Christ paid our debt as well. Christ took on our sins so that we may be able to stand before God washed white as snow and made whole.

Thank you Lord for that reminder tonight.

Chronicles of Narnia website: Click here

Rhapsody

2005-12-04T22:31:00.000-08:00

Tonight I have spent 3 hours on Real Rhapsody. I've been listening to some bands that I grew up with high school like Gin Blossoms, Soundgarden, Blues Traveler, Alanis Morissette, Fuel, Goo Goo Dolls, Bush, and Smashing Pumpkins. I also checked some "newish" bands/people I've never heard such as Audioslave, Jack Johnson and Jason Mraz. I really like all three.

It has been a great trip down memory lane. I end this post listening to "Particle Man" by They Might Be Giants.

long time, no hear

2005-11-28T23:40:00.001-08:00

So I guess it has been a while since I've actually typed on my blog. I decided it was time to pick this up again because I really do enjoy it and, much to my amazement, people do read it!

Life has been pretty busy. Youth group is on a roll and moving, this semester of school is winding down, and many smaller things like playing WoW (World of Warcraft) whenever I can.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday Mikaela and I drove down to Escondido with her family to celebrate the life of Mikaela's grandmother, Betty, who went to be with the Lord a few weeks ago. It was a great trip. The memorial service was wonderful and the weather was great.

On our way back from Escondido we found that it had snowed in Redding. In 12 hours we went from 68 degrees to 35 degrees. Needless to say 35 degrees is cold. Supposedly there might be more snow tonight or tomorrow but I'm not holding my breath.

I did have one discovery on this trip that might have future bearing on how the government will obtain information from prisoners. It goes something like this...
Stick the offender in a mid-size car that can fit five people. Put the offender in the back seat and make them sit in the middle then put two broad shouldered guards back there. Get on I-5 and start driving (if you have ever driven on I-5 from Redding to Los Angeles you understand.)

Phase one: As you drive keep the offender drinking any sort of liquid, especially anything that will fill his bladder faster. Now only stop at rest stops when the offender starts screaming or crying.

Phase two: Keep the offender in the middle back seat with the two broad shouldered guards and allow the offender very little movement. At some point the offender will realize that their body is going completely numb and that they haven't felt their legs or feet for over a couple of hours.

Phase three: Constantly shift between heat and air conditioning. For maximum effect have all 5 guards complain,at once, that they are either too cold or too hot.

Phase four: Put an IPod on shuffle with over 3,000 songs on it but only play the same 30 songs over and over for 6 of the 12 hours.

Phase five: Allow the 5 guards to constantly change seats. Let the offender stay in the middle back seat.

Phase six: Have all 5 guards start playing the Alphabet game and have them all at once start complaining they've been stuck on "Q" for over an hour.

Phase seven (The final phase): Do the above six phases simultaniously while driving at dangerous speeds and tailgating semi trucks and other vehicles larger than the vehicle being driven. Amazingly you will only have to do this twice before the offender will begin spilling any international secrets.

Good night!

P.S. - I'm not abdicating torture. This was done all in fun. The above joke may or may not be autobiographical. You decide.

Death by Hiking

2005-09-06T20:42:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday was my 27th birthday and so celebrate my family decided to remind me how old I'm getting. We went for an 8 mile hike around Mt. Lassen. We started at Bumpass Hell (still smell sulfer every once in a while) then went to Crumbaugh Lake (pictured below) and then we went to Mill Creek Falls. Actually it was an enjoyable hike, even though I'm really sore today. I got to spend some quiet time with the Lord along the trail and just reflect over the last year of my life. After the hike we went out for Chinese food, which after all that hiking tasted really good. Caleb and fiancee, Becky, came with us and it was awesome to get to spend the day with them.

Well, I have to do some homework and from my previous post you can tell how I feel about that. TTFN.

Crumbaugh Lake

nope...I still hate homework

2005-08-30T16:01:00.000-07:00

The hardest thing about school I believe is homework. I say this because I just finished seven hours of statistics homework that I did over two and a half days. I actually had to finish homework before I could do my actual "I-do-this-to-have-a-paycheck" work. Oh well... only two more years of homework.

But I have one cause for joy this week: youth group is starting tomorrow. I really enjoy each Wednesday night(ok - in reality just most of them), but I love watching God at work during those couple of hours. I'm also really excited about the direction the Lord is taking the youth group. I believe it is going to be a new season in Remnant Youth, which means things will be weird at first, but it will eventually iron itself out.

So, I'll be doing much shorter posts when time allows it. Pray for me as I now have to juggle school and youth group. It usually takes me a month or so to get used to doing both again.

Also, keep the areas of Hurricane Katrina in your prayers. I was watching the news this morning and my jaw kept dropping at the devistation. I'll keep my ears open if I hear anything from there that needs psecific prayer.

blog for thought

2005-08-22T22:01:00.000-07:00

nothing exciting happening lately, so I've got nothing to say. I've been catching up on other peoples blogs and found a link to this article. Kind of makes you think....

Church Advertising

first day of school

2005-08-15T19:06:00.000-07:00

wow, I was just looking and realized I haven't posted in awhile...time flies when you are having fun! Well, today I went to school for my first day of my last sememster at Shasta College. I'm going to receive my AA this sememester and than its on to Crown College! Woohoo! I can't wait for this sememster to end so I can start at Crown. I'm going to be doing their online program and after two years I will receive my BS in Ministry. There's finally a light at the end of the tunnel.

This sememester I'm taking three classes I completely loath: 1) Intro to Biology (w/ a lab), 2) English 1B (Reading and Comprehension - found out there's a paper due every week) and 3) Intro to Statistics ( I HATE MATH!!!!!!!!!!!) So this is going to be a long, rough semester. I'm praying I won't go crazy.

Other than that the last couple weeks have been filled with working (and finishing) the youth group website, playing a LOT of Guild Wars (I have to cut back now that school is starting), planning for this year of youth group (funny part is I've got enough stuff for five years), and drinking an obscence amount of coffee drinks at Starbucks and YAKS.

I love coffee......mmmmmmmmm mint mocha chip frappachino..............

Sleepless in Redding

2005-08-04T00:11:00.000-07:00

This is the third night in a row that I haven't been able to sleep. The first two nights I ended up getting out of bed (after lots of tossing and turning) and playing video games till 2 am. Tonight I ended up coming out and doing some work for youth group. I have no idea real conclusion as to why I can't sleep, so I will just continue to pass the time until my body finally gives up.

I was debating about posting this...I think I'm going to anyway. (This is your warning - this post is going to be a little long.)

God has been speaking to me lately about our relationship. I read in a book recently (Purpose Driven Youth Ministry by Doug Fields) a statement that has opened my eyes. In the book Doug Fields makes the comment that "...(in the beginning of his ministry) [he] was spending all [his] time doing the work of God without being a man of God." I read the statement without much pause, but two days later God brought that statement back to me full force. I was reading my Bible at breakfast and I was reading Psalm 1 when these verses jumped off the page " (v.2-3) But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water which yield its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers."

Then God - being the amazing person He is - prompts me to read John 15.4-5 "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

At this point I'm blown away - here are two scriptures with powerful pictures. #1 - a tree drawing nourishment from a stream and is bearing fruit and #2 - a branch bearing fruit as it draws nourishment from the vine. The tree and the branch is me; the water and the vine are God.

All of the sudden I realized that my relationship with Christ is far more important than I know. If I'm not abiding, hanging out, or enjoying Christ I'm shriveling up and dying. Worst of all it becomes evident in my life. My ministry suffers because I'm trying to do everything in my own strength instead of abiding and letting Christ guide and direct me. My marriage suffers because I'm not growing in Christ-likeness and I don't love my wife like "Christ loves the church." All of the sudden I realize the direct connection between my "abiding" in Christ and everything else I do in my life: evangelism, worship, fellowship, etc. If I'm not abiding, I'm not getting the "water" or the "sap" which means I'm not getting nourishment to make my fruit grow. My fruit will just shrivel up and die.

Now I understand a little more about why Jesus made it a priority to go and be with the Father while he was here on earth. Jesus was "abiding". I also understand a little more why I must choose to spend time with God above all else. I need to "abide"; without it I die. I don't grow; I stagnate. I become like a stream that flows into a pool that has not outlet, the water becomes stagnate and gross. When the water has an outlet it constantly remains fresh.

I hope this encourages you. God bless.

vacation 1.5.67.42.7

2005-07-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

well Mikaela and I have finally reached the end of our vacation. Tomorrow we fly home and I can't wait to feel the wonderful 110 degree weather Redding has been having. We've had a full last couple of days...

Thursday - spent part of the day with Mikaela's aunt, uncle and four cousins. We rode go-carts and took a tour of Cortland (the place barbed wire was invented). For dinner they took us to a great pizza place - all pizza bows down to the place.

Friday - thankfully didn't do much; we were pretty wiped out from the last fews days. Hung out with the family and went to dinner at some Mexican restaraunt - it was no Chevy's (need I say more.)

Saturday - one more whirlwind tour of Chicago. This time we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo, which wasn't bad for a free zoo. Then we went to the Museum of Science and Industry. They had an exhibit on the last 50 hundreds years of video games. I got to go in and just play video games for free! I died and went to heaven. Mikaela and I also saw some other historic junk that I don't remember much about :) After that we went to a great Italian place and watched our waiter drop an ice cream cake some lady's back - it was hilarious. Thankfully, the lady just laughed it off.

Sunday - went to my parent's church. The guest speaker was awesome! I'll tell more about him some other time. We're home now awaiting the arrival of my step-sister and her kids, my step-brother and his two kids, Mikaela's aunt, uncle and their kids. I hope I survive.

Tomorrow - 8:00am (Redding time) Mikaela and I begin the journey home. We get to Redding around 2:30pm.

I need a vacation from my vacation.

vacation 1.2

2005-07-13T19:28:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that I've been away from Redding for seven days already. I miss home. Humidity sucks.

Today the fam went to Chicago. It's a beautiful city. We went to the aquarium (it was better than the one in Monterey - it had more variety) and we took a boat tour of the city (I really enjoyed this part - the guide was funny and knew lots of cool facts.) Between those two things we mainly walked around and looked at some different buildings, like the Sears tower.

Tomorrow, Mikaela and I are going to spend the day with her aunt. Then we have Friday off - maybe. We might go back into Chicago on Friday instead of Saturday. There's supposed to be a big sailboat race on Saturday.

I miss all of you guys already. I also really miss playing volleyball; I hope you guys did good tonight.

See you all at Family Camp.

vacation 1.0

2005-07-12T12:48:00.000-07:00

Well we survived driving across three states this weekend (Illinois, Indiana and Ohio). If you think Redding drivers are nuts, drivers out here make Redding drivers look like they obey every traffic law ever written.

Mikaela and I spent the weekend with my dad, stepmom and my brother. We had a lot of fun! They took us to King's Island (a lot like Great America but with better coasters - click the link if you want to see some of the coasters I rode.) I hadn't been to King's Island in nine years, so it was a blast to go there again. The rest of the time we hung out and relaxed which felt really good.

We arrived back at my parents house on Monday afternoon. My grandparents (Grammie and Pop-Pop) arrived on Sunday.

Today we went and saw my step-sister, her husband, my two nieces and nephew this afternoon. They're all so cute and very hyper. The oldest one, Melanie, said the funniest thing I have ever heard. She was holding a kitten (one of six) and she looked at Pop-Pop and said, "If you squeeze their tummies a little to hard, they fart." I was laughing so hard I had tears running down my face.

Check back soon more!

I'm leaving on a jet plane

2005-07-06T21:48:00.000-07:00

Off to see my family in Chicago. Mikaela and I leave tomorrow morning at 6:30am from Redding. There's a two hour lay over in San Fransisco, but it's okay. Anyhoo, as I'm out and aboot (I'm now Canadian) I'll take pictures and post them. I'll miss you all and I'll see you in time for family camp.

Ranting

2005-06-29T15:22:00.000-07:00

Okay I just got back from seeing "War of the Worlds" and here's my take:

First off, you would think that a movie who has one of the biggest directors (Spielberg), the biggest star in Hollywood (Cruise), and the biggest movie budget know to man ($135 million) would actually turn out to be something good. Boy, was I proved wrong. The major thing about the movie is that Spielberg had to rush production in order to get the movie out on time and it shows. The movie was very disjointed and you could tell Spielberg wanted to add extra scenes but didn't. There were a few army vs. aliens battles that didn't get shown; all you were given was a bunch of colored lights and loud BOOMS and BANGS.

My next issue is the whole part with Tim Robbins, who just shows up out of nowhere and is insanely mental. The parts are intense (which was cool), but the scene ends with something I was not prepared for. To save his daughter Cruise kills Robbins because Robbins won't shut up and Cruise is worried about the aliens coming back. So, basically I got to watch a justified killing.

My third issue is essentially the biggest. Cruise plays a father who doesn't know how to be a dad. Yet, he becomes an amazing through the course of the movie. Also, he is portrayed as a simple dock worker, but he seems to be five steps ahead of the aliens the whole time while everyone else around him is dying.

My last issue with the film is the aliens themselves.

But before I get to that let me talk about the cool stuff in the film: mainly the alien vessels. Thankfully, Spielberg decided to stick to Orson Well's classic here by giving the alien vessels the cool tripod legs. The alien ships are rally good.

Okay back to the aliens. The aliens are basically Independence Day knock-offs, but much cuter. It's like Spielberg dug around in the dumpster and found the first concept drawings of aliens from Independence Day and said "This will work."

In my opinion - wait till video or go see it at the bargain first showing price when you have nothing else to do. Please don't spend $10 to go see this movie.

4x4, E3x2, and 100 miles

2005-06-23T22:56:00.000-07:00

Lots to write about so I'll will be brief:

Yestersday I played volleyball for almost 4 hours at Big League Dreams. Boy, do my feet hurt bad today. The courts are sand and I played bare footed the whole time. But it's a good kind of pain. Our team is getting better. We sought some advice from Kelly Brazil (she goes to our church and teaches various sports at Shasta College). We finally won a game yesterday. Our official record is 1-7, but in the next couple of weeks we will start seeing some more wins. Even though I really don't care, I'm just having a blast playing volleyball again.
-------------------------------
today is Mikaela and my fourth wedding anniversary! We spent the day together, which is funny because this is the first official anniversary we actually did something together. the last couple of years we've been gone on our anniversary. So, we celebrated by going to see Star Wars: Episode III. I actually liked it better the second time. Probably because I wasn't so tired and hungry like the last time. The only downside was some family brought their two young kids. For the first half of the movie they kept talking and one of the kids was sick. How do I know this? Because she puked all over the floor! The smell was almost unbearable. On a personal note: if you have young children - DON'T TAKE THEM TO THE MOVIES! Hire a babysitter, that's what they are there for.
-------------------------------
This weekend Mikaela, Becky, Jeanie and I are going to help Mark at one of his races. This race is the Western States 100. For those of you don't know the race is a 100 mile ultra-marathon. Why would someone voluntarily run 100 miles for fun? I personally think it's because they're insane, but who am I to judge. Basically, the fam is Mark's official "support crew." Which means we meet him at specific aid stations to give him food, drink, change of shoes/clothes if he needs it and whatever else his hot, sweaty and tired body desires. The race begins Saturday at 5:00a.m. and ends Sunday at 11:00a.m. Mark has to run the race in 30 hours or less. If he runs over the 30 hours at some point they will yank him from the race. His goal is to run it in 24 hours, so we'll see. I'll post how he did when we get back.

Until them TTFN.

P.S. - please pray for my truck. It's been in the shop for almost a month and the mechanic doesn't know what is wrong with it. Please pray God will reveal the problem to him.

PRAISE - we got out crunched car back today! It's so nice to be driving our own vehicle again.

Tribute

2005-06-21T11:15:00.000-07:00

I got the sad news on Friday afternoon that my grandma passed away. Both of my dad's parents are gone now; Grandpa passed away six years ago. I was thinking over the weekend about what I remember about them. I knew them, but not very well since since they lived in Michigan and I lived in Arizona. I only got to see them every once in a great while, but the times we had together were great. The biggest thing I remember about Grandpa was his smell. Everytime I smell Old Spice it makes me think of him. I also remember another thing about Grandpa: he always dressed nice. I don't really remember seeing him wear sweats or anything "grungy".
I also remember him being a tough man, very set in his ways, but he also had a lot of love.

I biggest thing I remember about Grandma was her love of working with her hands. She was always in the garden or she was making some sort of craft. I remember receiving a handmade Christmas ornament from her every year. I also remember her gentleness and sweetness. She had a very quiet way about her. She loved to do things for others, no matter how big or small.

I miss them both. The picture I posted is a picture that was taken on their 50th wedding anniversary. It's the picture that best portrays how I remember them.

I will see them again when the Lord finally brings me home.

grandparents

i'm batman

2005-06-16T14:14:00.000-07:00

I went and saw Batmen Begins last night after volleyball. It was really, really good. This is how the Batman movies should have been. It was even better because there was no sex/nudity, barely any language (I truthfully don't remember hearing any language), good fight scences, and Scarecrow was really creepy. All in all - good flick.

Tomorrow, the youth group is going to Great America. I'm so excited! I love rollercoasters.

tomorrow

2005-06-10T12:53:00.000-07:00

well this weekend and next week are going to be completely crazy! Mikaela and I have a bunch of events this weekend, some we do together - some we do separate. Also, next week is fair parking and Great America, so I'm feeling the crunch a little bit. all of this is made slightly more difficult with the fact we have only one car - the rental - because I still don't have my truck back yet. I miss my truck.

Last thought: I hope all of you have been having some good time with the Lord lately. Just wanted to encourage you to keep it up. Summer usually gets filled up with many other things and sometimes our relationship with the Lord can be put on hold or relagated to the backseat. Try to begin and end each day with the Lord - keep your focus on Him.

Matthew 6.33-34 - "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Youth - don't forget to sign up for fair parking and Great America on Sunday.

caption contest

2005-06-02T21:21:00.000-07:00

I found this picture online and I couldn't stop laughing! All I could think was this is a great photo for a caption contest. So click on comments, post a caption, I'll pick the best two and we'll see who wins.

Have a blessed weekend!

Youth - don't forget bowling at Shasta Lanes, Friday June 3, from 7:00pm - 8:30pm - $6

tweak

2005-05-31T19:59:00.000-07:00

well got to preach on Sunday. It went really well. On Saturday I thought I finished the sermon at 1pm which made me happy because I got to watch the Giants game and take a nap. But at 7pm God told me I needed to tweak the sermon. When I finally finished at 10:30pm I rewrote every page but one. After second service a couple people shared some testimonies about how the Holy Spirit touched them during the talk. I quickly praised God because I realized He had me tweak the sermon for these people. I had a smile on my face all day; it was awesome to watch the Holy Spirit move.

later that evening I went to the college group and during volleyball I somehow tweaked my back. I think I pinched a nerve. Sunday night and all day Monday I couldn't walk , I literally had to crawl (when I could move) around the house. This morning I could finally stand up without collapsing in pain. After spending way too many hours laying on the floor with an ice pack I finally am able to get up and walk around by taking very small steps. Please pray that my back will heal quickly so I can get back to life...I'm tired of looking like rug.

tough day

2005-05-26T21:03:00.000-07:00

crunch
(click on picture for a better look)

Well it's official - I've been in my first accident. I picked Mikaela up from work and was heading home when we got rear-ended at a stop light. The above picture is the aftermath. Nothing happened to the lady's truck - go figure. The irony of the whole thing is that my truck went in to the shop last Thursday because the computer wasn't getting any power. The truck was in one shop and they couldn't fix it, so we took it another shop this morning. They can fix it but it's going to be pricey. So, Mikaela and I are praying about this whole thing and waiting to see what God is going to do.

On another note, I'm getting sick which is not good considering I'm preaching in big church on Sunday. Please pray that God will keep my voice going and I don't get too sick.

i'm done with school - YEAH!

Testimonies from Operation Saturation

2005-05-24T19:58:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post some of the testimonies from Operation Saturation. I hope you enjoy them and praise God for those who are now in the kingdom! These are from the Night of Worship:

*** One 16 year old told his parents that in the course of the night, he dedicated his life to the Lord. He said, “and to think I almost missed this!” Really was touched by the djimbaes and the bagpipe.

*** On the very last song of the night, a gentleman who has been in the Lord for a while, raised his hands. I know this because his wife told me (jon) that he has never raised his hands in public to worship God and that this was a major breakthrough for him. Guys, by the last song I was drooping over the keyboard and, no doubt, you were tired too, but God was still at work! (from Jon)

*** Tim shared about a friend whom the Lord told him to take a ticket to. He was touched and went forward. A brother in the same line of work as him shared with him and counseled him in the Lord. Tears were flowing. The next day, Tim and his family hosted the man for dinner and fun, after about 3 hours of hanging out with him. He was about to leave, was on the porch, and opened up to share with tears about his struggle at home with his wife. Tim ministered to him for 2 hours on the porch!

*** (This one is from me) - Mike on powerpoint was unusually anointed! During the night, God was showing him which songs were going to be skipped before we got there. Even during some of the intros that he was unfamiliar with, the Lord showed him which song that was going to be and he punched in the number, waited, and when we sang the first line, he was on it already! Didn’t skip a beat.

*** An intercessor who was carrying a lot of weight got prayer and 2 minutes later had her ‘backpack’ lifted. The weight was gone and the ministry flowed sweetly.

*** A woman, Sarah, was healed from back pain and a shoulder injury. She couldn't raise her arms very high, but sometime during the night was healed. She was able to lift both arms over her head!

Different testimonies from the week:
*** Saturday as part of Redding Transformation Operation Saturation and Mothers day LifeLight Rose outreach, two seniors, Emily (73) from Word of Life Church Redding and Theresa (76), from New Life Christian Fellowship Shingletown, took roses to the convelescent homes to minister to the elderly and shutins. During their visit they got to lead a 79 year old lady to the Lord. All heaven rejoices when one comes to the Lord!! Praise Him who is able to save our souls....

Another one that was in the local paper:
*** Tuesday a lady came into one of the twenty-four prayer tents for prayer. She was having heart problems. As the couple of people at the tent prayed for her, her heart settled down and began to beat normally again!

Lots of great stuff happened during Op Sat. Keep praying for Redding - God's coming and may the city be ready for His holiness.

Finale

2005-05-24T19:46:00.000-07:00

What a crazy week! I finished one of my two finals for school today; only one more to go on Thursday. I'm so happy school is done this week, I don't think I could do it any longer. Now hopefully I passed Spanish with a good grade..
----------------------------------------------------------
Finals week at school - finals week on tv. I watched last Wednesday's episode of LOST this morning in preparation for the finale tomorrow. I'm so excited, I can't wait to see what happens. I'm going to try to watch the season finale of 24 tonight. I missed it last night because I was helping Gary and Shiao-Huei (along with Michael and Daniel) unload a container.
-------------------------------------------------------
Last note, pray for me this week because I'm preaching in big church this Sunday on Luke 18. I'm praying it will go well.

Life After Episode III

2005-05-19T13:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't camp out Tuesday night like I wanted, but I was at the theater at 9am. So, I officially was at Movies 10 for 18 1/2 hours. I ended up waiting in my tent for 2 hours in the morning while it rained. About 11am I moved my way up front and found a couple of people I knew. I hung out with them all day. Plus, I met a bunch of people I didn't know and hung out with them to.

The whole day was a lot of fun! I was the first person in line for the 12:02am showing. I got to be involved in some really fun lightsaber fights (especially one where I really hurt Brooke's finger - sorry Brooke!) Michael, Dale, Victor, Jamie and CJ all showed up throughout the day. It was a good time. The only down side was by 10:00pm I started to get really tired and grumpy. I was so tired when I left the theater at 2:30am I was slightly afraid I wasn't going to be able to drive home.

But Episode III was pretty cool. It was definitely better than the Episode I and II. I want to go see it again when I'm not so tired. I walked out feeling slightly disappointed because the acting just stunk. The fight scenes were really cool - SPOILER (stop reading here if you haven't seen it) I still don't think Obi-wan should have killed General Grievous so quickly - I mean come on Grievous can wield four lightsabers! Oh well.

The fight scene between Anakin and Obi-wan was pretty sweet, I really thought it was the crowning moment of the movie.

All in all it was worth to see a lot of the questions answered that were raised from Episode IV, V, and VI.

Sorry if my post is all over the place - I'm still pretty tired.

Lightsaber fighting with Brooke

Embrace your inner dork

2005-05-14T13:12:00.000-07:00

I'm going to pick up my tickets for Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith this afternoon. Only 4 more days!!!! WOOHOO!! I'm trying to see if Mikaela will let me camp out Tuesday night and spend all day Wednesday waiting. I'll be taking my laptop so I can work on youth group stuff. I figure it's the last one, might as well as go out with a bang.

This week was rough - I had 3 huge finals projects which amounted to 40+ hours of homework in 4 days. After my Spanish class Thrusday my brain was so wiped out that I didn't move off the couch for 3 hours. Thankfully, I only have two tests for finals and then I'm done for a couple months.

The feeling of the never-ending summer is a lie.

Op Sat

2005-05-05T12:44:00.000-07:00

I have a little time to write something today since a couple of chores I wanted to do got cancelled. I came home from staff meeting this afternoon and found a pipe under our house had broken. So, I called our landlord and now I'm justing waiting for him to show up.

Today is the National Day of Prayer so I hope you all have found time today to pray.

Today marks the kick-off of "Operation Saturation". The idea is to soak the city in prayer and evangelism by all the churches in town coming together. So for the next 11 days the churches, city officials who are believers, and all the believers in town are making a public declaration that we want this city to belong to God.

Tomorrow night I'm involved with a worship night at the city's newly renovated theater. All the tickets are gone so we're expecting 1,000 people. Saturday morning I'm also involved with a Community Service Day. We got the city to give us 20 projects that they need help with, so I'm hoping to see the churches and believers step up to the call of getting these tasks done. There's also going to be prayer tents all over the city Monday through Wednesday. I'm excited because the youth group is going to be helping at a couple of those prayer tents Wednesday. And all of this barely scratches the surface of what is going on!

If you want to check out what will be happening between now and the 16th (World Day of Prayer) go to Redding Transformation. Please be praying for all these events, even if you don't live in Redding. God is going to do something huge here and I'll give you updates and testimonies as I hear them.

a funny

2005-04-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

I had completely forgotten I had taken this picture! Look at and see if yo notice something odd...

a public bathroom in Monterey

click on the picture to see it better

If you can't see it...look at the top of the picture...the words in yellow lettering.

How would you like to have tht job:
"What do you do for a living?" "
"Oh I'm the audio survellance guy for a public bathroom on Cannery Row."

Is anyone else disturbed by this? I mean, I know there is a practical use for this, but still...

Hope this gives you a chuckle and brightens up an otherwise boring day

Pictures

2005-04-26T13:35:00.000-07:00

I know, I know you've been waiting and waiting for these pictures...well here they are! Below are links to the albums on Shutterfly. There's not many so I just chose the best ones.

Remnant Youth Spring Retreat

-Mike and Mikaela go to Monterey Bay Aquarium

another blog

2005-04-20T14:39:00.000-07:00

I created a blog for the youth group: Remnant Youth Devo's

It will feature a weekly devotional for the youth group, but anyone is welcome to check it out!

Vacation

2005-04-14T09:34:00.000-07:00

Mikaela and I are headed off to Monterey for a few days. We're going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Friday and early Saturday morning we are going whale watching. I'm looking forward to it because Mikaela and I haven't had much time together lately.

Anyway I'll post some pictures of the youth retreat and our trip when we get back on Saturday.

See you then!

Retreat

2005-04-11T22:34:00.000-07:00

Got back Sunday afternoon from the youth group's Spring Retreat. It was a good time and lots of fun was had. The theme this year was "Fellowship" and it centered around the ideas of servanthood and transparency as part of fellowship (I want to run the idea of "fellowship" by you at a later time). One of the mom's baked 8 dozen muffins for us! The muffins became more of a source of fun than food. =) But all in all it was a blast; I'll put some pictures up so you guys can see what transpired. Eventually their will be a youth group website, but it's taken a backseat to school right now.

While on retreat I was thinking about Jesus and how one of his priorities was taking every moment he could to be alone with his Father. Every time I read that I am struck by the desire of the Son, the need of the Son for his Father. I admit that when things get busy God is the one who takes a backseat. Just today I had a crappy day and I know it's because I didn't take the time this morning to be with my Daddy.

This summer I'm hoping to take some time and go be alone with the Father. If any of you have any great ideas for places I can retreat to, let me know. I'm wanting to go anywhere. I'm hoping to reconnect with the Father and get my batteries recharged.

Anyway, last week I mentioned that I was back at school after Spring Break. On Tuesday afternoon I realized I had missed my Monday afternoon class! It completely slipped my brain. So, I made sure to remember to go today and I get there to only find the teacher had cancelled class. All I could do was laugh. Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor.

All right, enough said. I need to go watch 24 before I head off to bed. I am so addicted to this show and to Lost, one of the students and I kick everyone out of the church after youth group and watch it. Gotta love projection units and large sound systems. Kind of reminds me trying to watch movies at Adams' house when I was in high school. Took us two hours to set up the movie because no screen was too big and no sound system too loud.

Some things never change.

Answer

2005-04-04T11:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay, so I forgot to post what happened at my interview (thank you Jamie for the e-mail reminder).

Well, to remind you this interview was for my "provisional license" (basically means I'm licensed to be a lay pastor, but I'm going to school to get my pastoral degree).

The interview was pretty intense, but it was good. There were four people on the board who asked me questions ranging from my calling to be a pastor, my life up till now, Scripture questions like "What is sanctification, justification, and conversion and what scriptures can you give to back up your answer?" (and that was an easy one.) They also spent some time asking me about my marriage (Mikaela was in the interview with me.) So, for two hours I was basically "grilled" on anything and everything.

After the questions, I went out and the board prayed and discussed their decision. They called me back in and gave their answer: "we can't consider you for licensing at this time."

I wasn't upset because I actually expected that answer. Their reasoning was they saw an issue in my life that needed to be worked on. They said they wanted me to spend the summer working on being a spiritual leader in my marriage and in my home. They said this area was lacking. 1 Timothy 3.4-5 says, "He must manage his own family well, and see that his children obey him with proper respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?)" So, since God's Word says that, I can agree that it is important.

So, the deal is I have to spend the summer working with a mentor in this area. After summer I have to revisit with the licensing board and they will see if I have grown enough in this area. If I have they will license me at the end of the summer. If not...well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

I learned a lot from this interview and I'm excited to see the changes in my life that God is going to bring because of it. I'm being refined and pruned and in the end it will all be to His glory!

So, please be praying for Mikaela and I this summer as we, as a family, have a lot to work on and grow through.

If I don't get to write again this week I'll see you next week. The youth have a retreat this weekend so I'm busy with that and I'm back to school this week (goodbye Spring Break.)

Peace

2005-03-30T12:10:00.000-08:00

Sorry, it's been a while since I've posted, the last couple of weeks have been crazy. School and youth group have been swamping me, not to mention I also caught a cold and have been sick. Today is the first day I feel almost 100%.

Well, tomorrow is the big day - I have my licensing interview. This interview is for me to get a special license to work at the church even though I don't have my degree yet. They're giving me the same interview as they normally do for the students who are getting accredited. Once you are accredited, then you begin the process of working towards your ordination to became an ordained pastor. Some of you may read this and think "wow you have to go through a lot!" I'm not sure how other denominations do it, but The Christian & Missionary Alliance is one of the hardest and strictest when it comes to licensing and ordination.

Anyway, my interview is from 2pm to 4pm and I'll find out right away what their plan for me is. I will get one of three answers from the board: #1 - yes we want to give you the license; #2 - There are some doctrinal issues we need to address first, so we will assign a mentor, after a certain amount of time we'll interview you again; or #3 - We can't give you the license based on these reasons...

I'll post tomorrow and let you all know what happens. My friend, Caleb, who works with me in the youth department went through it yesterday and said it was pretty intense.

Isaiah 55.12a says "You will go out with joy and be lead forth in peace..." I like this verse cause it says we will be lead by peace. I know this interview is in the Lord's hands and I'm at peace with whatever the board decides.

Check back tomorrow to hear about what happened.

Love / Hate Relationship

2005-03-12T12:39:00.000-08:00

Good afternoon! It's another beautiful day in Redding. We've been in the mid 80's for the last week now and I'm enjoying it. Mikaela and I worked for about 3 hours in the yard pulling weeds, putting in plants and flowers, adding more drip lines, restacking our left over wood in the shed and cleaning out the garage. It's been a busy morning, but a nice one.

I found it amazing as I was working in the yard that I was actually enjoying myself. Growing up, I intensely disliked yard work, but now I find that I'm kind of enjoying it. I'm really looking forward to next weekend because I'm hoping I'll get to finish my horseshoe pits. Oh yeah, if anyone knows the proper sand to clay ratio that I will need for the horsepits, please let me know.

Mikaela and I found these flowers in one of the flower beds out front. We didn't even know they were there.

Prayer requests: I have the date for my licensing interview: March 31st, Thursday at 2pm - 4pm. Please pray that God will give me some free time to prepare over the next couple of weeks. I haven't started stressing over it yet...

Yes I believe in God...I'm sorry what was the question??

2005-03-02T17:17:00.000-08:00

I hope this posts okay, I'm using the Mac at church and well, lets just say its a Mac. God uses a PC (I have this on pretty good authority). You know why Mac's have a handle on top? It's so you can tie a rope around it and using the thing as a boat anchor.

Anyway, I was reading the local paper on Sunday and I founf an interesting article in the Religion section. Now before I tell you what it's all about I want to add a disclaimer: ****DISCLAIMER - I really took this article with a grain of salt, but it was interesting and thought provoking.**** The article's heading says "RELIGION IMPORTANT TO AMERICAN TEENS" and here's the opening statement: "The majority of American teens believe in God and worship in conventional congregations, but their religious knowledge is remarkably shallow and they have a tough time expressing the difference that faith makes in their lives, a new survey says." The article goes on to say that they called 3,500 teenagers and did face-to-face interviews with 300 of those 3,500 over a period of four years. The interesting thing was they not only polled Protestants, but Catholics, Mormons, Jews, and Evangelicals.

Today i was thinking about this article and 1 Peter 3.15 came to mind - "...always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." Of course this verse got me thinking about testimonies. We all have a testimony about what God is doing (or has done) in our lives. You've heard a part of my testimony about God bringing me to Redding.

So, let me ask you: What has God been doing in your life? What has God been saying to you? Who can you share that with? Remember to always be prepared you never know when someone may ask you why you are smiling.

Prayer Request: Pray for me this week because I've got a lot of homework and I have to finish my application for licensing with the C&MA. I have my interview for my provisional license (this way the church can say I'm slightly official) at the end of March. It's going to be on the 29th, 30th, 31st, we're still working it out. Also pray for Mikaela, she's got the cold/flu thing that is being passed around up here.

God bless you

Countdown

2005-02-21T20:51:00.000-08:00

Hello again! I hope you all had an enjoyable three-day weekend. Mine was pretty busy, but fun. On Saturday the youth group went ice skating in Mount Shasta (about an hour north). On the way up to the rink it was raining pretty good and since the rink is outside I was worried that we wouldn't be able to skate. But ten minutes before we get there the rain lets up! Even cooler- it didn't start raining again until we left! I was thanking God all the way down the mountain. It was like the Lord has His hands over the rink holding back the rain.

Ice skating was a blast. I only fell twice which is pretty good since I haven't ice skated in about ten years! Afterwards we went to the Coffee Connection, a coffee shop run by Christian volunteers, to watch a couple of guys from our church play in their band.

Mikaela and I both had the day off so we finally got to spend a day together. We just got done watching one of my two favorite TV shows, 24.

You guys can be praying for me this week, I have a lot to do with school and I have to finish my licensing packet to get my lay pastors license. I have my interview with the Licensing Board at the end of March (right before Spring Break). I'm pretty nervous because the C&MA (Christian and Missionary Alliance) has one of the toughest licensing and accreditation processes. To make matters worse, my father-in-law is one the licensing board! More proof that God has a sense of humor.

One more thing I want to tell you about that is happening here in Redding. Our worship pastor, Jon (also was in charge of the youth group until he passed it along to me) is spear-heading a group called Redding Transformation. Redding Transformation has a call from the Lord to unite the pastors of Redding to a common goal of bringing the city of Redding under the lordship of Jesus Christ. I've gotten the chance to help out at our once-a-month "Night of Worship" (we gather in a high school gym to worship, pray and share testimonies of what God is doing in Redding) and it has been incredible.

I hope you guys will take a moment and check out the website: www.reddingtransformation.com

Please, if the Lord leads you, pray for what Jon is trying to accomplish.

I'll share a quick testimony so you get the idea of what it's all about: there are two guys, Derek and Marty, at our church who both have an incredible heart for prayer. Both guys started to ask their co-workers if they needed prayer. Slowly, but surely their co-workers said yes and they began to pray for them. Well, Derek works for Cal-Trans and now holds a weekly prayer meeting in the morning where other Christian co-workers come to pray. Now people just come up to Derek and say "Hey I need prayer for this!" Marty, works at Coca-Cola and the same thing happened. People come up to him and say, "Marty, can you pray for me?" It's so awesome!

Hope you all have a good week and may the Lord continue to pour out blessings from above.

My story

2005-02-15T12:12:00.000-08:00

This post is going to be lengthy because I want to tell my story of why I came to Redding, CA. Before I get into that let me tell you where Redding is: the town is in Northern California, 2 1/2 hours north of Sacramento and 2 1/2 hours south of the Oregon border. It really is a great place and it's getting better, but that is another post for another time.

I lived in Mesa, AZ for some time, I believe 14 or 15 years, and in the year 2000 my life changed. I was at work one day, sorting mail when I saw a catalog for colleges and universities along the West Coast. I picked it up and thumb through it slightly entertaining the idea of what it would be like to go away to college. A couple of days later with college still on my brain, I decided to fill out the information cards and mail them in. Now, the funny thing about that was Simpson College in Redding, CA was the LAST card I filled out and sent in.

After a couple of weeks I began to receive information packets from different colleges. I thumbed through them, but none sounded really exciting. While I was flipping through the Simpson College packet my phone rings. Much to my amazement, it was Simpson College. The guy's name was Andy and he wanted to know if I had any questions about Simpson and if there was anything he could be praying for. I was in shock! I talked to him for a while and we continued to talk for three weeks. I don't quite know when I decided to actually go to Simpson, but I finally told my parents the news and they began to help me figure out how I was going to go.

In January of 2000 I pakced my car with all my stuff and drove the long 14 hour drive to a town I had never even heard of. Little did I know that this decision was going to change my life and my walk with God. I arrived at Simpson College, moved into the dorm and began to settle into college life. It was hard. The first day I arrived it was sunny and 70 degrees, for two months after that it rained every day. I fell into depression and became very homesick during my first month there. But God knew what He was doing and arranged a divine appointment that again would change my life.

I met this Mikaela three weeks into school and we hit it off wonderfully. I don't thing I would have survived Simpson without her. Thankfully, this wonderful became my wife and we've been married for 3 3/4 years (our 4 year is in June.) I went to church with Mikaela and got involved with helping the youth group. I met Jon Thompson (youth and worship pastor) who saw in me....something and began to have me help him more and more with the youth group. The best part: the church's senior pastor is Mikaela's dad! I began to help with the church and youth group more and more during the following year.

There's so much more I could tell you about what God has done for me during these last 5 years, but I want to tell you what is going on now. I'm currently enrolled at the community college so I can transfer back to Simpson College and get my degree (I stopped going to school when I got married and started going back 1 and a half ago.) I'm now working at Trinity Alliance Church as the youth director and, yes, my father-in-law is now my boss. =) God has got me involved in some great things; one I will tell you about next time.

Looking back at this post it feels like I left out so much, but let me tell you that God is good all the time and all the time God is good. I look forward to sharing more of my story with you as I live it out in the midst of the greatest story of all: God's story.

PS - I will also be posting weekly devotionals on here for the students, but please feel free to jump in with any commentary or thoughts you might have.

God bless you!

Start blogging!!

2005-02-11T21:57:00.000-08:00

Why did I do this??

Truthfully, I thought it would be fun. As I was reading a friend's blog, I thought to myself - this kind of looks like fun. Plus, it's a great way for me to share my thoughts. Sometimes you just need to unwind. I also love to journal; so why not journal and get people's feedback on it.

This will be a short first post, but I've got a good story to tell tomorrow. Until then...