WHAT THA!!!

What is the deal? The Cowboys just can't work as a team can they. There was a lack of a lot of things to say the least. For one discipline. I think there will be some changes very soon with the team, whether it be coaches..uhhmm Wade Phillips or players! I don't know really, but one things for sure somethings are not meant to be. Da Boys are still my team and I won't quit on them. Can't win 'em all right? Gotta go peace out.

Weekend Shots

Had a pretty good weekend. Lets see...

• Friday I had a DJ gig for a Christmas party which went really great! We were out.. so it seemed in the middle of nowhere when the sheriff came out DOH! Apparently I was playing a bit too loud. It was all good. No fines or anything like that. All in all it was fun. I made some extra money and that's always good right!
• Saturday we just pretty much we just chilled at home. Clarinda did some things in the morning, but other than that we kicked it at home. Exept for...ahhhhh...rrrr...that evening we went to our friend Terry & Veronica's house to watch that AWEFUL... DALLAS... COWBOY... football game! That's all I'll say about that. Don't want to waste my typing. Great time though hangin with our buddys.
• Sunday morning we went to visit our friend Pastor Javier and his family at their church in Kyle. The church was where I trusted the Lord as my Savior and got baptized! So many memories went through our heads when we arrived. I can't even begin to tell you how I felt walking into that building. That's were I begin my journey with God! We had the chance to talk with some of our brothers & sisters who are still there serving the Lord faithfully since the time we left. It was great seeing everyone again! I started my ministry in youth there at the church and meet with one of the moms who's children were in our youth ministry. She got to share to us what they were up to and how they were doing. All was well. Man, how time just fly's huh?
• Merry Christmas everyone and Peace on earth out!

Firehouse Christmas Party

Great times! Food, Fun, Games and the classic white elephant game. We all had a blast! Merry Christmas everyone! Peace out ya'll.

Weekend Shots Yo!

Busy weekend it seemed.

• Friday we had dinner with some friends in good ol' Gruene Texas. I forgot the name of the restaurant, but I do remember those pork ribs that literally came off the bone! Delicious and fun.
• Saturday Firehouse helped our Hays County Brown Santa in wrapping gifts. There were piles and piles of present everywhere! So many people from our community came out to help. In doing so we all finished in record time! Great job everyone. That evening Clarinda, Elena and I went to Austin to have dinner together then went to see the Nutcracker at the Long Center for Performing Arts. Beautiful place and what an awesome experience to see! It was our first time seeing the Nutcracker. The orchestra played awesome and the ballet was fantastic. Forgot our camera so no pics. Doh!
• Sunday service was great. This series were doing "Presence" is giving me a lot of insight on what my own life should be like. Not only during the holidays, but everyday of my life. God is using Pastor Randy in awesome ways in this series! Great job.

Brown Santa Gift Wrapping

Thanks Firehouse Students for helping our Hays County Brown Santa! You made a big difference! Good times. Peace out!

STRESS

This Wednesday at Firehouse we will be talking about the issue of stress among teenagers. Although it's just as real for adults, teenagers today are dealing with it more today than ever. How are they handling the stress in their lives? Is it in a positive way or negative way? Many of these stressors are put by them by parents, peers, teachers, and even the church. All this in which teenagers need to balance, but where is Jesus in all of it? Matthew 6:33-34 says: Seek first God's kingdom and what God wants. Then all your other needs will be met as well. So don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have its own worries. Each day has enough trouble of its own (NCV). One thing I learned about stress is that it's normal, but to much unresolved stress can really bring us down hard! Teenagers need to learn how to deal with stress in a healthy way so that they respond to it in a positive way. What do you mean positive way? When studying for this message I learned that stress can actually be beneficial. The anxiety which causes the stress can act as a warning system that signals us to respond to whatever is causing the stress. So one thing is for sure, it's not good at all to avoid it. How do teens respond? In all kinds of different ways. Just like Matthew 6 says first things first we need to seek God's kingdom and what God wants. Teens need to ask for patience and peace when those times of stress come along. God always works everything out! I'm always excited to help youth have a better understanding of who God is and what part do they play in His story. And I thank God alone for that! Peace out ya'll.

Check out this blog from Walt Mueller. He's the author of His book Youth Culture 101 and speaks at many youth conferences around the world. This is some good stuff to think about. Check out the link below after reading to watch the video. This is what He wrote:





My friend Troy sent me a link to a news story from the UK this morning. The story is about The Immersion Project and a thought-provoking little video from Robbie Cooper that looks at the role digital media is playing in the lives of our kids. More specifically, the film (below), gives us a straight-on view of the faces of kids as they lock-in with full attention to the TV screen as they play violent video games. If youth culture is like a snowball tumbling on its own down the face of a steep mountain, rapidly picking up mass, volume, and speed, then our fast-evolving digital media culture makes up a good amount of the white stuff that the culture's picking up as it tumbles down the hill. In recent youth culture seminars I've found myself reminding people that seven years ago we wouldn't be talking about things like Facebook, social networking, Twitter, micro-blogging, etc. Indeed, the world is changing and changing fast. Now, all this stuff is pervasive. We have to figure out where it's come from, what needs it's feeding, and what it's doing to us and how we are choosing to live in the world. It's effect is not nuetral, and our faith must inform both our response to its existence and the manner in which we choose to employ it in our everyday lives. These are serious matters that are just starting to be discussed with any sort of seriousness.I don't know about you, but looking into the faces of these kids and hearing their comments. . . . well. . . . it's somewhat sobering. This isn't research. It's real life. Take a look and tell me what you see. http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1348426473/bctid2604215001

A Prayer For Teens

A few months back I was looking through one of my youth ministry magazines that I read and inside it I found a prayer. When I first read it in my magazine I was like WOW!!! This is my prayer, this is exactly how I feel about them and still do now. I love this prayer! I wanted to share it with you. It go's like this.

Lord, You have given me the precious gift of my teens.

To be honest, I don't always understand them.

I don't always understand the slang they use.

I don't always understand how they make decisions.

I don't always understand their hurts and pains.

I guess there's a lot I don't understand.

But I do know that I love them.

What's more, I know You love them even more.

I know You have a purpose and a plan for their lives.

That's why I pray for them.

I pray that they would learn to do all things without grumbling or arguing

because all they do ultimately reflects on You.

I pray that they would be blameless and pure in the middle of a crooked

and perverse generation

because You have called them to be different than the world.

I pray that they would shine like a star in the universe

because darkness desperately needs to see the Light of the world.

I pray that they would hold firmly to the message of life

because no other anchor can hold them through storms.

Yes, Lord, these are the things I pray for my teenagers.

Make them a reality in their lives.

And while You're at it...

Make them a reality in mine as well.

It is my prayer that as the Youth Pastor who reads this or the Father and Mother of a teenager or teenager's, maybe a teacher, that this would be in your heart as your prayer for them. God Bless you and peace out!

Giving Thanks

BBQ Thanksgiving was awesome yesterday! My Aunt made her delicious beans and rice with home made tortillas. And me....well I was the grill master! It was definitely a thankful time to share with my family. I love them all! We all had a great time together. Then it was the Dallas Cowboy game and their beat down on the Seahawks. I can't wait for that rematch with the New York Giants. Bring it on! RRRRRRRR!!!!! Peace out.

Weekend Shots

• Friday was awesome! Me along with my brother in law and his son went to Shoreline in Austin Tx to ROCK OUR FACES OFF at The Creation Festival Tour!!! Thousand Foot Krutch, Kutless,Pillar, KJ52 bringin the old school, Fireflight and many more. Everyone ROCKED the rafters off!
• Saturday we had Thanksgiving early with Clarinda's side of the family. This is something we have been doing every year. It works out great all the time. On Thanksgiving Day were going to my aunt's house to spend it with my mom, brothers and all the familia!. Check this out though! It's going to be a BBQ Thanksgiving!! Yep, I'm throwing down on the grill! SIZZLING DELICIOUS!!
• Sunday we concluded our message series FANATIC at church. Pastor Randy did an excellent job in sharing what God has given him through this series. It's given me personally many thoughts and questions of what I worship and what is it I'm investing my time on? Does it bring honor to God? Is it helping in building His kingdom? All great thing's to think about. Awesome job Pastor Randy! Gods hand was in everything. And for that I'm very grateful. What else? Oh yeah, Da Boys put it on the 49ers! Went to my brother in laws to watch the game. Man, I'd like to have DVR. I love it that we can fast forward through all the commercials. Ate dinner there and watched the AMA's. Why does everyone have to take shot's at the Jonas Brothers? Just because of there purity rings. That just makes me upset! More on that later. But for now peace out ya'll!

Amazing Crumpled Paper

Allow me to introduce you to our house cat Cashew! Also known as Da Fusa. He's been known to some as "The Devil Cat". Why your probably asking right? We'll he likes to bite and paw at people. He doesn't have any claws so no scratches, but his teeth definitely are still there! Your probably thinking that other name suits him better. Well, believe or not Cashew is not as bad as he sounds. He's still considered according to cat age a kitten. You wouldn't think so if you saw him. He loves to play, purr, pounce and all those other things cats his age enjoy doing. Why I'm I blogging about our cat? Let me tell you. You know all those toys that cat's have at pet stores, the jingle balls(I said jingle balls lol), the cat nip filled mouse, and all those other fancy expensive thing's cats supposably need? Cashew does just fine without them. The pictures you see of him with that white ball looking thing is the best toy any cat owner can ever have! Can you guess what it is? Let me tell you, or better yet let me tell you how to make it. Get a sheet of paper and simply crumple it! Yep, folks that's all it is, crumpled paper. It's fun for the cat and best of all it's totally free! Our cat LOVES IT!!! He can play for hours with it. It's just so funny to see how something so simple as a crumpled paper can amuse Cashew. I was looking under the couches in our living room and there must have been about 10 of those crumpled up papers under there! So if your a cat owner, try it out! Your cat will love it. Any funny thing's your cat plays with? Peace Out!

Firehouse Students

This Wednesday November the 19th Firehouse Student Ministry will be meeting at our new church location. The time will be from 6:30 until 8:30. We will be doing our part in service for our church building. Parent's are invited and encouraged to stay and join us. NO SPECIAL SKILL'S REQUIRED FOLKS!! See everyone out there. Go to www.fosm.net for information on our building.

I Still Believe

This morning I was listening to one of my favorite Cd's by Jeremy Camp. Back in May of 2003 I first trusted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and that CD from Jeremy which was titled "Stay" was one of the first full Cd's I bought in which someone sang about Jesus. I remember thinking to myself, man... you can sing about Jesus and still rock out? That's awesome! After listening to that Cd over and over again I began to see who Jesus was through music. The lyrics Jeremy Camp wrote were like a love letter to God. There was one song I heard this morning that I remembered really spoke to me personally. It was titled" I Still Believe". Here are the lyrics you can read. Scattered words and empty thoughts seem to pour from my heart I've never felt so torn before seems I don't know where to start but it's now that I feel Your grace falls like rain from every fingertip, washing away my pain[Chorus:]I still believe in Your faithfulness I still believe in Your truth I still believe in Your holy word even when I don't see, I still believe Though the questions still fog up my mind with promises I still seem to bear even when answers slowly unwind it's my heart I see You prepare but its now that I feel Your grace fall like rain from every finger tip, washing away my pain[Chorus]The only place I can go is into your arms where I throw to you my feeble prayer sin brokeness I can see that this was your will for me Help me to know You are near
I was very new in my faith and I didn't have all the answers. There were times when I was asked questions about my faith in God and I didn't know how to respond. The thing was that the questions that people asked weren't because they really wanted to know, but rather to test and mock me. I started feeling frustrated and at one point just wanting to give up. I started asking God where He was in all this. This song gave me hope and understanding of who God was in my life. At the time I didn't have all the answers(and I still don't),yet God was faithful and true! Through this song He reminded me that His grace covered everything I did. That even though I couldn't see Him I could still walk by faith. So this morning as I was doing the dishes and listening to the song and it reminded me that even now and forever our Creator Jesus Christ in all of His greatness is faithful till the very end! Is there a song like that for you? I know it could be anything for that matter. Peace Out!

Weekend Shots

Man, has the weekend already ended! It was a good one though. Some of the thing's I did.

• Eat some awesome hot wing's from The Wing Stop(first time eating there)
• Present my daughter her true love waits ring! Beautiful experience. The ring she had was to big so we had to order one just her size. Then we went out to eat.
• Watched the movie We are Marshall with my wife. Let me say...WHAT A GREAT MOVIE! If you haven't seen it yet what are you waiting for. I learned many thing's from that movie that I can apply as a youth pastor. No joke ya'll! It's great stuff.
• Church was awesome! We had new guy's up on stage Sunday and they sounded great together! Awesome job guy's. We continued our series [Fanatic] What Do You Worship? Randy and Brian have done a great job in teaching this. Preach on fella's!Elena performed at the Goodnight vs Miller football game. The team all performed great! Miller D-Backs though didn't fair so well. They lost to Goodnight. Great effort on Millers part.No Dallas Cowboy's on Sunday so the familia just chilled. My fantasy team did great! (7-3 maybe?)

A very enjoyable weekend has come and gone. Bring on the week! Peace out.

Throw me that life line so I can throw it to others!

• Loving toward others (Romans 13:8)
• Investing in significant relationships(Ecclesiastes 4:10)
• Valuing life vs existing(Phillipians 1:20-21)
• Expecting to grow(Hebrews 6:1)
• Displaying Christ (2 Corinthians 2:15)

What does that spell? L.I.V.E.D! It can be very challenging. We can be selfish by nature and just think of our own needs. I'm guilty of that. But how can we move past all that selfishness? Jesus said it well in the last part of John 10:10. We can all live a better life when we come to realize that it ain't about us at all! It's about Jesus coming down to live with us and giving us a better life! The focus comes off us and goes to Jesus. Lord knows I'm not perfect, but He continues to use me. Imperfect people! That's His love for us. Look at these people.

· Joseph was abused
· Moses stuttered
· Gideon was poor
· Rahab was immoral
· Elijah was suicidal
· Jeremiah was depressed
· Thomas had lots of doubts
· Samson was insecure
· Zacchaeus was mean & unpopular
· Martha struggled to make good decisions

We all can be used to make our lives and the lives of others better than we've ever dreamed of! Theres so much to be done. I often ask myself, I'm I doing all that needs to be done? What's missing in my life that need's to be exposed to Jesus? Jesus came! He simply came. He say's I can answer all your question's if you just ask! You see I can't do it by myself. None of us can.We have to rely on Jesus and only Him. His presence in all our lives can be the start of moving past the ordinary and into a life well lived. Teenagers need to know this fact as well. More than ever! There are lies out there, but only one truth! Just like Ephesians 4:14-16 say's, Then we will no longer be babies. We will not be tossed about like a ship that the waves carry one way and then another. We will not be influenced by every new teaching we hear from people who are trying to fool us. They make plans and try any kind of trick to fool people into following the wrong path.15 No! Speaking the truth with love, we will grow up in every way into Christ, who is the head.16 The whole body depends on Christ, and all the parts of the body are joined and held together. Each part does its own work to make the whole body grow and be strong with love. Peace out!

Flag Football with Firehouse

• Saturday, November 1st at 12 noon Firehouse will be playing some flag football! Encourage kid's to bring a friend. They'll be glad they did! It will held at the City Park Fields. See you there!

Light's, camera, ACTION! It's HSM 3

Yesterday my wife daughter and I went to the movies to go watch High school Musical 3. Wait.....hold up.... I got to have a musical moment real quick!..............Ok whew, I'm back! Man, I think I sprained an ankle or something. What can I say, it was a good movie. There were so many good life lessons that you can take from it. It was a positive movie with lot's of excitement to say the least. Everyone seemed to have a good time viewing this movie. At many point's during the movie I just felt like I had to applaud. And many did! I already knew how popular HSM 3 was, but I believe this was my very first experience watching it at a movie theater. I do remember the DVDs and oh..let's not forget the soundtrack which by the came back last after a long awaited break it seems. All in all I enjoyed it. To be honest with you it's just one of the few movies out there that don't have any kind of violence. Not unless you want to call flying basketballs violent. Funny! I would recommend this movie to anyone out there. See it for yourself and find what you can learn from it. Gotta go I feel another music moment coming.....Cue the music!! Peace out ya'll.

SRT

Man, I haven't had the chance to talk about the silver ring thing event our youth ministry attended on Wednesday. Well...... it was AWESOME!!! The event which took place at Hill Country Church was totally packed out! I mean that literally too. Alot of people had to sit outside on some bleachers they had set up. There were over 600 students, with 280 receiving rings to symbolize their commitment to wait until marriage to have sex, and 83 of them accepting Jesus Christ as there Lord and Savior! It was a great experience for so many students, but check this out! 8 of our kids from Firehouse made commitments of abstinence! Praise the Lord I tell ya. He can do everything He say's He can. His presence was felt by student's from all over our community and because of that lives were changed. I'm so pumped up about that guy's it's crazy! I love the way SRT used all kinds of way's in sharing the importance of waiting. There were some cool videos, awesome skit's and some great testimonies that were shared. I'm just super jazzed for our kid's. They really had fun Wednesday night. I'm praying for them constantly because not only is it awesome in what they did, but also they become a target for the enemy. Now that he knows there joy, he's going to try everything to take it away from them. It's like the verse were talking about in our series. What John 10:10 talks about in the beginning is what the enemy wants to do, to steal, kill, and destroy. But because Christ is King we can have the hope and confidence that we can overcome those attacks! It's a beautiful thing to have hope in that. Jesus loves our kid's more than we do and He going to protect them from anything! Thanks to all the parent's who attended as well. Peace out.

Living Today With Hope for Eternity

I can't believe were already going to be on week 4 of our series Rescued From An Ordinary Life. It's been really fun teaching this series and being able to communicate to our kids that Jesus wants more than just living "ordinary". I love how John 10:10 really put's it into perspective of the life that Jesus desires to give us all. In week 3 what we did was paint a picture of the difference between the world's way and God's way. We talked about how most thing's in the world seemed to let us down and just plain throw us off the tracks. We know that we have an adversary. The plan of the enemy is to do just that. He wants to deceive our youth into thinking that all the pleasures of this world is all they need. If it looks good, feels good, sounds good then.... it is good! WRONG! So many youth get caught up in the web and settle for just living the life style they know. There is more truth and it is that God sent His Son Jesus to rescue us! The life that God offers gives freedom, joy, love, joy and hope! Freedom that God wants us to feel different. Love that we can never escape from. Joy that His presence will fill us all up and hope that we will spend eternity with Him! What a life style huh! We can't be perfect at it, but we can turn to our Savior and trust that He will show us the way. Wednesday was awesome. We also had some guest speakers give there life experiences and shared how John 10:10 applied to there own lives it was great. Thanks to Elisabeth, Alyssa and James for giving there words of encouragement you were all great! Pray for our kids as we attend the Silver Ring Thing Event this Wednesday. It's going to be AWESOME! Peace out.

Updates for 10-13 -08

This Wednesday October 15th Firehouse continues week 3 of our fall series "Rescued From An Ordinary Life". Part 3 is "Living Today With Hope for Eternity". Time:6:30-8:00pm Place:313 Cordero Dr

Wednesday October 22nd Firehouse will attending the Silver Ring Thing event at Hill Country Church. Event starts at 7pm and ends at 9pm. Visit http://www.silverringthing.com/ for all the information.

Home Alone

This evening I'm home alone. Yep, just me and our animals, so maybe not alone,alone. Anyway Clarinda and Elena are in Austin, TX at the Shine women's conference at Shoreline. There probably rocking out right now! They both went last year and had a blast together. I'm happy they went this year again that's awesome! Well, I came home from work today made a pizza (can't go wrong with that) and watched some television. I'm just listening to some Falling Up right now jamming out myself. I love music, it's an awesome escape for me. Plus, I can have it turned up since I'm alone! They come back tomorrow and I can't wait. Check out Falling Up when you get a chance. Peace out.

When God Came Near :Week dos(2)

Yesterday went well. We are on week 2 of our fall series and theres so much to take in. I do my very best to keep in mind alot of aspects when I'm teaching. One thing is time, theres nothing more frustrating than a message that seems like it's dragging. I do my best to keep it about 20 minutes, 25 the most if not that. I felt this Wednesday I was rushing through the message, but my wife assured me that it went great and all was well. My daughter seemed to agree as well (that's always good). Teaching our kids who Jesus is and what He can do in there lives is very important to me. I feel that God has entrusted them to me even though we just meet on Wednesdays. There simply just apart of my life! They are always in my thoughts and prayers and I can't help but to be thankful and honored that God would use me to minister to them. God is Good! So, Wednesday we discussed the second half of John 10:10. When God came near! Jesus came for all so that we can be rescued from an ordinary life. We needed to be restored to Him in order have that personal relationship(Romans 5:10-11). He wants us to know about His character. It's like when you go to the mall and see the window display. That's very important when you want to advertise what you have inside the store. You don't go into Footlocker and find bean pies for sale! The same is with God. God sent His only son to live with us. Jesus came to earth and say's, "Hey you want to know what God's like, check me out! I'm the window display; I'm the display of God. This whole series isn't just about informing, we miss the whole mark if it is, but rather letting God transform! We learn to live beyond the ordinary and start taking steps toward the extrordinary! Teenagers want a better life, we all do. In John 10:10, Jesus assures that. Peace out!

Week One "Rescued From An Ordinary Life"

So yesterday we kicked off our new series "Rescued From an Ordinary Life" and it went awesome! How can we help our kids move beyond the ordinary? What changes in their lives do they need to make? Part 1 of the message was about watching out for the thief the adversary of God. In John 10:10 it says "A thief comes to steal, kill and destroy; I came so they can have real eternal life a better life than you've ever dreamed of." The devil wants nothing more than for us settle for the life we have. For each of us to remain in neutral. He doesn't want us to know that God has the fuel that kick starts our lives and that we can live life full throttle in Him! Just like the end of John 10:10 a better life than you've dreamed of! There are so many times that the enemy wants to steal our joy and derail our lives. For our kids there is so much temptation that this world gives it's overwhelming at times. For some the worlds way is better and so everything it offers they take in. It becomes all they know. How can our kids be rescued? First things first they need to recognize there need to be saved. Romans 10:9

For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”. It's important that youth know that God wants to totally invade their lives! He wants to be apart of everything we do. The other part is that they need to acknowledge that the thief is going to tempted them. What choices will they make? Will they give in or put there trust in Christ alone? They will be tempted, but what better person to learn from than the one who's been tempted Himself(Matthew 4). Next they must depend on Gods strength not there own. We can't do anything without Christ. Unfortunately we tend to do things on our own that only God himself can do and in doing so we hit walls... Hard! Gods strength and power is our source towards a better path. It is the path that leads to righteousness and not destruction. On Wednesday I told our youth that they each should take what the thief wants to do to them personal. And we all should. We each have a personal adversary. Here's somebody that wants our life to stink, we ought to take that personally! It's going to get interesting these next 3 weeks. It is my prayer that as we continue this series that a real revival breaks out in our kids lives! Not just in their lives, but at their campuses as well. God Bless and Peace out!

Inside Out

Well today my wife Clarinda suggested during her lunch break that I go out back to our patio to work. Every Monday I work and study on the message I'll be teaching on Wednesday to our youth and send parents emails and stuff. I also try to fit in a blog here and there. I do it all inside my house and it's all fine and great (So I thought). What a good idea it was to suggest to go outside! It was great changing up my regular routine on Mondays and just going outside to do everything. For most of us we can get used to the things we do on a regular basis and not even think about changing them. Maybe it's just all we know so we don't think about it and just settle. Just being outside in my back yard on my patio was really relaxing and refreshing. Being outside made me think of alot of things. First, how awesome the creation of God is! The birds flying, the wind and all the sounds I heard other than my A/C unit turning off and on when I'm inside, but in particular our new 4 week series were doing on Wednesday and the challenge to move past the ordinary. You know just by changing something like going outside today really tied into our series. I was able to experience and feel from just being outside, a move from what I do ordinarily to something different that I truly enjoyed! Being outside is great! Even now as I write this I'm outside. You see, God wants us to experience much more in our lives than what we just know or do. All we have to do is move past the ordinary! With fall here already and the cool weather coming I'll be doing this more often. Just not in shorts and a shirt. Peace out Ya'll!

New Fall Super Series!

Starting this Wednesday October 1st FSM will begin our New Super Series "Rescued From An Ordinary Life". We will explore John 10:10"A thief comes to steal,kill and destroy; I came so they can have real eternal life, a better life than you've ever dreamed of". Our youth will learn about the necessary tools they need to live life "out of the ordinary". Jesus doesn't wants us to settle for small living, but BIG LIVING! This series is 4 weeks and it breaks down like this:

Week 1: Watch Out for the Thief

Week 2: When God Came Near

Week 3: Living Today With Hope for Eternity

Week 4: A life Well Lived

I will posting each week about each message so be sure to stop by to see what our youth have been learning. Please pray for our student's hearts and minds to be totally focused on Christ during this series.

To contact me visit http://www.fosm.net/ and click on the youth link. Peace Out ya'll!

The Rock That Rocks!

Sunday night Firehouse took off to New Braunfels, Tx to rock out with Superchick,Stellar Kart,Starlit Platoon, and Article One! What can I say it was AWESOME! Tree of Life church was jammed packed and the music was absolutely ear drum popping loud! Everyone was jumping around and just having a good time. At one point the bass player from Stellar Kart came out to the audience and rocked out by us. All the bands put on awesome shows. It was a great night to rock for the Lord. Rock on ya'll! Peace out.

Movies and BIG living

We had our Firehouse movie night yesterday. It was cool being outside with everybody and watching Facing The Giants. When I say cool I really mean that literally. This weather has been great lately! I think this Monday is the official start for fall. We watched the movie in the back yard and had popcorn and pickles. All the great stuff you need to enjoy a movie. I'm really excited about next week. We're starting our brand new message series "Saved From an Ordinary life". Our youth will learn what it takes to live a life that God intended for us to live, but far to often most youth settle for the life that this world offers and they often think that's good enough. Not that everything is bad out there, but it can get pretty tempting for our youth to settle for just "ordinary living". Not so for our Creator! Our God who spoke this world into existence knows with out a doubt that thinking like that is just small. We need to think BIGGER than that! That's what our youth will be challenged on. It's going to be an awesome opportunity for youth to take lessons from the Bible and hear what God say's about BIGGER living! More details later. Peace out. P.S I don't think I'am Super Man! lol..

Firehouse updates for 9-15-08

• 
  
  No regular meeting on Wednesday September 17


• Movie night Friday September 19 at my casa 313 Cordero Drive 7:30 pm


• Superchick and Steller Kart concert at The Tree of Life Church in New Braunfels Tx 7pm on Sunday September 21.


• New message series next week!! Not saying just yet...shhhh


• That's all for now folks! Peace out.

Love and Grace

Last December I decided to get some tattoos. I knew that there would be all sorts of different opinions about them, so I was prepared to engage that. One of the first things I heard and is something that usually is the first thing people say. It's that Christian aren't suppose to get tattoos. That it was a sin against God to do such a thing. You would think that after you read Leviticus 19:28 that it's pretty cut and clear right? But it does not say that tattoos are a sin! As a matter of fact nowhere in the Bible does it say that it is. I think that the text really needs to be read and studied carefully. This passage in Leviticus, including the surrounding text, is specifically dealing with the pagan religious rituals of the people living around the Israelites. I think this topic is something that you have to decide for yourself. If you read the text before verse 28, it talks about many other things not to do like wearing clothing woven of two kind of material(verse 19), and not cutting our hair at the sides of our heads or clip off the edges of your beards(verse 28) or not eating any meat with blood still in it(verse 26).Well, certainly many Christians today eat non-kosher meats and get haircuts without participating in the forbidden worship of pagans. Back then these customs were associated with pagan rites and rituals. Today they are not. Like I said you have to form your own opinion about it, as for me it's quite fine to get tattooed. Again, that is my own opinion. This post is for me to express why I got them in the first place. First to honor God. Defiantly not for my own attention, but His! I believe that God knew my intention in getting them and He honors that. On my right fore arm it says "love" in the exact same way that it is written in the Bible font and all! In my left it says "grace" the same way. On top of the words there are hands inside a circle with holes in the middle of the hands, both representing the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It's based on the scripture in Ephesians 2:4-7 it says..
4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. I was in a place where I didn't have Christ in my life and because of His love and grace I am able to experience a real awesome relationship with Him! I'm grateful every single day for that. Peace out!

Steam Rolled!

One of the thing's that I enjoy doing is learning about youth culture and the machine that it is. I truly believe that as a youth leader to teenagers, and a father to one, that we need to engage ourselves in this rapidly changing culture that our teens are in. I had a great talk with some friends from church yesterday and we discussed about the topic a bit. Man, looking at everything from media whether it's through music, movies, TV shows, commercials or any thing of pop culture, is alarming as youth leader and parent. Theres no doubt in my mind that we need to keep up with youth culture and have a better understanding of what our youth encounter, because if we don't this world is more than happy to take them in. There are just too many media outlets that teens can can plug into today. As parents it can be something that is just plain discouraging and at times is just something we don't want to deal with. Big mistake! It's an issue that we must face head on and seek with Godly wisdom. What are our teens listening to? What movies are they watching? Are these thing's shaping there values? If so why? One important thing we need to remember in all the madness is that kid's and teenagers are a gift from God!(Psalm 127:3-5) Because God values them so highly so should we. I mentioned that youth culture was like a machine and it is! It's showing no signs of slowing down and takes with it what ever it can. Can it be slowed down? Yes, it can ! By equipping ourselves as youth leaders and parents with a better understanding and knowledge of it, and in doing so pointing our youth in the direction of Jesus Christ, and helping them have a better understanding of who He is and what He can do in there lives. Jesus is Himself was very much involved in culture. I believe even now He would command us to "get with the program". The MTV VMA's(video music awards) were on last night. I stayed up last night to watch it and take in somethings. This year the host of the awards show was awful! God bless that guy and pray for him! One of the thing's that caught my attention was how he really put down The Jonas Brothers. For what? The three of them wear purity rings. They believe that you should wait until your married to have sex. Awesome! Great values that they have are unfortunately an easy target to make fun of by the host. Sad, very sad that this culture thinks that's it's the "norm" to have sex before marriage. God certainly didn't intend it to be this way, but sadly that's the way culture presents it. How many teenagers do you think stayed up to watch ? What message was communicated to them? I love what Walt Muller says... " culture is the "soup" in which our teenagers swim around and soak every day. The soup's ingredients include values, attitudes, and behaviors-as well as the media, peer group, language, and so on that express them. To know kids, we must lift the lid of the soup pot and see what's in the mix." Some serious stuff ya'll! Peace out!

Back from New York

What a weekend it was! Clarinda and I had the great opportunity to head out to New York City with some good friends of ours. We left on Thursday morning and came home on Monday around 4 or so. Wow! Were do I begin? Let's start with the obvious. New York is a fast pace city!!! I couldn't believe how fast everything was there, especially in time square. Every single person seemed like there were in a hurry to get someplace. Talk about bobbin and weavin! I think I hit every single person in New York, it was nuts. Time Square was so bright with lights that at one point getting out of the Broadway show The Lion King (which was awesome) in the lobby area I commented to Clarinda "is it still daylight outside?". It was 11pm at night folks! I don't know what I was thinking, but it really did seem like daylight! Craaazy! It was a sight to see so many things going on at one time you really had to be on your toes, or you'd get them run over by a taxi. Saturday we took the subway from Grand Central Station and took a ferry boat to Liberty Island. The Lady with the torch! The Statue of Liberty was awesome! Climbing about 130 steps to get to the top of the pedestal we were able to view the sky line of New York Harbor, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island and New Jersey. A beautiful sight to see. From there we took another boat to Ellis Island. After arriving back on land we went to visit Ground Zero, the sight wear The World Trade Center once stood. What an emotional sight to witness. Work was being done to build the Freedom Tower which was awesome to see as well. Took a double Decker bus tour around the whole city, China Town, Little Italy just to name a few. Walked around Central Park ate then ate some more. New York pizza! Delicious! Did I mention we did alot of walking? My feet felt like they were about to come off. Sunday Clarinda and I went to The Journey Church in Manhattan. Great service by the way! Over all we both truly enjoyed our experience together In New York. Being with our good friends just made it alot better!

The Weeekend

Why do the weekends seem to go by so fast? It started off great! Every month Clarinda and I make it point to have our date night. On Friday night we went to San Antonio to The Industry Night Club for some dancing and music. WHAAAAT!!! Did you say night club? Yes, I do have some dancing moves. It was fun, but it came quick to me that I really didn't miss the whole"club scene" at all. Being a DJ on the side I enjoy playing music and listening to it. This particular club played alot of the "old school" Clarinda and I enjoy, but the smoke and the crazy dancing dude that kept on bumping into me didn't fly! We just enjoyed some good music and dancing then came home. Lot's of Fun! Saturday we took care of our nephew Stephen. That's always an adventure in itself, but it's always fun hanging out and watching him grow up. Oh yeah, let's not forget the unlimited viewing of veggie tales! Fun, Fun, Fun! Then on Sunday we went to Austin to join my brother & sister in law at there church. It's awesome to see them growing in there relationship with the Lord! We make it a point to show our love and support by visiting there church every month. It's really encouraging to hear how they serve in there ministries and how God is doing awesome thing's in there lives. That's it! Peace out.

Out In The Open

This past Wednesday we kicked off our series The Secret Life of a Christian Teenager. We talked about how most Christian live double sided lives when it comes to there faith in Christ. In youth culture today for some teenagers it's hard to live out there faith out in the open and fully commit to Christ. Why is that? I believe there can be several reasons. One is that theres the pressure of fitting in so maybe the fact that they have a relationship with Christ can be something they can't explain to there peers. It can be tuff. Every teenager wants to be part of something big, but what price do they have to pay in order to feel accepted? Sometimes keeping there faith a secret is alot easier. There are those times though when occasion it does come out, like "I go to church", or"youth group", but what about Jesus? Where is He? What part does Jesus play? Teenagers need to be able to feel confident in sharing there faith. In most cases it's as simple as teaching them. God then ultimately gives the confidence and wisdom. As it Say's "I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! You say, 'I am rich. I have everything I want. I don't need a thing!' And you don't realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked."(Revelation 3:15-17). Jesus wants us to realize that apart from Him were lost. Teenagers can think they have it easy and that they have everything they need, but what they fail to realize is that there disconnected from Him. What do teenagers need to hand over to Christ? If our student's are living "The Secret Life of a Christian Teenager" it's time to cancel the show! We need to communicate to them that the sinful patterns they have only creates madness and insanity. The truly amazing thing is that obeying God and living life His way will bring the very results that they are trying to achieve by doing things there own way. A life devoted to openness, holiness, and commitment to Jesus has paybacks they can't possibly imagine. Peace out.

Man-E-Face

Today I did my usual study time to prepare for Wednesday. I have to say that theres was alot that God revealed to me while studying. I'm always looking for ideas like videos, illustrations, and other things to present the Gospel in a simple but understanding way for my students. It can be a real struggle at times when I put to much into it on my own. I go through that alot. And what I end up doing at the end is leaving God totally out of the picture. I'm still learning to do everything the way God wants. It's a wonderful feeling to know that Gods in total control. It all just starts coming together when God leads. I can't wait till Wednesday! The new show "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" deals with alot of issues our youth culture face today, but what about "The American Christian Teenager?" Is there a secret life there? I believe for alot there is. For many they live a double sided life compromising their faith in order to "flow" with the culture. I remember when I was young He-Man was the bomb! In the cartoon there was a character called Man-E-Faces. His face changed into different faces when ever he felt like it. In a way that's what our youth are like, multiple faces. How is it that we can get our youth to live out there lives openly and fully committed to Jesus Christ? It's a struggle, but one they don't have to go through alone. I'm always grateful to God that He uses me to play a part in building His kingdom! What an honor and privilege! I look forward to Wednesday. Peace out.