So I have been hinting about this for some time now and now I can tell you the full story.
This August I will be leaving Cerritos for at least 9 months. I have been accepted to be a part of an organization called NET Ministries. To keep this short, I will basically be traveling around the country facilitating Catholic Youth Group retreats. Below I have included a 7 minute video that shows what I could possibly bo doing. Also, I have put the link to the website of the organization.
I really wanted to write more about this, but I am sure there will be more to come soon.
http://netusa.org
Monday, May 4, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Direction
The other night I was driving to meet up with a friend to get some buffalo wings. I was going to a place that I had been to many times before, but this time I decided to use my GPS system to get there. As I was driving, the GPS was telling me to go a route that I had never taken before. I started talking to my GPS system because thats what I do when i am driving alone. I was telling it how stupid it was because there was a way better way to go and that there was no reason for me to go in the direction that it was telling me to go. So, to prove my point to my GPS system, I decided that I would just follow the route that it was taking me so I could tell it how dumb it was for taking me that route. In the end, it was a way better route than what I had taken before.
Warning (mainly for Nate): This blog is about to get a bit on the religious and spiritual side. I think my blogs will mainly be like that from now on.
So, what is the point of my story?
There are many things that we know in life. In this situation, I knew where I was coming from. Home. I knew where I wanted to end up. Buffalo wings. I knew a way to get there. Longer stupid route. What I didnt know at the time was that there was a better route. The way that I had to find that out was to put my trust in the GPS system.
Here's what I know about my life. I know where I started. Birth. I know where I want to end up. Heaven. I know that there are many paths that I can take to reach that goal, but what I really have to understand is that God has a planned route for me. He has set the best course for me to take, but He also knows that I can still choose to take a detour as well or go my own way. So what does this mean? It means that for me to take the best route, which is God's route. I need to surrender myself to His plan. I have to tell myself that it doesnt matter which way I want to go, it's more of which way He wants me to go.
I've been wanting to write about this for awhile now, but it wasn't until tonight that I had the inspiration to write it out. Here is a passage from the book that I am reading, "God's Gonna Make You Laugh":
"If you were to have a map, you would never listen for the voice of the Lord. But without a map you will be inclined to follow only His directions, listen only to His instructions, and heed only His voice. Without a map, you have no other method of knowing how to get where you are going other than to listen to Him. The whole idea is that God is determined to get you in a place where you fully rely on Him. Any any other voice but His, you'll block out, knowing that additional voices will only bring gross confusion, causing you to travel in endless circles, making no real progress toward His intended goal for you."
Sometimes we find ourselves at a point in our lives where we dont know what to do. We are pressured to be successful by the standards set by society and to live up to the expectations of those who we associate ourselves with. One thing that we can do in this situation is to find a place of solitude and silence. Take some time to reflect on where we have come, what we have been through, and where we want to be. Take all that, plug it in, and let GPS "God's Planned Sacrifice" lead the way.
Warning (mainly for Nate): This blog is about to get a bit on the religious and spiritual side. I think my blogs will mainly be like that from now on.
So, what is the point of my story?
There are many things that we know in life. In this situation, I knew where I was coming from. Home. I knew where I wanted to end up. Buffalo wings. I knew a way to get there. Longer stupid route. What I didnt know at the time was that there was a better route. The way that I had to find that out was to put my trust in the GPS system.
Here's what I know about my life. I know where I started. Birth. I know where I want to end up. Heaven. I know that there are many paths that I can take to reach that goal, but what I really have to understand is that God has a planned route for me. He has set the best course for me to take, but He also knows that I can still choose to take a detour as well or go my own way. So what does this mean? It means that for me to take the best route, which is God's route. I need to surrender myself to His plan. I have to tell myself that it doesnt matter which way I want to go, it's more of which way He wants me to go.
I've been wanting to write about this for awhile now, but it wasn't until tonight that I had the inspiration to write it out. Here is a passage from the book that I am reading, "God's Gonna Make You Laugh":
"If you were to have a map, you would never listen for the voice of the Lord. But without a map you will be inclined to follow only His directions, listen only to His instructions, and heed only His voice. Without a map, you have no other method of knowing how to get where you are going other than to listen to Him. The whole idea is that God is determined to get you in a place where you fully rely on Him. Any any other voice but His, you'll block out, knowing that additional voices will only bring gross confusion, causing you to travel in endless circles, making no real progress toward His intended goal for you."
Sometimes we find ourselves at a point in our lives where we dont know what to do. We are pressured to be successful by the standards set by society and to live up to the expectations of those who we associate ourselves with. One thing that we can do in this situation is to find a place of solitude and silence. Take some time to reflect on where we have come, what we have been through, and where we want to be. Take all that, plug it in, and let GPS "God's Planned Sacrifice" lead the way.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Change
It would be really easy for me to make reference to all the changes that are going on in the world. American has a new president, the economy is going through some really hard times, and the ever changing climate around the world. But im not going to. Instead I am going to tell you about an ant.
The other day I was sitting down for dinner and I noticed an ant walking around on the table. I had to stop myself from my first reaction of killing it. Instead, I gently blew on it and it went flying away unharmed.
I can only imagine what was going through the mind of that ant. There it was just minding its own business and going about it life when all of a sudden a gust of wind throws it into a totally different place.
I came into this year not knowing what was going to happen. I was even a bit scared because I felt as if I had no direction. That this new year had no hope for me. But I felt definitely felt the winds of change and it is hopefully taking me in a direction that I want to go in.
There are many times in our lives when we feel the winds of change.. We go about our day when all of a sudden something big may throw us off course. Maybe it will change our day, week, month, years, or even life. A bad grade, sickness, tragedy, motivation, or even inspiration. But how do we deal with the wind? Do we just let it push us around? Do we try to block it? Do we just go with the flow? Do we stand against it analyzing where it wants to take us and then decide whether or not we should go with it?
I cant tell you what the best answer is for it cause it will vary from situation to situation, but I can tell you what that ant did. I was able to see where it landed after I had blown it away. At first it seemed a little shocked by what had just happened. It looked around at its new environment and just kept going about its business. It didn’t let this huge change really affect it.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Balance
"Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony."
- Author Unknown
In my previous entry, I spoke of exhaustion. In exhaustion we find tiredness and in tiredness we find misery. In misery, we find ourselves at the bottom of a hill looking up at the top of happiness. Realizing where we could be, we only find ourselves worse off because we have a comparison to the misery we are in.
This, at times, is the way that I feel. I have engulfed my life with so many activities that I have clouded the original intent of those activities. I have volunteered almost all of my time to reaching out to others. Key phrase in that last sentence is "all of my time". If I have put all my time into service for others, where has the time for myself gone? Where is the time to care for and nurture my soul?
Someone once told me that I need to learn how to juggle my activities and time. But that would mean that I would have one thing in my hand at a time and everything else would be thrown in the air until I tire of the thing in my hand and decide to discard it for later. I'd rather keep everything on one plane and balance it.
Here's the trick, let us not look at happiness as if it were on the top of a hill, but rather it is the fulcrum of our lives. If we were to put everything onto a circular plane, we could say that the happiness could be the center of our lives, but as my friend Nate pointed out, that would mean that we would be giving equal amounts of time and happiness to everything. Although that may seem appealing, it also means that we would be devoting the same amount of time to work as we would to family. Now, to me, that is not something that I would want to do. So rather, we can make happiness the fulcrum which gives us the ability to shift our happiness so that we can balance it out. Let us use the example of family and work. If family were on the left and work were on the right and we wanted to focus more time with family, then we can simply just shift the fulcrum towards the right so that we create more space on the left. If at any point we add more to a side that we have decided to lessened the space, the plane becomes tilted and everything on the opposite side falls down that proverbial slope of misery.
The only way to make this most effective is to evaluate all the parts that we want to have involved in our lives. For me personally, I cant just put family, work, and spirituality. I need to also include prayer time, reading, coffee shop time, and friends.
What do you have on your "plate"? Or should I say "plane"? Answer that question before you try to evaluate how to make your happiness the balance of your life.
- Author Unknown
In my previous entry, I spoke of exhaustion. In exhaustion we find tiredness and in tiredness we find misery. In misery, we find ourselves at the bottom of a hill looking up at the top of happiness. Realizing where we could be, we only find ourselves worse off because we have a comparison to the misery we are in.
This, at times, is the way that I feel. I have engulfed my life with so many activities that I have clouded the original intent of those activities. I have volunteered almost all of my time to reaching out to others. Key phrase in that last sentence is "all of my time". If I have put all my time into service for others, where has the time for myself gone? Where is the time to care for and nurture my soul?
Someone once told me that I need to learn how to juggle my activities and time. But that would mean that I would have one thing in my hand at a time and everything else would be thrown in the air until I tire of the thing in my hand and decide to discard it for later. I'd rather keep everything on one plane and balance it.
Here's the trick, let us not look at happiness as if it were on the top of a hill, but rather it is the fulcrum of our lives. If we were to put everything onto a circular plane, we could say that the happiness could be the center of our lives, but as my friend Nate pointed out, that would mean that we would be giving equal amounts of time and happiness to everything. Although that may seem appealing, it also means that we would be devoting the same amount of time to work as we would to family. Now, to me, that is not something that I would want to do. So rather, we can make happiness the fulcrum which gives us the ability to shift our happiness so that we can balance it out. Let us use the example of family and work. If family were on the left and work were on the right and we wanted to focus more time with family, then we can simply just shift the fulcrum towards the right so that we create more space on the left. If at any point we add more to a side that we have decided to lessened the space, the plane becomes tilted and everything on the opposite side falls down that proverbial slope of misery.
The only way to make this most effective is to evaluate all the parts that we want to have involved in our lives. For me personally, I cant just put family, work, and spirituality. I need to also include prayer time, reading, coffee shop time, and friends.
What do you have on your "plate"? Or should I say "plane"? Answer that question before you try to evaluate how to make your happiness the balance of your life.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Exhaustion
I'm tired!
That's definitely an understatement.
Relaxation has become somewhat of a chore now. I'm sure that there are many others out there that may feel the same way. I have to schedule my relaxation and sometimes its so bad that I tell myself that I need to find it. Here's the funny thing, when i finally do start relaxing and resting, my first question is "What should I do?"
I'm going to keep this short because I truly am tired. I guess what I am slowly realizing is that life doesnt always have to be about doing. Its more about enjoying. And if that means enjoying the nothingness that is in front of me, then I will just put a smile on my face.
Now that's what I call living the Zesty Life.
That's definitely an understatement.
Relaxation has become somewhat of a chore now. I'm sure that there are many others out there that may feel the same way. I have to schedule my relaxation and sometimes its so bad that I tell myself that I need to find it. Here's the funny thing, when i finally do start relaxing and resting, my first question is "What should I do?"
I'm going to keep this short because I truly am tired. I guess what I am slowly realizing is that life doesnt always have to be about doing. Its more about enjoying. And if that means enjoying the nothingness that is in front of me, then I will just put a smile on my face.
Now that's what I call living the Zesty Life.
Friday, December 5, 2008
December 5, 2008
- Comment from my buddy Tim in Australia:
- Love the idea, i think we all need a bit of an attitude change man! Cos sometimes if we let a negative attitude get in our way, we lose out on wat we could gain in the day!
- But dont forget not enjoying what we do helps push us for change, and sometimes find better things.
- Anyway love the blog, keep it up man
- December 5, 2008 6:12 AM
I find it funny how sometimes things just work out this way.
First I want to thanks my buddy Tim for leaving the comment. I appreciate the affirmation of the meaning of the blog, but I appreciate even more the insight on the other side of the subject.
The other day I recieved a phone call from my friend Nate. He told me that it was time to celebrate because he had just put in his 2 week notice at his job. A small part of the reason was because there was just so much work to do that was going nowhere. I really cant say that it was his fault because there are a lot of factors to his job that he cant control. Another reason he gave me, and this is a doozy, was because he was sad. I know, it sounds kind of lame, but allow me to continue and you can decide if it gets lammer or if it just makes more sense.
He explained to me that while he was working at a job that paid him decent money that he was sadder than he was when he had no job at all. It was hard to sleep at night because all he could think about was work or it was way too easy to sleep at night because he was being over worked. There was no fun in the job.
Now, according to my previous blog, he should have just tried to find the fun in it... But there are definitely circumstances that can change that rule as my buddy Tim had pointed out.
I have always said that I will never continue to work in a job that I dont enjoy and I have preached that to so many people as well. Some wonder why I have yet to really go to college and the reason is very simple. I dont want to invest time into a major that I am not very certain I want to do for the rest of my life. Now, I have nothing against those who have taken that risk and jumped into college. In fact, I commend you for being so bold.
I feel I have to be a bit cautious about this blog because I know that my words have such a great impact on your actions... right(you'll get used to some of my sarcasm).... but I want to make it clear that Im not saying that you should just up and quit your job or drop out of school. What I am saying though is that we need to take some time to evaluate where we are at. If you are in a situation that you are not happy with, take some time to evaluate other options to persue that happiness.
As for my friend Nate, he wants to possibly pursue a career in nursing because he wants a job that will enable him to help people more. Talk about a change for better things.
Comment and live Zesty
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
December 3, 2008
Birthday Shout Out to:
- Christine Maravilla
(That's right.... if you let me know when your birthday is, I will give you a shout out. Just another reason to read the blog)
Today I awoke after a short period of sleep. An hour and a hlaf to be exact. I woke up feeling sick and just not wanting to get out of bed... and yet, I drag myself to do the things that my body doesnt want me to do.
I noticed today, as I walked around, that many people feel and act the same way. They feel forced to be in places and they choose not to enjoy it... and thats something that i have to remind myself of constantly. There are certain things that I have to do because it is for the benefit of my future and well being. I have to go to work, I have to attend meeting that I have made commitments to, I have to pay bills, I have to ect. ect. yada yada yada.... Although in some ways those are things that I can control, it is still something that I have to do.... But one thing that I dont have to do in all these situations is that I dont have to no enjoy them.. I know, that was a bit confusing... Basically, I have control over the mood and tone of being in those situations.
Someone special to me had to remind me of that tonight..... I was told this person the old saying "Don't go to sleep in a bad mood. Make it better before you go to sleep." That could possibly explain why I dont sleep that much, but its still words that I need to remind myself of.
- Christine Maravilla
(That's right.... if you let me know when your birthday is, I will give you a shout out. Just another reason to read the blog)
Today I awoke after a short period of sleep. An hour and a hlaf to be exact. I woke up feeling sick and just not wanting to get out of bed... and yet, I drag myself to do the things that my body doesnt want me to do.
I noticed today, as I walked around, that many people feel and act the same way. They feel forced to be in places and they choose not to enjoy it... and thats something that i have to remind myself of constantly. There are certain things that I have to do because it is for the benefit of my future and well being. I have to go to work, I have to attend meeting that I have made commitments to, I have to pay bills, I have to ect. ect. yada yada yada.... Although in some ways those are things that I can control, it is still something that I have to do.... But one thing that I dont have to do in all these situations is that I dont have to no enjoy them.. I know, that was a bit confusing... Basically, I have control over the mood and tone of being in those situations.
Someone special to me had to remind me of that tonight..... I was told this person the old saying "Don't go to sleep in a bad mood. Make it better before you go to sleep." That could possibly explain why I dont sleep that much, but its still words that I need to remind myself of.
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