i want to say "sorry everyone for not updating." i've been too caught up in the hustle and bustle of life that my neglect has fallen upon many things including sleep and this blog. there has been so much stuff happening. it's pretty crazy fast. [good stuff overall]

"excellence. not success." - John MacArthur

This is the mindset i want for proceeding through life this year [&beyond].

{}i'm planning on taking a small break after the funternship and just re evaluating my life for the fall. i'm going to be looking for a job in the mean time so that come fall+, i can start working. i want to finish the bible at least once or twice if possible.

i'm planning on doing 21 chapters a day. i felt very convicted when talking to jesse about this on how to grow and mature more. pray and read. simple, but so easy to be distracted.

{}i plan on taking the next year(+) off to work, and then possibly another year as well so that i can grow and mature more before seminary. I feel that there is much to be done in the mean time and that i need to start with the foundation of who i am. I need to read and pray more.

{}i plan on working out more. i think i've probably said this more than anyone else, but i know i can eventually get to it. i've been so busy with driving to and fro from the south bay to fullerton that i'm pretty exhausted come work out time. but i know that i just need to put my head down and get to it all. there is a heavy burden on my heart to change my life around. it stems from the fact that i need to be in better shape if i am to ever preach the word of God. there is something to be said for having discipline in not just being sanctified by the Word spiritually, but bodily training as well. I was reading a guide/outline on preaching and i agree with the fact that it proposed in that your health is often a reflection of your own self discipline.

{}i plan on modding my car a little more. i think there are a few things i want to do, such as an 05'-06' rear conversion. maybe a turbo kit? who knowsss. one thing though, i want to wait for an expensive mod such as that till i have a steady job that i can afford such a pricey upgrade. and at that point, i probably should just save for a different car. or i could turbo my car. lol.

{}i plan on staying at Lighthouse Community Church for the duration of the foreseeable future. There are so many awesome things going on and things that i've been able to be a part of. I thoroughly enjoy and am challenged by the teaching of the Word. The funternship has definitely helped spur me on towards love and good deeds.

{}i plan...or actually am being discipled by Eric Lau. This is something that I've been wanting to do since i got back from graduating and i think this is definitely something more than what i was hoping for in terms of mature and qualified. I can't wait to grow and learn more from him. i am thoroughly pleased to be under such an awesome guy. i am very blessed.

some thoughts:

-on ministry:

it's slightly unnerving to give a message. even more so is when you have to stand before the elders and give one. i think that the thing i haven't done enough of, is just sit before the word of God and let it soak in. i mean, really soak in. my spirit has been busy and bustling, mostly because i'm a foolish man who allows his focus to be blurred by the business of the day.

however, God is full of grace and mercy towards a foolish sinner such as myself and thus by his grace has been shaping me more and more. I can see progress each time i sit down to write a message and it's been a blessing to do so.

on another note: i'm speaking at the JEMS softball tournament this weekend and i can't say anything other than i'm nervous. speaking before the jr./sr. highers is one thing, but a group of adults who might not be christian, who probably have never heard the gospel ever is slightly unnerving, to say the least. please pray that the gospel be presented clearly, unhindered by anything said by me. if you want, come out and support. wilson park in torrance. 1pm.

anyways, life has been such a bustle lately. the funternship is one of the best things i've ever done and the fact that i'm surrounded by mature christian's everyday is super encouraging. their knowledge and humbleness has brought me nothing but gi-normous blessings. in fact, it's more that i'm busy daily with different ministry opportunities, that i can't even begin to count how many i have.

Getting supplies for iron sharpens iron. the mens ministry.

plank roasted marshmallow heath bar fudge twinkies. by gavin kajikawa.

cid/markkato: smoking babyback/spare(st.louis)/pulledpork sandwhich/peach cobbler

the best yettt.

moink: marinated meatballs wrapped with bacon/bbqglaze.

marinated ribeye.

off ministry:

naruto has been redonkulous as of late. the story is so well crafted that i am extremely pleased to be reading/watching. :D [[believe it!]]

hanging out with the little buddies the other day was fun, although i think i'm a little on the bad uncle side since i just let them have a bunch of icee. probably a bad idea since they couldn't sleep for their nap. :( fail.

we went to mulligan's and played some laser tag/gokarts/the whole nine yards, ftw.

Note: we played some teenagers and no lie, the kids pwned them. gg. 2-1 record with 5 year

olds. hollerrrr.

(jojo(left), jared, and kb(right))

hanging out with the junior highers was awesome as well. i love all of them and i definitely see a little of myself in all of them. hahaha, some more than others, which is scary. (beach hangout!)

vinylmation has to be one of the coolest trends i've jumped on. "gotta get um all!!!"

at least the chasers. (chasers are the mystery one in each group and there's only one per box of them) think of it like baseball cards...

only disney characters...so as grant has box breaks, i have something to watch now as well. hahahahha. probably not though...

matt got a bambi and tigger. hahahaha, he was so mad he got bambi. =D

these are cory's. obv a win with the chesire cat jr. and the jaws 3".

i tried to fix this, but didn't work out so you just have to look upside down at your monitor...anyways, i got buzz and snow white jr. thankfully i got buzz on the first box break. and i traded my square guy for a chaser that caleb got in his box. I got the kids one each. and before someone jumps to the conclusion that i swindled him and jedi mind tricked him...then you're wrong. i let him make his own decision when he saw mine. so i got the colonel from the adventurers club.

story time: so we were at disneyland finding out what these thing are for the first time. and the girl at the register tells us that she wants a tigger and will trade her goofy for it. anyway, we dont get a tigger on that box break, but we were talking about it later and we'd tell that girl...so i'll trade for the goofy for the tigger... if you also throw in a date with me, with you paying for everything...and then a guaranteed option of a second date with all expenses paid by you...

Catan: i've been playing a lot more settlers and other boards games such as pandemic. they're pretty entertaining. =D

SCII: awesome. i fore see losing sleep to this. i am already feeling effects of losing sleep over this.

(this was taken at uWink...the gaming restaurant that was created by the same guy who made chuck e' cheese)

i also renewed my pass for another year of premium fun. yay World of Color (free showers for the front rows!)

me and uj. pretty much how i roll.

Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it

i'm working on another post as we speak...but check out these two videos.

quick blurb.

1) the internship -

it's been going really well, i think that i need to be more proactive about telling people how awesome this has been. the bible study has been a time that i just feel BLOWN away. having josh kira lead it has been one of the coolest experiences i've been a part of in ministry. We've been going through "theological decisions" how to make one and the methodology behind each that is made. It's been super informative as well as enlightening to have a nice foundation from which i can grow from.

The preaching practicum (sermon?) that i'm working on is a little strenuous in the fact that i'm just kinda scared to preach. in fact, i dont think i'll make much of a good preacher. o well, i'm going to do my best and then just pray God has plenty of grace for me. i just need to focus on the text and make sure that im at least getting the right things from it and avoid anything heretical. but doing it in front of the staff rather than the kids first is going to be a wild ride.

1a) jr high group - This is awesome. we have a "summer hangout" on tuesday's where we just have fun and do an activity. this past week, we had a "parknic" so we just kicked it and had kalbi (korean bbq) short ribs. played some wiffle ball, fool you dont me, and moby dick. it was overall pretty chillax. So every tuesday we're going to be having a hang out so i can't wait for this stuff. =D after the hangout yesterday, i got to hang out with andrew narasaki. he's a really cool kid who loves ball. pretty chill to hang out with the kid. i look forward to serving him alongside the other jr. highers. friday night is looking to be an exciting day as well.

2) moving out - i've been thinking about this a lot and it would make perfect sense. in fact, i'd probably have a roommate that's awesome lined up. the only problem is the monies. i talked to my parents and my dad said that's fine to move outtt.

he also said..."you're going to pay for your car stuff too then?"

and i'm like..."hmm, i'm pretty sure i'm not going to be able to pay for it, since i don't have a job in the fall lined up yet."

that pretty much was an unfortunate turn of events, so now i'm contemplating what to do. it's kinda like, i need a job in the south bay if this were to work out, but i think that it probably is looking less and less.

i think everyone i've asked for advice said it was like twofold.

either i do it, and it'll be awesome.

or dont, and i save my money for the future. (aka backpacking through europe or hawaii...actually both would be best)

i hope something will work out...

:sigh: i wish i didn't need a job to have unlimited amounts of fun.

ps: i miss my roomies.

my car got broken into on the drivers side tonight.

we were at a mt. hermon hang out @ guppy's and the time was awesome to see everyone. it always brings me joy to hang out and just talk with everyone. i mean, who doesn't love hanging out with people your age who love the Lord. and eat awesome food... good times

soooo...as we came back to our cars to have a post-guppy's hang out @ my house...i came up to my car. it was parked facing the street and mind you my entire car windows are tinted. but i look and i'm like, oh crap i left my window down! i dont remember doing that...huh? oh waittt...

:sigh:

i wish it was my original thought of mistakenly leaving my windows down, but instead, my entire driver side window was broken into. the glass was shattered inside it, and my ipod was gone. 32gb. big payce. anyways, i honestly wasn't fazed the much. i think it just saddens me that my car got broken into. the ipod is replaceable, but it was just a hassle to call the police and report the damage.

anyways, we eventually got the police to come and give us a report. then we got everyone else to my house where we proceeded to have a nice time of just chillin... =D much needed. anyways, praise God for nothing else being broken into. Thanks to Ian and Tan for helping me clean out my car at the site.

i need to pray for this guy that broke into my car.

on a random side note: i finally met the infamous emily yoshihara ( who was at guppies as well ). super popular person. it was nice to meet you. took forever, but i guess it was in good time.

Back from Mt Hermon yet again--

and this year, was no exception to the rule that every cabin is always unique. There is no rubric, which fits the bill for any one cabin. for myself, i've had 3 unique years with each year being more and more challenging.

I had 8 special guys this week. Not one of them was the same. if i could put it any way, it'd be that they came from all different parts of life and spiritual maturity. It was seemingly difficult in the beginning because i was curious as to how i was going to be able to minister effectively to all of them. Then i was awakened to the fact that i'm not going to be doing anything this week. The real motivator foranything was God. All i had to do was be faithful to his calling.

In years past, i've always had an affiliation to prepare a lot for cabin times. I would usually write out what the main idea would be for that night ahead of time with scripture for foundation. i also made sure i had thoroughly thought out questions that would do well to probe deeper within the student's hearts. much to my dismay, i was very concerned with me, and not trusting of God. Still God was gracious both to me and the students over those years.

I was about to fall into the same routine, when i felt God gently tug at my heart saying to let go. If i could relate it to anything, it's gotta be the scene when luke is making the trench run on the death star in A New Hope and Obi-Wan tells him to "Let Go, Luke." Anyways, i can say that i learned to let go and let God take over. Literally facilitating the discussions and prayer, i didn't have to do anything. God did a great work this week.

I also wanted to give some praise to my sister cabin leader, Tina Chen [ who is pictured above ]. I knew going in that we wouldn't have any problems and pretty much it was going to be a great time ministering to the kids. i couldn't have been any more right. She was loving, supportive and affirming in my leadership. She encouraged me plenty. if i could say anything, it's that i gained further insight into what it means to be a Woman of God. She played what i guess you would call, her role to the T. it was the biggest blessing to serve and learn with her. God was VERY gracious to me.

[continuing on with my cabin...]

i needed God's grace this week as i felt very off in the beginning. I prayed that God would give me a heart to love these guys and meet them wherever they were at. HE definitely answered my prayer on wednesday. but then, just as quickly as i had received the heart to love, it instantly broke for them.

for some of my guys...it was hard for them to conceptualize what i was trying to say and for them to possess the right heart to understand. i was trying to give them insight into the future senior year and what decisions lied ahead...but some just didn't care enough. &I understand what it's like to be in that position. it's harddd. and tbh...

i'm feeling a little more old, but i wanted to share about the new viewpoint on life i've gained while leading this past week. I finally saw what my parents view point is...a little bit at least...and what they must have gone through with me. [especially in high school]

with my parents...back in HS...i was super bratty and obstinate. i didn't possess humility to understand what they wanted to show me. I don't know how much grace was bestowed upon me during that time, but it must have been a lot.

I wanted to love on my guys in the right way while wanting what's best for them, and warn them about what's around the bend in life (in general). I saw them as my own kids and I wanted them to have some of wisdom and understanding that i didn't have in high school. i saw some were still complacent with their state of affairs in sin. [midweek] &this was heartbreaking. i wanted them to see what needed to be done, that their sin needed to be loathed and hated, to know that a life with Christ is not a life of bondage, but of freedom. but with anything... it's always going to be in God's timing.

i realized that this is how God must feel with us [and how it was layed out in the Bible for Israel. how they would harden their hearts and refuse to turn away.] it's just the worsttt. yet God loves us to pursue us, even as we rebel and run. all so that He receives more glory. glory and honor and praise that is due to God.

i prayed desperately for God to change their hearts to His own. and he did this...even if it did come at the last minute for some. it was awesome and amazing to see... i was completely drained of emotional, spiritual, and physical energy by the end of the week, but all praise and glory be to God for getting me through the week and allowing His gospel message to be used for the changing of hearts back to Him.

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. - C.S. Lewis

God's simply gracious and loving.

i was blown away at how faithful God is. i completely ran on E the whole week as He just did whatever was necessary and got everything done! =) Praise to Him.

shout out to mike yamada - your video blog was utter fail.

but you did a great job cabin leading :D