Kunstruct

YouTube - Q The Prophet - Soul Hustler's Ambition Official Music Video (Directors Cut)

2011-02-08T15:45:00.001-05:00

Another great video - this time from Q The Prophet - Soul Hustler's Ambition

Enjoy!

Black and Yellow, Pan con Queso

2011-02-08T15:26:00.000-05:00

In honor of the Super Bowl I bring to you the latest remake of Black and Yellow. To tell you the truth I was rooting for Green and Yellow! lol

Life to Words

2011-01-17T22:40:00.000-05:00

Wow it's been a long time since I've posted. I think that I haven't done so because am not sure that any one is reading these and also I been busy writing and doing other things ministry related.

It will definitely go a long if you can drop me a message letting me know that you are out there and tuning in to read this.

Okay, now for the first post of the year. If you are my Facebook friend (atoneofhiphop) then you've probably saw this quote that I posted up "Life is not quoting what you believe, is about living it". It struck me how many of us find inspiration in quotes and words, including the Bible, but how few people actually live it. How we can identify with some verses or with words full of wisdom but yet we don't adhere to it. I wonder how we can easily find inspiration and identify with these words of wisdom but yet it's so hard for us to live by them. I know that words evoke some sort of feeling in us. They elate, inspired, motivate but how much and for how long?

This reminds me of the bible verse found in James 1:22-24 that says.....

22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

Are we that dense that we forget how we look before we go out in the morning? I know I am not the only one that at least glances into the mirror in the morning before going to work to make sure that everything is in it's place.. lol. I don't think that any of us forget how we look. It is said that when you are asked to draw a person without a reference picture you tend to draw and image of yourself because your mind has an image of how you look. If we where to have the word of God locked into our minds like our image, then we would quote less and live more. Words will have life in us and we will live according to the word of God.

So this year let's not only quote what we like but actually live what we quote... especially if it's the word of God.

Common Senses

2010-11-10T10:32:00.001-05:00

Common sense - good sense and sound judgement in practical matters.
Ever been told "Use common sense" ? or "Where is your common sense?"

Common sense is what we rely on to make sound judgments. When we are faced with a decision that needs to be acted upon at the moment we use common sense to make the best sound judgment and come up with the best solution. Usually our decisions are influence by our experience, knowledge and what is around us. Basically we use our senses to filter out what is good and bad and what information is worth allowing to enter and influence us. Lately, our senses have been bombarded with so much info that it becomes impossible to try to filter all in an effective an orderly fashion. If I was to paint a picture, I would say this resembles a strainer in the faucet whose overflowing with debris and the water is rising quickly and the only way to remedy the situation is to lift the strainer up and let the water drain. The problem with that is that when we lift the strainer, meaning our filter, we not only let the water drain but also everything else that comes with it. Some of it is good and some of it is bad. If the filter/strainer is not in it's place then we run the risk of letting bad things, things that will not benefit us into our system.

Common Senses talks about three specific things that if not censored or strained in out lives, they can cause damage and influence us in a negative way.

All I hear is noise like blahzey blah, tune into the radio like hmmmm naw

nothing worth hearing is the same old song like we stuck on repeat we've been there for so long

Radio/music has infiltrated this nation and this generation in a way that it's unprecedented. The sales of iPods, iPod Touches and other Mp3 players is astounding. As you walk down the street, or riding the train you can see not help but to notice the amount of people with headphones on. The concern is not the amount of people that are listening to music rather the type of music that they are listening to and what message it brings. Live radio brings to forefront gimmicks and plays the same 10 tracks through out the day that promote a sinful lifestyle.

Equally dangerous is television. Where reality shows are anything but reality. Where most characters bring some type of drama to boost ratings.

all I see is drama like she did what click the remote another brother got caught

reality is fake and the script is wrong we enjoy the show is monday night raw

There is an expression that says "You are what you eat." In this case you are what you see, hear and read. Whatever you put into your body, mind, thoughts that is what's going to come out of you. The interesting thing is that most people can't get enough of it, so much so that "reality shows" are popping up left and right.

images ingrain burned on the brain skew the whole frame and who is to blame

but we eat it up like is meat flambé can't get enough so we hit the buffet

Equally sad is that these "television/realty stars" don't know how to turn on and off their character and end up living their lives as a character rather than a real person. They get so caught up with living up to the hype, the image and the fame that it consumes them. They can not separate the real from the fake.

find selfworth when they roll the tape some live the role and find an escape

others won't let go when the time has come is a character flaw and that's all they know

Lastly, the infiltration of the internet is a worldwide phenomenon. It's influence has reached countless people through out the world. But as Peter Parker otherwise knows as Spider-man said " with great power comes great responsibility". The internet offers so many opportunities, so much information but it also comes with pitfalls and danger. Facebook and social sites have become a big part of peoples lives for communication, making connections and sharing information but it also comes with it's dangers. Not really knowing who is at the other end of the keyboard and what might truly be their agenda.

all i read is this one got it like that their keystroke is fresh but their thoughts are not

like what goes through their mind when they see the profile fingers do the talking the reply is like wow!

Sometimes we open ourselves to this danger by sharing more that what we should. Whether information, pictures or anything personal we are open to all this and sometimes we do it to gain exposure, be popular or feel accepted.

up load the photos like look at me now this is what I look like peep my style

showing some flesh like the next top model anxious for feedback to puff my ego

My point in all this is that we need to use our common sense when it comes to knowing what we are feeding our common senses. Whether it's through music, through television or what we read we need to be very careful what we put in. It's true that everything is permissible, everything is possible, but not everything is beneficial.

Proverbs 4:23
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

Live It Up

2010-08-01T22:56:00.000-04:00

So I took some time off from bloggin while I was in Summer Camp at Kentucky and taking some time for the family. I am back and I am continuing to post one note/blog a week for earch track from my new album, Perceive.

This week is Live It Up.

Preach the gospel and if necessary use words.

Actions are louder than words

These are some of the many sayings to speak to how are actions carry weight, but sometimes we feel like the more we do the less we acomplish. It reminds me of the tv ad for the Kia Soul where the hamsters are running in their wheels and all of a sudden there are these to hamsters that are rolling in a shiny new car with the stereo blasting. That should be a little snap shot of how our lives should be.

   "Live it up live it loud live every single day live it to the fullest like you got something to say...."

Not loud in a intrusive listen to me type of way but more like a quite calm storm where you might not see it coming but you know when it's there and you can see the effect it leaves behind. Jesus had that type of presence. He was not flashy, good looking or someone why flaunted His abilities. He was simple, humble and friendly, but you sure felt His presence when He was around.

Live life to the fullest does not mean doing everything under the sun. Living life to the fullest does not mean experimenting with out boundries... "everything is permisible but not all is beneficial". Living life to the fullest is knowing who God is and what He wants for us. Living life to the fullest is living according to the example Christ left for us... because He wants us to have an abundant life.

It is sad to see how some people squander their lives without thinking. Their lives are full of monotomy and without a future.

   "some soul walk around like they got no definition / stumbling through life everything is nothing
   different / same song same moves same thought same look / they are record scratched up like they
   play they same groove"

Let's live life like we mean it. Let's live it up to the fullest but according to how God wants it. Let's live it ready to be shaped cause we are the potters clay.

<a href="http://atone.bandcamp.com/track/live-it-up">Live It Up by aTone</a>

Please support and click here purchase the album here. - http://atone.bandcamp.com

Lone Voice

2010-06-28T10:51:00.000-04:00

Ever feel like you had a very important message you needed to share with people but when you tried it felt like it fells on deaf ears or it echoed with no response?

Lone voice was birth out of that sentiment. There is a Spanish saying:

"el que no coje consejo no llega a viejo" loosely translated it means "he who does not heed advice will not see old age".

The Bible is full of good advice. As a matter of fact the Bible contains the writings of the wisest man that ever live, Solomon. In his wisdom he came to one conclusion, everything in meaningless except the relationship you have with your creator.

This is this message that needs to be conveyed that needs to be said; actually it needs to be shouted in the streets. It is a message of life and death, but many people dismiss it because they feel they know it all or know a better, faster or easier way.

"They trade the simple truth for a complicated lie// and await for the results peering to the sky// cause they want to see it open and pour down on them riches they think that they deserve cause the law they preserved"

Many need to understand that knowledge comes when we fear God. The simple truth of salvation is just accepting it. There is no amount of work, sacrifice or will power that can lead you to heaven. The work is done already; it is just a matter of accepting the gift. We all have fallen short of the glory of God, but the gift of salvation is for everyone. All we have to do is believe and receive it.

On the other side of the coin we need to be careful with who we are allowing to teach us and guide us because some might use it as part of an agenda.

Sad as this sounds it is the truth. Some take this gift and the message that comes with the gift and use it for their own agenda. Some disagree with this gift and will do what they can to disprove it. Ultimately the truth is found in the Word of God, the Bible. I urge all to not just take someone’s word for fact. Look it up in the Bible to add meaning, context and veracity to the word.

"Unlike some fools in the corner who have hate on their heart// plant seeds of discontent and bear fruit of resentment// their walk is always straight like they got a self agenda//resemble politicians in the road with assistants"

So let's not turn a deaf ear to the advice found in the good book. Let's not fall for problems and situations that could have been avoided if we would have just heeded to the wisdom found in the Bible. Let not the Words of God become a distant echo in our lives. Let them penetrate deep into your soul, let them take root in your heart and become part of who you are. Like King David said: I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalm 1189:11

<a href="http://atone.bandcamp.com/track/lone-voice">Lone Voice by aTone</a>

2010-06-21T11:40:00.000-04:00

So in light of the fact that I just released my new album online and to keep my promise of bloging more often I have decided to do a blog entry for each track of the album expanding on it biblically and personally.

So with that let me start with Let it go featuring Kat.

When thinking about this track and the theme behind it, a couple of verses come to mind. Verses having to do with trusting in God and letting go of the worries (John 14:1), or letting go of our load and picking His up since His is always lighter(Matthew 11:29). Or like the apostle Paul wrote, letting go of the past and pressing on towards the goal(Philippians 3:13). Many of us have some things that we need to work through or are working through, things that we need to let go so that we can experience what God has for us.

I know I personally deal with having to let go of my pride. At times I catch myself thinking that I know more or that I sin less than others, and I know that this is not true. That is my struggle, an internal one to stay humble and know that my self worth is found in God's mercy and not in my actions or accomplishments. I know that we all have fallen short of the glory of God and need the grace and mercy that we only find in Jesus to be able to get to God.

Some of us need to let go of the past to be able to see what God has for us in our near future. Letting go of hurt and pain from our past will bring peace and joy. Releasing and forgiving those whom might of hurt us in the past brings reconciliation and stability in our present relationships.

Let go of all the anger the bitterness the hate and distrust// the grilling everyone the look of disgust// it aint a good look we don't want non of that// yet we like to beef it up but we don't like all the fat.

We need to let go of all the things that where part of our lives before accepting Jesus and live our lives like we have been created anew. The old has gone the new has come.

Some times we need to let go of our own preferences and biases. This too can hinder us from having a deeper relationship with God and with each other. Do not look at the speck in your brothers eye but neglect the plank in yours. Focusing on the negative, on the bad things on what can go wrong rather than the positive things, can rob us of a deep personal relationship with each other.

We need to just stop// we need to let him in// and move us from within// to rely in Him// and sacrifice every aspect in order to our grow// our flesh our desires just let it go

<a href="http://atone.bandcamp.com/track/let-it-go-featuring-kat">Let It Go featuring Kat by aTone</a>

Freedom

2010-05-20T13:29:00.001-04:00

It is 8:30 am and I am sitting near West 34th and Broadway. I usually get to tthe office about this time but - guess I got to work early or the person that opens the office is out and therefore I have sometime before the office is open.

While I sit and see all these people going about their business I can't help but to think about how many of them are in bondage and don't even know it. Others might realize but have no idea how to obtain the freedom they have been looking for.

The book of Galatians talks to us about freedom. This book was written by Paul between 49ad - 55ad. The is letter unlike any of His other letters, is written for a group of churches He help established while spreading the gospel. Paul felt a need to write this letter after hearing that some among the church where spreading heresy in the form of deeds for salvation rather than preaching salvation as gift of grace from God.

Galatians 5:1 speaks to us a out being free - 1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

What type of freedom is Paul talking about? I believe there are three main types. First we have freedom from the slavery of sin. We where set free from the bondage of sin. Before this freedom we had no choice but to sin. We where controlled by sin. Rom. 8:9 says You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit. In other words we do not have to be under the yoke of sin.

Second we have freedom from external restraints. Salvation was not meant for the elite, the athlete, the socialite nor just for the poor or the needy and it is not received base on what you do, who you are or the fulfillment of a list of do's and don'ts. Salvations is a free gift from God that is for whoever believes in Him.
This is why John 3:16 is such an important verse, it encapsulates this simple truth. Nothing less nothing more.

Finally we are free to access him at any point in time. John 10:9 jesus states that he is the gate and we are able to go through his gates at any time. Not only that but when we go through those doors we will find salvation, protection and fulfillment of our needs.

Freedom is not doing what you want to, when you want to, how you want to and however you want to do it. Freedom is trusting in God with your life knowing that you have freedom from sin, freedom fro external pulls and the freedom to access God at any time. All you need to do is live out the freedom.

Live free!
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

New Single

2010-04-28T12:22:00.000-04:00

Here is the new single, Let It Go featuring Kat from the forth coming album Perceive dropping 05/25

Click here to download for free and please share this with all your friends!

<a href="http://atone.bandcamp.com/album/perceive">Let It Go featuring Kat by aTone</a>

At the edge of the cliff

2010-04-20T14:02:00.000-04:00

So, yesterday I had a glimpse of what I know it's my calling and desire. Yesterday I was reminded why I do what I do in ministry and why I would like to do it full time.

I had the opportunity on monday to spend some time with my former boss and friend Larry Acosta who heads Urban Youth Workers Institute (www.uywi.com). He was in town for Battle Cry and for some meetings. We spend some time on sunday talking about ministry and sharing. On monday I tagged along for a couple of hours early in the morning and traveled with him to NYACK downtown. He was setting for a meeting with full time youth leaders. I was able to meet and speak with a couple of them and their passion, conviction and friendliness reminded me why I do ministry and they inadvertently began to fan the flame in me to purse this full time.

I write this down not only to share with you my goals and dreams but to also to ask for you support and prayers as I seek God's will in all of this. At the end of next year I intent to be well on my way working towards a full time ministry or already working as a full time youth leader and leading a second service in my church. I don't know how is going to happen but all I know is the I will walk by faith and prepare myself. I know that God will do the rest.

Keep me in your prayers. I will continue to update you on my progress.

Be Blessed
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Summer

2010-04-07T13:58:00.000-04:00

Summer is here... Yay!
Such a great time to just be outside enjoy the weather, the sites and just clear your mind. I write this as am sitting down at 34th and Broadway taking in much needed sun light. Trust me, my skin is a mixture of bland and pale... Lol.

As many people take advantage of the new year to make resolutions, I want to take advantage of the summer to make a couple of changes. I will call them evolution since I hope that by being faithful to these changes it will help me to evolve as a better more mature persn and believer. If your are reading this or stumble by this blog/note I urge you to please keep me accountable for what am about to write.

1. I promise to blog/post something at least once a week

2. I will make my best to take an full hour lunch at least 3 times a week and sit outside and read my bible.

3. I will try to eat healthier

4. I will spend more time seeking God.

So if you are ever around my area at lunch time hit me up and we can enjoy the sun, have some fellowship and eat fruit (healthy stuff for me). Also feel free to call me out or inquire about any of my evolutions.

.
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Perceive

2010-03-19T12:11:00.001-04:00

As many of you know I am a hip-hop artist. Just in case you did not know... well know you know! lol Anyway I am currently working on my 5th cd/ 3rd full length and I have finished the art work for it and the track listing.

Before I get into that part I want to explain a bit about the cd and the name of the cd.

PERCEIVE
Pronunciation: \pər-ˈsēv\

Function: transitive verb

1 a : to attain awareness or understanding of b :to regard as being such <perceived threats>perceived as a loser>
2 : to become aware of through the senses;

So perceive is to attain awareness of understanding - As I started to work on this project a lot of the tracks started to revolve around this theme. As humans we are, by nature, very aware of how people see us, what they think about us and how we would like people to perceive us.

Funny thing is that I've heard many people, including famous rappers, say "Only God can judge me!". The fact of the matter is that people judge each other all the time. They form opinions, perceptions and ideas sometimes based on what they've seen, or heard or hearsay.

As a artist/emcee I have allowed myself to be in a more public eye where scrutiny is unavoidable. I am well aware of how people perceive me, but there are times where I am surprise. None the less we all have different way to perceive what and who is around us based on our experiences, knowledge or/and source of information.

This new project deals with ways people perceive, from television, radio and internet to emotions and experiences. In the next couple of days/weeks I will share some tracks and just expand on this subject. In the mean time here is the cd cover and the track listing:

Track listing:

1. Let it go f/ Kat | Production - Odd Thomas

2. Crazy f/ Iv | Production - Lucardo

3. Lone Voice | Production - Urban Noize

4. Keep Trying f/ Conquest | Production - Lucardo

5. Common Senses | Production - Lucardo

6. Hand Dealt | Production - Lucardo

7. How you living it | Production - Humble Modesto

8. Lo Bueno y Lo Malo f/ Kat | Production - Lucardo

9. Perspective | Production - Bruce Lesun

10. Life Line | Production - Jah Rockn Production

11. Like | Production - Lucardo

12. Doubt | Production - Error96

13. Live it up | Production - Bruce Lesun

14. Sumthin Wicked f/ Theory Hazit and Sev Statik | Production - Theory Hazit

Do you have a boss from hell?

2010-03-10T17:35:00.001-05:00

As we are in recession time many of us can not be as picky with where we work, what we doing at work and what type of boss/manager we work for. Due to these circumstances some are relegated to work in less than desirable conditions with equality bad bosses.

As I was going on my morning commute I picked up the free newspaper, we are in a recession after all and I only get to read about 1/3 of it anyway. The cover of the newspaper read - Bosses from Hell..
I chuckle as I picked it up and began to read how some well known personalities where "The Boss from Hell". Then it dawned on me. Am I working for the Boss from Hell... Literary!

Well let's compare the two main bosses that one can have. On the one hand we have the boss that is out to steal, kill and destroy. This is the type of boss that is out to steal peoples happiness, their peace of mind and their joy. He is bent on killing you dreams, aspirations your desires to do a great job. He is a total kill joy. One of those people that you know they are in a room because everyone else looks miserable, uncomfortable and just wants to leave. He is out to destroy everything that might be good, everything that might true and noble. In short he is looking to destroy your life.

On the other hand we the boss that constantly encourages you to do your best. He is very supportive and is looking out for your we'll being. He is not worry about dreams and aspirations getting in the way because there is always room to expand in his company. He is always joyous when a job is well done but also guides when needs be. He continually creates opportunities for growth, for advancement and he is very fair in his dealings with everyone. He gives wise council and often he makes sacrifices for others. He gives and gives in abundance.

Which boss would you like to work for? The first boss demands your life, your time, your everything so that He can control it. He asks for everything that you possess including your life with the worse possible returns in your life.
While the second boss asks for you participation, asks for your love wants you to give of your time and of your life so that he can help you have a better one. He asks for loyalty and consistency for dedication and lastly for trust. In return you will have an abundant life. A life full of blessings. A life that will have purpose and be fulfill. You will live life to the fullest.

Romans 10:10
"The thief comes only to kill steal and.
destroy; I have come that they might
have life,a nd have ot to the full."

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

When hate = love?

2010-03-01T13:22:00.001-05:00

So, I was walking down the street and as you all know by now I pay attention to ads and posters. I do this not just because I am a designer and I like to see other peoples work but also because I like to be relevant and know what is going on in the world.

So as I was walking I saw this ad for a new tv show. As you can see by the image the tag line is " hearing "I hate you!" and knowing you are doing something right". Now I don't know about you but I think this is the wrong message to be sending our kids and for parents to accept.

Maybe am a bit old but when I was young, if I would have ever told my mother that I hated her or anything that remotely had to do with her I would get a chancla to the back of my head and then feel remorse for saying something like that.

The 5th commandment of the 10 commandments instructs us to honor our parents to live long lives. If you have not notice this is the only commandment that has a promise attached to it. The fact of the matter is that we all want to live longer.

I don't know when this "I hate you" deal first came out but I do know that my mother deserves my respect, my honor and most of all my love.

As a parent myself, it would really pain me to hear my child tell me that she hates me. First because no parent really wants to hear that. Second because it reflects on my parenting skills and my relationship with her and lastly because it reflects her relationship, or lack there of, with God.

When you drive a child to say "I hate you" there should be warning signs, bells and whistles and bull horns going of in your head all at the same time. The bible teaches us to rear our children in Gods word, to listen to them, to respect them and to not exasperate them. Ephesians 6:4

In the same manner we should respect, honor, listen and accept the advice of our parents. Proverbs 1:8 4:1

So if you ever hear you child say that, stop and examine yourself and then you need to examine your relationship with your child.

This have been a public service announcement brought to you by One to kunstruct on... Lol

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

How do we stack up against other religions...

2010-02-23T10:31:00.000-05:00

I was browsing some of the blogs that I like and one of them caught my eye. As I started to read I was somewhat amazed and a bit disappointed by what I read.

Basically USA Today took a poll using 35,000 Americans and asked them a set of questions regarding their beliefs. Some of the results were surprising to me. Below are some of the questions and results that , at least for me, stood out the most.

1. Do hollywood and the entertainment industry threaten your values?
Mormon - 67% yes
Jehova's Witness - 54% yes
Evangelical churches - 53%
Catholic - 43%

2. Do you believe there is a clear and absolute standards for what is right and wrong?
Jehova's Witness - 55%
Evangelical churches - 51%
Mormon - 46%
Catholic - 38%

3. When it comes to questions of right and wrong, do you use your beliefs for guidance.
Jehova's Witness - 73%
Mormon - 58%
Evangelical churches - 52%
Catholic - 22%

4. Do you think there is a heaven where people who have led good lives are eternally rewarded?
Mormon - 95%
Evangelical churches - 86%
Catholic - 82%
Jehova's Witness - 46%

5. Do you think there is a hell, where people who have led bad lives and die without being sorry are eternally punished?
Evangelical churches - 82%
Catholic - 60%
Mormon - 59%
Jehova's Witness - 9%

6. Which of these 2 statements come closer to your own views?
A. Only my religion leads to eternal life | - B. Many religions lead to eternal life.
Jehova's Witness - 80% | - 16%
Mormon - 57% | - 39%
Evangelical churches - 36% | - 57%
Catholic - 16% | - 79%

As you can see some of the results are a bit alarming... at least to me.
When only 86% of evangelicals believe that there is a heaven and only 82% believe there is a hell, there is something getting lost in our Sunday Bible classes. When only 36% percent say that Christianity is the only way to eternal life, it makes me wonder about the other 57% and how they see John 14:6 where Jesus said
"I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father but through me."

I know that as a Sunday School teacher. a Youth Leader. and elder of the church and as a communicator of the word of God I will uphold the teachings of the Bible and try my best to communicate clearly the foundational beliefs that make us followers of Christ.

Here is the link if you would like to view more results from other questions used in this survey.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/graphics/2008_pew_religion/flash.htm

All I got to say is.... wow! Ed not so Young...

2010-02-22T15:35:00.000-05:00

So I came across this video at http://jesusneedsnewpr.blogspot.com/ and in a rare moment of weakness, I guess, I thought it was going to be funny.

But the more I watched it the more I started to think otherwise. It was a bit unsettling that His message to
to be your self by calling out names of who He was not wanting to be.

Anyway, check the video.. you be the judge.

They calling you stupid..

2010-02-18T17:14:00.000-05:00

Not sure if you have been paying attention to some ad campaigns that have been running in the news paper. Well today I came upon one that surprise me a bit for being a bit rude and calling people/their costumer stupid.

Below is the picture I took.

Not sure about you but if the store where I shopped called me stupid I would seriously consider looking for anther store. Maybe am not as cheeky as some people but rude and name calling is not nice.

Am just saying...
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Boom boom pow!

2010-02-11T22:50:00.001-05:00

This is the last entry and picture with my Moto Q phone. As you can see I got my new phone and it will be activated soon.

I might have to hit some of you up for phone numbers and bb pin#... Tirame por el blackberry!

The other white stuff...

2010-02-10T13:49:00.000-05:00

So this is the scene outside my window at about 1:30pm.

I have to admit that I thought that by this time most cars would be buried under mountains of snow. I guess it's still relatively early and the snow does not seem to stop.

One thing I have to say is that it better snow enough to justify the closing of the schools. I don't remember schools closing because of snow when I was younger. As a matter of fact they shoved all student into the auditorium and showed us movies on snow days.

I guess we will see how much it snows.

By the end of the week I will be addicted! lol

2010-02-08T11:53:00.000-05:00

So my trusted cell phone has not been too trusting as of lately so it is time for me to move on. So I was trying to figure out which phone would be a good phone to get. As you know, or can see I am involved in all these social media sites and having a phone that can keep me updated and in contact is great. I also want a phone that can take video so that I can make some video updates on my music.

I also had to keep in mind that It should be so expensive just cause things are a bit tight, and I need to be a little conscientious of the cost. So I decided to go with...

This phone has a lot of the features that I need plus a couple of more that are real nice. I finally get to use apps and consolidate everything I need in one place. Also when I get a show, I can get turn by turn directions so I won't get lost... lol. Thought that seldom happens. I also like the fact that it has a track pad instead of a track ball. I've played around with the track ball and I did not like it too much.

So this week I will get a taste of Crackberry Juice!

If you have a Blackberry also hit me up with your pin# to stay connected!

New music, new contract...

2010-02-05T14:51:00.000-05:00

First week recap.

2010-01-13T09:25:00.001-05:00

If you have been following me for the past week then you know we've had a great time going over each chapter of the book of John. If you have not then here is a little summary of what we are doing.

My chuch wanted to start the year with a commitment of gettting closer to God. With that end we are spending 21 Days With God. From Jan. 4 - Jan. 24 we will be fasting and praying. Along with the fasting and prayer we are also reading the book of John, 1 chapter a day.

During the web cast we take an hour to go over the chapter of the day. I add some commentary and I am always eager to answer any questions and listen to your input.

So far we have read about the first miracles Jesus performed, we've discussed some of the cultural and religious barriers Jesus tore and the reasons why. Finally we've touched upon
lessons that we can apply in our life based on biblical truths we've read in all the chapters.

So please take some time out to join us everyday at 9:30pm at www.ustream.tv/channel/21dayswithgod

Be blessed.

21 Days with God

2010-01-04T00:21:00.005-05:00

In an effort to post more meaningful blogs I have decided to chronicle my 21 Days with God.

Let me explain what that is. Our church has decided to have a 21 day fasting and prayer period along with reading 1 chapter a day from the book of John. As a church we have broken into groups of 4-5 to meet once a day to pray and review the chapter of the John for that day.

I have decided to share this with you in a form of video blog. I will encourage you to read the book of John everyday and I will get online live at 10 pm every night for the next 21 days and discuss some of the questions we are to go over for each chapter.

You can follow me on this blog everyday at 10 pm for the next 21 days or-

Live Video streaming by Ustream

or you can go to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/21dayswithgod

There, I will have a chat window where we can interact and discuss the chapter of the day for 21 days.

Monday January 4 at 10 pm will be the first entry and live chat for Chapter 1 of the book of John ending January 24th at 10pm. I hope that you are willing to take this journey with me and see where God can lead us in this time.

The Meaning of Christmas

2009-12-23T11:08:00.001-05:00

Just a week before Christmas I had a visitor. This is how it happened. I just finished the household chores for the night and was preparing to go to bed, when I heard a noise in the front of the house. I opened the door to the front room and to my surprise, Santa himself stepped out next to the fireplace.
"What are you doing?" I started to ask. The words choked up in my throat and I saw he had tears in his eyes. His usual jolly manner was gone. Gone was the eager, boisterous soul we all know. He then answered me with a simple statement . . .

"TEACH THE CHILDREN!" I was puzzled. What did he mean? He anticipated my question and with one quick movement brought forth a miniature toy bag from behind the tree. As I stood bewildered, Santa said, "Teach the children!

Teach them the old meaning of Christmas. The meaning that now-a-days Christmas has forgotten. "Santa then reached in his bag and pulled out a FIR TREE and placed it before the mantle. "Teach the children that the pure green color of the stately fir tree remains green all year round, depicting the everlasting hope of mankind, all the needles point heavenward, making it a symbol of man's thoughts turning toward heaven."

He again reached into his bag and pulled out a brilliant STAR. "Teach the children that the star was the heavenly sign of promises long ago. God promised a Savior for the world, and the star was the sign of fulfillment of His promise."

He then reached into his bag and pulled out a CANDLE. "Teach the children that the candle symbolizes that Christ is the light of the world, and when we see this great light we are reminded of He who displaces the darkness."

Once again he reached into his bag and removed a WREATH and placed it on the tree. "Teach the children that the wreath symbolizes the real nature of love. Real love never ceases. Love is one continuous round of affection."
He then pulled from his bag an ORNAMENT of himself. "Teach the children that I, Santa Claus, symbolize the generosity and good will we feel during the month of December."
He then brought out a HOLLY LEAF. "Teach the children that the holly plant represents immortality. It represents the crown of thorns worn by our Savior. The red holly berries represent the blood shed by Him.

Next he pulled from his bag a GIFT and said, "Teach the children that God so loved the world that he gave his begotten son." Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift.

Santa then reached in his bag and pulled out a CANDY CANE and hung it on the tree. "Teach the children that the candy cane represents the shepherds' crook. The crook on the staff helps to bring back strayed sheep to the flock. The candy cane is the symbol that we are our brother's keeper."

He reached in again and pulled out an ANGEL. "Teach the children that it was the angels that heralded in the glorious news of the Savior's birth. The angels sang Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace and good will toward men."

Suddenly I heard a soft twinkling sound, and from his bag he pulled out a BELL,. "Teach the children that as the lost sheep are found by the sound of the bell, it should ring mankind to the fold. The bell symbolizes guidance and return.

Santa looked back and was pleased. He looked back at me and I saw that the twinkle was back in his eyes. He said, "Remember, teach the children the true meaning of Christmas and do not put me in the center, for I am but a humble servant of the One that is, and I bow down to worship him, our LORD, our GOD."

Coming out the Woods work

2009-12-19T15:46:00.000-05:00

So, if you have been one of the few people that trully does not follow media and has not seen the news or read any newspapers or spoken to any one else other than your uninformed imaginary friend then you know about Tiger Woods and the situation that has been unfolding for the last couple of weeks.

Apparently he was unfaithful to his wife. Now I definitely do not condone his actions and don't have an inclination to even guess why he sis what he did. What surprises me is the after effects of his actions. I am not talking about his wife's actions. What I am talking about is the amount of women who decided to step forward and share their involment wit Tiger.

Since when did it become trendy and fashionable to share that you had an affair with someone? Since when did it become popular to sleep with a celebrity to gain some sort of status? Since when did it become the norm to air out your dirty laundry and make seem like you are a celebrity?

When the Jews brought forth Mary who was caught in the act of adultery she was ashame, humiliated, scared, afraid, embarrassed and crying. She understood the severity of her actions and the consequences that it brought. The last thing she wanted to do is public acknowledge her adultery.

What a contrast to those women who at some point decided to make their involment in this matter public. The only reason that I can think of for them to have come out of the woodwork (pun intended) was for a piece of the lime light.

It is sad to think that one's reputation is now based on who you sleep with rather than how firm you stand for morals and standards. I wonder if the consequences for their involment would have been the same as Mary, which was stoning to death, would they still be so eager to share?

I hope that Tiger gets the help that he needs and ultimately find Jesus. I also hope that those other girls realize that they are worth more than just a secret affair and ultimately fall in love with God.

Sorry to burst your bubble.

2009-05-28T11:46:00.001-04:00

I believe that one of the bible verses that should be a staple in our christian life is Matthew 28:19

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit...

Funny thing is that I have heard numerous preachings about this, I have tought using this verse and believe it 100%. Why is it so hard to apply?

I found myself asking that question lately. Jesus' last commanment was directed to the church. In a sense he is saying that we need to affect those around us. We need to not only interact but have a purpose for that interaction...to share the gospel and to disciple them. We need to be open and honest and to build lasting, meaningful and impactful relationships.

What happens so very often is that we become trap in the Christian bubble. Let me explain, after accepting Jesus christ as your savior you are encouraged to join a congregation if you have not done so. You are also encourage to read the word, which is always important and to pray. All these things are great and should be done. You are also encouraged to leave you former life and everything associated with it behind as well. The problem is that this includes the very people that we should be trying to reach. Now I am not saying that we should continue to relate with people that will hinder our walk with Christ but more often than not we rarely look back at those who were in our inner circle before we accepted Jesus. Once we have a "Christian" inner circle, we cut ties with those that were around us and knew how we were before we accepted. When this happens we become trap in a christian bubble where everyone we associate with knows who Jesus is. From the ministries that we are a part of to the associations we belong to, the events parties and celebrations we participate in we are for the most part sorrounded by Christians. Now this in itself is not bad. The question is when and with whom do we live out Matthew 28 :19? Who are we preaching to? Who are we baptizing? The first part of the verse that says 'Therefore go out' means we are sent. We need to take the appropriate steps to be in the places and with the people that we know need the word of God.

I know that I have fallen victim to this. But I have decided to be proactive and take steps to be able to share and witnes to those around me and live a lifestyle of evangelism. I will seek to share not only on saturday when we have outreach events or inside the church to visitors but also as I live my life. Not only because I know that people need to hear the gospel but because Jesus commanded me to do it.

I am...

2009-05-12T20:59:00.003-04:00

We can all identify with some culture of another, there are things that we do, say or ways we act that either distinguishes us from others or identify us with a group.

I’ve gotten some pretty funny emails; one of them came with a title of “You know you’re Hispanic if…

• You have ever been hit with a chancla as you running away from you mom

• Your mother yells at the top of her lungs to call you to dinner and you only live in a one bedroom apartment.

• You have ever used your nose or lips to point something out.

• If you consider platanos to be a food group.

• If all your pots and pans are kept inside the oven.

• You’ve ever dropped food on the floor, picked it up, ate it after saying, “Lo que no mata engorda”.

• People tell you to stop screaming when you`re really just talking.

• If you can finish this saying… Si es Goya…

• You have or had plastic slipcovers on your sofas.

• You know at least one person in your family named Maria, Carlos, Papo, Juan, Jose, Tony or Luis

• You constantly refer to cereal as “con flei”.

These stereotypical jokes are funny but they also identify us and groups us within a culture. Many people have tried to answer the question who am i? And not just in stating your name or relevant information but in saying or really knowing who you are. The bible, as our guide gives us many instances where it shows us who we are.

Eph. 1:3-7
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he[a] predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,

I am blessed!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

We, who are in Christ, those who have trusted Christ as their personal Savior and Lord, are blessed with every spiritual blessing. We are blessed. We need to realize that we should be praising God for the things that we have already.
Clothing, food, health, family, home, the basic necessities…. We are truly blessed. I had the opportunity to be part of a show where World Vision made a presentation on adopting a child. I was floored by the statistics. 32,000 kids die a year because they don’t have the basic necessities. They don’t die from incurable diseases, they die because they don’t have access to running water or food to eat.

Sometimes I am amazed how some of us go crazy when we don’t have the opportunity to text, or to email or to get on the computer. We consider some of those things our basic necessities, but in the light of the statistics from World Vision, all this is rubbish.

I am chosen!

4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love

We are chosen, even before the foundation of the earth was formed we where chosen by God to be His people, to be holy and blameless in His sight! I don’t know about you but that makes me feel pretty special. Let me ask you this… have you ever been chosen last for a game. You know how it goes… first to get chosen are the jocks or athletic ones, then the friends are picked because well they are friends, then family members cause you know you don’t want them to be last. Then come that ones that you might not really know but they look like they can add to the team and lastly are those who… well the ones that always get pick last.

God saw more value in us than that! There are no last picks for him, we are all picked first! We are chosen you to be his child. God chose you to be with him.

I am His child!

5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

John 1:12 says, for all who believe and for those who receive He has given the right to be called Children of God! You have a father who is omniscient, omnipotent, who is all powerful, who created everything you see here, who take care of you who loves you, who chose you! You have a father who wants the best for you who has given you the best gift that any one can give. He has given you life. He has sacrificed His own Son so that you can become His son!

I grew up in a single parent household. For me it was such a life changing realization that God knowing all my faults, knowing my short comings, knowing my most inner thoughts would chose me with out hesitation. That He would chose me even before He created me. He wanted me as His son. I can not put into words what that means to me.

In these times where more and more fathers are absent from the home we need to share this powerful truth, God wants us to be his Child.

Be proud to call God your father! Be proud to call in his name and talk about what He has done! Be proud to be called a child of God! Many of us try to hide that fact that we are Christians or down play how involve or how much time we spend in church or how much we know about the word. Why? Why do we do that? We can be so proud of so many other things that have no lasting affect in our lives but we can’t be proud of being a child of God, a child of the King, the Creator of the earth! So therefore I will praise his name. My actions, my thoughts, my relationships, the way I treat people, my life will be to praise him.

I am Free!

7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace

I am free from all the sins that I have committed before. I am free from the conviction of the things that I am ashamed that happened in my past. I am free from the condemnation that the enemy tries to throw on me. I am free from all the accusations that might creep in my mind… I have been redeemed by the Grace of God. I have been bought back by the riches of God! Let me tell you something… God is rich. I mean He is wealthy! Think about it, if all of us we have all been redeemed here and our price was a high one to pay then My God is Rich… in Grace.

Sometimes we allow our thoughts to run amok and we entertained them way too much. Most times if not all those times that we allow those thoughts to roam without boundaries they become detrimental to our spiritual growth. I am so thankful that we are free from that. We are free from the bondage and captivity or our past and our thoughts.

I am Wise!

9And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,

Do you know people that learn the hard way? Worst of all they are proud about it! They say, “well I have to go through it in order to learn”. A favorite saying or phrase is I learn from the school of hard knocks… Why? Why would you want to learn by hard knocks? I believe that wisdom is learning from other people’s mistakes and not going through them your self. Don’t get me wrong I get some sort of pleasure saying to someone “ I told you so” but I think I like it even more when I see that they have exercise their wisdom and don’t go through the headaches and hard knocks. I think God has the same pleasure, He does like to see us go through hardships that are unnecessary. Headaches and heartaches that could have been avoided, if we would have just be a bit more wise with our decisions. I know that this might be a little cliché but when you need to make a decision stop, pray and ask what would Jesus do?

I can go on detailing who we are in Christ. You can search through the Bible and you will find verses that identify us and reaffirm our identity with God. I want you to understand that you are not just any one. You are not just some one else you are not just a human, more than a creation; you are not just cell and blood and bones and hair and skin. You are more than that. You are special, you are chosen, you are and heir to the kingdom of God, you are an ambassador, you are royal priest hood, you are the salt of the earth, you are light in this neighborhood, you are a co-laborer with God, and you are the image of God.

Is you GPS system functional?

2009-03-16T17:47:00.000-04:00

I have a track called God Is Like. In the track I compare God to two things. The first is the driver of a car and the car is my life. A part of the verse says 'engage GPS God Please Show me your will not mine you move devine'. I was thinking about this and relized that many of the characters in the bible at one point or another have had a glitch in their GPS system.

There are many characters to choose from. People like David, Abraham, Moses and Peter. One of these characters that I was able to read about recently was Elijah. I will focused on the last part of his life specifically His role in killing the priest serving Baal and his decisions after that.

In the book of Kings chapter 18 verse 22 to the end of chapter 19 we read this story. To summarize thi story, Elijah challenges the priests of Baal to prove that Baal was the true god by having fire fall from the sky and consuming a sacrifice upon an altar. After many days of praying and calling out to Baal to send down fire to consume the sacrifice it never came down. As Elijah's turn came he order for huge buckets of water be pour upon the altar drenching everything. He then proceeded to call out the name of God and sure enough God pour upon the altar fire that consumed not only the sacrifice but everything around it and all the water that was pour on it.
After all this had occurred Elijah had all of Baals' priest put to death.

So far its been a great story about the power of God manifested through the prayer of his servant Elijah. I believe that here is where his GPS has a glitch and begins to act up. Queen Jeezebel hears what Elijah had done and sends word threatening Elijah with death that very same day. Based on the accounts of the bible threats made by this queen were not to be taken lightly. So what doe Elijah do when he hears this? He takes his servant and does the Forrest Gump move, he runs. He keeps running and running and running. He stops, leaves his servant behind because he feels that his servant is slowing him down and continues to run. It was a super natural run. Reminds me of chariots of fire. Now the question is... What is wrong with this picture?

Was he not just used by God to do the impossible? Did God not just answer his prayers to send down fire from heaven? Did he forget that God was with him?

So he ran until he could no more laid down and ask God to take his life? The same man that not so long ago was in direct communication with God seems to have lost his way.

Many of us, like Elijah, also suffer from glitches in out GPS system. Many times we let small problems take over and we loose sight of what God has just done with us, through us and for us. Many times we act like we know exactly what we need when we need it and how we should get it.

I need to confess something. I don't have the best sense of direction in the world. I might get lost while driving but I do find my way out so there is still hope for me. Who do I rely on when taking a long trip or a trip to an unfamiliar place? My wife. Shee is great co-pilot and has a great sense of direction.

So here is Elijah on the floor asking God to take his life and what does God do? Give him food drink and rest. After that rest God tells him to go to Mount Horeb and wait for Him. If you did not pick up what I just said re read the previous sentence. God was already fixing and tuning his GPS. God directed him to his next destination and told him what to do.

That is the beauty of God. He not only has patience and takes care of us when we loose our way but He gives us rest and puts us back in the right path. He told elijah where to go and what to do. When the time came God revealed himself to elijah. He showed him the right path and sent him off with a fully functional GPS system.

If you feel lost then let God get you back on the right road.

GPS- God please show me, your will not mine you move devine.

Anthony Perez

What's beef part 2.

2009-02-27T12:22:00.000-05:00

So, in my last post... I know it was a while back, but cut me some slack I recently moved and things have not been as organized as before. Anyway in my last post I covered beef. I hope that it was beneficial for the two or three people that some how stumble into this blog. This time I am going to talk about inner beef, the other dark meat.

One of my favorite verses is "you are a new creature a new creation, the old has gone the new has come". Why do I like this verse? Because our daily struggle is with ourselfs and with our old/sinful nature. There are times we try to rationalize our actions/thoughts/attitudes by simply stating
"that's just how God made me!" the truth of the matter is that it might be how God made you but it is certainly not how God intended you to to stay. Coming to the knowledge of Him and who He is and what He has done for us has to cause a change in us. Coming to the realization that we were dead, and because of His love, forgiveness and sacrifice we can trully live, has to create some change. I guess this is what we call having an encounter with God.

In the bible we see different people having and encounter with God. From Moses to Abraham, Jacob to David and Job. There is one common thread that bind these stories together. The encounter they had with God changed them for ever. They could no longer say 'this is how God made me'. Moses looked physically different. Jacob came out limping and with a new name. David came to understand the grace of God and Job was faithful to the end. One thing was true... They all changed.

Inner beef is good if there is progress and you allow God to change you from the inside out. It goes terrible wrong when we constantly have beef with the same issue for years and years with no change. In that case I would say seek and encounter with God and and pray that this encounter changes who you are.

Funny how this change affects the little things as well as the big things. I recently went shopping and while checking out the register person overlooked a couple of items. In that split second I had a choice to make, let the cashier know of items that were overlooked or say something. The old nature was screaming "don't worry you can get away with it... No one needs to know... It's not your fault the cashier was not paying attention... You can save some money!" My new nature was calmly wispering "you know it's not right... You are not that person any more... You will feel guilty every time you see or used those items... God has been faithful and will supply all your needs..." So in the end I took the items and place them on the cashiers table without the cashier even noticing.

We need to be different in all aspects of our lives. Once we came to know who Jesus is we are not or should not be the same any more. The old has passes the new has come.

Ask God for an encounter with Him. He will be more than glad to meet with you.

Anthony Perez

What's beef?

2008-12-02T09:02:00.002-05:00

Mos def and Talib Kweli have a song called 'what's beef'. (No, they are not Christian but they have very thoughtful and intelligent lyrics) Anyway, in this song they talk about what they consider beef... not the meat but meaning having a problem or conflict with someone or something. They go on to highlight different conflicts that someone might have with people, ideas and/or concepts.

This song started to make me think about internal and external beef. I will write another entry on internal beef but with this entry I would like to talk about external beef. Conflict, drama, problems or however you want to put it.

Let me start with giving you my stance on external beef. Bottom line is we should not have any. There should not be any beef between you or anyone else. There is no viable excuse to have any, especially if we are trying to be Christ like. I often joke around with some of my people from church and tell them that "I HAVE to love them cause the Bible tells me to". They know I am just joking. Unfortunately some people actually live this out. I've also heard people say "I have to love you but that does not mean I have to like you". That makes me scratch my head all the time. Now I am not saying that we all have to be best friends, have sleep overs where you share your inner most secrets or that we have to share and spend our time with people who do not fit the description of what a best friend is to you.
What I am saying is we should not harbor any ill feelings for anyone or feel like we have enemies . I would take it a step further and say that we should not be indifferent or non-caring about people, especially those that share the same beliefs as we have. Jesus was asked a question by the religious rulers of his time concerning the greatest commandment. I am sure that many reading this (all 2 of you) know it or at least heard it. "Love the Lord you God with all your heart with all your mind with all your strength..." but it does not end there. The second part of the greatest commandment is simple in terms of understanding it, "...and Love your neighbor as yourself" but it's one of the hardest to live out.

Talking about this reminds me of the good Samaritan story. Despite his personal feelings for the poor Jewish individual who was robbed and beating this Samaritan man showed more love and compassion than any of the other religious leaders or officials that saw the man lying in the road. The Samaritan not only bandaged him but took him to an Inn and paid for his care and stay. If that was not enough he also promise to pay anything extra should this stranger needed it. The remarkable aspect to the story is not only his kindness and compassion but it was extending these acts to that stranger especially because the stranger was a Jew. Samaritans and Jews where the worst of enemies. Jews regarded Samaritans with the type of affection that only the most lowly and undeserving person can expect. In turn the Samaritans where not very fond of the Jews to say the least. I hope you see where I am going with this. If this is the type of love that Jesus said we should have even when the love is given to someone that we feel is not deserving of it, then how much more should we love a brother or sister in Christ?

If God felt so much love for us who fell short of his glory... All of us who live in darkness, all of us who fulfilled the desires of our flesh, all of us who turned our backs on the light. He loves us so much despite all of that then why can we love our brethren? Why can't we share the gift given to us, why can't we be a loving neighbor?

The only beef should be medium-well with mash potatoes, corn and a cold drink to wash it down.

Whats Beef? - Black Star 2

The thing about grace.

2008-10-30T10:22:00.001-04:00

I know I have not written in a bit, but here I am delivering my thoughts and feelings as they come.

Anyway, I wanted to talk a bit about Grace. Grace is a funny thing. Not funny in like hahaha but funny in an interesting way. I do believe that it is definitely something that can be difficult to grasp and even more difficult to accept or and even still harder to give. What is grace? In short grace is a gift that is not deserved but is offered nonetheless.

If you are a believer then you understand that it is by grace that we are saved. It was God and the love he had for us manifested in the flesh through his son and his subsequent sacrifice for us that we see grace at work... We did not deserve this gift. We are not worthy of this and we have all fallen short of the glory of God. Regards it was offered to us as a gift with no attachments, gift receits or as an exchange for something else The bible clearly says that Jesus came to abolish the law andhis ministry is one of grace.

I think that were most of us get stuck is how do we excersice this grace in our lives and extend this to others. How and/or when do we let go of what we feel is right to show some grace. Where do we draw the line between what it is written as law and when grace kicks in. When do we stop putting rituals and custom above people?

I know that this is not and easy subject. I know that is not as easy as saying this is the way it has to be because it's written and it's been like this for years. The way I have been able to approach this is by putting myself in that situation. By asking myself 'if I was in the situation would grace help me grow spiritualy? Will someone, or the church for that matter, extending their grace towards my needs or shortcomings, is that more important and/or valuable than sticking strictly to the law?

Stay tune...i'll post more on this.

My legal obligation

2008-09-16T09:18:00.001-04:00

It is about 9am and I am on my way to fulfill my civic duty as a participant in jury duty. In this case is not the common jury duty where lawyers pick 12 people out of 50. I was selected to be part of Grand Jury. Our responsibility is to asses cases and see if their have any merit to continue to trail.

I hope that this wil be a positive experince and not a boring one, especially since it's for 4 days a week for 4 weeks.

I will upadate later on.

Until next time....
Anthony Perez

Vacation time

2008-09-03T14:31:00.001-04:00

So, we are on vacation and let me tell you it was really needed. God is good and we are already reaping the benefits of the blessings. We took Emily to the Crayola factory and she had a good time. She was able to do a lot of arts and crafts. The hightlight for me was finding a small ice cream shop tucked away a block from The Crayola Factory. The ice cream was very delicious. It's interesting that for a little shop that is literary on a small side street, it was full of people. I guess the locals really kow that the ice cream is worth having. Reminds me of a great secret that is longing to be reveal and if we know about it we want to share it, kinda like Jesus and the gift he offers us for free.

We tend to use hotwire to book our hotel whenever we go out. Thus far we've had real good experiences... Until now. We were able to book a 4 1/2 star hotel that turn out to be a Hyatt and all I can say is OMG! Is is the best looking hotel I have ever been in. In door pool, gym, a coy pond and a balcony over looking the atrium. All for $79.

Last but not least we got hungry and Shay decide to search for some place to eat. To add to the bucket of blessings, the
Lord supplied us with a bucket of crab. The pictures on the top are the before and the after... Lol.

All in all our first day of vacation was great.

Anthony Perez

2nd day of vacation

2008-08-31T20:02:00.001-04:00

I am standing in front of the caursel in Sesame Place. It's a great place for kids to come. It is not too far away from the city and it has both water rides as well as regular rides. Just make sure that you get there as early as possible or go during the weekday cause the lines for parking are horrendous. I kinda had to keep my patience in check.

We met up with some friends and I am sure that Emily will have a blast. Okay I have to admit that I most likely will have a blast as well.

It's about 8 pm and it's been a great day so far... But all good things must come to and end, but not without a bang. We just found out that the have Labor Day Weekend fireworks at the closing of the park. So we will head out with lots of lights and a big bang. Lol.

Till tomorrow....

Anthony Perez

Vacation time

2008-08-30T22:20:00.000-04:00

All in all our first day of vacation was great.

Anthony Perez

Walk in a straight line

2008-08-19T10:36:00.000-04:00

I tend to do some walking as a form of excercise after work. Usually I take a nice long walk from 34th St. and Broadway to 107 St. and Lexington. Yes it's a nice long walk but I enjoy it.

If you are thinking that I will tie this in to something in my life then you are right! I call them 'observations' some might say that I have a very critical eye... I just say that I tend to notice the details. So one of the things that I have constantly seen in my many long walks is how people seem uncapable of walking in a straight line. Numerous times I've had to stop dead on my tracks when someone drifts into my walking lane.

I understand that people are in a rush and there are throngs of people walking the streets everyday. I am talkng about the person who having no one else around him/her drifts to one side or the other, and not just one or two times it seems like that is the way they walk.

I started to think about that in terms of our walk with God. I wonder how many of us walk our lives with Him aimlessly or zig-zagging our way through life and sometimes blocking the people behind us. I wonder how many of us walk with purpose and in a straight path. The bible says that if we keep his word and precepts in our mind and heart that He will make our path straight. Which makes sense if we believe that his word is our guide... Then knowing His word will help us to walk with purpose and in a straight line. I know I struggle with setting apart some time to read and meditate on His word. I hope and pray to get better at this. Hopefully this is your prayer as well, if you also struggle with this.

Until next time... Be blessed.

- Anthony Perez

Sit and wait....

2008-07-25T21:16:00.001-04:00

I just recently saw a news headline that said ''2.2 million homes up for grabs''.
All I can think to myself is with so many homes up for grab why can one of them be mine?

Let me explain... My wife and I are praying for God to guide us in our living situation. Emily, our daughter was accepted to a school on the upper west side. We are currently living in the Bronx. If you know New York and traffic the you know that the worst thing to do is drive into manhattan in the morning. So we have been praying about getting a place around the new school. The problem is, we wanted to buy a home and with the way things are looking we would just have to hold on for a bit to probably get a good deal. The wrench in the plan is that it will probably have to be in the Bronx because who can really afford to live in Manhattan? Further more if we decide to rent now we will not be able to save up for a house any time soon.

Thus we are praying for God's direction. I have to be honest, this is hard. I was telling my wife that I am okay with whatever the Lord wants as long as I know what it is. The problem is that I don't know what it is and it's making me very anxious. I guess this is just another side of trust. Trusting in God for his perfect timing and blessing. I think back at all the times I've struggle to just do what God wants... Not knowing is even harder.

So if you are one of the two people that read this please pray for Gods' guidance and peace in our lives. That we will be able to sit and wait patiently for His hand to lead us to our promise land.

Until next time...
Be blessed.

Anthony Perez

Funny observations

2008-07-22T08:43:00.001-04:00

I had been throwing around the idea of making a list of things that can be pet pevees while riding the train.

Below is my list. In subsequent postings I will expand on them.

Don't you find it funny when:
1. someone stops on the top step of the staircase to catch their breath when there are tons of people behind.

2. someone walks real slow through the platform and is clueless to move over and let people pass them.

3. Someone sitting down waits for you to stand in front of them and waits for you to say excuse so that they can move down so you can sit down.

4. Kids and/or grown ups use the top handrail inside the train to do chin ups.

5. Someone leaves an empty bottle and it continually hits you feet while the train is moving.

6. Someone tries to squeeze themselves into a seat that clearly they don't fit in.

7. When people stand by the door and dont move whileyou are trying to get in or out the train.

I am sure that there are more observations that i might be missing. If you have some please comment on them

Until next time... Be bless.
Anthony Perez

Celophane

2008-07-09T08:52:00.001-04:00

Towards the end of Chicago the musical there is a song called Celophane where the character sings about feeling invisible or like people just see through him with out even thinking about him just like a piece of celophane.
Celophane is the noisy but colorful see-through plastic that is usually used to wrap gift baskets. Usually when you get one of those you tend to concentrate on looking at what the basket contains and not even giving the celophane a second thought. As a mater of fact it becomes more of a bother with all the noise and trouble unwraping it.
If you heard my last album, the last song is called celophane and that is where I got the idea from. See at one point in time I felt over looked, I felt under appreciated and ignored for the most part. That is where my mind set, at least within hip hop, was a couple years ago.
My mind set or at least my life is in a different path and the metaphor for celophane is different. I see it more a being transparent with every one who is around me. Is not about being overlooked but is more about being see through. So... In the spirit of this theme I would like to be transparent with whoever is reading this blog. I suffer from pride. It has been a source of conflict that i have been dealing with. Not sure where it started, or how it came about. I have to keep reminding myself that I am no better than any one else. I don't think that I act like I am but I need to keep my thoughts in check. It's really hard to be humble and it's harder to admit your mistakes/short comings.
''I keep reminding myself that pride comes before the fall'' and i really dread the fall. Hoestly, sometimes I wonder if God has spared me a uge headache by limiting me in music to whee i don't think any more of myself.... Either that or people around me have lie and I just really suck. Regardless I am thankful to God for loving me and helping to to keep grounded.

What is your source of struggle and how are you allowing God to work within that?

Be blessed.

Becoming a slave

2008-07-01T10:14:00.002-04:00

So I was ridding down the elevator at work on my way to lunch and our elevators have a tv screen that shows the news. Needles to say this caught my eye...

My first thought is why would you want to sell yourself off? Why would you want to be a slave to someone else, someone you don't know. As I kept reading I saw that he auctioned his friends. My first reaction was unbelief. Seriously, his friends? Then it hit me... What right did he have to auction his friends? The interesting thing was that he was disappointed with the amount his life, processions, job and the life of his friends are worth, a mere 384,000. Sad thing is that he sold himself short (pun intended).

I guess in a way this shows the value that people place on life. The value that we put on life will never be enough, but God values us as priceless. We are all priceless to God. Paul put it best when he said that he is a slave to God and only God. He knew that only in God would he find his true worth and we are elevated from a mere slave to a child of God.

This has me asking some tough questions.
- What am I a slave to?
- How did I get to that?
- How can I be free?

The Bible says that the truth shall set you free, so be honest with yourself. Know and recognize where or with what you’ve been slave with. Lastly give over to God and find freedom in him.

Be blessed.

FW: Round and round

2008-06-27T11:40:00.001-04:00

It's 6:10 and I am on the platform at 34th street waiting for the train to come and I've been thinking about what to write for this week. The phrase or rather yet question that keeps coming to my mind is.... Does you life revolve around God or does God revolve around your life?
You answer to this question can explain many of the things that might be happening in your life.

What do I mean by that.... Simply that your answer to this question will reflect your true relationship with God. The bible says it best in Seek first the kingdom of God and everything else will be added. Some times we get this verse twisted literary. Sometimes we tend to seek the world and the things that the world offers (some are not necessarily bad on their own like jobs, relationships, studies) and then think that God would be added unto that. I think that part of the blame for that is that we have grown so accustome to instant gratification. We have gotten so use to information, music, food and whatever else we desire being so accessible and getting so fast that we forget that little phrase "not my will but yours be done"... In others words is not in my time but in Gods time. We like God to step in and add to our lives in the good times but turn around and blame him in the bad times.
If God revolves around you life then that means the you are so pre-occupied with everything in your life that your basically saying...'God I have all of this to do, but if you find an empty spot the you can go ahead and take it.' But if the opposite is true ans you life revolvs arond God the He is the center of everything that you do. He is the focal point of your life. He is privy to everything that is going on in your life. If you seek him first and make him the center of your life then He will be able to not only be a part of all you life but be able to add on to your life in a great and powerful way.
So think about it.. Who revolves around who?

Be blessed.

I can't get no satisfaction.

2008-06-25T10:02:00.002-04:00

I write this as i am standing on the 2 train at 6pm heading home. I just found this great little application that can upload my messages straight to the blog. So my phone will see a lot more action. Lately I have been plague with thoughts of not investing my time wisely. I feel like i have not been as productive with my time especially with the advance in technology. I feel like I could do more to stay in touch and to connect more. I guess this is my step to do so. This leads to the theme of this weeks' message.

How many of us have experience total satisfaction? I guess most if not all of us have been there. Every time you finish a project and it's well done you experience satisfaction. Some sit or stand back and inspect their work and this smile of contentment and satisfaction creeps up. In the immortal words of the rolling stones and Paul I sing... 'I can't get no… satisfaction'

Wait Paul? Yes Paul. If we read in Phil. 3:13-14 he says.. Brothers I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
If any one could have sat back and contemplate the work He had done and how far he had travel and the goals he had achieved it was Paul. None the less he is clear here when he states that he has not yet finished his work, he has not yet attained what God has for him. Most importantly He has not receive the prize God has for him and while he has not gotten there he has resolved the move forward, to strain ahead and to press on not satisfied until he reaches his goal and attains the prize that God has for him.

In you spiritual life, have you reach the goal God has put forth? Have you attain the prize from God yet? In you ministry work, are you sitting back contemplating the good job you have done? Are you satisfied? Satisfaction comes not just from the completion of something we started. Satisfaction comes from knowing that you gave it your all, that you left a piece of yourself behind, that you achieved what you set out to do and the you attained the final prize with hard work, dedication, commitment and a lot of prayer. I encourage you to continue to press on, to strain forward to attain the goals God has for you and to never be satisfied until God himself tells you to stop.

The calm after the storm…..

2007-11-07T12:38:00.000-05:00

This is the last installment of the three part series about how to deal with storms in our lives. It is interesting because right now I am sitting in the airport writing this and thinking to myself how is this applicable to me. I am reminded of the continuous struggle that we all go through. A little something called spiritual war fare. Recently I had a couple of very weird dreams. Thinking about it they all had to do with spiritual war fare. The last dream woke me up and I felt a need to pray and rebuke the dreams, the images and the thoughts. I know I was half asleep but while I was praying I felt this sensation of heat around my forehead. It was like when you have something real warm next to your skin. You don't get burn but you feel the warmth emanating from it. It was real strange. I know that we all are in the midst of a spiritual war fare. I also know that we have the victory already.It was won by Jesus on the cross. With this I will end the series.

In the book of Mathew Chapter 8 verses 23 – 27 we see the disciples going into an unexpected storm. We can read how unprepared, anxious, scared and insignificant they felt. I can also image what a relief they felt when Jesus came out and spoke to the wind and the waves and they subsided. I can just imaging their faces going from a frown and haggard from worrying to a relaxed look. In one of my new songs I have a line that goes

"
"Is not about the struggles or how you getting there, is all about the travel and the lessons that appear and what you learn from them will help you persevere building character up every single year"

I wrote this thinking about the verse in Romans 5 that says we should rejoice in times of suffering because suffering produces perseverance and perseverance produces character, and character hope. Hope will never disappoint us. I believe that Jesus wants us to persevere. I believe He allows trails to come to our lives so that we can learn to persevere and thus build character. With this new found character there is hope. Hope that He will be there during our most trying times, hope that He will not abandon ship when the waves are pounding and the wind is tossing us around. Hope that no matter what is going on outside He has everything under control. I also believe that with this hope we will be able to see the promises of God come to past. With this hope you will be able to see dry land. With this hope you will be able to know that there is a rainbow at the end of the storm.

One clear example that comes to mind is Noah. Can you believe the ridicule he and his family suffer because of the ark? Can you image the difficult times he endured? It was not for a week or for a month or even for a couple of months. He was under scrutiny for a long time. He literary saw the storm coming, lived through the storm and saw the promises of God fulfilled after the storm. He held fast to God and his promises, no matter how ridiculous it must of sound. He was faithful to his calling no matter the situation. He concentrated on the task at hand and the voice of God rather than what he thought was reasonable. He lived through it the best way he could and at the end he saw that rainbow. He was able to set foot on dry land. He was able to see and enjoy God's promises at the end.

I believe that after every storm you should ask yourself a couple of questions.
What did God want me to learn from this?
How am I different after this storm?
What can I do different next time?
and How can I help some one else who might go through the same storm?

Believe it or not there is a rainbow at the end of the storm.

Puking overboad part2

2007-10-23T10:50:00.000-04:00

Secure the hatches! Tie down the sails! Man your positions! Bottom out the anchors!

This might be some of the expression/commands that you might have heard back in the days when a crew in a ship might be on the verge of going into a storm. When there is not where else to go or to do but to weather the storm. Many of us go through storms weathering them. Some just waiting it out, yet others are tossed all over the place by storms.

Like I mention on my the first part of this three part blog, a believers life can be split three stages. Going into a storm, in the middle of a storm or coming out of a storm. We are going to be talking about how to maintain during a storm. Not to weather, cause when you weather the storm it implies that over time things might erode. We will not wait out a storm because that implies that our hands are tied. We will not be tossed around because that implies that we are at the mercy of the storm. We will be talking about how to maintain in the middle of a storm.

Matthew 8:23 talks about a storm that came upon the disciples without warning. Now keep this in mind. Some of the disciples where experience fishermen. They where used to predicting the weather. Not only that but I am sure that they might have been in a middle of a couple of storms during their fishing experience. These men where season sailors/fishermen. In verse 24 it says that a furious storm came without warning. Ain't that true with a lot of our storms? We never saw that accident coming. We never saw that legal situation growing, or we never imagine the health issue popping it's head now.

It's interesting because knowing that the disciples where fishermen you would figure that they might have been calm, cool and collective. They might have know what to do and how to navigate through it. On verse 25 it says that - The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!" This struck as normal at first... you are in the middle of a storm and you feel like you are about to drown so you go ask for help, right? But wait, the person that you go ask for help is in the same boat you are in.... not only that but this person in asleep!

We can take away many things from this illustration but the one I want to mention is that the disciples not only had little faith as Jesus mention on the following verse "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" but that they really did not think about who Jesus really was. Here is the Son of Man, the Savior, The Almighty, The Lion of Judah, the Light of the World on the same boat and they are afraid that the boat is going to sink? Think about it, this man has healed, made miracles, taught with authority yet the disciples overlooked what they had seen and live through when a sudden storm hit. They let their fears cloud their judgment and knowledge of who Jesus really is/was. Many of us go through the same thing. We encounter a storm in our lives and all of a sudden we forget how much God has done in our lives. Our spiritual eyes get clouded by fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of not knowing the outcome of the storm. We forget that when we are going through a storm Jesus is in the same boat with you. He is riding the same wave you are riding. He is feeling the same up and down motion that you are feeling. The difference might be that If we have faith that He is there with us then we can have peace that no matter how bad the storm is, no matter how hard the wind blows, no matter how big the waves are we will not sink.

I want you to remember that the outcome is already determined. The end result is already worked out, and if we hold on to Jesus and have faith in who He is then know that we have the victory. We do not have to weather the storm, we should be ready for each and every storm. We don't wait out the storm, we have faith out work out our fears with his help and the knowledge of who He is. We don't get tossed and feel helpless in a storm, we should stand firm in the promises and the victory that God has already given us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

When we understand the authority of Jesus over everything, including our lives, then we can maintain through any storm. When we have unwavering faith in Jesus, then we can feel that supernatural peace in our lives during the hard times. When we trust God completely with our safety we will then be able to believe that whatever happens in our lives is the best for us according to His will.

Puking overboard!!!

2007-10-11T14:57:00.000-04:00

Ok I have not been slacking on posting I've just been real busy.... but I am back and have something more to say. This one will be in 3 parts.

About a year ago I was introduce to a show called The Deadliest Catch. The idea of the show is to bring cameras on board a boat that is going to sea to trap crabs. They only have a certain amount of time to trapped them and they have to follow some guidelines. When the boat returns to the harbor and it cargo is full of crab they can make a good amount of money. The down side to this is that the time alloted for them to go and trap crab can be one of the most challenging times weather wise. Most times is freezing, snow builds up on the side of the boat, the boat can experience mechanical failure and on a couple of occasions some boats have sank and lost an entire crew. It's an interesting show to say the least.

Watching this show brought back a quote from a choir director and good friend of mine, "as a believer you are in one of three stages/positions in your life, either you are going into a storm, in the middle of a storm or coming out of a storm".

It really had me thinking about where my life was and is within this quote. Regardless of where your life might be when it comes to this quote, i believe that are some steps/notions that we need to keep in mind. Let's look at the first one.

Not sure if you have ever been on a boat in the middle of an ocean and you look to the horizon and instead of seeing a beautiful sun set, bright and orange silhouetted by a blue sky and some nice fluffy clouds you see the sky darkening to gray, the clouds look heavy, the winds in picking up and you smell a storm coming. It is a overwhelming feeling knowing that you are in the path of an oncoming storm and there is really nothing you can do but to ride it out and hope for the best. Most time this how we feel when we see that storm coming. It reminds me of the story in Matthew 8:23-24 where the disciples got on a boat with Jesus and a storm took them.

Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat.
Matthew 8:23-24

First we need to remember and understand that following Jesus is not something that is easy. We need to take up our cross daily. We need to sacrifice who we are. Finally, we need to remember that their is a cost following Jesus, storms will come. Unexpected storms will always come. In this particular verse the disciples where following Jesus. He told them to get into the boat and it says that a storm came without warning. Is this not what we experience a lot of times? Unexpected storms in our lives. Car accidents, The baby fell, I lost my job, I hurt myself, etc. Storms will come and storms will go, is how you ride them out that will make a big difference in out lives.

You might be looking at a storm coming to you right now. You might see the skies getting dark, the wind picking up the water getting rough, you might not even see the storm coming at you. But, knowing that we will always face these types of circumstances should help us to be aware and prepare for anything. If you know what to do when the storm hits, if you are prepare when the first gust of wind hits your sail, if you have everything buckle down then the outcome is a lot better. If you know who you are in Christ, if you believe the promises that He has for us. If you keep his word in your heart, then the storms become more bearable

Be aware that storms will come. Some storms will appear when we least expect them and with out warning. Being prepare before hand is a blessing that we have and that we should take advantage of. How are you prepare when that storm hits? Are you getting prepare? or are you just leaving it up to chance? Hoping that things won't be as bad as then seem. Pray that God can help you get prepare. Take it upon yourself to be always prepare for the storms.

On the next blog we will talk about riding the storm.

God bless

Are you a nibbler or a stuffer, a sipper or a gulper?

2007-09-27T12:41:00.000-04:00

If you where to classify your self as either a nibbler or some one who munches, or a sipper or a gulper. Which one would you be?

Do you like to nibble on your food? Or do you like to chomp and enjoy taking mouthful of bites like someone is going to take your food if you don't finish fast.

Do you sip your drink? or do you gulp down as if you are quenching a thirst like if you just ran 5 miles under the sun with no wind and no cloud cover.

I need to be honest... I am a stuffer and a gulper. Sometimes it feels like I can not get enough of what I am eating or drinking, especially if it tastes so good that I want more. I want to stuff myself.

I started to think about this and how does it relate to me and God. I came to me that when we don't have a close relationship with God it manifests itself in different ways. One of the ways is on our hunger and thirst for his word. In all seriousness, how many of us spend more than 15 minutes reading, meditating and memorizing the word of God? How many of us truly believe that the word of God is essential to our survival?

How many of us live our lives like if we don't have the word of God there is a huge part missing in our lives?

There is a saying: Eat to live, don't live to eat.

How true it is for all of us. In order for us to truly live we need to eat. If we want to have the kind of life that God wants us to have, the abundant life we need to eat of his fruit. We need to take in his word like out lives depended on it... cause at then end our lives do depend of his word. I want to feed my spiritual life the way I feed my physical life..... devouring all I can get my hands on... in this case His word.

The greatest aspect of this is that the more I hunger for his word, the more I thirst for His truths the more I want to be nourish the more He has to give. His bread will never finish. I will never go hungry. There are always seconds, and thirds enough for a life time. I will never thirst again either. My throat will never be parched. My mouth will never be dry. There is enough of His living water for the rest of my life.

John 6:35
Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.

I don’t know about you but I want to stuff my self with His word and gulp down everything that is in the bible. I hope that you can all join me in this great feast that He has prepared for us.

Round and round we go....

2007-09-17T13:09:00.000-04:00

"Round and round we go, where we end up no body knows"

Not sure where that phrase came from, I know I've heard it before, but i believe that it can be indicative of our life. We go round and round with work, family, friends, responsibilities etc. etc. but we don't have a clue where we going to end up. It's funny in a not so funny way, how we let everything crowd our lives. I sometimes wonder if we where to make a pie chart of our life, how big of a slice would God have in it? I am not talking about the work we do for him... rather the time we actually spend with him. Talking to him, praying to him, praising him, meditating in his word.

Sometimes we get so busy taking care of all our responsibilities in life that we forget to stop and take in what God has for us. The bible tell us something very significant when it comes to this.

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God"

We should not live our lives apart from God. We should not compartmentalized our lives. God should be able to have full access to all of our life. He should not be bound by time, day or availability but should be in every decision, every thought, every word, every look and every move that we make. When we start to lock God out of certain parts of our lives, our lives stop revolving around him and he start to revolve around our lives.

When God stops being the center of our lives, when He ceases to be at the core of who we are, we begin to loose focus, purpose and meaning in our lives. When God starts to revolve around our lives we are basically saying to Him, try to find a place to fit in because I am too busy to find a place for you.

Life is temporary... but it should revolved around God.

Does God revolve around your life? or does your life revolve around God?

Something wicked this way comes...

2007-09-13T10:41:00.000-04:00

I guess I am not one to rant too much... though it makes me wonder why I would have a blog if it's not to share my rants lol.

Anyway there is this thing... this observation that has been nagging at me for a while now. Something that I have noticed but in the past just glossed over. Not really paid attention to it. It is something that for better or for worse we have all suffered or we are in the middle of it. I want to share a verse of a track that will come out on my next cd that talks about it.

It creeps up your back giving you a yellow tone
eyes wide open witness was to come
dilate your iris to take in more light
like when you try to gain focus in the middle of the night
muscles tense up and your breathing is erratic
flee or fight you sensing all the static
like when hairs in your neck begin to stand up
something wicked this way comes
so do you fight do you run give up or stand strong
face the situation or turn and be gone
do you stand your ground with no hesitation
or cast the blame in every tough situation
with no way out cornered for the kill
fear got a grip now you standing still
or do you plan you moves when you sense a loss
something wicked this way comes

If it's not too obvious the verse talks about fear. I described the physical aspect of when some one is gripped with fear. Their iris dilate to see the danger that is coming, the muscles tense up and breathing becomes a bit more labor and erratic. Basically is not a good feeling. I also describe the spiritual aspects of fear. When you let fear take over it does not matter how wide your eyes open, your spiritual eyes will be surrounded by darkness and unable to focus. When you let fear in, you start to doubt whether you can stand and fight this and come out victorious. When fear creeps up our sense of responsibility goes out the door and we look to throw blame on someone else. When fear has a hold on your life you will always feel like a corner animal with no where to go.

Fear is the root of all other negative feelings. Hate, anger, bitterness, despair, anxiousness frustration. What causes fear? When we start to pay attention to the lies of the enemy more than the truths of God. When we hold on to what is whisper in the darkness than what is spoken in light and truth.

I am sick and tired of seeing so many believers walking around defeated. Totally and utterly defeated. It breaks my heart to know that many believers choose to listen to the lies of the enemy rather than to hold on to the truth that they know come from God. It hurts to see so many demoralized and down casted like they lost the great battle when THE WAR IS ALREADY WON!

"For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. 1 John 5 4-5

Let's stop feeling sorry for ourselves, let's stop walking around like we have lost everything. Let's stop talking and acting like there is no hope and all is lost. Let's start claiming the promises that God has given us. Let's start walking with our heads high knowing that the War has been won already. Let's start living empowered by the Holy Spirit and letting it's fruit be manifested in our lives.

LET'S START LIVING IN VICTORY AND TRUTH!

Whos line is it anyway?

2007-09-06T12:54:00.000-04:00

I have felt in my heart to write about this for a while now... i know that timing is everything and I think that God has chosen this time for me to write down some thoughts about drawing those though lines in our lives.

I have been thinking about this for a while now and it has been nudging at my heart for a couple of weeks. I have had some time to think about it and the more I think about it the more passionate I get and the more convince I am about the dire need to draw borders and having the tough lines drawn out in our lives.

Let me start off by saying this... the more this world or society becomes liberal the more we look like radical conservatives. Not sure if you follow me on this. Basically what I am saying is that the more this world or this society is liberal or open to things that go against what we believe or against the word of God the more we are going to look and be labeled radical conservatives and narrow minded. The interesting thing is that this change happens in such a slow pace and in a very non-threating way that when you realize what occur you are either "open minded" to accept what society is doing or go against it and be "narrow minded".

I believe that this is the point where we need to stand firm and draw the line. I know that I suffered and still suffer from wanting NOT be looked as conservative, or narrow minded or old fashioned. I guess that is the equivalent of been called a nerd or geek or dweeb... and we all know that once you are labeled is hard to separate yourself from it.
That got me thinking about our lives and how much we are willing to compromise in order to fit in the right label. Most times we compromise without even knowing or giving it a second thought. I have this image of a person drawing a line in the dirt and constantly moving it back to accommodate things/people/habits that happen to appear.

"Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial."
1 Cor. 6:12

Sometimes I think that we get blinded and up in arms about the things we believe we have a right to do because we are free to do them. We take on this air of martyrdom and and think some sort of injustice has been done if we are in any way shape or form deprived from this. We forget that with that freedom comes a responsibility to know and discern what is good and what is not good for us. We need to understand that even though we have freedom to do, say, live, think, feel the way we want to, not everything is going to benefit our physical and spiritual lives.

Here is where we draw lines.... here is where we need to swallow hard and be honest with ourselves and with God and either commit or continue to compromise.

I want to put it in a more practical sense. We have the freedom to do whatever we want, to go to clubs, to go dancing, to go to the movies, to stay up as late as we want, to drink (alcohol), to smoke, to over eat, to not eat, to have sex out of wedlock, to choose the friends we hang out with etc. etc. but how many of these things are we taking part in? and we feel that it's okay for us to do them? How many of us constantly compromise, shift our beliefs, cater to friends, cave to peer pressure when we are faced with a though decision? How many of us are really concern with what we see in the movies, the horror, the gore, the depravity that we subject to ourselves to in the name of entertainment? How many of us compromise or time and priorities to cater to friends? How many of us are more committed to work than to reading the word of God? How many of us split hairs about drinking if we don't we drunk? or smoking because we just can't seem to kick the habit? Besides the Bible does not clearly states that we should not smoke.

This precious freedom that we are talking about here has a huge bearing on our spiritual lives. What places you go to... the people that you hang out with, the type of things you see and hear all have a direct bearing on your spirit. We sometimes neglect to remember that we are fighting a spiritual battle...

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in
the heavenly realms.
Ephesians. 6:12

Just cause we are believers does not mean that we are far away from the front lines. On the contrary we are the front line. We are in the battle! If we don't know where we stand, if we don't draw our boundaries, if we don't commit to the good fight then we are bound to loose ground and compromise our spiritual lives. I beg of you, not to over look this. I plead not to take this with a grain of salt. This is vital for our having and abundant life with God. This is important for you to always keep in your mind.

I know that right now some that might be reading this might say "Oh please... you sound like my dad. I can't do the things that I like to do" Or "You sound like a conservative. This is soooo boring". Some of you might even be thinking "You ain't perfect. Who are you to judge me!". All I can say is that if we don't know where we stand with God, we will fall for anything. If we don't draw lines and boundaries in our lives, we will always be in retreat. If we don't commit our everything to God then we will compromise our spiritual lives every time. This goes beyond something to do... this has everything to do with life.

Where have you drawn your line?

Quotables

2007-07-26T11:11:00.000-04:00

So I think I am going to take a stab at making a quote....

"intelligence is only but a measure of men, faith is a measure of God in man"

Now, I am not sure if this is self evident, if this statement makes sense or even if it's too profound or
too simple to even be worthy of being called a quote, but the more I think about it the more I see it's truth come out!

Humans in general have a tendency to be self-reliant. I believe that to a certain point it is a good trait in us. Besides who really wants to be needy all the time not able to make decisions for your self. We, and I included my self in this, are sometimes in awe of what man has been able to achieve, at the advances in medicine, science, technology. The movies iRobot and Minority Report among others come to mind and I can't help but to think that we are no far off from what they depict. We measure the worth of a man by his intelligence above all. If he is intelligent he will succeed, if he is intelligent he will overcome, if he is intelligent he will persevere. This is where we lose sight of how we should truly measure a man... by his faith.

Don't get me wrong intellect is something worthy to strive for, something that once you have it no one can take it away but it is also something that is limited. Limited to the advances of technology,
limited to time and limited to ones own capabilities. Faith on the other hand has no limits. Faith is a true measure of a man because it is what he has faith on that is limitless. God has no limit, and if man has faith and faith comes from God in man then there is no limit to what man can do through faith in God. The possibilities are endless.

How much intellect does it take to move a mountain? How much faith do you need to have to move a mountain?

Think on it....

Is not about the plan is about the man!

2007-06-06T11:16:00.000-04:00

I know, the title sounds a bit cliche, but it's so true.

How many times have you prayed and asked God to reveal to you his plans for your life?
How many time have you said to yourself

"If I knew God's plans for my life, things would be so much easier!"

We seemed to be in a constant search for God's will, but we never realize that His plans for our lives are written in plain and simple English. We have not realized that His plans for are in black and white and are one of the most recognizable words he left us with. I believe that God has a general plan for all of us and He has specific plans for all of us.

The general plan for all of us can be found in Matthew 28:19-20
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

His general will for all of us is to carry out the great commission, to go out and make disciples, to go and spread the word of God, to go and baptize those who are willing. This is His general will for all of us. Nowhere in this verse do we see a time frame/limit or a best time to do it. I really like to get behind the meaning of things. The word "go" in "therefore go" at the beginning of the verse has a very important meaning in Greek. The word "go" in greek means to do as you live life. In other words the disciple making, the teaching, the baptizing, the sharing the word of God should be done in our everyday walk. We should not wait until the weekend when there is an evangelistic event or only on designated times and places. This should be done throughout the course of our lives.

The second will or the personal will that God has for our lives can only be reached or known if we are doing God's general will in our lives. See through doing God's generals will He can then guide you His personal will in your life.

The next time you want to know what is God's personal plans for you, ask yourself this question. Am I doing God general will in my life? See is not about the plan that God has for us but is comes down to our relationship with the Man. If you are not in a good place with him, you are not living out his general plan. If you do not have a close relationship with The Man, chances are you will be confuse about what is His plan for you. We need to put the Man before the plan.

It does not matter how much we plan out for our lives. What school to go to. What friends to have. What job to take. What career to pursue. Who to marry. Where to live. If we don't follow the Man our plans are bound to get jumbled up!

So put God first and he will make your path straight!

Truth hurts... or does it?

2007-05-23T12:48:00.000-04:00

Through our everyday walk we will encounter different people. Some we will like or get along with, some we will be polite to and wave from a distance. One of these type of people that I am sure that you will meet, if you have not done so already are those who believe that are call to be truthful no matter how it comes out.

You've might of heard this before....

"I am just being honest, or I am saying the truth and if the truth hurts then it's no my fault."

or something to that effect.

I understand that our best policy and what we have been called to do is to tell the truth. There should really be no type of deceit, double minded or intentional misguidance form us. I am sure that you heard the saying, "The truth shall set you free!" I totally agree with this. But does the truth have to hurt or rather can we hurt someone with the truth? I believe we can. Should we hurt them with the truth? I don't think we should.

I know that we are called to say the truth...

Ephesians 4:25
Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.

I guess what we forget to think about is how to speak in truth to one another. Truth in itself should not be used to hurt it should not be said to demean others and certainly not to appear to be better than any one else. The truth should be used to correct, to teach, to guide, to lead.

Galatians 6:1-2
Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

The key word in this verse is gently. We get caught up on trying to be right and be truth full and forget that purpose and the way we should go about doing it. Is not just about being blunt and truthful is about restoring someone with the truth.

2 Timothy 2:1-2
Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of truth.

Is not about beating people over the head with the truth until we feel like it's either working or it is hopeless. Is about sharing who Jesus is and leading them to the knowledge that will change their lives.

Truth is something very powerful.... but it should not hurt rather it should restore, build and edify.

Welcome

2007-05-22T17:12:00.000-04:00

If you are reading this then one of three things happen.

You know me and found out about this blog through me
You know someone that knows me and you were pointed to this blog
You got too much time in your hands... so the big guy above got you here

Regardless of how you got here I am glad that you are here. The purpose of this blog is simple. This is meant to be a place where I will share my thoughts on different topics that are relevant to me, to my friends or to the average person looking for a deeper meaning in life. I hope that you will take part and become part of this. Please feel free to comment and add to the post so that we can all share and build a community where we can edify, build and therefore better ourselves.

I will be updating this blog at least once a week... though God willing it will be more often than that. You will also see the look of it changing from time to time to reflect the purpose of this blog, to kunstruct one another.

So enjoy and contribute.

Be Bless