It's really important to know what comes from God and what doesn't. I may sound harsh in this post, but this is my take from experience with living with a certain family member and around a few other Christians. Just read on, and it will make sense as you go ;)
Let's start simple:
1. God gives you what you need when you need.
The Bible has a lot to say over blessings, money, gifts, needs, and advice. I've heard lots of stories about how people find a break when they need it and how close they've been to accidents, but always end up safe. It's a great thing to know that we are promised blessings. God will never give us something to face that we cannot handle, but instead God gives us power to stand over it. Sounds good, right? Lets turn up the heat.
2. God doesn't bless you with something so you can sin in return.
Here is something very dangerous that people pass up. If you find yourself to be blessed to have extra money, what are you going to spend it on? Sometimes God will give us something, but what we do with it doesn't glorify him but instead does the opposite. It's a definite need to understand how your using what is given to you and making sure that your using it for good and not bad. Every thought, word said, purchase, action is a 50/50. Is it good or bad? This is an extreme thought, yes, but a definite good one.
Lets take it from a different approach, shall we? Money is an important factor, but there are many examples that don't involve it. Let's say you're driving stupidly or in an illegal manner, and you find that by a miracle you didn't get permanently injured in a crash that took place due to your driving. Are you going to keep driving the same? What more would it take for you to finally stop? Lets beef up the heat even more as I move on to a slightly different subject.
3. Some, 'Blessings' aren't from God.
This got your attention, didn't it? Here's my take. Whereas God will provide for you as you need, don't fool yourself into thinking some things are directly from God. Here is an example I have taken from a near family member.
Say you have no money in the bank, or just enough to get you gas for work this last day before your paycheck. However, you REALLY want some pizza. Now, because you have no money and want pizza, what are you going to do? Lets say you write a hot check, which will charge you an extra $35+ from your bank and give you bad credit. (not to forget it's illegal) After delivery charges and getting the pizza to your door, you spend a total of $55 that night for food. This becomes a normal thing, and eventually starts to really take a toll on your Credit score and leaves you broke to figure out how your going to get to work. Is this a blessing that God provides you with pizza, or is this a foolish habit that the devil would use to ruin you? It's extremely important that you don't close your mind and become ignorant to this.
Though some of this may be common sense, you would be so surprised that people could live like that. Here is another example: You're low on cash, but can still get by. This time, you are an alcoholic, and love to get drunk to pass time and make your life better. In a time when you can't afford enough beer, a friend spots you by buying you a 12-pack, so you can get drunk and enjoy the night, forgetting about your problems. Is this a blessing, that God has touched your friend to have a giving heart? Of course not.
4. Regarding faith:
Though faith is extremely important, do not completely neglect something important in faith that it is taken care of. This will leave you open and unprepared should something worse or unexpected happen. Some people will have huge debts owed, and just ignore it in faith that it will be taken care of on it's own. If you ignore this hoping it to solve itself, it could easily leave you open to some serious trouble. If you have a problem, don't ignore it, but have faith and pray that you can take it head on and get it taken care of. Then you know for sure the problem doesn't exist, and you make it through.
Don't be paranoid and hopeless about problems, but definitely don't be careless.
5. Recognizing a counterfeit vs. blessing.
As with all decisions, first things to check:
A) Is what your thinking of biblical?
B) Does it or will it leave you in a better or worse condition than you are now?
C) Is it out of the ordinary, or something completely expected?
D) WWJD?
E) Is this something you can use to sharpen someones faith?
Random Fact: I like to use WWJD in a lot of situations. It will make you rethink what your doing, and possibly higher your standards. I don't see how you could go wrong using this, so try it if you don't!
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Band Practice Tuesday!
For those who don't know, I play bass for the youth praise/worship band for Tree of Life church (aka, Remnant) Practice is every Tuesday, and service starts Wednesday nights at 7pm. (go!)
I figure that now would be a good time to clear up a few questions I've been asked regarding me and my musical instruments:
Q: You play electric guitar too?
Though I play bass there, I can definitely say that it isn't my primary and I would prefer electric, but it's where I'm needed. I play a variety of instruments, including: Acoustic, Electric, Bass, Keyboard/synths/piano, Drums, Vocals (when nobody is home) and occasionally the Air drums.
Q: How long have you been playing?:
Electric: 4ish years
Acoustic: 3ish years
Bass: 2 years
Drums: 1.5 years
Keyboard: 1 year
Keep in mind I play my instruments every single day, so despite the number you see, I actually feel further than them.
Q: What kinda setup do you use?
For my electric guitar, I have a heavily customized black and gold Ibanez Gio GSZ120. I can post up a picture of her later. For effects processing and amps: I run my monster cable to my M-Audio MobilePre Pre-amp, where it then goes into my computer. I have some software programs that I use as an amp and for effects, sounds great too! The first program is called Guitar Rig 4, which is great for clean, rock, and overdriven tones, then my second program, Amplitube 2, which is good for my Bass and harder rock tones. Guitar Rig 4 is great though, and I prefer it heavily against Amplitube 2. Lastly, to hear the audio, I either use my Samson MediaONE studio monitors, or my Sennheiser studio headphones. My next guitar will definitely be a PRS guitar, as they are a very classy and great brand. I love everything about the guitars, and they feel amazing.
For Bass, I use an ESP LTD. Definitely not a brand I like, but hey, the bass was a blessing and I couldn't pass up the offer. Likewise with electric, I run the bass through Amplitube 2 and listen through my studio headphones. Whenever I play live on Wednesday nights, I use the churches amazing I'm looking for a new bass, preferably something closer towards the Ibanez SRT900DX, but I will have to look more towards what I would want. I'm not big on out-of-the-ordinary shapes, or radical shaped guitars.
For Keyboard, I use an M-Audio Keystation 49e running through a software synth called Reason 4. It is amazing, and some nights I can spend hours just making patches and beautiful sounding pads. I hope to sometime get the M-Audio Axiom 61 key, as it has more than what I would need.
For Drums, I had a old Roland Electric Drum kit for awhile. After it being noisier than I thought (even for an electric) I traded it for a wealth of musical gear. I drum at Remnant whenever I can, and at various friends houses, but one day, I will have a nice kit! Im looking at a Pearl kit right now, white with black hardware, and Zildjian cymbals, but if I can get anything nice right now, I'll be happy. Drumming is the most expensive of any instrument
Q: What style music do you play?
Mostly, I love to play the Praise/Worship songs that we play at our church. It has a definite rock basis to it and is super fun. It's also great for learning music theory and learning the guitar. I always here creative new stuff and ways to put the songs together with it, and lyrically it glorifies God. An example song that I like to play would be From God Above by Hillsong United. One of my fav's. I used to be obsessed with metal, and it in a way shaped my style too. One of my old favorite bands was Avenged Sevenfold for their albums "City of Evil" and their self-titled album (listen to Afterlife). Overtime, I learned pretty much all of their songs from that album.
Q: So, all in all, how many instruments do you have?
Currently? Only a few that I use. I have had numbers of guitars in the past though.
Historical Fact: I have owned many guitars and classical instruments too. Here we go, from first to last! First Act Electric, Fender Squier Strat, Fender NIN Strat, Ibanez Gio Gsz120, Ibanez Soundgear Bass, ESP F-?? Bass, Esp Ltd B-50, Sivertone Electric (dad gave it to me, didnt even ask), Alverez acoustic (ditto), and an Emperador Acoustic (ditto).
Though I am blessed to have all this equipment, I would like to start upgrading what I have. I have a little more to add, but gotta go for now, so I will edit this later. Peace!
I figure that now would be a good time to clear up a few questions I've been asked regarding me and my musical instruments:
Q: You play electric guitar too?
Though I play bass there, I can definitely say that it isn't my primary and I would prefer electric, but it's where I'm needed. I play a variety of instruments, including: Acoustic, Electric, Bass, Keyboard/synths/piano, Drums, Vocals (when nobody is home) and occasionally the Air drums.
Q: How long have you been playing?:
Electric: 4ish years
Acoustic: 3ish years
Bass: 2 years
Drums: 1.5 years
Keyboard: 1 year
Keep in mind I play my instruments every single day, so despite the number you see, I actually feel further than them.
Q: What kinda setup do you use?
For my electric guitar, I have a heavily customized black and gold Ibanez Gio GSZ120. I can post up a picture of her later. For effects processing and amps: I run my monster cable to my M-Audio MobilePre Pre-amp, where it then goes into my computer. I have some software programs that I use as an amp and for effects, sounds great too! The first program is called Guitar Rig 4, which is great for clean, rock, and overdriven tones, then my second program, Amplitube 2, which is good for my Bass and harder rock tones. Guitar Rig 4 is great though, and I prefer it heavily against Amplitube 2. Lastly, to hear the audio, I either use my Samson MediaONE studio monitors, or my Sennheiser studio headphones. My next guitar will definitely be a PRS guitar, as they are a very classy and great brand. I love everything about the guitars, and they feel amazing.
For Bass, I use an ESP LTD. Definitely not a brand I like, but hey, the bass was a blessing and I couldn't pass up the offer. Likewise with electric, I run the bass through Amplitube 2 and listen through my studio headphones. Whenever I play live on Wednesday nights, I use the churches amazing I'm looking for a new bass, preferably something closer towards the Ibanez SRT900DX, but I will have to look more towards what I would want. I'm not big on out-of-the-ordinary shapes, or radical shaped guitars.
For Keyboard, I use an M-Audio Keystation 49e running through a software synth called Reason 4. It is amazing, and some nights I can spend hours just making patches and beautiful sounding pads. I hope to sometime get the M-Audio Axiom 61 key, as it has more than what I would need.
For Drums, I had a old Roland Electric Drum kit for awhile. After it being noisier than I thought (even for an electric) I traded it for a wealth of musical gear. I drum at Remnant whenever I can, and at various friends houses, but one day, I will have a nice kit! Im looking at a Pearl kit right now, white with black hardware, and Zildjian cymbals, but if I can get anything nice right now, I'll be happy. Drumming is the most expensive of any instrument
Q: What style music do you play?
Mostly, I love to play the Praise/Worship songs that we play at our church. It has a definite rock basis to it and is super fun. It's also great for learning music theory and learning the guitar. I always here creative new stuff and ways to put the songs together with it, and lyrically it glorifies God. An example song that I like to play would be From God Above by Hillsong United. One of my fav's. I used to be obsessed with metal, and it in a way shaped my style too. One of my old favorite bands was Avenged Sevenfold for their albums "City of Evil" and their self-titled album (listen to Afterlife). Overtime, I learned pretty much all of their songs from that album.
Q: So, all in all, how many instruments do you have?
Currently? Only a few that I use. I have had numbers of guitars in the past though.
Historical Fact: I have owned many guitars and classical instruments too. Here we go, from first to last! First Act Electric, Fender Squier Strat, Fender NIN Strat, Ibanez Gio Gsz120, Ibanez Soundgear Bass, ESP F-?? Bass, Esp Ltd B-50, Sivertone Electric (dad gave it to me, didnt even ask), Alverez acoustic (ditto), and an Emperador Acoustic (ditto).
Though I am blessed to have all this equipment, I would like to start upgrading what I have. I have a little more to add, but gotta go for now, so I will edit this later. Peace!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Why I don't have an Xbox 360:
Simple.
I am a person who likes to have money when I need it. However, with great Xbox (power) comes great wallet (responsibility?). If you go cheap on the console, it will show. Unless you buy everything new and use Xbox Live cards, then you can stand a chance to avoid the situations and drama I had below.
I got my first 360 brand new. Loved it like my own, but never had a hard drive. After buying a used one, it died after 2 weeks, right after the warranty. I traded the Xbox away, feeling the loss, but wanting better (musical instruments!). I managed to get another 360 for cheap at a pawn shop, sweet right? I enjoyed it for about a month before the hard drive died on it. After replacing it, the console itself gave me a red-ring-of-death. No fun. I sold the thing, not looking to get another. Weeks pass, and my friends old-trusty-steed-of-an-Xbox-that-never-failed-him-over-the-course-of-4-years failed on him. He bought a new one and gave me his old one. I happily took it (Free, any smart person would!) and baked it back to life. (No joke) I thought it would hold up well, so I subscribed to a monthly-version of xbox live. The xbox died about a month after, which I had expected, but M$ (Microsoft) never cancelled Xbox live when I told them too through hours on the phone. After about a month, I managed to fix it one last time. I noticed I still had 9 days of live left, so, everything was alright... right? Wrong. A day passes, and I can't log into my live account. Somehow, the account got jacked, and over $100 was spent. After another series of phone calls with M$, they did their 'investigation'. Month passes, finally, I get the refund and the account back. Whoever stole it was supposedly banned from live, but a day after getting it back, it was stolen again. When I called India (Microsoft) again to let them know, they told me to just sign into the account to confirm it was stolen again. I turn on the Xbox, and what do I see? Sure enough, the red ring of death yet again. To end it, I had M$ delete the account all-in-all, and I haven't bothered with it since.
Interesting Fact: Similar to how I baked the Xbox 360 back to life, I bake my brothers laptop back to life. It's a nice laptop, (asus c90s) but with a faulty video card. Nothing that tossing it in the oven in 200 degrees for 20 minutes can't fix!
Do I have horrible luck? Is the Xbox experience truly better than this? Likely, but hey, maybe it's a good thing I never got addicted to the Xbox. If anything, I do enjoy a few good songs in Rockband 2 (the Xbox destroyed the disk slightly before the red ring... sigh..) but not enough to deal with the issues of it. I've got real instruments to occupy me now :)
I am a person who likes to have money when I need it. However, with great Xbox (power) comes great wallet (responsibility?). If you go cheap on the console, it will show. Unless you buy everything new and use Xbox Live cards, then you can stand a chance to avoid the situations and drama I had below.
I got my first 360 brand new. Loved it like my own, but never had a hard drive. After buying a used one, it died after 2 weeks, right after the warranty. I traded the Xbox away, feeling the loss, but wanting better (musical instruments!). I managed to get another 360 for cheap at a pawn shop, sweet right? I enjoyed it for about a month before the hard drive died on it. After replacing it, the console itself gave me a red-ring-of-death. No fun. I sold the thing, not looking to get another. Weeks pass, and my friends old-trusty-steed-of-an-Xbox-that-never-failed-him-over-the-course-of-4-years failed on him. He bought a new one and gave me his old one. I happily took it (Free, any smart person would!) and baked it back to life. (No joke) I thought it would hold up well, so I subscribed to a monthly-version of xbox live. The xbox died about a month after, which I had expected, but M$ (Microsoft) never cancelled Xbox live when I told them too through hours on the phone. After about a month, I managed to fix it one last time. I noticed I still had 9 days of live left, so, everything was alright... right? Wrong. A day passes, and I can't log into my live account. Somehow, the account got jacked, and over $100 was spent. After another series of phone calls with M$, they did their 'investigation'. Month passes, finally, I get the refund and the account back. Whoever stole it was supposedly banned from live, but a day after getting it back, it was stolen again. When I called India (Microsoft) again to let them know, they told me to just sign into the account to confirm it was stolen again. I turn on the Xbox, and what do I see? Sure enough, the red ring of death yet again. To end it, I had M$ delete the account all-in-all, and I haven't bothered with it since.
Interesting Fact: Similar to how I baked the Xbox 360 back to life, I bake my brothers laptop back to life. It's a nice laptop, (asus c90s) but with a faulty video card. Nothing that tossing it in the oven in 200 degrees for 20 minutes can't fix!
Do I have horrible luck? Is the Xbox experience truly better than this? Likely, but hey, maybe it's a good thing I never got addicted to the Xbox. If anything, I do enjoy a few good songs in Rockband 2 (the Xbox destroyed the disk slightly before the red ring... sigh..) but not enough to deal with the issues of it. I've got real instruments to occupy me now :)
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Raaaaiiiiiin Down!
(title is a definite song reference)
Yep, I am going to blog about the rain. It's amazing, and is especially rare that we have this much rain in Texas, after what felt like months without it. The temperature is 72 outside, so much better than 100+! First time since winter it's been this cool out. Me and my friend, whom I will refer to as The General, spent the day out in it. It's as if people are afraid of rain! The streets are empty, and we had the pool/hot tub to ourselves. We checked out the ditch too, and there is a good flow going. (See blow) I hope this rain continues, I LOVE IT! I may go check out the cliffs too soon, I already know the pond will be filled, but I gotta make sure it's still accessible. Cliff-jumping may be in my near future, it's been too long.
Semi-Relevant Fact: We had to stop cliff-jumping in the past due to a vehicle someone submerged by accident and ditched. Yes, we found out the hard way, and no, it wasn't me! Luckily, it was removed after awhile, and the hole was empty and ready for rain last I saw.
Ditch tubing anyone? Too bad I don't have a skim-board, that would be FUN!
Yep, I am going to blog about the rain. It's amazing, and is especially rare that we have this much rain in Texas, after what felt like months without it. The temperature is 72 outside, so much better than 100+! First time since winter it's been this cool out. Me and my friend, whom I will refer to as The General, spent the day out in it. It's as if people are afraid of rain! The streets are empty, and we had the pool/hot tub to ourselves. We checked out the ditch too, and there is a good flow going. (See blow) I hope this rain continues, I LOVE IT! I may go check out the cliffs too soon, I already know the pond will be filled, but I gotta make sure it's still accessible. Cliff-jumping may be in my near future, it's been too long.
Semi-Relevant Fact: We had to stop cliff-jumping in the past due to a vehicle someone submerged by accident and ditched. Yes, we found out the hard way, and no, it wasn't me! Luckily, it was removed after awhile, and the hole was empty and ready for rain last I saw.
Ditch tubing anyone? Too bad I don't have a skim-board, that would be FUN!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Diet plan:
So you can obviously tell by the title that the BBQ today was overly-satisfying. I didn't completely bloat myself, since I need to still go for my run tonight, making it day #3! I'm going to start a streak, similar to my guitar-playing streak, which is currently at day #219. Each night, I'm going to run/jog/walk from my house to a apartment complex pool, where I will get a bottled water for the jog back. It's not too intensive, but it is a long run. The walk there and back took a little over an hour with the route, so I'm going to see how long it will be with running. Also, when I'm not running, I have weights and dumbbells I will work with to every hour or so. If I can start these habits, I will start feeling much better and get more motivated for weight loss.
Also, I'm going to try to cut soda for a month. (thats right, an ENTIRE month) Being at my dads house, this will be very hard to do, as there is ALWAYS soda in the house. But I'm still going to try to break this habit. Even if I don't lose weight, I will no doubt be healthier and maybe obtain a regular sleep schedule as an added bonus. It's the first week thats hard, but if I can do it, I can last. Time to get the iPod and go for a run.
Fact: Live oak has a curfew at 12am, only more reason to run faster. Amirite?
BBQ Saturday!
I'm looking forward to tonight, we're having a BBQ with my brothers and dad. It will be the first time in quitIe awhile that we've all hung out together, so nights like this are rare. I went and did my dads shopping with my brother yesterday (as my father is an anti-social man) but we got everything set for the burgers and dogs. For now, I'm enjoying the awesome rainy day at the house; blasting music and playing my electric guitar. There's not much to do with the lack of work, I REALLY need a job. Tomorrow I'm going to follow up at a few more places, and just maybe I can get something, but today is just a nothing day. I still have to kill another 2 hours or so before anyone gets here for the BBQ, so I guess I will return to the guitar or go for a walk in the rain. :)
Random note: I need to stop ending posts with a smiley, I am making it a bad habit.
Random note: I need to stop ending posts with a smiley, I am making it a bad habit.
The beauty of night in Live Oak.
Night time is normally a time where people are asleep, or scared to go outside. I find it to be my favorite time actually, and I love to be active at night rather than the day. I can walk outside on a cool night at 2am, and it's like time is frozen.. I just look up at the stars and the bright moon and enjoy the stillness, the worry-free environment... It's like everything bad in life is just paused. All you can hear is the freeway in the far distance and the crickets. The fact that nobody is around, even in Live Oak is nice.
Sometimes it's good to be a loner and just go out for a walk. I use it as my thinking time and just bring up the good memories I've had of Live Oak. Also nice to be listening to the old music of those days, brings me back. I really love the really cold nights where the moon is also so bright, that everything has a crisp shadow. With my friends, we would sneak at 1-5 am on those cold winter nights, just to walk around and enjoy the peace. We would be freezing cold, blowing smoke with our breath, but would still enjoy every moment to the point the cold wasn't a problem. I'd hope that everyone would experience something similar to that; we would always go lay on the trampoline and just star at the stars while having the most random epic conversations.
Times have changed in Live Oak, and everyone has moved on. Not many people still live nearby, but it's still an incredible place of memories. I've finally started a workout plan 2 days ago, that I hope to keep. I will be running the streets around 10pm-3am, just depending, but it is something I want to do for exercise. I have a 1-hour run route to follow, to the vending machine to get a bottled water, and back.
Random fact: We used to steal drinks from the vending machine all the time.. drop in 55 cents, hold the water button and press everything rapidly. We would go with home depot buckets and just load up. I feel bad for that though, haha.. and they replaced the machine. (disclaimer: I am not encouraging stealing, just noting my past)
Well, it's 5:30am. I might take one last quick look at this beautiful night before it fades away with a new day. You should get out there and enjoy a night, especially if it isn't like you to do something out of the ordinary in this way. It's really refreshing :)
Friday, September 17, 2010
Welcome to my blog!
Hey everyone! I'm going to assume that you know me, and not jump into full details. If you do not know me and are just looking for a blog to read when you're bored, then you will probably get to know me through these blogs :)
This blog is under construction at the moment, so I will add more to this and give a legit introduction, but for now, cut me some slack to get this setup nicely!
This blog is under construction at the moment, so I will add more to this and give a legit introduction, but for now, cut me some slack to get this setup nicely!
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