¿?

birth is meant to be born.
life is meant to be lived.
music is meant to be played.
air is meant to be breathed.
time is meant to be spent.
death is meant to be died.
while the past was.
the future will be.
and eternity is.

someone has said...

wherever you go, there you are.

porque mola

no idea if it´s real or not but... man.

kilometro 0

English video


Spanish video


Last Saturday, 10 of us from Extremadura got up at 4:30 am and left at 5 for Madrid. It's about 4 and a half hours away and so at 10 am we arrived. The purpose of the journey was to visit Kilometro Cero. It is an evangelistic center in the heart of Madrid, in perhaps the most famous plaza in the entire country. Everyday thousands upon thousands of people from all over the world pass through. The videos both show and tell you what it is about.

What we were going there for was a Saturday day school they put on every once in a while. For several hours in the morning, in a premises overlooking the plaza they give workshops on everything from how to talk to people about eternity and the law, to how to give your testimony, to how to preach a 5 to 7 minute message, all in the street, all aimed at people who don't know. And then after having spent several hours learning, you go out and do it.

Now watch the videos.

I must say it was incredible to be in the plaza, surrounded by thousands of people passing by, sharing the reality of Jesus in the open air. In the school that morning there 80 some people. The focus was how to share your testimony. Then we went out and did it. A mixture of nerves, adrenaline and the presence of God is how it is best described. I had to opportunity to be one of people who got up on the box and share my testimony. It was awesome and left me wanting to do it again. There is something freeing about letting it all go and not worrying about anything. Like I mentioned there were about 80 of us but as well there were lots of people who stopped and listened. At various points there were probably 130 people or so within hearing. Some stayed for a while, so moved on quickly, but the message was being shared! After a combination of music, testimonies and a short message, we prayed for people who wanted it, and gave them a copy of one of the gospels. At various points there were probably 20 people in conversations with people from our group!

There is a lot more I could say, but suffice it all to mention that it left me with a desire for more. Wanting to share more, wanting to let it all even more, wanting to be involved with something like that on a regular basis. They work with churches, they are seeing people saved and plugging into churches. While it's not always politically correct, God is there and they are seeing lots of fruit. It's another part of what God is doing here and it's awesome.

golf

i think one day i should own a VW. simply for the sake of owning a VW.

the neutral zone

a recent talk i heard on noah:

Hope in the Neutral Zone

for when you are floating. for when the old world is gone, and covered in a flood. for when you are shut in the boat, with no control over direction, no idea of where you are going, or when the water is going to disappear and you will be able to see the new world awaiting... for when you are just floating, waiting on God to speak again.

youth update

It has been a little while since I last sent out an update on what is happening here in the youth, so it's definitely time because God has been moving!

Six months ago God seemed to suddenly put things into motion. After spending a couple of years involved in the youth work across Extremadura and not seeing much happen, we had a youth event where God poured out his Spirit and gave many of the youth a taste of something that they had never had prior: an experience of a living, powerful, holy God.
In the following six months a number of things have been changing. We are seeing a growing interest for inter-church activities and relationships across the region are growing rapidly, realizing that when there is unity and a heart to see God move... it will happen.
God has brought about some radical changes in the youth leadership across the region. Many who were youth themselves just a couple of years ago now find themselves leading their youth groups and asking how, when and where is God going to move! And at the same time wanting to work together, to be disciples and grow, while not being worried about politics and numbers that so often accompany small churches.

Practically we have been holding an event once a month between four local churches in the area and usually get between 40 to 50 youth along. It has been named "Something more to give" (it sounds better in Spanish). We have times of worship, prayer and seeking God, and of course fellowship. We have a long way to go still but there is an increasing hunger for God and a desire to not settle. There is a lot of discipleship to be done and more and more of them are opening up and saying they want it!

In our church, Comunidad Cristiana de Esperanza (Christian Community of Hope if we were to translate it literally) there has been an increase in numbers which is really encouraging. As little as a year ago we would get anywhere from 2 to 10 youth along to a particular event or normal youth meeting. Currently we usually get at least 12 along each Saturday but sometimes up to 18 if everyone comes. And in those kids there have been some real changes and encounters with God. As well, with Diana and I, we have another girl called Brenda who is about 20 and has been a great help. So not only are we seeing the youth growing but we are seeing God raising up leaders from amongst them!

We just had a youth retreat two weekends ago where from our church we took 19 kids. Again God moved powerfully and many kids were really impacted. Including one from our group who gave his life to Jesus. They are growing a lot and are beginning to get connected into the bigger picture of what God is doing in Spain. They are meeting youth from across the nation and are realizing that there is a lot going on in the kingdom! They are excited and are asking the question, what does it mean to live a life completely given over to God. This question is crucial and so encouraging!

We have a fair bit planned for this year: evangelistic-focused encounters in a few of the villages throughout the region to spread what God is doing, trips to Madrid and other places to continue to connect with and establish relationships with the wider body and see what God is doing on a national level (which seems to be picking up a lot of momentum and I meet and talk with other youth from different places), and many smaller local events to be shared amongst the churches, all with the focus on bringing them together into tighter relationship, seeking God and sharing Jesus with others. All this while beginning to disciple and raise up more leaders as was mentioned earlier!

Please continue to pray for us.
Many of the kids come from VERY complicated backgrounds and nearly every single one in my group comes from a broken home. So baggage is there, but it makes it that much more incredible when God truly does deal with it. (Like he has done in our church leadership team! It leaves you unable to deny the power of God!!)
Also, many churches in the area are very short on resources, so continue to pray that God will provide. Few of the youth I am working with come from financially secure backgrounds and if we are to continue to train them, raise them up, open their worlds to the bigger picture it takes money! There are more and more resources, events, and training centres springing up across Spain and a network is being created. In order to take advantage of these God will have to provide.
That God will continue to give us a hunger and a desire to seek him. And that unity will continue to increase and God will give us similar vision across the region (which I believe he is already doing!)

I'm excited and believe that we continue to be on the tip of so much more! So thanks for all your prayers and support.

youth retreat fotos

afternoon futbol


con uno de mis chicos


2 guys im discipling if you will


group foto

how much?

many of us want just enough Jesus Christ to get to heaven, but not enough Jesus Christ to change the world we live in.

a sermon

a sermon on eternity, kinda...

eternity by buechner

Eternity is not endless time or the opposite of time. It is the essence of time.

If you spin a pinwheel fast enough then all its colors blend into a single color-white-which is the essence of all the colors of the spectrum combined.

If you spin time fast enough, then time-past, time-present, and time-to-come all blend into a single timelessness or eternity, which is the essence of all times combined.

As human beings we know time as a passing of unrepeatable events in the course of which everything passes away- including ourselves. As human beings we also know occasions when we stand outside the passing of events and glimpse their meaning. Sometimes an event occurs in our lives (a birth, a death, a marriage- some event of unusual beauty, pain, joy) through which we catch a glimpse of what our lives are all about and maybe even what life itself is all about, and this glimpse of what "it's all about" involves not just the present but the past and the future too.

Inhabitants of time that we are, we stand on such occasions with one foot in eternity. God, as Isaiah says (57:15), "inhabiteth eternity" but stands with one foot in time. The part of time where he stands most particularly is Christ, and thus in Christ we catch a glimpse of what eternity is all about, what God is all about, and what we ourselves are all about too.

symbols

Unfermented grape juice is a bland and pleasant drink, especially on a warm afternoon mixed half-and-half with ginger ale. It is a ghastly symbol of the life blood of Jesus Christ, especially when served in individual antiseptic, thimble-sized glasses.
Wine is booze, which means it is dangerous and drunk-making. It makes the timid brave and the reserved amorous. It loosens the tongue and breaks the ice, especially when served in a loving cup. It kills germs. As symbols go, it is a rather splendid one.


the above is quoted from Frederick Buechner's book Wishful Thinking in the context of communion. But he is not just talking about communion, he is talking about so much more.


Thinking about it, we all have a choice from which cup we will drink in life. Buechner is right, one cup is easy and safe, and the other difficult and dangerous, probably bringing with it a host of problems. Jesus posed the question that still lingers today, "Can you drink from my cup?" The cup is full of risks, pain, suffering, problems and in a way death. But when we stop and think about it, really think about it, we will see that it is the only cup that brings life, life in its truest and fullest form. The way it was meant to be lived.

una coversación

¿para qué? te pregunto
y me miras con sola una mirada.
¿a donde? atrevo yo
y me sonríes con compasión.
que no sé si puedo
y me respondes que ya he llegado

lyrics for the cure for pain

I'm not sure why it always flows downhill
Why broken cisterns never could stay filled
I've spent ten years singing gravity away
But the water keeps on falling from the sky

And here tonight while the stars are blacking out
With every hope and dream I've ever had in doubt
I've spent ten years trying to sing these doubts away
But the water keeps on falling from my eyes

And heaven knows... heaven knows
I tried to find a cure for the pain
Oh my Lord! to suffer like you do...
It would be a lie to run away

So blood is fire pulsing through our veins
We're either riders or fools behind the reigns
I've spent 10 years trying to sing it all away
but the water keeps on falling from my tries

faith

They say faith is about stepping off the edge and knowing, or is it believing? that there will either be something to catch you... or that you will find that you have wings to fly.
Sometimes I feel like the edge has come and gone, and the wings I have are too small for the weight, no one has caught me yet, and I'm still falling, wandering what it will be like when I hit the bottom. The only faith I have left is that when I do, I will still be believing...

song by jon foreman

the cure for pain. sorry for the quality but it was the best i could find.

a few more photos

brighton

in salt lake city we decided we couldn't pass through without carving some powder, so a day's snowboarding was voted in... at Brighton Ski Resort...






pulled out of the ski resort at 5 and drove about 300 miles till we stopped in Rawlins, Wyoming at 9 pm.

from oregon to indiana

a 1994 toyota pickup needed to be driven back to indiana, so Isaiah and I jumped on the opportunity to drive it cross country...




i had to put both pics in since in the first one i had my brothers glasses on, and it's only fair that there is one of us both in them.
i am going to throw out a few of the stats from the journey mixed in with some pics, so here it goes...

shots from oregon to salt lake city:




Left on 1st of January at 5 am.
Drove 800 miles across Oregon, down through Idaho, till we got to Salt Lake City.
Arrived at 9 pm.

the first of dos mil ocho

well back in spain now. the following sessions should fill in what that means exactly but first, goodbye 2k7, hello 2k8. don't worry, no resolutions here.

i suppose i should go back to late november, early december when a series of events led to me getting a ticket to Oregon to spend Christmas with my family... A lot of airmiles were put to use to avoid spending the extortionate holiday rates. and i found myself in the northwest enjoying a mitchell christmas with the fam.

in december my grandpa passed away, suddenly, but not entirely unexpectedly. so it was a blessing to be able to be with family after that happened.

i was due to fly straight back to madrid on the 3rd of january but there was an unexpected road trip about to take place.