Where You Been?

I pose that question to myself.

I don't even really know where I've been. These last couple weeks have been a huge blur.

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I was in training for my internship this past week. We started by going to Palm Desert to lay the foundation for the year. That was pretty fun. Everybody laughed hard our second night there. I can't believe how incredibly blessed I am to be working with such an awesome staff. We all truly believe this is going to be an amazing year for CBU. We feel it deep down that God is going to do something on the campus we could never imagine. I can't wait to see what it is and how I fit in to the plan.

Also, before meetings, I like to spin in chairs and take pictures of myself doing the afore mentioned activity.


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Before my last class on Tuesday, I was distracted and Ryan and I went out to the front lawn and I decided to snap some pictures of the moon because it was pretty much BALLIN'. Luckily, I finished everything I needed to do for class and got it turned in.


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All the new students came Tuesday as well. It has been utter chaos since then. We went up to the mountains for the New Student Orientation Retreat. I haven't taken a shower in 2 days. I smell terrible. Gross. I know. But such is life when you are sleeping in a tent and the showers are down the hill and walking down and up would be too much work. I put deodorant on? Don't worry for my hygiene though. I'm gonna take a shower in a few minutes.

I'm hoping to get some pictures from the retreat up here soon. Oh, and some polaroids and old pictures of Jeremy too.

Names

No pictures.

I do this because I was challenged this morning. I was listening to RockHarbor's podcasts on their latest series talking about The Lord's Prayer. The first in the series was good. Hebrew was thrown into it, which always makes for a good listening. It was the second sermon that got me though.

Mike Erre was talking about the "hallowed be your name" part of the prayer. It is really good listening to it. But he shared an example in his life of when truth was spoken into him through a fellow pastor. He talked about how the pastor asked him what his greatest temptation was and Mike answered with the usual temptations people will throw out. But the pastor told him none of those answers were true. He told him that his greatest temptation was to make his own name great.

And thats when it hit.

I do the same thing. The first example that came to my head was this blog. I enjoy blogging for many reasons. One of the main reasons is I enjoy sharing my photography with the few people who read. But one of my main motivations for doing so is because I want a pat on the back. To be told I'm really good. To seem important. Blah. Blah. Blah.

I realize that this isn't the best attitude to have. Especially for someone who claims to be a follower of Jesus. I need to recognize by having that label, I am volunteering to become nothing for the sake of the Kingdom of God. Thus, by wanting people to look at me as a great whatever, I am taking glory away from the only being in the universe who deserves it. I'm putting false hope in this fading feeling.

So after having these thoughts, I posted about it. I posted without pictures on purpose. I love photography, but if it is going to take my alliegance away from the Kingdom than I need to stop. I do believe God is a creative God and he has instilled whatevers in me to take pictures and also be creative. Because of that, I am not going to quit photography.

I am now on a journey, however, to find ways to make my name less while making his name greater through it.

Find your "photography" and journey with me.

Blog/Blogged/Blogger/Blogspot/Blogging

I was thinking lately that though sometimes I don't feel like it, I truly enjoy blogging. I'm not sure what it is I like about it, but I do nonetheless. I wish more people I don't know checked my blog on a regular basis. Probably because I want to feel important. You know, just a fleeting feeling. Well, maybe they do check it though. This isn't my website. I don't get those kind of stats. Its more like Blogger is loaning the space out to me. Kind of like how life is. None of this is really ours. Just on loan.
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In other news, here is a look at my current desk/'workstation,' and I use the term workstation very lightly.



Soon enough however (less than a week), I will have a new desk/'workstation.' Which will be in The Study of my new apartment. Be excited.

Lastly, don't forget you're a new creation... if you are. Live like it. Oh and you're not a sinner. You were a sinner. Now, you're a saint. Royal priesthood. Chosen people. Called.

shalom

Last Night

What do me, a venti sweetened passion iced tea lemonade, two polish guys, two Hoehnes, and Invisible Children have to do with each other? Well, thats what my night consisted of yesterday. I had planned to go to Starbucks to relax, do some reading and writing, and, simply, hang out. After obtaining my drink, two polish guys walked in. Lauren and I had met them a few weeks ago when visiting the same Starbucks. They sat down by me, so for the next hour or so we conversed about whatever. It was a pleasant interruption. Before they left we exchanged e-mails. A little later, the Hoehne brothers walked in. They didn't stay too long but we talked a little while they waited for their drinks. I am going to stop typing in paragraph form and switch to list style... now.
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My table clutter


Accomplishments for the night:

-Used the restroom 3x, each time I was on the verge of pain before urinating
-Reconnected with my new Polish friends
-Journaled, sort of
-Listened to 1.5 songs, then the interruptions began
-Read/highlighted some of the Gospel of Matthew for stuff I've been thinking about//I'm gonna go through each Gospel and do the same thing//Will probably lead to a post in the future
-Watched Invisible Children's movie for Sunday/Black Bracelet

shalom

Changin' Them Looks

Once again, I've changed my blog. I guess I am never really satisfied with it completely, so I change it after a little while. Along with changing the look of my blog, I've also changed my own look a little bit.
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Separately, on an unrelated note, I hate self portraits. But these aren't that bad.



Shalom

Kyana

My little cousin spent the night and day with my sister at our house. I decided to snap a photo of her before I took her home. It may be kind of hard to tell in this picture but she is mexican. No, I don't have any Mexicans in my family. Yes, my aunt and uncle adopted her. Along with her younger brother, Philip, and sister, Angela. Her and Philip were drug babies. I'm not sure if Angela was or not. They now live in a great house being brought up in the ways of the Lord. You should think about adopting. I am.

LA

Ryan and I went to LA this past weekend. We went to visit Jordan. While we were there we also saw our friend Aaron. All we did was hang out. It was good seeing friends I haven't seen in a few months. It was also good being reminded of the great friends I have. Jordan gave us 'Gonzalez LA Tour.' One of the highlights of the tour was going by 'the mansion.' Also known as the Playboy Mansion. Also, I was kidding. Not a highlight. Besides, the only thing we saw of mansions were their front gates. What I've decided though, while LA is an interesting place, I believe San Francisco and Downtown San Diego are way cooler. Call me crazy if you want.
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I've started doing this thing where I lean out of the window to take pictures, sometimes at questionable lengths. I did it going up to Big Bear, in LA, and in India. In India, we were going up a mountain on a small road. But that didn't stop me. Also, Ryan told me to make him look good. Thinking that wasn't possible, I did the next best thing. I put him out of focus.





Shalom

New Toy

I purchased a Polaroid One600 Classic. Now, its no vintage, but its sweet nonetheless. I'm really excited to use it and to see what comes of it. I still need to get film for it because I haven't yet. I don't have much money. Hopefully when I get around to using it I'll post pictures up here. The reason I bought this was I want to branch out in my photography skills. You may, or may not be thinking, 'branch out with a polaroid camera?' And, to that, I would say yes. In the future, I plan to get a number of different kind of cameras. Some of these include, but are not limited to, a Fisheye and Holga, both of which are film cameras. I want to be able to creatively capture the world with not only using digital, but with the many different options out there.

Shalom

Big Bear

Its been a little while since my last post. Mostly because I wasn't in the mood. I had these pictures on my computer that I've wanted to put up but I just haven't had to motivation to do so. These are from a couple weeks ago when Colby, Trevor, and I went up to Big Bear. We hiked Castle Rock and tried our hand at some fishing. We didn't catch anything, even though they were jumping all around our lines. It was a really fun day though. Its nice to get of Riverside and breath fresh air every once in awhile.








Shalom