On Christ the solid rock I stand

Hello everyone! Its been a long time since I have blogged. I've decided to give an update on what has been happening in my life. 

Right now I am in Minnesota. I'm leaving on tuesday to go back to CA. I'm going to be working full time and taking one class at the Bible college as well as a class at Rochester Community and Technical College(to finish up my associates in liberal arts degree) this semester.  

I'm still dating the beautiful and amazing Bethany Hahn. It's been amazing being with her all summer. I'm going to miss her like crazy when I go back to CA. :( 

The past year has been quite crazy when it comes to knowing what I want to do with my life. I went out to CA with the intention of getting a bachelors in biblical studies and then going into ministry or into seminary. About halfway through the school year, I started to think about business. For some reason, business really intrigues me. I felt like maybe God was calling me to go into business. I then had to decide whether to keep going to bible college or go to school for business classes. During this summer I have found that I really do have a desire to be in the ministry. I would love to plant a church and pastor that church. I believe that God wants me to keep getting schooling in bible classes, but to also get a degree in business. It will come in handy if I need to find a job and if I plant a church. 

I am going to move back to Minnesota next May(2013) and continue taking classes from Eternity Bible College. I would also start to take some business classes at a community college. So if anyone knows of some Christian guys in the cities(most likely around white bear lake) that need a roommate next summer, it would be awesome if you could let me know. 

Now for a little bit on what has been happening spiritually in my life. This blog post is titled "On Christ the solid rock I stand." That is my favorite hymn. Its so simple. Jesus calls us to have Him as our foundation. I want this song to be the theme of my life. To have my life built upon the rock of Christ. 

God has been teaching me that this past year to get all of my strength from Christ. To put everything in my life on that rock of Christ. I've realized that I say that I trust in Jesus for everything. But I'm scared to put things fully in His hands. I convince myself that my foundation of sand is better. God has slowly been showing me that I can't do things on my own. I don't have the strength to do some things without the help of Jesus. And while that is very annoying at times(my pride coming out), its honestly one of the most rewarding things ever. Knowing that I couldn't do something, coming to God and telling Him that I need Him, and Him giving me the strength to get through it. 

So my encouragement to you who are reading this, if you are going through something that you feel like you can't get through, go to God in prayer. Tell God that you can't do this without His strength, and watch Him come through for you. 

Happening right now..

Right now I just got back from dumpster diving for the first time. It was quit a bit of fun. We went to Trader Joe's and found bananas, coffee, eggs, cream, and even a guitar in their dumpster. It was pretty sweet!

Other than tonight, nothing real exciting(I wouldn't really call tonight exciting, but it was my first time dumpster diving) has happened in the past couple of weeks since I last blogged. I have just been doing school and working. I feel like I am doing something all of the time and have no time to relax. But it is a lot of fun and I am enjoying school a lot.
Another exciting thing is that today is Bethany(my amazing girlfriend) and I's 11 month anniversary. Just one more month and we will have been dating for a whole year. Its crazy. I know that it wouldn't be possible without God though. But I am extremely thankful that she loves Jesus with all of her heart and is very forgiving. She is pretty amazing and I don't know what I would do without her.
I'm planning on blogging more and starting to share some thoughts about the Bible that I am having while here at school. And there are a lot of them!

Life in California

I've decided that I should start blogging again. I hope to use this as a way for people to what is happening in my life and for me to share some things that I am learning and thinking about. I hope that what I have to say helps you in some way. Thanks for reading!
Its been two and  half weeks since I came out to California. So far it has been really busy. I got here the 17th of august after 30 hours of driving. The next day I went for an interview at Viewpoint school and started work for the IT department on august 19th. My next week consisted of working a lot of hours and hanging out with my family. On Friday the 26th I went to orientation for college. After going to orientation and having one week of classes, I am super excited about my college!! Eternity Bible College is amazing! If you want to check it out, here is a link to Eternity Bible College.
Thats it for now. adios!

G90X

"Get absolutely ripped in just 90 days..." That sounds pretty cool. P90X is a program that, well, gets you ripped in 90 days! This 90 day program is made to help the weak of this world become strong. I've heard that it actually works really well. But I don't want to tell you about P90X. I want to tell you about G90X.

Greg Stier(who I got this from) has a Christian blog. In his blog he talked about starting a workout called G90X. Like P90X, G90X is 90 days long and very intense. But G90X is not your typical workout program. I'd like to share his 90 day workout plan with you. If you would like to read his blog, here is the link.

There are four things you need to do in this program. First, read the Bible. The goal is to read the entire Bible in 90 days. Second is to spend 90 minutes of concentrated prayer per week. Third, Memorize 90 verses. Fourth, is to attack any sin in your life. As you have probably guessed, this isn't a program that will lose you some pounds(unless you don't have time to eat.)

Read the Bible in 90 days. This is about 15 or 16 chapters a day. Greg Stier recommends using a program called "The Bible in 90 Days." Here is the link for this as well. Bible in 90 Days Reading through the Bible in this short period of time will help you in many ways. Just to note a couple. You will have a lot of knowledge about the Bible. You will also be in the Bible A LOT. It will take a little while to read 16 chapters. Especially if you want to get what God is trying to say to you.

"...and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." 2 Timothy 3:15

Pray for 90 minutes each week. This is about thirteen minutes a day. We should all be able to find thirteen minutes for prayer each day. Just make sure you are praying the whole thirteen minutes. If you are having trouble staying awake or staying focused. I would encourage you to go for a walk and pray while you walk. This way you also get some physical exercise while also talking to God. There is a lot of power in prayer. Lets use what God has given us.

"The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." James 5:16b

Memorize 90 verses. Most of you are thinking that this is the hardest part of the program. Greg Stier reminds people that "...Jewish boys in Jesus’ day had the first five books of the Bible memorized by the time they were 14..." Those 90 verses just got a whole lot easier. I will try memorizing a verse from what I read each day.

"Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You." Psalms 119:11

Attack sin. If you are going to do this program, you are probably wanting to grow in your relationship with God. That will only work if you are obeying God and doing His will. One part of His will is that you won't sin. Figure out what sins are in your life and attack them. Let the Holy Spirit take control of your life and get rid of any sin that you may have.

"Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin..."" John 8:34

I encourage everyone to do this for the next 90 days. I will be starting this Sunday(May 30th) and get done around the last week in August. So if you are up for the challenge, join me in this crazy awesome experience. It will take a lot of time, but will be totally worth it. If you don't think that you can do everything, at least try doing part of it. Maybe reading the New Testament or memorizing just 9 verses. So comment if you would like to join me in doing this and I will make a group on facebook where we can encourage each other.

“…train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” 1 Timothy 4:7,8.

Giving Jesus Everything

Maybe you have heard the quote by Brennan Manning in beginning of the song "What If I Stumble" by DC Talk. "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable." Thats a pretty sobering thought. All Christians in this world believe in Jesus, know that He died on the cross, and want to go to Heaven. But how many really live their lives for Him? So many Christians take the easy way through life. But Christ doesn't call us to that life. He calls us to a life of living all for Him. A life that may be hard, but is worth it in the end.

I want to write in this blog about giving all of our life for Jesus, so the world can see Christ through us. Because I know that I don't want to be the kind of person that turns people away from becoming a Christian because they don't see Christ in me. I will try to post something every once in a while. I Hope you enjoy this blog of mine.