Published on 2/24/14 1:28 PM

Never fight alone

Church; connection w Christ

Never be

Never Surrender

The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked. Prov. 24:16

Published on 4/1/14 11:43 AM

Freedom and Victory: Freedom

Last week, the world's radar was picking up distress signals from Venezuela, Ukraine and Thailand.
Between then and now, the spotlight of focus has been on Russia's recent movement in the Ukraine and the United State's response.
The tension reminds me of something I've only read about.

Some are even flirting with the terms "New Cold War" and "World War III".

CRAZY!!!

I thought we were getting better as a society!

What about us being more progressive?

If that were true,

shouldn't we be living in a golden age in history?

A world with less crime, less hurt, less abuse, fewer scandals and no more war?

At least that's what we keep expecting.

Granted, somethings are better for some, but for the majority of the people in the world, life continues as it always has.

Jesus said If the Son makes you free you are free indeed

Proverbs, more than just sayings. Published on 7/4/14 11:31 PM

I used to be one of those kids who wouldn't learn unless it was the hard way. Maybe you didn't have to suffer from bouts of early-onset Hardheadedness, I, however, had it BAD. I can still show you where I scraped my knees from jumping off of a discarded piece of waterlogged plywood that was recommissioned as a ramp for our skateboards and roller-blades (Because we believed raising one side of it on a speed bump actually made it a ramp). Looking back, it was no surprise that my X-games dreams never got any higher than that crummy plywood ramp.

Life gets more difficult the older we get. (Shocking, I know.) We come to a point when learning the hard way has deeper and more lasting scars than just the ones on our knees.

But like John Mayer said, "I know that the heart of life is good"

Other favorite sayings:
"In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you made."

"Real Gs move in silence like lasagna"

Learn the lesson and don't take the jump off of shitty ramps.

Atoms to Adam Published on 8/13/14 7:21 PM

Most of my adult life has been spent trying to answer the question "What makes life worthwhile?" I think I have the answer?

Before we can answer "What makes life worthwhile?", we must briefly consider the root question: "What makes life?"
Biologically, it's metabolism, reproduction and homeostasis. But these are just the processes that permit life to be sustained. They don't really meaning to life. We can all agree that when

In a
Now no matter what side of the Origin debate you're on, there is one thing we can all agree on: The universe is a strange place. This was made more real to me when I spent the better part of an afternoon contemplating the cosmos thanks to this handy sliding Scale of the Universe. If talking about Planck lengths or Gigaparsecs doesn't move you, nothing will! Those who aren't into that sorta stuff just know that, things get sillier the bigger or smaller we are get.

I mentioned all that science stuff because from this initial question, "What makes life worthwhile?", we ca Very few, but special, people lose sleep over about

Why do we exist?

All of the knowledge and wisdom of the world

If you spend a few minutes considering the shear complexity of what's around us, you'll probably get a headache. After your brain stops exploding you'll notice that we live in a universe of extremes. From the tiniest theoretical one-dimensional strings that vibrate to make all possible dimensions, to the

we could argue about the different aspects within relationships like trust respect, care,
jackie robinson once said "a life is not inportant except by the impact is has on another"

marriage? Published on 3/3/15 2:17 PM

So, we've taken a few months off to get into the swing of married living. I have to say, being married is the BEST! Not only is the saying "Sleepover with your best friend forever" cliche, it's also true. Marriage has helped me appreciate the different types of relationships in my life.

Church Problems Published on 3/3/15 2:44 PM

!) Understand that the struggle is not yours.

2) Pray for wisdom

3) remember that you

3) Talk with the person

4) Find common ground

5) Maintain boundries

How one leader can make more. Published on 3/12/15 11:19 PM

Does being a leader of the church mean you should only lead those who are IN the church?

Does the focus fall on the haves and hope that others remember the have-nots?

Who can be trusted to be the leaders for the ones not totally considered 'core' yet still active in the church?

Give leaders support and attainable goals and expectations.

Be proactive in building leaders. the saying "You can lead a horse to water but can't make it drink" may be true, rest assured it will take a sip when it starts to feel thirsty. If you have presented yourself as a safe and trustworthy well, the parched and weary person will know where to drink.

Working with people Published on 4/20/15 6:06 AM

The hardest thing about working with people is working with people. In my few years of working experience, the complaint I've heard most was about people.

What Bob Marley taught me about love Published on 10/15/15 8:59 AM

Is this love?

The New Social Activism Published on 10/24/15 12:33 AM

The idea of the hero seems to be the main driving force behind todays culture.

In an age where all you have to do to call yourself a hero is pay a donation or download an app, the selfsacrifing nature long associated with Heroism has been shed.

It seems like doing things for others has more appeal for the self gratification that genuine altruism.

Self, identify. Published on 10/24/15 12:37 AM

I like to ask questions.

One of the questions that regularly pops into my mind  "Who am I?"
I try to answer this question as simply as I know how. I start with what I think are concrete facts. like: I have brown eyes, my hair is thinning and I have Y-chromosomes.

One of the cool things about twitter is that it exists. (RIP TWITTER - FEB 2026)

Love by sacrifice Published on 5/24/14 5:49 PM

So far we've gone 2,840 miles.

That's slightly further than LA is to Albany.

We've totaled 48 hours behind the wheel in a marathon of driving from Chattanooga to Manhattan to Silver Spring to Chattanooga to Tulsa to Fort Worth to Dallas then back to Fort Worth a couple of times.

My fiancee has been within three feet of me the whole time as my co-pilot and neither of us has yet considered throwing the other down a well. That's a REAL miracle!

I have only one brother, He's awesome. I also have two best friends. Their names are Steve and Jonathan. They've never met and live at opposite ends of the U.S. but they're united through me. Theses guys are so special to me that if I could have picked my family I would add Steve and Jonathan to the Fernandez clan.
It was exciting when Steve called me one evening and broke the news that he was going to propose to Lyn, is girlfriend at the time. I wasn't surprised because they'd been togeher for about 5 years-ish.

I WAS surprised when, the next week, Jon sent me a picture of a VERY nice engagement ring. I called him back and he told me about his elaborate plan to set her family and friends around as different stages she needed to go through before finally getting to him serenading her and popping the question.

I knew I couldn't miss their respective special days. 

We go to great lengths and sacrifice for the people we love. Today, for me, it's because of friendship. Others fight the fears that have kept them away from others to be with the one that they choose to love and trust. Through out each 

Why don't my prayers have power?

From Feb 8, 2014:

Have you ever wondered why sometimes it feels like your prayers don't go past the ceiling, but then hear stories from different people about how God had shown up in THEIR lives?

Do your friends tell you about how God had answered a prayer for strength?
Or do they often remember a specific incident, then boast about God's providence through it? 
Has it happened that others testify about how God had spoken to them through some voice or given some sign when they 'needed it most'? 

Do you wonder why this hasn't been your experience?

Do you remember the last time prayer "worked" for you??

SCRATCH THAT

Can you even mention the FIRST time that worked for you?


Why is it that so many people haven't experienced anything memorable from prayer!?

No lightning bolt from heaven.
No fire, earthquake, or raging wind.
Not even a still, small voice,
   in the emptiness of a bedroom?

However, many times we remember about all the times we prayed, and prayed, and prayed but didn't get what we wanted. 

We remember our lists of good and bad deeds done and wonder why we have so many unanswered prayers. 

We most remember all the times we fell far from God.

Have you ever heard about how God had done miraculous things through the lives of others and wondered...

"WHY DON'T MY PRAYERS HAVE POWER?"

In the book of Luke, chapter 11, an unnamed disciple seems to have this same thought.

The scripture reads:

Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."

Jesus said, “This is how you should pray:

“Father, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come. May your will be done here on earth, as it is done in heaven. Give us each day the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation.”

Here Jesus repeats a prayer that he had taught in the early part of his public ministry. Jesus is not say anything new to this disciple.
In fact, Jesus had already sent out his disciples to do public ministry, TWICE!

This disciple had seen Jesus pray and witnessed lives get changed.
He had seen people under the bondage of sin forgiven and freed by the power of God!

He had probably also been with the other disciples as their prayers were answered!

Sometimes when I don't get my prayers answered the way they should, I start resorting to "desperate measures."

I try taking my trust in God as a hostage.
I've even said things like:
"God, if I don't get what I want by the time I say AMEN, I'm going to have to do this on my own . . . Amen . . . ."Maybe you've said something like this too.

So the Jesus tells a story to help explain prayer!

Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, 

When we don't know God as our Father who loves us, we feel like He is a distant neighbor and treat him a such.

Someone we go to when our food is running low and were in danger of losing face

when we are not in right relationship with God we have to beg and pester and knock on Gods door. But Jesus came to turn fallen people into sons and daughter of God. His love brigs us to love God and love others. We will give what we have received because that's how our father is. We don't stand outside begging, we are in the house trusting our father to provide our needs. Christ wants to make you a son a daughter. If you are outside , come to Jesus. If you have no strength, come to Jesus.

We MUST ask for the Holy Spirit because 

Purpose of pray is not for us to coax god to give us what we want.

But for us to be open to receive what he want to give.

We pray not because HE needs it But because we need HIM

Even when you don’t get what you want, the process of prayer strengthens your relationship with Him.

If you lose your hold of prayer, you lose your hold of God. You can read all the bible you want. 

Give us the strength to stand thought this assail us; 

He loves you more than that broken family you come from ever could

 Let your prayer be, "Take me, O Lord, as completely yours. I lay all my plans at Thy feet. Use me today in Thy service. Stay with me, and let all my work be shaped in you." 

Rom 8:26,27 says the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

Written in 2014

I'm just going to write this thing.
is what i keep telling myself at least twice a week. there are times when i sit here with the computer open, browser readied to a new draft, and then i just open a new tab. i have a chance to write, but instead of going through the work of committing to the work, I get overwhelmed. this has been the rest of my writing process:

1. Write a few overview sentences with the main idea i want to write about.
2. Write the first sentence of my (soon-to-be fantastic) introductory paragraph underneath the overview.
3. look at what i wrote and try to find better words to use.
4. delete all of it.
5. try again
6. repeat step 2 to 5 until i finally find myself tabbed over to Twitter.

Granted, the system is flawed but it's been the only system I've known thus far.

I'm gonna paste the 16 ideas i have sitting in my drafts and i'll decide after two weeks which one to finish. here goes:

Updates

It's been a minute.

Life changes:

• Married 11 years
• Baby (2yr old)
• Deconstructed from Adventist
• Changed careers a couple of times and am now in cybersecurity sales
• Made amazing friends for life

Besides that, I'm still the same me.

Learned more about the world and myself, to the point that I feel like I can relate to MOST people and make genuine friendships with all kinds of folks.

I'm living a life that I once only dreamed of and would only be happier with more time with my girls and doing the other fun things I've taken up like golfing, or gaming.

Change and taxes are the only constants in this life. Lean in and ride the waves.

It's all good.

Missed y'all, I'll try to post more.

Peace and Love,

E

Re-Up

Credit to Kristina B.

I read a book from Rodlie Ortiz that inspired me to write again.

Truth be told, I turned my brain off a while back in an attempt to minimize stress as life became busier and more complicated. I was SUPER apprehensive about getting back into blogging. I've told myself every excuse in the book. (Literally! Check out his book!)

Welp. Life is still busy and just as complicated. Actually, it’s even more complicated. But I want to try to blog in order to help me organize my thoughts a bit better. God has shown me the benefits of community. I hope to share my thoughts through this blog and maybe you will feel like you resonate with what I’m sharing.

Stick around. I'd love to hear feedback.

3 essencial best friend traits.

There's a saying in Spanish that says "Dime con quien andas y te dire quien eres."
It translates to "tell me who you're with and I'll tell you who you are."

Life gives us certain choices. Few choices are more important than who you choose to call "friend." We share laughs, tears and secrets with friends as we go through life together. Even those who may have a great relationship with their families know that there are somethings you can tell a friend that you CAN'T EVER tell your family.

Besides being loving, here are the 3 essential traits every best friend should have:

1) Honest.
A best friend needs to be able to tell you when you have broccoli in your teach or have your zipper down without making you feel embarrassed about it. If your friend can't tell you the truth, especially when you need it the most. Having someone who can be honest about your flaws will help you appreciate who you are and and what you both bring to the table. 

Prov. 27:6."Wounds from a friend are better than kisses from an enemy!"

2) Uplifting.
Life is difficult, it's dangerous to go alone. Take a friend who will be able to raise your spirits and inspire you to higher and better things. Sometimes it helps if you can laugh at the same things too!

Ecc. 4:10"If either of them falls down,
    one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
    and has no one to help them up."

3) Consistent.
A friend will be there for you no matter what! No kind of nearness, distance, money or relationships should get in the way of a true best friend. It's a special thing when you go a while without talking to that special friend but you know that as soon as you make that call you both will be talking as if no time ever passed. Fake friends are no friends so if there are people in your life who only check up on you to hear about the latest drama in your life, keep them at a safe distance behind your trust bubble.

Proverbs 17:17

"A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity."

The people you surround yourself with are a reflection of who you are or hope to be. Be with people who encourage you to be your best self. Surround yourself with people who are striving for the same thing you are. The reward is not in the destination, but through the journey.

The Bible says a lot about friendship and relationship and we'll explore that in the future posts.

Graduation Thoughts

WOOOHOOOO!!!

That's me up there receiving my diploma from Gordon Bietz President of Southern Adventist University!
When I think about the fact that, yes I really did graduate a week ago, I remember the struggles and victories that brought me to that moment in time when I walked across that stage in front of my friends and family.

I have been a student at four colleges/universities, several half semesters, took a couple of years off, lived defying God for some time, changed my declared major three times, and was academically dismissed from the university I would eventually graduate from 7 years later. 

Through it all God has proven time and again that He's faithful even when I'm not.

He has exposed me to ideas and situations that have broadened my mind. Placed amazing friends in my way and surrounded me with the right support. He's taken me on some epic adventures and travels. But best of all, He's taught me the beauty of who He is and the true meaning of grace and redemption in Jesus. Soon I'll be married to the most beautiful woman in the world. We'll have a new life, in a new city, and make new friends near a Florida beach.

But things won't be sunshine and sandy beaches all the time. We can always expect to see the storms of life roll in. Adversity will come our way. When it does, I want to remember what God has brought me through. It's what helps me to know that my God is faithful and that I must respond with trusting His ways. 
No matter how bumpy the road my be for you, remember the blessings God has done in the past and believe that following Him will bring blessings unimaginable!

We can live faithfully because, no matter what, God is faithful!

Psalm 42

1 As the deer pants for streams of water,
    so my soul pants for you, my God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
    When can I go and meet with God?
3 My tears have been my food
    day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
    “Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember
    as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
    under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
    among the festive throng.

5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

6 My soul is downcast within me;
    therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
    the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep
    in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
    have swept over me.

8 By day the Lord directs his love,
    at night his song is with me—
    a prayer to the God of my life.

9 I say to God my Rock,
    “Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
    oppressed by the enemy?”
10 My bones suffer mortal agony
    as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
    “Where is your God?”

11 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

Hello little blog.

How are you? I know I haven't fed you in a while. I can only imagine how hungry you've been!

Well. . .

Daddy's home. Lets crank these posts out!!

Starting tomorrow. ;)

Thoughts about communion

I'm amazed at how God is so merciful with us. This week is been one of the most challenging weeks of my memory and yet here I am blessed beyond belief, with a new guitar and the hope of my Savior's soon return. The Lord has really blessed me to have a family with my local church. I love and cherish my blood family and extended family gotten will soon give me but there is something special about being part of the body of the bride of Christ.  This evening I was able to share my heart with a brother in the faith and know that I was truly in the presence of something divine. God listened to our prayers and we were both changed and moved by the simple act of it! This evening I hope you may all be blessed knowing that God hears and cares about each one of you prayers. Turn away from saying and come to him. It's simple as that. He is the one who will give you strength to overcome anything in your life. I hope to speak more about this soon but for now, remember …Jesus loves you.