Travel

So Alana and I are currently in Orlando visiting my folks, and it's always nice to come back to the place I grew up. But let me tell you, I hate the act of traveling, I like to be in and visit new places but the actual act of getting there is really bothersome. I really don't like spending my day on a plane in a tiny seat, sitting next to strangers who are trying their best to ignore you, where the pilot keeps waking you up to tell you, when you can move and when that buckle needs to be on, and where the flight attendant try their best to pretend they like you but you can tell they want to curse you out. Oh and this flight was great, we had to drive two hours to get to the airport so we could wait another two hours, to sit on a plane for over five hours so we could get to new Jersey, yup New Jersey, that's right on the way to Orlando. We left a 10:00 pm Tuesday, and got in at 10:00 am Wendesday. And I have a real hard time sleeping on the plane, but on the second flight from New Jersey to Orlando there was a empty seat next to us so we were able to 2 hours of sleep. Well it is nice to be here and spend time with my parents all is going well. I hope that is entry finds you all well and enjoying your Christmas.

Christmas merrieness

So Alana and I have had our personal Christmas already. We had our Christmas this past Sat. night because we were going to Orlando (where were at now) and we didn't want to lug all our stuff there. It was a nice evening and here is a pic of the night before the opening of gifts. I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas, and may you get what you want, but make sure that even if you don't you thank God for the reason we have to celebrate, Jesus. By the way like my mohawk, I loved it wish I could have had it longer, but I didn't want my Mom to freak, but is was my favorite hair cut in a long time. God Bless.

Narnia Review

So I saw Narnia, The Lion the Witch and the wardrobe, a movie I have been waiting ages to come out, seeing as I love the books. And seeing as I have always wanted to be a critic I will tell you what I think of it.
Overall I think this movie was very well made, some nice special effects, relatively good casting and a story line that for the most part followed the book.
I thought it was well acted and I liked the character development of the kids. Edmund really made you want to slap him, but they developed why he was like that. Lucy I thought was played very well as well as Susan seemed a little uptight but knowing her mentality later in the series I thought it worked. I would have liked to see Peter be a little manlier and Tumelus a little older he seemed a little young. They did a good job on the talking animals, though I would like to have seen some more of them.
The story stuck close to the books and only a few seems were added and after thinking about it they were ok. The spirit of the books was definitely there and I thought the meaning was not lost in translation and that was very important.
After the movie was over I was sad not because the story was sad but because I wanted more, and I hope they continue to make the series and that they do them as well. And it is only the second movie that after it was done I wanted to see it again right away, the other being The Incredibles. So I guess you could say I love this movie. Out of five stars I give it all five it's a great family film with a great story all will love.

Seeing Santa

So here I an sitting on Santa's lap, a grown man sitting on the lap of another grown man. This is our school's staff Christmas party and they usually the parents bring a gift for their kids and since we have none and I ask for toys my wife decided that is she was going to get me pez I must pay the price. Sorry the pictures a little blurry the camera wasn't on the right setting. I hope you all are enjoying the Christmas season, it's my favorite time of year. Even with all the crowds and commercialism I'm still a little kid this time of year.

Feeling Theological

So I'm sitting here at my desk on a beautiful Sabbath day and decided to share a few thoughts on the law. See today I gave my Christmas tale, long story and better in person, but the point is that Christmas is all about gifts. That's right gifts... The gifts God gives us especially the gift of grace (Ehp. 2:8&9). So how if we are saved whets the point of the law, on one hand Paul states we no longer need it, on the other God says if you love me keep my commandments. It is an interesting dichotomy because on one hand we are saved by grace and on the other, we are known by our fruits. So here it is my thoughts. Are we saved by grace? Yes. So then do we need to follow the law? Yes. Why? Well because if you have a relationship you show love by actions not words, and any married person can tell you that. In Romans Paul addresses the law and states we are no longer subject and in Romans 6:1 he ask so shall we just go ahead and sin then, his answer: "by no means! We died to sin how can we live in it any longer. Some say the law was only part of the first covenant, to that I say not-ah. Here is how the new covenant reads: I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts I will be their God and the will be my people. (Hebrews 8:10) Even if you think that covenant is only for one people Israel, which by they way were Gods first chosen and we were grafted in, well why does the Bible constantly hold us accountable for our actions. James is a good book, to see how deeds and faith intertwine, if for some reason it's not clear in Paul's writings. Even Jesus said I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Read Matt 5:17-20 to see how important the law is, as a matter of fact read the whole sermon on the mount and you will see Jesus expanding the law not taking away for instance Matt 5:21&22 he says not just murder, but hate is also a sin. So am I saying that you must keep the law to be saved? No only grace saves you, but keeping the law is a byproduct of your salvation and relationship with Jesus. You know the bible describes our relationship with God as that of a marriage so I will look at the ten commandments and see them from the eyes of a marriage. I. No other God's before me, well in a marriage context that would read don't cheat on me, because if you did would that be love. II. No idols, or hey don't look at other women like that, don't have pictures of other women around of be looking a pornography. III. Do not misuse the name of God, or hey don't talk bad about spouse and drag her name through the mud. IV. Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it Holy, or please remember our anniversary, you don't want to forget that now do you. The rest are self explanatory in a relationship with others, the first four is our marriage to God. So do we keep them because we have to, or because it's just the common sense way to treat someone when in a relationship. If you continualy break the sanctity of your marriage, what are you saying about it. Are you saying I love you or are you saying the opposite. I have a sneaky suspicion that if we treated our spouses the way we treat God, we wouldn't be married very long. I do things or don't do things for my wife because I love her, not because it's her law, so intern we should keep the law out of love and thankfulness for His grace, because after all it is that grace that saves. And we could follow the law till we are blue in the face, but without a relationship with Jesus it will do us no good. So it is grace that saves, the law shows we have accepted that gift and are treating God and each other right, out of love.

Go phins

So we went to the dolphins raiders game this Sunday, with some former students of mine and and friend of mine. Pictured are the two former students of mine who have the unfortunate problem of being raiders fans. Yes the dolphins won so now I am happy I got to see them and win on top of that. I've read a few articles on the game and they say the dolphins played well, and for the most part they did however with three turnovers if we were playing a better team we would have lost. They have lots of potential, some nice talent on both sides of the ball but they just make a lot of mistakes with turnovers and penalties. But it was nice to see them not lay down and give it some effort. You know they are only two games out, but we will not close the gap, but then again we can always hope right. Man if they could have only pulled out a few of those close games they lost earlier. The game was fun, but there is one thing that did bother me, entering the stadium my wife and I got bombarded with comments, (Oakland has notoriously hostile fans, even dangerous at times) seeing as we were showing our colors. Now I don't mind some good natured trash talk, and we got some of that, but we also got a lot of just plain crude comments with lots of bombs (curse words that is), and personal attacks and people just plain mad at the fact we were cheering for the opposite team. Why must people feel they must be loyal to a team by being crude and rude. It just shows the ugliness of some. Its just a game folks not war, not a personal attack, not a attack on your morals or your God. Take it easy were all just fans trying to enjoy a game, but more importantly we are all children of God and we should treat each other as such. Well that's all of that, much love and God bless.

I saw Joe

So on Friday Alana & I decided to brave the crowds and try and get some deals. I thought it was going to be a horrid, but you know it wasn't that bad. Traffic wasn't too bad I guess everyone was in some parking lot and the lines in the stores moved very quick. We got some nice deals too, things like; Sharks Tale DVD for 3.99, Simpsons season 6 for 17.88, a 1 GB flash drive for 19.99 after the 20 dollar rebate, some garments of dress, got another DVD for 4 dollars at the Christian book store, and we picked up a couple of down pillows buy one get on for a dollar. We did pretty well but, the bad thing we didn't get any Christmas presents. So were at Jamba Juice after the shopping to refresh our weary bodies and on the way out I start the car and I see some guy just staring at the car beside us really hard so I look over and there right next to me in a BMW is Joe Montana. He was sitting waiting for his boys who were in Jamba getting some smoothies for themselves and Joe, by the way he likes Aloha Pineapple. I nodded and he looked down intimidated by my superior physique I guess. That was my Friday, well tomorrow I get to endanger my life by going to Oakland to cheer on the Dolphins, hope to post you later.

Game Over

So it is official, football season is now over. This was a horrid weekend for my Miami football teams. First Saturday night I had the pleasure of seeing the Hurricanes just choke against a Georgia Tech team. Thanks to the inaptitude of our offence. Then the dolphins top off my weekend with yet another lack of any offence. Now I only care about one game left, this weekends game against the Raiders because I will be attending the game so it would be nice if they could win that one. Beside that one maybe we can come in first in the draft, cause that's where we belong right now.

Quote of the day

So today I'm going to give you a couple of quotes to ponder. One of them is a quote I heard last year from a speaker at a youth conference, can't remember his name. The other quote is going to be from Abraham Baldenegro a student of mine.

First quote: Rudeness is a weak mans interpretation of strength.

Abraham's: Best friends are sometimes better than family.

It's a girl...

So we found out today it is a girl. Was pretty bumed at first, but I am slowly getting used to it. I still like little boys stuff better I don't want to buy dollies and pink things. Well the Lord has blessed us with a healthy child and that is all that really matters. Here is her first picture, she is looking into the camera and waving at you all. Isn't she the most beutiful baby you've ever seen!

fat beagle pic

Ima hanging in the Yard

Joel and I showing some cheese. 

Nor*Cal Retreat

So I spent my weekend speaking for nor*cal 2006, a spiritual retreat for Korean youth groups from northern Cali. Why they would chose me a Puerto Rican to talk to them I don't know but we still had a great time. The theme of the weekend was "The Gospel According to John" so I focused on the book of John (well duh). Friday night I started of by looking at Jesus' first miracle and what that event teaches us about the character of Jesus and thus of God also. Saturday morning the talk was about the woman caught in adultery (John 8) and the fact that Jesus came to save us and not condemn us. Sat. Night we focused on the fact that the book of John is a love story, a story about God's love affair with us.

The weekend was a blast the group was a wonderful group with lots of energy and a passion for Christ and young people. They made me feel so loved and appreciated. I even learned a new game, the egg game. In this game you take a bunch of eggs and you hard boil half of them and leave the rest raw, then you take two combatants who chose one egg each and bust them over each others head and the result is a very funny egg duel. I also got to catch up with a good friend of mine Joel Shin. Well stay tuned on Tues. We find out the sex of the baby and hopefully I can post the first picture of our child.

baby!

So we have this baby on the way, and thats kinda weird. Everyone seems so exicited but can they really be that into a baby that isn't theirs or part of their family. It hasn't really sunk in that it's on the way, we find out the sex here in one week and I don't know how to feel because I prefer a boy but I don't want to be disapointed if it's not. Plus my wife and I can't agree on a girls name or more so I just can't find one I like. I did like Ima which I know most find that a horrid name but just think how funny it would be especially with the middle name star. Hey there whats your name Ima Star...... Ok it's dumb but I like it. Can't do it anyway cause our beagle is named that as a comprimise. Well stay tuned to this cannel for the baby updates and other thoughts.

The beginning

So this is where my blogging adventure starts. I call it j thinks cause I will rant every now and then, and might just let you know what I am thinking. I will also update my adventures in life.

A little background, I'm 29 and so is my lovely wife in the picture. I work as a boy's dean and a chaplin at a boarding academy (Rio Lindo Adventist academy in northern, ca), and my wife is a physical therapist. We have a beagle, a fat one, and a baby on the way. Just a little info to catch you up.