Dear Abby

Through the eyes of God

This morning was our "Dear Abby" segment on the morning show and we got an email from a young girl who had just attended her homecoming dance. The gist of the email was that she went with her date to the dance and upon arriving, he ditched her. She did say that she ended up hanging out with some friends and had an OK time, but you could tell by reading the email that she was very hurt by what took place.

Being ditched at the dance is not what every teenage girl going to homecoming dreams of. That is called "worst case scenario" and ranks up there with going to the dentist to get a tooth pulled and being kicked in the groin (from a guys perspective at least). It's just not something you want to have happen.

First, I want to tell that girl and any woman who's been in similar situations not to take that to heart. Maybe he was just embarrassed to be at a dance with a girl. (Kind of giving the young man an out here I know, but I'll give him some benefit of the doubt) Maybe he freaked and reacted that way. I know, I know, maybe he was just a mean guy and did it for whatever reason. Just know this. Through God's eyes you are a princess and he loves you more than any earthly man ever could. Our Heavenly Father loves you, cares for you and right now he hurts with you. Know that God is in control and He's holding you in His loving arms and you shouldn't let this one situation keep you from holding your self-esteem high and still feel good about yourself.

I love the verse from Jeremiah 31:3 where it says, "And from far away the Lord appeared to his people and said, "I love you people with a love that will last forever. That is why I have continued showing you kindness"

A love that will last forever! Wow. God is Awesome. Only He can promise you that. No man, and trust me when I say, no matter how hard that man may try can truly promise you such a thing. Only God. Only He can love you like that.

So next year, go to homecoming with a group of friends or just take a good friend instead of a "date" and you'll have a great time. Besides you'll have plenty of time for bad dates later in life.

God is Love...and He loves you.

Carlos

My Rayhawk

GO RAYS!

Ok, I am a man of my word and I did say that if the Tampa Bay Rays made the World Series I would get a "Rayhawk". Well the Rays held up their end of the bargain so I held up mine. Here are some photos of the work in Progress:

Abby and I Pre-Cut


In Progress


The Final Product


My Rayhawk is ready for the World Series! GO RAYS!

Carlos

Birthday Bashed

What's the deal with getting older?

Today, I had an issue come up with age. Now I won't say who or how or when or where and all names have been changed to protect the innocent, but I still need to get this out there. What's the deal with age?

Now I will start by saying that I'm not much of a birthday person. I love my life just the way it is now. I'm 27 working on 28 and not so happy about getting to 30. But when I get to 30 I'll cross that milestone and live with it. I'm fairly sure that I'm not going to be Mr. Mid-Life Crisis Guy and go off and buy a Porche 911 to relive some youthful desire. That being said here's my deal.

A friend of mine is having a birthday. He's a playful guy, always joking around, you know, your typical "fun person" to be around. He's approaching a bigger milestone than I. The Big Five-Oh (50), but he's not there yet. It's not his 50th birthday this year. So in a joking manner I say, "Happy 50th Birthday Jim, how's that old age treating you?" Again, it was in a very joking manner and I said even said a few minutes later that I was kidding, I said, "Ah Jim, I'm just messing with you, you know I love you bro."

Jim was not fine. Jim didn't care for my comment one bit. Jim was really hurt by my comments. Since, the birthday incident I have apologized for what I said and have told him that I would never knowingly hurt him. But as of this blog he's still not talking to me.

Maybe it's because I'm 27. Maybe I just don't get what working on 50 feels like. But to go off the deep end on a comment so small and meant in a joking manner caught me way off guard. I read a another blog recently and it had this statement: "May this be our epitaph, that we were faithful to the Lord and His Word, as we get older until the very end of our life on earth. It is better to wear out than rust out in the Lord's service. Christians should not detest getting older. As we progress through the Lord's school of discipleship, it brings us closer to graduating to that heavenly shore where there are delights with our Lord forever more."

I'm truly sorry for hurting Jim. I never wanted to and I hope he believed my apology. Blame my youthful ignorance if you must blame something. I feel really bad and I hope that Jim understands I never wanted to hurt someone I call a friend. Sometimes I have to learn things in life the hard way and I'll just chalk this one up under that life lesson plan section. But a verse I'll keep close to my heart when I reach Jim's age is this: "The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, if it is found in the way of righteousness" (Proverbs 16:31). I think I'd look pretty cool with a crown and some silver hair. Kind of like in the flash back scene during "Return of the King" in the The Lord of The Rings Trilogy when you see King Aragorn all silver haired and kingly. Yeah. I'll take that.


Carlos

The Slap

My Old Youth Pastor

Wow. Yeah. Being that this is Pastor Appreciation Month I had to tell the story about my old youth pastor Justin.

I think when I was in the youth group it may have been his first time ever pastoring anybody. I'm not sure. I may have to double check that. Either way, on with my story. One morning right before the youth were meeting he pulls me aside. Now I had just been flirting with a pretty girl in my youth group and I thought I was going to get some pastorly advice on how a good Christian guy treats a good Christian girl. What I got was (at the time mind you) the coolest thing you could give a 13 year-old class clown type kid who loves to get attention. Justin, in all his great wisdom pulls me aside and tells me, "Carlos, I need you to slap me." I remember thinking no way, this is a joke. So I asked, "Slap you. You want me to....slap....you?" His response. "Yeah, across the face." So I said what any 13 year old kid with the chance to slap his youth Pastor would say. "How hard?".

Next, he laid out this elaborate plan on how he would try to get the class to calm down and he would ask me to sit, I would refuse, then would come "the slap" and out the room I would go. All this was to illustrate some grand teaching he had created for us. All I knew was, I was going to slap my youth pastor.

So the time came, he tried to calm the class down, I played my part and the the moment came. SLAP! I remember the feeling of dread wash over me. That, "oh my goodness I just slapped Justin" feeling. So the turning and leaving the room part was very easy. The problem was that he said to me, "Now Carlos, don't hit me to hard" and I really didn't mean to. I really didn't. I had and still do have a lot of respect for Justin. He's a great guy and a pastor and we all loved him as our youth leader so there was no, "Oh yeah, I'm going to knock him out" or anything. I just got a little to excited and put a little to much into it.

Either way, he taught his lesson with a red mark across his cheek and I still laugh to this day about it. For the life of me though I can't remember what in the world he was trying to teach me that day. I think it was to turn the other cheek or patience or something. I don't know. But I do know this. I thank each and every pastor I have ever had in my life. Some played very big roles on who I am today, like one of my Youth Pastor's Matthew. He introduced me to the art of being a DJ. A choice that brought me to where I am today. To other pastors who have brought God's word to me in the many churches I have been to. Thank you to all the Pastors of the Bay Area for your hard work, dedication and love for the body of Christ.

And thank you Pastor Justin for your creativity. Without it, I would not have this story to write today.

Carlos

My New Addiction

iTouched it and now I cant stop!

Somebody help me. This stupid little device is slowly taking over my life. If the iLunch and iToilet ever come out I may never leave my house again.

It all began just a few days ago when my father-in-law bought me an iPod Touch to replace my iPod Nano that exploded. (By exploded I literally mean, BOOM! Now it's in two pieces all thanks to the battery over heating.) Fedex drops by with my little cardboard box containing my new iPandora's Box, a.k.a. the iPod Touch. So I sign for it and off goes Mr. Fedex Man, I lay the box down on the kitchen table and immediately begin searching for something to open the box with. It was eerily familiar to the feeling you get when you purchase a HOT and FRESH box of Krispy Creme Donuts. There is no waiting to get home for those babies. Two seconds after you shut your car door your left hand is tearing at the box and your right is reaching for the donut.

Anyway, I find a knife, open the box, pull out the iTouch and off I go to my CPU for the set up. That was quick and easy and next thing I know I'm on the iTunes site searching for cool things to put on my iTouch. Dear Lord why did you give us such creativity I ask myself. I should asked, Dear Lord why do people have nothing better to do!

I've already placed on my iTouch such neccessary applications like:

- The Lightsaber
- A Coin Flip
- A Zippo Lighter (I honestly can't wait for a concer to use it!)
- Bubbles (It just make little bubbles that pop. I know....)
- A Flash Light
- A Ruler
- iBowl
- iGolf
- Sudoku (Which I don't even really like to play much anymore!)
- iTic Tac Toe
- and many more apps that I may never use!

Worst of all, I spend hours searching for more useless apps just to show someone what my iTouch can do or just to kill a few moments of my day! I may need to talk to someone about this soon. Pray for me. Because now I've seen my wife in front of the iTunes searching for more apps. This could be trouble....

Carlos

I'm Back to the Blog!

Post Shareathon 2008

Going into Shareathon can be a really crazy time here at Spirit FM and I didn't get to do ONE blog! But I'm back and ready to pen a few blogs. (Though no actual penning will take place, more typing really)

First, THANK YOU! If you prayed for us, if you made a faith promise, if you thought about us, even if you just tuned us in for 2 min during Shareathon...THANKS!

Trust me, asking for financial support is NOT fun. But we are a listener supported radio ministry and we rely on people just like you to give a faith promise to keep us on the air. So again, a very heartfelt thank you!

Speaking on Trust, that is something God has been teaching me lately. Or at least it feels like it. Since taking over the morning show I have been very, very, very worried about this years Shareathon. Ratings are one thing. (And ours have been very good) Shareathon is another.

If a show is doing well, usually it will be supported well. The show Abby and I do is very different from any other Christian morning show or any Spirit FM has had before. Abby and I really try to be real people, who we really are. The people you meet out at an event or hear on your radio are the same people our good friends know and love. There are no "Radio Versions" of Carlos and Abby, we are who we are and that's it. We'll talk about things we find funny, things in the news, things we see out and on TV or whatever we find topical. So going into Shareathon I was wondering, "Would people love the show and see our hearts and really buy into what we want to do in the mornings". I prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed because I didn't want to fail. I didn't want to fail God, who gave me this amazing opportunity, fail Spirit FM for entrusting me with the most important time slot of the day or fail myself, fail my family, fail my friends, fail, fail, fail, fail just kept pounding on my heart...Then....like an atom bomb...BOOOM! I got this...

(And God should have said, HEY YOU! DUMMY! STOP YOUR WORRY AND LISTEN UP! YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER IS GOING TO BLOW YOUR MIND!)

Instead, like a still small voice I got: Prov. 3:5-6 "Trust the Lord with all your heart and don't depend on your own understanding. Remember the Lord in all you do and He will give you success.

I love that verse. I use it all the time. But just then, it's like a giant fog around the verse lifted and I really understood what God was saying to me. Put me first and trust me. It's no accident you are where you are. Walk by faith and I'll take care of the rest.

Shareathon went very well for the Big Big House Morning Show and all of Spirit FM for that matter. And I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Spirit FM will be taken care of because God is faithful and His word is true.

Besides, I heard once that worry only brings grey hair. I'm not ready for much grey hair. God is in control and I hope you enjoy our little morning show. The Big Big House Morning Show, brought to you worry free all thanks to our Heavenly Father.

Carlos