It's 11/11/11 11:11 PM

I love repeating numbers... so I just had to post at 11:11 PM on 11/11/11. It's got a nice sound to it! I meant to post this morning but we were helping my grandparents take some things to the junk/scrap yard. So, I missed it. =)

I'm doing great and busy with school. I mean to get on here a little more often to update.. I just thought that since this was a once in a life time oppritunity I better post today. =)

The trip of a lifetime!

God is good all the time! All the time God is good! I'm so excited to tell you about my latest trip though. But God is not just good on trips but here in the everyday. Although, the trip was wonderful. Alright, time for you to hear where I went. INDIA! It was incredible but I think what I told a friend in an email sums this up really well:

"Ok... Here's about India. This trip seemed to be more of a trip of what I am not. Let me explain. 

First, God made it really clear that India is not my field. Which surprised me. I actually love that country.... and I enjoyed being there but God was just like, ( even though he didn't actually audibly speak ) "Jacob, this is not your place or field." 

Second, I'm not called to be a preacher. While there my pastor was talking about a passage in Jeremiah about preaching, Jeremiah 20:9, "If I say, "I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name," there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot." My pastor calls this a Holy Woe... To take preaching away from a preacher is to take away his life. I enjoy preaching, but it not the one thing that will make or break me. What I really enjoy doing is mentoring young people... that might be the one thing I couldn't live without. 

Third, I am not really one to go far from home, or country. While I loved India, it was not home. When I went to Mexico, it was not home. The US is home. This doesn't mean that I don't need a mind ( or heart ) change but I don't think I do..... =) It seems so weird and I know I feel called to Missions, but it just seems that, from what God has been showing me lately, Missions is not what He has called me too. I don't understand this at all. You can pray for me that God will show me direction. 

It sounds a little strange to say: "This trip showed me more of what I am not", but it's true! =)"

I don't think I can sum up better. That shares the more personal side of the trip. It was honestly a learning trip and I am still not sure how to take it all. =)

I'll spend sometime in the future days, posting personal bible study's, interesting stories or thoughs about India, or other random things that come to mind!

For now though, I must go. I have some assignments to complete and then I get to continue reading "The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffery Chaucer. Everyone's favorite. =)

God bless!

Today at work, I stepped into the garage to fill the mower up with gas, I heard this little, but very loud meow! Now... those of you who know, cats aren’t my favorite animal... I am more of a dog person but since I started working I’ve started appreciate cats. This afternoon was the killer for any prejudice. I turned my head in surprise as I see this little, 3 ( or 4... not sure ) week old kitten come running up to me! I have to admit.. I saw this little one and I fell over. IT WAS SSSOOO CUTE! Now... I know what some of you are thinking.... WHAT? ARE YOU MAD? I am afraid my friend, yes... I am. I think that this picture should clear all minds.

ISN’T IT CUTE!

Next to my hand, how little!

I am amazed at God’s miraculous creation. How amazing are you God!

Your works are amazing oh Lord! How marvelous is your name!

Spring is in the air!

Today was the most BEAUTIFUL weather so we headed out to play while it was so nice. While out there we drew with Sidewalk chalk. Below is a picture that I drew and then LJ which I am going to tell you about below!

I also saw the most miraculous sight. FLOWERS! It was so nice to see a sign of spring coming up so I took some pictures. LJ ran in with the flowers and said to Mom, " Here you go Mommy, the first flowers! " How cute!

The Flowers

More Snow!

Hey All!!!!

WOW is all I can say!!!!! We just got another 20 inches or so of snow!!! Here are some pictures of our recent snow adventure!

The first is of MJ ( a.k.a. Shylock ) Digging out the fort. :)

The second is how bad visibility was. It has cleared up now though. Whew.... talk about a lot of snow!!!!

The third picture is of LJ in one of our snow forts. We have three. Fort Wilmington, Fort Washington, and Fort McDouglas! When I said that I wanted to name one in honor of Britain my all-American brothers were shocked and almost went on strike! We compromised however and I said they could name one of the Forts whatever they wanted, so they named one, "Fort General George Washington". To prove that I am no less American I named the other Fort McDouglas! They have one more to name but that is all up to them. Fort Washington and Wilmington are side-by-side... it's kinda funny. :) Tomorrow I will try and get some photos of them!!!

God bless!

Recent Activity!

Hey All!

Sorry for the absence. I have been extremely busy with school going full speed and church activities. :)  

Nonetheless, I have missed posting extremely so here we go! 

On Tuesday I had a speech I did and I enjoyed one part especially. I asked LJ on Sunday if he would be willing to, shall we say, be used as an visual aid. He very willingly consented. So the speech was on Art Class etiquette. Around halfway through the speech I called LJ ( Not my Little J but a friend named LJ. :) up and we began disobeying the rules. ( For the sake of example of course. ) Therefore..... The picture. ( THANKS LJ. :) Well.. I hope everyone enjoyed the speech as much as I did drawing on LJ's face! :) 

Shakespeare class went well. The only thing being that I had to gravel around on the floor "begging" for mercy to a girl, pretending to be a boy, in a Lawyer's outfit AND to LJ. Beside those facts I find my role wholly satisfying. :) 

I really have to think about my creative writing though........ I have to write a story about a picture of Snoopy and the whole Charlie B. group having a "dog" fight in the sky. Any ideas? It can be either based off The Charlie B. group of can be made up of completely fictitious characters. My last assignment was on the Nativity story through the eyes of an animal. I liked that one!

Well... enough about school. :) I have been reading through the Gospels and I am in Luke right now. I read something today that really interested me. In Luke 13: 10-27 Jesus is discussing Hypocrisy. He heals a lady with an infirmity and the Ruler of the Synagogue "answered in indignation". Then the Lord says something interesting." The Lord then answered him, and said, [Thou] hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or [his] donkey from the stall, and lead [him] away to watering?And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?". What 17 says though struck me the most.... "And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him. " I often think I have to debate truth, defend God. While there is a time for that sometimes, maybe, God wants us to just speak His word. Just say those words that bring your adversaries to shame. Not for the shake of seeing them ashamed but bring glory to God, as it reads toward the end of the verse, "and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him." What are your thoughts???

Well I had better stop otherwise I won't have anything to post for while. :) 

God bless you all!

~J

The Beautiful Clouds.

A Beautiful Sunrise

LJ's Art Face. :)

Hm..... This one is sideways..... Nonetheless, A Beautiful, though sideways, sunrise. :)

PS. To all those musically inclined friends of mine, Logic Pro is now installing on my computer! I finally managed to clear off the required 30 GB of space. :) I'll hopefully be putting up some sound clips soon for you guys to listen to.

Here we go!/Winter has come!

Hey All!!!

We got our first BIG snow. If you have followed the weather or the news you'll see that the whole East Coast is getting dumped on. I would say that we have at least 6 inches as of snow with a whole bunch more coming. LJ and I were out there earlier and it is going to really pile up. I wouldn't be surprised if Church is canceled in the morning. I just hope that the play isn't canceled. Whatever God wills though.

Whatever God wills. That is something that I know that I could use to learn more. I started reading the Gospel of Mark 2 days ago and I have noticed something. If you have a study Bible or any Bible with an "introduction" to a book they will probably note that Mark uses the word "immediately" ( or straightway. ) 45 times. Such as in Mark 1:20-21, "And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him.

Mar 1:21 And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught." After reading the intro those "straightways" really stuck out. Jesus didn't hesitate to do what was right. He did it IMMEDIATELY. How many times I have hesitated and procrastinated from doing what I KNOW I should do. What about you? God doesn't say that doing it right away will be easy.... Look at Mark 5:2, "And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit." This guy was a crazy, outcast, possessed man. As soon as Jesus stepped out of that boat, "But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him." Then Jesus said, "For he said unto him, Come out of the man, [thou] unclean spirit." It took courage to stand up to help this Crazy Maniac but Jesus had compassion. I pray that God would give me that compassion and the obedience.

Well I am going to throw up some pictures of the snow and I hope you enjoy!

Isn't the Snow just Beautiful?

Snow Angels!

God bless!!!

~JT : )

The Second Snow and an update

Hey All!!!

Okay. I know it has been a LONG time with no post but I finally have time to hop on here. Forgive my absence.

Things are going well here and I am enjoying the cold weather. I would like to formally introduce you all to my good friend, Howard. He is the first of his kind this season and I think you will enjoy meeting him. ( To anyone named Howard I apologize for the coincidence. :) His picture shall come up shortly. Little J, Big J, and I made him after a snowball fight. :)

God is good, amen?!? I had the privilege to go to an Leaders in Training conference in the beginning of Dec and it was just a blast. I attended a session on Leading through fear and God really spoke. What stood out to me though was in the Last message by Evangelist Rich Tozour. Mr. Tozour was speaking on The Mantle of Leadership/Elisha and Elijah. I found it very interesting that Elijah went up in the Whirlwind not the chariot of fire or the horses but Elisha had to keep his eyes on Elijah and it would have been sssooo easy to watch all that was going on around him but Elisha kept his eyes on his goal. The most important part though is when Elisha reached down and picked up the Mantle of Elijah. I know... your thinking, "big deal with the weird turban okay?" But it is so much more than that. God had a plan for Elisha. He wanted to use him but it was up to Elisha to pick up that Mantle of Leadership and use it to be used by God. What about you? Has God given you a job to do? Are you willing to pick up the the "mantle" left in your local church, school, or just your sphere of influence as in your friends, family, and for some, co-workers? I know that God really spoke to me on picking up the job's that are there. God can use you. You don't need a bible college degree or anything like that. ( although those are good things and can help you serve even more. ) Pray and ask God what he would want you to do. It will change your life. I know it has changed mine.

Well I must go for if I kept going I wouldn't have anything left to type for future posts. :)

God bless you all as you grow closer to him in your life,

Adios Mé Compadres.

~JT

Poll #8

The next poll question is, 

How many Chapters are there in the book of Isaiah?

You know what to do! Don't check your bibles. ( or any other literature on the Bible! : ) 

Recent things of Life!

Hello All!

I am sorry that I have not posted for, well, quite a while. I seem to be very busy this summer. :) 

Last week I had the privilege to attend Music Camp at West Coast Baptist College. I had an awesome time under great preaching and teaching. I learned a lot about singing and got to sing in the camp and concert choir. I also was very privileged to take a piano lesson from Bro. Hopkins in which I learned a ton! I met some great new people and had a great time in the Dorm room! :)  I was even insane enough to ride 5 rides at Magic Mountain! ( surprise, I know :)))  Zach joined us and then we met another guy and he completed our dorm room group. As many of you know, Jus isn't a morning person... Neither was Gabe. ( the other guy in our room. )  So when Zach and I hopped out of bed at 6 in the morning with loud mouths it made a very good reason to go to the dining hall! :-))))) Now we had fun and that is how we will leave it. :) I also met a guy in the other room and he was from the same location as we were so that was fun. Tuesday night we, ( Gabe, Jus, Zach and I of which will proudly be referred to as room 101 from here on out. ) were talking and said, " We should ask Bradley that." :) Then Brad's head comes popping around the corner saying, "what?" ( he was in room 103) So the joke through out the week was, " Lets ask Bradley that..." :))) But what was most hilarious was that almost every time you would say that Brad would come into our room. :)

I was very pleased with the week and am very thankful for the opportunity that the Lord gave me. The preaching was awesome and I loved sitting under men of God for one whole week! One of my favorite messages was Bro. Jon Guy teaching on the work of God. One of the things he said really stuck out to me. He said that, " the work of God has priority." But what he said after that really got me thinking. He said, " there are three ways to use your time, one way is to waste your time, the second way is to spend your time, and the third way is to INVEST YOUR TIME! " That really made me wonder, what I was doing with my time? I most definitely waste time, but how often do I INVEST my time? Another main theme was surrender. Have you surrendered your music talent to the Lord? I felt convicted about that. I certainly could use my talent for the Lord more often. Not to mention the fact that I could have a better attitude when I use my gifts for my CREATOR. I am sorry to have no pics... I don't have a camera so... Brad's Mom hopefully has some photos that I can get so I might be able to post something! :) 

Well I hope that you laughed and learned something from all of that. :)

I gotta run! 

~JT~

Poll 6 Answer ( and other things of life :)

Thank you for voting!!!!! 

The answer is.......

ABRAHAM AND ISAAC!

Gen. 22:2

And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

Things have been slow. I don't have much to write about. :) I am praying about going to a music camp over June 1st-5th. I am pretty sure that I am going. We are also going to Yuma next week to visit friends. It should be a lot of fun!

Well.... I had better run!

~J~

Poll 6!

The next poll is up! You have 10 days until I put the answer up!

Gotta run! ~J~

Poll 5 Answer

Okay, here we go! ( Drum roll please )

The answer is, THE PLAUGE OF DARKNESS!

I was very disappointed when I saw that there was only one vote.... I used to have many more voters. Some have expressed difficulty while attempting to vote, so I have created a little tutorial.

Step 1. Go to the blog.

Step 2. Scroll down 'till you find the poll and think. ( and think and think and think... ect. :)))

Step. 3 Check the box beside your answer. 

Step 4. Click on Vote

Step 5. Your vote has been cast! You can go back and change your vote and you DON'T need a google account.

I hope that this helps to clear up any and all difficulties!

Have a great day! ~J~  

Polls 2

The Question for the Poll is, 

"Out of the Seven Churches that received messages in the book of Revelation. Which were not rebuked for a fault in the Body?" 

Enjoy!

Ps. Don't Check your Bibles! :)))))

Where I was! :)

Hiya Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!! I am back from my trip back east! I had a great time working and enjoying the cold weather! I took some panoramic photos of the camp where the Prayer Advance was and they turned out nice. Here they are, ( If you click on the photo you can see a larger version. )  

The Dining Hall

The Lake

God has really taught me at this advance that I am to be different. I am not to be like the "normal" mediocrity kid. I am not saying that I don't mess up. I sure do but I have grace in Jesus. But there should be a difference between a believer in Jesus Christ and a non-believer. 

It was really nice to see everyone back east. I miss the east coast a lot but, I am REALLY enjoying wearing shorts! LOL :) Well there is sure something about the beauty of snow on the ground.  I have started to play around with panoramic photos. They are pretty fun! I took a picture of the mountains. Here it is.

 I am putting up some polls and NO checking your Bible. These are strictly testing what you know. :)  Gotta run! JT