What a great meeting we had this past Sunday. My life continues to be encouraged by every detail displayed/presented at Harmony. 

1. The crowd. It is always cool to see so many new faces interacting as a family while seeking after Jesus and the freedom He offers. 
2. The time we have to sing songs to Jesus together. In this segment we communicate with our Maker through melodies by using a guitar, voices and drums. All together combined we respond in gratitude and amazement to our Father for His Son Jesus. 
3. The message. This part is when our lives and struggles are addressed. And when hope through what the Bible teaches us is unveiled, that is that JESUS is Lord over all. Yes, over all and that would include: death, finances, school, sickness, loneliness, sin and so on and so on

All these three items combined make every Sunday worthwhile. 

WOw Long time since I blogged. But I am here and am pumped about 3 events coming up this month. 1. Seeing my future wife on Valentines day. 2. Harmony and The Frank Story.  3.Worship music.

Family is BIG for me and therefore I am pumped about a hard core marriage and family series. Though the points that will be addressed are not necessarily specifically about being a good husband/mother/son/daughter. Because when we speak of husbands we are also speaking about men in general and what it takes to live a Christ-center marriage where love, mercy and perseverance dominates. Because remember being a Christian does not mean your marriage is perfect but it does mean that it is suppose to stand out and draw others to Christ. The revelation of his freedom? we did not deserve, yet it was given to us and now we have no excuse.

And in response to his love we earnestly seek to find/apply the resources given to us and be able to exhibit Christ abidance in our families/lives through his Spirit and the church. So invite others to come and listen the great news that Christ has come to heal and restore what was broken.

The holidays have been well. Jes and I decided to spend Christmas with our families. After Christmas I drove to Gastonia, where I have been hanging around eversince attempting to do some wedding planning. So far what have I accomplished? Not much, other than working on our engagement website . Hopefully it’ll be done soon and once complete ya shall know. Other then that? I am excited to see what Christ has for Jes and I. We are both ready to experience serving Him together in whatever are or field His will has destined for us. On 

Was good?…I can’t remember when was my last post but regardless, I am here. Numerous events have occurred/ing which have kept me busy. First, I proposed to my beautiful girlfriend and “she said yes.” Next, my beautiful grand mother flewed in from Guatemala. I had not seen her in over a year and she’s here for the holidays. The cool thing about her arrival was that she got to see her first great grand child. Which leads my to my next event,  my youngest brother’s wife gave birth to a beautiful child named “Maya.” Ya, she’ll be the center of attention for a while and maybe even spoiled. …but ya I hope to get back in the groove soon and post some play sets and devotionals. 

Ya I got to enjoy a nice weekend with my novia (girlfriend) and we got to celebrate our 3rd dating year anniversary @ Hendersonville and Asheville N.C and yes it was nice and affordable. But most importantly it was a great opportunity to spend some time together being that we are 4-5 hrs. apart. I must say it’s never easy to say goodbye to her, every time I see her I get caught up thinking that I will have to say goodbye sooner or later and that can easily defeat the purpose of us meeting. But any who, here is a list of things we got to do:                                                                                          

1. Visit Carl Sandburg’s house 

2. Hike around the village of Flat Rock

3. Watch the World Series and see Rays get beat by the Phillies in game 3 @ a local bar in downtown Hendersonville , where there were only two Hispanics (including myself).

4. Travel around Asheville at night, where there were musicians playing on every corner, even under the highway bridge.

5. Lastly, I got to eat at one of my favorite restaurants in Gastonia, RJ Gators, their food is amazing (specially their Chicken Chino Cubano). 

Man, I’ve been busy and will continue to be busy. But the good news is that this: weekend I’ll get to spend some time with my princesa Jessica, will attend State Radio concert with Brad (our drummer) and finally will be attending Dan & Jen’s wedding. On the other hand, work is got me busy, yes that’s the word of the day bu-sy. But once I get a hang of my new role at work I think I’ll be ok….Mean while I hope to win my next fantasy game, b/c I’m on 3 losing streak.

Earlier this morning I was reading from the book of John 20:10-17 , and came across the scene where Mary explodes in tears b/c the body of Jesus is not in the tomb and all that was left was the linen clothes he had worn. In this scene there are two angels and they are telling her that prophecy foretold of his death and resurrection, but still she kept crying. And on the other hand, Jesus shows up and is clearly talking to her but she still crying b/c she thinks this guy is the gardener who has taken His body away. Eventually, Mary turns around and realizes that this man is not the gardener but Christ himself resurrected. Then of course, the first thing anyone would like to do is go and touch the man who a couple of days ago had been horribly killed, but his response is “do not hold on to me” or as the World English Bible has it “don’t touch me”….. 

With that being said it’ll be cool to get some opinions as to why Christ denies Mary from holding/touching him.

But, other then that in the 17th verse, I love how Christ demolishes religion and articulates a welcoming statement declaring himself as the bridge/mediator to the Father clearly becoming our eternal hero. His Father is now our Father. His God is now our God. This makes it clear that we are “adopted” into his Kingdome and all thanks to His blood shed. 

History on Ephesus…..according to Christian’s Classics Ethereal Library

• The city of Ephesus, a Grecian city on the Asiatic coast almost exactly east of Athens, was a great commercial metropolis in the first century, and the capital of the Roman province which was called by the name of Asia.
• Its greatest distinction hitherto had been, not its commercial pre-eminence, but the splendid temple of Diana, which was counted one of the Seven Wonders of the world.
• It was written at a time when Paul was a prisoner. Tychicus was the messenger to whom, on the same journey, were entrusted both this (6:21) and the Epistle to Colosse (Col. 4:7).

About Tychicus……According to Russell Kelfe 

• The letter encyclical or “circular” letter, one addressed to one church, but intended to be read in all the churches in Asia. For that to happen, two things must take place. Someone reliable must see that it was delivered to each church, and that someone must be so discerning that he could not only read the letter, but answer questions and respond to inquiries about the Apostle and the issues discussed in the letter.    
• Paul describes Tychicus as “dear brother and faithful servant” in the Lord, who would tell the assigned churches everything. And was always there to do the least important things in the most dependable way.
• His real motivation for sending this particular man was that this particular man could share Paul’s heart as well as Paul’s ministry. He knew the man, and he knew the mission.

Echo groups recently spitted and we are starting to dive in the book of Ephesians. In response to this study I am hoping to post some cool/interesting information about the content of this book/letter.

I believe that by digging in deeper we can gain in our understanding of how the lives or places revealed in this book are inspiring examples for the everyday Christian walk and for the upcoming Christ followers in the Greenville area. But most importantly this research can/will contribute to boost the wonder of the Father’s love, revealed in Christ; and the never-ending significance of His sacrifice: the Cross, for both who don’t follow Christ and those who do.