Self Preservation

Why are christians SOOO worried about self preserving "the faith"!!! There has barely been a sunday service that hasn't gone by, with any of the churches I have been with, were the conversation comes up about how we as christians need to stick to our guns (so to speak) and that the world is going to get worse before it gets better (very Gnostic/Platonic thinking and not Jewish thinking). The world has always seem to get worse before it has gotten better. Think back to when Maritn Luther wrote his 95 Theses, I am sure that to some extent that Martin Luther thought that the world was getting worse. That the faith at that time was being challenged (he did a ton of the challenging), and that those who professed the true faith should stick together. 

I bring this up because I have been reading Isaiah again...I love this book (it's long though ;-). The first few chapters have nothing to do with the world and everything to do with those that claim allegiance to God. Now God does say to turn back to him and as Is 1:16-17 says, "Wash yourselves and be clean! Let me no longer see your evil deeds. Give up your wicked ways. Learn to do good. Seek justice. help the oppressed. Defend the orphan. Fight for the rights of widows." Now this can be taken literally or figuratively. Literally: obvious; figuratively: those that are below lower class, those are who we are supposed to defend and stand up for. 

Now you are asking, "what does this have to do with Self Preservation?" Preservation comes from an old french/latin word: praeservatio which means to keep. So when you add self to the word, you could read it as to keep myself, or ourself. This is SO easy to do. But Isaiah over and over again is concerned with Self Preservation and why the nations of Israel and Judah are concerned with ways other than what the kingdom of God should be truly worried about. 

You know Peter was worried that his world was going to go to crap. He was going to lose his life. To me, if someone told me that I was going to lose my life, I would concede to the fact that my world was going to go to crap. John (whom Jesus loved) was going to live a nice long life. Peter of coursed perturbed by the fact that HE was going to die spoke up, but Jesus let him know that it wasn't for him to care about. Peter's preservation was nothing in comparison to following Christ. 

So I say to you and myself...be mindful of a self preserving mindset and continue to ask yourself as I ask myself; what concerns God is not me and me alone but all he has created. The entire Cosmos that God has spoken into existence and is sustaining is my business.

And Now Your Starting Lineup...

So when I was going through OB/Peds 2 semesters ago, it was a healthy sign that parents had expectations for their children. This meant that the parents were involved in their children. So my healthy expectation of Audrey Lane is to be the first 2nd baseman for the New York Yankees. That position is perfect. She won't have to throw far and I am going to teach her how to hit like Ichiro because he slaps and runs at the ball at the same time...much like in softball. Let's go Yankees...buh buh ba ba buh

Weddings

Can i say that I officially dislike weddings a great deal!! I have been to 4 weddings in 4 weekends and I still have one more coming this Saturday...that is 5 weddings in a row. Now I love the people getting married, let us not forget that I love the people...but the event, the getting ready, the buying of the present, the "should we get babysitting or bring Audrey"; At least I am not in the weddings. I have played in 3 of the 5 weddings, which to me is way better than being in the wedding. Ok technically I am in the weddings but you get what I mean. I think more than anything I am just burnt out on weddings. I think Holly and I are going to be a bit more selective on the weddings we attend. The Bride and Groom won't remember if we were there or not anyway and we don't have the money to keep buying presents. Ok...got that off my chest. 

Am I alone on this...???

Back From The Dead!!!

That's right...I'm blogging. I'm giving you a post to satisfy your urge for my Puerto Rican Slant on things...just kidding. I figured I should blog something since I have one.

Today Jess Mac came over with the girls to go swimming in my new pool at my new home. That's right...I moved from Orange Crest to Canyon Crest...5 mins away. Holly and I live in the Canyon Creek apartments. Anyways it was just me and Audrey...holly wasn't even home. Jess didn't have to come over but she did and that meant a lot to 

me. Why you ask???

Ok so I have been Mr. Mom for the last two mont

hs. it has been such a blessing and privilege to do so. Whenever I tell guys or gals for that matter, they all say, "oh you are so lucky as a dad!!" I guess I am, I am just doing what we as parents have to do. Now what I am about to say my make some people mad but to me it is reality...being a parent is not that hard! Babies, kids, adults, the cosmos...it all has some sort of rhythm. If you find the rhythm then it becomes predictable and simplified. There is to say that bit of unpredictability but again if you are in tune with the rhythm then it is easy to sense the unpredictable and roll with the punches. What is not hard as a stay-at-home parent is the lack of Adult interaction. God created to need people and even though my little Audrey is a person, I can only repeat certain words so many times before I crack. I put on DVDs just so I can have some adult interaction; which I don't really watch...it is just for the adult sentences coming from my iMac. Especially for me (Super Extravert), I need 

people. So you see...for Jess to come over, without her good friend, my wife Holly there and just hang wit

h Mr. Mom meant a whole lot. For all of those stay at home mommies out there I can empathize and fully understand that it isn't the kids but the lack of common adult interaction that can drive you nuts...

So there is that...and some pictures of Audrey!!

Bo Diddley

To all of my Musical and Non-Musical friends (I leave it to you to distinguish) a great pioneer in Rhythm & Blues has passed away at age 79. 

If you would like to read a great article about the man go here

Here is a a great video of what kind a music he produced for us all...enjoy

Thoughts on my vacation

***Sorry but this post might be long***

I purposefully did not post about my vacation immediately for two reasons: 1. Beca

use I wanted my friends to post about it first and 2. Because I wanted to soak all that happened. All of the conversations, the laughter, the j

oy, What God was doing in my friends lives; I wanted to let it soak in. So my friends here is my trip to Santa Cruz and Salinas.

The trip started with one questions, What was Audrey going to be like tr

aveling? Answer: AMAZING!!! She was a champ. She kept a better schedule in the car than she does at home. What a blessing for me and my sanity.

Our first part of the

 leg was to see Trav and Annette in Santa "hippie" Cruz. As soon as we got there we went to the beach and Trav and I played some wicked games of Volleyball. Loved it. I sucked but I still had some good times. Met some of Trav's friends and just had a great time getting sand in places where I don't want sand. Annette said in a 

post about us going up to visit that it just

 felt normal to be with them, like tim

e has not passed. Like we can just pick up where we left off...i whole heartedly agree. I also got to have some coffee with the Travrista. He taught me how to order St. Arbucks like a man. Good coffee and great conversation we

re had by all. I love the Osborne family soooo much. I feel like we have some much more in common now that we don't have the Overflow as a common denominator. Trying to figure out what God has for us both, the Rodrigos and Osbornes, has brought us closer than I could have imagined. 

And yes Davey loved Audrey and Trav and I are working out the bride price for Audrey's heart. If I can get that out of the way before she reaches 6th grade, my life will be complete. Oh and I KILLED Annette at speed. It was great. The kids were all chanting my name and singing my praises as if taunting Annette. Awesome! It is always sad to leave family. But if all goes well,

 Annette and Trav, puerto rico is in sight!!!

The next leg 

of the trip was to visit more family: The Risingers. I miss my little bro Micah and the people who are like a mom and dad to me, Bill and Patti. It did my heart so much to see where Patti is being an effective Christ follower at Starbucks and to see how Micah has grown both literally and figuratively. Seriously Micah got taller. And then to see Bill's heart for Salina

s...ah...he has so much joy in the fact that God has him right where He wants him, both in the study of the scriptures and turning that into the hands and feet of God. They are another part of the family that you can just pick right up were you leave off. More coffee and more great

 conversations. 

Between Trav and Bill, I got my fill of theological conversation for at least the next 3 months. It was rejuvenating. 

On the way home I got pulled over by the CHP in the grapevine. However, because the Lord, Jesus Christ has blessed me with the gift of NEVER getting a ticket, I did not get a ticket and Holly got to witness that gift first hand. I wasn't even going fast, just the speed of traffic. I just happened to be the last car in the speed of traffic. 

It was sad to leave but we know we will be back to see or family. 

Thy Kingdom Come

So I was surfing the web, hanging out with my iMac, catching up since I have been gone visiting with family (more on that to come) and I came across an article in the google news portion of my igoogle page which then led me to Space.com. I have never been to space.com but I will go back. As I was looking at new pictures from the Hubble Telescope, space.com had a gallery that was dedicated to "When Galaxies Collide". I didn't know that galaxies had collisions, let alone with each other. But they do. 

Then I thought, as I was looking at the magnificence of God though the colliding galaxy pictures, what kind of beauty can we create when we collide heaven with earth. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven...what beauty, what spectacular wonder can we create when we allow the holy spirit to use us to bring heaven to earth. The Power of God meets The Faith & Work of His People. What kind of explosions will that look like if that happened on a daily basis?

P.S.

It is also mine and Holly's 3 year anniversary. I love the mystery of our future within our relationship. if you were to ask us what 3 years of marriage would look like for us it would be completely different than what it is now...I wouldn't change now for anything. I love you Holly Beth Rodrigo. My gift to you is me getting picked for jury duty!!!

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Day 2

That's right, im on day two of jury duty. Now one might ask how on gets 2 days of jury duty. The answer is that you have to be picked on a jury. I FREAKN GOT PICKED!! It wouldn't have been that bad but Holly and I are going on Vaca to see Trav and Annette this Friday, guess how long the trial is going to last...till this friday. This is a picture of me waiting in the Jurors Lounge during lunch. I will say this, it is interesting and under different circumstances I would be down to do this thing! Grrr...

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Suck...

This is what I look like when I have been selected to see whether I will be selected to a jury. Yes that's right, I have jury duty. Luckily I have brought 3 books to read. Grrrrr...

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