Personal Blog

Lila Cervantes' CD Now Available!

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:42 GMT

Back on September 7th, I blogged about an up-and-coming Christian artist, Lila Cervantes. [link] The Cervantes family recently moved to the area, and I met them when they came to the Barstow SDA Church. In between visiting other Adventist churches around southern California and flying back to Nashville to finish recording the last few songs for her debut album, Lila sang special music for the Barstow church. I have had the pleasure of talking with her about her passion for singing, her love for the Lord, and her life experiences.

I have been a fan of her music since the first day I met her and listened to some of her songs on Rhapsody.com. My personal favorite song is No Name Like the Name of Jesus, but I Can See and Song of Solomon are also amazing. This is the type of music I absolutely love. The lyrics remind me of the Maranantha songs of my childhood while the musical compositions are grand and powerful like those in the film Prince of Egypt. It is a perfect combination, and I get chills whenever I listen. Hearing her sing live is even more amazing because Lila is a very animated performer.

So it is my pleasure to announce that Lila Cervantes&os; debut CD is now available! To hear clips of the songs and to purchase your own copy, visit her website: www.LilaCervantes.com.

Watch Out For That Ice!

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:37 GMT

So... it is not wise to leave a sprinkler system on its usual cycle when temperatures drop below 30 degrees. Half an hour ago, I left for work and made it only a few feet out the front door. Unknown to me, the steps out our front were covered in just-starting-to-melt-so-extremely-slippery ice.

And down I went!

My ankle twisted and my knee somehow smashed into the cement. (Not to mention my half-eaten Eggo waffle fell into the grass. *tear*) I sat there for about 30 seconds, my leg all twisted in front of me, and then carefully picked myself up and went back inside to warn everyone else about the slippery steps. After sitting down and taking off my high heel boots, I decided that while my ankle and knee were not hurting that bad, I should probably take the day off to baby it. There is nothing worse to a hurt ankle then spending the rest of the day walking on it.

I am glad I stayed home. It has been only forty or so minutes since the incident, and my ankle is swelling some. Heh.

Since we live on a military base, we have no control over the sprinkler system. That is run by the Housing Department. Let&os;s hope no one else in the neighborhood goes out their front doors this morning to experience a lovely slip-and-slide on their cement walkways and steps.

Reflecting on Ft. Hood Tragedy

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:13 GMT

This afternoon a tragedy occurred at Ft. Hood, Texas, where a gunman (possibly three) opened fire at the Readiness Center, killing 11 and injuring 31 soldiers. [Fox News Report] Please keep the families and friends of the victims in your thoughts and prayers.

As someone who lives and works on a US military base, this incident really hit close to home for me. What makes this even scarier is that the culprits were all US Army soldiers... They were not "outsides" who exploited a weakness in security but "insiders", sort of speak. People who had legal access and right to be on the fort and at that Readiness Center. No one would question an Army officer going into the Readiness Center in uniform and with appropriate identification.

Then I was wondering: What would make a person who has dedicated their life to serving their country decide to mercilessly massacre their fellow servicemen and women? What drives anyone to steal the life of another person?

Life is a precious gift, and every single life is precious. Once the breath of life is gone, the body is nothing more than decaying flesh.

Hm... I got sidetracked. Must write in my NaNoWriMo novel now...

Wonderful Sabbath

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:19 GMT

Last Sabbath was a wonderful day full of blessings. We welcomed the Sabbath Friday evening with Vespers. Our Vespers is a small group discussion over the Adult Sabbath School lesson, which is great because most of us who come cannot attend SS on Sabbath mornings. (For example, I teach the Youth SS class.) The lesson was on the ways the Lord protected and guided the Tribes of Israel during the 40 years they wandered in the wilderness. Powerful study. We truly have the most amazing, magnificent, indescribable, awesome Lord God!

The Barstow SDA Church [link] had 5 baptisms and a child dedication Sabbath morning!

A older couple who have been receiving Bible studies from the pastor were among those baptized. The wife&os;s health has been deteriorating quickly over the last few months, but she felt well enough to be baptized alongside her husband. They are still struggling with smoking habits, but we all have things to work on in order to bring our lives in closer harmony with our Lord&os;s will.

The other three baptismal candidates were a single mother and two of her three children. (The youngest was dedicated.) She discovered the Sabbath truth on her own while studying the Bible and came to our church looking for more answers to her questions. She and her two oldest completed a Bible study series that my mom gave to them. They are such a great family! Ebony writes beautiful poetry, and my sister turned one of her poems, "Simple Yes or No", into a song that she sang for Ebony and her kids&os; baptisms! It was beautiful.

Hopefully, I will have the video posted on the church website this afternoon when I get off work.

After the service was our weekly potluck. Then the choir held its first practice for the holiday season, but I skipped out to host the first session of Kids&os; Amazing Adventure (by Amazing Facts). That was fun. I re-arranged the youth room so the comfy chairs were lined up like a super-long couch. The five kids joined me on the "couch". We had some older viewers join us, too. We had four companion lessons so I gave one per family. (Fortunately, we had four families! We may need to order some more.) The kids enjoyed themselves and asked when they can see the next one, and I told them next Sabbath afternoon. So I know what I will be doing for the next nine Sabbaths about 1:15pm.

After relaxing for a time at home, we went back to the church for the fourth episode of "In the Footsteps of Paul" at 7pm. A great way to end the Sabbath.

To Do List

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:32 GMT

There is so much I need to do, but so little time! *head desk*

Spiritual Needs

Bible Studies:
- Outline Youth Sabbath School (SS) lesson for Sabbath
- Review Adult SS lesson for Vespers
- As SS Superintendent for this Sabbath, I need to find a mission story, Scripture verse, and opening hymn and get all of that information to the church secretary tomorrow for the bulletins (I almost forgot about this!)
- Plan for Amazing Adventures kids Bible study program for a young family at church starting this Sabbath afternoon and every Sabbath thereafter
- Attend In the Footsteps of Paul sessions every Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday evenings

Barstow SDA Church&os;s website:
- Start conceptualizing the new design
- Draft a letter to leaders of various church ministries about the church website and getting a "blurp" about the ministries up
- Finish the "About" and "History" pages

Church Duties:
- Organize Youth Department and start planning activities
- Prepare for Investment Secretary duties and plan a goal for 2010

Other:
- Finish the three half-written drafts for posts to In Focus (blog)
- Review the need for Real Time Believers

Writing

Continuing preparing for NaNoWriMo

Go to the High Desert area (California) NaNoWriMo kick-off Write-In on Nov. 1st [details]

November: write 2000 words a day (except 5 free "no writing" days)

Personal

Finish coding my personal site&os;s new design

Start the beach painting for my friend, Ebony

Continue looking into universities offering degree in History

Read more on early Church History

I&os;m certain there are other things I have forgotten to mention. I need to go back to using a day-planner just to keep everything straight and organized! Anyway, now that I see my To Do List written out, I feel exhausted and am going to sleep.

Until the morrow, my friends! Good night!

Investigating Investment Secretary

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:42 GMT

First off, as I mentioned in jacquelynfisher, I went to the base library directly after work today and spent an hour and a half doing a bit of research for my NaNoWriMo novel. Only 9 more days until the kind-of-sort-of-okay-probably-totally-insane writing challenge! (That is a very clever reference to the NaNoWriMo 2009 Trailer video.)

After arriving home and grabbing some dinner, I found myself browsing through a magazine, Dynamic Steward. It was very interesting, and I decided to visit the magazine&os;s website, www.AdventistStewardship.com. From there I discovered that this coming Sabbath, October 24, is designated Creation Sabbath as "a way of acknowledging God as our Creator and the implications that this biblical teaching has for us" [and] "to create a worldwide sense of unity in promoting this belief in a positive light." That would have been nice to know more than two days in advance, but I bookmarked both sites for future reference.

Then, since I was already online doing church-related things, I figured there was no better time than to investigate what "Investment Secretary" (one of my new positions at the Barstow SDA Church) actually is. After hunting around, I finally stumbled upon a fantastic explanation and some inspirational resources at the Sabbath School & Personal Ministries website. I have printed all of the "Cool Tools" off and have dedicated a 3-ring binder to Investment Secretary stuff. I still have a long way to go before I have this ministry up and running, but at least I am now starting down the right path. (Now I know what I&os;m doing!)

With that in mind, I also should dedicate a 3-ring binder specifically to Youth Department information. Despite the plethora of Adventist Youth sites that are now available online (the church has finally caught on in the last two years that the younger generations are Internet-aholics, like myself), there seem to still be a dearth of Adventist Youth Leadership websites resources. I need to network with other Youth Leaders, discover what activities other youth groups are doing, and find some guidance. I wanted to have a youth get-together this month, but October was such a bad month all of us sick the first two weeks.

Yes, every last one of the youth in my Sabbath School class (as well as myself) were sick. Probably with the same thing, which may or may not have been the seasonal flu or even mild cases of H1N1. None of us went to the hospital, so we cannot say for sure. Still... exciting times! That kind of put a damper on my plans for October. However, there WILL be a youth get-together in November. I&os;m thinking along the lines of pizza, an ice-breaker or two, popcorn, and a movie.

Getting back on track here... I have yet to really discover a great online resource for Youth Leaders, especially brand new Youth Leaders like myself. At the very least, I need to get more information from my youth, like their birthdays and graduation dates so I can get them gifts.

Un dimanche paresseux

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:36 GMT

Aujourd&os;hui est un dimanche paresseux.

Je dois remplir le nouveau design pour mon site web. Le page d&os;accueil est presque remplir, mais les autres pages ne sont pas prêts. J&os;adore ce nouveau design. C&os;est élégant et simple. Cliquez ici pour un aperçu.

Aussi j&os;ai un idée pour un cadeau pour une amie, Ebony. Un peinture d&os;elle et ses trois enfants à la plage. Elle sera baptisée prochain sabbat avec deux de ses enfant. L&os;autre sera dédié. Je suis content!

Et pourquoi suis-je écit cela en français? Parce que j&os;ai besoin de pratiquer. Je l&os;ai lu et il se traduisent bien, mais mes compétences pour écrire et parler sont... mauvais. >.<

Translation:

Today is a lazy Sunday.

I need to finish the new design for my website. The homepage is almost done, but the other pages are not ready. I like this new design. It is elegant and simple. Click here for a preview.

Also I have an idea for a gift for my friend, Ebony. A painting of her and three kids at the beach. Ebony will be baptized next Sabbath with two of her children. The other will be dedicated. I am happy!

And why am I writing this in French? Because I need the practice. I read and translate it very well, but my writing and speaking skills are... bad.

Sore throat means I can't sing. Bummer!

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:49 GMT

I&os;m enjoying a quiet Sabbath afternoon by listening to the CD, Saving Grace, by new newly debuted group, A&os;Men Quartet. I love music, and meaningful music I love even more. There is nothing like relaxing on a peaceful Sabbath while listening to the harmonious blending of voices singing classics like "My Lord and I", "Picture of Grace", "I&os;ll Fly Away", and others.

Though I feel much better compared to the last two weeks, I can barely talk today. My voice is very hoarse, which was not fun this morning as I could not sing any of the songs during Sabbath School preliminaries or the worship service. I am bummed. For me, singing is an important part of worshiping my Lord, so not being able to sing is... It is like a vital element is missing.

Anyway, I hope my voice is back to normal soon. My sister and I will be attending Southeastern California Conference&os;s Young Adults Retreat next weekend up at Pine Springs Ranch. It will be nice to meet other Adventists my own age.

The Seventh-day Adventist General Conference has a brand new channel on YouTube called Adventists About Life and featuring President Jan Paulsen in short video clips. In addition to being Bible based, one of the things I love about the Adventist Church is how the church on all levels has embraced technology and the Internet.

Oh, and I also want to mention that I will be posting a lot more in my writing journal, jacquelynfisher, as we approach November and NaNoWriMo. I just need to find the energy to make an outline for this year&os;s novel and do a little bit of character development for the new characters. That is... if I don&os;t change ideas, which I might. I don&os;t know. Oh, well.

Quote: Satisfied

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:10 GMT

Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It’s not a day when you lounge around doing nothing. It’s when you’ve had everything to do, and you’ve done it.
~ Margaret Thatcher

So true!

Religious Tolerance vs Religious Freedom

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:18 GMT

Feeling under the weather has brought on very bizarre dreams and some intriguing questions, but I will only bore you with the most pressing question on my mind.

I have many friends on LJ who are various religions or no religion, and, therefore, I feel comfortable sharing this with you all and getting your thoughts.

Is there a difference between "Religious Tolerance" and "Religious Freedom"?