Footsteps: Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

Each and every time that we go out for another homeless ministry, it's always different.

Different people join me...
we see different faces... different stories...

there's never a dull moment...
and it's seriously always an adventure.

this week, I was joined by my friends from CHURCH Amanda, Jared, Amanda, and Dustin

We hit Hemming Plaza as the sun was setting equipped with:

Socks,

Bibles,

Bottled Water,

Bus Passes,

Brown baggies containing index cards with scripture/words of encouragement and, you guessed it, PEANUT BUTTER & JELLY SANDWICHES!

as we all assembled, I briefed them on how the people are...

.. to engage with them.. pray for them..

and how many homeless people know the scriptures in and out.

as we were divvying up the items a man walked pass us.

he noticed the items and made a remark like.. "that's good right there!"

I asked, "would you like a bible?"

he stopped in his tracks and came back our way..

"Would you like prayer for anything?" I asked

his response was something to the effect of 'I could always use prayer'

"What's your name?"

"Luther"

Luther began to tell us how he was in jail for 18 years.. the day he got out.. he was arrested again.

Today he was released from jail once more.

We laid hands on him and prayed for him.

He shared how he went to church everyday in jail and expressed how 'we should always pray'

He went on his way with new socks, a new bible, bottled water and a PB&J.

IT WAS CRAZY!

God's timing is amazing.... (what would have happened if we didn't go?)

Luther came to us before we even broke into teams and distributed items.

It was very inspirational.

We then split up into teams and walked around the plaza.

It became very apparent that we were passing out water and sandwiches so people came around quickly.

We made sure to engage with the people instead of treating them like charity cases.

Meet Rachel, a women in her mid-20's she approached us for water/PB&J..

"can I pray for you?"

"Yes, my mom passed away August 5th (or 6th)"

I prayed for her and.... issues like that are touching....

all of their stories are...

one man was too proud to accept a PB&J...

one lady spotted us from ACROSS the plaza and was eagerly waving us down as she approached.

the sandwiches weren't in ZIPLOC baggies that closed shut so she was a little skiddish when she saw an exposed sandwich in a bag...

...can't please everybody...

"can I pray for you?"

"YES, FOR A GOOD MAN IN MY LIFE!"

Meet Keshawn [pictured below]

i'm kinda heartbroken looking at this picture.....
he's been awake for 76 hours he said...
he's curious about God and salvation.. but like most homeless.. his heart is calloused...
however, he was different... you could tell he was a good person.
his view of life was more glass half full.

Dustin, Amanda, and I really poured into his life and just encouraged him as best we could....
We gave him a bible...
"What do you do when you feel discouraged?" he asked
it was just really touching... i think the spirit just spoke through us... i don't remember a lot that i said..
i do remember saying that "...David encouraged himself in the Lord" [1 Samuel 30:6]

After the 76 hours remark that he made... i asked him... "you don't go to any of the local shelters [for rest]?"

he replied, "there's a lot of drama there.. and hard drugs... I don't want to be around all that"

it was a catch 22 situation for Keshawn...
We gave him water, sandwich(es), new testament bible.... Amanda offered him socks...
he kinda flipped out in a way... (because he wasn't wearing any)
he was overwhelmed really...
he questioned why we were even out helping...
"my girlfriend doesn't even come see me... I can't go over there because gangs are fighting now... you've seen the news"

we encouraged him a lot and I had a good feeling when he left...
he warned us to leave once the sunset as 'things get a little crazy out here'

all in all the evening went well.

I'm really thankful for both Amandas, Dustin, and Jared for coming out, buying water, making over 20 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and handwriting notes of encouragement on note cards.

In my current life situation, there's this looming feeling of inadequacy that I have towards this homeless ministry. But, God shows up, through different people, time and time again.

God's love for us is IMMENSE

Romans 10:15 And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, "How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!"

This next part has NOTHING to do with the Homeless Ministry but is noteworthy

Hemming Plaza happens to be one of the stops on the monorail...
We got on (legally - .50¢) and had a mini-adventure

stranger took our pic

 Dustin and Jared run UP the DOWN escalator

Amanda(s)

we then rode to central station to board another cart

"Sleepless in Jacksonville"

waiting and waiting to board the cart to Kings Ave

Dustin checking to see if anyone is still in their cube working

cawfee tawk

Focused Voices / GlamHer Makeup *Ileana Elise* Collaboration

As said in Casablanca,
"this may be the beginning of a beautiful friendship"

This past weekend, makeup artist Ileana Elise of GlamHer Makeup, commissioned me to a project.

Ileana is going on a mission trip to Ireland, Thursday, September 1st.

Mission trips involve a number of different creative fundraisers.

Ileana, being a makeup artist, created a fundraiser where girls would come get their makeup done for a donation.

As a photographer, I was there to take pictures of the models.

The turnout was FANTASTIC!

it was great to see Ileana in action applying the makeup

the outcome was superb!

All of the jewelry was provided by Alicea Alves of SILPADA

http://mysilpada.com/alicea.alves

silverforever@comcast.net

904-894-6985

 Beautiful!

these two played well off of each other

gotta love bloopers :)

"All's well that ends well..."

If you would like to schedule a makeup session,

please contact Ileana E

407-412-8982

ileana.rdrgz@gmail.com

Time Flies

This weekend has been insane(ly awesome!)

First off the Man Conference at Celebration was EXPLOSIVE!

Security Guard, Pastor Keith Craft, Pastor Chris Brooks

I'll have to do a completely separate post for it.

I had to say goodbye to a good friend of mine: K.C. Bretey.

I met KC at JU. of all the people that I met while in college, KC WILL be most likely to succeed.
he's the most level headed, meek, and humble person I've ever met.
when I met KC it was a very dark time for him. his brother had just passed away.
all i could do was be there for him as a friend and share the love of Jesus.
KC gave his life to Christ, got baptized, started a business, and is now going to tech school in Colorado (the reason I had to say goodbye).

People like KC are very rare to encounter.
i made him that bandana as a peace out gift.

In other news, I officially made it to the http://leisuredive.com/ website!

it's crazy where life takes us..

gotta live like you're dying and make every moment count.

why worry?
what would worrying accomplish in the grand scheme of things?

life to me is like one of those big heavy blankets that you love to lay under in the cold of winter.

I EMBRACE IT!

the good...
the bad...
the happy...
the sad...

who knows what "the other side" is going to be like....

until i get there... i'll continue to stretch the boundaries of this 'mortal form'
...while keeping my eyes fixed on Christ.

[Today was great. I was on "the exchange" at my church and invited my aunt, cuz, and her friend over at the 9:30am service at celebration church. it was their first time visiting.  a buddy of mine came to celebration for the first time the 6pm service and i'm overjoyed. as i was blogging this...my buddy sent me a text saying he'll probably make celebration his church. tears filled my eyes and this beat immediately popped into my head.

Cheers!

Footsteps - 08/09/2011

This week's outreach was more different from the previous three weeks.

this one was kind of tough.

in weeks past. we'd donate clothes/food to a homeless shelter, distribute socks/underwear, prayer for the person and that would be it in a nutshell.

this week I was joined by Anthony King and his roommate Chris Kolnicky.

Chris has done some homeless outreaches before in Gainesville and Anthony really has the heart for the homeless.

Chris gave me the advice to really get to know the people.

Hemming Plaza in downtown Jacksonville is known for having homeless people about.

In weeks prior we'd distribute items in a fashion that left us finished in less than an hour.

this week however, the strategy was not to initially hit Hemming plaza but try to approach the homeless on more of a one-on-one basis versus clusters.

Anthony, Chris, and I walked around the plaza and were going to hit the next block when we saw one gentleman sitting on a bench eating chips. next to him were some bags. he was sitting on the far end of the park alone.

the spirit stopped me dead in my tracks and I knew this man was the one to talk to.

[ ironically before we spoke with him Chris mentioned how some homeless know the scriptures of the bible in and out. ]

his name: Brian, he was down in Florida after coming from up north. shelter, after shelter, after shelter.
his story: some prison time... some betrayal... family rejection... yet he still believes in God.

however, his views/judgments have become so distorted that his heart is calloused.

he sees life "glass half empty"

Anthony, Chris, and I spoke with this man for over an hour.

it took everything we knew about God and the bible to encourage this man... to the point where we eventually had to shake hands and say goodbye with a feeling of dispair for him.

He wouldn't let us pray for him, because he "didn't want to be prayed for outdoors".

His requests: shelter, job, improved health.

I asked him what his goal/dream in life would be ......


.......... his answer just rips me apart even now.

...after piercing his eyes to think about it for a second,

he said that his goal/dream in life would be

to have a euthenasia clinic to where people who feel

 that they are unproductive to society can simply come in and call it quits.

that's seriously one of the saddest things

I have ever heard in my entire life.

It's really too heartbreaking to say more about this man.
He's hanging on to hope by a thread.

by the time our conversation wrapped up, it was already past 8pm.

we intended to go to a men's bible study meeting at Sanfilippo's house at 730

we knew we'd be late and proceeded to head back to the car.

Chris brought shoes with him and I had 8 pair of socks.

Chris was on a desperate search to find someone to pass the shoes out to.

I noticed a dude who literally had one shoe on sitting with some guys at a park table.

the other foot had a dirty wet sock on it.

Chris gave him the shoes and I gave him 2 pairs of socks.

When asked why he had on only one shoe the man replied,

"they were messing with me and took my shoe"

Chris talked to him for a bit, I passed out more socks to guys around the table (it rained today so some of them had soggy socks), and Anthony got into a conversation with a man named we'll call K.

K was a recovered drug addict and lifetime diabetic.

he was filled with the word and had insight about life on the streets, how his life was turned around, and encouraged us to keep doing what we were doing.

In his words, "sometimes a simple conversation is more than you know".

HILLSONG UNITED: JACKSONVILLE

First of all... open THIS LINK IN A SEPARATE TAB/WINDOW !

my mind has officially been BLOWN!

I felt the presence of God like NEVER BEFORE!

The Hillsong United concert in Jacksonville was INTENSE!

I laughed and cried... literally.

THANK GOD FOR CARISSA EPPS!

 she purchased the tickets THE MINUTE they were available.

our seats were in the pit and I never felt so special.

I'm going through a season where i'm unemployed.
I receive my income from the government.
on paper my life sucks,
in reality it's FREAKING AWESOME!

the concert just reaffirms my faith, my hope in God, and
the peace that surpasses all understanding.

the 'climax' of the night was
when the band played with everything [ VIDEO ]
I seriously felt like I was going to collapse.

It kinda felt like I "caught the holy ghost"
... and it was amazing!

I was moved to tears...
in the flesh it felt like i wanted to start bawling
but all I could feel was joy and peace.

it was like i was laughing and crying,
with an ultimate feeling of peace at the same time.

The band was so original in how they played their music.
At one point the drummer was drumming with MARACAS and the vocalist was SINGING INTO THE GUITAR!!!! [had to have seen it!]

MAY GOD STRIKE ME DEAD IF I'M MAKING THIS NEXT PART UP...
about midway through the concert I checked out my phone after missing a call..
my screen is all touch screen and is super sensitive.

on the home screen of my phone i have a bible app.
for whatever reason, the phone was acting like i was touching the bible app, went to ephesians 5, and kept highlighting the verse - 1. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.

the phone was literally highlighting and un-highligting that verse over and over and over again.
it was THE MOST bizarre thing.

However, I don't believe in coincidences, so I resumed to enjoy the rest of the concert 'imitating God' jumping up and down until the very end! :))


I'm so happy and excited for what God is doing in my life.
Chains are being broken, my life is being healed and
God is MAKING ME WHOLE!

CAN I GET A WOOT WOOT?!

no?

Well PRAISE GOD instead! :)

Voice over work - genesis

so my voice acting career has officially begun.

on August 3rd the video media team

 at Celebration Church recorded my voice

for a promo for the

Man Conference

I'll post the vid/audio track after the conference.

Gloria Dios!