Heeeyyy Yoouuu Guuyyysss...and then a rant at the end.

We had our last day of riding at Winter Park. I actually didn’t enjoy it that much cause we had just gotten about 35 inches of fresh powder. I’m not a big powder fan. Great day none the less, but at the end two students got their boards jacked. Kind of amazing having a few hundred bucks disappear like that. I might get one more day in of riding. I have to talk to Dan today to see if i can have Friday off and go riding in Denver area with Zane. I think he’ll let me since i’m leaving this coming weekend. We’re gunna get sushi too. Mm.

Jeph, i keep forgetting to respond to you on facebook so i’m gunna tell you right now in class while i’m thinking of it. I can’t go to that Jays game. I would love a little road trip upon my arrival, and then go to see the jays but 40 bucks is too steep. I’m in a serious bit of debt. Quite the little run they are on though huh?

Well, lots of exciting news about the Lions. I won’t bore you with it all, but the draft is this weekend! We have 8 picks, so our team is going to look ridiculously different by the time our roster is set. Two are in the first round and i think like 5 are in the top 100 picks. Lots of exciting highlights already though. The Lions have a new logo/brand to represent their new beginning. They also just finished a training camp type thing where they’re really starting to work on everything. Everyone has something to prove whether player or coach since most people are new. I’d be happy with .500 this year. Even if we pick up great talent there won’t necessarily be ideal chemistry that comes with experience playing with the same people or same coaches. We’re running new schemes with a new playbook, so everyone is learning tons right now. I think we should let go of the quarterback need for this year. Use our picks on talented players rather than a decent quarterback. Somehow i feel like Culpepper having had more time in Detroit now to prepare and play in their system, and also having his old offensive co-ordinator (who he was working with when he had his best ever season in Minnesota) now in Detroit, he might be able to produce this year. Apparently he’s lost at least 20 pounds or so too, so he’s looking lean and he’s working hard to be a competitive starter. it’s his last season on contract. Just wait until next year and pick up a franchise QB or something maybe. Whatever. Then if the year is a write-off play Stanton so he can get experience. He still deserves a chance in my books. He’s young but he’s got strengths, especially learning alongside such an old veteran. Great rusher too. Chuck, i can’t wait to watch games in your ballin new basement provided i’m still home at that point. My ping pong skills have climaxed...halftime might be as intense as the actual football game. You’ve been warned.

I’m excited to come home. People here are over-reacting. I guess that goes to show they value me and don’t want me gone but i recognize it’s beyond my wanting to remain here. It’s simply time, and that’s fine. There is lots to do and be excited for back home too. I’m still jobless and rather non-directional. That hunt will start immediately i’m sure. I really hope i can find something rewarding i can get excited about and work hard at. As of now i could see myself doing my last full-time semester of school in January. That, of course being subject to course availability and job situations but i wanna wrap it up soon. Other highlights include golfing plans with Jon and maybe some others, having poker nights again, being with family and my nephew, playing beach volleyball this summer, getting into a workout routine at home, and maybe look into musical opportunities. I’m still loosely holding onto that passion. Living arrangements could yet work out into something exciting too but that’s still rather vague.

One thing that scares me is something called reality. I’ve been trying to mentally prepare for my homecoming and how that will look much different from what’s required of me here in Colorado but i’m still unsure. I don’t have an awful lot of responsibility here and the consequences are more than tolerable. I’m going to try hard to stay positive and productive but i guess we’ll see. I also know that i’m susceptible to a countless buffet of addicting distractions back home. It’s not worth worrying about too much though and i feel good about my outlook on things including the realities of home. I have goals and dreams so if i keep those in mind then i will endure the means to arrive there.




We’re studying revelations right now. I didn’t go to class last night so i don’t have an opinion about it just yet. Interesting book though huh? Some of it is really neat while other parts are straight ridiculous. Most of that book is bound by interpretation. I should read it again. I could actually see myself reading the bible still but for different reasons. I want to be informed and educated if i’m going to talk about it. I’ve read through the new testament a few times, and I’ve studied or been reasonably exposed to maybe half of the old testament books, so i’m not operating on Sunday school stories when i talk about biblical things. That doesn’t mean i couldn’t afford to be sharper on it. I’m not very good with direct passages or bits of texts. Its more about understanding patterns and the nature of God’s people as well as God, and then talking about that on a broader scale. Maybe that’s safer in a lot of ways since it’s easy to take things out of context. I’m sure there is a place for both approaches and i am sure that i am dead wrong often enough. You’re gracious people though and not everything is certain. So a little opinion here and there never hurts.

I’ve said this before but it came up again in family group yesterday. The question asked was, “what’s one thing you have learned from God this year”. One of those things for me is just how severely my actions affect the people around me. I used to influence and inspire people in different ways during my involvement in the church. All the while that i was being reminded and encouraged of this though i was often depressed and exhausted. I struggled with many of the same things i do now but i simply “struggle” far less anymore. I don’t fear my choices and how they affect me, but it hurts me when it negatively affects people i love. You will never ever please everyone and at the point where you are pleasing the most people possible you will probably be miserable. So gauging how you are doing based on how happy people are isn’t always sound. If you aren’t happy you will be less effective in all that you do. I don’t regret anything so far. In fact, i don’t really see the value at all in regret. I may yet do some dumb things but as long as it makes sense and means a lot to me at the point i commit to it then why would i regret that? Looking back i may think to myself that i would never do that again knowing what i do now, but it’s already over...it is the past and it is unchangeable. It’s so simple but not enough people live by the fact that regret or fear or worry or lingering in dark places we’ve passed doesn’t accomplish a thing. The only good that can come of marginal choices or situations is learning how to respond to those things or help others in the future. So don’t stay there! If something bothers you that happened which could have went down different just think of where you were and what you were thinking when it happened. There was a bit of reasoning i’m sure when you decided to do what you did, so don’t stay in that place. Move and react to life in a way that represents your current true self, don’t dwell on what you once did out of a desire you once had. If i have negatively affected my relationship with any of you i am sorry. I realize it’s not likely since we don’t interact, but it could very well happen when i come home. I love you people, especially my family and close friends, and i would never intentionally jeopardize what we’ve got but I’ve seen instances around here of deteriorating relationships due to my ways. I’m not overly worried though. If something goes down we’ll work it out.


This is where it gets more dicey.

We had a discussion in class the other day on evangelism. Not surprisingly i got pretty wound up. Actually i ended up apologizing at the end of it explaining that i understood and agreed in part with nearly everyone’s comments, but my nature just loves to get people excited and thoughtful on challenging topics. As you would expect i’m going to share those thoughts. I started by asking Zane, who was teaching, how he would sum up our primary purpose that we serve here on earth based on the examples we observe through Jesus Christ and his Apostles throughout the new testament. Part of it is to simply learn about and know God and then to honour Him through our lives. coupled with that though, i think evangelising shares the same importance of our purpose if we’re living for God. The servants of Christ did a lot of teaching which is clearly shown through the letters that they write to the various churches but it wasn’t always about feeding the body of Christ. We are warned about absorbing all the time, like helpless children on milk who cannot contribute much of anything. God calls us to grow and function on whole foods so that we can nurture others into a saving knowledge of Christ. Getting lost and consumed with problems we have or things we struggle with can be easy. You can distort your focus on any number of things. I guess we could give credit to how cunning and subtle Satan is. As long as we keep the light on ourselves and whatever is going on, we are very ineffective toward furthering God’s kingdom. It’s not enough to just serve within the body of Christ. You hear it in churches that we need to get out of the church and reach our communities, which is great. Some do a better job than others when acting out on that. My point being that we’re not only to study and replicate Jesus’ character, we are to fully embrace beyond all reasoning the CAUSE of Christ. He came to save the lost. He spent time with thousands of people – some good, some not so good but he always presented them with the truth. He gave them an informed choice to make. He was relational but he was also unapologetic about the message he carried, which is the same message we carry. I wonder this...can you be a Christian with eternal security, and a right standing with God, if you are not spreading the gospel? I don’t think that “not swearing at work” is enough to say that you’re reaching the lost. I don’t think that listening to someone’s problem is spreading the gospel. Sure, acting different, loving on people and being available for their basic needs is part of ministering to them but without giving them the truth, they’re still going to hell!! You’ve simply been a nice person. It gets more complicated than that if we talk about planting seeds and not being over-bearing on people, it’s true, but the positive reaction or immediate salvation as a result of our news should not dictate whether or not it’s required of His servants to share that news! It’s controversial because every single one of us knows it’s terribly uncomfortable and difficult. We’d rather save face than save someone. Being blunt at the cost of how we’re viewed weighs heavily on the average person so we come up with any number of excuses or compromises of why this idea is arguable. “Well, i just don’t think that God gifted me with evangelism so i’m not sure that’s where i’m called to serve”, or “i don’t think it’s very effective when you force the message on people or offend them by sharing your own personal faith”. Jesus was ultimately murdered because of how honest and aggressive he was with His message. His disciples and the people who followed him were constantly scorned and persecuted, even sent to jail or killed because of it. Offending people is part of the package so quit hiding behind that. If the gospel has altered your life in any way, it should be important above all else. If you are passionate about who He is or what He’s done, you have a responsibility!! This is cliché but it says it very well: if you had the cure for cancer and knew you could save and drastically change the state of someone’s life, wouldn’t you tell them? Wouldn’t you help them!? Any person with a soul would probably give an enthusiastic “of course!” So if you think God can change lives and save them from a gnarly existence forever in fire, wouldn’t you get uncomfortable for that?!?! Maybe the conviction just isn’t severe enough. Maybe you’re not sure He’s got that cure, otherwise why wouldn’t you? I wonder, if we asked every individual in your church, or every student in my bible school class, or every kid in a youth group how many people they’ve lead to salvation...how do you think that would look? I bet it would be embarrassingly depressing. I know that the average Christian couldn’t even count one conversion. Yea, sure it’s not all about numbers but at some point it’s got to play a role in this. Instead of talking about how many people your church has, or how many people you’ve saved, what if we talked about the number of people going to hell that could have at least been presented with an informed choice, if only you had stepped up? This stuff is too important not to think of numbers in some sort of light. It was interesting to see the reactions in class as we worked through this topic. Some people were sort of silent and humbled while others got very defensive, maybe threatened by the challenge. Again, i’m going to say what i did in class once it sort of simmered down. I think that your life is the best tool you have to reach the lost. You are being watched, so your example is a significant voice in how people see Christians and you as an individual. Actions speak louder than words right? So i’m not trying to deny any of this, i’m just challenging the idea and saying that it’s not enough to avoid the responsibility and commission that we’ve been given. The way is narrow. The people who are holy and called God’s children i know are fewer than those who simply believe He exists. There HAS to be a real cost involved. Think about it. Otherwise you’re fooling yourself.



Love you.
See You So Soon.

Jimanez (Him-a-nezz).