Yearbook, CHEFA

This year I joined the CHEFA yearbook team. We met once a month to hash out the details of the yearbook. We gathered pictures at every event, and made then brought them to class to pool our resources. At some of the meetings we just discussed what we wanted the yearbook to be. Other times we would sit down, and get to designing. We ended the year with a pizza party. In the start of the new school year we will give out the yearbooks people ordered and have a yearbook signing party. It's called the CHEFA kick off!
Billy :D

Shakespeare In The Park

I was invited to go watch Shakespeare in the park with a bunch of my church friends. We met about an hour before it was supposed to start, and had a potluck dinner thing. I arrived a little late so about when I got there we started packing up to go to the play's location. I hurriedly ate, and grabbed stuff to carry. We arrived at the site of the play about 20 minutes early, and found a spot to set up our stuff. We then proceeded to hang out until it started. While we were chillin, we saw some CHEFA people, and talked to them for a while. The play was funny, and was well acted. We had somewhat of a difficult time hearing as they had little, or no microphones. They did manage to make themselves heard anyway. We watched "The Merchant of Venice."

Billy :D

Modesto Convention

  This summer my dad, mom, and I went to the Modesto convention. Ricky would have gone, but he was up at camp Chawanakee with his boy scout troop. We drove there, listened to several talks, bought some books and went home. The second day we did the same thing.
   The talks this year were pretty good. My parents liked so many that they bought the entire recorded conference on mp3. This included talks from Voddie Bachum who is a well known conservative, home-school preacher.
   We bought some books written by Voddie Bachum, and some by Todd Wilson. Other than this we bought books on science, and government.
Billy :D

Dakota House

   This summer I volunteered at the Dakota House. This is a safe house run by a lady in Bembe named Jaime Barker. Dakota House is an inner city mission. It is an outreach to less than fortunate children. These kids come twice a week to play games, and have fun, but the main focus is to teach them about Jesus. They get taught about what he did, and why they should care. Also at the end of every meeting they have a prayer time. Where they go around a circle, and everyone who is comfortable doing so prays.
   In addition to the normal meetings they had several extra activities they did. Which the kids who got in trouble the least were picked to go on. Such as going to wild water, & a movie day at at one of Jaime's friends house. They also had a camping trip in August.
Billy :D

psca choir concert

Last month we had the PSCA spring concert. It was so fun.  I had a good time singing, but also being with my friends. After cookies, punch and returning uniforms etc...we went to Starbucks which is a choir tradition.

                                                                                                                  Ricky Vincent

Chefa Conference

  This year we went to the Chefa conference. Which in this case was more of a used book sale. The Chefa conference in years past has been much bigger, and I was somewhat surprised at this years diminutive nature. There were a few classes, but not many. Most of the time I stood outside, and hung out with my peeps. However my Mom did have a part in talking this year, so that was cool.
Billy :D

Shrek 4

 Since the beginnings of Shrek our grandparents have taken us to "the new Shrek movie" for our birthdays. We also go to pizza after the movie. This years movie centered on a twist of Rumpelstiltskin. I enjoyed the movie, and thought it was a clever way to twist the classic storyline. After the movie we went to pizza (cuz that's what you do after a movie) and then headed home.
Billy :D

Dam Diner & Lost lake

We have been trying to taste the food at the Dam Diner for years. This summer we finally managed to get to it for breakfast. We really enjoyed the food. After we finished eating we drove to Lost Lake. We rafted up, and down the lake (which is more of a small river) for the afternoon. At one point we ended up stuck and two drunk guys (who were really excited about life) helped us. Then we had a picnic dinner before heading home.
Billy :D

Movie & Game Nights

  The last few years we've been having movie nights once a month. Last year they ended up being a mix of games as well. I invited a bunch of people over, and we watch movies like hoodwinked, and then turn around next time and watch the Last Samurai! So we really don't have much of a genre. Oh yeah we also had everyone bring something for a potluck dinner.
Billy :D

Graduation Parties

  After the grad ceremony there were numerous grad parties I attended. In fact there were so many invitations that I had to choose between many parties. I did this by simply choosing the invitations that came in first. I enjoyed these parties a lot because they were just a gathering of friends there to celebrate the graduation of this person.
Billy :D

Chefa Graduation

  This years Chefa graduation was epic. I knew almost the entire class, and a lot of them were close friends. We went to the grad ceremony, and watched them all get told how wonderful they were by crying parents. It was a good night in that a bunch of friends are moving on in their lives, that they are commencing a new chapter. The sad part follows in the same wording!
Billy :D

TS3 & Jamba

  I am going back once again to the month of June. We went to see Toy Story 3 & had a jamba before we went in the theater. TS3 was a good adaptation to the first two movies. It had a deeper plot giving it a somewhat depressing feel. The movie was well done, and it followed the other two quite nicely.
Billy :D

Wgtb Camp

This summer I reinstated my career of teaching at we got the beat camp. I have been doing this for about 9 years, but I took a break last year. I came thinking I was only going to help teach, but Brenda (the camp director/my teacher) had other ideas. I ended up playing in three songs, and helping people all over the place! So it turned out to be a lot of fun =D

Billy :D

Scuba Diving

   It been a while since I've gotten on to post, so I'll be going back to the month of June. About mid-June I went Scuba diving. This time right off of Monterey. We could see the aquarium from where we anchored the boat. When I got to Monterey my Dad, and I just hung out, and ate lunch while we waited. When we started to see other divers we found Ed, (who is the owner of the dive shop I learned from) and asked him about the dive, and who he suggested I should dive with. He answered our question, and then set me up with an experienced diver.
We went diving twice, each time seeing a multitude of wildlife.
Billy :D

"Mommy rhapsody" by Church on the Move

Dad Life (Father's Day Opening 2010)

Praise and Worship - Part 2

  This is the second part of my series on praise and worship. In this article we will look at the roots of the word worship, and what worship truly is.

Worship

   Some Christians look at worship as a slow song or hymn that you sing in church. They portray it as a more methodical way of praising God. I believe worship is much more then that. Here are some Hebrew roots for the word worship that show why worship is much more important then just a slow song.

Shachah - To prostrate, reflex in homage to royalty or God, to bow down yourself, humbly beseech.

Cagad - To prostrate oneself in homage, or fall down.


   These two words have almost identical meanings. They both mean to become prostrate before God in reverence & awe. Notice that neither have any mention of music or praise. Merely to prostrate oneself is considered worship.
     The word Shachah  meaning to humbly beseech. You cannot lie to God about humility. Worship is internal! Worship is a state of heart not a slow rhythm that is "worshipful". We need to rise above the outward signs of worship and look inward. If your worship isn't true worship then you will never truly praise God. Praise is the outward manifestation of Worship.
     Look into your heart & look at what you truly worship. Do you meditate on God? Or does your mind wander to more trivial things?

Billy :D

To be continued.....
     

Praise & Worship part 1

   There are many ways in which praise and worship have been portrayed. Some Christians choose to say that worship is only useful for getting you in the proper state of mind. So that you can learn about God. Others claim that worship is the ultimate goal and that learning isn't nearly as useful as praise. I differ from both of these points, and I will show the flaws I see in each argument.

 Praise

    Praise is often associated with fast music and a more modern approach to worship. While this can be included in praise. Praise is not limited to it. Praise is simply the act of glorifying God's name and proclaiming his virtues. Some Hebrew words for praise are....
Halal - To Shine, boast over God, or celebrate foolishly. An abandonment of self , a boasting in the Lord,  
             and being in love with the Lord.
Tehillah - To sing Halal, a hymn, a song of spontaneous praise, glorifying God in song. This is the kind of     
                 praise God inhabits.
Shebach - To address in a loud voice, tone, or shout. To command, triumph, or glory; to shout    
                  proclaiming with a loud voice
Zamar - To touch the strings, to play with instruments.


    These are some of the most common forms of the word praise in Hebrew. Lets look at each definition one by one to see if we can come up with a working definition for praise . In the word Halal (Which is the root for hallelujah by the way) it uses praise as an act of boasting in God and being selfless. It also includes the love of our God and the reflection of his righteousness as a part of praise. Tehillah  states praise as a song that is a medium between God and Man. We no longer need this medium because Jesus has given us direct connection with God through prayer, but it still exists and is still a powerful way of coming in direct contact with our heavenly father. Shebach is a very interesting representation of praise. It includes speaking as praise. This opens up endless possibilities & puts a gravity on our words that would not be there without this avenue. It gives insight into the true job of a pastor. Their job isn't first to teach their flock. Their first job is to praise God, and the benefits of that include teaching a flock! Lastly Zamar tells us that music is an important part of praise as well.
    So If we look at these definitions and meld them together. We find that Praise in it's truest sense is an outward manifestation of the love and grace of Christ. Which permeates the entire being of a elect child of God. Which is displayed through song, teaching, evangelizing, and our every day speech.
Billy :D

To be continued.....

Magic Mountain

 I went with BEST to Magic Mountain for our 8th grade trip. The drive there and back was fun and we ate lots of snacks. A family with a full size van was driving a lot of us so that made it basically a party.  We went on all the good rides at Magic Mountain. Yep it was fun, we had a good time.

My church is going to Magic Mountain for 8th grade as well, but I can't go because it's on the same day as my family party for 8th grade.

DaVe

Fresno art hop - Fresno old architecture - Chicken pot pie shop

  For my art/photography credit we have done several things including going to art museums and going on photo shoots etc... One of these shoots included going to the Fulton mall to take shots of the different sculptures and art pieces stationed throughout the mall. We also drove around downtown and I took pics of historical buildings. We stopped for dinner at the chicken pot pie shop. Which lives up to it's name by serving amazing chicken pot pies.
Billy :D