Day 243: No Far Away

Okay, so here's what went down:
My morning should have started at 5:55 because of my alarm. However, because of my lazy self, I ended up getting out of bed at 6:25; a little later than desired, BUT I got up, and that's what matters. I went to chapel rehearsal, which went great; I got to try out camera 3 this time. The things about camera 3 is that you are responsible for following the main speaker or MC, so naturally that brings up some pressure. The guys said I did a reasonable job, even during the actual chapel (which followed an awesome Personal Evangelism class). After chapel, there was the usual hour break before our musicianship/songwriting workshop; this time around, there was a bit more pressure. Instead of one song and usage of charts and lyric sheets, we had to learn 2 songs and perform them without the charts. While I believe the band did a great job at figuring the songs out, a combination of bad time managing, confusion over the charts, and lack of organization resulted in what could have been improved. Overall, the workshop was great; I can't wait for next week's. The rest of my day didn't involve much; but I do want to get these assessments done early so I can relax over the weekend. If last semester taught me anything in terms of common sense, it's that taking care of the assessments early on can really help reduce stress levels; I've noticed people working furiously at 11:30 in the evening trying to finish/upload assessments due in half an hour, and that's not where I want to end up. It's good to be ready ahead of time, and I hope I can stay committed to my plan.

God bless,
Steven

P.S. the title of today's blog is in tribute to Chris August, whom I have recently become a fan of. This guy's music is so inspiring; I can't stop listening to his music online!! I think you should check him out sometime.

Day 242: The Blue Screen of Death

In the technology world, there is a term for a really bad situation called "the blue screen of death". This usually happens when there is a serious error in your computer, and for the sake of protecting the files inside, it undertakes the blue screen; this blue screen basically means that the computer can no longer function and that you need to get a new one. Although that doesn't necessarily happen to other devices like iPods or phones or video games, that situation can still be very real. Throughout my day I dealt with my own "blue screen of death". The name on the screen when it happened? Telstra. Literally. I don't know exactly why it happens, but my phone "feels the need" to restart itself on a regular basis; sometimes in the middle of writing a text message or even when simply checking the time. sometimes not even that. Regardless of that drama, my day was awesome. My standard Monday is a full day (in a way) from 10:15 to 5:15. I love the classes I have today; it's all tutorials, but they're all such good times to share with my classmates. I get to study the New Testament, talk songwriting and musicianship, and discuss Christian doctrine, personal evangelism, AND teamwork all in the same day. After that, 223 hosted an "assessment workshop", and 5 people were working on assessments here; quite the interesting situation to be in. It's nice to have good friends over, even if we don't necessarily get much accomplished together. I've also been thinking of home a lot lately; I hear things back in the States aren't going so well. Hopefully, my family won't be seriously affected by that.

God bless,
Steven

Day 241: Peace

One thing I've been trying to find is peace. I realize that's one hard thing to find. Today, if anything, made me feel more at peace than I had the past week. Sunday morning was powerful....(this is Joshua, one of Stevens flatmates. I love this guy, he's a legend. Like for real, what a guy. I'm really glad i live with him and i think you should send him Oatmeal Creme Pies as a gift.... of which he'll give to me because he is such a generous guy. Cheers) So moving on, choir was great, and Robert Fergusson gave an amazing word on Ephesians and standing firm. After that, my day was made up of relaxing, working on assessments, playing a game, and going to Sunday Night Live. Donna Crouch's presentation was amazing; it was mind blowing, the kind of testimonies that were given. It was a good day; no worries, no problems.

God bless,
Steven

Day 240: The Progress of Video Making

I look back at today, and I realize I went through all stages of making videos. The morning, instead of going out with Street Teams, I worked on the Street Teams promo video. It was 2 hours of looking through clips and finding the ones I was going to use, and another hour of editing it down to a two minute video. I can proudly say that after such a long time of planning and filming, this video is now done. Afterwards, I met with my video team to talk about plans for the semester; it was a rather successful meeting, and I'm excited to see where this team progresses. Once that meeting was over, I met with my songwriting partner, Kristen, and attempted to finish the worship song for our first songwriting analysis; we are so close to being done with the song, and it's awesome. The rest of my day was a good Skype chat, chilling with my flatmates, having a flat dinner, and watching Fanboys (which was as good of a movie as I imagined it to be). It's days like these that I can be grateful for God's mercy; without it, I wouldn't exist. He's a cool guy, that's for sure.

God bless,
Steven

Day 239: Prayer in the Spirit

Dear God,
I come to You as Your son, as well as Your servant. I can proudly say that my life has been a blessing and a gift because of Your grace and mercy. I believe in my heart, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that You are real and that You are holy. You are my reason for living and breathing, and there is nothing else that compares to You. Lord, I want to dedicate a blog entry just for You, because I see many needs in the lives of those I love as well as my own. I know that You hear me, so I'll do my best to mention everything.
Let's start with my family, the people I cherish most in my life (even the tiny, four legged furry ones.) I pray over my parents's marriage. I thank you that I have been part of a family that has stuck through trial after trial, but I know that even then there are challenges, as is life. Please continue to be what keeps my family together; restore the health of our relationships with each other so that we won't become another statistic to the world's standard. We are all Your children, so may we be set apart from today's "normal". Bring peace to my mom and dad, as they are constantly sacrificing their time, energy, and money to keep the whole family secure. I don't know what I would do without them. Bless their marriage, so that they can have the happiness that was there since the beginning for years to come. As for my sister, I just pray for You to be her strength; You know her heart and that she's seeking You. You said that if we sought You, we would find You; in that case, I don't doubt Mandy will find what she's been searching for. Oh, and please help Sausage and Albert calm down and be good little ones; I can only imagine how they have been driving my family crazy this year...
I pray over my home of San Francisco, and everything I've been away from: other family, friends, mentors, spiritual advisors, and my church homes. I pray for San Francisco Christian School, City Impact Ministries, and Ministerios Yeshua Es El Senor. These are places that You are using to impact people's lives, and I pray that Your favor will remain constant over them. We need Your churches to be stronger than ever during these hard times, so as Your word says that You won't leave or forsake us, let us be dependent on You to keep us strong and pressing on.
I pray over those in my life that either choose not to believe in You or have at one point and have now abandoned it. I know You care for them so much, and if it is Your will to use me to reach out to them, then give me opportunities to do so. I am here, and I am willing; as my mom presented me to You to be Your servant, I take that decision whole-heartedly as my own.
Lastly, I pray over our relationship. The heart surgery You're performing on me still has a ways to go, but I'm remaining calm because I know that in the end I will be made whole. God, I don't care what I have to go through to get there; as long as I get there. Guide me in Your truth, that I can be the person You've called me to be. Fill me with Your Spirit, so that my relationship with You can go to a whole other level. Take control of this life. Carry this broken mess. Help me live a life that is and will be acceptable in Your sight.
Your son,
Steven

Day 238: Thank God, the internet is back

For the first time in about a month, I am typing this blog entry IN MY FLAT. How good is God, hey? This alone is enough to say about the day. But I'll be nice and explain.

Sisterhood started things off right; I got to work with wonderful Camera 1 again, and I love that we're such a good team. I'm getting the hang of being part of the TV crew; I'm looking forward to what's next.
After that, there was a small break between Sisterhood and my other class. Unfortunately Duncan couldn't grace us with his presence and wisdom, but we got to hear from George Pingel, who gave some pretty good insight on the kingdom of Heaven.
Then there was going back to 223 and playing some Marvel Ultimate Alliance with Josh and Donny; I have missed this game.. it's good to be reunited with it. Anyways, it was also around that time we discovered that our internet was back on; I'm pretty sure we could hear the angels singing in the distance... okay, not really, but you get my point.
Master classes were cool as well. We had this guy named Tim, a bass player with 10 years experience, show us some tips about hearing the bass parts of songs. It was very helpful with the way I usually learn songs, so I'll definitely try and use that in my practice time.
Team Night was cool; I got to try out Camera 3 for the first time, and it was pretty fun. The TV crew leader, Simon, said he was impressed with my shots, and he told me if I get some more experience and level up with working cameras in weekend services, I might be able to do camera work for bigger things like conferences and album recordings. Now THAT would be sweet.
All in all, this day was good; again, thanks be to God for His awesomeness.

God bless,
Steven

Day 237: Meeting, Boxes, and Prayers

I woke up later than usual (thank God), mainly because I wasn't doing anything until 11:15. I met with Bede, one of the church's primary drummers about the setup for the Box, which was tonight. The original idea was to set up the stage on top of the reception desk and to have tables set around it. More on that later..
After that meeting I had a little bit of time before my other meeting with Gary about the Street Teams video I'm working on. So far, we have a little bit of the footage stored onto a computer; we just need the rest before I can start editing away. That should get some more progress on Saturday.
Then, I came back here to Skype with my family, and despite some internet connection issues, we managed to have a great talk (I just wish the internet in the stairwell didn't shut down so abruptly). I had little time after that before I had to go back to college to set up the foyer for the Box.
The Box actually turned out a lot better than I imagined. We made it like a sort of cafe style setting, and the people that participated did such great work with their performances (video will be posted at some point when the internet in our place is back). MY personal favorite was Alexis, who under her stage name Wyze did a rap (which has never been done in my knowledge of the Box's existence), and it was absolutely epic. Due to the Box being right before Powerhouse, Powerhouse ended up being real different this time around, BUT needless to say it was good. The other awesome thing that happened is that Donny finally got the money to pay off his fees and most of his rent. God is answering prayer, no doubt; another prayer He hinted at was meeting this guy named Ben, who works at the convenient store on the other side of my building. I felt something inside me, telling me to just ask how he was going, and that simple question turned into a whole conversation; I sure hope God will bless me with more opportunities to talk with him.

God bless,
Steven