Mirror

This is really not Point Loma related. I just had a leading to write after I had this conversation with my Daddy.


I walked into my bathroom a few moments ago. As I walked past the mirror, I heard I heard Him faintly say, “Stop. What do you see?


I looked around me on the sink and saw my toiletries; a razor, a toothbrush and toothpaste, contact solution, etc.


Then I heard His whisper again “Now, look up. What do you see?”


“I see a broken person… I see someone who terribly misses someone that doesn’t even care about him anymore. I see someone hopeless, someone pitiful…”


I then paused and thought about what I just said, I knew it wasn’t from God.

Then, these words came, without me even thinking them,  “…without You.” I pondered what had just taken place for just a few seconds and God once again spoke.

“What else do you see?” He said to me compassionate and loving.

Almost immediately, despite everything negative I wanted to say – “a sinful child, desperately in need of You because he is dead in his transgressions” – He brought this simple answer to my lips.

 “I see a child of God.”

He responded, “And that’s what you are.”

That’s what I am.

And if you’re reading this, that’s what you are too. Simply, a child God. Fearfully and wonderfully made. God’s precious child. His masterpiece.

That is all.

OMGOSH IT'S CHRISTMAS

It’s Christmas! Merry Christmas to you all. In honor of the Christmas spirit, enjoy this video of PLNU’s freshman band from earlier in the month. It’s pretty funny if I do say so myself. In the video are 4/5 of my favorite people: Danny King, Amanda Spicer, Janelle Hiroshige, Christian Martinez, our last band mate Haley Courtney couldn’t be there this rehearsal. Side note: Haley is also a Loma Blogger and you can check out her blog here (Just throwing it out there) if you haven't done so already. End side note.

With that said, let’s talk Christmas.

I’ve had such a wonderful day today thus far. So much fun and laughter with my family and meditation on the goodness of God, because He is definitely good. Then there were presents. I want to start by saying, I’m not a big present person. The only thing I asked for this year was a new guitar case because mine had tears in it. And I really didn’t want anything. But it’s really funny, because I probably got the best presents this year ever (at least to my memory) I really appreciate when gifts are practical if I do have to receive them. This Christmas was definitely a practical one in the gifts I did receive. It was just weird when I told people not to get me anything and they decided to do the opposite and I was blessed with quite a few things, so praise God J

Some things I got that really make me happy:

Good family time. So much fun and laughter with my parents and sister today. It was so great to have that. My parents were both sleep deprived because they were up the whole night previous and that meant that everything said was twice as funny to them which = good times.

Clothes, which are the obligatory present. Pretty cool to see that people know my style without me even asking for anything

A new guitar case which has a nifty little detachable backpack on it. So cool. The one thing I actually wanted and it’s even better than I imagined.

An iPod nano, the newest one. It’s like not even the size of the face of my watch and it’s a touch screen. Crazy! I’ve never even seen this nano before.

A neck and shoulder electric massager. Talk about practical. I know what I’m going to be doing every night in my room lol. Laying on the bed with that massage machine on, relaxing. I’m actually using it right now. Feels so nice J

A toaster. I didn’t really need one, but a toaster never hurt anybody. Actually, not true. They can burn you if you touch them. Luckily, this toaster has some cool sided feature where the sides don’t heat up which means it’s kid friendly.

A thing called a techno hoodie, which I’ve never heard of but it’s a sweatshirt that has built in headphones in the drawstrings around the hood. And in the pocket is where you can plug in the mp3 player. Sick.

Finally, a SNUGGIE. ‘Nuff said.

That is all.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

It's Christmas Eve

What to blog about… Hmm. Well, I’m currently on my Christmas break and sitting in my room. It is Christmas Eve and I am sitting in wait to play guitar and sing in the worship band tonight at our church’s Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. Let’s just say, I’m thoroughly excited. God has been moving mightily in my church the past couple days. 75 people have received Christ in the past three days from our services on Wednesday (6), Thursday (17), and two services this afternoon (52). If the numbers continue to go upward, tonight could be amazing. I’m very excited for God to move through the worship and through the speakers (the people, not the sound equipment. Thank you, I’ll be here all week).

I’ve been on break for exactly a week now and it’s been going swimmingly. I’ve been sleeping a lot, which is probably much needed and I’ve been spending a lot of quiet time with God and that’s been super nice. This week, I went through the Song of Solomon and I just started Isaiah. Man, Song of Solomon is… an interesting book to say the least. I got a lot out of studying it rather than just reading it and it makes me realize how much I know some people miss from the Word when they just read it like a novel and put it down. By studying, I’m talking comparing different translations, looking up some words in the original Hebrew and reading multiple sources like commentaries and study notes like I have in my Bible. It’s good stuff when you really get into it. Also in my free time, I’ve gotten back huge on my Scripture memorization. I’m at 52 verses right now and it feels good being able to go through a stack of cards and just say the Word of God from memory. It’s tough though, but fun.

Something else that I’ve been really enjoying about this break is the freedom away from school and not having to think about homework or anything like that. It’s really given me time to do what I think matters (like memorize and read Scripture) and it just makes me feel so lighter in general. Also, I’ve been able to see some old friends. Most specifically, two guys I graduated with that I felt really close with. One of them went off to Biola – I still haven’t forgiven him for that sin yet ( J just kidding) – and the other went off to IHOP. No, not International House of Pancakes, but rather International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Missouri. It’s cool having them both back at the same time. We had a group hug today when I saw them both. I probably got more of a sentimental value out of it than they did, but oh well. I’ve been able to hang out a lot too but I really am missing my friends from Point Loma too. But it’s all good. Lord willing, we shall be reunited on the most beautiful campus in the galaxy (in my unbiased opinion).

In closing, I want to give a shout out to my lovely new friend, Chelsea Ontiveros. Apparently, she is one of my few readers and she found me on Facebook and we talked for a while and praise God because she just got an acceptance letter to Loma! :) I was and still am very excited for her. So hi Chelsea :)




That just goes to show, if you read my blog and contact me, you get in to Point Loma. Prove me wrong. I’m going strong 100% right now. One for one. Beat that, bloggers J.

I’ll probably put up another blog tomorrow about what I got for Christmas and that whole deal cuz I’m sure everyone does that. Anyway…

That is all.

p.s. Enjoy a few pictures of me in some intense moments from a soccer game back when I was in high school.


Me battling for a ball with a guy from the other team:




A sequence of pictures of me scoring a goal! First, dribbling past the goalie:

Then shooting:

Thirdly, watching the ball go in:

Lastly, celebrating:

 Here's me... doing something:

Me as goalie:

Jumping for a header:

I don't know how to describe this one:

Lastly, my favorite:

 

That is all for real.

Elf Yourself

1. Click this link.
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/rSeY8gOYKZ0pfW91?cmpid=ey_fb_self
2. Watch the video.
3. Laugh at my stupidity.
4. Read.
MY FIRST SEMESTER OF COLLEGE IS OVER. I really don't even know where I could start in describing it. All I know is that I absolutely love Point Loma and I'm so blessed to be here. I'm growing close to people and making meaningful friendships and growing closer to God daily as well. I couldn't ask for anything better. Praise the Lord!
5.

That is all.

Two Things

1.) I recently went on another burrito run and got a California burrito. I thought it was funny and worthy of putting here that Adalberto’s is also joining the hipster trend and my receipt said “CALIF BU W/ SOR CRAM.” If that does not make sense to you, it says, in human English, “California burrito with sour cream,” aka the best sort of burrito. If this seems random and out of place to you, 1) It is. 2) Read one of my recent blogs "Click here: Burrito Runs" and it’ll make a little more sense.   

2.) My RA showed me this video last night and it made me laugh so hard. It's probably the funniest cat video that I’ve ever seen. So simple, yet so perfect. Enjoy.

That is all.

Pointless

This is a pointless blog. I'm only posting it because I'm putting off writing an essay. Here's a link to a cat being wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm3dm5J5r0A

That is all.

Burrito Runs

Quick blog. One of my favorite things about being at Point Loma is being able to go on burrito runs pretty much whenever. There's burrito joints EVERYWHERE. From Ortize's to Adalbertos to Santana's, there are some of the best burritos around. 

Side note: Santana's is now known also as Fresh MXN, which I think is the funniest name ever. It's like they wanted to appeal to the texting generation who tends to shorten words and use acronyms. MXN 4eva LOL. End side note.

I've been on a good number of burrito runs this semester, which is coming to a close soon, and I still can't pick a favorite of the places I've been too.

This is me on my most recent burrito run in the right corner (just in case you don't know what I look like). Found it funny that my friends receipt said "CHIKN BU," pronounced "chicken boo" of course. Ortize's also must be trying to stay hip for us crazy kids. Omg.

I had my first ever shrimp burrito from here although my receipt probaly said "SHRMP BU." It was phenomenal. Rice, carne asada, shrimp, and sour cream. However, I don't think it can ever beat a California burrito. I love love love California burritos.

TIA.

I'm trying to be hip. Did it work? 

Freshman Chapel Band Take 3

Today we played in chapel for the third time. There’s really not much to say but God is good and God is faithful!

So, today we played three songs. We opened with “Reflection” by Urban Rescue (GREAT song by the way), and then we played a song called “Reaching For Me,” and lastly, we played “O Holy Night” to end in Christmas spirit. Reflection went really well and I really love the lyrics to the song. I encourage looking it up. Skipping to the end, O Holy Night went over extremely well and was, in my opinion, very powerful. We did all the verses in the song meaning that many probably didn’t know them but we were very creative in our approach to the song. We threw a little Bach in one of the instrumentals which was super cool in my opinion.

The song we did called Reaching For Me was actually a song that I wrote. I say that I wrote it with all humility in mind. I actually tried to not tell people that I wrote it at all because I didn’t want people to know that I wrote it and judge it based off the fact that someone they know wrote it. It’s a worship song, not a song that Orin wrote. Besides, I believe God used me to write it. It wasn't my own doing. I’ve actually been blessed to play it at my church a few times and playing it here at Point Loma was just… words can’t even describe how good it felt to let it be heard by hundreds of people after “writing” it almost a year ago. It was actually written on December 19, 2009. As the lyrics were being spoken over me, I would have never imagined that I would have the privilege to play it on a stage with an amazing band in front of a student body sitting in a chapel that seats near 2,000 people.

It may not seem like a huge deal to anyone who may read this but I’m so stoked. Actually, I’m even more stoked at this fact: the chapel records all the music that is played in chapel and saves it in mp3 fashion. This means that I have an mp3 of song. I actually just downloaded it. I haven’t even listened to it yet because I’m so nervous. It’s a big deal to me. A song that I believe God wrote through me in a tangible form that has the possibility to be passed on to others… It just… I really don’t know what else to say. I’m just super blessed.

 

I pray this blog finds you well. I'm going to listen to the mp3 now. Sorry if this wasn't of interest to you. This is probably just an Orin is excited about something God did in his life blog. It may or may not relate to you. The point is this, you have potential. You have potential that you don't even know about. God may be setting you up for something you've never thought of. He has done that for me and I know that God does things in people that are far more than they ever ask or imagine.

That is all.

Cider Celebration

Thursday night was the first night of two nights of what is known here as the Cider Celebration. It's a huge concert consisting of Point Loma's vocal ensembles such as the Concert Choir, Extol, and Chorale, as well as some cute little skits to round off the show as one for the whole family to enjoy :) We had four shows this weekend, two of them were Thursday and two were last night (Friday).

Anyway, I bring this up because I took part in the festivities. I sang with the Chorale and I had an interesting first night. It's interesting to note that while I do lead worship, very often in fact, I've never done any singing on stage without my guitar or without a band or not strictly doing "worship" music. So, I was extremely out of my element and also extremely nervous. Like, I really was freaking out and on Friday, my heart was literally beating through my chest, it was visible and you could feel it. I've never been nervous to that degree before because of something like this. I was mainly nervous because I happened to have a solo in our last piece. It's a gospel peace so you'd think it would be my element (ha), but definitely not on stage with a choir. My nervousness and panic became doubt in myself and my doubt turned into complaining to my friends repeatedly saying "I can't do it. I don't want to do it." With that mindet, I was right. I wouldn't be able to do it if I was talking myself out of doing it. Luckily, I have a very good friend that basically told me to shut up and that I'd be fine. I knew that I would, and what she said was exactly what I would've told someone who was nervous about doing something. "You'll be completely fine when you realize that it's not about you. It's about glorifying God." And it was. I was nervous because I was thinking about people.

We go on stage and do three songs, entitled "Shepherd's Echo Carol," "Sing We Now of Christmas," and a Spanish piece callled "Riu Riu Chiu." They went well, and I didn't mess up really at all which was a breath of fresh air.

Then the time came for the last song "Jesus, Oh What A Wonderuful Child!" and the chorale's favorite. My solo comes towards the end of the song so right before, I shot a quick prayer up to Dad and just asked for strength. It wasn't really that big of a deal any way. It's not like I was intending to steal the show, I just wanted to sound good and not ruin the show. Regardless, I sang. I sang my little heart out. I gave all I could give. Still, however, I was critical of myself afterwards and knew it wasn't how I would've like it to be exactly. But that's just the nature of Orin. I'm not perfect (obviously). Then, in the second show, I was now more comfortable and I sang it, in my opinion, better this time. It made me happy but I still could only think of what can I do to make it better? What I can I do to REALLY give it my best?

Once that was all over, we did a piece that was only the men in all the choirs, and sang "O Holy Night." That was cool too. I felt like it was pretty powerful. It was actually really funny because in the song, there's this one part that goes extremely high and I just decided to go for it, even though it wasn't my note. So, I went for it, loudly, and it sounded awful. I, and the person in front of me had a hard time not laughing and the last minute of the song was hard to get through. As soon as the curtain closed, we died laughing (not literally mind you, I'm still here)

Lastly, we did a song "The Lord Bless You and Keep You" with sign language accompanying our voices. For this song, all vocalists from the night lined up around the auditorium and sang to the people near them. The point of this is to hopefully seem like someone sitting in the audience is receiving a personal blessing. The lyrics we sing;

"The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord lift His countenance upon you.

And give you peace. The Lord make His face to shine up on and be gracious unto you. Amen"

A lady that was right in front of me was staring at me the whole time (which was actually a little awkward) and when we were done she looked at me tenderly and said "You have a beautiful voice." That made me so bubbly inside. And there it was. Night one.

The next night was very similar. Third of four shows: Three songs and then the gospel one. On that gospel one, I cleared my mind again and went for it and apparently it was the best one so far. That made me happy because I wanted to do it better every time. O Holy Night went well again, I once again tried the high note, but quietly this time, and I still butchered it. Oops. Then "The Lord Bless You and Keep You."

And then the last show was finally upon us. Once again, first three songs went well, nothing too terrible. And then the gospel piece again. Knowing it was my last night, I really gave it my all, and I guess it was better than the one earlier in the night. Score. O Holy Night once again went well until the high note. I knew that if I didn't go for it, I'd regret it later so I went for it. It was worse than the night before!!!! And even louder. I and the person in front of me were visibly laughing this time because it was that bad. Hahaha. Oh well. I did my best.

One thing I learned from this experience, even though you may be out of your element, God is still with you in any situation you're in. You've just got to depend on and focus on Him and not your circumstances.

That is all.

Freshman Chapel Band Take 2

Well, today was the second time we played in chapel. Needless to say, it felt extremely different. But in a good way. I felt like there was a lot of pressure on us to “perform” well because it seemed that we had raised the bar and built up some high expectations of what we could do. Quite a few people even said “that was the best chapel all year” so I felt like expectations were definitely high. A lot of people expressed excitement that we were playing again and it didn’t make me worry, but like I mentioned, it gave a little pressure because people seemed to be expecting something that only God could provide. But, I trusted that He would.

Our second set consisted of “Holy Moment,” “Lead Me To The Cross,” and “Fire Fall Down.” We started off really well but I ran into some bumps during our playing. I broke a string mid song! That was super annoying. It was extremely annoying because I just put that string on last night. All 6 strings were brand new strings that I just got on Saturday. I broke the G-string (haha) the night before at rehearsal and then replaced it for the morning but it broke again on stage! I snapped my G-string in front of everyone! When that happened, I thought to myself, “Satan really doesn’t want this to be happening right now.” But I didn’t miss a beat and I just kept playing. But! I then proceeded to drop my pick while strumming a chord. Luckily, I had more so I grabbed another off my stand. Unfortunately, dropped that one too! But once again, I didn’t let it affect me. So needless to say, it had it’s share of struggles during the set, but God redeemed it.

Side note: I think it’s an important one. During “Fire Fall Down” today, I actually, while still on stage, grabbed my microphone and kneeled down and continued to worship. God really humbled me when I told him I wasn’t going to care what people thought. End side note.

Despite the fact that I broke a string and my picks were flying around, we still got some good feedback. I mentioned earlier how it was different this time; it was different in more ways that one. One way was that I didn’t have those “first time jitters.” In another way, it was different than before because I really didn’t want compliments. The first time I was okay with them because I did want to know how it came across. But this time, after all that happening, I didn’t want to hear it as much. I actually tried to avoid people for the rest of the morning (it only worked for a little while) I would’ve been fine with no one saying anything. Because I don’t care what people think. I do what I do for God, not for people. But I still have learned to smile and say “thank you.” I really do appreciate the compliments, and it’s encouraging, but sometimes I feel like people just say it to say it.

That is all.

Freshman Chapel Band Take 1

First of all, I’m very happy how it went. The first time we played, we played “Your Love Never Fails,” “Jesus Paid It All” and “The Stand” and part of “Glory to God.” I'm putting a video up of "Your Love Never Fails" just because I really like that song.

The set I think flowed extremely well together. It was crazy being up there for the first time. I remember looking out the curtain as more and more people filed in the room. I don’t know how to describe how I felt. It wasn’t anxiety, it wasn’t fear, it wasn’t being nervous. The only way I can think of describing it is by saying it was a feeling like “This is really about to happen. Everything that God has shown me over the past couple weeks and months before actually making chapel band is actually a reality. I’m on the chapel band, as one of two worship leaders, and I’m about to play in front of a lot of people. I really shouldn’t have looked up how many seats there are in the auditorium. ‘A lot’ of people is a way less intimidating number than a big number like 1,800. Oh well, that doesn’t matter. This is for God. I can’t believe this is going to happen. Well I can, because God is faithful, but it seems supernatural that I’m up here. I don’t have the best voice, and I feel like everyone is going to judge that, and I’m sure I’m not the best guitar player either, but here it is.”

Then we did it. We played all our songs and I didn’t even concern myself with what people thought. I worshipped my God. I was up there to lead people in worship but also to experience my own worship. And I did just that. The joy I had knowing that this was really happening was overwhelming, but I knew that God was looking down on us smiling. God really ordained the group of 6 we have together for a purpose. After our set was over, I felt so good. I wasn’t walking away saying, “man, I did a good job” but “man, God really showed up.” And after chapel was over as a whole, I started compliment after compliment… after compliment… after compliment… after compliment.

It was to the point where I was having a hard time believing it was possibly THAT good. But I still always smiled and said “Thank you.” I got much more enjoyment when people said that they were truly worshipping. That means way more to me than someone saying “you sounded good.” The intention isn’t to sound good, it’s to worship and to create an environment for other people to worship. So with that being my goal, hearing that other people were worshipping gave me more of a sense that I did what I set out to do. So there you have it. First time was a huge success with lots of good feedback and I’m extremely blessed.

That is all.

"Is Chapel at Christian Colleges a Good Idea?"

Note: I'm borrowing this blog from a friend of mine from his blog: http://livegenerously.wordpress.com/

That being said, here it is (and my response will follow)

“I didn’t really go to church much in college because we had chapel three times per week.”

I’ve heard that statement from people who have attended just about every major Christian college in Southern California. I’ve been told that going to church on the weekend was the last thing they wanted to do because of mandatory chapel attendance. More often that not these were students who were walking with God and were serious about their faith, but they simply had enough “church” during the week.

I’ve also heard plenty of stories of chapel simply being a time when students who didn’t care would sit in the back and do their homework, leading me to believe it’s not a time that is making that much of a positive difference in their lives.

I didn’t go to a Christian college, so I can’t speak to this subject with even a hint of expertise.

However, the aforementioned conversations lead me to question the value of chapel. At best, it seems that chapel is like a parachurch ministry that takes up so much of a student’s time that they are not involved in church. Nearly all parachurch ministries I know encourage local church involvement, and that is part of what makes them work as well as they do. Chapel, on the other hand, serves as a full-on church substitute.

As a result, churches are deprived of the important contributions that college students can make in their congregation, college students are deprived of the opportunity to be in church fellowship with multiple generations of people, and I can only imagine that the mandatory nature of chapel makes it seem like an obligation rather than a blessing for many students. I simply don’t believe that spiritual growth can be promoted through mandatory programs. Such programs can promote religious observance, but as Christians that’s not really what we’re after. I can imagine this would also have the effect of dulling a student’s desire to become a part of a church either during the summer or after graduation.

These all seem like major issues. Frankly, I believe the list of “things that are a good idea even though they discourage church involvement” is really, really, really, really low. And mandatory chapel isn’t on the list.

However, I am aware that there are many good reasons to have chapel on college campuses.

So, my question is simply, is chapel at Christian colleges a good idea?

I’d love to hear from any of you, particularly those of you who have attended or are currently attending a Christian college."

Here was my response:

"Brian, I was immediately intrigued when I saw the title of your post. When a title catches my eye I’ll usually read your blog. So, since I go to a “Christian” college, I feel like I could offer something here.

It is definetly true that some students sit in the back and do homework so for them it’s not much of an experience, but usually, they wouldn’t go to church otherwise, so it can expose them to something they wouldn’t choose to experience. At Point Loma, it’s been made aware that people just do homework and they’ve made a few comments on it this year that they respectfully ask that the students give attention to the service. During worship specifically, everyone stands (at least for the most part) so during the worship part of the service, the majority of the people are at least somewhat engaged.

Some people I know definitely fit in to the “I only go because I have to and I won’t go when I’ve met all the requirements” but it still exposes them to something and there may be that one song or that one speaker that God can use to finally grab their attention.

But, there also is the opposite end. I know, personally as well as from meeting people, that chapel is a great help. It’s a time where you can get away from school and focus on God in the day. I find that our chapel services can be enriching (but there are also the dull ones as well) spiritually as well as mentally. Certain speakers know how to challenge and intrigue us while others know how to lull us to sleep.

As far as church involvement goes, once again, there are both sides. Some people, like myself, can’t get enough and they see the importance of meeting in a congregation on a Sunday. But there are still others, both that take chapel seriously and that don’t that already have enough and commit the weekend to homework and social events.

So in conclusion, there is the good and the bad. I don’t think it should change because I believe that even when a certain amount of chapels are mandatory, God can still grab the attention of even the most spiritually dead person and use whatever is going on for His glory in whatever way He does.

Hope this helped."

And I'll also pose the question to you all, whoever you may be. It may just be one of you. I don't know who reads this. Maybe someone will comment.

Side note: Random shout out to Tyler who I met today as he was visiting Point Loma for a Preview Day. He said he read my blog. So I thought I'd mention him. He just got 50 points. End side note.

That is all.

Dear Note Writer

"Tonight, I received an anonymous note from someone after Time Out was over. Don't know who it was that wrote it or why said person wrote it but it states:

"Keep seeking Christ. He sees you. He hears you. He knows you. His love for you is greater than anyone could ever imagine. Take joy for you are delighted in.

'Draw near to God & He will draw near to you.' -James 4:8"

Side note: In my opinion, Time Out is always the best service of the week and I'm always moved by the Spirit in many ways. There's just something about night time services that is just so much more intimate. End note.

I will now respond, anonymously, knowing that it's extremely unlikely that this person, whoever they are will ever read this.
 
I didn't even get enough of a glimpse of you to see if I've met you before. You seemed vaguely familiar but I can't quite tell. However, thank you, Note Writer. I'm not sure what prompted you to write this little note, but it is much appreciated. I don't think it would be too crazy to assume that God laid it on your heart to give it to me because I know that has happened to me and that's one way in which He works. I was not at any extremely low or in need of a lot of encouragement, but hearing those truths are always nice. It did lift me up, even though I'm not extremely sure what to make of it yet. I know that God sees and hears me and I know He is always with me. But it's apparent to me that He wanted to remind me because someone else had to say it as well. I don't doubt God, but maybe I sometimes doubt myself. Maybe God just wanted me to see it written. If that's the case, then I hope you know that I've hung it above my bed so I will be able to see it as I lie down to sleep.
 
Dear Note Writer, God loves, sees, and hears you too. That is obvious because God loves everyone, but also because God chose to use you to be a blessing to me. This note didn't like radically change my life or come at a time when I was near ruin, but it came at a perfect time that God wanted it to come. God works in mysterious ways, but "His works are wonderful. I know that full well."
 

That is all.

OH MY GOSH!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

I found out today that I got accepted to be in the Freshman/New Student Chapel Band as one of two worship leaders. I’m SOOOOOO happy. Like, I don’t even have much to say but PRAISE GOD! I could probably say a lot about this but I don’t know where to start. I just know that God is definitely already working even through who was selected.

How I found out: So, we were originally told we were going to find out whether we made it on October 1 (last Friday), but George (the worship director for Point Loma) was prayerfully deciding and we didn’t find out until today I remember being at lunch and feeling kind of off for some reason. I actually sat and had lunch alone that day. But as I was heading to get some ice cream and leave the caf, I got a text from my friend, Amanda. “Did you check your email????????!?!?!!” the message said. Literally five seconds after she texted me, she ran up to me, beaming, and told me to look at her phone (which she gets her email on) and there it was! The email that said The 6 members of the band! We both made it! I had this feeling from the first time we talked that she would make it for some reason.

But anyway. 

She showed me the email and I freaked out. I was seriously about to cry from overwhelming joy. It truly was such a blessing and I’m so so so grateful that I was chosen, to be the leader even. That’s crazy. Out of all the people who auditioned, possibly hundreds, I was chosen among 5 others. It just blows me away. I don’t know what God’s got in store, but I’m trusting Him with everything!

That is all.

About Me

I suppose I never did an about me blog, so I’ll do that now. My name is Orin Joshua Mozon. I was born  on January 23, 1992, in Newport, Rhode Island. I only lived there for 6 months. I moved, against my will, to North Carolina and lived there for 11 years in Jacksonville, North Carolina. After living there, I moved to Silverdale, Washington where I lived for 3 years. Lastly, I moved from there to Oceanside, California, and that is where I’m from. I graduated from El Camino High School in 2010 with honors and a 4.5 GPA (4.1 cumulative) and I’m now attending Point Loma Nazarene University.

I don’t want to make this blog too long because I know that anyone who may read it would not want to read my life story. If you’d like to know more, feel free to ask me here or sending me an email at my school email address: orinmozon2010@pointloma.edu

With that said, I’ll continue. The most important part of my “story” is the role that God has played in my life. My whole life has been about God. I was born and raised in a Christ centered home. However, for the first 14 years of my life, church was nothing stable. My dad was and still is a chaplain in the Navy so we would often travel to different to churches at which he would preach. When I moved to Oceanside, however, we found a church that would turn out to have an extreme impact on me.

That church, New Song Community Church (see picture on right),  would soon turn into my second home and the place that made my faith skyrocket. At New Song, I quickly got involved, serving in many different ministries and in many different positions, from leading the whole team, to being just one of many members. I pretty much put my foot in anything. I loved having a place where I could serve, and that remains today.

Fast forward a couple years and to summarize a very large point in time for time’s sake, my church made a movie called To Save A Life. I was very involved in the movie’s making and background stuff and even was blessed and able to act in a minor role in the movie. For more information on the movie, go to www.tosavealifemovie.com.

The next defining part of my life to this point would be me becoming a worship leader. I got a guitar one Christmas morning and didn’t think much of it. I played it, but not super well, or very often. So I eventually gave it up. But, the next year, I found the same guitar that I thought was still sitting in my closet as a present re-gifted to me. It sparked my interest yet again and this time I got more into it and began to play songs and teach myself songs I liked. One thing led to another and I found myself leading worship for the high school ministry, as well the the middle school/junior high ministry and eventually was ask to play along side the church’s worship pastor on Saturday nights.

God opened and is opening so many doors for me and I love every minute of it. As with anything, there were always not so great weeks, but I always knew God had a plan.

So that’s where I’m at now. A worship leader trying to pursue God’s heart. Living day by day, trying to follow what He wants me to do.

Any questions? Feel free to comment or email, and I’ll reply or blog more about the topic.

That is all.

Spike Shooter Energy Drink

This is a drink called Spike Shooter Engery Drink.

I'm not sure all the deets on it, but I'm pretty sure it's only available online (already sounds sketch right? I know). A couple days ago,  my hallmate right across the hall, Anthony Sorge, had a couple of them and we were looking up info on it and reading the labels and this drink is supposedly intense. EXTREME ENERGY basically. Think Powerthirst* but in real life . So intense that, as you can see in the picture below and above, it comes with all sorts of warning and caution labels.

RECOMMENDED USE: Begin use with one-half can per day to determine tolerance. Never exceed one can daily.

Side note: These are only a few of the warning labels on the can. It's full of them. Lol. End side note.

So that night, Sorge (as I call him), ordered a bunch of said Spike Shooter Energy Drinks and he got them in today. Fortunately for me, this evening, I had some homework to do and I had more homework than I had energy for. So, I decided to borrow (using the term loosely of course because I had no intention of giving his drink back because I intended on drinking it) one of the drinks to help me stay up. Just for fun. Energy drinks have never worked for me but I figured, why not? So I tried it. Despite the caution label, I went with the whole thing. This was almost 5 hours ago. It's now 5:00 AM. I haven't slept since I drank it. Now, I've done more homework than I needed to and I'm not tired. I'm afraid to go to sleep because if I do, I don't know if I can wake up in time for my 7:30 class.

Oh well. Anyway. Now I know, if I need to stay up, this thing works. At the least, it tricked me into making myself stay awake.

 * if you don't know what Powerthirst is, see this video (this is a link. You can click it.) 

Update! (September 22, 2010 @ 11:35 AM)

Other than a 2 minute nod off I had last night shortly after posting this blog, I've been awake for 26 hours and about 35 minutes. I haven't had an all nighter in a while. I guess this energy drink does affect me a little bit :)

Final Update! (September 23, 2010 @ 8:00PM)

I was up for a total of 30 hours before taking a 5 hour power nap. Since then, I've just had a lot of energy for some reason. Maybe I'm just being me. Super energetic and loud. We'll see what happens.

That is all.

Transformed Room

 
This picture was in my NSO blog but I'm posting it again as a before picture. When my room got messy, I really wanted to clean it. But, instead, I got this.

I put the beds on top of each other to give me more room. And moved the cabinet things from under my bed to the other side. The corner you see on the right is now my music corner. I have my guitar, piano, and music stand over there.

Side note: Right now, what's on my music stand is my music I've been practicing for my chapel band audition. Which is tomorrow! So excited but so nervous. End side note.

I really like how my room is set up now. It gives me a lot more room.

Side note: Yes, that's a pillow pet on my bed. Don't judge me. End side note.

That is all.



NSO Blog: Hello My Name Is...

Me: Hi!
Them: Hi! What’s your name?
Me: Orin.
Them: What? Warren?
Me: No, Orin.
Them: Lauren?
Me: Orin.
Them: Orange?
Me: No. OR-in. O – R – I – N
Them: Oh! That’s… an interesting name. I’ve never heard that before.
Me: Haha yeah I know. I get that all the time. What’s yours?
Them: *insert name here* What are you majoring in?
Me: Music and Ministry. Wha–
Them (interrupting me): Oh, that’s so cool! I wish I could play an instrument! What instrument do you play?!?
Me: Yeah I think it’s pretty cool too. I play guitar and I sing. I'm a worship leader at my church. What’s your major?
Them: *insert major here*
Me: Oh, okay. That's pretty cool.
Them: ...
*commence awkward silence*

This was the general idea of about every conversation I had the first day of New Student Orientation (NSO). Every conversation seemed to be the same, but there was never a dull moment. Meeting new people was great and hearing all the mispronunciations of my name was definitely exciting too. I got a kick out of it at least. I knew beforehand that I would have to say my name countless times, as always, but it was always funny. Everything about the day was great. The schedule flowed well, the people were great, the helpers were… well, helpful, and everything seemed to just fit together perfectly. I knew that this is where I was supposed to be.

The morning of NSO, August 20, I finished up the final touches on my packing and got in the car with my mom and my dad. At this point in time, a lot of people would be super nervous and/or excited, but not me. I knew it would be a change in my life but it wasn’t anything drastic. I wasn’t afraid. I wasn’t anxious. I wasn’t anything. I just had a peace. I knew this is where God wanted me to be long before I was getting ready to go. Rather than being overwhelmed and going crazy I was more excited knowing that this is where God wanted me and that I was pursuing the path He had been preparing me for and growing me towards.

I’m from Oceanside, so it was a quick 45-minute drive, and then we were there. When we got there, we could definitely tell that people to be on the lookout for were the people in the green shirts. There were tons of them. Some had signs pointing you where to go and others just had smiles and a “Hello!” to greet you with. They made us all feel welcome because of their energy. There were lots of seminars we had to go to and lots of people talking about a lot of things on stage but the people helping out and the speakers were all very friendly and made the process very bearable. One thing flowed to the next and it was a great experience overall. After the messages from staff, they sent us to let us go to check in to our rooms. And the fun began.

Moving in was suuuuper painless. When we got to my dorm, Hendricks, there was a sea of those same green shirts blowing air horns, clapping, and cheering, just waiting for incoming freshman to help them move their stuff in to their rooms. We got to the parking lot and immediately, people came and took my stuff in. It was so quick, just about 5 minutes that I didn’t even have time to look around to the view and see where I was.

When I got to my room, I realized how much God had just blessed me. My room, Hendricks 204, has an ocean view. And I realized the next evening; it has a great view of the sunset too! And, the best part about it is that I have my own room. I’m not exactly sure how it happened, but that’s what my current situation is. I originally had two other roommates, but one got moved to Young Hall a couple days before NSO and the other never showed up to school. So, I had my own room. And I knew that was God’s will for me. Having my own room really is a blessing. I can study at whatever hours I want. I can have a late night quiet time and not have to worry about keeping anyone up. I can pray out loud whenever I want. I can play my worship playing my guitar whenever I want. And it’s not like I can’t hang out with people in my hall. I can visit them and they can visit my room too. I can basically do whatever I want whenever I want in my own room (unless it disturbs people during quiet hours, which start at 10. Bummer! Oh well. It’s all good).

NSO was a really great experience. I met sooo many  new people. Even though I don’t remember most of their names (and definitely not their majors), I definitely had a lot of fun with the whole experience. I’m so glad I’m here and I’m so glad that God was already at work even before I even got here. I am excited to see what He does with me here and how I can join Him in what He’s doing.

This is a picture of my room as I'm cleaning it. It's messy now. But it usually looks a lot nicer :)

That is all.