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.