Home Sweet Home

"Once as a the tree of tortue known-now the bright gate to Jesus' throne..."

Wow Praise God for a nice get away for the weekend. As last friday was getting closer and closer, I started to get hesitant if I wanted to go. I started to fear and doubt, having feelings not of what I wanted to have. The excitement was sturrting to go away, and the thought of, 'should I back out and give my spot to someone else?' even came to mind. Though I'm really blessed that I went, cuz I received so much out of the retreat. Although thurr whurr times I was especially turrd and juss all in all felt dead, God juss picked me up back up again. I realized after the end of last nite, what the purpose of this retreat was for me. For each person, I think thurr was a different purpose and im sure they got something different from maybe wha I received.

For me personally, I truly became a victim of His love after this weekend. It helped me realize some of the stuff thas being going in my life as of the late. Juss this past week leading up to the retreat, God really tested me in so many different ways. At one point, I could feel myself falling to the ground hard. Praise God cuz as always He picks me right back up again and dusts the dirt of my shoulder(picture me singing the 'dust off your shoulder' beat, while doing the action at the same time). haha! I'm tired physcially and spiritually, Praise God! Honestly, the only thing you can really say is, 'praise God!' I think im not as turrd physically as I am spiritually, I caught up on a lot of sleep inside fred's curr. Praise God leo was thurr to keep him company and bond w/him, so I could sleep! hahaha

Anyhow, as much as I would loooove to go into details bout my experience, I can't. 'Wha happens in big burr, stays in big burr!' hahaha It's one of those things, whurr if this retreat comes up again, you gotta experience it on your own. You may come out w/a whole different perspective on certain things. I came out w/a huge smile on my face, cuz of the many graces God blessed me w/this weekend. The only way I can describe my experience, is probably through this article I found. It called, 'The Cross: Our Only Hope'

St. Philip Neri said: 'the cross is the gift God gives to his friends.' What is the cross? I suggest that the cross is anything in our life that we do not like and cannot change. It can be physical, emotional, mental or spiritual pain. It can be people in our life, who are obnoxious and make life uncomfortable. It can be circumstances in our life which we cant change and which obstruct our wants and needs: ex. driving in heavy traffic, and thus being late for an appointment. Many christians believe that if they live close to the Lord and try to lead a good life, then they will be able to avoid difficulities and hardships. Their life will then run smooothly. The truth is: the closer we get to the Lord, the more we will share in his passion and cross. What would happen to a child if its parents protected him from every danger and suffering? Obviously, he would grow up weak and undisciplined, and thereby unable to take care of himself. Likewise, without suffering in our life, we grow up weak spiritually.

Suffering is transcened through love. Pain without love is hell. Suffering with love is sacrifice. A mother can sit up all night w/a child and doesnt consider this suffering as much as love and sacrifice. This is what Christ meant when he said, 'my yoke is easy and my burden light.' A father sometimes gives bitter medicine out of love to a sick child. Our heavenly Father gives us bitter medicine for our greater good. Christ says, 'Unless you pick up your cross daily and follow Me, you cannot be my disciple.'

When the cross is embraced as a sacrifice and joined to the cross of Christ, the pain can liberate a soul, and turn a curse into a blessing. When we embrace our cross and join it to the cross of Christ, then we help to save souls. The cross empowers our prayer life. It is through the cross we learn humility and patience. The cross purifies us of our self-centeredness and pride. Who does a coach push the hardest and gives the greatest tests to? Obviously, those who have the most potential.

Who does God give the largest crosses to? Those with the most potential for holiness. Those who are sitting on the bench are the one's I am most concerned about...

So my brothers and sister's when it comes down to it all, its all about, 'denying yourself, and picking up your cross.'

Besides the whole growing more spiritually this weekend, it was also a time to laugh, sing, dance, and smile. Laughing at the stupid things we said and done over the weekend. Laughing at the retreat skits and commercials we did. The WWE, 'World Wide Evangelists' commerical, hannah from st. lucys oh man I couldnt stop laughing. The expression on matts face when he was yelling. Raymond laughing at me during, 'i swing my hips alleulia amen and praise the Loooord' haha The starfish from 'find Jesus' was freakin hilarious! And the crowd said, 'Do it again! do it again!' hahaha GOing from the cute and nice 'Jesus bunch' to the ghett0 'Jesus Walks!' hahaha leave it to me to come up w/a ghett0 idea for a skit. Ha the kids did really well though! The catholic eye for the secular guy, the rock group and so much more! THe eye of the tiger for the commerical...'mark, mark, mark, mark, marrk, mark' hahahahaha ahh praise God for laughing until your stomach hurts.

The singing and dancing to all the action songs for the weekend. Raymond and charisse pushing me to go to the front and action dance. Ha! Swing my hips alleulia amen and praise the Lord to Pam asking me to do the 'who builds the love of the looove loove loove.' haha The circle lulaley! haha i love singing that song doing the actions in the circle. Lu lu lu lu la ley left leg, right leg, over under neighbor! haha Watching people do mambola from up top. Singing the theme song for the weekend.

Who forget the many smiles we saw over the course of the entire weekend. This is wha helped make the retreat so fun was the many smiles I saw each day. Smile, God loves you!


Thas crazy leo's arm turned invisible!

















I loved the bonding experience I had also throughout this weekend. Having a really d0pe convo. fri. nite on the way up thurr w/leo and mark anthony. Stopping by abby's place and her family feeding us w/muffins and juice before going up the mountains. Today has been a long day for me, not going to sleep till like wha almost 2 oe 3 am. Going from big burr to irvine, from irvine back to bellflower, then to bellflower back to bPc. Ended up going to UCI Catholic Communities' Annual, 'Mass on the Plaza.' The big kick of celebration of mass whurr the bishop comes to celebrate mass for the catholic communities at UCI. Follwed by a nice bbq w/cake and all that good stuff. Praise God!

It was cool talking and seeing all my irvine friends again. I havent seen some of them in a long time. Angie and her, 'oh look its the titanic' hahaha that was so funny. Going to yfc's core meeting the whole 'im not in yfc core' t-shirt joke haha Then ending the nite on the way home w/anotha great convo w/mark anthony bout the weekend experience for him. Ahh its great to be home again! Though the buck doesnt stop hurr...looks like the only free day of rest is mon. and sunday. SRE sturrts up again this week, im praying sandy has teachers to fill the empty slots. This week is brought to you by, the letter 'S.'

Tuesday-SRE & SH

Wednesday-YFC

Thursday-SRE

Friday-SH Cafe

Saturday-SFC

Question to ponder: If you were on trial for loving God, would there be enough evidence to convict you?


Please keep SH Cafe in your prayers!

"I wish to be a living sacrifice of your love..."im done, im out God bless!