Interests:- God and people mostly, Christianity. Loving people no matter what their case may be. MAKING AN IMPACT on FSU's campus and in this world before I leave it. Advancing God's Kingdom on this earth. Seeing people get healed of emotional and physical illnesses by God's awesome power. Living out my faith in Jesus Christ by sharing the Gospel with everyone who needs it.
- Also engineering, problem solving(it's challenging). Breakdancing a.k.a. b-boying, inventing new moves, mastering b-boying techniques, battling for bragging rights, and hip-hop culture and family, also graffiti art; inventing new letter structure, and character styles etc (it's not just art, but it has a message in it too), legal graffiti only. Music making and Writing; understanding what words or combination of words can touch people when they listen or read them, to write a book or a song etc. that changes a persons life.. Expertise:I'm not sure i'm an expert at any single thing. But others can admit besides myself that I'm very talented in some ways; drawing . top-rocking . mathematics . footbagging . some video games . singing . magazine design&layout.
I'd like serving the amazing God of the Bible to be my greatest expertise.. but who's to say i'm an expert at that other than God Himself. I'm a soon to be Bible expert just gotta stick to it day-in and day-out, but it's really about application, I'm striving to be an expert at applying the principals in God's Word to my life and living it out. (His blessings are far greater than any others!) Occupation:Engineering and Political Scie Industry:Engineering and Art
Well a good bit of time has passed so here I am again, checking xanga, and I have made progress with respect to the stuff I shared in my last post, so here it goes...
I certainly have grown in my ability to steward what I have. My house is kept very well now, I'm eating healthier too. However, I know I'm still not taking care of my toyota camry, my course work, and my relationships with people correctly yet. My car is always junky, and I never think to take it to get have maintenance done, I know it's because I'm not paying for it, and that's no excuse, but that's that, and I've got to work on taking care of my vehicle more, there's so much more I could've said concerning it, but I'll leave it at that. My engineering course work is just not being taken seriously enough yet, and I noticed that I had too much other stuff going on, so I really stepped in and cut out a lot of it, but I'm going to have to cut out more I've noticed. Getting blessed by my best friend Paul with a free laptop is definitely going to help me stay on top of things better. The main thing I cut out was actually time on the internet. I examined my daily lifestyle and noticed that the internet consumes hours and hours of my time everyday, but the things I spend time checking out are all vain and not beneficial to my walk with Christ, or to my engineering course work, so I don't use the internet at my house at all anymore, and the laptop I have does not have any wireless ability or internet connection either. I only use internet at the engineering school, and the library now.
I've noticed that just being on the internet around people helps me stay accountable, whereas at home alone I get distracted easily and start playing games, chatting, or posting on old forums, etc. etc. and it sucks up a ton of my time. Making this change is equivalent to beating my flesh up, because it really seeks vain and pointless stuff.
Relationships with people is in the process of a huge overhaul. I have two groups of friends; Christian's and non-Christian's, or what I like to call soon-to-be-Christian's. I know that I should be getting discipled while at the same time I'm mature enough having been following Christ for 4 years now to disciple others, and then I'm also to be reaching lost people with the Gospel of Christ. It seems simple, but the problem is that there are SO MANY PEOPLE. Right now I actually have an equal number of Christian friends/acquaintances and non-Christian friends/acquaintances. I'm on a quest to weed through all my friends from each group and see who God wants me to really pour into. So far I've decided to meet and have already met with 1 Christian friend to disciple him every Thursday. I'm planning to meet with another Christian friend to disciple him every Wednesday. As far as someone sharpening me, I have many options and I'm starting to narrow it down. As far as me sitting down with non-Christian friends/acquaintances and sharing the Gospel I am also making plans. I've made a tract to give to the non-Christian friends and I wanted to share it on here and see what you all thought about it:
So, that's where I stand on stewarding what God has given me. As far as my relationship with God goes. I'm learning how to better glorify God in all I do, and obey God, and what submitting to God and resisting the devil looks like on a daily basis. Also this very small book, that I actually can't find right now called 'Victory Through Surrender' helped me understand more about how we're to relate to God. God is setting things straight this season; I understand that I'm to be about 3 main things: Personal time of devotion with God on the daily, Ministering to believers and non-believers, and engineering course work. Anything outside these three things is getting cut out slowly but surely. As I've cut out certain things and focused on ministering and doing school work all while giving devotional time to God i've been noticing things that I didn't notice before:
1. People have no clue what real love is, and because they don't they become very selfish and mean. 2. People are confused and don't know which way to turn or how to cope with past experiences or current situations they find themselves in. 3. I need to read God's Word and Pray more than I have previously. 4. If you work you eat. 5. Without hope we're doomed. 6. We all need to slow down and examine our own motives more often. 7. We need mentors. 8. We shouldn't try to enter into new things when we can't handle what we already have correctly. 9. WE are the one's called to fulfill the great commission and actually go out and disciple brand new Christians (not just our pastors or people we refer to as leaders). 10. I'm more mature in Christ than I was 2 years ago, but I'll never figure everything out because I have sinful nature while on this earth, but I can cope with it with Christ. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I just looked through a bunch of pictures, here are the ones I liked to the most:
Have a good day in Christ! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
God's been teaching me that I don't properly steward barely anything. Cintron reminded me of a verse that talks about doing all things as if you're doing them unto God. I don't take care of my body as if God gave me it, don't manage my possessions as if God gave me them, don't manage some relationships with the lost as if God started them, and don't take school serious enough as if God gave me the opportunity. I'm trying to be more responsible with all of these things, and keep understanding that as I treat these certain tasks as if God placed them in my life, God will in return better direct me in each area. For example, if I took all of Shaun's(guy i know who's in jail) request seriously then God would run me into somebody or some information that would show me how to better handle the situation. If I shoot for all "A's" then God will notice that i'm treating this education thing as if God gave it to me in the first place and better direct me in it. So, because I never used to do these things, I developed a lot of broken ties with people and things and i'm uncomfortable with this, i'm not at peace. I'm slowly going through and seeing how I can better steward everything i've been given both material's and people. It's pretty deep, though it may not seem so, because 2.5 years ago I was a hypocrite, then I read Romans 2:21-24 and noticed that I was more than a hypocrite and stopped being one, calmed down. Now though, i'm stuck with all the hypocrisy and the promises I never attended to and i'm having to go retrace and fix things if it's God's will. Satan continues to try to get me to stretch myself to thin again, he sort of succeeded two semesters ago. Even this month, I was making studying the Word too complicated, i'd make plans but then not follow them, i'd get excited about one study, but then would not get to it on the list of other things to study because I would already have studied one topic for so so long. God is teaching me that I have this ambition to "do it all," but that He has a different ambition for me, the straight and narrow. I've felt as though some things are burdens and because I stuck my foot in the door, I have the obligation to walk in and put some work in. God has showed me that not everything is for me to put my foot in, even if it looks like it can benefit God and give Him glory! I found this out because some of things I put my foot in God doesn't meet me in. The plans of a mans heart are many but God's plans prevail, right? Yes, so I had this picture for this. We may step into something, but if we are without a desire to really steward this something correctly and fully as if unto God, and we're having to "force" ourselves to do so, then it's likely not what God has for us to step into. Many times though, we get in too deep and then end up thinking that we "have to" participate for the long run.
This is the picture I got: If we place our bare foot, or ourselves in front of a door, then God is on the other side ready to measure us (our foot) to see if he has a shoe that fits and will enable us to walk the path on the other side of the door. If God doesn't have a shoe to fit you, or anotherwords through the Word, through instances, or through people nothing is fitting then you need to go get re-fitted or just live for God and see what else you run into. So God measures us to see if we're right for the task, if we are then we have to step into the task ourselves, then God gives us what we need to complete the task(shoes) and we walk through the task. Where I mess up is putting my bare foot(or self) before too many tasks that could all possibly be what God has, but I sometimes step in barefoot and the path does me in, whereas I should be stepping in dressed by God's peace and understanding and not have to force myself to deal with the path as much as just basking in God's presence and attaining from God spiritually what's needed to drive me through the task.
If you can relate then please do share, I already know some of you can.
Have a good day in Christ. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pictures that remind me that time keeps on slipping into the future...
The guy on top lives in Japan now..
This guy is still lost, but the seed has been planted!
This fella got a cellphone but now needs a job to pay for it..
This guy graduated and is back with his family and still on the career hunt..
These two were pronounced husband and wife!
This guy can sing, better than before..
This girl grew tremendously in the grace and knowledge of God, because of Jesus..
This guy grew tremendously in his ability to Break dance...
This girl wants a job, better than the one she has..
These two recently got a new gift..
This girl graduated..
This girl received divine physical healing..
This girl got married in Korea..
This girl is my sister..
This girls almost a nurse..
So is this girl..
The guy in the yellow is almost a doctor..
So is this guy..
This guy can preach..
This guy is in a serious relationship..
This girl has a new hairstyle..
This girl is back from missionary work and her mom's very happy about it..
This girl is engaged..
This girl won't be selling candy for much longer..
This girl graduated and ran off to seminary...
This girl is enjoying food in Seoul, Korea..
This guy is living with his sister now..
This girl is living with her brother and about to attend TCC..
This guy is married..
These 3 all hung out in New York together in June...
This girl graduated..
I think this girl still wants to make me some Chinese food..
This guy is back home..
This guy is homeless in Christ!
This guy is looking at you.. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Become a Christian? >>> Click Here
It's been a while since i've updated, sorry, but honestly posting on xanga never jumps into the top part of my list of priorities.. until it does I won't update like you want me too..
It's summer now and i'm taking a class called Dynamic Systems 1. On that note, there are some fellow Christian's in my class, some guy's that meet with Chi Alpha and it's been my priority, maybe more mine then theirs, to start meeting with them and reaching out to the students in our summer class. So I believe that as we as a group of believers there at the school take steps out of our comfort to tell students about Jesus.. that lives will be impacted for eternity this summer!!
Summer was off to a slow start, as usual I work with my dad quite a bit, helping him with his agricultural business and such. Oh and on that note, i've been struggling with some small things concerning my parents. I tend to plan things that fight against the plans they make, and I'll tell them i'll be there to do something but then i'm late and they get super irritated. So, I had to sit down and think and see why I do this and put my parents concerns on the back-burners like that, and I really came up with no reason as to why, I'm just sure that I'm focusing now on not ever doing it again. As far as how our Creator wants us to handle this, I know we're to honor our parents, unless their requests don't honor the Creator to start with.. and thus far, there's only been a couple instances where I've been told to lie about something and had to think about the real rammifications.. yeah, kinda crazy with non-genuine Christian parents.. but God has continually been graceful as I continue to pursure His will, and I've certainly, by His spirit, been able to work righteoussly through all the struggles.
If you wanna see what I look like when i'm working on the farm, just go to www.xanga.com/jsaintil and see the last photo in his post about interracial people(i'm half african american and half caucasain).. the photo shows me goofing off in the workplace..
So then came the OneThing conference.. why's it called the "OneThing" "conference"?? The word "onething" relates to Psalm 27:4, where knowing God intimately is the "onething" David says he desires more than anything.. very very powerful statement for any man or woman to make. So, usually to start with, every Christ-follower has this attitude of worship.. For me, during OneThing I had a different attitude of worship comapred to the attitude I usually take on say at a Sunday service during worship: A song would start, and if i didn't know the song, I'd just wait and see what it was talking about, if it wasn't something I could comprehend based on something in God's Word, I wouldn't sing it.. If it was a song I knew, then sometimes I still wouldn't sing unless I really meant what I was saying... As i did this I noticed that it was hard to sing some parts of the songs.. Like one of the songs was stating something along the lines of, "God I give you all of me everyday.." but i really wasn't sure if I do that yet, so it was hard to sing.. I'd sometimes instead pray aloud to God and ask humbly for God to help me follow after Him in a greater way each day. What's even more interesting is when Dwayne in the middle of worship responded directly to what I was doing when he said he felt that some of us were having trouble singing certain things etc. and he prayed about it, though it was a human responding, they responded in prayer to God and that was special. Also, some worship songs don't speak directly to God at all, they're in a different tense as If you were telling someone next to you what you're saying but actually singing it. For example here, the song that said, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, in the shadow of the most high i find rest, my fire by night, my cloud by day," when I sing this, I was not talking to God on my behalf, instead during worship I continued to vision friends and family who I'm sure aren't saved and imagined i was speaking these things directly to them.. sometimes I would even point my finger forwards while in worship like i was singing these beliefs I have in God's work straight to them. So imagine yourself singing to your friends, "Friends, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, in the shadow of my God, the most high, I find rest, friends, He's my fire by night and my cloud by day!"
Once Dwayne who was leading us in prayer during worship asked us to pray together, and once again to pray for those who raised their hands letting us know they had illness. Instantly I thought of the message that's on my xanga here of Jaeson Ma and how he made me realize that God wants us to be very obedient to His word, sometimes God will not show up right away and do something, but regardless of what happens, God does want us to be obedient and to me personally that means, don't stay hesitant, don't stay stagnant, step forward and do it! So both times we're called to do these things, I prayed with Bradley and it was pretty interesting, Brad was shaking and I'm not sure what that was about, but afterwards he exclaimed, "I get it now!" I also prayed for Alyssa, Joel's good friend and some other guy who had something wrong with his knee.. i was a little fumbly with both of them in prayer, but with Bradley it was almost like I had already written my prayer down beforehand and was so sure of every word and asking with a real desire to see it happen... more so than before.. kinda hard to explain.
As far as what they taught us from the scriptures, I was drawn deeper into the verses I'd been meditating for the past few months and also plan to mediatate more so on the Beattitudes in the book of Matthew and the stories in the book of Joel chapters 9&10. I'm now also, firmly convinced that the one thing satan wants to keep us far away from is prayer and that we must punch the devil in his face and really focus on lifting our hearts to God in prayer, i'm also convinced that in doing so God will show us how faithful He is in doing things according to His word and blessing us and others through our lives.. woohoo!
It's interesting though, I see some people who i'm not sure got anything out of the conference, many times I'm hating to make any assumptions, but I believe this is different, it's perhaps that God is waiting for one of us who did get quite a bit from God at the conference to pursue these people and quite possibly new prayer meetings that include them. I'm not going to name anyone, they know who they are. I'm sure though that i'm not going back to some things, and that some branches or things i was doing before I am actively making steps away from them, or cutting them out, I hope all who attended OneThing were challenged by the Holy Spirit to do the same, because we are to continually be in pursuit of a life that greater glorifies God as long as we live!!
Of what I learned, something Dwayne said hit that spot with me. He explained that if we take steps into worship and reading then these steps will lead us into a better prayer life. I know I personally haven't been worshiping and reading every day and i'm sure that's why my prayer life was slowing down a bit. Also they mentioned that we live to worship God.. It's like a half-open fire hydrant(if that's possible): We can give God what we know is not enough and the water will burst out in little streams all around and each stream will slowly begin to vanish as satan tries to screw the cap on the hydrant back in, but if we would go for the most we can give without ruining the other things we believe God has blessed us with, like pursuit of an education, then the hydrant will be fully open and we'll never get weary or slow down because the cap has been blown off! Satan has no hold on us, literally no cap to grab and screw back in on our prayer lives, he's lost his hold on us.. sure the devil can hop in front of the stream and block it from going very far, but that's just part of life in Christ, eventually satan get's his pansy-ass blown away by the force of our water, or our prayer.. our faith etc. (Yes I do dis satan and call him bad names, God explains that we can hate one thing, and that's sin, and satan loves sin, so he get's bashed)
So that's that, I'll update again sometime later. If you want to see a bunch of new pictures of me and friends then go find "Jonathan James" on facebook and look at photos i've been tagged in..
Meanwhile I thought i'd share my favorites and a few new ones i found on my computer recently in this post:
This would be me in a chair with a pattern on it that symbolizes who quote on quote, "Who I really am".. haha:
This is what my hair will look like in a couple more weeks:
This is as far as I got with Photoshop trying to make me look like an african-american person.. haha:
Here I am breakdancing in a clown suit at TCC.. hehe:
Some of my favorites off of facebook:
some how all the minorities.. well Pui was in the front.. so somehow everyone of african-american descent ended up in the backseat.. no pun intended of course:
Today Josh Saintil a brother-like friend of mine bid farewell for likely the rest of the summer. What's interesting apart from the sad truth of the extinction that's taking place in the U.S. of brother-like friends, was that i've always been thinking of certain little/big things as long as i've known and been around Josh, things that I've wanted to ask concerning how he handles certain thoughts and circumstances that we likely both share.. Also I freak out when I imagine what it would be like to not be able to live life and develop friendships with people who aren't living on earth for one reason(to give all glory to God and honor God's gift of life(Jesus the Christ))... what I mean is, nothing compares to fellowship with other Christian brother's, it's on another level that those who live for themselves and the world could never get on without accepting a new life lived for God through faith in Jesus... "get on my level!!??" It's one of the realist experiences in life to live for Jesus with others, you actually learn things about yourself that you would've never noticed otherwise.. like my blunt self.. wanting to tell the flat out truth all the time. In the end, I can't get stuck on such a close friend too bad, I have a friend who enables it all in the first place who deserves more attention. Really though, I hope and cry out to God in prayer for others to accept the truths and promises of the God of Heaven and earth, the fellowship among fellow brothers and sister's in the faith is part of the life source that God provides us with each day to carry out living for Him and just to mature and handle life as it is in general. It's beyond I think every possible desire and fulfillment you could enjoy in life to have friends who are AWESOME, because they actually live according to the true ways Jesus sets out in Holy Scripture.. I'm blown away by the results that spring forth when someone really takes God's Word for what it is.. there is a power, the Holy Spirit, a love-driven power that God instills in us that enables us to interact and love back "no matter what.." and it's to live and die for.. for someone who calls on and desires such a love for God and people.. souls are tied together in Christian friendships because we're living having excepted God's way's which are spiritual in nature and beyond what human flesh can hang with.. It's the deepest conscious awarness and experience ever to walk past the ways in which people in sin live and into Christ-like living with others, one of the best experiences on this side is to be a fellow in fellowship with other's who know and live exclusively by the Creator's standards which are promised to be filled with love from that Creator.. what is it to know the love of God? for yourself? personally? and amongst others? It's more than my human mind ever thought it would ever become.. God deserves praise for this alone, made possible through our reedemer Jesus the Christ..
What is "Love," according to God's Word(Bible, Holy Scripture)???
First(1) Corinthians 13:
-Love never gives up.. (it's called Patience) -Love cares more for others than for self.. (be kind, don't envy) -Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.. (keep your hands to yourself!) -Love doesn't strut.. (don't go being prideful!) -Love doesn't force itself on others.. (don't be rude.. or self-seeking) -Love keeps no record of wrongs.. (get over it, work it out) -Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth.. (God's love guides human delight) -Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.. -Love never fails.. (If it's true love it really never dies, it stays energized)
Wow i'm updating again already.. well I figured it's a good time to update because many things have happened in such a short time span.
We had a get together where we all dressed up.. well I tried to dress up at least.. I wouldn't say I own any real "dress" clothes. Anyways you'll come across some of the pictures from our night out at my friends xanga(http://www.xanga.com/jsaintil).. yes i'm too lazy to post pictures on here myself, sorry.
I'm keeping a daily log now so that I don't forget what happens in my life.. because I noticed that I'm making a lot of false promises and it's messing with me when I tell a person i'm going to call them on such and such day and I never do it. I actually figured out why this phenomenon if you want to call it happens to me and many of us. It's because we STUDY, and our minds begin to suck up book knowledge and kick out everyday circumstantial knowledge; and this idea really hit me the other day when I noticed that yeah, often I can't remember what day it is, or what happened the day before.. yeah, i'd say I have more of an extreme case of this since I study engineering and it's a lot more complicated then say social science will ever be. Problem is I just started this daily log today so now I have to dig deep to remember what happened since the last post I made on here and it's a challenge....
Well Rez week went on March 25-31 and it was at least for me and a handful of other folks who went to many of the get together's, a powerful experience. I've been to Rez Week before, but this time the main message >>Rez Week Message<< struck a cord because though it was loaded with scripture it was also loaded with certain things that related directly too me, like for example Christian Community. I've also been challenged recently by another Rez Week message that was given by Jaeson Ma at the University of Texas:
So I'm trying to work on some projects right now too, I'm doing a Failure Analysis Project on why side longitudinal beams in container ships are breaking and causing oil leaks and I'm making this: part by part and assembling it together with a computer program.
Really that's most of what's happened recently. I've been challenged in Christ to put God first before EVERYTHING. I've also been challenged to cultivate better Christian community and to help FSU's Body of Christ work towards getting a 24/7 prayer house on campus. I've just seen and heard up front the amazing works of God on campuses where all the ministries are united and it has captured me as something we as Christian students need to work towards at FSU. I'll be honest.. my flesh has been and continues to be TERRIFIED of the things i'm pressing towards right now. Whereas the Spirit of God that lives in me has certainly been desiring by way of mind and heart to see me press forward. Everything spoken at Rez Week has been taken to heart by me and this time I'm determined to move forward with other Christians and see God show up on campus as a results of it. The one verse that resonates in me from Rez Week is James 4:8 which says, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts you double-minded." That verse and the idea of repenting for the campus which is something i've never done before but i'm starting to do now.
So i've certainly been challenged over the past few weeks here and you'll be sure to hear about it and you'll be sure to see me wanting to pray with you more throughout the week for the lost, I want to flip the script really and spend more time praying and seeking God together than doing leisure activities.. So don't take it wrong now, I don't want to be a zombie, I still want to work out, and just hang out on a regular basis, but I'm convinced of what it's going to take and convinced that I myself need to press in even more by praying and even fasting for things to change and people to know God through Christ, so therefore I am from now on more interested in talking about spiritual things and praying and making plans according to God's will then I am about making plans to see the next hot movie, I'm convinced from the message that I must place God further into the drivers seat and let all the worldy things I can choose to do be things that I only do when fruit is bearing and God really is moving. That's all for now. Take care people
Got an analogy for these things that are going on with me. It seems i've just taken a bite out of a food but I have no clue what food I bit, but regardless of how it taste i'm not going to spit it out i'm going to chew on it because i'm sure there will be an amazing after taste .. here's a graphical representation haha:
oh yeah this is cool: Stare intently at the very center at the black and after a little you won't see any white dots, move your eyes anywhere else other then the center and you see white dots look in those dots and you see black dots!.. crazyness..
I could share more but I have work to do.. who knows when i'll post again, but until then. God bless.
part by part and assembling it together with a computer program. 
