From North To South

This is a blog post on a blog I created when I decided to move up to Portland Oregon to help start the church Colossae.  I literally haven't posted on this blog for almost three years now, but I figured it would be fitting to take a deeper look into our decision to move back down to San Diego here.

Here is a little recap of the last 6 years first:

• April 10th, 2008 I made the venture to move to Tigard, Oregon to help start Colossae church by leading worship.
• April 2009, Kristen, my friend at the time but now my wife moved to Tigard to also be a part of Colossae church.  (We were friends from college, at this point we weren't dating)
• May 8th, 2010 Kristen and I got married.  We had our wedding in San Diego since that is where both our families are from.
• June 2010, I started the business Greg Helton Photography and began photographing weddings.  I was also bartending and waiting tables at CPK at the time
• September 2011 I quit CPK and started only doing my photography business
• August 2013, Kristen and I found out that we were pregnant (more Kristen than me)
• January 14th, 2014 we officially decided to move back to San Diego

Obviously this is a very brief synopsis of the last 6 years, but it truly all has impact on this next stage of life.

Kristen and I have been very blessed while living in the great Northwest!  There is something so special about the area and our church body.   The tall pine trees, the sun staying out until almost 10pm in the summer time, the fresh air, the gorgeous landscape.  We absolutely love the area and people from up here.  That has not changed, nor do I think it will ever change. 

When we found out that we are going to have a baby, I think this was the biggest catalyst of change that we have seen in our marriage.  The ways that we think, plan, prepare are far different and we now have larger goals that are bigger than ourselves.  As we talked about the future, what would be in store for our family and how we would move forward as a family of three, we began thinking through many different life scenarios and began questioning what steps we need to take to provide for our family and honor God.  If we boiled down our four biggest life goals at this point, it came down to these.

1. Serve and honor God with our lives to the best of our ability
2. Care for and raise our daughter in a way that honors God 
3. Have Kristen be able to stay at home and raise our child rather than having to find child care
4. For me to continue to be able to do my business, which I am so passionate about

So as we really sat and thought about these goals we realized that San Diego was our best opportunity to achieve these all together.  What I had moved to Portland to do, lead the body of Colossae in worship has been completed.  Though I am still heavily involved in the church, I feel that God has laid on my heart that I can serve and honor Him at this time equally well in either Portland or San Diego.  We had an amazing housing opportunity come up in San Diego that would actually save us money (which sounds ridiculous, because who have you ever talked to that moved to San Diego to save money on living expenses?)  When it came to business, though I absolutely love Oregon, only having a 3 month wedding season up here due to the weather has really stifled my ability to grow my business.

Like the majority of my life up to this point, we are making a move based on faith.  Faith that God will provide for our family.  Faith that there are opportunities to serve and honor Him well down there.  Faith that this decision wasn't made hastily but was made while pursuing God's leading.

We have quite the adventure ahead of us and truly have no idea what is in store.  God may bless my business or I may have to give it up completely.  Kristen may get to stay at home or she may end up having to work some.  God may keep us in San Diego forever, or this could be another season of life before the next stop.  All that we know for sure is God is faithful and God is loving!  God will not fail us and this is a promise to us in the bible.

So we push forward onto the biggest adventure of our marriage so far.  Your prayers are much appreciated and we can't wait to see how God uses us and blesses our family.

We move February 18th, 2014

Our baby girl is due March 27th, 2014

Here is to another adventure!

Five Years In Oregon: AKA My Oregon Trail

The phrase "Time Flies" is so commonly used, but it is one that gains more meaning each and every passing year!  It actually baffles me to think that I have spent half of my adult life in Oregon now.  Probably one of the biggest life lessons I have learned since I turned 18 is this:

Setting firm expectations on your life will most often leave you frustrated or exhausted.  True joy and contentment in life comes through putting faith in Christ and trusting the direction of your life in God's hands.  Let's be honest, if God has 20/20 vision, we are blind!

I thought it would be fun to walk you through life since 18 and add some funny photos in the process.

2003 Freshman Year of College at Cal Poly SLO

First things first, in 2003 it was awesome to grow your hair out as a guy.  When you have curly hair, this means your hair just gets poofy...  At 18/19 years of age I started my degree in Materials Engineering where my goal was to graduate college, get an engineering job in the realm of photography making 60k + to start.

2006 Interstate Divide

A year before graduating college, I continued working on my engineering degree but I knew I gained much more joy in playing music than engineering.  This was the point when I was actually thinking hard about pursuing a career in music!  I prayed that if this wasn't the right direction that God would close the door.

2007 God Closed The Door

It didn't take long for the door to be shut!  Soon after that, my college roommates and I were homeless.  Ok, not really, I just needed a filler photo, so this is from the summer before college ended (I think).

2007 Making Hard Decisions

I was set to graduate in December of 2007 and I really had no clue what I wanted to do or really where I wanted to go.  Leading worship had become a big part of my life and I knew I wanted to continue doing that where ever I went.  A good friend and mentor of mine, Pastor James, challenged me with an idea that rocked my world.

"Instead of getting a job and finding a church to serve in, why don't you find a church to serve in and allow God to provide the job."   ~Pastor James

This lead to the crazy idea of helping start a little church in Tigard, Oregon to be called Colossae.

2008 Moving To Oregon

I moved to Oregon with no promise of a job, an engineering degree in a manilla envelope, helping lead worship for a tiny house church with no income and a little bit of savings.  In my mind, I would start doing the worship and that I would immediately find an engineering job.  Not the case...

2008 The Economy Tanks

What a great graduation gift.  "Congratulations on graduating, the economy is terrible, if you get an engineering job you will probably be laid off... Enjoy!"  After a few months of no work, it was time to pay my bills.  With no serving experience I found a new California Pizza Kitchen that was opening up about 40 minutes from where I lived.  I was hired and started serving tables in a job I hoped to keep for 4 months tops as an interim job until the engineering job came through.  It didn't....

2009 Started Dating Kristen

Something unexpected happened and a good friend of mine from college, Kristen Giesenschlag, decided to move to Portland and be a part of Colossae church.  We went from being friends to being engaged in about 8 months.

2010 Married

When I left California, I left everyone I knew behind.  I was blessed by a plan that could have only been God.  We got married in May of 2010 in San Diego with our family and friends, then came back to Portland to start our life together. 

2010 Starting A Business

Just a month after being married and after working still at the restaurant going into my third year, Kristen challenged me to pursue what I loved, which is photography.  June 2010 I started Greg Helton Photography LLC.

2011 Became My Own Boss

September of 2011 I officially quite working at the restaurant and took a leap of faith in focusing on my business.  This has been a big challenge and been both difficult and great.

2013 Five Years In

Here we are, five years later.  So much has changed in my life!  My career path, my marital status, even who I am.  If you had sat me down in 2003 and had me write out a description of my life in 2013, it would have been no where close to what it is today, but I love it!

The real question is, what do the next 5 years hold in store?  Will I still be in Oregon?  Will I still be a business owner?  Life is crazy and ever changing.  I am excited to see what happens next!

 
 
 
 

Sunset

From The Eyes Of A Child

Yesterday after finishing my softball game, I drove home to my apartment in Beaverton. I was alone since Kristen had to work until 9 that evening. As I walked the 150 yards from my conveniently placed garage to the front door of our apartment, i slowly gazed up into cloud ridden sky and noticed through the vast array a seemingly small airplane cruising the evening sky. All of the sudden I was overwhelmed with a sense of nostalgia and the essence of youthful emotion came over me. I remembered for a moment what the bewilderment of a child was like. I remember looking up into the sky as a child and be completely amazed by such a flying vessel and how it fearlessly commanded the vast blue sky. Then I remembered the first time that I was able to fly in an airplane, sitting by the window, eyes glued on the ever changing terrain. The clouds looked like a winter wonderland and the earth looked so small.

As I was bombarded with these nostalgic thoughts I was saddened by the realization of how little I stand in awe of my surroundings. Why do we let ourselves be completely caught up in the everyday commonalities and lose the joy and love of the amazing beauty around us? How do we learn in such a progressive society to not speed up but slow down for a moment and take a look at all that God has created? How do we pursue the majestic and not the mundane? I am convicted and am wondering how I can make myself once again realize the perfection in creation and the beauty in everyday life.


I know this is the first blog post I have done outside of my photography blog in over a year, but I just felt compelled to write this.

2 Years In Portland, 2 Weeks Until Marriage!

Ok, so as is common for me, i haven't updated my blog in forever, this time was about 3 months! All i can say is that a ridiculous amount has happened in the past 3 months. Shoot, my entire engagement process is just over 4 months so I have barely even posted anything about it. You know the story, how we met, how we got engaged, etc. But now we are almost a married couple! Before we go further into that, lets start with the 2 year mark in Portland.

So I believe it was april 1oth, 2008 that I officially made it up to Tigard, Oregon... my new home. I got up here with no idea of what life would be like, what the church would look like and how I would acclimate to the north west. Well now I am 2 years in, have seen 2 full changes of the seasons and am really getting an understanding of Portland. I have to say, I still love it up here! It honestly doesn't matter what the weather brings, there is a new outlook and a breath of fresh air every day. Today for instance was a gorgeous spring day, flowers blooming, 70 degrees out, sun shinning, enjoying wonderful friendships. I am so blessed with what the Lord has provided for me up here and can't believe all the dramatic change that has happened. I came up here and for the first year, struggled with some loneliness and just the desire to find my wife, which by moving up here was one of my ways of giving that desire up to the Lord and trusting in His provision and plan. For the first 3/4 part of the first year, I didn't even see relationship potential and just figured that marriage wasn't going to be something in my near future, but other things were in store. So we get to the beginning of the 3rd week of April last year and Kristen (my now fiance and very soon to be wife) moved up here to join my church body. By may 28th, 2009 we were officially dating. 7 months in, I proposed to here (which, i must admit felt crazy to me. I NEVER thought that I would get engaged so soon or be ready to get married like that. But seeing how she pursues the Lord and how we are going to be able to serve well together here in Oregon and/or wherever the Lord takes us, I knew it was the right decision.

Well there is probably so much i could tell you about the last few months. Spending many days wedding planning, on the phone most days with both of our mothers, or "wedding leazons" if you prefer such a title. There have been up times, there have been down times, stressful times. And as I sit here now, in "my" bedroom, which in 2 weeks will be Our bedroom, i begin to realize the weight and reality of where we are. I'm a few months away from 26 years old, about to be a married man and changing my life in so many ways. It is exciting and scary at the same time. To not only be unified with someone for life, but to give your heart completly, knowing that it will be hurt from time to time but trusting in restoration and our ability to persevere. I find myself trying to balance the load of realizing how HEAVY the actuality of marriage is but also just going into it not being worrisome but realizing the beauty in God's design of marriage. I wish I could say that I have everything figured out and that I know our marriage will be easy and always fun, but I feel I am preparing myself to serve and build up my wife even when things get rough. Engagement can show glimpses of our selfishness, but I think I need to prepare myself to see how selfish I really am and how I am going to daily need to humble myself before the Lord and my wife. I'm excited and i think the thing that scares me the most is the fact that everything is so surreal right now and the fact that I am going to be married in less than 2 weeks really hasn't set in. My buddy eric told me about this book he was reading a while back; i forget the title, but the gist of it was something like "What if marriage wasn't designed for happiness but for holiness". Taking a look at the idea that through marriage, we are able to see our failures so much more and are able to if pursuing the Lord and trying, draw nearer to Him through marriage. This, though not easy and potentially painful at times, will allow us to pursue God better and to commit ourselves more. 2 weeks away: I've still got lots to learn, I don't think I will ever be fully prepared but I am excited to see what God does in our commitment.

I hear the wedding bells ringing

So, I know it has been a while, AS ALWAYS, since i have updated my blog but as would be expected, I have been quite busy planning my wedding. Kristen and I are getting married in 93 days, so things are just flying by and planning takes quite a bit of work. Here is a list of just a few things we have planned/done for the wedding over the last month:

1. Bought a wedding dress
2. Decided on the wedding bands
3. Planned a honeymoon
4. Found the bridesmaids dresses
5. Bought suits for the groomsmen
6. Booked a location
7. Took our own engagement photos
8. Made and sent out save the dates

And there is probably a lot more, but we have kept quite busy with all that and still have much more to go. Here are a few of the engagement photos, hopefully you enjoy.

Life can be quite busy when you have all of this stuff, but it is good. I am very excited for the big day and just honored to be able to marry such a great woman.

Kristen And I Are Engaged!?!?! (This Post Is worth the 2 and a half month wait)

So this is quite surreal for me to be actually making a post about this, and I am actually the one getting engaged. For a while I thought that a movie was going to be made about me called 27 Tuxes for how much weddings I have been in. I constantly joke around about how many people post that they are engaged on facebook; literally sometimes it is daily! For a long time I kind of wondered "when will this be me?" Well I'm glad that I have been patient over the years because I have found an amazing woman, Kristen!

Where to really start in this story.... I feel like I have had so much going through my head over the last month or so, so I guess I will go back to about a month ago. Well, I had known for quite a while, even in college that Kristen was an amazing woman, but over the past several months I have really seen it in how she lives out her life. As we have been living life in community together and been dating, I have just seen how she is such a perfect fit for me and how well we work together. I had been thinking through many things throughout the relationship and just really trying to understand what it looks like to have a truly God revering relationship and when to know that I am ready to get married. After spending more time together and getting to know each others families, I just realized that this is a woman that I would love to marry, so then planning had to begin.

So there I was, finally I had decided that I was going for it... I was going to propose! I had always known that whenever i did propose, it was very important to me to make it a complete surprise and something special. So I had to do a lot of planning and precautions. First thing was first... I needed to find a ring. I knew that Kristen wanted me to pick out a ring without her knowing so I just had to go off of what I knew of her. So I went online and looked through many rings of different styles and narrowed it down to 2 rings. The first was a large center diamond with 2 pear shaped diamonds on the side in a very elegant white gold ring. The second, which is the one I chose had a center raised diamond with channel set alternating diamonds and sapphires in a white gold setting. I ended up deciding that because it was very clean and classic looking but also original that it was the perfect ring for Kristen. So then I needed to know the ring size. Kristen went to work one night, I snuck into her room, grabbed a ring that i was pretty sure fit and took it to a jeweler to get measured. I then placed it back and gave the info to my guy in California, Archie Henderson.

Quick Advertisement: Archie Henderson of Henderson Jewelry in Carlsbad, CA does amazing work, so if you need any jewelry you should definitely check him out!

So, the next part was asking Kristen's Father for her hand in marriage. Being 1000 miles apart, I knew the only way i could ask was over the phone for me to be able to do it without Kristen knowing. So I stealthily stole kristen's phone and got her parents phone numbers out of the phone. I called David (or mr. giesenschlag if you prefer) and asked him in a somewhat awkward but great conversation. I was so blessed to have them give me the go ahead and tell me they are excited about it.

I guess that is enough background: Here is the engagement story. I wanted to make a very special christmasy evening that seemed like a normal date night. So we went to Pick-up Stix for dinner down in san diego (we don't have that in portland, so we missed it). Then I took her to Garrison street in point loma, where the street is DECKED out for christmas, so i wanted her to see the splendor. Next, off to The Hotel Del Coronado. This was her first time down there, and christmas time is the perfect time to check it out. We walked through and saw all the beautiful decorations and then watched people falling on the outdoor ice skating rink. We left there to go to the final spot. As we were driving to the last spot we had the "Remember the Titans" Cd playing in the background and I think that it was the perfect pump up music for me. There is a little park on the edge of coronado overlooking the San Diego bay and with a beautiful view of the San Diego Skyline. We walked over to a bench where I handed Kristen a somewhat large wrapped box, which I told her was an early Christmas present. When she opened it up, she realized it was a Photo book that I had made for her that had "A Book Of Memories" written on the front with a picture of us together. The book has a bunch of photos of us and adventures we have gone on throughout the relationship, for the most part in cronological order. As she turns through it I await somewhat nervously, for I know what the last page had in store. As she turns to the last page, there was a picture of me down on one knee with ring box in hand in front of a christmas tree with the caption "The Memories have only just begun". As she turned to this page, i got down on one knee and proposed. She said yes and with a big smile on her face, gave me a huge hug. It was truly a special moment!

One last surprise was in store for Kristen. After we started driving home, we continued to talk about the night and my sneakiness, and when we arrived at my parents house, waiting there was my parents, my grandma, my sister, brother in law and nephew, my bud dustin and his wife courtney, Kristens parents, her sister and niece, and her friend amanda and husband aaron. We had a great little celebration and was truly the perfect end to an amazing night. I have been truly blessed to be dating Kristen and now I am lucky to be able to say she is my future wife! Below are some pictures from the day including the last picture of Kristen as a pre-engaged woman. Unfortunately, we have no pictures of the proposal itself, but we will remember it forever!

2 Months, A New Record!!!!

Ok, if it wasn't official before, it is definitely official now that I am not a blessed blogger... Or at least I am just not a motivated blogger. Man, it seems like every time that I want to be more eager about keeping up with the blog, i just fall away from it again and again. Oh well. Let me try to give you a two month synopsis! Lets see what events have occurred since the last time I've blogged.

1. Josh Dean Married Sarah Shryock (Dean). This was a great wedding down in Silverado, CA (which is basically just in the hills of orange county). That wedding was a ton of fun! Kristen and I got to go down and hang out with SD for a week with our families and then got to enjoy an amazing time with a lot of college friends that we hadn't seen in a while. I was a groomsman in the wedding and got the chance to sing the song "True Love" by Phil Wickham during communion. It was a truly beautiful event and I was stoked to be able to go! Oh ya, and I also caught the Garter.... don't read into anything =)
2. Jacob Stoesz and Katey Schroeder (Stoesz) Wedding! Two weeks later, I was a groomsman in my old college roommates wedding, Mr. Jacob Stoesz! This one was in Pismo Beach, just 15 minutes away from good old San Luis Obispo. This wedding and the events surrounding it was quite nostalgic as I hadn't been to slo in almost a couple years. Pretty weird feeling but it was great seeing a bunch of my old roommates and friends! This wedding was less formal, and was a ton of fun! I got to hang out with a lot of people but the trip was like 3 days (because I had already spent so much money and time for the other wedding).
3. I Saved A Bunch Of Money On My Car Insurance By Switching To 25 Years Of Age! On september 26th, I offically became an old man... I can no longer claim to be in my "early" 20's anymore... I am officially in my mid twenties and goodness gracious, i can already see 30 pearing around the corner so mischieviously. My birthday was pretty awesome. Kristen planned a whole day out up in seattle. She picked me up in the morning, we went to these Locks in seattle (where they raise and lower boats by making a water blockade) it was a really cool sight and we had a picnic at a park there. Then we went to the Experience Music Project museum, FOR FREE, because it was Museum day randomly. Finally we spent some time down at Pike Market and got dinner at the waterfront. Overall it was a great day!
4. Designed And Built A Soundbooth! I had been planning on putting a soundbooth in the church to better contain all of the sound equipment and computer stuff, especially since we are allowing a bunch of other groups to use our church building. So i spent some time, got out my engineering drafting tools, and drafted up a design for a soundbooth, got out a bunch of tools including some new powertools my parents got me for my birthday, and put about 20 something hours into building this booth, and I must say, i'm quite proud of it! It came out pretty good!
5. A Pursuit Of The Photographic Nature. I have decided that I am going to start trying to do photography on more of a semi-professional level. I have been adding equipment to my arsenal and am really hoping to be able to start doing more portrait photography, maybe even doing some wedding photography. I don't know If I really want to make this my career but I just enjoy doing photography so I am working with it right now.

So there is probably much more that has been going on within the last couple months but I feel like that gives you a good idea of what has been going on in my life. God is good and I am stoked on where things are headed. There have definitely been challenges, including a 5 month struggle of understanding my housing situation, figuring out whether I need to move, trying to find a roommate, having to move, then just figuring all these things out but God continues to be faithful. There is no end to this story yet, but there should be within 3 weeks. I hope all is well, God Bless!

Who Am I Trying To Kid

So, I feel like I continually lie to you all and I apologize... I have realized that blogging is probably the first and easiest thing to neglect once life gets busy. For about a month my schedule has been as follows:

Monday: work from 11:30 til 3ish, then play a softball game for the mens league i joined at night
Tuesday: The beginning of my weekend, the one day I have completely open
Wednesday: I am off of work this day as well which i usually get some stuff done then have community group at night
Thursday: I work at 4pm until about 10pm
Friday: I work from about 3pm until 11pm ish
Saturday: Work from 5pm until 12am
Sunday: Get up at 7am, get to church at 8am, at church until noon, get lunch and hang out until about 2, work from 3pm until 9pm, relax a little bit then sleep to start the next week

I think what makes things so difficult about this schedule is that I only have one night a week open to plan stuff which usually gets filled up pretty quick, either meeting up with friends or having a date night with Kristen. Those afternoons before work seem to fill up so quickly as well. But i am enjoying life! I just wish i didn't have a lack of evenings, which is when most people are actually able to hang out.

So lets see, what has been going on in life... I've got a couple weddings coming up at the end of this month and beginning of september so i have been looking forward to those! Both are in california, so it is going to be an expensive time, but very enjoyable! Kristen and I will be spending a week in SD area to see family and go to one of the weddings, so that will be a blast.

Here are some pictures from the last month or soSome of the Colossae girls having fun with sparklers on the 4th of July

Yay for the 4th of July
This is in July when my parents came up to portland to visit. We went to the Japanese gardens
Here they are at the rose gardens!
We went to the aquarium down in newport oregon, on the coast. Crazy Jellyfish!
Kristen enjoying being under thousands of gallons of water and crazy sharks!
Kristen and I went on a dress up date downtown portland, and went to a great sushi restaurant!
Finally this is just one picture i took from community group of my crazy little friend Charlie (He loves his food that is for sure)

A Tale Of The Absent Blogger....

Ok, I am really terrible with keeping up on this blog and I apologize. Man, life gets busy and it is something that I just don't think of. I will make it a goal of mine to start keeping up on it. I do have some cool stuff coming up including: Parents coming up to Portland, 4th of July Festivities (which i may not get to do if my work double keeps me at work too late), then wedding season.

So lets get in my time machine, go back to this last month and take a glance at what has gone on. Lets see... well i have been dating Kristen now for just over a month and that has been great! This last friday was Kristen's birthday and so i planned a surprise adventure day to the coast since she hadn't been out there yet. Picked her up at 10:30 and then drove out 26 west, starting out in Ecola state park. This truly showed an amazing view of Cannon beach and haystack rock.It is a pretty beautiful coastline. Then here is a picture of Kristen with the beautiful viewpoint behind her.
After we left there we went into cannon beach and hung out in the little city there. We had lunch at this cool little tavern which i actually ate at probably a year ago with my buddy kyle. After lunch we got back in the car and headed north to Astoria! Yes, this is where the movie the Goonies was filmed and I really think it is cool up there. A very old city that is sort of San Francisco esq as it is a very hilly community. This magazine mentioned the Astoria Column was a must see thing so we went up to the highest point of Astoria to check it out.So there was approximately 163 steps going round and round up the center of that column that we climbed to see the amazing panoramic views from the top. I'm not going to lie though, coming down those stairs quickly going in circles over and over made both Kristen and I start to get motion sick, hahaha. Maybe someone will pay to put in an elevator soon =). On the left side of the last photo you can see a bridge that is somewhat Golden Gate esq, that bridge is actually 4 miles long and spans accross the Columbia River to get to Washington. It is a really fun bridge so I drove us accross that and we saw a sign for a place in Washington called "Cape Dissappointment", so with a name like that, we couldn't turn down such an adventure. We drove for about 20 minutes or so to get down to this place and look at each other and ask "what the heck is this place supposed to be?" Don't get me wrong, it was a pretty drive but this place lived up to its name... we left dissappointed. After a long day of adventuring we decided to take the 2 hour drive back home to Tigard. Got some chinese food, played some darts, relaxed and called it a day.

Lets see, what else has gone on in the last month.... I am still playing softball in my mens softball league every monday night which has been a lot of fun. We still haven't won a game and are in a league where guys have been together in their teams for 10 plus years but non the less we are having fun and are finally getting more competitive. I am just happy that getting out there after not really playing baseball or softball for probably 15 years that I am still decent (not great, but still a little athletic). This upcoming monday we are playing the only other team who hasn't won a game so we will soon find out who is the worst team in the league, and you better believe we are going to battle this one to the death.

Lastly, I'm just realizing these days a blessed I am by the community of my church. There are some really cool people in this body and this is the first church i have been a part of as an adult where I feel truly like we are living in community together, sharing burdens and joys. I love sharing meals every wednesday and just a cool place to be with people and be mutally blessed. God is still doing cool stuff in our church body. It is now summer, so weekend attendance is hit or miss right now with all the vacations and whatnot but It has been going great. Worship is still going very well and I love the freedom I have to lead this congregation in worship.

Life is good!

Distant Friends Are Like A Rain Cloud In San Diego: You Don't See Them Often, But When You Do They Bring Life And Joy!

So that is probably the longest blog entry title I have ever made, but I just thought I would do it. I have been blessed over the last month to have some of my friends from my past visit in Portland. Two of my college roommates: Jake and Travis, both came up here for different reasons this last month and it is such a blessing to hang out with people who have been such a part of your life and then due to distance are so separate. I had a great time hanging out with them and know that they are both truly such a part of my life, as are everyone else who i left in California. This summer looks to bring a lot of friends up to this area for a visit which I am very excited about, this is always a great thing!

Well, once again it has been a month or more since my last blog post and this is simply unacceptable... Of course so much has happened and is happening as time flies by, but I don't really take time to sit down and think about it, let alone blog about it. First of all, God is continuing to move in astounding ways in the body of Colossae and I am excited to see how these things grow us as a body. We had a sermon out of Ecclesiastes a couple of weeks ago which was entitled "It is best when bad things happen". This was taught from Chapter 6-7 and was looking into how Solomon teaches how hardship and "bad" things truly allow us to grow and build us into the people that God desires us to be and calls us to. We are starting to experience some hardships and pains within the body of our church but seeing how God can use pain to draw us near and build us up.

Worship is still going very well. A guy from our church named Jeremy has joined my worship "band" playing Djembe. (If this word boggles your mind, it is basically like a large bongo drum). It has been a great addition and it is exciting to see growth in this ministry. I'm overjoyed with how God is taking this and how he is moving.

WORK: I am still at CpK and though it can be excruciatingly frustrating at times, God is blessing me financially there and it is still going well for me. I am starting to realize that something I haven't been utilizing is some of the free time that I have from working a restaurant job to do stuff like work on Photography skills and music development. I talked to someone at church last week who came for the first time and I might look into doing a little photography to make some money, which if I did, I would use it to buy more equipment so that I could be a better photographer. The other day i decided to just go downtown and take some pictures by myself. Here are a few, I love downtown Portland, it is beautiful!






One last thing I wanted to talk about, which is kind of exciting is that I am actually dating someone now! If you have known me long enough, this is kind of crazy because I have been very patient and have been waiting quite a while but I feel that God has put this girl in my life for a reason and I feel blessed to have the opportunity to be in a relationship with her. Her name is Kristen and we actually went to college together down in San Luis Obispo. Well she ended up moving up here to Portland to be a part of Colossae Church and to try something new. Her heart for the Lord is astounding and I am just stoked to be able to date. So we will see what God does from here, but it is a pretty fun place to be in.

Other than all that, I can't think of too much else that is new... Just living La Vida Loca. I hope to see ya'll soon!

I Shot The Sheriff, But I Did Not Shoot The Deputy

(This Blog is being written whilst listening to Lovedrug and enjoying a cold Wingwalker Amber Ale)

Hello Cyber-world, I often neglect thee.... So I am trying to get better about this whole blogging thing, ergo this time it has only been 2 weeks since the last time I blogged. Nothing too paramount has come up since the 1 year anniversary other than truly realizing how blessed I am to be up here. You know when you are in something or doing something and you just don't take time to step outside of it and look in to see what you are a part of? Well I feel like I am just starting to step out and see how blessed I have been to be a part of this body of believers in Colossae. The closeness of this community is so unique and I am just amazed at how God has brought so many different and unique people together to serve together and work toward one purpose. It is still surreal to me that one year ago we were in a house with 20 people sitting in a circle on some couches and chairs.

One thing that is challenging is after a while of having things together is trying to stay continuously intentional and always seeking opportunity to serve and get outside of our "Busy Life". I am perplexed by this Diachotomy that we call routine: routine helps me to work well, structure my weeks and stay organized, while it also promotes laziness and a lack of desire to branch out. Shoot, as I sit here writing this the idea comes into my head of potential realization. "Am I still in this serving job because of the lack of routine that it gives me?" or "Is there structure in lack of routine?" some interesting Ideas, shoot I don't know the answers, haha.

So, I once thought that Carlsbad was SO unique with their flower fields; coastal hillsides adorned with multi colored floral arrangements. Well I just found out how impressive a 40 acre field of tulips is in oregon! here are a few pictures to visually explain.It was quite a sight to be out there and see all these ridiculous tulips. Kind of beautiful. I still am not a flower lover like my father, but they are very photogenic and I know that he loves them so I like to take pictures of them.

Next item on the agenda: SOFTBALL LEAGUE. So I joined a slow pitch softball league with some men from my church and some of our co-workers. We started practicing for the season 3 weeks ago and last night was our first real game! We were excited but also knew that the division that the league put us in may be a little above our skill level, since many of us hadn't played since little leagues. Well we got out there last night, and our hunch was right. I think the final score was about 30 to 1.... We scored our only run in the 5 inning right before they Mercy Ruled us, which for those who don't know what that means, they stopped the game because we were getting beat too badly. Well, looks like we have some work to do. I actually decided to go Gung Ho about it and start doing physical conditioning and training. I started a gym regiment today that will hopefully become 5 days a week. I figure, if we aren't good now, i might as well be in great shape and work my butt off to help the team. (lets see how long this actually lasts) but I am even changing my diet up, trying to get healthier.

Well there isn't much more going on here, just been working quite a bit and doing church stuff. God is good and life is good!

Ps. You should probably visit portland, because it is pretty legit!

My One Year Anniversary!

So truthfully, I don't really even know where to start on this blog entry. I just went back and re-read some of my initial blog entries from when I moved up here last april. It is amazing how some of it is so vivid in my mind and some of it is a blur. I think about it and I am like, WOW, I moved up here and truly only really knew like 1 person up here. I was lonely, jobless and curious to what God would have in store for me. The one thing I come back to over and over is just a realization of God's Sovereignty.

I was just talking with Aaron Chesnut from our church tonight at an Easter gathering we had at their house about the Sovereignty of God and the idea of God's Will. We were discussing the idea that without truly giving everything up to God and trusting Him, you can't see His will fully in your life. I can't believe how different my life up here has been than I imagined it. I sort of felt like when i moved up, a beam of light would pierce the rainy clouds and shine down, showing me the perfect job. Finances would be easy, church would be perfect, I would find a wife immediately, you know, everything Ideal. Well, of course that isn't how things went down. I couldn't find an engineering job, so I have been serving tables at California Pizza Kitchen for almost a year now, which has been good, challenging, frustrating, tiring and many more emotions mixed together. But I understand why we have trials and how much we grow and learn through trusting in God.

Something that I have noticed by living here for a while now is that maintaining friendships and life from california is much harder. There are lots of weddings coming up of good friends, and I am going to have to turn some down which is hard for me. On top of that, friendships that you thought would last, just begin to fade and you lose contact with people... but alas, this is life.

I think I could write about the last year for hours so I am going to try and wrap this up. This part of my life has definitely been an adventure and I am enjoying growing in my faith and learning what it means to truly live out my faith. God is continually faithful and I am more than excited to see what year 2 brings! Thanks to everyone for their love and support of me!

The Land Of The Sun

So I went and visited my family in San Diego for the last week of march. It was quite a nice trip, to be able to go get a little sun and see the fam. It had been 5 months since the last time I saw everyone and lets just say, especially in the case of my nephew matthew, it was long overdue. My nephew has grown so much from 1 year old to 17 months. It was crazy. He can run around, he can say some words now as well. It is so stinking cute. For instance, he can say "no no no", "on" which comes out more like "non". He likes to say "doggy" and a bunch of other things. This was a great week though, that wasn't exactly too relaxing but a lot of fun hanging out with family and friends non-stop. Of course, to my demise, the last day of my venture I got sick. This made the plane ride home today not too fun. Luckily i didn't have to use one of those fun little bags in the seat compartment ahead of me, but I did pray continually that God would keep that from happening because I definitely felt like i could have.As you can see, matthew is still a majorly cute kid. I got to hang out with him every day. I had a great time with the family and over all it was just an amazing time!

It has been over a month since i have written on here, so there is probably a lot more than just my trip to San Diego. We have been in the new church building for a little while now and are getting acclimated to being there. I am starting to get all the technical things figured out and it has been amazing. This sunday was my first sunday away from the church in 10 months and I think that was a blessing in a way because I can look and see how I missed it and the people in the body. God is continually moving and I think we are in a spot that can be tough. That is, we have been here for almost exactly a year and it is easy to get in a rut and just become complacent or just be used to routine, so now I especially need to focus on continually growing and progressing with the body. To continually come back to this idea of "embracing the hope that I say that I have in Christ".

Life is good, sometimes a little tricky and confusing. But God is continually sovereign and is the source of true joy.

Colossae Has A Building!

This is the room in front of the sanctuary where we gather, hang out and on this day eat food.





Another picture of the gathering space and the kitchenette


A picture from the sound booth of our sanctuary

Another picture of the sanctuary
The front of our building