Kony, Sin, and Justice

I believe that everyone that has been on Facebook in the last 24 hours has heard of Joseph Kony and his slave soldiers made up of abducted Ugandan children. If you have not heard of it and/or have not seen the video about him, check it out here.
First, I would like to congratulate the brave work of Jason Russell in his work with Invisible Children. Secondly, I would like to make a statement that may seem harsh (especially to my liberal Christian friends) but, in my opinion, the Ugandan Army should not be looking to arrest Kony but they should be on a mission to wipe him off the face of the Earth trough execution. (This is the part where half of the readers gasp and grimace at my "cruel" words.) Honestly, the death penalty is not an "un-Christian" thing to do. The Old testament talked a lot about capital punishment and the New Testament never disagrees. Now you may be tempted to say that Jesus disagreed with capital punishment when he saved the woman that was caught in adultery but all Jesus was doing there was showing the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. (Where was the man that was caught with her?) Yes, there are many of Old Testament laws that were cultural but even God would command His own people to slaughter blasphemers and He Himself would consume people by the thousands. If you still disagree with me, then read this article and see if they are more convincing.
Lastly, would just like to touch on a little bit of theology, since that's always fun! When we look at Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, and, recently, Joseph Kony, we see these horrible men and we cannot believe how evil they are. We despise their names and would never even imagine naming our kids Adolf, Saddam, or Kony (probably Joseph though). We see them as the worst of the worst and we could never even imagine being like them, but that is not the truth. Yes, they are extremely evil but so are we. We are as depraved as each one of those guys. Romans 3 quotes a passage in Psalms that says, 

None is righteous, no, not one;

 no one understands;

 no one seeks for God. 

All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

no one does good,

not even one.”

“Their throat is pan open grave;

they use their tongues to deceive.”

“The venom of asps is under their lips.”

“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”

“Their feet are swift to shed blood;

 in their paths are ruin and misery,

 and the way of peace they have not known.”

“There is no fear of God before their eyes 

This passage describes all of humanity without God. Now, before you get out a quick list of good things you have done let me tell you that, "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf,and like the wind our sins sweep us away." (Isiah 64:6)
If you want to know what this state of our humanity is called, it is Total Depravity. Here is a video describing this biblical teaching.

I hope that people join together to stop Kony and I pray that the Holy Spirit will work to stop me and you from sinning.

God bless you,

Erick Lima

p.s. Live Radically

A Poem While You Wait

While you wait (if you even are waiting) for my video poem to come out, I decided to give you this poem to keep you thinking. Enjoy!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's day,

Love's flying away,

On wings,

Bringing me back an unexpected nothing,

Noting to lose and everything to gain,

Single as a dollar and not looking for change,

Repping only one as long as rappers stay the same,

Or until love empties a mag of hollow point .45 caliber bullets up in my brain,

Talk about shell shocked,

My mind's rocked by 9's and glocks of locks of hair,

Pretty girls that roll eyes and don't even care,

Don't even give a man a chance,

Saying "I don't want a boyfriend, but I really want to dance"

So what? You don't want relationship but wouldn't mind unzipping your pants?

C'mon girl!

There's more to life than this world,

More to love than the fourteenth of february,

and if commercialism is your idea of love then that's scary,

Maybe I'm single cause I'm just not ready,

Not yet a man, not yet steady,

Not yet capable, so broken up that I'm not duct-tapeable,

Maybe the fourteenth is a reminder to keep getting better,

To quit changing feelings like the weather,

To stop sinning like it's whatever,

To bust a Bieber and never say never,

Never say "I can't" or "I will not"

But rather keep mixing as long as the mixture's hot,

Now I'm sorry to you husbands, wives, girlfriends, and and boyfriends,

But I'm not getting together with anyone till I cut off some loose ends,

Till I get around the bend and I see past the trends that tend to mend lost souls together,

I want to be a man for my wife so we'll be united forever,

Valentine's Day may be fun for you but not yet for me,

So you fix you and I'll let God fix me

New poem

I finished writing a poem a week ago but I wanted to record it so it would be more realistic and deeper to you guys. I want to record it soon, before I start working next week, so let's see how that goes.

God bless you,
Erick Lima

p.s. Live Radically

Funny Vlog of the Week

Why you should ALWAYS go for the ugly girls!

I found this video to be surprisingly funny and slightly true haha
Click on the link to see what I mean.

I Got My Fixie and a Job!

My dreams are starting to take shape wonderfully the longer I live. I recently got hired at Starbucks, a franchise that highly respects its employees and gives them many perks, and I just bought my brakeless (yikes!) fixed gear bike (aka fixie).
I'm looking forward to my first job experience and the money I will make that I will be sure to save for my future manual Honda Civic and another fixie.
I'm also looking forward to modding my fixie and making it my own by changing the rims, handlebars, crankset, and adding lights to it. I also want to learn how to do tricks on my fixie. I guess I'll learn by practicing downstairs in my garage where it's so smooth that my tire doesn't burn off when I skid!
I can't wait to get really good at it!

Oh! I also got my driver's license in the mail two days ago! Woohoo! Surprisingly, I still haven't gone on the freeway yet because there always seems to be a reason why I can't go on it. Oh well! It'll happen in time and I know I'll be fine because Jesus drives for me and through me :)

Steez- Style With Ease?

     

     So I was thinking about style today and it got me thinking about perception. How can one person say, "That's cool" and be right? To me, style is a lot like art in a sense: there are a lot of things that are currently trending and if you copy the modern style, it will most likely be acceptable, but if you try to be creative and do something totally different people may hate it or they may love it. Your influence is also determined by your status in society. That's a little frustrating because there are a lot of good artists out there that just can't get any recognition because they aren't famous. And there are also a lot of trash artists that get a lot of recognition because they are already famous. This is where you get those moments where you see a painting of a red square that was sold for $100,000,000 and you're just like "WHAT?!?! I could have done that!!" But the truth is: you are not famous so what you do doesn't really matter to "them."
     Anyways! Sorry for my rant. I get quite worked up about that issue. Soooo.... back to the style! I wanted to share with you a poem that I wrote today about style:

Style

Your views are always changing

Writing then erasing

But I can't understand how you still have people chasing

They chase after you

And I must admit I've chased after you too

But you can't understand the pain I feel

Always having to buy new clothes just to prove that I'm real

"Look at that sale! Those prices are a steal!"

They say they have a passion for fashion

But why, if not even diamonds are everlasting?

So my views about you are gonna change

What I wrote I will erase

You, I will no longer chase

If you're here, that's cool

But if not, you're a fool

I value myself more than you

You should be chasing after me dude

Because I'm not like you, Style

 You're superficial like closets but my thoughts go on for miles

And, Style, I'm signing off today

So you can throw your propaganda away

     The intention I had in writing this poem was to get people to understand that style is extremely superficial. There is more to life, yourself, relationships,society, and beauty than just what clothes or accessories you have on. I hope that you related to this and if you didn't, maybe you know someone who might, if so, share this with them.

God bless you, 

Erick Lima

p.s. Live Radically

What Is poetry?

What spoken word is -Slam

What is a word spoken on a stage
What is a line written down
What is a mind open on a page
What is a sentence beyond verbs and nouns
What. Is. Poetry?
Is it like a walk in the park where stimuli is received and it's decoded so it can be perceived? Like feet walking in cadence and your feet take you on a voyage that's maiden?
Is poetry like a fight where right jabs pierce your heart, where heavy words leave a scar, lines like punches hit you like a book but you only remember the hook? Like that initial bumping of the chest with your head turn sideways and arms go crazy like 405 freeways?
Or is poetry like the unpredictable path of a sugar crazed preschool kid looking for more candy, and when it gets that chocolate rhyme then everything is just dandy... for now
Because then its too late, that sugarholic, toy braking, 5 year old, knee-scraping, screaming, cry faking, chocolate mess, has a pencil date with fate
And those rhymes push accelerate and have no understanding of brakes, and you may try to e-brake but your mind is too curious about what it could make, so you raise the stakes, as your brain races and speeds past 208 thoughts per second and then in a second, you crash and just take a look at the wreckage
Spoken word is all that and more to me,
Because in my writing Jews were never killed and Africans were always free
Strangers are never danger but a lesson waiting to be
Paraplegics can walk and blind people can see
That's what poetry means to me
They make my happy but also make me nervous
And I think is this trash or is this really worth it?
I struggle on wether or not I'm revealing to much
To the point where it gets awkward like a stranger's hand grazing your butt
Sometimes, these poems are like stares that never end
That stare from a stranger, not a friend
That state that gets you thinking "is he looking at me?"
And you look back and see a wall behind you so you think "this guy is crazy"
See these poems are like stairs that never end
And these stairwells and obstacles blend
And make it hard to climb
So you hold onto the rail and pull for one more rhyme
See, These poems are not meant to be understood, because these poems are change and change is complicated but good
Not always as simple as getting guns out of the hood
Or occupying Wall St. for the 99%
Because to them you're all dollars and cents
And so their kind sentences are pretenses and the pretend but they're senseless
See poetry lets you go off on rants
Cause the paper always listens even when your friends can't
So stop bullying an stop fighting
And Pick up a pen and start writing

The Beautiful princess

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess named Princess Christina.
She had beautiful eyes and magnifent hair. She was also envied by many people. She had a beautiful dress that made her invisible. She put it on one day and walked around town and heard people speaking badly about her. So she decided that she would runaway.
She went off to a distant land and began her life there. She was loved by everyone there.
One day a man from her old kingdom came into that town that she now lived in. He saw her and recognized her to be his long lost princess. He saw how everyone loved her so he began to love her too (before he used to despise her). He brought her back to her kingdom with the newsgroup the people. He told about how she was so loved there and how kind she was now.
And after everyone heard the story they began to love her as well. They saw how much she had "changed." But her father saw her and he said that she hadn't changed at all. She was still the same "Princess Christina."
The princess got so infuriated with the people's hypocrisy that she left her kingdom again and went back to her old life because she didn't want to live in a place where the people loved her with a love that is only based on the views of others.
The moral of this story is that: people will not always like you for who you are but once they see that other people like you, their "feelings" toward you change . So don't ever think to highly about what others think about you. Be yourself and surround yourself with people that love you for that :)

Interviews and Jobs

Well, as you may know, I got my license this week but unfortunately I am still in need of a job, just like many of you that are reading this post. But I realized something important in my ongoing endeavor to find a job; you need a lot of persistence and determination. You may even have to wake up at 4 in the morning to go to Starbucks to talk to the manager for 30 seconds and then leave (which is what I did today). But I know that if I keep working at it I will get the job and God will be glorified. Now that I've been enlightened about some biblical doctrine, I can really see that my life in Jesus is far from futile and is exactly what He wants it to be. He will work all these things for my good and, ultimately, for His glory.

God bless you,
Erick Lima

p.s. Live Radically

Licenses and Pee... Winning!

Well I think we all have faced many challenges in our lives and so I decided to write about my recent challenged and overcame. 
If you are over the age of 18 the chances are that you have your license (If you don't have it, that's okay. God has grace for that.) :) So if you do have your license, then you definitely remember when you took your driving test and how stressful and/or exciting it was. My test was yesterday at 8:15 a.m. and the funny thing is that I went to bed at three in the morning. I woke up at seven but I, surprisingly, wasn't sleepy at all. The excitement was too great to let my dysania (The state of finding it hard to get out of bed in the morning) keep me down. 
Before arriving at the Arleta DMV, I prayed and implored God to give me concentration to pass the test but I also told him that whether I pass or not, it would be fine. I heard of so many people that failed the first time that I really believed that I was going to fail but I knew that I would pass the second time.
I also heard about this mean Hispanic lady with curly hair that was really mean and I feared that I would get her but thankfully, I didn't. It was a sweet chocolate woman with braids.
Anyways, the test went smoothly and afterwards the woman said the most silky smooth words ever, "You passed." I felt like I was going to blow up because of all the excitement inside as I tried to keep my cool so as not to scare the lady with my awesome SWAG moves!
This has been my biggest victory since the time that I was able to pee 7 FEET AWAY FROM THE TOILET!!!

Another good piece of news to those that know about soccer and to those that aren't stupid [i.e. Real Madrid fans (just kidding, but seriously, stop liking that team.)] the best soccer team in the world beat their rivals today. I don't even think that Real Madrid should be called Barca's rivals if all Barca does is whoop on them! Maybe one day, Real Madrid can be HALF as good as Barca, but I doubt it.

God bless you,
Erick Lima

p.s. Live Radically

Tragedies and Fixies

Ever since I threw the Black Stallion (my old bike) away, my only mode of transportation has been the bus. And now that I've earned some money from this blog, I want to buy a fixie. I obviously don't have the money for it right now but I'm saving up and I'm looking for a job. It's tough not having a means by which to go places. Everything starts to seem further and further away. I feel that I will be limited to this state of quasi immobility for an undetermined period that will definitely be longer than I would wish. I am very hopeful for the near future.

God bless you,

Erick Lima

p.s. Live Radically 

Grace Upon Grace

I can't believe I am where I am right now. I never thought that He would show me this the way He did.
I can't believe I always "knew" grace but never knew. (And when I say "grace" I am talking about two things at the same time.) I always heard the word "grace", I knew what it meant, and I used it when talking about God but I never really believed in it subconsciously. This is the first "grace" I am talking about. God has really shown me what Grace means, and the way He did it was remarkable and astonishing. To get me in a position where He could hit me with the understanding of grace, He showed me how sinful I am and how much He HATES sin and sinners. Now before you say "Woah, God doesn't hate sinners, just the sin" let me ask you something. Have you read Psalms 5:5?

"The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers."

You can't blame him. We are, by nature, His enemies and we naturally despise the God that gave us life.

"no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one." (Romans 3:11, 12 ESV)

If Christ Jesus is not your savior then you are an enemy of the Almighty God, Lord Most High, Judge of all the Nations and you will be punished for all those things your conscious told you not to do. I tell you this so you won't remain ignorant but rather perspicacious, knowing the truth of God.
The good thing is that if you trust in Him, you will receive forgiveness through the blood that was spilled by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords through his death on the cross, if you have faith.
THAT is true grace! And I never really understood it until now. God loves everyone with a common grace, as in He makes it rain on the just and the unjust, but He also hates them but He offers salvation from the very wrath they deserve. THAT IS AN AWESOME THING! I never knew THAT grace until now and I pray that He will always remind me of it.

The second "grace" I'm talking about is less serious in importance, nevertheless it is still important to me and a lot of people. This "grace" is Grace Community Church. I used to drive by there all the time but I never knew anything about it. It wasn't until God revealed Reformed Theology to me that I actually had the desire to know more about this church and their pastor, Dr. John MacArthur. I am so blessed to live by such an amazing church and have the capabilities to listen to any sermon of Dr. JMac's anytime I want. I can see God doing many things in me by the means of Grace Community. Praise God!

God bless you,
Erick Lima

p.s. Live Radically

Tribute to Tebow

You may not know this but when Mrs. Tebow was pregnant with Timothy Richard "Tim" Tebow the doctors told her to abort because she had a life threatening infection. But she decided to have the baby anyways. 
Now because of her choice, millions of people have helped and positively affected by Tebow's life and his charity work via the Tim Tebow Foundation. 
He may not play for the team you like, he may not have the same beliefs, his actions on the football field may even annoy you but you have to credit his drive, determination, and values. 
If you didn't know, Tim Tebow is a also a virgin and is waiting till marriage to have sex. He values relationship, marriage, and sexual intimacy more than any average person. That is a commendable thing since this generation is so perverse. 
Tebow acts as salt, preserving the values of a Christian, and as a light, showing others how to walk in a pure manner in the midst of sinful people that live according to the will of the flesh and the will of man. 
I applaud Tebow for his bravery and steadfastness. God bless you, Tim.

God bless you,

Erick Lima

p.s. Live Radically

Old Apple Commercial- Jerk It Out

Applying for Shadow

I applied to so many places today. I applied to four CVSs, three Costcos, and one Ralph's and I went into one of each to show my face and make my presence known to them. I left my house, located at around Roscoe and Sepulveda, and I walked down to Sherman Way in uncomfortably, good-looking shoes for about 1.5 miles. When I got to the CVS the manager said, "I'm sorry but we're not hiring at the moment." Needless to say, I was upset, but only temporarily because I was listening to JMac (John MacArthur) preaching about how to study the Bible and how to pray. It was amazingly insightful. That man is definitely anointed by God.
After my sad encounter with CVS' cruel manager, I waited for the bus at the corner of Sherman Way and Sepulveda so I can take the bus up to Victory Blvd. The bus came and I arrived there quickly. I walked into the Costco there and asked to see the hiring manager. The person I talked to, probably an associate, said that they weren't hiring. I was already upset about CVS shooting me down so I just left and didn't turn back. I had one more place to go: Ralph's. It was on the corner of Burbank and Van Nuys so I decided to walk from Costco so I can go to Burbank and take the bus to Van Nuys. But I found out that there is no bus from Sepulvda to Van Nuys on Burbank. So I called my mom and she had just gotten out of work and was by the area. So she told me to wait for her and I did but while I was waiting I saw something amazing!
The beautiful bike you see in this blog: her name is Shadow. She's astonishingly bonny and perfectly shaped. I think that Shadow will be name for the sequel for The Black Stallion.
So right now I'm applying at these jobs in hopes that Shadow will one day be mine. I may be getting a job soon because my conversation with the Ralph's manager went pretty well. I'm praying for grace now.
God, please bless me with this.

God bless you,
Erick Lima

p.s. Live Radically

The Santa Claus Dilemma

Ho ho ho. So I think about this big, bearded old man,
Santa Claus, whom of which I am not a fan.
I like his idea of presents but his judgement is whack!
I see white kids get airplanes and black kids don't get jack!
But it's not just that!
I've never even seen coal in the stocking of one kid that's bad!
What kind of "just" man doesn't punish someone that's evil?
Coal is the only punishment for bad people? Psssshhhh
Santa's judgement is non-existent,
I feel bad for the elves that got beat up by his other assistants.
No wrath against the evil elf boy?
No. Just a lump of coal and a "Get back to making toys!"
If he were just, he wouldn't pardon but punish,
Instead of treating morals like rubbish.
So, I'm not gonna lie to my future child so he will obey,
Instead I'll tell him the true meaning of Christmas day.
I'll tell him of a God that came to save,
Save the ones that to sin, were slaves
I'm not gonna allow a "How naughty can I be and still get gifts?" mindset.
I'm going to teach him Christ and my mind's set!
I  also find it disturbing that a friend of mine said,
"Truly, truly, I say to, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber." Sounds like a chimney entrance to me!
And that's kinda scary.
I will not teach my kids to believe in a unjust god of presents,
But I'll teach them to worship El Shaddai in reverence.
See, God hates evil and despises it,
But he gave his Son up so we can have righteousness.
God brings LIFE and Santa brings prosperity like Charismatic gods.
Santa will leave you begging for more like dogs.
One last thing, didn't God say "Ho, ho, come forth" in Zechariah 2:6?
Sounds like Santa copied all of this.
And in Isaiah 55:1 God says, "Ho, everyone that thirsts come to the waters."
He said that to His sons and His daughters.
He comforts His own with a staff and a rod,
Unlike Santa that tries to be like God.
So hide yo kids and hide yo wives,
Cause Santa is coming to yo house at night!

Persistence and Poems

So I went to the mall again today and, apparently, the woman that I wanted to see wasn't going to come in all day. This was my second time traveling over six miles just to hear a "Sorry, she's not in at the moment." Now I'm finding myself in an expostulation against myself but I know what must be done. I must persist and return every day, if necessary. Man, all this for a job. That's risible.
In lighter news, I decided to start recording my poems and posting the videos on this blog. I will sometimes just post the words and if I get requests, I will record it. I hope that these poems will actually mean something to the people that listen to them and that they will move you.

God bless you,
Erick Lima

p.s. Live Radically 

Check out this great MSN video - Dad Grills Baby With Tough Questions

For all of you sleepy heads going to sleep right now; a baby video will put you right to sleep :) ..... Or make you laugh so much that you won't be sleepy anymore!


Check out this great MSN video - Dad Grills Baby With Tough Questions

Young E-ezy Freestyle Cover of Drake

An Unexpected Good Time

So after my last blog post a long-time friend of mine, Christian Reyes, texted me because he thought that I was stuck at the mall. I thought it was pretty cool to know that he cared enough to ask me. He told me that he was heading over to the Northridge Mall to go buy something at a clothing store and that he could pick me up and take me home. I thought that that was a great idea so we met up in front of GAP.
It was cool to see him again. His hair had gotten longer and he had a cool looking beanie on.
Anyways, we walked around, bought what he needed to buy, and we realized we were pretty hungry. He was craving a burger so we ate at Red Robin. IT IS SOOOO GOOD!!! It was the first time that I ate there and I had the Prime Chophouse Burger with Bottomless Fries and Camp Fire sauce. After that, we just tried to find anyway to waste time. We went to Guitar Center, played their guitars, went to Best Buy, played their guitars, played the Playstation Motion, danced, played ping pong, played ultimate Frisbee, went to Sports Authority, played with their guitars (just kidding), checked out their work out equipment, went to Petco cause that's where the pets go, watched the mice be stupid, went to Starbucks, Christian took a dump, I got a cup of water, then he took me home.

I didn't expect for my day to turn out that way but it did and I had a lot of fun. I hope I can do it again with my brother in Christ, Christian Reyes. Love you bro!

God bless you,
Erick Lima

p.s. Live Radically

6 bucks and nothing

At first I expostulated with myself. I weighed the pros and cons of going all the way to the Northridge mall to give a possible future employer a gift as a means of sucking up to her. It's funny the way the world works. I would need a present and 6 bucks for the bus ride; good thing my parents paid for that.
So I went to the store and asked for the woman that interviewed me last time and apparently she was doing inventory all day and she wouldn't be available until tomorrow. So I am now sitting in the mall's food court with a present and a bag of nothing-to-do-ness.
I guess I'll kick it for as long as I can since there's nothing to do at home.

God bless you,
Erick Lima

p.s. Live Radically

Jobs, Bikes, and Chocolates

I recently found out that my bike wasn't as healthy as I thought she was. The name of my bike was, The Black Stallion. I had covered hundreds of miles with her and she was always faithful, until today. The Black Stallion was a cheap horse, costing only about $150. I depended on her to go almost anywhere: the mall, friends' houses, and even school. I never thought this day would come but my worst nightmare came true.
This week, I was riding with Juan and his fixed-gear bike (Jamba Juice) and I noticed that his bike is REALLY cool and it reignited a fire in my heart for fixies again. But I quickly remembered I had no job, which means I have no money, which means I can't buy a bike. I had been looking for a job for a while to no avail (I also have to admit that I have been pretty lethargic and passive about it.) I noticed that I really needed to have a fire set under my butt so I could find the energy to go out and look some more. I found that fire last night as my friend, Ricky, and I were coming back from Ralphs. I was just cruising on my bike when I noticed that Ricky was ahead of me. As my natural male instincts kicked in, I tried to get ahead by pedaling faster and as I did the chain of my bike came off. I quickly got off of my bike and attempted to put it back on. (I was already used to my chain falling off so I wasn't really worried.) My calm state would quickly change to one of sadness and confusion.
As I tried to reattach the loose chain back on to the gear I noticed that something had happened to the Black Stallion that hadn't happened before. Through closer observation I realized that the smallest gear had broken and had caused all the other gears to loosen so much that the chain wouldn't stay on.
At that moment I was devastated. It sounds like I am exaggerating, and maybe I am, but I started to think about all the things I couldn't do anymore. I began to miss her even though she was still right in front of me.
I went to sleep last night very quietly in honor of the Black Stallion.
The next day I had to go home and I was about five miles away from home with a broken bike and a new skateboard Ricky gave me to make my life a little easier. So as to make the most out this bike that would soon be trash, I put my right foot on the left pedal and I kicked and pushed with my left foot as if it were a skateboard. I did this for a while until I began to feel really tired and I so I started walking. When the thought that I would never make it home came to my mind, my mom called me and told me that she could pick me up. She told me to meet her at the corner of Sherman Way and Van Nuys at the gas station, Unlimited Oil. I knew I had to dump the bike in some big trash can so I looked around and I saw one in the Church on the Way.
I opened the trash lid, hoisted the Black Stallion up and over, then I took a picture to remember the moment. I almost cried right now as I remembered my faithful companion.

It turns out that this ordeal was enough to wake me. My parents had a talk with me about my future and they decided to intervene because they saw I needed help. They helped me set up a mission titled: Mission Buttkiss. I am supposed to go the woman that interviewed me at a certain location, and tell her that I didn't have the time to go over there but I wanted to give her a Christmas gift (a box of chocolates). The mission will be executed tomorrow at around 10 am. Hopefully, all goes well and she hires me so I can buy the Black Stallion 2. We'll see!

God bless you,
Erick Lima

p.s. Live Radically

Posts

I think I will post something everyday, if I can get a chance to write. I hope you guys enjoy!

Dreams

I like dream journals so I figured that every now and then I'd write about them if they're cool or trippy.

The only dream I can remember started off at the house of a crazy old lady that lives in the same apartment building as me named, Penny. Penny sells candy and snacks but sometimes they're expired so you have to be careful. Anyways, I was in her house trying to find something to buy and I realize my friend, Vanessa Cosio, is there working for Penny as if this were a liquor store! As I was looking at the array of candy and chips I saw two boxes of Double Stuf OREOs that she was selling for $3.30, which is like $1.20 less than at any store! The thing with the OREOs was that one was open and the other had been resealed. Vanessa told me to buy it and I thought about how much I love OREOs, so I ran out to go get more money from my mom. When I walked in, I saw my family and some other people preparing the house for a party. I just quickly ran down the hall and I was stopped by a boy, about 12 years old, that looked shockingly like my brother-in-law, Cisco. He was wearing a blue, felt track suit, a blue hat backwards, and a silver chain. I guess he was the son that my sister had and I never knew about him (it's funny because my sister met Cisco only 7 years ago).
I couldn't stay too long so I ran in my parent's room grabbed a five and booked it. As I walked down the hall a beautiful woman asked me if I'd go with her to pick up some stuff from my dad's storage center in Culver City (in real life he doesn't have a storage center anywhere). I obviously couldn't deny a lady's request so I happily walk out of my house, hand-in-hand with this girl.
As we walk out, I see Penny's house but now it's turned into those southern ranch houses that you see in the movies and she totally changed into a likable figure with 5 kids. I saw her sitting on the porch with her youngest as they were celebrating the boy's first birthday. I felt compelled to go over to Penny and her son and talk but the pretty, nameless girl was in a hurry. I gave in and I ran up to Penny and hugged her and her son and I talked to her for a minute or two about family issues. As I was talking to Penny, the pretty girl went to her car and pulled up to Penny's house. Apparently she drove a Mini Coooper Limo and she had about 10 model-type guys in the car and she was waiting for me. I became upset that she had so many guys going with her because I felt like a tool. So I decided to not go with her, and she took off.
All of a sudden, I looked to my left and I saw a huge water slide and there was a guy on it and I tried telling him that the water slide wasn't real but he didn't believe me. He told me that the glaxonomy and the buswertif determined his point in space time. I said "those aren't even words." Then, I instantly was put into the water slide and I ended up in some closed down building and I was playing a game of tag/hide n go seek. It was Juan and I running away from four nuns that were trying to catch us. (They were really slow.) Eventually they got Juan and so, since Juan and I were a team, we were both it. We counted and as we were counting Juan wanted me to cheat and open my eyes to see where the other people were (they weren't nuns anymore). I did, and we caught everyone after running around for about 30 seconds.
For some reason when we finished the building became an arcade. And at the arcade this one kid started throwing coins at me, which made me very angry, so I started punching him and the he grabbed a coin and very zombie-like put it into a machine because he was practically hypnotized by some girl there.
And that's all I can remember because my alarm went off after that. Hope you enjoyed the trip in Erick's mind!

God bless you,
Erick Lima

p.s. Live Radically

From My Way to Grace

Since this my first post I don't want to talk about too much. But there is one thing on my mind and that is the main topic in my life for the past couple of months; church.
It all started when I was at my old church, Rocky Peak. My best friend, Juan, was going to the Church On The Way and he started to invite me to the  little things they had at the church: volleyball, college service, basketball, etc. I quickly became involved with two churches at once. I was reminded of something someone told me a long tome ago; you shouldn't be going to two churches at once. So I asked God to show me where He wanted me to go to church. I got my answer that Sunday at Church on the Way. So after a while of going to find out why God was calling me to go to Church on the Way; his name is Ricky. Ricky and I found out we had a lot in common and so we began evangelizing to and discipling a group of kids at Grant High School after God gave us direction for our futures.
During this difficult endeavor we really began to get interested in Reformed Theology and the likes of John Piper, Mark Driscoll, and John MacAthur. God began to really show us what sin actually was, what Jesus' death on the cross meant, and what grace is.
So after this had been going on for a while, I started to feel complacent at the Church on the Way with its Arminian theology and lack of attention on grace (I know that no church is perfect but I would not waiver on this issue.) Then I discovered that John MacArthur's church was the one that I had passed by a million times: Grace Community Church. After discovering this I began to feel an attraction for that church, so I began to pray about it. After a while, I felt God telling me that my time at the Church on the Way had expired and that He was calling me elsewhere.

It has been tough but it has also been exciting. I'm looking forward to God's other moves in my life.

God Bless You,
Erick

p.s. Live Radically