Updates

WOW! 

So I stayed a good 2-3 weeks with no internet when I first arrived here in OZ, and consequently I forgot my password for this account, and now it has been 4 months since I've last blogged! Man, there is not enough room on the internet to fill everybody in on what has been happening the past 4 months! 


I've arrived here in Sydney on January 14th, and I was completely overwhelmed with love. I've never met so many people that just place love on everybody like here at Hillsong College. Everybody is so nice, and kind, and welcoming, it's so easy to just let go and be yourself. I honestly have the best flatmates in the world, Steve Ribe, Zach Lopez, and Kyle Bowen (all Americans btw).  


Australia is just beautiful, the beaches are amazing, the people are so warm and friendly, and everybody here is just so beautiful. The only negative of Australia is when you're walking back home on a beautiful, sunny Sunday morning, after an amazing church service, and as you're walking by the park next to your apartments, you see these topless girls just chilling and getting a tan. I guess doing topless here is a normal, I think I'll try it sometime. 


Hillsong Church is unlike anything I've ever experienced. I've never experienced a church that is so selfless and solely focused on just people. The first thing that I learned when I got here was, if you want to be in ministry, you just have to love people, and man, they do a good job on that! 


So, as far as updates go, that's about it. 
I promise to be alot more diligent with my blogging from now on =)

Nothing in This Earth Was Made To Satisfy You

I want you to think of something that would satisfy you. Think of something that would be "enough" for you, something that if you were able to have, you would be satisfied for the rest of your days on earth. If what came to mind was that perfect family you always dreamed of, I got news for you, one day your husband/wife will pass away. If what you thought of was 1million dollars, well, when you reach that goal of 1million dollars, you're going to want 2million! If that mansion is what you thought of, one day you're going to have to fix something, add/remove something from that house. If reaching out to thousands of souls one day is what you thought of, when you DO reach thousands of souls, you'll want to reach hundreds of thousands! Truth is, we have a thirst that is impossible to quench. We live our lives daily trying to find ways to quench that thirst. Everything we do in life, we do it with the intentions of satisfying this unquenchable thirst. Right when you wake up the first thing that comes to mind is "What am I going to do today to satisfy myself" Some people get up and go straight to the gym, it makes them feel good. Others like to eat a rich breakfast, others like to have some one-on-one time with God, others like to text that special some first thing in the morning, or if you're like me, you'll look at the clock, turn around and go straight back to sleep. From the moment we wake up, till the minute we go to bed, we all live our lives trying to satisfy ourselves, and it is IMPOSSIBLE for us to quench the thirst within us.


If you go through the first chapter of the book of Genesis, you see that God has the power to call into existence things that don't exist. He simply just said "Let there be..." and there it was! He never had a sense of relationship with anything in creation. But it was different when God made man. He created man, and He breathed His own air into man's nostrils. Can you picture Adam coming to life, and the first thing he sees is the face of our Almighty God? God breathed life into us, so ultimately, the essence of our life is in God. All of our satisfaction, all of our wants and desire, can be truly found in God. 


GOD DID NOT MAKE ANYTHING IN THIS WORLD WITH THE INTENTIONS OF SATISFYING OUR NEEDS!!


Remember what Jesus said told the Samaritan woman? She was looking to satisfy herself as well, just like you and I do. She looked for it in different men, and yet, she was till thirsty. Until the day she ran into Jesus. What Jesus said to that woman was stupendous!  "Jesus answered, 'Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water i give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:13-14)  


If we keep trying to fulfill ourselves with earthly things, we will always be empty inside. Nothing can fulfill that emptiness in your heart, sex can't do it, money can't do it, "success" can't do it, reaching out to lost souls can't do it, heck, not even being a worship leader can do it. Only Jesus can fulfill that thirst. How about you place Jesus as the #1 in your heart, and truly give him a chance to quench your thirst today?

Sometimes God Doesn't Show You the Blueprint, Just the Next Step

First and foremost, I have to give a shout out to my homegirl Mirjam, for making this AMAZING blogger for me. I hit her up on skype and said "man, as much as I want to blog, I'm too slow and lazy to create an account." Two hours later, Mirjam had everything all set up for me, so thank you Mirjam.

As you all may know, I'm going to be heading out to the Land Down Under aka Australia, to study Pastoral Leadership at Hillsong College. So I figured I would start this blog so I can keep everybody back home up-to-date. 

I'm heading out Down Under on January 12th, and I don't think I could be more pumped! Everybody asks me the same question, Daniel what lead you to Hillsong College? Well, here's the story :

Growing up, all I knew was church. My grandfather and my aunt are pastors, and all my memories as a kid are in church. I couldn't picture myself being anything else other than a pastor when I grew up. But when I hit my teens, I realized the world had a lot to offer. I'm abashed to say that I spent most of my teenage hears chasing what the world calls "success". I searched for "success" in many different places, yet, at the end of the day, nothing could fill the emptiness in my heart. 

One Wednesday night, July 7,2010 to be exact, my pastor was preaching on dead dreams. As she preached, the Holy Spirit started reminding me of the dreams I used to have when I was kid about being a pastor, and started speaking in my heart to withdraw from college and go to a bible school As He spoke that into my heart, I was quick to make excuses. I wanted to have a career, I wanted to be able to fall back on something, have a plan B, in case ministry didn't work out, I didn't have enough $$$ to go to a bible school, and a whole bunch of other excuses. Right when I was finished giving God my excuses, when I was already started to feel comfortable once again, my pastor stopped preaching, looked at me from the pulpit and said "Daniel, God is telling me to tell you that He was the one who promised, and He is the one who is going to make it come true." Those were life-changing words from God spoken into my life. And that is when I decided to go to Hillsong International Leadership College.

Now, a little over 5 months later, I'm running around like crazy, trying to save every penny, getting my stuff ready for Sydney in a month. So if you took your time to stop and read this, please, take a few extra minutes and pray for me, because trust me, I'm going to need it. I have never taken such a leap of faith and I have never trusted God so much.

So guys, I'll be counting on your prayers, and I'll try my best to keep everybody back home up-to-date with what is going in OZ.......

P.S. 

The title of every blog will be a quote that has to do with how my mood is at the moment =]