2 Cor 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

I feel I am at that point again of coming to terms with discarding the old and moving onto the new. Every so often, God brings my life to a halt and I have no where else to turn but to Him. Only then do I choose to "enter the sanctuary of God" and He remakes me again to start life anew. The old has gone, the new has come.

With stepping down from small group leading and thinking about a new career, there's other areas I need to ask God "Am I finished?" I'm not sure if I want to stay here in California even though it is like heaven in so many senses. If I do leave this place, I am sure hell going to miss it.

I'm going to redraw my map starting with everything that's important. As they say, start with what you're unhappy with.

Okay God......here we go!

I went to Nina's birthday party tonight and she turned the big 2-0. Gina and Ivan planned the whole surprise party at the local park around their area in San Jose. We all hid behind the fence out of sight with a big 'Happy Birthday' banner and as Nina's mom drove Nina up close to the park, we all jumped out in front of the car to say "Happy Birthday". All 20 of us. It was all good fun - BBQ, cake, hanging around.

It was really nice just to hang around and not need to worry about any aspect of the party. No planning. No need worry about something not going according to plan or not having something that we needed. It was great to talk with Johnny and Marco and just joke around about stupid things. I realized that I haven't enjoyed that type of conversation in a long long time.

I don't know what happened to me in Dubai or here since I became a small group facilitator. I think it was just undue stress from the sense of responsibility. I didn't get the help that I thought I would have from people when I first became the facilitator. I just took it upon myself to handle everything because no one stepped up to help and someone had to do it. I think that started to suck the fun and spontaneity out of me. As I step down from facilitating, I want to regain that back.

Declaration: When things don't go well or according to plan, or if your expectations fall short - don't be a person to sit and complain, be a person to step up and contribute. Step up to be a servant for the Lord your God who sacrificed everything for you. Those who lead will fall short of expectations - but they're giving everything they've got.
"Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." - John F. Kennedy

An Oops Moment: Kenny got Nina jello cake with a coffee mug from "The Office" inside. I actually thought it was pretty cool. I had just finished eating my serving of cake and I saw the jello untouched. So I started picking at it to eat it. Nina saw me doing that and said "You're just like Michael on The Office!". I brushed aside her comment not really knowing what it meant. A few moments later someone said "Are we suppose to eat that? It doesn't look like we're suppose to eat that." But the jello was good! So to avoid the confusion, I asked Kenny if we were suppose to eat the jello. He said with a confused look, "Ummm....yeah, I suppose if you want. Doesn't matter, it's Nina's now anyway." Oops, i guess that was the answer.