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Tuesday, October 1, 2013

The lake house- a horror movie (+playlist)



Just a little fun we had the other day, enjoy our horror film as we get closer to halloween

Thursday, August 8, 2013

God is there, even when He's not.

A few years ago a took a team of students on a missions trip to Mexico. We had a great time seeing God do an incredible work in people's lives, including many salvations and a few healings. After spending about a week there we loaded up the vans and got ready for our trip back home to Florida. We were excited knowing that in just 4 short hours, we would be back in the states....however that 4 hours turned into 4 days. On our way home we were in a car accident, it totaled our van, but that was the least of our problems...
One of my students received a cut on the side of his head that was going to require stitches, an ambulance arrived and took him and another student to the local hospital. I was unable to go with them, because the local police had another destination in mind for me. I was told that I was going to have to get into the police vehicle and leave my students on the side of the road,and that unless I bribed the police with $100 dollars we would never see our trailer again... (including all our luggage and sound system) One of the darkest, most hopeless moments I've ever felt was when I was sitting in the police car, sliding a hundred dollar bill over to him, as two of my students drove off in a ambulance, and I watched my other students fade into the distance as we drove away. I felt like God had forsaken us, like we were all alone....but God is always there.....even when He's not. We had some wonderful friends from Saltillo, Mx. drive down to help us, they got someone to pull our trailer and picked up all our students, Including the two that left int he ambulance, and met us at the police station. I was thrilled to see my students again, but terrified because as I was walking into the prison, I was given some disturbing news.....in Mexico they have a law, if you are in an accident, even if its not your fault, and someone in the other vehicle is injured.....then you go to jail until that person is out of the hospital. The insurance agent even told me, in some cases its better if the other person dies, because if they go into a coma, you could be in prison for years. The accident was not our fault, and the other driver was not injured, at least not until the police showed up.....then the driver started acting hurt and because we were "rich" Americans the police decided the wreck was our fault.....so here I am walking into the jail knowing I might be in here for a long time. When we walked in they told me to hand over my passport, wallet, belt and phone....as I was handing them over....I was pretty sure that I would never be seen again. I pictured my family seeing my face on milk cartons somewhere. I was walked towards the cells, there were 3 of them, they were dark, wet, and smelled like urine.
I was told I could pick which cell I wanted to be in, the first cell had about 20 men in it. They were all yelling things at me...the only word I understood was gringo...I decided I didn't want that cell. Second cell had a prostitute in it, and she looked like she could whip all 20 of the men in the previous cell, I skipped this one also. I chose the third cell, it only had 2 scary looking guys in it. I sat down on a bench far away from the other two, and prayed to God asking Him to please save me, I felt hopeless, forgotten, on my own. But even when you can't see/hear/feel God....He is still there, and has a plan. Psalm 139:7-10 says, "I can never be lost to Your Spirit! I can never get away from my God! If I go up to heaven, You are there; if I go down to the place of the dead, You are there. If I ride the morning winds to the farthest oceans, even there Your hand will guide me, Your strength will support me" I was only in the cell for about 30 minutes, and was eventually released on house arrest, I was reunited with my students and was able to spend the next few days with friends...and no one called me gringo. on day three we went to meet the judge and he told me I would be released, but he said that even though I was released, I would still not be able to leave the country until our van was released, and that getting it released would be very difficult, they said they always gave people a hard time and seldom released anything easily. As we headed down to see if they would release our van, I prayed in tongues, and thanks God for what He had already done. I had not been faithful...but He had proven Himself faithful, and was about to do so again. Romans 3:3-4 (ERV) 3 It is true that some were not faithful to God. But will that stop God from doing what he promised? 4 No, even if everyone else is a liar, God will always do what he says. When we opened the doors to where our van was being held hostage, the men in there started pointing at me and laughing, they grabbed my papers and signed them immediately, even asked if they could have their picture taken with me. We were free!!!!!! When we left the room I asked my interpreter "What just happened"? She told me that the men thought I looked just like a famous Mexican soccer player....what do you think?
Oh and the soccer players name???? Emanuel...which just happens to mean "God is with us" No matter what your going through, God has not forsaken/forgotten you, He has a plan.....and it's better then yours :) BTW: I forgot to mention, about a week after I got home, someone took a bomb into the prison and blew it up....I technically should have still been in there.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Vote for Your Favorite Co-Host Elvis Week Video

Its been a while since my last post......but I need your help. I entered a contest to be the co-host at Elvis week in Graceland. Can you please vote for me? Voting takes 5 seconds and you don't have to sign up for anything. Just got to www.Elvis.com/cohost or click here.... Vote for Your Favorite Co-Host Elvis Week Video and vote for Israel

Thursday, December 8, 2011

My Tough Mudder Adventure Part 1


My day started around 5:40 am, my wife and I woke up and drove to Dade City to get ready for the Tough Mudder adventure. Needless to say I was nervous, I had not really trained for this...my training consisted of me getting off the couch and running a few miles, but nothing compared to what I was about to experience. After signing in, including signing the death waver. Erin and I waited patiently for my start time at 9:40 am.




After spending some time in the port-potty I made my way to the start line to take the pledge with all the other mutters...



As a Tough Mudder I pledge that…
* I understand that Tough Mudder is not a race but a challenge.
* I put teamwork and camaraderie before my course time.
* I do not whine – kids whine.
* I help my fellow Mudders complete the course.
* I overcome all fears.
They started pumping out "the eye of the tiger" the gun went off and we were off.



The first obstacle we came to was Steeple Chase, jumping over horse hurdles. You could easily break an ankle on this one if you were not looking where you were jumping. I actually can not find anyone who has pics of this obstacle.

The second obstacle was the Chernobyl Jacuzzi, which is basically like jumping into a giant dumpster sized slushy, you had to totally immerse yourself...and to say it was cold was an understatement. It took your breathe away.




Next obstacle was the underwater tunnels, we waded out in water then swam under barrels. Not too hard but I was still out of breathe from the slushy.


The next obstacle was the Kiss of mud, we crawled military style through the mud and cow poo, under barbed wire.


Obstacle 5 was the mystery obstacle...and the easiest obstacle...we ran through hanging tires.

Obstacle 6 was the spider web- we climbed a high net, pretty shaky but very cool how many people were helping one another.



Obstacle 7 was Bale Bonds...just climbing over stacks of hay...pretty easy.

Obstacle 8 was called modified I think...basically there was a rope that you were trying to stay above water on and get to the other side, I just dropped my lower body in the water and pulled myself across. I needed to be cooled off a bit and I went so fast this way that i ran into the girl in front of me.

Obstacle 9 was the Berlin Wall, I actually had a pretty easy time with this and didn't need anyones help...you had to make your way over a few 8 foot walls.




Obstacle 10 was The Trenches aka Velociraptor...these were very surprising...basically you were wading through the swamp about knee deep and every once in a while you would find yourself falling into a 5 foot hole....we did this twice on the course. the second time was around mile 10 and I cramped up bad.




Obstacle 11 was twinkle toes...you just had to make your way across a very shaky two by four and not fall into the water. This had the greatest wait because of the amount of people running. I did very good on this one, about 30 people in front of me fell in...I made it all the way across and did it very fast. Can't say that about every obstacle.

Obstacle 12 was the devils beard- this might have been harder had I not just got right behind some huge dude and let him lift the net for me.

Obstacle 13 was the boa constrictor- this was the one I was most scared of going in tho the competition...but it wasn't bad at all...the worst part was how slow the guy in front of me was.

Obstacle 14 was walk the plank....we had to climb up a 15 to 20 foot wall then jump into the water...this one actually scared me more then i was expecting it to, and I have to admit I panicked a little bit when I was under the water. I also got screamed at by a marine for touching the rail...made me feel like I was in the military.

Sorry for the length of this but I want you to experience it with me....I will finish part 2 after my meeting today.