Blog #3

This year’s theme of 4,105 Balloons represents all of the students that are apart of creating a legacy at CBU. Each student has enrolled to this university with some goal in mind, whether it’s to become a doctor or just graduate with a bachelor’s degree. Whatever the reason for attending school each student is a part of the process of another year in CBU history.
Since day one of enrolling to CBU it has been my dream to become a sports broadcaster. With that said I declared a major in Journalism with a minor in Public Relations. Another dream of mine has been to influence as many lives as I can to bring others to Christ. It was not until this past month that I have honestly truly dedicated my life to doing whatever it is he wants me to do. I have laid down all my own desires and have realized that there is more to life than achieving our own personal goals. These past two months have been such a wonderful journey being fully devoted to God. The beginning of the year was a rough time for me that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The pain that I experienced forced me to lean on God. It is incredible how God uses us our pain to achieve the plan he has for us. Upon this growth process I was baptized and became involved with training with my church so that I can be involved with a ministry in the future. This training process has opened my eyes so much to God’s beauty and how much I want to live for him. I have never felt this type of happiness. I have learned that God will use you in anyway if your heart is willing. Through this training of becoming a leader I have realized my passion. My heartbreaks for girls and women who are just broken whether it’s from relationships, homelessness, abuse, or anything else. I have become so in love with God that I would be willing to take off of school wherever he calls me to lead.
My training leader and I have discussed possibly starting a ministry for women who are broken. Starting this ministry would be my ultimate dream. I am still pursuing to become a sports broadcaster but if that does not work out I will not loose hope that God has something better in store for me. Through my growth process I realized that God has created me to create relationships so that I may bring others to feel his love and joy. It is my prayer that they may see Christ through the way I live my life with the words I speak and actions I make.


**written for JRN 412

blog #2

GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN

It was a cold wintery morning as Kelly laid in bed waiting for the heater to turn on. Confusion, dizziness, and a slight case of amnesia filled her as she attempted to remember yesterday’s events. The only thing that she recalled was getting ready for Anna’s birthday with some of their closest friends. Kelly winced as she propped herself to sit up. It was the touch of her hand on her hand that gave her an outline of what happened the previous day.

Kelly had a happy go lucky life. She was blessed with many things, a great education, wonderful friends and family, and good health. Everything was running smoothly in her life. Sure, there were minor bumps here and there but overall life was wonderful. This was all true until yesterday, January 15^th rolled around. It was a day that Kelly was looking very forward to, as it was a day of celebration for one of her best friends, Anna. In honor of Anna’s birthday five of her closest friends were going to hit the hottest dance club, which was located in Hollywood. It was just going to be a fun, clean, good, no-boys night on the town. Little did anyone expect that this fun night on the town would result in one of the most tragic events in their life.

The girls met up at Tina’s place in Long Beach since she lived the closest to the club. The girls planned to come back to Tina’s to spend the night. The girls laughed, sang, and squealed in excitement for the night’s agenda. It was a few hours of beautifying themselves before they decided that their look and attire was as good as it was going to get.

Natalya, one of Anna’s other close friends took reign of the wheel because she had the biggest vehicle, a raised Toyota Tundra truck. Anna took the shotgun seat as Kelly, Tina, and Shyra piled in the back. It was a good 30-minute drive to their destination without any traffic. The girls were having the time of their life as the music blared their favorite Kelly Clarkson song. They were filled with so much joy, happiness, and excitement. Nothing could steal away this moment together until, “BAM!” The truck began to spinout. The girls’ shrieks were no longer of excitement but of terror. Natalya attempted to gain control of the wheel but it was too late.

All five girls were taken to the nearest hospital and checked in as being in critical condition. It was not until earlier this morning that Kelly found out what happened. To the description of an eyewitness, Natalya apparently missed her turn and made a U-turn. As she was making the U-turn the driver from the direction she was turning had dropped his phone and reached down to grab it. The driver looked down a second too long and nailed Natalya’s car. It was pronounced this morning that all of the girls died except for Kelly.

**written for JRN 415

my favorite day

I love Wednesdays because:

--I work for the athletic department.--
--Chapel.--
--Baseball game.--
--A lot of relaxation time.--
--GENERATE!--

Verse of the week:

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him."- 1 Corinthians 2:9

my testimony.

Christianity is a very important thing in my life. Throughout the course of my nineteen years here on earth I have been reminded time and time again that it is impossible to live a life without Christ in my life. I have attended church for as long as I remember. The memories of going to Sunday school every week still replays in my mind every now and then. Though, I had been going to church since my childhood days it was not until my freshmen year in high school that I realized what it meant to truly have a relationship with Christ.
I have gone to a private Christian school for all of my academic career with the exception of third grade, of which I begged my parents to let me “try it out.” I hated it to say the least. Being an attendee of a Christian school for almost all of my life I thought I knew everything I had to in order to be a “superstar Christian.” This mentality that I held however was changed once I attended my first chapel service at my high school, Linfield Christian.
I remember to the tee my experience of my first chapel there. The worship team was incredible. The passion they had for serving was so intense that I could feel their enthusiasm for the Lord. The students seemed overly excited. The first few friends I made were solid Christian girls. I am forever grateful that I sat next to them because the way they worshipped forced me to stop and think how exactly a “Christian life” should look like. It was in the middle of a song that one of my friends began to lift her hands up and just shout praises for God and sing her heart out. I will admit I felt a little uncomfortable at first because never in all of my 14 years of attending church had I ever seen anyone so passionate about Christ. I was so amazed! From then on I became more observant of how these girls led their lives. I looked up to them even though we were the same age.
From the summer of my freshmen year to recently has been a rough time for me as far my family life is concerned. Long story short, home was not so sweet. As a freshman I was swimming in a pool of emotions unable to figure out what exactly was going on in my life and how I could possibly get through it. I am the type of person that does not like to ask for help especially with emotional issues. However, it was not until I could not take it anymore that I decided to talk to one of my teachers about it. His name was Melvin Cratsley, one of the most favored teachers at Linfield. Mr. Cratsley changed my life immensely. He guided me in finding hope in Christ by mentoring me during this difficult time. If it were not for him I honestly do not think I would have made it this far.
It was the beginning of February at a winter retreat that Linfield holds yearly that I made the decision to recommit my life to God. It was one of the best feelings I have ever felt knowing that God through all my failures sent his one and only Son to live a perfect life and die for my sins just so that I would have the opportunity to live eternally with him. I decided that the best thing that I could do in return for him was life a life that honored him and constantly gave him glory.
Since that day, I have been dedicated to live a life that illuminates his love. There have many times that I have failed but this has not stopped me from standing for his name. Until the day I die, I will be forever committed to him.


**written for JRN 412

God is love.

“Each person is meant to love a person or more than one. Maybe we were meant to happen. All the small cracks allowed me to realize he was truly for me.”


And there’s that crazy thing called love. With love you learn to trust no one but yourself. Let people in but give them limited information. You learn from the past and avoid making the same mistakes because it scares you more than anything to experience the same pain. Never settle for less than what God made you. Stick with your values and morals. Don’t ever compromise them because as Dr. Seuss once said, “Those who mind don’t matter, lives those that matter don’t mind.” Be careful how much you give of yourself because in all reality no one stays content forever. You give a little and we ask for more. The number one thing I have learned is that the only way you can truly love someone is by experiencing the love of God. God is love and blesses us with people in our to love us and for us to love. We all need love, whether we admit it or not. No one in their right mind wants to live alone and unwanted. God is the source of love. Love is a blessing not something any one of us deserve. He demonstrates His love for us through the people we love and who love us. However, when a break up does occur it doesn’t mean that he loves us any less or is abandoning us it is usually a consequence of our selfish desires and unwillingness to abide by his “rules.” These rules are not meant to be a debby-downer in our lives but, instead to prevent us from experiencing pain and heartache. He does it out of love. It’s like a parent telling their newly certified teenage-driver to not drive late at night. They don’t tell them not to in order to keep them from having a good time but, for their safety. They may have an idea of how dangerous it can be out there and how risky it is to drive late at night but, they don’t fully realize how careless other drivers may be.
Lately, I’ve been guilty of being such a worry wart especially when it comes to the topic of relationships. I get worked up about what may happen in the future with the relationship I’m in but God manages to grab a hold of me and bring me back to sanity. He reminds me that whatever happens in the future will eventually come whether I agree with it or not.

Proverbs 16:9: “In his heart a man plans his course,
but the LORD determines his steps.”

Therefore, I must love as much as I can and demonstrate His love through thick and thin. Even when they’re moments when I just rather walk away from the situation I must stay strong and continue to love just as Jesus did to his enemies. Of course there’s always that question: “Well what happens if I show all my love and they don’t or, we end up breaking up?”…Well, I wish I could give a precise answer but at the moment I’m figuring out an answer to that question as well. Until then, just live and love with the mind set: “Love as you would want to be loved and, love as if it was Jesus.” While dating, make decisions that are profitable in your relationship. In a book that I’m reading, “Dating with Pure Passion” it explains the importance of making decisions that are profitable to relationships. This means making decisions that benefit or improves it.- “The more sensual your activity together, the stronger your bond will become. However, if you break up, you will damage your hearts as your rip them apart(153).”

my niche

With the experience and the many opportunities I have been given this semester I have discovered my niche. I wrote for sports, features, cultures, and news section this semester. The section that has stood at the most is sports. Perhaps it could be because I was once an athlete and have a love for almost any game. From previous experience I understand how much dedication, sacrifice, and hard work must go into a sport in order to be successful. Therefore, I have decided to focus my blog in the field of sports.

There are innumerous amounts of sports but the ones I would like to concentrate on are: volleyball, football, basketball, and baseball. Last summer I was given the opportunity to work as a media intern with a minor league baseball team affiliated with the Dodgers. It opened my eyes to see how much I truly enjoyed working in the field of sports. After every home game me and another intern would crank out a press release. It was a challenge at first, not only learning how to write a press release but also working under pressure. As difficult as it was I enjoyed it nonetheless.

In researching other sports blogs I have come to find that people I searched have written their own opinion of the topic they were covering. It was not really unbiased writing which was encouraging to know that I my writing does not always have to be unbiased.

I look forward to narrowing my blog on a certain topic rather than it being part personal life and part school related. Though I will miss blogging about everyday life, this will be a great chance for me to gain experience in writing in a more professional manner. It will also be beneficial to any readers who specifically were not able to catch the game or would like information on the latest sports talk. So enough with the past nonsense and on to real life in the journalism work force!

**written for JRN 215

LOVE God & LOVE others.

Wow, my heart is just consumed right now with God’s love. Tonight, was the first time in awhile that I attended Generate because of confliction with work. The service began with worship. Generate’s worship service is unlike any other worship I have ever experienced. You can just seeGod’s love throughout the stadium of people who are just on fire for God. It is such a mind-blowing scene. Young people with their arms stretched out in adoration of God, praising Him with all their might. It seriously is one of the best feelings ever! Tonight’s message was about addictions and defining the line between what God thinks is “over the line.” Pastor Tony related it to drugs, drinking, clubbing. The main points that came from the message include:

• The love of God is as powerful as a striking wave.
o Tony used the analogy of person first learning how to surf. They get constantly knocked down by the wave each time they get up.
• Stop focusing on what you can’t and shouldn’t do..Focus on what you CAN do.
• Clanging Cymbal= annoying.
• FOCUS on point of motivation.
• Change always happens whenever you converse with God. WE are too scared to become serious with the conversation because we do not what to give God our complete trust.
• It’s not what you’ve done. It’s about who God wants you to be.

Pastor Tony left us with the following questions:

1.) What’s your motivation?
2.) Does this glorify you, God?
3.) Do you love God enough that the things that break God’s heart, breaks yours?
During the service I experienced a kind of love that I have only received from one person, and that is God himself. It was a unique type of love. A type of love in which God doesn’t need your love in return. A love that is far better than human love. I was again reminded that I don’t need anyone else’s love except for God. I don’t need anyone else’s approval to feel confident of who I am. That type of love, is so extraordinary. A love that I would choose over human love. I was so inspired by the message that I came back to my computer and started typing away.

God is amazing. God is just. God is love.

Final thing to leave you with, Love God and love others.