Days 21-30

April 28, 2002 - Day 21

Thank you for this day, Lord. Thank you for keeping me safe and strong! Thank you that Sarine and I had an awesome time driving to El Cajon and back. Thank you that we got 40 (39.6) miles per gallon and 404 miles from one tank of gas! Thank you for blessing me for driving the speed limit.

Thank you for Greg and Tiffany and Marissa. Thank you for Marissa's first birthday. Thank you for the fun that we had at the birthday party! Thank you that I could see a ton of my friends there. Thank you that I could meet some new friends, too.

Thank you for Mr. Stutz. Bless him and his ministry. Thank you that he teaches at SDSU and also preaches the gospel. Bless his Christian faculty luncheons and things. Multiply them and help them to be more dedicated to You. Let their love for You spill into their classrooms. Thank you that they are not ashamed to meet and talk about You, Lord.

Thank you that I'm in the process of moving all of my files to the new server. Thank you for Sarine's help. Let us do this efficiently and quickly. Help us to be excited to do this. Let the files stay here for a long time or let us find a better server to use. Thank you for the chance to have 150mb of free space and unlimited bandwidth!

Bless Ernie and his company. <edit>  Due to fraud, Ernie Murry's endorsement has been revoked.

Thank you for Tim and his love for You and I. Thank you for how he wants to help this ministry. Bless him and his endeavors. Help them to be fruitful and generate what he is saying. Thank you that he wants to see JCSM grow!

Help Tim to get money from his insurance company, so he can get a new vehicle. Help him to seek You and wait for your blessing. Thank you for taking care of him and everyone else on the Earth, Lord.

Bless me, increase my ministry, lay your hand on me and keep me from evil.

Thank you for the tremendous blessings You give me. Thank you that your blessings keep on coming and coming and coming! I'll keep praying for things because I know that You are a God who wants to see me have everything I need. Thank you for wanting me to thrive! Praise You for having abundant life and wanting to give it to me.

Thank you for this prayer journal and how I can log my prayers to You. Thank you for giving me the ability to type quickly. Please hone my typing skills and let me glorify You with my abilities. Thank you for the wisdom and knowledge that You give me. Thank you for reminding me to change the links on my devotions, so they will lead people to the right sites, now.

Thank you for this huge task in front of me! Help me to take it one step at a time and not get frustrated. Show me the best way to do things. Help me not to waste any time or have to do anything twice (or three times!).

Let me have a great day, tomorrow. Let me get an awesome workout at the gym. Thank you for the chance to work from home, do God's work on the web, workout, get tan and do many other things that I enjoy. Thank you that I really look forward to doing my jobs.

Bless the unemployment department. Let them decide to issue me checks. Thank you for this awesome service that I could get. Thank you that I could work from home, doing your work and still get paid from the government. If it's your will, let me get another teaching job, so I can fulfill their requirement to search for a similar job as the one I lost. If it's not your will, don't let any teaching jobs become available and I will work on the web. Whatever may happen, your will be done, Lord.

Thank you that I get to play the guitar, soon! Let me have an awesome time. Thank you that I can create new music for You. Help my picking patterns to turn into an awesome, acoustic song. Or if You see fit, help me to find words for these songs. Thank you for giving me talents. Bless and increase them, please.

Thank you that church was awesome, today. Thank you for the great worship. Thank you for making me feel at home, there. Bless that congregation. Help them to grow in You, Lord. Let them flourish as they lift their hands and praise You. Thank you for this incredible time where I can attend a Pentecostal church for the first time! Thank you for showing me that these people are godly and wonderful. Let me understand their doctrines better. Thank you for the ways You teach me through them. Thank you for your Holy Spirit that works miracles through us. Help us to understand how You operate, Lord. You are a mighty God!

Let Sarine and I find an awesome group when we move to El Cajon. If it's your will, let us plug into Shadow Mountain. If it's not for us, show us a great Pentecostal church. Thank you for giving us a lot of options. Thank you for the great churches and services in El Cajon. Thank you that we get to move there! Let us make great new and old friends. Help us to fit in wonderfully and really enjoy our time there. Let there be plenty of things to do, see and experience. Let my child grow up where I grew up. If it's your will, let him or her grow up with Charlie and Greg's kids.

Thank you for my parents. Thank you that we could meet them and eat with them, today. Bless them and let them have a great week. Thank you that they are fun and nice. Thank you that they like Sarine. Help us to have a great time together when we move to El Cajon. Let them spend adequate time with the baby. Help us to feel like they should be with the baby, sometimes. Thank you for the things that they've bought for him or her and for the things Sarine's family has bought. Thank you that so many people care about us and the baby on the way!

Thank you that I'm married! Thank you that I'm "stuck" with Sarine and she's "stuck" with me. Thank you for all the good times and all the hard times that we have, together. Help us to get along really well and weed out problems in our lives. Thank you for the ability we have to communicate. Bless us and prosper us.

Thank you for my internet ministry. Help me to keep things simple and straight forward. Remind me that there are hundreds of things I could be doing, but I need to continue doing the basics, first. Thank you for being the root and the core of my salvation, my ministry and my hope.

Praise You for being the first and the last! Praise You for being here and making everything. Thank you for caring about everything from the simplest organism to the most complex one. Help us to see your creation and realize that You are a God of order and laws. Thank you for the ways You govern the world and the universe.

Help us to be wise with the things You entrust to us. Let us be great stewards and make You happy. Forgive us for our sins. Forgive us for squandering things that You give us. Let us use them for your glory, to edify others and lift You up.

Increase the skills of my worship team. Help us to have incredible practices and worship leading sessions. Thank you for putting us where we are. Help us to stay very close to You. Let us be accountable to one another and find time to be with each other.

Thank you for the warmth in this house. Thank you that we can afford to have electricity, water, heat, tv and various other things. Thank You, Lord!

Thank you that we can have cable modems. Thank you for the super high speed internet.

Thank you that this is Day 21 of my Pentecost Covenant. Thank you that I've promised You that I would follow You. Thank you for blessings my efforts. Thank you for blessing my fast, yesterday. Thank you that I'm making "progress" albeit slow at time. Help me to see the finish line and not worry about the moment.

Lift me up, now. Help me to do your work and to play the guitar. Give me great, unexplainable joy, Lord. Put a huge smile on my face. Thank you for today and thank you for Heaven.

Thank you for preparing an awesome place for and for all the other ones that accept Jesus Christ. Thank you for forgiving me and accepting me into your kingdom! To You be all the glory, honor and praise. In Jesus' name, Amen.

April 29, 2002 - Day 22

I prayed in the devotions.

April 30, 2002 - Day 23

Thank you for giving me a great day, today! Thank you for all of the interesting things that happened, Lord. Thank you for blessing me and helping me.

Bless me, increase my ministry, lay your hand on me and keep me from evil.

Thank you for giving me the check for $318.18, today! Thank you that Michael Lafayette finally made a payment for the things that his accomplice stole from me and the damage they did to my van. Bless them and help them to seek You. Praise You for being an awesome God and blessing the patient ones that trust You.

Thank you that all my songs are on MP3.com, now! Thank you that they accepted them and approved them. Thank you that MP3.com is a great place to store my music and spread it to the world! Let many people hear it and be encouraged. Thank you that I can put my debate MP3's on here, too. Let people hear those and fall deeper in love with You.

Thank you that we could have worship rehearsal, today. Bless all of the people I jam with. Let us have a great practice and worship, tomorrow.

Thank you for the wonder of SHOUTcast! Thank you that I can broadcast live over the internet. Bless me and the ones who hear the broadcast, Thursday. Thank you for the chance to share the Word and Christian music to the masses. Help lots of people to find the link and listen, Thursday. Make a way for them to get there. Let there be more and more people listening each month.

Thank you that I could go to the gym, today! Thank you that I could ride the bike for over 30 minutes and get tan. Thank you for the ways that I take care of this body You gave me. Thank you that I make time to do things I need to do, like exercise. Thank you that I've gotten rid of butter, mayonnaise, sour cream, salad dressings, cheeses and many other fatty foods. Help me to keep eating right and eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. Thank you for giving me tons of information about health, so I'm without excuse!

Thank you that the Creed concerts were canceled. Bless Scott Stapp and help him to recover quickly. Bless his family and friends. Let them be strong for him as he recovers from his car accident.

Thank you for using the internet to make this world a smaller place. Thank you for helping me to minister to people all over the globe, Lord. Let me be a shining light for You! Let me be a joy to You always! Let me be a shining light for You. Let me be a joy to You, always!

Thank you for giving me incredible tools that generations before would never have dreamed about! Thanks you for putting things at my fingertips that would have been preposterous just years ago! Thank you for helping me to do something that most people don't even understand. To You be the glory! To You be all the honor and praise!

Thank you for helping me tune into this new medium. Thank you for making this the wave of a new generation. Help me to stay on top of it. Help me to use it for your glory! Help me to tell the world about You through everything You give me - through my fingers, through my voice, through my actions and everything in between. You are God and we love You, Lord! You are my everything. Touch us and lift us up. You are Lord and we need You.

Thank you for the band U2. Thank you that their music is inspiring to me. Thank you for the prophets that you've sent to us. Thank you for the ways that you've taught us through them. Thank you for not just being a God of prophecy, but a God of fulfillment! You are here and we know it, Lord.

We are wide awake! We see You and we see your pending return! We see the signs around us. Earthquakes swallow people up. The world is hotter than every before. Ethnic wars are happening everywhere. People are hating one another. Disease is everywhere. Famines are ravaging many peoples in the world. Hurricanes and strange weather phenomenons embrace our skies. The truth is stranger than fiction. Immorality is everywhere. Homosexuality is on television and they are kissing each other. Tolerance is the buzzword for the day. Acceptance is mandatory. Liberals cry save the whales, but kill the babies. Is this Babylon all over again?

We want to rest with You, Lord. We want to be filled with your Spirit. There's nothing left for us, but You. Nothing else satisfies. Every road has led to disaster, but the road that leads to You. Fleshly desires are fleeting. Wasting time hurts like a rock in my shoe and all I want is You.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for giving yourself to us. Thank you for doing it all.

Forgive us for our sins. Forgive the ones that don't care about You. Forgive the ones that openly and bitterly hate You or say that You do not exist. Let them see You. We know that they will see You on judgment day. We know every knee will bow, not just one knee. Not just some people's knees. Every knee will bow.

Thank you for the man who bowed his knees at the beach! Thank you for the way he cried out to You! That was a special moment. Let me find more people who are genuinely knowledgeable of their desperate need for You. Thank you for making me aware of this need. Thank you for making me strong with You!

Let me have everything I need, Lord. We know I ask for what You want me to have. Don't let me have what I don't need. Keep from me the things that will destroy me and make me prideful. Keep from me the things that will take me away from You. Let me enjoy your awesome presence. Let me serve and worship You with all of my heart. Give me great and unending love for You and for others. Remind me that I need to love You with all I have.

Thank you for giving me my days and nights to serve You. Help me to reach the masses with the gospel, tonight! Let the messages get through to tons of people. Protect me from getting into any trouble. Thank you for the open relays and the cable connection. Thank you for the email addresses and the software. Thank you for all the hardware to make this work, like the ethernet card, cat 9 cables, hub, cable modem and more. Thank you for the stuff that I'm forgetting to thank You for!

Let people get the gospel and be very curious. Then, let them read it and accept You as Lord and Savior! Let them rejoice in the knowledge of You. Have them write me and tell me about their salvation. Then, have them go to a local church, read the Bible daily and seek You with all of their heart.

Thank you for being such a great and mighty God! Thank you for being the ruler of all, great and small. Thank you for giving us a fraction of your knowledge. Thank you for helping us to create incredible things, but nothing close to what You have made.

Thank you for preparing a place for us in Heaven! Thank you for promising us many awesome things. Let us be excited about the things You have promised!

Thank you for making me grow as a person. Thank you for the difficult things. Help me to tackle them and be an overcomer. Lift me up and give me all of the qualities that You have. I need them.

May 1, 2002 - Day 24

Thank you for giving me a great day, today! Thank you for blessing me more than I deserve.

Thank you that our worship rehearsal went really well. Bless our worship band and help us to be better leaders and musicians. Thank you for being glorified in our music. Thank you for being worthy of our praise and devotion.

Thank you for that diversion I just had from my prayers! Thank you for the reading I could do and the emails I could write.

Bless the people in the foreign countries that want me to come and share the gospel. Bless their ministries and help many people to be saved. Give me discernment, so I can see if these people are genuine or not. Give me wisdom, so I can determine if I want to fly there and share the gospel. Thank you for the opportunity and the open door.

Thank you that I have a lot of work to do, here. Thank you that I can minister to people in Tanzania via my computer. Let me use it over and over.

Bless the people who receive the message I'm sending, tonight. Let them rejoice when they receive it. Let them feel your presence and run to You. Thank you for the chance to encourage so many people, Lord. Bless this ministry and help it to keep growing and reaching the masses.

Thank you that I get to do a live, audio broadcast, tomorrow! Thank you for the preparation I could do. Thank you that I have a plan about speaking - what I should say and how I should say it. Thank you for the great music that I will be playing on the web.

Thank you for guiding me as I wrote this month's message to our subscribers! Thank you for the love I have for people and the love they have for me. First, thank you for the wisdom to proof read my letter! I pray that it gets to all it's recipients without any trouble! We need your supernatural touch, Lord. Without You, it won't get anywhere.

Thank you for the phenomenal ways You have touched this ministry. Thank you for giving me the time to invest in these things. Thank you for the plans that we currently have. Thank you for the incredible things You put in my mind. Please let them come to fruition. Let me know if there's a plan or idea that You don't want me to implement.

Thank you for the subdomain feature for jcsm.org. Thank you that I can create any name and put it in front of .jcsm.org and it works as a link! Help me to simplify things on my web sites and make them look more professional.

Thank you for the awesome quote I read, today, by Tolstoy. Good men want to change the world, but great men want to change themselves! This was such an awesome truth.

Please change me, Lord. You know I'm devoted to You, but I still need more of You, Lord. Thank you for promising to complete the work that You began in me. Thank you for being such a good and awesome God. Thank you for being so worthy of our devotion and praise.

Thank you for setting the captives free! Thank you for helping the hurting ones. Thank you for letting the blind people see! Thank you for healing my eyes, Lord! Just months ago, I needed to wear glasses or else I couldn't see well and my head hurt. Now, my head never hurts and I can see fine even at 3:18am! You have done a mighty miracle. Thank you for the way that I had faith and You acted. Thank you for the conversation I had with my wife, saying, "I don't need glasses or contacts. God heals my eyes every time I ask Him." Thank you for her response, asking me why I was going to get contacts. I suddenly realized I had faith that You could heal me and I didn't need a crutch. I just needed You! You are the one I love and serve. You have made the wisdom of this world look foolish. You have healed the ones that You wanted to heal. You have shown us your righteousness.

Thank you for the humility and love of the people in our church. Bless them. Give them a great summer. Thank you that they've been so accepting and kind to us. Thank you that I feel like one of the guys there, now! Thank you that they want to talk to me and hang out with me. You are awesome! Thank you, Lord. Lift them up and give them more of You. Help them to walk the right path. Help them to be world changers and not conform to this world, but be transformed by You.

Thank you for not simply wanting us to turn over a new leaf, but giving us an entirely new life! Praise You for being the kind of God who wants radical and sweeping changes. Help us and prepare us for your radical Spirit. Praise You for doing things that we don't plan.

Thank you for my gift of tongues. Thank you that I hear people use tongues at church, occasionally. Bless them and help them to stay close to God. Thank you for speaking to us and letting us speak to You in a special prayer language. Don't let people worry if they don't have the gift of tongues. Let them be encouraged by the scriptures where Paul tells us that there are many gifts and not everyone has every gift. You are God and You give these gifts as You choose. Thank you for answering the persistent beggars like me! Thank you for lifting us up out of the mire and filth. Thank you for dusting us off and putting us on our feet to run again. There is no other God like You! There is no other God like You!

Help me make a song from Winston Churchill's quote, "Never, never, never, never give up!" I like that. Thank you for wanting us to have that kind of persistence in our Christian life.

Thank you for the way You are so awesome that my prayer life can be dynamic and awesome, too. Thank you for touching me and making me not only different than the world, but different than my old self. Help me to never look back. Don't let me embrace any of the sins of my past, Lord. Give me great spiritual strength, so I never return to those foolish things.

Thank you for giving me new and better things to do! Thank you for blessing me much more than I deserve. Give me more of your qualities, Lord. I want to be by your side. You are my everything.

Thank you for helping me make the new web page, tonight! Thank you for inspiring me to do research and create an incredible, faith-building site. Let people read it and be encouraged.

Thank you for the 14+ sources that saying something about Jesus Christ and how He either existed, was the Messiah, did miracles, etc. Thank you for giving us Roman, Jewish and Gentile sources of this information. Thank you for giving us the incredible biblical source that's enough for most people. However, thank you for showing us that the Bible and Jesus are real and true by the hand of people You did not inspire to write the Bible. You are truly Lord of all. We love You, Lord.

Thank you that I could read your Word, today. Thank you that I could also read "Messiah In Both Testaments" and learn some awesome prophecies about You. Thank you for fulfilling the Old Testament! You didn't just observe it. You wrote it, then you fulfilled it! You fulfilled it like nobody else could - ever! There will never be another Messiah or someone who could even vaguely fit the extensive and specific criteria in the Old Testament.

Your ways are not our ways. Your Messiah probably isn't the one our earthly minds and hearts would choose, but we need You. We need to fit into your perfect plan. Curb our will and our desire. Make us see things like You do.

Thank you for the powerful, yet humble Messiah You sent us 2000 years ago. We love You and we are thankful that You stepped out of Heaven and came to Earth. Thank you for the book of Hebrews that describes how awesome Jesus is - even the angels worship Him and only God should be worshiped.

Thank you for the astonishing wonder of the trinity. Thank you for blowing our minds and teaching us things that are beyond us. Help us to grasp a triune God that is outside our space-time dimension. To You be all the glory, honor and praise, forever and ever. In Jesus' name, Amen.

May 2, 2002 - Day 25

Hello my Friend, we meet again!

I love You, Lord. Thank you for being here for me. Thank you for listening to my prayers and being my God.

Bless me, increase my ministry, lay your hand on me and keep me from evil.

Ok, thank you for the multitude of things I just did! Thank you that I continue to serve You, day and night. Help me to do good things with my time, Lord. Thank you for helping me link important things to my sites and change links.

Thank you for my new "to do" list! Help me to make these calls and get these things done. Thank you that they are relatively exciting and interesting.

Thank you for helping me to already do things that aren't "due" for weeks. Help me to plan everything ahead of time and not make any oversights or errors.

Whew, thank you for the other batch of work I just went and did! It's amazing how praying helps me to remember things that I need to do. Thank you for showing me things that I need to accomplish. Thank you for the ideas that You give me, too.

Thank you that our live, audio broadcast went really well, tonight! Thank you for the brief moment of confusion and then helping me to fix the problem. Thank you that we were starting 2 or 3 minutes early, but ended up starting 2 or 3 minutes late. Help the listeners have patience with us because the software and the internet are sometimes difficult to deal with.

Thank you that we had a handful of listeners. Bless them and let them return next month. Thank you that we are doing a monthly broadcast and not a yearly or weekly one. Let me think of some great ideas for the next show. Help MP3.com to get the MP3 of this show and approve and accept it, quickly, so people can access it on their server. Thank you for a place like MP3.com that will accept a 100mb file of me talking about Jesus Christ and Israel! Thank you for this cable modem that helps me upload things very quickly. Thank you for our cable service provider, too.

Bless Sarine's computer. Help her to get the dongle fixed, soon. Let LINKSYS send her the RMA form, so she can expedite it.

Let me find time to go to the gym, tomorrow. Thank you that I live a couple miles from a great gym, where the people are nice and cordial and I feel accepted. Thank you for Kenny and the others that work there and workout there. Help me not to miss them too much when we move. Thank you for the countless hours I've spent there, riding the bike, lifting weights and tanning. Let me keep spending lots of time there until I leave for the soccer camps.

Thank you for the chance to take my laptop with me and write the devotions as I go to the soccer camps. Thank you for Sarine and her willingness to drive to Oceanside, from Pasadena, and send the devotions on Mondays. Help everything to go as planned and without a problem. Let everyone receive the message and rejoice! Help me to find plenty of time to compose the messages, upload them to the web and send them to Sarine.

Thank you for the other growing ministries on the web. Bless them and help them to flourish. Let me not feel any competition with them. Thank you for the ones who hold the sword of truth and boldly go into the world to share the gospel. Bless us all and give us a feeling of comradery as we fight this spiritual battle.

Thank you that I get to go to sleep, soon! Thank you that my day is almost over. Thank you for all of the things I could do. Thank you for the tons of things that You brought to my mind.

Thank you that today was the National Day of Prayer. Thank you that I was able to pray with my church at the Civic Center in Oceanside. Bless them and I hope anyone who heard us remembered God and remembered to pray. Thank you that we live in a country where it's legal to pray in public! Help us to understand how some people would literally die if they did what we did. Thank you so much for our freedom, Lord. Help us to understand that our freedom needs to be given to You. We need to "throw our crowns at your feet". Thank you for continuing to give us incredible things, Lord. Thank you for showering us with never-ending blessings.

Thank you for giving us a beautiful beach by our house. Thank you for the awesome sunsets. Help us to make time to see one, tomorrow. Let us go there, pray and seek You. Thank you for being the most beautiful thing in the universe and deciding to show us bits and pieces of your awesome glory. You are an great God!

Thank you for helping me keep my word with this Pentecost Covenant! Thank you for blessing me and keeping me strong. Thank you for helping me lose some weight. It's great to feel and look stronger.

Thank you for molding good habits into me, like practicing the guitar for an hour a day! Thank you that I haven't missed any of these hours, but I've invested 25 hours (probably a little more) practicing and playing the guitar. Increase my talents, Lord. Thank you that I have many more hours to go. I'll never forget this awesome experience. I'll be forever changed when I'm finished.

Thank you for the habit of typing my prayers in a journal. Help me to decide if I should keep doing this or not. Thank you for the way it gets me to pray and pray sincerely. Remind me of the way You speak to me when I speak to You. Thank you for loving us enough to talk to us and direct us. Use us as You will, Lord.

Thank you for the discipline to read the Word every day. Help me to catch up with my "Read the Bible in a Year" plan. Thank you that I've embarked on a difficult journey. Let me find discipline to read what I should. Thank you that I was able to catch up the other day, somewhat. Thank you for this challenge. Help me to meet it, tomorrow. Thank you for the awesome stories in the Bible. Thank you that it is a an awesome story with many different types of writing. Thank you for all of the inspired writers. Bless everyone who takes the time to read your Word, Lord.

Thank you that I'm about to get 8 hours of sleep! Yea! Thank you that my bed is soft and comfortable. Thank you that this house is warm and clean.

Thank you that Amy purchased my debate with Reggie on cds. Let more people decide to do this, Lord. Thank you that she has decided to increase her faith and her debating skills and even encourage someone else with these cds. If it's your will, let Barb get them, too. Thank you that she defended me and the Word. Help her to sharpen her debating skills. Thank you for her faith, though.

Increase our faith, Lord. Let us believe in You without fail. Let us hope in You, too. Thank you for being our greatest hope. There is no greater road than the road that leads to Heaven. In Jesus' name, Amen.

May 3, 2002 - Day 26

Thank you for giving me a great day, today. Thank you that I didn't have any extraordinary problems.

Bless me, increase my ministry, lay your hand on me and keep me from evil.

Thank you that I was able to accomplish a lot of things today, like changing lots of links and uploading many new files. Thank you for the way the site is beginning to look and feel! Help people to enjoy surfing it. Thank you for the navigation bar I've put on many pages. Help me to take the time to put the bar on all of the pages. Thank you for helping me perfect the links on the bar (and the main page and devotions). Let me think ahead and make the best possible links.

Thank you for helping me convert my May 2002 broadcast to one, large MP3 file. Help me to convert it from a mono file to a stereo file. Let me find the software that will do it. Thank you for helping me hunt down the right software. Thank you for the internet and the plethora of things on it. Thank you that I just found a program that may work. I pray that it does.

Thank you that I could see the sunset with Sarine! Thank you that it was a beautiful sight. Thank you for the pier and the ocean waves. Thank you for the nice atmosphere. Praise You for creating such beautiful and awesome things. Thank you for making them so we can glorify You and be enriched by You. You must be a great God because the things You have made are incredible.

Thank you for giving me the StartupCop program, today! Thank you for how it helped my computer a LOT! Thank you that my computer hasn't crashed all night. Praise the Lord. Help it to work better and help there to be less problems.

Thank you for the mystery of You, Lord. Just like I learn new things about the internet or about your Word, they mesmerize me like You do. Thank you for being worth our time and devotion. Praise You for being higher than the angels and simply beyond our imagination. Help us to grasp what we can about You. Open our eyes and let us meditate on You and your ways. Thank you for touching us and reaching down to pick us up.

Thank you that I get to go to sleep, soon! Thank you that I was able to exhaust myself, today. Let me pick up where I left off, tomorrow. Let me do more things on my "to do" list.

Since I haven't been able to catch up on my Bible reading, I promise that I'll read the Bible for one hour, right when I wake up, tomorrow. Help me to read a lot and get caught up. I also promise that I'll read the Bible while I go to the gym and ride the bike, tomorrow. These things I promise You and I won't break my promises. Thank you for being a God of your Word. Thank you for giving us your awesome truth. I feel relieved because I know that I'll catch up on about 90+ minutes of reading, tomorrow. Ahh. I pray that I can get up to Deuteronomy 19, tomorrow. This will be a large task, but anything is possible.

Thank you that I want to serve You so badly. Thank you that I do tons of work in your name. Help me also to spend plenty of time worshiping You, reading the Word and praying. Remind me that those three things are a prerequisite to effective service. Help me not to get burned out.

Let Sarine and I really enjoy the trip we're taking to Grand Canyon. Help us to see the country and rejoice. Help us to get along really well and not spend too much money. Let us sing and write poetry and praise your name. Thank you for showing yourself to us even more loudly when we get away from home and go into the country. Thank you for a magnificent place like the Grand Canyon that's only 8 hours from my house! Give us safety as we travel.

Let us have fun in Sedona and Flagstaff, too. Thank you that we have friends Flagstaff. Bless everyone we know in Arizona. Keep them close to You. If it's your will, let us see them when we're there.

Thank you when I have to do things again and again. Help me to still rejoice and know that You are here. Thank you for showing me how to do things better. Let me trust You and seek You. Your ways are best and I know you'll tell me them if I seek You.

Thank you for Sarine. Thank you that she's a great helper. Bless her. Thank you that I can teach her to do all kinds of tasks and she joyfully does them. Thank you that she loves and respects me. Thank you that she honors my ministry and You. Thank you that she has been praying for 30 minutes a day. Bless all of the kids who made a commitment to pray for a certain amount of time each day. Help them to keep their commitments. Bless their prayer time and their lives. Let them see the fruit of their prayers. Touch them in a real way, Lord.

Thank you that I get to send a Bible lesson to everyone, tomorrow. Let me send the page I just made on the Extra-Biblical Resources Proofs of Jesus and the Bible. I hope that lesson increases the faith of others like it increased my faith. Thank you for the historians that wrote about You and your Word.

Thank you for the people who seriously contended for the faith. Thank you for the people who reformed Christianity and opposed false religions and doctrines. Help me and the people I know to be diametrically opposed to evil and heresy. Well, thank you that it's super late, now! Thank you that I'm still working and praying. Lift me up and give me a great rest of the night (or morning, now). Let me sleep very well, too.

Bless this country. Give us more morality, Lord. Help people to turn to You. Let Christians pray and speak against the sins of society. Let us find solutions, too. Help people understand that Jesus Christ is the #1 solution to the world's problems. Thank you for giving us your awesome Word. If people were to obey You, there would not be divorce, homosexuality, smoking, speeding, murder, drug use, violence, AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted babies and so many more things. If only we could follow your Word. You would make everything wonderful.

Thank you for promising to take us to a place with no sin! Thank you for preparing an awesome place for us.

Thank you that I could read more of Numbers, tonight. Help me to see You in it. Let me understand the way that You interacted with Moses and the Israelites. Thank you for choosing them to have Jesus Christ come from their lineage. Thank you for your Messianic prophecies regarding Israel since the beginning. Praise You for being a God of order and righteousness.

Thank you that I'm taking medication for my bacterial infection. I pray they diagnosed me correctly. Help me to get over this quickly. Thank you that I still have plenty of strength and energy. Let me have a great workout, tomorrow, and not notice I'm taking medicine. Thank you that the pain has gone away.

Thank you for your healing power, Lord! There's no other God like You. Thank you for making us like You. We love You, Lord. Increase our love for You and our love for others. Give us more of your character. Fill us with your Holy Spirit. Thank you for being real and being pertinent for today. In Jesus' name, Amen.

May 4, 2002 - Day 27

Thank you that my new recording went really well, tonight! Thank you that I could write the words and music for "Foundations". I pray that it blesses many and that mostly, it blesses You!

Thank you for being the wind in my sails, Lord. Thank you for being my strength, my song and my salvation! Thank you for being the gas that makes my engine run.

Thank you for predestining me to go to Heaven. Thank you for giving me free will to choose You, too. Thank you for this divine paradox. We love You, Lord. Thank you for the mysteries of You.

Thank you for dying on the cross for our sins. Thank you for wanting us to have faith, accept You, repent and go to Heaven. Thank you for having an awesome home and actually wanting us there.

Thank you for my talents on the guitar. Thank you for blessing me with nice equipment. Thank you for the teachers that invested their time and energy in me. Bless them. Thank you for the hours of hard work I've invested in playing and singing. Hone my skills and let me make a skillful and joyful noise to You.

Thank you that I can listen to U2 on live, SHOUTcast audio! Thank you for the random person that's broadcasting this song about God and love at 2:39am from some location in the world. Thank you that I'm one of the two out of a possible thirty-two listening to his or her broadcast. Haha.

Thank you for this phenomenal gift called the internet. Let me grasp how I should use it. Thank you for making it so we can learn about You, glorify You and edify one another. Thank you that I get to send a Bible lesson to the world, tonight. Thank you for reminding me of that, now!

Thank you that I could "tidy up" the Bible lesson for tonight. Thank you for loving me and helping me, Lord. Thank you that I could surf the web and learn about the people who wrote about You and your Word. Let me find informative sites that talk about the truth, only.

Well, I love You, God. I'm doing it again, too. Praying and working and thinking. Thanks for the time to be with You. Thank you for letting me see myself and how I behave. Thank you for giving me a wonderful wife that loves me and supports me. Help us to stay close to each other. Help us to get along really well. Thank you that we are very different, yet we have a wonderful time, together.

Bless the child that we have in her womb. Keep him or her safe, Lord. Thank you that we discover the sex of the child next week. Let the doctor see an accurate photo and tell us, accurately. Thank you for the technology that can show us pictures of the baby in the womb. Let Sarine and the baby be unharmed during this. Keep growing the baby and keeping it healthy and safe, Lord. Let it grow up and be an avid believer and following of You. Let her or him do incredible things in your name.

Thank you for this crazy life where it seems the mornings are fleeting, the afternoons come and go and the nights last forever. Thank you for giving me an interesting schedule and an interesting life. Thank you for the uniqueness I've experienced. Let me do your will and glorify You, Lord. I want to praise You with all I am. You are the reason for my joy and my freedom. I have pulled, tugged, fought and fought to be with You and do your work. Thank you for answering and letting me.

Thank you for helping me catch up with my Bible reading!!! I'm so glad that I'm on the right day, now. Thank you that I could read 25 chapters! Thank you for helping me keep my word to You and reading for an hour as soon as I got up and reading for 40 minutes on the exercise bike. Thank you for making that time exactly the amount of time I needed (within 2 minutes!). If I had waited one more day, I would have needed more time to catch up.

Thank you for the idea of reading my daily chapters BEFORE watching any television. Help me to do this. Forgive me for putting other things before my commitment to read your Word from cover to cover. Remind me that your Word is powerful and awesome. Thank you for the great stories and truths I was reading, today. Help me to remember what I learn and meditate on it.

Thank you for the Christian musicians that have encouraged my faith. Thank you for Joel Weldon who made me realize Christian music could be fun and awesome. Thank you for him and his band at Hume Lake. Thank you for how they got me to clap, sing and really have fun with music! Bless them and all of the camp bands that have a pivotal role in kids' lives. Let me return there or some camp as a camp counselor.

Thank you that I get to teach soccer camps this summer. Let me have discernment and spiritual awareness, Lord. Show me where to walk, literally and spiritually, so I can make an impact for You and do your will. Show me when I need to share the gospel, when I need to sing, when I need to encourage and when I need to keep quiet and pray. Thank you for my abilities and the way I thrive when I'm thrown into new and diverse circumstances. Let me be sensitive to your Spirit's lead and walk with You, hand in hand.

Thank you that I get to travel a lot between now and the end of the summer. Thank you that they are relatively short and local trips. Let me have a lot of fun and not get too homesick. Thank you that I have a wonderful place and city to see when I return.

Thank you for the book that I'll start writing, soon. Help me to prioritize it and write for an hour a day. Let me put a lot of energy into it. Let it get published, inexpensively, and be a groundbreaking text on internet ministry. Thank you for the many things You have taught me about internet ministry. I must press on and tell the world how to do it, so they can help seek and save the lost. Even if it's not a best-seller, let me do it as a tribute to You and what You have taught one guy who decided to seek and find.

Let the Bible lesson be received by everyone on our list. Don't let there be any problems with the mailing. Please let it be done by the time I wake up. Thank you for the open relay site and membership. Help their business and help them not to go under.

Thank you for the "Shout to the Lord" midi I can hear, now. Let me put it and some other files on the web, so people can hear them as they read the Bible lessons. Thank you for the wisdom to make a questionnaire and get some feedback about the surfability and readability of my web pages. Thank you for the great feedback that I've received. Bless everyone who responds. Thank you for kind people that really care. Praise the Lord.

Bless Anita. I pray that she gets a great job. Thank you for her love for You and us. Thank you for her support for JCSM. Thank you for everyone who supports JCSM - all around the world! Bless them and keep them strong and safe. Help them to be very blessed. Let them see the fruits of their gifts and rejoice.

Thank you for letting me rest, now. See You, tomorrow, Lord! I love You more than anything. Increase my love and my faith. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Thank you that we get to go to church, tomorrow.

May 5, 2002 - Day 28

Bless me, increase my ministry, lay your hand on me and keep me from evil.

Thank you for loving me so much, Lord. Thank you that I'm on my 82^nd page of prayers! Bless me and make me like You.

Thank you that I could hear a sermon in Spanish, today, on Cinco de Mayo. Thank you that we had a translator. Bless him. Thank you for the way that they worshiped God and expressed their gratitude to Him. Bless that congregation.

Thank you that I could listen to U2 on SHOUTcast as I pray, again. Thank you for the idea to replay my monthly message, so more people can tune in and hear. Bless them and let it draw more people to listen and be encouraged.

Let me get a great workout, tomorrow. Give me wisdom, so I can determine whether or not I should get tan while I'm on this medication. Thank you for the way that I didn't damage my skin or brain last time (or at least I don't think I damaged my brain!). Help me to play it safe and either go for a short time or not go at all.

Thank you for being an understanding God. Thank you for knowing that I couldn't fast while being on this medication, even though I had wanted to fast one day each week. Thank you for urging me to eat before I got sick. Help me to fast when I'm done with the medication. Thank you that the doctor only gave me 7 days of pills.

Thank you that my "to do" list is overflowing! Haha. Thank you that I can finish lots of things, tomorrow.

Help me to prioritize You and doing the devotions. Help me to read the chapters in Deuteronomy before I watch television. Thank you that I read my 3 chapters, today. Thank you that today's sermon was over Deuteronomy, Numbers and Joshua! Thanks for giving us rich and interesting things to read in your awesome Word.

Thank you for helping me make my web pages better, tonight. Thank you for the sites and people that You used to encourage me and give me the resources I needed to do your work. Thank you for helping me not just to do things, but do things that look really nice. Help me to continue improving my sites.

Thank you for the chance to debate Reggie on the Infidel Guy's show. Thank you that he gave me the MP3 and I was able to record it to cds. Thank you that it was a great place to share the gospel.

Thank you that I could go and write a message to an atheist, now. Bless Randy. Help him to embrace Jesus Christ as His personal Lord and Savior. Thank you for this awesome thing called the internet, where I can send messages to a variety of people, at any time and for any reason.

Thank you that I was able to play the guitar for an entire hour! Thank you for the original songs that I've written. Help me to play them better and better. Let me play those songs at the end of this 50 days and record them for my 2^nd album: Free Food - A Second Helping. Haha.

Thank you for giving me some talents. Let me utilize them for your glory. Thank you for prospering me, Lord. If it's your will, let me find some awesome musicians and put together a band. Let me find them close to my new house in El Cajon.

Thank you for the night and the day. Thank you for wanting me to love You without end. Help me to stay on the straight and narrow path, Lord.

Thank you for loving me when I fall off the path. Thank you for being patient and merciful with me! You are an awesome God. Help me to emulate You and extend your grace to others.

Help LINKSYS to receive the card and dongle and replace them very quickly. Help me to fax them to LINKSYS without a problem. Thank you for their generous return policy. Bless them. Help there to be no delay in processing everything. Thank you for the speedy service that we've received in the past. Thank you that we have two laptops and can work on one when the other isn't working.

Thank you for having good plans for us. Thank you for making all things work for the good for those who love You and are called according to your purpose.

Thank you for helping me to acquire an awesome library of books. Thank you for helping me get a handle on my daily Bible reading, so I can read some other books, too! Show me which ones to read. Help my eyes not to hurt. Let me learn awesome things. Thank you that I'm really close to finishing two books. Help me to finish them, tomorrow. Help me to take the time to type some of the things I learn and put them on web pages.

Thank you for the book called "Messiah In Both Testaments: The Prophets Still Speak"! Thank you for those incredible prophecies that nobody else but Jesus could fulfill. Give me more faith in You. Help my eyes and heart (and others') to be open and accepting of the truth. Bind the devil and his dark angels. Don't let them perform the deception they always try and use when people are trying to grasp supernatural truths. Rise up and let your angels overthrow them. Help your Holy Spirit to lift us up and use your Word as a weapon to overcome the evil ones.

Help me to never fall on black days. Remind me of my past, but let me remember the good things and see how the bad things were when You were trying to get my attention and straighten me out. Thank you through the many hoops and things You go through to get your lost sheep to return to You! Thank you for caring about us and not wanting us to wander from You. Praise You for being a good shepherd.

Thank you for the New Testament truths and the ways You conveyed them to us. Thank you for the beautiful word pictures. Thank you that they are pure and interesting. They could have been very different if Jesus was raised and lived in a different society or time period. Thank you for giving us something we can understand and enjoy.

Thank you for the historical and geographical evidence for the Bible. Thank you that Israel exists, today! It's not a place that only archaeologists can guess at where it may have been (like some ancient civilizations). Israel is alive and well and it's right where it always has been.

Thank you for the ways You kept your people pure. Thank you for your awesome laws; even though they usually didn't obey them. Thank you for having a great plan.

Thank you for the wonderful parallels between us and the country of Israel. We were in slavery, like they were in slavery in Egypt. We were set free, then we wandered from the truth and lived in the desert for a long period of time. As we obeyed You, You blessed us. You showed us supernatural miracles like You gave the Israelites manna from Heaven and quail and water from a rock. You gave us wise leaders that knew You and wanted to teach us your ways. Bless them and help us to love them.

Thank you that I can mellow out with some jazz music, now. I pray that I can broadcast, tonight, and some people will enjoy my music. Thank you for this awesome medium. I can set it to play and go to sleep.

Thank you for Israel and the Jews. Bless them. Help them to have peace over there. Let President Bush have great wisdom and show him what to do. Thank you for the prophecies concerning Israel. Thank you that the world is generally impatient and wanting a solution. Show us what will happen, next. Show us each major leader's true intentions. Let the Rapture Ready site continue to publish hourly news on the world's events. Thank you for their awesome ministry.

Keep the holy sites undefiled and intact, Lord. Let the people leave the Church of the Nativity, immediately. It's no coincidence that people are taking refuge in a church that commemorates your birth! We love You, Lord. Thank you for loving everyone, even the people who are misdirected and foolish.

Let the world see the Palestinians taking refuge in this church and see that they could take refuge in You. Thank you for being a mighty fortress and a strong tower. Thank you for the idea for a devotion about our strongest building being You!

Let me have a great rest, now. Thank you for this time of extended prayer. Let me get 8 hours of sleep and awaken rested and ready to work! Thank you for giving me a nice warm bed and a loving wife.

Bless Sarine, tomorrow. Help her to have plenty of energy. Don't let her tire and don't let her back or body hurt. Give her joy and help her to walk in your Spirit. Let her have some Christian friends to encourage her. Let the kids be good to her and have her boss be encouraging, too.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

May 6, 2002 - Day 29

I prayed in the devotions.

May 7, 2002 - Day 30

Bless me, increase my ministry, lay your hand on me and keep me from evil.

Thank you for being my good and awesome God! Thank you for being faithful to me. Thank you for helping me get through my days and nights.

Thank you that the devotions are sending, now. Thank you for the very strange way the computer has been acting. Help me to be careful, tonight, and let the devos keep sending. Let them be finished by the time I wake up and let everyone on the list get them!

Thank you that it's only 11:22pm and I've already played the guitar for an hour! Woohoo! Thank you that I get to watch a movie and rest, soon. Thank you for helping me to use my time wisely (like working out and reading Deuteronomy, already).

Thank you that me, my Mom, Sarine, Talar and Rita could go and see the ultrasound for our unborn baby! I hope that our baby remains healthy and keeps growing at a steady rate. Let it be the right weight and height. If it's undersized, let her or him quickly become the best size.

Thank you that the nurse thinks our baby is a girl! Thank you for making this decision for us. We know that You know best. Thank you for wanting our lives to be enriched and made better with this child. We trust that You will give us exactly what we need.

Thank you that I had a short, yet intense workout. Bless Kenny and his gym. Let me get tanned, tomorrow. Thank you for that nice place and those nice people. Help them to enjoy their workouts. Let me have a lot of fun there. Lift me up when I'm feeling weak and tired. Help me to keep lifting and press on. Give me strength when I have none left.

Thank you that I can listen to DC Talk as I type my prayers! Thank you for that awesome band. Bless them and their ministries. Thank you that they gave us three solo albums and plan on reforming their band and making more, great music. Bless their endeavors.

Thank you that I was able to download, paste and link three buttons, tonight. Let them be helpful to people. Thank you that I was able to record my voice giving an audio welcome and an audio gospel message! Let people have fun with the new technology. Thank you for the people who have helped test it. Thank you for Ernie and how he lets me use his server for storing my data. Bless him and his ministry. Bless his business and give him success and godliness.

Let me find a way to count the amount of people that click the buttons on my web site. Let people with slower modems be patient as they download the audio files. Thank you that I was able to make them relatively small and to the point. Thank you for the free software that I use to record, convert, crop, preview and join my files!

Praise You for making everything I see and feel. Praise You for being an awesome Creator. Praise You for being the King of all! Nobody is higher than You. You are greater than all.

Thank you for letting us know You. Thank you for touching us and making us like You. Thank you for investing time and effort in us, Lord. Thank you for putting your Word in our heart.

Thank you for the songs that I'm perfecting. Bless my efforts on Joshua 1:8, Isaiah 55:10, 11, Late One Night, Foundation, Do You Know?, my instrumental song, A Beautiful Light, Thy Word and all the others! Thank you that I have at least 8 original songs for the next album. Help me to learn them really well, find the right drum beats, the right introductions and riffs and all that good stuff. Let me create more loops, licks and bridges. Let me piece together everything, perfectly. Thank you for the freedom I have when I create music! Let me take liberties and have fun with it. Let me write two more songs: one about having a child and one about never giving up. This should complete the album.

Thank you for helping me on this Pentecost Covenant! Thank you for the ups and downs. Thank you for taking me somewhere. With all of this time spent praying, playing worship songs and reading your Word, I know I'm getting closer to You. Let me have more periods of time like this. Help me to develop good habits, so I can simply stay near You throughout the year and throughout my life. When I drift or wander, pull me to You, quickly.

Let me have an awesome day, tomorrow. Thank you that I get to attend Bible study. Thank you that I don't have to play worship, tomorrow. Thank you for the break. Please rejuvenate me! Let me be ready and excited to play next week. Help Julie to get me the songs earlier. Thank you for the other members in the band. Bless them and lift them up.

Thank you that Sarine and I get to see the Grand Canyon, soon! Thank you that we get to visit that awesome place. Help us to be inspired. Let us have an incredible time. Thank you that we go right after my Covenant is finished. Let my able be finished, too. If it's your will, give me a song while I'm on the road and let me put it on the album. Speak to me on that trip. Be bold and lead me, Lord.

Bless the Middle East. Help those countries to get along. Help them to be honest. Let the entire world understand the craziness of the Islamic religion. Let people understand that the Koran, whether people adhere to it or not, is a book of war, death and contradictions. Thank you for showing me the truth by letting me read the Koran. Let critics and supporters simply read it and make a judgment for themselves.

Let the world find a wise solution about what they should do to and for over 1 billion Muslims. Let people distinguish between Arabs and Muslims. Not all Arabs are Muslims. Thank you for giving us spiritual wisdom that could only come from above. Thank you for helping me to "pick my battles" and not wage crazy war with every person who isn't a Christian. Let me be cunning and wise. Thank you for molding me into a Christ-like image.

Thank you for Randy the avid atheist. Bless him and give him more of You, Lord. Let him see things on my web pages that open his eyes. Let him discover the truth of You before it's too late, Lord. Change his heart and help him.

Bless my internet ministry. Increase the average number of people that come to the JCSM sites. Help the numbers to increase 100 times! Take the current number and multiply it by 100, Lord. I'm praying big because You are a big God! Help me to pray fervently, believing that You can do anything. Since the main site averages around 100 visits a day, I suppose I'm praying that it would average 10,000 visits a day. Is that too much for You? Is that too much for the One who laid the foundation of the Earth and made everything in it?

You have answered huge prayers before, so I ask that You answer this one. Bring glory to yourself. Put the site on people's fingertips. Let it be known around the world. Let people have a craving for the truth. Let me design sites that are awesome and God-fearing. Let me design them in a way where people stay and return.

Let me have your vision, Lord. Thank you for speaking to me so much. Thank you for telling me to do so many interesting things! You are an awesome God. Thank you for having great plans for this ministry. Thank you for speaking to me when I listen to You. Keep on talking. Prepare me to do your will. Let me be moldable. Forgive me for wanting my own way or being distracted. Forgive me for not being perfect. Help me to have a super high standard for myself - your standard. To You be all the glory, honor and praise. In Jesus' name, Amen.