My Daily Life and Thoughts while in San Diego |
List of Best Posts
This blog is where I express myself to the world or at least to those who might stop by to read what I post 
. Maybe God will use what I post (I am a Christian and this blog will have a most decidedly Christian bent to it) to good effect in the lives of my readers.
I may turn some of my posts into a book. I may cease blogging here altogether. Who knows. But for now..I am content to post away in this, my own little corner of the world.
Rather than reading through my now lengthy list of posts you may wish to read what I consider to be my very best posts or you can just read the posts that deal with a single subject category that might interest you.
Please know that I am open to any input on any topic I write about. If you have something to say about anything you see written here please....feel free to speak up in the form of leaving a comment or sending me a PM (private message).
And if you are in San Diego and wish to meet the one and only Carlos (that's me)...drop me a private message. I always enjoy meeting one of my readers!
Thanks.
Carlos
PS. If you want to follow my blog such that you will get an email when I write new posts you can subscribe to my blog.
. Maybe God will use what I post (I am a Christian and this blog will have a most decidedly Christian bent to it) to good effect in the lives of my readers. I may turn some of my posts into a book. I may cease blogging here altogether. Who knows. But for now..I am content to post away in this, my own little corner of the world.
Rather than reading through my now lengthy list of posts you may wish to read what I consider to be my very best posts or you can just read the posts that deal with a single subject category that might interest you.
Please know that I am open to any input on any topic I write about. If you have something to say about anything you see written here please....feel free to speak up in the form of leaving a comment or sending me a PM (private message).
And if you are in San Diego and wish to meet the one and only Carlos (that's me
)...drop me a private message. I always enjoy meeting one of my readers!Thanks.
Carlos
PS. If you want to follow my blog such that you will get an email when I write new posts you can subscribe to my blog.
The broken toothbrush and the $50.00 gift!
You know every single time I face an impossible circumstance, of the kind I have been facing these last couple of weeks, God always...I mean always comes through for me and provides for my ultimate need!
Although my faith is not nearly what it should be I am learning more and more through such circumstances to trust my God and to walk in faith.
These last few days my heart has been absolutely at peace. Walking in the joy of the Lord. Content in my relationship with Him no matter what happens. Filled to the brim. Overflowing with the milk and honey of His incredible Presence. Overwhelmed with His love and grace as He has drawn near to me to strengthen me with His majestic Presence.
This day has been incredible. I was so filled with joy and excitement this morning over the ways in which God not only used me but provided for me today that I literally felt at one point like I was going to burst!!
Last night my dear friend who has a home church meeting at his house called me to see if I might want to come to his house this morning for the Sunday gathering. The friend of his that had given me a ride last Sunday was apparently willing to give me a ride again. An invitation that I of course said yes to as I had not had any real Christian fellowship in a week.
So I made arrangements to meet his friend out front who was going to pick me up at 8:30 AM.
Last night I spent the last whole dollars ($3) I had and bought two loaves of bread and a small bag of carrots at the Dollar Store. My knees had been bothering me a bit but I was able to make it there and back again before plunking down on my chair before the computer for the rest of the night.
That left me with something like less than a $1 of income.
This morning while brushing my teeth and knocking the water out of my toothbrush, it broke!
And I almost ran out of baking soda (which I use to brush my teeth).
I ran out of toilet paper (with the exception of about ten very thin slices of toilet paper left on a very old roll that was here before I started renting the trailer).
But...my peace and joy remained unaffected and I continued to entrust myself to God.
The friend who was supposed to show up at 8:30 am did not show up at 8:30 am. He was not here at 8:45 nor at 9:00 am. Something had come up obviously.
Now bear in mind that the thought had crossed my mind that the Lord might place it upon my home church friend's heart to give me some food or something so not being able to go if the other friend could not have made it to give me a ride, under normal circumstances, might have caused me to start to get anxious.
But it did not!
My heart was trusting in the Lord as the source of my provision. Not my ride. Not my friends or the Christians meeting at his house. No one and nothing but Him alone.
And I figured that if I could not make it the home group church this morning that God would just have to provide some other way.
Well...eventually my ride did show up and I went.
Once there I was able to share some really good stuff (based on what people said about what I shared) with the group about how to experience joy and peace in the midst of very trying circumstances. Something I have been learning to do over the course of my trials and especially so these last few days when it seemed, by sight, that there was no way that God would be able to provide for me this time.
(A lady in the group handed me a small envelope that I just now remembered and opened. Inside was a nice card and TWO gift certificate cards. One to Von's and one to Subway. At least $50 between the two and possibly more...the cards themselves are not marked but there is a $50 amount indicated as being on one of the cards. Praise God!)
We had a wonderful time of Christian fellowship and talked a lot about church in general and how a different kind of church is needed if we are to get back to being all that God wants the Church to be.
Afterwards my friend, the home group leader, told me that God had laid it on his heart last night (bear in mind that I had not seen him or heard from him in a week and that as of last night he had absolutely no clue as to what my present circumstance was or that I was down to $1 and almost out of food) to give me and the other friend who had given me a ride $50 each!!!
Unreal!
Oh...I forgot to mention that I had to cancel my Skype unlimited calling subscription as of today since I could not afford the $2.95 to pay it this month. So as of today I could no longer use my computer to make calls effectively making me phoneless! Which of course would have made it very difficult to contact businesses to offer my computer services to them starting Monday as I had been hoping to do. Just a whee tid bit I forgot to mention
Anyway this friend of mine takes me and the person who gave me a ride out to lunch stopping at the bank first to get $50 in cash for each of the two of us (bear in mind that this friend of ours only had $150 in his bank account which effectively left him with only $50 himself). And instead of having us pay for our lunch out of our $50 he buys us lunch out of his $50!!
When it came time to pay however he realized that he had left his bank card in the ATM machine at the bank. So I gave him $40 back to pay for all of what we ate.
We then headed back to the bank only to discover that his card was gone (probably turned into the bank..which was now closed...by someone finding it stuck in the ATM machine).
Please note that I was given $50, gave back $40 and after getting some change back from him ended up with something like $21.
That $21 will enable me to restart my Skype tommorrow and eat for another week!!!
I was disappointed in not having been able to keep the full $50 but again...it was a relatively minor disappointment as I chose to keep my eyes focused on the Lord as the source of my provision.
The Lord tested my heart through this interchange of money in that even now, despite going through so many similar circumstances in the past, I still have a tendency to latch on to anything that will alleviate me of having to trust the living God continually. That $50 had looked awefully good when I had it in my hand!
But I was able to deal with my disappointment and move forward in faith by His grace with a continuing resolve to look to God, not any thing or anyone, as the source of my provision. Even the $50 I had held in my hands for a little while.
That money had been God's before it was given to me, it was God's when it was in my hands, and it was God's when it left my hand and went back to help the brother who gave me the money but found himself without his bank card.
With the remaining $21, I can now buy a new toothbrush, more baking soda to use as toothpaste, more toilet paper, and even some more food!!! And I can restart my Skype calling tomorrow after I make a small deposit into my bank.
You know perhaps I have made some bad decisions in life that have resulted in my sinking into a bad circumstance financially (which bad choices by the way are not entirely certain...it's just possible that I have made some such choices though what those might be do not immediately come to mind) but as I have said before...bad choices or not...I would not trade the lessons God is teaching me and the growing ability to be at peace and find joy where there is no peace to be found in my circumstances, for all the money in the world!!
Material wealth truly does not buy happiness. I just read this morning of a friend of the stars who is relatively rich but who is concerned about their future. How they will make it financially, emotionally, and otherwise.
Well...if I can find peace and true joy in the midst of having nothing they certainly can. So can anyone! If they will learn to lean on the living God by faith and walk in His truth as contained in the Bible.
Having or not having has absolutely not one thing to do with the peace of God that can reign in our hearts!!
I am freer than most people I know. I don't mean as in free from responsibilities that burden me down (which I am certainly free from too). I mean that I am learning to live in the freedom that comes from knowing God and being enabled by Him to be set free from worry, anxiety, and concern of the kind that robs us of life.
Circumstances cannot make us a prisoner to concern, worry, and anxiety if our hearts find their rest in God alone.
He does not change and can be counted on to be there for us in the midst of our need. To walk us forward one step at a time as we continue to look to Him.
The Bible is not some fairy tale. It is the inspired words of God in written form to give us hope and to enable us to rise above the natural reaction to circumstances that would otherwise have the capacity to destroy us.
I praise God for the salvation He revealed to me today. Though I have enough now for a good week if I am careful with the money I have been given...I do not have so much that I can rely on my money. A good place to be I think. At least for now.
Oh...I forgot to mention one other tid bit...
Up till now I have not been able to post ads on craigslist (like I could do before I came to San Diego) because I have had no phone number that could be used to verify my presence in San Diego (a new requirement of craigslist before being allowed to post).
Well...now I can! How?
Because the Christian brother who has been giving me a ride back and forth these last couple of weeks has entered an arrangement with me where I will help him find additional work through craigslist. Something that involved his using his phone to validate a new account I set up there for this purpose. And he is perfectly willing to have me use that account to post my own ads to be received under my own business email address!
As I said today has been quite incredible! All blessing and honor belong to the Lord my God for His gracious mercy and favor granted to me today!
Carlos
UPDATE
I decided to add this as an update rather than writing a post about it. I have been wondering how the Lord is going to help me regarding where I live and paying the rent since as of last night I have no money coming in at all workwise.
Well...this morning an email came through offering to tentatively hire me full time working for a well established local computer programming company with lots of work for me to do (my present big client has been real busy and has no work for me this month)! Mind you the details still need to be talked out and further details of my life (such as that I have no car and otherwise) might kill their interest but this is incredible!!
I flat out told them I had no resume to give them as I had just gotten into offering web development services professionally (though that did not mean I was not super skilled in some things), that I had no inclination to create one for them, that a resume was just an indication of how someone could write a...well...good resume and little evidence of real skill, and some other things. I took a chance but figured it was better to be bold and see if something could be worked out. And my boldness paid off! Or seems like it will!
Unreal!!!!!
I remain trusting in God not in any particular job offer, person, thing or otherwise. He is my God and the source of my provision and I continue to look to Him!
But this is quite...welll...INCREDIBLE! I mean me! Living in a trailer and having almost no money, no car, no verifiable job history to speak of...at least not in the web development field (though I am highly skilled having worked on my own sites for years), bad knees...me! Getting offered a potential job like this alone...never mind if it works out or not...is just...well...INCREDIBLE!
I really don't much care if I end up with lots of money or not. That's not my cup of tea. I mean to aim for money above all else. But hey...if I can make real good money at a good job...why not? That would be a good thing!
We'll see what happens.
Although my faith is not nearly what it should be I am learning more and more through such circumstances to trust my God and to walk in faith.
These last few days my heart has been absolutely at peace. Walking in the joy of the Lord. Content in my relationship with Him no matter what happens. Filled to the brim. Overflowing with the milk and honey of His incredible Presence. Overwhelmed with His love and grace as He has drawn near to me to strengthen me with His majestic Presence.
This day has been incredible. I was so filled with joy and excitement this morning over the ways in which God not only used me but provided for me today that I literally felt at one point like I was going to burst!!
Last night my dear friend who has a home church meeting at his house called me to see if I might want to come to his house this morning for the Sunday gathering. The friend of his that had given me a ride last Sunday was apparently willing to give me a ride again. An invitation that I of course said yes to as I had not had any real Christian fellowship in a week.
So I made arrangements to meet his friend out front who was going to pick me up at 8:30 AM.
Last night I spent the last whole dollars ($3) I had and bought two loaves of bread and a small bag of carrots at the Dollar Store. My knees had been bothering me a bit but I was able to make it there and back again before plunking down on my chair before the computer for the rest of the night.
That left me with something like less than a $1 of income.
This morning while brushing my teeth and knocking the water out of my toothbrush, it broke!
And I almost ran out of baking soda (which I use to brush my teeth).
I ran out of toilet paper (with the exception of about ten very thin slices of toilet paper left on a very old roll that was here before I started renting the trailer).
But...my peace and joy remained unaffected and I continued to entrust myself to God.
The friend who was supposed to show up at 8:30 am did not show up at 8:30 am. He was not here at 8:45 nor at 9:00 am. Something had come up obviously.
Now bear in mind that the thought had crossed my mind that the Lord might place it upon my home church friend's heart to give me some food or something so not being able to go if the other friend could not have made it to give me a ride, under normal circumstances, might have caused me to start to get anxious.
But it did not!
My heart was trusting in the Lord as the source of my provision. Not my ride. Not my friends or the Christians meeting at his house. No one and nothing but Him alone.
And I figured that if I could not make it the home group church this morning that God would just have to provide some other way.
Well...eventually my ride did show up and I went.
Once there I was able to share some really good stuff (based on what people said about what I shared) with the group about how to experience joy and peace in the midst of very trying circumstances. Something I have been learning to do over the course of my trials and especially so these last few days when it seemed, by sight, that there was no way that God would be able to provide for me this time.
(A lady in the group handed me a small envelope that I just now remembered and opened. Inside was a nice card and TWO gift certificate cards. One to Von's and one to Subway. At least $50 between the two and possibly more...the cards themselves are not marked but there is a $50 amount indicated as being on one of the cards. Praise God!)
We had a wonderful time of Christian fellowship and talked a lot about church in general and how a different kind of church is needed if we are to get back to being all that God wants the Church to be.
Afterwards my friend, the home group leader, told me that God had laid it on his heart last night (bear in mind that I had not seen him or heard from him in a week and that as of last night he had absolutely no clue as to what my present circumstance was or that I was down to $1 and almost out of food) to give me and the other friend who had given me a ride $50 each!!!
Unreal!
Oh...I forgot to mention that I had to cancel my Skype unlimited calling subscription as of today since I could not afford the $2.95 to pay it this month. So as of today I could no longer use my computer to make calls effectively making me phoneless! Which of course would have made it very difficult to contact businesses to offer my computer services to them starting Monday as I had been hoping to do. Just a whee tid bit I forgot to mention
Anyway this friend of mine takes me and the person who gave me a ride out to lunch stopping at the bank first to get $50 in cash for each of the two of us (bear in mind that this friend of ours only had $150 in his bank account which effectively left him with only $50 himself). And instead of having us pay for our lunch out of our $50 he buys us lunch out of his $50!!
When it came time to pay however he realized that he had left his bank card in the ATM machine at the bank. So I gave him $40 back to pay for all of what we ate.
We then headed back to the bank only to discover that his card was gone (probably turned into the bank..which was now closed...by someone finding it stuck in the ATM machine).
Please note that I was given $50, gave back $40 and after getting some change back from him ended up with something like $21.
That $21 will enable me to restart my Skype tommorrow and eat for another week!!!
I was disappointed in not having been able to keep the full $50 but again...it was a relatively minor disappointment as I chose to keep my eyes focused on the Lord as the source of my provision.
The Lord tested my heart through this interchange of money in that even now, despite going through so many similar circumstances in the past, I still have a tendency to latch on to anything that will alleviate me of having to trust the living God continually. That $50 had looked awefully good when I had it in my hand!
But I was able to deal with my disappointment and move forward in faith by His grace with a continuing resolve to look to God, not any thing or anyone, as the source of my provision. Even the $50 I had held in my hands for a little while.
That money had been God's before it was given to me, it was God's when it was in my hands, and it was God's when it left my hand and went back to help the brother who gave me the money but found himself without his bank card.
With the remaining $21, I can now buy a new toothbrush, more baking soda to use as toothpaste, more toilet paper, and even some more food!!! And I can restart my Skype calling tomorrow after I make a small deposit into my bank.
You know perhaps I have made some bad decisions in life that have resulted in my sinking into a bad circumstance financially (which bad choices by the way are not entirely certain...it's just possible that I have made some such choices though what those might be do not immediately come to mind) but as I have said before...bad choices or not...I would not trade the lessons God is teaching me and the growing ability to be at peace and find joy where there is no peace to be found in my circumstances, for all the money in the world!!
Material wealth truly does not buy happiness. I just read this morning of a friend of the stars who is relatively rich but who is concerned about their future. How they will make it financially, emotionally, and otherwise.
Well...if I can find peace and true joy in the midst of having nothing they certainly can. So can anyone! If they will learn to lean on the living God by faith and walk in His truth as contained in the Bible.
Having or not having has absolutely not one thing to do with the peace of God that can reign in our hearts!!
I am freer than most people I know. I don't mean as in free from responsibilities that burden me down (which I am certainly free from too). I mean that I am learning to live in the freedom that comes from knowing God and being enabled by Him to be set free from worry, anxiety, and concern of the kind that robs us of life.
Circumstances cannot make us a prisoner to concern, worry, and anxiety if our hearts find their rest in God alone.
He does not change and can be counted on to be there for us in the midst of our need. To walk us forward one step at a time as we continue to look to Him.
The Bible is not some fairy tale. It is the inspired words of God in written form to give us hope and to enable us to rise above the natural reaction to circumstances that would otherwise have the capacity to destroy us.
I praise God for the salvation He revealed to me today. Though I have enough now for a good week if I am careful with the money I have been given...I do not have so much that I can rely on my money. A good place to be I think. At least for now.
Oh...I forgot to mention one other tid bit...
Up till now I have not been able to post ads on craigslist (like I could do before I came to San Diego) because I have had no phone number that could be used to verify my presence in San Diego (a new requirement of craigslist before being allowed to post).
Well...now I can! How?
Because the Christian brother who has been giving me a ride back and forth these last couple of weeks has entered an arrangement with me where I will help him find additional work through craigslist. Something that involved his using his phone to validate a new account I set up there for this purpose. And he is perfectly willing to have me use that account to post my own ads to be received under my own business email address!
As I said today has been quite incredible! All blessing and honor belong to the Lord my God for His gracious mercy and favor granted to me today!
Carlos
UPDATE
I decided to add this as an update rather than writing a post about it. I have been wondering how the Lord is going to help me regarding where I live and paying the rent since as of last night I have no money coming in at all workwise.
Well...this morning an email came through offering to tentatively hire me full time working for a well established local computer programming company with lots of work for me to do (my present big client has been real busy and has no work for me this month)! Mind you the details still need to be talked out and further details of my life (such as that I have no car and otherwise) might kill their interest but this is incredible!!
I flat out told them I had no resume to give them as I had just gotten into offering web development services professionally (though that did not mean I was not super skilled in some things), that I had no inclination to create one for them, that a resume was just an indication of how someone could write a...well...good resume and little evidence of real skill, and some other things. I took a chance but figured it was better to be bold and see if something could be worked out. And my boldness paid off! Or seems like it will!
Unreal!!!!!
I remain trusting in God not in any particular job offer, person, thing or otherwise. He is my God and the source of my provision and I continue to look to Him!
But this is quite...welll...INCREDIBLE! I mean me! Living in a trailer and having almost no money, no car, no verifiable job history to speak of...at least not in the web development field (though I am highly skilled having worked on my own sites for years), bad knees...me! Getting offered a potential job like this alone...never mind if it works out or not...is just...well...INCREDIBLE!
I really don't much care if I end up with lots of money or not. That's not my cup of tea. I mean to aim for money above all else. But hey...if I can make real good money at a good job...why not? That would be a good thing!
We'll see what happens.
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