a contented sigh.

And a praise report.
First off, an update with how things have been going with the police tryouts.

I ran on Wednesday night. In order to qualify for the entrance Physical Testing I have to run 1 1/2 miles in 14:13. Yes, that's right. Fourteen minutes and thirteen seconds. For those of you out there who are saying, "Oh come now Jon, I can walk a mile in 10 minutes! I do it all the time!" I reply to you....Great. That is really.... neat. I have to say that running WAS not something that I did on a regular basis. Those of you who know me...know this. I have to run it. I am not a runner...however, on Wednesday night July 25th, I had my first time trials. I ran it in 16:50.

That's right...Sixteen minutes and fifty seconds. So they told me to come back on June 30 to run it again. This time I would absolutely have to get it within two minutes of 14:13. So I needed 16:13 to survive. I wanted 14:13, but I would settle for anything under 16:13.

I ran.

I made a 14:43.

I am 30 seconds shy. I get one more opportunity on Monday morning. 9am. I can do this. Pray for me. I got the push ups and sit ups down! Also. I heard some exciting news through scuttlebutt at work today but have yet to recieve official confirmation from the Sgt in charge of the try outs. As soon as I get that, I will post it here!

I was sitting on the bed right before this second run and Jessica m beautiful wife was massaging my back, a source of pain and slowness on my first run. Kaiser ran up and over me on the bed and plopped his self right on down. He stretched his little paws out and kinda yawned. Then he was just still. There was sort of a tiny dog smile on his face, and then he just sighed. I felt great knowing that he could just come in there, trust us enough to nod off and chill out next to us. Not expecting to be petted or a treat or anything, he just wanted to be near us.


I wonder if God ever just wants that from us. Just to sit there and be with Him. I guess so or He would never have said in His word "Be still and know that I am God." Try that sometime, just think of all that He has brought you through and all He has done for you...and just be there with him. Where ever you are. He's always there. If you are in good times or in bad times...Just be there with Him. put your head on His (proverbial) shoulder and sigh.


Go see my new video on my myspace. It's the trailer for the new Bond. SWEET.
jon

A nice big fat lazy dog.

To say that I am content would be an understatement. To say that I am happy would hit a little closer to home.

I have been reviewing my life thus far and have come to the conclusion that I am blessed.

I visited home last weekend and hung out with my fam and my dad for fathers day. The original reason I wanted to go was to see my grandfather, who promptly left town. See my friends grandfather died and I didn't want the next time I saw my grandfather or grandmother to be in their death beds...or coffins. So off me and my blessing of a family went...Jessica, Kaiser and Myself to the great far away of Lubbock Texas. I was happy to keep the trip tho because God arranged for me to get in some INCREDIBLE quality time with my parents. Mom and Dad, who for the longest time have been heckling me and my wife for a grandchild no longer have to wait on us....BIG NEWS on the Nathan Martinez front... my little brother is going to be a FATHER!!! this is a HUGE WOOT! yet it is still early...so we play the waiting game until Nathan Jr. pops out. or Jean Jr.

I'm listening to the rain outside. It is pouring down in a torrent. I am amazed at how constantly God provides. Pineville city officials have been contemplating a water...not ban...but uh...i forget the word... anyway, restraint.... to conserve what we have in our reserves. I started to think, the animals don't have a water reserve, nor do the trees. The grass has none either. Then the rains came. The things of this earth don't have a water reserve not because they lack the understanding (i've seen ants smarter than some people), not because of the lack of opposable thumbs... (i saw a monkey pick his nose and scratch his butt with the same foot!), but because they know...beyond any other thing that WE think they should know...THAT GOD WILL BE THERE FOR THEM. Now the wisdom we see in the ants and squirrels that horde food and dodge shoes and shotguns, respectively, is that they know even better than we do...that even tho God is always there.... They need to care for what HE has given them, so that they will live to be there for His next giving. He will always be there and He will always give... but if we don't take care of ourselves and the things he has blessed us with...we may not be able to recieve or even enjoy what He gives when He gives it.

So take this any way you will...

I know that even by typing it I have learned what God was telling me about me.
Hope you enjoy the rain...it's always there.



In other news, I had my Police Board Interview, it was fairly brutal. They really hammered in on the fact that many of them sincerely believe that Christianity and Police work don't go together.

But we'll see when I am wearing the badge how it affects me.

Keep me in prayer...I still have to move this 210 pound body one and a half miles in just fourteen minutes and thirteen seconds.







"But that bird doesn't have any wings...and it's only got one leg."Bret McKenzie
Jon

What a LAG!!

I am a horrible blogger. Absolutely. I mean I get all used to writing every couple of days and then every day, but then....I stop... Forever. lol, well I guess not forever...I am blogging now!
So a buttload of stuff has happened since I was on here last. Most recently I got into Flight of The Conchords....pretty much addicted to them. I had seen their live show on HBO or a rebroadcast on Comedy Central and laughed myself silly... but I just rediscovered them and ordered their first season on DVD cause I really am quite addicted. Folks, really, even tho I am gushing about them, watch at your own risk cause they have some parts that some of you elder guard may want to ease your kids outta the room on some parts. Anyway. Got to meet my sister in laws boyfriend. Pretty swell guy. not to bad at all. Way to go Maddie!

In the youth group I have been trying to make sure that they are reading the Word on their own at home... you gotta have that time in the word. And NO. You cannot change the name of your bed to THE WORD and tell me that you will be spending much more time in THE WORD.... lol.

Jessica and I are headed to Lubbock this weekend for Fathers Day. I wanted to spend some time with my Grandpa but he apparently will be on the way to South Texas. Now normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but He has had quite a few heart procedures done in the past couple of WEEKS and will be driving all the way BY HIMSELF.... sigh. I pray that nothing happens to him. He will be 95 this September. So...anyway. I will get to spend some time with my fam and hang out a bit.

Looking forward to it.

ummm not much else going on....?

if I forgot something Jess...let me know.


"Get your hand off of my tail, you'll make it dirty."
jon

Interestingly enough...

So, the past couple of days have been interestingly tied together by things going on in my spirit and by Gods mighty hand. You see, yesterday I read in 1 Chronicles 11:10-19 about King Davids three greatest warriors. These are the men who, when they heard their king say that He wanted a drink of the sweet water from the well by the gate of Bethlehem, took action and fought through enemy lines to bring him some of that water. A stirring in many of us longs for this. To be at the Kings side when he speaks and to ride through certain death to fulfill that wish or command of his. I know I certainly want that, for the warrior sweat to drip from my brow, muscles tired and beaten, hands blistered from wielding sword, arm sore from holding shield, out of breath as I hand my King whatever He desires. This stirring pulls at all of us in a way, I think. It's just that this world has perverted it. They've tricked us into thinking that we will be happy if we satisfy all of our own desires instead of living for something far greater than yourself!

AH!
There In Lies The Rub! (as the bard would undoubtedly say) There is a cost to be payed for such a thing. This mornings reading came from Luke 9:57-62, which tells us about some that were following Jesus and His instruction to them, "LEAVE EVERYTHING AND FOLLOW ME" (jons Paraphrase) There is the amazing cost of being a warrior in the highest army. Everything this world tells us to do is for our immediate gratification. God tells us to live for more and that is done by living for less. Make sense? Think of it this way, of all the hosts of Israel there was a handful who had what it took to be called the greatest of Davids warriors. Of all the times we hear of someone asking to follow Jesus, only twelve can stick to it. It costs a great deal to be counted among the greatest, to have your name etched in stone for eternity to remember, it takes your life. Are you ready for that challenge? I think I am. I have pledged to fight along side Pastor Nathan..

I handed Pastor Nathan my sword and let him know I would fight next to him no matter what. Do I tell you this out of pride? NO! I tell you this out of fear! Fear that I will fail miserably, (which has happened in the past with this same ministry, But thank God for His healing and grace.) Fear that I don't have what it takes. I wonder if Davids Warriors ever stopped to think, as the swords clashed and rang around them that they were doing this all for a GLASS OF WATER! But then, every now and then, a young person will have an encounter with the Living God, and I am treated to giving my King a precious drink of water, and I realize that
of course they knew they were fighting for a glass of water...
The King was thirsty.

The King IS thirsty, do you and I have what it takes to get Him a glass of that sweet water? It's gonna take everything we have and then some more... The water is that way, just past the enemy lines... who's coming with me?

Jon

PALS

Legend has it that after Billy the Kids gang was disbanded and he was shot by Sheriff Pat Garret in the dark, unarmed, he was buried at the graveyard at Old Fort Sumner. Sources say that someone snuck in and chisled a one word epitaph that read "Pals".

I guess I've always had a fondness for Billy the Kid. When I was young I thought "Well HEY! I'm a kid too!!! We have so much in common!" Then when the movie Young Guns was released and I finally pestered my pop enough to let me watch it, it of course deepened my affinity for the wise cracking, loyal, fast drawing (and HIGHLY romanticized) outlaw. But I'm not writing this blog to tell you about Billy the Kid. I am writing to tell you about friends and blessings.

Recently our church started back up an older ministry they had called 4x4s. It is when you are assigned to 3 other couples (4 couples in all for you math majors out there) and are given 4 months (get it? 4x4? eh? pretty nifty huh?) and must meet AT LEAST once a month at each couples suggested place or event. In my group there was Jessica and I, Kyle and Heather, AJ and Ashley, and Robert and Cheryl Gauthier. Now this was kinda neat cause me and Robert and Kyle all already hung out before the reinstatement of 4x4s, so that was fun, also each of our respective wives already had a relationship with each of the other ladies except Ashley. But the real suprise firecracker here is the friendship that has fired up between Kyle, AJ, and myself! (Ashley and Jessica have hit it off and become BFFs. whatever that means.) Well, last night (tuesday night) these guys came over to the house and helped me (tho they may tell you I occasionally helped them and they did most of it) rip up the carpet in the living room and replace it with the laminate wood floors that are currently all the rage.

Kyle knew most of any of us what he was doing having just installed the same type of floor in his home and started us off with a bang and a whirlwind of action. AJ tore right into it as well and they were really working well together and the bad part is...I HAD NO IDEA WHAT TO DO! So I got a little bit defensive at these two younger fellas coming into MY house and doing a better job that ME! Now at this point, I had two choices: Get all sulky and a small attitude, or learn what they were teaching me and GO! Sadly I must confess that I chose the former. I got all sulky and a small attitude. Here's the great thing tho, instead of returning my sourness, these guys called me out on it! They could have acted mad and immature (like me) yet they just were really patient with me and helped me get into the groove (pun intended) of laying these floors down! We had a great time, finished up all but 1 piece in the living room (ran outta material), and I ended up having a great evening working side by side these two great young men.

I wish I would have known AJ better at the time me and Jessica got married. I would have asked him to stand next to me on that day. He has joined the very short list of the best men that I know. Kyle also! He actually called me up this morning and called me out on some stuff I had said to him outside as he showed me up on the manly power tools. He just reassured me that I had no reason to be insecure (really all it was!) about these things. I am learning them the same as everyone else! Just a bit later than most.

Hopefully going on my first varmint shoot next month, also gonna cut down some trees that need clearing. Thanks to my friends I'm exploring all these things and sides of myself that I normally wouldn't if I was all by myself! I am also discovering myself on the husband front, but that is another entry ENTIRELY. lol.

AJ, Kyle, I am honored to call you my friends. I thank God for each of you and your wives. I'm sorry for last night and I thank you for everything. I am at your service as readily as you were at mine.

PALS.





jon

a stretch of time

has passed since we last met here. I have missed you, however, my brain has been adrift in the sea of BLANKNESS... I couldn't write something to save my life. So I'm just hitting the keys and seeing what comes out. This appears to be (in my eyes anyway) an act of desperation, and the camera pans out, out through the roof of the church office where Jon sits typing, above hundreds of trees in the surrounding community, up even higher till we see pineville and alexandria from a birds eye view thousands of feet up and then we hear the tiniest of voices cry out...."I'VE GOT IT!" and we are drawn (rather forcefully) back into jons head and staring back out of his eyes into the vacuous computer monitor and he begins to type.

So I started working out again recently. And I am feeling the bittersweet feeling of having muscles so sore that i can barely move them. I have also been text messaging two young ladies that appear to be having identical friend problems. I have been struck by a parallel that hit me rather forcefully, you see, when you were with my brain up in The Air Up There, I stretched and was greeted by a feeling like a dozen ball peen hammers sriking me in the immediate shoulder, chest and bicep area. It was a good feeling, but boy did it hurt! I have been thinking that these young ladies are going through some pretty common teenage young lady problems with their respective friend, and I was wondering why that particular time of our life is seemingly so difficult. Then I was remided of the scripture in James chapter 1. He reminds us in verse 2--

"2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

See, what he is saying here is that in all walks of our lives, we have to go through some crap. or junk, or stuff, (use whichever is the least offensive to you, they all mean the same thing) so that we can learn how to take all the crapjunkstuff that LIFE is going to throw at us ALL THE TIME! I remember when I was younger and I thought that life was SOO HARD...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! I had it made when I was a kid, I didn't have to worry about a thing!!!!

I don't think we fully realize that until we are pushing 30 and wondering how on earth I made that stupid mistake with the bank account. (AND, all of this with the possibility ((POSSIBILITY)) of a baby on the horizon! ((i put this in here because when you're married there is ALWAYS that POSSIBILITY- I am not trying to subtley tell you that me and jessica are expecting, because to the best of my knowledge WE ARE NOT))...) I think we are told by James to learn to buck up when a friend says something bad about ya, or maybe you got jipped a little on that super awesome thing that was supposed to happen with your buds, and you got blown off... guys life kinda sucks...but it has to sometimes so that you can get STRONGER! I SEE THE POINT! I SEE THE POINT. THANK GOD ALMIGHTY, I SEE THE POINT TO THIS BLOG!


See I opened up by telling you that I was in pain. But the thing is, the way our bodies are built, in order to get them better or stronger, sometimes IT HAS TO SUCK! Sometimes it has to hurt, it has to groan and stretch in uncomfortable ways. Just like we have to in order to become who God wants for us to be in His ultimate plan. There is not a single person in the bible who didn't go through some sort of MASSIVE trauma so that Gods will could be done in their lives. Does this make God a masochist? NO!!! Of course you will always have your "Overly persecuted" few that want to cry that we serve a cruel God or that He doesn't care about us because they had to go through something a bit harder than they are used to....guys it is NOT because we serve a cruel God (which we do NOT!) but it is because HE WANTS YOU TO BE BETTER!!! STRONGER!!!! MORE INCREDIBLE-ER.... you get the picture.


Take the scripture in this blog to heart... it will do you far more good to remember it on days that the sun just can't break through the clouds. (completely metaphorically speaking of course, i love my cloudy days...weather wise of course) I hope this has been of some encouragement to you. It has helped me IMMENSELY.
good day and God Bless.