A new beginning

Hello everyone!

This will be my last, final and ending post on this blog.

I know, sad day, sad day.

I was going back through my old posts and I have so much history here.

From my first real post back in '07 to the amazing photography of Gary Barnes, the joys of living in Huntington Hall, to the story of my surgery (and now my life-song sings) and what God was doing through and in me throughout my senior year in High School.

This blog holds the post from when I was asked to be the Youth Pastor at HBBC, and the blog discussing my 1-year point.

SO MUCH good stuff in here.

but now, my life and dreams and findings will be shared through a new, and in my oppinion, better medium- using WORDPRESS. Wordpress is a far-better platform for me to share and do things in a blog-setting, and I am SO EXCITED to be using it!

The new blog can be found at http://joshquale.wordpress.com

If you subscribed to this blog, and aren't tired of me yet, or would like to subscribe for the first time, you can CLICK HERE to subscribe to the new one. Just enter your email, fill out the captcha and you will be good to go. :)

Thanks for being loyal readers, and I hope you enjoy the new look, feel, and charm of the new site.

I think you will.

We're better, together,

Josh

We're ICESKATING!!!

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Benjamin Cave, "Dust"- an original work.

Benjamin Cave brings the raw emotion of Van Gogh with the skill and finesse of the masters as he bluntly intimidates and captures the listener without appology- leading them on a voyage through birth, life, pain and restoration with his original work, "Dust".

With an incredible show of growing talent and unforgiving honesty, Cave bravely puts on display what most performers fear most- himself.

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Spending the evening watching The Lion King with the sis (ON VHS!!)

Josh

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Look everyone! I'm a sigalert!!!

Josh

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Oswald got hurt :(

Josh

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Music?

Do you like worship music? Like, not the old hmns and stuff- that's subject for another blog. I'm talking about the songs that involve you saying and singing words that might not be rtrue for you.

I'm sitting right now in chapel and we just sang, corperately, "I live only to see your face".

And I had to stop- I did a quick snapshot of my everyday life and I realized ha t I DONT live to see god's face most of the time. In reality, that is seldom the reason I live my life- usually I live to make sure others see me, or to get what I want, or to be heard and influential in another persons life.

It's hard to stop and reflect on this aspect of my life- because it's not something I neccisary like about me. Then I look at the stage, a d the people up there who must really do what they are professing. I mean, right?

Or are we corperatly fooling ourselves, without lookng inward at the realit of our existence, and without really understAnding what god is doing in our lives?

Why do you think?

"Living to make Your name high- give what the world couldn't offer us"

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Apparently im in the right field... musician, theologian/counselor and public speaker/

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Im INFP- what are you? check out mypersonality.info

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Royens holloween costume. Be jealouse.

Josh

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Sad but hillarius!

Josh

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My view thismorning. Needham chapel is buried beneath the fog.

Josh

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Untitled poem.

Once on a yellow piece of paper with green lines
he wrote a poem
And he called it "Chops"
because that was the name of his dog
And that's what it was all about
And his teacher gave him an A
and a gold star
And his mother hung it on the kitchen door
and read it to his aunts
That was the year Father Tracy
took all the kids to the zoo
And he let them sing on the bus
And his little sister was born
with tiny toenails and no hair
And his mother and father kissed a lot
And the girl around the corner sent him a
Valentine signed with a row of X's
and he had to ask his father what the X's meant
And his father always tucked him in bed at night
And was always there to do it

Once on a piece of white paper with blue lines
he wrote a poem
And he called it "Autumn"
because that was the name of the season
And that's what it was all about
And his teacher gave him an A
and asked him to write more clearly
And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because of its new paint
And the kids told him
that Father Tracy smoked cigars
And left butts on the pews
And sometimes they would burn holes
That was the year his sister got glasses
with thick lenses and black frames
And the girl around the corner laughed
when he asked her to go see Santa Claus
And the kids told him why
his mother and father kissed a lot
And his father never tucked him in bed at night
And his father got mad
when he cried for him to do it.

Once on a paper torn from his notebook
he wrote a poem
And he called it "Innocence: A Question"
because that was the question about his girl
And that's what it was all about
And his professor gave him an A
and a strange steady look
And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because he never showed her
That was the year that Father Tracy died
And he forgot how the end
of the Apostle's Creed went
And he caught his sister
making out on the back porch
And his mother and father never kissed
or even talked
And the girl around the corner
wore too much makeup
That made him cough when he kissed her
but he kissed her anyway
because that was the thing to do
And at three a.m. he tucked himself into bed
his father snoring soundly

That's why on the back of a brown paper bag
he tried another poem
And he called it "Absolutely Nothing"
Because that's what it was really all about
And he gave himself an A
and a slash on each damned wrist
And he hung it on the bathroom door
because this time he didn't think
he could reach the kitchen.

--Earl Reum

Celebrating the Great One- the One who makes dead things alive!

Josh

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Just filled my 12 gallon tank after almost draining it completely! Wow!

Josh

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Music Chapel!

Josh

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1 year

Wow.

its been a year.

1 year ago, october 2008, I started as Pastor to Students at Huntington Beach Baptist Church. And today, i sit here, and I cannot believe how much I have learned over the past 12 months. As i write, i am trying to put to words all of the great, glorious things that i have witnessed- the lives I've seen begin to heal, the good that has come from bad, the hope restored to students- the amazing awareness of Youth Workers who realize they DO have something to offer to the kingdom. In all that I have seen, i can honestly say that one thought permeates every aspect of the past year:

God is SOOO good!

There's a genre of self-analytic books in circulation entitled "How I Changed My Mind"- writings from individuals, gathered over the course of their lives (often at yearly, or semi-annual intervals), and the authors document how their understanding of the world around them has changed since the lat publication. at the end of thier lives, these essays are compiled and bound together and printed as "How I Changed My Mind: [authors name].

Well, I remember, when i had been given the position, remarking on a song i had heard from Shaun Groves, and as i sit here- the words seem just as applicable now as they did a year ago. here are the lyrics:

Walking with you is not without hazards
Trippings this traveler's curse
Price paid for falling is more than my stumble
In a world that is watching and waiting for words

But I listened when You said to go
And I set out in spite of my fearsAbout truth mixed with my imperfection
And the question of what to say when I got here

And now that I'm here
Should I tell them that
You are the one who has made me
And saved me and set up a home there inside
Should I tell them that I am a perfect example
Of all You can do with a life.
What should I say to them?
What if I'm failing them?
What should i tell the tonight?

Tonight, I found myself praying- "I listened when You said to go, and I set out in spite of my fears about truth mixed with my imperfection, and the questions of what to say when I got here"-

I still hold those fears, and I dont think they will ever go away. But i have changed my mind in this way, with this truth: God does not call the equipped, He equips the called. And the job that we do, the tough stuff of youth ministry, is not accomplished on our own doing, but on the doings of Christ. Not measu

red by own human measurements, not held back by human power and thought, not defined by human definitions- our ministry to ourselves and to the church is defined by God's power and person working within us. God has opened the door, hes set us up for success, and he's already written the end of the book- and now he's calling us to be a part of his reedemptive plan- and equipping us with His very own strength, wisdom, discernment and encouragement all the while.

I think the thing I have learned most about the world around me in the last year is that I have an intrinsic ability to screw stuff up! and along with that, I have learned the immense pleasure and joy God gets in bringing order out of my chaos, in such a way that I stand back and say "wow... God- you are SO good!"

Our theme for the next year of ministry is "Live the Life"- there are many implications of this phrase, but the one im focusing on is living a life that is so consumed with following Christ that our eyes are opened to seeing people the way he sees them, that we are always listening to his directions, that our hearts would break for what His heart breaks for, and that our lives would be healed and made new through His ability to make dead things, alive.

I cant wait to see where God takes us in another year, and to quote the band MondayMorning:

will You stand right next to me? will You hold me faithfully? should I question all these things? what makes me so deserving of something that I've thrown away coming back for me today, when I'm still nothing next to You- I'm still nothing next to You

and the wonder of it all is I'm still standing

and the wonder of it all is we're still standing

never planned it 

and I wonder where I'll be next year.

Love you guys, 

Josh 

 

Arms high and heart abandonned. We are the rescued ones.

Josh

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Standing together, as one- the rescued ones of God.

Josh

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