pictures are tyte because Christmas break was tyte!  and all this is because GOD is tyte!

andre, joanna and i went to san francisco before coming down.  so much fun!  andre, you're still freakin tyte even though we're all losers now that we go to college.  thanks for having sympathy for us stranded losers to hang out with us and pick us up!  and oh joanna, heihei, good good times keep rolling!  praise GOD!!!  we knew jen ho would like this store on pier 39.  it had an entire wall of all duck stuff!

ha!  sorry for wasting your night yi chang!  heihei... not only were we late for the show but... never mind... no apologies!  there you go matt, a promise fulfilled!  "mary, did you know?"  such a tyte song!  hmmm, just like mary, we think we know... but we have NO idea what God has in store for our lives!  exciting!

the kae house!  i'm so glad we dropped by that night mary and mike!  thanks for wrapping so beautifully joanna!  that was one major faith-building night dude!  keep sprinting mike!  and moooraaay, one of the tytest people ever, we didnt go to casa with sara!  darn... oh yeah... sorry for boring you peter!

onething 2005!  finally!  sooo good being with you guys in kc alvin and steven!  alvin, you crack me up!  this picture looks like a picture from washington dc!

mike was so happy to be home in kc!  look at that smile!  one thing the Lord did at kc was help me to understand the massive calling of mike and lucioferio in music!  it was such a joy to watch God really feed His singing sheep at kc (one way He did that was at denny's... heihei).  gwen... so that is what youre really like...... heihei... jp... and oh yeah: "what did you do to make me hate you so much?" heihei.

tcc forerunners baby!  heihei!  where's ralph and anne!?!  what a great picture!... wait... what is gwen doing!?!

the fellowship of the king (and 2 orcs) conquering mt. pine springs during tcc retreat 2006.  may, christina, ren, jasmine, william, tori, gwen, greg, gio, owen; that was seriously the tytest day!  praying over the land (literally) and claiming the ground with each rock we climbed!  spiritual huh?  heihei

yeah... it was THAT steep!  lead the way greg!  (actually, he was just too hungry to be slow)  look at ren lending a helping hand!  awww heihei.  gwen, you kicked some major behind in jen's sandals.  may, you crazay!  may wins mountain climbing reward! 

we committed this year to God from the highest mountain peak in this picture.  2006 LORD!!!

God, thank You for the work You did at pine springs ranch with Your children!  thank You for sending Your messengers chad, julia, and bobby to impart to us the message of accessing what was made available to us by the cross!  let us remember what You did at the retreat!

thanks for organizing one good time in big bear jen!

cafe selah = God's heart.  You got it Dude!

... and Your children will dance (interpretively), rejoice, and worship each second!  at least we'll try to God... heihei... ("even children know how to dance... teach me how to dance" - misty edwards)

cafe renovation was a total group effort!  thank You God for Your workers with joyful hearts!

i lift my eyes up, to the Heavens, where does my help come from?  larry, you really love being in pictures!  heihei

oh... the all so gifted peter!  praise God for this brother!  what a blessing!

the thorns on Your brow, they tell me how, You bore so much pain to love me.  will, you amazing!

all eyes on JESUS!  heihei.  this is a picture of all people awe sticken by the Heavenly sights and smells of cafe selah, God's heart.

heihei... more pictures at webshots 0  1  2!  pictures  are tyte!

peace in HIM

chrisgo

happy THANKSGIVING!!! merry CHRISTMAS!!! 

you know a group that always has Christmas spirit is the division1 drum corps Santa Clara Vanguard.  this is because their colors are red, green, and white... a beautiful combination indeed.  i actually had the blessing of going out to their auditions on Thanksgiving weekend!  and wow, God is so good!  prior to this entry, all i have said to anyone that asked about the scv audition was "it was great!" or "it went well!"  sorry for that politically vague and annoying answer.  thank you for the prayers and thoughts!  i'm so sorry that this is going to be the first real response i'm going to be giving about the audition.  and to be clear right off the bat, SCV is not what God has for me right now.

SCV was the very first drum corps i ever saw on the famous band room theater.  i remember it was their '00 show "the age of reverence" which was played at the end of my freshman band season.  ever since, SCV has always been "THE" drum corp (along with phantom regiment of course but they hit my radar later).  knowing that i was going to be going to school in northern california, just an hour away from the Santa Clara Vanguard, i knew SCV was a definite possibility.

i'm a tuba/sousaphone player while drum corps's lowest brass instrument is the contra/bazooka.

this is a picture of the monsters.  coming into these auditions, i did not know how to hold a contra but i prayed i wouldn't be at too much of a disadvantage.  ok... i'm going to try to stay away from going into too much detail to spare you guys and get to the meat and potatoes of what God did.  ok...

first audition night... i did terribly, i learned how to play the instrument while i was at the audition and i was the only non -SCVveteran to audition on the first night.  this is significant because the judges were able to directly compare a total newbie to the contra to the contra pro's.  

i went to my hotel devastated, certain that i wouldn't make the corps.  and i am grateful to say that i wrestled with God in that hotel room... in retrospect, i say that it was awesome... but during the wrestling match... huh...

the hotel room was dark and God told my mom and brother to leave the hotel room even though it was 11pm (God had to deal with me), so i was left alone... i was sweating, i couldnt sit or lay still, i had to move all around the room, i was teary-eyed, i was breathing frantically, all while expressing my frustration and flat out anger at God.  man... i was pissed... at God... finally! (yeah... i know, it's wierd that i am glad to have finally been angry with God... heihei)

after a few hours, the cry of my angry, desperate heart was "if it is your #1 plan for me to be rejected from SCV... then help me out... make it easier for me to live without SCV."  i wanted SCV so so so badly......

if i WERE to get into vanguard ( a miracle in itself)... and if that were not His #1 plan for me... would i be able to say "no" to SCV?  this would only be possible through His Spirit and like it says in michael whang's xanga: love prefers.  so if i love Him, choose Him, trust Him, i would prefer His ways which higher than mine...

the next morning (audition day 2), i woke up with more of His Spirit.  i prepared for the long day feeling that i was at the auditions only to bless SCV.  i knew that He loved me so much to give me the dci experience through this audition.  i was there to learn and to get a taste of what it is like to be on a drum corp.  i thanked my mom and brother for their sacrifice in getting me to the auditions and i let my mom know that SCV was not God's #1 plan for my 2006...... selah

audition day 2 and 3 went extremely well.  it was so much fun to march the 8 'n' 8 blocks again and we marched them so fast ( we got up to 180bpm just like "ostinato!")... musically the group sounded great!  sounded like the fullness of band 3!  brought back great memories. 

"so chris... what happened to 'my audition went so terribly cause i'm a contra newbie?'"  well... God took care of that in my sleep!  it was awesome, the next morning, all of a sudden, everything with the contra came so quickly!  everything clicked!  i realize that God knows how the contra works!  He freaking invented it!  so He just taught me how to hold, march, and play it!  yeah... it doesnt make any sense logically or in the natural... i know!  heihei...

since God miraculously trained me to play the contra while i slept, there were times that i went back to thinking that SCV WAS God's will for me!  so... confused and torn... i asked God to make His will clear to me over and over and over and over and...

that was the music practice hall by the way!  isn't it pretty?  the acoustics in the building are great too!

well, although i will not be continuing the SCV audition process... i made the first cut!  this was God's way of telling me that He would give this opportunity to me in a second because He loves me THAT much!  He gave me the choice. 

if i chose to continue the audition process, if i made the contra line, and if i chose to join SCV, sure... He would use me for His purposes in SCV!  He's tyte like that and it's about HIM not me!  but I CHOOSE HIS #1 PLAN FOR MY LIFE AND FOR ALWAYS!  ok... a lot easier said than done... that's why He's there to help us! 

I asked Him to make it easier for me to choose His #1 plan.  trust me... i wanted scv really REALLY badly (just ask for the practice instrument rental bill, the audition camp bill, ask sherwin and peter, and ask me what it was like to sleep with a tuba on my twin-size bed since there was no where else to put it)... no matter how strong my will or desire was, no matter how much work i put into it, no matter how much pressure i was under, God softened all of that to bow down to HIM!  those things got totally owned by God!

HE HELPED ME CHOOSE HIM!!! not even choosing HIM is based on our own works!  nothing is!  He wants to bring us through it all!

dude... scv is going to have an awesome season!  their show is all about constant/perpetual motion ("moto perpetuo") where something will ALWAYS be moving (always) ( i mean... always).  heihei... dunno about you... but gives me the chills!  heihei...

praise God for dci and the people He's placed there!  john riley, daniel lai, richard espanto, guys... major props and blessings!  it's not an easy world... it's not an easy sport... i've NEVER worked so hard in my life!  and i say that even WITH the pro-private lesson that He gave me! guys... much love and much much props.  maybe God has a place for me marching with you guys next season!

hmmm... so that was my SCV experience... yeah... freaking long... if you read it, wow... that's all i can say... even though there's more to the experience, i think God got His point across here!

God has called me to spread His love amidst the war on Christmas.  this is my dorm room window and door... i'm working with what i can... heihei... merry CHRISTmas!

this past weekend, my family came all the way up here to watch "the chronicles of narnia" with me!  yeah... God's love is insane like that!  heihei... i fall in love with my family all over again each time i'm with them... ahhh...

and "the chronicles of narnia?":  excellent!... dude... meeting c.s. lewis is going to be tyte!

i spent "hecka" time with kelly wang today!  "i feel so spoiled by God!" -that's right kelly!  heihei.  we "hecka" walked... "hecka" talked... and the "hecka" chocolate!  she's trying to mess with my berkeley isolation almost as much as joanna and will!  heihei... i love it!

and to finish off...

rm 214 Christmas portrait

and these are some brothers and sisters that i'm really growing with!  God orchestrated our random meeting and He's orchestrating our random meetings!  i love it cause He loves it!

this was too long...

peace in HIM

chrisgo

new webshots are up!!! http://community.webshots.com/user/gocriscogo1

well, it's the day of the BIG GAME and i'm sitting in my dorm instead of being at nasty stanfurd (i don't know why we say "stanfurd" instead of stanford... but in terms of school spirit, i'm a conformist sometimes) heihei.  God, youre awesome dude... You set aside this time for me to rest with You today.  i had tickets but yesterday i didn't feel i had the strength to go because when i go to football games... i go CRAZY!!! heihei... CAL fans are the best dude!  "take off that red shirt!" - a favorite chant of ours.  well anyway, i bought the ticket for $45 bucks and i didn't want to waste the money... so right before i went to bed, God told me to call a friend from one of my classes and sure enough... he needed the ticket!  heihei, this guy was willing to pay double too that's $45 dollars profit (You're too funny God)!!! but the amount of $30 came into my head randomly... so i sold the ticket for $30 bucks... it wasn't like this huge generous act as much as it was a way for God to respond to my cry... i did wonder why i said the number $30 and i realized it was Your planning the entire time God! heihei...

right before God told me to call this guy, i told Him i wasn't going to go to the game and that i was counting on Him to get rid of my ticket for me (I knew He wanted me to rest).  when i started thinking about not wasting the money, i reckoned that i did in fact get a free t-shirt for buying the ticket, so a $45 t-shirt (normal price for the shirt is $14.99) i told God i wouldn't mind having gotten the t-shirt for REGULAR price but... paying $45 for a tshirt was a little... RAAADICULOUS (the way my roommate tommy says it)

that's my roommate tommy mccarthy!

anyway... like i told you earlier, God told say $30 because i told him that i would have gotten the tshirt at regular price!  aint he funny!  he got rid of my ticket for me... i was honest with him in what i was feeling... and he did all the work and took what i said into account!  oh God, youre hilaaarious. 

well... when you don't feel like talking... pictures!

this is nick locicero, my other roommate

this was my hall during halloween season... they take it so seriously here... hecka scary... heihei

homecoming game!  so fun!  felt so good to see everyone... sorry joanna... i think your reign as "queen of arcadia" is over... heihei

thank you God for putting me in the presence of these celebrities!!! what a beautiful sight!  arcadia just keeps getting better and better!  it's so exciting!  God's favor for sure!  heihei... dude... God even knows the ins and outs of band and color guard!  dude!!!  He's like... "oops, that's out of tune" or "awww... out of step and toes up!" and "dang! that's clean color guard!" and "great tone tubas!" ahhh... He loves us this much to give us the beautiful things like band and color guard to bring us joy!  and get this... He even enables us to worship Him and bring glory to His name in these arenas... wow... YOURE SO TYTE JESUS!!! heihei 

... God, You are our joy and the time you gave us at The Hat is proof!  heihei... rcsagfaamp!  whang 5000!

MAN i love my family!  happy birthday pop!

heihei... i'm scared up uploading too many pictures and reaching my limit again.  so go to webshots for more! thanks for reading this guys... youre lucky i'm not in a sharing mood!  heihei...

once again... i'd love to partner with you guys in prayer so send me prayer requests either via comment or email: gocriscogo@berkeley.edu or call! 626 862 4907

oh... i didn't even get into Danceworx! (hip hop/jazz dance group i'm in up here)  sooo fun!  dude...... nm... i'll keep it short.  dancing is truly a blessing and a challenge!  all glory belongs to Him!  praise God man!!!  oh!  and He's pro in hip hop and jazz and tap dance and... ah!!! God!!! Youre crazy!!! He's like... "dude... that's some tyte popping!" "great extention in your  (the french accent) chataee (those wierd ballet words)"... dude... we know the Guy that invented all these dances!!!  dude... He's so tyte...

ok... once again thanks for reading... love you ALL!!!

peace in HIM

chrisgo

come and listen to what HE's done!... let me tell you what HE has done for me... HE has done for you... HE has done for us...

thank you sooo much DEBONG!  the COLLISION cd has been the blessing i've needed for a while now!  it's like... all i listen to!  it's so beautiful because HE's so beautiful! 

praise our God, for HE is good!

i cannot think of a better weekend than last weekend when i went back to ARCADIA to bask in HIS blessings.  wow... there are no words for what i feel when i get to see my families!  first of all, i barely got to spend any time with my mom and dad but i did spend time nonetheless and you all know what a BLESSING that is!  it was freakin tyte to be at the cafe again to see how true HIS promises are!  God let CAFE SELAH be a manifestation of the very nature of who you are!  edwin, junior, and i got to spend the night there again (don't tell jon ngai, heihei) talking about JESUS and it was the closest thing i've had to a small group in about 4 months!  thank you JESUS.  then i was awoken by the beautiful sight of nicole, greg, and ren!  what a great morning it was catching up!  i hadn't been in a kitchen for 3 months and the Lord gave me the opportunity to serve with my brothers and sister that morning!  and boy were those some good grapes!  then 2 hours later: the wedding!!!  just check out what God gave me that day dude!  it was like... blessing after blessing after blessing after blessing after... you get the picture... that's the way each day is if you focus on the Lord!  and... man... no words for the wedding man... just... pictures! heihei... pictures are tyte!  (these are some pictures that you hopefully haven't seen!)

beautINDO's at the wedding! heihei (except chinese jason...right?)

thelma and may... ahhh... gorgeous...

wahba and irene cheating on each other with david and tori... ooo... just like tori's face? heihei

the interpretive dancers' billboard photo!

such a happy family - everyone looking real great!

quatrio kicking me out... this is why i came back to berserkeley... heihei

this photo is for amanda!  heihei... feeling really happy at church after some insane worship!

see how much we love each other?  yup... that's some good Jesus flowing through us!

"A H S" (where's frank!)

are they happy or not? heihei

harvest rock!  thank you Jesus!  what a beautiful evening

the huntworks praying over greg.  this picture kind of sums up michael and claudia for me.  now think upon our Lord... this is what He gets to see His children doing... who can deny that He's in LOVE with us!  heihei

i know this update for the huntworks' wedding is really late... but now you can think back on what the Lord has done!  once again we say... may nothing split apart what the Lord has brought together! 

by the way... check "my website" by my contact info in the xanga... i have webshots up now!  heihei... more great pictures are up!  this technical stuff is fun!  heihei (thanks everyone i called for helping me out with my technological deficiency)

when i came back to berserkeley... i felt very changed.  it was for sure a transitional stage.  praise God for steven sun and his life of encouragement!  the Lord used steven to draw his two cousins albert and andrew closer to Him and after talking to them both... ahhh God's so tyte guys!  just accept it dangit!  heihei.  well... anyway... back to my "transitional" stage.  uh... my relationship with the Lord was changing... right when i got a flow going with Him... i feel He's taking me away from that and taking me HIGHER.  i'm not going to kick and scream and try to figure out what the Lord's doing... i'm gonna continue intensely pursuing Him and let Him have His way in our relationship. 

i'm beginning to journal more and that is so awesome dude... like... i thought i knew the value of it with what i was seeing in my life after ONETHING but as i am getting more into it... i'm beginning to see that in all the times i wasn't sure if the Lord was talking to me, He was!  and i want to hang on every word of His!

another incredible blessing is the group of violent, crusading, loving prayeriors God has given me up here.  they're all older than i am but i love worshipping with them, learning from them (and man... am i learning a whole book load!), interceeding with them.  ahhh... it's some good stuff!  ahhh!!! i had pictures of them for you guys but i reached my uploading limit onto xanga... this stinks!  oh well... i guess next time!  awww... i also hoped to post pictures of my roommates for you guys to see... my ways are not His ways!  heihei...

can't wait till this weekend!!! ARCADIA here i come!!!  if you're going to be out of school next friday, 10/28 and will be in the arcadia area... call me nows!!! 626 862 4907

then off to MT. CARMEL!!!  i can't wait for the tournament!  i'm going with my parents!  how tyte is that?  God's great guys!  i'll get to see my apache marching band and color guard two nights in a row!

aite... well... if you got any prayer requests!  remember i'm here but most of all God's there!  heihei...  thanks for the time guys!  i love you all!

peace in HIM