Learning to Trust

If someone were to ask you what characterizes your demeanor, how might you respond? As a believer in Christ, one may to be quick to say that they are driven by the love that God has bestowed upon his people, but is this really true? It is important to note that even the most esteemed and well versed individuals of the Bible do fail to be fully competent of their actions and demeanor. However, it is when one feels the most admonished that we begin to see our true character. It is quite peculiar, that in the midst of our struggles we are graced with the presence or environment that will remind us of where the Lord has taken us from. We are a prime jewel in his eyes and are forever admired for He see’s our full potential. Sometimes our mind can become so obfuscated with doubt and worry that we can never really see what God see’s in us. It is not until the unlikely of moments that the Lord begins to grace us with the encouragement that we need. I find solace in knowing that my encouragement is always coming when I least expect it. The hardest struggles in life are often self-imposed and if we were to release our worries and anxieties unto the Lord, we then can begin to live the way that the Lord has deemed for us. These self-inflicting concerns are precisely what drive us to a season of drought. However, if we were to remain like the tree planted by the water, fear will not come in the midst of heat and our leaves will forever retain that verdant color. This is exactly the thought process our conscience should be aware of. If at all possible, one should begin to analyze what drives their demeanor, but rest assured that God has placed us in such a particular place for a specific reason. Live with the knowledge and encouragement that our life has already been thought out by the highest of power, and He has not carelessly plotted out your life, for his word says “If he cares for the birds of this earth how much more does he care for you.”

Emmanuel Sandoval

“God with us”

Jeremiah 17:7-8
-Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like the tree planted by the water that sends it roots out by the stream, it does not fear when heat comes, its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to produce fruit.

Transparency

I was amazed this morning by how a simple question can be posed and make you realize so much. That question was “…are you letting God be your source, or are you relying on another source to provide all your needs?” Without hesitation my reply was of course I’m relying on God as the source of all my needs, but I knew in my heart that was not the case. There is so much I want to do and accomplish in my life and I know that God will provide all my needs, but I also realize that everything I may want for my life is not exactly what God wants for my life. This constant struggle of releasing my will unto Him comes by my uncertainty of what is ahead and how one man can hold that certainty and predestine it already. This may be too much to fathom for me at this point and yet my intentions are to trust and release all that is me to our LORD Jesus Christ. Sometimes, I feel as though God has blessed me with a mind that is unlike any other, I am able to contemplate as a philosopher and spend hours divulging in thought of notions that may be too hard for others to grasp and I begin to see this world in a new light. I see the hurt and despair and untruth in this world as I watch others go about their daily lives, almost as mask that is worn but when that mask is lifted then one can see what I see, however I can relinquish what most feel as to why they keep this shield on. No one wants to see the truth or reality that surrounds our daily walk, but I was always aware of this even when I kept that mask on and paraded in the ungodly pleasures of this world. Knowing the struggles that precede my life and upon reflection of this past year, today I come across a question. This question brings forth shame for I know I may be grieving the heart of God as I write this. Only one thing is certain, sometimes an awakening can only present itself when one is truly transparent with their relationship with God. I know there are struggles that are apparent in my Christian walk, but thank GOD for his grace. I am able to present this to him and ask that my struggles not be the end of my belief, but for a resolution and stronger faith in matters that I see no outlet. I can only hope to live a life that is worthy of the calling God has placed upon my life and through my actions I lead so that others may follow. If at all one is to learn anything through this digression, honesty with oneself must first be realized before true change can take fruition.

Emmanuel_GOD with us

Faith in God = No More Worries

What am I getting myself into, Woodbury's Architecture program is both exciting and challenging. Model after model, drawing after drawing, you either sink or swim and with God's help I've been swimming ahead of the rest. Faith is a beautiful thing, if one places their faith solely in God, your worries will start to dissipate. For the longest time, I would always try to figure out how the day was going to play out and the rest of the week. However, I would always be consumed by stress and worries. I remember when my the semester would start, my family and friends would already know, "Oh that Emmanuel is in school mode." Without the intent of placing others to the side, I would unknowingly do this just to focus on school work or the next project. Sure I would make time for family and friends but I would never really enjoy it because that project or paper was always on the back of my mind. Not to say that being a good student is a bad thing, but it was more about my faith or lack there of. It took me a while to understand that if we just put our faith in God, our worries will really fade away. Being at Woodbury University has really opened my eyes to Faith. It is by faith that I was able to be blessed enough to pay for my tuition, and it is the faith that I have that allows me to finish all my projects and not have to stress about how receptive my peers and professors will be towards them. I live with the intent of putting God first in my life and everything seems to just fall into place. Daily I pray for the days events in the mornings, daily I read His word or listen to a devotional online. As one of my fellow congregation members put it, "We have to get into that spiritual gym." Today I live a blessed life, my worries and anxieties are gone and finally I am actually able to enjoy the days events as they transpire. Trusting in God has been something that I had to learn to do, and I have achieved this task through my spiritual maturation. I thank Jesus Christ who has done so much in my life and is allowing me to start out with a humble beginning, knowing that I will have a prosperous future. I could only hope that you may one day know the God in heaven the way I do, and I pray that your faith and trust will increase in your life so that your worries and anxieties will evaporate as well. Pursuing Architecture is what I may be doing, but being a Christian and striving towards God's best for my life is my passion.

God Bless you,

Emmanuel-God with Us

It's an awesome feeling knowing that through Christ our Lord and Savior we can be forgiven and live a new life. I just recently got baptized this afternoon, and it was a fun and exciting experience finally knowing and understanding the meaning behind the baptism. I would encourage everyone who calls them self a Christian to get baptized as well.

God Bless,

Home Sweet Home!

Finally, this semester is OVER! well not quite, I still have two finals tomorrow. As I venture off to new and brighter things, my departure from Fullerton College is well overdue. I have to say, when I first started at FC, it was a thrill and intimidating at the same time, however now that I matured and enlightened my conscience on the nature of our society, I am overwhelmed with humility. I have come to accomplish a lot in this spurt of my life and lessons I did learn, some the hard way and others not so much. Architecture has become my true passion, but more importantly, improving the conditions of our underprivileged parts of our communities. As for now, I will embark on a new adventure, hopefully at USC, "Fight On!" but really, I can't wait to stop making that early morning drive to the O.C., and look forward to making that drive west. LA is my home and I feel good about that. I am just amazed as to how many people I encountered while in the O.C. that really don't know what LA is all about, and frankly I'm a little tired of everyone saying LA is ghetto when they never even venture out that way anyway. Oh well, I know the true LA, its better that I keep my secret spots to myself anyway. Seriously though, LA is the best place to live, and this is evident by all the out of towner's thronging here from all over the nation after one visit. To each is his own, and I hope the best for all the friends and acquaintances that I made while in the O.C., BUT SEE YA!

Another Gehry Building

Frank Gehry's buildings can look unfinished or unruly, even a bit chaotic. But they often have surprisingly direct metaphorical stories to tell.Walt Disney Concert Hall is a joyously informal ship of state for a city keen to come together, if only for a few hours, in a collective experience. Gehry's own house in Santa Monica, a modest pink bungalow the architect wrapped in colliding layers of corrugated metal and chain link, is an unabashed affirmation of the workaday, un-pretty built landscape of Southern California.In the case of Gehry's newest project, the riotously sculptural $100-million Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, the story is about the depths, and ultimately the limits of the human mind.

It's the poignancy of that architectural narrative that ultimately helps the building, which will open officially with a gala celebration Saturday night, overcome its reliance on some of Gehry's most recognizable architectural gestures. For me, and I suspect for other critics and architects, some of these strategies, intentionally crude detailing, exposed structure and the casual juxtaposition of dramatic and banal spaces, to name just three — have lost more than a little freshness over the years, particularly as the size and budgets of Gehry's projects have soared.At the Ruvo Center, which rises from a wide-open intersection about a mile north of the big casinos lining the Las Vegas Strip, the familiarity of those elements is balanced by a deep, affecting humanism at the building's core. This is surely in large part because the Ruvo Center's mission the complex is dedicated to research on and treatment of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's and other neurological diseases, is one Gehry has fully embraced.

Yet with his new addition to his portfolio, Gehry continues to push the limits of Architecture, however, is it a bit too far. Some might say his style is drastically progressing as he ages, and others beg to differ. As a young aspiring Architecture student, my peers and I continue to see Gehry in a different light, Yes he's an innovator, but sometimes his new designs just strike me as him losing his knack for functionality and practicality. Its almost as if Gehry is just being lazy with his designs and trying to produce some hocky building until someone says something to him. I hope for continued success for Gehry, but I am awaiting the story when he is smashed by the client for producing something they really don't like.

Changing Face of Education

Nearly anywhere you drive nowadays you can cruise past a public school that’s recently been opened. You can’t miss them, from the High School of Visual and Performing Arts’ erector-set tower looming above the 101 freeway downtown to the six-story concrete-and-glass hulk of the Helen Bernstein High School at Sunset and Wilton to one of those purple or green or yellow or orange buildings that occupy prominent intersections in Pacoima, San Pedro, Huntington Park, and beyond. The schools are not just splashily spray-painted; they’re in-your-face urban. Often two or three stories high, they’re shoved right to the sidewalk, the opposite of the utopian, reassuringly spread-out archetypes of the 1950s and ’60s and the stately, graceful ones of the ’20s and ’30s. The crop of budget-conscious contemporary architecture attempts to fashion metal and glass and stucco into gritty evidence that public investment is paying off in the form of a good public school education. Three decades of neglect preceded the Los Angeles Unified School District’s current building boom. Enrollment climbed while schools declined. Broken windows, locked bathrooms, leaky roofs, shattered furniture, and shuttered libraries weren’t uncommon, nor were overcrowded classrooms. The district pleaded poverty and its critics cried foul, but the reality remained unchanged until 1997, when voters passed the first of nine local and statewide ballot measures to put up billions of dollars to construct new schools and revive old ones. The money is bankrolling the nation’s largest public works project, dubbed “Roy Romer’s Assembly Line” for the former district superintendent who initiated the vast undertaking. By the end of last year, 76 schools and 59 expansions had been completed to accommodate the district’s 900,000 students. By 2013, LAUSD will have spent $20.1 billion to christen 131 schools and 64 additions. These are big numbers.

For that kind of money LAUSD could have built 73 Disney Concert Halls. Not that the LAUSD has created comparable landmarks. Public school districts don’t have unlimited budgets, let alone the latitude of private developers to relentlessly push the boundaries of design—or anything else, for that matter. At LAUSD, architecture has had to fight for its existence and often has lost. The district’s campaign for new campuses has certainly led to its share of lousy results and many more that are, in the words of one prominent architect sitting on the district’s Design Advisory Council, just mediocre. What’s surprising is that in a school district perpetually uncertain of how children learn or what we ought to teach them and plagued by catastrophic budget shortages, a few good-looking schools have emerged.