Moonlight Glow (photo ) by Cesar Reyes Torres

Black and White Sunset (photo) by Cesar Reyes Torres

Ruby Sunset (photo) by Cesar Reyes Torres

Manhattan Beach (photo)by Cesar Reyes Torres

My Journey to God(Part 5 of 5) Walking with The Lord. By Cesar Reyes Torres

I’ve looked at all the other explanations, evaluations, hypothesis, and methods that people have for the universe. I am aware of evolution, cell theory, the big bang theory, galaxies, super nova’s, stars, moons, planets other than this one, fossils, dinosaurs, apes, homo habilis , homo erectus,
Australopithecus , and Neanderthals. I know about geology, erosion, the movement of tectonic plates and transformation of the continents over time. I know about the ice age, the Jurassic age, the Palaeozoic age. I am aware that there are different people all around the world, with different religions. I know that historically, humanity has worshiped a very large array of Gods. I know that Atheist think that people who believe in God are crazy, stupid, weak minded, or all three.

So now that you know what I am aware of I can say the following. I am a proud catholic man, and I walk with the lord. Now if you ask other people what that means, they may tell you a variation of different answers. Some may make sense to you, others may seem irrational, and some things people say about God may just make you wanna stay away from faith all together. For now I can only speak on my relationship with God and how I know he is always there.

I can easily go about telling you that since the day I have let Jesus in my life, that everything has been great and that the dark clouds that surrounded me have dissolved and that I am now surrounded by rainbows and flying doves around me. But that’s not necessarily an accurate interpretation of where my life is. Since the day I decided that I was gonna let God in my life and I was going to walk with lord, I have lost an uncle, which was my mother’s brother, a good friend of mine lost his daughter, and months ago my sister died in a car accident along with her husband who was my brother in law who also lost his life, they left behind two children. I went back to school but ended up flunking a  few classes, and I gave up all together on others, my car continues to have trouble, and there are days when I am just waiting for it to not start all together and that I’ll be left stranded somewhere. My cousin who I love like a brother lost his job. I have a sister who is sick and is battling for her life. I have a injured ankle that hurts, and there are days when I limp to my apartment really tired.

Before I accepted and opened up my heart to God. All of these things would have broken me in half. I would have reacted very stupidly, impulsively, impatiently, and I would have quivered up into a little ball in a corner somewhere. I would have resorted back to dependencies that I had on people, and on things that were not related to God. But my faith kept me strong, my faith let me say farewell to those that have left this world and trust that God is taking care of them now, and someday God willing we will all meet up again in heaven, and I will hug them again, we will laugh together again, we will smile again, and we will be reunited again. But until then I will do as God asks of me here on earth so that I can go to where I know they are now. I know that failure in life will only last as long as you stop trying, that I make mistakes, but I believe in the forgiveness of sins, and I believe God opened up a door for me to make things right in my life, and make amends for all of the things that I’ve done wrong. And just like my school transcript shows the classes that I failed at, and the lessons that I did not learn, but that I retook and passed those classes and learned those lessons.  My spiritual transcript will show my failings in life, the sins that I committed, but also what I did after that and where I took my life from. The material things in life will all be gone some day, and some day everything will become dust again, so those material possessions must never be allowed to be the primary concern in my life, cars do not have a soul, and phones do not have a soul. The woes of those people closest to you, are neither punishment nor judgment on their lives and more than anything are circumstances that befall all of Gods children, and even in the echo of silence when the wind whispers across your neck, God hears all of your prayers, and even when people think God has abandoned them he is always watching very closely and he works in mysterious ways, and you must have faith that he will provide what you need, no more and no less.

That it is always going to be in humanities nature to want to know everything at all times, immediately. But just like the little waves that surround a ship, eventually every little thing that you put between yourself and God can and will eventually become an ocean, until the point where you’re so far away that you feel like your drowning and the only thing you have around you are little waves that cannot save you, but the Lord can walk on water and if you put your trust and faith in him and take the hand that he has offered you, he can save you as long as you know that a walk with the Lord is not for a little while, it is for the rest of your life.

But even after you are saved and you can smile and celebrate your life because you walk with him. You must remember that your faith can and will be tested again and again and again. But during that test you may have a moment of doubt, but staying close to God can and will always renew you:

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort.. –Psalm 23:4

And even though there may be moments of pain when you feel like your life is suffering, you must remember that


In this you rejoice, although now for a little while you may have to suffer through various trials so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1Peter 1:6-7

And that  there is no shortage of people who will want to provoke you,

But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. Matthew 5:39

And when people insult you because of your faith, remember that

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:11-12

I have learned that perfection is a thorn that will be a pain at your side if you choose to make it your neighbour

When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.- John 8:7


These are the lessons that I learned. God saw fit when and how I was going to learn these lessons. I have faith that he has more things he wants to teach me and tasks that he wants me to do in his name. I pray that I always walk with him, and that I always remain his humble, and loyal student. I pray that I never lose sight of the path that he laid forward for me, or that I forget the pit from where he pulled me out of. I give him thanks for truly letting me live again. For surrounding me with many of his kind and friendly students, and that even though there may come a time in our paths where God may take all of us in separate ways, our hearts will always stay united in our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.

Thank you to everyone who took a minute to look at my Journey to God

Subway: Stories from behind the counter(part 2) The End of an Era .By Cesar Reyes Torres

Everything changed when in August of 2003, the owner who had owned the majority of the stores in Downtown Long Beach was forced to sell the stores. Although Subway is owned through a series of franchises, it is still a part of a corporation. As part of that corporation, if they feel that you are not running the stores to the best of their ability, then they can make you sell your stores to different management. The owner at the time was a class act. He was one of the nicest bosses you could ever ask for. He treated us all with respect, and his employees saw him like family. He had employees that had been with him 5 and 15 years. He paid better than most other franchise owners, and he always encouraged us to go to school and do something with our lives. He even gave us gift cards during Christmas, which is something that not a lot of bosses do. But corporations are cold blooded machines and they are not people. The bottom line was money, and how much they can get there hands on. The stores that he owned in Downtown Long Beach failed 3 consecutive Subway inspection reports. They failed the store for things like employees not having their shirt tucked in. Employees not following proper portion amounts on sandwiches, or not practicing the Subway 3 second rule, which says that every customer at all times must be greeted within the first 3 seconds of walking into a store by a Subway employee. When he announced the stores were being sold, many employees cried. Subway was more than a job to us; those stores were like a home away from home for us. We grew up there, our best friends were there, family members all worked there, and we felt safe there. Even when people left, they still came back and were greeted well by all of us.

The owner called a staff meeting of all 3 stores in the Downtown Long Beach area. He announced that we would be transitioning into new ownership. That's when we were first introduced to the new owners, Ritu and Rahul Marwah. A brother and sister that were educated in business, and who were being groomed by there parents to take over their existing 10 Subway franchises that they already currently owned. As part of that process they bought the 3 Downtown Long Beach stores to try to squeeze the most money that they could out of them.

To me the take over by new ownership represented the death of something I use to believe in. Which was the idea that you could run a business, and treat your employees with respect and dignity, and you could still make a profit because your employees would work hard because they appreciated the care that you show them. But the mentality of the new owners was basically the opposite. There mentality was fuck the employees! It's a fucken sandwich, and if you won't be here to make it, I'll find someone else to do it. And they'll do it for a lot less.

They tried to be polite and nice about everything, but from day 1 we knew we were not going to get along. They kept all of the hourly employees at the same pay rate, but the managers all got there pay cut from where they were to what the new owners called the industry standard of 9.00 an hour. All of the managers were making between 11 and 12 dollars an hour which was above the industry standard in 2003. In 2003 gas was still below 2.00 an hour. So making 11 to 12 an hour meant you were not doing badly at all. The thing that affected the regular employees the most was that we were no longer going to be receiving a free foot long sub. We could get a 50 % discount on a 6inch if we chose to eat inside. And on 3 to 6 foot party subs we would get a 10 % discount if we wanted it. Police officers were no longer going to be eating for free either. Upon learning that the stores would be sold, the regional manager immediately resigned. We were introduced to our new regional manager Patty. She was a puppet for the owners parents, and was being lent out to there kids.

The problem with Patty being a regional manager was that Patty didn't know how to manage shit. Her primary job as regional manager was to hire people who could make a sandwich and who would complain the least about the circumstances that they had to work under. But she had a semi friendly face, and the employees kind of liked her to a certain extent. The thing was that she was a snitch and anything you told her eventually got to the owners. She was bought and sold for many years ago. She had been with them for 15 years, and she was someone who they trusted. Never mind that she had crappy English speaking skills, poor people skills, and was a bad judge of character. She was their loyal snitch, and she was now in charge of all three Downtown Long Beach stores.

Four days later every single one of the downtown store managers quit. And two days after that all three stores had new managers already. That just goes to show you the care that they took in there manager search, and the quality of people that they found. The new managers name was Jolene. She had green teeth, and no I'm not trying to insult her or make fun of her teeth. She literally had teeth that were the green and black with yellow and white spots around them. She was a tall, pale, skinny white girl, who probably weighed no more than a 100 pounds. I found out that she was what people called a tweeker. I didn't know what the term meant at the time, but I later found out that it essentially was someone who had a really bad crystal meth addiction, along with others drugs.

It only took a month, but eventually all but three of the employees that worked for the previous owner had left. One of the ones that were left was promoted to manager, the other was just a regular employee, and the third one was me. It's a trip how much life can change in a month and how you adjust to all of it. It went from working with my best friends, to working with....

To be continued

Open up you heart to God. By Cesar Reyes Torres

To love god is to open up your heart to him. How do you open up your heart though? You probably won't be able to You Tube it. But there is a way. Science won't be able to show you how to do it either. In fact, go up to any scientist and ask them how you can open up your heart and see what they tell you....Go up to any follower and believer of Jesus Christ and see what they tell you