Hi! My name is Raul. 

Here’s what’s important about me: I am a follower of Jesus Christ, I am always curious, always trying new things. My life is pretty radical by design. Most of what I do, see, and understand comes from traveling. I’m an author. I have five children’s books out, I write this blog, and I’m currently working on a movie script about vikings.

I was born in California. Both my parents are from Mexico. I have two younger sisters whom I love very much. When I was four years old we all moved to Mexico as missionaries. First we went to a small town in the state of Michoacan and we lived there for three years. Then we moved to the city of Cuernavaca, in the state of Morelos, and we lived there for 5 years. When I was 12 my family moved to Northwest Arkansas, and I have lived here ever since, except for that one year and a half in which I lived in Liechtenstein.  

As long as I can remember my family has traveled a whole bunch. My dad traveled a lot because he wanted to share the good news of Jesus, but along the way we would also take detours and go have fun as a family. Well, my sisters and I caught the bug and now we go to as many places as we can as often as we can. Traveling offers perspective like nothing else can. Many of the stories in this blog will be related to travel and also to the relationships I have built with the people in my life. 

A few things I am interested in besides traveling are cars, drawing and art (all things design, for that matter), business, culture and languages. I like the outdoors, I like being active and working out. I’m really always curious, so I love learning a little bit about everything. 

I’m not an expert at anything, but if I could be an expert at something it would be at listening. For most of my childhood and all through my teenage years I was a very coy and reserved person. Since my dad was a preacher, I was comfortable on stage, but social skills with other kids weren’t my forte. I was very awkward. I started to grow out of that during college. I started to learn that I didn’t always have to lead the conversation, nor be the center of attention. I could just listen. I do love listening to other people’s stories, but I’ve also learned that people love being listened to. People need someone to be there for them and the best way to do that is by listening to them. This is one of the greatest tenets I live by. 

To this day I have never had a girlfriend (It’s not for a lack of trying, I promise). It’s just part of my story. This is something that has always bothered me, and to this day affects my confidence. I have struggled to have good self esteem for much of my life, but I am slowly coming out of that. There has also been some church hurt and family hurt that I am still processing. 

Having a good perspective in life, though, doesn’t depend on circumstance or on feelings. It really is about what one chooses to focus on, and what one chooses to hang on to. Which is why I started writing things down. I needed a way to record the good things, and I needed a way to go back and remember the good things in my life when things didn’t feel good. And that’s where my relationship with Jesus comes in. 

All of my life, Jesus Christ has been the anchor. He is my water so I can live, my light so I can see, my earth where I can stand. He has always been present. He walks with me and I get to walk with him. His consistency in my life creates trust, and trust creates hope. Knowing Jesus brings me hope. It is obvious that our world needs hope, and I am convinced that the best way to bring hope to everyone around me is through the person of Jesus Christ. I am fully aware that “Church” is not everyone’s cup of tea. Still, Jesus is not a church, he is a person. He is real, and he wants a relationship with every human on this earth, including me, and including you. 

GoodGoodDay is the motto I live by. At some point in college we were asked to come up with our hallmark as artists. We took about two weeks to develop the project and I took it seriously. I’ve always loved symbols and the meaning that they carry, so I jumped at the opportunity to develop a symbol for myself. I thought about what things I could use as a banner for myself. I came up with an arrow pointing up and a sun burst. The bright sun and the arrow mean the brightness of a good day. It means the fact that I can look up to someone that I can trust. I have Jesus! Having Jesus in my life means that I have hope! With him every day is not just good, but SO good. Life is good. Jesus loves me. I am loved. With that as my foundation it is easy to have a good outlook on everything. Slowly these ideas turned into my GoodGoodDay moto.

When I was 12 I wanted to become a professional rapper. When I was 13 I wanted to become a car designer. Both of those gave me a lot of purpose. After college all of that fizzled away, and I’ve been on the lookout for something since then. When I discovered that I could be a writer, I grabbed on to it. I enjoy it, and I decided that this is my new purpose. Becoming a writer is giving my life purpose. This is the next thing that I am chasing after. I have all these ideas that I’m trying to make a reality. I want to pursue all of them. My blog and my books are the start, but there is a lot more coming. 

The goal for this is to have self awareness and to discover the man that God made me to be more deeply. I want to know what is inside of me. What I believe, what I stand for, what I am pursuing and what I have to offer. 

My only goal is to encourage you. If what I write here can make you smile, then great! I do want to keep things casual. I’m a pretty chill guy. Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have. Or, hey, if you wanna buy me a cup of coffee, you can do that too! I will be very very grateful. Maybe one day we can meet in person and I’ll get to hear your stories too.

Until then! Cheers!