Christmas Pictures

Well I hope that all of you had a wonderful Christmas!! Mine was pretty stinkin good!! Gotta spend some time with my family and got a few things that I wanted! A week or so before Christmas got bought a new toy!! A Canon Digital Rebel!! Which I am enjoying tremendously. And with it, I took some pictures and so here are a few for you all to enjoy!!

The Family

My dad making a funny face, then telling me I was a turkey for snapping the photo!

My niece Mattie! She loved them balloons!

My dog Keelee, she did pretty good being a model so i could try out my camera.

My niece Anna, determined to walk Zoey their English Mastiff who out weighs her prolly by 100lbs! And my mom, who i am sure appreciated me takin a picture of her "rear" thats what she calls it, haha!

My sister Jenna, niece Mattie, and my dad Randy and or Papaw.

Ella running with Zoey.

Mom, Anna, and Jenna making Anna's first brownies with her Easy Bake!

My niece Mattie and me.

Hope yall enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed my time with my family!

Christmas Eve Bloggly Blog

So I have now written a few blogs and then proceeded to delete them cause I didnt like them. So I figured I would do something else. So here is pretty much one of my most favorite Christmas Songs ever, and I think it relays the message I wanted better than I could say it!

What Child Is This? written by William C. Dix in 1865

What child is this who, laid to rest, on Mary's lap is sleeping? Whom angels greet with anthems sweet, while shepherds watch are keeping.

This, this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing; haste, haste to bring him laud, the babe, the son of Mary.

Why lies he in such mean estate where ox and ass are feeding? Good Christian, fear for sinners here, the silent Word is pleasing.

This, this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing; haste, haste to bring him laud, the babe, the son of Mary.

So bring him incense, gold, and myrrh, come, peasant, king, to crown him; the King of kings salvation brings, let loving hearts enthrone him.

This, this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing; haste, haste to bring him laud, the babe, the son of Mary.

Nails, spear shall pierce Him through, the cross he bore for me, for you. Hail, hail the Word made flesh, the babe, the Son of Mary.

This, this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing; haste, haste to bring him laud, the babe, the son of Mary.

The last verse is one that I actually haven't heard before, but I think it reminds us that the baby born to Mary was soon to be the Savior that hung on the cross for all of our sins! I pray that this Christmas we remember that Christ is the reason, but also that it is for the reason of Saving all of us that he came to this earth, through His death on the cross and Resurrection!

You All Decided!

Well, I guess it is more like you all helped me decide. And since I am ok with the winner of Keep the Beard, I will keep the beard at least for another week. I might decide by next week sometime that the beard is just to itchy and annoying, but then again, maybe it will suddenly quit being itchy. Either way thanks for not voting for me to shave it into a mustache. If you would have voted for that one I would have felt obligated to have gone with a Mustache so Thanks You all. I hope you all had fun voting, and maybe I will have another poll for you very soon. Have a blessed weekend!!

Its Up To You (Maybe)

Well in an effort to have a weekly posting on my blog I have decided that I might just be tired of Rockin' the Winter beard. So, there should be on the right hand side of the page a poll for all of you lovely readers to vote on a facial hair style. I have given you multiple choices so please choose wisely! You may be saying to yourself, "Wow! Scott you are brave for allowing all of us readers to chose what you do with your facial hair!" Well, that would be a true statement if I were to just go with whatever the top choice is. But, I am not that brave. But if you feel strongly about one of the choices please leave a comment on this blog explaining why I should go with your choice. Ultimately, it is my face and pretty much my choice, but I do like having a little bit of input from some of my most trusted friends!! So please feel free to vote as many times as it will let you! Because your vote counts!! Well, it kinda does but really im just bored and thought this would be a fun endeavour. So yeah. I think I will put an end to this completely pathetic excuse for a weekly blog. VOTE!! Oh yeah, you just have till Thursday night to vote so VOTE!!

A broken heart!

A Broken Heart

 

I am a person who has often built my life on pleasing people!  I am often a person who would rather people see a fake front that isn’t truly me!  I would often like people to think that everything in my life is just fine and dandy, when that isn’t always the truth.  One of my good friends James started a blog a month or so ago and it its called I Said It Outloud.  (There is a link to his blog from my blog somewhere on the side bar)  In his first blog he talked about how sometimes we say things and then ask ourselves, did I say that out loud?  I can only think of a few times I have done that, so I figured what the heck I need a few more of those in my life, so I wrote this blog.  And hey you never know it may start some sort of terrible chain reaction where I just continually say what is on my mind and heart??  So the following will be my heart spilled out!!  And watch out you might get a lil messy reading it.  Sorry for the long preface but please enjoy! 

 

A broken heart is definitely what I have felt recently.  And no, it’s not from some girl breaking my heart if that’s what you were thinking, it’s a different kind of broken heart.  This past Sunday my pastor quoted the founder of World Vision and the quote goes like this.  “Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.”  And so this is something that had been pressing on my heart, even before I heard this quote on Sunday.  For the last few weeks I have found myself feeling far away from God and it has definitely been a trying time for me.  There have been days where I have ran to God for my every want and need and then there have been others where I have simply pushed God away and acted as if I could handle what was going on in my life all on my own.  Often running to the shackles of sin for comfort, what a crazy thing!   I know that many times with the way I am living it breaks the heart of God because He knows that there is a better way to live, but I am just choosing to live apart from that.  In His presence I have all that I could ever need or want, but many times I don’t see that.  So, in that my heart has been broken.  Knowing that I am not living a life that is completely glorifying my LORD my heart is now breaking.  Breaking in a good way, breaking in a way that takes me back, that reminds me of all the reasons why I follow and serve a loving, forgiving, graceful God.  But at the same time, my heart is being broken by the people I know and even sometimes by complete strangers.  This past Saturday I went to the Texas Tech football game, and afterwards went and ate supper with one of my friends from high school at a little café/bar.  I sat there eating my chips and queso and queso burger and drinking my sweet tea and my heart began to break for many of the people there because I know that what they are searching for I have found in Christ, yet they are trying to fill their lives with things that will continue to leave them feeling empty and lost and looking for something more.  How do I know this?  You may ask.  I know, because I have been there, done that, and burned the t-shirt I got.  At the same time I feel like such a hypocrite!  What is breaking my heart about these complete strangers should be breaking my heart because of my own actions.  I know without a doubt that God has something so much better so much greater than these earthly temporary things that I am running after!  His plans are so much greater than how I am living!  I was talking with a close friend yesterday and we were both sharing about some of our struggles, and how we both are well aware that God has so much for us yet for some stupid reason we continue to go back to a life that doesn’t acknowledge the greatness that is the mercy and grace of our LORD!  So what is it that drives us to live a life apart from God?  What is it that makes us be like the prodigal son of the Bible and want our inheritance so that we can live a life apart from the father, apart from all that he has for us to offer?  I wish at times I had a good answer to this question.  I wish I could apply 3 or 7 or 8 easy steps, whatever it may be, to my life and then from there have a nice and peachy life.  But the longer I have walked with God the more I know that no matter how easy those steps may sound the heart of the matter isn’t that I’m not doing the right steps!! The truth is that I don’t trust the LORD with all of my life!  You see its not that I don’t desire to have God be a part of my life (because I truly desire Him to be a huge part of my life), the sad truth is that I have learned to live without God as a part of my life.  So now that I am aware of this, as well as the few of you who read my blog I have to do something about it.  So my prayer is this, that my heart would be broken by the things that break the heart of God.  And I also pray that I would continue to remember that at times it is the actions of my life that break the heart of God.  And prayerfully I wont wake up tomorrow and repeat the words of a Shane & Shane song that go “Here we go again I forgot about You today”.  Thanks for reading! 

 

 

The Price That Has Been Paid

Im reading the book Velvit Elvis by Rob Bell for the second time now.  Yeah i read books multiple times cause I'm ADD'ish and dont always pick up on what all is said in books. Anyhow today I read the movement/chapter called New and there were many things that caught my hearts attention.  The main premise of the chapter is explaining that there is this newness that Christ brings when we are reborn.  Im gonna quote a few of the paragraphs that really struck me (they will be in italics and in quotation things) and are causing me to dive deeper into what God has for me.  

"God is retelling each of our stories in Jesus.  All of the bad parts and the ugly parts and the parts we want to pretend never happened are redeemed.  They seemed pointless and they were painful at the time, but God retells our story and they become the moments when God's grace is most on display.  We find ourselves asking, am I really forgiven of that?  The fact that we are loved and accepted and forgiven in spite of everything we have done is simply too good to be true.  Our choice becomes this: We can trust his retelling of the story, or we can trust our telling of our story.  It is a choice we make every day about the reality we are going to live in."  

"I was having breakfast with my dad and my younger son at the Real Food Cafe on Eastern Avenue just south of Alger in Grand Rapids.  We were finishing our meal when I noticed that the waitress brought our check and then took it away and then brought it back again.  She placed it on the table, smiled, and said, "Somebody in the restaurant paid for your meal.  You're all set."  And then she walked away.  

I had the strangest feeling sitting there.  The feeling was helplessness.  There was nothing I could do.  It had been taken care of.  To insist on paying would have been pointless.  All I could do was trust that what she said was true was actually true and then live in that.  Which meant getting up and leaving the restaurant.  My acceptance of what she said gave me a choice: to live like it was true or to create my own reality in which the bill was not paid."

You know I often live a life that is in complete contradiction with the fact that my sins have been forgiven.  I live a life questioning God if what His word says is truly true.  I think that my life my sins are bigger than what God can deal with.  How ridiculous are those thoughts?  How arrogant are those thoughts?  Who am I to live a life that screams what I have done in my life, is greater than what Christ did for the world and for me on the cross!  How stupid of me is it to demand to pay for a bill that has already been taken care of.  No matter how much I ever argue about the bill needing to be paid, it has already been taken care.  No matter how much I try to prove that I can be good enough and disciplined enough means nothing with the Cross of Christ in the picture.  Its not that we shouldn't strive for righteousness, when Christ calls us he says "Come follow me! Do what I do. Live like I live".  It means that I should live a life that reflects the truth!! That my sins have been forgiven and that the old life that I used to live is dead!!  In the book he says it like this.  

"So this old nature of mine- the one that was constantly pulling me down and causing me to live in ways I wasn't created to live- has died.  And no matter how many times that old nature raises its ugly head and pretends to be alive, it is dead."

So as I told my kids this past Sunday, remember to remember! What I mean by that is, remember what God has done for each of us in each of our lives!  Then, live a life that shows that we remember!

blessings,

sg

3 Years!!

Its been 3 years now since I moved to New Mexico! It doesn't seem that long at all.  It seems like yesterday I was packing and getting ready to move!!  Seems like only yesterday when I had a huge group of people waiting to help me unload all of my limited amount of furniture, hehe!  How wonderful these past 3 years have been.  There have been a multitude of emotions and a never ending supply of blessings being poured out over my life!  When I think back to about 3 years and 3 months ago I would have never dreamed I would ever live in New Mexico, and if I did surely I wouldn't live there for more than a year or so.  But, OH, how God directs our lives!  Oh how He knows exactly what we each need in our life!  It is so amazing how He prepares us for a place and at the same time He is preparing a place for us!  But pretty much I just wanted to thank all of you who have been a support to me over the past 3 years!  It is amazing to me how wonderfully I have fit in and found a place that I truly call home now!  

What a Weekend!

Wow! This was one crazy and busy weekend! Drove up and back from Albuquerque on Friday, watched the Tech game then worked up at the church for about 4 hours Saturday, then had church and all the fixings plus did our annual Jack O Lantern Jamboree tonight! I am quite drained! It is in times like these that I am beginning to truly see God at work!  Truly see just how faithful and loving God is!  It is in times like these that I look forward to!  Times when I know I have given my all and have nothing left to give!  It is times like these when God draws near and says let me be your supply! Let me be your rest! Let me be your refuge! Let me be all that you need!! This is what I hear my Savior saying!! It is times like these where in the past I would retreat to what was comfortable for me I would try and say oh you need to take a few days off Scott and recoup, but oh how beautiful it is to hear my Savior say that it is in Him that I find my rest that it is in Him that I find my hope, it is in Him that I find my strength to carry on!  So here is my prayer for this week!  

"God I know that my body is tired and I'm a tad bit drained.  But God may You be who I find my rest in! May You be who I find my strength in!  May You be all that I run after this week!!

Amen!"

My weekly Wednesday!

Im kinda bored today so thought I would write about my weekly wednesday.  I mean, it never fails that every week, Wednesday comes around.  I get to Tuesday and think well, here comes Wednesday and get to Thursday and wonder where Wednesday went.  Not that Wednesday is bad or anything or that it is better than other days of the week, but I think its cool how Wednesday is always here.  This morning in staff meeting it was my turn to bring the devotional and God laid on my heart Deuteronomy 8.  It talks about God's provision for the Israelites for the 40 years in the wilderness and how God provided the mana for them and that their clothes never wore out.  My pastor pointed out how easily it would be for the Israelites to take the constant provision of God and forget that it was God providing (if that makes any sense).  Kinda like I forget that God gives me a Wednesday every week, and for that every day of the week.  In the midst of my week I often forget that it is God who is providing and allowing me to have each new day!!  I take it as something that just happens instead of being thankful for the opportunity that I have on Wednesdays to spend time with the Lord as well as spend time with kids and people alike who bless me so much.  So my thought for this my weekly Wednesday, is to make it more than just my weekly Wednesday but that this day might be a day that I truly thank God for being so gracious and awesome to provide me with another day here on this earth.  And in my weekly Wednesday I pray that I see the provision of the LORD, and not just go through expecting that I will be provided for. So that is my prayer for all of you as well, that you would begin to see the provision of the LORD in your own life! Blessings!! 

T O a changed man.

If any of you saw Terrel Owens' press conference after the Cowboys game yesterday it was quite a unique press conference. He didn't rant or rave about not getting the ball, or bad mouth the play calling, or do anything negative! He stood there and said, and this isn't verbatim, that God has given him the talent to be on that football field.  That his life was more than just his number 81 more than the Big Stars on his helmet more than just playing football, but that his life was to give glory to God.  I don't know about you all, but I was very encouraged by this.  Not too often do you get a major sports figure giving God the glory, maybe after they have won an award or have been recognized but never just coming out and saying "I give God the glory for giving me the talent and the opportunity to play".   Now the media would just absolutely love it if he would throw some raging fit, but when he doesn't they act as if they are concerned with his well being.  That act as if something is wrong.  Last week after their loss to the Redskins he did go on a small tirade saying that they should get the ball to him more, which the media just blew up and ran with about the turmoil in Dallas!  They loved it cause it gave them something to report on gave them something to talk about and something to speculate about.  But this week there was nothing and so the only way that they can make news is to try and depict him as insincere and try to say that his change in character is just simply a tactic or publicity.  Well, I believe that yesterday he was trying to shy away from the cameras trying to make sure that the spotlight was on his whole team not just him, and I actually do take him at his word and trust that he is genuine.  And even though T O will probably never read this blog, I applaud you for the changes you have made in your life.  Living a life in full view of the public cannot be an easy place to be, but I think you have matured over the last few years tremendously and do see a change in your personality and the way you carry yourself.  So keep on giving the media what they don't want, and exactly what God has called all of us to, give them the message of Christ and be who HE (GOD) has created us to be not who the mainstream desires us to be!! But that goes for all of you out there, Christ has called us to be his image bearers.  To be reflectors of His glory and majesty.  And thats all I have to say about that!

Thoughts for Tuesday

One thing that God has began to speak to me is sometimes in the midst of all we have going on in our lives we occasionally forget to remember Him.  We know the direction that he has us headed in so we think we have instruction enough and don't need to concern ourselves with asking Him for further instructions.  These are times that I find myself often thinking I can stop working at my relationship with Christ.  Things are already planned out so I can put my relationship on cruise control and not really worry about it.  On the flip side I also find myself in places where I am so straining to hear from God and focus only on what He has for me in the future I forget to look at what He has for me at this very moment.  I fail to see that there are lessons to be learned things to be learned from Him and about Him.  We have been singing a song on Sunday nights with the High School youth called, Give Me Your Eyes, it is a song of prayer asking God to reveal to us what He sees when we see other people, but I think we could take this a step further.  How would our lives be if we could see our lives the way He does.  We wouldn't be so concerned with one specific area but we would truly begin to see that He truly holds our lives in the palm of His hand.  We would see that he directs us in our every movement!  We would see that what we often concern ourselves with and worry about, He has complete control of and there would be no need to be concerned or worried.  So my challenge for this month would be in all that you do strive to see your life the way God does.  He knows full well that He is in control.  Yes there are things we must do to complete His plan for our lives but we can do those things without worry or fret, because we know that He is in control.  

WAMU

Just thought it was interesting today, the day that WAMU goes under and is bought by JP Morgan Chase is the day that I get 3 separate offers for WAMU credit cards.  Something to think about right?

Yay USC Loses!!!

I was going to write a big huge long blog about how over-rated USC was but I dont think I need to Oregon State showed that tonight as they supposedly upset the #1 football team in the Nation! GO BEAVERS!!!!!!

Still Trying To Decide on What My Blog Will Be About?

Im still not sure what my blog will be about. Maybe it will be just the daily adventures of Scott? Who knows? Maybe I will write about what God is doing in my life? Maybe I will write about what little I know about politics?  Maybe I will write about what my dog is doing. She is chillin in her recliner at the moment! Haha! Yeah my dog has a recliner. Or maybe I can take suggestions from all of you readers out there!! (Haha! that is supposed to be a joke cause I imagine I dont have many readers.) Anyhow, still thinking bout what im gonna write about so thats whats goin on in my world tonight. Hope all of yalls nights are going amazingly!! 

Welcome To My Blog

Well I am bored today so I decided to start a blog so that people can know everything that they don't want to know about me.  So yeah I hope yall enjoy my blog. Im not really sure what I will be blogging about but I guess you will find out in the weeks, months, and years ahead!! Yay!!