Christmas 2009 Blizzard: Memories galore.

Well Christmas Eve Day the winter storm that the weather men had been predicting was quickly approaching us. It rained all night long and then the morning was more rain, then about 2 hours of sleet and then finally the snow came...and did it ever. We eventually ended up with about 8 inches...but then so did most of Oklahoma. It was considered the biggest state-wide blizzard ever. There was snow from the far west in Guymon all the way across the state reaching the southeast in Idabel.

We went outside for about 10 minutes during the blizzard, but the wind was blowing about 40 mph and the snow was stinging Micah's face, so we went inside and warmed up with some hot chocolate. The kid's sure liked that. We ended up watching the rest of the snow from the warmth of the inside of our cozy cottage.

On Christmas Day, our events started early...2am early. Alexis has been battling some kind of infection/bug and hasn't felt well and was awake at 2am needing something. After we got her back in bed, the little snowman was awake wanting to be fed..so my Christmas morning started at 4am. I brewed some coffee and then laid on the couch and waited for MicahMan and the Princess to awaken from their slumber. MicahMan stumbled in around 7:30 and Princess followed around 8:00am.

Santa was pretty good to them and brought them some nice gifts. Santa was even watching his budget this year, so he had to make the gifts count. MicahMan got a Lightning McQueen rolling tool bench and Princess got an EasyBake Oven. In addition to their main gifts, their stockings were full of sweets and other treats.

Christmas Day was spent eating, watching movies and playing with the newest toys. We were snowed in, so there was nothing else to do, but spend time indoors and stay warm. It also was spent outside frolicking in the snow.

The day after Christmas we built a snowman before the sun melts away all of the white stuff. MicahMan loves the snow and definitely does not want to go inside to warm up. He could stay out all day if you would let him, but his little hands and toes would be numb and red.

We have had an enjoyable Christmas Break and it saddens me to think that it is almost over and that I must return back to the office. As much as I enjoy being off work, I do enjoy getting a paycheck to provide for my family. The new year 2010 will be here in less than a week and I am looking forward to the many blessings and memories that we experience. 

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas... just like the ones I used to know...where the treetops glisten and children listen to hear sleigh bells in the snow. A very good song by Bing Crosby and a good movie as well. Today is Christmas Eve morning. It has been a fun week thus far and cannot believe Christmas is upon us. We were going to go to Tulsa today to celebrate Christmas with Michele's parents and her brother and his wife.....queue up Winter Storm 2009....for the last several days there has been a lot of talk about the potential of a major winter storm that would hit right before Christmas. As we got closer to the day, the forecasts continued to change and almost promised some snow. We were awakened early this morning by rain beating on the air conditioner.

Michele came in and asked me to get up and make a determination of what we were going to do for our trip. I felt the need to ask the Lord what we should do. I hadn't seen any reports yet, but felt a check in my spirit to ask Him. I didn't hear anything real clear, but did feel the check in my spirit. Michele asked me what I thought and I told her I didn't think we should go. Not more than 30 seconds after that, she received a text from her mom saying that it wouldn't be good for us to come today and try and make it home tonight with a newborn baby. Thank you Lord for speaking to me and confirming. The Lord does speak...we must be still and listen. So we have decided to wait until Saturday to go up there and celebrate.

It definitely looks like we are going to have a white Christmas. They are forecasting us to get up to 6" of snow, but also ice before the snow arrives. This past week we have done several crafts and have spent quality time together. Monday night we made a toilet paper roll Santa for Micah and an elf for Alexis..they had a lot of fun doing that.

On Tuesday night we decorated a pre-built gingerbread house that was purchased at Walmart. The kids really enjoyed doing this and Micah seemed to enjoy eating the candy just as much as decorating. I think it turned out nice and I enjoyed it as well. Not to mention, I had the pleasure of putting the frosting on the house and got just as much on my hands as I did the house. :)

Wednesday evening the kids made sugar cookies with Michele and I was out getting new glasses; my old ones had been broken for a few weeks. I am glad to have a new set of eyes finally. Thank the Lord for insurance! So we are going to brace ourselves and see if we really are going to have a White Christmas.
Not to mention...today is my Dad's 55th birthday and the eve of our Lord Savior's birth. Blessings!~

Oh Holy Night and the case of the missing gift card

Last night at church we had our Christmas celebration and talent night. The night was filled with celebration, candles, choruses and Christ. There was a mixture of solos, dancing and reading of scriptures. I would say it was one of the most memorable Christmas services I have ever been apart of. I sang an acapella version of Oh, Holy Night and boy was I nervous. I have never sang acapella in public before and didn't know how it was going to go. We sang several of the most popular Christmas songs and lit our candles during Oh Come All Ye Faithful and walked to the front of the sanctuary and then sang Oh Holy Night. The presence of the Lord was evident and I know that He was smiling down upon us.

Afterwards we socialized and ate finger foods and dessert. Once the evening was over, we proceeded to leave for the evening. Alexis has been begging me to take her to Walmart to spend her Christmas giftcard. We have been trying to put it off for a while and I decided it would be okay tonight. She is set on purchasing Hannah Montana: The Movie. I am okay with this purchase because we actually liked the movie as well. We strolled to the electronics department and she found her movie, it was actually cheaper than I thought it would be. Soon we were at the self check-out stand and Alexis was about to get her gift card out of her purse when she said, "It's not here!" We looked all through her purse and sure enough it wasn't there. We put the movie aside and walked back out to the car where tears began to stream from her eyes and it was followed by the wails of sorrow. My heart broke for her too as it seemed the gift card had either been lost or stolen. I said a prayer with her asking God to help us find it and we were on our way home. On our way I decided to pass several homes lit for the season to get her mind off of things; it worked.

We arrived at home and I informed Michele of the situation and it was determined that we would check her room for the gift card, but were not going to promise we could find it. We did a thorough cleaning of her desk and still nothing. Earlier in the week, Michele had a women's ministry at the house and several kids came and were watching movies in Alexis' room. I texted one of the mom's who had kids over and her daughter said she saw a gift card on her bed and she put it on her headboard shelf. That gave us a great clue, but still nothing after looking there. I received another text from the mom who said Micah and his "girl friend" were jumping on the bed. With this clue we immediately thought it had possibly fallen behind her bed. Michele suggested we check under the mattress first and as I lifted it up, there it was...the missing gift card. Case solved! It wasn't stolen...just had been misplaced and then misplaced again. It definitely made us all feel better and the gift card was soon placed under the protection of mom and dad until further notice.

Have a wonderful Monday. Only 4 days till Christmas. Remember, JESUS is the REASON for the SEASON.

It's a wonderful life

Tonight I decided to break out an old classic that I haven't watched in several years. I decided to fold laundry and watch "It's a Wonderful Life". I can relate to Jimmy Stewart's character, George Bailey, now as I have aged and experienced more of adulthood. I have faced many trials and tribulations that it seemed that there was no end in site, but when you call on God, all things are possible. George was searching for answers and didn't find the truth until God got his attention. When George finally received his wake up call he was finally appreciative of what he had. I felt that way after coming home from Israel for 2 weeks. I had taken a lot for granted and then when I began to think about my family the Lord began to minister to me and show me how good I have had it and what I had taken for granted; my family.

This movie is definitely a classic and I enjoyed watching it. It took me back many years to when I was younger and was living at home with my family. There isn't anything better than wanting to spend the holidays with your loved ones. It made me miss my family and want to be gathered together watching it on Christmas Eve drinking hot wassail with the kids asleep on the floor awaiting the arrival of Santa Clause. Even though I won't be able to spend Christmas with my family, they will be in my thoughts and prayers. I am blessed and I have a wonderful life indeed!

12 Days of Christmas - Day 1

Today is December 12th and it marks 12 days until Christmas Eve and I am going to have fun with my children this year celebrating what the Lord has done for us. So each day we will do something special to recognize the reason for the season - the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This may be the reading of a story, a special craft or a random activity. Stay tuned to see what we do. It is my desire to not get lost in the shuffle of materialism and commercialism but get lost in the true love of the season. As for this blog, I will ensure that the activities are captured and provide tidbits of information.


On the First Day of Christmas my true love gave to me....A partridge in a pear tree.
The partridge represents the courage and devotion of Christ dying for his people. A mother partridge will lure predators away from her chicks, even sacrificing her life for them. The pear tree symbolizes the wooden cross upon which Jesus died.    If a partridge and a pear tree were to be purchased in today's market it would cost well over $100 US Dollars.

Partridges are birds in the pheasant family, Phasianidae. These are medium-sized birds, intermediate between the larger pheasants and the smaller quails. Partridges are native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Partridges are ground-nesting seed-eaters.


Alexis and Micah coloring their first picture for their 12 days of Christmas book we are making! Stay tuned for more pics and details.

Baby, it's cold outside

While I know it is not as cold as some places, but by golly 12 degrees is stinking cold when you have to get out and go to work. I have been out in colder, but man, it is cold outside. Yesterday it was 18 degrees outside, but with a -3 degree windchill. That was too cold for anyone and my poor wife had to take Alexis to school and get Micah and Aiden out in it. Then she had a doctor's appointment and ended up taking both of them with her to the doctors. So she was out in the bitter cold for most of the day yesterday. She is such a trooper and I wouldn't be able to do it without her.

 So, today, I accidentally turned off my alarm clock and we heard Aiden crying...it was 6:45am when we woke up. Yikes! I didn't want Michele to have to get all the kids ready and go back out in the cold, so I got ready and took Alexis to school to help her out. Yeah, it makes me get to the office 15 minutes later than I would like, but it does help my wife out in the process and keeps them warm. I miss taking Alexis to school everyday, it was a special time for us and I look forward to any opportunity that I can do it. I am looking forward to nestling down with my family tonight for some warm hot cocoa and Survivor on tv. It may be cold outside, but we will warm up inside. And the weather man said the weather in Oklahoma is set to warm up a bit, so that makes me happy.

So if you must get out in this weather, bundle up, baby, it's cold outside. And then, enjoy some nice hot cocoa or a hot cup of joe.

Have a Terrrific Thursday.

Blessings.

Dad the Monster and the days of Christmas

Tonight when I got home from work I decided to spend some quality time with Micah Man and Princess Pumpkin Petals, those are my the nicknames that I have given to my two oldest. After eating dinner I decided to play with them and began playing monster with them...they love when I do that. I make funny, weird monster noises and chase them around the house pretending I am going to eat them. They laugh and laugh and squeal and scream. Even though they know I am going to be lurking around the corner or behind the bedroom door it still doesn't keep them from screaming at the top of their lungs in shear, delightful terror. Of course they never like when I stop, but I can't do it all night or else nothing would get done. :) I did enjoy myself and know that I need to do more of this with them and more often.

After I got them settled down, I drove to the mall to do some Christmas shopping for Michele. I felt rushed so I didn't get a chance to really look well, but was able to come away with some things that I hope will make her happy. I ended up running into about 8 different people from church and spent some time talking to them all and enjoyed our conversation and am blessed to have the relationships that we share. While out and about, Michele sent me a text asking if I could rent Julie and Julia from RedBox. It came out today and we have been wanting to see it. I will say this, I know my mom and grandma would both enjoy this film. It isn't really a film that I am enjoying, but is worth watching at least once; especially since I used to watch her when I was younger. Bon Apetite!

Until next time.

Stretch

attack of the nutcracker and demise of the snow globe

Yesterday we finally got around to putting all the trimming on the tree. Last weekend we were so busy and we decided to put things up in phases. We were successful in putting the tree up, but then due to some issues with the pre-lit bulbs, we decided to wait for the other phases. It turns out that 1 entire section of the tree will not light because of some reason or another. I then proceeded to take every bulb out of the top section of the tree to inspect them for burned out bulbs in hopes of finding the culprit. Much to my dismay, I was unable to find the bulb and it was then decided we would just string our own lights around the tree. We didn't get around to doing this until this past Sunday.

I finally got the lights wrapped around the tree and Michele began to unbox all of the ornaments and decorations out of our storage containers. Of course the kids love this part because they see all the cool ornaments to put on the tree and want to do it "now". As I was wrapping the last bit of garland on the tree, I hear Micah scream. Now please keep in mind, this was not just a normal scream, Micah is a 2 year old boy and his screams are ear piercing. We hear him scream and as I turn around to see what was the matter, I see one of our Nutcrackers come flying towards the couch and hit the ground.

Micah, whose vocabulary is still being developed, is known best for his non-verbal communication. He proceeds to show us what he was doing and finished it by chomping his mouth a few times. Basically, he was showing us that the Nutcracker's mouth opened and closed while he was holding it. He didn't realize that he the one controlling the movements of this wooden monster by the arm in the back. It took him a while to calm down and understand what the Nutcracker was and I proceeded to show him that he had the ability to control the mouth movements.

A while later, Micah was obviously dreaming of a white Christmas as he proceeded to play with two of the snow globes that Michele had received in years past as a token of merit for braving the crowds on Black Friday. He has an obsession with balls and of course these were colorful balls full of white flakes and he was enjoying himself even after Michele had warned him not to hit them together. A few minutes go by and Micah was again clanking the snow globes together and as quickly as he had begun to enjoy this excitement, it was over. Much to my surprise shards of glass, white flakes and liquid soon covered the rug in the living room. After ensuring Micah was placed out of harms way, I grabbed the vaccuum and cleaned up the remnants of the snow globe. No harm, no foul. I like the quote that Michele used later in the afternoon, "I guess the kids are clearing out the extra stuff we don't need anymore."

So amidst all of the excitement, we did get all the decorations and lights on the trees and the end result is beautiful. I will be posting pics later. Also, I will be writing on our adventures that occurred yesterday evening.

Till then,

Blessings!

What's in my pocket?

"What's in my pocket?" A line from The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. This was the question Bilbo Baggins asked Gollum to distract him and prevent him from being eaten. He was very intelligent in using this trickery to prevent his own demise. Nonetheless. I have decided to take on a new blog with a fresh touch and feel. I have blogged many times before and they end up like many of us do in our lives. We leave our childish ways behind and trade them for adulthood and an overkill in responsibilities. Many of my blogs have been left behind because I have allowed myself to get too busy doing other things and I don't focus on the important things in life as much as I should. An example of this would be my children. My children have been entrusted to me by the Lord and it my responsibility to train them up in the ways of the Lord. I will ultimately be held responsible for what happens/does not happen to them.

I feel that the Lord wants me to push through the gloom and the muck that I have allowed to bog me down and allow the passion of writing to come out again. It has been silent for too long and it needs to come up to the surface and breathe in life again and have the fire restored. I refuse to have this gifting silenced and left for dead. The Lord has given me this gift and I need to use it. Mom has always thrown hints around to me that I need to write children's books. She is probably right, but you have to have an idea and passion to do it before you can make it happen. I know that I can do whatever I put my mind to and I am going to move forward with a renewed passion and desire to write my thoughts and the things that I am apart of on a regular basis. I want to write down everything and compose a manuscript of my life and then publish it. How about that?

So...what's in my pocket? A lot of things that haven't been out in a long time. I am ready to shake the lint off of them and let them shine in the sunlight again. Our lives are but a vapor on this earth and I want to make every day for what its worth and not waste anything. I will not say exactly what is in my pocket until I decide to bring it forward and share it.

Blessings!

Anthony

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Hes growing!

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End of Summer

Well, the summer has officially come to an end in our household...and it came quicker than we expected, but before I get to that I want to give a brief account of what has taken place this summer.

It has been a hot summer, but could have been hotter. :) It seems this summer has gone pretty fast, but then again, don't they all when you get older?
I turned 34 on the 16th of June...wow, I can't believe I am that old. LOL It's just another year closer to 40...YIKES!

We traveled to Sperry, Oklahoma (just north of Tulsa) to celebrate the 4th of July with Michele's parents and brother and his wife. Her step dad Jim cooked some delicious hamburgers on his grill and we had many other side items to fill our plates; including an awesome bean salsa that my wife made. As always when family and food are combined...I tend to eat too much. LOL
Later that evening we ventured over to her brother's house in mid-town Tulsa to see their new home. We got a tour of the house and then Raymond fixed us some awesome coffee drinks. We were able to enjoy these beverages on their back patio and prepared to watch the fireworks. It just so happened that there were thunderstorms looming in the horizon threatening to cancel the show just like many other's were in the state; so they started early. After about 15 minutes into the show as it was just starting to get good...it stopped. We were like, what the heck? why are they done? They didn't do a grand finale. So we just started to talk on the patio and watched the kids chase lightning bugs. We soon left their house and ventured back to Sperry to stay the night with Michele's parents. We later learned that the fireworks show had been cancelled due to a building that held the fireworks had caught on fire due to a malfunctioning mortar.

Prior to the 4th of July, I met with the staff at a local christian college about a position I had been praying about. I really had felt the Lord leading me there in a more full-time role after I lost my job of 2 years on May 18th. I taught PE, Basketball and Track for their christian secondary school last year and was also going to return to do this for next year. They offered me the position and I accepted. While I knew the money was very little, I was believing that the Lord would provide a different avenue that would supplement this income or would increase the offer they provided. When I saw little...I mean less than $18,000 a year and probably more like $15,000 a year. Maybe if I was a single male with no car payment, etc. but not with a family of 4...soon to be family of 5.

So I went ahead and agreed to do this job, but it was conditional waiting for them to write up a contract for me...more on this later.

I then departed the USA on July 7 for Jerusalem, Israel. That was a trip that I will never forget...including a plane ride I will never forget. :) I was in Israel for 2 weeks and received a lot from the Lord that confirmed things I am going to be doing in the future...very awesome. I will be blogging on this trip soon, so I won't be going into details in this blog...stay tuned.

The day I returned from Israel..July 20th..we found out that we were having a baby boy...what a wonderful welcome home present/anniversary present. My wife and I celebrated our 10th anniversary on the 24th of July. What a way to end the week. :) My wife and I went and ate at Zio's Italian Kitchen in Bricktown and then went and watched G-Force in 3D...it was opening night and awesome. We had a lot of fun. We then exchanged gifts and boy was I happy with mine...Michele bought me a really cool OU picture displaying all of the uniforms that the school has had in their football history.

For the next 2 weeks I preceded to go up to the college and train for my new position. I averaged about 4 hours a day in training and learning a lot of what I considered useless information that the Department of Education wants you to know. I had stated prior to my departure to Israel that I would consider my official start date at the college as August 1st. This gave them 3 1/2 weeks to prepare all paperwork and have it ready when I returned. Over the course of the next 2 weeks, the Lord was revealing to me that this was not the position for me.

I did not enjoy doing this job and knew it wasn't for me. I informed the college that I had still not received a contract as of the 8th of August....and they still did not have one ready even after requesting one. I felt in my spirit that I was not committed by anything else since they had not held up their end of the deal and I had more than done mine. In honesty, I was never paid for the 2 weeks of training I gave them at the college nor was I ever offered any pay because the college has no money and neither did the school. Most of the employees are paid whenever they have money available. For example, the school didn't have enough money the last month of school and teachers did not receive a paycheck until the middle of June. This was really an eye opening thing for me that the Lord was revealing to me.

As I had been working at the school I was feeling discomfort. I realized this was not the place for me and I had to break loose. Before my trip to Israel, I felt peace and a release about it...after my trip...I didnt have the peace and didn't feel a release. I knew in my spirit that it wasn't right and so I informed them that I would not be returning to the school. They didn't take to kindly to this and felt I wasn't trusting in the Lord enough and believing for our income. While I have faith, I am not going to abuse it and am not going to go into a job with a family of 5 trusting God for a paycheck every month. I don't have a peace about this kind of behavior. The Lord gave me wisdom and I am going to use it. I am the head of my home and must take care of my family, first and foremost.

Later that week, my wife and I began to talk about where our daughter would go to school for the next year. One of the biggest deciding factors is that I am out of work currently and we do not have $200/month for tuition at the christian school. Aside from the money, we are not completely on board with the "Faith" movement and do not agree with everything they are teaching out there at the school. Thirdly, I know that Alexis would be treated differently with the whole situation of me not being out there. It tends to become a "if you aren't a church member here, then you aren't anyone we want to be around" attitude. Not everyone is that way, but that does happen. I saw this behavior first hand while working out there. You feel like an outcast and not apart of the same team.

We began discussing the school piece on Tuesday and we prayed about where she needed to go to school in the fall and we asked the Lord if it was His will to place her somewhere else, then to please open something up for her. The next morning I called the school we had been talking about and it just so happened that there was a student who had moved and opened a spot up. They placed Alexis in their school and she has thoroughly enjoyed it already. She really likes her new teacher and we love the school....it is a win-win! Also, we have friends whose daughters attend this school and our pastor's wife teaches 4th grade at this school...so it is a good situation and is only 5 minutes from the house! Thank you Lord for answering this prayer!

2 weeks ago, Alexis wrecked a bike she was riding and skinned her knee and elbow. They looked bad, but soon were getting better. Some time last week, Alexis hit her knee on something and re-aggravated it. Last Tuesday morning we noticed lots of red bumps with white heads all over her body and her knee looked bad. I drove her to the doctor where we waited for 2 hours to see the doctor where they confirmed my first thought...Staph infection. Great! They gave her two kinds of antibiotics and sent us on our way...well things have not gotten better, they have gotten worse; except her knee. Alexis' knee is finally looking good and almost healed. The little bumps she had on her body began to grow and become red and swollen and finally one of them popped and oozed blood all over her leg this morning. I knew I would have to get her back to the doctor.

I got her in to the ER at the Indian Hospital and they got her taken care of. They confirmed the Staph infection and gave Alexis an additional antibiotic shot in her hip to help things out. Tonight her wounds look much better and we are praying for complete healing and restoration! We have a follow up appointment on Tuesday. Can't wait for this to be over and done with. Our kitchen has been a war room of sorts...band-aids, antibiotic cream, gauze, q-tips and more. I have played doctor more times this past week than I ever pretended in all the years growing up at home as a child. LOL

Tonight, Alexis had her Missionettes Ball at church. The girls attend Missionettes on Wednesday night. The Ball is a time for them to dress up real pretty and primp themselves. It is a time of recognition for them and to let them shine for a night. The dad's are responsible for escorting their daughters down the aisle and they read information on each girl during the walk to the front. It is a beautiful night and a lot of fun...everyone loves it and the girls look precious!
Afterwards we always have cake and punch to celebrate. We ended up taking more cake home with us...Oh yeah! I can't wait to eat it...and neither can my kids. ;)

While Alexis was getting ready for her evening shower, I went to check on Micah who had disappeared into the kitchen. When I walked around the corner...what I saw was simply precious and I wish I had a video camera rolling. I see Micah walking towards me with the plate of cake in his hands and he had just licked a large section of icing off the top. I was shocked and thought it was funny and said something to him about not getting the cake off the cabinet. Well I must have scared him because he thought he was in trouble and began to cry. He came and sat in my lap and I comforted him. It was so sweet. I couldn't help but laugh about it. My sweet boy just wanted a piece of cake. :) It was so innocent and I know that is how the Lord wants us to be. Innocent and more like a child. Thank you Lord for a child-like innocence and faith.

I know I haven't written anything in a while and my break is over. The Lord is restoring my desire to write and I know it will begin to flow again. My goal is not to write overly, spiritual blogs, but just write whatever is happening and going on in our lives so that I don't forget the small details of life. I am learning to stop and smell the roses and love my family in the process.

Blessings!

God's abundance

God has continued to bless our family abundantly and continues to show His favor upon us. He never fails! I am so blessed to know God as my source and not the world. I would not want to be of the world and not know God's love. I may live in this world, but I refuse to be of this world and that is not always easy to do. Since we were born with a sinful nature and a free will, it is often difficult to overcome the temptations that dazzle before us. We must die of ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Him daily. It is a daily sacrifice. A true christian is known by their character and how they are when no one else is around and that is the hardest thing sometimes, but God is faithful and if you call upon Him for strength and support, He is there to wrap His arms around us and comfort us; even if we don't always feel something.

I have begun to take notice of the little things that God does for us and begin to praise Him for these little things. Who says that small things are not miracles? We need to thank Him for everything; big or small. If we are faithful with the small things, then He is more likely to bless us with bigger things.

Last week after church we went to get some water from the newly opened ice house. This ice house is a large kiosk-type building that is set up to provide water and ice 24/7. You can get a gallon of filtered water for 25 cents and 5 gallons for 50 cents and can get a 16 pound bag of ice for $2.00. The idea behind this kiosk was that we can get everything these days from kiosks. Society has become self-serve in almost every capacity. Now we can rent movies at Redbox for $1.00 a night and not have to pay extra charges at the video store and they have a decent selection to choose from.

At the mall this weekend we saw 2 new kiosks, one was a convenience store in the mall. While there was someone there to assist you, it was still a kiosk to purchase snacks you would normally buy at the gas station. The other one was for facial cleaner, I forget the name of it, but Jessica Simpson has been the spokeswoman for years. I think it is called Pro-active. The crazy thing about this, is that there was a place to select your order and pay with a credit card and it would distribute the makeup for you. A few weeks ago, during my last trip to Minnesota, I saw a kiosk in the Nike store and it was set up to design and pay for your own shoe creation. While it wasn't set up to deliver the product to you, it was still set up to allow a patron to design a shoe of their choice without interruption of a sales person or without the lack of supply in the store. While it still cost extra to buy these shoes, it was still a kiosk. Another type of kiosk I recently saw at a church was in the foyer and it allowed the person to register for the sermon cds/dvds and pay for them, to sign up for church activities, but also to give their tithe using a credit/debit card. This goes way beyond passing the offering bucket/plate. I think this has gotten a little overboard. I really don't believe that a church should have a kiosk designated for monetary purposes. I definitely would not want one in my church. What happened to giving cash or writing a check? Someone who donates with a credit card is running the risk of fees and debt. Who would have ever thought of a person could go into debt by giving to God. He wants to bless us, but I don't think going into debt would reap a blessing from him.

We even have a kiosk in our town for car washes, dog washes, groceries and now we have one at our library to allow a speedier checkout process. What is next? a kiosk at a funeral home? Not trying to be morbid, but before we know it, we will get to where we have kiosks for everything. everything is about convenience. What ever happened to customer service? We have literally begun to replace humans and interaction with computers. I think this was a fear many years ago when the self service check outs were placed in grocery stores and robots were being used in factories to produce products. I do love convenience, but don't get me wrong. We need to get back to the basics and re-establish customer service and personalization in our society.

Anyways, back to my story. I got off on a tangent there and just ran with it. When we went to pay for our water, the man who owned the ice house asked if we wanted any ice and I said we were fine and then he said, "I can't give you free water, but I can give you ice." He ended up giving me a free, 16 pound bag of ice. I didn't hesitate and I gave God praise for it. That was a small miracle and blessing for us and I don't want to forget where the blessing came from. It is really good when you get something for free when you don't have any $$$ coming in. Then came the next blessing for us, on Saturday I received notification that I was eligible for my unemployment. My company tried to deny me, but the state overruled their determination. I gave God praise for this as I have never received these benefits before and while it is not a lot of money, it is still income coming in while I look for another job. God is so faithful and abundantly blesses us. We must not forget to praise Him even in the little things.

Blessings!

Anthony

2 Samuel 22

I don't really have anything to type write now, but wanted to share some scripture to encourage. There are a lot of people who are confused in this world and don't know where to turn or where to go or to whom to go to. This world is such a corrupted place and is getting worse every day. Christians are under more persecution every day and it will continue to get worse. This isn't the only time in history that Christians faced persecution and fear. As they say, history repeats itself and it is...but that is a blog for another day. I am posting the entire chapter of 2 Samuel 22. This chapter is becoming a word that is growing on me. It is what David sang to God after God delivered him from his enemy's along with King Saul. David feared his life, but he trusted in God and God came through. This chapter is very encouraging and helps us realize that God is for us and listens to us and protects us. When the things of this world continue to get worse and even more crazy, remember to lean on the everlasting arms of Jesus. Go to the rock of your salvation. Get in the word and be encouraged. Just as 2Samuel 22:31 says, "As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried. He is a Shield to all those who trust and take refuge in Him."


2 Samuel 22 (AMPLIFIED BIBLE)

1DAVID SPOKE to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hands of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.
2He said: The Lord is my Rock [of escape from Saul] and my Fortress [in the wilderness] and my Deliverer;(A)
3My God, my Rock, in Him will I take refuge; my Shield and the Horn of my salvation; my Stronghold and my Refuge, my Savior--You save me from violence.(B)
4I call on the Lord, Who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.
5For the waves of death enveloped me; the torrents of destruction made me afraid.
6The cords of Sheol were entangling me; I encountered the snares of death.
7In my distress I called upon the Lord; I cried to my God, and He heard my voice from His temple; my cry came into His ears.
8Then the earth reeled and quaked, the foundations of the heavens trembled and shook because He was angry.
9Smoke went up from His nostrils, and devouring fire from His mouth; coals were kindled by it.
10He bowed the heavens and came down; thick darkness was under His feet.
11He rode on a cherub and flew; He was seen upon the wings of the wind.
12He made darkness His canopy around Him, gathering of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
13Out of the brightness before Him coals of fire flamed forth.
14The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice.
15He sent out arrows and scattered them; lightning confused and troubled them.
16The channels of the sea were visible, the foundations of the world were uncovered at the rebuke of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of His nostrils.
17He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of great waters.
18He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.
19They came upon me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay.
20He brought me forth into a large place; He delivered me because He delighted in me.
21The Lord rewarded me according to my uprightness with Him; He compensated and benefited me according to the cleanness of my hands.
22For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
23For all His ordinances were before me; and from His statutes I did not turn aside.
24I was also blameless before Him and kept myself from guilt and iniquity.
25Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in His [holy] sight.
26Toward the loving and loyal You will show Yourself loving and loyal, and with the upright and blameless You will show Yourself upright and blameless.
27To the pure You will show Yourself pure, and to the willful You will show Yourself willful.
28And the afflicted people You will deliver, but Your eyes are upon the haughty, whom You will bring down.
29For You, O Lord, are my Lamp; the Lord lightens my darkness.
30For by You I run through a troop; by my God I leap over a wall.
31As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried. He is a Shield to all those who trust and take refuge in Him.
32For who is God but the Lord? And who is a Rock except our God?
33God is my strong Fortress; He guides the blameless in His way and sets him free.
34He makes my feet like the hinds' [firm and able]; He sets me secure and confident upon the heights.
35He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
36You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; and Your condescension and gentleness have made me great.
37You have enlarged my steps under me, so that my feet have not slipped.
38I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them; and I did not turn back until they were consumed.
39I consumed them and thrust them through, so that they did not arise; they fell at my feet.
40For You girded me with strength for the battle; those who rose up against me You subdued under me.
41You have made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me.
42They looked, but there was none to save--even to the Lord, but He did not answer them.
43Then I beat them small as the dust of the earth; I crushed them as the mire of the street and scattered them abroad.
44You also have delivered me from strife with my people; You kept me as the head of the nations. People whom I had not known served me.
45Foreigners yielded feigned obedience to me; as soon as they heard of me, they became obedient to me.
46Foreigners faded away; they came limping and trembling from their strongholds.
47The Lord lives; blessed be my Rock, and exalted be God, the Rock of my salvation.
48It is God Who executes vengeance for me and Who brought down [and disciplined] the peoples under me,
49Who brought me out from my enemies. You also lifted me up above those who rose up against me; You delivered me from the violent man.
50For this I will give thanks and extol You, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing praises to Your name.
51He is a Tower of salvation and great deliverance to His king, and shows loving-kindness to His anointed, to David and his offspring forever.


Be encouraged in Jesus' name.

God bless.

God Rocks!

This blog is gonna be short and sweet and to the point. This blog is to brag on my Heavenly Father! God is awesome. He is so faithful and provides all our needs according to His riches in glory. Just wanted to share a short testimony of His faithfulness. 30 days from today I will embark on an adventure of a lifetime and will be traveling to Jerusalem, Israel for missions work. I am really excited to see what God has in store. I am going with an expectant heart and spirit that Miracles, Signs, Wonders and Salvations will occur. When I first considered the opportunity to go, I wasn't for sure because it was a lot of money; $3200 for that matter. Then I began to pray and seek the Lord. I had a peace about things and then prayed that if this trip was right and meant for me to go, then He would open the doors for me to go and that the finances would come in. If it wasn't meant for me to go, then the finances wouldn't happen and the doors would close. Well I must say that the doors flung wide open and the finances have come in. God has stretched my faith during this time and has shown His faithfulness. All the rest of our money is due on Tuesday, June 8th and I was still lacking some funds for my trip. Not once did I miss a deadline and neither will I miss this time either. GOD IS FAITHFUL! I had another bake sale and did snow cones today at church and raised the remaining amount of my funds. THANK YOU JESUS!

I want to also brag on my church family. They have been so supportive and faithful in giving. Many of them have given over and beyond what I could have ever expected and for that I am ever grateful. Where others refused to support me or were not able to, God used others to fill in the gaps and provide the means for me to go on this trip. Now that my trip is paid for I can begin to focus on other more important areas like prayer and focusing on what God wants me to do.

God definitely opened my eyes on some things and made me think. He provides when we completely trust Him and I can't thank Him enough. Oh God, you are my God and I will ever praise YOU! YOU ROCK! I love You!


Anthony

Day 3

I didn't write anything yesterday mainly because I didn't have anything to write, but also I was busy working on electrical outlets and drywall. I was ready to go to bed when I finished my work last night and decided to just rest instead of writing. Today I went to church hungry for the Lord and expecting to hear from Him and guess what? When we hunger and thirst for the Lord, He does not disappoint. When we come expecting, God shows up. I went expecting and the Lord had a word for me. I had a difficult time getting into worship and then felt the need to leave before the message started because my flesh didn't want to hear what pastor was going to minister on.

I am so glad I don't always follow my flesh and I learn to walk and listen more and more to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Had I left early today I would have missed out. The message was a continuation of last Sunday's message. It was mainly on following the call of God on our lives and listening to His voice and not others. There are too many scripture references to even begin to list, but the main one that was touched on last week and today was John 21:15-22 where Jesus was speaking to Peter and asked if he loved Him and Peter of course replied that he did....the scripture goes on to tell how Jesus asks Peter twice more if he loves Him and in the end Jesus wanted to see where Peter's commitment was and how dedicated to Him he was. He wanted to see what Peter was made of. Pastor spoke on different loves we have and what keeps us from truly loving God. We love stuff, we love people, we love money more often than we love the Lord. We often say we Love Him, but we don't really show it. We say we Love Him, but we aren't being completely honest. We often say things that we don't really mean or cannot commit to. We say that we will serve the Lord in every possible way and that we are ready to be used by Him, but then when He tells us to go somewhere or do something we make excuses. We say we want to spend more time with Him and get into His word, but then when we get home we spend all of our time watching tv or being on the Internet. We say we want to hear from Him, but then we don't fast and pray and seek His voice. The word says to "be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10.

Our pastor stated that if he had always listened to his mom, that he would probably have gone to Presbyterian seminary and have been a presbyterian minister, etc. He stated that we must love God more than those around us. We must listen to Him first and foremost and if God is speaking something to us and other's don't agree with it we must follow what He is telling us to do. We cannot always do what is popular or expected. We must be committed to Him and be different. After the message pastor encouraged us to come forward if we wanted to have prayer and hands laid upon us to seek God deeper and go to a higher place with Him. Again, my flesh said I needed to go and leave, but I didn't. I stayed and am glad I did. As I was praying and asking the Lord to just show me what He wants for me and to be more committed in my walk, several began to pray for me and ministering to me. Long story short, one of our elders began to intercede and pray heavily in the spirit for me and then God gave him a word for me. He said that the Lord is forming a stronger backbone in me and that I will walk in a newness and have a boldness upon my life that I have never had before or knew that I had within. I will see things not with my eyes, but with the father's eyes and have a deeper understanding what is around me. There will be things I don't even need to ask for because God will already provide it for me. The majority of what I heard and received was the boldness I will walk in. That confirms some things that have already been spoken over me. I know that there is a boldness that is in me and that is going to be released. Many will not like this, but the Lord has spoken it over me and I will listen and obey.

I have continued to be faithful in my fast from Facebook and television and will continue to fast from these things as well as 1 meal a day to seek the Lord more clearly and hear the voice of the good shepard. I have noticed more of a hunger for Him as I have fasted from these things and know that it is only going to get stronger before my trip to Israel.

It is my desire to hunger more after Him. To let go of my grasp on things and let God be in control.

Day 1

Well today was the official start day of my fast from most technology and distractions and it hasn't gone as well as I would like, but what can you do with kids? They like to watch their cartoon shows in the mornings, etc. Today Michele and Alexis had Doctor's appointments in Ada, so they were gone for the majority of the day. Michele actually got another ultrasound and got some more pics of our little peanut. He/She is getting much bigger and makes me excited for November when that little one will be born. So, Micah and I stayed at the house and of course he watched some tv this morning, but for the most part the TV has been off today and so it hasn't been too bad. I would prefer to not even get on the computer during this time and am praying that I can limit my time as much as possible. I haven't done very well today, but when you are looking for employment, you have to be on it. I am going to try to limit it as much as I can and do what I have to and my updates here and be done with it for each day.

I am also desiring to fast from one meal a day for the first part of this fast and I was going to fast my lunch today, but decided to fast my dinner since our Youth Ministry is every Friday night and they serve pizza. I am going to fast my pizza tonight and spend time praying and interceding for the Youth that they will experience God in a new way. The Holy Spirit has been showing up in major ways and these "street" kids are being changed. God is so good.

God continues to amaze me even without a job. As I picked up the mail and I looked through it and found a direct deposit slip from my former employer and was curious to know what it was for. When I opened it up, it was a direct deposit for my commissions check. I didn't even think i would be given any more bonuses for my position as they had decided to rule them out. On top of this, I received my last paycheck in addition to all the finances I received last week with my vacation paid out to me. God has definitely been blessing us financially. I have lost jobs before, but never have I been so blessed financially. I am seeing God work in amazing ways and He is stretching my faith more and more every day. I have a peace in my spirit and am not even worried about my job situation. My God is bigger than this whole thing and He knows what is in store and what He has planned.

So I will continue to praise my GOD! He is faithful always! He blesses His sons and daughters and has called us for such a time as this. I will continue to pray for direction and guidance during this time and will seek Him for everything.

I know that God will continue to speak as long as I am willing to listen to Him.

I will trust in Him with all of my heart and lean not on my own understanding.

40 days and counting

40 days from tomorrow I will be headed to Dallas, Texas to catch a flight to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to catch an even longer flight to Tel Aviv, Israel. I can't believe that the trip is almost here and I know before I know it months will have flown by. I am doing something that I have never done and that is to go abroad. I am going to be traveling to Jerusalem, Israel with 18 other men and women who are absolutely in love with Jesus and we are going to share the love of Christ in the same areas where Jesus walked and taught. I knows time have definitely changed, but God has not. He is the same yesterday, today and forever more.

I am not going to prove a point or anything crazy like that. I am going because the one who gave me life has placed a calling on my life. That calling is to serve Him and to be a minister of the gospel. That calling includes sharing the gospel everywhere across this great world. While I know that I can share the gospel right here in Oklahoma...I can also share it across the world as well. The Word of God says GO! and preach the gospel unto all the ends of the earth...from one corner to the other. It did not say to just stay in my comfort zone and where I live, if it did, that would be too easy. We are to stretch ourselves and see what God wants to do with us. He wants to use us in so many ways, but many times He cannot because we have allowed distractions and our own pride to get in the way of His will.

I am done satisfying my own flesh and my own desires. I am done trying to make everyone else happy. I am done doing what the world wants me to do. I am done. It is no longer about me. It is about Him. I must give up myself in order for Him to rise up in me. I must take up my cross daily and follow Him. I am ready to lay down my pride, my desires and sacrifice everything. In order to gain something from Christ, we must be willing to give up something that means something to us. That is why fasting is so important. Fasting is a way for us to get quiet before the Lord and listen. It is a way to mute the distractions and to silence the voices around us. It is a time for us to lay down ourselves so that Christ might rise up in us. If we want to hear from Him and to have Him do something for us...we must give up something that means something to us.

So for the next 40 days before my trip to Israel I will be fasting from things that take my time away from the Lord. I will be fasting from Facebook, television, video games, a good percentage of the Internet other than what I have to use for job searches, etc. and some food. This is to get my mind off the world and more on Him. I want to hear what He has to say.

Not only do I want to hear what He has to say about Israel and the trip, I want to hear what He says about my future job and where He is taking me. I know there will be several who consider me crazy or insane for going on this trip without a job in place, etc. I have news for them, I am still going. God has confirmed for me to go and I am not letting some challenges keep me from what God has for me. God has begun to orchestrate a new beginning in my life. Where one door closed, another is opening. I no longer see myself apart of the corporate world, but apart of the ministry. Where He leads, only He knows right now, but I am definitely seeking Him and His face.

As I was reading this evening I came across a prayer in Jeremiah 32:17-21 that speaks volumes. Jeremiah is praying for understanding from the Lord, much as I am praying for understanding as well. In a nutshell the prayer states that nothing is too hard for God. We should never sell God out and think He cannot accomplish something. The creator of the universe can do anything He so desires. He wants to see so many powerful blessings flow through us, but we must ask and we must seek. As I continued to read I came across one of my favorite passages and it is Jeremiah 33:3, "Call unto me and I will answer thee and I will show you great and mighty things you don't yet know." God just wants to hear from His sons and daughters.

Lord, I am calling upon You and seeking You for wisdom and understanding. I don't know it all. Open my eyes so that I may see, open my ears so that I may hear, open my mind so that I may understand the things You have laid before me. I ask that you would show me the things I don't know already and show me a glimpse of your glory. I want more of You and need more of You. I give you all of me and am willing to lay down my life and sacrifice everything for You.

In the name above all other names!

Amen

Trust in the Lord

This past week has been a very interesting one. Last Monday, I was called by my HR Manager and my new boss, the new VP and was "let go". While it was a bit of a slap in the face, it wasn't completely unexpected. The Lord has been preparing me for this day for the last year and so I have been putting my trust in Him, but not enough. The Lord has been hammering me the last several months and has been confirming and re-confirming that He is our source, not Obama, not corporations, not the world and not big salaries. If we put our focus on these things, we will fail.

The Lord is refocusing my priorities and asking me to put my eyes back on Him. He is desiring me to not look at the desires of my heart, but to look at Him and just worship. He put those desires in my heart and will grant them when I choose to look to Him rather than what He will provide. The Lord is reconfirming the calling He has on my heart. That calling is a calling to be a minister of the gospel. I have received certain confirmations in the past as to what I am supposed to do and they have varied between music ministry and youth ministry.

This past year I begun to follow what the Lord called me to do. I began to work at the Christian school where Alexis attends. Junior High and High School kids is a big time youth ministry. I am entrusted to impart things into these young souls and to train them up in the ways of the Lord. I have felt a peace ever since I went there and started teaching and coaching. God has confirmed that in my heart and only He knows what else will come of it this next year. There are some big opportunities that lie before me, but God spoke to me yesterday and said to be patient. I dont want to rush anything and I want to wait upon the Lord. He will renew my strength. I want to not lean on my own understanding, but to completely trust in the Lord. He is my only source, He is my strength. He is my strength and song. He has become my salvation.

While I am at a crossroads, I am at such peace. I know I have a family to take care of, but i also know that I have a God who is bigger than any circumstance or issue that I face. My God shall supply all of my needs according to His riches in glory. I know that He will provide all that we need. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Nothing will I fear!
I am excited to see what the Lord is going to do in the next couple of weeks and months. I know that the joy of the Lord is my strength and I will pull from that as often as I need to. I am not going to just sit on my hands and do nothing, but I am going to sit, listen and wait upon the Lord.

Jobs will come and jobs will go, as will the things of this earth, but nothing shall seperate me from the love of Christ. His love endures forever!

Out of the mouth of babes

After I brought my daughter home from school yesterday, we were sitting in the living room talking and she shared something with me that I thought was very awesome. It isn't the first time that she has shared something with me like this before, but this time it seemed more "truthful" and "realistic". You want to know what she told me? "i met a boy and i'm gonna get married." No, not really, not that yet, I just had to put that in there to throw you off. :)

What she told me was that God spoke to her during chapel yesterday morning. From what I have heard of the service yesterday morning it was very powerful and so I have no doubt in my mind what she is saying is the truth. While I do believe my daughter tends to exaggerate the truth at times, I know that her heart is pure and she means well.

So I asked her what He said and she told me that He said to "Go and preach the gospel to all the world." I am thinking, AMEN! That is awesome..and then she added this part..."Then He said to go to Colorado." I was like wow, where did that come from? She knows nothing about Colorado, but okay, I am going to take it as gospel truth. Then she proceeded to say that He also said Texas and Mexico. While I am a bit skeptical about the additional "states", I do not doubt that He spoke to her and she heard the voice of our Creator. Children are so pure and so innocent and not influenced by all the things us adults have been that they can hear more clearly.

I continued to ask her questions because I wanted to hear what she had to say. So I asked her what His voice sounded like and she said that it was full of power and then described it as a deep voice and that was it.

It just blows me away what my children will say to me, but here is the important part....I got quiet and listened. Just as the word says, "Be still and know that I am God." You better believe it that I am going to listen to my daughter and hear what she has to say. I know that God can use anyone at any time regardless of the age or situation. It just goes to show you that we need to lean our ears closer to our "little" people because we just may hear something that will change our lives. Jesus loved children and still does and He knows they will listen to anything He says. The more we listen to our children the more we will learn.

Thank you Lord for speaking to our children and revealing your power to them so that we may believe.

Be blessed!

Simple blessings

This morning I had some daddy and son time while sister was at school and mommy was out at garage sales. Micah was playing outside and came running inside. He had something in his hands. At first I didn't know what it was, but then he opened his hand and much to my amazement it was a caterpillar. Now I will say that his big sister has been teaching him what they are, so it doesn't surprise me that he was willing to pick it up when he saw it. :)

He wanted daddy to see what he found. It made me smile to have him excited about such a simple and innocent thing. It made me think back to the times I hunted bugs as a young boy and that made me smile as well. Wow, time flies and where did those days gone by disappear to? Now its all about bills, work, chores and adult matters. It made me realize how fast our lives our on this earth that God has given us. We are not to concern ourselves of the things of this world, but the things of God. I got more of a blessing today with my son than I did at church on Sunday. Don't get me wrong...I love my church and I love God, but its not all about being in a church service. I have a ministry at home too. (That was for you mom) I am blessed to have had a loving, Godly mom who ministered to us kids every day. Today made me realize that my children are indeed my main ministry regardless of what else I have going on. My daughter is 7 now and too much time has slipped away with her and I regret not spending more time with her. I am not going to let any more time go by. I will be the first to admit that I am addicted to my laptop and the Internet and I need to put it away and spend time with my children. Those memories will last a life time for both of us. I don't want my children growing up saying all I ever did was spend time on my computer and not play with them.

God has such a way of speaking to me. It doesn't have to be an audible voice, or a sermon...but through the eyes of a child. Thank you Lord for opening my eyes to the beauty and days gone by that I have missed since "growing" up. Not to mention Micah and the caterpillar he brought inside, but he also discovered a white moth that he thought was a butterfly and was very intrigued by the bees that were collecting nectar on the dandelions. I can't help but mention that it is an absolutely beautiful day today. Thank you Lord for all your many blessings and that my eyes would continuously be opened to what you have in store for me. Thank you for the simple blessings that are all around me and thank you for my beautiful blessings; my children.

Rejoice in the Lord always!

I started off my day today listening to some fabulous worship music and just began to sing to the Lord and just let it play. There isn't anything better to starting your day off than with prayer and worship. I will talk about prayer on a different day, but I wanted to focus on worship today. Worship charges the atmosphere with God's presence. Worship sets things in motion. Worship allows us, carnal man, the opportunity to enter into the throne room of God Almighty Himself. It allows us to enter into a dimension that is not just physical, but spiritual. Worship sets the tone for God's presence. Worship stirs up the spirit of God. Worship makes demons and Satan tremble. Worship makes the angels in heaven rejoice! Worship is very important and is necessary.

This morning I decided to venture over to the burning ones prayer and worship time. To set the tone this is just a time designated every morning and evening for an hour and a half for several believers to get together, pray, intercede and worship God. Some days there are more than others, but one important note is that God always shows up regardless of the numbers. Today we were having some good conversation and the individual who was supposed to lead worship today didn't really feel like it so she asked me to do it. Now I was not prepared for such a request. But as I learned in the Boy Scouts, we must always be prepared and that is a good attitude to have with God too. Always be prepared! You never know when God will call you to do something. So before I knew it, a guitar was in my hand and I didn't even know where to start or what to play, but I began to play and pray and decided to just let the Holy Spirit lead me.

I began with one of my favorite worship songs and maintained it for several minutes and just sang out to God. God has been testing me a lot lately and I felt the test was on again. Lately during worship with my guitar and leading I have not felt anything and wondered if something was wrong with me, but I feel in my spirit that God is testing me. A good friend and mentor said that God will test us and see if we will worship Him even when we don't feel His presence...That is so true, besides, it is not about us anyways, but I like to feel things when I am leading worship...it just helps me flow better. Who doesn't like to feel God's tangible presence all over us?

I continued to sing and worship God even though I wasn't really feeling anything. I kept pushing. I kept worshipping. Eventually I had to play something else and allowed God to just lead me in what I should play. I began to play some simple chords with some very simple words...nothing complicated....something along the lines of Jesus come...Jesus come...Jesus come we pray...Grace come...grace come...grace come down on us. I don't really remember all that I sang, but I know that God began to move in a mighty way. Those that were present were beginning to worship God intimately and I began to feel God's presence decend upon us.

The physical atmosphere in the room changed as if someone had turned the room into sauna and God's presence began to saturate us and cover us. My friend David felt God was wanting to know if there was anyone in the city that was willing to contend for Him this morning and He spoke out and said we were there for Him this morning. He then shared that he felt we all needed an "instrument" of some kind to play before the Lord. He handed out pots and pans, containers with beans and other miscellaneous items along with the piano and drums. As we began to worship God, the intimacy grew deeper. We were all worshipping God with our hearts, voices and instruments. We were releasing a new song to God and worshipping Him without a song written on paper or something a popular Christian artist sings, but we were singing something that was coming out of our hearts and spirits. We were rejoicing in the Lord and it felt wonderful. You could definitely feel a shifting in the atmosphere as we worshipped and when we concluded it was obvious that God was pleased with what He had heard this morning. We had worshipped Him with all of our hearts and had left nothing to be questioned. There was a definite freedom that was amongst us after worshipping today and it was one that I have rarely felt.

Why am I writing on this today? I wanted to share my heart and to give God glory. I wanted to share the importance of worship and that regardless of how we worship, God wants it to be from our heart and with all of our heart. He wants it all and we should give Him all. When we worship with a pure heart and spirit, it brings pleasure to Him and is a sweet sound in His ears. It doesn't matter when we worship, how we worship, where we worship as long as we worship Him. Worship is not meant for man to receive any glory. It is my prayer and desire that my worship is always from my heart to Him. That my worship would be vertical between me and the father and that I don't seek any glory for what He deserves.

Until next time please remember to rejoice in the Lord always and give Him all of your worship!

My heart is Yours!

The following is one of my favorite songs, not only because I like singing it, but because of the words. The first time I heard this song, these words pierced my heart..they pierced my soul. You cannot worship God and sing these words without meaning them. If you can sing these lyrics and not feel anything, then there is something wrong with you.

You won't relent
Until You have it all
My heart is Yours

I'll set You as a seal upon my heart
As a seal upon my arm
For there is love that is as strong as death
Jealousy demanding as the grave
And many waters cannot quench this love

Come be the fire inside of me
Come be the flame upon my heart
Come be the fire inside of me
Until You and I are one



God will not rest until He has all of us....why did I choose to post this song and write this blog? It is because through the last month and even last week I have heard these words confirmed over and over. God speaks to us through different avenues and usually for me it is through other people or through words spoken through a song or message. God has been speaking to me more and more over the last several weeks and I haven't been listening to Him as much as I should be. After our pastor ministered this morning and after the youth ministered to us this evening I have to say, God...You have my full attention, I am listening. It may not be what I want to hear, but it is definitely what God wants me to hear. God is not going to stop until He has all of us, but we must be willing to surrender everything to Him....EVERYTHING. The problem we have is that many of us still hold on to things that we don't think are a big deal, but it keeps God from completely having access to our hearts. God wants full and total access to our hearts, but if we are still holding on to things regardless of the size it is keeping us from receiving the full blessing God has in store for us.

He has so much He wants to show us and reveal to us, but He can't until we are willing to give Him everything. God is the lover of my soul and He is jealous. He wants all of me, but I am too often distracted and too busy to give everything to Him. I am too often being unfaithful to the lover of my soul and spending my time with someone or something else. God won't overpower and make me do what He wants, He will just wait....and wait....and wait....for me to finally let go of my pride, of my flesh, of my own desires and completely give Him full access to my heart. Once He has my complete attention and my entire heart, He can begin to do the things that He wants to do.

My prayer for the last week has been the last verse of this song, Come be the fire inside of me, come fan the flame upon my heart, come be the fire inside of me, until You and I are one.

It is my prayer and desire to invite God to interfere my life...to interrupt my desires to become His own. I desire for God to replace my desires and will with His desires and His will.
I want God's fire and desire inside of me. I want His flame to burn upon my heart and burn up any impurities that are not of Him. Father....my heart is Yours! Take it and do with it as you desire.

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This is a recent picture of Micah. isnt he a ham? he is such a blessing and we enjoy the laughter he brings.

Fire behind the lines

I journeyed over to a friend's house this morning for some prayer and worship time. They meet every morning and every night. During our time this morning we specifically prayed for the Middle East. My friend began to pray and ask the Holy Sprit to come into our midst and welcome Him. No sooner did he begin to welcome the spirit of God into the room, we were immediately met with God's majestic presence. It was then quickly realized that a strong annointing to intercede was upon us and we could not yet begin to worship. We began to cry out for the Middle East and surrounding countries and that the love of God would sweep across these countries. Before I continue please understand that we pray for different things on different days and it wasn't that our nation is not important, but we were praying for a specific area in the world. While our country does need prayer, we need to prayer for the Nations.

Prior to the worship and prayer time that we had, we were having a conversation regarding the muslim nations and it was brought up that a personal friend had been invited to lead worship and minister at a Muslim school for an entire week. They are learning about other religions and they want him to come and share. One of our points of discussion are the number of conversions that are being recorded of Muslims accepting Christ. Whether we admit it or not, thousands are accepting Christ all over this world who have been raised something other than Christian or have never known any religion. This school has opened their doors to teach their students about Christianity...it then struck me...our country is so anti-Christian in our schools that we welcome and embrace new religions and our students are more than willing to become apart of these other religions. We now have the opportunity to do the same thing to them...we have the opportunity to share the love of Christ and the true Messiah with these lost people. The word of God is pentrating areas that many have written off as areas that could never be reached by God. NEVER SAY NEVER!

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!

As we began to intercede and pray for these nations God began to speak some things to me. I began to see our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ rising up behind the enemy lines...behind the walls that keep God out. These walls almost seem like brick walls or like the walls of Jericho; virtually unable to be penetrated. As these "armies" continued to grow behind enemy lines the enemy still was unaware of the uprising about to happen. As the numbers grew on the inside of the enemies camp, the resistance continued to grow stronger and stronger on the outside. It made me think of the Greeks and how they used the trojan horse to penetrate and gain access to the city of Troy, but this time the trojan horse has come in the form of the Holy Spirit who is making provision for our "troops" to gain access behind enemy lines.

I saw a glimpse of a map that looked like the Middle East. On this map the countries that it outlined were darkened and very obvious these nations were "dark" nations. I then begin to see what seemed like little flickers of light that quickly exploded into an almost starburst like light. This light began to penetrate the darkness that was present. I then began to see what seemed like balls of fire or light raining down from the sky, only these were not missles or bombs as many of these nations experience. When these balls of fire or light hit the ground within the dark places, flashes of light exploded and crackled outwards like lightning does in the night sky during an electric storm.

I don't know all of what this means now, but I know there is a war in the heavenlies and a definite shift in the atmosphere. God is getting ready to do some major stuff and we are going to experience it in a mighty way. I feel this was confirming something within my spirit regarding the forces of darkness that surround us and constantly create resistence on the front lines and I know a time is coming very soon when the glory of our God is going to rain down and destroy the darkness that surrounds us and the armies that God has assembled behind enemy lines will take the enemy by surprise and ultimately destroy them. Darkness cannot remain where there is light and I know God's light is going to begin to shine brightly and the darkness must flee. While I do know that our nation and the nations around the world are surrounded by darkness, I do know that God is still in command and is still on His throne.

I pray that this will speak to you in some form or fashion. Be blessed.

Nothing's gonna steal my joy

Well today was a typical Sunday afternoon and my daughter and I went to Walmart to pick up a few items. Prior to us getting to Walmart, we stopped off at the gas station and got a cold drink to quench our thirst. We then proceeded to Walmart and picked up our items and loaded back into the car to head home. I turned the key to start my car and it did not start....I could feel my flesh rising up and wanting me to get angry about this issue. Not that it was a big deal, but I did have plans to do something when I returned home, so I knew if I did not get this taken care of quickly I would not get to do what I had planned.

The plans I had were nothing major or real important, but was something I always enjoying this time of year. I enjoy watching the selection show for the March Madness Tournament and so that is what I was wanting to do. After a few tries, I knew I was not going to be home in time, so I just forgot about it and decided to take care of the issue and not worry about my show. Satan was trying to get me stirred up and upset about the whole ordeal, but I refused to. Instead I just gave God the glory and said nothing was going to steal my joy and I did not let it steal my joy. Of course no one plans on or enjoys spending $85 on a new battery; especially when money is tight. I would much rather spend my money on something worthwhile. Regardless of the fact, I am still giving God the praise and glory and am not letting it get me down.

So even when things seem to be looking down or just seem to be bad don't let it get you down, but give God the praise and glory! One of my favorite scriptures is Philippians 4:4, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice!" I have to look at it this way....God knew exactly when my battery was going to die and instead of my battery dying in a place where I would have been very inconvenienced, He allowed it to happen at Walmart where it was easy for me to replace the old one and be on my way. Thank you Jesus!

I will rejoice and praise the Lord regardless of my circumstances.

Keep your head up and things will start looking up.

Have a blessed week!

When you least expect it

I have learned a lot in my walk with God and it is this....when you least expect something, God delivers. When we begin to quit looking for something, He blesses us in a big way. Why? Well when our focus is on other things then it is hard for God to speak to us and for us to hear Him. Our focus and priorities must be right. Last night I was at The Burn in Shawnee, Oklahoma and was worshipping my Lord and Saviour. In the past I haven't come to the Burn's like I should and came away disappointed. Why? Well my focus and my desires were not what they should be. The Burn isn't something that you go to expecting to receive something, it is where we are to go and give back to God. It is a time of intercession and worship. In the past I have gone with the attitude that I wanted to get something out of it and I have never gotten what I was looking for because it was all about me. You will never get anything from God if you are seeking personal gain.

As I was worshipping last night I began to intercede for others. We were having the Burn at the Salvation Army, so I was calling in the hurting, bruised, broken, lost and homeless. I wanted them to come and be ministered to. I want them to realize that God is bigger than the circumstances they are facing. My God is bigger than anything we face. As I was interceding I felt someone lay hands on me and they began praying for me. As soon as I took the focus off myself, God laid it on the heart of someone else to begin praying for me. See how easy that is?
This person began to prophesy things over me and speak things over me and then moved to my feet. I wasn't focusing on what was being said as I was continuing to pray as well. At first I didn't know who this person was, but later I discovered it was someone from my church that I have a lot of respect for and I know that they are not one to just speak something out to just be speaking something. This person allows God to speak through them and waits upon the Lord to speak and is careful when doing so.

They later wrote down what they had prayed and prophesied over me and you know what? It wasn't just words this person wanted to say to sound good. The words that were spoken confirmed many things that I am going through and what God is doing in my life. God is so awesome and answers us. His word states, "Call unto me and I will answer thee and show you great and mighty things that you do not know." Jeremiah 33:3. I often call out to God and ask Him to speak to me and He is always faithful in doing this. He will either speak something to my spirit or He will speak to me through someone I know. Nonetheless...God speaks and we must be willing and able to listen and receive.

While I was writing this I had intended on writing what was spoken over me, but the Holy Spirit told me, "No." It is not meant to be shared with anyone else. Some things are better left unsaid. I will just say again that when we change our focus from ourselves and point them to God, things happen. When we least expect something, God delivers.

Amen!

Be blessed.

Coach

It's time to wake up

And no, I am not refering to the need for me to wake up in the physical. I am actually quite awake as I type this at 1:00pm in the afternoon. What I am referring to is the need for us to wake up spiritually. What? am I questioning your spirituality? For all intents and purposes and to stir up some discussion....YES! We should all be challenged and pushed on a regular basis. We should never be "comfortable" where we are at. While it is good to be in a familiar spot with the Lord, we should never want to just maintain our relationship where it is currently at. We should be striving to dive into a deeper relationship with the lover of our soul.  For those who are married it would not be suggested to just maintain your current relationship with your spouse. Many if not most couples, in fact just do enough to get by with their relationship.

What happened to the excitement? What happened to the butterflies? When we are dating or courting our love, we are always thinking of new and exciting ways to show our love towards the other person. We are always trying to outdo our previous best. We are creative and wanting to try new things with our new love. We go new places, we try new things and we can talk for hours about anything and everything and not even complain about how tired we are the next morning when we get up for work or school. But as soon as the relationship turns into a marriage it seems a good portion of the excitement and adventure disappears. I am guilty and will be the first to admit this happening. After I "caught" my love in dating I knew I didn't have to do anything else to impress her. She was mine and no one else's. So as soon as we said "I Do" it seemed as though I said I don't to the excitement and adventure. While we did enjoy going places and doing things...things began to change....especially when children came into the picture. When this happened a lot of the adventure and ability to do things on a whim suddenly changed and we had to have more structure and an actual plan to prepare to take our little ones anywhere.

Forgive me for getting off subject, but I am trying to make a point. We need to keep the fire burning with our spouses at all times regardless of how long we have been married or together. We must keep it interesting as well. We must be creative and unpredictable. Not only must we do this with our spouses, but God wants this from us as well. He knows us intimately, but how well do we know HIM? He wants to have an exciting and adventurous relationship with us, but often times we are too busy for it and we have other things to do. Satan is real good about keeping us busy and preventing us from having a closer walk with our Creator. I was reading my Bible last night and was reading a story I have heard many times, but it struck me and I would like to share what I felt. 

The story comes out of Ezekiel 37 and is the story of the valley of dry bones. Basically there is the army of Israel that is dead in this valley and there is nothing left but bones. God tells Ezekiel to prophesy over these bones to come back to life. To make a long story short, he follows the orders God gives him and the bones do come back to life in the form of a vast army. God breathed life back into these lifeless bones and an army rose up.

What struck me was this and it is for the body of Christ. Ezekiel 37:12 .."Therefore prophesy and say to them: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Oh my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord."

What God was speaking to me in regards to these verses was that it is time for us to rise up and wake up....one of the songs we sing at our church that was written by several of our worship team goes something like this, "Its time to wake up....I'm prophesying to dry bones...God's army stand up....He's breathing life back into His own." There is much more to it, but if you heard it the annointing of God would come upon you and you would feel excitement and energy.

God wants us to wake up. He is calling for His people to wake up and rise back up again. Many of us have given up and are left for dead. The enemy, Satan, loves to see this. We are not a threat to him when we are lying around and not doing anything. God is opening up our graves and breathing life back into us. The choice is yours. Will you allow God to breathe life back into your dry bones and allow you to rise back up and fight the good fight of faith? or will you just continue to lie dormant and do nothing for the kingdom? God doesn't want to hear excuses of why you are beaten down and tired, He just wants to know if you are ready, willing and able. He will supply you with everything you could possibly need to fight. He just needs to know that you are willing to accept the challenge. Once He breathes life back into our dry, dusty bones rivers of living water will begin to pour out of us. God wants to pour His spirit back upon the dryness of the land and He wants to saturate us with His presence. 

It is time to quit living as though we are dead and begin to live. We must be contenders for the kingdom of God. We must be willing to sacrifice and persevere. We must be willing to give our First love everything and show Him we are wanting to have a relationship with Him. Most people who love someone are willing to lay down their lives for the one they love. Are you willing to lay down your life for God? The word of God declares in John 15:13, 15, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends...I have called you friends." 

In Matthew 16:25 it also states, "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."

So it is time for us to lay down our lives for the sake of Christ. If we are more willing to just lay down, play dead, not do anything and "save" our lives, we will lose it. God is breathing His life into us and bringing us back from the grave. It is time for the bride of Christ to wake up! The time is now and time is short. If we want change in this nation, we must make a stand and not just sit back and watch it. Our nation is under a lot of duress and we must rise to the challenge. It's time to wake up and allow God to breathe life back into our dry bones. It is my desire to Contend, Blaze and Worship for my King. I will not sit back and watch from the sidelines. I will be on the front lines helping lead the charge against the principalities of darkness. I am tired of seeing Christians want to ride the tails of others who are blazing the trails. It is time for everyone to pull their weight and do their part. We need to take a stand and do our part. It's time to rise up and be counted! Are you willing to contend for the King? or be dead weight for the world?

Provoke my hunger for you oh Lord! 

Provoke me to want you and thirst after your Living Water.

Breathe your Life back into these dry bones.

May I contend for your sake and not my own.

Less of me and more of You. 

Fill me with the desire to contend for your kingdom.

Amen!

Blessings! Coach