Rule 1: Jesus.
Rule 2: There is more to life than just here and now. This world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever. 1 John 2:17
Rule 3: It's not about me. Everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in him. Colossians 1:16
Rule 4: I am not an accident. I am your Creator, You wer in my care even before you were born. Isaiah 44:2
Rule 5: I'm as close to God as I choose to be. Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you. James 4:8
Rule 6: Life is a test and a trust. Unless you are faithful in the small matters, you won't be faithful in larger ones. Luke 16:10
Rule 7: Living on purpose is the path to peace. You, Lord, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in You. Isaiah 26:3
Rule 8: The heart of worship is surrender. Surrender your whole being to Him to be used for righteous purposes. Romans 6:13
Rule 9: I was planned for God's pleasure. The Lord takes pleasure in his people. Psalm 149:4
Rule 10: God wants to be my best friend. Friendship with God is reserved for those who reverence Him. Psalm 26:14
Rule 11: God smiles when I trust him completely. The Lord is pleased with those who worship Him and trust His love. Psalm 147:11
Rule 12: This world is not my home. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is ETERNAL. 2 Corinthians 4:18
Rule 13: It's all about Him. For everything comes from God alone. Everything lives by his power, and everything is for His glory. Romans 11:36
Monday, June 22, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Just another Sunday... Hold my heart
Happy Father's Day first off... a great day to be a DAD! (not that I am one or anything...)
But just to type about nonsense this morning...
asd;lkfhas;ldjfhbawuioehajklsdlgakjsdbgvlkashdglkjasdoiu
awehfljasdnvlkjzcxbnlvkjzsbhd
lgvuashdgluahsgliuawheg
Just kidding, the real reason for blogging. There's a lot going on in my life that I have no control over. So much, that I try to grab everything and run like a wild fire. I'm tired of running... I'm tired of holding on... I'm tired of trying to control my life... I'm tired of the mediocrity of my life...
I've had a radio/clock in my room, next to my bed, for who knows how long... and this morning, I decided to turn on the radio while I was getting ready for Sunday School. God just loves to show off I believe because after a long long long night of a heavy heart, God let me listen to this song by Tenth Avenue North entitled " Hold My Heart"... I would put the entire song on here, but I'll just put the chorus and a verse:
**************************************************************
So many questions without answers, Your promises remain
I can't see but I'll take my chances to hear You call my name
To hear You call my name
One tear in the driving rain,
One voice in a sea of pain
Could the maker of the stars
Hear the sound of my breaking heart?
One life, that's all I am
Right now I can barely stand
If You're everything You say You are
Won't You come close and hold my heart.
Hold my heart, could you hold my heart?
Hold my heart.
****************************************************
And that is exactly what MY GOD did... He held my heart, He opened me up enough so He could come live in me and be glorified today... He helped me hold back the tears, hold off the bad attitude, hold off biting somebody's head, holding off the world... just so I could get back up on my feet one more time... My God is so good, that in the mist of all this turmoil and trouble and pain, He is there... holding my heart, He is picking up all the pieces, He is putting me back together for His purpose and not my own.
Dear God,
I just simply want to thank you! Thank you for saving me from this world. You say in 1 John that the things of this world will not last, but the things not of this world, will last forever. You last forever, I last forver in you Oh God! I pray that you take my heart into Your will. Do your will through me, whatever it takes. Whatever it takes.
~A
But just to type about nonsense this morning...
asd;lkfhas;ldjfhbawuioehajklsdlgakjsdbgvlkashdglkjasdoiu
awehfljasdnvlkjzcxbnlvkjzsbhd
lgvuashdgluahsgliuawheg
Just kidding, the real reason for blogging. There's a lot going on in my life that I have no control over. So much, that I try to grab everything and run like a wild fire. I'm tired of running... I'm tired of holding on... I'm tired of trying to control my life... I'm tired of the mediocrity of my life...
I've had a radio/clock in my room, next to my bed, for who knows how long... and this morning, I decided to turn on the radio while I was getting ready for Sunday School. God just loves to show off I believe because after a long long long night of a heavy heart, God let me listen to this song by Tenth Avenue North entitled " Hold My Heart"... I would put the entire song on here, but I'll just put the chorus and a verse:
**************************************************************
So many questions without answers, Your promises remain
I can't see but I'll take my chances to hear You call my name
To hear You call my name
One tear in the driving rain,
One voice in a sea of pain
Could the maker of the stars
Hear the sound of my breaking heart?
One life, that's all I am
Right now I can barely stand
If You're everything You say You are
Won't You come close and hold my heart.
Hold my heart, could you hold my heart?
Hold my heart.
****************************************************
And that is exactly what MY GOD did... He held my heart, He opened me up enough so He could come live in me and be glorified today... He helped me hold back the tears, hold off the bad attitude, hold off biting somebody's head, holding off the world... just so I could get back up on my feet one more time... My God is so good, that in the mist of all this turmoil and trouble and pain, He is there... holding my heart, He is picking up all the pieces, He is putting me back together for His purpose and not my own.
Dear God,
I just simply want to thank you! Thank you for saving me from this world. You say in 1 John that the things of this world will not last, but the things not of this world, will last forever. You last forever, I last forver in you Oh God! I pray that you take my heart into Your will. Do your will through me, whatever it takes. Whatever it takes.
~A
Thursday, June 18, 2009
What a glorious day!
As it comes to the weekend, I got to thinking what all I had to do. I have to work. I have to work a total of 29 hours this weekend. Yea, do the math! This is only my "real job" not my Ambassador job. If you throw that in there, it'll be around 35 hours this weekend. WOOO! I have so much I need to study, for all two of my classes, with 3 big tests in two weeks (which I need to knock out of the park!) Then get ready for Ignite! And work, and play softball, and get my girlfriend, and mother a birthday present. WOW! It doesn't sound like a lot, but there is very little time to do important things and then day to day things...
Deep breath...
Ah! God is so good at letting me calm down. I get so wrapped up in day to day activities and planning that I over plan, a lot... God is my only plan this summer, everything I do, I do to give Him glory!
Dear God, please do whatever it takes to make my life what you want it to be. Whatever it takes! I pray that you guide me into your will, not only this summer, but the rest of my life. Dear God, I pray for my family, and Kylie, that you guide them this summer as we are all SOOO busy! God, You know the plans of my life, I pray that you open up my eyes so that I may see what you have in store for me. ~Amen
Deep breath...
Ah! God is so good at letting me calm down. I get so wrapped up in day to day activities and planning that I over plan, a lot... God is my only plan this summer, everything I do, I do to give Him glory!
Dear God, please do whatever it takes to make my life what you want it to be. Whatever it takes! I pray that you guide me into your will, not only this summer, but the rest of my life. Dear God, I pray for my family, and Kylie, that you guide them this summer as we are all SOOO busy! God, You know the plans of my life, I pray that you open up my eyes so that I may see what you have in store for me. ~Amen
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
The best $2.99 ever spent...
Today, I had to cancel eating breakfast at Chickfila with my youth minister to take my brother to golf. Let me tell you, this golf course is in the middle of nowhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean seriously, I thought my small town was in the middle of nowhere, and then I found this place. My oh so great mother had me directions to and from, so you're thinking "no problem, take the brother, go get some breakfast and be about your day." Not sooo fast slick. I get there just fine. Zach, aka "map", did a great job saying "go this way, this road Andy, not here, here!" So I drop him off and say bye. I call Mom and tell her "the baby eagle has landed and I'm on my way to eat some good Chickfila breakfast anyway." Well, God had a different plan. I turn out of the golf course like I turned in. I figure I can stay on that road until it ran out, because I had turned onto it at a "T" crossing... Well, the road I was on, never came to a "T". Instead, I crossed the Broad River, twice, a few railroad tracks, and it began to rain, so I couldn't see the road signs. After ten minutes of praying through the rain, driving on this single road in the middle of nowhere with a cop on my bumper probably saying "what the crap is this kid doing out here??", God answered my prayers. He let me have 3 bars of signal! I was able to use the GPS on my phone! I downloaded the week long version of Verizon Wireless Navigator, 2.99 for 5 days. That prayer went something like this, "Dear God, please let me get out of this place. It's raining, I'm hungry, there's a cop behind me, I can't see, I need to get to school, I can't call my mom, she won't know where I am, please guide me."
Well, turns out, I had gone almost allll the way to 74, and for those of you who don't know where I am, that highway is a good hour away from my home, or anything close to anywhere I needed to go. I was parked ontop of hill beside "Shiloh Baptist Church" andwas very very north on Hwy. 221. I've always wanted to travel 221 up as far as it goes just to see the scenery, well, I got my shot. I finally got to take 221 all the way to Chesnee, where, God said, "I'll take care of you, forget Chickfila, you get Bantam Chef!" (Which has the best biscuits and hashbrowns ever!) So, I got me some breakfast afterall...
All this is going on after I drop Zach off at 8:30, and have to back at school by 10:00... I pulled into the school parking lot at 9:45... God is sooo good! I was able to eat my breakfast and not be late for school! I even got to skip class (legally of course) and give a tour of the campus!
Today turned out to be pretty awesome after all!
Well, turns out, I had gone almost allll the way to 74, and for those of you who don't know where I am, that highway is a good hour away from my home, or anything close to anywhere I needed to go. I was parked ontop of hill beside "Shiloh Baptist Church" andwas very very north on Hwy. 221. I've always wanted to travel 221 up as far as it goes just to see the scenery, well, I got my shot. I finally got to take 221 all the way to Chesnee, where, God said, "I'll take care of you, forget Chickfila, you get Bantam Chef!" (Which has the best biscuits and hashbrowns ever!) So, I got me some breakfast afterall...
All this is going on after I drop Zach off at 8:30, and have to back at school by 10:00... I pulled into the school parking lot at 9:45... God is sooo good! I was able to eat my breakfast and not be late for school! I even got to skip class (legally of course) and give a tour of the campus!
Today turned out to be pretty awesome after all!
Monday, June 15, 2009
A Personal Plan
You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. ~Isaiah 26:3
God has such a personal plan for each and every one of His children, that how can we reject it? Especially in the world we live in today, all the non-believers that flood our government, our schools, our work places. God has a big plan... a HUGE plan... so no worries...
There are so many little blurps that I want to type and put out here, but there is just no time for one sitting...
My night devotional used that verse mentioned above. It talked about how God had a specific plan just for David as he was about to face Goliath. (this story is in 1 Samuel btw) King Saul wanted to give David all these heavy things to 'protect' him, but all David needed was God and a slingshot. God had a plan to use David's slingshot skills to destroy Goliath. There was nobody else that could have made that shot to kill a giant who stood over 9 feet tall!?!?!?! Thinking about this story and how God works on a personal level gets me to thinking about how God worked like this in my life. Working backwards now... try to follow... I am currently working in the Admissions Office. To know about that job, I had to know Andrea. Andrea was the track and field coach when I was a freshman. I was a discus thrower as a freshmen (hence where I met Andrea.) I had to like discus to participate in the sport before college. I was introduced to the sport of throwing objects by my AP History teacher in high school. I was taking AP History only because it helped boost my GPA. I wanted to boost my GPA because I wanted to get into a great college. I wanted to get into a great college because that is the way my parents raised me. My parents raised me this way because that is what they wanted for me (to go to a good school, get a good education, and make a life for myself) They had faith in our God that He would have a plan for their son, a plan to prosper and not to harm as proclaimed in Jeremiah.
In this simple, yet complex example of how God works in awesome and mysterious ways... That my parents had to have the faith that God had a plan for me, that I would want to go to a good school, so I took AP classes, that my AP History teacher knew something about the discus and wanted to tell me about it, that I took up the sport because I liked it, I stuck with it through out high school and into college, I met a Jesus-lover named Andrea as my coach, and now I am working in Admissions... wow... the chain can go wayyyy farther back, but you catch my drift (hopefully)
This whole thing is about how God works on a personal level, so personal, we can't even notice what is going on most of the time.... He is the ultimate giver and planner of our lives... This video shows how we as "Christians" over look the great giver that God is...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9-XGeUfYC4
God has such a personal plan for each and every one of His children, that how can we reject it? Especially in the world we live in today, all the non-believers that flood our government, our schools, our work places. God has a big plan... a HUGE plan... so no worries...
There are so many little blurps that I want to type and put out here, but there is just no time for one sitting...
My night devotional used that verse mentioned above. It talked about how God had a specific plan just for David as he was about to face Goliath. (this story is in 1 Samuel btw) King Saul wanted to give David all these heavy things to 'protect' him, but all David needed was God and a slingshot. God had a plan to use David's slingshot skills to destroy Goliath. There was nobody else that could have made that shot to kill a giant who stood over 9 feet tall!?!?!?! Thinking about this story and how God works on a personal level gets me to thinking about how God worked like this in my life. Working backwards now... try to follow... I am currently working in the Admissions Office. To know about that job, I had to know Andrea. Andrea was the track and field coach when I was a freshman. I was a discus thrower as a freshmen (hence where I met Andrea.) I had to like discus to participate in the sport before college. I was introduced to the sport of throwing objects by my AP History teacher in high school. I was taking AP History only because it helped boost my GPA. I wanted to boost my GPA because I wanted to get into a great college. I wanted to get into a great college because that is the way my parents raised me. My parents raised me this way because that is what they wanted for me (to go to a good school, get a good education, and make a life for myself) They had faith in our God that He would have a plan for their son, a plan to prosper and not to harm as proclaimed in Jeremiah.
In this simple, yet complex example of how God works in awesome and mysterious ways... That my parents had to have the faith that God had a plan for me, that I would want to go to a good school, so I took AP classes, that my AP History teacher knew something about the discus and wanted to tell me about it, that I took up the sport because I liked it, I stuck with it through out high school and into college, I met a Jesus-lover named Andrea as my coach, and now I am working in Admissions... wow... the chain can go wayyyy farther back, but you catch my drift (hopefully)
This whole thing is about how God works on a personal level, so personal, we can't even notice what is going on most of the time.... He is the ultimate giver and planner of our lives... This video shows how we as "Christians" over look the great giver that God is...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9-XGeUfYC4
Ok, now that yesterday is covered...
Today... I woke up like normal, except the phone was ringing off the hook :(((( I do not appreciate people who call at 8:47 in the morning, when I am suppose to be getting up at 8:50 anyway... So, I got up 3 minutes early, and read my daily devotional that my wonderful girlfriend gave me this past Christmas. I haven't been reading this devotional daily, but every now and then, I'll pick it up, thumb through to a random page and read. Well today, I thought, I'll just read today's actual reading. It went something like this:
Choices:
We make choices everyday. Choices like what to eat, what to wear, what to say, when to brush our teeth (even you even do!) All these things are our choices, but there are other things that aren't. Such as the weather, our family, the economy, how our food tastes to us. We serve a God that loves us so much that He allows us to make the biggest decision of our life: where we're spending eternity. He loves us so much that we can choose Heaven or Hell, just that simple. The biggest hugest most crucial decision anybody could ever make, and God lets us choose??? That's crazy! I believe that just shows how awesome a God I serve... What about you? Do you serve that awesome a God?
Choices:
We make choices everyday. Choices like what to eat, what to wear, what to say, when to brush our teeth (even you even do!) All these things are our choices, but there are other things that aren't. Such as the weather, our family, the economy, how our food tastes to us. We serve a God that loves us so much that He allows us to make the biggest decision of our life: where we're spending eternity. He loves us so much that we can choose Heaven or Hell, just that simple. The biggest hugest most crucial decision anybody could ever make, and God lets us choose??? That's crazy! I believe that just shows how awesome a God I serve... What about you? Do you serve that awesome a God?
Update from Yesterday
Yesterday was Sunday. I went to church all by myself because my family was sound asleep, knocked out from a long weekend of traveling. I was optimistic towards Sunday School, we had over 30! It was awesome, I felt there was a lot of good discussion. Then off to preachin'. Pastor Chris, his wife, and about 4 other couples went to Pigeon Forge on their lil' "motor-sickles." Talked to Pastor last night, no rain, they had a blast! But anyways, back to Sunday morning. Scott Miller, our new Youth Minister, got to preach. He did a great job! "Don't waste your life" was awesome, great message... even the curve ball at the end! HA I got to take a nap yesterday afternoon! I love naps! I was the only one from my family to go to evening service also :/ Again, Scott did a great job. "Focus: In a world full of Distractions" Awesome awesome awesome awesome! God is working in marvolous ways at Buck Creek. I'm so excited to watch our church grow like a wildfire for Christ!
Side note: The Sunday School lesson tied into the "Focus" message. Using 1 John 2:15-17. 15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
Side note: The Sunday School lesson tied into the "Focus" message. Using 1 John 2:15-17. 15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
VBS!
VBS is the most exhausting time of the year! I don't know how, or why, but when I get home at 1030 from VBS, I'm exhausted!!! I don't know if it's because I run laps around the church in a "tunic" or what?!?! But this year is going great! We've averaged over 100 kids each night and over 50 workers! That's awesome!!! There are a lot of people that get things done behind the scenes, and I'd like to thank them on here, but I don't have my list (I'd hate to leave somebody out!) But I would definitely like to thank all my Drama Team members!!! (Ya'll are awesome!!!!!!) The food has been the best this year, thanks a million kitchen staff!!! All the festival workers, "Ya'll are doing a great job!!!" To all the family leaders "Smile!" You'll see those pictures soon, no worries. And lastly, our pastorial staff, ya'll have done a great job! Scotticus, Yo Yo Yo Pastor Kenny, Preacha Chris. Keep up the great work Buck Creek!
To God be the Glory!
To God be the Glory!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Web Pages
Trying to create your own webpage is a HUGE PROJECT!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did not think it would be that big of a deal, pero, it is! There is a lot of work that goes into making just a single page. If you want it to look just right you have to have the code because of the limited capabilities of the webpage designers...
O the joy of Web Page design!!!
O the joy of Web Page design!!!
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