A reflection of my Blog's Title

A little over a year ago my family and I had about all we could take of Church shopping. We had visited many church's and went several different communities looking and searching for what God had called us to. We had discussed helping a friend plant a church in another town and we had also begun meeting in our own home with some friends who were much in the same boat we were in! We were really struggling with where we were going in Christ, and seeking Him for all of the right answers.

This brings me to my blog and the title of it......"Hearing God's Call".

I really felt like God was drawing me to learn how to be a discipler of His people and to study Ministry to bring Glory to His Kingdom, and last November I started seeking out ways to do so. I found Indiana Wesleyan University and their online program for Christian Ministries and I began to check into enrollment into this program. God was leading me to this.

After we began checking more into this program and the start dates and some other aspects of me beginning we felt as though God was saying this is what I want you to do, but now is not the right time.

Four months later we discovered a church plant (Elevation) in our very own community. Since God led us to Elevation there have been many blessings in our lives and God is doing wonderful things in this body of Christ and in our Community through Elevation. Diana and I began to discuss the IWU option again for us, and decided that now is the time for me to take this course. God has His hand in this and is putting us in the right position for GREAT things to further His kingdom.

As it stands right now for us 2012 looks to be very spiritually rewarding and God in His infinite wisdom is fulfilling His lifelong plan for my life!

A Few Announcements!

I am, for the time being putting a hold on my daily devotionals from the 365 Day Christian Blog.

If you still want to see samples of my writings and devotionals, I will be posting them on here from time to time as well.

As of right now my schedule is about to get pretty crazy and that is one thing that had to be put on hold.

As of February 7th, I am beginning classes at Indiana Wesleyan University for a A.S. in Christian Ministry. God laid this on my heart over a year ago and we were not financially able to make that commitment, but things have changed in the meantime, and now I have received my acceptance letter and will be in class on Feb 7th.

I will be continuing my blog through school, and writing as often as time allows me to.

Pray for us, and for me as I got back to school for the 1st time in 15 years!

It's Been a Little While, let's play catch up!

It has been several weeks since I have updated my blog, so here we go!

No juicy God topics, just a little recent history lesson on me.

We have been very busy, EVERY weekend has been PACKED full of running to and from everything from football, to soccer, to church, to Youth Group, and some other things mixed in.

Although we have been extremely busy with all of those things I wouldn't trade any of it!

Austin is shining at football when he gets the chance, Julie has almost scored a couple of goals in soccer (big change from last year when all she played was defense), Elevation is always a blessing, and Youth Group is even more of a blessing..... and the Youth Group has grown so much!

Last weekend we went to a bonfire at my cousin Brent's house. That was a bit awkward, this was the first family event there without my Aunt Betty or Uncle Jody (both of whom owned it before they passed) and it was very hard to be there, so so many memories.

I am very excited however about the events that are coming up we have so great events ahead of us at Elevation.....

Like.... The Elevation Student Lock-in

and the Elevation day of community service......

Elevation has grown, our students have grown, there are so many good things happening in this community of believers, I guess if you don't believe it the only way to experience it is to come and see it for yourself! We have so much going on that you will always find somewhere and someone to spend your time with. The people are so inviting and friendly and we have some of the best cooks on the planet in our community of believers.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that we have these cool groups starting up in a couple of weeks called Catalyst Communities, aka Life Groups, aka........

Book Review: Forgotten God by Francis Chan

First let me start off by saying that in no way am I an avid reader. However, since I have made certain decisions in my life regarding my walk with the Lord, and pursuit of what His plan is for me, I thought it would be wise to indulge in some books that leaders in our church (Elevation), and other churches around us are recommending!

My first book that came in the mail out of the 4 that I ordered was Forgotten God by Francis Chan. I also have ordered Primal by Mark Batterson, Radical by David Platt (Pastor Craig has been reading this one), and The Winner's Manual by Jim Tressel (I have just always wanted to read this one).

It took me about 24 hours to read "Forgotten God". I was so in tune with this book and the things that FC (I can call him that since I was so in tune with his book) was saying in this book that I flew right through it. It is in no way a "radical, charismatic, holy roller-coaster" about the Holy Spirit. It is truly just basic knowledge information about what the word of God says about His "Holy Spirit", and to my knowledge does an outstanding job of describing what the Spirit is, does, how it intercedes, and performs as God in the Spirit!

I absolutely loved this book, and for all of you people out there who are struggling with the "Where is God in my life", or "When is God going to show up in my life" type statements, READ THIS BOOK! I think that even for someone who is trying to walk in His Spirit as I am on a daily basis, this book taught me a tremendous amount of who He is, why He is, and what He is supposed to be doing in my life, as well as what my expectations of the Holy Spirit are and should look like or more profoundly put, what His expectations of me should look like!

Galatians 5:16 "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh."

And,

Galatians 5:25 "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit."

My absolute favorite paragraph in the entire book says this " I want to live in such a way that I am desperate for Him (The Holy Spirit) to come through. That if He doesn't come through, I am screwed!" Francis Chan.... He goes on to say that maybe he shouldn't have put it that way in his book or used the word "screwed", but I have to say that this kind of in your face mentality is very refreshing and real to the pursuit of what it is God is capable of doing in and through us!

This is an amazing book, loaded with truth about the power of the Holy Spirit. Check it out!

Asking for prayers!

Three weeks ago, I found out I was losing my job that I had. I was blown away and it was not what I was expecting, but that day I found another job. During the preparation for making the changes 2 weeks later, I started focusing on another job that I would absolutely love to do (but cannot reveal at this time), then the Monday that I was to start my new job in Dayton, it fell through! So again I was jobless. I began to wonder if this was a God thing, since I was totally focusing on this unamed job, and my heart truly has been desiring it more and more.

Then last week I found another job (not the one I want), but an excellent source of income in the meantime.

Last night i put my name out there for the "desired" job (and those of you who know please keep in on the low-low until I give a greenlight one way or another) and things just seemed so perfectly in place for it. I won't know anything for weeks, or maybe even months, but I do know this. If it is God's plan, it will happen when He is ready for it to happen. I believe after last night that it is most certainly the will of God, but maybe not in His timing yet (but that isn't up to me, it is up to Him).

Above all, I am really just coming to you my readers, my friends, and my family and asking for prayer in this, even though I cannot give many details right now, I would ask that you prayer over me, and what it is God has aligned in this path!

I do appreciate all of you who do read this (EVEN IF YOU AREN'T "FOLLOWERS" YET) and your prayers in this "search"

Love,
Scott

Teaching the Youth Group!

I recently had the opportunity to teach the Youth Group for the first time ever! In fact just recently I had my first teaching experience ever! (Diana and I taught the Elevation 1st and 2nd graders)
However teaching the Youth was a whole different animal for me, but let's take a look back at a few things.

#1. A few years ago I would not have been able to sit in front of a group of more than 3-4 people and talk about anything.
#2. I am a firm believer that God prepares us for His calling in and through our jobs to be a light for His Kingdom!
#3. Had I not decided to try my hand at selling Life Insurance I would never have been able to speak in front of people.
#4. God will take you through many things in your life, but they always lead to a path of serving Him. The rest is up to you and to whether or not you want to follow His lead. I know that if I am going to learn a new dance, I want the Master of that dance to do the leading.
#5. God has the most unique reckless yet masterful way of revealing things to us in and through our lives!

Ok to sum up what I am saying. About 5 years ago I went to work for American Income Life. At this point in my life I had never, ever spoke in front of people. EVER! This was something that they did on a weekly basis. They picked random people to stand and deliver some encouraging words on sales, business, attitude, leadership, or just about anything that pertains to all of the above. Had I not been subject (forced) to do this, I probably would still be terrified of speaking in public, but as I stood in front of the Youth I began to feel more and more like I was doing what I was called to do. To speak to people of God, His desires for us, and everything that this involves.

God used this company filled with nonbelievers to mold me into being able to share His gospel with people who need to hear it. Though the hardest part of this process was not the fact of being afraid to stand in front of people and talk, but it was more about being afraid to stand and talk about God in front of people. Finally, after years and I mean YEARS of fighting His calling for my life I have finally started to embrace what He was ever so drawing me to. Teaching others about His love, and what He did for them on that hill.
If I could give the young men and women of our Youth Group one piece of advice from everything I have learned is, DO NOT FIGHT GOD, just FOLLOW HIS LEAD.

Back to the lesson though, as I was standing up there I just felt this incredible peace. I wasn't jittery or nervous. I wasn't worried or anxious. I just felt the peace of the Holy Spirit come over me, and allowed God to use me.
I hope that at least one of the kids learned something from the message, and I was glad that I got to teach this amazing group of kids. I am so proud to be a part of a Youth Group full of kids who are NOT ASHAMED of who Jesus is and what He has done for them. Thank You, all of you for that AWESOME OPPORTUNITY.

From NY to PA from Blan to Chi-town

The last few weeks have been PACKED full of events, travel, lack of sleep, whiny kids (not mine), and plenty of other FUN in general!

First we took a much needed break to the mountains of Northern PA (although we hoteled in Southern NY). We got to spend the day at a private lake with just the most breathtaking scenery and more importantly ZERO humidity (ok there was a littler, but nothing like it has been here since). In case you missed all of the Facebook posts, it kind of ended up being a tough trip. While we were out there we learned that Austin's grandmother (on his Mother's side) was on life support and most likely would not make it through the next day, which she didn't. So Austin spent the last two days grieving off and on, and on the way home was so stressed we ended up having to take him to the ER in Ashland, Ohio. By the way if you ever have to go to an ER in that area, DON'T GO TO THIS ONE! Not the friendliest bunch in the world, and they took FOREVER!! Needless to say we ended up staying out at a hotel an extra night since we were out so late at the ER! It turned out that Austin was just full of poop! Tell me something I didn't know already!!!! He was fine, just needed to have a bowel movement, and/or release some gas. Thank God, he didn't do it in the car.

After the trip to NY/PA, I was scheduled to begin a new job as a courier for a company in Dayton. That Wednesday I left and went to go train for the job, and drove back up on Thursday to fill out some more paperwork that they needed for me to start the job.

More on this later!

Later on Thursday I was meeting up with Pastor Craig, Phil Nelson, Chuck Tabor, and Joel King for a trip to Chicago for a conference on Sticky Churches/Sticky Teams. I had been looking forward to this since the day I heard about it, and quite honestly after all of the other events of the past week I was in desperate need of some "downtime".

One word of advice, if Pastor Craig ever asks you to play "Six Degrees of Separation with Kevin Bacon" for money, RUN! He is KING at that game! LOL. Thankfully we did not play him for money!

The fellowship on the way to Chicago was truly special, everyone was just poking fun at each other and in general just having fun getting to know one another better! The crazy thing about this trip is the restaurant experiences I kept having (and have had since, the guys jinxed me). We had went to Olive Garden (no silverware for Scott), and everywhere else we went (and I have gone since) I have gotten some sort of crazy thing happening to me at the restaurants. Finally though we arrived in Chicago very late. It was almost 11pm our time. So Chuck and I went for a quick swim, and Joel passed out in one of the pool chairs. Craig and Phil were kind of wiped out and just stayed in their rooms.

The next day (Friday, for those of you keeping track) was the day of the conference. We got up early went to Panera, and had some breakfast. Then off to the conference just a couple of miles away.

Larry was an amazing speaker. He never once in the 5-6 hours he was speaking lost my attention which is very difficult to do and especially for that length of time.

What I got out of this conference the most was this: Do not count the #'s of people in the seats on Sunday's, but count the faces! Man that has stuck with me in a BIG way. He talked about how churches count their offerings to the exact penny, but yet we don't put that much time and effort into the people! I got to thinking about that a little more in depth, and came up with: If we count the tithes/offerings to the penny, do we not know exactly where every penny is being spent from the church? I mean, do we keep as much of a "budget" on what we sow spiritually? I know I want to. I want to know that when I am discipling someone, that I see the fruits of my work! I want to see the Kingdom of God grow, and more importantly how it is that I personally am impacting the Body of Christ.

Oh wait, I'm not done yet! There was the ride home! The ride home was a long, mostly because we hit 5 o'clock traffic in Chicago on the way out! It was a mess. It was a long drive just getting out of Chicago. Although, on the way home Craig was pretty tired so we decided to play a game they called Hot Seat, basically this is pretty much like truth or dare without the dare. It's a good thing we were not doing that part, because from the sound of Hot Seat it would of been a toss up between Joel and I as to who would win the dares..... LOL

Hot Seat, basically was an awesome way to get to know the guys. We asked some just general questions about each other, and then there were some very personal questions about each other too. It was a great time.

Well after that Craig was still tired and we hadn't even reached Indianapolis at this point, and noone wanted to play the "Kevin Bacon" game with him any longer at this point, so we played an encouragement game. Basically just going around through the 5 of us and saying things that the other person did to encourage us. THIS ABSOLUTELY FAR AND AWAY WAS THE BEST CONVERSATION OF THE TRIP. I was not only blessed by the things that people said about me, but also the things people said about each other, and how everyone was in 100% agreement with each other about what was being said to someone else! I LOVED THIS! We all too often do not receive the encouragement we need in our lives, and this just lifted me up in such a way. The two that stood out to me the most that were directed to me were #1 Joel said that he loved seeing the bond that Austin and I have and that he hoped to have that kind of bind with his kids when they got to that age..... What a tremendous compliment, that blew me away. #2 Phil said that it was a blessing for him to see the impact my friendship has made on his brother Steve, and that he appreciated it. Wow, talk about warm fuzzies lol. All in all, I was just so amazed at how much of the love of God flowed in that little Ford Escape. Incredible.

The last two weeks!

The last two weeks have been marred by business! We went to the NY/PA area for a family reunion, then home to go train for a day at a job I ended up not gettin, and then off to Chicago for a quick trip turn around with Craig, Phil, Chuck and Joel!

What an impressive last couple of weeks though! God has taught me so much and on top of that Brent asked me to teach the Youth Group this Thursday and I will be doing that as well!

So to say the least busy, busy ,busy!

Just trying to keep you up to date with why I have not been blogging! Don't forget that if you are an avid reader of my blog please make sure you click on the follow button up at the top of the page to help me build a strong following so when I get my book finished, I can get it published!

I have plenty of good things to write about and will be back to doing it after I get my lesson for Thursday finished and another short project that I am working on done, so expect 2-3 new blogs later in the week if not more!

Thanks, and have a blessed week!

People who sin cannot get into heaven???

Ok, so I was out getting some tires in Wilmington the other day and came across some tracts from some publisher. This one caught my eye! It said "3 things God cannot do!" First of all there is NOTHING that God CANNOT do if HE wants to do it!

I open the tract and look inside and see the 3 things.

The first is "God cannot lie", while I am sure He can lie if He wanted to since He is God, but I think this would have been better approached by saying that God does not falter from His promises or something similar to that. I mean I get the idea behind these tracts but to me this whole scare tactic of this particular one is not going to get the attention of someone who has fear in them already! How many times does the Bible say do not fear? 365 times! Is that a coincidence to how many days of the year there are? I think not!

Numbers 23:19
God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

#2 God cannot change! I agree that God does not change and He is the same God today that He has been since the beginning of time!

Psalm 55:19
God, who is enthroned from of old, who does not change— he will hear them and humble them, because they have no fear of God.

Alright now here is the one that got me in a little bit of an uproar while reading it!

#3. God CANNOT allow sinner into heaven.

Can I stop for a minute and say that God and Jesus must be awful lonely up in heaven! They would be all alone! My Bible doesn't say that if you HAVE sinned you CANNOT get into heaven! It does however say this:


Romans 3:22-24
New International Version (NIV)

22 This righteousness is given through faith in[a] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Being redeemed sounds 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times better than being condemned! My God is THE redeeming God, My God is THE God of Salvation, My God is THE God of Love, My God is THE King of Kings, The Great Deliverer, The Alpha and Omega, Yahweh, The Way The Truth & The Life, Advocate, Prince of Peace..... I could go on and on!

It bother me that some random person is going to pick up one of these tracts and read that statement "God cannot allow sinners into Heaven" and read no further because of how condemning that will make them feel.

Shouldn't it read "God loves you enough that He gave His best just for you, and even though you have junk in your life He is SOOOO BIG that He will accept you just the way you are junk and all!" instead?

Am I wrong to be upset by this tract? Am I the only one who is strong in their faith and as a Christian kind of finds wording like this offensive?

Please any and all rebuttals welcome!

Feeding your Flesh.....

The first thing I want to say today is that Phil Nelson can REALLY bring it! Whether it is delivering powerful in your face worship, or a powerful in your face convicting sermon, this guy really brings it!

I said before and I will say it again! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the way our leaders at Elevation are challenging us. Get ready church because I along with the help of a few others am putting together a video to help promote the Elevation Youth Group and we intend on challenging you even more with that as well!

Quote of the month for me so far comes from Phil's message today. "Christians are not sinful because they are living in the world, Christians are sinful because the world is living in them". How astonishingly true is that?

Phil also asked what are you feeding yourself? He used the analogy of a lion vs. lion fight!

If you feed one lion the best meats, and keep it healthy, and you starve the other lion, which one is going to win the fight?
















What are you feeding your flesh? Are you feeding it spiritual things or are you feeding it desires of your flesh?

Read Colossians 3 and ask yourself if you have put to death things of this Earth! It was kind of neat to hear his sermon today, because some of what he addressed is in the same direction that I am feeling led to take with this video we are making for the Youth Group!

He also read.....

James 4:4
English Standard Version (ESV)

4(A) You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Who wants to be an enemy of God? Not me I will tell you that! I have friends that are worldly and I still want to be friends with them, but at what cost or for what purpose? Do I do it for the attachment of the world still, or do I do it because I love my friends and I want to see them gain the same love that I have in Jesus? Ask yourself that question! Test yourself!

The passage from 1st John today basically says "Do not desire things of the world because they are not of God! If you do you do not love God! Because God is not of this world!"

I love God. The more time I spend soaking in his word the deeper and deeper I fall. The more I spend time at home worshipping Him through praise either by listening to music or playing it on the guitar the more and more I want to draw closer to Him. I want to live a life that revolves around the very essence of who God is "LOVE", that displays what Jesus is and was all about "SERVING", and is totally filled and consumed with what the Holy Spirit is about "A Burning Desire to draw nearer to the Father, while being led in my heart from the very presence that is God". I want MORE, MORE, MORE but make no mistake about it, it's not more earthly stuff I am seeking, but MORE OF JESUS! MORE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AND MORE OF THE ALL ENCOMPASSING POWER THAT IS OUR FATHER GOD!

Take the time and spend it getting to know your Father, His Son (Jesus), and allow the Holy Spirit to enter your heart and change your life forever!

Man Up!

In honor of Father's Day Craig spoke today on what it means to "Man Up".

What a great message for today! Although Chuck Tabor did a phenomenal job last week in Craig's absence I really missed his teaching!

So back to the "Sticky Relationship" series and more of the same, talking about things to make our current relationships stick!

Wow! I love the way Craig and the leaders 0f Elevation leave me challenged each and every single week. So far out of the people who I have heard teach, Craig, Phil, and Chuck. I have left feeling challenged by them, but also am feeling challenged by all the wonderful areas that me and my family have opportunities to serve in. So far we are doing Elevation Station, Youth Group, greeting, cleaning a Saturday or two a month, and anything and everything else we can do to just make a difference for Jesus, and to help elevate His name. I want to challenge you too. If you have not committed to serving in some way shape or form yet then get to it! What are you waiting for? We aren't going to beg you! But, as Craig so delicately put it a couple of weeks ago, WE ARE MADE TO SERVE! Cleaning toilets may not sound like a glorious job for the Kingdom of God, but if you are good at it and there is a need for it that you can meet, well then you can help!

Some great "Man Up" references today by Craig, especially of the Miller Lite commercials, which I have to point out this is my favorite, and it makes me think of Phil Nelson every time I see it! (Just Kidding Phil)



The "Meat" of the message was so good today! Telling us to "Walk the walk" and not just "talk the talk". That if we are "Loving" one another the way God has commanded us to we would be living in His light!

I am going to make this one a short one today and hopefully leave you challenged as well with what I am writing. In closing Craig read out of this passage:


1 Corinthians 13:4-8
English Standard Version (ESV)


4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

I am not sure where I heard this next statement at, but I remember hearing a message on this a couple of year ago and the speaker said that while reading this verse can you plug "your name" into where it says "Love"? For Example: Scott is patient (yeah right!), Scott is kind, Scott does not envy or boast. So on and so forth! I really challenge you to put your name into these statements and see if you can make it halfway through this list!

How many times do you challenge God on something He is directing you to do that you don't want to do? I have done it many times, and thankfully I have eventually smartened up and did what I was supposed to do all along!

You can ask most anyone who knows me personally that being patient isn't one of my strong suits! Although I have been working on it, sometimes it gets the better of me! The one thing I resolve to do out of the message I heard today is to make sure that I exercise more patience with my children, and my wife while also making sure that I am being loving and kind in the words that I choose to use towards them! I hope that this blog and more importantly Craig and the other Elevation leader's messages are challenging you in similar ways and if they are I would love to hear about them!

God Bless!

Happy Anniverary to my Lovely Wife of 5 years!

June 24th
Love your wife as Christ loves the Church.
Ephesians 5:22-28
English Standard Version (ESV)
Wives and Husbands
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
As I write this I am less than two weeks from my fifth wedding anniversary with my wife Diana. Diana and I have been through a lot in five years. We, like everyone else have been on a roller coaster of a marriage within the last five years. One thing that has remained during our marriage is our immense love of Jesus Christ. I will be completely honest right here and now and say that if it wasn’t for that constant love of Jesus in our marriage it wouldn’t have lasted six months. Thank God, He had a different plan for us.
In March 2011 Diana and I had been having a rough couple of months. We had been bickering over some very dumb things, saying hurtful things to one another, and were just generally in a bad place in our marriage. A lot of what we were going through was the lack of a home Church to attend. We had been searching for many, many months, and had all but given up on our search. Then the signs came, ok I am not being funny! The signs really came! There were all these signs popping up all over town about a new Church coming to our home town, Elevation Community Church. We wrote down the website, went home and did some research. Our next step was to talk to the pastor, so we contacted Pastor Craig Knisley and got the 411 on all of the upcoming events. Grand Opening was less than two weeks away at this point. We had not been this excited in a long time. They had a carnival night set up two Saturdays before the Grand Opening, so I decided I was going to take my daughter to this event. We had a wonderful time. Diana and my son Austin were unable to attend this event so it was just me and Julie. The next morning Julie and I decided we wanted to check out the church service as well, and we loved it. I met Diana later that day, and told her instantly that we had found our home. I was that confident that she would absolutely fall in love with this church and never want to leave.
Flash forward a month or so later: Now we are at April 2011. We are getting really involved at Elevation, and still loving every minute. One problem, we were still kind of at each other’s throats. Then we found out that Elevation was having a marriage seminar. I had wanted to do this for quite some time, but Diana was not on board as much as I was. We had discussed it several times, but we never did make it. This time was different, we felt like we were comfortable enough to attend this one and share whatever we needed to with whomever we needed to. This seminar turned out to be a HUGE turning point in our marriage.
They spoke repeatedly on the verse that I have posted for today’s devotional and we had heard it hundreds of times, but it never sank in quite the way that it did this time. We actually took the time to learn what it meant this time.
Men I will share with you what I have learned from this and I hope you can heed these words carefully and guard them close to your heart as I have. This verse clearly states that we are to love our wives as Jesus loved the church. Let’s think of the ways that Jesus loved the church.
He loved the disciples so much that He taught them through parables on a daily basis.
He loved Mary Magdalene a known prostitute as much as He loved His own Mother.
He loved Lazarus like a brother and went to his dead corpse days after it had begun to smell and resurrected him back to life.
He loved people He didn’t even know the blind, the lame, the deaf, and the dead. The Bible says that “Jesus is God in human flesh” and the Bible says “God is love”. If you have Jesus in your heart that means that love is in your heart not only for your family, but also for the Church. This verse tells us to “Love you wife as Christ loved the Church”.
Ask yourself a question, but be honest when you answer yourself. Have I loved my wife that way? Have I led her as Christ led the disciples? Have I been willing so far in my marriage to lay down my life for her, and to protect her from sin?
Gentlemen, I can honestly say that before that seminar if I would have answered “yes” to any one of those questions I would have been lying through my teeth. BUT, I can proudly say now that the answer to those questions is emphatically “YES”.
Ok Ladies, now it is your turn. Men, don’t lean back in your chair and think I am done with you either! I have much more to say to you.
This verse clearly depicts that “wives are to submit to their husbands”. Let’s take a deeper look at what the word “submit” means in this context.
The definition of submit in the context used in the Bible is the voluntary attitude of giving in, of cooperating, of sharing a burden. In other words, when the word “submit” is used in the Bible, it refers not only to a yielding and obedient attitude of the heart, but also, and equally importantly, to an attitude of cooperation and support.
Ladies, are you yielding and obedient to your husband’s guidance? Do you cooperate with him instead of butting heads with him about every little detail? Do you support him in everything he decides to do, or the paths he as leader of your home chooses to go?
Gentleman let’s get back to you for a moment. Are you leading your wife in the way that makes it easier for her to submit to you?
My wife will outright tell you that when I am leading her Spiritually on a daily basis that this is when it is the easiest for her to submit to me and to follow me. I really like the term “a voluntary attitude of cooperation and support”. My wife gets an A+ at this, she has always been very supportive, and now she is being cooperative as well.
Being submissive is not about being a slave or a doormat; it is about being the helper that God gave Adam in Eve in the Garden of Eden.
It sure does make life a whole lot easier when husbands and wives are doing as God has called them to do in their respective marriages.
Today’s Challenge:
Read this verse together with your spouse.
Men: Ask your wives what you can do to love her better, and/or what you can do to lead her better.
Women: Respect your husband’s God given authority over your marriage, and let him know how much you support him in your marriage.

A Small Taste of my book!

So a few months ago I was driving and God gave me this idea for a book! I didn't have much inspiration for it at first, until I realized that I am living it every day.

So for all of my faithful Blog readers..... I know I only have 4 followers at this point, but many others read it on my Facebook page! Here is a little taste of what my book is going to be like!

I encourage you to envision this on a much larger scale because the ideas regarding this project are so much bigger than you or I could ever even fathom! God has been bombarding me with all kinds of ideas for this project and I cannot wait to reveal them to you as the year unfolds.

I hope you enjoy!

January 8th

Who Dares to Stand Against Me?

Romans 8:31 English Standard Version (ESV)
God’s Everlasting Love
31What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Wow! What powerful words are these that Paul speaks of in the letters to the Roman’s? If God is for us than who can be against us?

I remember one season in my life that I was going through some difficult times in dealings with my ex-wife in relationship to child support for my oldest son. She was at a point where she was doing every single thing she could to get me thrown into jail. I was beside myself trying to keep up with everything that was going on and I had all but given up.

Then I read Romans 8. It is my favorite book and chapter in the entire Bible. There are so many outstanding messages in just this one little chapter. I am positive you will be ready more from this chapter later in this book.

Seriously though, If God is for us than who can be against us? Our God created EVERYTHING, He raises people from the dead, He heals people of cancer, He makes the sun rise and fall each day, He breathes life into every single living thing so if He is for you….. Think of it like this. Who dares to defy your God? He is in your corner!!! Sure some days it may not seem like it, but He is there!

Today’s Challenge:
Write this verse on several 3”X 5” index cards and place them throughout your house for you, your spouse, and your children (if you have any) to see every day! Memorize this verse!!!

Teaching Sunday School

Today Diana and I taught Sunday School together for the first time ever. I'll admit I was very apprehensive about it because I typically do not do well with 1st and 2nd graders, and usually do better around the older kids around the ages of 10+.

Our lesson plan was on Jesus' last days. About everything that led up to the Crucifixion.

We particularly read on how Jesus at the Last Supper washed the Disciple's feet in order to show them that even Jesus could bow before others to serve them and that is what we were called to do!

Diana (I totally cannot take credit for this part) thought it would be a good idea to wash our feet, and see if the kids would want to participate by washing each others feet. I was blown away by this response! Me first!!!!! lol

I took a little video in class of the kids washing each others feet and this was truly amazing to see how just about every single one of the kids jumped up to get in line quickly pairing up with a friend they were comfortable with to serve them and wash their feet! It was awesome!!!! I was truly blessed!

The other thing that was cool is their Bible verse was Romans 8:38-39 which is my favorite Bible verse! We did a little experiment that I modified using a paper clip, a clear glass filled half way with water and with some black tape around the bottom, and a magnet.

I took the the paper clip and said "This paper clip is you, the water is your life, the glass is your body/soul, and the black tape is sin, and the magnet is God and His love for you! I took the magnet and put it up to the glass, and sure enough it attracted the paper clip through the tape/glass/water, and made it rise up to the clear/pure water". I then said "this is what Jesus can do for you, and this is exactly what your Bible verse for today means. Nothing can separate us from the love of God!"

These kids got it! Who knew 1st and 2nd graders would grasp that so well. I had an amazing time. I missed Craig's sermon this morning, but got just as much out of seeing these kids and how they react to ours too!

Revealing the Sons of God

Today I was asked by one of my best friends a very pondering question..... Some food for thought if you will. I have decided that this in going to be implemented into my book I am working on. This is no coincidence that Dave asked me this question, whereas I had asked him to assist me (and he volunteered) in a few dealings with my book. He is proofreading it for me, and I had asked him to write the foreword for it as well. I cannot think of any one man I admire more than Dave Hinman that presently walks this Earth, and the only person I know of that I hold equal admiration for is Allen Willoughby. These guys are two of the greatest servants I know.

The question Dave posed to me was... What do I think the phrase "Revealing the Sons of God" means in this context.

This is how I responded to him:

Dave,

You asked me what I thought of the phrase “Revealing the Sons of God” and what it meant in this context.

I think that it means that as Christians we are all Sons of God because we hold Jesus in our hearts and that makes us the portrait of Christ in God’s eyes, or at least that is what we are/should (be) striving for as Christians. Men and Women are created equal in God’s eyes and even Jesus I would say considered Himself to be more equal with us that God according to Philippians 2. Jesus never considered equality with God something to be grasped! So that would mean He viewed Himself more as a man, than as a Supernatural phenomenon!

With all of that said, back to the “Revealing” part of all this. I believe this means that Christians are to reveal daily in every aspect of their lives the very essence of who Jesus is in their lives, and who is through God’s eyes! This means revealing Him at work, kids sporting events, etc. etc. and letting the Holy Spirit just ooze out of our pores EVERYWHERE we go and in EVERYTHING that we do!

I hope this helps with your pondering! Not that my insight could be any greater than that of your own!

Love ya man!

Give the girls BIIIIIIIIIIG SCOTT HUGS for me!!

Love,

Scott Smith

Please feel free to weigh in and let me know what you think of this phrase as well and what it means in this context! I feel as though I have an excellent grasp on what it means, but would love to have others input as well!

The Testimony!

Looking back over quite a few different blogs on my old blog, I came across this post of my testimony. I have decided to take some time and update it a little to make it even more accurate to the current Month, Day and Year!

Growing up in Wilmington, I was always in the church, I always had a heart for praising and worshiping God, I home schooled for several years, and which I am so thankful for now because it gave me several good years of spending quality time with both my Father and my Mother. My mom would let me work very hard the first couple days of the week so that I could get all of my weekly work done then so that I could get to go to the gym with my Dad or go see my Grandmother, or Great Grandmother, and some times we would even go do a little bit of shopping for one of my Dad's friends (Rollie Zink) who owned a Meat Market, my Dad had a wholesale card before it was the cool thing to do.

Moving on to High School, like most Christian kids in High School I was the minority, and even though I believed in God, and worshiped Him daily, I didn't ever really let it shine through. I was for a lack of better terms, "hiding my light under a bushel!" I had a couple of Christian buddies (one of them is a pastor in northern Michigan now), but even then neither of us really did much with our faith and rarely even discussed it. I really was just going through the motions, and then it got worse for me. My Father had a massive heart attack December 7th, 1991, right smack in the middle of my Senior year. I was devastated to say the least. I closed up tighter than Fort Knox. To make matters worse than that, the people that I relied on to be there for me, just weren't. I had a female friend from my old youth group who I had a falling out with who tried to reach out to me, but I felt her and my relationship with her (as friends) was beyond repair, and quite honestly Satan was working on me in several ways making me feel as though nobody was there for me. I must say some of the relationships I had with some people from my old church may never be the same, and up until about 4 years ago, I was still attending the same church even though these feelings and their actions had not changed much.

A little over a year after my Dad's death, I took a job offered to me by one of the elders in our church who had been very, very good friends with my Dad. I was working at a feed mill lifting very heavy bags of feed all day long. To say the least it was a very physically demanding job. Now I had been having some serious allergy issues which I guess according to my allergist (I am not sure how true this really is) can be dramatically affected by emotional distress. Well I got a little too much dust down into my lungs in the middle of summer, I ended up getting pneumonia from it and missed some work because of it. This gentleman was genuinely concerned for me and he had a business to run, but I was really at a stage where no one could replace my Father and I felt like he was trying when he and I "had a talk". So me being me I let him know it! Many years later I apologized to him for my action, but things have never been the same since then and to say the least he acted as though it was no big deal when I know for a fact it was and is because he still treats me different to this day because of that. At this point I had totally turned my back to God, and wanted no part of Him in my life! Because of that my Mom and I had not been getting along as well. She saw too much of my Dad in me and the more I rebelled from God, the more it reminded her of him from before they were Christians or even when they were "baby Christians".

Moving forward. Over the next 10 years I spent my life looking for love not through God, but through lust! I was sleeping around more than my fair share, met Austin's Bio-Mother, and she got pregnant less than 2 weeks after we started seeing each other, and I was by no means mentally ready to be a Father. Her and I were married less than 2 years. God tried to restore our marriage several times, but I was still not ready to listen to Him. Michele and I had gone to church a little while we were together but then more than ever I was just there!

After her and I had split apart, within 2 months I was with someone else. it was typical of me to have a woman by my side at this point to cure the loneliness and even though I say that I now realize that I was more alone then than ever! A few months after that I met another young lady who would watch Austin for me from time to time, and we ended up sleeping together only a couple of times, and she ended up pregnant. Although I never really did find out for sure that he was my son until the first time I saw him at age 3. This is my son Jarred, I hope that soon there will be some restoration to our relationship. I have not seen him in quite a few years. Mostly because of some issues with his Mother getting him taken from her and they put him with his dying Great Grandmother instead of his Father. Right after this young lady got pregnant (and I did not know until months later) I met another lady with whom I was very physically attracted to. Her and I had an on again off again relationship for several years and in 1998 she got pregnant. We actually planned this pregnancy. I wanted to make things work with her no matter what and I really thought (kind of like how women sometimes do) that us having a child together would create an unbreakable bond. During the pregnancy her and I had some disagreements regarding finances, and some other things and we ended up splitting up yet again. After my 3rd son Jacob was born, a few months went by and we thought we would give it another shot. I wanted to more for Jacob than anything and her and I got a new place together and things had been going pretty well until we found out that I had fathered Jarred, even though it was before her and I had met she had some issues with it, and gave an ultimatum that was just unacceptable and I was forced with a very difficult decision and yet again for the last time, her and I were finished.

I then spent the majority of the next year just focusing on work and achieving things that I wanted to. I stayed single and better yet spent a whole year without the urge to have sex. That was a long year! Almost exactly one year later, I ran into an old flame from High School. Her and I had went to prom together and dated a couple of more months over the summer between my Junior and Senior years, and we had always wondered.....what if? So we wasted no time finding out.... One problem ....she was married! Well to say the least that didn't last long, and now I thank God that it did not destroy her marriage, but it lead me into one of the worst relationships I have ever had. One of her friends and I had gotten very close, and out of convenience we moved in together and this lasted about 20 months......I will cut this story short for the most part. Her and I were together for all the wrong reasons, and neither of us really wanted a future together. Her mother intervened into our relationship one too many times and it became a final straw type of thing, but....

At this time I was driving a Semi to and from California 3 times a month. On my way to Vegas I had taken a route that I was very unfamiliar with and I ended up have to go down this mountain that was literally 12 miles long with a 6% grade, which if you do not know much about mountains, this is one of the 5 worst mountains in the country. Needless to say, I was about half way down this mountain and MY BRAKES WERE GONE. I had nowhere to go but into one of those runaway truck ramps! I hit the 200 yard gravel pit at over 75 MPH and I have never been more terrified in my life! After the smoke from the brakes cleared and the dust from the gravel settled, I got out of the truck grabbed my phone on the way out, and called my cousin Brent who also drove for the same guy I did. He called Joe (the guy I worked for) for me and explained what was going on and I called 911 and went and found me a place to sit down and try to gather myself. I remember saying to God, that if He gave me some peace and helped me through this that I would no longer doubt Him or turn from Him and I literally heard Him tell me that He had His angels with me, and that He still believed in me (and I believed Him). The State Trooper that came out told me that at the speed I was going I should have flown clear out the other side of that truck ramp and died. Little did he know my God had other plans!

So less than 3 months later my relationship with that girl I was staying with came to an abrupt end!

I went to stay with a friend of mine and would occasionally go stay with my cousin Brent and his wife. One evening when I was staying there a young lady came in to drop her daughter off for my cousin Wanda to watch her daughter Julie while she went to school and she was absolutely stunning. I was immediately attracted to her physically, but didn't say anything or even act upon anything. Oh the most important thing...her name was Diana! A few weeks went by, and her and I started talking a little bit and after about 2 months her and I had started hanging out, then dating. We started off very good, by going to church together. She had never been to a church like Dove before but she instantly fell in love with the music and the style of the church. 3 years later we were married by one of my best friends and an elder from Dove.

We had formally announced membership at Dove the first year we were together in 2004. It wasn't until 2008 that we had felt God drawing us elsewhere, and calling us for MORE! In April of 2008 I had not been to church in 6 months mostly because I was not satisfied with the direction of Dove. Diana at that time came to me and said that she too had some issues and asked me if I would go try a couple of new churches with her. The first choice was a church that Diana's friends Dan and Sarah Simpson had been attending. So we decided to go. Diana was absolutely sold....day 1. I on the other hand had some doubts mostly because I had put so much time into Dove and had been there myself since I was 15 more or less (mostly less since age 18) and I was very very VERY skeptical. Ok so she got me to go back, I mean I liked the sermon, the preacher was a little odd, and the worship wasn't quite what I was used to, but man there was something drawing me closer to being there! After just 3 short weeks, Diana and I had made a decision to meet with Ray and Melissa about the church and maybe get some questions that we had answered. Ray and Melissa were very comforting and made our decision that much easier, we found a new home! God put us at Center Pointe to be more involved, He put us there to love members of the church unconditionally, He put us there to help minister to the people there and to people that would be coming in the future, He put us there to see His Kingdom come full circle and to assist this wonderful group of people in furthering His will for the surrounding communities. God did an awesome thing to and for Diana and I.

Diana and I learned so much in our experience at Center Pointe/Axiom Church. We encountered numerous things. We led a Small Group which was a lot of fun. We dealt with some hurt, and overcame it too. We made some friendships that will never die, and others that have already faded. Seriously though, looking back I wouldn't trade a single day of it for anything in the whole world. I have since learned that "God will not protect you from, what He can perfect you through!" Had I known this 2 years ago it would've helped me understand what God was doing a whole lot more (unfortunately I just learned this last month).

I am going to skip a whole bunch of stuff that simple doesn't matter anymore, and get to the good stuff.

In December 2009, Diana and I had all but left Axiom in search of a new church home. Then we went to Florida on "church-cation" (I'll explain, lol). I use that term because we went to refresh ourselves on a beach somewhere, and actually got refreshed in my Mother's church called The Life. We spent nearly the whole week, just absorbing all that God was doing in that awesome place. We got to see Beckah Shae (If you haven't heard of her, download some of her stuff she is AWESOME). We got to witness a New Years Eve baptism which was simply amazing! All in all, we came away seriously refreshed and renewed in the Holy Spirit!

With that said, we called the Pastor of Axiom, and proclaimed that we wanted to mend the broken relationships in our lives and at that church. We came home a week later and quickly begun calling members of the church that we had broken relationships with to have dinner with them and try and patch things up, but none of them were interested. Later that same week, we had been invited to a gathering at one of the leader's houses by a different leader and his wife, only to be told that we weren't welcome. This DEVASTATED my lovely wife to the brink of tears most of the night, which in turn made me angry, because someone had cause her to cry!

With $7 in our checking account (because we had not gotten paid since coming back from church-cation) we went to McDonald's to have a night out before we went insane. This is quickly turned into one of the best nights of our lives. We went in, sat down with the kids, ate our food, and left. As we were getting into our car a lady came over from out of nowhere and asked us if she could pray for us. We were like "heck ya!!! WE NEED IT TONIGHT" After she prayed the perfect prayer for us (I'm THOROUGHLY convinced she was an angel of God) she looked at us both, and said "God has a plan for you both, (then pointed her finger at me) and He is going to use you in Ministry". Since that night I have held those words so near and dear to my heart and try to remember them every day!

Finally, after quite some time Diana and I ended up going back to Axiom long enough to see some of our friends preach over the course of a few weeks and witness the Pastor's last Sunday, then stayed on for a few more months and the closing of the church. Which was honestly kind of bitter sweet for us, because we felt that God was leading us away from there and we just couldn't let go!

We both are very grateful for God leading us to Axiom and through all that we endured while we were there, because "God will not protect you from, what He will perfect you through!"

That was the Fall of 2010.

After visiting many different church's over the course of the nect 6 months we had almost given up on finding a new church.

Then we found Elevation!!!! Although our journey with this church is just beginning stages, God has been blessing us tremendously! We are already building relationships that I know without a doubt will never be broken. We are truly enjoying being a part of this particular body of Christ and we are both looking forward to what God has in store for us in the growth of Elevation.

We have been so blessed and I have been so blessed by everyone of my Christian friends and my family that never gave up praying for me that God would grab my attention and not let go, but I do have news for you, all of you He never once let go of me. Even when I denied Him, even when I screamed to heaven telling Him that I hated Him, He always had His hand on my heart and guided me to where I am today. Our God is good and he as the songs by Matt Redman and David Crowder Band say "He Never Let's Go". I hope you enjoyed my long version of my testimony and I hope this blesses you in some way! God Bless.

15 Random Things about me!

At Small Group we were encourage to write down 2 facts and one ficticious detail about our lives, so this led to me revealing 15 Random Things about myself!

1. For about ten years I turned my back on God and it took me almost dying for me to turn my eyes back to Him, but believe me when I say He has my attention now and I know He is real because He showed me on that mountain side!

2. My mom is one-legged lol. Sorry something silly to put here, she lost her right leg in a corn picker accident 58 years ago! Wow but she can still kick it OLD SCHOOL!

3. I actually have 3 sons and 1 daughter but due to some regretful decisions when I was not walking in Christ I only have Austin and Julie in my life now! Jarrod and Jacob are my other two angels!

4. My father died when I was 17 and in the middle of my Senior year of High School (1992) Yikes that was awhile ago, I took it really bad and blamed God ....see no. 1

5. I currently work for a parts delivery company, but my real love is Sales. I used to work for an Insurance company and I loved it. Wish I could do something similar with a salary!

6. I am a huge Star Wars freak...ok I don't get crazy enough to get all dressed up like a wookie (although having the hair would be nice, you know a little nookie with a wookie!) but I still love Star Wars.

7. My absolute favorite thing to do with my kids is to go swimming.

8. I am a huge BUCKNUT! I love the Buckeyes almost as much as God....ALMOST!! I can't get mad at Him because He wouldn't lose to the stupid SEC! Oh yea I almost forgot to include the wife in this equation too!

9. My biggest secret is that I desire to do somthing like "Dancing With The Stars" Well I want to learn how to dance like that anyways! Shhhh Big secret!

10. I kissed my first girl when I was the ripe ole age of 5. LOL. She and I are still friends and I named my youngest son after her youngest brother! He is like my little brother he is pretty awesome.

11. I have another secret. I love Classical music. You know....Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, and Tchaiovsky.....Love em to death. I used to listen to it all the time when I was a teenager!

12. I called off mine and Diana's wedding two weeks before the first time it was supposed to happen. She was a little upset, but I knew the timing was off, after about two months of her being very upset with me she realized we had made the right decision and in June 2006 she blew me away in that awesome dress she had!

13. About 95% of the time I am listening to Klove/Air 1/Star 93.3 on the radio and if you are a christian I believe you should be too. I once heard someone say that you might as well practice praising God everyday now because when you get to heaven that's all you are going to be doing!

14. The BEN-GALS Stink!!! I am a Buccaneers fan! HA HA We have a Super Bowl Ring and one of those is better than two Runner Up Rings! Long Story as to how I became a Bucs fan.

15. My biggest pet peeve is having my feet being touched! I accidently, because of my reflexes kicked Austin in the face when he was about 3. Sorry Bub!

Good Soil

Another week, and yet another amazing week with our Elevation family!





All I am going to say is, if you are not in a Small Group. You are truly missing out! This next Tuesday (tomorrow as a matter of fact) is our last Small Group for Summer which saddens me and my wife deeply! We experience so much joy out of going to our Group, hanging out with everyone, and doing our devotionals together that Phil has been so kindly handing out every week! It has blessed us immensely!





Craig when you read this, I have a suggestion that I already took the liberty of mentioning to our gracious host Joel King. One of the old Small Groups that my wife and I were a part of met once a month all summer long for a cookout or dinner or whatever. Just to keep those relationships intact over the summer! I know we have A LOT of other exciting and new events coming this summer, but please consider this! Lol, we are going to miss it too much!!!!





If you missed the sermon Sunday, sorry about your luck! Seriously though you need to go ask for a copy of this message on CD and listen to it. Phil did an outstanding job. I was blown away by how easily he taught the "Parable of the Sower". I had never heard that sermon taught that way. Phil, I am responding to your message, by dwelling in the word more, and by praying and worshipping with my guitar more at home by myself this week. I was truly blessed by the obedient words that you spoke.





I loved the fact that you addressed the topics that can cause division in our church, and that you and Craig both say that our body will not stand for it. I really do commend the honesty of those words, and am grateful that our leadership feels that way.





A BIG shout out to my new buddy Steve Nelson also. Steve was representing on the drums, and looked right at home and as if he didn't miss a beat (pun intended). Diana and I were also blessed to help Steve lead the Youth Group while the Beck's (lucky dogs) were in Florida this week. Steve did an amazing job teaching the youth about the Apostles and the fact that nearly all of the died a martyr's death, and it was amazing to hear him share a little bit of his testimony.

I am not sure that Steve or the Youth Group even realize how closely the 2 messages for Sunday can interact with one another, but I put this together out of both messages I heard.....

Follow me on this. Phil's message talked about us sowing our lives into God's word and that going deeper into God's word was the only way to have a FIRM foundation. Steve's message talked of having a faith in Jesus, a faith up to and even in the face of certain death. I find that it had to have been easier for the Apostles to have that kind of faith in Jesus because that actually witnessed Him performing miracles every single day and they got to love Him first hand "face to face". Whereas we as Christians now have to have a stronger more "blind faith" because we don't see Him everyday on a daily basis. Now, that takes me back to what Phil was saying, IF only IF we are in our Bible everyday, praying everyday, asking God to intercede in us through the Holy Spirit everyday, then we too can also have that same "Day to Day", "Face to Face" relationship the Apostles did. Try it, you will see such amazing results. I am on a daily basis, and trust me if you apply what they are teaching then you will too.

With Brotherly Love, Scott

Open Your Bible

Today on the way home from work I was coming back into Blanchester, and saw a church sign with one of those clever messages on it. You know the ones that I'm talking about the ones that always make you chuckle when you drive by and see them.

First I am going to post some pics of some funny pics I have seen before.

Ok, so now back to the one I saw today. This sign read "Open your mind, open your heart, open your Bible." A great message, but as a Christian I would say that they have this a little out of order, since I am assuming that is who this is meant for since most Non-Christians wouldn't have a Bible.

Shouldn't this sign read "Open your Bible, Open your heart, Open your mind?" Isn't that the order it would have the greatest impact in your life?

Psalm 37:4
Delight yourself in the LORD,and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:23
The steps of a man are established by the LORD,when he delights in his way
Psalm 40:8
I delight to do your will, O my God;your law is within my heart."
Psalm 111:2
Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them
Psalm 119:16
I will delight in your statutes;I will not forget your word
Psalm 119:24
Your testimonies are my delight;they are my counselors

All of these verses speak of delighting in God, or His law which is the Bible. If we spend our time reading His word and dwelling on His word we will know His law. If we do this and we make this a part of our daily life, it will not only be a delight to Him, but to us as well!" It would indeed open our hearts, and our minds to all that God has to offer us.

I know for Diana and I, we had not been spending much time in the word before attending Elevation. We read maybe once or twice a week, and NEVER together! Since then, and after attending our Small Group we have been spending a lot more time in the word, and wonderfully reaping the benefits of it. God has been blessing us in so many ways. Most of it starting right here at home. It truly is changing the foundation of our lives because we are living and breathing everything we are learning instead of just getting fat in our faith (as Craig like to put it).

I wanted to share one of my top 5 favorites Bible verses in closing. This verse is so true, and can really help you learn to overcome so much! Use it apply it, and own the words of it and allow it to work in your life as I have in mine!

Hebrews 4:12 (English Standard Version)
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

We were made to SERVE!

This is pretty crazy, in the few weeks that we have been attending Elevation I have had several topics that God has laid on my mind and heart to blog about and Craig has beat me to both of them from the pulpit! Lol. I asked him via text if he was hacking into my phone (I put all of these ideas when they come to me in my notepad on my phone) for my ideas.

It really isn't a coincidence, but I believe a God given confirmation of what Craig is preaching on and what God has been laying on my heart, and on the hearts of the people I love dearly in my life.

Diana and I love to serve. We will serve in just about any capacity that is needed. She will works with the kids, me NOT so much. We both enjoy helping with the Youth, and so we volunteered to help out with the Lazer Kraze event this last weekend.

As many of you know I have been a bit under the weather. Saturday we got up around 9 got ready and headed out for a day of outdoor sporting events. First my niece Celia's softball game, which they won 6-5 in the bottom of the 7th! Then my daughter Julie's soccer game which they won 3-2!! Julie was not feeling well either, but bless her heart, she didn't want to let her team and more importantly Coach Angie down by not being able to play. So she stuck it out!!! Very proud of her!

So after all of that we headed straight over to Lazer Kraze, and by the time we got there I was wiped out! I also started having some abdominal pain. It wasn't very pleasant. We decided we too were going to stick it out as long as we could. We made it over to the room, and the kids all sat at their table, and Brent was out arranging some things for the games, and Candy was talking to us about the upcoming Youth Camp. As we were talking we noticed that the kids were sitting there with their pizza's in front of them, patiently waiting to pounce on them. Candy quickly said to Brent "Let's pray so these guys can eat".

The funny part is I really felt God telling me that is exactly how we act sometimes with our faith or more importantly with attitude to serve. We can have all these talents and all these abilities that God has given us to use to serve His kingdom, and we just patiently wait to use them (usually when someone asks us, or tells us to) instead of actually getting off our (as Craig put it) sanctified behinds and putting them to use ourselves.

Craig's message on serving yesterday was phenomenal. I truly enjoy listening to him bring us God's word. Quite frankly he was right on about his message.

In case you missed it he taught on Ephesians 1:3-11

3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.[b] 7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. 8 He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.
9 God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. 10 And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. 11 Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God,[c] for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.

This passage has one of my favorite topics in it. I love the topic of us being predestined. I actually had this conversation with a previous Pastor who shared different views of the definition of predestination, and of how God has predestined us. I totally agree with how Craig defined and explained predestination and how God has (way before we even born, conceived a purposeful destiny in and through us). God chose me to be a part of Elevation, God chose me to be in Blanchester, God chose me to lead this family, God chose me to write this blog for you to read. Bottom line is GOD CHOSE ME, and guess what HE CHOSE YOU TOO!!

As I was preparing this blog and doing my typical prep, I was reading in Hebrews 12, and came accross this verse...

Hebrews 12:28-29

28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”

I love the definition of Reverence... "a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe"

Isn't this how we should be in our attitude of serving the One who created us?

A Journey in Ministry!

Where to start?

I want to tell everyone of this Journey. This journey that my wife and I have been on together this last couple of years! A journey towards ministry! Incorrect, a journey OF ministry!

You might want to grab a snack and a drink, this is going to be a long one!

Let's start with around Christmas of 2007. My wife and I had grown very stagnant at the church we were attending quite frankly so much that I had quit going altogether. I know really, me not at church. It even seems weird to me now that I look back at it. Anyways, I had quit going and Diana had been attending off and on at Dove, and some with her Dad at Northeast as well. I was not interested in any of it, but was still wanting to go to church.

At Easter of 2008 our friends Danny and Sarah Simpson invited us to Center Pointe Church in Goshen. So we went. It seemed like the pastor was talking right to us, we immediately felt like we were called to at least hear the messages. So we decided to meet with Ray and Melissa and move towards becoming members of the church. We dove into serving, Men's group, hanging out with people, serving in any area we could. It was going great. Had been for quite awhile an in the summer of 2009 I stepped down from serving full time for a multitude of reasons, none of which really make much sense now, because in doing so I only let the devil get a small victory! Well, you live and you learn! By Christmas of 2009 we were once again feeling very stagnant at church! Then comes our 1st family vacation to Florida to see my Momma. We had all these plans of spending everyday at the beach, and visiting the zoo and all kinds of other crazy things, but God had a different plan. As we went to visit my mother, we obviously went and checked out her church with her. They had a special guest in to lead their Christmas worship service (you may have heard of Beckah Shae on Klove or Star 93.3, she is amazing!!!!!!) and man was the Spirit of God every hopping in this place, and we needed it. Needless to say, we ended up spending about 90% of our "vacation" with my Mom's church family! We had an awesome time and came back from Florida so refreshed in the Holy Spirit! It was much needed to!

We came back and since we had withdrawn from several roles at our church we had in the process offended some people which was never the intent! So we wanted to mend some fences, but this was not accepted very well.

The night I will never forget is when Diana and I had been asked by someone in leadership to come out for a little get together and hang out, we were asked by the couple hosting it not to come! This devastated Diana! She was really upset and in tears for quite awhile. I mean how could we be coming of this high of the Holy Spirit coming back from Florida, and things turn out the way they were turning out? It just didn't really add up to either of us! So that evening with like $8 in our checking account (we were broke when coming back from vacation LOL) we went to McDonald's (hence the Golden Arches in the pic above).

We had went up, ordered some food for us and the kids, sat down and discussed how we were going to handle things in our life regarding church, and moving on. We both had felt very rejected and both had mentioned never stepping foot in another church at that point, but as we were packing up to leave the most MIRACULOUS thing occurred! Out of nowhere, this Man and Woman came up to us, and asked if they could pray for us! Weird!!!! We were already in the car! Diana and I didn't even notice these people inside, so we aren't really sure where they came from, but this lady prayed for us. She prayed specifically that we were going to be used to Minister! For God's ministry! We thought, how can that be after tonight? Is this lady nuts? She then pointed to me, and said God has a specific plan for you in a ministry role!! At that point all I could think was, Did my Mom send you here to mess with me? LOL, or am I on Candid Camera? LOL.

That was January of 2010. We spent most of last year looking for a church! We visited between 15-25 church's during that time, praying that God would put us where we cold SERVE AGAIN!! I love serving, my wife loves serving, and the best thing of all MY KIDS LOVE SERVING! I have a 15 year old and an 8 year old that would give you the shirt off their own back. How amazing is that! They both have such BIG hearts for God, and for advancing His Kingdom through servitude! I love it!!!

So for those of you who read my blog or my are just my Facebook friends, if you haven't noticed or seen it, my wife and I have found a new Church home! More importantly a phenomenal church family! Our Small Group is amazing! The Youth Group is amazing! The Children's Minister is amazing! I LOVE our Pastor! I LOVE our Worship Pastor (even though he and his brother are not Buckeye fans)! We are quickly making tons of new friends. God is doing amazing things at Elevation Community Church! AMAZING THINGS!!! 11 people were baptized yesterday, one of which was my Mother-in-Law. Which was an amazing blessing to be able to be there and support her in that decision, and to be able to get up and announce it to the church for her! God is soooooooooo GOOD!!!

After all that is said! I will close with this. I may not be an actual minister, BUT I have had many people the last couple of weeks come up to me and tell me that my blog is uplifting to them in the middle of their tough weeks, or people are just coming up to me and saying that they love my blog and it is blessing them.

I love the feedback people, I really do. I speak TOTALLY from a souled out, surrendered, and humbled heart that only happens because of the Grace of God!

I believe this is my Ministry! I will continue to use this tool and many of my other attributes to advance the Kingdom of God.

If life is a game of Chess than I am glad that I have the most powerful piece in the Universe, The King of Kings (and yes Craig, you can quote me on that!) ;-)

Oh yea and I hope I don't get sued for using their logo like this!

The Art of Marriage

What a powerful and moving weekend, so far! Last night my wife and I had made plans to attend "The Art of Marriage" video conference being held at our church and hosted by Warren & Mary Bistline (Big thanks to them, and for their prayers this week).

Looking back over the past week there have been many spiritual attacks that could have made me just say "I'm not going to make it to this conference." It could have been so easy to just stay home an recuperate.

I had a few days of dizzy spells, followed by nausea, and then horrible headaches in the top of my neck/bottom of my head! Yesterday, they finally let up, but today before the conference was over THEY WERE BACK!!

Other attacks! Diana and I had both had a couple of long and grinding days leading up to this weekend, and both had kind of short fuses due to being stressed out! Her by work, me by work and not feeling well. Needless to say, we had a couple of not too pleasant arguments over some of the dumbest things imaginable. (She did forgive me for it by the end of the session on Saturday!)

I am so glad that we attended this conference. I am glad that we persevered and was able to attend.

I was also impressed with the fact that Mike and Carol were able to stay and the commitment they showed not only to their marriage and each other, but to God by sticking it out through the conference with all they were dealing with. They were a true inspiration! God will continue to bless them, and will use them in great ways.

This last two days has already helped our marriage out in several ways. Here are a few ways!

1. Diana and I have in the past said a lot of mean and hurtful things to each other (what married couple hasn't). That finally has closure! We both asked each other for forgiveness for the first time ever, and when it happened it was like a HUUUUUUUGE weight was lifted off of my heart! A much needed relinquishment of burdens that had been held onto for far too long.

2. I had never looked at our marriage as anything but for Diana and I. Never had I even thought of how it really affects my children, grandchildren (don't have any yet, thank God!), great grandchildren, and future generations on down the road! At the end of the conference it talked a lot about leaving a legacy! I want that for my kids! I want them to see Diana and I as an example of how their marriage is supposed to be! My parents were together for 19 years before my Dad died, and I want my marriage with Diana to go above and beyond what theirs was. They fought over the same things Diana and I do now, I want to end that with my legacy!

3. I never had looked at sex, as being a way to show God my Oneness with my wife! I always looked at it as a way of us pleasing each other, not as a way of pleasing God too! I thought that was an awesome example. These are things that I have never in my life even heard of!

4. RESOLVING CONFLICT! I learned a lot about how Diana and I would both like to be able to resolve conflict now, and in the future! That is probably the single most important thing that had to change out of this weekend. Both of us grew up in different family backgrounds and both of did not really have the greatest examples in our life on how to resolve conflict, so some of these exercises will really end up being very valuable to our marriage and to our family!

5. Realizing our Roles. Diana and I have heard Ephesians 5 many, many times! It has seemed like a broken record! I remember the first time we heard it together, she was like submit....HA!! I was like, I do love her like Christ loves the Church. Little did we know that we were far from it! This weekend, during our get away sessions we used some of our time to discuss this verse, and how it reflected upon us, and what would happen if we both did more to "step up" into these roles! Me as the leader (which quite frankly, I have been slacking in) and her as the "helper". I think this conversation has made us both see, that 1 we are willing to do what it is that is God's intentional will for us, and 2 that we care enough about each other that we are willing to to exactly what it takes to be committed to each other, and to God at the same time!

Most of all, above everything else I want to thank Jesus Christ for sacrificing himself on the cross for my sins. Without His grace none of this would have been possible! He truly is worthy of all our love! I can not love my wife without Him, because without Him there is no such thing as love! God is love!

This conference, and Elevation Church have been such a Godsend to us, to our family, to this community! It has truly been an abundant blessing from God. We couldn't be happier with how things are moving along, and we are continually looking forward to what new and exciting things that God will be doing in and through this church and community!

I would encourage you that no matter how strong your marriage is or isn't.... this conference will help you in many areas and I highly recommend it!

Thanks again, Warren and Mary!!