Handling Rejection

The Bible says that we are made in God's image. If that is so, does he have the same characteristics that we do? Things like a good sense of humor, or not handling rejection well, things like that...

I mean, I really wonder how God handles His people, the ones He created to love Him unconditionally? I can only imagine the heartbreak He must feel every time someone turns from Him or just flat out doesn't even acknowledge Him.

Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

My friend Kristi Jones had this quote posted on her Facebook this week:

...is going to trust that rejection--in any form, from anyone--is simply God's way of saying "Careful, kiddo. You were going the wrong way."

I love this quote. So many times we get upset when something doesn't work out the way WE want it to, without even considering if it is God's will for us or not.

Funny this week I was reading that book of mine 100 Versus Every Dad Needs To Know and came across this verse again.

Matthew 7:7-8
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

If we follow this simple procedure everyday in our lives wouldn't we all handle rejection a little bit better?

I mean if we are asking for what we NEED, seeking for Him, and knocking on the door (for it to be opened)..... everything we will ever need or really could want will come to us.

Need a spouse/partner in your life?.....ask God for it!
Need a better paying job?.... Look for one, then knock on their door of opportunity.

If you don't get it, SO WHAT, that just means God has something better planned for you anyways!

What do you see?

Without you I am nothing more than a cadaver

Moving about feeling like nothing matters

Useless flesh waiting to decay

Running a race and waiting for my day

Then one day I awaken from my death

Come to life and breathe you in with a sudden breath

Feeling at first like a newborn child

Taking baby steps hoping to see you smile

Still running that same race

Waiting for glimpses to see Your face

Bowing down to Your throne

Do I do it cheerfully or with a slight groan?

Very much time has passed me by

Still not sure how I look through Your eyes

Living my life in a grim disguise

If I am not living my life for You, I'm living a lie

Then one day a beautiful change

I found out who I am in You, and why I was made

To bring Glory to Your Great Name

and do it with an obedient heart that has no shame

Giving thanks for this new me

hoping when your eyes gaze upon me

it is You that You see

by:

Scott Smith

Being a Witness

I am not sure how many people know, but I know most of my Facebook friends know that I am coaching Semi-Pro Football for the Goshen Rampage.

What many people may not know, is why I decided to do that??

I had been contemplating playing again this year, and my back (a pinched nerve, and a aggravated disc) were not going to cooperate with me to allow me to play. So I was asked if I would like to coach. I thought to myself "Coach Smith, hmmmm that sounds pretty good, and it gives me a chance to boss people around too" lol. Not to mention that I LOVE FOOTBALL!


Well after posting it on Facebook that I was considering accepting one position, I had a friend mention the opportunity for another coaching position that was, yes, closer to home. I called the Rampage the next day, met with them on that following Friday, and have been coaching for them since.


I had decided that I was going to use this coaching opportunity to be a light for Jesus, to show people that God is a God of love.


A few weeks ago, at one of our scrimmages my lovely wife had to remind me of why I was out here and what my goals were for being out there. Imagine that, she was right! She is right a lot, just not all the time, despite what she thinks.

So since she reminded me of that again, I have made more of an effort to share my faith with the players on my team. To profess it more with my mouth out on the field, in the huddles, or on the sidelines.

Last Saturday, we had a tough scrimmage. We drove all the way over to Middletown, Ohio to play in the wonderful Thunderstorms, and got poured on the entire game, only to lose 7-0. Our guys play with such heart and emotion though, it didn't seem like it was as long as it was. It was cold, windy, rainy, and to top it off it there was lightning every where but right over us! That is God protecting His children.

After that game, we endured a bit of a hardship. We had a couple of key players that were getting discouraged because of our losses and quite frankly our lack of offensive production and they had all but quit the team, and had explained that they were done and couldn't do it anymore.

That evening, Easter eve/Easter morning, I spent 2 hours on the phone with one of these guys talking to him about the team, the offense (even though I am the defensive guy), and most importantly his character, and if that was the impression he wanted to leave on 40 other guys. He certainly didn't want to let down those who had become his "family" now did he? After talking to him, and then the other coaches talking to him, they all finally came to an understanding with each other.

This Saturday, he came up to thank me for talking to him about his character and convincing him to stay with the team.

Also this Saturday, I was helping out one of the players get a bandage over his newly inked tattoo of "The Grim Reaper". While doing so, I asked him why he would want the grim reaper on his body. He simple said that is who comes to get you when die. I said "well not if you are a Christian"! To which his response was "Not to be rude, but I don't necessarily believe that", then I responded with "Man, it is ok if you don't believe right now, but someday you will." The next words out of his mouth just blew me away. He responded by thanking me for not jumping on him for not believing. It is sad when so many unsaved people see Christians as threats because they are so quick to forget the Grace that Jesus had once gave to them. This guy had obviously been pushed towards Christianity so much that he now is on the defense against any and all believers. This is so common that it makes me sick. We as Christians are called by Jesus to simply LOVE!! The greatest commandment is to LOVE God, the next is to LOVE your neighbor as YOURSELF.

Are we loving them, buy ridiculing them for not believing as we do?

Are we loving them by not showing them the EXACT same Grace that Jesus shows to us for our mistakes. No one, not one is born a believer of Jesus. Each of us has to find it in our own way, our own time, in our own love!

Everyone that is a Christian has experienced the love of Jesus or else you would not have asked Him to come into your hearts. Take time and just share that LOVE with those around you in your daily walk, because that is the truest meaning of being a witness!!

Resurrection Sunday!

Elevation Easter!!! Wow!! What more can I say....very moving service today!

Pastor Craig, Phil ( isn't such a bad guy for a NON-Buckeye fan) and the Worship Team, and all the volunteers were on point! They do an amazing job each and EVERY week.

I loved the energy there today. I think I heard the attendance was upwards of 325+ which is amazing considering we had some members out visiting their families!

It is a blessing to see that people we have been inviting are coming to check out Elevation. We have invited quite a few friends and family and it seems like each week we have someone new as our guest there which is amazing! I would like to make that a goal for EVERY week of the year! So I have to think of someone knew to ask quick for next Sunday. This week we had a double bonus.

We had invited a friend that someone else had invited and she came out (Jerrica Choy), but also had been posting about all of the AWESOMENESS of God and all that He is doing in and through Elevation CC via Facebook. It led to my friend Sarah Goodwin (whom I have been great friends with her oldest brother since I was in the 1st grade) and her Fiance' showing up this Sunday which was such an amazing blessing to see her! She gave me the biggest warmest hug of the day!

I also got a lot of complimentary comments on my purple attire! More blessings, yeaaaaa me!

It was also great to see friends from our old church come to visit. (Millers)

I got to share my testimony with a couple whom I have known forever and I made Mrs. Morris cry! Sorry.... lol

Ok so onto what I got out of the message today. As I sat and listened to Pastor Craig talk about "having a BIG Faith in a BIG God, and it will lead to a BIG Comeback", I pulled this out of it..........

If we are made new (2 Corinthians 5:17) because of our faith in Christ through His death, and Resurrection . Then why is it that we fear the changes that God has for us? It is sinful and unfaithful to God to have that fear in our hearts, is it not? Romans 8 says that we are "More than Conquerors". Phillipians 4:13 says that "We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us". Not some things, not a few things, ALL things!!! I so agree with the analogy that most Christians keep their God in a small box, because they think He is a small God (just in their neighborhood) Do we forget Genesis? He created the Heavens and the Earth! That is a BIG God, a God who can and will do ALL things. Psalm 27:1 says "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life. Whom shall I dread? (or whom shall I tremble from?)

I encourage those of you who read this to start putting more and more faith into our ENORMOUS God, who can do anything he wishes. Matthew 7:7 says "Ask and it will be given unto you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you".

Just another little side note:

My wife and I have been planning a business venture for about 2 years. I had(notice it says HAD) lived in fear over some circumstances (even until today), but we have over the course of the last month been putting the wheels in motion a little bit each week. I will say that after today, I gave it totally to God. It is His to do with as He wishes. I know that since it is His, only good things can come of it. I am surrendered to Him with this and everything else. That is the only way it will succeed!!

I hope that this inspires, witnesses, motivate, cultivates, configures, and encourages you in every way imaginable! God bless and have an awesome Resurrection week!

Scott Smith

Confirmation! Elevation!

My family and I have been attending Elevation Community Church, honestly we didn't pray much about it. Although we did pray for us to find a church like Elevation. Once we had decided to attend there wasn't much prayer going to the decision on whether or not to attend there full-time. We have both just been so at peace with the decision.

I must say though it is always nice when God starts confirming things in what you are reading, hearing, seeing, listening to, and doing in your life!


The first "series" we have got to experience is the "Once Upon a Marriage" series. Diana and I are not perfect by any stretch of the means, and having some marital guidance come from the Pastor whether in the form of a sermon or in counseling is always a plus! It has already spoken to me a lot! Craig, I am with you on the Monopoly thing, but for entirely different reasons! I thought Diana was going to bust out in laughter when you brought up that stupid game!

I love that Pastor Craig has addressed real issues that Christians deal with and some pastors are just too scared to mention from the pulpit. Things like adultery, lust, and pornography. These are issues that yes even Christians have issues with. The bad thing is they are all around us and most pastors are afraid to bring up those words in Church! I personally think that is the BEST place to address them!!


Also, staying true to keeping Christ at the center of a Marriage. I can say this, if it wasn't for Jesus... I would not be married today! He has been the constant in our marriage, a marriage without Him will surely fail. Yea, people may stay married without Jesus, but without sharing His Love it is a total failure!

Back to confirmation! Last Sunday, Pastor Craig was teaching on Abram and Sarai and the fact that they tried to do things their own way and what a disaster that turned out to be for MANY generations. One of the versus that Pastor Craig used was

John 15:5
I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

I have been reading the book pictured above...."100 Versus Every Dad needs to Know" for about 6 weeks and guess what my verse was Monday morning? You guessed it John 15:5!! I just kind of sat back and said "Wow God, you ARE showing off!" Lol..... It is abundantly awesome how He just keeps reminding us of how we are where He wants us to be on a daily basis! It is REFRESHING! To say the least.

There is also some little inserts from different Authors, and Christian leaders. This one from is from Franklin Graham and I really liked it:

There is not a single thing that Jesus cannot change, control, and conquer because HE IS THE LIVING LORD! (Take that with you on Easter Sunday as we Celebrate the RESURRECTION!!!!)

A Fresh New Beginning!

So today was the first time we got to experience Elevation Community Church as a family! I think we were all a bit surprised in the amount of people that showed up for the Grand Opening. 416!!! Wow!!! That is so thoroughly impressive, even more impressive than that is the fact that 17 people gave their lives to Christ today! My family and I are moving right along with this Church. It has so much to offer for us. First, there are many, many areas to serve in (appealing for all of us). There is a Youth group that pretty much jumped from about 12-15 kids to 20-30 kids in one week (appealing for Austin). There are numerous families in this Church that Homeschool (appealing for Julie, and Diana). Phil, and the rest of the Worship team are absolutely AMAZING!!!! Pastor Craig seemed as though he is supposed to be no where else but on that stage teaching God's word. He was awesome, incredibly funny, and so, so sincere! Very BLESSED that my family FINALLY found their NEW Church home.

It is funny, last week Julie and I attended an event and their Sunday Church service, and we both made up our mind. Today we had Diana, and Austin with us, as well as EVEN more friends and family that came out to see what the NEXT BIG THING God was doing.... Like I said before BLESSED, but even more than blessed. Me and my family are so relieved that we have found this group of people. We have all quickly made some new friends, and are moving quickly to find roles in this new group of believers. Austin and Jordan (our friend Sarah's son) attended Youth Group tonight and they loved it! Both want to be there every week. God is just so amazing. I don't know why it took so long for us to find a new home and hopefully He will reveal that to us, but we are so glad that we have found Elevation Community Church.

Pastor Craig! If you read this, I only have one thing to say (out of Love of course). We need to get a Men's group going! Man time is a MUST!! Lol. We can not let the women out duel us in anything, Monopoly, or Men's Group!

I am willing to go ABOVE and BEYOND to help make it happen too!!

Entering into an Anointed Worship

A few weeks back I was having a phone conversation with a friend about the difference of traditional hymnal worship versus newer contemporary praise and worship music.

This blog is strictly an opinion based blog of mine (especially on this subject) so if you are or get offended by this blog THIS IS MY APOLOGY now.

I have been dreading writing this in fear of whom I might offend or just in general this is kind of a touchy subject!

Here it goes. During the couple of conversations that we had, I brought it to his attention that in all my 30+ years I have been to churches that used both types of worship in their congregations.

During those times as a kid growing up, the entire time that I had heard/sang traditional hymns I have never witnessed the Holy Spirit move over a group of people and witnessed them raising their hands or falling on their face in pure awe of the Holy Spirit working through us as we worship. Not ONCE, NEVER!

God clearly gives us a clear example of how to praise Him, through David's writings in the Psalms.


Psalm 150
1Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.

2Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.

3Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.

4Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.

5Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.

6Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.

This is how God tells us to be, this almost perfectly describes a modern worship band! Guitars have strings, drum sets have symbals, usually when they are all being played together people are dancing joyfully unto the Lord! This is what we are to do on Sunday mornings is come together and celebrate LIFE in Jesus, not stand around and chant like a bunch of zombies!

God is EXCITING, now dont get me wrong there are some awesome hymns! AWESOME HYMNS! The words are bery powerful, but there is musical notes in those hymnals for a reason! Because they were written to be sang to music!

How can God tear down the walls of your heart when you don't sound your trumpet?

Joshua 6:20-21

20 So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. 21 And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.

I don't know about you, but I believe Jesus is in the business of tearing down walls! I believe entering into worship with him will tear down the walls of YOUR heart! I believe he wants us to experience His love through the power of worshipping Him. I believe he wants to move in and through your heart through today's modern worship leaders and their gifts as much as the people who have written the traditional hymns in the past.

Try listening to Lincoln Brewster, Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Tenth Avenue North, Third Day, Toby Mac, or MercyMe and tell me if the words to their worship songs don't tear down the walls to your heart!

I hope this speaks to you, and remember this is my PERSONAL opinion, but God is very clear in Psalm 150 about how we are to worship Him!

I guess no matter which style best suits you, as long as you are making a "joyful noise" towards our King and creator, that is all that matters!