George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation

General Thanksgiving

By the PRESIDENT of the United States Of America

A PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and affirm THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of the States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the final and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed;-- for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish Constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;-- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge;-- and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions;-- to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our federal and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wife, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us); and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New-York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.

(signed) G. Washington

Source: The Massachusetts Centinel, Wednesday, October 14, 1789

Ethics Check

OK, it’s time to get down to some serious writing again!

I had a wake up call today from my boss. In a nutshell my boss told me that he had some concerns about my ethics. When your trying to live for Jesus and someone calls you on the carpet and wants to have a talk with you about your ethics you’d better pay attention. In my case I had strayed a little bit farther from the middle then I should have. In fact I was farther left of center then I even realized.

Today’s talk brought back to me the fact that when we drift off of center of where God wants us we normally do not drift a whole bunch at one time. Rather when we drift we do it a little at a time. A smidgen here, a little bit there, and so forth. The problem is that when we don’t crawl back up on the proverbial altar and get back in the center of where God wants us on a very regular basis it doesn’t take long and we can really be going the wrong way.

That’s what happened to me, I started getting a little bit off of center little by little and the next thing you know my boss is having an ethics talk with me. The good news is that I wasn’t having ethics problems with my customers be dishonest or anything. The bad news is that I was having ethics problems in the way I was treating my fellow employees. I know where I got off center.

There are a couple of guys I work with that have basically zero morals and I let their behavior affect me. One of the guys sells quite a few cars and he will do whatever he can to get your customer away from you. If your headed for a customer he will take off running and cut you off to get to the customer first. He will then tell you that he is exempt from the rules because he sells so many cars. My problem is that I let this guy get under my skin and that was wrong of me.

I had to take a step back today and reexamine where I’m at. I had to once again to make the decision that I’m going to let God fight my battles for me. I was wrong to try and pay back this guy for what he did to me. Like I said, my battle belongs to God. 1 Peter 3:9 says “Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will bless you for it.”

The lesson learned today: Don’t repay evil with evil, rather do what’s right in the sight of God and he will bless you.

Be Blessed!!!

BIG SCOTT

RUN! RUN! RUN!

Wow, I can’t believe it! It’s been almost six weeks since my last blog update. Things have been going by at warp speed for the past month or so. With work I’ve been in training every morning, Monday through Friday for the past month. Then add to that I alternate working until either 7:30 p.m. or 9:00 p.m. every other night! When you’re working 65+ hours during the week you don’t have much time left to blog or much anything else for that matter!

This past month I’ve been fighting to get sales. All throughout the month I kept wondering if I was doing something to make God angry at me. Day after day I kept missing sale after sale. I was really starting to get desperate. One thing that became apparent to me though was that it wasn’t just me, I found out that everyone else at our dealership wasn’t doing very well either. In fact, car sales were way down city wide last month for some reason.

Looking back on the month I figured out that God probably wasn’t angry with me. In fact I finished the month tied for second place for the total number of cars sold. I finished the month on a high note selling two cars on the last day of the month. I plan on using this momentum to start this next month off on a high note.

Training should be over after this week and I’ll see if I can’t start getting back to writing some of my more witty blogs!

Be Blessed!

BIG SCOTT

Landing In The Job God Had For Me

Wow! Once again it’s been a bit since I been able to get a new blog up! For once I really believe that I’m where God wants me to be! For a lack of faith I thought that God wanted me out on the road driving truck but it didn’t take long for God to close that door on me! In fact I really got backed into a corner and was running out of options in regards to work options that I had.

I really didn’t want to go back selling cars again. I guess the biggest reason was once again my lack of faith. At first I really had doubts that I would be able to do well at selling cars again. I really started feeling God tugging on my heart and so I somewhat reluctantly opened my heart to the leading of the Holy Spirit. I really started feeling in my heart that God wanted me to get back into the car business again.

I went back down to Trinity Motors where I sold cars for a couple of years and talked to my old boss and good friend Jerry Thomas to see if he had any suggestions and referrals for me. Sometimes when you’re not sure about something it can sure pay off in big dividends to seek advice from a Christian brother or sister. Especially one that knows you and can encourage you!

Jerry was great! I was really uplifted and Jerry really energized me again by reminding me just how really blessed I am by Jesus in my ability to sell cars. Jerry reminded me that I was one of the best that he had ever met. Jerry and I talked for a bit and Jerry reminded me how much fun I had when we were really busting cars out! Another thing that Jerry told me was that I needed to work with a dealership that had a big inventory because I could move a lot of cars!

Jerry then referred me to go talk with Kelvin at Mike Stephen Kia/Carbanc just a block up from Trinity Motors. Jerry really felt that Kelvin and I would be a good match. It must have been leading of the Holy Spirit because Kelvin and I immediately hit it off!

I went in and met with Kelvin and gave Kelvin my resume. Kelvin interviewed me and liked what I had to say and hired me on the spot! I guess I should say here that I really liked what Kelvin had to say too. One stipulation that I had made to not only to myself but to God was that I would not work for a dealership that sought to do things that I felt were ungodly.

Going in I knew a little bit about Carbanc as one of my close Christian friends was at Carbanc for a few years and one of the sales people that is now at Carbanc is a devoted, Christian Sister. One thing I found out in my interview is that Carbanc is not there to take advantage of people that have credit problems or are hurting in some other way, rather we are there to help these people. I came out of my interview stoked! I knew that I was where God wanted me!

I’ve been at Carbanc now for a week and I’ve already had the opportunity to help out a couple of single mom’s who needed a quality, dependable, vehicle. When a single mom or some other person comes in needing a good, dependable vehicle and I can help them out and we don’t rip their head off price wise or we don’t just try to stick them in any old vehicle that may or may not have a myriad of problems I feel good.

When at the end of the day I can go home to my wife and family, lay down at night and sleep comfortable knowing I’ve done something good to help someone out and I know that I’ve done right in God’s eyes then I know I’m doing what God has called me to do! What a good feeling! Another great thing that I am able to do is follow the vision that God has given to me. I am able to pursue my ministry goals and keep moving forward with my goal of preaching the good news that is Jesus Christ.

Oh, by the way, here comes the unabashed plug…

If anyone is needing or knows someone who needs a good, used car, truck, van, or SUV, or would like a new KIA or Mitsubishi, come on down and see me at KIA Carbanc at the corner of 31st Street South and Broadway or give me a call at 316-522-3435! I can work with anyone and get them bank financing! Come see me!

Advertisement over!!!

Be Blessed!

BIG SCOTT

Our Home Makeover!

What a day we had around our house on Saturday!  We were the recipients of a little bit of home makeover.  We had people here from Home Depot, the Wichita Police Department, and the Wichita Fire Department.  Click here to read about the story in Sunday’s Wichita Eagle Newspaper!

Thanks to the above mentioned people we’ve got new carpet in our home, an alarm system to let us know if Andrew tries to run off, and we also got one of our doors and three of our windows fixed!  What a blessing this was!  I’ll see if I can’t get more up about this later!

Be Blessed!  I Know We Are!  Hehehe!!!

BIG SCOTT

20 Seconds!

I just read something that caught my eye.  According to Wharton Business College (U Penn) the average adult attention span is just 20 seconds!  20 seconds, wow, that’s short!  What Wharton is telling us is that if don’t have someone’s attention locked in just 20 seconds that we’ve lost them.  Let’s see, we’re coming up on about 20 seconds into this blog right now.  Are you still with me?  Do I have your attention now?

Emails are no exception.  According to the website MarketingSherpa.com emails are only open an average of 15-20 seconds too.  If you’re reading this blog at this point, two things have happened.  First, I held your attention span long enough in the email I sent out notifying you about this blog, and secondly, I held your attention long enough to get past the first 20 seconds.  How am I doing so far?  I guess the real measure will be is if I hold anyone’s attention long enough in this blog for them to email me back and let me know that I held their attention long enough to do that!

How much farther does this 20 second window reach?  According to the website TechCareers.com if the average job recruiter that is reviewing your resume does find something that catches his/her attention in the first 15-20 seconds your resume will probably not get much more review.  On the Quintessential Careers website (www.quintcareers.com) Katherine Hansen says in her article The Scoop on Resume Length: How Many Pages Should Your Resume Be? “Given that employers screen resumes for between 2.5 and 20 seconds, a resume must quickly capture the reader's interest.”  Once again, here comes the wow factor.  Wow, your future is in the hand of someone who gives you your first evaluation in 20 seconds or less!

Quoting Nancy Tierney from the website UnconditionalConfidence.com where she is discussing the art of business networking “The truth is that when someone asks you that question (What do you do?), you’ve got about 20 seconds to answer, spark their curiosity, initiate a conversation and create a connection. In 20 seconds, you need to be immediately interesting and captivating while communicating the huge scope of what you have to offer. No wonder we feel pressured and on the spot!”  How many times have you heard that you’ve only got one chance to make a first impression?  Now we here that we’ve only got 20 seconds to make that first impression!

Is our world moving at such a rapid pace now that we humans are now programmed to not focus on something more then 20 seconds?  Ever wonder why when you’re sitting at home, kicking back on the ole’ sofa, enjoying a nice mellow movie and all of a sudden, whammy, you get blasted with a loud, blaring commercial?  Advertisers know that if they don’t get you’re attention in 20 seconds they’re just wasting they’re commercial time.  A prime example of this would be the current Wendy’s commercial where a guy is eating a Spicy Chicken Sandwich behind a screen and right at 20 seconds into the commercial, ka-boom!  The guy explodes.  Time some of those commercials like that sometime and you’ll find that between 15 and 20 seconds something happens to get your attention.

So what can we Christians learn from this?  We’ve got 20 seconds or less to get someone’s attention with the endless truth.  When we present the Gospel to someone, i.e. witnessing, we need to have our act together and come out on fire.  The two techniques that I use that most definitely have the 20 second hook is either Bill Faye’s Share Jesus Without Fear or Kirk Cameron/Ray Comfort’s Way of the Master which is available online a www.WayOfTheMaster.com.

So how did I do?  Did I hold your attention all of the way through this blog?  Did I hook you within 20 seconds?  Just remember we’ve only got 20 seconds, the length of time it took for you to read this paragraph.

Be Blessed!

BIG SCOTT

The Moon Shines Bright!

Here we go again!  Here’s a story that I wrote for my American Literature class in college.  We had to write about something that happened to us that was not good but turned out to be funny.  I hope you get a kick out of it!

Be Blessed!

BIG SCOTT

It was November 1976, I was in the Eighth Grade, and it was the opening game of the Ingalls Junior High basketball season.  I was the starting center.  The game started off great for me as I controlled the tip-off and as we went down court I broke through the key with the ball, shot, missed, rebounded my own shot, shot again and scored.  This was a great way to start the season, or so I thought.

It wasn’t long after that we had the same play set up again but this time the ball got loose and as I dove for the loose ball on the floor I heard it, a great big, loud, rip!  I had just blown out my basketball uniform shorts!  To make matters worse I had only a jock strap on under my shorts!  As I stood to my feet I heard the crowd roaring with laughter!  Was I ever embarrassed!  

I looked over at our coach who was trying his darnedest not to bust a gut to loud laughing and he just signaled me to the dressing room.  I left the floor to hoots and hollers.  I can only imagine how red my face was.  Looking back I’m really surprised that I was traumatized for life over what had just happened!
     
I was so shocked over what had just happened that I just went back to the locker room, switched to my practice shorts and came back out.  When I came out the coach put me right back in.  As I went in all I could hear was shouts such as “Hey Scott, check your shorts!” or someone saying loudly “RIP!”  It took me a bit to get back into the game, but I stood firm and I wound up having a pretty good game.
     
I guess you could call this one of those character building events in your life.  I don’t know what else you would call it!  Even now, thirty years later, I can still look back at that one event and laugh about it.  You know, that on event became one of the highlights of my Junior High years.  What started out as one of the most traumatic events of when I was in school wound up being one of the most hilarious!

My Spiritual Journey

Here’s another paper I wrote for college.  I had to write about an event that was “emotionally significant” in my life.  I wrote about my Spiritual journey that led up to me getting saved.  This is something that I encourage everyone to do.  Write down how you got saved and share it with others.  Let your testimony reach out to both glorify Jesus and to let others hear what Jesus saved you from.

Be Blessed!

BIG SCOTT

My spiritual journey and my walk with God has been quite an adventure to say the least.  This journey started at a very early age.  After my parents brought me home from the hospital after I was born the first place my parents took me was to church.  When I was a child a do not remember a time when I was not in church.  In fact to this day I still remember not being able to sit still in church and my Mom taking me outside and lighting a fire on my bottom to get me to behave!  After I got into grade school I started to do better and I didn’t get near as many spankings on Sunday mornings!

As the years went on one that was always a constant in my life was going to church.  In fact when I was in the third or fourth grade my Dad was elected as a deacon of the church, a high honor at that time.  Only the most respected men of the community became deacons in the church.  Once my Dad became a deacon it meant that when the church doors were open we were there.  My Dad continued to serve as a deacon up until the time when he passed away when I was in the fifth grade.

After my Dad passed away the church was one of the few rocks in my life that I had left.  We lived a half block away from the church in the small town of Ingalls, KS.  Ingalls was so small that we only had one restaurant, one small grocery store, and one bar.  The restaurant and the bar both closed at six p.m. and I was too young for the bar so that meant the only thing to do on Sunday and Wednesday evenings was to go to church.  When your only choice is to sit at home and choose between three TV channels or church it makes the choice pretty easy.

I accepted Jesus as my savior and was baptized when I was twelve.  I stayed committed to Jesus up until I was about sixteen or so.  Somewhere around turning sixteen, getting my full drivers license, and having the freedom to run I started putting God on the back burner.  This continued for about three years.  Somewhere around when I was nineteen or so I forgot all about God.  I had a fast car, girlfriends, and plenty of money for beer.  What more could a guy ask for!  By the time I was twenty God was no where to be found in my life.  I was on the fast road to Hell.  

I may have known God at one time but in the early Eighties I was the definition of a heathen.  By the time I was twenty four I was drinking heavy and I had an addiction to pornography that was out of this world.  It was at about this time that I really started to have a hole in my heart.  I had a deep void inside of me.  This was a void that I could not explain.  

I started doing some searching trying to find an answer to this void.  Looking back I find it interesting some of the different people that God brought across my path in an effort to bring me back.  Two of the men that I had to see on a daily basis at work were both really awesome Christian guys.  Seeing these guys made that void worse.  I saw them and what they had and that hole inside of me got bigger and bigger.

Things came to a head in 1997 when I stopped by a buddy of mine, Tom’s place one Sunday afternoon.  I had been drinking and was starting to feel no pain so to say.  I asked Tom what he was up to and Tom told me that he was getting ready to go to a church with a cute girl for the first time.  Tom then said to me “You’re going with me.”  I don’t know why but without thinking I said “OK.”  I stopped and looked around at who had just agreed for me to go as I sure didn’t think it was me but there was no one else in the room.  I was stuck.  I said I would go so I was going!

Tom got me cleaned up and off to church we went.  We were late when we got there and the service had already started.  It didn’t matter to Tom, he grabbed me and we walked almost to the front and found a seat next to this cute girl he had told me about.  Keep in mind here that I had not been in church in quite some time and I had never before been in a church where people were really happy to be there.

These people were weird to me.  They were all singing praises, waving their arms in the air, and they were dancing!  Whoa!  I was blown away!  In fact I was awestruck!  My first thoughts were “Man, this is really, really kewl!”  I wasn’t sure what it was that they had but I knew they had something that I didn’t have!

After the service all kinds of people came up to me and shook my hand and said “Welcome!”  I never saw anything like this ever before in my life.  We finally headed on home and I knew in my heart that I wanted more of what I had experienced that evening!  During the next couple of days different people in the church made contact with me to encourage me to come again.  I thought “Wow, someone actually care about me!  This is really even more kewl now!

Wednesday evening came and I was found at the church once again with Tom of course.  After the service we all went out to get a bite and to talk.  Every evening after that for the rest of the week Tom and I would get together with some of the other young adults with the church and talk.  Sunday morning came and I knew that I had to do something, I had to have what these other people had!  I wanted it and the it was Jesus!

After a wonderful time of praise and worship and a powerful, powerful message the Pastor made an impassioned altar call.  Both Tom and I went forward.  All of a sudden that void in my life disappeared!  Right then and there I met the real Jesus and he met me and it was a joyful reunion!  I left that church that day knowing Jesus personally as my personal Savior.  That was something that never before had I had that in my life!

We went back to church that evening and about midway through the service Tom and I went forward for prayer.  It was at that point that I really and truly repented of my sins.  I laid my sins out and Jesus took them away!  I cried like a baby!  The weight of the world had been taken off of my shoulders!  It was at that point that I realized just what it was that Jesus saved me from and I was ecstatic!  I realized that I had been a condemned man and I was headed to hell for all eternity and at that moment Jesus stepped in and took my punishment and I was suddenly free!  That’s right, a man justly sentenced to death and all of a sudden freedom!  

It was the most exciting day of my life!  The story doesn’t just end there though.  In fact the story just begins there.  That was the first day of being born again.  It was the start of a new life for me.  

Me and My Goals... A Little Bit About Me!

Here’s something that I thought that I’d throw up here on my blog.  For English in college I had to write a paper entitled “You an Your Goals.”  This is me and this is where I’m at.  I hope and pray that with me opening up that maybe others will be encouraged to open up and let some of their stuff out too.

Be Bleesed!

BIG SCOTT

First, let me tell you a little bit about me.  I’m a 43 year old guy that is married to wonderful woman named Pam and we’ve been blessed with six kids and one grandkid so far.  Pam had two kids already when we met in 1991.  In 1992 we married and along the way we’ve been blessed with four more kids.  In February of this year our oldest daughter and her husband blessed us with our first grandson.

As far as being married goes Pam and I have been married a little over seven years this time.  I say this time because we’ve been married twice now.  We were first married in 1992 and that lasted until 1996.  In 1996 we divorced and were divorced until we were remarried in December of 1999.  People ask why we got remarried and I jokingly tell people it’s because Pam couldn’t stand to live without me and I couldn’t afford the alimony!  This always, most certainly brings forth at least a shoulder slap and some sort of rebuke from my wife!  

The truth as to why we were divorced is that I was not a happy and healthy guy to be around when we were divorced.  I had separated myself from God and was living a life that was overbearing and without love.  To say that I was somewhat overbearing would be an incredible understatement.  How my wife put up with me as long as she did is beyond me.

It is a true miracle that we were able to get remarried.  Looking back it is totally awesome seeing the different people that God brought into my life, the doors that were closed, and the very few choices that I had in my life during the three years that we were divorced.  The changes that God made in my life in those three short years were nothing short of miraculous.  I went from the king of my world in which I was quite simply a pompous ass to a much more humble and loving man.  A man that not only could God do something with but a man that my wife could love again.  I also was able to be a father to our children again.

After we were remarried I continued to do better and was finally able to quit job hopping all of the time.  In the past I had a problem with sometimes not holding a job for more then three months at a time.  If I held a job for a year it was considered a miracle.  The fact remained however that I still had some instability, an instability that I just couldn’t get a grip on.  I knew something was wrong but I didn’t know where to go or where to turn.  Add to that I had an unfounded fear of what would happen to me if I sought help with this instability.

In April of 2005 my world started to come crashing down around me.  I had no choice but to seek professional help with my problems, my instabilities.  After a fair amount of testing and talking I was found to have Bipolar Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder (OCD).  These three are often intertwined as is the case with myself.

With my Bipolar Disorder I would suffer from extended periods of euphoric highs which would be capped with me having a mental crash.  When I was on the euphoric highs my ADHD would really kick in.  Short term memory loss and loss of long term direction in my life is something that in the past has been something that has always haunted me.  Add to this mix OCD and you’ve really got a mess.  

As far as my OCD goes in the past couple of years I finally managed to control my OCD by doing two things.  First I found that if I stayed obsessed with God then by OCD doesn’t get me into trouble.  Secondly my doctor has found a great medication for me to help me with my OCD.  The OCD was the worst issue I had to deal with as it was the one issue that was the hardest to deal with.  Dealing with my OCD meant a lifestyle change.  I also had to repent before God for letting myself allow my OCD to drag me into self destructive activities and then I had to ask God to help me focus my OCD ob him.

After working for about a year to get a balance of meds and therapy I am happy to report that I now am doing better then I’ve done in close to thirty years!  How wonderful it feels to finally be stable again!  One of the greatest feelings that I have now is that the instability is all but gone.  Once in a while I’ll have a little bit of fluctuation or instability but nothing serious any more.  For the first time in many, many years I can once again start to plan for the future!

What are my plans for the future?  Where do I want to go?  I have a vision for the future.  A vision that I believe that is from God.  I want to preach the Gospel.  It’s that simple really, I want to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ.  To enable me to do that and be effective I believe that God wants me to have a college education.

I hope to finish at Cowley either in the Spring or Summer of 2007.  From Cowley I plan on attending Tabor College Wichita and pursue a degree in Christian Ministry.  From there the Lord willing I would like to receive a Masters Degree in Education from Wichita State.  If the doors continue to stay open after Wichita State I would like to pursue a Doctorate Degree from Logos Bible College of Florida.  I can do my Doctorate studies right here in Wichita at Word of Life Church and School where we attend as members.

In addition I want to continue to grow not only the father that the Lord has called me to be but also the husband that the lord has called me to be.  I know that in the past I’ve failed at both a father and a husband but by the Grace of God and through the leading of God’s Holy Spirit that is changing.  Quite simply, every day, I want to be a little bit better father, a little bit better husband, and a little bit better child of God.

Oh yea, one last thing.  I want to get back on my diet and loose 150 pounds!

Fear of Failure!

What is one fear that every person on earth has built into them? It’s “The Fear of Failure.” What is the number one reason people are afraid to step out and try their hand at something new? It’s “The Fear of Failure.” What is the number one reason that people are afraid to tackle a tough and demanding endeavor? It’s “The Fear of Failure.” I could go on and on here but I think that you get the picture.

The Fear of Failure is something that we each have to face from time to time. Right now the Fear of Failure is something that I am having to face at this point in my life. I have a decision that I must make in the next couple of days regarding the next few years of my life in regards to a career move since the doctor is taking off of the truck. For me right now the Fear of Failure is looking me square in the face.

Both the company doctor two days ago and then my doctor yesterday both asked me the same exact question. “What else can you do?” Wow, what a question! “What else can I do that I can make a living at and provide for my family and get us out of this financial situation that we’re in?” is really what I heard them saying.

This is where the Fear of Failure comes in. What do I do? What am I good at? What can I physically do? Who will hire me? What if someone hires me and I can’t cut it and I fail? I know that right now failure is not an option. My family is counting on me not to fail them.

This is really a test of my faith! I know that God has a plan for my life. I know that God has a great job for me. God just reminded me of Jeremiah 29:11 that God made to His people of which we Christians are grafted into. “For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

In addition I am reminded of Matthew 6:25-34. Jesus really nails here when He talks about a loving Father/God providing for us, His children

"So I tell you, don't worry about everyday life--whether you have enough food, drink, and clothes. Doesn't life consist of more than food and clothing? Look at the birds. They don't need to plant or harvest or put food in barns because your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than they are. Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Of course not.
"And why worry about your clothes? Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won't he more surely care for you? You have so little faith!
"So don't worry about having enough food or drink or clothing. Why be like the pagans who are so deeply concerned about these things? Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.
"So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today.”

Just to add a little emphasis here the Lord also brought Jeremiah 17:7 & 8 to me here. "But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they go right on producing delicious fruit.”

So how do I face my Fear of Failure? I must do as Jesus commanded in Matthew 7:7 & 8 "Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks.” I just have to keep seeking the Lord and asking Him which way to go and what I should do. If I keep on looking for that job, that career, and I seek the Lord in this, I will find.

If I seek the Lord, if I follow the Lord, if I trust in the Lord, and if I draw from the Lord, then borrowing a line from the show “Fear Factor”, “Fear of Failure is not a factor.”

Be Blessed!

BIG SCOTT

Really Not Stuck...

The other day I wrote a blog about being stuck. I received some feedback about that blog saying I was really not stuck but I was at a certain point in my journey with God. I was reminded that we are really never stuck and we are either moving forward or backwards but we are never at a standstill point with God.

I received an offer of employment yesterday driving truck out of Wichita here. Today I went in to get my pre-employment drug screen and physical. Everything was going great until the doctor reviewed the meds I was taking for my Bipolar disorder. The doctor stopped and told me that I would not be allowed to drive a semi with the meds that I was on. I was devastated.

Just when I thought that everything was turning around for the better I get walloped. Tomorrow I’ll go see my psychiatrist to see if I can get my meds changed so I can get back out on the road. Right now it doesn’t look good but my wife and I are hoping for the best. All I can tell you is that this is in God’s hands.

I’m reminded of the story of Job. Job was being tested by Satan to see if Job would curse and blame God. Job was bombarded with loss after loss but job never would curse and blame God even after his friends were begging Job to do so. Job wound up loosing everything including his health for a time but in the end Job stayed true to God and God restored to Job everything that he lost many times over.

I know that I must stay the course. I know that through all of this I must continue to praise God. I know that God will somehow in His infinite grace not only provide for us but see us through this. God is a good God. I know that God loves both my family and me and that I can trust in Him.

I know that God not only has a plan for my life but that He also has a job waiting out there for me somewhere. I just have to keep praying and wait just a little bit longer on God to provide for us. This is a test. This is only a test. We will shortly return to our normal life in a moment.

Be Blessed!

BIG SCOTT

I'm Stuck!!!

Have you ever been right on the edge, so close that you can see your goal but can’t quite touch it?  That’s where I’m at right now.  In fact right now I seem to be stuck there.  I have goals, I have dreams, and I have visions.  

I can see my goals.  In fact I’m so close to some of my goals that I can almost touch some of my goals.  I keep having dreams and I believe that the Lord is giving me a vision for my future and for ministry goals for me.  Some of these visions are so close that I can see them happening, but not quite yet.

This is a very frustrating place to be to say the least!  I want so bad to bust out, to bust free, but I just can’t quite seem to wiggle free.  I was talking with my Pastor last night and I told him that if I could just get three good weeks of paychecks in a row the chains would be off and I would be free to run.

To make matters worse my wife and I have been doing the best job we’ve ever done of tithing.  This is the one and only area where the Lord tells us to test him.  I see me standing in front of this dam that is about to full to the point of running over.  Behind this dam is lake of financial blessings.  I’m standing in the middle of the river that runs from this dam and I’m saying “OK God, open up the floodgates!  I’m ready!”  I keep standing there and I keep repeating “OK God, I’m ready!”

I’m not sure why God has me here where I’m at.  I know that a great deal of what’s happening to me now is a result of decisions that I’ve made.  I know that along the way over the last year or so that I’ve been going through dealing with my disorders and getting them under control I’ve made some bad mistakes with both work and with our finances.  I also know that it’s time to move on and move forward.  

Everything that I was hit with is now under control and I’ve got my life back.  Saying that I know that I’m ready to move on to what ever job the Lord has in store for me.  Even bigger I am not only ready but I anxious to tackle whatever ministry assignment the Lord has for me.  I anxious to find out what job the Lord has in store for me but I’m way more excited to see what the Lord has in store for me ministry wise.

One thing that I decided to do right now while I’m stuck here where I’m at is to keep witnessing for Jesus.  Whether its result’s of my actions, attacks of the enemy or whatever I’m still going to go out and witness for Jesus.  Even though I feel stuck right now I certainly feel free when I’m witnessing for Jesus.

A couple of weeks ago I took my wife out and we passed out Gospel tracts down at the ballpark.  The night before last we walked around Wal-Mart planting tracts.  I picked up this kicking little tract that when folded up looks like a $20 bill but when you open it up it’s only about 2/3 the width of a real $20 bill and it say on the back “Disappointed?  You won’t be with Jesus!”  Then it goes on to tell about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I have had a blast with this tract.  I walk around and no ones looking I drop it on the floor or leave it on a display or some other place where people are sure to see it.  It’s amazing how fast someone will grab it thinking it’s real and just stick it in their pocket.  Others will grab it and open it up and with a shocked look on their face they will just stand there and read it trying to figure out what they’ve got their hands on.  Pick some of these up at your local Christian book store, they’re a hoot!

Anyway, I feel that this week I will break out!  I really feel in my heart that the Lord is going to release me to run this week.  Starting Monday I’m moving forward full speed and I’m not only getting me going again but I’m also moving forward and getting our family moving forward financially again.  Stay tuned here to see what happens next.

One last thing.  This past week I received what I feel is a vision from God.  I’m not free to say yet what it is, at least not publicly, but it was a huge vision.  This was the biggest vision that I’ve ever had.  I’m praying and seeking God to see if this vision was from Him.  I plan on sharing this vision this week with a couple of my spiritual mentors to see what they think.  Please keep me in your prayers over this to discern whether or not this vision was from God.

Have A Great Week!

Be Blessed!!!

BIG SCOTT

Summer's Winding Down

Wow, this summer sure has flown by!  I can’t believe that school started today for the kids!  Add to it that my summer starts sometime around the first of April when baseball starts and for me it officially ended this weekend when the National Baseball Congress held its final, championship game.  In other words, as an umpire, my summer this year coincided with baseball.  I was one of the boys of summer!

One highlight that my wife and I had a couple of weeks ago was that we were blessed with about 150 Gospel tracts and one night of the NBC tournament we went down to the game and passed the tracts out to people between the games as they were both coming and going.  We walked around the parking lot talking with people and putting a Gospel tract in their hand.  My wife was pretty nervous about going down and doing this but once we got going she was amazed at how easy it really was to pas out Gospel tracts.

I’ll say this, my wife is definitely the outgoing person that I am, in fact my wife is scared silly to go out and talk to strangers.  If my wife can go out with me and pass out Gospel tracts it pretty safe to say that most any person can do it.  I hope my wife overcoming her fear can be an inspiration to others.  If someone is afraid to walk up to a total stranger and hand them a Gospel tract and talk with them about Jesus that’s fine.  But the question is what can you do?  

I encourage people to go buy an interesting pack of Gospel tracts and just leave them wherever you go.  Leaving a wait person a tip?  Leave that tip in a Gospel tract.  Leave them on pay phones, wherever!  Just start leaving a Gospel tract.  It’s easy!  The point is that a person needs to hear the Gospel.  I’ve heard that it takes a person being presented the Gospel somewhere around nine times before they give their heart to the Lord.  If someone gets a tract that one of those nine times being counted for.  Is your tract #1?  #3?  #7?  Or is it #9?  We don’t know what number we will be but one thing we do know is that we will be the number that the Lord chooses.

Work lately has been pretty much non-existent due to the weather.  Working for a grass farm has kept me at the mercy of the weather and here in Kansas that’s not always good!  I decided I needed to find a new job and today I received a call from one of the top trucking companies in the company informing me that they had a position open for me running regional out of Wichita here.  This job will have me home almost every day with very few overnights and I’ll also have weekends off.  Add to this it pays almost double what my current job pays!  Once again it pays to tithe so the lord can bless you!

One thing that this new job will offer me is the opportunity to witness to other truck drivers and others that cross my path while I’m out on the road.  One thing that the Lord has been putting on my heart is getting out and sharing the Gospel.  The fire and the passion that the Lord has put on my heart to do this is a very consuming fire.  I am also finding that this fire and passion is not just being poured out on me but many others too.

I know that we are in the last days and God’s Word tells us that this is exactly what the Lord will do in these final days.  Joel prophesized in Joel 2:29 and it was repeated in Acts 2:18.  In those days I will pour out my Spirit upon all my servants, men and women alike, and they will prophesy.  Seeing how the Lord is pouring out his Spirit that this is just another confirmation to me that we are indeed in the last days.

I’ll try to post here on a regular basis on how things are going with this new job and about the opportunities that the Lord is bringing my way to share the Good news of the Gospel.

Be Blessed!!!

BIG SCOTT

I'm Scared!!!

Just a quick note…

Let me encourage you to check out John Hagee Ministries www.jhm.org. John Hagee is one of the world’s foremost experts on what’s happening in the Middle East and particularly Israel. Any Christian that knows anything about Bible prophecy will tell you that we are living in the final days.

I know that personally God is putting a burning desire in my heart to reach the lost. This is intensified just that much more by knowing that I don’t have much time to reach the lost. Personally I am scared that the Trumpet could sound at any moment now and we Christians would be caught up with Jesus in the clouds.

Why am I scared? It’s not that I am not going to Heaven as I know that I am, it’s that I know that there will be those left behind that I failed to share Jesus with. I am scared for those that don’t believe and don’t share my love of Jesus. I care deeply for all of my family, friends, associates, & others and I know that some of each won’t be caught up with me!

Please, I beg you, if there is someone you love or care about that you’re not sure that they are saved, please share the good news of Jesus with them! THERE’S NOT MUCH TIME LEFT!

Be Blessed!!!

BIG SCOTT

WOW! An Alarming Statistic!!!

This past weekend I heard an alarming statistic, one that really hit home with me. I heard that 9 out of 10 teenagers in America right now don’t attend church on a regular basis. In this it means that only 1 in 10 teens have an association with a local church and attend that church on a regular basis. The criteria I believe for a regular basis would be at least 3 times a month.

Wow! I’m blown away! 90% of our young people right now are not being fed the Word of God! Flurries of questions come to mind! Where are these young people? If the church isn’t reaching these young people and filling them with the Word what are they being filled with? Why isn’t the church reaching them? What can be done? The questions in my mind go on and on but here is what I see.

First, I see this as a sad commentary on the Church in the United States. For way to many decades the Church in this country has sat on it’s hands and really not doing much outreach and it has also failed horribly in equipping it’s members, the church body, in reaching out to our fellow neighbors and drawing them in. Let me put it this way, when was the last time your church had a teaching on equipping the members of it’s body to witness one on one? If your church is like most you don’t have an answer to this question.

Secondly, it’s pretty simple to answer as to what these kids are being filled with and it’s sure not Jesus! We are now raising the third generation of MTV kids! In addition this generation more then any other generation before are becoming Internet Junkies! These kids are being bombarded from every side now with electronic garbage. Whether it’s TV, Radio, MP3 (Podcasts), Internet, Cellphone & Text Messaging or Video Games, the mainstream, secular garbage being fed to our kids today can be summed up this way. It doesn’t glorify God and a huge part of it is nothing but garbage!

Here’s the big questions: Why isn’t the church reaching them and what can be done? The reason the church isn’t reaching them is that the church remains ambivalent. Who is the church? It’s the people, it’s you and it’s I. When the church decides as a whole to reach the lost not of this world but to the lost right here at home, our neighbor’s our friends, then things will change and they will change fast! For decades and decades the church has relied on evangelists and preachers to do the work that you and I should have been doing all along. Churched have long sponsored evangelists and others to come in to try to reach the lost for us. It’s been easier to cough up a few bucks to pay someone else to do it then to do it ourselves.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying to cancel these evangelist and rallies and traditionally they work incredibly well. We just need to start reaching out on our own. There’s a couple of methods/teachings out there that I’ve found work amazingly well to reach the lost. The one I’ve been using for quite some time with huge success is Bill Faye’s “Share Jesus Without Fear.” The other is Kirk Cameron’s/Ray Comfort’s “Way of the Master” series. I’ll get the links up here on both of these here on my blog in the next few days.

It’s up to you & it’s up to me to reach the lost and turn this country around. Talk with your pastor about this and ask him if he would be open to a series on equipping his people to reach the lost. I’ve got a pile of resources available for this. If you, your pastor, or anyone else you know would like to know more please contact me. I’m putting a teaching together to take to churches to empower them to reach the lost in their community. As I prepare to set out on this mission God has called me to please keep me & my family in your prayers as I know we’ll need them!

The lost won’t come in on their own, we have to go out and get them. We are the ones to complete the great commission. Jesus told us in Mark 16:15 "Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere.”

Be Blessed!!!

BIG SCOTT

A Quick Follow Up...

A quick follow-up to my last blog... I spoke with a good friend of mine, Tuck, who is the head of the Word of Life Bible College here in Wichita about that blog and the yearning to lay hands on the afflicted and pray for a miraculous healing on them. Tuck advised me that if you feel led to pray for someone the best thing you can do is approach that person and ask them if you can pray for them & if they agree, go for it. Tuck told me “Don’t be afraid to be silly for God.”

Tuck went on to explain that sometimes God uses us in great ways when we are doing something we believe to be silly but yet we are doing what God has called us to do. Tuck finished by telling me to follow what the Lord has placed on my heart to do. If it’s God’s will for a person to be healed and we lay hands on that person as per our calling that yes, that person will be healed. I know now that I need to learn to trust my heart more when I know that the Lord is speaking to my heart and giving me instruction.

Be Blessed!!!

BIG SCOTT

A Huge Arguement Within Myself

Once again it’s been a bit since I’ve put a new blog up. This summer has been kind of crazy around our house just like it’s been around many of those of you who read this! Unfortunately work has been spotty at best with the weather playing a huge factor in how much I do get to work since I work for a grass farm. In addition I came down with a rather nasty viral infection that almost put me in the hospital.

It seems that silly me didn’t wear tights like you’re suppose too underneath my shin guards and pants when I was umpiring and my shin guards rubbed me raw in a couple of places, the through those raw spots my legs got infected. I tried to fight that off for a couple of weeks on my own to no avail and then in the time of a couple of days the infection took off and spread from my arms all the way down to my feet.

This knocked me out of umpiring for a couple of weeks and introduced me quite nicely to our new family physician and a whole ton of antibiotics! The good news is now that I’ve almost got it beat. A bunch of prayer and some good work by my doctors and I’m back up & going!

Changing subjects here something has really been nagging at me quite bad. I was at Wal-Mart a week or so ago and as I was walking back out to my car I passed a man getting out of his pickup and into a wheelchair. Something inside of me almost screamed out to do as the Apostle Peter did in Acts 3. Something inside of me wanted me to stretch my hand out and quote Acts 3:6 "I'll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!"

This set off a huge argument within myself. On one side was my fleshly, mortal man saying “Are you crazy? You’re not Peter! You’re not Benny Hinn! If you do this and fail both you and God will look like a total idiot!” Then on the other side of me was my Spirit Man, the Spiritual Warrior saying “Why would God only give the gift of healing to Benny Hinn? If God tells you to lay hands on someone to be healed, do it! God will heal them! Where’s your faith? Just think of all of the glory it would bring God if you walked up to a perfect stranger, someone that is crippled, laid hands on them and they were healed in the name of Jesus! Exercise you faith Man!!!”

What did I do? I did what any earthly person would do, I kept walking. In a way I’m angry with myself that I did keep walking but on the other hand my fleshly side was quite relieved that I didn’t try to prove myself to be a certified mental case! The one thing that keeps nagging at me here though is that I know that God gives every Spiritual Gift out to different people this very day. Is God trying to pour out on me a new Spiritual Gift? This is not the first time that this has happened, this is twice now.

The first time that I was called to do this was in a restaurant when a single mom’s little daughter who was about 5 was tossing her cookies in a trash can. I know that I blew that one. I could have simply touched her and she would have been healed. I have absolutely no doubt about it. I said if I was ever given that opportunity again I wouldn’t blow it. The question is, was I just given that opportunity again and did I blow it?

I know that I’ll be getting some feedback on this one and I do look forward to it. I’m looking forward to hearing more from the Lord on this one!

Be Blessed!!!

BIG SCOTT

F A I T H + O B E D I E N C E = V I C T O R Y

Faith.  What is Faith?  I love acronyms.  Acronyms are one of the things that makes writing fun.  Here are some acronyms for Faith.  Fact Accepted In The Heart.  For Answers I Trust Him.  Forsaking All I Trust Him.  But here’s one of my all time favorite acronyms, Fantastic Adventures In Trusting Him!

The last month or so has been a pretty big adventure in Faith.  The enemy has been throwing all kind of stuff at us financially.  My wife and I have just stood in Faith and trusted in the Lord to provide our needs.  Right now I really have no idea how the Lord is going to turn our financial situation around but by what I see in God’s word has caused me to have Faith that the Lord will provide for us.

I know this that in the past when times like this have come and we failed miserably because we did not have any Faith that the Lord would provide and because of that we tried to do it in our own strength.  When you try to do it in your own strength you do it without the Lord and you do it without Faith.  Jesus addressed this in Luke 12:28-30 “And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won't he more surely care for you? You have so little faith! And don't worry about food--what to eat and drink. Don't worry whether God will provide it for you. These things dominate the thoughts of most people, but your Father already knows your needs”

Kind of on a side note here, my wife and I met with our Pastor last week and we sat down and discussed in depth the call on my life to preach the Gospel.  Two things that were readily apparent were first that we need to push on until we have the victory over our finances so I can be released to preach.  The other thing that our Pastor whole heartedly agreed with me on is that I do have the call of evangelism on my life and in fact it is in the area of encouragement.  

The one thing however that our Pastor shared with us that I somehow overlooked is that as the Lord is taking us through the times of struggle and growth that when we complete this journey we will have a testimony to share that reaches into the realms of the impossible, the realm where the Lord loves to work!  Two things that our Pastor admonished to do, which we are doing already, is to have Faith and to stay the course.  As soon as our Pastor told us that I felt the Holy Spirit reminding me in my heart once again what the prophet Samuel said in 1 Samuel 15;22.  “What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Obedience is far better than sacrifice. Listening to him is much better than offering the fat of rams.”  I shared this verse the other day and I guess I’ll keep repeating this verse here in my blog as long as the Holy Spirit keeps prompting me.

Let me leave you with this simple equation:

FAITH + OBEDIENCE = VICTORY!

Be Blessed!

BIG SCOTT

A Hero In My Life

Sometimes when you write you have the great privilege of telling the story the story of a person who is not only an extraordinary person but a person that some would even call a hero.  This story is about a person in my life who became one of my heroes.  Many have heard this story before but many more have not.  This is a story that I will be glad to tell until the end of time.

I was born into a small family.  My parents only had one other child besides myself, my brother Lonnie who is about fourteen years older then I am.  When your brother is that much older then you it doesn’t matter what happens he’s the ultimate in big brothers, the ultimate in kewl!  I was blessed to have my brother around for the first five years or so of my life.  I knew he was not only popular with his friends and in school but I knew that he thought the world of me and this made me just all the more proud of him.

When I was about seven my brother enlisted in the Army and it wasn’t long after that it came time for my brother to ship off to Vietnam.  I never did question why as I was always told that it was something that he had to do, I was told that it was his duty.  All I knew was that my brother doing his duty and I was proud of him.

Fast forward now to February 11, 1974.  My brother had taken emergency leave from the Army and this day my brother once again had to do a duty that I know that inside was tearing him up but never the less he held his head up and did it.  This day he had to come to school to pick me up and inform me that our Father had just passed away.  As he told me this I started to cry for lack of anything better to do.  I was glad to have my brother there to be a rock for me.

Fast forward now again a couple of years.  Once again my brother was on leave and it was just my brother and myself that were sitting at our dining room table.  As we were talking I asked my brother why he did what he did and why he chose to be a soldier.  What my brother said made one of the greatest impacts on my life that has ever been made.  What he said pierced me to the core and it is something that I will never forget.  My brother told me “I do it to give you the freedom to race or to do any other thing that you choose.”

To this day whenever I think about this John 15:13 (KJV) come to mind.  “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

To my brother and all of the Veterans who have given me the freedom to write this I very humbly say “Thank You.”

Be Blessed!

BIG SCOTT

I Was So Proud Of My Daughter

I wrote this blog in the hospital a couple of months ago while my daughter was in for surgery. In a way I wish that I would have got it posted sooner but for some reason I believe that now is the time that the Lord wanted me to post it.

One of the toughest things that a parent has to do is sit and wait while their child is in surgery. I was so proud of my daughter today. She didn’t cry a drop. I did find out however that during the past couple of days she did however run off to her room and cry a couple of times. What really moved me however was when I found out that she cried in her room because she didn’t want her Daddy see her cry. Apparently she didn’t want to hurt her Daddy’s heart.

One thing that the Lord has showed me through all of this is the “Father’s Heart.” In realizing how much I love my child and how much my heart aches for my child as she goes through this pain made me realize a little bit more just how much my Father loves me. I’ve also come to understand a little bit better how my Father’s heart breaks when I am hurting. I realize that my Father’s love is even deeper then I had realized before and I really don’t have an understanding of just how deep His love is for me.

Looking into my daughter’s eyes in pre-op as the sedation meds were taking effect really pushed my heart to its breaking point. All I could do was stand there stroking her head and tell her that I love her. She tried to keep a light sense of humor as the nurses were working over her and the doctors were asking questions but it was pretty easy to tell that she was pretty nervous. The one thing that I tried to keep reminding myself of is the fact that while she may be suffering some pain now that this pain will only last a short time and that in the long run her pain will be gone.

To me that sounds like a lot how my Father deals with me. My past has been filled with a lot of pains and hurts. Many of those pains and hurts need to be dealt with so I can feel better and be made whole. My Father who is the Great Physician knows how to best deal with my hurts and my pains. When he says its time for surgery it’s time to get rid of some hurts and pain. I know that in the short run it’s going to hurt to deal with whatever it is that He wants to deal with but in the long run it will bring healing to me and make me whole.

Just as I want the best for my children and as I want my children to be happy and healthy I know that my Father wants the same for me. Just as some pain must come into my children's lives so that they will be made whole and healthy the same must come into my life. But yet I am reminded that "with His stripes we are healed" (ASV)

Obedience Is Far Better Than Sacrifice

It’s finally quit raining! I guess I should be careful how I say that though. Here in Kansas we gripe and complain how it’s always too dry or it’s too wet. For some reason it seems that we can’t find a happy medium anywhere. For example we were about eight inches of moisture short for what our average should have been for this time of the year up until about three weeks ago. The all of a sudden here come the rain and we are right back to our average rain year to date rain totals. The problem is that we got our moisture all in a three week period. That also meant that I didn’t get to work very during those three weeks.

However all is not lost though…

Since it quit raining I umpired 14 games last week! Some days I was scheduled at two different fields on the same day just so the schedulers could get there rainout dates made up. I decided that this week I’m just going to take a break from baseball and as long as the weather holds the 50 or so hours I’ll work at my regular job driving truck will be enough work for me this week. I really felt that I needed to give my body some time to heal up after working so much baseball last week. Umpiring that much baseball and bending over that much behind the plate puts quite a bit of strain on my not so young knees. Saturday and Sunday nights my knees and ankles were informing me that I’m not as young as I used to be and that they were not happy campers!

Lest I should sound that I’m griping I’m really not though. The good news is that we desperately needed for me to be working as much as I can to get caught back up on our bills and the Lord opened the door for us to give me the opportunity to work as much as I did. I also truly believe that the Lord gave me the strength and the healing to get through last week to get the extra money in. The reason that I say that is since we made a change in our spiritual lives a couple of months ago and put God first with our money and setting tithing above all else we’ve seen miraculous things happen with our finances. Without fail since we made the change God has opened the financial door to give us the money we need to get our bills paid.

Granted, not everything has been coming up daisies money wise since we started tithing as I still have to get out there and work to bring the money in what I am saying is that God has made sure the work is there to bring the money in and then God has also been moving with our creditors to have favor upon us. In addition we’ve been blessed with a miracle a couple of weeks ago that enabled us to keep our electricity on. This reminds me of something that I’ve heard over and over again but it hasn’t hit home until now. “If I would have known that tithing works this well I would have started doing it a long time ago!”

Even though we are reaping the rewards of our tithing the Lord keeps reminding me of what the prophet Samuel told King Saul in 1 Samuel 15:22 "What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Obedience is far better than sacrifice. Listening to him is much better than offering the fat of rams.” Knowing that I truly don’t believe we would be reaping the rewards that we are now if we were not both seeking to obey the Lord and give the Lord our sacrifice through our tithing.

I’ll close with this. If you really want to see the rewards that the Lord has for you come upon you first seek to obey the Lord and to do His will and then give him your sacrifice through your tithes and giving. If you do this I guarantee you that you will start to see miracle after miracle happen in your life. I tell you this for two reasons. First this is what God’s word tells us and secondly because I see it happening in our lives!

Be Blessed!!!

BIG SCOTT

RAIN! RAIN! RAIN!

That was weird! I don’t know what happened but somehow I had four postings of the same blog and some of them had weird endings from others blogs. I’ve got it all straightened out now.

If you’re reading this and you live somewhere other then the middle of Kansas there is a good chance that you’ve not had to deal the rain that we’ve been having to deal with here. In the last two weeks or so we’ve had well over a foot of rain! We were in a terrible drought for the last six months or so and now all of a sudden we’ve got more rain then we know what to do with. I know we needed the rain and I really hate to gripe about the moisture but it would be nice if it would just let up some so I can get back to work!

School is winding down for both my kids and for me. I’ve got just one final to take Monday night & I’ll be through with this semester. It sure feels good to finally get through a whole semester again! I’m still not sure what the future holds for me as far as college goes. I know that I would like to try to finish up my Associates degree this fall.

Speaking of school, the other night in my Speech class I gave my final speech of the year. This was a “persuasion speech” or maybe more aptly named a “sales speech”. This speech was designed to persuade people to my way of thinking on a topic. As soon as the speech assignment was given I felt the Lord leading me to give the speech on “Why you need Jesus.”

I have to admit I was pretty nervous going into the speech. I wasn’t sure if my instructor would approve a speech on a religious topic but she did. I pretty much followed the outline given in “The Way of The Master Series” where you show people that all of sinned first and follow that with the Good News of the Saving Grace. The speech was to be between seven and nine minutes in length and mine came out to just over eight minutes. Like I said I was pretty nervous at the start but the Holy Spirit came upon me and by mid-speech I was flowing very smoothly in the Holy Spirit. When it was all said and done I received an A- on the speech but more importantly the whole class had heard the Good News of Jesus Christ.

I fell now that by following the Lord’s leading in this one endeavor that I will be more equipped, more confident, and less nervous or scared the next time the Lord calls me to preach the Good News. In fact I’m looking forward to the next time the Lord calls me to share. One thing that I’m doing now is writing my own Gospel sharing tracts and I am starting to work with others to take Jesus to the street. Stay tuned as I’m sure this will get exciting!

If anyone is interested in receiving some copies of the new sharing tract that I’m working on please let me know and I’ll be sure to get you some when they come back from the printer. Please keep us in prayer on this as we’re also looking to develop a new website to go along with this.

Be Blessed!

BIG SCOTT

Obeying God Works!

Once again it’s been a bit since I last posted here on my blog. I’ve been pretty busy with work and school and then add in to that the fact of our internet being down here at the house has made it kind of tough to post. Let's me see if I can’t get back into the groove and post a little bit more often.

Even thought it’s been raining a bunch and work has been sporadic due to the rain it does feel good to be back to work full-time. I’m driving a truck during the day delivering grass sod and I’m umpiring baseball most every evening except Sundays. On a normal week I’ll umpire 10-12 games. That’s a lot of baseball!

Being off work as long as I was drawing unemployment every week put a real bind on our finances. My wife and I decided that the only way that we’re going to get out of this financial hole that I got us in to is to tithe our way out of it. Since we started tithing diligently every week we’ve really started to see God’s mighty hand move in our finances. Miraculously the money has been there to pay our basic bills and needs.

A couple of days ago we needed about $625 to pay our electric bill or they were going to shut our electricity off. I really felt my heart sink when the Westar Energy rep showed up on our doorstep and said pay up or get turned off. I got the rep to give me an hour to get the money. Miraculously god made the money available and I paid the bill!

This is not the only miracle that we’ve seen since we’ve started tithing. About a week ago I was taking a load of sod from the farm out at Burton which is 45 miles northwest of Wichita to Winfield which is 40 southeast of Wichita. Apparently when I climbed up in the truck at Burton my wallet found out of my pocket and must have landed on the truck’s running board. Another truck driver found my wallet laying in the highway down by Mulvane which is about 15 miles southeast of Wichita and turned my wallet over to the Highway Patrol who then brought it back to our home here in Wichita and gave it to my wife. I had a substantial amount of cash in my wallet and the only thing missing was my pictures and some other unimportant stuff. All of my money was still in there! That’s a miracle, praise God!

It’s amazing what God can do when you follow His directions. When we started tithing and following in His will He started moving in our lives! When we tithe and give now we pray over our giving and now we expect the hundred fold blessing back! In fact when we go the Altar to give we pray specifically for what we need and what we are trusting God for. Right now we are praying and trusting God for the money to get our financial house in order specifically to get all of our bills caught up and for the first time in a long, long time have a balanced or better budget.

Like I mentioned in earlier blogs I know the call of God is on my life to preach the Good News. I have been at a loss of how I would be able to do that with us being in such a deep financial hole but now I see how God is getting us out of that hole so we can push on to heed the call that God has given us. I expect by mid-summer through God’s moving in our finances to have us back in decent shape! Now that we have a plan to get out of our financial hole I can start seeking God on what he has in store for me in ministry. For once I have a doable vision to reach my first love which is preaching the Good news of Jesus Christ!

One last thing…

A great big shout out to Timmy Mac and his new bride as they were united in Holy Matrimony Saturday! May Jesus richly bless you and your new bride Timmy Mac!!!

Be Blessed!

BIG SCOTT

Hell

In church tonight I felt the Lord speaking to me. As an angel instructed John to write down what he saw in the book of Revelation so I felt the Lord telling me to write down and share something that God showed me in the Spirit back in 1988. I have not shared this very often and I have never before put this in print but the Lord spoke to me tonight and told me to write and share.

Shortly after receiving my salvation in October of 1988 I had two very real and very powerful visits from God. The first of which I’ll just briefly touch on here was to empower me with the Holy Spirit and to give me guidance for the years to come for the ministry that God was calling me to. It was quite something and when God prompts me I’ll share it. But what God was telling me to share tonight was the second powerful visit I had from God via the Holy Spirit.

Most people have no conception of the real Hell. Many people have a picture of Hell as a place where all of their friends will be and it will just be one big party. Over the years I’ve lost count of the number of people I’ve shared Jesus with that have told me “All of my friends are going to be in Hell, I might as well be too.” The truth is that Hell is a very real place and if people knew what Hell is really like they would be crying out to Jesus to save them.

One night God gave me a dream, a vision if you will of what Hell is really like. This is what I saw. I will follow this with Bible verses to confirm what I am sharing here. I was awakened in my dream to see people falling. These people never stopped falling. These same people as they were falling were screaming out for two reasons. The first was because as they were falling, they were falling and tumbling through darkness so dark that no natural light could penetrate it and they were terrified. People were also screaming because of the intense, searing heat. This heat was so intense that it continually melted the skin off of their bodies.

As they were falling and screaming they had to suck in air so they could scream. But every time they sucked in air they sucked in the gaseous form of sulfuric acid from the smoke of the burning sulfur. Sulfuric acid is better known as battery acid. Every time they drew a breath of this sulfuric acid it would immediately totally consume them from the inside out in excruciating pain from the chemical burns.

I just stood there in bewilderment as countless people tumbled through the darkness. I saw that every one of these people that were tumbling by had the same fait. People were screaming in agony, having their skin melt off of their bodies all the while being burned not only from the outside but from the inside too. But after seeing all of that, God showed me something even worse.

I saw a light penetrating this darkness. This light was a direct beam. It was not deflected and it hit every person square in the face. This light was a pure white light and it was not natural in origin. I looked at the light and I immediately knew where this light came from. This light came from the Lamb of God. I was told something that to this day I can not fathom or understand. I was told that the pain that is caused by this light is due to people seeing they are separated from Jesus and is spiritual in nature. This pain is far worse then the physical pain that I described above.

I turned and walked away. The reason that I didn’t understand the separation from God is due to me not being separated from God. I know Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I was told to remember this that I was just shown. At this point I returned to my sleep. When I awake the next morning I knew that I had been shown something profound that night and that dream, that vision would play a powerful role in my life for the rest of my days.

What does the Bible have to say about Hell? Here’s three scriptures for you.

Revelation 20:10
Then the Devil, who betrayed them, was thrown into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Revelation 20:11-15 The Final Judgment
And I saw a great white throne, and I saw the one who was sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God's throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to the things written in the books, according to what they had done. The sea gave up the dead in it, and death and the grave gave up the dead in them. They were all judged according to their deeds. And death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death--the lake of fire. And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Psalm 9:17 The Hebrew word for grave here is Sheol which means Hell.
The wicked will go down to the grave.
This is the fate of all the nations who ignore God.

I hope and pray that those that have read this are a little bit more moved towards Jesus. I pray that those that read this that know Jesus as their Lord and Savior will learn to trust Him more so they can share their faith. I also pray that those that read this that do not have a personal relationship with Jesus will be moved to seek Him and to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Be Blessed!

BIG SCOTT