It's Tuesday Already?

What a day filled with mixed emotion. Yesterday was Memorial Day. We are to offer our gratitude to the men and women in uniform. And to offer more than that to the families and loved ones of the solders that will never come home. The ones that have given the ultimate sacrifice. Just so we can have all the freedoms we are granted from the Constitution and Bill pf Rights of our great country. I salute you and THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO!

Well, I've made it a week since my surgery. I got my stitches out today. The doctor said everything looks good bit I can tell you know it still doesn’t feel that good. He tried to hurt me while I was in his office today. He pressed on all the incisions and squeezes a bunch of stuff out of them. It really didn’t feel good. But I did survive. My son was in the room watching so I couldn’t be a baby. I got to see what it looked like after all the stitched were out. Well, all but one. I discovered a few minutes ago that the nurse missed one stitch so I’ll call them tomorrow and figure out what we will have to do about it.

It seems that I have some new opportunities ahead of me in the near future. Pray that I follow the right and necessary path to do what God intends for me. I’ll give more detail later. I am not sure I have all the details at the moment.

See you soon.

MS

Where we are now!!!

OK! Relay for Life was a huge success. The local relay I was at raised over $432,000.00 toward cancer research.

The band played a great set. We had some problems but they were worked out by the time we finished our second song. We are working on a new date in early June. I’ll let you know as soon as we have something solid.

Now just a quick update to let you know what has been happening. I had surgery Tuesday. It wasn’t major. I had a couple of places that were skin cancer that the doctors wanted to remove. Everything went as planned (other than the pain). I had planned not to hurt and that didn’t happen. The doctor said he didn’t expect results back on the stuff he sent off for about two weeks. I go early next week to get the stitches out. I hope all of the swelling is gone by then. It will be nice to get to fully wash my face again. With that said things are getting back to normal. I went back to work today and it went pretty well. I was tired but everything seemed to go well.

I’ll write more later so check back soon.

It's Time to Relay!!!

I pray that you have a servant’s heart. I have been talking about Relay for Life for a couple of months now. It is a cause that is important to me. I have lost too many family members to this menace. Most closely I lost two grand parents and my only aunt on my father’s side of the family as well as an uncle and some very close friends. You may not feel cancer as important, that is fine, but find your cause and show your passion. There is something you hold dear to heart. Give it your all and let the world see God in you.

I am headed out to Dooley Field for the night. I hope to see you there. I'll post some stuff next week about Relay for Life and the Band. Have a great night and if you are at home I hope you don't sleep very well, knowing I'm up and running around the Relay area in Greer. Relllllllaaaaaaaayyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its here! Its here. The time is here!!!

This is my second attemot at this post. I hit the wrong button on my mouse and lost everything I had typed. So her goes...

Are you ready to Relay?!?!?!?!?! Tomorrow night (May 16th) at Dooley Field in Greer. Of course there are others taking place at the same time but this one has one awesome band playing. If you see us play we will know you are going out of your way to hear us. Then again lots of people are planning to be at the field all night so if that is the case we will ignore that and assume you are there just to hear us.

If you don't have plans to be there; Make them! If you have other plans you need to get your priorities straight and change them so you can be at Relay for Life in Greer.

Hope to see you there!!!

It’s time to get dirty

Last Sunday my pastor spoke about the vision of our church. This is a topic he holds dear to his heart and speaks on it frequently. I agree with the idea he has of keeping that topic at the forefront of our time together. He always has a different twist to this topic. Today he stated that our church’s vision is to get out side the walls and go on a man hunt for people we know do not have a personal relationship with God. The mission for that manhunt is to do what we can to help them develop that relationship. The best way to do that is to develop a relationship with them. It is much easier to lead someone that trusts you than a stranger. As you can see that is a goal we all should share. Since I have heard several messages on the vision of our church I want to bring several thoughts I have been carrying around together at this time. As I stated before we will have a better chance of helping someone we have a stronger relationship with than someone we just happened to spot through the plate glass window of a restaurant. But if it is someone that does not have a relationship with God then it is going to take some work. You know that to help someone that doesn’t have that special relationship you may have to get into it up to your elbows. A roll up your sleeves and get to work kind of attitude. When you roll up your sleeves and get into something up to your elbows you are going to get dirty. Why are you going to get dirty? Because people, all people, live lives that are dirty. All the problems and bad decisions and just plain stupid stuff they do us dirty. There has only been one man to walk the earth and live a clean life. Jesus! Now keep this in mind, when you are helping someone deal with life’s issues it is going to get dirty. You must be willing to stay with them through thick and thin. Most times things will get worse before they get better. Why? Everyone will go through that stage when they want to straddle the fence. They will choose to follow God and do the things they know aren’t right. It is so hard to give up good friends or things you like or like to do. What ever the issue this stage will raise its ugly head. There may be less of an addictive behavior in this stage but more times than not this stage will be repeated so many times you may want to walk away. What would have happened if Jesus had walked away. Nothing! These things don’t happen over night. Another thing, you must be willing to accept is to be there after everything in the plan has fallen into place. Suppose you are successful in building a relationship with someone, they put that trust in you and you get them to church. Wow, you are doing great, but you aren’t done yet. Remember, you are in for the duration. God has a plan for you and you must follow it through. It isn’t over just because God has entered their life or they have started following the path God has placed before them. You are a leader. You may have to hold their hand like a young child learning to walk. It starts with assisted baby steps and over time they begin to balance themselves better. It may take a long period of time before they are running and you can’t keep up with them. The dirt does not go away. Over time they will not be as dirty and you will not get as dirty and you will learn you have developed a relationship that is longer than life. I will probably expand more since I only dealt with one topic.

Just a side note, Relay For Life is nest week. Be there or be square. Our band will be on stage sometime between 11:30 pm 5/16 and 1:00 am 5/17. If you happen to get your nap in and can drag yourself out that late at night I’d love to see you there. We plan to rock the house.

What a Week!

Hey Guys! I have actually been working on the blog, I just haven’t posted anything I have written. The time will be right soon and I will put it out here for you to read. Anyway, the message this past Sunday was about the vision of the church. It was presented as the vision of our church but also so that everyone there would know it is not only the vision for our church but all churches. Today Cliff’s post Vision has it's side effects was so good I wanted you to have a chance to read it. Just so you know I am suffering from a lot of side effects of the church’s vision this week. It has been a very frustrating week. I am about a day behind on sleep and of course I am posting this well after midnight. But you are worth it since you are here reading it. Well, I guess I will post at least one of the entries I was working on reciently tomorrow. It should be a prelude to this post but I can mix it up if I choose to.

Hey, I have a birthday this week. Do you remember when it is? I’ll be a few years older than 12 this year but not too many.

My routine is being mixed up a little this week. It is getting close to Relay for Life and the band is practicing more than we have in the past month. We are doubling our schedule this week and next. Of course Relay is next Friday night and Saturday morning. If you want to hear the band have a little fun come to Dooley Field in Greer about the time you would be going to bed and hang out a couple of hours and you may catch us. We are supposed to take the stage some time between Friday night and Saturday morning. But if that is too late for you check back soon. I will be letting you know about something coming soon at Furman if we get the details all worked out. Thanks for reading but I’m going to bed now. See you soon.