The Christmas Sweater

A few weeks ago I was in Wal-Mart and decided to look at books to see if anything caught my eye that I might would want to read. There were many selections, one being the Twilight series that everyone is going crazy for. The other that caught my eye was the new book by Glenn Beck, "The Christmas Sweater." I decided on the Beck book. I just felt like it was going to give me something more than the love lives of vampires that Twilight would give.

Glenn Beck is one of my favorite people on television today. The Glenn Beck Program that airs on CNN is one of the better things on television. He interviews a wide range of people in the public eye today. I think what I like best about his program is that he is not afraid to speak about his faith in Christ and we all know in the Hollywood set that is so taboo. Therefore, I knew that even though this book was a short read it would have some meat to it.

This book was a life experience for me. Things that are touched on in this book are places I have been in my life. I know we have all been in those "cornfields" ( you have to read the book to know what I am talking about). There is one quote in the book by one of the characters that I think struck me the most.

"At some point you have to realize that everything happens for a reason. It is up to you to find that reason, learn from it, and let it take you to the place you're supposed to be-not just where you have ended up. You can either complain about how hard your life is, or you can realize that only you are responsible for it. You get to choose:Am I going to be happy or miserable? And nothing will ever change that."

I think sometimes I forget this and I have to remind myself, "You can't do this on your own, no one is meant to do this on their own." We are meant to do it with the help of Jesus Christ, the son of God.

So as we gather with our families today and open our gifts remember the greatest gift was given to us by our loving Father in Heaven. It is the only true gift ever given to all and yet opened by so few. It is the gift of redemption and atonement and it sits largely untouched by so many. We are so busy with our lives during the season that we miss the true meaning of it. It is what that infant, boy, and then perfect man did at the end of His ministry that makes the birth so special.

Without His death, the birth is meaningless

So with this gift that Christ has given us, what will we do with it? Do we open that gift, look at it and say, "Oh, that's nice" and then push it to the side? When your day of judgement comes and you have been one of those that have pushed the gift of Salvation to the side are you prepared to stand at His feet and see Him with a hurt look in His eyes as he asks, "Is that the gift I gave you?" As Glenn Beck says, "Pick up your redemption. Cherish it. Wear it. Share it. It has the power to transform lives. It has transformed mine."

MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIENDS!!! MAY GOD BLESS US ALL.

Hayden's Last Day

Hayden and Mrs. Trent. She is a great teacher that Hayden and Zach

both had for 2nd grade.
Crazy 2nd grade boys


Hayden showing off his gingerbread house masterpiece

Well the time came for Hayden's last day of school at Shallowater. He seems excited about going to Frenship. It has been a great change for Zach so I hope it is the same for Hayden. We will always be grateful for the time that they spent there. We made some good friends and we will be keeping up with lots of kids from there as they grow.

Do You Have Facebook?

I was all prepared to blog about something else today until I read a message I received on Facebook. It was from one of my childhood friends, Amber. We found each other on Facebook a few weeks ago as I have found several of my other childhood friends.

She had made a comment about being in the hospital with her mother and that things didn't look good. I left a message for her to find out what was wrong with her mother. I turns out that her mother is very ill with colon cancer according to the message I received today. This struck a cord with me.

In my primary school days, Amber and I were very good friends. We spent a large amount of time with each others families. Once in high school we grew apart as boys and activities drew us different directions. I really can't tell you when I saw her last. Maybe graduation, maybe our 10year class reunion, not sure. Even though it will soon be 20 years since we graduated from high school, receiving that message about her mom stirred some emotion in me. She sent her phone number to me and wants advice about what is going on with her mom. It is amazing after 20yrs, we still have a connection and concern for each other. I am also discovering this with many of my classmates. To think, even with all the evil that can go along with it, if not for Facebook, we would probably not have made the connection.

New Link for Tanner

Sorry that I haven't updated in awhile. I've been under the weather a bit. For those of you keeping up with Tanner Cook that has been a care page set up for him. Go to http://www.carepages.com and it his care page is Tanner24. If you never have visited carepages you will have to go through a brief registration process. There is some great info on him. He seems to be doing much better. Thanks for the prayers, we can tell they have made the difference.

Continue to Pray for Tanner

I just want you guys to continue to pray for Tanner and his family. He is now at Covenant Medical Center. I have alot of second hand information on his condition that I don't feel comfortable posting encase it is not accurate. What I do know is that he did suffer a concussion several weeks ago and then was cleared to play. The doctors do feel that his head trauma is not just from one particular hit but from the accumulation of hits over a period of time. This is a serious situation and we need to lift this family up in prayer.

Seriously, what was he thinking?!?!?!

Yet again, just another reminder of who runs this country, people who have the funds to. Makes me wonder was Gov. Blagojevich the first to try to sell a spot in America's government or did he just happen to be one of the few that got caught.

Just food for thought.

Prayer For Tanner

OK I am at it again, I am here asking for prayers again. This past Saturday night one of the areas outstanding athletes, Tanner Cook, sustained a serious injury during Idalou's playoff football game against Cisco in Snyder.

Tanner suffered a head injury and a C-7 hair-line neck fracture and was airlifted to UMC here in Lubbock. This is a serious injury and would like to ask you guys to take the time to keep Tanner and his family in your prayers. We all know the power of prayer so lets get those prayer chains rolling. Lets pull together for #24.

Thanksgiving Weekend

What a busy Thanksgiving weekend we had. Got a special visit from my nephew Cole. We haven't seen him in quite awhile so it was so good to see him. My boys stuck to him like glue.

Cole and Zach played in Zach's youth group football game, The Turkey Bowl, on Thursday morning
This is my favorite picture of the weekend. Zach enjoyed having Cole here. He will be moving closer after the first of the year. He will be as close as Snyder instead of the Dallas area. Hopefully we will get to see him more. I can't wait.

The rest of our weekend continued to be busy. Friday night we went and watched the Frenship Tigers continue their trek to the state championship when they beat Denton Ryan. It was a good revenge game. Denton Ryan knocked Frenship out of the playoffs in 2002 back in the Kendal Briles' days. They gear-up against Denton Guyer at Jones SBC stadium here in Lubbock Saturday at 2:00. We will see if they can pull it out.

On Saturday we continued our football quest. We went to the Tech game. We had seats that faced the sun so of course we got a little sun-burned. We only stayed until half-time, not because Tech was playing so poorly(which they were) but because the youngest, Hayden, had just had enough football. To be honest it was much nicer watching the rest of the game at home. I am glad Tech got it together and pulled out the win. Wonder what bowl game we will draw.

Sunday ended with church and lunch with friends and then me returning to work that night. All in all it was a nice weekend.