Shannon's Blog

Forgetting to Remember

2006-12-01T13:15:00.000-08:00

"I forgot to remember" is what Hannah, a girl in my youth group told me about three months ago. She cracks me up anyway, but that night when she said this I laughed for about three minutes. Apparently she was so caught up in the day that she "forgot to remember" to do something. When I listen to "Hand that Holds the World" by Starfield I feel like this saying. The first words are, "No greater joy, is there than this, to know for what we're meant to live". Or it could say for Who we're meant to live. Or as the Lord is reminding me, for who we are to submit to so He can live through us. But I don't think Starfield could put that much into one line. The point is this: "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days", declares the Lord, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying 'Know the Lord,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the Lord, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." The same God who spoke the world into existence and the same God who holds our lives in His hands and the same God who gives each of us each breath we breathe is the same God who writes His laws on our hearts and calls us His own. We can get so caught up in the busyness of this world and the loudness of everyday that we can "forget to remember" whose we are. There is absolutely no greater joy in this world than to be able to glorify our might God and King. There is also no greater joy than to sit at His feet and let Him hold us and love on us and be called His own. We are forgiven, loved, cared for, protected, and the list goes on and on and on and on and on....and on! Remember.....

Getting Married!!

2006-10-03T08:04:00.000-07:00

A beautiful bride to be and the most wonderful blessing Father has placed in my life! Sorry this is so late, but things have been crazy this past week and a half! Well for those of you who don't know....Audrey and I are engaged!!! The Lord has blessed my life far more than words can express through my relationship with Audrey. Patience and character has been built in both of us through the dating process, but now we are finally going to officially get married! The story goes like this.....

Saturday September 23rd at 9:30 am I picked Audrey up from her house. She wasn't ready yet, but I had planned for that so I waited and we finally left about 10:00 from her house. We then traveled to Andalusia, AL. Little town, but they have this great hole in the wall place called the crows nest. She loves it and I had never eaten there, so I wanted to surprise her with a great meal. We then traveled to Blue Lake camp, which is where Audrey met the Lord at 10 years old and it is also where we met on October 16, 2000. Needless to say it is a special place for both of us. There is a little chapel there called Lambuth Chapel where Audrey has always wanted to get married....but seating would be a problem unless we wanted 10 people at our wedding....but the Lord placed it on my heart about 2 years ago that this was the place we would get engaged. We walked in and I could feel His calming presence, which I needed because I was a nervous wreck! So we walked in and sat down and I got my guitar out and we started worshiping the Lord together! How amazing it was to be able to worship our amazing Father with my future wife!! About five songs in I asked her if I could pray....she loves to pray so she immediately agreed! I began to pray for us and the Lord told me to read Gen. 2. And many of you know that this is the chapter where God says that it is not good for man to be alone and the he would make a "helper fit for Adam". Not just any helper would do, but a perfect fit for Adam. I was so excited that the Lord led me to this verse becasue it is exactly what needed to be read. So I was reading this aloud prayfully and then looked at Audrey and began to express, in words that could never express fully, my love for her. I told her that the Lord has created us to be each others "perfect fit". Not any helper would do Audrey....but the perfect fit would only do. I told her that I had loved her from the first day I ever saw her and even before that. He, before the foundations of the world, designed us to be together. So in the middle of this I told her that I would be honored if she would be my wife....pulled out the ring and asked her to be my wife!!! She said...."Really...Right now????!!!!" And then said ABSOLUTELY!! It was priceless...she was so surprised and we began to pray and thank the Lord so much for His faithfulness to us!! The Lord wasn't done yet however.....we then traveled to Panama City and met with Misty Hicks, Audrey's mentor through high school and some of college....it turned out that Misty's two sisters, mother and nephew were all there at Panama City as well. So as a huge blessing and huge gift of grace from only the Lord....Misty's family took Audrey and I out to this AMAZING french resturaunt in Santa Rosa Beach and we celebrated and had the most amazing time!!! The Lord planned it perfectly!! The day couldn't have been any more amazing!! To end the day we went back to Misty's house and they prayed for Audrey and I.....Wow!! I am so thankful to the Lord that this is the way He began our lives together!! What an amazing day...what a wonderful gift of grace!!! How amazing our Father is! I can't wait for Audrey Metcalf to be my Wife! The Lord has poured on His grace for sure!!!

2006-08-26T09:58:00.000-07:00

Sitting here in Dakota coffee company listening to "Purest Place" by Watermark I am reminded of God's faithfulness to us. Moving to a new place is hard, especially when either you don't know anyone in the town real well or there is no one your own age to hang with or fellowship with. Both of which I am experiencing right now. The Lord has been gracious to me in letting me have this job as a youth pastor in Enterprise AL. I am so greatful and thankful for it. It comes with its frustrations however. One of which is being lonely. Audrey is only 25 min. away, however, the rising cost of gas prices is taking its toll on my pocket. Also, on a day like today, when she is at a baby shower for a friend I am stuck sitting in Dakota. I could be at my apt. but where is the fun in that right? I was reading John Piper's "Taste and See", highly recommend it by the way, and something he wrote about struck me. He was talking about the life of David Brainerd. He was a missionary to Native Americans in the North East during the 18th century. He died at the age of 29 and most of his life he spent depressed or sick. No matter how tough his life got however he always thanked God for what He had given him. Such as the day he was living at that moment. He was so thankful for being able to breathe and share Jesus with the Native Americans. Here is a quote from Brainerd...."Life in the wilderness is hard. Most of my diet consists of boiled corn, hasty pudding, etc. I lodge on a bundle of straw, and my labor is extremely difficult: I have little appearance of success to comfort me...I have taken many considerable journeys....and yet God has never suffered one of my bones to be broken...though I have often been exposed to cold and hunger in the wilderness....have frequently been lost in the woods...Blessed be the God that has preserved me." This man's life was tougher than most any of us will ever have to expereince. He lived depressed and sick and very lonely for the majority of his short life yet He was always focused on the giver of his life. He never complained that life was hard...he simply rested in the fact that God gave him life in the first place. Many of us are in tough spots. Spots of lonliness and uncertainity and some of us are at the end of our ropes. The writer of Hebrews, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says, "Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2. Often times our lives don't make sense. With our plans in mind life rarely makes sense. But trusting in the grace and faithfulness of our amazing God makes ALOT of sense. Looking and gazing at Jesus....with the end goal of our lives which is spending eterenity face to face with our WONDERFUL Lord and Savior makes life bearable in the lowest of times. William Cowper wrote these amazing words.....

"Judge not the Lord by feeble sense
But trust Him for His grace.
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face."

Praise God that He knows the plans He has for us....and we can trust Him. Praise God that He has gives us the opportunity to Look to Him for our source of Life....when life makes sense and when it doesn't.

New Journey!

2006-07-27T08:38:00.000-07:00

Hey guys I am soooo sorry for the length of time with no blogging, but finally I have a free moment. The past two months have been a whirlwind of moving around and desparately seeking a job. As always our Father is faithful, and as always He surprises me again! I am a youth pastor in Enterprise AL! Whoa! I am so excited and blessed to be here at Enterprise UMC....I have some amazing youth and some phenominal adult leaders! I am still going to be taking seminary classes online and eventually going to go back up to Louisville to finish, with Audrey of course! We are doing great by the way, the Lord has continued to pour on His blessings on us! More to come with all that He is doing with this ministry! Oh by the way please be praying that the Lord will pour on His truth in a mighty way!! Lots of these Kids know about the Lord, but that is where it ends. My heart is to see these kids know the Lord intimately and have a intimate relationship with Him!! Thanks guys and I will talk to you all soon!!

In Him,

Shannon

Still waiting...

2006-05-31T08:05:00.000-07:00

The waiting game is great....unless you are the one waiting. But hey, what else is there to do but wait. Well that's all I Got right now....

God's merciful ordering

2006-05-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

"The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps" Proverbs 16:9

Folks, my mind has been planning alot lately. But the depths of God's mercy orders each of my steps. Thanks to God's mercy, I am now living in Dothan, AL. Many of you know that I was in Louisville, KY this past year attending The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, which I am still going to be doing in Dothan, but online for the next year or so. And I am sure that all of you know that Audrey Metcalf and I have been dating for a very long time! So in God's mercy He directed me here to speed up the process of marriage between us! I am hopefully going to propose very soon, that will be another blog story for sure! So as I sit here in an obscure coffee shop, missing my friends in Louisville very much, and wondering what in the world God is up too, I can't help but know that His mercy is so evident through this move. I realize that on my own I have nothing and am nothing. And I also realize that our God is sovereign. So sovereign that He knows what each molecule will do before it even does it. And He knew that this move would happen and I trust that He has me in the palm of His hand, as He says in the book of Isaiah. So I am thankful to Him for His beautiful mercy to me. I realize that I make lots of plans. But I so often don't consider that the Lord is the one ordering my steps. "Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead , you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that." But as it is, you boast in your arrogance ; all such boasting is evil." James 4:13-15. I so often forget to remember that if the Lord wills then it will be. Because that is the only way life will happen for any of us: if the Lord wills it! So thanks be to God for this move to Dothan and for the somewhat disarray of my life! I also trust that He will work all things together for the good who love the Lord! So here is the little recap of my crazy moving life in the past two weeks!

Infinately Awesome::Intimately Approachable

2006-03-25T12:18:00.002-08:00

"After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice which I heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this". At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a thorone stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven sprits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,
"Holy, holy , holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!"
And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
"Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."

Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?" And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, "Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals." And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are seven spirits of God went out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying,
"Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth."

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads and myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" And I heard every creature in haeavn and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Revelation 4 and 5

Infinately Awesome::Intimately Approachable

2006-03-25T12:18:00.001-08:00

Faithfully Pursued

2006-03-06T17:26:00.000-08:00

We are SO faithfully pursued! How beautiful is that...I love God! How amazing is He! Just wanted to write that! Oh and this...."The Lord Reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! Clouds and thick darkeness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around him. His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory." Psalm 97:1-6 Wow...now that is our God!!! He is soooo extremely Rock'n!!! Praise God!! He is glorious!!!

Remember When Part 2

2006-02-19T15:13:00.000-08:00

THANK YOU ALL FOR ENCOURAGING MY HEART ALONG MY JOURNEY! I HOPE THESE PICTURES ENCOURAGE YOU TOO!

The Beauty of the Lord

2006-02-17T09:17:00.000-08:00

This picture is amazing!! I love how I always talk about God's beauty and not really meditate on it. But this picture really show's His AWESOMENES!! What a glorious God we know!! Psalm 119 is a Psalm that I encourage all of you to read! I am currently taking a class here at school called Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. I used to not like the words spiritual discipline because I felt like I was being mangled by Legalism, but I was way off!! Spiritual Disciplines are so necessary!!!! I have been encouraged to read the word daily and pray daily and journal daily...to what end?? For the purpose of Godliness!! To know Him....just a few minutes ago I was reading through some of my books for class and Father reminded me to just spend some time with Him! Praise Him for tapping me on the heart and asking me to be with Him! So back to Psalm 119....Okay so I am reading through this wonderful beautiful Psalm and every word that is written speaks to my heart, and I am sure it will for you as well! So verse 41 starts out with..."Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise; then shall i have an answer for him who taunts me." Wow!!!! Your steadfast Love!! Steadfast love is love that is unwavering and unshaken!! Just medidtate on that verse today! Allow this verse to seep into your mind and heart and let it sit there and simmer in your heart. Just thinking about God's unwavering steadfast love brings joy and peace and so much freedom to my heart! Wow!!! God....wow!!! Let Him blow you away!! This Psalm is all about clinging to God and it shows us our desperate need for Him....the Psalmist knows he is dead in the water and nothing without God and His promises and words and truth and grace and love and mercy and peace and comfort and so on and so on and so on....just got nothing without Him!! This Psalmist is speaking what all of us feel and know to be true!! Thank you Father for your steadfast love....thank you that it never wavers!!! Praise you Abba for the life you give to us!!! You are our salvation...our salvation that gives us the answer to the world, flesh and enemy!!

I Timothy 4:7 "Train yourselves for godliness" Father help us see our desperate need for you...Father cause us to train ourselves for the purpose of Godliness!!

Remember When

2006-02-15T12:44:00.000-08:00

Remember when life was simpler. Remember when life was not near as complicated...it's funny, the older we get the more hectic and crazy life gets. It has been a rough start to this semester for me....which is one reason why I havn't blogged in like two months, but through the encouragment of someone, not naming names, "Patrick Kuhlers", I am blogging now. I found this picture of the five amazing roommates and friends I used to live with a very long time ago. I talk to two of these guys on a semi regular basis still, but all five of them have had a huge impact on my life and they all have pushed me toward the Lord and in many ways still do. I am so thankful for the Lord and His sovereignty. I am thankful that He has brought me to this stage in my life where life is tough. Remembering something that April and Matt used to tell me all of the time...."God will cause you to get to the end of yourself". He is continuing to do that in my life. Praise God for his amazing compassion, love, mercy, grace, love He has for us. Right now life is hard, but right now Father is good. Right now school, work, money, my cold are bringing me down, but right now Father is my source of life and joy!!! Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him that He is continually giving me the strength I need to make it the next second and breath the next breath! He is the author and giver of Life!! He is glorious and He is amazing....He placed every star in the sky and knows them by name!! He created the heavans and earth out of nothing!! What an amzaing God we worship!! Thank you Father.....Thank you!!

Called to be Holy

2006-01-11T07:41:00.000-08:00

I love how the Lord told the writers of the Bible to use such solid words like: Purified, ransomed earnestly, imperishable, abiding...Sitting with these words in 1 Peter 1:13-25 the Lord captured my heart as He so often does to us Beloved. He captured my heart with this truth! We are His....and because we are His He has enabled us to be Holy!!! Not on our own accord, but of His. His strength. His power. Because of Him we are ransomed, imperishable, Holy, Purified. "Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God...And this word is the good news that was preached to you." I remember listening to April teach through a lesson in study one about the good news. She stated that the word gospel literally means..."the great, glad, wonderful news that makes you jump for joy"....whoa! How amazing that we have this news. This is the "news" that Peter is talking about....the news that we are ransomed from our own junk/sin!! This is the news that Jesus is talking about in John when he says that he comes to bring life and bring it to the full! To the full....Life through Christ is full....God is good...he has ransomed us from ourselves and our sin...He will never fail us and never forsake us....I love Grace Campus Ministries and Father has reminded of the great work that He is doing on Auburn's campus...One more thing that I learned through Study One is..."I am loved without Caution or regret"....How beautiful are those words...How Beautiful is our God!

The greatest Hero Moment...Ephesians 2:1-7

2006-01-10T10:50:00.000-08:00

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind...

I love movies. Especially ones that have a hero. The hero moment in a movie is absolutely AMAZING!! Lately I have been addicted to 24. This crazy action packed show that is absolutely intense every hour that it is on TV. So my roommate just got the first three seasons and I have been glued to the TV for hours on end. The main character is Federal Agent Jack Bauer. In each season he is the one who has to save the world...and trust me without Jack Bauer the world would have been blown up by nuclear bombs and WWIII would have begun. There are times in this show that Jack has to make a decision that simply is RIDICULOUS. I mean the guy has to constantly choose to "DO WHATEVER IT TAKES" to make sure the world is safe from blowing up. At the end of each episode you are left hanging....seriously hanging. I am glad that I have the seasons on DVD, because I would not be able to wait 7 days to find out what happens next. Fortunately at the beginning of each episode Jack saves the day agian.....I mean Hollywood and TV has made billioins off of hero moments. William Wallace, Maximus, Maverick, Robin Hood, Zorro, Sydney Bristo, Achilles, Laura Croft, Indiana Jones....all of these guys and gilrs have one thing in common. They save the day. They do whatever it takes to save the day.

Even with all of these Heros acts of service to save lives and the world there is one hero who stepped in to overshadow any person's idea of what a hero actually looks like. In the verse above Paul gives us a description of what we were. What we were doing, what we were in, what our state was. We were dead. No life was found in us. Sin was all we could do. We didn't have this blank slate to begin with. We were nothing. All we could do was mess up. We had nothing and were nothing.

"and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind....."

If this were a movie, the dramatic theme music would begin to play soft, then louder, louder, and louder as the hero steps on the scene....and in steps the most amazing Hero moment of all time....

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together in Christ-by grace you have been saved-and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."

WOW!!!! That's it. That is the greatest defining hero moment ever. Jesus Stepped in on the scene and saved man from sin. Saved them from death and themselves!! He is the groom who gave His life for His bride. I forget this so much....so much I take this for granted. Praise God that He is so faithful to us....that even when we live life as though other hero's, or should I say, other false hero's are better....He is there! He has saved us....He is faithful to us! We are His....and He is ours! Savoring, meditating, and embracing this truth of who our God is and what He has done on our behalf brings our hearts closer to Him and causes us to fall deeper in love with Him!!

All praise and Honor be to the greates Hero of all time....

Worthy

2005-11-22T07:39:00.000-08:00

"Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand." Psalm 95:1-7

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O most High; to declare your steadfast love in themorning, and your faithfulness by night, to the music of lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre. For you, O Lord have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy. How great are your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep!" Psalm 92:1-5

"Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations; his marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength! Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts! Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness, tremble before him, all the earth! Say among the nations, "The Lord reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the poeples with equity." Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness." Psalm 96

"The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around. His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory. All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols; worship him, all you gods! Zion hears and is glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoice, because of your judgments, O Lord. For you, O lord, are most high over all the earth; you are exlated far above all gods. O you who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!" Psalm 97

Starbucks vs. The World

2005-11-19T20:30:00.000-08:00

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

It's funny how when the Lord reveals to my heart my desparate need for Him, and I begin to understand more of the "gaze of my soul" on Christ He brings a day like today up. Unfortunately we had a mishap at work today that caused the store to close at 11:30am. For you non starbucks goers, that's waaaay too early and actually causes some of our not so patient patrons/customers to be upset at us. Needless to say it was a rough day with patience and self control on my own part. So my flesh came out today as usual and the Lord used this day once more to continue to teach me to depend on Him with everything, especially my own thought life and attitude. Today also brought about another interesting issue with a fellow employee...this guy is very philosophical in nature and he was wondering about why I beleived what I did. It was a tough conversation and throughout the whole thing I had absoutely zero answeres to his questions. It was a tough conversation and I so desparately wanted him to see his need for Christ and tell him that Christ is ALL he needs!! I guess it all goes back to what Father is showing me now....He truely is the vine and I am a branch connected to Him....abiding in Him brings forth life and fruit!! Wow...Our Father is absolutely amazing!!! I am so thankful that He knows our need for Him and He knows that we can't do anything on our own...thank God that He has to be the one that does it! I saw first hand today that left up to my own devices and self I am completely empty....

Thank you Lord for being the everything we desire....

Intimate Savior

2005-11-18T13:48:00.000-08:00

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us" Romans 8.18

I love this picture of John. You can just see satisfaction on his face. He is satisfied to just be with His savior. He is smilinig and his hand is on his heart and I just know that he is resting in his Saviors arms. This picture reminds me of how we are to be resting in Jesus' arms. Today was a rough day...I realized that my time with Jesus has been little or none. It's funny because I am in seminary now and I am surrounded by "Godliness". Surrounded by books from famous authors and surrounded by nationally and internationally known men of God who are amazing men of God. Surrounded by other beleivers who are studying to become leaders in the church, mission field, and many other areas. Surrounded by stuff. But the one thing I have realized on my way home from work today, as I was listening to "How Great is Our God", is that I miss my heavenly Father. Amongst all of the noise of seminary life and all of the shouts of "doings" in the Christian life here, I am missing the most precious amazing intimate life changing savior in my life. My heart longs for more, yet I play xbox or watch a movie. What is up with that? I know I need Him desparately!! I want more of our Father...to know Him intimately and so personally! My heart aches and life has taken on this boring directionless motion. I am so thankful that Father is so intimate with us that more than ministry or "good" things He wants us to simply just Be with Him. To lay prostrate before the creator of the universe, our SAVIOR AND LORD!!! This is where life is found!! Through this we will press on hard through this life! Thank you Father!!!

"Lord, teach me to listen. The times are noisy and my ears are weary with the thousand raucous sounds which continuously assult them. Give me the spirit of the boy Samuel when he said to Thee, "Speak, for thy servant heareth." Let me hear Thee speaking in my heart. Let me get used to the sound of Thy voice, that its tones may be familiar when the sounds of earth die away and the only sound will be the music of Thy speaking voice. Amen." --A.W. Tozer

Sounds of AU vs. Ludacris

2005-11-17T18:19:00.000-08:00

Well in a recent phone call to a really close friend of mine, not naming any names (Patrick Edward Kuhlers) I am under the understanding that Ludacris or however you spell his name is in Auburn tonight....good Luck Luda and God speed my friend. In other news I went to Indiana tonight to eat dinner with some friends. Wow..really good fried chicken and dumplings.....but the downfall was....it was thirty miles away. No rest for the weary I guess. So Pat and I were talking and he brought up a good point....what is a blog anyway? I mean is it a journal? Or a diary? Or just informal emails....He said, and I quote, "I have to feel it out for a while"....good call Patrick....I like your style my friend....

The most confused people ever!!

2005-11-17T13:31:00.000-08:00

It's not every day that these guys are confused...it's just putting up tents that gets them! If you look closely you can see Will's (cowboy hat guy) face....oh yeah, no clue! It's cool though, after this picture we took them out back and taught them how to knit. So they are all good now!

Mango Ice Tea

2005-11-17T10:04:00.000-08:00

Well guys....let's start this off with the Mango Ice Tea at Java Brewing Company seriously may be the best tea in the world. Oh yes, even better than the sweet tea at Veggi's to Go. That previous statement was pretty bold I know but seriously, the tea is amazing. So today was the last day of classes for this semester here at SBTS. Wow and more wow to that fact....New Testament was my final class this morning and it was a doozy...the finals are coming and so are more hours at the Bux for old Shann. So today through the Second of December I will be enjoying many hours at Java and many Huge glasses of the Mango Ice Tea. So here is the Quote of the week for you all: "You teacha me da football?" "I'll teach you what ever you want, just don't eat me". Life is good, the sun is bright and it is a frigid one here in good old Louisville, KY. Hope you all are doing well....talk to you guys later...

Why is it??

2005-11-15T20:54:00.000-08:00

Okay so I have to be honest....I love picking out random titles for my new posts and actually not having anything to say about the titie....like this one for instance...."Why is it??" Yeah, nothing to say about that.....it's just fun! I must say that I am very excited about the comments I am getting....I had no idea that anyone would ever read this thing....okay so Today was a great day other than the tornadoes that came our way tonight....I was waiting for class to start tonight and was abruptly informed that classes were cancelled for the evening due to the weather. Lucky for me I had some cash, so me and some folks went out out to eat....yeah I wore shorts and apparently the high tomorrow is supposedly going to be like forty degrees! I look forward to wearing my nice winter coat...oh yeah and for all of you folks that like snow....we are supposed to be getting some really soon here!! Fun for us!! So that means you are all welcome to come and visit me up here in Louisville....anytime! The Lord is exceptionlly good you guys....tonight I was reading through Colossians and man it was some great stuff....I realize more and more that apart from Christ I have and am nothing....Paul was saying that he is continuing to pray for the Christians in Colosse and praying that they would grow in the wisdom and knowledge of God....what an amazing prayer!!! Wow....growing in the wisdom and knowledge of our Father...the creator of all things.....just resting in the fact that He desires to pour out his wisdom and knowledge on us is rock'n!! Anyways I gotta run now and get in the bed....work and classes are calling my name shortly. Until next time.....

"Our hearts are restless; until they find rest in thee"--Augustine

Java Brewing Company

2005-11-15T09:45:00.000-08:00

Java Brewing Company is the place that I hang out ALL of the time. Usually to do my studying/reading, which turns out to be alot here at Seminary. Anyways....Life is interesting right now. Classes are good and stuff, and so is work, Starbucks again by the way guys. Making coffee for people doesn't exactly bring me too much joy, but it is nice every now and then. I just joined a Church. Ninth and O Baptist Church. Rock'n Church guys...it is a link on my blog. The pastor is my New Testament Professor and he is simply amazing. What a humble man of God and he knows the Word and how to teach from it. So anyways, I am spending Thanksgiving up here in good ole Louisville with some great married couples who asked me to come over and eat with them. I am all for it. I wish i could see my family and Audrey, but unfortunately my money is a little low now. But it's cool, I get to go home for like two weeks during December. Oh and yeah, how bout Patrick and Sarah getting married soon? I am so pumped!! Well not as much as them I am sure but it is the first wedding I have ever been in so it's exciting for me too. Okay so listening to the New David Crowder now and It's really really good....these guys are amazing.....wow the stuff that they hear from the Lord is phenominal. Speaking of the Lord....blessing me every day. I am here and that is all i know for now, but it's cool. I have a great place to live and great friends already! So yeah, it's been great. He is teaching me about the leadership He has placed in my heart.....just pressing the burning desire to lead in some way and not sure how. But I do realize that it will come at some time! Anyways...who ever reads this I hope it encourages you every day.....I hope I get to write in it everyday. Have a wonderful day to all.....

"Our Hearts are restless; until they find rest in thee" --St. Augustine

So I keep truckin

2005-11-15T08:00:00.000-08:00

Well because of a wonderful friend such as Meredith Smith who convinced me to keep going with this blogging world I am going to continue this.....Well for about three months I have been in Louisville, Kentucky at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary....and loving every last second of it! I am learning so much amazing stuff about our Lord! I am learning how to read the Bible more deeply and learning about the History of the early church and all about the New Testament...also some philosphy but that's my least favorite class! Anyways...that's where I am now, so for all of you who do read this know that Kentucky is great! And also check out the Southern Baptist website sometime.... www.sbts.edu It's pretty cool....that's all I have time for now...gotta go study/read....pretty much all I do!

Well I did it...

2005-11-14T18:47:00.000-08:00

Can't beleive that I am blogging now, and it's funny cause maybe no one will ever read it but hey...it's cool! So this is my first ever entry....and could possibley be my last too...weird but that's cool!! We shall see soon.....