UnworthyofHisgrace's Xanga

Where Are You Storing Your Treasure

Fri, 09 May 2008 10:06:44 GMT

I've been thinking of posting some children's sermons I used to do in church years ago. This was always one of my favorites. First though, I'll give you some background on who inspired it. Have any of you ever heard of the late Dr Stephen Olford. What a Godly man and incredible expositor of God's word. He once had a saying that his dad told him when he was in the hospital not long before he died. "Only one life will soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last" That has stuck with me since I was a younger believer in Christ. Here is the link to Olford Ministries International, a ministry he started to equip preachers with preaching the Gospel. This is his profile and how he started the ministry.I won't put anything here,but please go read about this incredible man of God.There may be some of his sermons on there to link to, I haven't looked at the site in detail myself. http://www.olford.org/CC_Content_Page/0,,PTID314886%7CCHID702174%7CCIID,00.html Everytime he preached at South Woods, the spirit moved in my heart. The children's sermon that God layed on my heart was reguarding wealth. I had a nice size rock and a piece of flash paper (a piece of paper that when lit with a flame,burns in a flash). I told the kids that the rock represented everything that we have done on this earth for Christ, (helping others, serving others telling other's about Christ's love, etc.) and the flash paper represented all the material things we had gathered in our life, (cars, boats, houses, TV, and all the things we enjoy with the money we make. The lighter is God's fire of judgement of which ALL things must pass thru. First I lit the lighter and placed the rock over the flame. Of course the flame didn't destroy the rock or hurt it in any way which shows how God views the things we do for Christ's honor and glory. But when I put the flash paper over the flame, POOF, up in a quick flash went all those material things we thought were worth all our time and effort to gain. In God's eyes, these things are worthless. Not that there is anything wrong with having these things, they just shouldn't be our reason to live, our desire if you will. Only what's done for Christ will last the test of God. I did this children's sermon on one of the occasions that Dr Olford preached. It was when the war Desert Storm was in high gear. He used to call me Tiny Tim and when he got up to start preaching after that children's sermon he said, "Well, Tiny Tim launched his own scud missles this morning" There was a little more to the children's sermon, but you should get the jest of it. Here's a pic of me with Dr Olford about 19 or 20 years ago. I was about 29 or 30.

What an awesome man of God this man was. Please go to the link and read about his ministry that still thrives today. It's actually right around the corner from my house What a blessing to have been able to meet this man. May God bless you all this weekend with His marvelous grace as you turn your eyes upon Jesus! Lots of love to you friends!

~Grampy~

The Great White Squirrel Of Kenton, Tn LOL

Tue, 06 May 2008 14:13:01 GMT

EDIT #2: Ok, at the request of Candy, I've changed my song to Ray Stevens "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" This song just cracks me up! I know Squirrel's can REALLY be a pain and can cause all sorts of problems with your house Been there, done that! But these guys are just too cute. I go up to Kenton to inspect houses every few months and these squirrels just amaze me. Get out of the city limits of Kenton and these White squirrels are not found.I haven't read up on it to see why this is, but just one of those weird things in nature. I'll get to the more serious posts later, I just didn't have time to do the one I wanted to, so here is a light hearted post. Here is the sign coming into Kenton, Tn. Think they are proud of their squirrels. There even used to be a statue of a giant White Squirrel I remember seeing but is gone now.

Here are some pics I took last trip of thses squirrels. They were everywhere. Yesterday it was almost dark when I got there, so I didn't see any.

I also did a video and put it on my Youtube if you want to see it. http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=xGUzctwxw6Q

Hopefully soon I'll have the stuff I need for my next post. Hope all is well with everyone. God bless you all!

Grampy

Edit: Here is a pic I took in one of the other towns that just cracked me up.

I don't think a blind hill would scare me, BUT, if I saw one with glasses, I might freak out!

Are You The Same In Person As You Are On Xanga

Fri, 02 May 2008 06:35:24 GMT

This wasn't the next thing I was going to post about,but I've had things happen on here that have gotten me to thinking about it.My last xanga I had that I shut down about a year ago, some people that know me personally said my writing and commenting didn't really sound like me. I wonder how many people really act totally different on xanga than they do in person.I for one really am shy and not that talkative, unless it's someone I know really well and even then it usually has to be a topic I'm passionate about. Weither it's posting and commenting on xanga or chatting on AIM, I guess I feel like I can be the person I WANT to act like but too shy to be in person with people I don't know. Also I'm a slow thinker myself, so writing on xanga and commenting or even chatting on AIM make it easier to say what I want to say because I have more time to think instead of one on one in person where when talking and the moment to say something slips away before you can say what you wanted to say. Is anyone else that way or am I the only one.Then there are these people that are rude,crude,mean and just plain obnoxious on here. Is that how they are in person or is that just how they want to be but hide it in person? I guess some are just like that PERIOD.

I heard a country song a while back I hadn't ever heard and haven't heard it since, but I think it was Brad Paisley it was something like "I'm Cool On The Internet" Don't know if thats the name of the song, but it made me laugh and made me think how true that is in a lot of folks minds when they are on here. Anyway, a lot of you may think I'm an outgoing guy and maybe even funny to be around, but really you would find me pretty boring (ask my wife) Well, this was just something I wondered about and if anybody else ever thought "Is this how I act in person" and is this how I want people to think I act like? Just some thoughts, what do you all think? Do you act the same way on xanga as you do in person? Have a great weekend friends! God bless you all!

~Grampy~

Dealing With Bitterness and Resentment

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 20:31:29 GMT

Bitterness, we ALL struggle with it. The thing about it is do you let it take root in your life. Everyone gets mad at someone for something, lots of times it's something really quite silly and meaningless. But there are those times when someone really hurts you deep down and that root of bitterness takes hold of your life. Your bitterness towards that person takes over your life, even though you don't realize it. All it can take is for someone to say or do something similar to what happened to you and BAM that bitterness sprouts right on up. It can ruin relationships, cause others to not want to be around you and you might not even realize it. That bitterness will carry itself to every friendship/relationship you ever have. You do have a choice to make in the matter though. Forgiveness is SOOOO much more healthy than bitterness. Living with forgiveness in your heart won't let bitterness take root. Bitterness will destroy everything in it's path, forgiveness restores everything in it's path.

Resentment is a lot the same thing, but a little different in other ways. I've heard folks be so resentful towards others simply because they wanted this certain thing to happen to them, but instead it happens to a friend, or even a family member. They bad mouth that person saying mean things, just because something good happened in their life and they think it should happen to them and not that other person. Do you know people like this? I know MANY! That is the height of selfishness in my book. Resentment so takes over your thoughts that you can't even SEE when something good DOES happen to you. You are so caught up in anger, EVERYTHING makes you angry. Such a sad way to live a life. If you want to BE happy, be happy for others when God blesses other's lives. That may be what He is waiting on to bless your life. Be happy for other's when they are prosperous and good things happen to them, it'll change your whole attitude about living.

I just want to exhort everyone who has lived in bitterness, live in forgiveness. You will be SOOO pleasantly surprised at how living with a forgiving heart changes your whole outlook on life. For me, the only way to be able to TRULLY forgive is thru Christ. He has shown the ultimate forgiveness in forgiving us of our sins. I know what it feels like to carry bitterness around with you everywhere. It's raised it's ugly head in my life many times, only now because of Christ, I see it's head pop up when I get angry about something and it doesn't take root any longer. Only Christ can pull that bitterness out by the root, you can't do it yourself, as hard as you may try it just keeps coming back.

Live with the freedom of forgiveness folks, that way YOU can be happy in ALL things. This wasn't quite the post I was going to do, but it's what came out. Just something thats been on my heart for a while and really started hitting home while I was away from Xanga for that 40 days. I thought about a lot of things, this was one of them. Sorry I'm not the eliquent writer to whoo everyone, but it's from the heart none the less! May you all have a blessed and forgiving week this week my xanga friends! God bless you all with what HE see's fit!

~Grampy~

Charlie Bit Me

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:27:04 GMT

I'm sure a lot of you have seen this on Youtube since it has close to 20 million views, but this just cracks me up. What's REALLY funny is hearing two of my granddaughters act it out...Brinley and Braelyn. What a hoot! Stuff that is caught that hasn't been staged is just priceless. Hope you get a good laugh....like Charlie did! http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM Really, watch this if you want to laugh out loud. Hope everyone has a blessed Lords Day!

~Grampy~

A New Back and New Set of Lungs Sure Would Be Nice

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:15:14 GMT

Sorry it's been a while since I visited anyone or posted. I've been miserably sick with the crud. I just haven't felt like messing with xanga or AIM or MSN. The problem when I get this crud is I have a problem in one of my lungs. I'm sure the culprit in the beginning was my scoliosis, but I have an area in one of my lungs that is diseased. It appears to be a great place for infection to set up camp in, because whenever I get the slightest congestion, it seems to head for that area. This time it's has REALLY been hanging on to me...ur...my lungs I guess I should say. While we were in Gatlinburg the first week of April, I felt ok, just tired and a little weak. The Saturday after we got back I got to feeling pretty rotten that night. I took my temp and had 100. I wake up the next morning with this spliting headache and stayed in my PJ's all day...didn't even go to the office. My temp got as high as 103.5 later in the week and I even had 99.4 last night. A week and a half of fever and on an antibiotic. Well, I found out tonight my Dr called me in another antibiotic. Seven pills...you wanna guess how much these seven pills cost $150.00...Must be sealed in gold. Grammy told the pharmacist , "that outta kill whatever he has". The pharmacist said " You can bet it's gonna kill something" Anyway, back to my main problem. My Dr had told me last time I had pnemonia I might want to think about having that diseased area removed...yes folks (SURGERY) ***Hides under Desk*** Well, I had kinda forgotten about that and he mentioned it again. Thats just hard for me to imagine having part of one of your lungs removed and it still work. How can they DO that. Anyway, I need to start talking to him seriosly about it and start seeing a pulmonary specialist I guess...since I have Insurance now. I hope it's something still down the road aways, but I have been having a lot more problems recently, and they are only going to get worse. Well, That's all I have time for. Gotta get to Walmart and get those GOLDEN pills for my cruddy lungs. Talk about throwing pearls to swine sheeeesh!!!! When I get work caught up from being out of town and then sick the next week, maybe I can get a little more regular on here. Take care folks! Grampy loves yall!

In Christ Alone,

~Grampy~

Our Gatlinburg Getaway

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:42:12 GMT

This will be more or a pic/video post. Hope you enjoy it. Here is a pic of the cabin we stayed in!

Braelyn entertaining us!

Trip to Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg, Tn. Grampy, Grammy,Braelyn, and Brinley in front
Brinley and Braelyn in front of the building!

Now to go inside this neat place. been there about 4 times and never really get tired of seeing all this stuff!

Ok, I decided to go visit my blowfish buddies and got trapped. It really was a chore getting outta there once I got in. The Blowfish, for those who chat with me on AIM is my superbuddy

Now for some cool videos in the glass tunnel under all the fish! I sight to behold if you've never seen it in person!

Petting the stingrays!

Just more stuff in the aquarium!

Pic of ALL of us at the aquarium!

We also went to the Ripley's Museum. Pretty interesting stuff in there. There was a maniquin of the tallest man that lived in our time. His name was Robert Wadlow if you want to google his name. I just THOUGHT I was tall. Here I am next to the dude with a 9 foot ruler. My measley 6'10" was a shrimp compared to this guy....hey, I looked normal for once!

Had to show this pic when we got something to eat! Jaedyn is such a hoot!

Now for some putt putt! Brinley excited when she drained a putt!
Three little putters!

And last a video of putt putt!

There were lots more pics taken. Maybe Grammy will share some in a post with her pics and Kalley's pics. Hope you enjoyed it all. It was a nice relaxing trip. Pretty laid back, didn't try to do too much, just enjoyed the nice weather and just getting away from the ratrace! Hope everyone has a blessed weekend.

Now, I expect everyone to be pulling for my Tiger's. We took care of Texas last Sunday, tomorrow it's UCLA, then Monday night, I think it'll be North Carolina to get the last whoopin of the year by Memphis! Trash talk....dontcha just LOVE IT! WOOOOHOOOOO!!!! Go Memphis!

My Xangaless 40 Days

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 02:13:32 GMT

EDIT: For those who can hear the song and wondering who it is, that's an awesome young woman in our church who plays and teaches Violin and a friend of hers playing Sax in a duet with an accompaniment track of Oh Come Oh Come Emanuel. I just love it. What a talented violinist, way to go Diane!

Ok, to start it wasn't totally xangaless. I started off with just checking my email of course and I would see the comments that way. But then I did go a step farther and did check my footprints a good bit. Amazing how the footprints are non existant on some days, especially when you don't visit other sites. I did at least stay away from the time consuming reading of yall's posts and commenting (WHICH I TRULLY MISSED) , so I did behave somewhat.

Now for what I came to realize with this lent thing. It CAN serve a positive purpose. One thing I can understand better is just how long 40 days can be when you are away from doing something you love doing or something you need to be doing, Gives you a much better idea of the length or time Christ went, and at the end when He would be most vulnerable is when satan tried to make Him stumble. Yes I realized how LONG 40 days can be and that it also can be a bad thing. What good is it to stop doing something as some sort of righteous act, to just do something else just as distracting of keeping you from worshipping God as what you were doing before lent. Here are some thoughts on what happened with me. I stopped doing xanga to get work caught up, get stuff done around the house, spend more time with family and of course most importantly focus more time with God. What did I do? I started a Facebook(which I like xanga WAY better), I started messing with and uploading videos on my Youtube account and even messed with my Godtube account some. So I stopped doing one thing, but instead of filling that time with God and family things, I just started other distractions from God and family. Now don't get me wrong, I don't think xanga is a bad thing for me, because when I'm posting most of the time it makes me focus more on Christ in my speech, thoughts and the way I do things, because more than anything on here I want to encourage other believers and even point unbelievers to Christ somehow. When I was away from xanga I didn't find myself thinking about things to post that would edify Christ as much since I wouldn't be posting. So in that aspect, it hurt my relationship with God because I wasn't thinking about serving Him as much.I guess what I really am trying to stress is the part where with lent you are giving up something which should be because it's keeping you from trully worshipping God. If you just add something in it's place other than God, when that 40 days is up, you have twice as much to keep your attention AWAY from God. I thought of many things I could do with that xanga time. In the morning , instead of messing with xanga for a bit before heading out to do inspections, I could spend that xanga time praying or reading my Bible. I did it once in 40 days (BAD ON ME). Ok, I did get work caught up great and we are now leaving early in the morning to go on a mini vacation to the mountains in East Tn...Gatlinburg. So now maybe I can spend some family time. Still lots to say, but this post has been WAY long and I doubt many will read it all. I don't feel like I really worded this how I wanted to, but I need sleep for the long drive across Tn. So maybe I can add more later. Hope to get lots of pics and stuff to post later. Hope everyone has a blessed Sunday and a great first week of April. No April fools jokes on Grampy PLEASE!!!!!! Sorry if I haven't visited you yet from the comments you left while I was gone. I promise to get that done. I will have internet access in the cabin we'll be in, and it's supposed to rain lots. So we'll see. Cya!

~Grampy~

Some Songs Just Crank My Trackor

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:00:11 GMT

You all know how I love Christian music and how it speaks to me in so many ways. Well, this one is a bit more jumpy than yer used to from me, but I like it. In keeping with the Easter season, it pretty appropriate. Ain't no grave gonna keep me down in the ground! Not because of something I did, but because of what Christ did for me. If you can't hear the song..so sorry, it's cool Thought I'd throw yall a bit of the CRAZY side of the ole Grampy! "Ain't No Grave" is the name of the song by Selah...of course. Can't get enough of them lately! Next post will be on my xangaless 40 days before we leave Sunday to go to Gatlinburg. If any of you live up that way and want to meet like say The Tanger Mall in Pidgeon Forge, message me and I'll send you my cell #. Cya!

~Grampy~

I REALLY Missed Xanga

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 11:21:38 GMT

First to get started, here's one of those STARE AT THE PIC to see something hidden. Stare at this picture for a bit and you should see a giraffe appear...REALLY!

Ok, so I didn't get rid of my goofiness while I was away! I have a lot of thoughts on my xangaless 40 days that I'll do in a post this weekend. We are going to Gatlinburg Sunday-Thursday, so I'll post it before I go. I guess some highlights I'l be throwing out are when you give up something for Lent as Catholics do....what do you put in it's place to fill that time? I must say, I flunked. I started a Facebook, and a started posting videos on my Youtube. Lots of thoughts on ALL of it, even on fasting!

Now, to finish, here is a Godtube video of one of my favorite songs. Please give it a listen. I promise, it will bless your heart, especially if you are going thru struggles right now. I can't TELL you the times worshipping my Lord thru different songs has brought me out of funks. SOOOOO many worshipful and uplifting songs out there. Listen to this one!

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=54a70b77c13a556435f1

Hope you were blessed like I was! Glad to be back! Cya!

~Grampy~