Why My Wife and I Aren't Following Paul's Teachings...

Yes, there are some things in the Bible that I just can't follow, well at least under certain circumstances. This past weekend was a perfect example. Right now, Kim and I can't follow The apostle Paul's teaching of greeting each other with a holy kiss. My wife and I are on 24 hour guarantine from kissing each other. It all started while celebrating Caleb's birthday (he is a sophomore at our church). He had a Indiana Jones/Adventurers Club theme. It was a very elaborate birthday celebration and very fun for all involved. Some of the party favors were things like chocolate covered insects or suckers with insects. I saw a box of the chocolate covered larva and crickets. Me being me was curious how they would taste so I opened up the box and took down a cricket. It really tasted only like chocolate, which is what I figured it would be like. I did feed my three year old son the other cricket which got quite a rise out of my wife. That is when I was put into quarantine. No kissing for me until the cricket residue was gone.

Kim and I were having a good laugh about the whole thing, but I was still in quarantine. Well low and behold about the time I am okay, bam Kim gets hit, and I mean really hit. We had taken the family to see their first Circus in Salem. It was a lot of fun and the kids loved it. On the way out Kim was walking ahead leaving the bleacher area. A man walking above her tried his best to cover his mouth, but let out a huge sneeze. I thought to myself, since I had a great view of the whole event, I bet that just hit Kim. At first she didn't respond, but then I saw her try to wipe her check off on her shoulder (both her hands were full). The lady walking beside her let out this, "Oh, gross!" and I began to laugh very hard. Matter of fact we all laughed very hard. But that's when I laid down the law, "You are now in quarantine!"

If I believed in Karma, that would have been the perfect example. Kim, I love you. Thank you for being my bestfriend. I am so thankful we can make each other laugh, cry and go crazy. You are a great partner in crime. I love you. And by the way, your still quarantined!

Sping is finally here...

Yeah, baby. Spring is finally here (but since I am writing this I am sure God will make it snow). I was hangin' with my buddy Austin Powers the other day and we got to thinking, does every person have an arch enemy?

What would Batman be without the Joker, Superman without Lex Luther, or Austin Powers without Dr. Evil? Many times it is our adversaries who make us stronger and wiser. Funny how life works that way.

Our Christian walk is not much different. No we don’t have the ability to fly or cool gadgets to help us repel a huge building, but we do have the Holy Spirit and we do have an adversary. I have been around people far too long to see the many ups and downs life throws at all of us. Satan is powerful and many times he feels as though he wins all the time, but most of the time we don’t recognize the victories.

Our enemy will win sometimes and at times will seem to have defeated us, but fear not, just when it seems the darkest, the power of the Holy Spirit rises inside of us and God’s glory triumphs.

Anyways, that’s what Austin and I were throwing around. Never give up, keep up the fight.

To God be the glory,
Pastor Scott

30 Hr. Famine...

What a great weekend we had at the 30 Hour Famine. We all stopped eating at 8am on Friday April 18th and didn't eat again until 2pm on Saturday April 19th. Our eyes were opened to what many go through in a given day. Over 29,000 children die every day to hunger related issues, that is one death every six seconds. That is a crazy number that I can't seem to wrap my brain around. We cannot be silent anymore. Not only did we go without food for 30 hours, but many of us made cardboard shelters and sleep outside. This help give us an idea, a mere glimpse, into what homeless people go through. We woke up to a God's reminder that He cleanses us white as snow.

On Saturday we woke up had some good time with God and headed out for work projects. Some went to the Union Gospel Mission to help in their thrift center, others headed to a retirement center to clean, some went to a church to help with spring cleaning and a large number of folks went out collecting canned food for the local food bank. In all over 900 lbs. of food was collected and more than $10,000 was collected to send to World Vision to help hungry children. What a great event. Once again it shows how coming together (Faith Evangelical Free Church, Salt Creek Baptist and Dallas Alliance Church) we can accomplish anything.

Blessings, Pastor Scott

Evening Worship w/Logan Martin

We had a great night of worship thanks to Logan Martin and Ryan (sorry I didn't get his last name). May God continue to speak to him. Logan blessed us with a number of worship songs and we also got to hear music from his album. I really like his sound, and he has great lyrics. I like what he said about God giving him the words even though the words were meant to glorify God. He compared it to our parents giving us money to buy them a present at Christmas time. Logan's parents always responded gratefully even though they had given him the money to buy the presents. That is similar to what God does for us. He blesses us with so much, yet many of the blessings in our lives should be for His honor and glory. I was blessed by Logan's words and music. If you would like to check him our visit his site http://loganmartinmusic.com/ or www.myspace.com/loganmartin . Enjoy a couple of pictures from the evening.

Spring Break Vacation

This spring break I took my family off on a family vacation. We didn't go to Hawaii or Mexico, instead I took them to the winter wonderland of Washington. We got to see family and friends, but most of all we had a lot of fun as a family.














Here is Luke and I out on a rabbit hunt. Well that is what is was for me, for Luke he was looking for mud puddles to jump in.
















Breakfast with the grandparents.
















Makayla and Luke are hoping to one day be as tall as Papa Doug. Little do they realize they've got a long way to go.
















Luke and Makayla goofing off at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle.
















Kids and water, they go together like peanut butter and jelly.























Makayla and Luke think Papa Doug is tall. A little side note, their grandma and papa met at the Worlds Fair in 1962 where the two of them works, grama Geri as an elevator operator and papa Doug as a security guard.
















We've always said Makayla has a big head.















Luke's in heaven with our friends daughters. Ali, Makayla (sister), Luke, Makenzi and baby Brin.


We had a great time and our finally getting our routine back here in Oregon. Why do we always need a vacation after our vacation?

Blessings,
Pastor Scott