around u.s.

Remarkable Night

seetylerscott — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:45:34 +0000

Wow, it’s been a year since I’ve written anything it feels like, if not more. Yet here I am to write again on the wonders of this life. I had a pretty interesting Friday that I want to share with you. It started with a doctor’s appointment for my asthma and a terrible headache that woke me up in the middle of sleep (I don’t get headaches very often). During the exam the doctor prescribed some asthma medication and then we moved onto the headaches. Due to the severity and the abrupt nature of the headache he was worried that I could have, be having, or have the symptoms of a brain aneurism. he ordered an MRI for me to be done as soon as possible and sent me off to get some blood work done. Now so you know I’m pretty sure my headache was triggered by dehydration but as the saying goes “better safe than sorry” so I chose to go forward with the MRI that got scheduled for Monday (or today). Throughout all of this though a strange calmness existed in me, I had no fear. Friday evening I headed down to Grace Midtown church for a night of house churches with Gene Sherman speaking. Excited but nervous as this was my first time attending something other than just the Sunday services I circled the block and finally parked on the street as to not pull down into the parking lot with my truck (it’s not a very big parking lot). I placed my laptop bag behind my seat on the floor board and place my peacoat on top of it and headed in with bible in hand. I thought to myself briefly that maybe I should take the bag inside with me, but decided against it and continued on, preoccupied with my nervousness of being at this new gathering for me. The message of the night was great as Gene Sherman discussed spiritual warfare and new and different ways to really identify and combat the evil in the world. Feeling blessed to have been a part of such a wonderful night I trotted out to my truck bible in hand, ready to head back home. As I got closer to my truck I thought to myself man I’m glad my windows aren’t shattered and then I got to it and realized that yes my back window was. Inside my peacoat lay but my laptop bag with computer, iPad, passport, in-ears, and various other odds and ends was gone. I won’t fill in too many more details except that there was another girl who had her car also smashed into and I was extremely thankful to have several people from the church as well as my father and sister and Jay all came out to wait with me until the police arrived for the report.

I tell you all this not for the sympathy but because I wanted to inform you of how at peace I was the whole time. I don’t think I at once felt anger for any of this. I did at times feel a bit upset (not very many) and I immediately remedied the situation by praying for those who took my stuff and that hopefully it could bring use to them to pay that bill, or get that food, or what not. Despite the amount that was lost, and that many of the people around me were upset I was not. I spent some time thinking about it afterwards and the Lord spoke to me about this it, He wanted me to realize that this stuff was not important. I mean this stuff was pretty much my whole life in that one bag, but that it was just material things. I agree I get that, I said. The Lord spoke to me again and said that no I didn’t get it. Not only was it that it was not important but that I should be willing to give it away at a moments notice. It really struck home for me. I understand that stuff is just material and of this world but do I have the strength to willingly give it away? The Lord was telling me that that night. The other thing was that Friday morning I prayed to have a reason to no longer make excuses for why I was not reading my bible daily and all I’m saying is I spend a lot more time with the Lord now that I don’t have a laptop or iPad.

I guess I’m writing this because I want to challenge us all, because I know Mitch said he was challenged by this. We all believe that we want to give and that things are just material objects but do we act like that? We all want to make this city better, and I know that this is not more obvious than at Grace Midtown but are we willing to give what we consider to be so valuable to make it better? I’m not saying my computer is now making the city a better place and I’m not saying that people at Grace Midtown are not giving all they but the calmness that was over me was just evidence that I should not be angry about this. I should pray for this person or persons, not condemn them. I should be willing to give my laptop and my iPad if that is what is asked for, shouldn’t we all?

Today

seetylerscott — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 20:49:10 +0000

I feel like every other blog I’m writing about how long it’s been since I last wrote one. Well here’s another one that is starting off just like those. Except I do think that this has been the longest I’ve gone without writing one. I keep wordpress on my bookmark bar so that I can get to it easily and yet I hardly venture my mouse to that one inch section between stumbleupon.com and ajc.com (the atlanta newspaper).

Where to start and what to write? Hmmmm.

Well it’s now March which is awesome because that means March Madness is upon us and it’s definately one of the most exciting times of the sports year. I’m hoping the Yellow Jackets can win the ACC tournament and then go on a completely unrealistic but awesome run to the finals! But I do seriously doubt that would happen, instead I’ll be pulling for Purdue because my special lady, Christi Wolf, is an alumni (her sister Jen Wolf is at school there as well) and I’ve got a shirt and hoodie to wear during the games. I’ve spent the last month or so in Cincinnati to spend time with Christi Wolf and her family, tour comes soon and once it does the visits end up being more of a 1 or 2 day thing at the most. It’s been great to be here but I do miss home, and the weather here is not great. Cold, rain, snow, ice= booo.

I really love where I’m at spiritually, though even just that statement makes me feel like I’m being a bad follower of Christ. He tells us to be humble and honestly there’s no way any of us could ever truly live up to what God deserves. I’m guessing though that my statement is more of the simple fact that I am not very actively pursuing Christ in my life and that is why I love where I am at. Christi and I have been doing a Bible study on the book of Romans and I’ve also been reading the Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis. I say these things for the following reason, I’m so amazed by God’s grace and mercy through reading these books. I mean honestly we’re terrible. I don’t say this to put anyone down and I hope that no one is offended but the truth is we are all sinners. A sin is a sin, from a murder to adultery. The amazing thing, and what’s so great to wake up every day and think about is that God knows this and still wants us to be with him. I can’t stress enough how awesome this is.

I was speaking to my friend Bridget yesterday about something else I wanted to bring up that I’m trying to work on on a daily basis. I recently read a book about John Wooden, who if you didn’t know is regarded as one of the greatest coaches of all time, but the book focused on 7 principles that his father taught him to live. They are as follows: 1)Be True to Yourself, 2)Make Each Day Your Masterpiece, 3)Help Others, 4)Drink Deeply From Good Books, Especially the Bible, 5)Make Friendship a Fine Art, 6)Build a Shelter Against a Rainy Day, and 7)Pray for Guidance and Give Thanks for Your Blessings Every Day. I’d be happy to talk to anyone about all of these but the one I really have been working on (besides #4) is to make each day your masterpiece. I think that so many times in the past I have looked to the future. While on tour I look to the next time I’m home, while home I look for the next time I’m on tour, even just in general I look towards when I will be able to take flight lessons and get my pilots license. In doing this though I miss the blessing of being alive for the present day. Each day we wake up is a gift and we choose how to live that day and use that gift. I’m tired of looking to the next day, I want today to be just as great as the next. I’ve really analyzed how I spend my day, working on the computer, cooking meals, doing insanity, and yes the minutes of my day wasted looking at facebook wondering if I click refresh one more time will something new and exciting show up? Well usually it doesn’t. I know a lot of people don’t like to plan but it really does help, or at least take a look at what you do everyday. Is there a time when you could be more productive, could you read a book instead of wasting time on the internet? I’m not saying totally wipe out TV and internet cause obviously that’s unrealistic but I’m just saying pay attention to your time a bit more. Don’t overstress with it but to quote the Priest I watched preach on Sunday, “There will be another day in history like today,” make the most of it!

Again I hope by no means that anyone is flustered by what has been said in this. I certain do not write this as if I am the perfect example. I actually write this because once I write this it makes it more real. I’d love to talk to anyone about this if you want, either of the two items but I just wanted to write in the blog what’s been on my mind lately. Maybe I’ll write more, I used to write everyday, that might be tough but I certainly will make an effort to be more active on this.

Hope this finds you all well.

Grace Abundant

seetylerscott — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 04:26:02 +0000

This morning I woke up, as I do most mornings on long drives, as we are about 2 hours from the venues. So I sat up in the buddy seat, with my buddy… the driver… Randy, and watched the world or specifically the rest of Montana and an itty bit of Idaho go by. God had a purpose for me sitting there. He wanted me to see it all. Honestly I have yet to see a more beautiful sight than the Couer D’alene lake at 9 am in the monday surrounded my snow capped mountains and buildings hidden under a white blanket of the same. It was breathtaking and God told me, my grace is here, in this world of sinners. My grace is here. I used the term abundant while describing my feeling to my sister and Christi and as I typed this blog, which will not be long because I have a show in about 15 min, I decided I’d look up the definition. Here is what dictionary.com brought up:

present in great quantity; more than adequate; oversufficient

Look at this. It describes His Grace so perfectly- PRESENT in GREAT quantity, MORE than adequate, OVERSUFFICIENT. I should say it doesn’t describe it perfectly but it’s pretty dang close. I hope you all can see it in your lives and if you cannot, just know it’s here. And we have been given the most amazing gift of all time. As we enter the season of giving gifts, realize and think that we have been given the greatest gift and for that I am so very very thankful.

where to go from here

seetylerscott — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 23:12:14 +0000

uggggh how many times have I gone to this “Add New Post” page and yet I haven’t written a word. Well here’s some words, or twenty-six of em so far. It’s tough to figure out what to write. A lot has happened since I last blogged and the majority of it consists of the job. this tour has been tough, up at 9 am and working til 2 am almost everyday. It’s been mentally exhausting for me and physically exhausting for the crew and I cannot begin to express my gratitude to them for what they do. We may not be the most pro guys out there, or the fastest at loading out but from top to bottom we get the job done and we do it without drugs, without being rude, and without (much) of an attitude. Today’s one of the first days since the tour has started that I’ve been able to sit down and write a bit. How convenient, it’s a sunday. Instead of going to the bus to watch football, i’m sitting in the production office with my paperwork next to me, my phone on silent, some paintings by my sister hanging up, and the noise of The Daylights soundchecking one floor below me.

I’m so blessed. That’s what just came to my mind. And it doesnt come often to any of us but when it does you know the feeling I just got. I don’t know where to even begin. I’ve been in a not great place for a little while. Not super dark and dreary or anything but not as happy go lucky as I’d like. The relationship I was in is no longer and there’s a learning/healing process going on there. I’ve also strayed from my daily readings and devoting time from my day to the one that really matters. It’s hard to sometimes when your heart hurts but that’s when I really need to. I’m getting back in the swing of things, and that sounds terrible talking about God, but i’m trying to turn it around. it’s so easy in this day and age to walk away from him, things go wrong in life, or things don’t happen the way we want them to and suddenly, boom we think well is this thing on? can you hear me God? are you letting this happen for a reason? I speak this way, not that I’m so terribly distraught now but I know that that is how it feels when you lose someone you love to whatever it may be.

Job 1,2 says (and excuse me for the woman remark):

“You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?”

He’s saying this to his wife in response to him losing everything. And yet he says the obvious, should we only accept the good? That seems unfair and wrong to God.

Anyways I guess my point is, life is not always roses but we must remember life is life. Enjoy it, love it, live it, but life is here and afterlife is what we’re aiming for. I prayed for God’s help to put him back as a priority in my life, to put him back in the place where he belongs, to consume my heart with Love for him. And he’s helping. I can’t do this on my own, I need help, and who better to help but him?

I am so blessed. I have a Lord who wants me so badly to be with him that he will help me love him, he will help me put him first. I have a family that is ridiculously amazing and love me no matter. They are such true examples of God’s love here on earth whether they know it or not. I have amazing friends. Friends that would drop anything to help me if I needed it. I have an amazing job. Not only do I get to do something that not everyone gets to do, but I also am surrounded with a family of people that love me and care about me, even when they are yelling that I did something wrong.

I didn’t mean for this to be a post about how awesome my life is but sometimes when you sit down to talk about how not awesome your life is you realize, it’s pretty rad. I kick ass, pardon my french. I work my butt off and I do my job as best I can and I wanna translate that to my relationships throughout my life including and most importantly with God.

I don’t know if anyone still reads these and I don’t know if there’s a positive message here but it’s my life, and it’s life and it’s not always pretty or positive. but surround yourself with people that love you, and there are probably alot more than you would think, and have faith in our God. And if you ever want to talk about anything let me know. Some of you are my friends and some of you are not but if you need me I am here. and even if I have to make it the few hours of a day I’m not working, I’ll do what I can to help.

love to you all

Thoughts from the Falls

seetylerscott — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:13:10 +0000

I got the wonderful opportunity to spend the weekend in Nashville with a few amazing people and I’m very thankful for the fact that I have such great friends. We spent Saturday hiking down into a swimming hole out in the country somewhere and it was magnificent. It’s secluded and yet not terribly difficult to get to, although there is some rock climbing involved. It’s a multiple level waterfall with a deep pool at the bottom of it. Climbing up the the top level, where the waterfall extended 30-40 feet above our heads we snuck around the back of the water and into a little cove in the rock face. Sitting there was one of those awesome experiences that will never be replicated and unfortunately not enough people experience or even take advantage of the experience. Here we were sitting in the cove where there was no noise but that of all of the water pressure coming down from high above and I couldn’t fight the urge to pray. I prayed for many things, and had a good conversation with God while sitting there but the predominant thought, the one that I kept coming back to was this. God is amazing. I literally just laughed out loud in a coffeeshop while writing this. Most of you all already know this, and if you don’t feel free to ask. I think this is something we all need to be reminded of sometimes. It hit me hard right then and there because so many times it’s mentioned that we are just here for such a short time, that the real glory is after this short life. We learn to realize that as amazing as this world is we have an amazing afterlife in store. It’s ridiculous to me though that even though our lives are short in the grand scheme of things, God still created a world that is so magnificent, so amazing, and so beautiful that is beyond our comprehension. Oh how he loves us right? I don’t know if you can fully grasp what is making me sit here and smile but every time I think of it, every time I write about it I just can’t help to smile and get giddy. Do you realize how ridiculous this is!?

Are you lukewarm? Are you Complacent?

seetylerscott — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 17:19:55 +0000

Wow I always seem to write on airplanes. I guess it’s because it gives me something to do but here again I’m in the air flying from Philadelphia to Chicago and then Chicago to Oklahoma City, OK. Speaking of it’s not actually the 7th of August, it’s the 8th but I did not do my reading or journaling from yesterday so I am doing it now. I’ve been also reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan and if you have not read it or attempted to read it I highly recommend it. I’ve been reading it for a while now but I’m only on the third chapter because I keep re-reading chapters, making sure I grasp it. He writes it as a reality check which I think so many of us need. I find it interesting that God is choosing to speak to me through that book and through his book simultaneously about the same idea. Well I got a double soul-punch this morning(term stolen from the lovely Holly who got the term from Josh, they use it to describe sermons, verses, and situations that really strike home in the soul). It has to do with those two questions I asked at the beginning. Are you lukewarm in your faith? Are you just complacent? I’m not using this to insult anyone and I hope no one takes offense but one of the things Crazy Love does for an entire chapter is he asks you to examine yourself and really come to grips about whether you are lukewarm. I mean at times I feel as though we are all lukewarm unfortunately, maybe not you but I know for me. This is not acceptable for the big man. We need to be in it fully. Committed. There’s nothing in this world that is a legitimate reason for us to not wholeheartedly do everything that the Lord asks us to do. In my reading of Zephaniah I really stuck on verse 12, the Lord is speaking of coming destruction:
“I will search with lanterns in Jerusalem’s darkest corners
to punish those who sit complacent in their sins.
They think the Lord will do nothing to them,
either good or bad.”
I don’t know why exactly this hit home but it made me think a lot about the reading I was doing in Crazy Love as well. Look at the line “to punish those who sit complacent in their sins.” Think about it. Some people cruise through life just scraping by, just doing enough to not feel guilty, just doing enough to be considered a better Christian than the guy next door. Guess what, it’s not a popularity contest. It has nothing to do with what we here on earth think. We are only here for a short amount of time and in that time God deserves our all. Sin isn’t bad because of the punishment, sin is bad because it hurts God, because it’s wrong. I just think we need to be all or nothing. That’s what God wants. Live as we are taught to live by Jesus. Live to please God in everything you do. Don’t half-a*% it. The Lord deserves the best from us even though we could never live up what he truly deserves, we need to try.
This brings me to some things I was thinking about the other day. Guess what? We’re all sinners. Everyone single one of us. What does that mean? Does that mean that oh well if we’re sinners it’s no big deal if we sin more? No way. We all have this very selfish mentality (I know, what a surprise, us selfish… I could go on about our selfishness for a while), anyways we have this mentality that if we sin less than our neighbor we are much better than them. If we don’t commit murder, then we’re better than a murderer. NEWS FLASH: We are all sinners, we alone, no matter who we are, are unfit to even be near the Lord but with the love of Christ we are forgiven and we are given our chance at eternal life. When taken before God and he asks us if we are guilty of sinning, we all would answer yes and he has the right to punish us all. Through Jesus though we are given the chance to live eternally with God but we must not complacently go through life, assuming that it’s no big deal. We’ll get around to it at some point. Unless you have been told by God there’s no way you’ll know when your time on this world will be up and it could be much sooner than you think. Let us not regret not pursuing the Lord with all of our hearts while we have the chance because before you know it, you may no longer have that chance.

Again I don’t mean to upset anyone and most of you all I’m sure live your life the best way possible but I know for me it’s nice to do a bit of a reality check.

Double Dose

seetylerscott — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:57:28 +0000

So I didn’t get to write yesterday. I should have, but I had such a busy day and I was completely exhausted by the time it was over. So here again I’m up in the air, 28k feet, and I’m headed to see Holly in Spokane for a few days. I’m gonna combine thoughts on both today and yesterdays readings. Yesterday I read a line in Isaiah about how foolish people who worship idols are and even after all the proof God shows to them, they still cannot ask themselves the questions that would set them free, they cannot accept the one true God. I bring this up for multiple reasons. One is along the lines of my previous days blog about talking to others about the Lord. Toby and I spoke and we discussed that truthfully it’s not our place, we cannot force someone to accept the Lord into their heart but we can give them all the facts and all the great and wonderful things that a relationship with God bring. After that though it’s up to God and not us. We cannot let this weigh our hearts down. Of course we do want everyone to be saved but even so long ago as the time of Isaiah people were not able to accept the truth even as it was set in front of their eyes. We must do all we can and then accept that it is not all us (More to come on this later). The other thought I took from this was that I wonder if there are things in my life I cannot ask myself and therefore am blind to. Life is such a complex thing, is there something I’m not asking? I’m gonna think/pray on this and I’ll let you know what I come up with but I suggest everyone do the same. Don’t be blind to things in your life, just because you don’t wanna ask yourself the questions.
Today’s reading had another very introspective thought process that was developed from a simple statement, I say simple though I really just mean a short statement, in 1 Pet 5:5-
“God opposed the proud,
but favors the humble.”
I’m sure you can all guess where this is going and maybe you already are much better at this than I but we all must stay humble. Thinking about it, there is nothing we have to be proud for that was not given to us by God. He molded us, He gave us our gifts, skills, physical attributes, everything was given to us by Him. So why do I get proud? We need to stay humble for Our Lord. Later on Peter tells us that if we stay humble if we stay in the Lord’s favor then He will lift us up in the right moment for Him. Don’t mistake this for insecurity though, I think that is the opposite of what we should get from this. We all were graced by God with talents and gifts and skills. Let’s use them, let’s use them as God gave them to us for a reason. I feel that insecurity and thinking nothing of these gifts is often as bad as being too proud of these gifts. I think that we should be proud, but proud that God saw us fit to give us gifts in which we can use to serve him, to praise Him, to help others find us. Don’t let others tell you your dreams are silly, or you’re not able to succeed in doing one thing or another (especially you artists). If you are actively pursuing God, if you are using you’re talents in a righteous way, He will provide, together you and Our Father can make it work. To not try, to not accept these gifts, to be too insecure, or too proud is not what He wants, what He needs from us, His servants.

are you ready?

seetylerscott — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 15:10:05 +0000

Reading 1 Pet 3 today verse 15 and 16 made me think about a conversation Toby and I had a week or so ago. Peter mentions that we should worship the Lord and always be ready to explain if someone were to ask. It also goes on to say by living the Good life we should be able to lead them by example much like Christ did. It makes me wonder about explaining things to someone who is not a believer. We spent a lot of time in Philosophy class discussing theology and while I loved it everything people said were reasons that God did not exist were really reasons why I knew he must exist. To the point though believers in the class stayed believers and non-believers, well they stayed non-believers as well. It’s really tough to explain things to someone who doesn’t feel it. You have to almost remind them of that feeling that they once had but have denied. It’s making me think though, as I’m 38k feet in the air, if someone were to ask me right now what would I say? The majority of what I would say would seem like hocus pocus to someone who denies the Lord. I’m not saying it would be pointless because I would love to speak to this person about my faith but it’s hard to get through to people if they don’t already have a bit of a feeling for it. So I charge you all who read this, think about it. If someone sits next to you while you are reading this and asks you about your faith, what would you say? We’re here to praise the Lord and spread the Good News, I don’t think we’re ready to though, well I guess I’m not at least. And I’m ok with that because I know I’m not now, and I’m gonna change that. There are several people in my life I want to introduce the idea of a relationship with God to and I’m gonna get ready for it. He will open the door for me and when he does I don’t want to drop the ball, I need to be ready for anything and everything, it’s not a battle but it is a matter of eternal life and death for someone else.

we only have a short time here

seetylerscott — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:07:07 +0000

I don’t know if you are like me but most days I have to, or at least need to, re-read parts from the Old Testament in order to truly get meaning out of them. Isaiah is a bit easier for me to grasp but it still requires a few read overs. During my readings I try to pull a verse that really speaks to me. Today there were two and one of them being in Isaiah and it made me think. Is. 38:18 is part of a Poem Hezekiah (who I’m liking more and more) wrote after the Lord healed him and gave him 15 more years to his life. He speaks in verse 18 the the dead cannot praise Him, and those who die can no longer hope in his faithfulness. This really made me think about the fact that we have this one life, this one shot at this time of living in the flesh. We must use this life to His advantage. Notice I said His, not ours, this life was a gift he gave us but he did not give it to us to squander on mortal immediate personal pleasures, it was given to us to praise him, to be faithful to him, to create others who will do the same. While we live this short live let’s not just sit idly by and let time go on. Praise him for what He has done, what He has made, what He does. Worship Him, please Him. That’s what we should be doing. Now after saying this I still think we have to live in this world, there are things we still need to do, but I just liked this mornings reminder that felt like “hey you have one shot, let’s (The Lord and I) do it the right way.”

The other verse I pulled from was 1 Pet 2: 23 in which Peter speaks that we use not retaliate, plan revenge, or judge. That is not our place. We must love as the Lord wants us to love, everyone. If someone wrongs you it is not our place to judge that person for what has been done, that is God’s place. We must forgive, just as we have been forgiven for wrongs so much worse than anything another human could do to us, and move on. The Lord will take what justice needs to be taken if any.

pretty awesome

seetylerscott — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:39:01 +0000

So I was reading this morning and decided to start writing down thoughts that the readings stirred up. i also decided that maybe I’d post em so that you guys could think about it too. let me know what you think, or if you think I should keep em to myself (which maybe I should). but i feel discussion/fellowship is very important so here’s todays:

Today I started thinking about sins in the fact that in 1 pet 1:14 it states, “don’t slip back into your old ways of living to to satisfy your own desires.” but the problem is, even after we make this covenant with God we slip and fall. We are flawed beings. How great God’s patience must be for us. He does everything for us, saves us, and strikes a new covenant with us even after we failed at the first one and yet we can’t keep from slipping. I suppose we must do everything in our power and pray for the strength from him to resist these sins but they will be committed, even just one or 2 here or there. I question sometimes why he created us to be flawed. Seems like it’s just something that he would have fixed but I don’t think he missed it when creating it. I know he had a reason. I know that through these flaws we are able to… well i wanna say prove our worth, but i know that there is no way we could truly ever prove worth to the Lord. To me it’s such a great feeling, not the sin part, that makes me sick to my stomach, but the fact that no matter how terrible we are, no matter how prone to sin, He loves us and if we turn to him, if we seek him, he will save us, not from these bodies we are in, but eternally our spirit.

AWESOME