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The Oyster Cookout

Sunday, July 26th, 2009 By 3 Comments

Happy Sunday!

How’s your weekend turning out thus far? Mine’s been EVENTFUL… good times with family! We spent most of yesterday in Richmond, honoring Emily’s oldest brother for turning FIFTY. Poor guy… old fart. lol

At THIRTY-EIGHT fifty doesn’t seem so bad really. I cant elaborate on this thought without slipping in to “where did all those years go” mode… so, I’m moving on to HAPPIER thoughts.

Davids brother Jeff Wall hosted the party… Jeff and Anne are lovely hosts! Ever heard of The Jeff and Anne Show? Check it out on their myspace… and listen to Jeff and Anne perform a folk song! (joke)

They had an OYSTER cookout for Dave… ewwww! (gagging as he types)

Jeff’s brother in law, Eddie has to be the most passionate OYSTER ENTHUSIAST I’ve ever met. He came VERY close to talking the Chuckster here into eating one. Well, one does not actually EAT an oyster… he DRINKS, or SLURPS the slimy mud sucker down his throat… as shivers race up and down his back… and his gag mechanism stands by on ULTRA HIGH ALERT!

After SPANKING Jeff and Wayne at the last horseshoe game on vacation… Wayne decided to bring a new game for us to play. It was called “Chuk”… nice name, but the “stupidest” (word I learned from my President last week, lol) game ever. Actually, it was ok I suppose… if I could have only won a game! Yes, Wayne and Jeff… there it is… I admit, you two beat Coree and me fair AND square. We’ll ALMOST fair and square… next time Coree and I will be sure to have our glasses. lol

The real gaming highlight of the day was when my wife Emily and her cousin-in-law Stephanie DOMINATED the other two “CHUCK’S” of the family at the Chuk game! Oh yeah, I almost forgot to explain… there are THREE Chucks in our combined families. Such a beautiful name by the way!

Good job Emily and Stephanie… you gals were absolutely UNSTOPPABLE with that “Chuk” game! Way to REPRESENT the Balsamo’s, Emily! And don’t even try it Jeff and Wayne… Emily has been a BALSAMO longer than she has been a WALL.

We went and visited Emily’s dad in the hospital before the party… had a beautiful time with an amazing guy! I appreciate you guys praying for Merle… he’s had SEVERAL blood transfusions this week and his white blood cell count is still at ZERO. His faith is strong and we’re all believing that yesterdays bedside prayed made the difference! Standby for glorious testimony!

Appointment Reminder: church at Destiny Family Center 10am TODAY! If you can’t make it IN PERSON, watch the entire service ONLINE starting at 10am EST.

Have a super day everyone!

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The Gift of Love and Family

Saturday, June 6th, 2009 By 7 Comments

Happy Saturday!

God is so GOOD to us! I thank him so much for everything! He has lavished us with LOVE… love FOR HIM and love FOR EACH OTHER. Last night was Coree’s high school graduation… and it was even more than I ever thought it would be! 

Since Coree and Heaven go to a private school, the graduation ceremony is designed differently than an ordinary High School graduation. All students are honored for their various accomplishments, not only the seniors.

Heaven and Coree were not the cookie cutter kids… as we are not a cookie cutter family. Our kids have caused a LITTLE grief for Principle Spencer and the school administration at times. Nothing anything super bad… they just had a little bit too much SOCIAL FUN at times when they were supposed to be LEARNING. Therefore, until this year, NOBODY would ever imagine Coree or Heaven receiving any kind of academic recognition.

Out of the entire High School, Heaven was recognized for two awards, as being the student with the HIGHEST GPA and for being the student who completed the MOST WORK for the year! If one only knew what Heaven had to overcome to receive such an honor… GOD DOES MIRACLES!

Then Coree shocked us as his Principle got teary eyed, introducing Coree as the MOST IMPROVED STUDENT of the year for the entire High School!

The whole thing was so surreal to me… so many emotions running through my body… my baby boy graduating… where did the last 18 years go? I was so proud to watch him up on that platform in front of all those people smiling so big… he looked so confident and accomplished! I captured a photo at the exact moment one of his FRENZIED FANS blew the fog horn… Coree was LAUGHING PRETTY HARD! Oh… and notice the SHOES!

For me, the highlight happened AFTER the graduation ceremony. When my kids didn’t ask to go out with friends or to some graduation party… but they WANTED to be with US for the rest of the night! Just thinking about this now brings new tears to my eyes.

Coree wanted to eat at Chili’s with Mom and Dad and Heaven, and Nanny and Poppa, and Drew and Liz (they came to the graduation-so nice of them). Then to top it all off… Temple Huffer (graduate of RHS last night) and her boyfriend joined us at the end of the meal… and we laughed together for a long time before heading home.  

In this time of national and global hardship, we should hold on to what is most important in life… the things that money cannot buy! Things like, fulfilling our divine purpose, and the beauty of loving relationships with family and friends… enjoying REAL LIFE as we walk with God and he blesses us with HIS AMAZING LOVE!

I love my family… EVERY SINGLE MOMENT WITH THEM IS THE BLESSING OF THE LORD! Today, I thank God… I HONOR HIM AND PRAISE HIM… in front of you all… for he has been good to us! When life is challenging and cruel… and nothing seems to turn out like I dreamed it would… in times like these, I go home, shut the doors, look around, and realize that I already have the blessing of LOVE and FAMILY… and this is the greatest human blessing besides the great gift of salvation.

This morning, I feel compelled to pray for you guys… that God will BLESS your families even more… that he would BLESS your key relationships… and LAVISH YOU WITH HIS LOVE… so that you too can always say with me that GOD IS GOOD… no matter what the future may bring!

Hug someone close today… let them know you CARE, and APPRECIATE the care they have for you! Don’t forget church at Destiny Family Center tomorrow morning 10am! Then Coree’s graduation party at our house 1pm! Love you all…

John 13:24-35 So now I am giving you a new commandment: LOVE EACH OTHER. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

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My Valentines Day Advice :)

Monday, February 9th, 2009 By 12 Comments

lovebirdsHappy Monday Everyone!

The photo glitch is still not fixed… so no fun photos AGAIN today. A special sorry goes out to all my VISUALLY oriented blog buddies! (fixed since this blog was posted)

Hope you all had a super weekend! We hiked St. Mary’s Falls on Saturday (I would post photos, but oh wait, I can’t!)… the hike was unbelievable! Church @ DFC was amazing on Sunday morning. And the Bible College I instruct on Sunday afternoon was off the charts! So, the weekend was a very good one here… it felt BLESSED and I sincerely thank God for every exciting second of it!

This should be a fun week for me. Going to a leadership conference… Emily’s birthday is on Friday the 13th (ooooowww)… and Saturday is VALENTINES DAY! Don’t forget that all you LOVE BIRDS! Proper planning prevents poor performance… so PLAN IT TODAY, make it great, have a blast with the love of your life. And hey, just in case you think you’re too spiritual for romance, check out Proverbs 5:17-19. (for married couples only) To all my singles friends: be brave, ask someone of the opposite sex out on a date, take them somewhere fun, give them a thoughtful gift, and make a special person feel special… oh, and keep it PG kids! 

Maybe you’re slightly uncomfortable about today’s advice? Maybe you feel as if the topic is not a spiritual one? Just in case, I want to leave you with a few spiritual thoughts about love and romance. First, God created Adam… and when he saw that Adam was all alone… God said, “It is NOT GOOD FOR man to be alone… I will make him a helper, a companion!” (Genesis 2:18 MSG) 

So it looks like God created other humans so that we could enjoy companionship with one another. Specifically, God created a WOMAN for the MAN that was all alone. God created EVE and brought her to ADAM… and they became the first two LOVE BIRDS in human history! 

The Bible is filled with references about friendship, love, romance, marriage, intimacy, and family. God created us to enjoy life with one another… to have friends, fall in love, commit to a lifelong marriage partner, be passionately romantic, and have loving families.

When our son was pre-teen, Emily and I would teach him that girls are yucky… stay away from girls or you’ll get the cooodees! Now that he’s almost 18, the message has changed. We teach him to PAY ATTENTION to the girls in his life… to interact with everyone so he can discover the kind of girl he will want to spend the rest of his life with. We had to let him know that it was ok to date now (with strong boundaries of course). It’s so hard being young… trying to figure this all out… especially in a Christian home. Especially when you want to please God with all your heart and you don’t want to mess your whole life up with a few bad decisions.

I’m sharing this with you guys because I believe that way too many Christians live in the fear of messing up and thus deprive themselves of the interaction that exposes them to the right opportunities. Set boundaries over your life… know who you are… know what you stand for… and never allow yourself to be in a position where these values can be compromised. And then, with these values and a beautiful walk with God, BE BRAVE and PAY ATTENTION to the people in your social network. According to Genesis, God has a gal for every guy! Don’t be afraid to LIVE and LOVE… 

Wow… I must be getting older if I’m giving out this kind of advice! Have a super week, planning for this VALENTINES DAY! If you’re married… plan a night to remember! If you’re single… get out of your comfort zone and spend some time with someone of the opposite sex. If you’re a kid… write a “be my valentine” card to your teacher! Have a super week you guys!! Chat with everyone later…

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Stories From The Streets Of Washington DC…

Monday, January 26th, 2009 By 3 Comments

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Good Monday Everyone!

I’m in my family room listing to a Kent Henry Worship Instrumental… feeling pretty overwhelmed with God’s love right now. How can I explain moments like these in human language? Every once in a while, the reality of God sweeps through my heart and mind… my eyes water, a tear slowly make its way down my cheek, chills pop all over my body… and I sit in that moment wishing it would last forever!

Like the alignment of sun, moon, and earth that brings us the rarity of an eclipse… these spiritual moments occur through the rare alignment of certain spiritual occurrences. And when they all come together at one special moment… their rarity is felt and appreciated for some time!

I suppose for me today… the components of my experience are very obvious! It begins with the Washington DC Outreach. This year, even more than previous years… I really experienced the enormity of what took place! There are so many hurting, lonely people in our earth. And while so many well to do humans point the finger down at these bleeding ones, God compels us to come to their aid! God cares about each one of them… not desiring to lecture them about the series of wrong turns they made that led them down into the gutter… He possesses us with his compassion and sends us to kneel down beside them… He gives us a message to speak… He asks us to read them a love letter… And we go with his love and his tears. He embraces them with MY ARMS… and I can feel HIM IN ME making his appeal through MY HEART.

This year, we took a team of 35+ into the frigid streets of our nation’s capitol. All day long, we gave HOPE to the HOPELESS. Even more than the message we gave them was the message we asked them to tell us. We gave them our ears… we listened to them like they mattered… and they FELT OUR LOVE FOR THEM! Their tears and ours flowed like rivers all day long.

On man “Alfrado” explained how he came to America from Elsalvador… it took him 3 months to get here, dreaming that this would be a place of new life for him. And there he was sleeping on park benches and eating food from the trash containers. Alfrado said that some nights, it’s so cold he is scared to fall asleep… that he may freeze to death and not wake up.

Another lady “Pricilla” said that she just got released from prison a year ago after being stabbed in her spine during a prison brawl. She grabbed me and made a puddle on my shoulder as she wept about how scary it is living on the streets at night! She talked about being raped and beaten over and over… and told me that she is not built for this kind of life!

Then there was “HANK”… the happiest homeless man on the face of the earth. We all left Hank wondering if we had met an angel! Just like Hank, so many of these destitute men and women gave us back so much more that we gave to them!

Throughout this day, we distributed hundreds of sandwiches, care packages, sweaters, sweatshirts, blankets, and everything else we could get into their hands. More than these… we gave them Jesus… and they took him happily into their hearts! Every single person on our team stepped out with a fearless kind of faith… they shared their personal life stories, prayed like seasoned ministers, and gave LOVE as if God himself was right there in physical manifestation!

Special thanks to Evangelist Gerald & Phyllis Mayhan for being our homeless outreach GUIDES… for their passion, their humor, and their love!

Beyond the DC Outreach, God is warming my heart today with the nearness I feel with my wife and kids, the accuracy I feel in the message I have been preaching at DFC, and the awesomeness of Gods Word stored up in my heart after reading the bible cover to cover in 66 days! All of these things have come together this morning to BLESS ME with a very SPIRITUAL MOMENT. To God be the glory for all of this… and for filling my life with his amazing love! I pray that he will work in all of us more and more… and more and more! That we will RISE AND SHINE in 2009… that we will love living the life of a beautiful people in a CITY ON A HILL… SHINING for the entire world to see!

Check out the DFC webcast archive from yesterday morning to watch more on the DC Outreach… and to catch the rest of that amazing service! Chat with you guys later on…

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My Son Replies To My Text :)

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 By 5 Comments

skittles-louisiana-2003Happy Thursday Friends!

If you have kids… if you have teenage kids… then you know how difficult it can be when they start desiring friends and movies, and bowling, and football games, and going to concerts… WITHOUT YOU. Fortunately, my family has remained VERY CLOSE through these teenage years… and we still spend lots of quality time together. But as a parent it’s never quite enough for me. I LOVE MY KIDS and when I am off work, there is nothing and no humans that I would rather be with then Coree, Heaven, and of course my wife Emily! :)

Heaven is far more expressive then Coree… when she comes through the doors, it’s like a mob of 1000 walked in with her… hyper activity gone wild! Heaven texts me about random things in her life… she calls me a few times day… she plops down beside me in the family room and talks about everything happening in her world… and I LOVE EVERY MINUTE OF IT.

Coree is more quite than Heaven. Oh yes, he has his hyper moments… and he’s the comedian of our family, always making us belly laugh about something! But he’s not a words guy like I am. He only calls when he has a question or a request… never texts me about random things… doesn’t even return the texts I send to him. Every week, I send Coree texts about how great of a son he is… and how proud of him I am… or about how I am praying for him… and never get anything back… NOTHING. Just SILENCE… UNTIL this TUESDAY!!!! :)

The glorious moment began on Monday night, we all went to watch a friend from church play basketball… and Coree took a date… real nice girl! Of course he asked to drive my car because he was conveniently low on gas. At the game, Kaylyn had a bag of Skittles… I LOVE Skittles! So on Tuesday morning I got in my car and guess what Kaylyn had left in my drink holder? Half a bag of Skittles!! So I texted Coree and said, “Tell Kaylyn thanks for the Skittles!” Of course he knows that Emily and I are in training for a few marathons this year and Emily smacks my fingers when I touch candy! So this was a BIG DEAL!

About 20 seconds after the text… guess what! My glorious INCOMING TEXT sound went off on the phone… COULD IT BE? Did I just receive a REPLY FROM MY BELOVED SON? Yes!! Coree replied to my message… and he said, “LOL!” Just three letters… but it’s a start! :)

I called Emily and told her COREE JUST TEXTED ME… she asked what he said… and I told her… “LOL!” (Laugh Out Loud for all you text illiterate folks) It was such a moment of warmth… the sun shined on my gloomy day… my frown turned into a SMILE… I wet my pants- just kidding! LOL… LOL! This is now one of my favorite phrases… every time I see it for the rest of my life I will remember that REPLY FROM COREE!

Why am I wasting your day with this very personal story? Because I had a spiritual thought about this that I wanted to pass on to you guys. If I get this excited about my sons reply… just a simple “LOL”… how much excitement must God receive whenever we REPLY TO HIM. I think about all the times throughout each day he must be texting us… hoping for a LOL. How many times he does something beautiful for us… he answers a request… and then he watches and waits for his INCOMING TEXT sound to go off.

Let’s respond to Him far more than we do most of the time… talk to God about the random things going on in our worlds… look up a few times a day and say something that will MAKE GODS DAY!

Hope you enjoyed this message… I love you guys and I just finished praying for you. Have a most outstanding Thursday!

Oh, I almost forgot: We’re going on the Washington DC Homeless Outreach on Saturday. If you’re interested in making a donation towards this outreach, please call my office today or tomorrow @540-337-2216 (9-5pm). Your contribution will make a tremendous difference in the lives of so many people! Thanks a bunch!!

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