OK.  Here’s the deal.  Niles has me beat at Bejeweled 2 by quite a bit.  My high score is like 125,000 on level 17.  Here is a screenshot of Niles score on the game from 2 nights ago.  Unbelievable.  He has also beat the entire game of Super Monkey Ball.  Anyone else have a score that high?

I got this bruise from a 12 Gauge shot gun. Keep in mind I shot about 50 rounds to get it this way. This is 5 days of healing.

Some of you close to me know that the past 6 months of my life have been the hardest.  I struggle daily with anxiety.  I pray daily that the Lord takes it away from me, but I’m still not free of it.  If I struggle with it forever, it is well with my soul. During one of my hard times, I decided to write down what was in my heart in the form of a song.  I am no songwriter and I have never done this kind of thing before now.  It was never something I planned on actually finishing with music and stuff, but I wanted to share my heart with you as well.

Every Part of Me

Verse 1:
Refine me, in Your fire
Mold me, in Your hands
Take my hands and my feet
Take all of me

Chorus:
I want you Lord, to speak to me
Only You will set me free
‘Cause Jesus You are my destiny
Draw me close to you, Draw me closer to you
With my hands raised, I praise Your name
In awe of Your Glory, I amazed
It’s by your blood I’ve been set free
Jesus I give you everything, Every part of me;

Verse 2:
Broken, I call out for you Lord
You hear me, in my hour of need
You restore my soul, and comfort me,
with Your Love……….

Bridge:
Desperate, I’m so desperate for Your touch
Hungry, I’m so hungry for your healing power
It’s You I seek, Jesus, meet me here. Jesus meet me here.

Wow.  Ever more reason to be on my knees in prayer.  Here is a letter today from our Superintendent.

Well, I don’t speak of this much, but I feel now is a good time. Everywhere in US, the economy is being affected in a negative way. You can see this in almost every avenue of business. People are having to cut back or scale down. Typically, this doesn’t affect my job working for the School district. Well, not this year or the years to follow. Here is a letter from my Superintendent:

District 6 Staff,

In light of the recent reports of financial decline in the State budget, I felt it would be helpful to inform District 6 employees of the impact on our District budget. The quarterly revenue forecast released Wednesday before the Senate and House Revenue committees reported a $142 million hole in the 2007-2009 budget. Since the close of the 2007 legislative session, revenues have declined by $332 million, eliminating the ending balance and creating the shortfall. Responding to the projected shortfall, Governor Kulongoski called for an immediate reduction to all General Fund budgets for the 2007-09 biennium.

For Central Point School District 6, this means a cut of approximately $500,000 from this year’s budget. Due to the retroactive nature of the cuts, we will have to take the entire two year cut over the last 6 months of this budget year.

I will be meeting with District administrators to begin the challenge of balancing this year’s budget. Immediately, I have asked that all 300-600 supply accounts be cut 30%. In addition, I am imposing a hiring freeze for the remainder of the school year.

We will make the cuts necessary to balance the current budget, however, my greatest concern is not this year. The forecast for the 2009-2011 biennium is projected to be worse. The Governor also indicated that the 2011-2013 biennium could be one of the worst in State history. This means we will need to plan for a long term reduction in revenue. The budget cycle has always involved increases and decreases in funding, but never anything this severe. We will work our way out of this decline but we must be thoughtful and purposeful about the cuts so that when we begin to rebuild we have the foundation pieces in place.

I will be working with the Board, administrators, employee associations and District 6 staff to identify the best path through this crisis. We must keep the primary mission of educating our students as the guiding principle throughout the process.

In the meantime, continue to do the incredible things you do for children everyday.

Sincerely,

Randy Gravon
Superintendent

So, as you can see, we’re in for a tough while. At least it only cost me $26 dollars to fill my gas tank yesterday.

Blessings,
Chuck

It’s amazing how fast your kids grow up.  Those of you that are parents know exactly what I mean.  It makes me sad to think that next year he will be going of to school.  AH!  I am so not ready for that.  I still see him as my little baby boy.  He’s starting to become more and more independent.  My prayer is that both of my boys grow up to be men of God that He uses for His glory.  

God, use my children for your purpose.  They are Yours.  Thank You for blessings me and Sunnie with them.

Well, hello again world.  Sorry I have been gone so long.  

For those who don’t know me that well, I have struggled off and on with Anxiety for about the past 5 years.  I have been on medication for that long as well.  Genetics played a big role with me being affected by it.  I feel kind of like Paul who was affected daily by the “Thorn in his flesh” that he begged God to take away from him.  But God didn’t.  The Lord intended it for good and used Paul mightily to spread His message.  That is how I feel about my anxiety.  God has used it in the past for good, and I know he will continue to do that for mine.  Of course I pray for a complete healing, but I also pray for God’s will to be done in my life.  

So, have you been affected by something like this that God has used for His glory?  I want to know.

As I get older, year by year I see how disgusting and lost Hollywood is.  It has become even more apparent how Liberal they are as well.  During this heated presidential election process we see actors act more like politicians for the ever underwhelming Obama campaign.  They want someone different so bad, that they are so accepting of anything Obama has to say.  They have scales over their eyes.  I am almost to the point where I can’t watch much TV anymore because some of what these people do and say makes me sick to my stomach.  Where is God in their lives?  For that matter, where is God in Obama’s life?  Where is the fruit as christians we are supposed to see?  I certainly don’t see any by his voting record, where he stands on some serious Salvation Issues either.

What is almost more overwhelming is that some christians are supporting him.  I have to ask those christians:  Where is your walk with the Lord?  What does God’s Word have to say about some of these key issues?  Who would Jesus be voting for is He had to choose between the 2 candidates if given the choice only between the 2?  Have you prayed about this?

We are called as christians not to judge people.  This however was not meant to not include other christians. So to you christians even thinking about voting for Obama, consider this an E-Kick in the butt.  What say you?

I had pre-ordered the newest Lincoln Brewster Album “Today is the Day” a month or so ago.  Well, I just was finally able to download it through iTunes.  It frigin rocks!  I recommend purchasing it.  It has so many awesome tasty Lincoln licks.  Check it out!

Well I figured I would join the club and start posting the setlists when I lead worship.  This last weekend I tried to choose songs that everyone would know because I’m new to the church.  So many of these are “oldies” but goodies. 

Everyday – Hillsong Music Australia (For This Cause)
Blessed Be Your Name – Matt Redman (Where Angels Fear To Tread)
Glory In The Highest – Chris Tomlin (See The Morning)
Let My Words Be Few – Matt Redman (The Father’s Song)
Kindness – Chris Tomlin (The Noise We Make)
Holy Is The Lord – Chris Tomlin (Arriving)