At some point in our lives, I will let you down. Your friends will let you down. Your significant other will let you down. Your parents will let you down. Your kids will let you down. As much as I would like to tell you that it will not happen, it will. I am not saying this to be a downer (bad pun, I know, sorry) but to help us through those times.

As a popular saying goes, "expectations are everything". If we know that people are going to let us down then we can prepare ourselves for it and expect it. That way when the time comes, we may not overreact or get upset about it and make the situation worse.

Think about the times you have been disappointed. How did you act when it happened?

• Did you shut down and distance yourself from them? 
• Did you yell and shout at them? 
• Did you internalize it until so many disappointments built up into a big explosion?
• Blame and question God? 
• Bring up past issues that should have been buried away? 

I think through my life, I have resorted to every one of these at one time or another. We all have different ways of dealing with difficult situations and each have our coping method that "works" for us. But do any of these really work? I would answer no.

We are all human beings. Which means we will all fail, disappoint, and sin. Our pastor is doing a series on friendship right now and how to improve our relationships. This Sunday, he said that maybe we should all have a fistful of "forgiveness cards" ready to hand out when someone fails us. Honestly, how much better would life and our relationships be if we knew the important people in our life would forgive us? I think it would help us to try harder to think about them more and put them above ourselves.

God is the one person we can count on to never fail us. What about that perfect job I prayed about really hard and didn't get, didn't He fail me then?? No... our human minds can't see the whole picture, He has a plan for each and every one of us.

God never stops loving us. Never stops forgiving us. We continue to sin against Him, turn from Him and even if you curse Him or deny Him, He will still love you as much as ever!! Truly believing this and knowing this gives me so much joy... I hope that you can feel the same way! 


So, forgive a friend today of something you have been holding a grudge for. It will feel amazing and should help out your friend as well. 

Serenity: the state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled.

Serenity prayer with a few more lines.

This "state of being" is something that we can work on and strive for, and one that God and the Bible can help us realize. There is a rather famous poem/ prayer that I think about to help me stay focused.

God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things that I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And the wisdom to know the difference.
- Credited to Reinhold Niebuhr

What an amazing prayer. Let's break this down a little bit:

• Grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change: There are things in this life that we cannot control and to be able to accept that is a step in the right direction. Life has enough pressure, stress and worries that we do not need to add to them.
• To have the courage to change the things I can: There are times that something needs to change; whether that be our actions, our environment, our thoughts. . . and they are not going to change themselves. The change is not always going to be easy or feel good, but if that's what you feel is right, we need the courage to make that change. 
• To have the wisdom to know the difference: This is the toughest one... how in the world do we know the difference in the moment. It's impossible to know for sure, but with prayer and faith in God, you have something to refer to while trying to decipher the two. 

Well it's been over a month since I posted on here and for no other reason other than being so busy. I got married to my amazing wife, took a road trip to watch my best friend get married and just trying to get back into the swing of things.

Being married is great and I couldn't imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone else. It is such a blessing. As I start with the next chapter in my life, one main thing is up in the air and asking God for guidance is crucial at this point.

What does He want me to do? 
We feel like Park City is where we need to be, so now we just need to figure out what to do. This site goes hand in hand with what I would love to do full time. Making exercise and wellness a ministry. I need to meet with a couple people to discuss making it a non-profit organization and if I can pay the bills with it. If not, then it needs to be just a part time thing and I need to figure something else out. I really enjoy coaching basketball, so something with the school district would be awesome. I love teaching people and kids, being a positive person in teenagers influential lives is probably my favorite part of coaching ball. I can teach PE right now so that would be great, but may have to wait a year or two or possible more. Another very viable option is to continue to do personal training, either on my own or at one of the gyms in PC. Other than that, I need some help from friends and God to help me find a job that I can strive at.

In this time of uncertainty in our lives, having God as our rock is helping keep us feel steady. Also, with so many people having much less than us, its hard not to be thankful for the things we do have. Not to mention having two great kids, a great relationship with my parents, a church that is so alive, a growing relationship with God and an phenomenal wife.. hard to complain when the non-material things in my life are going so well.
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A fairly random (but inspiring) quote from Korn member Fieldy, about being asked about peace in Christianity.
"Yeah. I think I do [have peace]. It's somewhat like peace, but it's not like you become a Christian and [your] problems go away. I still have my everyday struggles of life and situations that come my way. But I found the difference now is when difficult situations come my way, I'm on a strong foundation and I know how to handle the situation. I don't know how, but following and walking with Christ, He shows me how."

This last weekend, I ran the Wasatch Back Relay with a group of people from my church. For those of you who do not know, the Wasatch Back Relay is a 24 hour running event that involves 189 miles and 12 people. Each runner takes 3 legs ranging from 3 to 9 miles and varying levels of incline or decline. 

God has a will for us. We do not know what it is, but we need to strive to live out His will, not ours'.

How do you do this if you don't know what it is?

Pray and be prepared. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Ask for His guidance to know what He wants from us and to help us live out his will and not ours.

We need to be prepared in many aspects:

1. Mentally- We need to be prepared for His answers to our questions and requests. (It's not always what we want) - Psalm 32:8
2. Spiritually- If we are meditating on His word, the Bible, we can know that what you are hearing/ feeling is Biblical and not satan trying to guide you down the wrong path. Ephesians 6:11
3. Physically- Maybe God's next calling for us is to work with the children in our church or a mission trip to Africa, we need to have our bodies prepared to serve God in any way we are asked.