I’ve gotten a “promotion” of sorts since the last time I blogged. I now have two titles at Southern Arkansas University. I’ll keep my title as Assistant to the President for Special Projects, and I’ve taken on the extra title of University Editor. It’s pretty exciting, but it will keep my as busy as I was in college when I worked a full time job while attending a college full time. I guess I like to work myself to death!

Tonight was our First Baptist Church Sanctuary Choir Christmas party. It was amazingly fun. Our hosts, Max and Debbie Story, were very gracious to have us at their new home. I wouldn’t mind having a few of the amenities they have in my house some day! We’ll keep things in perspective for now.

Seeing has how it’s midnight, I guess I should wait until later to catch up on blogging any more. The alarm clock will go off early!

Merry Christmas!

So, what in the world was Barack Obama thinking when he decided to hop on Air Force One and travel to the International Olympic Committee’s meeting last week?  I think the trip was stupid for several reasons, but the chief among those is that he - the President of the United States of America - arguably the most powerful person in the WORLD - made the trip to ask for the 2016 Olympics without already having some guarantee that the deal was in the bag. You would think that at least one of his advisers would say, “Mr. President, if you go over there and they say no, it could hurt your credibility.”

I think he made the taxpayer-financed trip aboard the very expensive 747 jumbo jet that we call Air Force One in an effort to pay off some political debt to his cronies in Chicago. For crying out loud, Oprah was already there lobbying for the Windy City, what did Obama think he could add to it? (Ok, I’m being a bit cynical there.)

What kind of ego does this man have? Did he really think the IOC would grant the request just because he made it? Maybe this will humble him a bit. I’m glad it was Clinton who made the trip to get the jailed journalist in North Korea. Maybe we should have sent Bill to lobby the IOC. I could really care less where the Olympics are held. I’ve never been one to watch them.

I hope the President will take a little more time to think things over before he decides to waste hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to fly around the world again to help out his cronies in Chicago. I guess when you’re President, the last thing you’re worried about is adding additional debt to the national deficit.

That changed today. I got a call from a friend and former employer who asked if I would be interested in doing the play-by-play for the Smackover High School Buckaroos. I took a few hours to think it over and shuffle my calendar, but I made it work. I accepted the offer. Smackover is a lot closer to Magnolia, so I won’t have to take off work as much or as early to make it to games this year. It will be fun to follow the Buckaroos. I’m told the color commentator for the broadcasts is awesome.

So it’s back in the saddle on Sept. 4. I’m looking forward to it. The games can be heard on KELD-FM 106.5 out of El Dorado. If you listen in the first week, please forgive me. I’m sure there will be a few kinks to work out!

It just occurred to me that one of the first football games I ever attended was at Smackover. I was in elementary school and attended a school that didn’t have football at the time. I think it was probably my first football game ever. I don’t remember who won. I just remember I accidentally cheered for the wrong team because I had absolutely no idea what was going on. Ha Ha!

Here’s a thought to leave you with: Go buy Reba’s new CD. It’s awesome!

UPDATE: The CD is everything I ever expected and more. Reba is AWESOME.

LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!!!

Now, I’m not going to use specific details because I don’t want to glorify the actions of the other person, and I don’t want to risk stirring the pot anymore than it already has been by letting you know who I am talking about. I don’t even know if that person knows I blog, so I doubt they ever ready this, but I hope they do. I think the lessons I learned could help that person too.

In the course of my day-to-day life I deal with a lot of people. I deal with people at work, and I deal with people in my personal life. I like people. But last week I came across a person of whom I quickly decided I wasn’t too fond. This person said very, very mean things about me personally, professionally, and every other way you can imagine. He even had the nerve to tell me that I would never be successful in life and that my career was heading nowhere but the sewer. He also told me that he had just finished telling these same things about me to people that I look up to greatly and that I see as my mentors. I was devastated.

After this person said all of these things to me, I was mad. I was upset. I was confused. I was hurt. I didn’t know how to process it. I tried to put it all behind me, but no matter what I tried to do it kept coming back. And it didn’t stop with that one attack on Monday. An attack came again on Tuesday, and even though I don’t know the direct source of the attack, I’m 99.9 percent sure it originated from this same person I had the falling-out with on Monday.

I had just gotten out of class on Tuesday evening when the second attack came. I was distraught. I went straight home, fell on my knees, and prayed. It’s all I knew to do. I needed direction from above. I then resumed my normal nightly rituals while the battle raged on in my mind. I wanted to get back at this person, but I knew I could not do that without causing the situation to deteriorate even further. Finally it came to the point in the evening when I read a book. I like to read before going to bed. It’s just a habit I’ve formed over the years. As long as it’s not a text book, I’ll read it!

I have forgotten what I was reading at the time, and when I reached for the book on my nightstand I read the cover and felt an immediate peace fall over me. You see, the book I was reading was entitled “God is in Control.” What an awesome statement - especially in the troubling moments I had been facing. The book was written by Dr. Charles Stanley (by far my favorite TV preacher - although he has nothing on my pastor - and one of my favorite authors). When I opened to where my bookmark was placed, the headline read “God can use adversity.” Again, I am in awe.

Dr. Stanley asks, “Is God in everything?” He answers by saying, “According to what the Word says, ‘God causes all things to work together for good …’ (Romans 8:28). Just in time God demonstrates His awesome, irresistible power.”

After reading that, I wasn’t near as mad as I had been. I wasn’t near as upset as I had been. I began to understand, and I began to get excited. Because I can’t help but think that when God uses that awesome, irresistible power, it’s going to be to bring that person who hurt me to his knees. I try not to judge people, but as my grandfather - a pastor for over 40 years - always said, “You can always be a fruit inspector.” Well, in my humble opinion, the guy who said those mean, hurtful things to me is covered in rotten fruit. His actions and his personal life show it. I pray that he seeks out the saving grace of Jesus for his life if he doesn’t already have it. And if he has, I hope he finds his way back to the straight and narrow pathway that Jesus has paved for us.

After I was reminded what Romans 8:28 said, and after talking with my pastor, I decided the situation wasn’t worth worrying about. In fact, I was no longer mad at the man who insulted me. You see, through this trial, that man helped me to strengthen my relationship with God. This person didn’t tear me down like they were trying to do, they lifted me up. They told me I’d never be successful, but what they didn’t know is that I have a mansion being built by a king on a street lined with pure gold.  I don’t know how that could ever be topped!

“God causes all things to work together for good …”     He never ceases to amaze me.

Yesterday, I returned from spending a week as a church camp sponsor with our group from the First Baptist Church of Magnolia. We took about 40 kids to the Ozark Baptist Encampment at Grove, Oklahoma. Since it’s been about 10 years since I’ve even been a camper at church camp, and since I had never been to this particular camp, I had no idea what to expect. I remembered what we had done as campers in the past, so I feared for the worst. Luckily, the 21 boys who went were the absolute best any sponsor could ever ask for.

I had several “favorite” parts about church camp, but the top of my list takes the cake. On Wednesday night after the service, I noticed two of our boys sitting in one of the open-air tabernacles on the camp grounds. I walked over to see what they were doing, and I could hear one of the boys telling the other about Jesus. How amazing! I got excited and sat down. Once there was a few minutes of silence, I cut in and made sure the boy understood the story of the Gospel. Then he prayed and accepted Jesus as his savior. I was on a high for the rest of the night! It might not have happened had that one boy taken the time to tell his friend about Jesus.

Another favorite moment of mine came one day during quiet time. Each day after lunch, the campers were to go to their bunks and read their Bibles, reflect on their relationship with God, or take a nap. The sponsors most frequently took the latter. The key point is that they were to be quiet. On Thursday, the sponsors in our cabin were late getting to quiet time, and I expected to return to a bunch of wild boys chasing each other with pool sticks (this had been the scene most of the week). However, I was wrong. I walked in the cabin to find every boy on his bunk with his Bible open. I was floored. God does still work miracles!

I never knew being a sponsor at church camp would be so much fun, either. Each day after the campers had swim time, there was a time set aside and dedicated for sponsors to go swimming. There were three water slides at the pool, and I personally tested each of them. It was fun. I also participated in the sponsor vs. camper softball game. The campers had an unfair advantage in that the Gravette High School baseball team was playing their infield positions. We lost. I proved my non-athlete status.

Softball wasn’t the only game during which I was on the losing team. I played “human fooseball” on Thursday night. Picture a life-size foose ball table with real people kicking the ball around. Yeah, it was fun, but we lost. I, in turn, was covered from head to toe in dirt.

More important than the games and fun we had at camp was the absolutely amazing worship we experienced. The presence of God could be felt in every service, and souls were saved each day. There were about 50 during the week we were there. Dustin Wisely, youth pastor at FBC Magnolia, was the camp evangelist. God spoke through Dustin in a great way. He challenged each of us to live our lives in a continual state of worship. I must admit that I needed the sermons and lessons just as much as any camper did.

I’m already looking forward to the next youth trip on which I get to be a sponsor. There’s just something about seeing hundreds of kids experiencing the joy and love of Christ that excites me! I’ve got a feeling that I’ll have my opportunity.

For now, I guess I’ll look forward to returning to my small, windowless office on Monday. Hey, at least I have a new desk chair that was delivered while I was gone.

As I type this, I’m on a big, comfortable church bus (I will post pics on Facebook) heading to church camp in Grove, Oklahoma. This is the first time we’ve been to this camp, and we’re taking 40 kids from First Baptist Magnolia with us.

I’ve decided that I am going to be making a list of those things you really don’t want to hear as a church camp sponsor. So far, the list is topped by the comment, “I haven’t even had a shower today.”. It is one of my primary duties to make sure the 18 boys on the trip shower at least twice a day!

I’ll check back in later on down the road…

I hope this cooler weather continues this week. I’m heading out tomorrow for a week at church camp. I’m excited about it! This is the first time I’ve been to church camp in probably 10 years, and this time I’m going as a sponsor. When I signed up I asked if all I had to do was keep the kids from doing what we used to do at camp. I was quickly told that they come up with new stuff every year. I’m sure they do!

I have a lot of great memories from church camp. We used to go to Daniel Springs Baptist Encampment at Gary, Texas. It was hot - really hot. The cabins were not air conditioned, but after the first day, no one ever seemed to notice. This year we’re going to Ozark Baptist Encampment at Grove, Oklahoma. It’s a 7-hour drive, but I’m told the cabins are air conditioned! We have about 40 kids signed up, and I think around 20 of those are boys. The other two male sponsors and I will have our hands full.

I’ll be tweeting all week from camp. I hope to have lots of good news to share. I accepted Christ as my savior at church camp when I was 10, and I hope we have a lot of similar stories to tell when we return. Please pray.

Over the course of the last year, I’ve grown a lot. I understand that the world isn’t as simple as I once thought it was, and I’ve learned that people you’ve only known for a short time can be your most trusted allies. Of course, there are some people I’ve met over the last year that I wouldn’t put in that last category!

My job has taken me to some interesting places and allowed me to do some things that I likely wouldn’t have done otherwise. I traveled to Oklahoma City for a conference and got taken to dinner in a limo while there. On the way home, I apparently barely missed Carrie Underwood’s grandpa at a gas station in Checotah, Oklahoma. I traveled to five states in two days last summer looking at rodeo arenas. That trip not only expanded my horizons about rodeo arenas, but it helped me to sharpen my political debating skills (you had to have been there).  I’ve helped put on an NCAA regional baseball tournament and worked a 100+ hour week in the process. I’ve been to the Governor’s Mansion twice and am going back next month. I’ve been to more political events than I can count, and I’ve gained wisdom by watching some of the brightest minds in higher education do their work.

One of the accomplishments I’m most proud of is the coordination of the University’s Centennial events. I can’t claim much of the successes as my own, but I’ve been honored to chair the steering committee. On April 1 during the event we called “Founders’ Day,” my boss’s wife came up to me during the Tracy Lawrence concert and said, “Jeremy, when you took this job, I bet you thought you were getting some little bitty assistant to the president’s job, didn’t you?”

To be honest, I didn’t know exactly what I was getting myself into when I started my job as Assistant to the President for Special Projects, but I’m glad I did. If this first year is any indication of what the future holds, I’m more blessed than I could ever imagine.

This topic has been brewing with me ever sense the senior U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania announced his decision to switch party designation this week. The real reason is as clear Ben Stein’s vision after using Clear Eyes - he’s scared. After more than 30 years in the United States Senate, it became clear to the senator that he would likely lose the upcoming 2010 GOP primary, thus ending his “distinguished” career. I guess he thinks it will be easier to defeat his opponent in the Democratic primary. I mean, come on, if I were a Democrat I’d vote for a former Republican over someone who is loyal to the party. Right.

But what Specter actually said was that the Republican party had moved too far to the right and that many of his constituents had switched parties to vote for Barack Obama, therefore he needed to switch parties to meet the desires of his constituency. Wow. I didn’t realize that’s the way it works. I would assume that if he was doing a good job for the people of Pennsylvania - and had been for 30 years - there is nothing to worry about. He should get re-elected. After all, statistics show that incumbents generally get re-elected if they’ve been doing a good job.

In the end, I think Specter will get beat, and I hope he does. I’ve always heard that there are two ways to run for office; you either run unopposed, or you run scared. Specter was scared, and he took the coward’s way out. I think he also needs a press secretary like Robert Gibbs to tell people what he MEANT to say. I hate it when politicians don’t say what they meant to say. Gosh.

I really don’t care what happens in the Pennsylvania race for U.S. Senate generally. As long as Blanche Lincoln gets beat in Arkansas’s 2010 race, I’ll be happy.