Where U Been?....

This may be the question that comes to mind after my abandonment for a while. To tell the truth i really haven't had anything to write about lately because of a few different reasons i guess. The biggest one is i have this battle going on inside me at the moment and i'm pretty sure it's my old friend Lucifer trying to steer me down the lost highway. It's rather weird because our Sunday school lesson this morning kinda had to do with this. It was the verse that said if a man puts one hand on the plow and looks back and that had to do with if you look back to your past then you lose focus on Jesus and the straight and narrow road and that's kinda what i'm going through and i'm just grateful to God that i have amazing friends that i can surround myself with. But anyhoo just keep me in your prayers please. On a happier note Godstock is this weekend coming and i'm pumped but at the same time worried that it's not gonna turn out the way i vision it, but at the same time i know better than that because it is to glorify God and reach lost people and i know He will show up and show out!! I had some worries about some of the loose ends that were left but i talked with Mr. Allen tonight and it just confirmed that the Lord will provide and it just amazes me everytime that happens. He also mentioned a vision of sorts regarding the future of Godstock that really caught me off guard but excited me also. Well this one is short and sweet but if i don't post again this week i ask that you keep Kim and myself in your prayers as she has to have surgery on Thursday.
till next time.......
Cap'm Willie

Goodbye is the Hardest Words to Say....

I'm a little late posting this but better late than never. This post comes with a sad opening. On Monday morning I had to say good bye to my MeMa for good and no matter how much I had prepared myself or so I thought, it still took a piece of me out. As I said before I told myself after my Papa Tye died that I was going to see my family more but didn't and the bad thing is is she lived right around the corner from my work and I never took the time to go visit unless she was sick or something and I really feel bad about that. But on the other hand I praise God for answering a prayer that I've been praying for some time now that had really been eating at me. My sister, Crystal, who hadn't had anything to do with our side of the family for some time, again unless someone passed on, went with me last Wednesday to see MeMa in the hospital, and although she may not have been able to carry on a conversation with her she said the most important thing over and over which was I Love You and Crystal told her the same and I got a little emotional. It was like a great burden was lifted from my shoulders that night. So on Monday when we went to the funeral home of course just about all of our family was there including our Dad, which is another thing all together. I have no clue about what happened with all this but I do know that seeing her talking to and hugging people she hadn't seen in forever was just awesome, especially when her and our dad settled their debt so to speak , I just about lost it, but I didn't. After seeing this I just felt an incredible peace and I knew that my prayer had been answered Our God is an Awesome God comes to mind......On another note I took a quiz that Crystal had told me about at piratequiz.com it's kinda like the DNA thing, but cooler because it gives you a pirate name at the end of it, and if ya'll know me then you know I'm a pirate fanatic.Anyway my pirate name is Iron William Vane. pretty cool huh? Another mishap was tonight at praise team practice when my amp went out right before we did Sing to the King which is one of my favorite songs to get 'garagey" as Robbie says, on. But no such luck and yes I had to play it on the acoustic, needless to say it wasn't quite the same...hmm why do people say needless to say and then say something after it?.....if it's needless to say then why say it?? sorry that thought just hit me...Any hoo that's enough ramblin' I just ask that you keep my family in your prayers and that God will give me the knowledge of how to go about fixin' this amp before Sunday.....And to my sister thank you!!I love ya sis.
Til next time ya land lubbers....
Cap'm Iron William Vane

She'll Go on You

Hi there. I should have posted last night but alas i didn't. Last night brother Eric Spann delivered a sermon on the dangers of drinking and it really hit home because i was once there also. You become a slave to the bottle and do and say stupid things that often hurt the ones around you, but you don't always remember it the next morning. I just pray that our youth was listening, because i know that they will face it if they haven't already. Anyway you did an awesome job Eric thank you for your message. This post isn't going to last too long because I learned today that my grandmother isn't doing too well and i'm just kinda in the dumps, because after my Papa Tye died I told myself that I was gonna see my family more, but of course those were only good intentions. So not too long after that my cousin died from drowning, and that really just caught me off guard the same way that it did when one of my best friends died from drowning, and i blamed myself because i was at my dad's house when it happened and i just kept thinking that if i would have been at home then we probably would have been hanging out with our other friends, but in reality i guess it was time for him to go home and it wouldn't have mattered. But anyway i've lost contact with my family over the past 10-12 years and it seems like the only time i see them is when we lose someone and i just hate that, i just don't feel like it should be that way, but i make it that way. My grandmother lives right around the corner from my work and i never go by there until someone calls and says MeMa is sick or something and there's just no excuse for that. I'm planning on going to see her wednesday in the hospital, so i just ask to keep her in your prayers. I don't know alot about what's happened in the past years, but i know one thing. that is she would do anything when it came to her children. She's run herself to death i think, because no matter where they were or what they needed or no matter how bad she felt, she would always go to them and try to help them. My dad is already taking it pretty hard and it's just hard to even listen to him talk about it, but i feel there's nothing i can do about it. This whole thing reminds me of a Josh Turner song called She'll Go on You, and this song talks about your daughter leaving, your wife of girlfriend leaving if you don't love her or treat her right, and then it talks about your mother passing on. It says that she's not as strong everyday and that you should thank her for taking care of you and waiting up on you and that sort of thing, and i just couldn't imagine not having my mom, eventhough we don't talk all that often.so please keep my father in your prayers also. well that's all i got to say about that. till next time.......
Cap'm Willie

Miscalleneous Debris

Man, what a week this past week. Let's see where to start, well Wednesday we had a surprise birthday for mine and Crystal's mom at their house. That was a blast, we had a small discussion about church and contemporary worship with our parents who we hope to see come to Christ soon so please keep them in your prayers. Their names are Zoeanne and Rick Smith, but we have planted the seed we now have to leave it in God's hands. But anyway it seems we kinda started a little trend that night because Friday my parents wanted to come to mine and Kim's house, which they've had good intentions of that since we moved in about 2 years ago, but believe it or not they actually came. So I figured what the hay I'll just invite Crystal and Barry , and our adopted brother now, David, ha-ha. Apparently David spent some quality time with the Ledford's while Sunshine was gone. But anyway so they all came and we grilled some burgers on our new grill that I was still putting together when everyone got there, thanks to my wife deciding it was time for a new one, but at least David and Barry heped me, thanks guys. Kim also invited her friend Blake, who apparently is a new creation, we keep inviting him to church also, so we invited him to the lock-in that's coming up so we hope he'll show up. After we ate we did some karaoke on the playstation2, which Crystal loved. And we also played guitar hero2, which Barry is hooked on now, don't worry it's gonna be on at the lock in. But everyone kept saying how much fun it was which made us feel really good. It also made me realize that it's awesome to have friends , but more importantly to all have Christ , but it was just awesome , it took me back to the fun my friends and I used to have before we got involved with drinking, and it's just so amazing how far I've come through the grace, and mercy of Jesus. I , however am now hooked on this game Barry and David have been playing for the x-box called ghost recon, that game is so much fun. So on Saturday after praise team practice, we strangely ended up at the Ledford's. Imagine that. And then there they were the Godstock T-shirts. I was absolutely blown away..I am so pumped about this event. THANK YOU DAVID for getting those shirts, and for your adjustments to the artwork, awesome!!And finally we get to Sunday morning...Pastor Chad delivered an awesome sermon, he's really been on a roll, keep it up man, you are awesome. And to Brother Robbie , Eric, Crystal, Mike and Miss Terry, that version of Mighty to Save was over the top. I am so blessed to be in a band that glorifies God with you guys. Then in Sunday School Brother Eric Spann gave his testimony, which has been an ongoing thing in there for the past few weeks. He gave his testimony at the lock in last year, but I didn't really get to hear it, but man what an awesome testimony, you should sit down with him sometime if you haven't heard it.His testimony really does prove that our God is indeed mighty to save. Well that's about it , sorry i got long winded here but i feel like every detail was important. until next time same blogspot channel different blogspot time.
Love you guys
In Christ
Cap'm Willie

Anybody Else's Toes Hurtin'?

Well well well looky here..Willie is on the blogging scene. Some were probably waiting for it and yes some probably feared it. I just wanted to mention this really "attention getting" question posted on the back of our(New Hope's) newsletter:
I wonder what would happen if we treated our Bibles like our cell phones.
what if we carried it around in our purses or our pockets?
what if we flipped through it several times a day?
what if we turned back to get it if we forgot it?
what if we used it to receive messages from the text?
what if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
what if we gave it to Kids as gifts?
what if we used it when we traveled?
what if we used it in case of emergency?
I don't know about the rest of ya'll but, anybody else's toes hurtin'?
CATCH YA ON THE GREASY SIDE!
WILL-I-E

You Find Out Who Your Friends Are...

This is the title of a new song, one of the best I've heard this year on (gasp) country radio. Yes although it is secular it is truthful. It is performed by Tracy Lawerence, Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney (how could that be a bad song is my question). Any hoo, let me get to the point of this. The song talks about when you're on top everybody says they're your "friend" and then when you hit some hard times or need a favor you find out who your real friends are. My whole point to this thing is this song made me think of when we were "living the life" we had all kinds of friends but after our salvation people are like "huh? sal-who?". Then it seems like they're hard to come by. Now I haven't really experienced this, which kind of surprises me, but also makes me know that I have real friends. But I also know of some people that are close to me that lost some, but they gained sooooo much more than just social status. So just think about who you could call on the next time you're in a bind and see who is really you're friend. And the next time "You run your car into a ditch on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere...." see who you can call at anytime day or night and find out who your friends are.
Till next time my fellow bloggers,
Sir William of Lipsey

Schools Out

Yeah I know I haven't posted in a while, but life sometimes keeps you busy. Any hoo since the last time I posted, I went on vacation with Crystal and Barry and David and Sunshine and all the kids were there and we all had an awesome time. And our Vacation Bible School began on Monday of this week, I'll just tell you by the end of it this evening you could tell everyone was exhausted, even the kids. It just amazes me that kids can repeat something back that you thought they didn't hear because they were all talking, well most all. I believe God gave them some kind of special talent to make us go "Hmm..I guess they were listening." Hey it's just a thought. I also found out that we may, hopefully have Dan Carrol at Godstock, and he's leading worship Sunday morning and I'm looking forward to that, he does a great job at what he does. Oh and we also came home to a wonderful surprise the day we came home from the coast......sorry i got lost on the coast there for a second, anyway we had praise team practice that night and when I walked in i noticed something different but didn't register right off. It was the coolest thing, our stage had grown and i was all like that is awesome. I still don't know exactly who all was involved, but thank you guys and girls(if any)from the bottom of my heart,I absolutely love it, it's awesome. Matter of fact when we were doing Sing to the King, I was moving around because that song just pumps me up for some reason, but as i kinda jumped off of the drum riser i thought for a second, "what if i look like an idiot?" and then i thought about David, no not you David, the David from the Bible, when he was dancing in the street. And then i realized that it didn't matter because that's how i roll when i worship, so if you find it troubling, turn ya head..I should probably stop, but i have to get this out. Some of you i've already ranted and raved about it and i got one person to purchase it..What you talkin' 'bout willie? you may ask. Well let me tell you. I bought the new album by christian hip-hop artist LeCrae called After the Music Stops, and all i can say is Wow...i really can't say enough about this album. it's really impressive to hear a rapper praising the One who made us and His Son. and it's every song. if you're into hip-hop i strongly recommend you go out and buy it, shoot, i recommend you go out and buy it even if you don't like hip-hop, because his messages are incredible. Maybe the praise team can do some of his stuff, he he he, i only yoking wid you man. i did try to get him for Godstock but alas he's booked up into 2008, so maybe next year. Alright, that'll do for now. except i would like to add to Pastor Chad's weird stuff on signs thing, see how this one hits you, it was on a billboard at the beach: Why is it called rush hour traffic if it goes so slow?
'til we meet again.
Cap'm Willie