Housekeeping

I have just added a security step to keep spam postings from appearing on this blog. I would still love to hear from the two or three of your readers of my blog, so please post a comment. I promise the extra security step you will have to take is painless. It will just keep me from having to delete spam comments (which amazingly enough has alreay happened here).

May God bless your day. I promise to catch up again soon. Things are fine, just busy, busy, busy! I preach this Sunday (which is also my physical birthday), so it is a pretty hectic week, but a good one.

Potty Prayer

I am currently reading the book “God Is Closer Than You Think” by John Ortberg. He is one of my favorite contemporary writers. In chapter 4, Ortberg is discussing the subject of “the Greatest Moments Of Your Life” or to put it Blountly: realizing God’s presence in the everyday happenings of your life. He discusses God’s presence in the act of eating your food each day starting on page 76, but page 77 includes a parenthetical paragraph that is my favorite paragraph of all times…read this, please.

(If you think trying to turn eating into a spiritual experience is a little far-fetched, consider that for the ancient Hebrews, the other end of the digestive process was a gift of God as well. They actually had a prayer to be said after going to the bathroom: “Blessed art Thou, O God, who has made the openings in my body.”)

Now THAT is great!

Decent Report

I know, don't faint. Two blog posts in one day (like anyone is actually reading them - ha!). Went to the dermatologist today and had three "skin tags" taken off my neck. One of them had gone nuclear on me in the past three weeks, growing big time, changing color, etc. It is now off to the lab for a biopsy. I also got the Mr Freeze spray on my left forearm for what may be a pre-cancerous spot. Nothing to worry about, just taking care of business.

Now that you know more about my current medical state than you could have possibly been interested in, I will close this post.

Blow Me Down...NOT!

Well, looks like Tropical Storm/Hurricane Katrina will stay far enough south of us soas to have very little serious impact on Indian River County. We will get some much needed rain, but winds are not supposed to be anything above about 35 miles per hour. Just a blustery day or two. As we enter the peak of Hurricane Season, anxiety levels are on the rise. This time last year, we had just experirenced the first of what were four named systems that impacted our weather in Vero Beach. In September of 2004, we took two direct hits from major hurricanes. So, people here are a little nervous.

I am not. It is totally in God's hands, and I am okay with that. The storms of life come and go. Jesus stays the same. There are plenty of storms blowing up in and around my life these days, but as I continue to read from the Bible each day I am to be strong and courageous. I am to realize that God is in control. Part of today's Scripture reading:
1 Cor. 16:13-14
[13] Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. [14] Do everything in love.

Part of yesterday's Scripture reading:

Job 12:13-25

[13] "To God belong wisdom and power;

counsel and understanding are his.

[14] What he tears down cannot be rebuilt;

the man he imprisons cannot be released.

[15] If he holds back the waters, there is drought;

if he lets them loose, they devastate the land.

[16] To him belong strength and victory;

both deceived and deceiver are his.

[17] He leads counselors away stripped

and makes fools of judges.

[18] He takes off the shackles put on by kings

and ties a loincloth around their waist.

[19] He leads priests away stripped

and overthrows men long established.

[20] He silences the lips of trusted advisers

and takes away the discernment of elders.

[21] He pours contempt on nobles

and disarms the mighty.

[22] He reveals the deep things of darkness

and brings deep shadows into the light.

[23] He makes nations great, and destroys them;

he enlarges nations, and disperses them.

[24] He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason;

he sends them wandering through a trackless waste.

[25] They grope in darkness with no light;

he makes them stagger like drunkards.

It is so good to let God be in control. It is so good to be reminded to be strong and courageous, be on your guard, stand firm in your faith and to do everything in love. I really needed to hear those messages from God these days!

The Longest Week

This is the start of what could be one of the longest weeks of my life. Danny Dye preaches his last sermon here this coming Sunday. I preach the first post-Danny Dye era sermon the following Sunday (on my birthday), yee-haw! I'm working on a good UK basketball analogy to open the message. I figure I might as well break 'em in good! Anyway, it will be tough around the office this week and next as Danny transitions out, but I know that God has the best in store for the Dyes, and I will trust that He will have the best in store for VCC and the Blounts, too.

Immersing Turtle

August 14, 2005 the new birth of Bryant "Turtle" Smith takes place!

I had the privilege of immersing Turtle into Christ following our second worship service! Yes, the day is Peggy's physical birthday, but now it is also Turtle's spiritual birthday! What a great way to celebrate that day!

Then and Now

August 8, 1981.

Today.

Peggy gets better looking every day. I get...well, I'm here, too.

Anniversary Card

If I had bought a card, this would be the one!

Peggy and I spent our Anniversary evening doing what has become our traditional Anniversary date: going to a local establishment with greetings cards and looking through the Anniversary Cards together. We pick out one card each from all that we look at and say, "If I had bought a card, this would be the one!" We laugh at the silly ones, get misty-eyed over the sentimental ones, and just enjoy that time together. It is free. It costs us nothing. We spend that time together just celebrating our precious time together.

This year, because we are celebrating #24, we went to a special place for dinner: Taco Bell. Yeah, that's what fit in our budget, but that's a whole other story that I don't want to go into right now. Then, it was home to watch some preseason NFL, with the Hall of Fame Bowl featuring the Dolphins and the Bears, as well as watching our beloved Reds beat up on the Cubs in Monday night baseball. What a perfect night. What a perfect wife!

Happy Anniversary Baby

Got you on my mind.

I am so blessed to be married to you, Peggy. I thought I loved you 24 years ago today when I said "I do," but I didn't have a clue what love was back then. I think I have a little better understanding of it today. I love you. More than words can express. I pray that my actions speak volumes about my love for you. Thanks for putting up with me all these years!
Your Lumpy

Post Mortem

We did the post mortem on the 2005 CIY trip this evening at the fabulous estate of the Huntsbergers. With more pizza than we could eat, and lots of godies to boot, we enjoyed viewing the unedited video from the trip to Lee University.

Good times fer sure. Amos and Lydia Smith came down from Daytona for this evening's festivities, and they are spending the night at our house. Good times, mixed with a little intrigue. If you don't know what I mean by that, and you are really that intested, you'll hafta e-mail me and ask me in private. Let's just say that it is time to move on...at least that is what I keep telling my eldest.

Peggy starts school tomorrow (the kids don't start back until August 12th). Elliott is here for the weekend, will go back to Florida Christian College for the week, and then be back next weekend and next week. I am really looking forward to spening time with him.

That sick feeling...

...in the pit of your stomach. Yeah, that describes my day today. Having survived Peggy's medical deals this week, including the redo of her oral surgery, today was the worst day of the week. See, I innocently checked my online bank statement only to find that our auto insurance company had taken out three times the normal amount of money from our auto pay this month! The reason? They added our two non-drivers in our house to our policy while we were on vacation! Needless to say, this was not budgeted, thus causing a MAJOR problem with our checking account. After frustrating conversations with two different people with the insurance company, we have Ian and Emily off of our policy and the company will credit the overcharge in our next two monthly payments (but they won't put the overcharge back in the checking account). So, I had to scramble to get my paycheck signed early and got it deposited today to stop any further damage (as in overdraft city, baby!). As of this writing, I have spoken with the bank, explained the situation and have been assured that no further pentalties will be incurred. Sweet.

As for Peggy's redo of her oral surgery...things went well. She was much more groggy this time with the sedation, it took over an hour and a half to wake her up enough after the surgery for me to be able to take her home. She promptly went to bed and slept for seven more hours without moving. At 10:00 PM, she appeared in the doorway of our bedroom, and asked me what time it was. The conversation proceded like this:
Scott - "It's 10 o'clock, honey"
Peggy (with panicked look on her face) - "But, weren't we supposed to be at the dentists' office at NINE O'CLOCK?"
Scott (holding back the laughter, but not holding it back too much) - "Peggy it is 10 o'clock AT NIGHT. You've already been to the dentists' office today, check the inside of your mouth."

Lost the whole day thanks to the modern miracle of zanax as prescribed to her by the dentist. How could you possibly use that drug recreationally? We are told that kids do, but man, that seems too unreal to me! Anyway, Peggy is back to "normal" today, having taken the kids shopping for school clothes, etc. All this before I found out about the big money problem, thus again necessitating my scrambling action.

Ah well, I am ready to go home for the evening, and go to bed early. I am exhausted. Frustrated. Down right TO'd.

The Breakfast Club

robes
Originally uploaded by blountman.

Emily went to breakfast at CIY one morning wearing her robe...she had been fighting a migraine, but when her robe-mate found her, she was all smiles. Pretty cool stuff that goes on in the dining hall during CIY Summer Conference!

More CIY pictures are now found on my flickr site, so click on the flickr button found on the right side of this page, eh?

This Is Me

thisisme
Originally uploaded by blountman.

The title of the 2005 Christ In Youth Summer Conference Theme. It was an intensive look at Jesus with daily subthemes including: "I Am Grace," "I Am Love," "I Am Life," "I Am Here" and "I Am The Way."

As previously noted, we took 27 students and adults (23 students, 4 adults) for a week that included whitewater rafting, hiking through the mountains, and fantastic worship and teaching times each day. More pictures from the trip will soon be posted on my flickr site, so be sure to visit there often as well.

I had the opportunity to really put into practice the art of Grace during the week, and I didn't always extend it very graciously. Gotta keep working on that. Otherwise, it was a good week, and our students from VCC really seemed to get a lot out of it. It was a tough week, with some seriously deep issues to be dealt with. Time will tell how seriously the students (and the adults) were impacted.

Of course by the time we got back late Saturday, and I drug myself out of my bed Sunday morning for church, it was time for our congregational meeting/vote concerning the sale of the property. The sale was approved by aobut a 92% vote.

I have yet to have my meeting with the Elders concerning the transition that will have to take place with Danny retirement. That could happen tonight. Meanwhile, I will trust that God knows what He is doing, because frankly, I don't. I do trust in Him completely, and I am humbled that He wants to use me in any way whatsoever to advance His Kingdom.

More to come, I know you are tingling with anticipation!

Adults at C I Y

Peggy Blount, Julie Huntsberger, Scott Blount, & Greg Bartolucci.

These three adults pictured along with me in front of the Conn Center on the campus of Lee University in Cleveland, TN, are the BEST!!!! (Ed, note the excessive punctuation). They helped shepherd 23 students during the week, got up early and went to bed late, and always had smiles on their faces. Thank you guys and gals, you are the best.

C I Y Crew

Students who went with us to conference this year. From let to right...
Front row: Samantha and Katie
2nd Row: Zach, Ray, Kyle, Lydia, Lyndsey, Kerry and Maria
3rd row: "Turtle," Ian, Craig, Braxston, Emily, Alison, Peggy
4th row: Jordy, Ben, Obie, Amos, Matt, Jenson, Julie, Jessica
Not pictured because they were taking pictures with several cameras - Greg & Scott

Benton Falls

Took 22 to the falls today. Awerome! This 60 foot waterfall can be seen after a 1.5 mile hike in the mountains near Cleveland, TN. The Chilhowee area. For many of the Florida flatlanders, this is a highlight of our trip to CIY in Cleveland, TN each year. I don't blame them. Sitting in the falls is very cool. When I get my underwater camera pictures developed, I will post one here!

Kinda Wierd

Guess what movie we saw last night? Charlie & The Chocolate Factory rawks! I recommend it highly! Are ya jealous, Elliott? Don't you think wearing these during C-I-Y will be a hoot?

Coming at ya like a Whirlwind

This may be the only post for the week. I am trying to get ready for the Christ In Youth Summer Conference Trip (we leave Vero Beach at 6:30 AM Sunday and will return late night Saturday, July 23rd), while also dealing with matters pertaining to the potential sale of our current church property, a refinance on the house, the aftermath of the fender bender that took out Pistin from going on vacation with us, and the announced forthcoming retirement of Danny Dye, my good friend and brother in Christ, our Senior Minister here at Vero Christian Church.

Just suffice it to say that there is way more going on than I can blog about today. Someday soon, but not today. Thanks in advance for your prayers for our trip, for our congregation and for our family. We need to be bathed in your prayers these days!

Scott Preaching

Scott Preaching
Originally uploaded by blountman.

We had church services both Sundays at Black Mountain East. I put together song services, and two messages using some DVD clips (one of which I did, one of which I got from a men's retreat message).

I had this picture taken so I could show the folks in Vero Beach how Kentuckians do church: A UK championship T-shirt, bare feet, and my pocket pc with my sermon notes. Now, THAT'S what a preacher should look like, eh? HA!

We are back home now, and glad to be here. Plenty going on which will be blogged about in coming days, I am sure.

Today the announcements were made: 1)the offer on our current church property including the vacant lot and parsonage - a congregatinal meeting/vote is scheduled for July 24th, and 2)Danny Dye's retirement under the oversight of the Elders effective Sept. 30, 2005.

Now, the REAL FUN begins...

We're Home

After a ten hour drive back with relatively few traffic and weather-related problems, we are back home. The vacation was great, but it is absolutely wonderful to be home. I'll update more fully later. As for now, I am ready for the sack. Tomorrow promises to be a Sunday among Sundays.