Prayer Request..... Well I found out some bad news about my grandpa (Gerry Schultz) today. He found out he had cancer in his lungs about 18 months ago and has been doing great since then with chemotherapy. But at his last checkup the doctor found another spot in his spine. It took them a couple months to figure out if it was cancerous or not but last week the results were not good. The bad news about this, the doctor said, was that the last person he knew that had this before my grandpa had about 6 months if the radiation fails. Just please be in prayer for him. Pray that if it’s the Lords will then let Him heal my grandpa of this. Along with praying for him spiritually because I'm unsure of his salvation. If you could pray also for my grandma (Nancy) and dad (Dave) to that would be awesome. I know this may be a hard summer for both of them. Thank you sooo much! God Bless!

In Christ,
Zack Schultz
Proverbs 3:5,6

Shower your Blessings! There were two farmers who were going through a drought one year. One of the Farmers planted his fields that year, while the other chose not too. Now what field do you think the Lord provided rain for? The farmer who planted his field is obviously the correct answer. We must prepare our fields before the Lord will shower down blessings. We must trust Him to provide, and He will. We serve an amazing Savior who loves us more then we can comprehend. Trust and obey. God will shower His presence on us when we ask and truly desire it!!! Thank you Lord! You are an awesome God!!!

Love, Zack

from Facing the Giants

Have a humble spirit. As a man, my ego can be hard to control sometimes. It’s probably one of the hardest areas in my life. Growing up playing sports all my life, my competitive, prideful spirit has always been there. I loooove sports; basketball, football, baseball, tennis, volleyball, softball, paintball, snowboarding, racing go carts, golf, swimming, all the way down to ping pong. Ha. Whenever I got together with some of my guy friends, sports was the one thing we always did. Everything is a competition to guys. You know why this is? It’s because every guy on this planet has an ego. Yes, some may be bigger than others but everybody has an ego. When we see another guy who is better then us we think, “I want to be better then him.” When we find out what we received on a test, we immediately ask everyone else what they got. When we take a road trip we gloat on how it only took us 18 hours compared to your 20. haha Our minds can be revolved around competition.
The thing is though; God doesn’t use prideful, egotistical man and women. God uses the humble in spirit. In my devotionals today, I read in Psalms 34 when God tells us in verse 18, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. God uses those who are completely committed to him. He uses those who put their complete trust and obedience in Him. I mean look at David. He was a small, scrawny kid who was completely committed to God. He knew he was nothing without his Lord. Look at Daniel. What a young man with Integrity. He was completely focused on doing the right thing in the eyes of the God. There are so many examples in God’s Word of Him using the humble, willing, and even young. Always remember that if you humbly seek God face, he will stretch out his arms!! No matter how old you are. God Bless!

Live a Life of Purity! Growing up, I have found that my thought life is one of the utmost achievements or most terrible downfalls in my walk with Christ. When I was right in my thought life, and even physical life; I established that I was closest to my Heavenly Daddy. But when I was falling into the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh; my relationship with Christ was on the crumple. It is totally true that when someone is trapped in sexual sin; their intimate relationship with Christ falls away. This is because God does not tolerate it. When you let this sin rule your life, you are hurting the name of our Savior. It is putting yourself or someone on this earth before our God. “It is putting the created before our creator,” (Bill Shannon) which goes against the second commandment alone. The Bible tells us that this private sin will find you out. Many people caught up in it feel nobody will ever find out. Nobody will ever be able to tell what I’m doing. But they forget that when our relationship with Christ is becoming less and less apparent, people will notice it. Our Christian brothers and sisters will see us struggling; eventually causing our secret sin to become public. God calls us to purity.
Secondly, falling into sexual sin is sinning against our own bodies. “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.” (1 Corinthians 6:18) God commands sexual purity right in His word. This is the one sin that shows love of our selves over our love for our Savior. When we sin against God in this way, we forget about our thankfulness for our salvation, and we forget about the graciousness of the Lord. You see, when we accepted Christ as Savior, we allow the Holy Spirit to enter into our life. God lives in everyone who puts their trust in Him. “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you received from God? You are not your own; you are bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19,20) So when we sin against our own body, we are hurting God who is living in us. We hurt the one who loves us more then we can even comprehend. You hurt the one who died for us. God doesn’t want this and will fall away the longer we engage in it. God calls us to purity.
Thirdly, our sexual outlook now, will determine our future intimate life in the degree of marriage. When someone puts asides God’s commands and engages in a sexual thought life or sex outside of marriage, he is hurting his potential with his future spouse. This is because when you have multiple partners early in life, once you get to marriage, you will have a problem not comparing your wife to your mistakes prior in life. This I believe is one of the biggest problems of the 50% divorce rate in our churches today. I may not be married yet, but I do know that a couple’s intimate life in marriage is a crucial component. So I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be as a man to have to compare your pure, amazing, Christian wife to a immoral act you were part of in the past. This is a great example on why God commands us to wait until marriage. God created intimacy for us. But he commands us to keep it in the confines of marriage. I can’t wait for the day when I get to say to my wife, “I waited for you.” God calls us to purity!

Smile in the Face of Adversity! The last couple of Days have been kinda a struggle for me. I think that school pressures and being so far from home is kinda taking its toll on me maybe. But I know this is the place where the Lord wants me and that he is always with me.
The other day in my Devos, I was reading about Joseph and how he completely trusted God and smiled in the face of adversity. I mean think about it. He was beat up and thrown into a pit by his brothers who later sold him into slavery. Then after hard work and a godly spirit he was appointed the personal attendant to Potiphar, the captain of the Egyptian army. I mean what an honor! It shows that with God anything is possible. But the story gets worse before it gets better. One day, when Potiphar was out and all his servants were gone out of the house. Potiphar’s wife came to Joseph and asked him to come to bed with her. Now through class and study I have found out that Joseph must have been a good-looking guy. So this worldly woman didn’t have second thoughts about committing adultery with such a handsome, respectable, and nice young man. But God was with Joseph. Joseph was committed to doing right in the eyes of the Lord! I mean, he could have easily got away with it. Nobody was around. Nobody would ever have known. But that is where you are wrong. God was there! And Joseph knew this. So when she asked, Joseph ran! He didn’t say, “no I can’t do that to my master.” He didn’t say, “ maybe later.” He didn’t even just walk away. He ran from sin! He ran from sin, and ran to God. Now this is where the story gets interesting.
Growing up or early in our Christian walk, many Christians believe that if they get saved, if they have the presence of God in there life; all the problems and hurt in this world will go away. But we see right in the Bible, right in the word of our Lord; that with God it might even create problems in our Life. Think about it. Didn’t Jesus say in the New Testament, that if you put your trust in Him, we will be mocked and hurt for it? We will be persecuted for our faith. “All men will hate you because of me.” (Luke 21:17) What I have learned is that people will not like the fact that we believe in God. They won’t like it that we have a happy, caring spirit all the time. I mean it’s not normal in this world. It’s only with the manifest presence of God that we get to have this character. It’s only with our Daddy’s presence that we can smile in the face of adversity. Because we know that with ever trail and testing God puts in our life something good will come out of it. Our God loves us so much that He disciplines and tests us to make us grow closer to being like our savior Jesus Christ. Proverbs 3:11-12 says, “My, son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son delights in. With adversity comes wisdom, and a better understanding of our Lord. Like I said in my last blog, “Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. (Proverbs 3:13, 14) So God does not take all the problems out of our lives when we turn to him. That would take away the whole point of faith. The Lord tests us to make us grow closer to him. What I have found though is when the trials of life come, this is where people either turn their back on God, or mature in their relationship with the Father.
After Joseph ran from the sin of adultery, he was put into prison by Potiphar for attempted rape. This is where the story started to really amaze me as a young Christian growing up. I mean how could anybody who has been put into this situation keep his relationship with God so strong? How could he not become rebellious and resentful? I can sum the answer to that up with four words: God was with him. Joseph never turned his back and God. So God never turned His back on Joseph. His desire to please the Lord was so strong that any persecution brought on him for his God’s sake didn’t matter to him. I mean of course he didn’t like going to prison, but if he was in prison, that is where the Lord wanted him to be.
Everything that happens in life is part of the Lord’s plan. I love the quote by Dave Early in my devo book that says, “Faith is like radar, which sees through the fog – the reality of things at a distance that the human eye cannot see. As Christian’s we need to remember this. God isn’t bringing persecution and adversities into our life to “get back at us.” He is doing out of love and the desire to see us grow and to fulfill the future plans He has for us. He wants an intimate relationship. He desires those face to face talks. Everything in life happens for a reason.
We see as we finish up the story of Joseph that the plans of God in his life were so great! Joseph kept trusting the Lord and living with God’s presence. He did not faulter. After being appointed from prisoner, to running the prison, God brought the biggest plan for Joseph’s life. He was appointed the Prime minister of Egypt. You thought being Potiphar’s attendant was an honor? He would later on save all of Egypt from starvation. What an amazing life lived for our Lord! Joseph could have given up and got bitter at God during any of these life changing trials. But he stayed strong in the Faith. He trusted Lord to get him through. He became everything the Lord wanted him to be.
After reading a story like that, it makes you think about the trials your going through right now and how minuscule they really are. But at the same time these miniscule trials are helping you grow closer to having the manifest presence of God in your life. Let’s put this idea to what I’m going through right now for example. I may be having a rough time here the past couple of days, but I know the Lord is trying to really teach me something. Over the last couple of weeks I finally broke out of the stale mode I was in with my relationship with my Savior. I am finally growing again! But with this I know will come some trials and testing from my Daddy. He wants me to grow. He wants to teach me and bring me closer to him. He is teaching me patience and trust. Patience until I can go home again, and for me to trust Him with school. The Lord is making me live my life verses out! Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto your own understandings; in all thy way acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths. (Proverbs 3:5, 6) God Bless!

~Zack

Living in His presence. Lately I have been praying immensely hard for God to bring his presence on me. Through my devotionals, I have learned a lot about my Heavenly Daddy’s presence. There are three different presences of God. The first of course is his omnipresence. Which means God is everywhere and everywhere is God. He can be everywhere at one time. This is more a distant thinking of our God I believe though. It doesn’t show a relationship with our Lord and Savior. The second is the abiding presence of God. This is the belief that God is with us everywhere we go; in the car, in our home, at work, everywhere. But the third is the kind of presence I’m praying everyday for. It is the manifest presence of God. It is the only one that comes with a growing relationship with the Lord. This is faithfully seeing, “God’s creative, excellent, living, loving, joyful, encouraging, faithful, true, good, and holy presence flowing around and within us.” (Dave Earley) We may not have the ability to visibly see our God. That we will have to wait until Heaven for. But right now we can have Heaven on Earth. We can live everyday close to our God, Lord, Savior, Daddy, and friend. He loves us more than we can ever comprehend. He wants to have a close relationship with us. Every time we talk to him, study him, and think of Him, He smiles. I have learned to love my time with the Lord everyday. I look forward to it. This is something I haven’t had in a while. Everyday I go to the same place to talk to and learn about my Friend and Daddy. It’s my prayer closet. I turned my closet in my dorm room into my place with the Lord. In this place, I can feel and hear His presence. I love it there. I go there in the quiet part of the day; when everybody else is in class. There I can hear the quiet whisper of God speak to me. I speak my mind, and talk to him like my best friend. I have a face to face talk with my God. It’s the most amazing feeling in the world. My love for my Savior is growing more and more everyday. Along with my wisdom. Like it says in Proverbs 3:15, “Wisdom is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare to her.” We have the amazing chance to learn about and speak to the creator of us and everything around us. God’s word is sharper than any sword. With God we can withstand any temptation. The Lord is with us through any trial. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. But with the Lord we don’t have to fear anything!!

Semester One of my freshman year is coming to an end. What a blast. So many fun times. So many happy times. So many frustrating times. So many scary times. So many disappointing times. So many humbling times. So many times with the Lord. So many times with friends. So many times with teachers. So many times with my pillow haha. What a great past four months. When I thought of going to college a few months ago, I was scared to death. I was going to a place where I knew nobody. A place where I would basically have to start over. No friends, No parents, No siblings, No family. It was me and my Lord. In the same breath though I knew it was my time to grow. The Lord wanted me at Liberty University for a purpose. I didn’t know what it was a few months ago, but I’m certain I know now. He wanted me to grow in Him. I’m not talking in just one area or a couple. I mean in multiple areas. I needed to grow into the man the Lord wants me to be. Yes it was prolly the scariest thing I have ever done in my life, but the Lord has blessed me abundantly for stepping out and trusting Him to take care of me. All these years of talking about my life verse, (Proverbs 3:5,6) it was time for me to walk the walk. I knew if I trust my savior, he would direct my path! We have an amazing, AWESOME, gracious, loving, and caring God! With him everything is possible! I can’t even imagine life without Him here with me. He fills every gap, teaches me everyday, and loves me more then I can even comprehend. I have found true worship here the first four months of college. It is something that I had never have known before this point in my life. I went to church and loved learning about the Lord, but never had the true, God Present worship. It is an amazing experience to feel the God who created everything around us, who is bigger and more powerful then we can imagine, standing right next to you. Whispering in your ear I love you so much Zack and I want the best for you. I am always here for you and you can totally rely on me. True worship is not singing to God because He needs it from us. True worship is when we sing to the Lord because we need it! We need our Lord! He is so caring, so BIG, but so loving.

I love you Lord! Thank you for growing me in you the past 4 months! Keep me focused oh my God! You are amazingly wonderful! Over the next 6 weeks, Lord, don’t let me falter. Don’t let me fall away. I want to be near you Jesus! Fill me with your presence. I trust you completely!

Thanks for reading y’all! Until next time….God Bless! Love,

~Zack

Check out my MySpace here!!!

Sweetly Broken Video

Add to My Profile | More Videos

There is one thing that every girl should know about guys. I have never met a guy that this isnt true about. Its what drives us, what makes us want to be better or the best. Well what is it you ask?On Sunday I was shown something that really spoke to me. Something that will push me at work, at college, and everything that I do. Pastor was talking about how the one thing that pushes a guy to his best is the respect of his girl. It is so true. He told a story about how after every Sunday service no matter what, his wife comes up to him and tells him what a great job he did. He said thats what pushes him the most besides the Lord. He told us though one morning his wife forgot to tell him this and he got all down that afternoon and thought he really blew it that morning. He even told his wife that. "I really blew it this morning didnt I?" But then she told him, "no no I forgot Im sry. You did sooo good this morning. Im proud of you." For some reason this small part of the sermon really spoke to me. Its the part the Lord really was trying to tell me I have a feeling. As college approaches fast and the nerves start to build about being 1000 miles away from home alone, this is one thing that will push me on my bad days. This is the one thing I will remember. I am there to gain the respect from my future wife, future kids, and future job. I need to grow; in the Lord, and in life. No matter what I can not fall. With my Lord I wont!

Every morning when I wake up looking up at the ceiling of my dorm room Ill see my poster that says, "All that you do, do it diligently, and unto the Lord. Do it for everyone who has taught you, and everyone that will teach you. Be thankful for what you have. The skills you have been given, the desire you have to succeed. Do it for your future; Future wife, future kids, future job. EARN YOUR RESPECT. You know you want it, live out what the Lord has given you!! And do it to the best of your ability. Live smart, not lazy! You are blessed to get another day! Live it to the fullest! To the world you may be just one person but to one person you are the world!" ~Zachary David Schultz

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto your own understanding; In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy paths. ~Proverb 3:6,5

Do you ever find it hard not to get mad at God sometimes? Isnt it hard not to ask him why are you doing this to me? Complain to Him about the circumstances your going through. This my be a fight with your best friend, being low on money with a car payment or school bill coming up, your parents saying no to letting you go out with your girlfriend one night, losing a loved one. The list can go on and on.

About a year ago, on June 27, 2005, my favorite uncle died of an aneurism. Two day after my graduation party. I can remember him coming a talking to me for about 2 minutes, about baseball, girls, you know the fun stuff you and your uncle always talk about. As he left I gave him a quick hand shake goodbye and told him see ya on the 4^th. Didnt say, "I love ya" or anything of the sort. I just wanted to get back to my friends. I knew he cared about me, and wanted the best for me. But I didnt know that 48 hours later Id never see him again. I remember hearing stories about how worried he was of me when I almost died the one day on the pitchers mound, or how proud he was of me about baseball and the way I was living my life. A year earlier I can recall me and him talking about how much he appreciated me, and how much he loves me. At that time I didnt really think of it to seriously, cause I thought I had many years to come to hang out with him, hear him say "get r done" and "stuuuud" and hear that one of a kind laugh. I will never forget that! Ill always keep those times at jellystone chucking a football around at the site or running and diving for it in the lake for hours on end in my mind. Or putting those smoke bombs on the back of our bikes and riding around the park thinking we are the coolest kids around. There are so many awesome memories.

That day at work when my mom called me and I had to go into my bosses office and tell him what happened and end up breaking down crying. That was one of the worst days. I remember thinking why are you doing this to my Lord? Why would you just take him away like that? No good can come out of this. I remember being angry and complaining to the Lord. Asking Him a ton of questions, not knowing how to handle it or what to do? Now looking back on that, I wish I would have known what I do now. I wish I would have read about how Holy our God really is. "His absolute holiness should be a great comfort and assurance to us. If God is perfect and completely holy, then we can be confident that His actions toward us or the people around us, are always perfect and just. We always want to think God is being unfair to us, and why is He doing this? But it is impossible in the very nature of God that He can be unfair. Because He is holy, all His actions are holy" (Jerry Bridges). When we complain against God, we truely are saying that God isnt holy. Because everything that God puts into our life really does have a purpose. It is all part of his plan. We need to be thankful for everything God brings to us. Every trail or issue. We need to thank God for the chance He gives us to show Him we want to do His will and what is right. Our God is soooo big! Thanks yall for reading. I heart ya! Later

I want to be independent. Every guy in the world has this desire. We have the big egos that all girls hate. We want to prove ourselves, and show the world we can do everything and anything all by ourselves. I am the strongest, I am the fastest, I am the best worker, I am the hottest, I am going to win every time. How many times have you or someone you know said something like this? But when I really look at myself in the mirror, when I put my ego and independency aside, I see that with just myself everything is not possible. Everything is possible with the Lord. I heard this quote once that said, "Being totally independent is having no faith." With no faith there is no God!! Sometimes when Life gets hard we need to just sit down and trust. We have run far enough. We have fought our hardest. We need to just relax and let God finally handle our situation. We need to trust that He will get us through. We need to have faith. Believe it or not God does want to help us. But we need to ask Him too. When we start having total faith and confidence in the Lord, He brings the most blessings so us! He wants to give us a hand up off the dirt. He wants to sit you down and get you a glass of water. We are thirstier than we realize! Refresh your soul and mind. Psalm 46:10 We must Cease striving and know that I am God. Thanks for reading yall God Bless! ~Zack

This will give you goose bumps!!!

A drunk man in an Oldsmobile
They said had run the light
That caused the six-car pileup
On 109 that night.

When broken bodies lay about
And blood was everywhere,
The sirens screamed out eulogies,
For death was in the air.

A mother, trapped inside her car,
Was heard above the noise;
Her plaintive plea near split the air:
Oh, God, please spare my boys!"

She fought to loose her pinned hands;
She struggled to get free,
But mangled metal held her fast
In grim captivity.

Her frightened eyes then focused
On where the back seat once had been,
But all she saw was broken glass and
Two children's seats crushed in.

Her twins were nowhere to be seen;
She did not hear them cry,
And then she prayed they'd been thrown free,
Oh, God, don't let them die!"

Then firemen came and cut her loose,
But when they searched the back,
They found therein no little boys,
But the seat belts were intact.

They thought the woman had gone mad
And was travelling alone,
But when they turned to question her,
They discovered she was gone.

Policemen saw her running wild
And screaming above the noise
In beseeching supplication,
Please help me find my boys!

They're four years old and wear blue shirts;
Their jeans are blue to match."
One cop spoke up, "They're in my car,
And they don't have a scratch.

They said their daddy put them there
And gave them each a cone,
Then told them both to wait for Mom
To come and take them home.

I've searched the area high and low,
But I can't find their dad.
He must have fled the scene,
I guess, and that is very bad."

The mother hugged the twins and said,
While wiping at a tear,
He could not flee the scene, you see,
For he's been dead a year."

The cop just looked confused and asked,
Now, how can that be true?"
The boys said, "Mommy, Daddy came
And left a kiss for you."

He told us not to worry
And that you would be all right,
And then he put us in this car with
The pretty, flashing light.

We wanted him to stay with us,
Because we miss him so,
But Mommy, he just hugged us tight
And said he had to go.

He said someday we'd understand
And told us not to fuss,
And he said to tell you, Mommy,
He's watching over us."

The mother knew without a doubt.
That what they spoke was true,
For she recalled their dad's last words,
I will watch over you."

The firemen's notes could not explain
The twisted, mangled car,
And how the three of them escaped
Without a single scar.

But on the cop's report was scribed,
In print so very fine,
An angel walked the beat tonight
on Hwy. 109

Have you ever notice how we always want to be older. At ten you say, "if only I was fifteen." At fifteen you cant wait to be sixteen. Once you hit sixteen and you are on top of the world cause you finally have the big DL, you all of a sudden realize eighteen would be just so much better. Then at eighteen you realize you are off to college in a few months. On your own! Nobody to make your food, tell you to clean your room, come home too, ect etc. Then in college you cant wait to get out and start making the cash money. But when you get out there you want to retire because your sick of work. Then at sixty you finally, finally want to be young! As I think about this I wonder why in the world do I want to grow up so fast? Didnt God say live life day by day. Cause every breath we take is a blessing from the Lord. We have no idea when our life will be taken from us. Now dont get me wrong, God wants us to prepare ourselves for the future, and use every gift his has given to us fully. But every night, I love falling asleep thanking the Lord for another day. If you really think that you have nothing to be thankful for just remember this.....The Lord gives life and takes it away. Be thankful because God is giving you another breath to live, another heartbeat this very second. We always, always have something to be thankful for!! Thank you God! Thanks a lot for reading yall!! Later

What does it mean to Trust the Lord? Through the past few years, i have become more and more aware of what this really means. I have finally coming to the point of moving from the rumor filled, you aren't cool unless you party highschool scene to breaking out on your own, moving away from you parents and best friends, and really relying on yourself and the strength that the Lord gives me college scene. During the past couple years, tons of questions have been brought to my mind. Important ones that will make and break your future. The challenging questions that you either take, live for the Lord, and trust in Him completely. Or else you will fall away from what you have been taught the past 18 years of your life growing up in a Christian home. What I have found is many people choose the second path in there walk. Choosing to trust in there own weak self, there own so called intelligence, and partying life up but all along being miserable and feeling that something or someone is missing. Making money the number one thing in their life and striving to make more and more but all along never being satisfied. Im not saying money is a bad thing. But for me it is the hardest thing not to make replace my God. Its so easy to make it the top of the priority list. You know what Im saying?

Over the past few days the Lord has been really trying to show me that I need to trust him completely in everything I am going through. Tuition!! Next fall Im going to be attending Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va, The full college cost is 22k a year but for me it will be around 17. During the past year, the Lord has really shown and gave me the desire to go there. I am almost positive that is where He is Leading me. Now not having as much money in the bank as I want and the need to take out student loans has been a real burden on my thinking. I keep getting brought back to what the Lord says in Prov 3:5, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thy own understanding I all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy path. I need to acknowledge him! I have my Lord who will provide me with everything I need when Im in his will. Liberty is His will. He will provide!! We just need to remember that in all of lifes difficulties, we have a Lord that is way bigger and that can do anything!! Thanks for reading ;-) Later!!!