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!!!