Andrew Smith's Blog

My name is Andrew. Come and have a look inside my life and watch me share what is on my heart.

New Year Resolutions

1.Live life to the fullest
2.LOVE people more
3.Hang with family and friends
4.Work out more
5.Stand on my head
6.Play the guitar
7.Just be myself
8.Tell more jokes
9.Laugh way more
10.Make good grades in college
11.Thank God more
12.Enjoy life
13.Write
What are some of your New Year Resolutions?

How many are you going to keep?

I hope this year is exciting and fun for you. Live life. Have fun! Love. Laugh. Hang. Chill. Do new things. Continue to do some old things. Now get out there and enjoy life. Hope you have a safe New Year! :)

Peace,

Andrew

Christmas Time Thankful

Christmas time is when the cold air starts breezing around your neck. You just wish you had that new scarf to wrap around your neck. You hang the stocking for Santa near the cozy fireplace. Kids getting up at 5 a.m. to open their presents. Parents filming it for everyone to see. Then after the presents we just stop it all.

Christmas is over for that year. Then we got back to busy lives. One thing I know about Christmas is it brings families together. Most of us like our families some don’t. But something I have always heard was you can’t pick your families. (They pick you) Okay so maybe that’s not entirely true. Sure some of your parents might have returned you. If they could have. Maybe sometimes you wish they would have. But that’s not what matters. What truly matters is your alive aren’t you. (Or you couldn’t be reading this) So why not live and love a little.

But I want Christmas to never change- being with family, singing Christmas carols, opening presents, giving gifts, loving people, and sharing the cheer with everyone. There’s nothing like that. It only comes once a year. But then we tend to get caught up with our busy lives.

Christmas for some would mean the following:
1.More traffic (GET OUT OF THE WAY)
2.Rude people (People who think that’s what Christmas is) (I heard this one to many times-I’m the Customer hurry up the checkout line)
3.What am I getting for Christmas (Selfish)- It’s cute but when your 4 years old but some people need to grow up – Me Included
4.Scarier times- (Some people are just crazy-some would love to take things from you)

I understand we are all busy. But our kids are watching us. Most of them would just be happy to spend time with you. Some people work way too much to climb the ladder of success. We all were affected by how fast the economy fell. Climbing the ladder didn’t help us not fall.

Sure kids want some toys too. But they don’t have to have that $600 new toy. I will give you a hint. Here it is…. Technology and trends change every minute. So if you miss one toy there is just going to be a better one that always comes out. Did I mention the old one will be cheaper by that time? Overpriced much?

Kids only need love. Wrong. Didn’t know I was quizzing you did you? Everyone needs love. That is the real season of the holiday after all. Isn’t it?

Most things in life are only a season that’s why Spring must come where Christmas can fade away.
We freely give during Christmas but afterwards most of us tend to stop. Some of us go back to our old ways. We get caught up in life. We don’t think about visiting our family. We just think oh I will see them at Christmas again next year. Well what if their gone. Is it too late then? I am guilty of it too. Not loving others and letting them know it. Sometimes it takes a bad thing to turn us around and see ourselves for who we really are. But God graciously forgives us when we fail. Not once but every time. All you have to do is ask.

But you can’t love people if you don’t know how too. But that’s just an excuse. You know what love is look into your heart. When you see a homeless man getting food. When you see kids light up when you hug them. Some of us have gone through a lot. We all have made mistakes. We can’t begin to comprehend how someone could love. Maybe someone hasn’t loved you as would have like them too. But there is someone whose love never changes. GOD! He always forgives us.

38 “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,” 39 “Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39 (King James Version)

29 “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.” 30 “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” 31 “Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Matthew 10:29-31 (King James Version)

14 “For the love of Christ controls and urges and impels us, because we are of the opinion and conviction that [if] One died for all, then all died;” 15 “And He died for all, so that all those who live might live no longer to and for themselves, but to and for Him Who died and was raised again for their sake.” 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (Amplified Bible)

16-18 “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.” John 3:16 (The Message)

19 “We love Him, because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19 (Amplified Bible)

One of my favorite shows did something on helping others. It’s called What Would You Do? Linda Hamilton is a homeless lady and she was one of the only ones trying to help this man on the street. She didn’t have anything to give herself. But she tried everything to get people to help this guy on the street.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49YQhTLoGuA

If you would like to read the update on how Linda is doing. Here’s the link:

http://abcnews.go.com/WhatWouldYouDo/story?id=7125839&page=1

“Oh, the smallest thing can make all the difference Love is alive, don't listen to 'em when they say
You're just a fool Just a fool to believe you can change the world The world's so big it can break your heart And you just want to help not sure where to start So you close your eyes, and send up a prayer into the dark.” Carrie Underwood-Change

If you would like to listen to a song about helping people here’s one below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JASx1gVnqkc

You may be wondering what is love. Love has no distance. If you truly love someone you would do anything for them. Even if it’s something you know would help them in the future. (That’s called tough love)

1 “I THEREFORE, the prisoner for the Lord, appeal to and beg you to walk (lead a life) worthy of the [divine] calling to which you have been called [with behavior that is a credit to the summons to God's service, 2 “Living as becomes you] with complete lowliness of mind (humility) and meekness (unselfishness, gentleness, mildness), with patience, bearing with one another and making allowances because you love one another.Ephesians 4:1-2 (Amplified Bible)

We have soooooo much to be thankful for.
1.If you have a house your going pretty good
2.If you have a car at least you don’t have to walk everywhere
3.If you have a Family at least you have people who love you
4.If you have water to drink you have clean water
5.If you have pet that’s one less pet without a home
6.If you have food at least you have some food to eat
7.If you have a bed at least you’re not sleeping on the ground
8.If you have friends at least you have some people to hang out with
9.If you’re able to get out of bed
10.If you get to go to school

Okay I will stop with ten but you get the point. We take a lot for granted. Someone would love to have any of those things. Some have nothing. Some of them would give anything to trade their lives for yours. We all need to realize how lucky we have it. I know a lot of us don’t have that much money to give. But time is sometimes more valuable. All some people need is love and someone to care about them.

“Lookin at the hand of the time we’ve been given here This is all we got and we gotta start pickin it
Every second counts on a clock that’s tickin’ Gotta live like we’re dying We only got 86 400 seconds in a day to Turn it all around or throw it all away We gotta tell ‘em that we love ‘em While we got the chance to say Gotta live like we’re dying.” Kris Allen-Live Like We're Dying http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3N5CsXYlCk

There’s always something to be positive about just take a look around. Take time to enjoy the Holiday season but most of all enjoy life to the fullest. You only got one shot at life. It’s your choice on how you are going to live it.

God Bless,
Andrew