I need your help!  Well, not me specifically, but I would like for you to help me help others.

Blogger, husband, soon to be father and friend, Andy MacMahon is taking the One Year Without challenge.  He’s going to give up cigarettes and energy drinks for a year for Compassion International and he needs your pledges.  I signed on for $1 per week….that’s $52 that will go to Compassion.  You can do more….you can do less…..you can sponsor a child.  Every pledge counts, so go over there and pledge a penny a day…do the math…..you can afford it.

So GO HERE, read more about it and leave a comment on his page telling him how much you’ll pledge.  Then come back and let me know ya did….cool?

Thanks in advance!

Joining in with a few bloggers where every Thursday one of us will highlight children from Compassion who have been waiting for 6 months or longer without a sponsor.

This week we’re going to get Juan sponsored.

Meet Juan:

Juan is 5 years old and needs YOUR help!

Juan lives with his father and his mother. He is responsible for making beds and running errands. His father is sometimes employed as a farmer and his mother maintains the home.As part of Compassion’s ministry, Juan participates in church activities. He is also in kindergarten where his performance is average. Playing ball games and bicycling are his favorite activities.

To give Juan the help he needs and deserves, click his picture and welcome him to your family.  If you would like to browse other Compassion children, CLICK HERE.

After you sponsor Juan, let me know in the comment section, the contact me page or shoot me an email.

Whatever you decide, pray for Juan, will ya?  Pray for him, spread this message around on your social network sites, send it in an email, etc.  Get involved and let us, together, improve the lives of deserving children…..One child at  a time.

In Jesus Name…..Amen!

If ya didn’t notice, your eyes need checked

OR

YOU NEED TO GET OUT OF THAT READER AND ACTUALLY VISIT THE PAGE .

That’s right Facebookers…..You’ve probably never seen the old site cuz you read and comment on the notes there, but for today, COME HERE.

Thanks to Russ Hutto for tweakin this design and getting my hosting problems all worked out.  Another thanks to Andy MacMahon for helping out.  They, along with Shawn Wallace, are my blog-fathers and this place would be a blank slate without them.  Ya’all think that I’m this web genius and you just couldn’t be more wrong ….there are men behind the curtain, but I’m not one of em.

Alright, so what’s new?  I found the old theme to be a lil too busy and I could just imagine peeps looking around at all the goodies and forgetting to read the post…HA!  Well, we’ve tried to cure that here as the content of this blog is now the focal point.  You can still find me on Facebook, check out our Flickr page, see my Last.FM page and shoot me an email, with the buttons up to the right.  Feel free to check em out…..Go ahead…..I’ll wait………….

Those of you wondering what that big RSS up there is, just click it and subscribe.  That way you’ll never miss a post……and we all know that’s your main concern right now .  As you can see, there’s a pic of the family, which is the largest part of the answer to the question in the title of this blog for me…..Then ya have tunes I’m loving currently and the famous WhatsThisLifeFor videos below that. Still debating (no pun intended) on whether to get rid of Intense Debate (the comment system) or not.  But I’m pretty sure the problems I was having were with the host and not them, so we’ll keep it for now.

There are probably a few things like categories and such that will be added, but for the most part, this is it.  There will be no more daily categories (MAD Monday, blah blah Tuesday, etc.)  I just got tired of feeling locked into what I HAD to blog about, so I’ll condense those into a few….not sure what yet.

Thanks again to the guys mentioned above…..

I love it and I hope you do to!

For those of you here for the first time or new to blogs in general, down below could see a few things.  If you’re on the main page, you’ll see the word “Comments” followed by a number….click that word which will take you to what everyone else currently sees……which is a place for you to post a comment.  Now you can register with Intense Debate and get a username that you will use each time or you can just put your name in there and comment without registering.  See, it’s not that bad….now get to commenting .  Kidding, if you’re more comfortable sayin what ya gotta say over on Facebook, that’s fine too…..That’s why it’s there .

Lemme know what ya think.

Those of you who have been Christ followers and Bible studiers for a great deal of your life probably know where the title of this post comes from.

For the rest, let me help ya out:

Micah 2:1-5

¹ What sorrow awaits you who lie awake at night,
thinking up evil plans.
You rise at dawn and hurry to carry them out,
simply because you have the power to do so.
² When you want a piece of land,
you find a way to seize it.
When you want someone’s house,
you take it by fraud and violence.
You cheat a man of his property,
stealing his family’s inheritance.

³ But this is what the Lord says:
“I will reward your evil with evil;
you won’t be able to pull your neck out of the noose.
You will no longer walk around proudly,
for it will be a terrible time.”

⁴ In that day your enemies will make fun of you
by singing this song of despair about you:
“We are finished,
completely ruined!
God has confiscated our land,
taking it from us.
He has given our fields
to those who betrayed us.^[a]”
⁵ Others will set your boundaries then,
and the Lord’s people will have no say
in how the land is divided.

This really broke me this morning.  I was instantly brought back to the person I used to be and was immediately saddened to know there are many people, some of you reading this right now, who will be broken by this because you’re still living that life.

Maybe we are not taking houses or land…..maybe we are, but it’s fun to us.  We do go to sleep at night, thinking of what we’ll take the next day…..who we will hurt.  and WHY?  Well, because we can…. because the position we hold…..because of the person we have made people belive we are……whatever circumstances, we have turned around the blessings God has bestowed on us and used them to OUR advantage.

Maybe it’s women….maybe it’s money.  It was both for me……They worked for me….I was the BOSS and I knew I could make them think I was more than I was…..make them think I could do things for them if they did things for me.  Money??  I worked around it long enough to line my pockets with it.

I hurt people.  You are hurting people.  Sometimes I wonder if the people I hurt could ever forgive me.  I know Jesus died for my sins and has already paid the price for all I have done, but I still wonder……”Do they still hurt because of my actions?”  Has my EVIL been rewarded with EVIL?  Are these thoughts and the pain I feel for these people, the evil I deserve?

It’s easy for Christians to get caught up in the warm and fuzzy Jesus we create.  We think if we preach the LOVE and KINDNESS, maybe people will forget that God says, when you do bad….bad will be done to you.

I pray you wake up today, just as I have.  Maybe, like me, you remember what brought you to accept Christ and reafirm your love for Him and work harder to ensure others do not endure the pain you have.  Maybe you have never acknowledged Him as your Savior.  You’ve been putting Him off, thinking, “I can do this on my own…..for just a bit longer.”  Well, yeah, you can, but you don’t have to….  It’s not all warm and fuzzy folks.  Don’t tell me “it’s never too late”…..cuz you just never know.  Live today like it’s your last.  Ask for Jesus to come into your life….ask Him to forgive you for all you have done and STOP.  Leave that life behind you…..never to haunt you again.

You may see a bunch of ramblings up above, but I truly feel like God has me speaking to someone today.

Is it you?

It’s LIVE HAPPY week, but I have to be honest with ya…..I’m struggling right now.  It is Friday afternoon and I realize this post won’t hit til late tonight or Saturday for most of you.

My first Twitter message this morning:  “Ahhh what a nice morning when ya wake up to hundreds of Christians making fun of the death of Michael Jackson..God made him too, right?”

Yeah, I struggle to stay positive about that!  Literally too many messages to count,  from Christians making fun of, or telling jokes about, the death of Michael Jackson.  I’ll ask the question again…..God made Michael too, right?  Oh, but his sins were far worse than any of ours, right?  Hmmmmm.  James 2:10 comes to mind…check it out.

The bottom line, for me, is we are no better than Michael Jackson and if we somehow think there is anything funny about him dying, I might suggest we need a little more time spent in The Word each day.

It’s tough being a Christian and planting seeds….it’s tough!  But when the world stops to mourn the loss of an icon and Christians laugh, it makes our job even more difficult because perception is everything.  Right at that moment, when you sent that message about a “child molester getting what was coming to him,” you gave each one of us less credibility and I truly believe souls will be lost because of it.

Nevermind live happy week…..Today I will spend time in prayer…..praying for Michael, his friends, his fans and his family.  I pray that each one of them will be touched by God, somehow, through all of this.  I pray, specifically, that at some point in Michael’s life, he asked for, and accepted Jesus Christ as his savior and now stands at the feet of the True King.

I hope you all will pray in the same manner.

See Elijah’s letter here and Chaya’s letter here.

Dear Gabriel,

Wow son, you are 7 years old!  Where has the time gone?  It seems like just yesterday that your Mom spent 36 hours bringing you into this world.  But just like today, Gabe, there is no pushing you.  I have come to learn that there is no need to push you because you’re naturally pretty darn good at whatever you attempt to do.

My Bubba!  You are different in that you seen a lot of your Mom when you were a baby and when your Mom and I switched roles, it was pretty rough on you.  You were old enough to know what’s going on and to have real emotions about it.  Let me just tell ya son, I know I can’t give ya what your Mom does; no Dad can, but I love you with all of my heart and I try Gabe…I try!

You are so smart Gabriel!  Your Mom and I have been amazed at how you pick things up since you were born.  Heck, I think you came out walkin!  We probably don’t say it enough, but we are so proud of you!  The way you rattle off Bible verses like you wrote the book, is so awesome!  You’re such a good kid and again, I love you.

What can I tell ya about your name?  Your Mom’s family has been telling you from day 1…..Gabriel, you’re gonna blow the horn!  You are our angel, Gabe, and aptly named!

My letter to you is a bit different because I’m not going to put in here all the things I want you to do and how I pray for you to live for Christ.  Yes, I want those things for you and I pray for you every day, but I know that you already know.  Sometimes you act like you don’t listen, but I know you do.  I see the way you treat people and the way you respect adults and the thought of it makes me smile.  I know that I haven’t always been the most respectful and you, unlike your brother and sister, were around to catch a few of my “bad years.”  I won’t apologize because I see how you have handled it and I applaud you.  God did good with you and you don’t harbor any resentment towards me, but instead I have watched you change with me.

Here in a few weeks you’re gonna have a brother.  You’ve never been thrilled about your sister and I pray that changes with time, but you seem very excited about having a little brother.  God’s plan is obviously at work in this family because I cannot imagine Elijah having a better big brother.  I know you will teach and protect him well.  You have been through this once, but this time will be a little different just because you’re 7 years old.  There will be much more you can help me with, but I promise I’m gonna do my best to not take advantage of you.  I also promise, as I have promised your sister, there will still be time for just you and I.

I hate to see ya grow up so fast, but I can’t wait to see what you will become.  I know God has mighty plans for you son.  Listen to Him always and go where He leads!

I love you Gabriel!

Dad

I sometimes like to use this space to unload.  I mean, we all have struggles and things/people that irritate us and there are times when I like to rant about them here or on Twitter or on Facebook.  Blogging buddy, Joshua White, had a nifty idea and I’m on board.  You can read about it HERE and then be part of Live Happy week with us.  Great idea….I’m POSITIVE of it!

You in?

It’s getting close folks!  The baby will be here soon and it’s time for another contest.  Yes, the first wasn’t really a contest, but we gave ya a bunch of names to choose from and you chose Elijah. We weren’t kidding when we let ya vote and Elijah Charles Keathley will join this family very soon.

This time you get to guess.  Guess the DATE, WEIGHT and LENGTH.  Only this time there will be prizes!!!  3 different prizes actually….One for the closest in each category.

I’m gonna give you what I would consider all of the contributing factors and you put in the comment section your guesses.  Here we go:

• Gabriel, born March 23, 2002 weighed in at 9 pounds 7 ounces and was 21.5 inches long.
• Chaya, born August 10, 2005 weighed in at 8 pounds 10 ounces and was 19.75 inches long.(yeah, weighed 8/10 ON 8/10…easy for her old dad to remember)
• Don’t know my exact weight at birth, so I can’t help ya there
• Ria, born November 13, 1981 weighed 10 pounds 5 ounces.
• The doc hasn’t given us a guess yet, but they have been wrong with the first two, so that wouldn’t help ya either.
• Ria’s due date is July 17.
• Her next appointment is July 5.
• There are other factors and if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you’ll know them….If not, you have some catching up to do.
• Below you’ll find the latest pic of Ria’s belly….I’ll just tell ya she looks similar, but maybe a bit smaller than with the first 2.  Then again, she wasn’t in the Army with them either .

ON TO THE PRIZES!!

The closest to date, weight and length will each get some kind of souvenir from Germany.  I’ll let you choose what ya want….t-shirt, drinking glasses, keychain, etc.

If there is anyone who guesses EXACTLY on any of the 3 categories, I’ll throw in a $50 iTunes gift card on top of the above mentioned prizes!

WOW, that Pastor T guy is AWESOME!!  No, he just loves ya!

Ok, get to guessing!!

Remember this post?

That lady publicly accepted Christ yesterday!

Enough said!

Always be mindful of who is watching you.  If you think there is no one, you’re wrong….BE the example!

The first of many, I hope, episodes.  One of these days, I’ll learn to cook something else.  Also in the video….”The Beef Stew Diet”

Not many words needed…..Enjoy!

Taking recipe requests….Hit me up !!

Elijah’s letter is here.

Going in order, youngest to oldest……

Dear Chaya,

My sweetheart, my lil CookyLou!

Wow, where do I start with you?  I know what first comes to mind…..Daddy’s girl!!  See, you have had an extra dose of Daddy time for the past 2 years.  You’re almost 4 years old and I get all teary eyed when I think of how much you mean to me.  Sometimes I try to hide my love for you so Gabriel won’t think I favor you, but I do favor you.  Just like I favored him when he was little.  You’re only young once, and I enjoy every minute of your youth.

Now then….Daddy’s girl!  There is no mistaking it.  If you were a bit older, we would be twins.  You act just like me and sometimes that’s not such a good thing!  In the end, good and bad, it’s just God’s way of telling me, as we are His, you are definitely mine.  I love you Chaya!

You’re going to start school this fall and I’m just not sure what I’m going to do with myself without you around.  Sure, I’ll have baby Elijah to keep me busy, but I will surely miss you!  From the mornings, when you wake up…..I pick you up to hear those Heavenly words, “Myyyy Daddy.”  I, of course, reply with, “Myyyy Chaya.”  Those moments will never be forgotten.  I live for them!  All through the day, when sometimes you make me crazy, to night time, when I have to hug and kiss you 10 times because you’re convinced you haven’t had any hugs or kisses all day…..Then, it’s “I sure love you Daddy.”  Ahhhh it’s awesome being your Daddy!

Ya know what’s even better?  You and I share a Father.  I know, it’s a bit confusing right at the moment, but that guy, Jesus, I am always telling you about…..He is our Heavenly Father!  You won’t hear much about Him at school cuz the world is a crazy place, but that’s ok Chaya.  Mommy and Daddy will teach you so that you can teach others.  That’s the key baby girl…..don’t hold it in…..your main purpose in this life is to spread the word of Christ to everyone you can.  Live for Jesus Chaya….Live LIKE Jesus…..and you cannot go wrong.

In about a month, you’re going to have a baby brother!  You are super excited about being a big sister and I’m counting on you to help me out.  I have a big sister and I’m not sure what I would have done without her through the years.  I pray that you and Elijah will have that kind of a relationship.  You’re lucky cuz Elijah is only 4 years younger than you.  You two are gonna have a great time and I’m sure he will learn a lot about life from you.

Things are going to change, as they always do when a new life is introduced into the family.  You might not get the attention you’re used to from Daddy and, to be honest, Daddy is kinda scared of how you’re going to handle that.  I’m constantly praying about it though and I trust that God will see us through.  Just know that you will ALWAYS be Daddy’s little girl and I love you with all of my heart.  There is nothing/no one who could ever change that.

Love,

Daddy

I’m sure most of you have already watched this, but if not it’s our submission for a contest held by Mercy Me.  I forget how the whole thing works, but if we make it to the finals, I’ll be blogging again asking you to vote for us .

Whoever said white men can’t dance obviously had me in mind while saying it!

Ok, your turn.  Get involved, make a video.

As you might have read HERE, I went to see David Crowder Band and Jeremy Camp last week and, as promised, here is the interview with David Crowder.  The guy asking questions is Jan, the youth pastor at our church (click here for the church site)…..Check out the youth ministry site here.  I’m the guy behind the camera that you’ll hear laughing once in awhile cuz Crowder does seem to have quite the sense of humor.

Again, great concert; great time of worship!

Enjoy!

Backstage with David Crowder from Jan Horak on Vimeo.

Another video from the states……really needs no intro…..we put up a tent to sleep in for the night and……

Tent Night from Toby Keathley on Vimeo.

Have ya made your kids laugh today?  Don’t have kids?  Find someone who does .

I have enough video to probably make 6 of these, but this was our 2nd night back in the states.  My nephew and I had been emailing back and forth about playing guitar together.  Let’s just say it was a little less than exceptional.  Well, for me anyway….he’s actually pretty good.  Enjoy!