New Edition in the Carr family

So this past weekend our family had a new edition. His name is Josiah Andrew Carr. He was born July 18th at 9:06am. 7lbs 7oz healthy baby. After a long Saturday night and Sunday morning for my brother and sister-in-law, and those of us that came at 1am to be with them, it was good to see that babies face for the first time. Savanna is doing great and they get to come home today, they had to stay an extra day because Josiah had a little Jaundice. But they are going home, and they are ready to get him home and get him settled in. Below are some pictures I took of him at the hospital.

According to a source Billy D. bought a horse!

Okay everyone I've held out too long from blogging about this. First off let me just say that I am a huge UK fan and in no way is this me bashing them at all. As you all know this time of the year coaching speculations will start to rise, especially in Lexington when a coach isn't winning. Well it has started for UK. From Billy Donovan coming, to Travis Ford already packing his bags, to even (now get this) even Rick Pitino coming back. I do think that in the next few weeks we will know whether or not Billy G. will be fired or he's staying. I have my own opinion on him, but I do think he should be given at least one more year.

Now in my opinion the root of the problems at UK don't start with the coach, it goes much deeper then that, to the Athletic Director. Mitch Barnhart is the root of the problems. All of our problems start when he came in. The only good thing he has done is extend Rich Brook's contract. Mitch drove Tubby out of Lexington, because they were trying to force him to fire assistant coaches and they would not let him hire on his Son Saul. Mitch is not a Kentucky boy, he has been Athletic Director out in Oregon, and Senior assistant at UT, and we all know nothing good comes from Tennessee. In my opinion Mitch needs to go and they need to bring someone in that knows the history and background of Kentucky, some with the same style as good ole C.M. Newton.

So if Lee Todd and Mitch Barnhart want to get rid of Billy G. Then Lee Todd needs to turn around and get rid of Mitch. So I hope you all like this and please comment, cause by no means am I am the most knowledgable person on this.

I am going to start this rumor about the next coach, so here we go. Jon Voight is the next coachat UK, Jon Voight was the coach in the hit movie "Varsity Blues" and the team colors were blue and white, and he also played Adolph Rupp in "Glory Road" So he wants to live that out by coaching Kentucky.

Just Thoughts

So as you can see its been a long time since my last post. A lot has has happened since my last post. I woke up this morning and after getting ready to work I sat down and opened up my Experiencing God day-by-day book and read the entry for March 10. The title of this entry is "Testing Reveals Your Heart." How true this is. As I read through this and looked over to the side panel where you can write thoughts or prayers. It just so happened that on this day I had wrote something in this margin, cause normally I don't. But on this day I wrote some thoughts I had about what I was going through. It is so amazing to see what God has done over the past year, and where he has taken me. This point last year I thought I would be in another city after graduation, which I was for 2 months, but that was only for the summer. Then in August I came back to Bowling Green not knowing where I was gonna work or even live. I knew I was in Gods hands because when I came back I was able to stay in my old apartment till the 1st of September. By the first of September I had landed a full time job and a place to live. From August to now God has definitely taken me through some ups and downs, but through these hard times God has revealed my heart to me, he has revealed some bad things to me and has made me realize a lot. The following verses are what I turned to after reading my entry today and it was the two that were referenced as well.

"For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness."
James 1:3

"Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him."
James 1:12

After reading all these jumbled thoughts, my point is that God has revealed my heart to me through these times, my faith is stronger then it was a year ago because God transformed me. I could have easily given up during the hard times, but God would not let me give up. It is my prayer for anyone that reads this shares this with others, that you trust God, and know that he is sovereign and is in complete control.

More updates and thoughts will come, it will not be another 6 months before the next one. Hope all is having a good day!!

Summer Update

Hey everyone,
Well I have been working at Camp Vesper Point this summer running all the media, and I know some of you have been wanting to see some of the pictures that I have taken with the Canon G9, so here are a few pictures from the Canon.

I Graduated!

So I graduated today, and to tell you the truth it hasn't really hit yet. It probably won't hit me till August and everyone is going back to school, and I a starting that full time job that has yet to be found. But as I look back on my 5 years of college, I start thinking about all the great people that I met and also all the mistakes that I made.

My first 2 years of school, you could say that I wasn't the smartest person. I made a lot of mistakes along the way, but who doesn't. But my junior year is when the Lord grabbed hold of me and has never let go. The people that he has placed in my life have made a huge impact. I want to personally thank you all for everything, from the guys in my small group, to my roommates, and to even my brother. You all have been there for me, and I can't forget the people outside my small group and those who don't live with me, you all have made an impact in my life. I know for now that the Lord has called me to be in Chattanooga for these 3 months, but after that I don't know. But I do know that the Lords will is being played out, and will continue that way. I am gonna miss all of you these 3 months, being praying for me and the others that are working at this camp, and that God will intervene in lives at this camp. Please stay in touch with me on here or on facebook. 

Thanks for everything,

Ben

WKU Capstone

Ok everyone here is my senior project for WKU. The quality and overall production value is not to my standards, let me know what you think.

Patience is a Gift

So its been awhile since I have posted on here, that doesn't mean nothing has been going on because it has. What I want to share today is a simple term. That term is PATIENCE. Your hear patience is a virtue, and that is absolutely right, it is also a gift from God. You see over the past month I have been placed in situations where I have to be patient. I have asked for patience and have received it. These situations have been in the form of me interviewing for a job and really trying to seek the Lord out in it, and he also put me in situations with the people around me. You see no matter what I want and how bad I try, it's always going to be on the Lords terms.

Here recently I interviewed for a job at a church, for the longest time I had been praying for this job and they called me down for an interview. Everything went well with it and they offered the position to me. I left and went home and prayed about it for a few days. But I never received peace about it, you see I could not see myself there, for some reason I just did not have peace about taking that job. If you know anything about me, I like to have things planned out and ready to go. Well this is one of those times where its not planned out, or at least for me to see. The Lord has his plan ready and I know that through this I will gain patience and trust through out all this.

Its funny that when you try to do things on your own, you are going to mess it up. I have experienced that myself in the last month. I have tried to control a lot of things and they fall apart. The Lord is always going to be in control no matter what. You are going to have times of weakness where you want to control it, but its never going to work out unless you let God take full control.

"The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps" Proverbs 16:9

We can have everything planned out our way, and think that it is going great. But remember that the Lord will guide us and as it says will establish his steps.

Is your light out?

So I know it has been awhile since I have posted something on here. God has taken me through some much in the last 6 months. You know here all the time that you need to do what the Lord wants and you need to submit. Those are only words until you actually follow through with that and really obey the Lord when he is calling out to you. I am experiencing this right now and I know that I am in a safe place and that the Lord is not going to let anything hurt me as long as I am here. But obeying the Lord comes with responsibilities. That responsibility is to be the light of the world as we are called to be in Matt 5:14. Henry Blackaby says that the problem is not that there is too much darkness, the problem is that our light is not shining in the dark places. For those of you who know me and you know that I like Charlie Hall, he has a song "Song of the Redeemed" in that song there is a verse that says "We sing it in the darkest place, we shine the light of beauty and grace." We need to be in that darkest place, our light needs to be shining everywhere we go, whether that be in church, home, work, or a basketball game. Are you doing these things, are you letting your light shine always, or is the dimmer on? Like I said with obeying comes respinsibility to the Lord, and that is to never let your light go out, if you have the light of Christ, then it never goes out.

Life of Faith

This is topic is a topic I am passionate about because I struggle with this all the time. That is living a life of faith. What does it mean to live a life of faith? Does it mean to completely devote your life to Christ and place all trust in him? Yes. Does it mean that no matter what you are going through, whether it be struggles or any sort of pain, that you will rely on the love of the Lord to get you through it? Yes. You see it is easy to answer these questions when I am typing out this Blog or to say it to someone else. But can you really say these things and answer them truthfully. I can't, now that does not mean I am not a Christian. You see I struggle with pride. I feel that I have to control everything and that I know whats best for me. But the reality is that I don't know whats best for me, and I know that God is always in control and that he is sovereign over all.
When I think of living a life of faith. I think of Abraham. What a great example of living a life of faith. Abraham was commanded by God to sacrifice his son. So he took his son and himself up a mountain with out any hesitation. Walking for days up that mountain Isaac kept asking Abraham where the lamb was, and Abraham replied to him saying that God will provide the lamb. Abraham never lost faith, he laid Isaac down on the stones tied him up and grabbed the knife to sacrifice him, an then the Angel of the Lord appeared to them saying not to touch the boy and that the Lord had provided a lamb. You see Abraham not once turned back or hesitated about killing his son. He trusted the Lord, and even though he did not know what was to come. He knew that the Lord will provide for him. I ask myself why can't I have that much faith? Why am I always struggling with control? I think we need to have the faith like Abraham had. Never looking back never hesitating, always going forward not knowing where I am going but know that the Lord will guide me. Maybe these are questions you should be asking yourself.

Temptations We Face

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin." Hebrews 4:15

We all go through temptations everyday, whether that be physical temptations or temptations to just do what the world does. I struggle with this everyday, whether or not to dive into the word or take that ever so relaxing nap. Whether or not to spend time with people I need to be investing in or to play video games or watch TV. These are the temptations we face everyday. I have learned that we are not going through temptations so that we can sin and that the devil can say we did bad things. The reason that Satan tempts us is so that he can draw us away from the Lord. But what I am trying to say is that during these times of temptation we should be drawing closer to the Lord and seeking his wisdom and guidance throughout all of this. No one is going to be able to get you out of temptation better then Jesus Christ. If you are struggling with this then draw closer to him and dive into his word, cause there is nothing better then the word of God, not even that video game you are playing. I am saying all of this because this is what I am going through right now. The point behind this blog is to share with you all what I going through in hopes of helping you all out through my struggles.

Called to Holliness

As I was reading today in "My Utmost for his Highest", the verse today was from 1Peter 1:16. This verse states "be holy for I am holy." as simple as that sounds, its a very hard concept to come across. What does it mean to be holy? What does it mean to fully devote your life to the Holy One? These are the questions that I asked myself while I was reading today. Its going on 2 years that I have given my life to Christ, and I am still learning what it means to be holy. I think we all struggle with this everyday of our lives. Oswald Chambers states that "Holliness means absolute purity of your walk before God, the words coming from your mouth, and every thought in your mind-- placing every detail of your life under the scrutiny of God Himself." Wow!! Now that is some big expectations. He is not saying that we have to be perfect, cause we are not perfect. I am not saying that you should go about your day saying I need to act like this to be more Christ like and focus on what your acting like, because then you start to fall. What I am saying is be engulfed in God, and in his words. When people see you walking down the street or on campus tbey should see Christ displayed in you, by the way you treat yourself and others. I am guilty of this as much as anyone. But I challenge us to be more Holy, not because it is something we should do but something we are called to do.

Summer of Lessons

Hey everyone,

Well its been a few months since I have last posted on here. I spent my summer working at Camp Vesper Point in Soddy Daisy, TN. Working that this camp taught me a lot of lessons and God really worked on my heart this summer. Through this summer I learned what it meant to be completely engulfed in God and his love. Being surrounded by some many great people, its hard to not feel that. I found myself everyday just being very excited to get into his word and desiring to learn more. I learned this summer to be content with where God has me in my life and what his plans were. I know I can't do anything without the Lord, and doing things with him means letting go and letting him take control. All these things are great and have made an impact on my life.
But now I am back at school and things are definitely different here then they were at camp. I see things differently now, and I tend to fall back to my old ways. But this year I have made it a challenge to myself to be unique. No I don't mean unique as in the way I dress or the music I listen to. But unique in God. I have to be in the world, but not of the world. It's hard to do these things alone. But I am not alone, I have God right there with me, guiding my way. I guess this could be a prayer request for me and anyone else that is going through this. God has definitely blessed me by placing people in my life, and they keep me accountable. Though I may go through struggles at times and it can be hard, but the prize at the end is always going to be greater. Our theme verse for this summer was Phil 3:14. "I press on towards the goal, for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Though the journey may be tough, but I know I have to keep pressing on, because the prize here on earth doesn't compare to the eternal prize.

Introduction

Hello everyone,

This is my first blog on here. most of you know me so I am not going to talk about myself, only what God is doing on my life. As I was reading on my pastors blog site this morning. He had posted a blog yesterday that made me see things more clearly. He was talking about man's eclipse on what God is doing. As I was reading it, it made me think that I am the one that is putting an eclipse on what God has in store for me. My pride has always gotten in the way of things, and there are times when I think that I know what I am doing. But then God comes in and say you can't do this without me, so stop being selfish. I am realizing now that what God has for me is always better then what I think I need.