Happy Valentine's Day, Baby!!

To My Wife, Crystal:

I know when it comes to Valentine's Day I'm not exactly Mr. Romance. I can't remember the last time I bought you flowers. I don't even remember when the last time I bought you a card. I do remember that one year I decorated your station at work with the giant card, flowers, and a teddy bear!! But I can't remember if I did that for Valentine's Day or Sweetest Day.

I sometimes wish that I was better at this stuff. You deserve so much better than what I give to you. You have absolutely no idea of how much I love you, Crystal, and it's because I don't do enough to show you.

I know on the surface that I don't seem that thoughtful. But that's only on the surface. Deep down inside I think about you more than I do anyone else. I'm always thinking about you, actually.

I think about your laugh. I don't know what it is about that sound, but it's beautiful to me. I'm addicted to it, and I'm always thinking of new ways to make you laugh just so I can hear that sound. I could stand on stage & make a thousand people laugh, but it's the sound of your laugh that I long to hear above all others.

I think about your amazing smile. I love it when you smile & you can't stop. Your eyes light up & they sparkle. I feel so blessed that I'm able to look upon such beauty. It's all I ever want you to do. So I'm all the time looking for ways to keep that smile upon your face.

I think about being with you. I just want to be around you. You are my best friend, and there is no other person that I love being around as much as I love being around you. You are so much fun just to hang out with, being goofy. I love how we just lay in bed at night trying to make each other laugh. I look forward to just having that time with you everyday.

I think about all those times you should have left me, and I give thanks to God that He gave you the grace to stay with me. Who knows where I'd be or what I'd be doing. You fought for me to grow up & be a man.

I think about that night when you prayed over me as life was slipping from my body. Nobody loves me as much as you. Nobody trust me as much as you do. You fought for my life with me. It was just you, me, & God that night. No doctors. No nurses. No hospital staff. Just the 3 of us.

I think of all the times we cried, held each other's hand. All our biggest pain, our biggest loses. We've shared them together. We've been there for each other, ministered to each other, prayed for each other, loved each other & did whatever it took to see each other through.

I'm all the time talking about you to other people. I'm all the time sharing with them things that you do that makes me laugh or touches me. I want everyone to know what a beautiful, incredible, dynamic woman I'm married to.

Crystal, you are it for me. I am head over heals in love with you. I don't know how else to say it.

The card I could give you just has words that someone else wrote. They don't even know you.

The flowers that I could buy for you would just die. As long as there's breath in my lungs, my love for you will not.

Jesus said "Great love has no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends."

I try my best everday to lay down my life for you because you are my best friend. No teddy bear could ever express that. It has no life in it to lay down.

And while chocolate & candy is sweet, that bad thing about it is everyone else wants a piece. My heart is filled with love, not chocolate, and it belongs to you. It's not to be shared. It's yours & yours alone.

I'm really looking forward to our walk tonight. Candles, snow, woods. Sort of like the night I asked you to marry me.

I want you to have an awesome, amazing Valentine's Day. There's no flowers, no card, no teddy bears, no candy. All there is me & you have all of me. I love you.

Everything Changes

Wowzer. A lot of different things are taking place in my life, and it's all exciting to me! Some of these things I can talk about, others I can't right now. But it all will be out in the light here in a couple of weeks, I promise you!

Right now I do want to talk about a couple of these "changes" that are taking place in my life.

One that I'm really excited about is that I'm going to be doing a couple of different blogs for an organization called "Friends Like Us."

Friends Like Us is a foundation set up by Pastor Mark Bailey & his wife, Deloris. Their mission is to help families with children who are battling cancer.

One of the things that they're wanting to do is to minister to the needs of these families, particularly the parents. They want to reach out with love to support them and encourage them in any way that they possibly can. One of the ways that they're doing this is through blogs on the Friends Like Us website.

This is where I come in.

I've been asked to write two different blogs for their website. The first is sort of like a "Pastor's Corner" type of blog where I offer Biblical encouragement as well as share my experiences with cancer.

The second blog will deal with humor and the importance of laughter in one's life, especially during difficult times.

Cancer causes confusion, and sometimes causes people to not know how to act. While letting the reader know that it's ok to laugh, I will give them oppertunity to laugh by posting funny things that I may come across on the net or just funny things going on in my life.

One thing that I am looking forward to is also volenteering my time to go to the cancer hospital to help pass out toys to children battling with cancer. I know that when that moment comes that I walk into a hospital room to deliver my first toy, my life will change. It's thrilling and fearful all at the same time, but I know when I see the smile on their faces that my life will not be the same after that. It will change. I will change. Not sure how, but I just know that it will happen.

Anyways....

I'm also anticipating being involved in a fundraiser this summer for Friends Like Us doing stand-up comedy. I feel really blessed that I have a talent to lend to help raise money and awareness to this amazing organization. I will be sure to pass on more details in regards to this fundraiser as information developes!

Speaking of stand-up comedy....

This June I plan on attending a conference in Nashville, Tennessee for Christian Comedians. This will give me chance to learn more about the industry and about performing stand-up comedy. There's also alot of meet-and-greet/networking that takes place there.

That's really exciting to me because it gives me a chance to build relationships with others in the industry, and hopefully opens some doors for me to begin doing this full time someday. Not only that, but it gives me a chance to meet some of my heros like Jeff Allen, Mike Williams, Tim Hawkins, etc.

There's many things that could possibly take place that I'm also excited about. For instance there's a chance that I could be performing stand-up at this year's Crawford County Relay For Life. There's also a chance that I could be doing some things with some of the Richland County Relay for Life teams, as well.  I've also been in contact with a lady who works with mentally handicapped people who's interested in working with me.

One thing that's coming quickly is I will be adding a store to my Eric's Comedy website. On there I will be selling T-Shirts, stickers, CD's, DVD's, etc. as I get the products developed and produced. T\he first product that I plan on selling on my website & eventually at my shows is my "Evangelsize" t-shirt, which is based on one of my bits that I do in my show.

I also plan on doing more to showcase other ministries that are out there on the battlefield, working overtime for the Kingdom of God and who are REALLY making a difference in this world and in people's lives.

One of those ministries is One Way Street Ministries located in Columbus, Ohio. It's also known as Jericho's Lightclub. They're an inner-city outreach ministry who have for the last 5 years been making a difference in the lives of many druggies, prostitutes, homeless people, and street kids. They've worked tirelessly trying to help these people turn their lives around, as well as feed them and cloth them. These guys are the real deal and they do amazing work!

I've been blessed to have many oppertunites to go there and share the Gospel many times over the last 2 years. I love Pastor James and Pastor Peggy, and I love what they do. I'm really looking forward to working with them more in this coming year.

I'm really excited about some of the relationships that have developed over this past year, and how many of them are taking a turn towards the spiritual. There's actually some discipleship taking place there, which excites me to no end! Some are actually begining to come to church with Crystal and I, which is always exciting!

So much is going on right now. God is soooooo good!!

There's even more going on, and it's killing me because I can not talk about it at this moment. This one thing is going to cause just about everything in my life to change, and I'm so excited about it. I wish I could tell you guys, but I can't at the moment!

Soon, though. Soon.

Until then be blessed....

The Power of a Testimony to Those That Believe

One of my favorite Bible scriptures is Romans 1:16. It's there that the apostle Paul writes, "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to those that believe...."

The other day at work I was sharing a testimony to one of "those that believe" of something that God did for Crystal & I earlier that day. Now, this guy is a believer, however, he's not a follower. There is a difference!! A believer is someone who believes in God, believes that Jesus is the Christ, however, he/she makes the choice not to follow, or is currently not following.

The Bible says in James 2:19 that "You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror." Being a believer, literally, puts you in the same class as demons & devils! I mean, after all Satan believes in God. Satan believes in Jesus. It's not enough to just call yourself a Christian just because you believe that God/Jesus is real. YOU MUST FOLLOW!!

The word "Christian" translated from the Greek means "to be like Christ." The only way to be like Christ is to follow Christ and imitate Christ. You've got to try to live your life as Christ lived His. Just believing in Christ does not make you like Christ. YOU MUST FOLLOW!!

The writer of Proverbs thought that this was important enough to write it twice. It can be found in Proverbs 14:12 & 16:25 and it says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." Do you want to be with God in the end? You can't go your own way. YOU MUST FOLLOW!!

That's the sad thing about believers. They go there own way instead of God's way. They think that they are alright just because they believe. But just like the demons and devils that also believe, their path leads to a lake of fire. Don't want to go to hell? YOU MUST FOLLOW JESUS!!

"Ok, Eric. So what's this got to do with sharing your testimony?"

Oh yeah!! Ooops!! Sorry about that rabbit trail!!

Anyways, I shared my testimony with this believer of what God had done for Crystal & I earlier that day. I knew it was important, but I didn't fully understand the importance. I knew that it was more than just being a good witness. There was a reason that God gave me this opperunity. So, I go to God in prayer.

It was at that moment that the Lord shared with me why.

"Eric, it's not that he doesn't believe that I am real. He does! The question is does he believe that I'm there, and if so, do I really care."

Our testimonies really speak to that. To those who are weak in faith, who feel lost & alone, it tells them that God's still a God of miracles, that He is still in the business of doing the impossible, and He does it because of His love for us.

Yes, believer, God's stil there and guess what? He still cares!

Jesus said to me, "There's been times in his life when He's needed me. He looked around & saw that I wasn't there. It wasn't because I left him. He left me. He stopped following Me."

John 12:26 says, "Anyone who wants to be my disciple must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me."

It's so funny. We go our own way expecting Jesus to follow us. I guess we expect Jesus to serve us, too. We're the master and He's the slave, right? Is that how it works? I think not.

We already read in Proverbs where it says that there is a way that seems right to a man but in the end leads to death. Jesus is not going to follow you to your death. He's already died for you once. He's not going to do it again.



Believer, if you're looking around your life and you do not see Jesus there, it's because you stopped following Him. You need to repent, turn your life around, and start following Him again.

As for us who claim to follow, we need to be sharing our testimonies with all who call themselves believers so that they might have hope; so that they might be encouraged to follow Him.

We must show them that there is indeed a better way. We need to tell them of God's goodness, grace, mercy, and lovingkindness. We've got to let them know that if God will do it for us, He will do it for them, also.

Our testimony should inspire them to seek God for a way out of their situation and circumstance. They'll seek God, they'll find the Way, the Truth, and the Life--Jesus Christ. And then Jesus will lead them out if they choose to follow Him.

So, go, share your testimony!! Inspire those around you to follow Christ just as you are.