I’LL HAVE A BLOODY MARY, A STEAK SANDWICH AAAND A STEAK SANDWICH
Easier than writing lots of individual emailsArchive for January, 2007
SOLVE A BET, PLEASE
My roommate and I have a debate raging: from which country were Mark Spansel’s kids adopted?
ELLEN BURNS IS NOW AROND THE THRONE!
I received the following email from Tim & Chie Burns. Ellen Burns was Tim’s mom who battled cancer for many years. Please pray for them …
On January 27th at 7:15pm, our beloved Ellen Burns passed away and found herself in the presence of her Lord. We praise God for His faithfulness in taking her such a painless way, and taking her in His perfect time. We are very grateful that all her loved ones were there to be with her at her last hour, and we continue to praise God for the only Hope and Peace which are in Christ Jesus. Thank you so very much for your encouragements and prayers, support and love. We will let you know when we have details about the memorial service.
USHER WITH US
Holly and I have been ushering for just under a year now and have found it to be a HUGE source of hilarity, opportunity, culture and more. We have seen lots of shows, met lots of people, have laughed a lot and have served in our community…all for FREE! If you want to be a part of it with us we’d love ot have you. The next orientation meeting is March 12 2007 at 6:30pm in the Performing Arts Center. Please enrich your life with this ‘unique’ opportunity! 
It’s a fun thing, what more can I say?
GOING BACK HOME
Well, tomorrow is Friday and it is the last day of a very long and mentally draining work week. I will teach at La Mesa all day on Friday and then drive up north for the funeral which is scheduled to be in Sacramento.
I’m looking forward to teaching tomorrow because this is the tough class…the ones that we spend most of our time working on manners than anything else. Though they suck the life out of me due to thier constant defiance, I really do enjoy them and the moments of breakthrough that we usually have. I pray that I am a testimony to them…testimony of what…hopefully Christ.
Aaaand, I hope the same thing for time with family. This is going to be a very layered weekend/funeral. Feel free to continue praying for the whole scene. I want to be spiritually available at every moment for every opportunity that the LORD brings.
Man, I can not wait to be in heaven with Christ!!!
FROM A MAN WHO’S BEEN SHOT
I just read a letter from Peter DeSoto on Dyers’s blog. He, his wife and 4 kids are missionaries in El Salvador. If you want to hear how a Christian man responds to a bullet for the gospel, CLICK HERE!
1 DAY=METHODONE, INSPECTIONS, BULLETS, WEDDINGS…
I remember being an RD and having pretty crazy days that included serious ranges of required emotion: disciplining someone for chapel misses and then listening to & hugging a girl who’d been raped…and various other emotions and roles in between.
Because humanity is so vast, one day can bring so much intensity for us mortals. Like today.
-I had zillions of pieces of paper to push and more inspections to coordinate, lots of calls, lots of emails
-Holly got the job she really wanted!
-I met with Kathy about her wedding details and life updates!
-I previewed 3 homes in the 1,000,000+ range for a new client from Bel Air who is a self proclaimed ‘fly guy’ and must have certain amenities
-I learned that the actual cause of my cousin’s death was from a lethal combination of methodone and alcohol on a bad heart
-I heard from a former RA, Franchesca, that they’re moving back to SCV soon
-Scott Vinson told me that Peter DeSoto had been shot in the neck by gunmen in El Salvador and is currently in a hospital awaiting surgery. Copperhill Church is praying and fasting for the DeSoto family. Please join them.
There are so many ways to see God in every moment of every day. He has ordained everything and is ready and waiting for us to trust Him and love Him and obey Him. I am challenged to count the cost of following Christ everyday. I am often feeble and weak…and days like today remind me that the gospel is no joke…how we live our lives matter, how we treat people matters, how others view our work ethic matters, how we respond in tragedy matters…it matters because the cost Christ paid for us on the cross was steep.
AND THEN THERE’S LIFE
Amidst death, there is such powerful and amazing life.
One such example is Jen Gifford. She has a great life serving God. If you know her and haven’t seen her website, you should. She’s got updates, photo albums of all the contexts of her life (Uganda, India, Nashville, California, etc.). I wish everyone had a site like this…just to keep the rest of us up on the life and times of said site owner.
ANOTHER UNEXPECTED DEATH IN THE DRISCOLL WORLD
Today, I was on office caravan when I saw my caller ID was my cousin Michelle. Whenever Michelle calls in the middle of the day, not near a holiday or a prescribed event, I know it’s going to be bad news. On those calls, the first question that I ask is ‘Is everything OK?’. Her reply today was ‘Have you gotten a call from anyone else yet?’. So, I knew it was not going to be good news.
My 23 year old cousin, Daniel, son of my eldest aunt, Francie, was pronounced dead last night after paramedics worked on him for over 5 hours (?). It was heart related, induced by alcohol and/or drugs…they say it does not look intentional. He was the only son of my aunt Francie and he’s the 2nd cousin to die in the last 2 years. Weird and sad.
The last time I saw him, some of us cousins (including Daniel) were having a discussion about the Bible, God, Christ…I was in the believing minority on many points. I will never forget what happened next. As the discussion ended and Daniel had to leave, he said, ‘Hey Sam it was great to see you again and to talk and you know, you give an atheist a good run for his money.’ Please pray for his mom, my aunt and for all our family. We have had some serious deaths in the last couple years (well, all death is serious) and it is always an opportunity to show the love of Christ to my family.
KIDS PRAISING GOD!
We had a BLAST at church yesterday! Dr. Behle preached…outta the park, as usual!
AND….Every month we have ‘Family Praise Sunday’ wherein all the kids join the church family in ‘Big’ church and we choose songs that the kids like etc. The point is to aid them in being worhsippers of God. If they see their parents singing, worshipping, and fellowshipping and they see the rest of us singing, worshipping, and fellowshipping, thus the discipleship of ‘corporate worship’ begins. We also want them to feel comfortable and familiar in church, partly so that when they are older and making their own choices, they will know that they ‘belong’ and that we love them and want to worship with them!
Additionally, we’ve started something hilariously awesome in Family Praise Sunday! Last month during Family Praise Sunday we gave all the kids sleigh bells and had them ‘Praise’ with us with their instrument. This month (yesterday), we provided them with slide whistles and they loved it! We had several places in our music for a selah (a musical meditation) where we asked them to specifically play with us, loudly and joyously! It was sooooo much fun!! The parents got into it, the kids loved it, the worship team laughed and sang and played (I wish everyone had the view from the stage! it’s priceless)…all around it was simply joyous! Again, I LOVE the body of Christ and specifically at Church of the Canyons! Next month is Tambourines!
Psalm 15: Praise the LORD. Praise God in His sanctuary, praise Him in His mighty heavens. Praise Him for His acts of power, praise Him for His surpassing greatness. Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise Him with the harp and lyre, praise Him with tambourine and dancing, praise Him with the clash of cymbals, praise Him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath Praise the LORD!
IT’S COLD
Today, I will be attending a home inspection for one of my buyers. The house was dramatically under market (and an exceptional investment), as it’s been trashed for the last few years by 4 big dogs and a depressed divorcee. Very sad. My point? Well, the house has elements of being ‘vacant’…most of the contents will be gone and much of the flooring is missing…all of this adds up to a very very cold home inspection! While the AC/HEAT are always checked, I hope that he checks the heat for the majority of the 2 hour inspection! Rest assured, though, I will be bringing gloves and a scarf!
EL SALVADORIAN THOUGHTS: A GODCAST?
I don’t personally KNOW the DeSotos, but I feel like I do in spirit because of Scott Vinson and his relationship with them. The Desoto family (working husband, wife and kids) left Valencia a couple of years ago to go live in El Salvador and give their lives to the people of El Salvador, in the name of Christ. They have a blog and it is an exceptional collection of insight, resource and edification. CLICK HERE to read Peter’s contemplation on his Ipod and a Godcast. It reminded me of when Pastor Bob preached at TMC about ‘Turning down the volume’ in order to hear the still small voice of God. Very convicting from both Peter and Bob. PTL
RARE BUT COVETED MOMENTS
These days, I rarely have time to write a blog, let alone read someone else’s (which is why I like when people write posts that are short & sweet). If I have a second I usually try to hit about about 4 or 5 of my favorites (Sikegami, Todd Bolen, Jessi Gates, Holly, Kawaguchis, and a few others) Today, instead, I just happened to look at my blog stat page and clicked on leads from other sites and the first one was Siona’s. I read it, with only a few minutes to spare, and felt a surge of thankfulness to God for: my family and friendships in Northern California, my time at TMC and the incalcuable value, on every level, of having spent 9 years in that world (the student loans are worth every penny and more), the richness of our family at Church of the Canyons, my roommates, and so much more…the common denominator being the people and relationships and the iron on iron.
God is so kind to us. And those who continue to persevere in the faith, whether by walking, tripping, running, crawling, sprinting, or whatever, but still persevering…well, each of those faithful brothers and sisters make it all the sweeter for me, also walking, tripping, running, crawling, sprinting, or whatevering, as we journey alongside each other down the path towards Christ and towards the glory of eternity!
BEHOLD, THE MIND OF SCOTT BURNS
If you have any interest in that which is Genuis, please CLICK HERE. Note the ‘literally’ elements
DO U (or someone u know) NEED A FABULOUS EMPLOYEE?
Holly is highly skilled worker! Detailed-Oriented, many computer skills, great communication skills, fantastic customer service skills, trustworthy, a fast learner, a hard worker, dependable etc. She recently left her job of 3 years as a sales account rep for a fast paced circuit board manufacturer to pursue nursing. She’s now looking for a new full time job, in SCV (ideally) as she makes her way through school etc. Do you or anyone you know need a fabulous employee?
LIFE’S LITTLE MONTAGE OF LIFE
The last week has been full…again…Praise the LORD!
-After church on New Years Eve, we (Holly and I) showed a house to one of my buyers and then we went to a backyard wedding for one of COC’s missionaries to Turkey…cool picture of the Body of Christ!
-New Years Eve night…fell asleep from exhaustion at 9:30pm while everyone else ushered in 2007…awake.
-Tried to push through a flu all week (I got it to celebrate the New Year, I guess)
-Showed over 30 houses in 2+/- days, wrote an offer on Saturday…it’s a multiple offer scenario that might enter into a bit of a bidding war…in THIS market…keeps you on your toes!
-Late Friday night, my new Treo refused to work (could not even get/make calls) which made doing business much more challenging and gave great opportunity for even more creativity
-Helped host a 60+person Bon Voyage party for Adam on Saturday night (cool time of fellowship AND we had 2 ICUers there!)
-Had a refreshing and thanks provoking morning at church
-Adam Powell drove away in his loaded truck and moved away today…boo
-I spent hours at Verizon & exchanged my new Treo for another new one. I went home and set it up all on my own..without Adam…he would be so proud…a fine tutor I had!
-Just posted on my other blog about a cool client…click here to read it
Coming up this week…amidst the ‘regular’ events
-Writing another offer (for my internet client)
-Possibly taking another listing out in Val Verde
-Taking a mandatory class for our Real Estate MLS assosication
-Possibly staying at the scary house with Holly while she housesits
-I’d like to install my new wiper blades
-Contact the Dean at Cal Arts about his invite to the Rwanda+ conference
-Finish Discs 3, Season 5 of 24…we netflix them and I have to keep up with my roommates…I usually try to shove it in around midnight
-and zillions of various other things…but mostly, I hope I just have a week that honors the LORD.
Oh, and I just registered for the Truth&Life Conference…anyone going?
GOOD QUESTION, ELISHA!
On the last post, Elisha Larsen (of David & Elisha Larsen) commented/asked if she could call me for Real Estate questions. What a GREAT question! The answer is ‘Of Course’.
Why did I make a post out of it? Well, in case any of you had the same question, I wanted to make sure you all knew that you’re welcome to contact me with real estate questions (or any other questions). Also, if you’d like to do some property searches, please log on to my Real Estate Website at SamNeylan.com. Or check out my Real Estate blog, ‘WhenYoureReady’. Basically, I am more than happy to assist you, just call or write.
THIS WEEK IN REAL ESTATE…
I cut my Christmas trip up north short because 3 days before Christmas I got a call from someone who found me on the internet and they wanted to buy a house asap. I got back into town late Wed night, previewed homes all day Thursday and then on Friday, my clients and I looked at 11 houses. I stayed up for much of the night organizing the next 17 for Saturday. They found their home of choice Saturday at 4:30pm. I’ll write the offer in the next day or so (not all parties are in town because of the holiday).
From Thursday to Saturday I burned the midnight oil and I think I slept about 6 hours total…but it looks like it’s going to be worth it! AND…big bonus…2 solid days is a row is a long time to be with strangers…my new clients are DELIGHTFUL people: so fun, so nice, so efficient, so easy going, so organized, so qualified with their lender …and they’re hilarious! Praise the LORD! In fact, they’ve already told me that I’m part of the family now…these are the shining moments of real estate! I hope they see Christ in me!
I also have another client who needs to find a place pretty quickly (by January 15th). So, we begin the intense hunt tomorrow (Tuesday) and continue throughout the week. I will spend all day today (New Year’s Day) scouring through more listings and previewing properties in order to find the perfect houses to include on the home tours.
AND, I have another client who is ready to list their home in the next week or so…it’s on May Way… If you know anyone who loves that area and wants a well maintained view home…call me :) I’ll post more about that listing soon!
This post is really to say that though I happen to be really tired at the moment and though holidays are probably different for you than for me (that’s when serious buyers/sellers have time, so I get to work more)…I’m also really thankful and I like my job!
