Brandon Gilliam

This week has given me little time to blog. Spending time with family and friends, traveling, and catching up on some much needed yard work has kept me pretty busy. I hope everyone has had a great Christmas. This year was really special for me because it was the first Christmas being with my beautiful wife Megan. It was fun having our real Christmas tree and the house decorated and all that good stuff. We got to spend time with my family and her family as well. We also got to take our new dog to NC with us. Good times. I’m really looking forward to 2008 and what it will bring. But for right now, its cold and raining outside and it is time to brew some Starbucks coffee.

Peace.

Megan and I went Christmas shopping the other night @ the mall. Like I’ve said in previous posts…there is something about cold weather, Christmas time, at the mall…it just feels right. We got a lot of our shopping done, and capped it off with a trip to Starbucks where we both got drinks that tasted horrible, and even the replacement ones werent good. Oh well.

My question is…and we all have this person in our family. The one who has the money to buy anything they could possibly want, and they are old enough to have pretty much everything they could want. What in the world do you get someone like this? It puzzles me every year.

Head over to Carlos’s blog and scroll down to find the top 10 gadgets of the season. Thought it was interesting.

“Rend your heart, and not your garments.” — Joel 2:13

GARMENT-RENDING and other outward signs of religious emotion, areeasily manifested and are frequently hypocritical; but to feel truerepentance is far more difficult, and consequently far less common. Menwill attend to the most multiplied and minute ceremonialregulations-for such things are pleasing to the flesh-but true religionis too humbling, too heart-searching, too thorough for the tastes ofthe carnal men; they prefer something more ostentatious, flimsy, andworldly. Outward observances are temporarily comfortable; eye and earare pleased; self-conceit is fed, and self-righteousness is puffed up:but they are ultimately delusive, for in the article of death, and atthe day of judgment, the soul needs something more substantial thanceremonies and rituals to lean upon. Apart from vital godliness allreligion is utterly vain; offered without a sincere heart, every formof worship is a solemn sham and an impudent mockery of the majesty ofheaven.

HEART-RENDING is divinely wrought and solemnly felt. It is a secretgrief which is personally experienced, not in mere form, but as a deep,soul-moving work of the Holy Spirit upon the inmost heart of eachbeliever. It is not a matter to be merely talked of and believed in,but keenly and sensitively felt in every living child of the livingGod. It is powerfully humiliating, and completely sin-purging; but thenit is sweetly preparative for those gracious consolations which proudunhumbled spirits are unable to receive; and it is distinctlydiscriminating, for it belongs to the elect of God, and to them alone.

The text commands us to rend our hearts, but they are naturally hard asmarble: how, then, can this be done? We must take them to Calvary: adying Saviour’s voice rent the rocks once, and it is as powerful now. Oblessed Spirit, let us hear the death-cries of Jesus, and our heartsshall be rent even as men rend their vestures in the day oflamentation.

Thats right, Jesse and the Ripper(my fantasy football team), has made it to the finals. This week is the final game. Last week I played the number one guy in our league…and beat him pretty bad. For some reason, a good reason, my guys have really been playing well for their respective teams. Hopefully they can keep it going this Sunday for the finals. We’ll see.

Got to play this morning at Crossroads. It was great. For me, it was the first time in about a month that I could go a whole service standing, especially on stage playing.(if you’ve read this blog, then you know about the whole dizziness thing I’ve been going through for the past little while). So it made the service a whole lot more enjoyable. There is such a great family atmosphere at Crossroads. Even though there are 800+ people coming it just feels like family. People care and love. I cant tell you how many people have encouraged me and told me they were praying for me through this ordeal. Its been a blessing. Even the staff takes time during Sunday mornings to pray for me. Its just great.

Set List:
You are my Joy(crowder)
Happy Day(Hughes)
Joy to the World(Santa Clause?)
I exalt thee
Hosanna(Hillsong)
Sing for Joy

Only in Greenville, SC can you wear shorts/tshirt and coat/tobaggon in one week. Are you kidding me? Megans brother and g/f came down to visit us on Saturday and we wanted to take them Downtown and do a little shopping. It was sooo cold, and it was raining. I actually enjoy this kind of weather, but I just way underdressed so it was kind of miserable being outside. Good thing there was a Starbucks downtown. That helped a little. Its the kind of weather that makes you want to stay inside, turn on the gas logs, the Christmas lights, drink some coffee(or your drink of choice), and watch Home Alone. Although I got voted out and we watched HOw the Grinch Stole Christmas. Never gets old for some reason.

I hope the cold weather stays around for a little while.

I know I’ve been slacking on my blog this week. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Blogs are coming.

bg

Megan and I went on a search the other day for a dog. We knew what we were looking for, and knew that we didnt really want to fork out $1000 to get one. We were looking for a Siberian Husky. I’ve always wanted one. I wanted one with blue eyes and black and white fur/hair. They are just awesome looking dogs and are incredibly smart(some of them anyways). And of course, last but not least…Sully from Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman had one(Dont act like you didnt like that show, come on). And if that isnt reason enough, I dont know what is. So we went to the Greenville Humane Society first. We were really wanting to adopt one if we could. We just liked the idea behind it. Of course when you get one from the humane society, you never know what you will bring home. Nothing was at the Greenville Humane Society, so we went to Petland. The guy there said they didnt have any “in stock”, but normally the puppies are about $900. WHAT? For a dog? Wowzers.

Friday night, I got off work a little early and we headed to Spartanburg. I knew, from reading online b/c they post the animals, that they had a couple Siberian Huskies. They werent really the “look” I was going for..but I wanted to check them out anyways. Well, we walked through the double doors into the kennel. Wouldnt you know it…the first dog sitting there is the Siberian Husky, named Cloey(the humane names them). I immediately knew this was the one. It was a pure Siberian Husky, female, and she was just sitting there as calm as could be in the midst of all the other dogs barking. I went and looked at the other one they had “in stock” and he was cool looking, but definitely mixed with something that took away from the appearance. I passed him by and went back to Cloey.

Long story made very short, we adopted her. We knew that we could be getting a bad dog, but we also knew we might get a good dog(behavior wise). She is two years old, and a Siberian Husky. And yes, I will admit here on my blog that we have had her one day…and I love her. Seriously, she is so cool. The best part about it, she is housetrained somehow. She doesnt go to the bathroom at all until we go outside(huge bonus). And she knows the word sit.(huge bonus) So we are excited. Her name is Maya. Below are some pics I took on the phone.

first thing she did when we got home, jumped on the couch

@ the vet

megan and maya

Our league is in the playoffs right now. The top six make it, and I think that I was number 5. My team has actually been coming on really strong recently. Guys have been stepping up and playing to their potential(ex. LT and Drew Brees). Well, this past Sunday, my team was projected to win by 30 points. If you dont do Fantasy, that is big. Its not often you get projected to win by that much. Well, lets just say the other guy had Tom Brady, who completely picked through the Steelers. Well, by Sunday night, he had 144(which is a pretty big number in our league, the way we have our points set up), and I had 109. I had one player left, Drew Brees. I needed him to have the game of his life on Monday Night. Well, he had the game of his life and picked apart the Falcons. He also pulled me to a victory. I came back and won 150-144. Awesome. So on to the next round where I play the number one guy in our league.

It is On.