Big Is The New Small

Share any memorable moments or you thoughts on how quick time passes us by! Cherish your moments!

Today is our anniversary and our boys decided to surprise us!  We knew we had a surprise coming; however we didn’t know what to expect.  The boys came up with Anniversary Cafe and had a little help from my sister-in-law chef @brittneypirtle.  

This video may not be as popular of a video as JK Wedding Entrance, but it’s #1 in our book!

This precious little girl that attends my church named Rylie Faith Tran had a fundraiser today.  Rylie has leukemia and I blogged about her situation here a couple of weeks ago.  The fundraiser was great and there were a bunch of people that showed up, including the local news stations.  Check out this video, check out Rylie’s story and please lift this family and this precious little girl up in prayer.

God is Good, All The Time and this Family has FAITH…  Rylie “Faith” Tran!

Should kids play with guns? Why or Why Not? Share your thoughts…

If you have some complaints about my stance… feel free to visit my website idon’tcare.com

I have been blogging for over two years and have never written a post like this, but God has placed it on my heart to share this story with all of the BigIsTheNewSmall.com readers.  Do You Know Faith?  There is a good chance that you don’t know Faith; however I am going to introduce you to her.  Faith is a precious 3 year old girl whose family attends my campus…  they don’t just attend my campus they are awesome volunteers and they roll deep.  In other-words their family is large and it seems to be growing by the week as they have practically turned the experience they attend into the “Asian Experience”, not really but I so much appreciate their heart and their desire to serve God.

Again “Faith” is a precious 3 year old who has been diagnosed with leukemia and I wanted to share her story with you, encourage you to share her story with others, ask you to pray for her and her family, encourage you to visit her CaringBridge Website and support her in any way that you feel led.  Here is a short intro of who little Ms. Faith is:

Hi, my name is Rylie Faith Tran.  I am 3 years old & have been diagnosed with leukemia (ALL-PreB).  But like my middle name, I have FAITH that I will beat this disease and make a full recovery like all the other children before me.  “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”.  God bless everyone.

Look At How “Faith” has inspired Dad (Her Dad’s Own Words): We have been blessed with a great support group, b/c God is good ALL the time, All the time God is good! They’ve been fund raising and helping in all different ways.  “We’ve” decided to start up a Non-Profit Organization to help families in similar situations like us.  The NPO is called “F.A.I.T.H. Kids” (which is in honor of Rylie and our FAITH), and stands for “Fighting Against Illnesses To Heal Kids”.  I truly believe that God has a bigger plan for me and is using Rylie’s situation as a tool for me to come back to Him and do great things thru Him.  I can honestly say I did not have that relationship with Him and could have easily been drawn away more because of the situation.  BUT I chose HIM.  He is a part of my life more than ever before.  “I once was lost and now I am found, was blind but now I see!!  Glory to GOD!!“

You can read Rylie Faith’s entire story, sign her guestbook, contact the family and support her or the non-profit organization at her CaringBridge site, by clicking here. 

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for Sharing Rylie “Faith” Tran’s Story ~Scott

There is nothing better than being a father… I mean does it get any better than raising, teaching and developing mini you’s.  I have two son’s (Wesley 10) and (Jayden 6) with two very active schedules.  My boys generally play sports or are involved in some kind of camp almost year around.  My wife and I are always attending a practice or game between both of their schedules.

One of the things that I have noticed about both of my boys, is the fact that they seem to perform different when I’m around.  It doesn’t matter  whether we are talking about practices, games, karate, school events, school plays etc.; when I come around things seem to change.  They try a little harder, they look to the sidelines or in the stands for approval, they look for dad to give them that big thumbs up, high-five, smile or #FistBump.  They understand that no matter how good or bad they perform, daddy is still going to have some encouragement for them; however that doesn’t stop them from trying their best please their daddy.

I began to think about how this concept applies to our Heavenly Father.  No matter what we do God is in the stands watching, He is cheering us on when we’re performing and encouraging us when we are not.  Maybe we should take a play out of my boys and I’m sure your children’s playbook.  We must learn to truly appreciate the fact that the Creator of Heaven and Earth is always in the stands and on the sidelines of this serious game we call ”life” and He desires to give his children a thumbs up, high-five or #FistBump for a job well done.  If we hit a foul ball we know God is still there to give us some encouragement; however that’s no excuse to not to put our faith into action and give it our all.

Just like my boys act a little different when their Father is watching; those of us who are Christ followers must recognize that God is always in the stands watching us and cheering us on at all times. 

God Is Watching… We need to act like it!

How different would the world, our lives and our daily game be if we truly acted like God is watching at all times?  Share your thoughts on this post!

I have been dropping my two son’s Jayden (6yo) and Wesley (10yo) off at Basketball Camp this week.  I always give them the same pep talk before every sporting event or game and each talk ends with me asking them one simple question.  The question I always ask is ”Son, what are the two things that you can control?” and they respond “Attitude and Effort!”  That’s Right… Now Go Get em’!

This got me to thinking about leadership and the 2 Things That Leaders Can Control.  Leaders can control their Attitude and their Effort.

1. Attitude-  A leader’s attitude is one of the most important factors when evaluating the health of a team.  If a leader has a “Can-Do” attitude, that attitude will generally rub off on those that follow.  If a leader has a crappy/negative attitude, then you can expect to have a bunch of crappy/negative employees.  Leaders have a choice every single day as to how their attitude will be and that choice will inevitably affect their team…  So if you’re a leader, Choose Wisely!   Quote: I CAN is 100 times more important than IQ.
2. Effort-  The bottom line is that you get out what you put in.  The amount of effort that a leader spends dreaming, thinking, plotting, planning, directing, planning, training, developing, believing, thinking, trying, utting forth effort directly impact the results.  This doesn’t mean do all the work and burn the midnight-oil, it means if you want to be a successful leader you have got to put some effort into having a successful team and put forth the effort in all areas to be successful. Quote: We are responsible for the effort, not the outcome.

NBA coaching legend Pat Riley says it best, as he sums up the two of these principles in one great quote: Great effort springs naturally from great attitude.~Pat Riley

How have you seen these two things negative or positively impact a leaders success?  Overall Thoughts?

I don’t know if you are familiar with the phrase “If You’re Scared… Go To Church” but I remember while growing up this being a common phrase that my peers would use to talk smack about being scared.  This phrase was used on the basketball court, used to challenge the fellas to ask a girl on a date or used in any context of fear or being scared.  In other-words if you showed some sort of fearful hesitation someone would spout off “If You’re Scared… Go To Church!”

I hadn’t thought of that phrase for as long as I can remember, until just the other day for some reason it popped into my head.  The other night me and my two sons Wesley (10) and Jayden (6) decided to go on a bike ride while my wife cleaned out their closets (we didn’t want any part of helping).  We actually rode a good ways to see some of our old neighbors in our previous neighborhood. 

We were all riding in somewhat of a single-file line; however there was one problem, every time we rode over one of those drainage-grates in the street, my 6yo. son Jayden would literally fall off of his bike and slide in the middle of the street.  He was petrified to ride across those drainage-gratess and wasn’t havong any part of it.  Although, he had a helmet on he didn’t have any protective knee or elbow gear and I was getting a little worried.  After several dad-to-son pep talks and through his big crocodile tears; I literally forced Jayden to ride across the drainage grate.  Through the tears, you could see the joy and now he rides across the drainage-grates like a “Big-Boy!”

I think I’ve come to understand maybe what the original intent/context was for the phrase “If You’re Scared… Go To Church!”  Scripture clearly says in 2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us the spirit of fear.  If you’re fearing something you might need to go to church and trust the God of the Heavens and The Earth.  Again, if you’re fearing something, no matter what it is… remember that fear is not from God because He has not given us the spirit of fear.

What drainage-grates in your life do you need to forced to ride over?  Share your thoughts on the paralyzing affects of fear? If You’re Scared… Go To Church!

My son didn’t really want to go to sleep, so I asked him if he wanted to write Daddy’s blog and he responded by saying: “What do you mean, type it… because I like typing.”  I replied, “No, I want you to share some knowledge, maybe some of the lessons that you’ve learned in the 4th. grade.”  BTW- My 4th. grader Wesley will turn 10 years old in just 9 days. 

Here we go, 4 Life Lessons From My 4th. Grader: 

1. Life is tough, everything is hard in the 4th. grade.  But, if you do your work and get it in on time everything will be OK.
2. Praying is like studying… you have to study and think about a math test and you have to study your memory verse and think about what you pray to God.
3. Getting in trouble in school is like sin; because your teacher doesn’t want you to get in trouble and God doesn’t want you to sin.  God and your teacher are not mad at you, they just don’t want you to get in trouble.
4. Sometimes you will get into a fight with certain friends at school and then you make up and become friends again.  God will always be your friend no matter what, he’s actually a part of your family, that’s why he’s called Heavenly Father.

These lessons are in my son’s own words and I wasn’t expecting these lessons to necessarily evolve into God lessons… however that was the direction that Wesley wanted to go.  What I thought was a simple Q&A with my son turned into some profound lessons about life and more importantly about who God is.

Thoughts on these 4 Lessons?  What Life/God lessons have your kids or other children taught you?

Let’s wrap the weekend by sharing some insight through answering one simple question.  What Lesson Did You Learn The Weekend?  What lesson did you learn at church, school, from your spouse, through music, through sports, from a mentor, reading a book… 

Share the lesson that you learned, who knows it might just be the Lesson that someone else needs to hear.

Get your teach on… and thanks in advance for sharing!