I’ve created a new blog site: chrisandandreaswedding.csquaredsworld.com.  Here you will find info about our wedding plans as we make them and get things ready to go.  I’ll try to update as much as possible so keep checking back!

As always, be blessed!

Chris

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For those who don’t know (and by now you have seen the awesome news), I got engaged Friday night.  It was absolutely one of the most awesome things to happen in my entire life. I am going to marry the love of my life, my best friend Andrea Pangburn! A lot of people have asked how we met. We knew each other in high school. She was a year behind me. We were really good friends at one point, then just stopped talking. Last April, she sent me a Facebook message. She asked me about our church and we started catching up from there. It was really awesome. In June, we started walking La Fortune Park here in Tulsa. I was having a blast with her. I never smiled or laughed that much in a week in a long time. When Camp Destin time came around in July, I knew something was starting to change inside me. You see, I started walking with this beautiful girl and never once saw the feelings I was starting to have for her come along. I always thought that a guy like me could never get blessed enough to be with a beautiful girl like her. I mean, from the first day we started walking I knew how beautiful she was. During camp week, it hit me that I was missing her, despite the fact we weren’t dating. The next week I was in Albuquerque and we started texting and Facebook messaging each other.

Before this, our text messages were growing in frequency. We found ourselves not just checking to see if we were walking that night, but we were talking about other things too. I was having an awesome time talking to her, even if it was just through text message. The week after I came back from New Mexico I asked her out (via Facebook haha!) on our first date: Savastano’s Pizza and bowling at Andy B’s. It was a fun night! I remember how beautiful she looked! We walked after that and I got the nerve up to ask her out again in person, this time to Cheddar’s and the Broken Arrow skating rink. Only I didn’t make this one clear that it was a date. She left for England for three months. Before then we both found out how we felt about the other. Things started from there. October 11, 2010 was when it became official that we were boyfriend and girlfriend. That was one of the best days of my life. Despite the distance and the time difference, we talked and worked hard to make our relationship the best we could while we were apart. And that made our bond a lot stronger after she came home. We spend as much time as possible with each other. It’s an amazing feeling.

Now, four months, and two weeks later, I proposed to her, with the answer being the big YES!!!!!! I was so excited! I still am! I thank God every day for the blessing He’s given me. It’s an amazing feeling! I’ll give updates about the wedding as we make our plans more concrete, but so far:

December wedding, small, family and some close friends only. Afterward, a bigger reception. No concrete decisions on where the honeymoon will be, or when the reception will be either. I will keep you posted! Thank you for all the congratulations we have gotten! They mean so much to us! We are both really really excited!!

Just thought I’d update you guys.

As always, be blessed!

Chris

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I love you, and I thank you for this day. I want to thank you so much for caring about not only my life, but the lives of my friends and loved ones, and the lives of people who are complete strangers to me, enough to send your Son to be born on this day, so that we may be forgiven of our sins. God, I always want to remember that you sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins, so that we may have a chance to have eternal life with you in Heaven. I feel so blessed that you love me enough to give me a chance that I am not worthy of having. God, because of the sacrifice of your Son, I am able to be born again and live for you, and glorify your Kingdom. God, please help me to always remember this in my daily life. If Jesus hadn’t died for my sins, I’m sure I would be condemned to a life in Hell. As I continue my walk with you, please keep this fact close in my heart, and to always remember John 3:16. Through you, all things are possible. I can do anything. And, because of the sacrifice you made by sending your Son to die for us, I can do anything in Your name! God, that’s amazing! Thank you so much for loving us this much! Please, be with all of those who are unable to be with their families this Christmas. Keep your hand on them, and everyone. Help us to become better followers of you in everything we do.

God, I love you, and I am yours forever.

Amen.

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1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)

3 And everyone went to his own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,

7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

As you open presents today or tomorrow, remember the true reason for our celebration this Christmas. To celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior, who came to this earth and died for us so that we may have everlasting life. He came so we can be forgiven of our sins! That is amazing! I, for one, know I can never repay this debt, and I know I’m not worthy of it. But, I am so blessed to have a loving God like this, so that I can have a chance at eternal life in Heaven! That’s pretty amazing!

Merry Christmas everyone.

And, as always, be blessed!

Chris

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I want to remind you of the true Christmas story. No, not the one with Ralphie shooting his eye out with his Red Ryder BB gun. I’m talking about the one where Jesus Christ was sent to this world to die for our sins. I want everyone to remember that the true reason we should celebrate this season is because God loved us so much that He sent His son to die for us on the cross so that we could live eternally in Heaven. It’s not about the presents. It’s about a loving God and His son who love us so much to give us the opportunity to be forgiven of our sins and to live in Heaven.

Luke 2:8-14 says this:

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

This is what it’s all about. This was the start of it. The birth of Christ has given us a chance to have our lives changed through Him.

1 John 4:9 says:
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

Yes. This is the true meaning of Christmas. As you shop today, tomorrow, and up until Christmas day, keep this in mind. Thanksgiving may be over, but this is definitely something to be thankful for every single day.

If you want to hear more about the true Christmas story, come to Foundations Church (5840 S. Hudson) this Sunday, or tune in live at www.fctulsa.tv. This will be something you definitely don’t want to miss.

As always, be blessed!

Chris

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I always feel I need to demonstrate my independence. I feel bad when I have to ask for help in some way, shape or form. I feel I have to demonstrate it at work, with my family, and this gets me to the big one: my independence in my Christian walk. Wait, independence in my Christian walk? That doesn’t even make sense. This past week at Foundations Church, Justin talked about “Pack Mule Disease”. Yes, pack mule disease. You keep piling things on you and refuse to ask for help. That’s prideful. One of the points Justin got across was to admit you need help. We have to let go of our pride, especially when it comes to areas in our Christian walks, and ask God for help.

Remember you have a God who loves you and will help you through anything! Let go and let him help!

As always, be blessed!

Chris

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I’m a huge Oklahoma Sooner fan. I love this time of year because I get to see my team try to make a run at the National Championship. Saturdays become holidays and I try not to do anything during game time. It’s a good time of year. But sometimes I take that passion for OU football (and admittedly Oklahoma City Thunder basketball) to too much of an extreme and I get all caught up in it. This type of passion is what you need in your relationship with Christ. I need to work on this. I want this type of passion in my relationship with Christ. We can easily get caught up in other things, such as college football, and forget that we need to still be caught up in creating a firmer relationship with God.

It even goes beyond this. Sometimes we think passion for God is just a Sunday thing. We go to church, praise and worship and listen to a sermon and think, “Yep, I’m done. See you next week!” I certainly try to never have this attitude but I do. I want my relationship to grow and be the strongest it can be, and it won’t help if I get caught up in other things more than I get caught up with my relationship with Christ and my Christian walk.

John 3:30: He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.

Invite someone to church this week. Become passionate about creating a stronger bond with Christ. Just some food for thought for today.

As always, be blessed!

Chris

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Foundations Church is starting an outreach project called the One Project. It’s designed so that everyone brings at least one person to church, and they invite someone. It’s all about outreach and inviting people to church. Foundations is about reaching lost people and exposing them to God.

I’m writing this to get the word out. The One Project is an awesome way to get your friends/family involved in church. I’m always very very excited to be at church every Sunday and I want other people to be excited about church. We believe church can be fun and life-changing at the same time. It can be an awesome experience, and that’s what we aim for. God can do amazing things in your life, and I want to show you that it’s true.

And, I want to see this go beyond the One Project. I definitely want to see Foundations packed out with people wanting to seek God every week. Let’s get to it and invite, invite, invite!

As always, be blessed!

Chris

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Getting back to basics, for me, entails re-examining what I’m supposed to do on my Christian walk. My problem is I think I know what God has in store for me, but I really don’t. He knows what He’s got in store for me, and all I need to do is follow the path He has laid out for me, of course with guidance from Him. My goal shouldn’t just be to help myself continue on my walk and better my relationship with God, but to help others form a relationship, be it for the first time or as a re-commitment. There is no “Holier than thou” attitude there. The Bible says in several places that we should be doing good things with our lives. One of those should be to help reach lost people. Listening in church, I’ve heard Justin say this so many times, and he’s right. And it’s time I acknowledged that.

Ephesians 2:10 says that we are God’s workmanship, and that he has created us to do great things, which He has planned out for us. Jeremiah 29:11 says He knows the plans He has for us, and that those plans will prosper, not harm, us, and give us a bright and glorious future. It’s time to get back to basics and put my definition of what my life has in store for me into God’s hands and let Him tell me what He says I should do. I’m not going to turn my life into a crusade to run around and proclaim I’m better than everyone, because that’s not what it’s about. I’m a child of God, and I will follow the plan He has for me. This will take time, but as long as He guides me and shows me what I’m supposed to do, I know I’ll prevail.

Philippians 4:13 (MSG) – Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.

As always, be blessed!

Chris

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I was able to get on the beach and swim in the ocean a little. The beaches were beautiful. No sign of oil anywhere!

But my favorite part wasn’t the beaches, or the ocean. My favorite part was all the services. My favorite part was watching the wonderful things that was happening at camp. It was AWESOME! The support system I saw from the youth to their friends who got saved was overwhelming. I loved seeing it.

I’m really looking forward to next year. But I’m also looking forward to tomorrow at Foundations Church. It’s going to be mind blowing! Bring a friend! You’ll love it!

As always, be blessed!
Chris

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