snow Snow SNow SNOw SNOW!

Ahh yes, it is that time of the year. Thought I would add to my previous pictorial update with a few more photos. Currently, Ken and Beth and the Burns may be able to see some of this for real, but I was thinking back to my time in the motor city and thought that I would share this picture that I took of my very first snow angel (at the ripe age of 23) that I made while I was there.

One of the things I love about Christmas is Christmas trees. Some may have real trees and others may obtain perfectly formed "imitations" of real trees with which they fill their homes with color and, in some cases, fragrant pine aroma. The most impressive Christmas tree that I saw this season was the one in the entry courtyard to Main Street at Disneyland. Cory and I are pictured here gazing into one of the hundreds of ornaments that adorn this tree.

I have been thinking of what it would be like to have a white Christmas, as compared to the California Christmas pictured above from Candy Cane Lane in the Circle City. Now, some of you may have experienced a white Christmas this year, and others of you, the closest that you got to a white Christmas was white Christmas lights and the 4 minute foam at The Magic Kingdom. Some of you actually may have gone out on Christmas and built a snowman and had a snowball fight or gone sledding, others of you may have sat in your family room with the screen door open watching 24. With all of its perks, I think I enjoyed the fact of it being in the 70's on Christmas and going in the Hot Tub at night. Can't quite do that so easily in Michigan.
That's right, there is truly nothing like a California Christmas. (Cory and I are pictured above in front of California Adventure with our passes.) Today I was thinking about the different types of Christmas and thinking about the different things that can be enjoyed in different geographic locations. However, there is one thing about Christmas that is the same no matter where. We celebrate Christ's beginning as the start of the culmination of God's plan of salvation.

Today I was reading in Psalm 66 where the Psalmist expresses shouts of Joy to the Lord for the great things that He has done. In verse 5, He says, "Come and see what God has doen, He is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man." This is the cause for how the Psalmist can begin the psalm by exclaiming, "Shout for joy to God, all the earth, sing the glory of his name, give to Him glorious praise! Say to God, 'How awesome are your deeds!'"

I am the kind of guy who gets excited by the Christmas season. There is something about the cool weather and wearing sweaters and drinking Hot Cocoa and snow (both real and fake) and time with no pre-set schedule that brings joy to my heart. But how do I react when that is over? Today I am back in the office, where drinking Hot Chocolate just doesn't feel the same as sipping it in as you look at the lights from a park on a hilltop.

However, God's works are always great! They can be rejoiced in from the frozen tundra to the tropical shores! Join with me in rejoicing in the great things that God has done and making my life a proverbial shout of joy and praise to the glory of His name.

B. Blakey

A Pictorial Update

On Tuesday, Cory and I went to Disneyland, just thought I would share some of the pictures.

(Donald from the Central Plaza.)















Cory and I.

The ducks at the Hungry Bear.

Christmas lights in New Orleans Square.

Make and Take

Wow! The last few weeks for Billy Blakey do not look they have been the season for blogging. However I do say that there have been quite a few happenings in my life and the blogosphere since the last time I officially posted.

First, the blogosphere...My dear friends Matt and Kara Rehrer have joined the blog world with their blog, Rehrer Moments (which is very exciting by the way.) Also, my other dear friends Blake and Bekah boys have joined the merriment of the blog world with a new site (which features a sweet picture-something I am fond of) at blakeandbekah.com. Check out those two sites if you want to "meet" some really cool people. I mean, it is not like you will actually meet them, because it is just their website, just like e-harmony isn't really "dating," well that is a discussion for another day.

Next, my life. God continues to be so gracious and merciful to me and continues to surround me with people who follow hard after him and situations that challenge my faith and continues to teach me, even when I do not pursue the learning.

Thanksgiving...I know, a few weeks ago but I could not help but share about it. Every year there is the proverbial circling of the wagons in the Blakey family where many of our extended family make the trip to Montecito to enjoy thanksgiving together at my grandpa's house. As is almost always the case at a Blakey family gathering, golf was involved. My two brothers, my dad, my grandpa and my Uncle Ken enjoyed 18 holes at the beautiful Montecito Country club. I hadn't played in a while and still wasn't able to outdrive my dad but it was an awesome day, perfect weather (as is almost always the case in Montecito where on any given day of the year it can be 72 degrees at 2 in the afternoon). It was very relaxing and was a great way to enjoy God's creation.

Then came dinner. Some families may have traditions where they spend all day cooking and put on a gi-normous feast for the whole family. The Blakey family lets the skilled chefs at the Montecito Country Club do the work and simply enjoys the fruits of their labor. It is all first rate- the turkey, mashed potatoes, sides, the shrimp cocktails that my brother ben pounded down at least 15 of- all I could say was...muy bueno.

To top it all off, for desert the club had brought out a chocolate fountain accompanied by marshmallows, strawberries and other kinds of fruit that could be dipped in the flowing streams of chocolate. (All I could think about after that was how I was going to get one of those set up in my apartment.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Montecito. Great food, good times to see relatives I hadn't seen in a while. It was a place of refuge and relaxation in the midst of the hecticness of life (I took a section of the CPA exam the day before Thanksgiving). Montecito has always been my favorite place in all the world. When people ask me, where would I want to live if I could live anywhere- I always say- Montecito.

Something that I have been thinking a lot about lately comes from my readings in the Psalms. I have been reading many of the Davidic Psalms recently and have just been thoroughly impacted by how highly David thought of the Lord. Two things in particular have struck me that David seems to repeat over and over again- the facts that God's love is steadfast and that God is David's refuge.

Whenever I have thought about God as a refuge- I have thought about it in a Montecito kind of way. I have thought about Him as a place that I go to take refuge when life is hard. God has used the words of Psalm 52 to open my eyes to think differently.

In Psalm 52, David is talking about a mightly, but evil man. This man plots destruction, loves evil more than good, is deceitful and harsh with his mouth. David rightlfully states that God will judge this man and the righteous will see it, fear, and then laugh at this man. What is it that the righteous will say in their laughter?"

"See the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and sought refuge in his own destruction."

This evil man is not criticized so much for not taking refuge in God as much as not making God is refuge. It seems like this man did not have a hard life. He had an abundance of riches, he was able to say what he felt and was described as mighty. His problem was that those things were his refuge. What about David, though? What did he do? David described himself in this way- "But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever. I will thank you forever, because you have done it. I will wait for your name, for it is good, in the presence of the godly."

David says that he is like a green olive tree constantly, because he trusts in the Lord. David has made the Lord his refuge, the place where he always is and wants to be at. David thinks more highly of being with the Lord than anything else. He thinks about the fact that God has accomplished His plan ("you have done it") and that causes him to abound in thanksgiving. He realizes that because "the steadfast love of God endures all the day" (vs 1) that he can "trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever." (vs 6). David says that he will wait for the Lord's name (His name being another word for His glory- the fullness of all that He is)- David can't wait to see God in all of His fullness! He says that he waits for it "in the presence of the Godly" meaning that He talks about it with other believers.

I don't think that I understood as fully as I do now what David meant when he says, "in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by" (Ps 57:1). David was able to take refuge in the Lord because he had already made the Lord his refuge! How often do I get deceived into believing that the times to be closest to God are the harder times in life when everything else can't be trusted. How often do you and I run to make our refuge in other things besides the Lord!

Reading Jeremiah 17 has impressed upon me the seriousness of this. Many of us may know Jeremiah 17:9 which says that the heart is deceitful and desparately sick, who can understand it? But do many of us know what the verses are directly preceeding that verse? Verses 5-8 say this:

"Thus says the Lord:
Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the Lord.
He is like a shrub in the desert (west texas) and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord
whose trust is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green (like a green olive plant) and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."

Then is reminds us that the heart is deceitful. God says that we are deceived into not making the Lord our trust! Our refuge! If we doe that, then we "will not be anxious in the year of drought." We will be able to take refuge in the Lord because before that we made the Lord our refuge, and not other things that turn our heart away from the Lord.

Think about your life- what are you making your refuge? What am I? The Lord is the best refuge possible! Way more enjoyable than a day in Montecito!
Vigorously take refuge in Him. You will not be dissapointed.

B. Blakey