With that said:
Ask away!

From birth, a baby is born into a world of struggle, of death, of obstacles, suffering, sin, and insurmountable odds. The baby’s first struggle is breathing – the baby might have practiced breathing in the womb, however it has never needed to depend on itself to get oxygen, food, or any other necessity while in the mother’s womb. So, after the baby exits the birth canal, the first concern of the doctor and nurses is that the baby cries. “Why would that be their first concern,” you might ask. Crying isn’t fun. But in crying, two crucial occurrences come about:

• In crying, the baby will expel the amniotic fluid that is filled in its lungs. Crying may not be wonderful for the babe, and none of us enjoy seeing/hearing a baby cry; but this crying literally preserves and encourages life, in that expelling amniotic fluid allows life-giving oxygen to be delivered to blood cells.
• The baby begins breathing – crying will help instigate and encourage breathing in the baby, by making it gasp.

There are periods in our life that are rough. We think, “we will never make it through this storm! We will never overcome that obstacle, get over this pain in my back, or deep in my heart.” It’s easy to give up hope, to give up all reason and purpose to try or to live. But we do have a reason to hope. We have an ending goal, with victory waiting for us on the other side. It’s Him – Jesus Christ.

Now, I would like to define for you hope. The meaning has been severely distorted. It isn’t merely desiring for something to occur, not knowing whether it will or not. It is the anticipation of something that will occur, that gets you through the tough times, but being unaware of the hour or way in which it will surely manifest itself. And we rarely know the hour or way it will come.

Now, I would like to start by telling you a little bit of my story as of late, and my inspiration for writing this. Ever since I graduated high school I’ve been searching, ardently, and sometimes in distress, for what I am meant to do in this life as a career. I’ve gone from being very confident about my decision as to what I want to do with my life, to on the floor, crying out and weeping, wondering what I am to do. I never truly sought the Lord about this His path for me. I always did what I thought was best, and moved on to the next thing when I became bored or discouraged. I tried moving to Klamath Falls with my girlfriend (now wife) and going to KCC. I did fairly well (come out with a 3.5gpa). But when I transferred to OIT with a major in echocardiography, I realized I was just getting bored, in spite of being at the top of my class in a treacherous anatomy and physiology course.  My girlfriend and I decided to move back to Medford and get married, where I would go to SOU for writing. Again, I got bored very quickly, and ended up having to drop out because of different family medical reasons on multiple occasions. I went from job to job. I was lost, and didn’t know where I was going. Oh, we were surviving, but just barely. I asked God several times, “why? What am I doing here?” He never directly answered me. He was waiting, I could tell, giving me time to become patient. I wasn’t patient, and nor did I want to be.

Now, my wife, myself, and our 3 ½ month old son are living with our parents. Neither of us are working very much. We owe money for our student loans, and are trying to figure out how to support ourselves on our own again. I’ve been on my hands and knees, speaking with God, asking Him what I am suppose to do. He has been so faithful to us, always proving just enough money to get us through the month. And now we are humbled, living with our parents at 21 years old, looking after our beautiful son.

I prayed, and I prayed, and cried out to God! “Show me the way! Show me Your path for me, Lord! I live for Your glory!” And after building my patience, He answered.

It wasn’t what I was expecting at all. I didn’t expect God to make it so clear to my heart. “Landon, I want you to become a Police Officer.” Really, Lord, a Police Officer? “Yes.” I had never considered it before. I had such a peace about it though, and everything seemed to fit. I loved the idea! So, I began to search the hiring process, and read books on criminology & police science. I even scraped together money to get a gym membership and get into better shape.

Things were going so smoothly, and then something happened. You see, last year I went to the doctor with breathing problems. I described him what was a feeling of shortness of breath and tightness in my chest constantly. He didn’t know exactly what it was, so he prescribed me a corticosteroid and sent me on my way, saying it’s probably due to your seasonal allergies to pollen and cottonwood. The medicine helped a little, and when I got through my allergy season, it went away.

Well, until now, I forgot about it. Then, I just as I was starting my goal to become a Police Officer, it hit me again. I couldn’t afford to go back to the doctor and pay for a visit and the $150 per month prescription, which frankly didn’t help very much.  And so I prayed. I continued to get on my knees, begging, being self-absorbed, for God to take this burden away, or somehow make things better. My breathing was bad enough to prevent me from doing things, and I could still run 2 miles in 14 minutes. I also never get attacks like asthmatics do. But it’s still so burdensome trying to work and live your life, constantly not being able to take a good, deep breath, and always having to work at breathing. I kept thinking to myself, “why, Lord, show me this goal, this purpose You have for me, and then bring this disease back upon me?”

The Lord answered my prayer. Surprising? I was. I shouldn’t, since the Lord is so good to me. It didn’t come in some form of a miracle healing, though it was a miracle nonetheless. I just so happened to start regularly taking my antihistamines again. Cheap, off-the-shelf, generic brand Zyrtec or whatever it’s called. And now, I rarely have any symptoms, if at all, even around tons of blowing cottonwood and pollen for hours! How foolish am I to worry so much? He gave me this condition so that I would rely on Him, and not myself.

I started gaining a lot of confidence. My breathing was better, my endurance and strength building at the gym. I even got a connection through a friend of mine, Jason DeHart. He referred me to a friend of his who worked with Talent PD. His name is Officer May, and he was wonderful enough to take me under his wing and schedule me for a ride-along with him, without me even having to ask! Then, Medford PD opened up recruitment, and I was ecstatic! They’re testing on July 30^th, 2011. “How wonderful,” I thought! But I began thinking. Let me tell you this – thinking too much can be one of the dumbest things you do.

My thinking led me to all of the reasons why I wouldn’t be hired. You see, each Police department conducts a background investigation. They talk to everyone – your friends, your family, your neighbors past and present, your landlords, your teachers, your employers, your employees, the people that like you, the people that hate you, and on and on. Now, while I don’t have a criminal background, I’ve never been arrested, I’ve never been cited (save a couple of parking tickets from SOU, because I couldn’t afford to buy a parking pass), I have still done foolish things. I’ve had more jobs than I should’ve (granted, many of them I was laid off from, or they were seasonal because I was attending school), but I was fired from one, for calling in one hour before work and telling my boss I wasn’t coming in, for a stupid reason. I quit another for a stupid reason (disagreement over policy), and was fired from another, though I was deathly ill, and attempted several times to call in sick, with no one answering the phones. Still, I had a slightly bad employment history. And then there’s my college history, I dropped out once, because I wanted to move back to Medford and do something else, and then dropped out a couple other times in SOU for family medical reasons, and whatnot. And now, here I am, waiting for testing to start with Medford PD, wondering, are they going to look at my past and say, ‘NO!’ My stress level is high, and I’ve cried to the Lord again, asking how I can get through this. He told me I can’t, but He can….”

I tell you this to illustrate a few points. First, is a story about Abraham. As you might know, God promised Abraham a child, born through Sarah. Like me, Abraham and Sarah tried to take matters into their own hands. They decided to have a baby through Hagar. I tried to find my own way. But God never departed from His promise to Abraham, though Abraham mocked God’s promise by doing things his own way. It took 25 years before God’s promise to Abraham was fulfilled. So much of the time I want my promises now. I don’t want to learn patience. But that is what God wants. And He is faithful. You and I must learn that. He keeps His promises. No matter how insurmountable the odds are. Sarah was officially barren, and she even mocked and laughed at God’s promise. God didn’t scorn her; He simply did what He said He was going to do.

In another story, Isaac pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar. Isaac and his men decide to dig a well, and find springing water, however other men came and claimed it, taking the well. Isaac didn’t give up. He and his men went and built another well, which men strove over again. So Isaac and his men left the second well, and built a third, and the third they didn’t strive over, but Isaac and his men kept the well of water, and he declared the Lord would make them fruitful. Don’t give up! When you dig a well, and it gets taken over, dig another one! God will bless you, and it may take some effort. If I fail to get this job with the Medford Police, I will not give up! I will continue, and be steadfast in Him.

Now, Joseph, the son of Isaac, went through very hard times. His brothers sold him into slavery, and lied to their father about his death. Then, Joseph was thrown into jail for being accused of raping Potiphar’s wife, which was something he didn’t do. However, God looked after him, and delivered him from his troubles. Joseph went from prisoner, to Prime Minister of Egypt! How amazing is that! I may feel like a prisoner in my own mess, a mess that I deserve in fact, but God will deliver me up, to His righteous plans!

Remember when Peter stepped out onto the water, toward Jesus, and when he began to look at and worry about the waves around him, he began to sink? He took his eyes off of Jesus, and began to sink! Don’t take your eyes off of Jesus. And if you do, all you need is to call out to Jesus like Peter and He will stretch His hand out to you and lift you up out of your troubles!

There’s a point to all of this. Why would God make it so difficult, bring such odds against me, put me through all this trouble just to bring me out of it? To bring Himself glory! That’s is our goal in life. In getting a job as a Police Officer, people will look at me and say, “Wow, God is good! He made such a loser into someone so great!” I might have a thousand odds against me, I might fail time and time again, but I will not give up, I will never cease. And thanks to God, and my wonderful friends, including Officer May, who is by far the best, most caring Police Officer I know, I have the courage to endure, and accomplish this task. But I could not do it without leaning on God. To conclude, I would like to quote Benjamin Courson, who once said, “Work as though everything were up to you. Pray as though everything were up to God. Do your best, and commit the rest.”

So come, and try our Black Forest cupcake. You know you’re going to love it!

Sweet indeed! Our sweet strawberry cupcake is the epitome of a summer (which is upon us) cupcake refreshment! Strawberries, being a staple of summer, make their appearance in our Sweet Strawberry cupcake! A moist, white cake, baked with strawberry puree mixed in, with strawberry buttercream frosting, and strawberry jam filling! Oh, and a strawberry on top! I encourage you – get outside, while it lasts, and try our Sweet Strawberry, while it lasts! Have a great day, everyone!

Oh, and did I mention, all of our cupcakes are made from scratch by our bakers, Mike and Jim? Well, now you know!

Have a great Friday, everyone!

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