A prayer for soldiers...

O Lord God of hosts, stretch forth, we pray your

almighty arm to strengthen and protect the Soldiers of our country.

Support them in the day of battle, and in the

time of rest and training keep them safe from all evil.

Endue them with courage and loyalty;

and grant that in all things they may serve without

reproach; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Memorial Day 2009...

Tomorrow is Memorial Day.

In my family, among many others, this is a special day...a holiday to prayerfully remember all the men and women who have sacrificed so much for this country of America...sons, brothers, husbands, fathers, daughters, sisters, mothers, and wives...

All have given some, and some have given all.

I hope everyone will take the time wherever you are to take a moment and to not only remember the fallen, but take a moment to say a prayer for the ones those fallen have left behind, and most importantly that you will take the time and the opportunity to thank a Veteran for their service and welcome them home.

For those of you in the greater Portland, Oregon area I would encourage you to attend the service that will be held at the Oregon Vietnam Veterans Memorial at 10 am PST tomorrow. The Oregon Vietnam Veterans Memorial is located at Washington Park across from the Metro Park Zoo, 400 SW Canyon Road. The ceremony will include a reading of the 801 soldiers of Oregon who paid the ultimate price during the Vietnam War, a 21-gun salute, and fly over. And most importantly, from my perspective, the featured speaker will be author, and my mother, Karen Spears Zacharias.

Due to some circumstances beyond my control I will unable to attend services in Washington, DC this year, however, if you are in the area there I would encourage you to make your way down to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall for the 1pm EST ceremony.

I will be here in Williamsburg for the day and will be attending the Memorial Day Commemorative Program here at Colonial Williamsburg at 10am EST. The program will remember all those who died while serving their country Colonial Williamsburg's Fifes and Drums will lead the procession. This 45-minute service begins in front of the Governor's Palace, which served as a Continental Army field hospital during the 1781 siege of Yorktown. A wreath will be placed at a plaque marking the graves of the soldiers, prayers will be offered and the militia will fire musket salutes. The procession will then advance to Bruton Parish Church, where a wreath will be offered to a church representative who will lead prayers in memory of those veterans interred in the churchyard. Finally the procession will advance to the French military gravesites near Providence Hall to recognize the aid of the French Allies in the siege of Yorktown.

Hopefully you will be able to attend one of these ceremonies, or ones similar to these across the country wherever you may be. But if not please take a moment wherever you are and remember the reason for the holiday. To all the Veterans and the families of the fallen please know that I am thankful for all of you and you will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Happy Birthday, Grandad...

On this day seventy-eight years ago, in the hills of East Tennessee in a place called Rogersville, Leona and Howard Spears welcomed one of their five sons into this world...they named him David Paul.

David Paul Spears is my maternal grandfather. On February 13, 1954 he married my grandmother, Shelby Mayes Spears in Hawkins County, Tennessee.

My grandad was a soldier. An decorated Army Veteran who served both in Korea and Vietnam. For many years my grandad was a man of mystery to me, someone who I knew very little about (and some times I feel like I still do) for you see I never got to meet my grandad. My grandad, David P. Spears made the ultimate sacrifice for his country and his family. His life was lost in the Central Highlands of Vietnam in 1966.

However, is memory lives on in the family he left behind. As his eldest grandson I wanted to just take a moment today to let him know that while I miss never getting to meet him here on earth, I am forever grateful to call him my grandad and I certainly hope that if they celebrate birthdays in Heaven that he is having an awesome party! We love and miss you everyday grandad!

Virginia is for...wait for it...Me!!

I know a lot of you never expected to ever read those words from me...but over the past few days I have come to realize a few things and have come to appreciate some things about myself and some truths of life.

For all you Pacific North Westerners don't despair...cause there is one simple fact, Oregon will always be myhome and more importantly my heart will always be in Oregon. There is no way around that. Oregon is where I am from and it is where the majority of my life and my own personal history took place. I will forever be grateful for being from Oregon...most importantly from Eastern Oregon. I will most likely always long for the mountains and high desert landscape of that region of the world. However, I must remember while that is were I am from it is no longer where I am at...

Now I am in Virginia...the birthplace of America. The original colony. The most history. And most importantly the place that is said to be for lovers...at least that is according to most of the bumper stickers and t-shirts that get sold in most of the gift shops!

Honestly though it must be true...Virginia is for Lovers...for no other reason than because I live here now! I have been reading about the love of Christ a lot lately. What has hit me the most is not how much He loves me (which is incredible by the way and completely amazing), but what has affected me the most is the Lord's charge for us to be love, His love to the world...

And that got me thinking...why don't we do a better job of this? I mean it is the Lord's greatest commandment to love one another as Christ loves us. A fairly simple instruction...but terribly hard to execute for most of us. What amazes me is how stingy we are about even just simply using the word "love" or even telling another person that we "love them".

We tend to put rules and regulations on that word "love"...that it should only be used when you "really mean it" and that you should only say it to certain people...otherwise some how it won't mean as much if we just go around and tell each other that we "love each other"...

But isn't "love" just a four letter word in the English? Does it really possess and more or any less power than any other word in our vocabulary? Isn't the true meaning of words really taken from the intentions and actions behind the words being spoken?

I think so anyway...

Love is a daily choice...a choice to act upon the greatest commandment that God has given us...to get up and go out and share His love with the world. We all need to realize that every person who lives in this world is deserving of our love...no qualifications, no rules, no requirements...the deserve our love because God loves them just as He loves us.

We have all been created in His image and each of us needs to daily remember to choose love when we get up in the morning. We should remember that we ourselves are love...we are loving...and most importantly we are lovable.

We all forget that part about ourselves...that we all are love, loving, and lovable...the important thing to remember is that we all need to be reminded of this from time to time. So this week look yourself in the mirror each morning and choose love...choose to love yourself as God loves you, so that you can then go out each day and love all others around you..not just the ones you have good "feelings" for...but everyone you meet. You never know when you will run across someone you really needs to be reminded of the love that is inside of them...

I know that it is something I have forgotten a lot lately...but thankfully I live in Virginia now...the place for lovers. And me, well me...I am love, loving, and dang it I am pretty darn lovable!!

Vivir con miedo, es como vivir a medias...or Blog 100

As the picture says it's been over a year now that I have been here in Virginia. My hair is longer than it has ever been in my memory. This year I am also playing a few more characters than I did last year. And all in all I would have to say the show is better than last year as well...however, there is one major piece still missing...ALL OF YOU!!!

So here's the deal, I am not trying to boost ticket sales by any means here...we actually are doing surprisingly well in that department for the most part this year. What I am trying to do is coax all those folks from my life who have still yet to visit me here in Virginia.

I have had some wonderful visits from some of my family and a few of my Hoffman friends...however, there are still a lot of you out there reading this right now that I would LOVE to see and have you come and visit me so I am going to let you all in on a little secret: if you come to visit, and my recommendation is to come on a Thursday and stay through at least Saturday, I can help you out with hotel and tickets...as I am alloted half off the daily rate for lodging for friends and family as well as admission tickets...yes, I know it is a long way to travel but I am dying to have people who know me outside of work here to come and see the show, visit, and hang out with me!!

If you come on a Thursday through Saturday you will have the opportunity to watch me portray all the characters I am assigned to over that period of time and for right now if you are in town on a Sunday or Monday you will also be able to hang out with me all day as those are currently my days off!

I miss you all and I really just want you all to come and join me in all the fun we are having here this year!