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I am back home!! After exactly two months on the road, it was nice to be home in my own bed again and the best part….my hubby!!! Equally nice has been being able to get my clothes out of a closet and dresser instead of a suitcase! So grateful to everyone who has hosted me! Great visits and hang time too. What a great time. The only sad part of being home is….. all you are SO far away and there’s moments where I’m a little sad that I can’t just pop over to spend time with each one of you! Thank you Pastor Bill & Pat Martin, Kim & Mike Eaton (and Renewed), Susan & Billy Casillas, Terri & Shawn Taylor & Phyllis Arnold, Brandon & Cheryl Breaker, Cheryl & Scott Marlow, Melanie Daigle, Michael & Tawana Albert, Jean & Kent Brund, MJ & Cat Jones, Carol B. and last stop: Sue Dempster. You all mean so much to me and I’m so grateful for your hospitality, your love, the fun, laughter, trips, sightseeing, music, stories, FOOD, memories and future plans! It’s been awesome! MUSIC WISE: My June Update came from Clovis, NM at my friend Susan’s house. I love her place. We planted a lot of flowers in her pots and it just looked gorgeous when I left!! While in Clovis, I got to lead worship for Crossroads Cowboy Church in Broadview, NM and a week later was my concert at First Christian Church in Clovis and the following morning they invited me to play with the worship band for Sunday’s service. That was a LOT of fun! A huge thank you to Pastor Jon Forrest for opening the church to me for the concert night and having me be part of the service. Precious moments! After Clovis, my in-between stop for the night was Abilene, where I visited family (Warren’s sister & mom), had a 3 mile walk with my nephew Xavier and the next morning the road called to start heading further south. Actually so far I had such a pleasant road trip, no inclement weather the whole way ever since I had left Minnesota, so that was cool. Sunshine all the way. Once arrived in Woodsboro, things were busy until the day I left. HAHA. Between my daughter working on her photoshoots and following edits and me on my music office stuff, photo sorting and working on finding art events in the area to consider for future reference and visits, we had times where we just took a break and went to town! Although that involved mainly to run errands, it was still fun to go to Corpus Christi to get those things done we both needed to attend to. I also got to tag-team one of her client’s ordering sessions. It took place at Starbucks and another curious customer sat across from us, so I was able to relay to her the information as I overheard Cheryl sharing about her services to the client she had the appointment for. That was pretty cool and a blast. During my stay Cheryl also had photo sessions with clients and it’s been fun helping her with that. She said I really should move there cos she could use an assistant!! Then both of us took a sight seeing trip to Fredricksburg, TX, a little touristy “German” town and picked up my grandson from his dad’s to spend the summer vacation with his mom. The only thing I wish we could have done was to have some German food, however the budget did not allow for the prices of that fare! Although I got some music work done, sold some jewelry while there, it was really nice just to get to visit without having events scheduled…..and of course be a busy photographer’s assistant! HAHA! Here are a few photos from my stay there: The rest of the trip would be fast and furious to get back home by the end of the month. Leaving Woodsboro, I headed to Sugarland, TX next to visit my long time friends Scott & Cheryl who were also my host home before my concert in Pasadena, TX at The Refuge. A couple days later I headed to Pasadena, checked into the hotel and headed over to the venue to prepare for the concert that night. Ah, it refreshed my heart to see my good friend Melanie Daigle who heads up The Refuge, a ministry she’s done for 15 years if not more. We knew her since we lived in Houston all those years ago, often taking part in some event The Refuge had. Concert night went wonderful, with the favorite song of the night being “For A Time As This”, which I played again per request at the end of the night during a time of testimony and prayer. The song really spoke to people that night and was also spot on for the direction the Lord seemed to take that evening in ministry. After a good night’s rest in the hotel, the next morning I headed to Spring, TX where I would be spending some time with singer/songwriter friend Tawana and her family. Tawana and I had some music related topics to discuss, hopefully bringing encouragement to her and we both decided to try out an open mic night at The Blue Giraffe, a secular coffeehouse/music venue. It was an interesting night for sure. My music was well received, however, which was pretty cool, people bobbing their heads, tapping their feet and even singing along on one song! That was pretty cool! Then it was time to leave to head to Duncan, OK where I would be helping my sweet sister-in-law after her severe car accident a month earlier (right when I had left to go on the road!!). When you go through things like that, there’s a lot of pain emotionally and for sure physically which you face in the aftermath. I know….I’ve been there myself! So it was good for her to have some girl-company, have help when she needed it and also someone who could scrub the house to have it looking fresh, which for us girls, that’s so important as it helps us feel more calm and peaceful. I got to play a mini-concert for her which was a huge blessing to her. She so enjoyed it! Even their dog came to listen! Below are some pictures of that…..we hoped to catch him when he had his head cocked from one side to the other, but by the time the camera was out, he didn’t do that anymore. It was so hilarious that we both couldn’t stop laughing and it was hard to sing amidst all the giggles! Such a refreshing time for both her and I! Moments we won’t forget so easily as they were precious! I loved our late night talks and miss them now…. After Duncan, my next stop was Tulsa to spend just one night with my friend Cat and family. We had silly moments (like doing a Facebook Live about exercise outdoors in the heat and it’s benefits), a sweaty walk and a late night Facebook LIVE concert I did, sitting at her kitchen table playing a few songs for folks on her page! Fun! Thankfully NO thunderstorms there! The longest part of my drive was next. Heading straight home to MN would not have been possible for me without staying in a hotel, which I did not want to do. So I drove to Monticello, Illinois for a couple nights with a friend there. On the way I experienced some scary….VERY SCARY weather!!!! The closer I got t St. Louis, the more the clouds coming from the northwest were closing in on me. By the time I got to the outskirts of town in rush hour traffic, the radio bleeped with alert and announcer said “tornado warning” and at the same time my phone went off like crazy with the same message! So I prayed, “Lord I need an exit…..soon” and almost regretted that I didn’t stop earlier. As the traffic inched down the road, a sign said “exit 1 mile”. YEY! Best place I could stop! A QT!!! Food and shelter if need be! Thank You Lord. As the warnings kept being announced, where I was sitting not one drop of rain fell and the clouds all moved more towards town and down south. So I had a 2 hour layover to wait out the weather before I could go on crossing through town to head north east! No tornado touched down and the rest of the drive was uneventful, with just a little lightning here and there in the distance and DRY roads!!! Yey! However I got to my friend’s house quite late and very exhausted, physically and emotionally. Don’t like thunderstorms like that, however they sure were a storm chasers dream!!! From Monticello, my last stop would be Sheboygan, WI to make it a shorter drive each day and it was good to see another friend. Yet…..after all that driving….and exactly to the day two months later…. I was glad to be back home! PERSONALLY: Once home, there was some house cleaning to do amidst helping with the last days of sales in the TNT Fireworks tents my hubby runs every summer and the Tent Revival. With me being gone, he had to hire extra help and we are grateful for all the awesome folks who worked very hard to make sales as successful as they could be for a Wednesday July 4th. Good job guys! UPCOMING EVENTS: Date: 7/19/18 Time: 10-4 Event: Art in the Park (NotesNBling Jewelry) Place:: Munsinger Gardens Town: St. Cloud, MN Date: 8/4/18 Time: 11 am Event: Rock On The Rock Place: Harry Moore Pavilion, Riverside Park Town: Beloit, WI IN ENDING: There have been times thoughout the trip where I’ve had some concern about “how am I ever gonna make it?”. But it’s been equally amazing how God, not only through provision but also a lot through His Word brought encouragement and peace to my travels! At each stop there was always some kind of message for me from the Lord that spoke directly into the situation of trip finances and road safety. I am thrilled to testify that the Lord provided above and beyond for this trip, with the last provision coming in once home through the Munsinger Gardens Art Fair and other sales. At the Art Fair, the opportunities to show God’s love through great conversations and times of sharing the scriptures attributed to my RockNStone and LeatherNLink lines were amazing! It’s like God was sending people. So many walked away with a smile because in some way God ministered to them in our conversations. I also got to deliver a special order bracelet to a cancer survivor who got to share with me at the booth during the art fair. I think I’ll be hearing more from her as she said “God brought us together for some reason”. Yes, there is always a “divine appointment”!!
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This time I'm writing from Clovis, NM, a town where I had lived for 23 years before moving away. Feels kind of good to come "home", see my friends and those folks who have been influential in my personal and music life. Having a great trip so far, trusting God and getting some awesome messages about that subject through church services and bible studies in each place as I travel on my way. TRUST and FAITH. MUSIC WISE: My first special time took place in Hot Springs, SD, with friends Pastor Bill & Pat Martin! Love those two and their girls. As always when I'm there it's a privilege to be included in the church service at Joy Community Fellowship. It's been great to also attend some of their other activities, such as bible studies and gatherings. One cool thing: Joy Community Fellowship will be adding two of my songs to their worship service as God leads - "Goodness And Mercy" and "Victory!" (a song I co-wrote with 7 other songwriters in Aspen last year)!! That's exciting! Then my next stop was Arvada, CO, hooking up with fellow musician friends Mike & Kim Eaton (Renewed), hanging at their house. Picking up Indie musician Erisa Rei, she and I took off from Arvada to Aspen for InspireSong 2018. Once there, we roomed with my friend Dora and her friend Aggie! She's one cool lady too! We had such fun together! It is really amazing how people, once strangers, now have become friends! One of the highlights at InspireSong is always the small group co-write sessions. This year I was able to write a song with Tony Chung another Indie musician/songwriter friend from Canada whom I've met two years ago at InspireSong. Tony and I had a blast writing together. Neither one of us had laughed that hard in a long time! So as you can imagine we wrote a fun song, which by the way is totally out of both of our genres. If you are coming to any of my concerts, you will be hearing that song! After InspireSong and back in Arvada, I had the privilege to be at Renewed's band practice and videoing one of their songs with my phone! Musicians are characters.... which makes it so fun when you take videos! (Their website is: www.renewed-music.com) From Arvada my present stop is Clovis, NM, where I am until after my concert on June 2 and church service on June 3 at First Christian Church. Last Sunday (May 27) was amazing! Leading worship at Crossroads Cowboy Church in Broadview, NM and catching up with another person influential in my music adventure was such a privilege! Thank you Pastor Kymburly & Travis Odell for having me! I will never forget those bible studies at the Odell home and the teens I had the privilege to help years ago! They wanted to do music as a band and it was great to see them grow and go forward in their music giftings for the glory of God! Grateful for my friend Susan who has been hosting me all this week. She is a runner, so I've been riding the bike while she gets in her 3-4 miles and so far we've also been walking 3 miles every night! I really have missed an exercise partner. Talk about motivation!!! Since I got here it's been a busy stay with the airshow at Cannon Air Force Base and seeing the Thunderbirds fly, running errands, doing some fun shopping and even planting flowers. It was so nice to see Susan's daughter Jill (who is now SO grown up!!!) and visiting with Susan's mom! It was a blessing for me to fix one of her mom's favorite bracelets which she hadn't gotten to wear for a long time because it was broken! It's been really nice to be with my longtime friend, who has always been the sister to me I never had! During this week, a wonderful lunch time was spent with another friend, Rose Kelly at my favorite place to eat Leal's Mexican Restaurant. We caught up sharing stuff from our lives, kids and ministry - just good fellowship! Equally fun has been eating all my favorite foods I don't get at home. Like Allsups Burritos, Taco Box guacamole/bacon burrito, Taco Villa's cheese fries and yet to do Twin Cronnie's jalapeno cheese balls! So many other places I'd love to eat, however there's not enough time to get all that in - and I do need to eat at least halfway healthy in between the fun foods!! :) Wednesday night I went to a bible study of another pastor friend, David & Geri Dawson, who also have been influential people in my music life and who I'm honored to count as family in Christ.  UPCOMING EVENTS: Date: 6/2/18 Time: 6:30 pm Event: Concert Nite Place: First Christian Church 1700 N. Main Town: Clovis, NM Concert time at First Christian Church, our home church Warren and I attended after we got married! I'm SO looking forward to catching up with Pastor Jon and the folks there and anyone who would like to attend! It's free.... so come on out. For those of you who don't have my new music yet.... and NO I'm NOT playing Christian Rock anymore.... my 2 latest CD's (contemporary and organic folk) will be available for purchase, as will be my book, songbook and t-shirt which accompany my latest CD "When Wallflowers Dance" and also some of my own jewelry line 'NotesNBling'. Excited to see everyone!! Date: 6/3/18 Time: 10:30 am Worship Service Place: First Christian Church 1700 N. Main Town: Clovis, NM I'll be "special music" during Sunday's worship service.  Date: 6/16/18 Time: 7 pm Place: The Refuge 4317 Red Bluff Road Town: Pasadena, TX Another "homecoming" playing at this coffeehouse/ministry in Pasadena TX. Melanie Daigle has been another influential person in my music life and so thankful for her and how God has used her not only in my life but countless others she has ministered to through The Refuge over the years! IN ENDING:
Next my route will take me to the Corpus Christi area, then Pasadena and on to Oklahoma and back home. You know, amidst all the times I had "lay-overs" so far on my trip, there have been neat times of ministry, blessing people and loving on them in a variety of forms. If it was spending time in fellowship, eating together, fixing broken jewelry, playing music or writing songs, watching their dogs or planting flowers.....none of those days was ever wasted and the Lord was always in the midst. Sometimes ministry looks so different than we imagine. Sometimes it's just being....not always doing or preaching. Those friendships formed, re-kindled or strengthened are vital to ourselves and others. It's about people, about those we love and those we get to love because we haven't met them yet. It's an amazing journey! Keep watch on my Facebook page for "pop-up" concerts on my way. Otherwise, after Pasadena my next "gig" will be in Beloit, WI for Rock On The Rock fest, where Warren will also be serving his famous BBQ! ....lastly, I've been reminded a lot on this trip: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9 and: "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:8-9. Thank you for your prayers for me on this tour! One sad news I need to mention. Warren messaged me that his aunt Virginia passed away and that her funeral will be today (Saturday, June 2) in Texico at First Baptist. So I will be there with family members who came in from out of town before my concert tonight. Please keep family in prayers as they miss their loved one. Until next month, keep checking back on this website and mostly on my Facebook page (Sam Scales Music) for frequent updates on happenings and events. Don't forget to click the "Track" button for my concert announcements in your area. Sam  Hello to all from Hot Springs, SD!! I've started my tour and am enjoying fellowship at my first destination, Joy Community Fellowship Church. It's been great to have this time together with Pastor Bill and Pat, whom Warren and I have known 15 years or so. Every time I come here I just feel "life"! So, if ya in the Hot Springs, SD area, do visit! Their Sunday services are at 11 am. I'll be doing a lot more traveling. In a week I'll be hooking up with songwriters at the InspireSong songwriter conference, learning, playing music and possibly doing some songwriting. Then as I go on, I'll be doing a few concerts, visiting friends and family on this trip, going from SD to CO to NM to TX and then through OK and IA on my way home. Keep this trip in prayer please, for safety, provision and more open doors for music opportunities. MUSIC WISE: So....I got some bad news today from the studio.... which I'm praying will turn into good news the Lord willing. As many of you know I was supposed to go into the studio in Albuquerque, NM recording at a friend's studio to release my next album... Due to short notice on finding a cajon player (as my producer friend assumed Warren would be with) and him not feeling peace from God about all this, he decided to cancel this session and maybe plan for a better time frame. I'm always for having peace and if that is absent then there's no need nor reason to do something which may not be God's perfect plan. Although I'm very sad and had SO hoped for a new album, this means it'll be a while longer before it'll be recorded. How long that depends upon the Lord's timeline and provisions. It'll either be at the studio with my friend at a later time, or.... this could be a God sized adventure, believing Him for that which is impossible for me to do - namely financing a project in Nashville. I have a producer there willing to work with me.... :) So I'm excited to see what God will do in these next coming days, weeks, months..... Since I'll be attending InspireSong 2018 in Aspen next week, I need to also be open to what connections might be made there, thus it's best to leave it all in the capable hands of the very One who gave the music in the first place. Having patience is the difficult part when you want something so bad.... yet, we must wait and trust.  UPCOMING EVENTS on the road: Date: 5/4/2018 Event: Live Music in the dining room Place: The Brookside Apartments 201 South River Street Town: Hot Springs, SD Come enjoy some live music in the dining room. Open to all in Hot Springs who would like to come. I'll be sharing a lot of my original songs, sharing some stories and playing worship songs. Date: 5/6/2018 Time: 11 am Place: Joy Community Fellowship Church 309 Canton Ave. Town: Hot Springs, SD I'm SO thrilled to be able to be back at my favorite lil' church in South Dakota and visiting with our pastor friends, family and church family there! I feel part of this place, this people and am always honored when I can serve in the service with the gifts and talents God bestowed to me. Date: 5/10-13/2018 Event: InspireSong 2018 Songwriter Conference Place: Crossroads Church 726 W. Francis Street Town: Aspen, CO This is the third year that I'll be attending this wonderful conference. Looking forward to seeing old friends from the past conferences and meeting new ones who are coming this year for the first time. Hoping to play some songs at the open mic times during the conference. OPEN DATES available: Albuquerque, NM Sunday, May 19 - Tuesday May 22 for music/worship or NotesNBling gatherings (music and jewelry "party") Clovis, NM Wednesday, May 23 - Friday Jun 1 for music/worship or NotesNBling gatherings (music and jewelry "party")  Date: 6/2/18 Time: 6:30 pm Event: Concert Nite Place: First Christian Church 1700 N. Main Town: Clovis, NM Excited to be back at the church hubby Warren attended before we got married and I got to join him to be part of the congregation there before we moved away. Truly miss the pastor and his wife and the folks there. So excited to be able to be back and bring the blessing of music into the house of worship! Date: 6/3/18 Time: 10:30 am Worship Service Place: First Christian Church 1700 N. Main Town: Clovis, NM I'll be "special music" during Sunday's worship serving there with my gifts. More dates later on in June....which will be updated in the next newsletter.  MUSIC RECAP: In April Warren and I played for Empty Bowls, a fundraiser event for Place of Hope, to raise awareness that there's someone in our country and in the world who's bowl is always empty. Warren and I have participated in this event ever since we moved into the area pretty much. Warren has helped out with the soups, distributing, warming up, organizing and delegating and I've participated as a vendor and playing music, donating a percentage of my sales to Place of Hope. Place of Hope helps the homeless, provides meals and a warm place to stay and also has a program for recovery for men and women who want to change their lives and come out of darkness to walk in the light of hope.... and with the Lord.  One of the events we totally enjoy is the BURN (Central MN 12-hour BURN). It's a 12 hour prayer and worship event which takes place in the St. Cloud area either bi-monthly or every 3 months at different churches. It begins at 9 am and goes until 9 pm. Worship slots are two hours and is lead by different musicians or worship leaders throughout that time. We love taking part and just playing worship, sharing scriptures and soaking in the presence of the Lord. We come early before our set and staying after, soaking in the peace that is present in the room. If you've never come to a BURN, do! You don't have to stay the 12 hours! Come when you can, stay as long as you feel led to be there. It's really awesome! IN ENDING:
Although I heard disappointing news, I need to share with you all before I sign off, that the bible studies I attended through Joy Community Fellowship today were total preparation for the news from the studio which would come later in the day! God is so good. Now even though the recording is not happening, that doesn't mean it never will or be put off indefinitely, because it's going to happen, but in His timeline. The first study this morning was titled: The Crisis of Belief. Basically what we talked about today was that if God gave you a directive of something He wants you do, what you do in response to that, reveals what you truly believe about God. For example, if God gives you something God-sized to do and you believe that it's something that you can't do it because you don't have the resources, that's the crisis of belief. You still go towards that direction, no matter what it may look like, because you will trust and believe that God will bring about what He told you to do. So....to translate that into my situation, instead of me getting down and discouraged and giving up on the recording of my next project, if I believe God and trust that He will provide, I can actually believe Him for what I TRULY want - which is recording with producer Dan Needham in Nashville - which is certainly a HUGE GOD-SIZED project only God can bring to pass. What might be YOUR God-sized project you are trusting Him for? Share that with me! Thank you all for your prayers and also keep Warren in prayer as he is working hard at home. Until June..... Love y'all. Sam  Spring has sprung.....it's sprung SNOW in Minnesota! Crazy right? Hubby is out plowing snow for his accounts at the moment while I'm typing up my monthly update.... and I'll be shoveling our walkway.... PERSONALLY: Although it is white outside, that's not going to stop us from enjoying the first Spring events. Middle March I was downtown in St. Cloud for the Art Crawl, set up as a featured artist at The Rusty Pick with my NotesNBling jewelry. The event was well visited and the snow in the forecast for that day held out until late at night after the event was over! Was cool to see some of my friends stop by to say "hi" and got to meet a lot of folks as they lingered at my table to look and chat.  MUSICALLY: We got to enjoy a wonderful time with our friends from the Barnabas Christian Coffeehouse in Chippewa Falls, WI in March. They are such a fun bunch of people! We joked with everyone, had fun chats and comments, they always mess with us....and it's such fun! Yet in all this we enjoyed the presence of God, the fellowship with one another in Christ, prayed for people and lifted our voices in worship and were strengthened through songs of encouragement. Always a great time!  UPCOMING EVENTS: Date: 4/7/18 Event: Spring Boutique Crafts & Vendor Event Place: Main Street Church 6500 Main Street Town: North Branch, MN This coming Saturday I will be set up as a vendor with my NotesNBling jewelry. So if you are in the area, come by and visit!  Date: 4/14/18 Event Time: 11a-7p Sam's Live Music Slot: 2-3p Event: Empty Bowls Annual Fundraiser for Place Of Hope Ministries Place: *City Hope Church *NEW Location this year!!! 413 Franklin Ave. NE Town: St. Cloud, MN This year's Empty Bowls event will be at Place Of Hope's second church location City Hope Church. In the past years the event had been at Calvary Community Church, but now Place of Hope is able to host this event at their own location. There will be soups (and other goodies too) - all you can eat - you get to take home a hand painted bowl and purchase other items from the vendors/crafters who will be set up. Live music will be at two stages, the smaller one for singer/songwriters and the bigger one for bands. It'll be a great time! I will be having a table with my NotesNBling jewelry set up, as well as play music for one hour from 2-3 pm. Hope to see you there!!  Date: 4/28-29/2018 Time: 10a-5p Event: Outdoor Market Place: Dwell Furniture & Home Decor 3192 St. Croix Trail S. Town: Afton, MN This will be a first time event for me at the Dwell Furniture & Home Decor Outdoor Market. This will be the first of 3 events they hold every year. We are looking into the September one as well. There are several stores who participate and vendors set up outside in tents. Warren and I will be the only jewelry vendor at this event with my NotesNBling jewelry. I'm so grateful for hubby to help me with this adventure! If you live in the Cities, come see us! It's located in the East St. Paul region. SPRING TOUR 2018! I will be heading West and South in May/June 2018. You will find me in South Dakota for music events, Colorado for InspireSong Songwriter Conference & concerts, on to New Mexico for studio (recording my 5th CD project) and music events there as well and then on to Texas for whatever doors the Lord will open! One thing I'm looking forward to in Texas is seeing my daughter, son-in-law and grandkids! Date: 5/4/18 Time: 3 pm Event: Concert at The Brookside Place: The Bookside Apartments 201 South River Street Town: Hot Springs, SD This will be very cool to play at an apartment complex! First time I've done that! Always those exciting firsts and getting to be a blessing to new folks. Date: 5/6/2018 Time: 10 am Place: Joy Community Fellowship Church 309 Canton Ave. Town: Hot Springs, SD I'm SO thrilled to be able to be back at my favorite lil' church in South Dakota and visiting with our pastor friends, family and church family there! I'm honored they plugged in for Sunday's worship service! MORE EVENTS see my "Tour Dates" page! I'll post all the May/June events in next month's update! IN ENDING:
The next few weeks before my trip will be major busy with getting everything ready for on the road. Merch, Books, CDs....n all that. Plus there's my March events almost every weekend now. Whew!! Raising funds is crazy biznizz!! Yet in all this busyness....reflection. Last Sunday we celebrated Resurrection Day. Focusing on Christ brings everything into perspective for me. In all this....I need to rest in Him. Sunday's sermon title was: Jesus Is Greater Than Religion. Hebrews 3:1-6. The question was asked: What is religion? It is man made. Religion says "do", Jesus says "done". Religion says "slave", Jesus says "son". Religion says " bondage", Jesus says "free". Religion makes you work harder but Jesus extends grace. Jesus restored our relationship with God. He is the answer for all our problems. He is our apostle. We don't get to choose what we want of Jesus and what not. (for example: I'll accept Him as a great teacher but won't believe that He is God). The thing is....you don't get to choose one thing about Him without accepting for who He is. He is our high priest. Jesus is the creator of the universe. Jesus is God (John 1:1-3)....I wrote a song about that called "On the Wings Of A Dove" which will be on this upcoming album being recorded in New Mexico in May. Moses brought the temporary plan, Jesus is the ultimate plan, the permanent plan, He is the plan. Moses was a servant. Jesus is the Son! Therefore He has to be Lord in all aspects of my life. So many things come to mind I'm yet to totally surrender to Him. Yet He is my Lord, He is my Savior, He is my Redeemer for I cannot save myself. Sin put a divide between man and God and only Jesus through His own sacrifice could bridge the gap, a perfect, blameless, holy and sinless bridge. A sacrifice.... All have sinned....yet by the shedding of His blood Christ brought about once and for all redemption to all who recognize that they need a Savior, come to Him in repentance and seek forgiveness at His cross. Tetelesti! It is finished! Sam Here it's almost middle March.....and I'm just now getting with it to posting my monthly blog/update. Things have been so crazy lately. With a surprise trip to central Illinois in February and then catching up back home with laundry, paperwork for hubby and taxes, kept me hopping! I'm excited that I got the videos of my songs recorded for Eddie B. who will be my producer when I go to his studio recording at the end of May. Soooo..... I'm going to keep this short and sweet! PERSONALLY: My trip down to Central Illinois was a blessing, especially when you get to see your friend and new friends you've made since the one friend moved there :) During this trip I also brought some NotesNBling Aroma Bracelets and Necklaces to The Mercantile store in Monticello, IL, who will also be carrying my jewelry. It's just a small display, but a great start sitting next to DoTerra Essential Oils. I love The Mercantile store! Cool stuff in there like unique decorating items, clothing, essential oils and jewelry. Love the people who work there and always look forward to visiting again! MUSICALLY: While in Monticello I had the opportunity to play for a very neat group of women my friend teaches! They are eager to learn and grow in God's Word and they are a lot of fun. Discovered another artist in the group who also makes jewelry! We had a LOT to talk about!! One big blessing was to meet up with my singer friend Erisa Rei again. She's so gifted and so real, I love that about her! I wish we had more time, because this time we didn't get to play music together. Once back home Warren and I were booked to lead worship at South Santiago Lutheran Church in Clear Lake, MN. Our date got moved up one week due to a schedule conflict with the person who was originally scheduled, so it was a good thing that I got home 3 days earlier!! The Wednesday night service began with a soup supper....and you guys, those soups were SO amazingly good! We had a couple bowls and I have to admit I wish they had carry out, because I would have packed in a few more samples for hubby and I during the week, haha! :D The service was really fun as a lot of the youth group kids participated and we cracked up at their opening song. The song was so cool and fun! We played for about 30 minutes sharing all my original songs, as they totally fit into the theme of that night's service! Pretty cool!  UPCOMING EVENTS: Date: 3/7/18 Time: 7 pm Event: Wednesday Night Worship Service Place: South Santiago Lutheran Church Town: Clear Lake, MN Although this event is already over (it was supposed to happen on the 14th instead of the 7th but due to the schedule change it ended up being a week earlier). Still wanted to list it here. Date: 3/17/18 Time: 7 pm Place: Barnabas Christian Coffeehouse Town: Chippewa Falls, WI We are back again at the Barnabas!! We are so looking forward to seeing our friends from that area and....hope to make new ones! Always like coming home when we go there. Talk about people who get into the music! It'll be a fun night and a night of worship/fellowship as well. See you all there this weekend!  Date: 3/23/18 Time: 5-9 pm Event: Art Crawl in Historic Downtown St. Cloud Place: The Rusty Pick 707 W. St. Germain Town: St. Cloud I'm excited I made it in!! So I'll be set up at this cutest antiques & collectibles store downtown St. Cloud that day. So come on out, visit the stores, see the artists and hang out with me and browse the cool stuff at The Rusty Pick! See you there!s  Date: 4/14/18 Time: 2-3 pm (Event time 11 am - 7 pm) Event: Empty Bowls (Annual Fundraiser for Place of Hope Place: City Hope Church *NEW location this year 413 Franklin Ave NE Town: St. Cloud, MN This year the Empty Bowls Soup Feed Benefit for Place of Hope is at a new location: their second church location at City Hope Church. Also our music time slot has moved to a new time from 2-3 pm (so that Warren is able to join me as he will be volunteering with the soups at Place of Hope). I will also be set up with my table of jewelry, CDs and books. So come see me! So mark your calendars to note the new month/date, location and time slots if you'd like to hear us play. See you there! IN ENDING: Well, that's about the news for this month, keeping it brief as I'm having to heavily dive into the paperwork. Once I get that done I can go on with more creative things like making jewelry, playing and writing music and getting ready for recording in New Mexico and all the activities/concerts on my trip/tour in May/June this year! Also please check out hubby Warren's GoFundMe page as he continues to plan and work towards his goal of getting his Warren's BBQ Bus Cafe. I'm excited about this dream and possibility to finally get off the ground so to speak and no longer deal with adverse weather conditions in tents. We are praying for God's provision and guidance with this project.....and some crowd funding to bring it into reality. Warren's Go-Fund-Me page has all the details of his plan laid out if you like to see.  We are thankful and grateful to each and everyone of you who support us with prayer, with words of encouragement, friendships, fellowship, get-together's, coming to our concerts or jewelry events or inviting us to come play at your location, church, group, event.....coffeehouses..... You guys all are amazing and we are tremendously blessed to have met so many wonderful folks!
You all have a great rest of March, hopefully spring will arrive in the northern regions here soon and - we will catch you in April! Blessings, Sam |
Christian Organic Folk Singer/Songwriter & Author
based in Minnesota Visit my IndieHeaven Page!
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 Psalm 100 Scripture
1 Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. 3 Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. 4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. 5 For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations. Archives
July 2018
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