Awake At 30

Who do I become as a man? How do you "conduct yourself like a man"? What model do you use to pattern your life, your marriage, your home after? It starts with Dad. Boys look to their fathers for an example. Fathers show their boys what to do and what not to do. Some fathers specialize in everything not to do, how not to be a man, how to throw away one's life - spiritually and physically - in favor of the passing pleasure of sin. Other fathers risk it all, sometimes that meaning their physical relationships, in order to see that the souls of their children are taken care of and right before God. Good fathers look to the spiritual needs of their children and their home above all else. I thank God that my father was of the latter. Does that mean he was faultless, that he didn't make some mistakes along the way? Certainly not, he's a man. But one thing was for sure, and still is, we know where we stand with Dad. If we're in sin, we know we must get it right and h...

Fight  It has been my privilege to have a number of friends who have served our country in military service. Their service and sacrifice can sometimes go unappreciated by those of us who have never chosen to serve our country in this way and who directly benefit from their sacrifices. We can take our freedoms for granted and tend to forget that our freedoms have come as a result of men fighting, bleeding, and dying to make sure we keep those freedoms. Freedom is not freely given, it is won through war, gained by conflict. In order to keep peace, we must prepare ourselves continuously for war, for war will inevitably come and so we must always be ready.  It has been an even greater privilege to know and be among many who have fought valiantly as Christians the spiritual battles of life, many of whom have gone home to their reward.  It is with those thoughts that I write this post. While I realize that the issues stated in this post do not apply to all across t...

Stature I Samuel 16:7 NKJV "But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.'” For obvious reasons, this has long been a favorite passage of mine. If I were to enumerate all the times man has judged, teased, or underestimated me based on my physical stature time would fail us. There was a time in my life where I took exception to such behavior and shallowness from others, mainly pity that they felt they had to resort to calling attention to something which I could do nothing about. How often do we judge others based on criteria they have no control over? How often do we needlessly concern ourselves with what some fallible, shallow man thinks rather than showing them what really matters and taking the opportunity to teach a valuable lesson? Instances like the ones described above are what we...

The Sum Of Our Decisions You can either own your choices, or you can let your choices own you. You can either spend your days moping about, feeling sorry for yourself and the errors in your life, never growing and never moving forward with life; OR you can fess up, own up, wise up, grow up! You can sit there in your filth, wearing your party hat, throwing the biggest blowout pity party of the season or you can pick yourself up and move on. Which will it be for you today? We should be moving on with life...should be. However, this is not always the case with us is it? Instead, we order balloons filled with the air of self-loathing. On them is written every problem we can imagine, real or supposed, to make ourselves feel worse about our life. We make the biggest cake with the most bitter thoughts and ingredients we can find. We send out invitations addressed to "anyone who will listen" with the lovely note of "come listen to me feel sorry for myself". The music...

Challenges I admire the man who fails while attempting something great. I have respect for those who know the odds are stacked against them, yet they push forward anyway. It is when we cease challenging ourselves, quit trying for fear of failure, quit seeking self-betterment that we cease to have growth and that thing called maturity fades away.  Some in this world view those with limited mental capabilities as a burden, they view them as a drain on society, they view them as worthless. I view the people who think that way as small-minded simpletons who can't see the forest for the trees; and I pity them in their foolishness and pray they see the light. Those in this life who operate daily with limited mental capabilities are an inspiration and I greatly admire them. We all know someone along these lines and friend, I tell you now, our life is incredibly blessed by their presence and we have so much to learn from them. Learn from them what it means to lean on your fell...

Whatever It Takes There are many in the Bible who fought through their natural human tendencies in order to serve God. They did whatever it took to do as they were instructed by God. Sometimes that meant facing armies, other times that meant facing kings, still others were called upon to face their brethren, their nation, their friends, even themselves.  Moses moved forward with what God said, but not before he made every effort to get out of it. God heard him, but He still demanded that he carry out His will. We see Moses grow and become a leader, and it's a beautiful sight to behold for in that we see a piece of ourselves. Paul withstood Peter to the face when he was guilty of sin. How hard that must have been, yet he did whatever it took to save a soul and as a result, he saved others along with him.  We offer many excuses, many of them good ones we think, but none of them are acceptable to God. Consider what we ask of God when we seek to be excused from ou...

Fighting For The Homeland Ephesians 6:10-17; 1 Peter 5:8-11 There is a war going on. The enemy is cunning and he shows no mercy. This enemy lives to take down every man, woman, and child; sparing no one. He never rests, he never concedes, he never takes it easy, he is relentless. His tactics are brutal, unfair, and evil. This enemy is a shape-shifter, he is a master of disguise who takes on many forms, even of those people and things we love in this life. He is a vicious, powerful, and destructive force who is never to be underestimated or mistaken for an ally. And he has perfect attendance in your congregation, in your home, at every family gathering and recreational event, and he's never late for work.  Friend, wake up to the battle being waged for your soul. Recognize that while this enemy is fierce, he is also the greatest coward who ever lived. He cannot, has not, and will never be able to stand against the Lord, whose side we are on. He runs when stood against, h...

Dying Words 1 Kings 2:1-4 - David's dying words to Solomon 2 Timothy 4:6-8  - Paul's departing words John 19:30 - Jesus's dying words What would you say if you knew those words would be your last? What words would echo as you left this life? For some it wouldn't be words at all, only tears of regret. For others it would be fear of what's surely coming next. Some might leave this life in anger, spewing hatred until their last dying breath. While others would leave this life with the plea for others to follow the Lord diligently, submit to God, serve Him faithfully. Others would leave this earth knowing they did what they came to do, sure of their home. Still others would leave this life with peace, with the word of God on their tongue and the hope of eternal life safely secured in their hearts. Consider today that the words which flow out of your mouth may be the last words someone might hear. This is no light matter to consider. Will our words today be...

It is a word that is now commonplace. One thrown around as carelessly as the word love, hate, bigot, racist, like, or y'know. We toss around words like this nowadays without ever really thinking about the true meaning of the word, don't we? When anything is worthy of an exclamation or proclamation of how wonderful it is, it's instantly "awesome". From a smart-phone to a majestic sunrise over a high mountain range, we toss all of that into the realm of "awesome". The problem is, not everything is actually "awesome". I've been guilty of using this word to describe everything from a child's artistic attempt, to our dog's fetching a ball, to sarcastically noting my disapproval of some action. I have used this as my go-to word for everything. It's not for lack of vocabulary that I have used this word, for there are a plethora of other words I could use, but more out of not thinking of the impact of my words or not paying attention ...