Purple Heart

I know it has been a long time since I have posted a blog.  For some reason, I just haven’t had it in me.  However, I feel like I must today.  A few years ago I wrote a blog about my hero, my Grandpa.  Today, he has been promoted to his heavenly dwellings and is in the presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  In the spirit of my blogs being about the “heart” I have entitled this one “Purple Heart” in his memory.  I am thankful to God for allowing me to have him around for nearly 40 years.  With his war wounds and heart condition, who would have ever dreamed that we would have had 88 years with him?  Yet, the true grit that brought him through WWII has also brought him through life.  Would we expect anything less of the Greatest Generation?  He didn’t know how to quit.  Twenty two years ago, we were told that his bypass surgery should give him another 10 years…  He has always been a survivor, one who perseveres through anything – calm, cool, and collected like John Wayne.  He was always bigger than life, immovable, unshakable, but now reality is setting in.

I was blessed to spend time with him over Thanksgiving.  Although dementia had ravaged his mind, he still acknowledged me when I said, “Hello Grandpa.”  He responded, “Hello, Son.  How’re you gettin’ along.”  That was always our greeting, and God blessed me by allowing me to hear it one last time from a man I have adored and called my hero all of my life.  I also did something for him that day that I would not do for too many people.  I tasted his coffee to see if it was too hot and about burned my tongue off.  I don’t know what I was thinking – it tastes just as bad as it did the last time I tried it…  My family got a good laugh out of the look on my face, but I didn’t see a thing funny about it…

Well, I now have the honor of preparing to officiate the celebration of his life.  I would like to share some things about his life, mostly about the war in this post.  Feel free to stop reading anytime, this is as much for my therapy as anything, so it may get lengthy (yep, it did!).

Several years ago I sat down with Grandpa and let him talk while I tried to write down everything he would share.  I wish I would have clarified some of my notes while he could still answer my questions.  Some of this information is gathered by piecing together what he told me and what I can find on 12tharmoredmuseum.com.  Ironically, this museum is in Abilene, TX, where I spent about six years of my life and graduated high school, and I never knew it was there.  Anyway,  I will not guarantee all accuracy.  He was born in Mill Creek, OK on August 11, 1923, the third of four children.  He went into the Army in 1942 at the age of 19 and went into active duty in February of 1943.  He was trained in operating a tank at Ft. Knox with the 22nd Armored Division, and later joined the 12th Armored Division at Camp Berkely, near Abilene, TX.  The 12th had the nickname, “Hellcats.”  Later, they picked the most capable to join the 151st Airborne, where he became a paratrooper.  However, when they got to England, they didn’t have helicopters to get the tanks across the English Channel, so he re-joined the 12th Armored Division.  I can’t seem to reconcile all the details, but I’ll just say that some time was spent under the command of General Patch and the 7th Army, and some time was spent under the command of General Patton and the 3rd Army.

Grandpa told me a couple of details, but not many.  He shared that 600 men drowned as they crossed the English Channel.  And, he shared that there was a truce during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day of 1944.  It was so cold they thought they would freeze to death. Some had their toes amputated.

On April 3, 1945, his tank was hit near Rothenburg, Germany.  He was assumed dead and was stacked in a barn full of bodies and was covered with hay.  He crawled out, and was captured.  He began the 26 day march  from Rothenburg to Moosburg.  He was injured badly, including shrapnel in his head, and was given no medical attention.  Along the way, the Germans told him that FDR had died on April 12, and he thought they were lying.  However, some of them were actually crying about it because they were afraid the war would now go on forever.  It was then that he realized it was true.  The march was on fine gravel and they walked all day.  When it was dark, they would lie in the road and get up and go again the next morning.  Sometimes, they would come across a potato field and were allowed one potato, which they would boil in a can of water.  There were not enough to go around most of the time.  Sometimes, he wasn’t strong enough to go and get a potato, so someone would share.  He had awful dysentery and lost over 100 lbs.  On April 29th, they arrived in Moosburg, layed on a bunk, and were immediately liberated by the 14th Armored Division.  He was put on a C-47 and taken to Camp Lucky Strike in France.  He left there on June 1, 1945 and arrived 10 days later in New York.  From there he caught a train to El Paso, TX, where he was given some money and a 60 day leave.  On June 14, his dad’s birthday and close to Father’s Day, 1945 he walked up to his house in Amarillo, TX.  Everyone was there to greet him.  My Aunt told me that she prayed everyday for her brother’s safe return and made a deal with God that she would always be a good girl.  I would say that God answered her prayer and she lived up to her promise.  Our family honored her on her 90th birthday with the 90 things we love about Aunt Sudie.  None of us could come up with a single negative attribute about her.  She was truly a “good girl,” and she loved the Lord.

During his time at home, he spent a great deal of time in the hospital.  He had epileptic seizures from the tank explosion.  After his 60 day leave, he went to Arkansas for rehabilitation.  He then went to Fort Ord, CA, and was honorably discharged on November 29, 1945.  One newspaper article we have listed his medals as the Purple Heart (he has two), the American Theater of Operations ribbon, the Good Conduct ribbon, and two bronze battle stars.

From there, he married in 1948, and had four awesome children (yes, I’m biased).  His wife died in 1959.  He had lots of help from family to raise the kids, but once again he was faced with adversity and persevered.  He later remarried to the woman that we knew as Grandma or Grannie Girl and added a step son to the family.  Grandma died in 2001.    Grandpa spent a good part of his life managing or owning nursing homes.  He was always taking care of others, and I got to witness this first hand as we lived in the same town and even in the same house for awhile.  I had the awesome opportunity to see them about once a week when I was in college and that time is priceless to me.

That is his legacy – he cared for people, especially his family.  He was truly a man who was built for others.  He was never selfish and he passed this along to his family.

One very vivid memory that I have was when I was in the 6th or 7th grade, and I wore a hat to the VFW.  A gentleman walked all the way across the room and said, “Young man, please remove your hat.”  I looked at Grandpa and I’m sure with a smart-aleck tone said, “What’s the big deal?”  With tears in his eyes he said, “It is to honor those who have died for our country.”  I rarely put on a hat now where I don’t think about that day.  It’s amazing what impacts a kid…

I could say so much more about him, but I have to stop somewhere.  He was truly my hero, always there for me no matter what.  I miss steak night at the VFW, eating at Paradise, Too (which he called Paradise Both of Them), watching re-run after re-run of Walker Texas Ranger, including a literal all day marathon where at the end he said, “It’s been a good day, Son.  Let’s don’t wait too long to do it again.”, watching Dallas Cowboys football, especially at Thanksgiving, and most of all just laughing like village idiots.  We never knew what he would say next.  But, we always knew there would be laughing involved.  A friend posted Proverbs 17:22 – “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”  Perfect fit for Grandpa.   I loved him dearly and miss him so much.

I will close with this.  Unfortunately, he didn’t go to church and I didn’t know where he stood for the longest time.  I knew he was a good man, but good men don’t necessarily go to Heaven.  I finally asked him about 7 years ago if he believed in Jesus and he said, “Why sure, all my kids and I were baptized on the same day.”  His mind was beginning to give way to dementia, but he was very clear at that point and that was as far as I could get.  However, I had and still have a peace about that.  I will say that he loved well and lived a life of service and sacrifice.  Most importantly, he confessed Jesus as His Savior.

Now, I sit here staring into the lights of the Christmas tree with the fire beginning to die out in the fireplace, reflecting on life.  My son is asleep in my lap after we watched an episode of Walker Texas Ranger in Grandpa’s memory.  What will my legacy be?  Am I a man built for others?  What will I leave my son and daughters with that will really last?  I want them to truly know God and be sold out, not just know about Him.  I want them to know what it means to be surrendered.  I must live it out so they will know.  Thank you, Grandpa, for instilling love, laughter, values, integrity, and selflessness into us.  I look forward to our blessed reunion and joining you for a big t-bone steak.

The Heart of a King

God has been teaching me a lot about leadership lately.  A lot of the problems we face in our world are due to a shortage of good, godly leadership that can be traced all the way to the foundation of society, which is the family.  You have heard me say over and over that fatherlessness is the biggest issue of our day, and I still believe that.  It boils down to the lack of a spiritual leader in the family and extends into all areas of life – church, business, government, etc…  Just as I have posted the past several times, it really comes down to the heart condition.

Robert Lewis, in the Quest for Authentic Manhood, talks about the four faces of manhood.  One of these faces is the King face.  This face reflects righteous energy and is forged over time.  It is the love of what is right rather than comfort or convenience.  This face is characterized by strong convictions, courageous moral choices, a servant spirit, and righteous leadership.

In my daily reading this morning, I came across Deuteronomy 17:14-20.  I had to read it 3 or 4 times to let it soak in because, through it, I believe God is teaching me more about leadership:

¹⁴“When you come to the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ ¹⁵you may indeed set a king over you whom the LORD your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. ¹⁶Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ ¹⁷And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.

¹⁸“And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. ¹⁹And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, ²⁰that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.

In America, we don’t have literal kings.  However, those who are leaders should take heed to this passage because the principles apply.  I am just going to bullet point some leadership points that I learned from this passage:

• Put godly people in positions of leadership (choose a leader from among your brothers).
• Choose a leader who will follow God and not look back.
• The leader’s heart should be turned toward spiritual things, not the lusts of the flesh.
• The leader cannot serve both God and wealth.
• The leader should be in the Word of God all the days of his life so he will fear the Lord by living according to His Word, so that he won’t turn to the right or left.  Hmmm… I could think of a political application here, but I won’t go there today.
• Being in the Word will keep his heart pure and humble.  God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
• The leader will not think of himself more highly than he ought, so that he may be a servant leader.
• Putting God first, the leader will continue to be effective for a long time in his position, even to the point of “outliving his life” as he brings up other leaders, especially his own children.
• Never forget we serve the King of kings and Lord of lords.

We had a great discussion in our leadership class last night.  One thing that was mentioned was that the heart of the leader should be that of a giver and not a taker.  In fact, I love the term servant leader.  When we have the “what’s in it for me” attitude, the team suffers.  Just look at pro sports…  However, if a leader is there to truly serve, great things will happen.

I am seeing God raise up godly leaders and I’m excited to see what will happen!

Clean Heart

In my last post, I said we would explore the following verse and I’m also adding one from a few verses later:

Psalm 51:10:  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Psalm 51:16-17: For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

In my daily reading, I am now in the book of Leviticus.  God goes to great lengths to tell his people what is clean and unclean.  And, they must go to great lengths to make themselves and even their possessions clean.  There are cleansings, washings, waiting periods, sacrifices, offerings, quarantines, and some things even had to be burned.  There is even a list of the animals that were clean and unclean for eating.  As a side note, clean or not, I don’t think I want to start eating locusts – just saying…  In Leviticus 10:10, God says, “You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean.”  In Chapter 11, verse 44, God said, “For I am the Lord your God.  Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy…”  Our God deserves our very best, and it all starts in our hearts.

The above verses are a heartfelt cry from David as a prayer of repentance after his sin with Bathsheba.  The word for create in Psalm 51:10 is the same word used in Genesis 1:1, and refers to something only God can do.  The word for clean is the same word used in the book of Leviticus.  So, really, all the cleaning, washing, sacrificing, etc… that we can do on our own, really won’t touch the heart.  Like we’ve discussed before, we live from the heart, the wellspring of life.  And, God is the only One who can cleanse that heart.  So what is our part?  To have a broken spirit and contrite heart.

David had a broken spirit and contrite heart that God would not despise.  When His people repent, God is always waiting with open arms.  God opposes the proud (hard-hearted), but gives grace to the humble in heart.   God knew that the animal sacrifices would never be enough to cleanse our hearts, so He sent His one and only Son to die on the cross to take away our sins forever.  One Sacrifice for all people for all times…  God went to great lengths to save us because He loves us!

So, now, when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and are baptized into Him, we are fully cleansed.  Then, as Galatians 4:6 says, “And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’”  So, now when we cry out with a broken and contrite heart for God to create in us a clean heart, the sacrifice has already been made and the Holy Spirit goes to work restoring our hearts.

In Luke 5:12-14, a man full of leprosy was beginning to understand this.  He came to Jesus, fell on his face and begged Him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”  And Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.”  And immediately the leprosy left him.  Jesus still told him to go and make the offering for cleansing to the priest,  but it was more as a proof for the priests.  Jesus had not yet been glorified, so sacrifices needed to be made for awhile longer to uphold the law.  However, this man had a believing heart, which was the most important ingredient for allowing God to do His work.  No matter the method, it has always been about the heart!

May we all cry out to God to create in us a clean heart!

Guard Your Heart

It’s amazing how 35 degrees F feels like a heatwave.  I found myself outside shoveling without a coat this afternoon.  As I sit here looking out the patio door, the sun is glistening off the pure white snow.  God’s creation is amazing – never a dull moment if we’ll stop to enjoy it.  Enjoying God’s creation is refreshing to my heart!

I have purposed to spend some time early each Friday morning with the specific intent of listening to what God wants to teach me.  This morning, in my listening time, I spent some time meditating on Proverbs 4:20-27.  I would like to share something that struck me in my study time this morning and really ties in with the Proverbs passage.  When an enemy would strike a city protected by a wall, they would focus on the weakest point, which was the gate.  If they could break down the gate, they could gain access to the city.  If not held back, they would eventually make their way to the heart of the city.  If the heart of the city was penetrated, the city would fall.  Our enemy follows the same tactics.

As I read Proverbs 4:20-27, I got a picture of what this looks like for us.  These are words of wisdom from a father to his son.  He tells his son to be attentive to his words – to incline his ears to hear, his eyes to see, and for him to keep them in his heart.  He says that these words of wisdom are LIFE to those who find them and healing to their flesh.  Then, he goes on to tell his son to guard his heart with all vigilance for from the heart flows the springs of life.  WOW!  As we talked about last week, this means putting God’s Word in our hearts.  Having God’s Word in our hearts protects our very lives.  As my life coach told me yesterday morning, we need to know God’s perspective.  Being in God’s Word helps us to know His perspective.  The abundant life comes from having God’s perspective in our hearts vs. that of the world.

He goes on to tell his son to watch the words that come from his mouth, to look straight ahead and protect what his eyes see, and to walk the straight and narrow, not swerving to the right or the left.  What are the gates of the body?  The ears – we can choose to listen to things that honor God or things that are unhealthy (gossip included).  The eyes – we can choose to use them for God’s glory or we can choose to see things that we shouldn’t.  Our mouths – we can use them to build others up or tear others down.  In fact, Luke 6:45 says, “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.“  Satan besieges these gates daily because he is an expert in knowing our weaknesses.  He can use any of these avenues to corrupt our hearts and / or damage our witness.  An obvious example is the fact of how many men have been attacked by the enemy through pornography.  The gates known as our eyes when left unguarded are often attacked, leading to corruption of the heart.  We must guard our hearts by being vigilant against what we see, hear, say, and the paths that we take.  To do this, we must have God’s Word in our hearts that we may fight the battle at the gates.  We’ll be able to discern good and evil (or even good from best) when God’s perspective is in our hearts.  We cannot allow the enemy to break through these gates and get to the heart.

Now, obviously we are told to be in the world, but not of the world.  And, unless we are called to me missionaries in the mountains of Montana to the moose and grizzlies (I’ll be the first to sign up…), we are going to see things and hear things that don’t honor God. However, it is what we choose to do with these things that matters.  Do we choose to destroy them before they get to our hearts or do we let them penetrate the heart, thus affecting our actions?  Each one of us must make these decisions for ourselves.  Whatever our situation, the key to guarding our hearts is to seek God, and to hide His word in our hearts.  He loves you and wants to draw you to Himself.  We can run to Him, who is our refuge, strong tower, mighty fortress.  With His help, we can truly guard our hearts.

Unless God leads me in a different direction, next time we’ll follow up to this by taking a look at Psalm 51:10:  “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

May we guard our hearts, the wellspring of life!

 

Sharing a God Moment…

God is so amazing!  I really don’t have time to blog, but I’m going to sneak this one in.  It just fits with the new focus of the blog and what God is teaching me.  A friend let me borrow a book and study to look over to possibly use to mentor youth.  I am meeting with a teen this afternoon, and I pulled the book and study out to look over it.  Remember me writing in my last blog on Saturday about God teaching me in those early morning hours spent with Him that mentoring, coaching, and counseling is really about the heart?  Well, this is what the title of the book is: The Squire and the Scroll:  A Tale of the Rewards of a Pure Heart!  I remembered the Squire and Scroll part, but not the rest.  How cool is that??  I read the book to re-familiarize myself with it, and there is a verse at the end of the story.  Any guesses?  It was the verse I posted about on Saturday:  Psalm 119: 9:  How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to Your Word. What a confirmation!  I can’t wait to take this young man through the study.  Anyway, lots to do, but wanted to share that.

May God bless you as you seek Him today!

Here’s to a Healthy Heart

This comes from the American Heart Association website:

Cardiovascular diseases, including stroke, are our nation’s No. 1 killer. To urge Americans to join the battle against these diseases, since 1963 Congress has required the president to proclaim February “American Heart Month.”

I do believe we need to keep our physical heart healthy.  At the same time, and more importantly, there is another heart that needs to remain healthy – the spiritual one, from which I based the name of my blog: From the Heart.   I would venture to say disease of this kind of heart is also our nation’s No. 1 killer, as well, except this kind of heart disease affects eternity, not just this life.

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve submitted a blog post.  However, the Lord woke me up early this morning and has given me a clarity of direction for the coaching, mentoring, and counseling that I do.  I’ve decided to dedicate some blog time and space to exploring this.

I was lead this morning to Psalm 119.  One of the passages that inspired me in my seeking to help others is vss. 9 – 16, “How can a young man keep his way pure?  By keeping it according to Your word.  With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments.  Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.  Blessed are You, O LORD; Teach me Your statutes.  With my lips I have told of all the ordinances of Your mouth.  I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much as in all riches.  I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways.  I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word.”

How can I keep my way pure?  By living according to God’s word.  And, His word doesn’t just naturally make it’s way into my heart.  I must spend time with God, seeking Him through His word.  At the same time, I need to be encouraging others to do the same.  Oh how we need to love and seek God with our whole hearts!!  We need to treasure His word in our hearts, that we may not sin against Him.  When we begin to do this, God’s word no longer becomes head knowledge, but heart knowledge.  One of the main differences in head vs. heart knowledge is that we learn to listen to God and act on what He is teaching us.

So, I believe the new focus of my blog is to help encourage a healthy heart…  Let’s be in the Word together and explore what God says about the heart.  I could write a whole lot more in this one blog, but we’ll just take this a little at a time each day.  Even if we repeat some concepts, it won’t hurt.  How many times in His word does God have to repeat things and put them in a little different light so we’ll get it?  I’ll leave you with a verse that we will explore next time:

Proverbs 4:23 – “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.”

 

Radical Love for God

My day yesterday began at 4:00 a.m.  I attended the “School of Leaders” from about 5:30 to 7:30, taught chapel for Community School, drove to Manhattan, KS to hear my spiritual coach / mentor, Dean Trune, speak at Manhattan Christian College on the topic of radical love for God, had lunch with him and some other great people, walked around the Kansas State University campus with Dean and talked about family, ministry, and life in general, drove home (stopping along the way at a roadside park for some time with God), had two counseling sessions (in which I was able to see God working in amazing ways in each person’s lives), learned how to check pH and chlorine levels in the baptistry from a friend, got home around 9:30, was bombarded (in a good way) by stories from the day from some kids who were up way past bedtime but wanted to see me, curled up in the recliner with my son to read a Franklin book (after which he quickly went to sleep), read my Bible and went to sleep about 11:00.  What an awesome day it was!!  I felt so good when I went to bed.  My cup was full and I had experienced a full day of spending time with God and seeing Him at work.  Most days that are busy aren’t as fulfilling, but this was a exceptional day.

Just focusing on one part of the day, I’d like to share a little about Dean’s presentation.  Dean challenged his audience to having radical love for God vs. casual love.  He talked about the character quality of passion.  He defines it as a strong and compelling desire for God that results in an intentional and intense pursuit of Him.  That gives me goosebumps.  Loving God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength is radical, not casual.  His love for us is not casual.  For goodness sake He loved us so much that He sent His one and only Son to die for us, taking all sin upon Himself, so that we may live eternally.  That is radical!  If we have a radical love for God, time with Him will be our top priority.  We spend time with those we love.  Dean went as far as to say if we don’t spend time with God, how can we say we love Him.  When we have casual love for God, our time with Him gets sacrificed.  However, when we have radical love for Him, it is me and my will that gets sacrificed, and that’s a good thing!  When we have casual love for God, we disappoint Him with our priorities.  However, when we have radical love for God, we may disappoint people with our priorities, but not God.  I’d much rather disappoint people than God!

He stated that casual living is a learned activity.  It is learned by being around other casual Christians.  New Christians are often on fire (radical) because they haven’t yet been exposed to the casual Christianity that we too often see in the church.  You know – the kind that we too often see in those who have been Christians for a long time and have lost their zest and passion for God.  In America, we too often worship the gods of comfort, security, and control (and right up there is the god of entertainment), and this leads us into being casual.  However, we are to love God more than we hate suffering.  This leads us into radical living – living that goes completely against the culture.  Too often we have radical excuses, but we shouldn’t try to justify our disobedience.  Radical love for God means saying, “YES,” when He calls, no matter the risk and sacrifice.

So, that’s about all I have time for today.  I have a devo. at a nursing home, two counseling sessions at the pregnancy care center, a baptism, Wed. night All Stars (no I’m not talking about the World Series, but our Wed. night program), and the men’s post encounter…  It’s going to be another great day.  I can’t wait to live radically and share it with others.

May God radically bless you today as you radically love Him!

Being Sensible

Yesterday, the senseless acts of a 35 year old man put a friend in the hospital.  Thankfully, there are no major injuries and she should be able to go home today.  An off duty trooper stated that the man was driving wrecklessly through the park.  Robert Lewis teaches in the Quest for Authentic Manhood that the boy in us must die.  In I Corinthians 13:11, Paul says,”When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.”  In addition, Paul writes in Titus Chapter 2 to urge the older men and the younger men to be sensible.

Robert Lewis also states that manhood is in a state of confusion and confused men cause lots of problems.  Men are protectors and providers, which comes with a lot of responsibility.  We need to take that responsibility seriously.  I don’t want to pick on this guy because he is one of many, but I will use this situation as an example.  A responsible adult is not going to do stupid things like this.  A man should be looking out for others, not doing stuff that will harm them.  We, as men, need to be sensible.  We need to think how our actions will affect others before we do them.

I believe a key to preventing more of these senseless acts is for men to step up and be the leaders we have been called to be.  We need to be leaders in our homes, taking the time to teach our own children to be responsible and godly.  We need to mentor children who don’t have dads around.  We need to mentor other men, like the one mentioned here.  It is true that even with good fathering and mentoring that some guys still go wayward, but I guarantee that the number would be far less if we would be intentional and purposeful.

Let’s step up and make a difference men!  May God be with us as we do because the devil won’t like it.  In fact, I heard something the other day that I really liked and I’m going to change the wording a bid to keep from offending anyone.  Let’s live in such a way that when our alarm goes off the devil says, “Oh no, he’s getting up!!”

God’s Wisdom and Strength, Not Mine

Wow, after my post late last night, I had a confirming Word from God early this morning.  I love when God does this.

All of the passage that I read was significant:  I Corinthians 1:18-2:5.  However, I will just type the part that hit me the most, beginning in vs. 25:

For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.  Brothers, think of what you were when you were called.  Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.  But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him.  It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.  Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”  When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.  For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  I came to you in weakness and fear, and much trembling.  My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

That is how I move forward, not in my strength or wisdom, but in God’s power.  God is the Father to the fatherless and the defender of widows.  Pure and undefiled religion is to look after widows and orphans in their distress and not to be polluted by the world.  How will He accomplish this?  Through us… His people.  Let us rise and take this city not by storm but by love.

You are the God of this city.  You are the hope to the hopeless.  Greater things are still to be done in this city.

No More Monah

Yes, it has been a long time since I have posted, but for some reason I am inspired to post tonight.  If you have known me for any amount of time, you know how passionate I am about standing in the gap for the fatherless.  For a long time, I have said that fatherlessness is the single most critical social issue of our day.  It is at the root of so many problems.  Yet, I have been running and saying, “I can’t be the one God is calling” when it comes to leading a ministry to dads at the Open Door Pregnancy Care Center.  Yes, I have been a cross between Moses and Jonah…Monah

About a year and a half ago our staff and elders studied the book of Nehemiah and asked God where the gaps are in our city.  Soon after we began to ask God that question, I got a call from a good friend who is the Director of the Open Door Pregnancy Care Center talking about an opportunity to start a men’s ministry.  I was all for it and still am, but I didn’t think I was the one to get it going because of my lack of administration skills.  I thought I would provide mentoring and counseling, but not overall leadership.  Last week, I read through a journal that I started about 5 years ago called “Daring to Dream,” and it all of a sudden hit me that God is calling me and I need to stop running and say, “Here I am Lord, use me!”  He doesn’t call me because of me, but in spite of me.

Since that moment last week, I have seen so many signs that tell me to GO.  This ministry is so foundational to the issue of fatherlessness.  We can mentor these young men and help them be good dads, thus influencing the culture for generations to come.  When men are the spiritual leaders in their homes and when they reject passivity, accept responsibility, lead courageously, and expect God’s greater reward (Men’s Fraternity definition of manhood), amazing things will happen.  Marriage and parent / child relationships will be transformed.  There will be a drastic reduction of teen pregnancies and abortions, the prison population will be reduced, drug use will go down, the divorce rate will plummet, and the list goes on and on.  Dads, we really do make a difference.

So, I’m all in.  No more running, no more excuses.  God called me into ministry without a Bible college degree – I guess He can call me into this area of leadership without the gift of administration.  This just makes me rely on Him even more, and that’s a good thing.  He will send others with the gifts I don’t have.  He has given me the vision and passion and I just obey.  This will be for the long haul, not overnight.  No microwave ministry here – no jet starts or quick minutes.  This is the crockpot – lots of time with low heat.  We are going to plant oak trees, which are enjoyed by generations to come, not weeds that sprout overnight and cause problems.

One more thing…  It hit me tonight that fatherlessness is not the issue – it is daddylessness.  There are lots of fathers, but far too few daddies. I am seeing God moving in the hearts of men like I’ve never seen before.  It is nothing short of phenomenal – an answer to prayer!  I want to be a part of this.

No more Monah…  I want to be like Caleb, who followed God wholeheartedly and took the high ground.

For those of you who may be concerned about other ministries.  No worries.  I will still continue to fight the battle on other fronts – spending time with kids who don’t have dads around, coming alongside single parent families, family counseling, etc…  This is just a new front to fight the battle on!

May God show us the way and give us His wisdom because it’s all for His glory!!

Who’s with me??