God's Man

You ever been stuck?    Let me share a story that my cousins, to this day still, tease me about.  We were hanging out at my one cousin's house.  It was myself and two other boys, we'll call them A and T.  In the living room there was a fold out couch and we were all laying on it watching TV or something.  As boys are want to do my cousins decided to play a prank on me so while I was laying on the back part of the bed they began to fold it up.  Fight as I might I was unable to push back against them and ended up folded up into the couch.  Mind you, I am a big guy and was a pretty big kid so the bed wasn't able to close all the way.  It was, however, closed enough that they cold lean the mattress up and begin to slide in back into the couch.  So there I was up in the air pushed against the back of the mattress and thinking about how stupid this was.  We were all laughing as they pushed down on the bed, trying to get it clos...

Testing out posterous and sharing some shots of our garden. See and download the full gallery on posterous Posted via email from My Summary

Grabbed this off of my shelf this morning. Desire: The Journey We Must Take to Find the Life God Offers  There is a little story that goes along with each chapter.  I share this story with my girls from time to time. Once upon a time there lived a sea lion who had lost the sea.  He lived in a country known as the Barren Lands.  High on a plateau, far from any coast, it was a place so dry and dusty that it could only be called a desert.  A kind of coarse grass grew in patches grew here and there, and a few trees were scattered across the horizon.  But mostly, it was dust.  And sometimes wind, which together make one very Thirsty.  Of course, it must seem strange to you that such a beautiful creature should wind up in a desert at all.  He was, mind you a SEA lion.  But things like this do happen. How the sea lion came to the barren lands, no one could remember.  It all seemed so very long ago.  So long, in fact, it appeared as ...

Here are some notes that I took while listening to a sermon on Biblical Manhood by Pastor Voddie Bauchman author of Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk with God .  Share your thoughts in the comments below. Link to the sermon pt1 Link to the sermon pt2   Biblical Manhood by Pastor Voddie Bauchman We don't need more ball players.  We need Men with Trained Minds. We need Men with Godly Biblical Character We need Men with Multi-Generational Vision We need Men who commit themselves and all their faculties to Almighty God We need to Raise Warriors for Christ, not Entertainers. We measure men today by the 3 B's Ball Field Bedroom Billfold These are the three things that we need to see in Biblical Men God Honoring Labor No Lazy Men - It is my job to protect my daughter for worthless men.  "Do Not Abide a Lazy Man."  Don't get involved before your evaluate.   - What has more value, Lamborghini Testero...

The Blessed Home So as we continue this look at Job 29 we reach verses 4-6 4  Oh, for the days when I was in my prime, when God's intimate friendship blessed my house,  5  when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me,  6  when my path was drenched with cream and the rock poured out for me streams of olive oil.   Like I mentioned in yesterday's post Job understood that his life was blessed because God was with him.  In this set of verses we see Job recognizing that God not only gave light and direction to the darkness of this life, he also provides for our needs.  In verse 6 Job says that his path was drenched with cream.  He is describing a life that was softened because God was there.  He also mentions that out of the rock poured streams of olive oil.  God is able to provide for us even in the hard/dry times.  I have enjoyed talking to people who have neglected to participate in...

  Following His Light I am reading through Job 29 again as I am seeking God for what it means to truly be God's Man.  I have always felt that Job 29 is for men the way that Proverbs 31 is for women.  It paints a picture of what it means to be a man who recognizes who God is and that he belongs to Him.  Here are verses 1-3 2  “How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me, 3  when his lamp shone upon my head and by his light I walked through darkness! - Link This is the first thing that Job mentions about being God's Man.  Job knew who God was and understood that God knows what is best.  He used this wisdom to navigate through the world that was around him.  Do you truly trust that God has an answer for every situation that you find yourself in?  I wish that I could say that I have this one locked down but honestly I cannot.  On the big things I lean in to God but for the small stuff I find that I rely ...

I found this while sifting through some files stored on a file server that I used to maintain during college.  As I read through this I pulled me right back to where I was when I wrote it.  Life was approaching a cross roads for me and I hesitated when I should have moved.  It always amazes me how powerful words are.  When they are connected to emotion/passion they can do unbelievable things.  This is extremely off topic for what I normally have here but I wanted to share it anyway.  Do You Love M e   I wonder sometimes do you love me When my mind fills with doubt and and shame I think, "Do I really deserve to be?" When I reach out I get more of the same.   Rejection is a bitter pill to swallow It is often to big to take So it gets broken as you wallow In a depression you cannot shake   These words may cause harsh reactions But their purpose sho...

Here is a collection of messages that I have given since returning to MD. These were all given at Living Hope Church which is our home church.

This is a simulpost from over at Letters To My Wife. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Esther Challenge I have been holding onto this for a few months and have been trying to avoid it because, frankly it scares me. Late last year while I was studying I was taken to that well known passage from the book of Esther Chapter 7 versus 1-2. So the king and Haman went to dinner with Queen Esther. At this second dinner, while they were drinking wine the king again asked, " Queen Esther, what would you like? Half of my kingdom! Just ask and it's yours. " - Message Translation I always wonder what was it about Esther that made the King want be OK with giving up everything. Was it her beauty? Was it her intelligence? Was it her skills in the kitchen? Was it her skills in the bedroom? Whatever the reason, Xerxes was comfortable with whatever he thought Esther might ask that he gave her a blank check. So I am going to go out on a limb and take a chance just like Xerx...

Found this today as I was getting ready for planning sessions.  It is amazing to me that things that I read in my teens that had little to no impact have such a greater impact on me now.  Are you alive today?   - Just Me   “I say to you, this morning, that if you have never found something so dear and precious to you that you will die for it, then you aren’t fit to live. You may be 38 years old, as I happen to be, and one day, some great opportunity stands before you and calls upon you to stand for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause. And you refuse to do it because you are afraid. You refuse to do it because you want to live longer. You’re afraid that you will lose your job, or you are afraid that you will be criticized or that you will lose your popularity, or you’re afraid that somebody will stab or shoot or bomb your house. So you refuse to take a stand. Well, you m...

Here are the notes from the message I gave today at Living Hope Church . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Welcome to 2010! A new year... A new decade... How did you celebrate, recognize, honor 2010? Were you one of the revelers in Times Square? Did you watch the revelers on TV? Did you attend a watch night service or some other church activity? Regardless of how you spent that night, my question is what are you going to do now? What Will You Do With This Year? What Does A New Year Mean To You Anyway? A New Opportunity... A Second Chance... A Fresh Start... I have enjoyed watching my online friends as the end of the year came. Facebook, Twitter, and Blogs were discussing what 2009 meant and they looked with longing at 2010 as a new beginning. Some recounted what took place in 2009, one blogger friend went back over the last decade and determined that it really didn't go that great for her. However the new year presented a chance at a fresh start. Today I want to share with you so...

Genesis 1 The Beginning 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was a]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[ a ] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. 6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. 9 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let ...

I have been a complete fraud this November.  I have been telling anyone who would ask that I was having a miserable time getting my novel done.  I hope that those of you who have been praying for me and trying to motivate me to get back to it will find it in your hearts to forgive me because today this is what appeared after uploading my novel for validation.  There was also this text to greet.  Y ou did it, writer. Pitted against a merciless deadline and battling hordes of distractions—including the most tempting fall TV season that's been unleashed upon novelists in decades—you kept at it. Now you've arrived at a place that very few NaNoWriMo participants ever see: The winner's circle. Overhead, the November sky is bursting with fireworks celebrating your victory, and the entire NaNoWriMo staff joins me in applauding your creative achievement. You did something amazing this month, novelist. We couldn't be pr...

Psalm 78:1-4   O my people, hear my teaching;          listen to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in parables,          I will utter hidden things, things from of old- what we have heard and known,          what our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children;          we will tell the next generation          the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,          his power, and the wonders he has done.  

Proverbs 18:22 - He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD.

Who Are We See this is what we are called to be. We are to be the light that points people to God. We are the seasoning that reminds people to look outside of themselves for the answers. Take a look at Matthew 5:13-16 : "Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? … "Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. Questi...

Because There Are Needs All Around Us So now that we know what we should be giving and why we should give, the question remains “ who do we give to? ” I once told the story of Al Hafed from the speech Acres of Diamonds. In the story Al Hafed wanted to posses s diamonds so much that he travelled to far off places and ultimately died penniless, never fulfilling his quest. The next person that owned the property that Al Hafed lost discovered one of the biggest diamond find right in the back yard. The Bible shares the same thing in Matthew 10:5-8 Don't begin by traveling to some far-off place to convert unbelievers. And don't try to be dramatic by tackling some public enemy. Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously. Family You should begin living a generous life w...