Men What does your wife look like?

I have a 54 year old friend who is a martial artist. He insists on fighting in such a way that, as he says, "I don't pull punches". In other words it’s not fake. When he trains he punches his training partner as if he is actually fighting with him. Full body contact. He says “if I pull punches when I practice I will pull punches if I get in a fight.” It has to do with what he calls muscle memory or muscle training. You will fight the way you train.

This idea of muscle memory made me think about my relationship with my wife. I'll pose the question to you that I asked myself.

How do you love your wife? Do you love her the same way when you are away from her as you do when you are with her? When you are talking to your friends, when it is just the guys, how do you represent your wife? Do you talk about her like she is a pain in your butt or a thorn in your side, “the ol’ ball and chain? Or do you actually love her with your words even when she isn’t with you. Do you join in with the guys by bashing her because everyone is verbally beating their wives behind their backs? Or are you the guy who honors your wife even when you are mad at her. Do you honor her by bragging about her, telling the guys how well she takes care of you or about the talents she has? Do you ever tell the group of guys you hang out with that you adore and cherish your wife?

People who have never met our wives gain their first impression about them by the way we represent them with our expressions we make about them. Our description of their personalities and how we feel about them will determine how other will treat them as well. Our friends, people we work with and even family will see our wives through us until they meet them. They will treat them by our words of respect or disrespect. We only get one first impression with people, make sure your wife has the best first impression possible because of the way you represented her before someone meets her.

“Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”. So I guess we have to ask ourselves, how do we really feel about our wives? You’ll be able to tell by the way you talk about her when she isn’t with you.

My Friend has it right you will fight the way you practice. Muscle memory will play it’s way out in real life.

We have to practice loving our wives and sometimes we have to work hard at it, just like they do. Men here is a reality bite, "our wives will follow our lead". I guess that puts the shoe on the other foot. Sounds like being the leader of the house means leading by example not by words alone. Don’t air dirty laundry to the guys because it can become a practice that leads to the down fall of your marriage. We will eventually begin to live out what we say because it becomes an attitude of the heart the attitude of the heart becomes a mind set, our mind set becomes our actions. then a lifestyle.

Husbands Love your wives as Christ loves the church and gave himself up for her.

Living in 2 places at the same time.

My pastor taught on this topic this week. It sparked some thought about building on a sure Foundation.

If Jesus isn't supreme. If he isn't El Roi. God who sees all. The God who sees all we are, how we hurt, why we act the way we do. If he isn’t the God who sees our deepest soul needs. If El Roi doesn’t exist, life is like shadow boxing. Living life with no eternal meaning or value. The God who sees isn’t lurking to inflict mischievous mayhem but a display of love in caring commitment towards us. He who sees all wants to make us whole and invest abundance in us by his Spirit. Life without the invasion of a loving God who sees all is like building daily life or constructing a house using inferior building materials. Materials that won’t last through heavy storms of wind and rain, materials that won’t protect from the intense heat of summer. Inferior materials like wood hay and stubble. They won't stand up to the fervent heat of life’s trials. It's by Christ alone that I stand. HE is the reason for our happiness not what goes on around us. The Apostle John was forced to live on the Island of Patmos because of his dedication to a relationship with El Roi. He was in the Spirit on the Lords day. Patmos was not a country club. Yet because of his tenacious pursuit of El Roi John was able to live in 2 places at the same time. On the desolate island of Patmos and in the Spirit. Without calendar, John kept track of his days; He continued to have purpose in his life even though exiled on a deserted island. His purpose was his communion with “The God Who Sees.” Jesus who he had a living relationship with. He entered the deep connection of being in the Spirit. His entrance in to the very presence of El Shaddai. It is God as El who helps, but it is God as Shaddai who abundantly blesses with all we need when there is nothing. John entered into the presence of El Shaddai because he cultivated a living daily relationship with the one he knew as ABBA the Father, the one who can touch the hart of despair because he cares deeply about those places not spoken about. John knew what it was to live in 2 places at the same time, because he practiced before he was taken to Patmos. He knew the balanced life of a man who’s hope is fixed on a greater future, on a country of his own; a better country then the one he experienced daily, a heavenly one. Because his spiritual foundation was of great depth and his life was built with materials that were eternal. Materials that could with stand trial and tribulation. John was able to endure great torture and anguish of heart and mind.
 The idea of living in two places at the same time speaks to the depths of my heart. It strengthens me and gives me courage to face the uncertainty of tomorrow. At times the only thing that carries us through trial, is “The God who sees.” When we can’t see past the pain of loss, when we are shaken to the foundational truth of all we know and believe in. If the foundation is the first love of relation with El Roi. The Spirit of son ship becomes more real at this point than at any other in life. God sees all. God who is our life will meet us where we need him. Build while the materials are abundant so when they aren’t we will be able to live in 2 places at one time because we have practiced before we need to.



Thanks Pastor for being good with accurately placing "The Right Stuff" in the lives of people God has placed in your trust.

Walk with me

My wife and I remodeled a house top to bottom. We literally did most of the work ourselves. It took a little over a year to complete. One night after we had just moved in I found myself unable to sleep. I got up in the dark in my new home. I walked from the bedroom toward the living room. I stopped at the bathroom. Not wanting to wake my wife I closed the door. On the wall are two switches one for the light and one for the overhead fan. I reached out and turned on the light. After I got my drink of water it dawned on me, this should feel like a strange house. We had only moved in about a week before. The more I thought about it the more I realized I was home. We had already spent a large amount of time in the house. Because we hung the doors, raised the ceiling, installed the plumbing; electrical as well as everything else. I was the guy who set up the light switches in the order that they were positioned on the wall. As I reached out in the dark to turn the light, not reaching for the fan by mistake, I realized that I was intimately aware of each and every detail of our new home.

It’s been about 5 years since that night of revelation. This morning reading through a devotional by Rick Renner on Galatians 5:16 I was reminded of that night in my home.

Galatians 5:16 reads “Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.”

 In the Greek to walk literally means to habitually walk around in the same place. The idea is to walk one path so many times and for such a long time that you could do it in the dark because it is where you live it is literally your path, or in my situation, my home.

 I was immediately taken back to my trip through my house in the dark. I was so aware of the location of all the walls and light switches it had already been like I lived in my house for years.

 The more we practice walking in the Spirit, or living according to what God’s words say, the more we begin to live in the Spirit. It becomes a lifestyle rather than an anomaly or the strange thing that happens once in a great while. The Apostle Paul lived in the Spirit daily. The Father who put his Spirit in us and made us a new creation wants us to live life walking in the Spirit. When he tells us “no eye has seen or ear heard no mind has perceived what God has prepared for those who love him. He isn't holding out on us. Paul also told us “If God gave us his son who he loved dearly won’t he along with him give us all things?

 I want to wrestle against the opposition of myself and the influences around me to walk in the Spirit of God. I want to hear what he has to say through the Holy Spirit that he placed in me as a deposit keeping me for himself. God wants me to as well. Walking in the Spirit positions me daily to hear great things directly from the throne room. There is also another promise that goes along with this. I won’t go back to the sinful lifestyle I desire to live in every day. If I am living in the Spirit my mind will be focused on the things above not on earthly things that entice me to go back to the life I lived before I knew better. Before I had the freedom to make a better choice.

 Ahh to be called a son of the living God. I love to let my imagination soar to Heaven. Yeah I want more! The restful presence of God is found right here, walking in the Spirit, it’s safe here, the calm hiding place for my mind from the world around me is found here. I can yell out ABBA in this place and know my heart is near his. It is the only place that really feels like home. Who wouldn’t want to stay in a place like this? It is worth the struggle to live here.

 You can tell when someone lives in the Spirit. It's evident because that's when God visits earth and great things happen.



Walk with me.

My Samaria

My Samaria



Sneers along with a yell-“hey what’s that you got?’ ‘Is that a Bible? Ha Ha Ha!” The raw smell of the guy sitting down at the table next to me. The hard looks from the kids who should be home watching TV, playing video games or getting ready for dinner. Instead they fly their colors as they walk buy flashing their bling, expressing a bravado of hard looks while working their brand of intimidation.

A teenage girl walks by infant, in a stroller that has seen better days. There is a small boy following her. She interrupts her conversation on her cell phone long enough to yell at him impatiently to keep up. A car pulls up where we sit; loud rap music, grabs the attention of everyone around. Young men tatted out looking like they would intimate the Pope.


Wondering, wondering, what's their story, what brought them here tonight?


We begin to pray, people slow to watch, looking at the Bibles sitting on the table. They wonder in curiosity what a couple of guys are doing reading their Bible out loud, talking about Jesus and praying together. An older man stops buy to tell his story of how the church mistreated him when he was a young boy. Willie struggles to form the words in any distinguishable format. The attempt to drown out the pain and confusion has been accomplished today by what smells like cheap wine. The combination of the alcohol and the smell of a cigarette Willie just put out is enough to cause me to want to pull back from the hug he offers. The truth is Willy needs the hug, because he is broken and rejected. Willie has been back several weeks in a row. He says he doesn’t understand why he keeps coming back but Willie hears about God’s love and desire to be in a close friendship with him. Willie doesn’t know he is being drawn by God's Spirit

A lady is handing out Bible tracts. She’s convinced someone needs a multicolored blanket she has with her. Dressed in an array of eclectic taste in clothing, Sister Clare has a story of grand proportions. She use to live in Hollywood as a stand in for several movies which lead her to Paris as a backup singer for Ella Fitzgerald.

This is where the gospel is alive. These are the people we are afraid to interact with. This is Samaria.

I love handing out hope where there is no hope for tomorrow. All that matters here is what will happen next. How to survive, escaping the pain life has handed out in doses that come by the truck load.

People need hope, even in small amounts. People are still people and God is still God, who by the way is in the business of hope.

Jesus passed through a town called Samaria on his way to Galilee to Jerusalem instead of going around like most Jews of his day. The Samaritans were viewed as lower than dogs. Samaritans were scary. They were gang members and prostitutes, murders lived in that part of town. The thought of the Samaritans generated a repulsive thought. People who were unsafe and to be avoided. Routine travel consisted of four days around Samaria, instead of the shorter route through Samaria that took only two days. Jesus chose to travel through Samaria where he encountered a woman who needed to be accepted and given the hope of a new start.

Life is all around us. We make a choice not to look at the unpleasant parts of it.

What does today's Samaria look like to us?

I love the reality of "Street Gospel" and the dramatic difference it can make. Honesty is a requirement and nothing else will be accepted. Accountability is quick. There is an interesting sense of honor in a way that feels out of place but very real none the less. There is a real taste of strength in love found here. The challenge of not wanting to return, along side of the love for this kind of gritty truth is a paradox that is real and strong.

Being Samaria driven and living like a church that looks like heaven takes courage and commitment to the vision of loving like God loves, regardless of what people look or sound like.

I am under construction and being formed into his image. On occasion I am blessed with a view of how Jesus looks at what we call life in the humanness we struggle with each day. His ways are higher than mine and his thoughts are loving at all times toward everyone. Regardless of what we look like or sound like.

Your Samaria may look different than mine. That doesn’t change the command to go and hand out hope where it’s needed.

“You shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."

Trust your tires

 I like to mountain bike. One of my favorite days to ride is usually an early spring day when the weather is on the verge rain but the clouds are breaking up. The streams are flowing freely and in abundance. The ground is moist but firm; the temperature is something you don’t think about because it’s not too hot or too cold. That, along with a few good friends is the recipe for a great day! Good friends will trash you because that is what guys do. They are the ones that will push you to ride harder and challenge you to take a hill weather you are climbing or descending regardless of the incline you face. Touting you saying things like “don’t act like my little sister.” Friends that will give advice from something they read or from experience because they want to see you succeed at being a better rider, or at anything you do. Gota love friends like that.

 So I want to tell you about something I learned from my friends. While out riding one day with friends like I just described. We came to a descent, a long sweeping hill that ended at a hard right turn. Before we dove headlong into our ride one of my friends told me two things before starting our decent. First: he said “never use your front brakes and only feather your rear brake”. Second: “trust your tires and stay in the turn all the way through. In other words don’t allow your bike to come upright during the turn but lean into the turn instead of away from the turn. Your tires will do their job, they will grab the dirt the way they are designed to do. If you even touch your breaks at the most intense part of your turn (when you are at full speed in the middle of the turn) you will go down!” He didn’t say to me you might crash. He said “YOU WILL GO DOWN.” Ok! The only problem with crashing at that point in the ride would be the landing. After a rough tumble down a 25 foot cliff ending headlong into the water of the American River. After the quick lesson we were off.

 I have a computer for my bike. It reads mileage, speed and tells the time. So being guys, competition is almost always present in everything we do. Things like who can climb without dismounting and downhill speed are just a couple that earn bragging rights among this group. Our decent started on this single track the day of my instructions. I was third in the line of five guys. About a quarter mile into the ride the two guys in front of me started to pull away, remember we are descending, I decided to pick up the pace to keep up. Knowing the riding habits’ of my friends I knew getting close held no bodily danger, so I geared up and went for it. Thinking the entire time about my instructions, stay in the turn and trust your tires. Now at about 27 ½ miles an hour I thought to myself this is getting pretty fast for this turn coming up. I laid back just a little to watch the two guys in front of me. They hit the turn leaning into it, or should I say laying into it, each one almost brushing the grass with their shoulder. I now had my example to follow. Here I go! It was one of the most amazing rides I have had to date. I found out that the “Farmer John” tire on the front and the “Pandera” on the rear of my bike were indeed designed to grab the dirt in those conditions. Good tires are worth what you pay for them. What a great day!

 I am convinced there is always a take away from our experiences in life.

 I have a few from this ride and from my friends.

 I learned that the love of a brother will always make you a better man of God because they will always watch your back; they will warn you of any pitfalls in front of you before you get there when they see them before you do. They will take the time to instruct you even in detail and teach technique when possible.

 I learned that trusting the design of God’s hand will always take you farther than trusting what feels natural to you. Sometimes what feels like the right thing to do is opposite than what is actually the right thing to do. God’s ways are always the right way even if it doesn’t feel natural. Guess what? His ways are divine, not natural. I wanted to hit my breaks in the turn at 23 miles an hour instead of trusting my tires to hold traction in the dirt. Leaning paraelle to the ground didn’t feel right either but it was the best thing to do at 23 miles an hour. Waiting for the prompting and leading of the Holy Spirit instead of moving on my own is always the right thing to do. Just like doing something prompted to do that sounds wrong is the right thing to do. When we are in constant touch with God’s word and learn what his voice sounds like we learn we can trust everything he says.

 I learned that the right thing to do is peddle as hard as I can downhill and trust the instructions from someone who has experience and always has my best interests in mind. Just like it is the right thing to give everything I have to God and his purposes, because when I do, that is the only way in this life and the next to experience abundant life.

 I find myself wanting to peddle as hard as I can in my relationship with Jesus; I want to trust in him and his ways because his designs are always for the optimum performance to achieve the abundance I am looking for in my life.
 I am also thankful for brothers he brings in to my life to keep it real for me.

Where have the Men of God gone?

 As a kid I loved the cartoon Underdog. I was a small kid who got picked on and learned quickly how to be tough enough to hold my own. Under Dog was one of my heroes when I was younger Underdog was known as Shoeshine the everyday boy who shined, yep you guessed it, shoes. He was a weak unnoticed boy who appeared insignificant to all who walked by unless they needed a shine on their shoes. When trouble broke out Shoeshine would run into a phone booth where he would be transformed into Under Dog! The Phone booth would explode when he went through his metamorphosis from the weakling into the super hero who would rid the earth of all evil.
There’s no need to fear, Underdog is here! He would yell out, comforting hearts of all who were in fear of evil. Unable to help themselves Underdog would rescue them.
I have also recently read about the battle of Thermopylae, the movie “300” was based on this famous battle. In the film, a force of Greek warriors led by 300 Spartans fights against a Persian army of almost limitless size.

An Allied force of approximately 7,000 men marched together to defend the pass that would block the Persian army in the summer of 480 BC. The Persian army who’s number was in the millions; arrived at the pass in order to take Greece. The Greeks held off the Persians for seven days total, including three full days of battle. Despite the odds, the Spartans were determined not to flee or surrender, even if it meant their death.

 It is truly awe inspiring how the God of Heaven and Earth will choose weak things of this earth over the strong, the foolish things to confound the wise things of this world, and turn the world upside down for his glory.

Over the past 30 years Christen men have checked out. They have stepped aside from the fight, much like King David did when he grew tired and stayed home from battle. The end result was too much time on his hands. King David withdrew from the battle, from his purpose and was swept away and enticed by his own appetites. Before we throw rocks at him because of all he did, let’s look at what we as “contemporary” men have done in his stead. We have handed over our God given office as men of God to the enemy. Like Adam who gave up what God placed in him to govern when he sinned. We have given up the priest hood of our homes, we have allowed ourselves to be reduced to the recliner watching TV, or worse we have given ourselves to working through life at a job that will only take us up a corporate ladder that leads to the emptiness at the top. We have sacrificed our wives, our families and our relationship with Jesus Christ, nothing else has eternal value. Men of Christ have stopped being warriors who are instructed to expose darkness, who are commissioned to take the news of life to anyone and everyone who have never received it. We have passed the battle on to our wives, to the women in the church. The result of our decision to become more like the world around us is being played out in front of us. We are now frustrated and displaced. Like Israel who asked for a king because they wanted to be like the nations around them we have traded the divine appointment of being Godly husbands and fathers for wanting to be more like the world around us. We want, we want, we want. We need, we need, and we need. We have turned our eyes, our hearts, and our minds off the battle and on to what is tempting and luring us into the place of separation and ultimately death, yes death. Don’t be a hater! These are not my words they are the words set in place by God not man. Divine words given to keep us from going where we decided to go anyway. The brother of Jesus said “each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”

The enemy only comes to steal, kill and destroy. Men of God - the enemy of our souls has taken us out of the game! The average Christian woman is now bound up in insecurity, fear and condemnation. She can’t tell anyone about it because she has no covering and she knows it, protection designed by God through the men of God who walk with him daily. Our children are having sex at puberty, they are committing suicide. As they drop out of high school, drugs and teen age pregnancy have become pandemic. Brothers the need is desperate to fall to our knees before. We need to cry out to God and repent of the things we have fallen prey to. We need a change in the culture in the body of Christ, to what it once was to be a man of God instead of what it has become as a result of our decision to walk on our own. It’s never too late to change the highway we are traveling on. The offer is always held out to return. “If we confess our sins, he if faithful and just and will forgive us our sins, and purify us from all unrighteousness. Don’t be discouraged we have and advocate...we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense. Jesus Christ the one who atones for our sins.

God is in the restoration business. He wants to put us back in the position we have been chosen to walk in.

Like Under Dog and the 300 men from Sparta who warded off the on slot of evil in their perspective arenas. We have a battle to engage in. God has already given us all we need for victory. Our wives and children are in need of men who have the ability to take up the fight for them, the need is desperate. The reward is eternal and the dividends are abundant. When we are in place, when we are doing what we are designed to do we will experience life to its fullest. Anything less is unfulfilling. God's promises are the only promises that hold truthful. Any other promise result in emptiness.

Who will join me in the fight for the ones we love? Who will fight with me against the enemy of our God? Who will stand with me to know the ways of God and represent him to the nations?

It’s my prayer that all men who read these words will be inspired to to take a stand against darkness, make a change in his personal culture and in turn change the culture around him. The time to start is today. You can find me at guysnet@hotmail.com

No man can stand alone!
 As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens the countenance of his friend. Proverbs 27:17

A Bitter Drug

Anger and bitterness are very real. Once established they are hard to get out of our lives. There is good reason Jesus taught against holding on to anger in the Bible… saying: be angry and sin not; don’t let the sun go down on your anger. Guard against the root of bitterness. Life lessons are that anger left unaddressed can and usually do turn into a bitter root.

When I moved into my house it was fixer. One of the problems was an over grown yard. In my newly acquired jungle were several Yucca plants. Yucca plants are a succulent. The top of the plant can be killed off but the root continues to grow deeper. I found that Yuccas are very hard to kill. The only effective death is irradiation, by removing the root. Because of the moisture in the root it is very resilient. Weed killer doesn’t kill the it. This knowledge was gained through experience. I began to dig up one of the more stubborn Yucca roots in the jungle, what I found surprised me. The root appeared dead. I grabbed the exposed section finding inside the dead shell was a new root that was white, very long and very much alive. I was amazed at how hardy it was.

I began to think about bitterness and how it can effect everything we do, the way we act as well as the way we think about things. Bitterness is like a drug. I know that sounds like a stretch but bear with me for a minute. Bitterness is a consuming appetite. When you express it, even therapeutically expressed it can fester if not removed. We like to talk about what we are angry about, especially with someone who supports our position. When anger and bitterness are left alone, no longer feeding them they go into a dormant stage, but a root of bitterness never goes away by itself. Jesus felt so strongly about dealing with anger and bitterness that he said that if you are in front of the altar (or in church) ready to present your offering (come before him in an attitude of worship and giving our hearts to him) but have an offence against your brother, leave your offering at the altar and go to your brother and ask for forgiveness then come back to church and present your offering. We aren’t told to get forgiveness from our brother, but go and forgive. It is not distinguished between if we have done something against our brother or if our brother has done something against us.

Bitterness feels good at the time of exercise, when talking about what someone has done to us; when defending ourselves. That exercise never feels good afterward, but always leaves us feeling unsatisfied, empty and in despair. It is a hopeless, unquenchable appetite that has to be taken out by the root, removed completely for a healthy attitude to be restored, for the sight of things to be brought back into focus. The extraction is not easy, but worth every effort to make sure even the smallest amount of the root is removed. Like the Yucca root, a tiny piece of the root can take growth again, sprouting up when unexpected. The deeper it goes the harder it is to get to the root of the problem.

Freedom after the release of bitterness is unspeakable. When we hold anything against a person it becomes bitterness in our hearts. We are the ones held in captivity. The entire time we are holding someone in contempt we are the anxious party and in constant turmoil every time we see; hear about or even think about that person or group of people. So who is in prison? Who is being hurt by the bitterness?

As Christians holding on to bitterness causes the loss of peace in our lives, creating separation from intimacy with God. Have you ever tried to go into your prayer closet when you are really mad, only to find that you are talking to the wall or ceiling?

None of us want to disqualify ourselves from running the race toward the goal of gaining Jesus.
Let’s use the same idea of bitterness as a drug. An Olympic runner trains hard for a lifetime to be able to participate in a race resulting in gaining a gold medal. When the race is complete a drug test is required. If the winning runner is found to have used any drug, that runner is disqualified. Their lifelong dream is shattered due to disqualification. The drug of bitterness is intoxicating we don’t recognize the effect it has on us until it disqualifies us from our goal…intimacy with God along with the his purposes being worked out in us and through us for others.

Jesus even said forgive those who have treated you wrongfully just as your father in Heaven has forgiven you.

Ridding our hearts of bitterness and unforgivness is one of those things in life that are worth every ounce of effort, every cost necessary. The blessing of intimacy with God and his guidance along with being used for his purposes outweigh me holding on to any anger or bitterness from any thing anyone could do to me. This life is temporal; the things of God are eternal. I want to stay in the race because I want don’t want to miss out on anything my Heavenly Father has for me.

Just some thoughts about life gained on my journey of learning to walk in step with the Spirit.

Afraid of Fear?

Fear is a funny thing, fear will paralyze us forcing us into a corner of life causing us to do nothing. Fear will cause us to defend ourselves resulting in damage to anyone who gets too close to us. Fear has pressed people into greatness and overwhelmed people resulting in cowardice. I was recently asked how I see fear. All I know is how it affects me personally. I have been the coward and the hero in the face of fear. The end result of how we react to fear is what matters, because when face to face with fear it always feels the same. When fear  presents itself a choice is always demanded of us. Because left unresolved it can and will consume the heart.

The statement “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” brings up one aspect of fear. One of respect and the acknowledgement of honor and authority. So the word fear needs some definition as we discuss what is good and bad about it. To fear jumping off a cliff with the understanding of cause and effect gives me a healthy fear of making a jump with no parachute. Fear of the Lord with the understanding that being frightened as an emotion of a loving God who wants a relationship with me is not a good fear. Respect and adoration for the same loving God, that he is able to judge sin according to right and wrong by his very nature of righteousness is a healthy understanding of this aspect of fear. Along with the understanding that provision has been made for us through the blood of his son for that same sinful nature if we accept it.

Jesus continually told people “do not fear” there is a reason for the reassurance for us not to be afraid, and for him to say these words of comfort to us. Fear is very real, just because we don’t want to experience it doesn’t make it go away. Faith does chase away fear but that doesn’t make it any less real. We live in a world where the need to fight back fear can be a daily routine. Fear takes on many different faces. To say fear doesn’t exist is like saying we don’t sin. Romans 5:12 tells me I haven’t received the spirit of bondage that will take me back into fear again. The Psalms also tell me God knows I am made of dust, he understands my weaknesses. I am concerned with statements of absolutes when they come to emotions. Statements like Christians don’t fear because it is the opposite of faith, or fear shouldn’t allowed, or fear is the lack of faith. True as these may be, the blunt edge of miss placement of scripture doesn't give the understanding that fear remains real and is something that needs to be walked through into that aspect of trust that takes us beyond that fear. Our emotions are a great part of who we are. Run those absolute statements about fear down to someone who was just told they have cancer or to the 62 year old man who has been told he and his family have to leave their home they have been in for 20 years of their 30 year loan; or the single mother that she is fired from her job and unemployment is in double digits. No we shouldn’t be lead by our emotions but as much as we don’t want to be affected by the emotions of fear or anger or sometimes love, we are affected by them at great depth. As a Christian man I think the question is not what I think about fear but more how do I deal with fear. Fear along with other struggles in this life are being put under the control of God as we learn that we can trust him. Trust only comes through relationship with him. Relationship only comes through spending time with someone daily not only in the middle desperation of life's struggle. It is through relationship with him that we begin to realize perfect love casts out all fear. That isn’t to say we never experience fear or it doesn’t exist, it does nurture the relational aspect and value of trust that causes us to run to him in times of fear and not be paralyzed by it. We are told through the words of God that through scripture we gain hope. The Apostle Peter said to Jesus "where else will we go? You hold the words to eternal life."

I am glad my Heavenly Father allows me to grow into a relationship of trust with him and that he tells me “Fear not I am with you, even to the end of the this age.”

A New Moral Code

A New Moral Code




According to George Barna, who directed the survey, the results reflect a significant shift in American life.



"We are witnessing the development and acceptance of a new moral code in America," said the researcher and author, who has been surveying national trends in faith and morality for more than a quarter-century. "Mosaics have had little exposure to traditional moral teaching and limited accountability for such behavior. The moral code began to disintegrate when the generation before them - the Baby Busters - pushed the limits that had been challenged by their parents - the Baby Boomers. The result is that without much fanfare or visible leadership, the U.S. has created a moral system based on convenience, feelings, and selfishness.



"The consistent deterioration of the Bible as the source of moral truth has led to a nation where people have become independent judges of right and wrong, basing their choices on feelings and circumstances. It is not likely that America will return to a more traditional moral code until the nation experiences significant pain from its moral choices."



Will we sit by and watch? Or will we decide to be difference makers? The culture in the United States is in dire need of the Christian Community to stop worrying about fitting in and standing up against the landslide against morality that is causing causalities by damaging lives along the way. We need to become a people of God's presence because we live in a world of no absolutes and declining moral values. Dick Biggs said "the greatest gap in life is the one between knowing and doing. This is the dept Paul talked about when he said "don't any debt remain outstanding except the continuing debt of love for everyone. (Romans 13:8) Standing in resistance of immorality with the goal of restoration to life, with concern and compassion is the debt we owe to everyone.

With out the obligation of paying back this debt of love, society, left to itself, is doomed for failure. Where the Spirit of God is there is life.

Reflection

I love reflection. The ways we live are always directions unknown for tomorrow. The plans of life belong to men but direction of any depth will come from the Lord. Reflections of yesterday can generate a bitter sweet emotion. If our glass is half empty the reflections of life result in the bitterness of regret, if our view of life is that of half full, the reflections of life usually causes us to focus on the high points that were accomplished and the growth that has taken place. Regardless, I love taking inventory after a period of time to learn and grow.


Age is not an enemy but a friend that gives the gift of maturity and experience. The step may be a little slower and the wit may not be as sharp but the journey at hand is an investment with a great yield of return as we travel, if we rely on the King of Glory and not on ourselves.