Fear

I was listening to a podcast from Erwin R. McManus of Mosaic Church, LA, this morning about living the original life, meaning living what God has called you to be, since each of us has been uniquely designed to fulfill a part in the love story of God that is the history of mankind. Anyway, one of the things McManus talked about was fear.
Often times we are afraid that we will make large efforts for God and discover that we don't have what it takes. We find out that what we feared the most in the depths of our souls is true...we are nothing. We are incapable of doing great things because we are mediocre.
Other times, however, we are afraid of what we can do. God did not make us so that he could laugh at us trying things and failing. God created each of us in His image, and therefore we are capable of doing great things. All of us have a great calling on our lives, but most of us never seek out that call and accept what it means for us. So many of us are afraid that if we step up and step out into whatever great thing is waiting to be done, then we will be shunned and socially excommunicated because we rocked the boat.
I see both of those fears in my life. As far back as I can remember, I have sometimes felt as though I could never be good enough, that I was always the one screwing things up, and that, even at my best, I would never amount to more than average. Also, as far back as I can remember, I know that there have been times that I have hidden my talents, performed as though I weren't talented at some things so that others wouldn't feel like I was cocky, or so that people wouldn't expect more from me.
Today, my commitment is that I not live in these fears. I know that I have been created for a purpose (Jer. 1:5), even if that purpose has not been completely revealed to me yet, and that God has granted me the capability to fulfill that purpose in His strength. Yes, God's strength shows in my weakness, but God is not glorified when I choose to live a mediocre life. I know that God has given me talents and abilities. He has given me intellect and (somewhat) likable personality (most of the time); He has given me the ability to succeed in many areas of my life (even if I have not taken advantage of those abilities and successes). I will not fear that others will feel badly about themselves because I am seeking to live a great life. I will not fear that if I attempt great things for God, then I will fail miserably. Even if I fail, at least I tried, and I know that God honors obedience, not success. I commit that my academic life, my work life, and especially my home life will be lived out in such a way that others will see and God will ignite a passion in them to live out such a life. I will not apologize for being the man God created me to be, and I will not go silently before the ones who try to silence God's call to greatness in my life.

Lord, help me to be all that You have created me to be. Give me courage to face my fears and strength to overcome them. Raise up in me the passion and desire to daily become more Christlike in every aspect of my life and to be unapologetic about it. Amen.

Adopted

For those of you who haven't ever thought about it, as Christ-followers, we are adopted into the family of God. That means that we are not just followers, even though we are called to follow; that means we are not just servants, even though we are called to serve. We are children, and we are called to love our Father just as His "genetic" son loves Him. Not only are we adopted by the Heavenly Father, but He also gives us an inheritance in Him, just like Jesus has. How cool is that! He chose us, He adopted us, and He is giving us the greatest gift possible--an eternity spent knowing Him. And guess what...that starts now, not when we die. Check it out...it's in the Word.

Weekend Update

This weekend my friends Will and Diana came up to visit from Surfside Beach. They both graduated from Clemson, and, of course, are HUGE Clemson fans. Sarah and I got the chance to spend the whole day with them yesterday and some time with them Friday night and today as well. The game was a lot of fun. I am not really a Clemson fan, but Sarah is, so I do my best to go to at least one game a season with her (more if I can). I think the game was fun for me moreso because I got to spend time with my awesome wife and some good friends. Yeah, the team I was cheering for won 70-14, but it was the people I was cheering with who made the difference. So, anyway, it was a great weekend.

MEN

So, last week I did something incredibly STUPID. I am not going to talk about what I did via blog, but for all of you readers out there (I know that there are at least 3 of you), the fact that it was really stupid should suffice. Anyway, while talking with Sarah, my parents, and my friend Jim about the situation, it came up several times that I no longer really have a group of guy friends that I just hang out with and with whom I can have accountability, as well as just be men together. In high school I had a group of guy friends who all lived near me. We grew up together and in high school went to church together, played ball together, swam together, learned HTML code together (yeah, we were pretty geeky back then, too), and got into trouble together. In college, I had the famous Unit F, the guys in my dorm, with whom I was able to have regular Bible studies and hangout and talk time together.
Acts 2:42 says "They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer."
Proverbs 27:17 says "Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another."
Now, with my busy schedule, I don't really have any guys to hang out with and just talk and be men together. Sarah and I meet with our LifeGroup from Crossroads, which is a group of 6 couples, but we usually meet as a group of couples, not men and women separately.
Here's where I'm going with this: are there any man who are Disciples of Christ and live around Greenville/Mauldin/Simpsonville who would be willing and able to meet on Thursdays at 6:30 in the morning at Bojangles on Woodruff Rd.? I don't even know if any guys in Greenville read this, but this is where I'm starting to try and find a group of men to meet with. If any of you are interested in this, let me know (and let me know before you just show up at Bojangles, because I won't be there if I am not going to meet anyone).

"Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love." Ephesians 6:23-24

Romans 7

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do now want to do--this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So then, I myself in mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Romans 7:14-25

So, basically, even Paul, the creme-de-la-creme of Christians, the apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, struggled in the members of his body with sin. Rather, the law of sin rages war against the Law of God using our flesh and our souls. My soul desires to do the will of God, but, literally, my physical body is incapable of carrying out the will of God because of the law of sin, and so only through the power of the Spirit of the Living God can I, or any other human, including Paul himself, carry out the will of God. Praise God for His Spirit, which overcomes sin. Amen and Amen.

Sober Me

Sober Me

by Ronnie Freeman

Who knew the choice that he would make
In a moment walk away
Seemed a picture perfect life
Now himself, his kids, his wife are shipwrecked
And what became of faith, was it all a masquerade
Or one day starting to love something more than he loved truth
It was one more phone call chilling me within
Can’t deny the consequence of sin

SOBER ME, SOBER ME
LORD WAKE ME TO THE SHADOWS
THAT ARE CLOSING IN ON ME
IT’S HARD TO SEE THE NIGHTFALL
WHEN IT FALLS SO GRADUALLY
SOBER ME

Desire crouches at my door but I’ve never heard him roar
He’s so silent but so real, he will lie and kill and steal
Lord, keep my soul alert of the many I would hurt
With one foolish choice I’d make, there’s so much at stake
Remind me the most dangerous place to be
Is when I’m thinking it could never happen to me

SOBER ME, SOBER ME
LORD WAKE ME TO THE SHADOWS
THAT ARE CLOSING IN ON ME
IT’S HARD TO SEE THE NIGHTFALL
WHEN IT FALLS SO GRADUALLY
SOBER ME

Lord, I know that You have forgiven me for my sin. I know that when You look at me, You see Jesus because of my faith in Him. I know that you count me as righteous, even though I am unholy. Please help me to remember that the worst place I can be is in the position of thinking that "it," whatever that may be, will never happen to me. Spirit, show me the ways the enemy is attacking me, ever so subtly, like the nightfall coming so slowly that I do not notice on my own. Lord I have so much trouble seeing myself the way You see me. Help me to see me through Your eyes. Help me to live in accordance to the calling of being one of Your disciples. You know my heart. You know my struggles. Give me courage to face the day. Give me strength to never back down. Give me grace to forgive others. Give me love to show You to them. Thank you for Your grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love. You are indescribable, and my words can never do You justice.

To the one who has been hurt by my sin: I know that you are confused and brokenhearted. I cannot express how much sorrow I feel because of what my actions have done to you. My only solace is that I know you have experienced the grace of God, and so the Spirit of God will prompt you to forgive me, even if it takes some time.

The Hand of God

The past few days I've been thinking about something my friend Steven said a while back. Steven is the pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC. He said that he wants his ministry at the church to operate in such a way that if God chose to remove His hand from Elevation, then it would fail miserably. Now, of course, I'm not the pastor of the third fastest-growing church in the United States, but I have my own life and my own personal ministry. Lately I've been thinking about what would happen if God chose to remove His hand from my life. I don't mean this in a God-is-picking-on-me type of way, but I mean, what if God did not let His favor rest on my life for a time? Would things be different? Would I react differently to things? Would my life fail miserably? Unfortunately, I don't think my life would fail, for the most part. I'm not saying that I live like God doesn't exist, but lately I don't think I've been depending on God for my every provision. I think that I rely entirely too much on my own ability and my own strength, as well as those of my wife, Sarah. I'm not bragging or being proud, but God has given me enough talent and drive to survive and thrive in life without relying completely on Him, which, I think, has been my greatest struggle recently. A life can not be truly lived to its fullest until that person has emptied himself of himself and filled the void created with the love of Christ.

Abba Father, please help me to quit relying on my own strength and abilities to achieve success in my life. Help me to remember that true success is only found in obedience to You, and that You have called me to empty myself of me and fill myself with You. Please guide me to live my life in such a way that if You removed Your hand from me, I would be an utter failure. Help me to love You the way Jesus loves You. Amen.

Los on LA Ink

For those of you who missed it, check out Los on LA Ink. As of 3 o'clock today, last night's episode wasn't up online, but I'm sure it will be soon. It was pretty rad. They even portrayed him as a "cool pastor." Maybe this exposure will help show the mainstream world that serving God and following Christ is not synonymous with being a total square.

Ryan Lee is finally in the Blogging World

Here's a shout out to my good friend (even though I only get to see him once or twice a year) Ryan Lee. Check out his new blog. I've kept up with his old myspace blog for a couple of years, and, in my opinion, when he's got something to say, it's good stuff. Check him out at Diary of a Slave.


In case you don't know, doulos means slave or bondservant. Check that out as a word study next time you don't have something to do for a day (or week or month).

John Rosemond

Last night I ran tech for an Upstate Mom's parenting seminar featuring John Rosemond. Here's a couple of highlights I picked up from listening. These are not my ideas, and I don't have any children, but I thought I'd share them with whoever is out there.

There are two main reasons psychology can't answer parenting problems and why using a lense of psychology will never allow you to see the true child:
1) Psychology states that we need to be concerned with a child's self-esteem above all else. There is no evidence for this belief in the Bible, which is of course what we SHOULD base our parenting on (See John Rosemond's new book: Parenting By The Book). Parents should build their children's CHARACTER, not their self-esteem.
2) Even though most psychologists push it, behavior modification (Google Pavlov, if you aren't sure about this) does not work with humans. It works with animals. There is no case where behavior modification has worked over time. Sometimes it works for a period of time due to the novelty of the modification, but it does not last. The problem is that humans have free will (to an extent...see Jim's blog on this matter).

There are plenty of other great nougats of truth which you could pull from Rosemond, so, after listening to him speak last night, even though I don't have children, I'd recommend checking out his new book. I know I will.

PS On a side note, I got to talk to John a little bit before and after the seminar last night, and he's a really cool guy, which I honestly didn't expect from a nationally renown author, columnist, and speaker. Kudos to you, John Rosemond.