Men of God in Sin City

This past week I had a chance to share with a group of incredible men out of Las Vegas. We met up at a beautiful lodge that is a couple of miles from the entrance of Mt Zion National Park. I was captured by the magnificent scenery. The sheerness of the red cliffs, the breathtaking sunsets, and the magnificence of morning as the sun rose and created red lines in the sky. You could actually sense how the finger tips of God must have carved out this incredible place. Amazing sight…absolutely beautiful!
But…I saw something even more amazing…Something that gives you hope for this world…something that reminds you that God has an army…that it defies the standards and circumstances of this world…
I saw the finger prints of God on over one hundred men.
I watched as these men…right out of what has come to be known as “Sin City”…sought an audience with God himself! Men, from all types of occupations, all types of families, all types of life struggles…all stretching…reaching…calling out for God. Men…listening…contemplating…praying…considering…struggling…desiring to negotiate this life in a way that would honor God.
Men that left no subjects uncovered...family struggles…sex…business decisions…unforgiveness…the need to be forgiven…how they have ignored God…their need for spiritual disciplines…
Men…that discussed their sincere desires to be good husbands and fathers…to be good stewards of the gifts and blessings God has given them…to be “light” in a world of darkness…to be “more than conquerors”.
Men…that are physical…they love to hunt and fish and drive tractors and work with saws and hammers. They are attracted to sometimes violent and definitely demanding sports…they love things that challenge them physically and mentally.
Men…that are spiritual…they support their churches with their money and their abilities…they hold their daughters and play with their sons…they are seekers of the truth and warriors of the kingdom.
Men…that have strengths and weaknesses…they have good and sometimes not so good desires…they have recognized their limitations as simply being flesh and blood humans…and their need for His supernatural strength…
Men…for three days they sought Him…kneeling at the foot of a cross…bringing a sacrifice of praise to the Prince of Peace…the King of Kings.
Men…they are His warriors…clothed in humility.
Men…they have given Him their lives...their devotion.
Men...making a difference in the world…with hands raised in surrender…with silent prayers that fire through the heavens like heat seeking missiles and God in His excitement guides those humbly spoken words to impossible targets and causes the impossible to occur.
Men…as long as there are men like these…there is more than hope…there is a certainty that God is in control and that He has a very determined and well armored army.
Men…Godly men…in the midst...of Sin City…awesome.

God Forgets

“Just got a new life…but I can’t shake the old”
(Danny Painter and Meggie Wiggins)

Your sins are forgotten...I can’t even wrap my mind around that.

God said this to the children of Israel after a time of doing just about everything opposite of what He had taught, ask, and commanded them to do. "Forgotten"…when I read this recently, I kept saying it out loud over and over…forgotten…forgotten…forgotten. I know He forgives and have been taught my whole life that he forgets…he tosses my sins as far as the east is from the west…but really…forgotten?

I don’t know how that works because I am certainly not built that way. I have an ever present always running video in my brain that is always showing my life’s greatest stupid moments. All those things I wish I had never said…all those things I wish I had never done. After a lot of practice and determination I am better at not allowing that video to play…but forget…totally forget…not happening.

Gods’ ability to see me as whole and complete and pure is completely beyond me. He is not stuck in my past regardless of how ugly I or anyone else thinks it might be. That He has completely forgotten the sins that are haunting my memory is almost impossible for me to bring to a place of reality in my mind. But just like so many other things, when it comes to God, I don’t have to get it for it to be true.
I mean I don’t even understand some of the most basic things in life. For instance, I don’t understand how millions of cell phones can be sending signals to other cell phones all over the world at the same time. With all those voices traveling through the air; how come I don’t hear any of them? I don’t understand how the average teenager can play a video game online, text his true love on his cell phone, chat with other friends on his computer, listen to blaringly loud music on the same computer, and do his homework. But it happens everyday! I don’t get gravity, can’t comprehend the true size and depth of the Atlantic, or how my socks can still disappear when I am living alone! So how much more difficult the mysteries of God…the creator of the universe! But I know that God forgives and forgets…because He supplies me with just enough faith to know. Thankfully, complete comprehension of this is not a prerequisite. He just loves me and continues to allow me to live in this river of continual grace and forgiveness.

The crazy thing is that if I did forget everything then I would do some of those regrettable things again. I need some of that stuff to come up at the right times to keep me from repeating my own history. He allows these memories to become warning signs…in some instances warning billboards…to help keep me on the right track. So I am thankful for that. It’s the guilt thing that gets to me. When they hang heavy over my heart and tell me that I can do no better…that’s when I need the awareness of how God sees it. And the beauty is...He doesn’t. He forgot it…remember?

Whitney is 29 today. She is a beautiful and incredible person and I am one of the most blessed people on the planet because I get to call her…daughter! Her name is Whitney Layne and I have always sung the Beatles song to her, Penny Lane, using her name instead. “Whitney Layne is in my ears and in my eyes”.

Here is a link if you would like a reminder of the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FETWNBbwy9Q

Come with me for a stroll down “Whitney Layne”.

When I think of my beautiful Whitney there are a couple of things that come to mind immediately. Her sweet voice is soothing and warm and it makes her easy to be with. The lucky kiddos that get to spend their days at her beautiful daycare are especially blessed by this. And the Whitney laugh is like no other…its big…it’s an expression of uninhibited joy…it’s unmistakably Whitney! Another thing that stands out is her level of contentment… she has a contentment that is enticing.

It just was not that long ago that she was only a few months old, sitting in her carrier next to me, watching football. Well, I always like to think she was watching football. I know this…she was very content to just be there beside me and it’s one of those memories that still defines her sweet spirit. Never in a hurry and always willing to just "be' with you. She has always been quiet and introspective…never pushing her way into a conversation or a crowd. I have always loved that.
She has lived her life with much grace and I think using the “fruits of the spirit” as listed in Galatians 5:22 is a good way to describe my girl.
Love... she has an abundance of it to share…
Joy…if you spend a day watching her operate with a house full of children...its amazing
Peace…We called her “angel baby” from the day we brought here home for a reason…
Patience…She has been patient with me…her Dad…”thank you baby”
Kindness…I have never known anyone in my life that has a more “kind” spirit.
Goodness…absolutely…
Faithfulness…she is a faithful friend…a faithful wife…a faithful mother
Gentleness…I don’t know anyone with a more gentle spirit…
Self Control…She is just not one to let her emotions dictate what she is going to be…

My “Angel Baby”
Whitney Layne, you are still in my eyes and in my ears and in my heart. Thanks for bringing us little Gracie...she has the same angel qualities as you. I love you much.
Happy Birthday!

Dad

A Little Heaven...Today

I’m creating some heaven in my life
Not so much about holy
Just setting some things right
Looking at living…how it moves along
What I got is right here…tomorrow’s on its own
Dancing and drowning its all just the same
Struggle to get nowhere it looks so insane
So many broken pieces
But nothing left to pay
Won’t you come go with me
Come out and play
We can create some heaven…today
I’m not waiting for this train to go by
Just to say I missed…I didn’t try
It’s worth the risk it’s worth the pain
A little slice of heaven’s rain
I’m creating some heaven…today

Next!

Maybe it comes with my age but it seems that I spend a lot more time pondering the results of my decisions…both past and present. Like most people, I want to make good choices…choices that have long term good results. However, when I go to this place in my thinking the choices that dominate my thoughts are the ones where I wish I could get a “do over”. But instead of getting “do over’s” life simply gives us “Next!”
Recently I sent this message to all the managers in our organization:


Mac Anderson says “The difference in our success or failure is not change but choice…"
Our success or failure is made up of a lot of choices…some big but many small and sometimes seemingly insignificant ones that we make each and every day.
Those choices put on display what we are truly made of…what we are truly about.
As the saying goes…It’s not what you say…it’s what you do.
Choose consistency…choose to stay on task…choose to honor your word.
No doubt, there are changes we all need to make but it is the everyday choices that show which direction we have chosen.

Yesterday, I received a note from someone who had been a part of my Youth Ministry some 20 years ago. They wrote me a short note just to say what a “powerful impact” I had on their life. I have received a few of those lately, since I joined the world on Face Book, and I always read them several times. I do this because I am trying to absorb them. I am trying to experience the fact that as I have moved through this life I have, in fact, made some good decisions and the results have been good.
Proverbs 17:22 says “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”
Kind words from a friend are like good medicine…they nurture the spirit…bring life to the bones…produce a “cheerful heart”.
Dwelling on the bad decisions…those times I failed…even hurt...others…crushes the spirit. While not belittling past mistakes I must advance on today…make a difference to someone today…make good choices today…because I can’t help but wonder…
Will anyone write me a note twenty years from today and say thanks for having a “powerful impact” on my life? As a result of...today?
Today’s choices matter and today is the only day I can control. Because tomorrow morning there will be no "do overs". When I wake up life will simply say…"Next"!

Moving the Boundary

Have you ever changed the boundary on a piece of property or changed the rules of a game...to benefit you?
Job 24;2 says "Men move boundary stones...". Back in Jobs day, I suppose, if a guy needed a little more grass for his sheep he just went out and moved a few boundary stones. And just like that...more food for the sheep.
"That was easy" as the commercial goes. Sometimes its too easy and moving boundary stones has not ever changed. I think that is why the scripture reads..."men move boundary stones..." its present tense.
Today a man might move a few numbers from one column to another or put his name on a coworkers effort or plagiarize someones work of words or change a time sheet or how about just bill for a few hours not worked. I heard about a man that did just that recently. A really good performer...bright career...suddenly unemployed.
Men move boundary stones...when they decide what is right in their own eyes...what fits their purpose today..what best accomplishes what they need at the moment. And sometimes ,really good people, in a moment of crisis or need or just deciding they deserve a little more...move stones.
Once while King David was praying, he made a request that can help keep us in the right frame of mind and keep our priorities and integrity in place..."Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."Psalm 51:10
Its the pure heart that keeps us from taking what is not ours and the steadfastness that helps us do it everyday.
Since it is true that men move boundary stones lets pick the ones we are going to move. Lets pick up some boulders. Lets remove the mountains of rubble called discouragement that have imprisoned a discouraged friend. Or how about we take on the once thrown hard rocks of guilt and forgive the guilty, lets lift the stinging stones of gossip from the many that have been wounded by their blows, and lets bring down the firmly place stones of loneliness that have walled in the lives of people that are right next to us everyday. Lets boldly reset the boundaries for those who are trapped behind them.
Yes "men move boundary stones" Men with a pure heart and a steadfast spirit move the right ones.

Wise Words...Firmly Embedded Nails

I read today in Ecclesiastes where King Solomon said...

"The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails given by one shepherd". 12:11 (Italics and emphasis mine)

I read this several times...."firmly embedded nails". The weight of these words struck me powerfully..."The words of the wise are like....firmly embedded nails...". I thought of how when you'r reading the Bible and you see a truth...it leaps off the page...and for the rest of your life some things will occur to you as filtered through that truth. I thought of how those words affect my view of life....my decision making.

Sometimes I get wisdom from friends, inspiration from a good book or a revelation in a song writers lyrics. Some of these things have stuck like "firmly embedded nails".

It matters where I go to get my truths.