King David had one awesome group of army commanders. In fact, the Bible calls some of these men his “Mighty Men”. Pretty cool name, huh? Two of David’s leaders were Joab and Abishai. And in two different places in the Old Testament – 2 Samuel 10 & 1 Chronicles 19 – it records Joab saying to Abishai, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you are to rescue me; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will rescue you.”
Joab and Abishai had a brotherly love for one another. Proverbs 17:17 says, “a friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” As these men were headed into battle they essentially told one another, “I’ve got your back!”, “I’m your friend & brother in these hard times and I will fight with you, and for you.”
I’ve got your back! Who needs to hear these words from you today?
]]>
Passage Parenting. However, Mr. Moore says it better:
“…you will pay the price for parenthood. You will pay the price of the time and effort it takes to develop self-reliant children. In fact, if you are not willing to pay this price as you go, you will pay it for the rest of your life. You will pay because your children will continually lean on you to raise their children, pay their bills, take care of their needs – and never become truly responsible.”
Wow!
He goes on to say, “You have a choice about which kind of parent you want to be: the kind who pays now and enjoys the fruit of his labor as his children grow or the kind who pays later and spends years trying to salvage their lives.”
I hope and pray that I’m willing to do what it takes to pay up front. When will you pay the price?
]]>Okay…
What is your reaction when you arrive at a problem in your life without knowing exactly what to do?
If you’re anything like me or the man in this video then you’ve been guilty of the following:
1. Staring at the problem for a period of time
2. Realizing you’re ignorant of what to do, and then…
3. Moving forward anyways!
This system typically creates a mess, which can potentially effect others around us.
So why do we create messes in these situations? One word, “Pride”.
- We don’t want to admit we’re ignorant.
- We don’t want to show our ignorance by asking others for advice.
- We can be impatient with God’s timing.
So, here are my questions:
- In what areas do you need to be seeking wise counsel?
- Are you pleading for God’s wisdom?
- Are you waiting on God’s timing?
- Do your actions show trust in God?
1. Mashable – if you like to keep up with techy news…they rule!
2. Mint.com – great for personal budgeting and finance.
3. DailyMugShot.com – if you have a webcam, then you [...]]]>
Hope you’re having a great day! Thanks to a great idea from my good friend Casey, I thought I’d share some great websites that I like:
1. Mashable – if you like to keep up with techy news…they rule!
2. Mint.com – great for personal budgeting and finance.
3. DailyMugShot.com – if you have a webcam, then you must use this site. Click HERE to check out my MugShow!
4. Pandora – your very own personal radio station online. Pick your favorite artists and enjoy! (Great for work!)
5. Xtranormal.com – you or your kids will love making your own 3D movies! Just type what you want your character to say and watch the magic!
6. YouVersion – great online Bible. Type in your own notes and learn from other users as well. The App is also available for iPhone.
7. Examen.Me – online Bible study, journaling, and prayer journal.
]]>He wrote a blog recently titled, “Preparation H and Confession”. And let’s just say that it greatly challenged me. So I thought I’d share. Click on the title [...]]]>
Perry Noble is the senior pastor at Newspring Church in South Carolina. And I absolutely love reading his blog. It’s refreshing, uplifting, challenging and convicting. Plus, he’s hilarious!
He wrote a blog recently titled, “Preparation H and Confession”. And let’s just say that it greatly challenged me. So I thought I’d share. Click on the title to read.
To repeat a key question from the blog:
“So…do you have people in your life to whom you can talk with…REALLY talk with…about what is going on in your life?”
I recently witnessed two children combine to win a whopping 5 stuffed animals from one of those money-sucking claw machines. After their conquest with the one-buttoned joystick they laughingly said to each other, “That machine wasn’t a rip-off at all!” Would the next kid that walked up share the same success? Probably not. Seasoned gamblers know this fact all too well.
But isn’t it funny when we find pleasure in things of this world with no immediate repercussions we think, “Hey, there was nothing bad about that! In fact, I enjoyed it!”
So since we found satisfaction in earthly pleasures once-upon-a-time we allow ourselves to go back for more at a later date. And we eventually find that no matter how many times we plug a dollar into this world’s machine looking for joy…it just AIN’T gonna happen dude! It’s temporary. It’s fleeting. And it’s never enough.
Hopefully, we can be “stuffed” so full of God that the desires of this world fade away. Only He can give us everlasting love, assurance, peace, fulfillment and purpose.
]]>Those who lie to themselves make it easy to have pity on themselves. How? Because if you constantly lie to yourself then you can alter anything you wish into truth.
So when something that is actually truthful pops [...]]]>
Those who lie to themselves make it easy to have pity on themselves. How? Because if you constantly lie to yourself then you can alter anything you wish into truth.
So when something that is actually truthful pops up and really hurts your feelings (because truth hurts), then you can feel sorry for yourself. What to do next? You lie to self in order to cover over the truth.
So it’s a double-bonus! You get to pity yourself, and you get to believe your lies! And an added sweetener is that there is no regret or remorse for having ever lied to begin with. Why? Because it was all solved by what you’ve grown accustomed to doing…LYING TO YOURSELF! So now you’re comfortable because your good friend LIE has taken care of everything and you actually believe it!
And in the meantime, Satan giggles as we deceive ourselves of our true spiritual state. God, please reveal to us through your Spirit when we lie to ourselves.
]]>
Man I woke up hungry today! There was some added excitement by the fact that I had a new box of Wheaties calling my name, but I was hungry. That of course got me thinking about my hunger for more of God and just thought I’d throw down some of my thoughts:
- We are all created with an inner hunger for God whether we ever acknowledge that it’s Him our soul desires or not. It’s part of His imprint on His creation.
- I hunger for more of His life-giving Word, but in times of “self-feeding” from the things of this world I can tend to forget about God’s diet plan for my life because I’ve become so full of myself. So…
- I MUST empty myself in order to understand just how much I need Him. If I’m not hungry for Him, then it’s a hint I’ve filled myself with something else that never truly fills me anyway.
- Cheesy quote… God is the Breakfast of Champions! Ha!
- If I’m not HUNGRY FOR MORE then I’m probably trying to hang on to LESS and claim that it’s enough to get me by for the sake of not having to become more OBEDIENT to His will.
Do you have anything to add to the list? I love hearing other’s thoughts!
]]>
One of my 14-month old daughter’s favorite activities is a simple game of chase. She can be so overcome with joy and laughter that she loses any shred of physical control and just plops to the floor. As I was chasing her this evening I told her out loud, “You are so much fun to chase, Allie”.
Not only is it fun to chase my children, but they are also worthy of the chase. I take just as much joy in the pursuit as they do in the chase.
And during the chase tonight I was reminded by God of how much He takes pleasure in pursuing me. And how I should take great pleasure in pursuing Him in return. As a father I pray that my children will take delight in the fact that the God of the heavens and earth is in constant pursuit of them.
Other thoughts:
- I pursued Pat until she became my wife, and I continually pursue her. Am I pursuing Christ even more?
- I believe my daughters are incredibly valuable and worthy to be pursued only by the most incredible young men in their futures. It’s an honor to know that God sees even greater value in them than I could imagine.
- Am I encouraging my wife and children to pursue Christ?
- Awareness of God’s pursuit brings the reality that I am constantly in need of conforming to His will. And His will is so much better than my own.
The title of the article is “10 Ways to Be a Better Dad”, and I found it very helpful and worthwhile. Most of it is affirming what you already know, but it certainly is nice to be reminded.
Follow the link above or click [...]]]>
I recently ran across a great article online from the National Fatherhood Initiative.
The title of the article is “10 Ways to Be a Better Dad”, and I found it very helpful and worthwhile. Most of it is affirming what you already know, but it certainly is nice to be reminded.
Follow the link above or click here.
]]>