Friends

Posted on May 12, 2010 at 7:29 am in

As an avid listener to country music, there is a song called “Find Out Who Your Friends Are”. Some of the lyrics go:  “Run your car off the side of the road,Get stuck in a ditch way out in the middle of nowhere,  Or get yourself in a bind, lose the shirt off your back, Need a floor? need a couch? need a bus fare? This is where the rubber meets the road,  This is where the cream is gonna rise, This is what you really didn’t know, This is where the truth don’t lie”

We have all been there.  I am proud to say that I have 378 friends on my facebook.  Each person I know and have lived moments of my life around them and with them.  During this present time in my life I have experienced the wonderful joy of many of them committing themselves to prayer and words of encourage for me and my family.  I am blessed.

We each have our own degree of life struggles and conflicts, but things become especially difficult when people ask us to get involved in theirs.

Over this past week I have had to call on many friends who have known me and been around me and in my home to speak truth to their experiences with me and about me.  I was very specific in my request that they only speak truth and only about me.  I was awestruck and deeply humbled by many of the afidavits given of what people knew and thought of me. Asking people to get involved is a challenging thing, and was an issue that I wrestled with, and even felt guilt for asking people. It was especially challenging when a few people refused my request. When the first denial came, I quickly found that I was in need of a quick spiritual checkup.  The way the response was written, it challenged me as to the nature of my heart in asking for help. 

For several hours I had a wrestling match with God.  You see, I am a very independent guy by nature and willing to give my time and effort to most anyone, but seldom ask for help.  It was difficult for me to send out the requests.  And then to be rejected!  Why God?  Do you want me to lose my children? Then came that heavenly right hook, “Do you trust me?”, “Do you want your will or mine?”  of course I replied, “Mine!!!!”  Then He gave me an uppercut, “Do you believe in me or your own efforts?”  I was down for the count!!

As I pulled myself up, God reminded me of a couple of things, first was that my kids are not mine.  You see, as each one of them were babies my wife and I stood before our church and committed them to Him and made an oath to God we would care for them.  We promised to love them.  This was a something we both have joyfully and fully done all of their lives.  So I must trust God.  I am weeping as I write that.  It is easier said than done.  I TRUST GOD!  Wether my children live with me or their mother.  They are His and He will watch over them when I cant, as He has always done.  I trust God.  If I lose custody of my children to my wife, I am not out. My daily efforts at work will continue to provide the funds in which they live by. My love and counsel will always be available. And my encouragement and life example will be visible to them, even when I am not in front of them.

Now that is not me giving up, just me leaning more into Him and realizing that what I want is not always what He has in mind (but still hoping it is!). I love the way the Psalmist says it in Psalm 37:3-6 (New International Version) “Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.”

Secondly he riminded me that I am limited.  Yea, limited.  I don’t know all He knows.  He has plans and great things in mind for these four kids, even greater than anything I could ever dream of.  I have watched each of them as they have had to walk through the consequences of this failed marriage.  I have seen how their hearts have broken and their lives have been forever altered as a result.  I have begun to see things shapping in my older in particular, that at moments make my heart leap from my chest as I have seen him search deeper into God. I don’t know God’s will, and don’t presume to.  I am going to do all I can, to do what I beleive is right, but if my faith has any sense of genuiness to it, then I must believe His will superceeds mine.

One of the verses says “Everybody wants to slap your back, wants to shake your hand when you’re up on top of that mountain. But let one of those rocks give way then you slide back down look up and see who’s around then”.  The song goes on “This ain’t where the road comes to an end. This ain’t where the bandwagon stops. This is just one of those times when A lot of folks jump off”

So yea, this is a jumping off point for some of my friends.  It has also been a dig in deeper with quite a few others.  Thank God for friends.  Especially those that challenge you!

Ecclesiastes 4:10 If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!

John 15:12-15  My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

 

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Vigilance

Posted on May 6, 2010 at 7:37 am in

As many of you know I have been strugling with several issues in my life as I hit the midpoint.  Many of you celebrated with me last fall as I was able to tackle the weight issue and lost over fourty (40) pounds.  It was a great achievemet for me and I noticed a significant life improvement in the way I feel.

However during the transition of my second issue (estranged spouse) I began to slack on the workouts and turned back to my twinkie addiction!  In a little over four months, 25 of those fourty have crept back.  It was amazing, one morning I have this tone smooth stomach and then wham, the gut pops back out.  What happen?  easy answer  . . . lack of vigilance. 

It is amazing. Fat never just pops out, it comes in small subtle bits barely noticeable ti one day you are shocked at the profile in the mirror or that the pants wont button! 

I think it is the same for us spiritually.  We have these terrific, God powered encounters and we feel warm, fuzzy and close to God.  But then over time we dash out the door without praying because the morning is hectict.  We pillow our heads without praying because we are whipped from the day.  We find other priorities or time the Word.  Before long our spiritual gut starts to show. Our language degenerates.  Our priorities shift.  Our devotion fades.  Our choices begin to error and soon we find ourselves in need of conditioning. 

Peter talks about it a bit in 1 Peter 5 (the Message) “Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You’re not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It’s the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith.”  The King James says be sober and vigilant.

Things get tough and sometimes you find yourself under the pouncing!  But take heart as I have done today. “The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.”  As radio announcer Paul Harvey used to say “and thats the rest of the story!” 

I love the part about the Great Plans.  I cant hardly wait on those.  and best of all He gets the last word.  Feeling overwhelmed and under a pouncing, look up.  Help is coming.

You gotta love it!

 

Passage from The Message 1 Peter 5:8-11

 

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The Kind of Life I Want!

Posted on May 4, 2010 at 2:03 pm in

Are you tired?  Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you will recover your life. I will show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me-watch how I do it. Learn the unforced ryhthms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill fitting on you. Keep company with me and you will learn to live freely and lightly. Matthew 11:28-30 (The Message)

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