SEPTEMBER 8, 2017

"Yeah you learn to fly and if you can't then you just freefall...May we all" 

- Florida Georgia Line, May We All

PROVERBS 13-14

10Each heart knows its own bitterness,

and no one else can share its joy. (14:10)

1 CORINTHIANS 16

13Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. 14Do everything in love

JOURNAL 

Recently I have been going back and reading my journals from the past 2 years. Reading what I wrote last year has been cathartic and I get the benefit of another year of experience and knowledge. Often what is amazing is how easily I can lose perspective. Especially on what is most important. Last night  I had a great night coaching...not that I did anything spectacular...but it was just so great to be doing what I love doing.

We won seventh and lost 8th. Both were great games and there was absolute joy and heartache playing out on a field in front of mostly parents...yet it felt so much bigger. Reading the following again this morning I realized again how every moment in life is epic. There are no meaningless experiences or moments...they all matter.

So we were lying on our backs on the grass in the park next to 

our hamburger wrappers, my 14-year-old son and I, watching the 

clouds loiter overhead, when he asked me, "Dad, why are we here?"

And this is what I said.

"I've thought a lot about it, son, and I don't think it's all 

that complicated. I think maybe we're here just to teach a kid 

how to bunt, turn two and eat sunflower seeds without using his 

hands.

"We're here to pound the steering wheel and scream as we listen 

to the game on the radio, 20 minutes after we pulled into the 

garage. We're here to look all over, give up and then find the 

ball in the hole.

"We're here to watch, at least once, as the pocket collapses 

around John Elway, and it's fourth-and-never. Or as the count 

goes to 3 and 1 on Mark McGwire with bases loaded, and the 

pitcher begins wishing he'd gone on to med school. Or as a little 

hole you couldn't get a skateboard through suddenly opens in 

front of Jeff Gordon with a lap to go.

"We're here to wear our favorite sweat-soaked Boston Red Sox cap, 

torn Slippery Rock sweatshirt and the Converses we lettered in, 

on a Saturday morning with nowhere we have to go and no one 

special we have to be.

"We're here to rake on a jack-high nothin' hand and have nobody 

know it but us. Or get in at least one really good brawl, get a 

nice shiner and end up throwing an arm around the guy who gave it 

to us.

"We're here to shoot a six-point elk and finally get the f-stop 

right, or to tie the perfect fly, make the perfect cast, catch 

absolutely nothing and still call it a perfect morning.

"We're here to nail a yield sign with an apple core from half a 

block away. We're here to make our dog bite on the same lame fake 

throw for the gazillionth time. We're here to win the stuffed 

bear or go broke trying.

"I don't think the meaning of life is gnashing our bicuspids over 

what comes after death but tasting all the tiny moments that come 

before it. We're here to be the coach when Wendell, the one whose 

glasses always fog up, finally makes the only perfect backdoor 

pass all season. We're here to be there when our kid has three 

goals and an assist. And especially when he doesn't.

"We're here to see the Great One setting up behind the net, tying 

some poor goaltender's neck into a Windsor knot. We're here to 

watch the Rocket peer in for the sign, two out, bases loaded, 

bottom of the career. We're here to witness Tiger's lining up the 

22-foot double breaker to win and not need his autograph 

afterward to prove it.

"We're here to be able to do a one-and-a-half for our grandkids. 

Or to stand at the top of our favorite double-black on a 

double-blue morning and overhear those five wonderful words: 

'Highway's closed. Too much snow.' We're here to get the Frisbee 

to do things that would have caused medieval clergymen to burn us 

at the stake.

"We're here to sprint the last 100 yards and soak our shirts and 

be so tired we have to sit down to pee.

"I don't think we're here to make SportsCenter. The really good 

stuff never does. Like leaving Wrigley at 4:15 on a perfect 

summer afternoon and walking straight into Murphy's with half of 

section 503. Or finding ourselves with a free afternoon, a little 

red 327 fuel-injected 1962 Corvette convertible and an unopened 

map of Vermont's back roads.

"We're here to get the triple-Dagwood sandwich made, the 

perfectly frosted malted-beverage mug filled and the football 

kicked off at the very second your sister begins tying up the 

phone until Tuesday.

"None of us are going to find ourselves on our deathbeds saying, 

'Dang, I wish I'd spent more time on the Hibbings account.' We're 

going to say, 'That scar? I got that scar stealing a home run 

from Consolidated Plumbers!'

"See, grown-ups spend so much time doggedly slaving toward the 

better car, the perfect house, the big day that will finally make 

them happy when happy just walked by wearing a bicycle helmet two 

sizes too big for him. We're not here to find a way to heaven. 

The way is heaven. Does that answer your question, son?"

And he said, "Not really, Dad.”And I said, "No?"

And he said, "No, what I meant is, why are we here when Mom said 

to pick her up 40 minutes ago?"

 ~ RICK REILLY

SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

“Another characteristic of human nature—perhaps the one that makes us most human—is our capacity to do the unnatural, to transcend and hence transform our own nature.” 
― M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled

PROVERBS 11-12

16Fools show their annoyance at once,

but the prudent overlook an insult. (12:16)

1 CORINTHIANS 15:33-58

58Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

JOURNAL 

The power of emotions and reactions are very real and difficult to unwind. There are certain ways that I have become programed to respond. All of them are predicated on how I was raised and those programed responses were formed in the context of pain, problems, pleasures etc. They are rooted in survival and mostly in emotional survival because physical survival has never been a challenge in my lifetime.

Yet from what I have learned about human behavior. Emotional survival can feel as real and desperate as physical survival...especially to a child. Then as responses become ingrained by repetitive behavior, the responses become somewhat automatic. This is what causes adults to act in childish, incompetent ways. They are automatic responses, learned in childhood that manifest themselves in the lives of those children as adults.

This really is pretty daunting stuff. I know I can feel and know when I start to retreat into childlike behavior. It often surprises me with it's intensity and power. However what I am learning from scripture is that it is possible to rechannel these responses into Godly responses. I have also learned through human psychology and therapy that humans really can be reprogramed. Although we have a tendency to respond in certain ways...we actually can stop that process and think through scenarios in ways that call God into the equation.

The more time I spend reading, praying and deepening my reliance on God, the more likely I am to respond to circumstances in ways that reflect God and his love and goodness. Yet if I neglect the reading, praying etc...then I will just adopt the same ingrained responses of my youth.

11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 CORINTHIANS 13:11-13

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

“[To have Faith in Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.” 
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

PROVERBS 9-10

29The way of the Lord is a refuge for the blameless,

but it is the ruin of those who do evil.(10:29)

1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-32

9For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

JOURNAL 

Everyday is a new day, full of possibilities, full of challenges, full of adventure. How will I view it? Do I see it as such or do I dread it in worry and anxiety, fearful of negative outcomes? Here is where the test of my faith is real. It all is in how I view life and my place and the part that I play. Have I surrendered to God as his agent in this world...or is God simply my genie...here to help me when times get tough.

There definitely was a point of surrender for me, there was a specific time when I felt that I had to make a decision. It was in Belize 1989...yet everyday since I have battled the internal pull to live life in order to get...rather than living it to serve. To surrender to God each and every morning is vital for my mind and heart. It causes me to confront the "shadow" side of my mind. It exposes it in all its deception and selfishness.

The times in my life when I have struggled the most are those when I neglected this surrender, when my emotions and circumstances convinced me that all was good and reading and praying were not needed.  It is so easy to slip into the mindset of narcissism. I can see and feel the separation as I read and pray. Yet this battle is ongoing...it never ceases.

Yet I am thankful God created me with this constant need to cling to him. For when I do, I am blessed with his love and joy.

 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

“God created us for this: to live our lives in a way that makes him look more like the greatness and the beauty and the infinite worth that he really is. This is what it means to be created in the image of God.” 
― John Piper

PROVERBS 7-8

32“Now then, my children, listen to me;

blessed are those who keep my ways.

33Listen to my instruction and be wise;

do not disregard it.

34Blessed are those who listen to me,

watching daily at my doors,

waiting at my doorway.

35For those who find me find life

and receive favor from the Lord.

36But those who fail to find me harm themselves;

all who hate me love death.” (8:32-36)

1 CORINTHIANS 14:21-40

 24But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, 25as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”

JOURNAL 

The point of faith is relationship with God so that others will be drawn to believe. According to Paul this is the main reason for prophesy and the organization of the church. To care for each other and to be a beacon so that unbelievers will know that "God is really among you".

This isn't about securing wealth or becoming famous or building an empire to glorify self. This isn't about power or money or position or privilege. It is simply about moving others and encouraging them to embrace relationship with God so that they will do the same.

When I really look around I see how often I have missed it. I see how I get so consumed with my own doubts and questions and circumstances that I miss the opportunity to really love others and to be part of a community that demonstrates and lives out the spirit of God. I miss out on teaching this to my children. I miss out on encouraging other believers in their own walk and battle. I am grateful that my life is not over. I am grateful that I still have today to share God's love, to lead my boys, to love Marci and to encourage others.

31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

MATTHEW 6:31-34

SEPTEMBER 1, 2017

“Ted Engstrom insightfully writes: “Cripple him, and you have a Sir Walter Scott. Lock him in a prison cell, and you have a John Bunyan. Bury him in the snows of Valley Forge, and you have a George Washington. Raise him in abject poverty and you have an Abraham Lincoln. Strike him down with infantile paralysis, and he becomes Franklin Roosevelt. Burn him so severely that the doctors say he'll never walk again, and you have a Glenn Cunningham -- who set the world's one mile record in 1934. Deafen him and you have a Ludwig van Beethoven. Have him or her born black in a society filled with racial discrimination, and you have a Booker T. Washington, a Marian Anderson, a George Washington Carver. Call him a slow learner, "retarded," and write him off as uneducable, and you have an Albert Einstein.” 
― Charles R. Swindoll, The Quest for Character/Improving Your serve/Strengthening Your Grip

PSALM 148-150

4For the Lord takes delight in his people;

he crowns the humble with victory.

5Let his faithful people rejoice in this honor

and sing for joy on their beds. (149:4-5 )

1 CORINTHIANS 11:16-34

23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

JOURNAL 

This morning the power was out...actually went out last night. I noticed something this morning and that is the power of habit. I kept turning the light switches on even though I knew that there was no power. That response is so ingrained into my psyche that I do it even when I know there will be no benefit to flipping the switch.

That lead me to think about the different habits in my life and the reality that the more I do something, the more likely I will be to repeat that behavior. If I am disciplined to following God, then my default behavior will be to do so. However if I am conditioned to going my own way and using people and things rather than God...then I will tend to continue...especially when under stress or in difficult situations.

So disciplining myself to practice my faith...no matter the circumstance, is what is required. However it is not a grit and bear it faith but rather we are promised that joy and love are there no matter the earthly circumstances. To have faith means I trust God in all things, in all trials in all victories, in all suffering, in all pleasure. It is to be the one and only constant.

3“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

5Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the earth.

6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be filled.

7Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy.

8Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they will see God.

9Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God.

10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

MATTHEW 5:3-10