SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

“The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others remain as your legacy.” 
― Kalu Ndukwe Kalu

PROVERBS 23-24

30I went past the field of a sluggard,

past the vineyard of someone who has no sense;

31thorns had come up everywhere,

the ground was covered with weeds,

and the stone wall was in ruins.

32I applied my heart to what I observed

and learned a lesson from what I saw:

33A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to rest—

34and poverty will come on you like a thief

and scarcity like an armed man. (24:30-34)

2 CORINTHIANS 5

 20We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sin^b for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

JOURNAL 

What does it really mean to be "the righteousness of God"?  What does it mean to be "Christ's ambassador"? Ultimately I think it means to become the best of yourself...to not lose my unique identity but yet be the best version of me. The only way that can occur is to rest in confidence of my talents, abilities and trust God for direction. To have my actions come from a place of being filtered through the Godly characteristics of love and honor...is to be disciplined in not defaulting to my emotions but rather to choose to operate from God's wisdom and love.

This requires a daily shift and change to not be ruled by feelings but rather to see and view feelings and emotions as tools and indicators rather that a default mode of operation. I may feel fear and anxiety in certain situations but God has given me a brain and an ability to stand apart from those feelings and view them in the context of my current circumstance. To be able to pause and view them and not immediately react is the unique gift of being human. To then be able to filter all of that through the stories of scripture and the tenants of truth as well as pause to pray and ensure that any decision I make lines up with scriptural truth as well as internal truth...this is the operation process which will guide me into living a life that is the righteousness of God.

This is not easy...most times it is very hard to not choose an immediate reaction but rather to pause briefly to think it through. But if I am to live as a believer this is the life I have dedicated myself to live. This is the mode of operation that I have surrendered to for eternity.

 20I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

GALATIANS 2:20

SEPTEMBER 12, 2017

“I must be willing to give whatever it takes to do good to others. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts. Otherwise, there is no true love in me, and I bring injustice, not peace, to those around me.” 
― Mother Teresa

PROVERBS 21-22 

25The craving of a sluggard will be the death of him,

because his hands refuse to work.

26All day long he craves for more,

but the righteous give without sparing. (21:25-26)

2 CORINTHIANS 4

16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

JOURNAL 

Working and giving are directly a result of being transformed by God's love. When we are transformed our concern is no longer being loved, our focus turns to giving, working and living in order to reflect God's spirit.

 14“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.

1 CHRONICLES 29:14

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