A view about manhood

We can sometimes (play on words) find ourselves too busy. The fact is that life moves by much more quickly than we can account for. We put priorities on things we must do and can forgot an important element in life. That is to take time to stop and acknowledge what God has given us. Stop and wait patiently for the Lord to direct our next step. These times of "doing nothing" are more important than times of busy tasks. Our tasks no matter how important to ourselves or someone else are limited. If we stop and give thanks or ask He who has no limit- this can have a greater influence on the outcome of any certain situation. I often forget to look to the Lord for guidance and try to set my own path or plan and after the fact ask God to bless my plan. A time of prayer is the most important thing we do each day.

Being an effective leader requires a person that is decisive and secure. A leader must be secure to keep doubt and anxiety at bay. A leader can't focus on future events that "might" happen. If a leader focuses on these things that might happen, it leads to second guessing themselves and even retracting decisions already in place. All leaders at some point will encounter situations beyond their own capacity. A leader must then rely on something beyond himself for direction and guidance. A leader with a firm foundation that rests on Jesus Christ has something in his arsenal that never changes and will provide excellent counsel in any decision he (or she)  is faced with.

There is conflict in this world. I like to be able to see and identify my enemy. We have wars between nations, we have conflict between political parties in our country, and struggles in our churches and homes. There is also the battle taking place in each of us. In each of these struggles we would like to "see" our enemy. We identify someone as our enemy, or the cause of our problems and struggles. But ultimately our opponent can't be seen. The one we identified as our enemy is someone being used by our enemy. They may see things differently because their view has been distorted, our perhaps my view is distorted. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." It shouldn't shock us that battles are raging everywhere around us, including our churches, our families, and within ourselves. This battle has...

From July 16th through the 19th, I was listening to comments from James McDonald (Walk in the Word) from Exodus chapters 3 and 4. Little did I know that there was direct purpose behind these comments preparing me for something unexpected. The comments dealt with God choosing Moses for a specific task. Moses comments from Exodus 4:10 were "Please Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." Moses didn't know why God would chose him as His spokesman. The point is that it doesn't matter who we are apart from God, or what we do for a living- all that matters is who God is. He is all knowing, all powerful, and always present God. I had worked for Schmidt Builders Supply for over 30 years until July 19th. On that day I found out that this day would be the last day Schmidt would be open for business. I was in unbelief for an extended period of time. This hit me har...

Growing up, I struggled with patience. I always wanted it (whatever it is) and wanted it now. Over time, I have been able to overcome this struggle. It still rears its ugly head ever so often- too often for my comfort. I even chose where to live in relation to my place of employment based on the number of stop signs and stop lights. If your keeping score- two stop signs on the way to work and none on the way home (and no stop lights either way). If you struggle like I do I have an idea. If you think setting at red lights are a waste of time (but also want to uphold the authority of law), every red light you come to stop as you normally would but turn right when your patience wears thin. This will take care of the red light patience problem but will create a new set of problems. You'll need to plan on never getting where your going- or at least be extremely late.

The following is from Phillip Cosby (American Family Association of Kansas and Missouri): On May 4th the Kansas Senate voted to stop the Community Defense Act (CDA) from becoming law in Kansas. Ignoring the House of Representatives overwhelming vote in favor of CDA, the Senate with a 17-22 vote rejected the CDA. The Senate decided that protecting Sexually Oriented Businesses (SOBs) trumps protecting all Kansas communities. Missouri legislators did protect their communities last year. But in Kansas, for two years in a row now the Kansas Senate refuses to heed the evidence, the court rulings and the common sense logic of the majority of the people in Kansas who support CDA. We owe Sen. Steve Abrams a big thank you. Senator Abrams of Arkansas City showed great courage in forcing a vote on CDA today. Yesterday, Senate leadership opposed and ruled to deny a vote on CDA but Sen. Abrams found a way to get their name on the line and procedurally, forced a vote. See how your S...

Most people relate this in terms of money. Money has been a huge issue on most people's minds-mine included. I'm using the term today in terms of time. When we reached daylight savings time, my expectations were that I would have time to catch up on some chores around the yard. Today begins another week of not getting home before the sun goes down. This cycle will probably continue another 4-5 weeks. Well at least I have weekends, but at this point are over half committed. Like most people,  I need to set priorities on the activities I'm involved in and cut some out. I need to look at my motivation for doing them and use that to figure out what gives. Do I do them because they "need" done? Do I enjoy what I'm doing? Or Do I really love what I'm doing? If I'm doing them because they need done, is there someone else that could take care of this and would love doing it? If I could cut these "need to" items out I would get more joy out of life. I...