It is finished...
No, this isn't a Christmas message though the focus on Christ and His finished work upon the Cross is very appropriate in late December. No, this message is about the buck.

As you may know from my earlier post, I killed my first buck in mid-November. It was a great thrill and so many people were so supportive of me in this process. I cannot tell you how touched I was by their support. The night I killed him I brought him home to show Shannon and the girls. Word spread that I had killed a big buck and friends started showing up to see the deer. We had a small celebration in my garage with close friends. Kind of crazy but very special.

As the days went on, I received a number of phone calls and emails of folks offering their congratulations. There is a neat community of hunters in Columbus and we rally around to celebrate each other's success. My hunting mentor - Ken Evans - was especially encouraging and supportive. Thank you Ken.

Blake Voltz - my neighbor and hunting club member - gave me the name of a taxidermist, Harrell Favors. I called Harrell and he couldn't have been nicer. He wanted to hear the whole story of how I killed the buck. I gave him the complete history, blow by blow, and he was truly, genuinely excited for me. He said, "Don't you worry, I'll go get the deer and I'll take really good care of him and do it just right."

At one point a few weeks ago, I sent Harrell an email from my blog of the story about the deer. His wife Jan wrote me back an incredibly nice and supportive email. She too is a hunter and completely understands the "sanctuary experience" of hunting.

She wrote this...A few years ago, at a family reunion, a male relative asked me, "Why do you hunt?" And for a moment, (just a moment) I was at a loss for words.....but when I haltingly answered, "There's no place I'd rather be a daybreak than in the woods...when the sun comes up, and rays of light filter through the trees, and the woods start to come alive with small animals scurrying about, and the birds greeting the new day and each other.....and as I look around, I see God in everything. I can almost hear his voice audibly as I talk to him." Before I could go any further, he smiled and said, "Same reason I hunt."

So time goes on and I've put the deer out of my mind. I trust Harrell and know he'll get it to me just as soon as he can.

Well, Santa came yesterday. My sweet wife became an elf and went to work to get me that deer on Christmas morning. She contacted Blake and told him what she wanted to accomplish. He - being the hunter he is - immediately grabbed it and said, "Let me take care of it, I'll call Harrell and arrange for it." Harrell, knowing the special circumstances immediately agreed to speed up the mounting. Something magical was about to happen in my life.

Shannon was so careful to conceal her elfish activities. Covert text messages, secret phone calls, etc. She had it all arranged. Blake picked up the deer last week and stored it at his house. On Christmas Eve, when we were at church, Blake was going to put the deer in the back of Shannon's car in the garage. When we were leaving to go to church, Shannon said, "Let's take your truck, my car is on empty." She feared I'd be suspicious - I wasn't. I'm proud to drive my truck anywhere - mud an all - especially to church! So we leave for church. Blake comes by and finds that her car doors are locked. He texts her and when we are riding home she is over there texting. Now I am getting suspicious. But she passes this off as some planning she is doing for a friend of hers. She goes in the house, unlocks the car and calls Blake. He is at his folks house eating Christmas dinner and gladly runs back to our house to try it again. I'm touched by his willingness to help.

So now it is Christmas morning and Shannon has kept this secret for a month conspiring with my neighbor and my taxidermist. About 10am, she says, "Richard I left something for the girls in the back of my car...go get it..."



Wow! You can imagine (or maybe see in my picture) just how special this was. I am touched beyond words by my wife's love for me and the effort she placed into making this happen. I am touched by Harrell & Jan Favors - folks I've never met but that I know will become good friends of ours. I am touched by Blake Voltz - for his love of hunting and his genuine excitement for his next door neighbor's good fortune.

We built a house a few years ago and I have a small study that is "my" space. A man's room. It is wood paneled with a pheasant on the wall, a print of a red-tail hawk (my blog is HawkSoars) and a Bucky Bowles print of quails lifting through south Georgia pines. My coffee table is a pair of benches pushed together that we used to have at our lake cabin (when we had it). These were made out of thick Mississippi heart pine from a 100+ year old barn from the farm of a friend. Over the mantle hung Robert E. Lee from my KA days at Mercer. Lee has hung in my house ever since I left college but I knew when I built this room that one day, I'd hang a big buck there. I even told Shannon that and she said, "You don't hunt Honey..." Well, the room is now finished. It is finished and I am blessed beyond words.



Soar!

More thwarting
OK so I told you there would be more on the thwarting thing. Why then would I wake up at 4am this morning and not be able to go back to sleep? Hmmmm....I wonder. Try as I may, my mind raced and I kept saying "What is it Lord? What are you trying to tell me?" Very clearly, I felt the answer was "Get up and get in Me." So, here I am.

My desire for sleep is thwarted! God wants time alone with me and sometimes posting on this blog is the best way I can articulate my thoughts to God. So I will ramble a bit again this morning...bear with me.

The "big" story and the "small" story - John Eldredge does such a good job of laying out that our lives are part of a much bigger story. Much goes on around us and we are characters in the great play of life. I struggle with this issue with our children. Very often we will explain to them that life isn't about them. As teenage girls, they have a hard time grasping that at times - they are conditioned by TV, friends and this world that life very much is all about them. Our world conditions all of us to this point. Look at ads in any magazine or on any TV channel...its all about you. "You too can possess the American dream..."

Our sin nature drives us to self-centeredness. Our children struggle with that - all children do. From very early on in their lives we teach them it is all about them. And as teenagers, we try to undo that by telling them "Life isn't about you!" (is it any wonder we all wind up in therapy?) As young babies and toddlers, we fawn all over them desiring to meet their every need and every desire. That plays right into the sin nature they are born with. That is perpetuated through their teenage years and on into college - it is all about pursuing their dreams and goals and ambitions.

As adults, we struggle with it. As Christians, we struggle with it. No matter how hard we try, we seem to always make the story circle back to ourselves. I do it all the time. I give a talk at church and immediately I want to ask my wife or someone else, "How did I do?" I prepare a presentation for work and labor to make it as good as I possibly can so that it will set me apart. I argue points in a conversation with family or friends or business associates and deep down, it is about me trying to win my points. Do you see?

I have had a glimmer of liberation in this just this week. I had to give a talk this week for business. I labored hard in preparing my remarks and Power Point and was ready to go. It was going to be another "See how good I can make Richard look in front of other people" talk. And then, I changed course. I really think God laid all these teachings on thwarting to culminate around this talk this week. He hit me with the same message 3-4 times in the past three weeks as a lead into this talk. I see that now.

I was asked to make a presentation and for the first time I can remember, I shifted my focus from being on me to being on the audience. I believe strongly and passionately about what it is I wanted to say. I laid out my points like a lawyer ready to argue his case. But what God nudged me toward was putting myself into the lives of the recipient. They asked me for my opinion and I had it to give but God wanted me to make this talk about the folks in the audience - not me.

I had something to share. It was well prepared, well thought out but my acclaim ended right there. I did what I was asked to do - "Come and tell us what you think". I put myself in mode of God saying, "Go tell them what you think - they need it, they've asked for it...fill their need".

It was incredibly freeing and liberating to just give the talk, lay out what it was I felt led to say and then leave the room. I didn't need to stand around and subtly encourage the "Great talk" comments. Frankly and very truthfully, I didn't want them. This talk simply wasn't about me. It was about them. Their goals, their dreams, their desires. When I shifted my focus from me and my small story, I immediately entered into the big story.

Again, from the last post, there is nothing wrong with dreams, goals or desires but when they play themselves out in "our" story and not as a part of the "big' story, we digress from God and He will thwart us to pull us back toward Him. The small story is our story. We can live our whole life in that small story - providing for our family, building our business, paying off our mortgage, constructing our retirement and accomplishing our life goals. We can do all of that and lead a pretty good life but if we do all that ignoring the big story, we are missing out on the "more".

God promises so much more. "The glory of God is man fully alive". Fully alive means living in the big story - His story.

Its all about you Lord. Its all about you.

Soar!

Thwarting
I have a series of posts to come on the topics of thwarting and idols. It seems that I can't escape these themes over the past 3-4 weeks.

Why would God thwart us? We have our desires and our dreams - why does it seem that these are nearly impossible to reach? So often, our dreams become our idols. We long for the perfect house, the perfect job, the chance to see the West, a completely healed family, investments that multiply, the peaceful life, etc. Many of these are worthy desires but if misplaced, they can become idols. Sometimes we long for family - family that fulfills our needs, understands us, moves towards us. Sometimes we long to "be somebody" - to be noticed, desired, viewed with respect or even honor. Again, these are worthy aspirations and again, if misplaced, can become idols.

We all have that "ache" in us for something. Oftentimes, it sets us out on a quest, a mission to fulfill that desire and satisfy that ache. They become our way of life.

Here is where the problems appear. When we have that ache, that longing as our priority in life...it is very likely that God is nowhere around. If our focus is on that desire - it cannot be on God. The quest itself can pull us away from God as can actually accomplishing our desire. If we won the lottery, we'd have it "made". Life would be complete. So how does God feel about that? See my point is that if "my" goals are fulfilled, "my" dreams realized -- where would I have room for God? It would be about "me", not "Him".

God is a jealous lover. The things we chase after and dream of and pursue are very often far removed from God. And so, in that, He thwarts. If we find our "salvation" in the lottery - we don't need God.

Man is an adulterer. We seek others. We pursue our wants and our desires and turn our back on the One who can fulfill all our needs. God operates in the "big" story. He sees the entire picture. Whereas I tend to focus on the "small" story...me. My goals, my dreams, my desires, my longing for acclaim, my vision, etc. My story is all about me.

And so...God thwarts. He knocks me off my horse as a gentle (and sometimes not so gentle) reminder that the things I rabidly pursue are serving to pull me farther and farther away from Him. God is a jealous lover. He wants all of us. Our idols take up a lot of the shelf space in our life - space designed God the One who loves us completely.

Much, much more to come on this. This post was a bit fractured - I'm gathering many thoughts. Stay patient with me as I work through these thoughts.

Soar!

Chasing the Adventure
I've been hunting for three years. My father wasn't/isn't a hunter. I didn't grow up around hunting but a few years ago, I decided that I wanted to pursue this. I feel most alive when I am outdoors and so I set out to take up deer hunting. A good friend and mentor is an avid hunter and he took me under his wing and helped me buy my deer rifle. He showed me which scope to buy and even mounted the scope and got my gun ready. A neighbor is an avid hunter and I mentioned to him my desire to hunt and he let me join a great hunting lease. We lease 1,100 acres in Harris County - a beautiful tract of land with ridges, creek bottoms, planted pines and hardwood drains. I've seen some amazing things hunting - bobcats, raccoons, owls, hawks. I've seen a buck track a doe in heat like a hound dog. He ran by my stand with his nose to the ground and my yelling didn't distract him. I've seen another buck come in and watch a doe feed. He was so captivated by her that he lay down and watched her not knowing that death was looking right at him. I moved my stand to a hardwood area in between a food plot and a creek bottom. I've seen great activity in this stand including a huge buck last year that I hesitated before shooting. I wanted a better shot and waited for him to emerge from behind a tree. He never emerged, he turned and went away from me keeping the tree between him and me.

My friends have helped me and taught me along the way. When I let this big buck go, my mentor said, "Richard you have been watching too much TV where these guys watch deer for a minute or two before shooting - you usually get about 3 seconds to take your shot". Others have taught me about keeping both eyes open when scoping a deer, breathing slowly when shooting and squeezing the trigger slowly. I've learned a lot by listening - learning about the Rut, learning how deer move, learning about Trail cameras, scrapes and rubs. I've learned the importance of White Oaks. It has been an adventure.

This year has been frustrating. I bought two trail cameras and caught some really nice dear on the cameras but in the stand, I was being skunked. So most mornings this fall, I'd get down out of my stand about 9am and start to scout. I have walked miles and miles up and down creek drains. I've found deer paths, scrapes and rubs all over the place. I've found shed antlers from last year. I've savored my times in the woods on foot. I feel most alive hunting when I am on foot crossing streams, looking for signs and scouting new hunting locations. Think about it - Indians didn't hunt deer from a tree stand! They did it on foot! I make sure I stay alive by wearing orange when I do this and knowing where my buddies are at all times!

Last Saturday, I got down and found a great "bowl" in the creek behind me where it curves around a huge white oak. In fact, there are 5 big white oaks around there. I set up a ground blind and hunted it last weekend. I heard a big buck grunt (never heard that before) down in the creek. A small 4 point came out and the big buck passed back up in the woods so I couldn't see him.

This Saturday, I hunted my stand in the morning and got down to scout behind the White Oak bowl. I found a new deer trail and there were three huge deer rubs along this trail. Here is a picture of one...

This was a big tree and the deer flat out tore it up. The rub was very fresh. My blood started pumping. Just when I was about to give up (not really), God throws me a softball with these rubs..."He is there...stay patient."

So Sunday afternoon, I hunted the White Oak Bowl....nothing. I got frustrated and cold and about 5:15, I got down and headed back by my stand. I contemplated going home but something in me said, "What the heck, stay in the stand for another 30 minutes and just see..." I left my gear on the ground and climbed up with my gun and antlers.

I sat down and started rattling the horns. Immediately (about 2 minutes after I got in the stand), a 4 point emerged from my left. I scoped him and realized he wasn't a shooter and then I heard rustling to my right. I am left eye dominant so shooting left handed to my right is ideal. I swung the gun around and caught a monster coming out of the thick scrub. I knew immediately, this was THE one. I scoped him immediately and grunted at him (My mentor taught me this too - you make a MMMMMMMARK sound and deer will typically stop to figure out where the sound is coming from). He didn't stop. So, I grunted again. He didn't stop. There is a good chance this is the same deer I let go last year and I wasn't about to hesitate again. I slowly squeezed the trigger and he jumped and took off down toward the creek. He ran about 50-75 yards and stopped to look around. I thought I had missed him. Then he fell over, got up, ran to the left another 25 yards or so and fell again.

When I walked up on him, I could not believe my eyes. I had waited three years and never fired a shot. I had let a number of smaller bucks go. I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever get a deer. The enemy was beginning to whisper, "You see, you are a hack...you'll never match up..." and God was gently telling me all along, "Be patient, you are learning, you have done this..."

The deer scored 142 inches and weighed 237 pounds. For a first deer - he is amazing. Forgive the next pictures, they are kind of messy.







It has been quite an adventure and I am blessed beyond words by being so fortunate to have this as my first deer. So many things went into making this possible. The generosity of the land owner, the time my mentors put into educating me, the patience of my hunting buddies, my sweet wife's support as I left before sunup on many a Saturday, Rich for having a 4-Wheeler and being willing to help me bring the deer out of the woods, being in the right place at the exact right time and patience...lots of patience.

God met me in the woods these past three years. If you can't hear God around the noise and busyness of this life, get alone with Him. The woods are a great place for me to feel God. Crystal clear blue skies, golden leaves, the majesty of His nature, quiet and cool breezes. In this sanctuary, I've had great time alone with God and (And this will offend someone) - God was sweet to me yesterday afternoon. He kept telling me "Be patient" and then conspired events to collide this beast with me in a perfect setting.

Soar!

Savior?
I have a good friend and mentor. He is a very successful real estate developer. His brother is a successful surgeon. His other brother retired as a successful investment manager. It is a family of success. My friend has two sons - one is full-time staff with Young Life. The other son went to medical school and is practicing in Augusta, GA. His name is Grant. Grant could have written his own check but instead he chose to give up lucrative medical practice in exchange for a life of service. He started an inner city clinic in Augusta. His patients aren't glamorous - there is no insurance, there is very little commerce at all with this practice. It is a life of service. Grant told me one time that a man questioned him on this choice and told him, "Grant, you will poor..." and Grant said, "Yep, for the next forty years but I am thinking eternity and when you think eternity, forty years is a blink of an eye." Grant has it figured out and God is using him in a mighty way.

Read this below from his website...
Patient 2 – A kind inner city man with just your basic medical problems of high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol. He says everything is fine except…then he points to his head. "I don't trust nobody doctor." He tells a tale of sitting in his chair all night long and looking out his blinds every time he hears a noise. He stands alone at the bus stop. He walks alone and turns around if anyone is behind him to make sure he is not being followed. He is big and intimidating but has become imprisoned mentally. His wife passed away over 20 years ago and his son is in Iraq. "I don't trust nobody doctor," he repeats again and again.

We pray for his tormented paranoid mind that has imprisoned him. After prayer, the man gets ready to leave and then nervously speaks "Doctor…. one more thing…" I don't have time for ‘one more things.’ "There was an old lady out front who couldn't pay her co-pay. What's going to happen to her?" I inform him that people have to pay a little bit to be seen. It teaches them responsibility or something. "Well she said she could pay in a couple of weeks, but I don't know how she will be able to – Do you mind ….. I mean ….. Can I pay her co-pay?"

I have never seen a borderline paranoid schizophrenic reach out and care for a stranger like this man. I walked back in a closed exam room and wept. Is a president really going to change the world or will it be you and me and my paranoid friend. Has Christ not called us to this time and place to build His Kingdom and love His people? Are we going to change the world in the ballot box and then go home and wait for it to happen? We are his ambassadors, to build his kingdom, love a neighbor, serve the poor, and die to self.

Wow. What a story. What a shame...that more of us don't think this way. I fear America has lost this spirit and we have become a nation of people who expect the government to fix all of our problems. I fear we have become Christians who'd rather write a check to the church or to the Christian relief organization than we would roll up our own sleeves and do get dirty helping folks that are hurting. I'm convicted.

Our nation is about to be sadly disappointed when President Obama doesn't fix all their problems. When he doesn't pay off their debts. When he doesn't make everything "fair" or "right". He can't. There is only one, "The One" and it isn't Obama. It is Christ. Only in Him will the crooked be made straight. Only in Him can we be complete. Only in Him can wrongs be truly righted.

I'm thankful for my friend Grant. He is an inspiration to us all. Earthly poor - Eternally rich.

Soar!

Choice
A friend relayed this story to me last night. He attended college with a girl and was good friends with her. She was raised in a Christian home and attended church regularly. As he said, "She knew the Truth - she knew right from wrong." She began to date a muslin boy from Egypt. My friend had a long talk with her and warned her against dating him because he feared she would be pulled away from her faith. The boy treated her well but she was warned that eventually his true self and true religion would emerge.

She ended up dating him more seriously and marrying him. A few years later, his true self emerged and the rules of Islam were forced upon her. In rebellion she got hooked up with a group following witchcraft and lesbianism. She hit rock bottom. Her world came apart.

In a moment of desperation, she turned back to God and prayed. In her prayers she anguished over how her life had turned out and she shook her fist at God and said, "How could you have let all this happen to me? Why didn't you warn me?"

With that she had a sudden flashback to her college days. She hadn't thought about my friend in years but suddenly he was there again. She remembered their entire conversation, remembered what he was wearing and remembered his warnings about choosing to turn away from God.

God said to her - "You see, I tried to warn you but you chose to ignore my warnings". Now God didn't say, "I told you so..." rather, He lovingly showed her His mercy in that conversation. She came back to God and restored her faith in Him.

It is so easy for us to blame God for our problems. We choose to ignore Him. We choose to do things our own way and when we make a wreck of our lives, we turn back to God and say "Why did you let this happen?"

Our nation has turned its back on God. We've removed Him from our schools. We don't allow prayer before football games. We've removed His values from our entertainment and replaced it with TV shows promoting alternative lifestyles, affairs, drug use, teenage sex, violence and greed. As we have seen, this opening of Pandora's box hasn't made us any safer or more complete. Alcoholism, drug use, addition to pornography, teenage sex and street violence are at all time highs and we wonder why God would let such bad things happen.

God didn't let these terrible things happen - they are consequences our decision to turn our backs on Him. God didn't "let" Adam and Eve get cast out of the Garden - they chose to disobey His command and then they were exposed to their own nakedness, their own sin.

There is still time for our nation. There is time to turn back to God. There is time to repent of our selfish ways. While we cannot individually change the course of this nation's path, we can change the path of our individual homes and lives. We can turn back to God. We can stop living for self and live for Him.

I love the words from this song...
Give me one pure and holy passion, give me one magnificent obsession
Give me one glorious ambition for my life
To know and follow hard after You.

The ambition of our lives should be to know and follow hard after Him. It isn't to become CEO or to become rich or famous -- the ambition of our lives should be Him.

Soar!

But remember—he gave us free will.

He gave us a choice. This is a frequent question, "Why does such a good God let bad things happen?" My wife had this conversation today with a friend. Man will say he doesn't believe in God and yet, man is so quick to ultimately blame God for his problems. Why is that?

We want our freedom. We want choice. Good news - He gave us free will. "You want choice, here you go..." Think of it terms of abortion. You'll correctly guess that I am against abortion. Always have been. As the father of adopted children, I am more so now than ever. But I digress. Abortion. "I want a woman's right to choose...." OK, you want it...here you go. I'm not a woman and I've never had or known someone who has an abortion so this may seem harsh but wasn't "choice" made in the back seat of the car? Don't the young women who decide to have sex with their high school boyfriends make "choice" when they give over their bodies to them? Isn't there a reason the Bible says that sex should be saved for marriage? Why is that? Don't you think God knows the devastating consequences of sex before marriage and, God forbid, an abortion?

The woman's right to choose crowd wants freedom of choice. The right to choose is made when a couple climbs into bed. The conception of the child is the consequence of that choice. Peggy Noonan captured this better than I've ever heard stated when she said, "Anyone who buys a pack of condoms late on a Friday night knows when life begins - it begins at conception - because that is what they are trying to prevent." The conception is the consequence of an earlier choice.

In an other example - teenagers drinking on a Friday night. They know it is against the law. They know that it is dangerous and yet, they make the choice to drink. The DUI is the consequence of that choice. The kids have the freedom to choose - sex, drugs, rock and roll - and they have to live with the consequences.

And when the consequences come - and they always do - why does man (even those who don't believe) always ask, "Why would a good God let this happen?"

The ultimate consequence is being alone. You've been there. You know that feeling - when you were caught cheating on a test in high school, the first time your parents caught you sneaking out or sneaking in, being caught in a lie...once the music stops there is that sudden, haunting of "I am alone in this."

This is from Eldredge's book Epic...

"We seem to forget—perhaps more truthfully, we refuse to remember—that we are the ones who betrayed him, not vice versa. We are the ones who listened to the lies of the Evil One in the Garden; we chose to mistrust the heart of God. In breaking the one command he gave us, we set in motion a life of breaking his commands.

The final act of self-centeredness is seen in those who refuse to come to the wedding banquet of God (Matthew 22:2–3). They do not want God. They reject his offer of forgiveness and reconciliation through Jesus. What is he to do? The universe has only two options. If they insist, God will grant to them what they have wanted—to be left to themselves."

Remember He gives us free will. Remember there are consequences. The greatest consequence of all is separation from God. The only thing that bridges that gap is the freedom that comes from trusting in Jesus. "My life is a wreck. I wanted freedom, I got it and it isn't working out so well for me. I cannot do life on my own. I need to trust in Jesus. I need to finally lay down my life, my goals, my greed, my ambition and my desire to be my own Lord and the Lord of Lords take control." In that one act of faith, you bridge the gap from an eternity of aloneness and separation and come into an eternity of glory.

Soar!

Be careful. Be still.

"Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." Ephesians 5:15-17

Be careful. Be careful of how you walk, of where you go, of who you associate with, of what you put into your mind. Make the most of your time for there are many "busy" things that compete for your 24 hours.

Satan has two strong tactics he employs to trip us up - the first is being busy. The busier we are, the less time we have to listen for the heart of God. Meetings, emails, blackberry's, little league, work, trips, charitable work, yard work, etc. Rush, rush. Go, go. Type-A. Power broker. Deal maker. Big producer. Important.

God wants you silent. God wants you slowed down so you can listen. Have you ever done this with your kids? "Please slow down a minute and be quiet so you can hear what I am trying to tell you!!" Don't you wonder if God isn't thinking the same thing about you and me? PLEASE get away from the noise. PLEASE get alone in the woods or in your closet so you can hear Me. PLEASE turn off the radio in your car and just communicate with Me. God longs for relationship with you. He craves time alone with you so He can nurture and guide you. Get quiet and listen.

Is it any wonder He says...."Be still and know that I am God"? (Ps 46:10). If you are still...you will know.

Satan's other tactic - if he can't drown you in the busy work of this world, he'll go silent and convince you he doesn't exist. If you think about Oprah or the other "peace" guru's, they never talk about evil. They talk about evolving - about becoming the complete "you". They talk about inner peace. They talk about finding your center. They talk about being in the "now". Do you ever hear them talk about evil? Do they ever address the fact that Satan does exist, that evil is real and that it prowls around looking for someone to devour? They don't because they have bought one of Satan's great lies..."I'm not here."

The days are evil. Yes they are. I watch our debates and shake my head. Our nation stands on the brink. Where is the leadership? Where is the depth of character in the men and women that lead our nation? Where are the straight arrows - folks that mean what they say and say what they mean? Even more sad is why most Americans don't crave such leadership. Sadly, it appears we have become a nation of people who want someone else to fix our problems. We are a nation that turns away from responsibility and always thinks "someone else is to blame for my problems". We are a nation that has turned our backs on God and now wants a handout.

This verse is powerful. The days are evil. Don't be foolish. Understand the will of the Lord. Be careful. Be still.

Soar!

Consider this in the context of our world today...
This was written years ago by Rev. William Rogers of Denver, Colorado.

"Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock." Matthew 7:24

Our forefathers founded this nation on the rock of God's Word. Today people buy more Bibles and know less about the Bible's teaching than ever before. The result is a spiritual depression more serious than the economic one. By neglecting the religious principles once reverenced, our nation has slipped from the rock to shifting sand.

Daniel Webster left this warning: "If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury our glory in profound obscurity." The only way back to real stability is by restoring the Bible to its rightful place.

If prosperity should return under present low moral standards it would mean more drinking, more deaths on the highway, more gambling frenzy, more divorces and suicides. First we must have a moral and spiritual recovery. "Except the Lord build the house, the labor in vain that built it." Our citizens must turn again to the Bible, to the Church, and to God.

Undergird your character with Bible truth. Teach your children from the Word of God. Gather every Lord's day in God's House to study the way of life. Say with Joshua: "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." When we become a Bible-revering people our nation shall again stand on a rock where no storm can shake it.
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Powerful, powerful words indeed - especially in 2008 when our nation has completely turned its back on God to pursue materialism and personal desires. Especially today when we consider who will be our next set of leaders. Especially today when our financial markets are rocked as a house built upon sand.

We need to be on our needs praying that God will show His mercy to our nation in this time of need.

Soar!

Fireproof
Go see this movie. It is fantastic. My wife wanted to go last weekend and i talked her out of it. She mentioned it early this Saturday morning as a longing. I told her the TV football schedule and then proceeded out to the yard. As I was working in the yard I decided to come in and offer her the movie. She took me up on the offer. I'm glad she encouraged this.

This movie is anointed. God is all over it. You could feel it. Watching this movie, you knew God's people had followed their hearts in making this movie. They took a huge risk and you could feel God's blessing on their work. Our audience was vocal in their approval. Many a person shouted out "Amen" at appropriate moments and "Praise God" during the key points in the movie. We were in a movie theatre full of believers watching a clean movie made by believers proclaiming the love of God. It was powerful beyond words.

I don't cry. My wife has only seen me cry 1-2 times in nearly 20 years of marriage but yesterday I could not contain a flood of tears. This movie simply blew me away. I have never seen the Gospel so easily and beautifully proclaimed. Time after time, the writers infused the movie with the Gospel -- a young black girl is trapped by a fire and Kirk Cameron goes in to save her. He refuses to leave her. During the fires of our lives, God sends in our Rescuer and He will not leave us. In a car wreck scene, a terrified young woman is told over and over, "I am here. I will not leave you". Exactly what God tells us when we wreck our lives. "I am here. I will not leave you." As I type this, I choke up with tears. God does not leave us. He sent His Son in to rescue us from the wreckage of our lives.

The man in this movie has his marriage in ruins. He and his wife lead separate lives. They've grown apart. They are selfish. They annoy one another. As he is trying to save his marriage and working with his father, he tells his father, "How can I continue to love her and move toward her when she continues to turn her back on me?" As the son is saying this the father is walking up under a cross at a beautiful outdoor sanctuary. Right as Kirk Cameron is saying this, the father winds up right under the cross. How can Jesus continue to move towards us and pursue love with us when we continue to completely turn our backs on him and lead our own broken lives? It is a powerful visual.

This movie will change your marriage. If you've ever struggled with your spouse - he/she is selfish, unstable, needy, greedy, passive, aggressive, demanding, nagging, etc., you need to see this movie. It captures the typical marriage with stunning clarity and brutal honesty. "All fall short of the glory of God".

Please, please invest the time and money and take your wife/husband to this movie. You won't regret it but I'll bet you'll come out with a new perspective on your marriage and life.

This brings me to another point. This movie cost $650,000 to make and has already grossed more than $10 million. A small church in Albany, Georgia went way out on a limb to make this movie and God is rewarding their faithfulness. As an aside, it warms this Georgia boy's heart to see Albany in this film. The pine trees, Phoebe Putney hospital, downtown Albany, etc. It feels like home. But to the point - here is a film made by Christians that is thoroughly entertaining and powerfully moving. It is clean. It is safe. It is quality entertainment and watching it, you could feel God's hand all over it. I was drawn to tears just by the power of God in this movie. He ordained it. All I can continue to say is "You can feel God" in this movie.

But again back to the point - what we watch. I am so sick of this election and the media. I am sick of Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric and MSNBC. I am sick of the spin. I am sick of The View and Oprah. I am sick of the poison they are spewing.

The media opposes the Cross. They hate it. Let me say this again - they HATE the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. They oppose him. They attack him. They are against anything that brings glory to God. The hate the Word -- you and I know it -- and yet, we watch them.

We let them into our homes. In effect....we embrace them. We listen to Oprah and it seeps into our minds, "Maybe she has a point...." She doesn't have a point. She is lost. She stands in direct opposition to the Word of God. And yet.....we watch them.

WHY? Ask yourself, "Why do I even bother to listen?" I know these people are Godless. I know that they have an agenda that opposes my Lord. So why then do we listen?

John 10:10 says very clearly, "The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it to the full." The thief is out there. He uses countless resources to come into our homes and tell us "God isn't real. God doesn't really care about you. You can make your own decisions and you can overcome the consequences...."

You know the lies and you know the liar. I just want to encourage you to see this movie as soon as possible and to pay attention to the sources of information you rely upon. We are in a world at war. America stands on the brink of financial ruin. Millions of Americans are addicted to alcohol, drugs, pornography, food and the love of money. The enemy - one by one - is looking for ways to trip you up and take you out; Don't kid yourselves. You are under attack. Your children are under attack. The liar is sneaky. He comes as you sideways. Be on guard.

Fireproof your life. Fireproof your marriage. Fireproof your kids. We are at war and praise be to God that He has already won the victory.

Soar!

Struggles
Dear ________ -
I just read your most recent blog post and was struck by the similarities to our earlier email conversations about this same topic.

I have been weighed heavy with this same issue for years. I am an investment advisor for goodness sakes and I still struggle personally with my own faults and shortcomings managing the resources entrusted to me. I am exactly where you are in this. But I've had some breakthrough on this.

You (and I) may never have a $7 million retirement account. Others surely will do "better" than we will financially. The lie is that a $7 million retirement would "complete" us. I deal with people with millions and they know no more peace than you or I do. So the first lie is that money somehow completes us. It doesn't.

The second lie is that any failures or shortcomings you and I have had in this regard have tainted us for life. It hangs over us as an accusation we cannot escape and _______, it is a lie of the foul one.

"Who will rescue me from this body of death?"
"By His stripes we are healed"
"He came to preach deliverance to the captives..."

"Captives". We are captive. Trapped. In bondage. Satan doesn't play fair. His goal is to lock you into that experience and even give you an identity in those mistakes so that he can put you in bondage over those events.

You remain in bondage over this and only the Great Liberator can free you and me of this bondage. He already has!

Here's the thing ______, rich or poor, skinny or fat...God has you and I exactly where He wants us - for reasons we may not understand but that He understands completely. I try every day to make money and grow my net worth. I try to be smart. I try to do the right thing and my money isn't multiplying itself exponentially. For years I have beaten the ever living crap out of myself over this and only very recently have I come to the place where I see that God has me where he wants me. I will be a good steward and will try to do the right thing but I may never reach "success" as the world defines it.

What has been release for me in this is the realization that God knows best. In His stripes I am healed. He has delivered me. I am free. I may never know why my efforts never "worked" and I don't need to. God has me exactly where he wants me. That is freeing.

The things of this earth will all burn up - 401(k)'s, pension plans, Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual -- it will all burn up. I know men with $10 million , $30 million and $100 million net worths and it NEVER is enough. It NEVER brings peace. It is why men build $10 million homes. It is why we buy 72 inch plasma TV's. It is why we trade cars every 2 years. We are constantly searching for that one thing that will finally bring us satisfaction and, therefore, peace.

Peace only comes from the One that has already set ________ free. You are free. Take the bondage and chains of money off. Quit dragging them around. You are complete. You are accepted. You are whole.

In Christ

Your friend Richard

Stress
John Eldredge has a post on his blog today about stress and returning from vacation back into the matrix. While we are away, life changes. We make plans. We say "I'm going to change this" - less TV, more family time, more games, more exercise, etc. And then - in just a few days back in the world - we revert back to our old ways.

I can relate. This life is a killer. The stress is all consuming. I hate it and fear we cannot truly escape it in this life. A good friend and mentor of mine is a CPA here in town. He told me one time that God revealed something to him about how his life was consuming him. He was very active in Young Life. Kids were at their house every week. Their home was a sanctuary for kids and he built relationships with them. Many a night, he'd get a call from a kid in distress and would go to the jail or to their home to help them work out issues with parents or friends. He taught (still teaches) Sunday School. He was very active for the Kingdom. And then, January came along. The calendar rolled over into a new year and it began to be "tax season". For 4-5 months, he shut down. No Young Life - or if he was there, he was checked out. Sunday school was an after-thought.

And then God spoke. He revealed to him this - "When I die and get to heaven, God is going to sit me down and review my life. He'll say - 'I am so proud of you - you led Young Life and taught Sunday school faithfully. You ministered to so many and were so selfless....for 8 months. Where were you those other 4 months?" My friend would say, "Lord, I had a job to do. I wanted to be a good steward of the career you gave me and the people you entrusted to me. I had to help them with their taxes."

And God replies..."Taxes. What are taxes?"

Hmmm. All these things that consume us on this earth have absolutely no value in heaven. Taxes - we all know what they are. Entire industries are built around taxes. Millions of Americans - in some capacity - spend their careers working on taxes. And yet the Lord will say, "Taxes...What are taxes?"

It blew my friend away. No, he didn't quit his job but he went right back to Thursday night Young Life. He went right back into the mode of being available 24/7 for kids. Sunday school went back to being a passion rather than a duty.

I work in the market. It is a killer. I wear the responsibility of my client's life savings on my shoulders each and every day. The market stinks right now. It consumes the airways. CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox News everywhere you look there is "the market crumbles, oil surges, inflation is everywhere, crash is coming"...doom, doom, doom. Then we'll get into the season of greed when it is going up and the airways will be filled with greed. It is consuming. We all are touched by the market. I bet you have thought about it in the past 30 days. "Wonder how bad my 401k has been hit?" It simply consumes us.

I came home yesterday after a very tough week and went out on the porch with the dogs. I love my black lab. He is a happy dog. He loves unconditionally. All he wants to do is spend time with me. He savors those hour long play times we have each night. I was petting him last night and thought "You don't worry about (or even know what they are) the market, Iran, mortgages, gas prices, taxes - all you want to do is love me".

In many ways my dumb old black lab showed me the face of God. All these things we humans get consumed with are not even in His vocabulary. All He wants to do is love us and spend time with us.

Soar!

I found it ...
Here it is, the best definition of "servant leadership" or "servanthood" (as I've been calling it) that I have read. I've you've read my previous 3-4 posts, you will know that I have been hearing "humility" on a consistent basis and in this, I've been trying to articulate what that means in a leadership capacity. I haven't done a very good job of it but today, I have THE answer. Here it is...

(Now imagine if you heard your CEO say "this is how we are going to do business going forward"...)

If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care - then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then he died a self-less, obedient death - and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.
Philippians 2 The Message

Imagine if that is how business was run - putting the needs of others ahead of ourselves - not fighting for promotion but celebrating the promotion of others - no jealousy - humility - dying to our own self and helping others succeed. Just imagine how this would transform a business! Think of how this would transform the church! No agendas, no "I need to be heard", the attitude of a servant.

Soar!

The Heart
I just read John Mackey's (CEO of Whole Foods) commencement address to Bentley College. He speaks in one place about the heart. See if this doesn't sound strangely familiar to all that I have written about the heart quoting Eldredge, McManus and others....

We need to develop our self-awareness skills so that we can know when we are truly following our hearts and when we've lost our way. It is actually easier than it sounds because when we are truly following our hearts we are tapped into our deepest passions in life. We are doing what we most love and we find our lives full of increased energy, greater creativity, purpose, joy, and happiness. We simply feel more alive and we are moving within the flow of life. How do you know when you've stopped following your heart? When the opposite occurs—decreased energy, lack of creativity, no real sense of purpose and you aren't particularly happy. You have stepped out of the flow of life and are just drifting along. When this happens the solution is simple: Choose again. Reconnect again with your heart. As long as you are alive, it is never too late. You are free in each moment to choose the path of your heart and it never stops whispering to you, urging you to follow it.

He speaks of losing our heart - a life of drifting along, decreased energy, lack of creativity, no real sense of purpose and a lack of happiness. A person who has "stepped out of life and is just drifting along."

I have a friend that is right there. He is simply "taken out" by life. He is listless, passionless and plods along day to day. He has walled off his heart and silenced it. Getting him to even engage in a thoughtful and reflective talk is very hard. He won't go there. He feels safe in his walled-off world yet those around him are dying on the vine. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy - he won't open his heart out of fear of hurt. This walls himself off to those most capable of loving him and helping him along. Rejection tends to drive those people away only fulfilling the lie he has bought, "you see, people will hurt you."

I believe God speaks to us from the heart. Jesus came that our hearts of stone would become hearts of flesh. Dead, cold hearts would be awakened to the fullness of living in Christ. My friend is a believer but his heart is cold. He's not a mean person or a bad man...he just fears turning on his heart afraid of where that might take him. The lie from Satan is that relying on the heart of stone to keep us safe actually robs us of the life we were meant to live in worship of the Lord. "The glory of God is man fully alive".

Mackey profoundly describes (I don't think he is a Christian but he nails it) a heart fully alive..."We are doing what we most love and we find our lives full of increased energy, greater creativity, purpose, joy, and happiness. We simply feel more alive and we are moving within the flow of life."

Passion and creativity and purpose - a heart fully alive!

Soar!

Asaph - Psalm 73
I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.
They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills.
Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth.
Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance
This is what the wicked are like - always carefree, they increase in wealth.
Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain I have washed my hands in innocence.
All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning.

I share in Asaph's laments. I think (by comparison) I am of pure heart. I think I am innocent. I've given my life over to God and it seems all day long I am plagued. It seems I am punished every morning.

Ever felt that way? Why is it that the other guy seems to have life figured out? They succeed in so many ways. They take the great trips to Italy with their family. Their kids make 4.0's and quarterback the football team. They look like triathletes (many of them are!). Money flows their way with ease. LIFE ISN'T FAIR!

Asaph goes on to say, "I tried to understand all this and it was oppressive to me." Then he entered the sanctuary of God and it is revealed to him...

"When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory...earth has nothing I desire besides you."

There it is - he realizes he was senseless and ignorant apart from the Lord - a brute beast. There it is. None of us is deserving. All of us fall short of the glory of God. Our works and "pure" heart will win us no favors with God. Only faith in Christ gets us there.

We are so focused on life not being fair. We are Christians and at times it feels like we are the ones getting the shaft in this life. Exactly! We weren't made for "this" life. This life was broken in Eden. Asaph says earlier before he is enlightened that he was pure of heart and innocent. No he wasn't. Our sin nature separates us from God. Even if we have accepted Jesus we are still separated by our sin in this life. Even for the strongest believer, the flesh pulls hard against the will of God. God will forgive the sin of those who believe and turn their lives over to God but while we are here, we will still sin. We will never reach the place of "innocent and pure" in this life. Innocence and purity will come to those that accept Christ and enter into the Kingdom. Only then will the wrongs be made right and we will be made whole.

The things Asaph laments over are just that..."things". He sees others that are rich, pretty, successful, have the nice house, have the kids with the 4.0 and the full ride to UVA, the BMW, the beach house, having lots of friends, large parties, the successful career...you know the drill. But everything he sees will burn up. All that we desire to possess in this life will not pass with us into eternity. Cars, houses, titles, GPAs, status, health, etc. will all burn up at some point in this life. Temporal vs. Eternal.

Back to 2 posts ago - this changes the way we view the "things" of this life. They are temporary. The treasure of heaven is lasting. We are deserving of a one-way ticket to hell. Only by God's grace are we able to escape "this" life and enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Praise be to the Lord!

Soar!

Quick addition on servant leadership
Then point I was driving at in the prior post was on getting away from the label "servant leader". It is being overused in business, the church and society. The presumption with the phrase "servant leader" is "I am a leader". I am going at this saying even to say "I am a leader" is putting the focus on "me". The best servant leaders are those that simply, quietly serve. Serve is the key -- not labeling it as "I am leading you by serving you".

I just put down the Wall Street Journal and something struck me. There was an ad for an upcoming symposium on the "deal makers" and the CEO of Bank of America is featured. He is coming to NYC to speak on his accomplishments in the area of buying other companies. I'm not really throwing stones at Ken Lewis (He is from Columbus) but rather I am asking "why?" Why would he take a day off from running the country's biggest bank to go to NY to speak to other executives on the "art of the deal"? What is in it for him? What does this have to do with taking care of employees, customers and shareholders?

I guess I am saying why don't these CEO's take the more humble approach. Run the company, do the right thing for the employees, customers and shareholders vs. going on the lecture circuit to boast about their deal-making prowess.

I'm just wondering where the humility is? Sorry to beat this horse...

Soar!

Humility
Isn't humility rare these days? God has been speaking to me this week and what I hear over and over again is "humility". Don't boast. Don't defend your position. Listen instead of talk. Look at the other guy and ask, "what is it I can do for him ... what does he need". Servanthood. Not servant leadership but rather servanthood. Servant leadership means "I'm a leader and I'm going to put on the hat of a servant" -- nothing wrong with this but you're still the leader (just a unique type of leader). No, servanthood. Serve.

Indeed humility is rare these days. Donald Trump. Tiger Woods. CEO's in glossy $50 million jets dashing off to exotic resorts for corporate retreats while folks in their company are hurting. Skyscrapers being lifted up to mark a company's "status" or importance. George Bush. I like "W". I think he is a good and decent man but I'll agree his swagger has cost us something on the world stage. The old saying is true of W, CEO's, rock stars, you and me ... "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

We crave power and status. We want to be noticed. And in that desire comes a lack of humility. Things go our way, God blesses us and suddenly, we start to take credit for it. Our ability got us to this point and we are going to do whatever we can to lift our status and get us even more opportunities. It seems it winds up being all about "me". My power. My desire to be noticed. My talents and abilities that get "me" the success "I" deserve...

Charles Spurgeon, defined humility as, "Making a right estimate of one’s self." Another noted speaker stated that, "Humility is not denying the power or gifting you have, but admitting that the gifting is from God and the power comes through you and not from you." After World War II, Winston Churchill humbly commented that, "I was not the lion, but it fell to me to give the lion’s roar."

It just seems to me that we need more leaders like Churchill. Those that push the spotlight off of themselves and their accomplishments and more humbly serve. What if our President acted this way - running America is a sacred trust. It isn't a bully pulpit for his glory. What if our CEO's were this way? Pushing away power. Downplaying their role. Taking their glossy photo out of the annual reports and replacing it with customers and employees.

What if you and I came into meetings not fighting to be heard but rather quietly soaking in what was going on and prayerfully seeking God's will? What if we came up with a great idea, passed it on and then forgot about it? In other words, we didn't push that idea, make sure it happened and then were sure to let everyone know it was our idea. What if we let go of the relentless pursuit of things to make us happy and we took on the role of a servant just glad for a roof over our heads and a soft bed to sleep in?

What if we took the focus off of "our" works, "our" accomplishments, "our" talents, "our" abilities and put them on the One who gives all? To God be the glory. Not man.

Soar!

The Problem of Liberalism - a talk about Capitalism, Obama and Whole Foods Markets
OK, now I'm probably going to offend someone with this. I have had a raging debate with a friend about money, capitalism, charity and the government's role in fixing the problems of America. He is a very successful businessman who created a company out of nothing and it has already made him wealthy at a young age. He is quite "evolved" in his thinking. He has recently said that he will gladly pay more in income taxes to help redistribute wealth and income to help the plight of the poor in America.

I don't believe that redistributing wealth or income fixes any problems. First of all it assumes an efficient government will take a bigger bite of higher income earners and quickly, fairly and efficiently redistribute that money into the hands of those who are in greater need. Given the lifetime politicians who control our national budget, that is a big assumption. It is a leap. Big government is not the solution.

But even deeper, what does redistribution really accomplish? If all the doctors in town had to each pay $25,000 a year more in income taxes and $5,000 of that went to five lower income families -- what would that accomplish? Even in the most ideal sense, that would certainly help those families in the short run but after a while wouldn't someone say, "Hey, why $5,000, why not $10,000?" Would a hand out really "fix" the problem? Is that really what the government wants to do anyway? Do they really want to flow through higher income earnings efficiently to lower income earners? No. The government wants a large chunk of that money and very little of it will truly flow through to those who really need it.

Now don't get me wrong, the "model" does sound appealing. Some are incredibly blessed and talented and surely they can pay even more in taxes to help others get out of poverty. It sounds noble. It sounds lofty. Obama talks about "shared national sacrifice" and when he says it, it seems appealing. When Hillary talks about "universal healthcare" and getting every American insured, it sounds noble. She really can't articulate how it will work (other than saying she'll raise taxes) but she and Obama offer up these lofty ambitions to move us.

But there is a real problem with it - it won't work. Never has, never will. Taken to the extremes, this rapidly becomes socialism and eventually communism. Raising taxes and redistributing wealth has the stunning effect of disincentive. Eventually the strong earners will see no benefit in squeezing in that one last surgery or inventing that next product because they know "what good is it, the government is going to take all the excess income it produces." In every case, the government itself explodes in size and soon begins to exist for itself not the people. Don't believe me? Look at pictures of Korea at night from space - the South is lit up like a Christmas tree while North Korea is pitch black dark. Kim has his fancy cars, expensive wines and western sunglasses but his people are in the dark and starving.

I am a big fan of Whole Foods Markets. Whole Foods was started by a very liberal guy that dreamed up this idealistic company that would sell organic food, give to charity and change the world. As he matured in his dream, he quickly realized he was really a communist and was way off base. He's a Libertarian now and has embraced capitalism - but - he also runs a very unique company. They give away 5% of their after tax income to charity and they have embraced "green" culture. He was a hippie, he's still a vegetarian and he practices yoga. He's "earthy", a "tree hugger" and very "un-business" He still wants to change the world but he has realized that corporations and capitalism aren't evil. They are necessary to achieving freedom. He started Whole Foods with $40,000 and it now has a market value of $8 billion. They give away more than $15 million a year, employ more than 40,000 people and he caps his salary at a low multiple of his lowest paid employee.

Listen to what he has recently said...
"I migrated to the Left when I was a young man for my value system. Why did I do that? Because the Left provided an idealistic vision of the way the world could be. However, the reality of the Left's vision proved to be terribly flawed. Its socialist economic system not only didn't work very well, but in it's communist manifestation it justified monstrous governments directly responsible for the murders of over 100 million people in the 20th century. Despite the unbelievable horrible track record of the leftist ideology, millions of young Americans continue to migrate to an intellectual bankrupt Left because the Left still seems to be idealistic, and that idealism is magnetic to the young. Idealism will always be magnetic to the intelligent and sensitive young people of the world."

He's right. Obama is young and dynamic and offers up bold visions of shared sacrifice and dreams. He is like a magnet to the nation's young. Even my 14 year old daughter likes him and says "I can relate to him". Obama is intelligent and idealistic. He reminds me of Bobby Kennedy who captured this same, "We can do better" mentality for America. Crowds swoon and energy flows but it is around a philosophy that cannot work. "We'll make the oil companies pay, we'll make the rich pay, we'll share in the sacrifice, etc." If you buy the logic of making the oil companies pay, you are buying into socialism. Free markets will fix the price of oil. It may be painful but eventually what goes up will come down. We'll either quit splurging on oil or we'll invent more efficient cars or build solar power plants but eventually, the free markets will fix the price of oil. The problem is, we don't want to wait. We get drawn into the message of the Left of big government, redistribution of wealth and universal healthcare. "I don't like pain at the pump, I need the government to fix this..."

Well, if you take this logic to the next step (where does it stop by the way?), we'll be slapping an excise tax on Wal-Mart because they make a lot of money and that "isn't fair to the average American" and then we'll move on to Georgia Power, Bank of America, surgeons, lawyers, etc. "No one should make extra profits, we'll tax the extra profits so we can make everything fair."

Taken to the next step and then the next, we rapidly arrive at full blown socialism. Wal-Mart and BofA and Chevron start laying folks off to help offset their rising taxes. Pfizer cuts way back on their research budget because of their excise tax on drug profits. With R&D cut way back, the drug companies stop finding the new drugs the AARP demands (but is unwilling to pay for). Georgia Power can't build a new nuclear power plant because of their excise taxes so those construction jobs aren't created and we retain our dependence on Mideast oil.

You get the picture....

This has nothing to do with my typical posts but the Whole Foods comments tied a lot of this together. Take your shots at me but I think he is right.

Soar!

Naaman
Naaman was a commander in the army of the king of Aram (Syria). He was a great man in the sight of his master, highly regarded and victorious on the battle field. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.

He was a great man but he was also a dead man. Leprosy would eventually eat him alive and he knew it. The story reminds me of a modern day CEO or business owner or mega-church pastor who is suddenly stricken with cancer. Suddenly your status doesn't really matter. Your income or net worth don't really matter. Your importance and status don't matter. Cancer doesn't care "who" you are. It just kills.

Naaman had "cancer" but God sent him hope. A servant girl that worked for his wife told her, "send my master to see the prophet who is in Samaria. He would cure him of his leprosy." Naaman asks the king for permission to go and it is granted. Naaman heads off with silver and gold to seek his cure.

When Naaman approaches Elisha's home, Elisha sends a messenger out to greet him. Now remember, Naaman was a powerful general and a renowned warrior. Suddenly, a flunkie is being sent out to tell him what to do. The messenger says, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed."

Naaman was angry - "Surely he would have come out and waved his hand over my leprosy and called out the name of his God and cure me. The rivers in Damascus are better than any waters of Israel. Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?"

Modern day - the status as the CEO doesn't matter any more. You show up at the clinic and rather than the leading oncologist consulting with you, an intern greets you and tells you in detail how you will be treated - "we will wash you seven times in chemo..." Cold. Impersonal. Lonely. Your status doesn't matter. You're just a number.

Naaman's servants plead with him to follow the instructions and finally, he consents and dips himself in the Jordan seven times. He finally lets go of his "status" and follows the pleading of his lowly servants and he strips and enters the waters of Israel to be healed.

This is a great picture of God's grace. Naaman had a problem. He was sick but he was also prideful. God used the illness and the subsequent treatment to go after Naaman's sin and pride. The picture of Naaman submitting to God's grace and entering the redemptive, healing waters is a remarkable picture of Christ's liberation. Naaman came as a general with all the trappings of that position but he had to be humbled before he could see his sin. Once he realized that in order to be healed, he would first have to submit, he was saved.

The same is true for us. Once we realize it really isn't all "about me" and once we realize we can't fake it anymore and "do life" on our own...once we realize we have to submit to Him, we are saved. We strip ourselves of all our status and prestige, we strip ourselves of our title and possessions and we enter into the river of life and we are saved!

Soar!

Fully Alive
Spring is in full bloom in the deep south and it just moves my soul. I love fresh green zoysia grass, azaleas in bloom, daylillies springing up, warm days and cool evenings. My routine this time of year is to come home from work, change into shorts and move out to our back patio to enjoy the evening with my wife and kids. We talk, catch up on the day, play fetch with the dogs and just experience the beauty of God's kingdom. Even the dogs feel "fully alive" these days. Our indoor dog can't wait for me to come home. He jumps me when I walk in and goes with me to change clothes. All the while, he is eagerly wagging his tail and on the ready for my break to the back door and "dog time". There, the black lab is also on ready. He sees me come in the house and sits at the back door waiting. As soon as I step out into the yard, they spring into action, tails wagging and tennis ball in mouth ready to go.

Fully alive. Do you ever feel it? Isn't it a precious time? It is so fleeting. We feel it for an hour or so on a Saturday afternoon after the chores are done, the yard looks good and the day is cooling off. In that time, we can almost feel God walking with us "in the garden in the cool of the day". Fully alive.

When do you feel most fully alive? Think back to your days as a kid - what are the memories of fully alive back then? For me, it was wiffle ball. I had about 10 boys that were my close friends and we fell in love with wiffle ball. We'd rotate "home fields" - my house one week, George's house the next and occasionally, Lakebottom park. We perfected the game. On Friday afternoons we'd cut the grass tight and water the lawn. Some of the crew would spend Friday night together and work on our uniforms, tape up our bats and tape up a few extra balls. On Saturday the other 1/2 would show up and we'd spend 3-4 hours playing very competitive baseball. This was 4th, 5th, 6th grade stuff and we loved it. We'd watch the Braves and Joe Morgan and Johnny Bench of the Big Red Machine or Willie Stargell of the Pittsburgh Pirates and we'd learn their swings and copy them on wiffle ball field. We were fully alive.

Saturday while I was working in the yard I heard some boys walking down in my creek. I edged over to the fence and watched them as they passed by my house. These guys were about 10 years old and two of them didn't have shirts on and all three were barefooted. They had set out for an adventure, found this creek and explored it. They were a long way from home but that just added to the fun. I heard them talking, "next time we do this, we need to bring our air rifles". I saw their mom Sunday at church and she said they spent all afternoon recounting their adventure in the creek. Fully alive.

Find it. Pursue it. God came and liberated us that we may live life to the full. Find it. It is out there for you. He wants you to experience it and stay in it.

Fully alive.

Soar!

Chasing the adventure...
That is the name of my blog. Here is a video clip of a young man who chased his adventure and found it. J Mac is an autistic kid who loved sports and was the manager of his high school basketball team. In the last game of his senior year, with 4 minutes to go, the coach put him in so he could live out his dream. Oh my what he did in that 4 minutes will bring tears to your eyes...

We all want our shot in life...J Mac took his...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngzyhnkT_jY

clip and paste that into your browser

Soar!

Tough Times

How do we handle tough times? Why do we avoid them? Wouldn't life be easier if we could run downhill all the time? Why do hills exist anyway?

My career is volatile. I'm in the markets. Markets are naturally driven by greed or fear. It is really quite manic. The glass is either 1/2 full or 1/2 empty day to day. I'm changing the way I run my business and moving away from being glued to the minute by minute fluctuations of a ticker. Long-term investing, buying very high quality companies with strong fundamentals has the effect of killing the beast of greed/fear. I really don't care what the market does day in day out. If I have a bad day/month/quarter -- it really doesn't matter. I'm focused on the long-term. My eyes are on the prize - the long-term prize not the short-term gratification. We all "run the race" but only one will collect the prize. The goal is the prize.

There is an analogy to our faith. Our eyes should be on the prize not the day to day trials of life. "Life" is broken. It will lift you up one day and slap you down the next. There is an enemy. He is at work. His demons are real and they do pursue us. Life was broken in Eden. It isn't as God intended it. He came that we might have life and have it to the full. The only way I've found to have life to the full is to keep my eyes focused on the prize. The long-run. Not the short-term victories or painful defeats. They are all apart of the race I run.

I read a quote the other day from Abigail Adams that struck me. She was writing to her son about his second trip to France. The first trip nearly killed him and he didn't want to return. She writes....

"It is not the still calm of life that great characters are formed. Formation of character and the habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with great difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised and animated by scenes that engage the heart then those qualities that otherwise lay dormant waken to life and form the character that define the hero and statesman."

God shakes us from time to time for a reason. At times we have to run up some hills. Yet it is the hills that strengthen our legs far more than the flat plains. As I look back on my life, the times my character has been strengthened has always been during the times of greatest stress and strain. We strain forward and run the race for the prize.

Soar!

Obituary -- Death of Common Sense

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isn't always fair, and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intended but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using a mouthwash after lunch; a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student; and a librarian fired for reporting to the police of a patron viewing child pornography on the libraries computer, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Aspirin, sun lotion or a Band-Aid to a student, but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Commons Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your home and the burglar can sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little on her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by three stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, Someone Else is to Blame, and I'm a Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone, apparently assuming that the persistent deterioration of the American way was just fine.

"Author unknown"

Eliot Spitzer
When news first hit the floor of the New York Stock Exchange that a scandal was brewing involving Eliot Spitzer and a high priced call girl -- a cheer went up. Trading stopped for a second or two and the floor erupting in cheering. Eliot Spitzer who had zealously pursued justice at the cost of many Wall Street firms had fallen. His sin had been exposed. A lot of people were elated.

Why is that?

When someone falls, why do we rejoice? I'm no Spitzer fan - he took his role as Attorney General of New York to an extreme. He viewed himself as a modern day Eliot Ness and went from company to company, industry to industry threatening corporate death unless Boards of Directors gave in, wrote huge checks and fired their CEO's. Spitzer threatened many a man with total humiliation including threatening to arrest a corporate executive in front of his wife and small child unless he gave in to Spitzer's demands.

In hindsight, it is very clear that the power went to his head. He became invincible, untouchable and as we now know, above the law himself. So I am no fan, but why is it that some of us rejoice in his fall? Take him out of this ... why do you rejoice when your enemy falls?

Why aren't we on our knees praying for that enemy or Spitzer and shuddering, "My God, that could so easily be me. If the world saw what lurked in my own dark heart, I'd be taken out too."

We are hypocrites. It is so easy to make Spitzer or Bill Clinton or that guy in your office who fools the bosses year after year and finally gets exposed, out to be the bad guy. We love to say, "what goes around, comes around". But what about that which is due to come around to us? How quick we are to judge others and slow to see our own sin.

I'll admit, I was glad the "SOB" Spitzer got exposed. He was cocky, he was a super ego, he thought the rules didn't apply to him, he thrashed others to build his own stock to help fulfill his ultimate ambitions. I was glad until I put this back on me. On my knees, I proclaim, "My God how easily that could have been me!"

Every time I see Chuck Bradshaw and say "How are you doing?", he always (I mean every single time) says, "Better than I deserve." How true.

Soar!

The Good Life
The good life - the one that truly satisfies exists only when we stop wanting a better one. It is the condition of savoring what is rather than longing for what can be. The itch for things, the lust for more - so brilliantly injected by those who peddle them - is a virus draining our souls of self contentment.

Have you noticed?

A man never earns enough. A woman is never beautiful enough. Clothes are never fashionable enough. Cars are never nice enough. Houses are never furnished enough. Gadgets are never modern enough. Food is never fancy enough. Relationships are never romantic enough. Life is never full enough.

Satisfaction comes when we step off the escalator of desire and say, "This is enough. What I have will do. What I make of it is up to me and my vital union with the Living Lord."

Are you satisfied? What are you reaching for? Can you reasonably hope that this world can fulfill you?

No. It is only in the Lord. In the Lord.

Soar!

Wild at Heart - second time around...it is still about freedom
I have just returned from 5 days in Colorado attending my second Wild at Heart boot camp. 10 men from Columbus went and it was a very powerful time for our group. Let me be clear, John Eldredge isn't "It". Wild at Heart isn't "the" solution. Jesus is "it". He is "the" solution. John Eldredge doesn't lead some cult of men. He isn't out to get men away from the church. He hasn't invented a better solution. No, John just does a great job of capturing the essence of what scripture is saying to men.

To me, the underlying take away of Ransomed Heart ministries is freedom. Christ came to give man freedom. It is pretty simple and yet the Church has moved men away from freedom into a life of duty. As a result, men are bound up in duty, rules and "I shouldn't". Psalm 119 says "I run in the path of your commands because you have set my heart free". Luke 19:10 says "The Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost." Not "the lost" but the "what was" lost. What was lost? Our hearts. John 10:10 says, "The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it to the full."

"set my heart free"..."save what was lost"..."Live and life to the full"...

Freedom. A full life. No boundaries. Fullness. Richness.

And yet, that isn't what we hear from the church. It surely isn't what we hear from society. We hear conform. Don't rock the boat. Play fair. Be political. Hedge yourself. Have a back up plan. Don't drink. Don't smoke. Don't look at another woman. Don't watch an "R" rated movie. Never cuss.

Works. The path of Christianity of many is a path of perfection. Like the Lexus commercial, "The relentless pursuit of perfection". That I am most like Christ when I have so purged myself of all that is any way sinful... Works. Duty.

Is it any wonder that so many of us are bound up? We are so rigid because we are so afraid of what others in society (or even worse in Christianity) think of us. Christ came that we may have freedom. Freedom. That doesn't mean free to sin, free to booze it up -- no, true freedom means the relentless pursuit of Him. So in love, so passionate about my faith that I am free to pursue Him wherever he takes me.

I'm not doing a good job of articulating this but let me try it this way. On my trip, I was with a man that went to medical school and is now running a community health clinic in downtown Augusta. Charitable work. His dad is a very successful businessman. His uncle retired as a world-class investment manager. His other uncle is a highly paid surgeon. All three, very wealthy. But this guy has taken his medical degree and is giving it away to the poor in Augusta, Georgia. Someone was talking to him one day and said, "sounds great but you are going to be poor". His reply? "Yep, poor for the next 40 years." Wow. That puts it in its proper place. Yes, he will be poor by the world's standards but his eyes are on eternity. He'll be earthly poor for 40 more years but he'll be heavenly rich for eternity. Freedom. He has found freedom.

More to come. In the meanwhile, please -- Soar!

Bill
He won't let it rest. I've read the posts on his blog and he has a local who is also from Boston and she is affirming him in this assault on the South. Bill says my ramblings are just sour grapes over us losing the war. I've fired back and said, "If y'all are so proud of winning the war, why are folks from the north moving to the South by the hundreds of thousands?" Makes you wonder doesn't it?

And I left this tune on his blog ...

She grew up in the city in a little subdivision,
Her daddy wore a tie, Momma never fried a chicken,
Ballet, Straight A’s, Most likely to succeed

They bought her a car after graduation
Sent her down south for some higher education
Put her on the fast track to a law degree

Now she’s comin home to visit
holdin the hand
Of a wild-eyed boy
with a farmer’s tan

And shes ridin in the middle of his pickup truck
Blarin Charlie Daniels yellin, “Turn it up!”
They raised her up a lady
but there’s one thing they couldn’t avoid
Ladies love country boys


Yeah, you know momma’s and daddy’s want better for their daughters
Hope they’ll settle down with a doctor or a lawyer
In their uptown, ball gown, hand-me-down royalty

They never understand
why their princess falls
For some camouflage britches
and a southern boy drawl

Or why she’s ridin in the middle of a pickup truck
Blarin Hank Jr. yellin, “Turn it up!”
They raised her up a lady
but there’s one thing they couldn’t avoid
Ladies love country boys

You can train ‘em
You can try to teach ‘em right from wrong
But it’s still gonna turn ‘em on

When they go ridin in the middle of a pickup truck
Blarin Lynyrd Skynyrd yellin, “Turn it up!”
You can raise her up a lady
but there’s one thing you jus can’t avoid
Ladies love country boys

They love us country boys

Soar!

Throw of the hindrances
"Throw off the hindrances and the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us..." Hebrews 12:1

First of all, the race is set out before us. Life is a race. There is a start and there is a finish. We can crawl, walk, skip, jog or sprint but it is a race. Not a race against mankind but rather a race toward the grand finish. God built us, created us and breathed life into us for a reason. It isn't 9-5, pay your taxes, raise your kids, do a few good works, retire and die. No, there is so much more. He calls us to a race. Race implies so much here - endurance, training, excellence, reaching for more than we thought we could possibly achieve - all for a life that is fully lived.

The message is pretty simple and pretty direct - there is a race to be run and we must throw off the hindrances that entangle us and prevent us from the full life. Throw off the hindrances.

What hinders you?

As I type this, I am watching the Super Bowl. That is entertainment and many of us are addicted to being entertained. Some advertisements tonight will cost $2 million. Can you imagine spending $2 million for 30 seconds of air time? Think what good $2 million would do for 50 families living in poverty. Think how many kids this money could send to college. Think of those with living under the bridges of the Chattahoochee and how this money could help them. But no, we Americans are addicted to entertainment and pleasure and corporate America knows it. They'll spend what it takes to make you and I act. And act we will.

We have come to worship entertainment. It robs us of life and pulls us away from interaction with others. 4-5 hours a day in front of the TV or internet and kids in front of electronic games. These things rob us of life. Go spend one hour in the woods totally alone. Take a chair and sit down with nothing to do. See how it challenges you. Does the silence bother you? Are you addicted to noise and activity? Recreation is OK - we need it but too much recreation can be a problem. Excess recreation leads to addiction which leads to gluttony.

We all know of people who have taken this addiction to the next step of gluttony. New cars every year, flat screens in every room, every latest gadget, fine wines and foods, every possible comfort -- all seeking that one last final thing that completes them. We know people like that and we know we are like this. We know in many ways that our addiction for comfort and things is a hinderance to our walk with God.

Hebrews is telling us how to handle whatever it is that hinders us from running the race as efficiently as we should - we should throw them off. If our love of things possesses us, we need to stop. Simply put...just stop. Stop the rapid acquisition of everything we can get our hands on. Be the opposite of what drives us - start giving things away rather than buying more new things. Think counter-intuitively. The world tells you (yells at you) more, more, more it is all about more stuff. That is the wrong kind of more.

The more we need is more of the Lord. More quiet time. Less hindrances and more of Him. It is pretty simple but it is hard to do but remember, we are running a race. We are born to run. Born to be free.

Soar!