Our world is so enamored by appearance that real value in things or people often gets overlooked at best and rejected at worst. The culture of “Advertisement” has fooled us and stolen the perception of what’s most valuable.
The cover picture for this article is from a new movie release about some men who decided to take the opportunity to do the courageous thing and challenge a terrorist on a french high-speed train. The possibilities of them dying was more than real, but the opportunity to make a difference was theirs to use or throw away.
I am always trying to discover why people do what they do. Sometimes, what appears to be a good deed with no ulterior motive turns out to be a setup to persuade others to honor someone for the good deed they have done. It’s like a story that happened last year when a man running for office claimed to be a war veteran who had received a Medal of Honor. It turned out he was lying and had not even been in the military! He was using people’s respect for people who sacrificed in order to get an advantage in the voting polls. This week there was a story of a total stranger who climbed 4 stories on the outside of a building to save a toddler. The boy fell off a 5th floor balcony and was holding on for dear life on the 4th floor.
Have you ever wondered why our leaders created holidays to celebrate in America?
As a child, a holiday usually meant being out of school, or getting special presents like during Christmas and Easter. Once we became adults, we are supposed to become mature in our thinking and reflecting. Holidays were meant to honor things we value, and the sacrifice the others have made. Unfortunately, as kids, many of the adults in our lives failed to sit down with us and explain each holiday and why people set that day aside to reflect on.
Have you ever been surprised by what comes out of your mouth or what comes out of the mouth of others? It seems we all make the mistake of talking before we think. The question is why? Why do people embrace themselves, and for that fact, why do we embrace ourselves by speaking things that are not factual or down right lies?
Have you ever noticed how we seem as a culture to have no brakes on our mouths?
Not too many years ago, we debated issues and ideas. Now we slam anyone’s character when they don’t agree with everything we think is important. Instead of addressing the idea or topic, we think the only way to win an argument is to make the person we are talking about appear small or insignificant.
Do you remember the first crush you had as a little kid? My four year old grandson has a crush on a little girl in his preschool class. It is a time in our lives when we are captivated by beauty. For a boy of four, it is something that stirs this little guys heart that causes him to want to please the one of his affection. Granted, this first love experience may not happen at four, but we are wired for love, after all. Are we not made in the image of God? We still retain certain aspects of the nature God which he designed Adam with. We are made just like Him having the aspects of the nature of “Love” like Himself, though marred.
The background of this word came from the Lord as I was flying from North Carolina to New York, to minister at Saratoga Abundant Life Church, in Saratoga Springs, New York. the day was April 5, 2018.
I intended to put music on in the plane and go to sleep. After not seeping much for a number of days I knew I really need the rest. I felt directed by the Hoy spirit to put the sound track to the movie “The Last Samurai” on and settle in to go to sleep when just after the first song ended the Holy Spirit told me to take out my iPhone and start writing. I attempted to disagree with the Lord’s instruction, claiming my keyboard on my iPhone had small keys and I had fat fingers, but the Lord was not changing his mind or my instructions.
Helping men discover a meaningful relationship with God has always been a passion of mine, ever since finding Christ myself in 1969. So many of us men have grown up without good role models, let alone our fathers teaching us what it is to be a man. There are a lot of boys walking around in men’s bodies today.
I came across a book the other day, which I found very helpful in explaining why men are so confused and twisted inside, but also how to get straightened out in our thinking to finally find the life we were meant to live with God and others. The book is called “Fathered By God” by John Eldredge.
I have not always been a fan of John Eldridge, for a number of reasons, however this book I found exceptionally good. Maybe it’s where I am today in my walk with God, or maybe it’s just that this book is very good, either way its a great read especially the first part of the book. To be honest, the first few chapters ripped by heart open to some old wounds from my youth. Thank God for good writers and the Holy Spirit speaking.
