June 26, 2010

Losing Your Impatience

"And let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing."
James 1:4 
We can all struggle with losing our patience.  You're out with your kids and they just won't listen.  Theyre screaming and running around everywhere.  Your tension is rising and you feel like you're about to lose it.  Or you're waiting on a co-worker for help with a project or piece of information.  They just don't understand how important what you need is and how much of your time they are wasting by not giving you the help you need.
What can you do?
Earlier this week I took my daughter to the mall for a special treat, a Carousel Ride!  As we were walking down the mall to the Carousel she could not contain her excitement.  She was hopping up and down.  She letting go of my hand and running off to look at the fountains or look in the store windows.  I was getting tense and impatient.
And then it hit me. Why was I getting tense?  She is two years old.  And what are little two year-old girls supposed to do?  Play!  Why was I getting upset?  All the tension left and I got to spend a fun afternoon with my little girl.
We get impatient when the world around us is not behaving the way we think it is supposed to behave.  I was envisioning my daughter being "the perfect little girl."  She should hold my hand and walk next to me (always keeping up with me).  She shouldn't jump and hop or talk loudly.  In other words she should behave like an adult.  That's the little girl I was expecting to take to the mall.  But that's not the way a normal little girl acts.  Normal little girls jump and hop and scream and PLAY every minute of the day.  Once I realized that I wasn't expecting reality, I lost my impatience.  And we had a great time!
Now I know this doesn't apply to every situation.  Your co-worker may not be doing their job.  Or maybe you're expecting too much from them too quickly.  Before you lose your patience, take a step back from the situation to get a new perspective.  You may find out that your boss has asked them to work on something else that takes priority.  Or they may be waiting for something from another co-worker to finish the task for you.
"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who listens to counsel is wise."  

Proverbs 12:15
Find out the way the world is supposed to acting before you react to it.  Get counsel.  I'm not saying gossip about the situation with a friend.  Ask someone whose opinion you trust about the situation and find out what they think.  It may not even be someone you like.  As long as you trust that them to tell you their honest opinion.  It can be the difference between losing your patience and losing your impatience.  Believe me, losing your impatience is much more satisfying!

June 23, 2010

Christians Arrested for Handing out Bibles

I've seen emails talking about Dearborn, MI and always just blew them off.  Not anymore...

Saw this on Power Line Blog Three men are standing outside an Arab/Muslim festival.  They are just handing out booklets.  They are not even attempting to talk to people exiting the festival.  In three minutes eight policeman converge on them from two different directions.  You have to see it to believe it.



I don't know what editing may have been done, but it didn't look to me like they were doing anything but standing on a public sidewalk and expressing their freedom of speech. 

Gateway Pundit has picked up the story as well.

June 21, 2010

June 20, 2010

Happy Father's Day!

I've been a father for almost three years. And it has been worth all of the work, effort and lack of sleep that comes with it. The joy you experience when you get home from work, open the door, and hear footsteps pounding down the hallway and cries of "Daddy! Daddy!" You can't know how that melts your heart.
My daughter will be three in August. I know I've changed in those three years. You can't be a parent and not change. Just seeing your first child makes a change in your heart. Especially when it's a girl. Most men are protective of the women in their lives as a general rule. But that protective nature increases by unmeasurable amounts when you have a little girl. There is nothing that you will not do to protect her. I tell my friends that when my daughter starts dating that I will greet her dates at the door pleasantly, but when I turn around to lead them in they will see my .45 in a holster in the small of my back. They laugh. But I'm not kidding.
My son is only eight months old. He is a joy. A truly happy baby. Crawling to you and climbing up your legs. Ducking his head into your shoulder when you pick him up. Smiling at you with such a sparkle in his eyes. Fatherhood is AWESOME!! And as I look ahead to the times of teaching him to play baseball and soccer chills run down my spine.
Today being Father's Day got me thinking about Fatherhood. A bunch of questions have been popping into my head all morning. Practical questions like how to get my two year old to keep working on her grandfathers' Father Day cards and not get distracted. And more serious questions too. Such as: Am I a good Father? How well do I reflect the Love of our Heavenly Father to my children?
I'm a man and a sinner. I get frustrated and lose my temper.   I make choices that hindsight will keep me from making again.  I know that I'm not a perfect father.  But I know that God is helping me.  I also know that God chose me to be the father of these two children. It wasn't chance. I was his choice. God will daily give me the grace and wisdom to parent my children. So with God's help. I can be the perfect father.
That's what I would like to leave with every father today. You were God's choice! Your children weren't placed in your life by random chance. Every gift that God gave you the day you were born was designed to help you be the father of your children. With God leading you, you ARE the perfect father.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

June 1, 2010

The Daily Call


We are called to take the Gospel to the world.  Most people hear these words and think that this means becoming full-time missionaries. You would travel the world and take God’s light to the darkest corners.   Or maybe you only need to go on short term mission trips.  Spend a week or two sharing Christ with those who haven't heard the gospel. But these types of situations are not everyday situations. You go into these situation knowing that you will leave them and go back to you normal life.

There is a freedom in going to another city or country to preach knowing that you will be interacting with people that you will in all likelihood never see again.  You don’t have to face the consequences of their opinions.  It doesn’t matter what they think of you.  To them you may be nuts, but why should you care?  You fulfilled your call and shared the gospel with them.  Now you get to go back to your life and they aren’t a part of it.

But what about sharing the gospel with your family, friends, or co-workers?  Your words could strike a chord in their heart. They might see the consequences of their sin. They might turn to Christ as their Savior.  Or not...  
Sharing the gospel with the people that are a part of your life is frightening.  The things that could result from you telling people you know about your relationship with Jesus Christ can scare you into being silent.  If you start to constantly preach at work or with your friends you will have to deal with the consequences. Those consequences could be as simple as jokes at your expense or elevate to all out ridicule. Someone might even accuse you of religious harassment. 

If you are constantly preaching to your unsaved friends or co-workers, in a short period of time you won’t have either.  Your friends and employer will get sick of you and you won’t be spending much time with either.  But sharing Christ with someone does not always involve talking to them about his sacrifice.

How often do we recognize that we are always sharing the Gospel even when we aren't “witnessing” to anyone? When the people around us know that we are a Christian they watch us. They see how we react to the events and happenings around us.  They want to see how we are different. Do we stub our toes and start cursing like a sailor or take a deep breath and move on? Do we take shortcuts with our work because “no one will notice” or do we put forth full effort into every detail? Through our words and deeds, or lack of word or deed, we speak.  We preach the message of Christ crucified every second of every minute of every day. There is no down time.

I have a friend, we'll call him 'George', who has been overseas on the mission field for several years now. He recently related a story about a new Christian. A friend of his, ‘Fred’, who had become a Christian 2 years ago, asked him to talk to a classmate, 'Bill'. Bill had seen the change in Fred's life over the past two years and wanted to know what had caused the change. They all got together and George and Fred talked with Bill about the sacrifice Jesus had made for him and the change that could occur in his life. They asked Bill if he would like to receive Jesus as his Savior. And he said “Yes, I do.” They prayed and Bill became a Christian.
Then Bill told George that they had met before. Surprised, George asked where. It turns out that Bill had been to a Christmas party that George had held two years before. He had heard the Gospel at that party, but wasn't ready to receive Jesus as his Savior at that time. “It was only after seeing Fred live the Gospel for two years that he was ready to receive Christ now.”

I don't know if Fred talked to Bill about his relationship with Christ. Maybe he just lived his life in front of him. Whether or not words were exchanged it is obvious that Bill watched him grow and develop as a Christian. He saw Fred change. He saw what Christ was doing in Fred's life. And that is what drew him to Christ.

You can't decide to take a break from Christianity. The calling to take the Gospel to the world doesn’t have a “when you feel like it” option.  God will use you to change people’s lives in many ways. All you have to do is act and speak on the truth of God’s love. 

Can the people you interact with on a daily basis see that you’re different?
Does your life speak to others of the Goodness of God?
How much does your life draw people to Christ?