A Warrior's Heart

Last night as I was eating a late dinner in my home, I decided that I would watch the movie "First Knight". It has become one of my favorite of the Arthur stories. There is something in this movie that calls to my heart. It stirs something in my heart that few things can.

You see as a Christian man, I bear the image of God. I'm not bragging, if you are a believer in Jesus then you too bear the image of God. In the book of Exodus, after the Jewish people have crossed the Red Sea, and Pharaoh's army pursued them, God caused the waters to close up on the Egyptians and destroyed the entire army, to which the Jews cried out, "The Lord is a warrior, the Lord is His name!" Well if I am an image bearer of God and He is a warrior, then that means there is a warrior's heart in me as well.

That is what calls to me in this movie. It's not the love story, or the betrayal that happens because of that portion of the story. It is the fact that Arthur is willing to stand against Malagant (the bad guy) to protect the innocent. Check out this portion of dialogue between Arthur and Malagant:

Malagant: I mean no harm to Camelot.

Arthur: You know the law we live by. And where is it written, beyond Camelot live lesser people? People to weak to protect themselves, let them die, hmmm?

Malagant: Other people live by other laws Arthur, or is the law of Camelot to rule the entire world?

Arthur: There are laws that enslave men, and laws that set them free. Either what we hold to be right and good and true is right and good and true for all mankind, under God. Or we're just another robber tripe.

Malagant: Your fine words are talking you out of peace and into war.

Arthur: There's a peace that is only to be found on the other side of war. If that battle must come, I will fight it!

Arthur's knights rise and proclaim: "And I!"

Malagant: The great Arthur and his great dream. No dream lasts forever. (Malagant leaves)

Arthur: What is the strength of the army?

What I really like about this is the fact that Arthur doesn't even hesitate. He tells Malagant that he will face him, and the look on Malagant's face is actually a mixture of bewilderment and rage as he is leaving. I want to be that way. There is something in my heart that wants to meet the enemy head on. Yet, in most Christian circles men are asked, in so many ways, to be nice, not rock the boat, just let it go and so on. And truthfully this makes me sick to my stomach. I'm pretty sure it does Jesus as well, for He stated in Revelation 3:15-16 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

If you haven't watched this movie lately, maybe you should. And while you're at it let that warrior spirit that God has placed in every man rise up and take a stand, be hot or cold...let's stop being lukewarm.

Fighting the fight, until I see His face.
Dave

A Daddy's Job Description

In 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 the Word states: ¹¹For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, ¹²encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

As I read this passage this morning during my quiet time with the Lord, the phrase "as a father deals with his own children" jumped out at me. It was one of those moments where I sensed the Holy Spirit over my shoulder pointing out something to me that would help me. As I pondered that, I went on to see listed three things in this passage that would help all of us as fathers. Here they are:

1. Encouraging
2. Comforting
3. Urging

I know from my own life that I have fallen short in all of these areas. I try to encourage my kids, but end up arguing or yelling at them for their behaviors. When they are struggling, my comforting them isn't all it should be. And as for urging them on to live their lives worthy of God, it usually comes out more like don't embarrass your mother and me. This is not to say that I'm a horrible parent. Because I don't believe that lie of the enemy for one minute. What I've seen here is three things that if I will use as a filter when I'm dealing with my kids, will make me more of a blessing to their lives, than a frustration.

The dictionary says that to encourage is to to inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence: His coach encouraged him throughout the marathon race to keep on running. This is what fathers are to do, we are to coach our kids to keep going and we do that by inspiring them with courage, spirit and confidence. If we want our kids to be successful in life, we have to do this for sure.

The dictionary says that to comfort is to to soothe, console, or reassure; bring cheer to: They tried to comfort her after her loss. We are to reassure our kids that they are doing well. This is especially important for teens, they are going through so much these days that we must try to bring cheer to them, and to reassure them that they are doing well.

The dictionary says that to urge is to to endeavor to induce or persuade, as by entreaties; entreat or exhort earnestly: to urge a person to a greater place. As dads, we need to always be urging our kids to live their lives worthy of God. We need to make sure they know God as Father, and provider for everything they have need of. One of the best ways to do this that a great friend of mine, Joe McGee told me about is to read Bible stories to your kids. By reading Bible stories to them, they will come to learn about the people that God uses, broken, unfinished men and women. There is a great book that you can purchase that is an excellent tool for this very purpose. It's called Egermeier's Bible Story Book, and can be purchased at Amazon.com

I know that I want to become the best daddy I can be to my kids. They don't stay at home forever, and I've got to do the best I can in the short amount of time I have them with me. Remember it's the end times and God said in His Word that now is the time that He is turning the hearts of the fathers back to the children (Luke 1:17) Use these three things found in 1Thessalonians 2:11-12 and go become the best daddies out there!

Fighting the fight, until I see His face....Shalom.

Love & War by John & Stasi Eldredge

Hey everyone,
If you haven't read the book Love & War by John & Stasi Eldredge, and you are married you need to read this book. My bride and I have been married for 21 years (soon to be 22) and this is absolutely the best book I've ever read about marriage.



What makes this such a good book on marriage is that it is not a book of tips and techniques. It is John & Stasi opening up their lives to you and letting you peer in and see what their marriage is like. You get to see the good, bad and the ugly with this book, and that is what so many of us need to see. We need to follow and read after people who are real, and deal with real issues. So many books that I've read are written in such a way that you think they have arrived. Joan & Stasi show in their book that marriage is not really so much about arriving but making the journey together.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is married or thinking about it. It will really help you out...

Why?

I was just here at work thinking about the 17 different people that I have seen today in my store. It's an odd thing, but not one of these 17 people were anything like the other. It would be impossible to play, "One of these things is not like the other" because of the 17, the only thing that they had in common was coming into my shoe store and talking to me.









Most of my days, I spend the majority of my time with my thoughts, and yes they do tend to revolve around me and my world...as I'm sure that your thoughts mostly revolve around you and your world. And in my world, everyone has the same thoughts as me...after all this is "my world" where I am the center.

I guess that the really amazing thing is to see the differences in humanity, I mean there is such diversity even within the races. God must really love variety, because He sure made this world full of it...well there's that...strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

Who's Word Will You Believe?

It has been a while since I posted anything here, but as I was reading the headline in my local newspaper today, I was struck with this thought. "Who's Word Will You Believe?" The headline in the newspaper was "Stricter Rules to Deal with H1N1". For those of you who don't know what "H1N1" is, it is also called the swine flu. We almost had hysteria last year because of this virus, and it appears that the CDC (Center for Disease Control) is already putting information out there under the guise of helping inform the people. I think there is something more nefarious going on here, and I think it needs to be addressed.

Now for those of you who possibly don't know, I am a Christian. A disciple and follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. I make no bones about it, it is who I am. So understand that everything I'm about to say is based on my belief in Jesus. Whether or not you agree, or disagree with me is immaterial, I just want you to know before you read any further.

Jesus, the Bible tells us took stripes on His back to purchase our physical healing. (1Peter 2:24) We do not have to be worried or fret about whether or not we will contract some disease if we will believe what God's Word says in regards to healing and walk in it. In other words, I choose to believe what God's Word says about mine and my family's physical health, and that is, that we can walk totally carefree of whatever the CDC is talking about concerning their latest threat of sickness. We can and do walk in this freedom every day.

I read a story about another Christian, a man named John G. Leake who worked with people who were dying of the bubonic plague. Here is an excerpt about him from his book "How To Be Filled With Spiritual Power":

For five years in South Africa, John G. Lake displayed the greatest spiritual power seen since the days of Jesus — not only for others but also for himself. While assisting doctors during a bubonic plague outbreak, he was asked why he had not contracted the disease since he had used none of their medical protection. He said, "it is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." To demonstrate, he had them take live bubonic plague germs still foaming from the lungs of a newly dead person and put them in his hands and then examine the germs under a microscope. They were dead.

This is a desire of my heart, to walk in this type of power. One thing that I know is that Jesus is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34) and that whatever He would do for John G. Leake, He will do for me and my family as well. And not only that, He will do it for you and your family too! What it boils down to is this, who's report are you going to believe?

In other words, Who's Word Will You Believe? The world's? It says that you have to watch out and be extra careful that you don't become infected with the swine flu. That is full of fear, and fear will keep you from attaining the promises of God. Or will you believe God's Word, and walk in faith holding nothing back? One produces fear, the other faith, and the Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).

To bottom line this for you...you have a choice of who's words you will believe. And depending on what you choose will determine what you have in your life. Remember God told us in the Bible that He set before us life and death, blessing and cursing, but that we should choose life. And that is what my family and I will be doing instead of worrying about what the CDC has to say. Strength and honor for the Kingdom and the King!

I'm Afraid That I'm Becoming Obsolete

You know that now we've been in the 21st Century for a few years, I'm becoming more and more aware that I may be in danger of becoming obsolete.

As I watch society and see the changes that have been rocketing us into a new place, I find that my thoughts tend to not fit in as well as they used to. For instance, tattoos have become common place. People are getting tattoos so fast the ink hardly has a chance of drying before they are getting another one. I for one, do not like tattoos. I remember the days when the only people that got tattoos were soldiers, prisoners and your crazy Uncle Louie (name made up to protect the innocent) who thought it might be fun to get one. Now kids are hardly out of grade school and they are designing the tat they are going to get as soon as they can. And I'm labeled a crack pot, or fool because I don't like them.

Another thing is society's pre-occupation with the "coolness" of being gay or lesbian. I personally believe that it is wrong. That is "my" opinion, which I am entitled to have. I have friends that are in the gay/lesbian camp. The friends that I have there I consider to be really good friends of mine, and I love them deeply. But I do have to say, I don't understand their decision. And I know that it is their decision to make, and if I'm to stay their friend I have to accept them and the decision they have made. I don't have to agree with it, but I love them and will continue my relationship because of my love for them.

Yet, I don't understand this whole gay/lesbian attitude to force people to accept them. It seems for the most part, and I know that I am talking in the general sense here, that if I don't accept the gay/lesbian way of thinking, and make their point of view my point of view, then my ideas, my thoughts and my opinions are labeled as hateful ones, and not worthy of any time in the debate. My obsolete opinion is just trod under foot as that of an un-enlightened primative man's musings and therefore not worth anything.

I'm in danger of becoming obsolete, because I think that a man should be a man and stand up for what is right and true in life. I'm really tired of special interest groups telling everyone else what to believe, and that if they don't agree with them then they are wrong. I'm in danger of becoming obsolete because the world doesn't want real men anymore. In the world's eyes there is no need for men. We should all be androgynous beings, not really male or female, just beings who "love" each other.

What happened to the men that fought in World War II? What would happen if we were forced to re-instate the draft and go to war in the near future? Would there being any men left to go to war? Or would they be too concerned with getting along with everyone and just refuse to fight injustice? Sometimes there is a peace that only comes at the end of a sword, I don't like it, but that is just the way it is. There are bad people in the world that want nothing more than to kill as many people as get in there way. The only way to stop them is for someone to stand between them and the innocent. That takes real men, and this way of thinking is becoming obsolete.

I may be in danger of becoming obsolete as a man in this 21st century, but let me say one thing...I will not become obsolete without a fight. There is one man here who is willing to stand against injustice, and the will of special interest groups who fight unfairly. I am that man, and will continue to be that man until they finally cover my grave with dirt. So, who's with me? Strength and honor....

What's The World Coming To? You Choose.

Okay, so last night I'm watching a little bit of Law and Order Criminal Intent on Bravo, when this commercial comes on for chemistry.com. It's one of their "I promise to...." commercials with couples that have met on the website making promises to each other in various public places.

So I've been seeing these for a while, and to tell the truth, I wasn't really paying too much attention to it, and chose to get up and grab a cup of coffee. I hear this guy saying something like, "I promise to never play the martyr role....", and then the strangest thing, I hear another male voice promising something back to the first male voice. At this point, I quit pouring my cup of coffee, and looked at the screen. I must admit that I was shocked at what I saw there in living color on my television. There are two guys standing there holding hands in a market and promising things to each other.

Now, now before you say it, I'll just go on record and say that I do not subscribe to homophobia, nor do I think of myself as a homophobe. Here is the definition of homophobia: irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals. I do not fear nor have an aversion to, or discriminate against homosexuals in any way. We as part of humanity have all been created in the likeness of God and that likeness is a spiritual one. Yet I will go on record as disagreeing with their life's choices, just I would if I saw someone who was an alcoholic, or a man beating his wife and children. Which unless I'm mistaken is still my right to do in America...at least for a little while.

What I do disagree with, and have an aversion to is this type of blatant, in your face tactic to push the homosexual agenda forward. I do understand that for chemistry.com this was probably a business decision to cater to the homosexual demographic, thus increasing their marketshare and making them more money. I guess kudos to them for reaching out...but what I think bothers me the most here is that it is just one more thing in bringing this minority to the forefront, making people think that it is really the majority.

The real problem here is that from my side of the fence (an overtly Christian viewpoint), homosexuality is usually attacked by hurling insults, Scripture and homophobic rhetoric and not viewing it for what it really is...a choice. I seem to remember somewhere in the Bible where we are told that life and death, blessing and cursing are set before us, we are then told to choose life, but ultimately we are the ones who must choose. God does not force His will upon us, and neither should we force our will upon others...no matter which side of the fence we are on....strength and honor....