Focus

Your focus can save you or destroy you. Take, for example, a solder in a battle. If he is not 100% focused on what is going on around him he could end up dead. The same can happen in our every day lives. If you don't focus on where you are going and walk into a busy street, you could end up in the hospital.
It is also true of our spiritual lives. Jesus gives us an excellent example of focus at the Last Supper.

Luke 22:8-12

Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover." "Where do you want us to prepare for it?" they asked. He replied, "As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make preparations there."

Jesus knew where he was going.

Luke 22:16-18

For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God. After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."

Jesus knew what was going on.

Luke 22:15

And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat his Passover with you before I suffer."

Jesus didn't let circumstances distract him.

Luke 22:21

But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table.

Jesus didn't let betrayal change his focus.

Jesus never lost his focus. He knew where he was going and what was going on around him.
He didn't let circumstances or betrayal stop him.

We are called to follow Jesus's example. We are to learn God's plan for us. We are to focus on that plan. We should not let the world stop or discourage from following God's plan.

Lions

"For after years of living in a cage, a lion no longer even believes it is a lion...and a man no longer believes he is a man." John Eldredge

Remember the story about the lion that got out of its enclosure. There was some question if the wall was high enough. I remember a difference if the lion had been born in a zoo or out in the wild. If I remember correctly a wild lion can jump higher and farther than a captive lion.

John is talking about a lion at his local zoo that lives in a "small enclosure". The lion has its meals delivered though a little door. The life this lion lives is in such contrast to a lion living in the wild. The captive lion doesn't hunt. He doesn't run. He sits and is given everything. Everything is in half-measures. Instead of running for as long as he can, the lion gets to walk in a 20 foot square. He gets his daily pound of meat instead of feeling the thrill of the hunt. The sad thing is he doesn't know what he is missing.

We can be too much like the lion born in the zoo. We not only accept the half-measures, but we can't believe it could be any better. Satan has had us in a small cage for so long we done understand what it means to be a Child of God.

We take out half-measure of hope and we are grateful. We take our half-measure of faith and call it good. We take our half-measure of life and are satisfied.

Crazy are the people who want more or strive for a full portion of life.

Satan doesn't have to raise up a "Hitler". He just needs us to accept a half-measure.

As for me and my house....

"Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." Josh 24: 14&15

I first heard this passage in the fall of 1999. I was at my first Promise Keepers event. That wasn't my best year. I had made some bad choices. I was loosing a large part of my family. I bought the CD with music from that event. I listened to the song about this verse over and over again. I was like a man adrift holding on to a life raft.

I have tried to "serve the Lord" ever since. I am not perfect. I am sorry to say I don't serve the Lord every day. I do much much better than I have before 1999.

Home

Home......I love being home. But, man, is it a mess. It is amazing all this stuff fit in the van and the camper. We had a great time. Lisa and I celebrated our birthdays. It was a lot of driving. Everything is an hour away in northern Michigan. Natalie got bit by something and her left eye swelled shut. Then we went to a museum with a full sized sailing ship. She looked like a pirate.

I'm back

Ok, I am back. I took a month or 9 off from posting. The next ten days or so will be on and off. I am taking the family camping. I am really looking forward to going. We are leaving Sat morn. We will be about 45 min West of Alpena. There will be two days of work to do. Well... one day of work and one day of golf.

So many great things have happened in the past months. I will get to most of them. The best is the arrival of Brianna. She is Lisa's little girl. This is due to the fact, more often than not, she cries when I hold her. She is still cute. She had her 4 month Dr. apt today. She is now 16 lbs and 25 inches long.

Romans 5:3-5

There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! Romans 5:3-5 The Message


I don’t know about anyone else but I seem to be “hemmed in with troubles”. Business is slow. It is even slower than after 9/11. This verse in Romans is saying that when we are having troubles that something should happen to me. So what is going on in me?

I am learning how to cut cost at the hotel and home.
I am learning how to prioritize items in my life and at the hotel.
I am learning the value of everything I pay for.
I am learning to dream more.
I am learning how to adjust my dreams.
I am learning to trust God more.
I am learning to listen more carefully to God.
I am learning to slow down.
I am learning to pray more specifically.
I am learning to look for more opportunities.
I am learning to work harder.
I am learning to pay more attention to the details.
I am learning to keep on praying, even when nothing happens right away.
I am learning to learn from others and what they are going through.
I am learning what things in my life are wants and what things are needs.

It is just amazing all these things are going on inside of me at the same time. I will now be able to sit down and think about these things. I guess it is kind of like homework. To really learn a new subject in school, I had to practice. I had to take my math homework home and work in it. I need to take these things God is talking to me about and work, think, study, meditate on them.

What has God talked to you about during your troubling times?

Then we have the second part to this passage. It talks about not being able to hold all the blessings God will pour out on us. What a promise! I can hold onto a lot. I have pockets, boxes, a garage, a bank account. I can fit a lot of stuff and this is just the physical stuff. The blessings could be family, a good job, peace, understanding, wisdom, friends and lots of other stuff you can't touch.

Have you ever linked a blessing back to the lesson you have learned? I have. It is really fun to do and a topic for another post.

Have a day "hemmed in with troubles".

Hope

Is there any hope left in the world? I sure don't see any on the TV or in the papers. All the banks are going to fail. The car companies are all going to close down. No one is going to have a job. The whole world is going to close down. Well, I want off. I will no longer be a part of this. I am going to have a good day. I am going to have fun. I am going to enjoy myself. I have hope that I will be better than I am today. I have hope I will grow today. I have hope tomorrow will be a better day.

3-5There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! Romans 5:3-5 Message

I don't know about everyone else, but I am working on the containers to hold God's blessings.