Knight Life

Super Bowl XLVI, an Ex-Schoolteacher and Your Call

2012-02-07T01:15:26Z

Without a doubt, my favorite story of this weekend’s Super Bowl was that of New York Giant’s middle linebacker, Chase Blackburn. After years of playing for the Giants, primarily on special teams, he was cut in 2011. Unable to find another team to sign him, Blackburn became a substitute math teacher to make ends meet. Then, in November of that same year, his phone rang and the Giant’s invited him back on the team. He immediately established himself as a passionate player with plenty of life left in him.

Which brings us to Super Bowl XLVI. It was the beginning of the 4th quarter with the New England Patriots leading the Giants 17-15. Tom Brady, the New England quarterback, steped back to pass. Downfield he had one of the best tight ends in the league, Rob Gronkowski, heading toward the end zone in man-to-man coverage with this ex-schoolteacher in tow. It appeared that the Patriots would soon be adding six more points to their lead on the Giants. Blackburn wouldn’t be so easily convinced though. Staying with Gronkowski, Chase Blackburn turns, jumps and intercepts the pass. In doing so, he turned the game around and the New York Giants went on to become the 2012 Super Bowl Champs.

Fifteen months earlier, Blackburn was a ‘has been’. On this day, he was a game changer.

What about you? Where have you been told that you no longer have what it takes? What part of your life have you had to set aside just to survive? More importantly, what has your conclusion been concerning that part of your glory?

I know from experience that when those desert experiences come the voices of the world around us and circumstances and the Enemy seem to scream in unison that our time has past. Thus, so many men spend their years longing and reminiscing of ‘the glory days’. But what if those days aren’t really past?

Paul writes, ‘for God’s gift and his call are irrevocable’ (Romans 11:29). You may have been sidelined for a while. You may have been taken out of the game, but who you are has not changed. God’s call on your life has not changed. He has gifted you with unique qualities that only you can offer. And the good news is: your phone is ringing. The Coach is calling and inviting you back into the lineup. Everyone else may tell you not to risk it and Satan will put every obstacle imaginable in your path, but come on, you know who you are. You know, somewhere deep inside, that you were made for that one thing.

So please, take the call, suit up, and get back on the field. It could change the outcome of everything.

To the King,

David

Holding On Loosely -- a Five Star Book

2012-01-20T00:46:53Z

There are many Christian books out there that are theologically and denominationally air tight. Holding On Loosely is not one of them. If fact, at first read, one could almost question if in fact it is a ‘Christian’ book at all, as the name of Jesus is seldom mentioned, preferring rather a menagerie of more generic terms such as higher power, master, teacher or just plain God. Giacopelli does qualify this as he explains that his understanding of the God of the Bible is that this all powerful and merciful being is much more qualified and vested in revealing who he is than any mortal could ever be. I certainly respect that, even believe it to be true, but for those of us brought up with very fundamentalist training, it is still a hard pill to swallow.

So why did I give this paperback a 5 star rating, you’re wondering? Because Holding On Loosely is a life changing book. From the very first chapter it is evident that there is something mystical, ever supernatural, about this story. Pablo Giacopelli, a professional woman’s tennis coach, invites the reader into the story of his life, his struggles with trying to maintain control, and his pain as to the fruit (read that failure) of his efforts. You are given an opportunity to watch a man struggle with the question that so many of us ask: Why is it that my faith and my religion have had such a minimal effect on my actions?

His answers are profound. Giacopelli discovers a God who is much more interested in fathering him and loving him than controlling him; and that discover changes the authors life as well as the lives of those around him. In doing so, it also profoundly touched something missing in my life: the ability to lesson my own grip as I try to control those around me. Giacopelli masterfully leads the reader through the unwrapping of this capacity to ‘Hold On Loosely’: not forcing the outcomes while also not giving up. The ability transforms his tennis student from a very good player to a great player. It changes how he relates to his own children, and most importantly, it opens up a dialogue with God that produces real, lasting, life changing fruit.

I repeatedly found myself challenged and exposed as I related to his journey, but there was also incredible hope. Hope that there really is a relationship that Jesus longs to have with me, one of walking beside me, revealing his creation to me, and guiding my life for his glory.

Like I said in the beginning, this is not a ‘religious’ book, but it is so Godly. Unlike much I have read, Holding On Loosely left me wanting more of God and excited about the journey there. If you have likewise found yourself walking more in a performance mindset in your faith than in a love affair, Holding On Loosely is exactly what you need to read.

To the King,

David

If you would like to order a copy for yourself, Holding On Loosely is available here.

Opportune Times and Cliffs

2012-01-11T21:37:30Z

Have you ever noticed how crises can be both unexpected and overwhelming? Like the bombing of Pearl Harbor, life has the unsettling ability to suddenly switch from enjoying the sand and the sun to fighting fires and dodging bullets.

I had a couple of those days this week. My existence seemed to be going pretty smoothly. God was working some central questions out in my life, new friends had been made, and there was a sense that much of the mission of my life was being clarified. Then Sunday night, out of what felt like sunny blue skies, the bombs began falling. It felt like an ambush. Yet with my understanding of the world at war, God offered insight and I thought that I navigated the confusion better than usual.

Of course, Mondays always follow Sundays. Work was insanely busy. My emotions frayed, my brain overloaded, and my muscles tense, it seemed a good idea to run to the gym for a hard workout to clear my mind and refresh my heart, which by this time was guarded and under lock and key.

Within ten minutes of arriving, I found myself surrounded by first two, then three, then four of the officers of the club. I had earlier voiced some concerns and even written a note to them concerning how the facility was dealing with some issues, and they had come to clear the air. Naturally misinformation had filtered its way in, and the conversation was tense. Any other time I would have welcomed the opportunity to bring up these differences, but tonight ... after all that had transpired in the 24 hours before … I felt ambushed again, cornered like a cat burglar caught in the attic. With no where to run and no where to hide; I just stood there, taking it in, shooting aimless arrows at the dark skies.

So this morning, God takes me to Luke chapter four. It’s the account of the Jesus’ wilderness experience and his temptation by Satan. Verse 13 grabbed my attention. ‘When the devil had finished all of his tempting, he left him until an opportune time’ (emphasis mine). That opportune time comes just a few passages later.

Jesus begins performing miracles, people start listening, and then Luke reports that Jesus returned to his home town of Nazareth. Walking into the synagogue, our King stands up and reads from the prophet Isaiah: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.’ (Luke 4:18). The crowd loves it. That is until he begins explaining in more detail how this whole thing is going to go down, and how they will not be praising for long, but rejecting the Son of God. Our Lord is trying to be honest with them, letting those in attendance see the dangers that will follow. They don’t. Instead, they ‘were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of town, and took him to the brow of a hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff.’ (v.28-29).

Ambushed, at an opportune time. That’s what our enemy does. Just as we are beginning to walk in our glory, in our part in the story, he takes us again to a cliff. Or he uses others to push us to that cliff. Should we really be so surprised? He hates what we do, he hates who we are, and he hates who we serve. If he was able to incite a mob to push the Son of God over an abyss, why not us? Jesus warned us that it would be so.

What I love most about that story though is what Jesus does. He just turns around and walks away. On with the mission. On with life.

That’s the beauty of those opportune times that Satan uses to take me to the cliff, for they are also opportune times for Jesus to walk with me through the crowds and continue the journey.

If like me, you also frequently find yourself in the midst of an ambush, take heart (don’t lose heart). Your enemy hates where you are and what you are doing. And though it seems you are alone in the battle, Jesus is there, offering his hand and a way through the crowds and on with your mission.

To the King,

David

Beautiful Outlaw

2011-10-09T16:34:36Z

The writing of John Eldredge has had a huge impact in my life. I first read Wild at Heart a number of years ago, during a particularly distressing time in my life. It spoke to me at the level of my heart, which was honestly a mess. Then I read Waking the Dead, probably the most influential book in my life. Even Captivating, the book he wrote with his wife Staci touched me profoundly. But honestly, his last few books have just not really had that same effect on me. Maybe it was just the season that I was in, but The Way of the Wild Heart and Love and War left me wondering if maybe Eldredge’s heyday had finally come to an end. And so it was with some skepticism that I agreed to review a pre-release copy of Beautiful Outlaw.

Like I said, maybe it was just the season that I have been in. My own writing and ministry have had their own desert experience of late, and with that has been a distancing of myself from both … and more so from Jesus. Still, I had agreed to read Beautiful Outlaw, and so reluctantly, I sat down, cup of coffee in hand, and opened the book.

I really can’t explain what happened. A rather slow and meticulous reader by nature, I found myself soaring through this book. I wasn’t reading a book about who Jesus was, it felt more like sitting down with an old friend and looking through a photo album of his many adventures. Oh, and the photos. Beautiful, clear, breathtaking. It was as if I was there, with Jesus, with my brother the King, experiencing life as he experienced it. The compassion, the courage, the firmness of his words, the comfort of his touch. In a matter of a few hours, I was in love with Jesus all over again.

And it didn’t stop when I laid the book down. As my two year old grandson coaxed me outside to play, I was suddenly experiencing the artwork of a master, of the Master, everywhere: in a moth, through the blades of grass, and in the breeze of a fall afternoon. Beautiful Outlaw is brilliant in that it doesn’t preach; it rather invites the reader to join John on an adventure of discovery, a discovery of this Beautiful Outlaw who longs for our company and our hearts.

This is a simply amazing book, wonderfully outline, weaving together the Gospel accounts of Jesus into a portrait of the man we all ache to know but have somehow missed in the fog of religious activity. I can recommend this book with complete confidence that your understanding and intimacy with Jesus will be forever changed.

To the King,

David

Birthday Reflections

2011-10-04T01:49:05Z

I’m a year older today. Forty-eight to be exact. Not really old (at least that’s what I keep telling myself as more and more body parts give out), but certainly no spring chicken either. God has blessed me with honestly great health though. I definitely don’t feel forty-eight. I am however, acutely aware of the fact that my journey is well over half way finished, which causes a bit of a dilemma. Fear of death doesn’t really consume much; in fact, I tend to engage in a multitude of activities that could take my life at any moment. But fear of not living … fear of not experiencing all of life that God has for me … fear of failing; well that does consume me.

At the base of that fear, I believe, is a question of God’s faithfulness. Not His faithfulness in loving me or saving me or even protecting me, but a question of his faithfulness in using me. Now before you all start writing, I know that He has used me. He has used me in the lives of my children, my wife, my medical practice and even my writings and ministry. It’s just that I sense there is more, and as time keeps ticking away, I fear that maybe I’m missing it.

To be sure, I probably have missed some of it. Wasted years, missed opportunities, apathy and fatigue have side lined me as much as the next guy. Life has happened and with it, choices. Not always the best choices but choices none-the-less. I know that those can never be changed and so I don’t spend a lot of time reflecting on them. It’s the future that I’m interested in, and that frankly scares me to death.

You see, despite poor (or for that matter, good) choices in the past, despite failures and successes in the last forty-eight years, I know in my deepest being that my heart longs to follow my King’s direction for my life. So the question looms: when will God open the flood gates … will He ever open the flood gates?

However, paradoxically, something else has happened in the last forty-eight years: patience. Not a lot of it mind you, but some. More than in my thirty’s. I’m learning, albeit slowly, to trust his timing. I’m learning to enjoy the ride and to worry less about the destination. I’m learning that His use of me is up to Him, for His glory, not mine.

So here I am: forty-eight and anxious, but strangely also content. I am learning to trust in new ways and am still growing, and that tells me that despite all the aches and pains, I ain’t dead yet!

To the King,

David

Your Dream is Out There

2011-09-16T20:27:46Z

I have two teenage boys. Josiah, my youngest, dreams of being a movie producer. He spent most of his summer working to make enough money so he could buy a very nice, high dollar camera. When he wasn’t doing that, he was on the computer, learning the latest techniques in video editing, lighting, special effects, or the multitude of other nuances that goes into the making of a great on screen story.

Caleb, my older teen, is a rock climber. He lives and breathes rock climbing. With a training regimen that would put some professional athletes to shame, his body is becoming a machine. Last night he accomplished one of his goals for this year, he sent a very hard boulder project, the first person in our local climbing gym to climb this particular problem.

Passion. That’s what drives them both. Caleb and Josiah have found something that they are passionate about, and so whatever it takes: back-breaking labor, hours of study, sore muscles; all of it is endured, even embraced in order to pursue the passion.

You have passions too, I know you do. You were created with them, an endowment from your creator. Paul said it this way: ‘I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.’ (Philippians 3:12). He understood that like you, he too was created for a purpose, and it was that purpose that consumed him. The problem, however, is that those passions are opposed. Life comes at us, mortgages grow, responsibilities mount, and disappointments loom at every corner. And we, well we choose to settle … for something less, something not as dangerous or as maybe just not as hard. We become tired, disillusioned, even defeated; and we take an easier, smoother path.

The saddest part is that those effortless roads never satisfy, they just passify. They lull us into a place of less than we really are, a place of complacence and compromise while all of the time leaving a void that we seldom even notice except for those times when someone else makes the great movie or climbs the tallest mountains.

You and I were created for more. Eternity has been set in our hearts. We can ignore it, allow life to quiet it, and even refuse to accept it, but until we finally embrace it once again we will never taste the fulfillment of living in our God-given passions. Someday you may be watching a blockbuster produced by Josiah Kortje or tuning in to Caleb winning Olympic gold but the bigger question is: where will you be watching if from?

Like a popular commercial states: What are you waiting for, your dream is out there, go find it.

To the King,

David

Bills, Drought, Uncertainty, and ... Faith?

2011-07-27T01:42:21Z

This has been a tough summer. Summer is a wonderful time to play in the water, but it is a miserable time to fight fires. This summer I’ve felt more like a firefighter with a garden hose.

In the last few months my daughter has needed a new transmission in her car, our pool pump has gone out, my son’s car needed repairs, and my wife’s car needed replacement. Add to that a large emergency room bill for another son, the annual summer tax and insurance bills that come due, and a less then stellar year for our company, and my home equity line of credit keeps getting deeper and deeper.

Then of course there’s the drought. Over 30 days of triple digit heat with no measurable rain in the last few months have left my lawn a beautiful earthy russet color and our pond as dry as the Sahara Desert. Our greater concern though is if our well goes dry. As the only source of water for our home, things could get pretty interesting … and it isn’t even August yet!

To add insult to injury, we have Washington threatening to tank our economy just as it is starting to recover. Actually, we really can’t blame Washington. We are the ones who wanted it all and I fear the bill is finally coming due. Even if we avert a government default on our loans this week, sooner or later the piper needs to be paid.

So where does that leave faith? Do we really believe God is going to rescue us? Should we believe he is going to rescue us, and what if he doesn’t? What if the bills keep rising and the water level keeps falling. What if the greatest nation on earth becomes the greatest failure in the history of the earth? What if … what if … what if …? Is that really what our faith boils down to is believing the ‘what if’s’ won’t affect us? Or is it that faith is meant to be something deeper, more spiritual, something that transcends the ‘what if’s’ of life?

I don’t know what the rest of this summer, this year, or any of my life for that matter is going to bring. Paul tells us to ‘not be anxious about anything’ (Philippians 4:6a). I honestly don’t know how to do that. I’m an anxious person. But I do know how to do his next suggestion: ‘but in everything, with prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.’ (v6b). As I do that part (my part) then he promises that ‘the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus’ (v7).

That’s what I really need. More than money, more than rain, more than economic stability, I need my heart and my mind guarded in Christ, for it is my heart and my mind that are attacked as all the others fail. Paul doesn’t promise that our prayers will change the situations around us; he promises that our prayers will change us.

With that in mind then, maybe this summer isn’t such a loss after all. Maybe … this summer is just what I needed.

To the King,

David

The Future of America

2011-07-06T01:58:15Z

I hope you had a chance to celebrate our Nation’s birthday this week. Two-hundred and thirty-five years is quite the accomplishment – a ripe old age for a country, especially a democracy. I fear, however, that we are starting to show our years. Time, as is true in individuals, has seemed to produce a cynicism out of what was once optimism, a replacement of the passions and dreams of youth with a resignation and survival mentality of the twilight years, and sadly a forgetfulness of those who have given so much so that we could live this life of complacency.

Regrettably with that has also been a falling away from much of the faith of our fathers as well.

However, I have also seen and believe that God is raising a remnant of men and women who are increasingly taking responsibility once again to seek the face of our King, both for the Church as well as the Nation. Much like King Hezekiah and King Josiah during a day when the Nation of Judah had forsaken God (see 2 Chronicles 29-35), so today warriors and leaders are rising up to once again seek God for a nation that has in many ways followed foreign false gods as well.

If you are reading this blog, you are most likely one of that remnant. You are the ones on which our future rests. It is you on which the hope of our nation and our way of life depends; and I, draw great comfort from that. I have seen what God can do with a few faithful and I am looking forward to seeing what He does with you … with all of us. As I’ve been working on my next book entitled Mighty Warrior (which I hope to have out by the end of the year), I have discovered story after story of men who have made a difference at just the right time. Now is just the right time for this two-hundred and thirty-five year old United States of America and for this people of God.

Thank you for standing for truth, for believing when so many don’t, and for lending your strength in places where others either can’t or won’t. Fight well my friends, you are our future.

To the King,

David

?Why The World Didn't End?

2011-05-24T22:27:59Z

As we all know now, the world didn’t end, the rapture didn’t happen and we are all still here on planet earth. The warnings and calls to repentance of yet another day of judgment ‘prophesy’ have been replaced with late night comics amusing us with clever anecdotes and comments about the dooms day preacher. So why didn’t the world end.

Most of us – Christians – take one of two approaches to these apocalyptic evangelists. Either A: we quote Jesus in Matthew 24 when he states that ‘about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father’ (24:36), claiming that no one can predict the day; an interesting and possible true argument, however it is worth noting that Jesus simply said no one knew the day, not that no one would ever know the day. In fact, Amos seems to support this thought when he writes that ‘the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets’ (Amos 3:7).

Option B is that we hope it is true. We are ready for this world to end and inwardly welcome the possibility of proving to everyone else once and for all that we are right and they are wrong. I mean, life as a Christian in a fallen world can really be tough. Sometimes it is just nice consider the end of this corrupt, godless place.

Unfortunately, I fear both of these approaches frequently leave us missing the point. The first seems to reveal almost an apathy and indifference, maybe even some skepticism to the end of time, and the latter a similar indifference and apathy to this world and its inhabitants.

The question then is not so much why the world didn’t end last Saturday, but why the world has ended yet, on any day. And the answer, from a Christian perspective, can only be that God is his grace and kindness has given us yet another hour to be about the life that He created us for.

The truth is that Jesus is coming back, soon, be that next week or next millennium. And when He does return, He will have a question for those of us who have professed his name: ‘What have you done with the time I gave you.’ Not ‘did you get the date right’ or ‘are you glad to be out of that place’, but rather ‘did you make your life count, did you invest the talents that I gave you wisely?’

Why the world didn’t end is easy: there’s still work to do. Find your place and ‘git ‘er done’.

To the King,

David

Cowboy, Warrior, Friend

2011-05-14T15:40:00Z

A few days ago an elderly gentleman came into my office. I first met Vernon in 1996. He was almost seventy at the time, and arrived with an injury that he had received trying to break a horse! He was, and is, a man’s man. I have never seen him work a horse, but judging by his strength as well as his soft, patient demeanor, I suspect that he has the ability to stare an angry, scared stallion in the face and coax him to the point of complete trust in this old world cowboy.

As happens to even the best of us though, the years have taken a toll on Vernon and he no longer has any horses. His body is aging, his hearing is going, and his memory is fading. As I prepared to end our visit, this man that has become like family looked me in the eye and said, “Doc, there’s something I have wanted to tell you.” Vernon then proceeded to explain how over the last sixteen years he has prayed for me every night. And then he did just that, he prayed … without solicitation, without fanfare, he just started praying that God would bless me and protect me and give me the skills that I need to care for my patients. As he finished, I looked at this giant of a man, my eyes moist with emotion, and thanked him. He said he just wanted me to know that before his memory got so bad that he couldn’t tell me himself.

The Vernons of the world -- those are the real heroes of our faith. Those are the truest battle proven warriors. They lay the ground work, advance the kingdom, and move the very hand of God; all without need for recognition or applause but rather simply because they know the power of prayer. I have felt those prayers of my cowboy friend. At times that I felt like just giving in but I stayed another day, during weeks and months of instability and uncertainty when suddenly hope was discovered, and during moments of indecision that somehow, miraculously worked out, those were the prayers that covered me. I didn’t know it at the time and I realize that I can never prove it, but no matter, I know.

Thank you Vernon, and all of the others that have and will be praying for me as well as for the many other sons and daughters of the King out there. They may be your doctor or your pastor, maybe a teacher, a co-worker, or a neighbor. Son, daughter, mother, father; they all need our prayers, and it is those prayers that will carry them through even the worst of times.

To the King,

David

Strong and Courageous

2011-04-08T01:15:00Z

Strength is a lot like money, no matter how much you have, you always wish you had more. Recently, I’ve been training pretty seriously with one of my sons. He wants to make it into the National Bouldering Championships next year, and so we have written out and have been sticking to a vigorous rock climbing schedule. The workouts are grueling. After climbing for three to four hours during a session, the end result is usually muscles that feel as if every fiber has been ripped from the bone, finger tips that are so raw touching a door handle feels like the blade of a knife, and a general fatigue and glycogen deficiency that can lead to uncontrollable tremors. (Tell me again why am I doing this?) But a few hours later, after some stretching, nutrition and a good nights sleep, it is amazing how good I feel. And the best part is that we are climbing better than ever before.

So this morning during my weekly pond retreat (every Tuesday morning I spend about 45 minutes watching the sun come up over our small farm pond, just sitting with God), I opened an email devotional and it’s subject was Deuteronomy 31:6: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you or forsake you.” That’s a very significant verse to me. It is one that God has laid on my heart since the beginning of this ministry that we call Knight Vision. And yet, at this point in the journey, I feel anything but strong and courageous. I feel weak and fearful, ‘afraid and terrified because of them’, whoever ‘them’ are.

Which brings me back to my rock training. What makes you strong isn't wishing you were strong, it is pushing and training and working at the limits of your current strength until you have no strength left. What makes you courageous isn’t the understanding that the rope is able to hold you (or that the Lord our God is with us), but the constant testing and reliance on the rope until you know beyond knowledge that it is trustworthy. The command then, to be strong and courageous, isn’t just another motivational speech, it is a call to train and practice and experience walking with God. It should leave us with days that we feel completely spent, not an ounce of energy left. It will also, however, give us the ability to climb higher than we ever have before.

See you at the top!

To the King,

David

Managing the "Spam" in your Life

2011-03-17T19:52:00Z

It has been awhile since I have had the opportunity to spend some time writing and so I thought that I would steal a few minutes of time and take a look at what has been going on here. I was pretty amazed to find the number of "spam" comments to the post at our site. Not that I didn't expect that eventually they would find their way here, but rather just the volume of spam related comments. Everything from online poker, to porn to cheap drugs. After reading through several of the comments, most of which had nothing to do with the blog itself, I had a little Spam removal party. As I was having my spam party, I couldn't help but thing about the number of endless Spam related messages that we receive on a daily basis. And I'm not talking about just the ones that you get by e-mail, text message or on your social networking page, but the ones that we see in the media, hear on the radio or see on billboards as we travel from place to place. It used to be that we called this advertising, and while I am sure that the name still fit's based upon some sort of loosely based loophole definition, I think that it has lost much of the original intent. Now please don't misinterpret what I am saying here. I am not blasting the advertising community and condemning their actions but rather am simply stating that the sometimes endless barrages of spam or advertising seems to have increased to the point that we don't even consciously perceive how much of it is coming across anymore.

That said, if we have become oblivious to the amount of spam that we receive on a daily basis, how much of this subliminal advertising is affecting us daily and how do we manage the spam in our life? Ideally we would have a "delete spam" button built within each of us that would allow us to purge from existence what we have just seen or had flash before our eyes, much like we have on this website (sorry spammers). And although I yet to find that button, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, something that is better. His name is Jesus and getting to know Him, accepting Him into your life and spending time reading about Him in God's Holy and Inspired words, also known as the Bible, is far better than any magic delete button.

Our hearts desire here at Knight Vision Ministries is to share the Good News of Jesus with each and everyone of you. If you would like to know about Jesus, drop us a line - we would be glad to share with you and help you develop a very personal and real relationship with our Lord and Savior. If you already know our Lord and Savior, may God bless you. My encouragement to each of you today is to be mindful of the spam in your life and how you manage it.

As for those of you who are submitting the spam comments...

God bless you as well. We will continue to pray for you. We would love to share the Good News of Jesus with you as well!

Your brother in Christ,

Jim

The Myth of Living Intentionally

2011-03-02T17:58:00Z

I hear people say this all of the time: ‘you need to live intentionally’. I couldn’t agree more. I want to live intentionally. I want to make every moment count, to seize the day, to live like there’s no tomorrow. I want to be the master of my own life, not allowing my life to master me; and I want to make a difference: a real, identifiable difference in this world.

But then life happens. Maybe it’s the flat tire on the way to work or the ‘crisis’ of your daughter’s lost cell phone. It could be a lay-off notice, divorce papers, or a diagnosis. Sometimes it’s as simple as a pile of clutter that demands cleaning, and other times it’s the life shattering phone call at 3:00 AM. Whatever it is that life is assaulting you with at this moment, the clear message is that you really are not in control. In fact, control is a myth.

The logical corollary then is that living intentionally is also a myth … a nice thought maybe, a great sermon topic to be sure, but a myth just the same. You can’t make life happen. And that’s true if what you mean by living intentionally is mastering your own life. But what if living intentionally meant something completely different?

As Jesus was preparing his closest friends for the greatest crisis of their lives (as He, their leader, would in the next few hours be violently arrested and executed) Jesus assures them that there is a greater plan. He explains that what will really be happening is necessary for the future of his Kingdom and then he clarifies that the reason He is explaining this to them is so that they may have peace (as opposed to fear). (John 16:33), because “in this world,” He continues, “you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Jesus’ key to living intentionally was not to control His world, nor for us to do so, but rather to live intentionally trusting what His Father was up to in His world. Yes, it involved choices and positive thinking, but those choices are based on faith. They are based on faith in a God who is about making every moment count and leading us to seize the day. Not another ‘keep a stiff upper lip’ pep talk, but a way of living that chooses to stand on the solid rock foundation of the creator of the universe.

And the truth of that is that living intentionally really is mythic.

To the King,

David

Humility, Patience, Resignation and Shame

2011-02-23T02:23:00Z

About a week ago I pulled a classic twenty-four hour marathon. Having spent all day in Boulder, CO with my son rock climbing at the Citizens National Bouldering Comp, and then watching the pros show how it was really done later, we were so jazzed up on adrenaline and caffeine that we chose to drive through the night on our way back to Kansas. I love night driving: the peacefulness, the stars and the complete lack of competing distractions has a way of opening my heart to hear God in new and fresh ways. I needed that. I haven’t heard much lately, not that God hasn’t been trying mind you, but life has just been so … intoxicating. And so on this night, as Caleb slept in the seat next to me, I turned on one of my favorite worship CDs and began opening my heart to what Jesus had on his.

As some of the scales and calluses of the past months began to soften and fall, I changed CDs to an audio of Gary Barkalow speaking on calling. He was speaking of the high value that God places on humility in those He uses and about how our King will take us wherever it is that we need to be to develop that characteristic. I began reflecting back to the last conference that Knight Vision had done. Having experienced God’s power at a number of men’s events, I felt that a mixed event for both men and women was the next logical step. My motives seemed pure enough, I knew that men and women both are caught up in this battle; our enemy holds no favoritism or empathy based on our sex so why not offer the truth to all people. Unfortunately, there was also quite a bit of pride mixed in to my passion, desiring to prove that this was not just another ‘guy’ ministry and wanting to expand our influence to women who largely make up the lion’s share of ministry opportunities. It failed miserably and left me confused and angry and then seriously doubting what it was that God had called me to. It also left me fearful. I didn’t ever want to have that feeling again, and so I stuck with ‘safe’ missions, writing occasionally, updating this blog, and throwing a few Facebook and Twitter comments out there.

Barkalow went on to explain that in humbling circumstances, as God is about fathering us through those, one of the places He desires to take us to the area of patience and trusting His timing. However, my response has been a counterfeit of patience: resignation. Rather than waiting patiently for my next assignment, I have resigned to believing that God is not going to use me, and I am NOT going to risk being to fool again. Rather than a place of humility, it has become a prison of shame.

I wish that I could offer a happy ending here, a story of God lighting a passion in me that has changed the lives of thousands, but the truth is that I’m still resigned. I am, however, looking at that resignation differently now. I am asking Jesus to walk me through that and to teach me true humility and patience. There is no longer a strong need to accomplish anything in the Kingdom, but there is still a desire, and by God’s grace and in his timing, I believe He is in the process of awakening and purifying that desire even in my resignation.

To the King,

David

Integrity -- From the Ground Up

2011-02-03T23:42:00Z

I’ve got this picture on my calendar of a majestic mountain peak sitting atop a layer of clouds. It is absolutely stunning, inviting me to a place of beauty and greatness that is the essence of all that I would hope my life is about. Above it are the words: Integrity. Implicit in the representation is the understanding that the integrity of this grand rock formation is not found in the splendor that we see above the clouds, but rather in the massive foundation that lies just below the water vapor.

Integrity is a difficult thing to live out. Most of us understand and even applaud its significance while at the same time deploring those political and athletic figures that make the news when their own lack of integrity makes the headlines. Yet in our every day lives, when all everyone sees and offers any feedback on is our apparent splendor above the clouds, integrity can be a very difficult thing to maintain. It becomes easy to cut corners, to offer less than great service, or simply manufacture something that below the clouds is not what it seems. All the while, those flying by our lives at 30,000 feet see our mountain peaks and exclaim how awesome we are.

But there is another type of observer. He is the one who starts at the base of that great rock, miles down in the valley ... and hikes. Through dense forests, across cold glacier melt streams and over fallen rock, he works his way up, little by little. It’s painstaking and it’s slow. He’s not a casual spectator, but rather is intimately embraced by the experience of the entire mountain. As he reaches the top there is a new found respect for what others have just been photographing. No longer just an image, the mountain has become a part of his history as well.

More than anything else, I want that understanding of integrity to mold my character. Not for fear that the sightseeing group might discover the truth, but for those who have been and will be watching me from the ground up … intimately: my children and grandchildren, my friends and my God. Those are the ones that I hope one day on the top of my mountain that has been my life will take a deep breath, look around, and with a smile embrace my history as a welcome part of theirs as well.

To the King,

David

Finding Who I Am and Trying Hard to Believe it

2011-01-19T17:37:00Z

Like you, I believe the Bible to be the infallible truth of God, and so when it says that I am a new creature in Christ, that I have been redeemed and renewed and that I now have the righteousness of Christ in me, I believe it.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), life happens. As it happens, I am repeatedly confronted with the fact that I still miss the mark so often. Those I love I still manage to hurt and fail, often repeatedly. It would appear, from the surface that the Bible is wrong, that I have not been changed at all. The temptation is to seriously question the work of Christ in me and with that comes a questioning of all that the Scriptures say. My reasoning then goes on to convince me that God (if there even is a God) will never change me. I must change me.

It’s a lie, straight from the pit of Hell. The idea that the work of Christ is not sufficient for my life has taken me down far too many dark paths and it is time for it to stop. Jesus warned us that this life would be opposed. What did we think he meant by that? Is it really just our government or our society that is the opponent to our faith? Pogo was right: ‘We have found the enemy, and he are us.’ Not the redeemed us, but the lies that we choose to believe, that our enemy is so skilled at making believable.

Those are the places that Paul tells us that our love should be like that of Christ, laying down our lives. What looks like hopelessness is actually the very places that we find our Calvarys and our Gethsemanes, where we once again fall to our knees, forgive our enemies (which unfortunately might also be those we want most to save), and seek the Father’s strength that lives in us. This is where real battle happens, as we choose to believe in something much bigger that ourselves, remembering and trusting the journey that He has set out before us, what it is that He created us to be.

Hopefully someday these battles will subside (though I’m not sure that they will), but until then they are opportunities … to trust, to grow, and to learn to walk in the finished work of Christ.

To the King,

David

Resolving NOT to Get Stronger?

2011-01-12T18:41:00Z

For the last few years, one of my passions has become rock climbing. I love the exhilaration that comes as you complete a problem that you thought was beyond your abilities. There is this sense of accomplishment and it drives you to try even harder and more technical routes. Unfortunately, I have sort of hit a plateau.

The last few months have not seen a lot of improvement. From what I have been reading, this is fairly common for mid-level climbers. When a person first starts climbing, progress comes from learning the basics and gaining confidence. Then, as holds get smaller and routes steeper, most of us, myself included, focus on building strength. Pull-ups, crunches, grip strength, they all contribute substantially to your climbing ability … up to a point. However eventually, no matter how strong you are, there is just no way that you are going to be able to muscle your way up a climb with hand holds the size of dimes. What most of us do at this point is we try harder. We try to grip stronger, or pull faster. We get to the gym more, but still not a lot of progress is made.

They key, I am told, is to quit trying to just climb stronger and start climbing smarter. I have been reading about the need to take a few steps back and work on technique and body position rather than just strength.

With the New Year come hundreds of resolutions. Frequently for us as Christians, those resolutions focus on getting stronger in our faith, to try harder or maybe to just not mess up so much this year. That might include a commitment to read the Bible in a year, to join an accountability group, or just to avoid that familiar sin that keeps plaguing us. All of those have merit, but we must not confuse getting stronger in our understanding and discipline as Christians with walking closer with Jesus. They are not the same.

The former may help us through some tough times, and may even keep us in the game early on, but as we continue in our journey, eventually it will not be enough. Eventually we will need to be more than just determined wannabes, we will need to be the real deal – disciples of our Lord. We will need to learn to walk closely with him, to hear his voice, and to not just move in our great strength whenever the mood is right, but to purpose our movements in line with the route that he has drawn out for us. It may require us to take a few steps back, in humility, and not flex our spiritual muscles so obviously, but in the end, we will find ourselves climbing higher and farther than we ever imagined.

See you on the ROCK.

To the King,

David

The Movie Star

2010-12-29T02:08:00Z

Have you ever known anyone who was in a major motion picture? I had a friend once who was so excited. He was an extra in one of the latest block busters (I don’t even remember which one any more). He told me that if I watched closely in this one particular scene, and if I looked carefully at the 30 or so people in the background, that I could pick him out with a blue shirt on – for about 2 seconds. He was a movie star!!

This morning I was reading once again (probably the last time until next year) the Christmas story in Luke chapter two, and was suddenly stuck by a small detail that I had never really paid any attention to. Luke writes: ‘In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world … And everyone went to his own town …’ I started thinking about Tom and Judy, making the long trek from Beer-sheba in southern Judah all the way north to Bethsaida on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, hundreds of miles, with their three young children and ailing grandmother. Or maybe Janice, the middle aged widow, facing foreclosure, as it was, on her deceased husband’s estate -- having to put everything on hold and register to pay a tax that she couldn’t afford anyway. Each of them at the best irritated by the situation, and more than likely down right ticked off. For some, no doubt, this decree spelled financial ruin, physical hardship, or worse. All of this just so a pregnant teenage girl could deliver in a stable in Bethlehem? And even that they had no knowledge of.

And yet, I wonder how they feel about the whole affair today, if we could somehow reach up to heaven and ask them? I wonder if they would be like my friend, the extra; proudly pointing out their face in the crowd as cameras panned the epic of all eternity. Now I am sure that God, in the way that only He can, was orchestrating many individual stories and adventures along the way; but I also suspect that there were some who were just along for the ride. The taxes, the hassles, the crowds really had nothing to do with them personally, it was just all part of fulfillment of a prophesy, and they were a part of the backdrop.

Was it still worth it? Were their lives still significant? Two thousand years later I think we would say: Yes! Which in turn offers me some encouragement for my often mundane life.

Now as I’ve said many times before, I believe that God is writing a specific story of each of our lives. But honestly, some details just don’t seem to fit. Maybe I just don’t see it yet, or maybe … maybe some of those times I am the extra, part of the backdrop of someone else’s larger story. Maybe it won’t be until years into eternity that I fully grasp the need for that headache that I endured so that someone else got to where they needed to be.

And maybe on that day, I too with gather my friends around to watch a scene unfolding on some heavenly giant screen, set in a cold winter Midwestern town, and point out that guy in the background with a grey sweater … that’s me – the movie star!

To the King,

David

All You Need is Love

2010-12-22T16:36:00Z

John Lennon was right, all you need is love. While most of us live our days thinking we need something else, be that a new car, a better job, more sex or even world peace; what we need, what we really need is love.

I really find it ironic that Lennon, a man who openly opposed Christianity, had such a grasp of what Christ – and Christmas – was really all about. Paul, under the inspiration of the author of love put it this way: ‘And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.’ (1 Corinthians 13:13).

This last week of advent before we celebrate Christmas, is symbolized by the advent candle of love. That is, after all, what Jesus is: love in the flesh. Regardless of where he is, whether in a dirty stable or a king’s palace, whether walking along the fiery stones of heaven or through the dusty streets of Judea, whether sitting on the golden throne of heaven or hanging bloodied and broken on a wooden cross in Calvary, this Jesus that we are celebrating in just a few days is love.

He is love come down to earth. Not another wise philosopher, not another rebel with a cause, and certainly not another narcissistic self-proclaimed hero; no this is the creator of the universe whose only agenda was to die … for you. Nothing else. How else can you explain him chosing to be born in obscurity, when the definition of world news meant hearing about the latest uprising in the village next door. How else can you explain the ‘official’ proclamation of his birth to group of uneducated, obscure shepherds working third shift on the edge of nowhere. And how else can you explain that those few that really knew him while he did walk this earth were each willing to share his same fate, the great majority being martyred for their faith.

Christmas is about the only thing that really matters: Love – God’s unbelievable and crazy love for us, for you. Love is all you need, and all that you need is available to you this Christmas in the man Christ Jesus.

May you experience the very thing this Saturday that Mr. Lennon spent his entire life searching for and singing about.

Merry Christmas. God loves you.

To the King,

David

Journey of Joy

2010-12-17T00:28:00Z

A road – more like a trail – dusty, desolate; if not for the others on similar treks it would have been downright dangerous. Still the journey couldn’t have been in the least bit comfortable. Ten to fourteen days traveling over eighty miles on the back of a donkey is hardly a holiday getaway. Did I mention she was pregnant? Nine months. And a teenager? Long days, saddle sores, cold nights sleeping … tossing on the ground. Joseph trying so hard to encourage, to comfort; but he’s a carpenter, not a counselor. This should be the most wonderful time of his life, building a career, starting a family, celebrating with friends. But he too is walking this road with Mary … to Bethlehem … to be counted, like some type of commodity.

This was God’s plan for humanity? For salvation? This was how the maker of the universe, the one who said ‘Let there be’ would enter our world? Maybe they heard wrong. Perhaps their friends were right in calling them delusional. None of it made sense. But then, nothing made sense anymore.

What they didn’t know yet was that in just a few days the child would be born, in a manger of all places. But then there would also be the angels, the shepherds, the wise men … the old man at the temple – waiting. What they didn’t know yet was that in just a few days, while confusion may follow most of their days ahead, affirmation and clarity would also be there. Prophesies would be fulfilled. Pondering and praising would begin to replace fear and fatigue. Joy would enter the world.

This third week of advent is symbolized by the candle of JOY. Not joy in the moment. Not even joy in our circumstances, but joy in knowing that the author of all stories has written himself into our journey as well. It is a joy that understands that so important are these voyages through the deserts of confusion and doubt, that even the mother and step dad of the Christ were not denied this adventure. It is a joy that looks forward, ahead of our present state of affairs, to the forth-told promises of our God as we look back at the road that a young couple walked some two thousand years ago.

Joy to the world -- the Lord has come.

To the King,

David