A Quiet Moment

7 June 2013

As I drove to work, a song played on the radio that struck me in the core of my faith.  It began to really describe what faith can truly be like.

  Imagine your life and everything in it. You have everything you could possibly want.  Would you be happy?  Of course you would.  It's hard to frown on a sea-doo.

  Now take away everything.  Your family, your friends, everything that you found meaning and happiness, POOF! GONE!!!   Would you be happy now? 

  In the song this morning, Casting Crowns sang about a world that struggles to find its happiness.  By using words and phrases like, "wipe the tears away", or "save the day", the band really tells a gut wrenching story of a life that is besiege by pain, anguish and hardship.  Through all of these descriptively dark emotions they weave a sole shimmer of Hope.   They use a commonly and sometime cliché verse from Job 1:21 to paint the picture.  "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."   Can you tell me where to find hope in these words?  Your life went from everything to nothing.  Glory, honor, prestige are now emptiness, sadness, and despair.

  You see, it's easy to walk in your faith when life is beautiful, full of joy, and light. But, when clouds surround, stifling all joy, and choking out the light, can you tell me where your faith might be?  Most people's faith would be lost, little better then a dismal shadow that it once was.   Here is where the HOPE is!  God sits with you in that dark place. Waiting and watching to see what you do.  You see, it's in these moments where you are truly blessed.  It's just you and God now.  You have nowhere else to run or manufacture your joy.  Faith becomes the only strand to cling to.  It is in this test that the foundation of your faith develops, and blossoms. 

We can praise God in all the gifts and joys life has to offer. We must praise him all the more when life offers nothing.  For it's in that moment that our joy and promise is made complete!

Financing a Battlefield

I was sitting back staring at my blog page for several weeks now wondering what on earth I could write about.  Several topics have come and gone but none of them have endured to be written about.  Then it came to me.  What plagues this society more than anything? Its not War, Its not crime, its not the economy and its not politics.  Rather, it is the Root of All EVIL. Money, Wealth, Riches.  Nothing speaks louder and creates more noise in a spiritual man's ears than money.

Money drives everything in this world.  Money talks, and often times louder than anything else in the world and this is certainly the case for both the physical and the spiritual realm too! So much so that it often becomes the center conversation for how we are going to handle, solve or even perform a given task.  Financial Burdens can be so heavy that they cause even then strongest of people and relationships to tumble. Finances, often times will decide the outcome of a war before the first battle is waged.

"THE BATTLE"

Recently finances have been a major topic of my life.  Whether it has been me, my family,friends or even a pledge drive for a radio station.  I have heard Money being talked about every place that I go.  "Can I afford this?"  "I don't make enough?" "I can't afford to give that."   These statements often lead to us measuring our happiness in life and at work by the numbers in our bank account.  The economy is down, jobs are hard to find.  People aren't as willing to hire and if they do often times they don't pay what they probably should.  Over worked and under paid while living pay check to pay check. 

Sound like you? 

How does a budget sound?  Sounds great for the majority of time, but what happens when a budget is running smoothly, the black numbers are climbing slowly and then the battle erupts with out warning.  Somewhere, something was overlooked. In a single day multiple charges appear buffed by overdrawn fees which are complimented by check bouncing fees. It appears that the whole world is falling apart? Then thoughts of in adequacy set in.  Stress mounts as you crunch numbers to see if anything can be reconciled.  Outstanding debts stand like mountains, daunting over the latest failed climbing expedition.  You look out over what future goals were on the horizon of life and you watch them begin to fade away as it all just seems so impossible.  Suddenly nothing seems right in the world.  Your work doesn't pay enough, your car cost to much, the simple creature comforts seem to be as much a hindrance as they are a haven.  It seems that you are all alone in the world and there is no relief.  Life becomes a poor me attitude an no one understands what you are going through.  Strangely, accepting help is that last thing you are willing to do no matter who offers.  You begin to alienate the people closest to you because you just can't seem to get your head above water. 

"The WAR"

You have officially been deafened by the NOISE that money makes and have been taken out by the root of all Evil and the Devil hasn't even begun to toy with you.  Now that you can't hear God because you took your eyes off of him you have opened a doorway for Satan to play with all your insecurities.  Life Choices, Relationships, Work, Goals, Emotions, and Faith all become attacked,challenged, and begin to receive scrutiny.  All because we have put our stock in objects of this world rather than just simply living by FAITH.

⁶But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. ⁹People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Paul's Charge to Timothy

 ¹¹But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. ¹²Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you ¹⁴to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
1 Timothy 6:6-16

You can't take any of these possessions with you to Heaven.  Why would you?  Sure living a comfortable life while living life on Earth is attractive to any normal person.  God doesn't call us to be normal.  He asks for us to give all away and follow him. 

Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." Mark 10:21

This verse is packed full of information.  Reading between the lines, that verse means: Come pursue me, trust me, seek me, and I will build you up so much that what you have now will seem as if you had nothing.
Surely Christ didn't expect a man no to be able to sustain his health and family and their well being. Why would he ask that if there wasn't a plan for us? 

 ¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  ¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. ^[b] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."  Jeremiah 29:11-14

"Trust me, Seek me, Come find me.  I will be here when you are in your moments of greatest need or in the moments when you don't need help. I will build you up and I will not leave."

So the next time that Money talks.  Remember to Trust Him, Seek Him, and Find him.  For only in him will we ever find peace and rest. Have Faith because of where you have been and Hope in where you will be.

A Battlefield of Expectations

On every battlefield a commander often tries to out think his opponent by expecting the enemy to do exactly what they normally do so he modifies his plan of attack to gain the element of surprise. What happens when that enemy doesn’t actually do what has always been done? Usually it ends in a massive, chaotic logistical problem and could even end in loss of life by subordinates. How does this seem relevant to everyday life for a civilian and Christians all over the world?


What is an expectation exactly? The Webster’s Dictionary defines expectation as: The act or state of looking forward or anticipating. To the common person it could be simply that, but it may also include some kind of emotional connection to that particular event that is being anticipated. The major issue with having expectations is that the world is not perfect and expectations rarely, if ever come to full fruition. So what happens if expectations don’t happen at all? What if the exact opposite occurs? The situation, event, or person may become a chaotic emotional roller coaster.

How does this apply to a Christian? Every day is spiritual battlefield and it is up to us to sway the fight for good or for bad. Often times we have certain expectations in the world around us. Some expectations could be built around an occupational promotion, a roommates actions, a relationship, a vacation, our cars, alarm clocks, and could even be as small as an expected phone call that’s doesn’t ever come. Each of these situations could be very small and insignificant to some but they have a very real possibility to derail someone’s day completely. The big issue with being a Christian and having expectations is how we handle ourselves in these moments. Even behind closed doors there is always someone watching us and our actions for when our lives become derailed. We are a living examples for Christ. When the world is crashing around us, many look to us to be the oaks of righteousness that God calls us to be. What happens to those that look to us for support and we are the ones who have been derailed? We begin to lose credibility in their eyes and it is hard to gain that back. We are merely human but the world views us with a magnifying glass and balks at every miss step that we take. Satan wants nothing more than to attack and destroy our credibility at every turn. To make matters worse as we grow in our faith and walk close to God and really begin to do His work Satan moves us up on his most wanted list. (Congratulations you are on a HIT LIST) This means he throws even more hazards our way to break us down. So now every little detail of life becomes a possible derailment if we don’t have our eyes where they need to be.

Over the last few weeks, this has been a major issue for me. I have had many expectations come and go in the last few months. As Gods promises come close to being achieved Satan has tried even harder to insert his own mess of lies, miss communications, missed placed expectations and bad travel conditions. He has influenced schedules, events and even daily errands of my surrounding friends and family to throw me off balance in hopes of getting me to be a bad witness for Christ. Flexibility has become a staple of my life recently. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, however at first those spiritual muscles were not stretched, warmed up, and in fact they had not even been used for quite awhile. If it wasn’t for my friends being solid in their flexibility I would have crashed and burned. Lucky for us God grants us grace which allows a chance to recover from the pitfalls of today and start fresh tomorrow.

Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Preparing for War

On a few occasions I have the opportunity to pick and choose how and where I am going to fight my next battle. This is a strategic prospect, as I have the home turf advantage and I can lay ambushes, use choke points and even have friendly forces ready for my call for help in a dire situation. On more than a few occasions life doesn’t allow for this freedom. Battlefields rage all around and we get sucked into a random fight of our own or we may be drawn into someone else’s fight without warning. If we are not grounded properly or are unprepared chances are the battle will not go in our favor or will bear a costly price for a victory. For this reason we surround ourselves will reliable warriors (shock troops) that can jump in and out of battle in a moment’s notice until the main force can regroup and overwhelm the enemy with numbers and fire power.

Recently this was the case for me!

On a beautiful summer evening in August I was lingering in the comfort and safety of my home base. It had been quiet on the war front for some time and I was getting some R&R as most soldiers do in the quiet moments of war. When the call went out! A “Dear Friend” was in pinned down and needed immediate assistance. I rolled out my shock troops and assessed the situation. At the initial arrival into the battle I quickly realized that my ally had been ambushed on their flank and was in no way prepared for the fight despite early warnings. Was I prepared for this? I felt as if I was not battle ready and would only add to the chaos. Turning to a trustee advisor I quickly realized that during my down time I had been prepared silently for this specific battle. Immediately I pressed my advantage calling on all resources I was able to fend off the enemy while giving my ally time get out of the kill zone. Escorting the wounded back to safety it was there that we both were able to re-supply and decided on a new S.O.P. (standard operating procedure) if faced with that same battle.

Life is a chaotic mess. Often times we find ourselves unfocused on the issues that matter because we have not taken the time to do the maintenance required to react quickly and effectively against the battles we fall prey to. If we manage to reach this point, then we are susceptible to attacks at all times of the day, and from every angle. It is in this “complacent” attitude that we can be taken out of the fight and become unreliable in our own fights but also become a detriment to our allies in much of the same way. Daily maintenance does not have to be a long drawn out process. In fact if done often and correctly then it can be just a 30 second radio broadcast or a random conversation with a friend that can be drawn upon when needed. When we go for days, weeks or months without this maintenance the our equipment becomes dilapidated, rusted, and dead lined. We must daily do out PCC’s (pre combat checks) and our PCI’s (pre combat inspections) to ensure we are prepared for our own battlefield or someone else's.

Ephesians 6:10-18

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

The Fog of War

Well my sister, my girlfriend and many other important people have blogs and I realized that it would be such a simple way for me to write down my encounters on both the physical and spiritual battlefields! 

Mission Statement:

To write down the important issues that life throws my way. To find God in those situations and share them above all else with the world that reads this.

The readers support:

It is your job to read, enjoy and even make comments!  Especially if God finds a way to bless you in these writings!

Life on a Battlefield!  What a title right?  I thought so!  It has many deep and profound meanings for me!  As a Volunteer Soldier in the United States Army I face many different versions of a battlefield.  Whether the battle is raging in Afghanistan, Iraq or on the Drill floor it is none the less brutal.  A soldiers life is always a mixture of hurry up and wait with a dose of uncertainty mixed in.  We never know whats around that next corner but are constantly preparing for it!  Then there is the battlefield of a soldiers family life.  The constant deploying and leaving the family behind or even the simple one weekend a month, two weeks a summer that puts stress on the best of relationships.  Its hard to explain to the families that we are just as lost with out them as they are us.   The Army doesn't give us field manuals on how to tell your family you are going to war.  And just for giggles, throw in to the mix a job that is trying to keep your job open for your return all while having the understanding and patience with your unit so they don't hate you. Then picture the soldier a thousand miles from home. Away from all his comforts trying just to make it through the day. Add the exposure to the extreme weather conditions and that in itself is a battlefield.  Recently however a relationship that I have been apart of has shown me a completely different battlefield.  that is the spiritual battlefield.  Someone to do battle with spiritually speaking.  A soldier in Christ must have a battle buddy so to speak.  Someone to fight Satan with, to encourage or to be encouraged by.  This is a completely different battlefield and requires a different set of skills.  God has shown me how to be a warrior in the flesh and all my friends know that I would fight for each and everyone of them.  Spiritually however he is showing me something new every day on how to combat the devil but more importantly how to fight along side of a comrade with enough gusto as to win the day for you and me!  For me, a battlefield comes in all shapes and sizes and everyone of them is unique, both in how they are fought and what can be learned from them.  Some battles are quickly fought while others require much more time and long suffering and yet others still will never be resolved or technically won.  Despite the outcomes, every battle can be seen as a victory when the ultimate Goal is centered on the horizon.

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 nor forsake you.  Deuteronomy 31:6