I have a friend that has been going through the fire lately.  His marriage is on the rocks, he lost his job earlier this year and the financial pressures are mounting.  I have been praying for him that God would open a door so he can provide for his family.  Well the other day we were talking and he told me some great news.  He said that his old employer wanted to hire him back.  I said “Praise God.”  Then he said, “but he can only hire me part time.”  To which I replied, “well that is still a step in the right direction.”  Then the next thing he said just blew my mind.  He said, “yea I don’t know what to do.”  What do you mean, you don’t know what to do?  “Well, I am getting unemployment and that is $350 a week, my job part time is only $300 a week.  By the time I pay for gas, I might as well just stay unemployed and wait until he is ready to hire me full-time.”

What! Your kidding me right?  I hung up the phone and I couldn’t believe what he just said.  I really wanted to rebuke my friend becasue, the bible is clear on this issue. 1 Thessalonians 3:10 If a man will not work, he shall not eat.  Paul goes on to say in (v.11) “We hear that some among you are idle, they are not busy, they are busybodies.” 

When we are idle, the the devil can creep in and tempt us to do things that we should not be doing.  We have been commanded since the beginning of time to work.  Genesis 2:15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.  I didn’t rebuke my friend when he told me that he was considering staying home and collecting unemployement, I simply told him that I would be praying for him to make the right decision.  The very next day my friend called me and said he was taking the job.

 Here is the main point of this whole thing.  I wanted so bad to rebuke him for being lazy.  I even began to look down on him as if he was more of a sinner than I am.  I was also tempted to gossip and tell someone else, do you know what so and so told me.  But instead, by the grace of God, I just prayed that the Holy Spirit would convict him and guide him to make the proper decision.  And guess what, He did.  Too often we forget that the Holy Spirit can do a far better job of convicting than we can.  We also have a tendency to look down on others that struggle in areas that we do not.  So let this be a lesson to us all, “if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:12) 

I have been somewhat following the Mel Gibson drama that has been unfolding over the last couple of weeks.  As I was flying back to DC this weekend on Jetblue airlines, I turned on the TV to Entertainment Tonight, yes I watch it every now and again….deal with it. ET has uncovered yet another tapped conversation of Mel going into a profanity laced tirade.  What’s up with that?  I mean seriously, does anyone know what is going on with Mel Gibson?  Here is a man who produced one of the best Christian films in history, The Passion of the Christ, only to be caught doing some un-christ like things.  I mean seriously, “What’s up with that!”

Well yesterday I was reading Exodus 32.  This is the chapter that deals with the children of Isreal and the golden calf incident.  If you are not familar, Moses goes up on Mt. Sinai to meet with God and Aaron is left with the people of God.  They start to get restless because Moses is taking too long and so they ask Aaron to make them another god that will help them.  And Aaron, who should have known better, actually does it.  He tells them to break off their gold and he fashioned together a molded calf.  Then says to them, “This is your god, O Isreal that brought you out of the land of Egypt.” (v.4)

When Moses comes down from the mountain the bible says he was angry and he asks Aaron, ”What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?”  Essentially he said, ”hey Aaron, what’s up with that?”  What were you thinking?  That is my question to Mel Gibson, what are you thinking? 

But then I realize, we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)  We all are sinners saved by grace.  I don’t know what is going on in Mels life, but I pray that he will get it right before it ends up costing him a whole lot more than he is wanting to pay.   That is what sin does to our life.  It takes us down roads we never imagined we would be traveling on.  I’m sure Mel never thought he would be in the position he is in right now.  Let his actions serve as a wake up call to us all, we can easily be lead estray if we are not on guard. 

Finally, lets look at Moses response to the golden calf.  (v.20) He took it, burned it, ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the people drink it.  Or in other words, he destroyed it.  What ever is causing Mel to act the way that he is, I pray he will identify and destroy it. 

What about you?  Is there something in your life that would cause others around you to say, What’s up with that?  If so, you too need to identify and destroy it, so that you can be free to become all that God has designed your life to be.

I have a friend who is struggling with some real life altering decisions.  We have been praying through some of these decisions for almost a year now.  Recently we talked and he told me that he was still unsure of what God’s perfect will is for his life.  I encouraged him with the following words that really helped me when it came to making some life altering decisions of my own, just two short months ago.

Leadership guru, John Maxwell says, “If you want to reach your God-given potential and fullfil your God-given destiny, then sometimes you have to run away from security and chase after uncertainty.”  Many of us don’t experience breakthroughs in our lives, because we refuse to move out of our comfort zone.  We are afraid to step out into the unknown and risk making a mistake.

I often quote to myself Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Now, my friend is one of the most Godly men that I know, so I believe he is delighting himself in the Lord, but he still feels there is no clear direction from God.  A couple months ago, I felt as if I was delighting myself in the Lord, but I also didn’t have any clear direction from God as to which road I should choose.

Maybe lately you have found yourself at a similar place and so you can totally identify with these words and now you are wondering what to do.  My answer to you is the same as it was to my friend, “its time to get off the fence and make a decision already!”  I can tell you this, when I made the decision to take my new job, I didn’t have a clear word from God that it was the right or wrong thing to do.  There were just as many negatives as there were positives.  It wasn’t until after I made the decision and started the job, that I knew I had made the right decision.

After making the decision, I held on to Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”  I believed with all my heart that if I was making the wrong decision, that God was more than able to turn it around for my good and His glory. So JUMP already!!!!

I will leave you with one last thought.  Someone told me once, “the greatest breakthroughs happen when you push through the fear.”  He went on to say, “all defining moments generally tend to also be some of the scariest moments of our lives.”

May God bless you as you are obedient to His word, His will and His way.

Sorry this blog is a couple of days late.  Now that I am working in DC, my already busy life has gotten even busier.  This weekend Yannette and I celebrated ten years of marriage.  She deserved my undivided attention as we talked, prayed and cried through memories of our lives together.  So I am just now getting the chance to sit and write. 

Some of our closest friends came to our house last night to help us celebrate our anniversary.  One of our friends gave a toast and said that Yannette and I are an inspiration to her for what a marriage should be.  Now I don’t say that to brag, I tell you because it got me to thinking on the plane ride back to DC what my marital legacy will be?  What do my two daughters see when they look at our marriage?  Are we setting a good example for our children to follow?  When they look at their dad do they see the kind of man that they one day hope to marry?

If you are married, have you ever thought about what your marital legacy will be?  If you are not married, what kind of legacy did your parents leave for you?  Yannette and I both come from a long line of broken marriages and unkept promises.  So we have not been given a good foundation on which to build.  In spite of that fact, we are committed to being first generational legacy builders.  My prayer is that the legacy we pass on will be marked by three main things. 

1. Friendship.  Yannette is my best freind. We laugh, love, cry and fight together.  We share our hearts, dreams, hopes and fears.  We know the best and worst of each other and at the end of the day we both wouldn’t want to be with anyone else in the world.  We really don’t understand those folks who don’t like to be around their spouses, because we truly enjoy each others company.  I pray that is what our girls see.

2. Faithfulness.  I often joke with Yannette because she has what I call an “overwhelming sense of fairness.”  She totally believes in an eye for an eye, so you better watch out if you cross her!  But seriously, she is the most faithful person I know.  The number one thing that she expects from those closest to her is loyalty.  It is my hearts desire to leave a legacy of marital faitfulness.  

3. Fidelity.   This probably should have been number one on the list, because if you don’t have trust, you can’t make a marriage work.  Yannette has my entire heart.  I can remember the day we met, I started out attracted to her, then she won my affection and now she has all of me.  While I did not have the honor of presenting myself pure physically to her, I can tell you that she is the first and only woman to have all of me.  I pray that my girls one day will say to their husbands you are the only man to have all of me, mentally, physically and emotionally.

These are the building blocks that I hope will mark our marriage and will be passed on to my girls.  I pray these same values will be part of the mark of your marriage as well.

Many will be celebrating Independence Day this weekend.  I find it interesting that this week the story broke about the Russian Spy scandal in the United States.  If you are not familiar the government has just uncovered a group of Russian spies living in America.  Exactly what they were planning is unclear, however what is clear is that they are not loyal to America.  They are here enjoying the freedoms of living in our country, but are in no way thankful for those freedoms.

Similarly, the children of Israel were in danger of falling victim to the same mentality.  God had raised up Moses to escort the people out of Eygpt to the land of Canaan.  However they had to go through the wilderness first.  Why? Deuteronomy 8:2 says, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 

After going through the wilderness for 40 yrs, the people were entering into the promise land and God had one message for them.  (v.11) Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments.  God knew that when times are difficult, then many will turn to the Lord, because you have no where else to go.  But when times are good it is easy to forget the Lord and become self-sufficient.  When this happens we begin to take things for granted. 

This Independence Day lets make sure that we are not taking for granted the fact that we live in a country that provides us with certain freedoms that others don’t enjoy.  But more importantly we must understand, that no freedom is as worthy of praise as the freedom that we receive through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins so that we can be free from the penalty and bondage of sin!