Where Art Thou?

  Why aren’t you helping?  Where is the love that is supposed to be shown?  Don't YOU CARE?  The questions we ask ourselves when we don’t see God moving in our lives or working through us.  It’s soooo easy to play the blame game for life not going our way, but the finger that you point should always be turned around and pointing at you first, before you ever think of blaming others especially God.

  It’s funny when we get impatient and try to force things to happen or hurry up and go find out why things are the way they are.  These are the times when God just sits back and watches us, how we act, what we say, where is our heart.  I recently was in serious need of some money; I was down to my last $20.  Instead of doing what I know I should do and what I tell others to do I decided to go it alone and see what I could make happen.  After all we are called to action, to be doers right? 

  Without going into all the details for the whole world to see, let’s just say I wasted plenty of gas running around to places that I didn’t need to go to.  Instead of trusting that God has my best interest in mind and that He keeps me and watches over me, I was determined to acquire the money needed for bills.  There was no morning prayer or bible reading, heck He wasn’t even on my mind to be honest.  It wasn’t until I wasted all that gas and running around in futility that I finally came to the end of myself, and turned back to Him.  Now this is while I’m driving home in desperate need, my mind racing on ways to do this or that, or how I’m going to alter or change my plans and strategies.  I wasn’t at peace, I didn’t feel warmth, or hear a voice saying it’ll be alright, nothing, just me and my thoughts.

  I’m home now after driving allover and it occurs to me that I was relying on myself for my needs, when in the bible we read that HE supplies ALL our needs according to His riches and glory.  A simple truth I’ve stated over and over thousands of times in the past but I’ve never really had to completely lean on that statement like yesterday.

   I’ve was in the military for 12 years and 5 months, that’s 634 guaranteed paychecks not even including bonuses or extra pays here and there.  I had no need to rely on God for my money supply or bills, the government met my needs. I still remember Jesse Duplantis saying at our church in Hawaii years ago, “Your job is not your supply or security, God is your supply and security.  If you’re relying on your job and your talents to pay your bills and get you by then you’ll be disappointed when you’re not getting ALL that God has promised.”  If we do this to ourselves, where we work really hard and RELY on those paychecks, how can we get upset at God if HE doesn’t supply everything according to His riches and glory, EVEN IF we pay our tithe?

  After going thru this retarded, self inflicted experience I now see and understand that this doesn’t just happen to me, I’m sure it happens to thousands or millions around the world.  We ask, seek, pray, and fast but we miss the point COMPLETELY!!!!  We truly are destroyed for our lack of understanding.  I know I wasn’t doing my part, so why should that obligate Him to do His part.  Because He’s God?  Because He’s the definition of love?  God didn’t move on my behalf UNTIL I came to the end of myself, and my efforts to correct a situation.  When I was done trying to help myself, and decided to just let Him be Him and let me be me, that’s when peace came.

The least shall be first among you!!

Not only is it a great biblical truth about how we are supposed to treat others, but if you look at it from a leadership perspective then there is another truth in there.  If you are in a leadership position or even have a part-time leadership role then you MUST live by this truth.  If you don’t take this truth and apply it to what you’re doing then you might very well be a dictator.  I know some will disagree and say, “There are times that you must lead and steer people in a direction.”  And I will definitely agree with that, BUT, and here’s the kicker, you can’t affectively lead people that way for a prolonged period of time.

It’s human nature to want to be in control, to call the shots, and to be THAT GUY.  If you have a calling on your life to lead, guide, mentor, and develop people then you have a responsibility to have wide range of leadership STYLES.  Every situation calls for a different approach and response.  If the building is on fire it doesn’t make any sense to “ask” and “plead” for people to calmly evacuate.  No on the contrary, you “TELL” and “INSTRUCT” those people to get the heck out of there as fast and as orderly as their human feet can carry them. 

People get hurt, scarred, or discouraged from a single style of leadership, that doesn’t change even though circumstances and situations will forever change.  You have the trust and confidence to lead, and guide your people in a direction that is safe, efficient, and most of all productive.  If you can’t do that then you SERIOUSLY need to reevaluate your position and ask yourself if your even supposed to be a leader in the first place.

Is this normal, is this for life?

What is normal?  Who is normal?  What constitutes living a normal life?  I’m sitting here asking myself these questions, and honestly I don’t like the answers.  Everyone says who wants to be normal or live a “Normal life.”  Well if you’ve had a chaotic and abnormal life then I guess you would qualify as someone who would like some normalcy and order to your life! 

I’m not one who subscribes to the living your whole life a certain way and doing certain things all the time.  That’s not me, I like changing seasons, and the ability to on a whim just go do something, or be unexpected.  That to me is what makes life so much fun, and well….LIFE.

When you are living in NOT normal circumstances you ask yourself sometimes, “Is this what life is, and how long life will be this way.”  Lisa I’m not talking about the living situation, so just put that thought to rest.  I’m talking about people in my life.  There are some relationships I just can’t put up with the way they are for the rest of my life.  I guess maybe that’s my dilemma to either deal with and move on or change things.  But what if you can’t change the circumstances, then what? 

When frustration and concern are replaced with normalcy, is that a time to be worried?  Or is it a desensitizing that ultimately takes place, after years of behavior and let down from a person.  Is it healthy to not care in the end one way or another, what that person does or doesn’t do?  Is it wrong to not have ANY feeling for someone, where there should be something?  Or have I just become that jaded and numb to certain people, actions, and behaviors.

When biblical correction gets taken as complaining and division

     We are called to rightly divide the Word of God, and speak in truth and out of love.  There are a lot of checks and balances that should be fulfilled before you go to another brother or sister in Christ and tell them that what you're doing is wrong in the eyes of God.  Of course don't go it alone, there should be 2 or 3 at least to establish the truth in correction.  If you go it alone, you possibly set yourself up for a serious tongue lashing, or segregation, or your ex-communicated all together.  If the one does not turn from his or her ways after being confronted with the truth, then turn them over to the desires and lusts of the flesh. 

     The bible is very clear and explicit when it comes to correcting the BODY OF CHRIST, not unbelievers but those who are in the faith.  Especially those in a leadership position.  We must remember that they are humans as well and are still prone to stumble and fall along the way.  It is our christian duty to help them, and even correct them if actions don't line up with the Word, or false teaching.  If you have a relationship with the one you are correcting then the Word spoken in truth and love should restore them and they would thank you for caring enough for them that you would confront them.  It takes courage to stand up to leadership and say, "Hey this isn't right!" 

     I was a leader for 10 years in the Army, so I have corrected and have been corrected before.  Both can be a positive scenario depending on how it is looked at.  No leader LIKES to be wrong, but we're human, no one is perfect.  We strive for perfection, and sometimes we demand or ask too much, or lead in a way or direction that isn't correct.  You as a leader MUST listen to those above you as well as those subordinates that you are leading.  If you don't know your people then how can you lead them, how can you motivate them, how can you correct when you don't know their motives.  There is SOOOOO much more to being a leader than just being THAT GUY in front.
    
     It takes even more courage especially as a leader to admit to yourself that you are in the wrong and those coming before you are speaking truth.  You have two options at this point, you can either do what is right and change your ways and apologize and ask for forgiveness.  Or you can go the other route and decide FOR YOURSELF, that they don't know what they are talking about, they misunderstood you, your motives, or your words spoken.  One leads to right standing in the eyes of God and will be blessed and it will strengthen the relationship between the corrected and the correctees.  The other leads down a road of hard going, major uphill battles, division, strife, backbiting, and possibly the unraveling of the work that God had in store for that individual.

     If someone doesn't fulfill the vision that was given by God especially to the corporate body of Christ, then God will raise another individual or group of individuals to accomplish His will.  He will find, appointment, and equip those to do His perfect will out of obedience and love.

First Impressions

     Why is it that we judge someone based solely on what their outward appearance or their outward expressions?  The reality is that those first impressions usually stick with us and can continue to form and shape our relationship or interactions with that person.  Instead, if we took a few minutes, literally only a few minutes and really asked and REALLY LISTENED to them, we might actually see the truth instead of our scewed, bent, or twisted interpretation of the person we call friend, co-worker, or God forbid family member or close friend.  Take a look at your most important relationships and ask yourself if you ASSUME because of past behaviors, actions, or comments made.  Does the past shape your present and future interaction with that individual? 


     I'm not saying that we are wrong all the time about first impressions, not at all.  I personally feel that those thoughts are very important when it comes to daily interactions with individuals or groups of people.  It's a great defense, but does it get in the way of the real relationships in our lives?

Visions of Grandeur, or just Delusion's?

     Some say we all have a purpose in life and that it’s our job or duty to find out what the purpose is and do everything we can to make it happen.  Others just say that life is what you make it, “It is what it is.” If you subscribe to the first line of thinking what if you’re not at all happy with what your role in life is, what if it’s the farthest thing from what you consider to be your calling.  I’ve recently come to this point in my existence and I refuse to accept the terms placed on my life.  Would it drive you to the brink of sanity if you knew that you were created for a destiny that is so evil, so horrific? 

     How could a God that is so loving, caring and giving predestine a child to an eternity of damnation?  If an omnipotent being who knows the beginning from the end can know that I will be born as a pawn on his chessboard of life, then how do you really know if you will enter eternal rest, instead of eternal torture.  And then there’s a group of people who think that yes, life is predestined, BUT, we also have free will to choose for ourselves what our reality will be like.  I’ll admit this last philosophical thought is intriguing to think about and ponder, but you quickly find yourself in a vortex of thought and there are no easy or clear cut answers along this line of thinking.  Because everything is predestined to happen, but I choose to participate or not, but then that participation or non-participation would be predestined as well.  But in the end I choose to believe I have free will so I can sleep better at night.  Do you see how this line of thinking could be paradoxical in nature? 

     So back to an all knowing and all seeing God who loves but predestines a human-being to eternal torture, but then someone else can enter into an eternal heaven.  How does one reconcile this within themself without driving them insane.  What if you truly in your heart of hearts, thought you were saved and going to heaven, but through the course of life you realize something is terribly wrong with your eternal perspective.  You start seeing warning signs, and the fingerprints, of an agenda that was not of your own making or creation, but it is one that you are sentenced to.  It is one that you are destined to fulfill because SOMEONE has to, might as well be you.  So you willingly do it not out of anger but out of LOVE for your fellow man, because you see the big picture.  Do you have the capacity to understand all of your calling and still complete your mission?  Do you have what it takes to keep it all together long enough?  Or will you have such contempt for the one who is responsible, so much so that words can't express the level of anger.