'Dabo', Garth, ...and Suffering in this world?

"I told them, 'We give you scholarships, we give you stipends and meals and place to live. We give you nice uniforms. I can't give you guts and I can't give you heart.' And tonight, it was BYOG: bring your own guts," Dabo Swinney told reporters after a hard fought win in a torrential down-pour, against the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

Now I know, I will be the first to admit, I am a self-professed biased Clemson fan, who likes to see the world through orange colored glasses often. But if you read that quote from my favorite coach, and break it down...it speaks volumes!

And as I thought back to those words spoken by the exuberant football coach, I thought of how many people out there in the world refuse to accept the Word of God, simply because they don't understand how a loving God could just let us all go through this world and have to put up with so much suffering. When it comes right down to it, a football coach is one who gets his players to go through high school and college life, and teaches them lessons along the way. They go out there and have to take on the cuts, the bruises, the tackles, the slobber-knocking hits, the pain and suffering of workouts, the cruddy weather, the coaches yelling in their faces...you know - stuff that me, personally, never volunteered to do growing up. But I have seen others who have, and I have seen how they are better for it. Now, does this not reflect life...as a Christian? Here is the kicker - you don't have to play for that coach. You can try to play football somewhere else. You can choose not to play football at all. But if you decide to follow that coach...where is he trying to lead you?

Now look at this from a Christian perspective. God gives us the perfect life coach in Jesus Christ. Christ came to Earth and taught us everything we need to know in life. He taught us how to pray, what to believe, and what is meant to be. And He even warned us of the suffering to come, just as plenty of football coaches, such as Dabo, will tell his players what to expect - if they want to win the prize. But just like those football coaches, nobody is forcing anyone to follow Christ. Jesus shows the way, but you don't have to put on His uniform; you can choose not to follow Him. You have to BYOG - Bring Your Own Guts, to follow Him and see where it will take you.

All this got me thinking even more when I was on my way home from church, and a Garth Brooks song played on my CD. These words, of a father raising a child, jumped out at me from the song:

"You can cry for them; live and die for them; you can help them find their wings, but you can't fly for them.
'Cause if they're not free to fall - then they're not free at all, and though you just can't bear the thought of letting go...
"You pick'em up....dust'em off...and send'em on down the road."

How much like a father is a good coach? How much is God like the ultimate Father? Does He not weep for us? Read the New Testament...He has wept. Christ lived and died for Us, and Lives again! And if you turn to God and ask for help, He can help you find your wings to take off for Him to do anything you can imagine.

But He still has to let us fall. He still has to let us fail - so we can learn to pick ourselves back up again. And what does it take to get back up and keep going?

Guts.

Isiaiah 25:8 says -
 He will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
    from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
    from all the earth.
This is a great Old Testament description of where the ultimate life coach says He will take us. But if you are going to follow the ultimate Father; the Ultimate coach - you have to be willing to suit up. I may not have suited up for a real football coach like some of my best friends - or like my own little brother. But I am willing to suit up now - and follow the Lord.

So BYOG people...let's follow Jesus. And get your Bibles - your playbooks if you will...
And let's go to work :)

Sheep Dogs

I have written a blog on protecting and serving before, and how I have felt called to do just that as a profession. However, I want to look at things at a slightly different angle; I want to take a look at it from the perspective of a sheep dog. Both military and law enforcement have been entrusted with protecting the innocent - the sheep, if you will - from the wolves...the evil people in this world.

Now, these sheep...they don't like the way the wolves look. They don't like seeing a wolf prey upon one of their fellow sheep. As a matter of fact, they can even bare some of their own fangs sometimes - but only for a moment. Most of the time when this big bad wolf is harming a sheep, and a sheep dog is at the sheep's disposal, then they have no problem when the sheep dog comes to the rescue. But there are a couple of things that the sheep and sheep dogs must realize about each other.

First of all, sometimes, a sheep dog can't just bare its teeth and growl and scare the wolf away. Sometimes, the sheep dog has to go all in, actually fight the wolves...and that fight can be messy (you know, shootings, people resisting arrest, tasing, use of force caught on video, etc.). So it may even disturb the sheep when the fight gets messy; this messy fight may get the sheep to look at us sheep dogs with caution, concern, and even fear. Sometimes, the sheep just don't realize what was necessary for the fight.

Second, the sheep need to realize that sometimes, sheep become wolves themselves...or were wolves all along. The very people that seemed okay to trust detect a moment of weakness or vulnerability in a fellow sheep, and they throw off the sheep skin and prey upon that sheep. Enter the sheep dog, to help the victim sheep. But lo and behold, but who ends up being seen as the enemy? Why, the sheep dog, or course...because no sheep would ever want to admit to being fooled by their fellow sheep, when all along that person was really a wolf.

And third, since the best thing to fight the wolves with big sharp teeth is another set of big sharp teeth, sometimes the sheep dogs can be just as scary as the wolves. Some sheep dogs might not even mean to come across that way to the sheep, but they just can't help it. Then there are those sheep dogs who become rabid; infected by the same evil hunger that effects the wolves, and the sheep that go bad.

I was thinking about this today, as once again, I saw all the media bashing of law enforcement, and all the people out there with common sense that still see the need for the 'sheep dogs'. And it occurred to me that I don't need to get too offended - or surprised even - by the people out there who are afraid of cops...afraid of the sheep dogs. Although I intend to be nothing but protective in my job when I am in uniform, it is still easy to tell that some sheep, no matter how evil the wolves get, will never want to trust the sheep dogs, with their big pointy teeth, sitting right there on their hip.

Projection of Power

John 14: 11-21

"Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

So I was listening to my new pastor in yesterday's message, and he was speaking about living a life on mission. He quoted this scripture, and seeing and hearing these words got me thinking of the military principal of projection of power. According to Militaryfactory.com, the definition of power projection is the ability of a nation or entity to apply all or some of its elements of power to rapidly and effectively deploy and sustain forces in and from multiple dispersed locations - to respond to crises, maintain or add deterrence, and to enhance stability in the land occupied.

Now let's look at God's strategy, according to the gospel of John. Here, in a sense, is his battle plan. Despite the fact that God's Son left this world for a time, He promises that whoever believes in Him will do the works He has been doing. So first of all, all his troops will keep up the march, and will continue to spread the good news as He did. I think it is safe to say that several good minded Christians have begun this process, and several of us continue it to this day. But that's all fine and good until you realize all we can do is spread the message; we ourselves don't have the power. It turns out God has an answer for that in His battle plan as well. He goes on to say that those He leaves behind for a time will do even greater works than He did! How will they do this? Well, God also planned for this contingency; He goes on further and explains that whatever believers ask in His name, He will grant! That's right...if it is in the Name of God and His mission, He will make it happen. Not only that, but He also says that He will leave behind an Advocate...the Spirit of Truth, who will be with us forever. How's that for reinforcements? So we have a constant powerful ally...but what about the lack of power in the troops? God decided to take things even further. He tells us that the Holy Spirit lives in us. So wherever we go in His name, carrying His good news, He is with us - WITHIN us.

Do I need to say that again? Do you have any idea what it means to have the most powerful being in the universe on your side? How AWESOME!

And if we use the power of prayer along the way, God's will will be done. So it seems the Good Lord is quite the strategist when it comes to mapping out a plan to project His power all over the globe. All we have to do is make that leap of faith, and sign up to join His troops (See John 3:16).

Like a Thief in the Night

 
1 Thessalonians 5:2
"For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the Night."

Matthew 24:43
"But understand this: if the owner of the house had known at what time the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into."

These verses were brought to mind because I was witness to possible thieves in our neighborhood in the pre-dawn hours as I was leaving for work Tuesday morning. As I was about to climb up into my truck, I witnessed a tall hooded man run over to a suspicious vehicle waiting for him with its headlights out in the cul-de-sac across the street. What made it suspicious, besides all dark clothing and hood, was that the man didn't run to the vehicle until he noticed me turn to look at him. Once he got to the vehicle, they quickly drove away, turning the headlights on further up the street.

Now this alarmed the protective side of me. So 'like a good neighbor', I called local police to send an officer to conduct extra patrols in our neighborhood. I even went up later that day to the neighbor's house whose driveway the hooded figure had run from, and found out someone had opened their daughter's car and rummaged through her things. So I also alerted everyone on our neighborhood Facebook page, and told them to keep an eye out.

Now, let's go back to the Bible verses. What if I knew for sure those thieves were coming back? What if we knew that, and we made sure we told the other residents in the neighborhood to be ready? Well - I think Jesus has these verses in the Bible for that very reason...so we can tell all the neighbors. They can decide for themselves whether to get ready or not, but we are spreading the message. Because you see - although Jesus is certainly not a thief, he point-blank tells us that is how He is going to return.

So what I want you to think about is this:
Are you one of the neighbors that will join us on the watch? Are you the neighbor that will just shrug the neighbors who have been made aware aside? I choose to be part of the global neighborhood watch. I choose to stand up for my other neighbors and tell them to make ready, because He said he is coming back...I just don't know when.

So who wants to join me on the watch?

For further details on how to join, seek all the answers in the New Testament of the good book, the Holy Bible.

The Heart

The heart is a funny thing; in this case I am referring to the soul - your inner-most self, and the emotions that come with it. I was blessed yesterday with a surprise gift from my Mom...she bought me the latest Garth Brooks CD, because she and my closest family members know what a GB fan I was growing up. And Mom being Mom, told my wife to tell me to make sure I listen to Track 5 on the CD. So when I put the CD in my truck for the first time, I look at the back of the cover, and see the title of the song as it begins to play. Of course - the song is titled 'Mom'. The line that caught my ears the most was this:
"So hush now Baby, don't you cry
'Cause there's someone down there waiting
Whose only goal in life
Is making sure you're always gonna be alright.
A loving angel, tender, tough and strong
It's almost time to go meet your mom."

I have always found it fascinating when the perfect melody mixes with the perfect words, and it reaches right through to your heart. See, the song writers knew what they were doing when they wrote the lyrics. They wrote the song to pull the heart strings of not only ALL the moms out there - but the daughters and sons as well. And the lyrics do it effectively. So before I knew it, because of the song's grip on my heart - the next thing I know, a tear rolls down my cheek. Considering I was on my way to work out, I really had to change gears once I got to the gym.
So this brings me back to the heart. Does anyone else find how the heart can just take a hold of you? In the most random moments, whether it be because you see one of those Publix family commercials, or someone helps out an elderly person or small child in a public place, the heart can remind you it's there; grab you and take hold. I know I can't be the only person that experiences this? Perhaps the only 6' 2", 265 pound man to write about it...but still - aren't those times awesome! Sure, they may be weird, but you know, I think we need those moments. Perhaps God blesses most of us with moments like that to keep us grounded. Perhaps God helps some of us notice these events with our hearts in order to remember what we shouldn't take for granted. I know this is a random thought today. But before you leave work or even go to sleep tonight, look back over your day and see if you can remember catching one of those chance moments - that can touch the heart.

LIFE Matters

 

 This is not meant to inflame anyone. This should not make anyone mad, but I was inspired by our youth pastor today, as he delivered a positive message about life, and how we as Christians should spread that message.

He began by bringing up current events regarding Planned Parenthood, and of course - abortion. But the message was about more than just being Pro-life.

This especially hit home with me; I have rarely been vocal about being pro-life, because of my connection to the issue, and being afraid that I may end up being too passionate. I am very much pro-life because I refuse to think that the unborn child that I saw moving around in my wife's belly, along with Jay, was not a human life! That's right...my son Jay had a twin brother (we named him John Robert Fort)- who never made it far enough along to join Jay into this world. I saw the little babies on the screen early on in the pregnancy. I saw the cute little profiles on both faces. I saw the movement. Other members of my family have had similar experience, and I am sure my brother Daniel can relate. So because of the evidence of life that I have seen, and had the displeasure in mourning the loss - I am very much pro-life.

But the point that was hammered home was that we need to be more than just pro-life. We need to do more than just stand against the stealing away of human lives before their time. Another interesting point brought up was the point of view from the other side...one that I can ALMOST understand. That point is that why would we want to go back and bring those aborted lives into the low income, insufferable conditions, and even this fallen world. In other words, for a lot of pro-abortion people, (not the assuming left wing, free-loader generalization here) it is actually a matter of the heart...pity for those unborn children...not wanting them to suffer. The point was made that although this is not the best way of looking at it, we should at least listen and know that this is a concern from the other side.

But then there was more. There were examples given of all the other ways we can stand up for life - other than just standing against abortion. And one of the best things we could do is actually address the other side's concern...by caring for the LIVES that are here now! Yes, there are people suffering in this world, so let's help those people out of their suffering. Help the needy; the Bible says that we should always do this. Help the suffering, such as soldiers who have been wounded. Reach out to people of all groups, all colors, all cultures - all religions. Foster children who are brought into this world in poor conditions, or without a parent. Adopt children. Feed the hungry. Give money to a cause. There are ways we as Christians can fight the negative and evil things going on in this world...by doing good. Although we will be persecuted, even while we do good - we should still do it.

Black lives matter - Asian lives matter - Hispanic lives matter - White lives matter - police lives matter - Muslim lives matter - Christian lives matter - poor people's lives matter - soldier's lives matter - rich people's lives matter - homosexual and transgender lives matter - animals' lives matter (but we were given dominion over the animals) - LIFE matters. So we should do what we can to preserve it and protect it; it is sacred.

Now I believe there is an order to things the way God made it; I think there are going to always be cultures in this world, and even reasons for the preservation for human life that make hunting necessary. This is a fallen world, so there will be death, and suffering, and killing, and fighting. And I will save my son or wife if their life is in danger way before I save an African lion. Does that make me evil? No...but I do think God would prefer us to protect the sanctity of ALL life.

Please don't read this and let it make you angry. Even if you are not a Christian, go out and treat other people you encounter like their lives matter. If we all did this, the world would be a much brighter place. If you made it this far - thanks for reading, and God bless

America - Why I am Still Proud

You know, it's easy to be a pessimist these days, where sin and immorality have no shame. It is easy to be frightful when you think about discrimination of Christians and the looming threat of ISIS. But I am not going to talk about that today.
No, I want to share with America - and anyone else who might see this, to tell you why I am still proud of America.
In America, we still have citizens who will speak their minds, defend their faith, argue using reason, and still proudly wear their red, white and blue.
In America, we have Ford trucks, Chevy trucks, drag races, hot rods, fast motorcycles, Harley Davidson, Mustangs, Camaros, Chargers, Challengers, Corvettes, and Dodge Vipers. We have good old-fashioned American roller coasters, with American names. We have Monster Trucks, Tractor Pulls, Motorcross, NHRA, and NASCAR! We've got more ways to celebrate the invention of the wheel than I know how to count!
In America, we have cheese burgers, New York pizza, Chicago Deep Dish pizza, Angus steak, 'French' fires, Grilled Chicken Sandwiches, Macaroni and Cheese, Black-eyed Peas, and Green Beans, Hot Dogs, and Chili! We have BBQ, KFC, Baconators, and sandwiches called the Beefeater! We have Sweet Potato Pie, New York Cheese Cake, Cookies and Cream Ice Cream, Hot Fudge Sundaes, and Home Made Ice Cream...heck - I could stop right there!
But wait - there's more!
In America we have God fearin', gun-totin', rubber-squealin', red-blooded, 2nd Amendment protectin', Walmart shoppin', rough and ready rednecks, who can be all that and still get along with...
Color wearin', straight-up rappin', basketball scorin', large rim drivin', hip-hop dancin', hard core gangsta, who can still get along with...
back breaking, pizza making, cold winter surviving, always swearing, New York loving yankee - we won't say they can get along, but, Hey - they're still Americans!
People of all stereotypes live throughout America, and yet MOST OF THE TIME, when they aren't front and center on the news, and they happen to not be part of political agenda that day - THEY GET ALONG!
In America we have Baseball, Football, Basketball, the Major League, NFL, NBA, College Gameday, College Football, Tigers and Gamecocks, College World Series, and MMA. We have more sports than you can shake a stick at - and most of them you can watch while eating a burger, hot dog, or pizza at the same time!
In America we have Hollywood, summer blockbusters, Broadway, rock concerts, pro wrestling, dinner theatres, little theatres, and Shakespeare in the park.
We have or have had Tom Selleck, Bruce Willis, Dwayne the Rock Johnson, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Lee, John Wayne, Mr. T, and Chuck Norris!
Side note - name another country that has Chuck Norris...that's right, you can't...because America is the only country that can contain him!
In America we have or have had  Elvis Pressley, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Metallica, MCHammer, Michael Jackson, Arethra Franklin, Sammy Davis Jr., the Eagles...just to name a few.
In America we have A-10s, F-16s, F-15s, F-18s, F-22s, F-35s, B1Bs, Apaches, B2s, F117s, Ospreys, and Chinooks, and a whole lot of Air Power.
We have Navy SEALS, Delta Force, Marine Recon, Air Force PJ's, and the baddest mugs on the planet in our military.
We have a whole lot of boats, a whole lot of tanks, a whole lot of planes, and a whole lot of carriers - and we have and have had the greatest fighting force on the planet. Yes, you can say I am proud to live in a country that has all that.
In America we have or have had Hot Wheels, Hasbro, Monopoly, Transformers, GIJoe, PacMan, Contra, Super Mario, Metroid, Sonic, the DC and Marvel Universe. Sure that stuff is present all around the world, but all of those things got their sure footing right here in America, and had a huge impact on my childhood.
In America we still have the Constitution (for now), the American Flag (for now), great American icons like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and the dollar bill (for now).
All these things I have shared - these are things that have made or still make America great - and unique from any other place in the world. And I only scratched the surface. Sure, there are those out there, including myself, who think all these things are in jeopardy. But while you celebrate July 4th this summer, and who knows for how many more - think about all these things I listed. Right now we still have this. We still stand out; you can put us in a lineup with a lot of other citizens from other nations and pick us out pretty quick. I am proud to stand out - just as I am proud to stand out as a Christian. But celebrate with your families this weekend, and hold on to hope...hope that America remains unique. Hope that America lasts. And Hope that America will somehow turn its eyes on God once again. God bless the USA!