Real Men

“Jesus wept” John 11:35.

Here Lazarus has passed away, and upon seeing the grief stricken friends Jesus cries out of sympathy for those who mourn him. (he then resurrects Lazarus, but that’s not the point i’m making here. Although it’s still awesome.)

If I ever hear another guy say “real men don’t cry” I might flip out.

Jesus is as real as it gets.

Jesus was not a “tough guy” who acted to tough for things. he did not mistreat women and make jokes about “going to make me sandwiches”.

He did not let his pride get in the way of other people, he wasn’t proud.
Jesus was humble. He did go around pounding his chest saying what a man he was.

“Real men don’t cry” is a lie we are brought up with.

As men we have to conform to this “Perfect Man” image. Able to bench press a car, get any girl, run a 5:00 min mile (I’m still trying to break 6 min…), be a star football player, drive the coolest car, have the “best” job, and be able to “hold your liquor” (hold your liquor = approx. 5 bottles of whiskey).
Alright, that may have seemed a little ridiculous. But whats more ridiculous is that its true.
Men are held to an impossible “super-human” standard by society.

So what happens because of it? we question our “manhood”, we are insecure. I mean obviously every other guy but you is achieving this everyday. Duh.

Well we know that isn’t true.

Jesus Didn’t die and be resurrected for us to sit here and try to out arm wrestle each other.

He called us to be “Confidently Humble.”

We as men owe it to ourselves, our wives, and (most importantly) to God to be Real.

So what is it to be real?

Its to accept how you were created. We were created with emotions. We were created to connect with others.

So suppressing our emotions and “putting on a face” to avoid looking weak is not the answer.
We should be open with how we feel, because it is through that that our relationships with friends and wives grow stronger. Its how trust is built.

They see the real you.

At the same time we are then also called to lead. To be strong.
And we can do that, we can be strong.

“I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13
We are made truly strong through Christ. So we should mirror him in our actions.
So we can still lead, we can still be strong. We Can BE MEN!

We can also be real.

Be comfortable in yourself through Christ. Accept Yourself and Your manliness through Him.
So don’t be afraid to show who you are, and how you feel.

Don’t be afraid to cry.

“Jesus wept” John 11:35.

You might not always get what you want

Death.

It's not something most people my age think about on a regular basis.

Its also really hard to think about in all honesty.

It's one of the most feared things next to spiders and public speaking.

I joined the national guard this year. As a truck driver. And in thinking the decision over I thought "well what about roadside bombs and stuff?"

If I am deployed, I could die. (not saying I will, it's just a smaller possibilty.)

And I am ok with it.

My faith isn't perfect. I am still growing in my faith. But I am of the opinion that It is better that it is me, than a Person who has no faith.

Do I want to die? No honestly. I know whats waiting for me, but I'm not going to go out of my way to seek opportunities to die.

In a different thought. I had an interesting conversation today with a buddy. We were talking about the dorms here. I said I was so glad to be out of mcloud because people there were crazy and didn't respect the building at all. And we mentioned a few of the troublemakers. One of them was mentioned as having broken the tv in there. Seth mentioned that He was kicked out. And in that I was sad. The troublemakers here piss me off. But this guy is leaving a good Christian environment to go back to a place filled with bad things. So no matter how much people don't like him. He needed to be here. Even if him being here upset people. He needed to be in a safe place to learn about God.

So What do these things have in common?

God has a Plan. He wants to be able to use you. He's not here to cater to your every whim.

So the potential of my death, and those kids being in the place where they need to be, are things that I need to accept fully.

So be open to what God has in store for you, and what God is doing around you.

I struggle with this too, but life is bigger than just you or I.

Food for the soul Pt. 2

In life if you eat junk food, empty calories, all the time you get fat, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. You eat healthy food and you have a healthy body (exercise also helps).

Faith is the same. What you put into your system, and how active your faith is determine where you are at with God.

If you spend 2 hours a day looking at porn (interchange other sinful activities in for porn as well), but 10 minutes a week reading God's word are you surprised that your relationship with God is in the gutter.

Its like a person who sits on their couch all day watching TV and eating Doritos being outraged going "WHY AM I FAT??!!"

An active faith, Prayer, loving others, attending church, acting out the things God wants you to, and a rigorous studying of scripture will be very healthy toward your relationship with God. (well if that wasn't a duh statement, i don't know what is.)

Look at your life, look at your choices.

Make the changes you need to have a healthy active faith.

Act forgiven.

Food for the soul Pt. 1

Imagine a road. One way leads to God, one to Satan. One to heaven, one to hell.

Today many people follow the road away from God. But we are given forgiveness and a chance to turn around.

"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." Matthew 6:24

Replace Money with any sinful thing. Lust, addiction, extramarital sex, hate, racism, prejudice, pornography, etc.

When you make the choice to follow god, you have given yourself up to him. So you should let all these worldly desires go.

When you don', yet you proclaim Christ, it gets complicated.

I imagine it that you have stopped walking in either direction, and you spend time looking one way, then another. looking both ways, but committed to neither. As if you were deciding which way to go.

Well eventually you will have to go one way, and give up the other.

I have made my mistakes in life. I wasn't always christian. And even after I accepted Christ, I still made poor choices.

But i got sick of it all. I wasn't really christian because I didn't follow with all heart, yet not really away.

Satan uses those times, when you aren't 100%. He lets you believe "well if I'm 80% then surely i can be 70% and God will forgive me just the same." And its like that all the way to 0%.

I made my decision. To walk towards God. With all my heart.

I may not like what happens along the road, but the end goal is worth it.

So the point?

Take God seriously. He will always forgive you, but you need to act forgiven.

Those who are forgiven don't wallow in the activities that they needed forgiveness from.

They rise above, committed to God. Sometimes they may screw up. But instead of spiraling out of control, it stiffens their resolve to Be changed. To follow God.

spend the time you would spend in sin, in Godly activities.

Act forgiven.

Poem to remember whose you are

Precious pearl

The lamb of God wades
Through fields of the lord
Picking his crops
Calling all to him
To go to greenest pastures
And be free forever

You with the sad eyes
And the burden on your shoulders
Come be with me
Wading and bringing crops
On to greenest pastures
That billow in peaceful winds

Say no to the weeds around you
Strangling you
Seeking to bring you to the fires with them
But their fields will wilt
And be tossed asunder

So grow on through 
All this pressure captivating you 
And you to will be Taken by Christ
And worn as a precious pearl
Around the neck of the lamb who wades through greenest pastures
Beauty for all to see 

The War Intro

I have been a follower of Jesus for over a year now, and it has had some interesting twists and turns.

The world is split. Those who follow Jesus, and those who do not.

I have been on both sides of the spectrum. I spent my life up until my senior year of high school as an agnostic. I was angry towards Christians because I felt they were all talk. I soon learned differently when my life was crashing down, and the only people there to show me love were Christians.

Now I know God better, and I understand how ignorant I was.

Not everyone has had the same "no way this could be anything but God, my life is changed forever" experience I have had.

The people who speak out of ignorance are just one of the challenges we face as Christians. This series will talk about many different things we deal within a daily basis.

Thereis a war going on for our souls. Satan will use any means necessary to win.

Be prepared.

Define Me

I am a compilation of many different things.

I love sports. I am a nerd. I am funny (thats what I tell myself at least). I am SO many different things.

I am a lot of good things, and a fair share of bad ones.

I am very self critical.

I have a very low opinion of myself. It comes from years of being told many times how I was worthless. It comes from years of rejection from everybody I knew.

Its not fun.

My point?

We have a choice everyday. I can listen to the people who are wrong and evil, and let them control my view of myself. Accept lies for truth, and be torn down.

Or

Accept that God has made me perfect the way he wanted me to, and I serve a great purpose.

This is an issue that I know many people struggle with. They allow satan and society to pull them down. To take away from their full potential.

They let satan win.

We need to take the time to see that God loves us and he has made us beauiful. We need to accept that he made us perfect the way we are.

We don't need to starve ourselves thin. We don't need to do this or that to change ourselves.

We just need to accept Gods love truly.

He loves us so greatly, that he thought of each and every one of us when he sent his son to die on the cross for our sins.

He wouldn't do that for someone who was not worth it.

So SMILE!

Because God loves you, and you are beautiful.