ILYSM

Wow its been a minute since I last posted! Sorry to the many fans! HA


After 18 married years with the same woman (Nikki and I have been together since the 7th grade), some would say it must get old. Waking up next to the same person day in and out for 18 years. That’s 6336 mornings. Not only do we live together but we work together (gasp) and have worked together for many years. And after each day I swear it gets better with time.

I still believe in the sacredness of marriage. I do believe one man can be married to one woman and they can enjoy life together. I do believe the two become one flesh (more than sex). I do believe, with G-d at the center, you can overcome any hurdle. I do believe you can fight together instead of fighting each other.

There are unseen powers that are after our families. They desire to break up and cause lasting issues. The Devil is a LIE!


Much honor to my wife, BFF, lover, My Nikki I really enjoy you more as we (you) grow older together

BIG BUT

Luke 23:33 When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. 34But Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing " And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. 35And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, "He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One."

I know you probably have read this several times. After all we are coming up on the Easter season and there can’t be Easter without the place called the Skull. Have you ever read it and really thought about what’s going on here? It’s absolutely wild. Here are a few thoughts I’ve been playing around with…

V 33 – says they brought Jesus to a place of death and crucified Him. He (Jesus) was placed between 2 criminals (their life lead them to a place of death).

Then there is this BIG BUT at the start of v34. But Jesus was asking for forgiveness not for Himself but for the ones that where crucifying Him. This says to me while they were in the process of crucifying Him- the nails, the thorns, and the pain- He was handing out forgiveness? They didn’t know what they were doing?? But Jesus knew what He was doing??

They did achieve their goal which was to kill Jesus. Crucify Him!! And as much as they achieved, Jesus achieved His goal which was to Forgive them!! On one side you have a group screaming crucify Him, crucify Him. And on the other side you have Jesus screaming forgive them, forgive them!

In v35 they also questioned Him. Was He really who He said He was. They thought that if He was the Christ He would save Himself. But he didn’t? Because He was the Christ, He embraced death so they could live.

Along with the criminals their life leads to death BUT His death leads them to life!

Great Book

Im reading a great book. If you are looking for something to read check it out!

Unshaken -  Rising from the Ruins of Haiti's Hotel Montana

I Wanna Be A Billionaire

I like bluegrass and my son likes this song so this is the best of both worlds.


Thanks Eric

Investment

Super excited about a new series starting this week at StockbridgeAssembly.
Topics will include investing in ....
The Church
Kindness
Family - (Eph.5 - this should be fun : )
Generosity

G-d invested all of heaven, including His Son for you.

Thoughts on leadership

I had a conversation with a few people last night about leadership, and it was great. Here are a few thoughts that came from the conversation.

I have learned a lot from different leaders and would encourage you to read a few books. For example anything from John Maxwell, Myles Munroe, and Neil Cole. A huge portion of the conversation came from these leaders.

What is leadership?

Simple answer is, influence.
Leadership is the ability obtain followers (if no one is following you, you’re not leading)
Leadership is the capacity to influence others through inspiration, generated by passion, motivated by vision, birthed from conviction, produced by purpose. - Myles Munroe

Some leaders influence others through fear and manipulation. This is not good.
With this thought everyone has the positional to move in leadership. We all influence others around us. Hopefully in a positive way, however sometimes it’s in a negative way.

How do you positively influence others?

To influence others you first have to be influenced. To move others you first have to be moved.
What are you influenced by? What moves you? What vision has gotten inside of you? What do you see and desire others to see?
You influence others by your words, actions, and life. You set an example. If your words don’t line up with your actions and your actions don’t line up with your life you will have a difficult time influencing others long term.
It is very important what comes out of your mouth!

Serving others should be the primary focus for leaders. It’s not so much top-down leadership, but rather bottom up leadership. Jesus demonstrated this by washing His disciple’s feet. This job was reserved for servants.

Leaders should bear fruit. The fruit is for others to enjoy and receive nourishment.
In the fruit is a seed that will reproduce more fruit. Leaders are very interested in building other leaders. Leaders influence the coming generations.

Just some thoughts from a great conversation on leadership.

The Fuel of Pain

Thinking this morning about all the people that I come in contact with that are hurting. Real life pain, financial pain, relational pain, emotional pain. I too have experienced some of these pains. And it is not fun. It’s not something we sign up for but it’s something we all walk through.

Here’s the thought, if we all walk through it then there must be something to it. If we all have to endure pain then maybe, just maybe there’s something about pain that can help us.

There is a scripture in James 1 that speaks a little about this.

(Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. NLT)

Interesting- if I read this right, I have a chance to grow when trouble comes my way. I have an opportunity to be complete needing nothing.

Pain has this way of propelling us into the future. Pain produces strength. Pain = a chance to grow. Pain develops things in you. If we can get our hearts off the issue of the pain and begin to explore the opportunities from the pain we will be better off because of the pain. However, most of the time we get lost in the pain and instead of great joy we have great sorrow and we refuse to move from the pain. And if we are not careful we will live in the pain and not grow past the pain. (I dont even have the time to talk about masking the pain that we live in.)

I have heard some people say “well you don’t know my pain” and at that point they begin to speak of all the issues that I have no glue about. And maybe I don’t. However I do know that pain hurts and it sucks, all of it! So I refuse to live in it but rather grow from it.



Just a thought