Be strong and courageous

What does it mean to "be strong and courageous?"

You could insert "be fierce and persistent" and convey the same meaning.

I made the comment "Women don't need men to be more like women." I was surprised at the response as most of the applause came from women.

We're seeing an increasing void of fathers, and the resultant feminization of society.

A recent www.cnn.com editorial states:

So what's wrong? Increasingly, the messages to boys about what it means to be a man are confusing. The machismo of the street gang calls out with a swagger. Video games, television and music offer dubious lessons to boys who have been abandoned by their fathers. Some coaches and drill sergeants bark, "What kind of man are you?" but don't explain.

Author Bill Bennett, in his new release The Book of Man, reports that 48 percent of men between the ages of 18-34 are "the biggest users of video games," two hours per day. Add on four hours of television viewing and this demographic consumes six hours of amusement per day.

Three times in Joshua 1 God says to "be strong and courageous" along with "do not be terrified, do not be discouraged."

I take great comfort in those words, because it meant Joshua was prone to weakness, lack of confidence, freaking out and despair.

What was God's answer for Joshua? It was to be careful to obey the book of the law (God's Word), to meditate on it day and night.

Somehow God was going to "Father" Joshua through His Word. Interestingly, that sort of fathering produced direction and "stopping points."

A powerful aspect of fathering is to provide healthy stopping points. I was watching my grandson a few weeks ago walk over to the "gate" by the laundry room which marked a stopping point. He just stood there with that look "Can you see me? What will happen if I climb over this gate? (something he has been trying) What are you going to do about it?"

Sadly, many parents remove all "gates" (stopping points) and allow kids to run rampant. The logic is "You can make the right choices... Do whatever you want so long as it doesn't hurt anyone else... Whatever brings you the most benefit is most important... You are the center of the universe..." We fail to realize every child innately tests boundaries in order to determine where the shoulder of the road lies, and the ditch. Seeing and experiencing the boundaries brings peace and rest.

Yes, some may have experienced stopping points with no love or even abusively. But that doesn't make strength wrong, it underscores the need for it to be expressed through love and conviction over what is right and good.

Back to Joshua, imagine his daily meditation on God's Word being the stopping point and the launching point for His conquests.

We hear many messages on being humble and caring for others.

Sadly, we hear very few messages on strength and courage, or other verses like the following:

Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 1 Corinthians 16:13

King David's final words to his son Solomon before he died

"So be strong, show yourself a man..."

1 Kings 2:2

I'm hoping as we travel through Joshua we'll see and experience more strength and courage! And I'm praying as a local church community we'll experience more of God Fathering us through His Word!

New Year's Resolutions and Community

I was trying to remove a large portion of ice from my driveway last week, very frustrating... It was packed down after 2 snows and being driven on for 2 weeks. I didn't want to use ice melt because it would damage the concrete. I've got one portion of concrete that looks like the moon, "spalled" as they call it, from ice melt. The snow shovel was inadequate but I made headway with the ice breaker/scraper and some help from my youngest son :)

The lesson in all this: Take the right approach -- remove the snow when it snows (and before you drive over it). Some things are unnecessarily hard...

I was thinking about how this relates to New Year's Resolutions and following Jesus.

We know Jesus calls us to follow Him and that we can't do it alone (we need community). But for many the experience of community is like removing ice from your driveway.

Why is that? I'm convinced our approach is what determines success or failure. We can tend to view everything in terms of how it will benefit us. We can look at life and people as though they owe us, and that destroys community, something like this...

• Family: "This is where my needs are met."
• Work: "This is where I get paid."
• Friendships: "This is where I have fun."
• Social networking: "This is where I share what I'm feeling, thinking and doing."
• Local church: "This is where I get fed."
• Community: "This is where people listen to me, encourage me, serve me."

We wonder why the ice is so thick (and other people just don't get it). It is because our approach is self-focused and not other-focused.

Now think about HOW JESUS CALLS US TO APPROACH COMMUNITY:

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10:45

What if we approached a small group (or local church community) in order to serve the people there?

"I'm going to pray for them. I'm going to ask questions, listen to them and get to know what's important to them. I'm going to look for what God is doing and affirm that. I'm going to be honest with them."

A side note on the subject of honesty.

Why does so much goofiness go on in community? Because people aren't honest. Have you ever had a friend point out you had food on your teeth? And told them "Whew! Thanks for being a friend!" For some strange reason people think love means smiling and tolerating (then avoiding any future contact). No, real love means being honest and walking together. Yes, we overlook offenses and bear with one another's weaknesses. But we also care enough to let people know when they repel, disrupt, dominate, self-destruct, or have spinach on their teeth.

 

Think about what it would be like to experience real community where you are doing life together with others -- sharing good times and bad, loving and being loved, knowing others and being known, accepting and being accepted, doing the stuff Jesus did together...

I believe 2012 is to be a year of growing in missional community at SHV. Let's take a step in this direction together, first and foremost taking the approach of coming "to serve and not be served."

Roll away the stone

This past Sunday, January 1, my son Levi shared a word with us about "rolling away the stone" which he likened to getting out of our comfort zone and risking it in following Jesus. You can view the message online.

Levi pointed to the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in John 11, and to our tendency to say "but Lord..." and resist with all sorts of excuses, missing out on amazing things in our lives.

It was especially impacting to hear his own personal story of transformation.

For June and me, it brought back lots of memories, from heartache to celebration...

At one service dozens of people responded. I think the positive response was because people are hungry for something more and because we all need hope that God can turn things around.

One friend watched online and relayed to me how he and his wife received much needed assurance re: their own kids, esp where they had been struggling with doubts.

As I shared, I'm very proud of Levi for many things..., most of all for saying "yes" to Jesus again and again. Somehow everything else gets taken care of when that happens.

And what an exhilarating (and many times frightening) experience to "roll away the stone" in response to Jesus!