I will tell this story to my grandkids!

Lately, I have been living in the moment.  I’ve been slowing the moments down, making them heavy, and saying “yes” to moment I’m in.  In doing that, it seems that lots of things don’t get done.  But lots of loving, praying and thanking have been getting done!  I’m pretty cool with the opportunity cost.  (Doesn’t that make you think of 4^th grade economics!)

I do have a very cool story to share with you.  You need to know up front that it is 100% true.  I am not going to exaggerate one tiny bit. 

Have you every seen a room sparkle with scattered rainbows from a light catcher in the window?  Isn’t it such a divine thing?  Rainbows of God’s love surrounding you like He sent after the flood, like Joseph’s coat of many colors, like the beauty that comes only from “storms.” 

Or does it remind you of the Creator God who created color and light and how it can be divided by glass?  And lead you to think about the power of our brains He created.  Then wonder how tiny our human intelligence is in light of His Holy intelligence. 

Or do the rainbows remind you of His Intimacy with His Creation?  If not, listen to this…

Since childhood I have loved seeing crystals cast rainbows.  When I was tiny I spent some time living at my Nanny and Grandpa’s in their one hundred year old Queen Anne Victorian house.  In the front room Nanny had this mesmerizing “crystal tree” (as all of us cousins call it).  At the age of four I STOLE one of the crystal branches.  I remember cherishing that little thing.  Nanny asked me several times if I had it.  I lied to her over and over and knew I was lying!  If I remember right, I snuck down stairs one morning and put it back on the tree.  I recently found out that I’m not the only one to do that!  Uh hum… Annie-Mollie :)

Last Wednesday morning, I sat in the living room with my sweet boy.  We were recklessly playing with cars and blocks.  Sunlight was beaming through our little cottage-like door and the front window.  My mind was a little reckless too as I was mentally preparing to teach teenagers about the holiness of God that night.  In the middle of smashing cars, I realized that the sun didn’t usually shine in through the door like it was.  And noticed that since the leaves had fallen, the sun had a clear path through the window panels on the door right into our living room.

In that moment I knew what I was going to ask Brent and Heidi to get me for Christmas.  I said out loud to the one and half year old, “I want a little glass ball shaped like a disco ball to hang in that door.”   

Later when Heath was napping, I studied the lesson I planned to teach the students.  I confessed to God how inadequate I felt to teach on such a big topic.  Looking into God’s Holiness reminded me of my sin and inadequacy.  I went down a path of wondering why in the world God would use me to risk His name on.  He is wholly pure and good and righteous.  And, I am not!

This is where He showed off.  That afternoon I loaded up the diaper bag and had Heath at hand walking out the door.  As I opened the door there stood my dear friend Pat coming to the door.  In her hand was something that absolutely took my breath away.  I could hardly talk.

She explained to me that they were leaving for their home in Florida for the winter and she wanted me to have a gift. 

It was a small glass ball shaped like a disco ball with a string attached! I am not kidding.  

Can you believe He was so obvious! There was no hiding what He was trying to tell me. 

In His Holiness He chooses to be in RELATIONSHIP with us. 

He is not a God somewhere up there.  He is not distant from us.  We are His beloved.  That’s why Jesus came!  The Holy God put on flesh to save us; free us from our sin addiction through and intimate personal relationship with Him.

Father, redeem us because of Your unfailing love.  Psalm 44:26

You should come and see the hundreds of little rainbows in our living room on sunny mornings!  

The Good Hand... Always

I am thankful for a husband who loves me, two children who fill me with awe, our sweet little home.  I’m thankful for a church family that inspires me and that I get to love and serve.  I’m thankful for deep friendships.  I’m thankful for a family who is so close to my heart. 

Being thankful for those good things in life leads me to trust the hand of God that provides them.  Yes, being thankful leads to trust.

What about the difficult and bad things?  Are we really supposed to be thankful for those?  For people who just can’t find it in them to believe God is good and that He is our only hope, they say the atrocities of our world show His lack of good.  And, for people who have called Jesus their Savior, many see these things as adequate reasoning for keeping Him at an arm's length.

Do we deserve only good to happen?  Who really gets what they deserve?  Laying peacefully in bed a few nights ago I wondered, “Why have we been so blessed to do just that?”  Don’t you remember reading the Diary of Ann Frank?  Why did girls and boys have to fall asleep from complete exhaustion with fear in their dreams?  Last night, why did  mommas squeeze their children tight begging for a peaceful sleep in Kenya?  Why do I take for granted a peaceful sleep? 

I deserve no peaceful rest when others are facing starvation.  Our geography is all that separates us.  I am merely riding on the blessings of the generations before me.  Tragedy and difficulty simply can not be calculated and dished out deservingly. 

If calculated, my sin would earn me much more strife! But I have not received what I deserve for my failures.  It doesn’t make sense. 

Whether our lives are in a time of blessing or pain, we simply do not get what we deserve!  We all deserve punishment.  We will never be good enough to deserve otherwise. 

The hand of God.  How does He handle us?

“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”  Romans 8:32

Let those words sink in.  They are true.  His Good Hand gave Jesus undeservingly for me.  The reality of eternity in Hope are mine.  (Eternity is happening even now). I am living proof that those words in Romans are true.  That in all good and bad things I have gone through, He graciously gives me perspective, peace, hope, endurance, and even joy.  I am nothing special.  I am simply someone who is learning to see Him in all things.  Because His Good Hand is in all things. 

“Trauma’s storm can mask the Christ and feelings can lie.  Sometimes we don’t see that in Christ, because of Christ, through Christ, He does give us all things good – until we have the perspective of years.  In time, years, dust settles.  In memory, ages, God emerges.  Then when we look back, we see God’s back.” Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts.

How about we take time to look back over our lives and ask Him to open our eyes to see. 

People in our lives will fail. Everyone dies sometime. Our world groans and disasters happen.  Illness changes everything.  Oh, but WE ARE GIVEN A CHOICE!  In all things, every moment. 

We are given the choice to trust His Good Hand or to clench our own hands in fear and control. In all my "stressing," I am really just choosing to call God unreliable.

Yet, we are given the choice to freely surrender to the Almighty God knowing that we are sinful and need a Savior. I get to choose to trust Him to lead my life. I don’t have to choose to seek meaningless pleasure that fades and leaves me wanting more fixes.  I get to choose real Love, passion, and purpose. 

How could I such a sinner, deserve that? 

So just as I am wrapping this up, this song just came on … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAMJKfWsS9o.  I’m not kidding.  It’s playing right now!  I’m not sure if He meant it for me alone or not.  You may like it too :) HIS GOOD HAND!

Logic: Fear's Carefully Crafted Mask?

Last night one of our former students came to our door at 10:30 and stayed until after midnight. Poor kid, we talked his head off! He is in his first year of college and went through some tough stuff last year. He is on the path to following God through all of it. 

Brent and I stayed up for a while after he left, truly praising God for what is going on in that young man’s life. You see last year at this time, he wanted nothing to do with us. We had spent time building into him and loving him. We committed to not giving up on him. And honestly, it seemed to us like it was all in vain. Then, the knock on the door that got us out of bed and to led us to praise God deep in our hearts for the work He has been doing all along!

One thing I have learned from working with teenagers is that they can hurt our hearts pretty deep. I have spent heart and time loving on lots of students. There are only a handful who I have had the humble privilege to see really “get it.” Logic tells me that all that time and emotion are not worth the results. Logic tells me to find some other place to invest. Something more profitable.

I spent most of my high school and college days dating someone I thought I was going to marry. All the future plans were made. Children’s names planned. Years of becoming best friends and helping one another through those tough transition years. Love. He was killed in a motorcycle accident. 

Though God’s plans were clear and He blessed me with an incredible man to marry, logic had taught me that truly loving him would be too painful and that he too would be gone somehow. All it would take is one careless driver or one wrong decision and he would be gone. Logic said, “Don’t love people because they don’t last.”

We are programmed to learn based on extrapolation. What are the facts we can pull from a situation? What are the consistencies and norms? Don’t give much attention to the anomalies. They’re just flukes. Our logic and reason can solve most things. We humans do possess the highest form of thinking, right?

I think we’ve got it all wrong.

I see right where my logic was taking me. I would still be in a difficult marriage, living based on my understanding of what love does to a person. I would have passed that mentality onto my precious daughter, continuing the cycle. I would have never experienced the freedom of loving my husband fully. Or, the freedom of being gripped by the beauty of my children and loving so deep I feel it in my chest. I would never have had the privilege to walk with Brent as he faces trials and be the one who God uses to build him up. I would have never known the ironic freedom of giving myself to the one God made me to love.

 

Also, logic would have caused me to avoid teenagers at all costs. It would have bred a cynical view and led me to a commitment of hopelessness for the future generations. I can hardly write the words… those kids that have experienced His love and purpose, their lives set on a new path; that would not have been so. I would have found some other “self” thing to fill my time with. I would have been led further down the path of control and misery.

What has human reasoning led you to believe?

 

Perhaps, our logic alone (without God’s leading), is really a carefully crafted mask to hide fear.

 

Here are some interesting words:

• "Without weakening in his faith, he (Abraham) faced the fact that his body was as good as dead… yet he did not waver through unbelief…” Romans 4:19-20. 
•  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher thanyour ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9
• “To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.” Jon 12:13
• "The fear (awe, respect, reverence) of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10
• “Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the LORD, and humility comes before honor.” Proverbs 15:33

Our logic is faulty! Our human minds alone, do not have the ability predict outcomes! Len Schlesinger, a Harvard business professor says, " Treating an uncertain world as if it were predictable only gets you into trouble."

 

Those anomolies that we learn are flukes, actually ruin the whole argument for logically predicting and controlling our outcomes. The boy on our porch last night with his head in his hands saying thank you and getting a glimpse of the fact that God really does have big dreams for his life. The twenty nine year old grown girl who has been left and abandoned and is now pouring love out… me. We are anomalies to this whole logic thing.

 

The less of me and my logic/control/fear, the more I am open to being led by the One who made me. What about you?

 

I know that there are more painful times ahead of me. Do I want to squeeze tight and trust in the illusion of control? Or do I want to open my arms, my hands, my heart and trust in the reality of my Savior who is in control?  Does all of life come down to fear or trust?

 

Is the most important thing about us what we believe about God? (as A.W. Tozer says)

 

Forgive the Spanish subtitles. (I liked this video best!)

Finding My Way to the Root of Fear

I have been holding off posting because something is just growing and growing in my mind and heart. I’m one of those people who is not very patient. I was birthed with a heeping dose of passion instead of patience. I have a hard time telling stories because I just want to rush right to the point. I wonder if that is why I talk so fast? I’m not big on marinating food or waiting for bread to rise. Isn’t it true that those are the things that have the most flavor? Isn’t it true that we most appreciate and enjoy the things that take time? Perhaps, I am maturing. Perhaps, patience is developing.

Brent was a pitcher in his growing up years. I was a swimmer. He is infinitely more patient than me. He can see life as one step better day by day and enjoy the small victories. It’s one “pitch” at a time, one batter at a time, one inning at a time, one game at a time. Me, I’m always racing to the cross and the end of the lane, forgetting to pace myself, and holding my breath as I finish strong through the solid of the lane line. I get out of the pool heaving and spent.

This time, the things I have to share with you will not work in race form. Patience will have to outweigh my passion. As I write and listen to the Christy Knockles Pandora station, I’ll stop and raise my hands or sing loud and listen to these powerful words that mean more to me now than ever. This post may take hours, days, weeks, or months to come out fully. I will thank Brent now for locking me in the bedroom and playing with two sweet children to allow me to get part of it out today. I hear the loud boy hollering now and bowls of cereal clanking.

I’m sure you’ve heard the analogy of life having seasons. I’m learning it’s literal. This summer has been an incredible season of change… in my heart. Words can not express exactly what has happened. I can say that it is like my eyes have been opened to see life so much more clearly. It’s like colors are more vibrant. Scenes move by slowly. Moments mean so much more. It’s like caluses have been sanded away and I can feel touch, sound, color, emotion much more fully. I think I’ve gotten a taste of the life Jesus promised when He said, “Life to the full.”

I’m not sure where this journey of Dive will take us. But, I’m inviting you to come with me as I try to express it to you. Honestly, I’m on my face praying for me and you. I praying you experience Him through this… wherever you are on your journey. Some of you are my mentors and some of you think this whole God thing is a hoax but you love me and decide to see what I have to say. So I’m trusting Him to move and I’m really excited. Does that surprise you that I’m excited? At least we’re not in person so I can’t get on your nerves. :)

Sitting on the beach earlier this summer, I was reading a book that has absolutely rocked my world. One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. A woman I love and respect deeply sent it to me. She had no idea that her twenty dollar act of obedience was going to change the direction of me and my family’s life. If you’re heart is pricked to some act of kindness DO IT. Who knows what a difference it will make! And, I triple dog dare you to read that book if you’re looking for something to read.

Back to my point. My stomach tightened and my eyes welled with tears. I felt the lump tighten in my chest when I read this.

"Agoraphobia, 'anxiety about being in places or situations from which escape might be difficult.' It’s my skin that is difficult to escape. I snap an elastic band around my wrist. For months, I swallow down the calm with the pills. I try to pray. Fear is like a piano wire cutting round the wrists, life shackled, cutting deep, and the hand spasms, fists of control. Fear keeps life small. The music dies and the joy drains. I’ve lived the strangle."

As I sat with the sun beating on me and the waves crashing, my mind raced. I remembered when I loved being far out in the water. The waves consuming me. It felt so free. Then my mind rushed back to my childhood. That quote made me think about how someone was always “leaving” when things were hard. My child mind struck with fear. Where will I go? Who will take care of me? No one ever stays. I had been brainwashed that escaping was the answer.

Is that why I would spend childhood nights sleeping on the bathroom floor after I threw up? Hurrying back to my bed before anyone woke and knew. It was so normal to me. Is that why I was woken from my dorm room bed years later with anxiety gripping me. My dear childhood friend watching as I tore my clothes off and heaved in the floor. She helped clean up the puke. Then, in a college apartment being taken over by it again, calling my boyfriend to help the heaving and sweating stop. What could calm me? He prayed over me. But, what to pray for this girl who didn’t understand.

I loved my God in those days. I have loved Him all of my days. With Him is where I experienced my first Peace. We lived out in the country. Flat land, sand, thin grass, barbed wire fences, and horses all around. A long dirt road led to a ranch house surrounded by trees. A house of tension set in the beauty of full sunrise and sunset skies. His Hope surrounded that house.

One Saturday, the tension was thick. I feel it even now. The weight I would tell my dad about was on my chest so heavy. They were arguing about me. So, I ran. I ran far. My legs burned as I sprinted down the lane into a farmer’s field. The hot August sun burned against my 15 year old skin. I collapsed in the shade of the trees lining the crop.

I cried out loud and begged God for peace. What does a 15 year old know of the word peace? What does peace mean to an egocentric teenager. Why would a child need to beg for peace? Then, the cool breeze blew. I shuttered. The tears stopped. I was filled with the Truest Peace. I knew in that moment that I was not alone. That He was with me and that He always would be. He would be with me through the tornado that raged in my house.

It was years later in the early morning hours in a home in St. Charles that my Peace turned into my Protector. I was a summer missionary with a family who lives radically for their Savior. After a run up steep hills in the hot summer, He brought reality to me. I recalled faint memories of mud, a car, a mean man, my mom, my brother, and crying. I remembered running out a door and glass flying. I remembered being scared to death of some man. I know that that man was in prison after it all.

It hits me. Why am I alive? Why did You save me? My 19 year old mind realized that I could have died. In Love, I resolve in that moment, that my life is His. That His glory is the purpose for all my days.

There at the immense ocean, I realize I’m scared to go out in the water. Yes, that water that I love. What am I scared of? I’m scared of being out of control. What if I’m no longer strong enough to swim against the waves? What about jellyfish? How small is my God right now?

I tell Him that I’m scared and He speaks in my heart. “Do it anyway. If something goes wrong, you’ll learn something valuable. I will prove trustworthy.”

That did it. I got up and walked determined to that ocean. Deeper and deeper until I had to dive. I swam out. Further and further. Letting go of control with each stroke. Everything changed.

“Oh, the joys of those who trust in the Lord,” Psalm 40:4

“May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15: 13.

Baby Heath walks off the edge into the pool with no pause, no hinderance, complete trust when his daddy is right there with arms waiting to catch him. That is the challenge.

True Story!

It's not real astonishing. So don't get your hopes up! However it is true. A couple weeks ago we stayed at the Sherton at Westport (Priceline is a great thing. You should do it). We love staying there in the summer with the kids. The pool is just marvelous... it really is! The morning we were leaving a little lady who was full of spunk was out early. She wore a shiny black one piece swim suit and her hair was blond and spikey. She looked to be 65 years old. She laid out in the morning sun. She had little skinny legs. She would get in the pool and do a few exercises then sit back down for a bit. You could just tell she was a fun lady by looking at her.

Of course, I couldn't miss a conversation with her. I know it can be an annoying trait, but I do love getting to know people's stories. Heidi and I moved to her side of the pool to sit and dry off. Before we were ten feet from her she began talking to us. I still can't decide where her accent is from. My best guess is Italian. She began with basic chit chat. She showed us pictures of her grandsons. And told us how she was going home soon to cook a birthday dinner for her youngest.

Here's the best part. She dried off and wrapped a coverup around her and sprayed perfume all around her. It was one of those strong, musky, no name type perfumes. By golly, the next thing I knew she was at Heidi's neck spraying her and her wrists. Then, she gently turned my wrists over and sprayed me. She said, "Now you will smell lovely for the men."

We loved it! We did stink. But, we loved being blessed by her intoxicating personality. I have thought about her several times and decided that I hope to be like her. I want to always live a life with no walls, especially when it comes to people.

I have lived so much of my life protecting myself from hurt. No need to explain why. There are many of us who have been through tough stuff and learned to cope and move on by building walls. I have been in a long process of trusting God to free me from my self-protection and control, I am now starting to be immersed in the freedom of loving people freely.. whether they deserve it or not.

The more I fall in love with the God of my Salvation and trust Him and follow Him through His Truth, the more I live in joy and peace. Freedom, joy, and peace are a good trade for control and fear.

I guess the point is, don't be offended when I spray you with horrible perfume the next time I see you. It just means I love you!

"Perfect love casts out all fear." 1 John 4:18

"Fear keeps life small." - Ann Voskamp

I quit

I recently quit a job I have been doing for years. Gosh, I don’t even know how long I’ve been doing that job. It’s something I picked up at a young age and was just natural to me. I was really good at it. It’s crazy to quit something that I have spent so many years investing into. I had practically mastered it.

In the months since I have quit the job, I am now experiencing some major changes. My daily routines have changed, my relationships have changed, my thoughts have changed. It’s a big deal to quit something that has been apart of your life for 20 or so years. The best way to describe what I have experienced since I quit is: Freedom.

I seem to enjoy the simple things of life so much more. I am more patient with people. I can see beauty in nearly everything and everyone. I have slowed down. I dance more. I dance a lot. I smile more. I laugh out loud. A weight has been lifted. That job was a heavy load.

That job was a dead end job. It was sucking the life right out of me. I never even realized I was not being compensated for all the time and energy I invested in it. After applying some truths from God’s Word, I realized that NO ONE EVEN ASKED ME TO DO THIS JOB! I had assumed the role myself! Why in the world would I take on something that was so draining and pointless?

I guess I thought doing that job might give me a little control. Or maybe it was my way of simplifying something that can’t be simplified. Sometimes it made me feel better about myself and other times it made me want to crawl in a hole. That job also gave me a lot to talk about with other people. Like minds would always collaborate together and come to similar conclusions. It made me feel powerful. It made my eyebrows be bent with a scowl. It made me stay awake at night analyzing and strategizing. Perhaps, I did the job because it stopped me from self-reflecting. Or maybe because it stopped me from getting too close to other messy people.

I haven’t even told you what job I quit! I was a self-entitled judge of… everything and everyone. Take it from me, it really has no use in this life we live. Our Creator doesn’t intend for us to take on that role. He has that job covered. I sure am glad that the only One who is Love is the One who is judging. He is the only One with an untainted perspective. He is the only One who knows the whole story. He is the only One who can handle the weight of the job and still be Love. He is Holy and Righteous. I am not.

I do find myself slipping back into the judging roll often. It’s a habit, a comfortable place. I understand that it is a process for me to go through to be fully complete. I can already tell that things have changed since my perspective has changed. Oh, I wonder what the freedom will be like 10 years from now!

How captivated will I be by people when I no longer put them in boxes or categories? How compassionate will I be when I see other people’s faults as wounds they have suffered? How grateful will I be when I appreciate all the extremes of personalities? How wise will I be when I understand that every person who challenges me or hurts me is giving me the opportunity to depend on my God for strength and peace? How motivated will I be when I face difficult times knowing that my faith and character will grow?

I am a very passionate person. I have lived through some tough stuff. So, I’m not talking about living life with rose colored glasses on. I still get angry and I will fight for justice. Uh oh, I better not get started here… that’s another story! Here’s an example: When someone offends me and it rightfully makes me angry, I don’t have to chain myself up by acting in anger or by gossiping. I can duck that one out and let their consequences come their way in due time. In the meantime, I tell God how angry I am and ask Him to give me perspective and love. Here’s the incredible part… then, I’m FREE! No bad consequences, no guilt, no grudge. Actually I get to experience true peace and joy. I’ll take that trade any day.

Life in relationship with our Creator is what life is all about… that’s our “job”! Each day, He frees me from the chains I have put myself in. The “job” He has for me continues to unfold into something I can’t imagine not being a part of. I better stop here before I get onto another topic!

Check out this guy. No judging 

Denny; a Real Warrior

I saw something last Saturday that I will never forget. It impacted me on so many levels. There is a dear dear man who lives here in Ironton. He is a small, thin, aged man with grey-blond hair. He walks quick with a slight forward tilt of his shoulders. He wears glasses. He has a high-pitched voice that is unmistakable. He is a man who gets what life is all about. He is a man who is fully “spent” everyday. I can’t imagine him having one single regret.

His first name is Denny. I don’t know him well personally. I do know where to find him. He is always found with children who are hurting, outcast, poor, or lonely. He has worked at the school for years. Anytime there is a need, you will find Denny at the other end meeting it or rallying people to do so. Clothes, food, fire victims, special needs children, encouragement; he spends every moment of his days giving and loving.

Last Saturday we went to the city pool with some friends. I had heard the pool wouldn’t open this year. But when I saw that Denny was the pool manager, I wasn’t surprised. Of course he wouldn’t let the one place kids have to go in the summer close.

There were probably forty five or so kids there. Most of them were middle school and younger. Very few adults were there. It was a hot sunny day. Out walked Denny with sun block in hand and started spraying it on kids’ shoulders. They would turn a little and let him rub it in. He put block on five kids each swipe. He would call them out of the pool or just spray them without asking. Have you ever seen anyone (other than a family member) do that… impose on someone in that way? What kind of love is that? What kind of love? How may kids over the years have been saved from a horrible sunburn because Denny cares enough to get off his rear and go put it on them without them ever asking? He knows kids don’t think of that. He knows that their parents don’t either. But, he does.

I haven’t been able to get Denny out of my mind. He is such a humble man. He doesn’t seek any public attention. He simply fights for the ones who need it most. I think he and Jesus have a whole lot in common!

Several weeks ago on a Saturday evening, I was alone at the track and I saw a girl and two little boys walk up. As she got closer I recognized the young lady. I had her as a student a few years ago. She has been out of school for two years now. She is an incredibly smart girl, beautiful, and has her head on her shoulders. She explained that one of the boys was her ten year old little brother and the other was her two year old nephew (who was born to a girl in high school a couple years ago). I recognized his eyes. On one hand, I was proud of her for being out there on a Saturday night with those boys taking care of them rather than out partying. On the other, I was sad that she had to. She explained to me that she wants to join the police academy and knows that she can’t get caught hanging out with anyone who gets in trouble. She’s working full time at a gas station and taking one or two classes a semester.

She really does have so much going for her. She really can make a good life for herself. She could break the cycle that she has been raised in.

Then, I heard the ten year yell out a cuss word. She grabbed his arm. “I can say that,” he fought back. The two year old was paying close attention. The ten year old started throwing rocks as hard as he could. The two year old stood and did the same. I called the man-child named Dylan over. I told him that his cousin was watching and that the best thing he could ever do, would be to teach him to do good things. He looked at his cousin and said another cuss word. The baby laughed and repeated him. The lady, went over and yanked his arm and said, “You don’t talk like that.” Dylan said, “Yeah I do. My daddy tells me to.” She looked at me with a defeated look and said, “He does. All those guys teach these boys bad stuff.”

I quickly encouraged her and told Dylan how smart I think he really is and how I bet he could climb that jungle gym. We wrapped up our conversation and hugged.

I could feel the tears welling up as I got further away. Why? Then, it hit me. That is the story for SO MANY of our boys in this town. The men in their lives are being warriors in all the wrong ways. I asked God where He was. I felt so defeated about the future of our little town. Then, I realized that there are real warriors all around. It’s the men who love Jesus. You guys are doing more than you know. When you’re coaching sports and rubbing shoulders with those dads and kids. When you’re being the warriors of your household and being examples to your kids. God just spoke in my heart, “There is hope.” He loves the men of our town and He has men He’s calling to be leaders and make a difference.

Bryan said in his message several weeks ago, “The words mean so much coming from a man.” It’s true. I get to teach a slew of kids on Sunday mornings and high schoolers on Wednesday nights. I know those boys well. Many of them are craving male attention.

I look at those boys and students faces and see that they will be men in a few years. Will they be abusive alcoholics? Will they have kids by three different women by the time there 30? Will they be able to find a job? Will they be in trouble with the law? Is there hope for them? Yes. God has His Mighty hand all over their lives. He works through pain and poor decisions. He is calling men to fight for those boys.

Do you see it? This is our shot to really impact this our world for generations to come!!! And, I’m learning that it will have to come from some men stepping into their lives. Some of these guys don’t have a man who pays attention to them all week. And for the ones who do, it may have been better if they didn’t. Just to have a man show up and prove to them that they are worth your time for an hour or two would absolutely change their lives… FOREVER! Thus, changing their kids’ lives and so on.

Girls, let’s encourage the men in our lives to be real warriors. No nagging or harassing. Let’s pump em up and see the potential they have to fight for something that matters!