Monday, August 24, 2015

Three Ways to STAND Like a Man



Peter Akech is one of the bravest, faith-filled, godly men I’ve ever met. We worked together during South Sudan’s civil war with the government of Sudan, on a team of missionaries training men to be chaplains in the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army.

Peter has led hundreds of men to the Lord while bullets whizzed overhead, ordnance exploded, and men lay dying in his arms. Military chaplains, in accordance with the Geneva Convention, are internationally recognized as noncombatants. The only thing he ever armed himself with was a smooth wooden cross that he carried as a staff or wore in his belt like a small sword, a symbol of his faith and his mission.

One day the unit he was attached to came under heavy artillery fire. Peter took cover in a foxhole, which is less like a ditch you’d see in war movie and more like a burrow tunneled into the ground. When Peter got all the way into the hole, he found himself face-to-face with a king cobra ready to strike. Peter spoke to the snake. There was only one thing that needed to be said: “My friend, today one of us is going die.”

That’s it. Peter had to stand and fight, or die. There was no third option. No compromise. No negotiation. No way to come out of the hole as comrades. Only one came out of the foxhole alive. One went on to do more ministry, the other was turned into a handsome pair of cowboy boots.

“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.”—1 Corinthians 16:13-14 (ESV)

This verse is delivered in an ascending order, the way a platoon leader barks commands to one of his soldiers. Watch. Stand. Be a man. Use all your strength to hold the line. When you do this enough, it becomes second nature, and when you crawl into a hole with snake—while never under-estimated—the snake loses.

As men, we’re built to stand firm. It comes to us naturally. Where we need some training are in the causes or issues we stand on. Who are we standing against? Who are we standing with? How do we stand? These are the questions we wrestle with. So many voices contend for our attention and we’re not able to take the time to intentionally align our priorities with Christ—the One who created and commissioned us to represent Him in His world.

Stand against the schemes of the devil (Ephesians 6:11)
One of the things I know about Peter Akech is he’s a soldier, and a soldier never has the full picture. He doesn’t know what the overall battle strategy is. Generals formulate strategy. The man on the ground is ordered to hold the line where his feet are planted. If he does his job well, the enemy won’t breach there. The line you hold could very well be the moment in the war where the tide turns.

Stand mature (Colossians 4:12)
Believe it or not, maturity takes strength. It’s not the kind of strength that comes from a surge of adrenaline; it’s the strength that comes from building muscle over a period of time and in a disciplined, useful way. There’s power, purpose, confidence, and experience that comes from steady, intentional, repeated application. This needs to start today—it’s how maturity is developed. There’s too much at stake to put it off any longer.

Stand and support your brothers (2 Timothy 4:16)
Stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the men who’ve poured into you and the men you’re pouring into. There is no doing this on your own. There’s no success and no celebration when you go alone or without support. If you don’t position yourself in a place to support others, you leave your brother, who you love, exposed.

When I played football in high school, we used to watch these 8mm films of our opponents. There was one time when we watched the other team’s running back make an amazing play. It was beautiful. This kid put a move on one guy, stood hard and planted his feet, juked him, and then JUMPED OVER THE LINE MEN as they missed the tackle. We watched this play over and over until we understood what our opponent was capable of.

We had to memorize that kids number. Number 34. Robbie Harrison. I’ve never forgotten what that kid was capable of.

I never forgot that kid’s number. Number 34.

That was more than twenty years ago.

You have an opponent that knows your number. He’s watching every move you make and devising a game plan to counter your strengths, find the places where you’re soft, and take you down in a way that is painful and public. Don’t let him succeed.

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Twenty-nine Years with the Perfect Person



I cannot live, I can't breathe
Unless you do this with me
”The Adventure” -- Angels and Airwaves


You only get to do life once. I’m doing life with the perfect person.

Twenty-nine years ago tomorrow (Aug 23), I married the Charming and Beautiful Susan​. According to my father, God gave me this woman to tame me. That has been a tall order. Every single day I can’t wait to come home to be with this woman to share every part of my life with her.

I’ll never forget meeting her. All my buddies were after her. Somehow I convinced her to climb onto the back of my motorcycle for a ride to the beach. That was our first date. Impromptu. Unplanned.

I inadvertently parked my Suzuki in a tow away zone on the beach on A1A in Fort Lauderdale across the street from the Elbow Room. My bike got towed and we were stranded.

That was the first time I kissed her. The memory makes me dizzy and a little giddy. Who cares if my bike got towed. Keep it. This hot girl was letting me in close enough for a long kiss. The first of many. Impromptu. Unplanned.

This is the first memory I made with this woman. She was nineteen. I was twenty. I was on the beach in October in Florida. I was euphoric. Eight months later, we were married. That was twenty-nine years ago today.

God blessed our marriage with two beautiful children, Charity​ first, then Aaron Mondok​. And then, through their lives, new relationships and wonderful additions have been made to our family. We've adopted Allie, added Shana​ and Nicole​ to our tribe. Mackenzie Rae and Cora Love have been blessed arrivals and we look forward to more. Charity, Nicole, Aaron, Shana, Allie, Mackenzie, Cora: Susan and I love you all more than you can imagine and are so thankful for you lives. You have enriched our lives so much and are so glad that you all are part of our journey.

Monday, August 10, 2015

Proverb’s Three Characters



The book of Proverbs is one of the most practical and easy to apply books in the Bible. Throughout the book's 31 chapters, there are three obvious characters featured throughout the book of Proverbs:
  • the wise
  • the fool
  • the simple

The wise
  • embraces God’s covenant
  • makes good progress
  • is an example worth following
The fool
  • is opposed to God’s covenant
  • moves freely among God’s people
  • resists offer of forgiveness
  • is dangerous in his influences
  • is the cause of grief to his parents
  • not beyond hope
The simple
  • not firmly committed
  • easily misled
  • does not apply himself to discipline
Even as we read through these lists, we can picture people that we've known throughout our lives that possess the attributes listed in each of these three categories. Maybe as you evaluate your own life in light of these categories, you see some things that describe you in different categories. Maybe you embrace God's covenant (wise) but you're easily misled (simple). Adjustments need to be made. Be diligent to get to know this book. The Proverbs begs it's readers to search its pages thoroughly and wrestle with the questions that are raised.

Go explore.