Category: Blog

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for they are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”
———Galatians 5:16-17

So………….my wife and I are at a crossroads and at times, at odds with each other on what to do next. I admit……I have been confused, very angry, discouraged and disillusioned by normal American Christians, especially myself.
For the last 4 years, I have been thinking about my next 25 years on this planet and eternity.
Part of me says……relax Keith……just be a normal American and do normal American stuff……….
There is no need for adventure in your life.
After all, your friends and family and acquaintances NEVER, EVER
discuss their future ministry or service opportunities and probably never even think about it.
They live the American Dream in the here and now, counting their 401k’s……letting life come to them…..
They are not struggling….why the hell should you??
You are 58 years old, safe, somewhat healthy, some friends, loved by a Godly woman and maybe one or two of your children and most of your Grandchildren, on a good day!
Just do what 99% of your friends, both Christian and non-Christian, do!!
Live the free American luxurious life:
….Dreaming of your next luxurious vacation while lounging in your new home watching Monica Lewinsky’s ex-boyfriend’s wife do battle with a thrice married, billionaire orange clown on your new 65 inch LG 4K Curved TV in the cool comfort of your living room drinking your favorite beverage (Double Oaked Woodford Reserve or a Macchia Cab)!!!

……But then, there is another part of me.
My wife often times calls it “my impulsive nature” ………….. that scares the hell out of her.
Its full of adventure and risk taking!
And it gets even more intense when I meet people like the young woman Linda and I had in our home last night!
Bright, full of life and a heart for God.
A heart for Missions!!
A heart for where my heart has been for the last 17 years…..Southeast Asia!
Sure…..I cried…..tearing up right now.
Our Father is Faithful and he is still working in the hearts and minds of young people!
It was a great encouragement and she wants to visit our children’s home in Pua, Thailand.
We were impressed with her passion and desire to help the poor as well as her willingness to take a risk to serve the Least.

Eldredge says…..
” When it comes to living and loving, what’s required is the willingness to jump in with both feet and be creative as you go.”

And…..Wow……..was she willing!! Unafraid! Bold! Determined!

“Heading off into the unknown with God”, Eldredge says……” there is a time in one’s life when you have to break away.. This is a vital part of our journey and if we balk here, the journey ends.”

Oswald Chambers speaks words of wisdom when he says….

“There comes the baffling call of God in our lives also. The call of God can never Be stated explicitly; it is implicit. The call of God is like the call of the sea.  No one hears it but the one who has the nature of the sea in him.
It cannot be stated definitely what the call of God is to, because His call is to be in Comradeship with himself for his own purposes, and the test is to believe that God knows what he is after.”

There is no formula! The only way to live in this adventure with its high stakes and risks and unpredictability is to do exactly what Paul told the Galatians in Chapter 5………

”walk by the Spirit”.

So…………what about you my friend, are you walking by the spirit into your Next Adventure??

Naturally, we are inclined to be so mathematical and calculating that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing…………Certainty is the mark of the common sense life; gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, we do not know what a day may bring forth. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness; it should rather be an expression of breathless expectation. ( My Utmost for His Highest)
———Oswald Chambers

The realm of God is dangerous. You must enter into it and not just seek information about it.
———Archbishop Anthony Bloom

…………And I have to say that much of my early life as a Believer, was just that!! I viewed God as just a Doctrine…….and so I studied Doctrines……Armenism, Calvinism, Charismania, Pentecostalism, Faith Healing, Name it Claim Wealth Doctrines, etc. And that is what I did…..I sought more and more information…..but not a relationship with my Father in Heaven!! I knew about His History but not so much about his person. I know many very knowledgeable men who claim that Doctrine is everything. They are logical, systematic, clear and precise, convincing and inspiring………but it appears to me………they are also ineffective with Dead Faith and lots and lots of Knowledge about God but little Action. They have taken little risk in their lives and what I have seen……….they have little joy………caught up in the seeking for more knowledge and the cares of this world. Lots of discussion about who God is but little action of what He is telling them to do in practice of their Faith. This is my observation and yes……………. I have been quite judgmental of them but I think and I hope…….. I am getting past that. I want to learn from my friends……….not become like them or just judge them. That doesn’t help me or challenge me spiritually.

This life is short and why do I want to live it just “working for the legal tender” as Jackson Browne sings in his famous song The Pretender. Is my legacy important? Should it be? Why do so few people I know and you know take a risk?? I believe we are “Slaves to Fear”……we are afraid of the unknown, uncertainty, becoming poor, dying poor, not having enough of anything……..especially the American Dream. And that’s why I love this song by Jonathan David and Melissa Helser.

I am no longer a Slave to Fear……….I am a Child of God
Am I called to be less daring than Joshua in the Battle of Jericho or Gideon when his army was reduced from 32,000 to 300? They were mere men just like you and me!!!

I have to agree with Elderidge when he says:

The problem with modern Christianity’s obsession with principles is that it removes any real conversation with God. Find the principles, apply the principle

———what do you need God for? So Oswald Chambers warns us,
“Never make a principle out of your experience;
let God be as original with other people as he is with you.”

So give me your original thought about your destiny
………share it………..
Come on……..

Be Un-American! Take a Risk for a Change!!

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs are people who have come alive.”
———Gil Bailie

This is the phrase that helped change Eldridge’s life when he was gasping and grasping for purpose!!

Are you living a script written for you by someone else? Are you acting a part that someone else wants you to act but your heart is not there? Can a world of Posers tell you to do anything but pose yourself? Why listen to them?

Beuchner says, “We are in constant danger of being not actors in the drama of our lives, but reactors, to go where the world takes us, to drift with whatever current is running the strongest.” It might be a job or your grandchildren or your dream home or your retirement or __________, you fill in the blank. I have a friend going to the dangerous Middle East……….all for security and retirement bliss. I was told last week that I needed to have $1.5 million to retire……..total and absolute nonsense……….but the world and others are always wanting you to react from fear…….fear of not having enough $$$, or fame or recognition or comfort or attention…….all selfish stuff but we react to it and believe it all………..All LIES…….a pack of lies from this world

Are you spending most of the energy of your life trying to eliminate or avoid risk? Most men do! Many of the people I know and work with and have known for many years are doing all that they can to eliminate the risk of dying poor. Their lives are consumed with the fear of not having enough money to retire or live a certain lifestyle. They find security in counting their money. My Mother certainly did…….spoke of her money often…………loved it and treasured it and was suffocated by it. Never took a risk with it to help others outside her immediate family and was hell bent on dying rich. What about dying poor? What about taking a risk to give until it hurts. (Mark 8:36) I met a person recently who is not yet 50 with over a million in savings. Full of fear that their spouse might leave and they would be less rich. Searching for purpose outside of Jesus but not knowing what gives security and pleasure. The money is not enough. What a wealthy life!! What a sad life!!

Eldridge is correct when he says………”you can lose your soul, by the way, long before you die.” And I see and know so many people who have lost their souls………to money, to sex, to greed, to fun and pleasure, to their appearance, etc. and are no where near death. But is that any way to live? I have friends who have told me that they are bored in retirement with nothing to do. Late 50’s with nothing to do……..no one to help or serve or give to??? Bored!???

But how do you beat boredom? How do you come alive and seek a life worth living? You take a risk. You take an adventure. If you had permission to do what you really want to do, what would you do? Forget how. That’s God’s department. What is your true heart’s desire? What gives you great joy and makes you come alive? I ask these questions of myself because I, like the Author, want “to live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit, not feeding on the compulsions of selfishness.”

I want to come alive and live life to its fullest. What about you???

I AM A CHILD OF GOD!

FROM MY MOTHER’S WOMB, YOU HAVE CHOSEN ME. LOVE HAS CALLED MY NAME. I’VE BEEN BORN AGAIN INTO A FAMILY. YOUR BLOOD FLOWS THROUGH MY VEINS. I’M NO LONGER A SLAVE TO FEAR. I AM A CHILD OF GOD!

YOU SPLIT THE SEA SO I COULD WALK RIGHT THROUGH IT! MY FEARS WERE DROWNED IN PERFECT LOVE. YOU RESCUED ME SO I COULD STAND AND SING. I AM A CHILD OF GOD!

If you can’t worship the Living God to this song, I am not sure it can be done!!! See below.

God spilt the life of his Son that we might be saved, are we prepared to spill out our lives?
———Oswald Chambers

The place where God calls you is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.
———Frederick Buechner

What level of Risk are you willing take? Are you full of fear? Are you afraid to take a chance? Have you ever given like a Macedonian?

We want you to know, brothers, [1] about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.

—— 2 Corinthians 8:1-3

In “Risk is Right”, in the forward of John Piper’s book, David Platt quotes Matthew 13: 44 where Jesus tells his disciples, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

Piper, John (2013-01-31). Risk Is Right: Better to Lose Your Life Than to Waste It (p. 9). Crossway. Kindle Edition.

Platt says, “This is the picture of Jesus in the gospel. He is something— someone— worth losing everything for. When we really believe this, then risking everything we are and everything we have, to know and obey Christ is no longer a matter of sacrifice. It’s just common sense. To let go of the pursuits, possessions, pleasures, safety, and security of this world in order to follow Jesus wherever he leads, no matter what it costs, is not sacrificial as much as it is smart. In the words of Jim Elliot, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

But where are the “Jim Elliots” these days? Do you know any men or women (Elizabeth Elliot) like this? I don’t !! Why not? Its like the question I asked a month ago in a blog……..”Do you have anyone in your life who will shed blood with you in the fight and stand by you to sacrifice for and with you?” But is that the right question? The real question as I pondered this is……….”Will I be that person for someone else? Am I willing to take the first step? Am I willing to take a risk?

Can I truly agree with Paul and Piper in the first chapter, The Ultimate Meaning of Life……………..

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
——Phil. 1: 20– 21

Piper, John (2013-01-31). Risk Is Right: Better to Lose Your Life Than to Waste It (p. 13). Crossway. Kindle Edition.

Of course not and if you are honest…………you can’t say it either because you cling to everything just like I do. You love money and security even if it robs your joy and makes you mediocre in the Kingdom……..I feel more secure on this planet than I would in the perfect will of God. Can you see how silly and stupid this sounds?

Have you ever looked down into a pool of water……..on a cliff 40 or 50 feet above…………trying to decide if you have the guts to jump??? I remember twice in my life…once in WVA and another time in NC………it was thrilling! Scary…………was I willing to take the risk? But after I did it, I did it again and again…….because it was exhilarating!!!! The fear turned into the thrill of freedom!!!

I have to agree with Eldridge when he says….”I want to live my whole life like that. I want to love with much more abandon and stop waiting for others to love me first. I want to hurl myself into a creative work worthy of God. I want to charge the fields of Bannockburn, follow Peter as he followed Christ out onto the sea, pray from my hearts true desires.”

Don’t let this stinkin, selfish world rob you of joy, it aint worth it compared to Eternity…………Take a Risk…….Take an Adventure! You will never have enough money because you love it so much and the so-called security it brings………Understand what Buechner is saying…….God is calling you to deep gladness to meet a need………..a need that you are called to meet…………Listen to Him, take the risk and go Practice your Faith.

Come on………I know the answer…..it’s not NO….it’s HELLLLLLLL NO!!!! And that is sad!
Eldridge in Wild at Heart, claims…..”We don’t need an accountability group or a meeting of really nice guys…….we need fellow warriors, a gathering of Really Dangerous Men.”

David Smith writes in the Friendless American Male, “One problem is the friendless condition of the American Male….men can’t admit that they need the fellowship of other men.”

I call it the Cowboy mentality…….. the tough guy…….I remember the days when my Father would get hurt by my Mother or feel down about something. He would get his feelings hurt but never admit it. In fact, he would say……“don’t worry about me, I don’t have any feelings. You can’t hurt my feelings because I don’t have any.” Now……I admit…..that he was a tough guy…….part Comanche Indian, Special Forces Green Beret, one year Korean War, 4 years Vietnam, 2 purple hearts, (unlike John Kerry, his wounds required hospital treatment and stitches) one bronze star, one silver medal ……….they called him “Animal” on the High School football team. He was tough……..but he damn sure had feelings and they got hurt a lot but he never had another man he could share his heart with…….so sometimes he would share it with me when I was a teenager.

He would share his pain and his hurt………what a horrible marriage he had and it saddened him deeply……..he had killed many North Viet Cong but was unable to heal and repair his own marriage or the lung cancer he eventually died from.

What does Jesus mean in Matthew 11:12? “The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and violent men take it by force.” I really don’t think he is talking about “couch potatoes” and “Video Gamers”. I think he is talking about “men of passion” and masculine aggression and fearlessness, brave, loyal and dedicated to the cause of Christ! I don’t know many me like that today………do you? But if you find him……..I recommend that you fall on your knees and beg him to mentor you!

When I was 13 years old, we lived at Ft Benning in Columbus, GA. My father has just returned from Vietnam and he would eventually leave the Army due to the post war cut back. But I vaguely remember one night where he met with the men who he fought along side in Vietnam…….all junior to him. He had fought for his life with them and one of his Sergeants had saved my father’s life when the enemy had attacked him at night to cut his throat. These men, without the Lord, were still truly a Band of Brothers. I will never forget how thrilled my father was when he met with them and how close they were. They needed each other and had depended on each other and it showed. They were Warriors who needed each other!!

King David fell into sin with Bathsheba when he was no longer a Warrior strolling around the roof of the palace. 2 Samuel 11:1. He got lazy and became a couch potato playing games and fell……sharing with no one…….Posing………and falling

What about you……… Tough Guy? Who do you depend on??

(Photo Credit “Earl 53” Morguefile.com)