If I were president…

If I were president I’d…

Do you ever daydream about what you’d do if you had the influence of the U.S. president? The other day I thought about how many sad families there are out there, dads drinking and abusive toward their kids & wives, kids wanting love but getting beat & neglected, wives crying for love. I see how many families are affected by alcohol & other “substances.” If I were president I’d begin speaking out about this. Something like…

I want to talk to you husbands and fathers out there. As I travel around this country I see so many great families led by hard-working men who love their wife and children. You spend time together, teaching good strong values to your children. However I also see the ravages of alcohol and substance abuse as well. Do you men realize what an influence you are in your family…for good or for bad? How your wife looks to you for protection, love, companionship? How your children look to you for love, their sense of value? I cannot understand how some guys can allow an ‘outsider’ to come in a wreck something that should be the foundation of our society…the family. The outsider? Alcohol that ruins your judgment. Drugs that remove your filter for what’s right and wrong. Instead of coming home with a kind word you come with cursing. Instead of a hug you come with a fist. Instead of making home safe, you make it a place of fear. Instead of protector, you’re the destroyer.

Guys it’s time to say “no” to this scourge of our land. It’s time to say “no” to the alcohol that ruins your family. It’s time to say “no” to the drugs that consume you the very life that should be devoted to those who love you. Forced prohibition was tried and failed. Millions of dollars are spent on drug interdiction. There will always be those who prey upon the weak. But it’s time the men of this country come to their senses and say “That’s enough!! I will not allow this ‘outsider’ to ruin my life and my family’s life any more!”

Come on men. Stop being an idiot! (Can a president say that?) Stand up and be the man you’re destined to be…the leader in your family, the husband you vowed to be, the protector of your children. Let’s begin to heal the cracks in the foundation of our country…the family.

Or something like that..

The curse of busy-ness

“Come away with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
Mark 6:30

How often I need to hear these words of Jesus. In a culture, especially a Christian culture that seems to thrive on the “I’m busy for Jesus” mentality, we need to be reminded that there is such a thing as too busy for Jesus. Two things I must remember:

1) My worth is not in what I do or how busy I am. I’ve gone through phases in life where I would show off my over-crowded date book like it’s a prize. I would perceive busy-ness as importance. “Look how many things depend on me doing them.” Nowadays (at least most of the time) I try to remember that my worth is not in what I do or how busy I am, but in who I am in Christ. I have value because He says so. I have value to God and others as I allow Him to abide in me and I in Him.

2) Speaking of abiding, if I get too busy it becomes easier to crowd out my time with Jesus. “I have too much to do…Jesus give me strength to do it all.” Like He really thinks the doing is more important than the being. This is not the abundant life He desires for me. The abundant life comes from being with Jesus, allowing Him to live through me, surrendering myself each day to Him. This takes a calm and submissive spirit that is denied in the frenzy.

“To allow one’s self to…surrender to too many demands, to commit to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence. Frenzy destroys our inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our work because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.”
Thomas Merton

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Special thanks to my firstborn James for updating this website. He’s amazingly creative. I’ll be adding more content as time goes on, including what I hope is a weekly blog on topics relevant to living life as a disciple of Jesus. I’ve also included most of my recorded worship music available as FREE downloads. Give a listen, then tell your friends.