I have heard of a lot of organizations having charity walks but I have not ever really felt compelled to take part.  I do realize that these organizations are necessary and that they have done a huge amount of work in the areas that they are concerned in regards to raising money, awareness, and even helping with research and support for their members.  I guess that I am just lazy or something I don’t know, I just know that I haven’t ever taken part in one.  Well I was reading some other blogs this morning and that lead me to an e-book about men and the challenges that we face.  I am always looking to further not only myself as a man but also find new perspectives and new ways to help teach and instruct other men.  And to be honest one of my friends suggested the reading so I said “OK.”  I wont go into the whole content and everything about it because you can read it here, but I will give you a scripture and a quote out of it that applies to everyone in every situation, not just men and the context of men’s issues.

Wisdom is living your life in congruence with the will of God by walking in grace with him. Wisdom begins with fearing God (Prov. 1:7).

“The Scriptures continually speak of the One True God as the God of glory. This means that God is to be considered most heavily, or weighty, in the lives of his people, and that the sinful desires in us and cultural norms around us be seen as unnatural, depraved, and light in comparison to him. Simply, until you fear God and weigh him most heavily in your life, you will remain an undisciplined fool”.

What an awesome quote because it lays it right there on the counter for all to look at and all to ponder.  If God is not the most important thing in your life and Jesus is not Lord of your life then really what are you doing?  Because what I think people forget is that the truth is the truth regardless of what you believe or do.  And Jesus is Lord regardless of whether or not you allow Him to be in your life or not.  But if you don’t allow Him to be then your life will be much more difficult.  I assume that you are probably like me in that I let Him be Lord for most things but every once in awhile I will pick it back up and try to do it myself and then I have to suffer the consequences of those decisions.  So my challenge to you all and to myself is to maintain a fear of God that puts Him most “weighty” in our lives so that the world does become unnatural for us.  Keep praying, reading, and seeking!!!

God Bless ~ Tyler

DON’T FORGET

PURPOSE:
James 1:27 (New International Version)
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Focus:
As a Christian I have never really longed to go to foreign places and be a missionary.  I always have been of the thought that there was a lot of work to do here and I never really felt pushed to go.  Well we as a church have joined forces with another church in Missouri and Krystal and I have really felt God speaking to us that we need to go.  There is nothing more that someone can do for a fellow human than sacrifice themselves through their finances, time, food etc… Is that not the very example that Christ set for us by giving of His life on the cross for us?

So we have decided that we will be obedient and follow God’s direction.  In doing this we will have the opportunity to take part in “ministering to the children of Casa Bernabe. Located on the outskirts of Guatemala City, the orphanage is home to more than 150 children and workers. These children have been orphaned, abused, and abandoned by society”.

“A man reaps what he sows.” Galatians 6:7 (NIV)

Managing your mind should be one of your top priorities. Your mind is like a computer, it only spits out the data you feed it. Winners work hard at investing the right material inside themselves. Dr. Hans Selye researched and popularized a tiny membrane in the back of our head known as the RAS: Reticular Activating System. Your RAS has a primary function: it moves you in the direction of your dominant thought at that moment. We naturally act on what fills our minds.

When we become preoccupied with a thought, eventually we want to act on it. This explains a lot of things – like why so many rapes happen after guys have watched pornography night after night. It also explains the huge amount of violence among young people between the ages of 12 and 24. By then the average young person has seen more than 4,000 murders on TV, not to mention video games. Indiana University School of Medicine studied how the images we see impact our brains. For instance, adolescents who’d a higher level of exposure to violence, had reduced levels of cognitive function. The more violence they saw the less thinking, learning, reasoning and emotional stamina they had. The garbage they fed their minds affected what came out. Their computer stored the wrong information – now they could only retrieve the wrong stuff.

The apostle Paul didn’t know about computers. But he knew about agriculture: “The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:8 NIV). So, manage your mind!

God Bless ~ Tyler

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