Nothing feels as rewarding as being super tired as a result of doing something that you know is going to result in much spiritual growth in many people. God blessed me with the opportunity to teach His principles to a bunch of people today who were hungry to learn. It was exhausting to teach with passion all day, but I wouldn’t exchange the time for anything else. It was incredibly rewarding and very humbling to think about people sitting all day taking notes while listening to me. I truly want to glorify God, and to teach truth that blesses people and helps them live their lives with more success in ministry and joy because of the fruit they bear. It was a very good day. Thank You Lord for blessing me.

Our annual seminar started today. Looks like over 200 are here. I will teach 16 hours between noon today and noon on Wednesday. One couple came from as far away as Texas. It is such an honor to be able to teach all of these people. I don’t want to take this opportunity and privilege for granted, but to do a really good job. Being an influencer of people for Jesus is an honor given to us by Jesus. God gives us a small opportunity and if we are faithful He will gradually increase our influence over time. I want to be given more and more to do for Him. I want that more than anything else in life. Tomorrow will be a long day. I will start speaking at 8:30 am and go until 5:30 pm with breaks and lunch. Dear Lord, grant me strength to do well tomorrow for the sake of all those who are here that their churches will be blessed.

The next book he gave me by CS Lewis to read was “Mere Christianity”. I read it and reread it several times. The book resonated with my soul. The questions that Lewis asked and the journey he went on intellectually in search of faith in God was amazing. Reading and digesting that book and the discussions about it were like a big glass of water to a man wandering around in the desert thirsting to death. Professor Noble encouraged me to write a personal statement of what I believed to be true about God, Jesus, the a Holy Spirit, the Bible, salvation, heaven, hell, and other major themes. I did that taking several months to research and think through these major doctrines. Then the assignment was to read them everyday until I died or Jesus came. That discipline along with reading the Bible every day and memorizing Bible verses is probably why I am in ministry today.

The first thing I learned from Professor Noble was that the thoughts that popped into my mind randomly but lately with greater frequency were from the devil and his demons that were assigned to me. The first temptation that the devil brought into Jesus life was ” if you are the Son of God” prove it. Their primary goal is to get me to turn my back on Jesus and run my own life, then they can own me. He assured me that I was normal and not bad nor weak, nor carnal for having the thoughts that I had. In fact it was a compliment to my potential because the Kingdom of darkness goes after those who will have the greatest negative impact on their evil plans. He gave me a book by C.S. Lewis who was an atheist but became a strong believer and follower of Jesus, and wrote books about his journey. In fact he ended up giving me five books over the next couple of months by Lewis all of which I still have on the book shelves of my office. The first book was “Screwtape Letters” a fictional story about a demon and his training to become an effective  tempter of people. It was a super funny and enlighting book that I enjoyed very much. We got together and talked about the book and he actually made my time with him and the reading assignments a class that I got credit for and also an “A” for a grade. I actually had a class on spiritual warfare before the term was popular. Professor Noble’s counsel to me was read the Bible a lot and memorize it even if you are having doubts about it. A quote from him was, ” Read the Bible as if you believed it was supernatural in it’s powers to change you, and it won’t be long before it is”. Jesus quoted scripture when He was tempted and the devil left Him. If I do what Jesus did it won’t be long before the devil gives up on me as well. (Part 3 tomorrow)

Years ago when I was a Freshman in College I went through a dark time in regards to my faith in God and my commitment to Jesus Christ as my savior and Lord. There was no particular reason for it other than the ” newness and difference” of my new life away from my family, church, and farm that was so much a part of my security in life. I had a favorite professor that I went to with questions about life at least a dozen times that first year. He probably got weary of me hanging around after class asking him if he had a minute to talk. He used to make me feel quite special when he would say things like, ” that is a very good question”, or “you obviously are a deep thinker”, and my favorite response was ” intelligence is best measured by the questions we ask so I am declaring you a genius”. No wonder he was my favorite professor!! When I told him that I wasn’t sure any more if the Bible was the inspired Word of God as I had been taught all of my life, he responded by saying, ” I remember like it was yesterday having those very same doubts”.  Again, he made me feel very special in that I was like him, and he certainly seemed to have come out of his doubts strong. He said that many Freshman in college had the same doubts I was having, but that many of them dismissed them and pushed them out of their mind because they felt so guilty having the doubts. He told me that if I didn’t thoroughly investigate, study, and think through my doubts they would return at a later date stronger than they were then, and would probably prove lethal in regards to my walk with Christ. He offered to help guide me through this “testing of my faith”, and I with great relief accepted his offer. (To be continued)

Patty’s birthday today. We will have been married 46 years this coming August. Hard to imagine that Patty was 21 when we got married. We hardly knew each other when we got married. Dated for only 3 months, but I was so smitten I knew she was the one. It was for sure the Sovereighnty of God that brought us together. She has been the perfect wife for me. Complimenting me in all my weaknesses and my strengths, The years of raising 8 kids and pastoring a church have been fun and a great adventure only because of the one who has done it with me. Looking backwards on my life at this stage it is easy to see that I am an incredibly blessed man, and the main reason is because of the great gift that God gave me in my wife.

I read the news each night on my IPad with a “News App”. It is amazing how much information I can take in, in 30 minutes about countries all around the globe, and about every topic and area of life. Some nights depending on the  content of the day’s news and my own weariness level at the end of the day this evening habit can be a rotten way to end a day. Tonight I was thinking what it was like 200 years ago when the amount of information that a person got about events outside their immediate family and town was very small. I bet it was so much easier to be relaxed and content with present reality. I have thought about going on an information fast. Not reading the news or watching it or looking up info on the Internet for an extended period of time. Maybe even not reading any books except the Bible. I wonder If I would have withdrawals? It is appealing. I think I will make a goal to have a personal retreat this year for a week and not take my iPad or computer. I will take my phone,but not call only answer if it is Patty. I will take my Bible and notepad and pen. Yep, I am going to do it and see what happens.

There are certain thinking habits that are very destructive to ourselves if we don’t get control of them. Immoral thoughts, bitter thoughts, covetous thoughts, angry thoughts are all very bad, but I believe that the worst is regular thoughts of self pity. Self pity thinking makes us weak, and if we don’t conquor that thinking we will become so weak in character that the smallest trial totally consumes us. I am not sure why but I had a bad day today in regards to my Parkinson’s and I started down this path of feeling sorry for myself, and then getting bitter toward God. Thankfully I caught myself quickly and repented before God and confessed my sin to Him and began thanking Him for all the blessings of my life that I have experienced as a gift from Him. It didn’t take long and the bad thinking had been replaced by positive thinking that worked hard at rejoicing always. Thank You Lord for being near me today and not letting me go down that wrong path very far.

We all feel disappointment regularly in life. I felt disappointed tonight when the Ducks lost, but I will have recovered in the morning. Most disappointments are like that, we recover our normal level of joy and positiveness about our life after a little time of forgetting and getting involved in other things. The level of disappointment you felt tonight is based on the level of passion or desire you had to see the Ducks National Champions. For some people the disappointment will be so strong it can be called pain. An interesting phenomenon that I have observed in many people is that because of the past experiences of pain caused from disappointment that they have stopped dreaming, wanting, hoping, really trying, and setting goals for themselves. They find it less disappointing to live life just accepting whatever happens and not pursuing goals and dreams with passion. I have to agree that such a lifestyle will have much less pain of disappointment, but it also will have much less accomplishment and excitement. It would be better to learn how to deal with and manage our disappointments in a positive way, and to dream really big dreams.

well, I am getting up at 5 am and going swimming in the morning. I am going to swim 3 or 4 times each week for the next 5 months and see if I can become a Michael Phelps. We will see, enjoy the challenge, quite whining! Monday’s are usually my rest day but tomorrow I will start it at 8 am with a nap after swimming. The rest of the day I will work in my shop until the National College Football Championship game. I am going to watch it with 2 son in laws and a son so we should have a good time.