I am getting ready to paint a car. I sanded the entire car down to bare metal and then skim-coated the whole car with Bondo. Then, I used Bondo to fill in the prominent low spots and dents I could see with my eyes and feel with my hands. Now, I will spray the car with a black primer and then sand it all with an 18-inch long by 3-inch wide block sander. As I do that, working the entire body in several directions, the black paint will come off except in the low areas. I will put another layer of bondo on the low areas and then repaint it with the black primer and sand it with my long-block sander again. This time, the areas of black should be fewer and smaller. I will Bondo those areas once more and then paint and sand again; then I will call it good and move on to a different kind of primer, then sand by hand with finer grit sandpaper. I will go through several other steps designed to result in a beautiful paint job on a nice 1969 Mustang.

My big goal in life is to enter eternity with a character that is as much like the character of Jesus as possible. I want to grow more and more like Him every day. To do that, I need to see and correct my character flaws. I must pursue holiness, righteousness, and Christ-like character with diligence and discipline.

Who I am in character for eternity is infinitely more important than a 1969 Mustang, so I should pursue that character with much more care and concern for the beauty of my soul than I put into that car.

Proverbs 15:1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.
99% of the conflicts I find myself in could have been prevented if I had applied this Proverb to my life. My justification to myself after a conflict is that the other person started it; that is, they spoke a harsh word to me and provoked me to anger. But the Proverb still applies to me; I need to respond with a gentle answer, and the inevitable conflict will be avoided. Almost all of the tense conversations that I have had with Patty could have been avoided if I had followed this fundamental relational principle. I know this principle, but I violate it repeatedly, and afterward, I am always sorry and repentant, but I do it again. I am making progress. I do it way less than I used to, but you would think that after 54 years of marriage, I would be perfect on this one.
As I get involved with marriages and other people’s relational problems as a Pastor, I have concluded that not only are my conflicts 99% because I violate this principle, but everyone else’s is as well.
My pride is the problem; I am right, and she is wrong, so I shouldn’t have to be the one who responds graciously. Sheesh! That last sentence looks so immature, so stupid, I was tempted to write it as everyone else’s problem, but not mine, but Patty reads these blogs.

The title for this blog has been one of my main life mottos for years. I have a bunch of mottos that I use to remember and teach principles and guidelines for living life well, but this one has been one of the key ones. For most of my life, it has been relatively easy to live by this personal guideline because I have been much more of a cognitive person than an emotional one.

But as I get older, I find myself getting more emotional almost by the day. I guess it really isn’t emotion as much as attitude or feelings. For instance, I find myself feeling unmotivated to get out of my recliner and do one of the many things on my “to-do” list. It wasn’t that many years ago that I was consumed with getting everything done on my list and then writing a new one; I was highly motivated and loved to work. Now, I get things on my list done because I remind myself that they are essential and need to be done, and if I don’t get them done, I am irresponsible, unfaithful, lazy, and a good-for-nothing. I get most of what I need to do accomplished, but it is much more of a grind than it used to be.

I think that as God is working at growing my character, He is making life more difficult so that I grow faster because I have so many character flaws, and there isn’t much time left to refine them.

Well, I am all about growing to become like Jesus, so I will continue to cooperate with God and act responsibly instead of being a lazy, good-for-nothing.

We all sin and on bad days we sin a lot. As Christians we want to overcome the power of sin in our life and move towards holiness. We want to keep growing so that we are not only living righteously but we are becoming righteous on the inside, in our heart, and in our character.

There are at least a dozen different ingredients that we will need to practice if we are going to overcome the power of sin to control our lives. Those different steps, practices, disciplines are all very important in our pursuit of holiness, but I believe that the most powerful and important is transparent self-examination and confession of our sin. The big barrier to overcoming sin habits that we hate in ourselves is the proneness to excuse, blame, and ignore the things we do that are wrong. We automatically hide and defend ourselves from anything that would make us feel shame or a sense of failure, we do it without thinking and we do it quickly.

Psalms 32:1-5 How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit! When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”; And You forgave the guilt of my sin.

For me the most effective way to accurately reflect on who I am and what I do and why I do it is in journaling. I journal about three times each week. I just start writing about my day with the goal of discovering myself and as I write my brain and memory kick in and I start remembering events, motives, thoughts, and sins. As I write I become like a third person examining me, my motives, my thoughts, my actions and I become almost ruthless in my pursuit of all the junk in me.

As I discover it, I own it, no excuses, blaming, or making light of any sin, I own it, to the max, I sinned. I confess my sin, I repent of my sin, and I commit to the Lord that I will not do it again. I may do it again, but in making the commitment, I sin less and less and that is what I want and that is what God wants.

I have taught classes on leadership for the last 40 years. What I teach has nothing to do with being in charge, being the visionary out in front of the crowd, or being the person who makes all the decisions. Leadership is influence and the leadership principles that I teach is about leading by example, motivating people who are your peers by how you treat and honor them, being the kind of person that is so admired by others that they unconsciously imitate your behavior and speech.

I offer the 7 month class once a year starting in October to whoever wants to take it. It isn’t an easy class and a number usually drop out each year because the homework takes too much time for their schedule.

For the first month of the class I teach about the power of goal setting to control your life, to establish priorities in your life, to change your life, and to accomplish a lot with your life for the glory of God and for the blessing of your family, church, and business. I also teach the mechanics of goal setting and how to use it as a tool to discover the will of God for your life.

This year I have about 20 in my “Woman’s Leadership Class,” about 25 in my “Men’s Leadership Class,” and 20 in my “Leadership II Class” which is open for both men and woman who have gone through their respective leadership I classes.

Everyone writes at least a dozen goals and turns them in, and today I read them all. It was a very blessed and encouraging time to see what so many wanted to accomplish with their lives. Everyone had a Bible reading goal, a prayer goal, and a Bible memory goal. Almost all of them had a pray with their spouse and children goal. Many had exercise and weight goals. Most had some kind of Christian ministry goal and personal evangelism goal. Almost all had some kind of goal to change bad behavior habits like anger, swearing, drinking, smoking, overspending, excess TV viewing or Facebook time.

I am so thankful to the Lord that I get to teach people principles that help change their lives to be more godly and useful to the Lord to do His work. I don’t take this blessing from God for granted, but I pray a lot for each student each week and for my own wisdom in teaching and motivating and that God will work through His Spirit in my life and those I teach.

I regularly have people tell about things that really bother them. Often it is about politics, or the news media, or COVID, or the Middle East situation, or finance, or work, and on the list of injustices and problems go that bother people.

But what bothers me most is the number of people that I know that haven’t trusted in Christ as their savior, the number who will spend all eternity in hell if nothing changes. Many of them I know well, I like them and spend time with them, some are family members that I love, but they are lost, blind, spiritually dead.

What really bothers me is my inability to break through their shell, their resistance, their indifference, their blindness. Here I am the veteran pastor, the Bible scholar, the radio preacher and I can’t convince so many different people to believe in and follow Jesus as Lord of their life.

I will pray harder and longer for those I know that don’t know Jesus as their savior.

Romans 10:1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.

It is midnight, Monday and I don’t have my blog written, I haven’t written in my journal, I haven’t done my Bible reading, I haven’t ridden my stationary bike, I haven’t done my hour of praying, and I did zero reading in a good book.

I got up at 6:30 and went to prayer at 7:00 am, then I taught my ladies leadership class, then I went to the 9:00 am church service, and then I taught my “Angels and Demons” discipleship class, then I took an hour nap in my office, then I taught my men’s leadership class, then I checked on football scores for 30 minutes, then I taught my leadership II class, then I drove to Albany and taught my leadership I class at Agape Family Fellowship, then I went out to dinner with my wife at Applebees and we got home at 9:00 pm.

I then had three hours to get all of the rest of my disciplines done, which was plenty of time, but instead I watched a Clint Eastwood western on my IPad. And now I am feeling like an undisciplined, lazy, no-good, bum.

But now, at least I have something to write about in my blog even if it is Monday instead of Sunday. I work hard at being disciplined and making the most of my time, but occasionally I will give in and watch an old “Rocky” movie or a Clint Eastwood western or when I am really bad and undisciplined I will play “Hearts” or “Crazy Birds” on my IPad for a couple of hours.

Whooooeeee you would think by the time a guy gets to be 75 years old he would have that nonsense out of his system. Oh well, maybe when I get to be 80 years old I will grow up. One can always hope!

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. If I live my life in a straight line I will get more done with my life that matters in a shorter amount of time. Another way of saying that is if I do only the things that matter and don’t get distracted by things that don’t matter I will get a lot more done with my life that matters. Sounds sorta profound, but it is very simple, do only those things that matter and never the things that don’t matter.

What is the key to doing that? Writing out your goals and reading your goals every day. Your goals are the things that you believe that matter, the desires of your heart, the will of God as far as you can dicern it. Reading your goals over and over programs your mind to do those things, to seek those things, to think about those things, to be focused, and to automatically make those things the priority of your life.

It is pretty simple. Write down what you want to accomplish, read what you wrote down every day and you program your mind to accomplish those things. You will then live your life in a staight line. Did I mention that this concept is simple, that it works, that it always works.

Why are there so few people who actually do it? People must like living their life in a circle or a sgiggly line instead of a straight line.

 

1. I will read 12 chapters each day in my Bible. 

2. I will pray alone five times a week for one hour each time.

3. I will pray for 15 minutes twice each week on my kneeling bench in my office. 

4. I will pray at two regular corporate prayer times at JBC each week.

5. I will pray for 40 hours in each of the four “Five Day Prayer Events.”

6. I will pray with Patty three times each week minimum. 

7. I will pray through the JBC and Agape Family Fellowship church prayer letter each week and will transfer the serious prayer requests to “Prayer Mate.”

8. I will pray for every person who attends JBC at least once each month.

9. I will pray for all our kids, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, and grandkids every week. 

10. I will pray corporately for a total of 300 hours for the year.

11. I will pray every week for those on my “lost list”, and for those who are new attenders at JBC for six months.

12. I will pray every day for 44 baptisms at JBC this year. 

13. I will pray for all the staff, Elders, key leaders of ministries and their families every week.

14. I will pray for every person in each of my Leadership classes every week.

15. I will recruit a new “intern” to train at JBC.

16. I will coach four pastors outside of JBC.

17. I will use my prayer app, “Prayer Mate” for all my prayer commitments, and I will keep up to date on names, requests, lists, and pictures.

18. I will write in my personal journal at least twice each week. 

19. I will pray my “personal commitments prayer” the first thing every morning.

20. I will read 20 pages in a good book, five days a week. 

21. I will work hard to grow the Wednesday Night Service with a goal of 200 average attendance by May 29th.

22. I will install a good permanent air compressor and air-line throughout my auto shop with a good moisture trap.

23. I will get a minimum of seven hours sleep each night. 

24. I will memorize the book of 2nd Peter well. 

25. I will review all my memorized verses every week and get to 200th place in “Scripture Memory.”

26. I will have a total of 800 verses memorized well by the end of the year. 

27. I will work with Brandon and hold two “Newcomers’ Dinners.”

28. I will faithfully attend three “Men’s Accountability Groups” each week.

29. I will write my blog 5 times a week minimum praying for wisdom as I write it, and for the number who are subscribed to it to grow to 900. 

30. I will invite every man who is new to JBC to attend “Monday Night Football.”

31. I will attend at least one “Church Growth” Seminar and bring at least one staff person with me. 

32. I will plan a 2,400-mile, unassisted bicycle trip to Utah and back for the month of June.

33. I will attend the “Church Venture” Prayer Retreat at Tadmor. 

34. I will listen to 100 podcasts. 

35. I will meet with Preston and Nick each month to mentor and encourage them as new pastors.

36. I will faithfully report to, respond to, and pray for those in my two pastor’saccountability groups. 

37. I will finish my blog book project and get it published. 

38. I will teach a Discipleship Class on Sundays eight months out of the year. 

39. I will attend the “Church of the Valley” prayer summit at Cannon Beach January 29th to the 31st. 

40. I will get started on my quarter acre fishpond in the back yard.        

41. I will write 100 handwritten notes to different people at JBC each month.

42. I will teach five different “Leadership Classes” at JBC from October to May. 

43. I will build a three wheeled car from scratch.

44. Patty and I will participate in “Dinners for Eight.”

45. Patty and I will go to Oahu to visit Sally and her family this year. 

46. I will take Patty on a date at least twice each month.

47. I will take Sam out to breakfast or lunch at least four times. 

48. Patty and I will drive over to see Seth and his family in Idaho at least twice.

49. I will text or e-mail each of my 29 grandkids at least once every month.

50. I will write out a detailed description and plan for a “Shepherding Ministry,” at JBC and start it. 

51. I will meet with the Elders at Agape Family Fellowship along with Preston whenever they meet.

52. I will ride my stationary bike at least five times for an hour every week, and I will lift weights twice each week.

53. I will train hard and run a half marathon in Corvallis on April 6th.

54. I will keep my weight under 200 lbs.

55. I will plan out, buy materials, and build an aquaponic system at Seth’s place in Idaho.

56. I will play golf ten different times.

57. I will learn how to crab and go crabbing at least three times. 

58. I will be diligent and self-controlled to eliminate all gluten, sugar, artificial sweeteners, and food preservatives from my diet.

59. I will tow my Dory boat up to Tim’s place in Soldotna, Alaska in July and leave it there for halibut fishing.

60. I will plan an elk and a deer hunting trip in the Fall with kids and/or grandkids.

61. I will go salmon and halibut fishing in Alaska for a month in July.

62. I will fish three times for steelhead, twice for salmon, and three times surf fishing this winter.

63. I will fix up my 20 foot pontoon boat and tow it over and leave it at Seth’s place in Idaho for his family to use.

64. I will paint the trim on our house.

65. I will totally finish the 1969 Mustang.

66. I will start restoring my 1950 Ford Club Coupe. 

67. I will redo the front of my number one shop turning it into a garage for four cars and put a new roof on it. 

68. I will get all three of my shops organized and cleaned.

69. I will get my number two shop set up to do wood working for profit.

70. I will prune all my apple trees before February.

71. I will build a chicken tight fence around our property. 

72. I will plan a ten-day fishing trip out of San Diego before 2025. 

73. I will plan and do a hunting trip to Texas for a trophy white tail buck and a pig before 2025.

74. I will plan a hunt for my son-in-law, Philip this Fall so that he can kill a bull elk.

75. I will start and teach a leadership class at Agape Family Fellowship.

76. I will read these goals at least once each week. 

Last night was our weekly Wednesday night service and I preached a sermon from 2 Peter. When I got home last night after the service I had such an adrenaline high that I couldn’t go to sleep until 1:00 am. I enjoy preaching so much, the study, the writing and thinking about how to make things clear and understandable, the actual teaching time, and then the conversation with people after the service.

It is an activity that I sense a strong partnership with God as He speaks through me and works in the hears and lives of people. The times that I teach the Bible are the most supernatural experiences of my life. Each week I teach seven different times and each time for 40 to 60 minutes. The rest of the week I am reading, studying, writing, thinking, and praying about what and how to say what I want to make clear to people.

1 Timothy 4:16 Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure sanctification both for yourself and for those who hear you.

Ezra 7:10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.

2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

I consider myself incredibly blessed to have spent the last 50 years of my life doing what I love most, and having the Lord bless me and use me for His glory.

Every believer and follower of Jesus has a giftedness from God, that sweet spot that is incredibly rewarding, exciting, fun, and bears much fruit. Most Christians haven’t figured out what it is though, which is very sad to observe and to think about. If I didn’t know what it was that God had wired me to do I would be totally obsessed with figuring out what it was.