I started weight lifting again after being off of it for over a year now. I quit when I went on my bicycle trip last year and never got the self-discipline to start up again. I started up because of the accountability of other guys lifting with me. I have a weight room set up in my “Man Room,” so it is hard to skip out when three other guys show up at my house to lift with me. I reread a book on the importance of exercise for older men, especially older men with Parkinson’s and I got all motivated to lift as much as Sylvester Stallone. Tonight when I came in from lifting I felt really good, not just physically but in regards to my own self-worth. Sometimes I get to feeling like life is over when I get to feeling tired, unmotivated, can’t remember if I took my pills or not, fall tripping over my own shadow, and gaining weight. But tonight I felt motivated, strong, healthy, full of self-control. It is amazing what a little exercise with friends will do. I think the key is the “with friends” part.

The most common struggle that we all have when we try and pray for more than a few minutes is that our mind drifts or we fall asleep. One of the things that I have done for years is to write my prayers. I do this mostly on my ipad so it isn’t as fast as using a keyboard on a computer, but it is about the right speed for me as I think about what I want to pray. I don’t use this method when I pray for the church prayer letter or when I pray for everybody in the church, because I am already reading the prayer letter or reading previous written notes both which keeps me focused and awake. As I go through my “Prayer App” with the names of every person in the church I do write notes, thoughts, observations, and answers to prayer under peoples name.

But the prayers that I pray about me, my relationship with God, my struggles, my sins, my dreams, my goals, and my key relationships, I get so much more out of my time when I write my words to God. I am sure that He enjoys His time with me more as well because of my focus and clarity while writing instead of wandering thoughts or spoken words that get sidetracked with other thoughts.

Another positive is that I can go back and read previous prayers that I have written which are often a perfect fit for what I have gone through that day. Prayer is such an important part of our spiritual growth and relationship with God, and our time praying should be as quality as possible, and for me writing is a tremendous help.

God is infinite in every category. He is majestic, holy, righteous, all wise, the creator of everything, has the power to destroy anything, and the power to punish anybody. Most people have little to no fear of God easily observed by their disdain for God, their blasphemous behavior and their blatant breaking of His laws.

There are many stories in the Bible of people getting killed by God for irreverence towards Him. One of those stories in 1 Chronicles 13:10 was of a man named Uzza who touched the “Ark of the Covenant”which was forbidden. “The anger of the Lord burned against Uzza, so He struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark; and he died there before God.”

I often get a good laugh at some of the satire put out by the “Babylon Bee” and recently I had one with a headline from the “Bee” that said something like this, “Biden and Harris rushed to emergency with severe burns on their hands received when they put their hands on the Bible during the inauguration ceremony because they have been declared to be the most pro-abortion President/ Vice-President combo in the history of the United States.”

People are totally irreverent toward God today because He hasn’t done what He did to Uzza to anyone else lately so there is the notion that God doesn’t care, or that He can’t really do anything about it, or that He simply doesn’t exist. There is a day of reckoning coming in which the Justice of God will happen.

Romans 2:5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

Many who treat God with disdain will do the same with passages like Romans 2:5, saying that God is cruel, angry, and vengeful, but those who know His Word and know Him also know that He is infinitely gracious, loving, forgiving, and kind to those who love and follow Him.

“I want more” is a very good attitude if it is for more godly character, if it is for more significant accomplishments, if it is for more wisdom, if it is for more of God, but it is unhealthy if it is for more money or material things. Unholy lust for stuff, money, and the world kills your passion and desire to please the Lord and to bear much fruit for Him.

Philippians 4:11
Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.

1 Timothy 6:8
If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.

Hebrews 13:5
Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”

The reason many have such a low desire to do something great with their life is that they have used up all their “fire” on wanting more stuff. You only have so much passion given to you by God, and if you use it all up on wanting more money you won’t have any left to want more of God.

Today is the 48th anniversary of Roe verses Wade when the United States Supreme Court made it a constitutional right for a woman to get an abortion. On this day, today, it is said that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris “celebrated” the fact that abortion is a right of every American woman and that they are “ deeply committed” to protecting this right. It was stated today that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the most pro- abortion President/Vice President team in the history of the United States. I wonder how many innocent, unborn children will be murdered under the name of free choice during the Presidency of Joe Biden.

Since 1973 over 60 million unborn babies have been murdered in the name of convenience. That fact is so sad and depressing for me to think about, and then to read that the President of our United States of America celebrates that fact is sickening. I can’t imagine what our God thinks about that, and what will ultimately happen because of that fact. But there will come a day when God will judge.

Amos 5:24 But let justice roll down like waters
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Hebrews 10:31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

It has been a good week in Hawaii visiting with Sally, Aaron and their three wonderful kids, but tomorrow we head back home. Life, as God has made it, is so interesting, as we think about the fact that not that many years ago we were where Sally and Aaron are today, raising a family. It is totally consuming, the desire to raise those kids well, and then they are gone doing what you once did.

At a point in our life, not that long ago, all eight were home, going to school, learning, growing, acquiring character, dating, learning to drive, and then in a blink of an eye they are all gone, and then you are done, you either did it well or you didn’t, and not much you can do about it now.

When the kids were all home we were consumed with them, our life revolved around them, we were always thinking about what we could do better, how we could train, motivate, teach, discipline so that they would turn out to be champions for Jesus. Now we are done, and they all are doing the same thing. Please help them Lord, give them wisdom, give them desire, a strong desire to do well, deliver every one of our grandkids from the evil one, please protect them Lord.

My, oh my, life is so consequential, so important, so final, you only get one chance to do it right.

I had a good time today with the grandkids showing me how to look for fish in the corral. Patty sat on the beach and had a typical “Patty” time visiting with all the other Mom’s and grandmothers that were there doing the same thing we were. Patty and I are having an amazing time with Aaron and Sally and their wonderful kids, Duke, Rock, and Hanna. It has been great but we will head back home in a couple of days. As enjoyable and relaxing as this trip has been I am anxious to get back to work, figuring out how to save the world.

Today I went out on a charter fishing boat with my two grandsons that live here in Oahu that we are visiting along with another local Dad and his son. When we left the dock this morning at 6:00 am the sea was very, very rough. I have never gotten sea sick in my life but I was thinking that I easily could have this morning. Well, all three of the boys got sick, and the youngest who is ten got very sick. He puked at least 4 different times. He would lay down on the bench on the boat curled up in a ball, and then someone would say something about a fish being on, and he would jump up and help reel in the fish. Once the fish was in he would puke and then curl up on the bench again until someone yelled, “fish on“. We fished for six hours , and he didn’t once complain about being sick, or anything else, and when we got back he told his mom, our daughter Sally that he had the best time ever. I was very proud of both of my grandsons today. I thought, I have fished with grown men who had a much easier day of fishing and still grumbled non-stop most of the day about everything under the sun. These boys are going to be champions for Jesus for sure.

I teach Leadership so I am always looking for good quotes about leadership. Because yesterday was Martin Luther King’s birthday there were a bunch of leadership quotes on the internet. Here are some of my favorites.

Great leaders don’t set out to be a leader . . They set out to make a difference. It is never about the role, it is always about the goal.

The greatest leader is not the one who does the greatest things, but he gets other people to do the greatest things.

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus.

The true test of leadership is how well you function in a crisis.

A good leader is able to get a group of people who are different in every way to work together in unity.

Good leaders inspire people to dream more, attempt more, and become more.

True leaders don’t create followers they create more leaders.

Good leaders convince people that together they can accomplish anything, but separate they can accomplish nothing.

Great leaders paint a picture of a better tomorrow with the power of vision, and inspire others to help them accomplish it.

Successful leaders know that they must first lead themselves successfully before they can lead others.

The best leaders are not just pursuing a vision they are inspiring others to grow as they pursue the vision.

Leaders who accomplish great things with their life are humble enough to know that they need help to do it, they learn how to inspire others to help them, and they give those who helped them the credit for the accomplishment.

Leaders are strong, they know that all great accomplishments take time, and they endure to the end. They never give up.

A good leader takes more than his share of the blame, and less than his share of the credit.

Good leadership is all about influence not about authority. Good leaders don’t boss people around.

I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep, but I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.

We had a “New Comers Dinner” at the church last Friday. At these dinners I share the history of the last 45 years of JBC and show videos and pictures corresponding to that history. It is a great way for people who have recently made JBC their church home to see how we got to where we are today. It has been over a year since the last dinner, and I forget how amazing the history of our church really is. As I was watching the video clip of setting the trusses on our sanctuary which happened over 20 years ago I got so overwhelmed with emotion, I was glad that I wasn’t speaking during the video. God has been so wonderful and gracious to our church over the years, and I have been so blessed to be a part of what He has done. I happened to be in the right place at the right time and have had a wonderful ride. There have been a number of key people that God has worked through to bring about what our church is today. Some of them have been part of our Body for most, if not all of our history, others for the last 20 years and some even for the last five years. They all have had the same common characteristics of loving Jesus and His Church, of having a wonderful servants heart, of being incredibly faithful, and being willing to make huge sacrifices for the health and growth of our church over the years. I am in the twilight years of my ministry and leadership at JBC and I am looking forward to seeing what He is going to do in the next couple of years as He continues to build His church.