A psychological principle is that making decisions takes huge amounts of mental energy, and after making a number of decisions our ability to make good and wise decisions goes down. It is called “decision fatigue”.  In our culture today there are more decisions to be made on a daily basis than there ever have been, as a result many people are suffering from this “decision fatigue”. One of the things I have done is sit down and make as many decisions as I can think of that will be coming up in my life in the days ahead. Because this is premeditated decision making there is little pressure, therefore low energy loss, and I can intelligently pray about each decision asking for God’s wisdom, guidance and energy. These decisions tend to be ones that are repeated over and over so I have to be disciplined not to revisit the decision but to go with my commitment, which is what a decision becomes if you decide to stick with it every time it comes up. An example in my life is I used to get phone calls or letters from other churches who were without a pastor asking me if I would consider coming to be their pastor. The first couple times it happened I went through this agonizing time of trying to decide what to do. After the second time I made the decision at a 4 day prayer retreat that I was going to stay at JBC until I died. After that I never went back and revisited that decision, it was a commitment. Now I am so old I don’t get those calls and letters any more.

Related to that is the fact that many worry about upcoming decisions and what they are going to do, but it never happens, so there was “decision fatigue” over a decision that didn’t even need to be made. I have another commitment that I don’t make a decision for the future unless I am absolutely sure it will need to be made. There are few things worse than wasting energy on a decision that doesn’t need to be made.

Some people live their life in such a way that they leave a big wake behind them, that is they accomplish significant things with their life that changes people and things, they make a difference, a good difference. Why do some do this and many others do not. Let me suggest some reasons why some “bear much fruit”, while most others just mow their lawn, feed the cat, take out garbage, and wash their car.

(1) Those who do something significant with their life do so because they want to. This isn’t a casual, it would be nice if I could, passing thought, kind of want, it is an obsession, a very strong desire, a consuming drive and vision for a better tomorrow that they want to make happen. This “want to” is usually caught like a cold from someone who has it. If you know that you are a lukewarm person, look around and find a hot person and hang around with them.

(2). Those who make things happen do so because they choose to with courage and conviction. People don’t live lives of significance by accident, they make choices that open up doors of opportunity to influence their world. Most of those proactive choices have an element of risk involved even if it is as simple as the risk to be thought weird. Most people play it safe and avoid any risk so the default setting for their life is mediocrity.

(3) Often the reason for the shift from being a “do nothing”, mediocre, “play it safe” kind of person to a “change agent” is because of the growing boredom, frustration, depression, and an increasing sense of worthlessness that a mediocre lifestyle produces. Some to be sure get comfortable with a boring, insignificant life and stay there until they die. But God created us for accomplishment, for “fruit bearing”, and has assigned to each of us  uniquely “much work” to be done for Him.  God has put desire in us, and for it not to motivate us we must resist it.

I pray for every person in our church by name every week, and one of my prayer requests for many is that God will increase the desire in their life and that they will become hot.

I use the term “wake” to refer to the influence of our life in the lives of others over the years that we have lived. Some people have a big “wake” and some have none, at least not a positive one.  When I was about 13 years old I went to Summer Bible Camp which I usually did, and the counselor for our cabin of about 10 boys was a young man named Mr. Titus.  He was single, never married, and sold insurance for a living, and he loved working with Junior High Boys. He had brought to camp a box of leather bound Bibles, and every day during devotions he would tell us how important it was to read our Bibles, every day, every day, every day, and that we should make a goal to read the Bible through every year of our lives. After every one of his devotions he would make us an offer of one of the Bible’s he had brought with him if we would promise him that we would read it through the next year. It seemed like a daunting task to me so I didn’t jump at the chance for a nice, new, leather, obviously expensive Bible until the last day of camp when I agreed to read it through in the next year. I did read it through, and I have read the Bible at least once each year since that year at Bible camp. As a pastor I have taught, reminded, persuaded, and nagged people to read their Bibles every day, every day, every day for years and very many have and do faithfully. I think someday Mr. Titus is going to be standing before Jesus and he will be surprised at how many people have read their Bibles because of his influence, that is a wake.

I am always looking for new ways to serve the Lord and people. I look for needs and I especially pay attention to events and circumstances that would suggest an open door, an opportunity, an invitation from the Lord to do something that matters. Recently in a class I was teaching for new people at JBC I asked people to write down for me any suggestions that they might have of what we could do better as a church to make people feel accepted and loved, and meet needs in their life when they first visited JBC.  I got about a dozen very good suggestions, and two of them said, “you need to have something for singles, especially older singles”, JBC is such a family oriented church it is hard to fit in as a single mom with two little kids. As I read both of the papers that had this need expressed I got to thinking about how that could happen and what it would look like. I went through our directory and counted up the adult singles that attended, and realized there were a lot. I then went through the list of all those who had attended for a short time and then left and realized that many who were adult singles  didn’t stay. I got some books written by churches that had a successful singles ministry, and read what they did and how. I started thinking about who I could recruit to lead it, and as I pondered on that one for awhile I decided I would start it and learn how and then train someone to take over. I thought, even though I am an old married guy with 22 grand kids I can start and lead this ministry, and get it rolling good and then hand it off. So that is what I am going to do.

We will have the meetings on Wednesday evening to start with from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. We will start with snacks and fellowship for 30 minutes, then we will have a 30 minute service with 15 minutes of worship and a 15 minute devotional, and then we will have 30 minutes of games. We can adjust that depending on what works well. I like starting things, fine tuning them so they run smooth and then giving it to someone to keep it going.

If you live in the Jefferson area and know people you think would be blessed by this ministry send them on over.

2 Timothy 4:7-8  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.

I watched one of the most exciting football games I have ever seen tonight as Alabama and Clemson played for the Natioal Championship. It was won by Clemson with 1 second left on the clock. Both teams played well, and played hard, giving it everything they had. The winners were hugging, and jumping around, pouring gator aid on the coach, crying for joy, and acting like winners. Alabama players and coaches acted sad.

I want to be a winner in life, and finish my life well. Finishing well as a person who is serving the Lord is obviously different than football, but there are a lot of similarities. I have an adversary who resists and fights every good thing I attempt to do, an adversary who wants to throw me to the ground, hurt me, and make me a loser. I need to resist him strong in my faith, stand firm against his schemes, and fight him, trampling him under my feet.

The Alabama / Clemson game went to the very end, one second left. It was a game of perseverance. The game of life goes to the very end. I am starting the fourth quarter, and I am ahead by 1 point. Alabama may very well have won the game had their star running back not gotten injured. I am playing the fourth quarter with some “injuries”, some significant health issues, most do. Good coaches know how to adjust and compensate for the loss of players. I will adjust and compensate so as to finish well the race that is set bsfore me, even if I am just crawling across the finish line.

Several guys and I went to the movies tonight and saw “Hack Saw Ridge” together. It is a true story of War World II, and a fellow that was a consciences objector and refused to carry a gun and went into the army as a medic. The story ends with a major battle in which he single handily saved 75 wounded soldiers by dragging them to safety under fire. The core of the story is about his faith in God and his devotion to His Word and obeying Him. It was very inspiring to see his story acted out on the big screen.

I so much enjoyed seeing and hearing about Desmond Doss’s courage and faith when we got home I ordered three Kindle books about him from Amazon. I always wonder when I hear about, read, or see a movie about a person who has exemplary character how it came about. I wonder about what the circumstances of his life were that forged such a man of courage and character. People aren’t born that way.

I am very interested in the topic of character development in people, for myself and also as a pastor what I can do to facilitate the growth of character in the people in my life. Many of the stories in the Bible are about people who had major flaws and made sinful choices, but also had the kind of character that God uses.  In reading their stories over and over in the Bible it is clear they didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to be the person they had become. There were people in their lives, and events and circumstances that worked together to mold them like clay into a strong person of great character.

I believe there is a mysterious partnership between us and God as He sovereignly causes events to occur in our life that will shape us, and He brings people into our life who will teach us, and then we choose how we will respond. My prayer for myself and all those I pray for each week is that we would see all the events of our  life as God caused, and recognize that He is creating for us the perfect environment for our growth and that we would not fuss or complain about what He does, but rejoice and cooperate with Him.

It snowed several inches today from about 9 am until around 3 pm.  I sat by a window and watched for about 30 minutes just being mesmerized by the falling snow. Once when the kids were younger we put some black construction paper in the freezer and then took them out while it was snowing like it was today, and then examined the snow flakes carefully noting the symmetry, the design, and complexity of each one on the black construction paper.  They were incredibly complex and each one very different.

With the kids we said, this is the way it is with people. We are very complex and very different by God’s design so enjoy and celebrate your difference with all the other people who have ever lived.

Patty and I drove up to Trout Lake today and visited with my Mom and then drove home. It took us 3 hours to drive up, and we spent from 11 am until 4 pm with her, and then headed back home and got here at 7 pm. Seems like a lot of driving for 5 hours of visiting, but it was quite enjoyable. The roads were clear, Patty drove most of the way, we prayed, talked, I read and slept, and she listened to Christian music on the radio singing along with the songs she knew. We purchased a device for Mom that she wears like a watch and if she falls she pushes this button and a warning goes out to 4 different people. Hopefully that will allow her to live by herself for a few more years. I always feel good when I am able to bless my Mom with a visit and have some great fellowship together.

I am always in such a hurry trying to get lots done, it is refreshing to have a day like today and just sit, read, visit ,and sleep. Back at it tomorrow with some added adventure with the weather perhaps.

One of the lines that I speak often and think often is, “I can do all the right things for all the wrong reasons and not even know it”. I am convinced that it is very true of at least me, and it scares me. I have lived inside my body long enough to know that there is a lot going on inside of me that I don’t understand.

As I attempt to grow, to understand the mystery of Dee Duke, to conquer myself I do that in partnership with God for apart from Him I can do nothing. Psalms 25 says, “good and upright is the Lord, therefore he teaches the humble His way”. That line “apart from Him I can do nothing” is the all important one. ‘He teaches the humble His way”. Humility is recognizing the truth of “apart from Him I can do nothing,” and the positive side of humility is, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me”

probably the most important thing I do is every morning to declare that “Jesus You are Lord of my life”.

John 15:11  These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

In this passage Jesus is giving instructions to His disciples on how to have joy. Not just any joy, but the joy of God and to the fullest, to the max. It is the joy of Jesus, it comes from Him, He gives it.

John 8:29  Jesus said, “for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.”

‘When what we do pleases the Lord we feel His pleasure in us.” That sentence is a major principle in my life. The first time I thought about it was when I saw the movie, “Chariots of Fire” and Eric Liddel said, “when I run I feel His pleasure”. It caught my attention then and I thought about those words for weeks thinking, “what is it that I do that pleases Him?” Ephesians 5:10 says, “trying to learn what pleases the Lord”. I have been on that quest now since 1981 when I saw the movie and formed in my mind the principle that joy comes from Him when I give Him joy in who I am and what I am doing.

Psalms 16:11 says, “In His presence is fullness of joy, in His right hand there are pleasures forever”.

I am resolved not to settle for the meager, pathetic joy the world gives in stuff and experience, but I will strive to please Him with my character and behavior, and I will seek His presence, and use the level of joy I am feeling as the gauge of my success in doing that.

When I am living in the fullness of His joy I am able to live above the world in the sense that it does not control me, and I am free to serve others around me without seeking any reward from them because I am getting it from Him.