I have identified 26 different character traits in the Bible that I need to work on so that I can become more and more like Jesus in character. James 1:4 says, “That you may become perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” That doesn’t mean sinless but grown up in character, like Jesus. As I read down the list of character traits and think about myself, some of them I am strong in, but others need some work. Another thing about this list is that some are more emphasized in the Bible; they are important to God. The character trait mentioned most when talking about Jesus is His humility. So, obviously, if I want to become like Him, I should work hard on that. Philippians 2 is the perfect description and definition of humility in the life of Jesus in the Bible. It says in Philippians 2:5, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,” speaking of His humility.

Humility is all about how we treat people. A humble person puts others ahead of themselves. The most significant place we struggle is in how we talk to other people. The most effective guide for us as we strive to be humble is to elevate others, build their self-worth, and honor them. Humble people don’t think about themselves and what they want or need; they think about those around them and what they need. Sometimes, we believe that to be humble, we need to put ourselves down; no, we need to lift others. We don’t do that by making things up that aren’t true or flattering others, but we are “good finders,” we train ourselves to see the positive, the good, and the accomplishments in others, and we affirm them with our words.

When we work hard at exalting others, God will exalt us, but if we exalt ourselves, He will humble us.

Patty and I attended the High School graduation of our granddaughter Adrie tonight. We have 28 grandkids, and she is the fourth of our grandkids to graduate from High School. None of them are married yet, so no great-grandkids. I remember the day when we had no kids, and the doctor told us we wouldn’t be able to have any children. I am so thankful that the Lord chose to bless us with eight children who are all amazing disciples of Jesus.

Another category of people that I like to count in my life are my friends. Jesus elevated the meaning of that word when He called His disciples His friends.

Proverbs 17:17: A friend loves at all times.

Proverbs 18:24 there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

When I started pastoring almost 50 years ago, a well-meaning pastor told me that pastors couldn’t have friends in their church because they have to lead without partiality, and if someone were their friend, they wouldn’t be able to do that. I am glad that I didn’t follow that advice. Over the years, I have had many excellent friends in our church.

I was recently asked what the secret to lasting in ministry was, and I responded that there are five keys to running the race with endurance, and one of them was having good friends who knew how to encourage you.

I am a blessed man with a wonderful wife, eight children, six sons-in-law, two daughters-in-law, 28 grandchildren, and many good friends who would do anything for me and who I would do anything for.

I read a book several years ago titled, “The Lonely Male.” I thought when I finished it, that isn’t me. It is too bad that so many guys don’t have close friends. Many have buddies that they do things with, but most don’t have close friends.

Several years ago, a man in our church was lamenting that he had no friends. I suggested that he change that, and he said that guys just didn’t like him. I said that he could choose to be a friend to someone else instead of waiting for someone to decide to be his friend.

In the last three days, I have built a deck around half of our 20-foot diameter above-ground swimming pool. My grandson Will helped me. I enjoy projects like this, building and doing things with my grandkids, so it was a fun three days. There were a lot of 16-foot decking boards, pressure-treated 4×4 posts, 20 12-foot 2×6 joists, and an assortment of other heavy boards and stuff. At the end of today, we are just about finished with our project, and I am totally run out of gas tonight. I take a water break about every hour and a 10-minute sit-down break every two hours, and then at lunchtime, I take a twenty-minute nap. You would think I would still be relatively fresh after all those breaks. I, for sure, don’t work as hard and fast as I used to on projects like this, but I still enjoy them, maybe even more. As I sit in my recliner, exhausted, writing this, I remember my Dad saying, “Being tired at the end of a day of hard work is the best feeling in the world; it means you did something.” Doing something that matters is my goal every day. It might be a day with a grandkid, building a deck for my wife, teaching a Bible lesson, preaching a sermon, or counseling a couple with marriage problems. Jesus said that we glorify God the Father by bearing much fruit. Doing something with our life that matters is a result of choosing and planning; it seldom just happens by chance. Our jobs, our families and home life, our church involvement, and our social life can all be areas of significant accomplishment if we plan for it. Living life on purpose is the key to bearing much fruit.

My forty-day bicycle trip down through Oregon, into Northern California, Nevada, East into Utah, north into Idaho, and finally West back home didn’t turn out how I planned. I quit after four days because of fatigue, but my brother Cliff and his wife have continued. They are about halfway done, and today was their first day in Utah. I have a friend who will drive my bicycle and me to Idaho, and I will rejoin them on day 27, with 13 days left to ride. Sometime this year, I will drive the route with Patty so she can see the beauty of the mountains and rock formations in Utah. Cliff and Kathy have been having a good time and have had very little traffic through Nevada.

Part of my Bible reading schedule is reading five chapters of Psalms daily. There are 150 chapters in Psalms, so by reading five chapters daily, I read the book of Psalms every month. The book of Psalms is a collection of songs, poems, and prayers written by David, Moses, Ezra, and others. In Luke, Jesus said that much of what was written in Psalms was about Himself. I believe that much of Psalms is a prophecy of the very words, thoughts, emotions, and prayers of Jesus as He lived life.

Luke 22:44, Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

I have memorized about 20 chapters in Psalms and another 50 verses as well. I have picked out, memorized, and meditated on those Psalms that give me confidence in living life, verses that help me to understand the Lord more, verses that guide me in my decisions, and verses that guide my praying.

Psalms 1:2-3
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.

Psalms 3:3-6
But You, O Lord, are a shield about me,
My glory, and the One who lifts my head.
I was crying to the Lord with my voice,
And He answered me from His holy mountain.
I lay down and slept;
I awoke, for the Lord sustains me.
I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people
Who have set themselves against me round about.

Psalms 4:7-8
You have put gladness in my heart,
More than when their grain and new wine abound.
In peace I will both lie down and sleep,
For You alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety.

Psalms 5:1-3
Give ear to my words, O Lord,
Consider my groaning.
Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God,
For to You I pray.
In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice;
In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch.

Psalms 8:3-5
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
What is man that You take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him?
Yet You have made him a little lower than God,
And You crown him with glory and majesty!

A discipline I started several years ago was writing my prayers to God. I got frustrated with myself because I struggled so much during my prayer times with my mind wandering. I went to a seminar where the speaker started by saying, “I struggled so much for years with my mind wandering when I prayed, and then I discovered the cure.” He had my instant attention. He said he wrote out his prayers, and his mind didn’t wander. I have been writing mine ever since that seminar. I have a prayer journal, and I write for about 30 minutes. Then, I randomly read past prayers for 30 minutes. It is a beautiful time with the Lord. I highly recommend this, not only for praying but also for personal interaction, self-examination, and confession of sin. I consider this hour of my day the most important for connecting with God and hearing His voice and promptings in my life.

Three of us went fishing today on Detroit reservoir and limited out on rainbow trout, big ones. I took my grandson Rocky, who is visiting with his family from Hawaii. Rocky loves to fish, and so do I, so we naturally bond in that area. I wish he didn’t live so far away and I could take him more often. One of these days, I will take him with me to Alaska to go fishing.

We have 28 grandchildren, and one of the very obvious facts is that they are all different, with different personalities, different likes and interests, and different gifts and abilities. Still, they are all very special, and they are all my grandchildren.

I believe that God gives us power and influence with Him on behalf of certain people in our prayers to God on their behalf. I believe that Patty and I have great power with God for our grandchildren. It is so enjoyable to be around them and see their individual bents and also to decern what some of their weaknesses might be and areas of struggle in the days ahead. My prayer life on behalf of our grandkids has grown greatly in the last few years as my life has slowed down and simplified.

I have struggled a lot in the last couple of years trying to figure out what God wants me to do in my changing role as a pastor, and I am getting more and more committed to a deepening life of prayer for others, and fulfilled with that role as well.

Proverbs 17:6
Grandchildren are the crown of old men,

I have read one chapter in the book of Proverbs every day for over 50 years. I read the chapter that corresponds to the day of the month. Today is May 30th, so I read chapter 30 of Proverbs. There are 31 chapters in Proverbs, so on February 28th, I read chapters 28-31, and on Months with 30 days, I read two chapters on the last day of the month. So, I have read the book of Proverbs every month for over 50 years, meaning that I have read the book of Proverbs over 600 times. Solomon begins with a purpose statement for his writing Proverbs: “that it will give wisdom to those who read it.”

Proverbs is a collection of hundreds of short statements meant to guide a person into wise and right choices in life. An example is

Proverbs 24:17-18
Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,
And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles;
Or the Lord will see it and be displeased,
And turn His anger away from him.

Most people are happy when someone they don’t like fails; that is how we are naturally. But if you read the book of Proverbs often, that Proverb will come to mind and hopefully guide us into a different way of thinking and acting.

Success or failure in life isn’t usually a result of one dumb or one smart move; it is a result of an accumulation of one or the other. The more you read the book of Proverbs, the more you will know what to do, say, and think, which will bring God’s blessing into your life.

My brother Cliff and his wife Kathy continued on the bicycle trip I bailed on. They have sent pictures and descriptions of the trip several times daily. I have been pretending to be on the journey as I read their reports and look at the pictures while sitting in my recliner drinking coffee! Today, they climbed a 7,000-foot mountain, and Cliff had three flat tires. I suggested that the flats were a punishment from God for his bitterness toward me😂It would be cool that if there was some place that records were kept of bicycle miles ridden that I would be getting credit for all that Cliff is doing because he is my brother. In the last five days since I quit, they have ridden 53, 71, 92, 66, and 80 miles.

One of the basic Biblical doctrines of our salvation is that because of our faith we get credit for the life that Jesus lived, and He took all of our sins on Himself. It is a fantastic gift, and I need to appreciate it much more than I do.

2 Corinthians 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.