Category: Wildman Journey (Page 72 of 85)

Last Sunday, I was in the car taking a snooze in the car while my “bride” was shopping in WalMart in Brainerd.  I also was catching up on the post game chat about the Vikings’ season ending lose.  An advertising came on about Miller Lite beer.  The gist of the ad was that real men drink Miller Lite.  Men were asked to “Man Up.”  Now I am a sports fan and I pay attention to the beer ads, because they tell us a lot about the state of the male in our culture.  This was the first time I heard about “man up.” Remember the ads want men to drink beer, so they will do what is necessary to appeal the present state of men in America, especially young men.  Have you ever seen an ad for beer appealing to older guys like me (70).  So I got to thinking about what I could say about “man up” in blog.  So here you have it.

As followers of Jesus there is no place for the idea of “man up.”  We are to walk humbly and loving with Jesus.  The way of Jesus is following him, allowing his Spirit within us to bring about transformation.  We are changed from the inside out.  The result will be less of us and more of him.  Henri Nouwen calls this “downward mobility.” In order for this to happen, the single most important act of faith that we exercise is that of humbling ourselves before the Lord in dependence and surrender to him.  The idea of “man up” appeals to the self-centered pride in the men of our culture.  Exalted pride is dangerous to the spiritual life. “For those who exalt themselves, will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Matt 23:12).  The Message put it this way, “Do you want to stand out?  Then step down.  Be a servant.  If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you.  But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.”

The phrase  “If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you” is very descriptive.  Be assured men, there will times when the wind will be knocked out of you.  If you have an inflated ego, that is, if you “man up”  God will see to it that you get the wind knocked out of you.  It is important that you recognize this process taking place in your walk as an expression of God’s grace and mercy.  God will humble you.  It is one of the ways to get our attention.  James tells us, “It’s common knowledge that ‘God goes against the willful proud; God give grace to the willing humble.’  So let God work his will in you.” (James 4:6-7 – The Message).  In accepting the humbling in our life we receive grace.  Peter warns us, “God has had it with the proud, but takes delight in just plain people.  So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs.  God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time.  Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.” (I Peter 5:5-7  – The Message).  God hand on your life is for your own good. 

In closing I would like to suggest an alternate phrase to that of “man up.”  I suggest “man kneeling.”  What does this suggest?  First it gives the description of a man who is humble before the Lord.  Actually it is a good posture to practice in your devotional life.  Kneel before the Lord and cry out to him for mercy.  He hears the cries of a desperate man.  Secondly, kneeling suggests a reverent posture of worship.  A man on his knees worshipping the Lord.  Ps 95:6 exhorts us to kneel before God. “Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.”  Thirdly, a man who is kneeling before the Lord, is in a posture the is conducive to letting go of his ego.  With hand lifted up a man is giving expression of surrender, sometimes in desperation.   As I write this blog,  I sense in my Spirit a man or even several, who are caught in a circumstance where they are being humbled.  I suggest that you spend time kneeling before God, pouring your heart out to him, and saying to him that you let go.  Don’t try to figure out the next steps of your journey.  Let God lovingly and gently lead you as you humble yourself before him.

 I am writing this blog on the 23rd of Dec.  Tomorrow is Christiams Eve.  We just got word that  Judy’s Dad, Stan Seburg, who was 100 years old,  just passed away. This means that Christmas will be a time of planning for and having the funeral for Stan.  I have had to hold and comfort my wife at this “joyful time of year.”  I loved my father-in-law.  He gave me a wonderful daughter who has been my “soulmate” for 46 years.  I respected my father-in-law.  I have asked and received much good counsel over the years.  Stan Seburg was one of the most generous and kind men I have had the joy of knowing.  Now we all have to face the reality that he is gone.  The last of our four parents.

Now I mention the dilemma of my Christmas  because I got to thinking about pain and suffering and its relationship to Christmas.  Charles Colson had a very interesting blog in which he talks about how we almost force upon ourselves and one another the idea of Christmas being a time to be “joyful.”  He references Michael Knox Beran (unknown to me) regarding  the modern “dream of a painless world.”  Beran calls it the “great illusion…which regards suffering not as something inherent in the very nature of life but as an anomaly to be eradicated by reason and science and social legislation.”  “There is” says Beran a utopian delusion which “appeals to our inner egotism and self-conceit.  When something painful happens, one’s instinct is to be outraged, as though the universe has made a mistake…But there has been no mistake; we have been created to know joy, and also to know misery.”  

The older I get the more I have, by the grace of God, been able to hold together the tension between joy and suffering.  There is paradox and mystery to suffering.  But the more that I have been able to come to rest in “the arms of love” the more grace I have to accept what is before me.  Right now it is the reality that this Christmas my wife’s family is going to have to prepare for and take part in a funeral right after Christmas.  Recently, I have had to face some personal grieving, but by God’s grace have also found joy in the midst of the trial.  Peter’s word help me in this process. “Since Jesus went through everything you’re going through and more, learn to think like him.  Think of your suffering as a weaning from the old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way.  Then you’ll be able to live out your days free to pursue what God wants instead of being tyrannized by what you want.” (I Peter 4:1-2 – The Message).  I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the “weaning” process.  The weaning for me has been learning to  “let it be.”  This is what I am doing at this moment.

Remember men, Jesus came to suffer.  It is a modern illusion of a false hope that somehow we are going to get a “handle of evil.”  It will be with us till the end.  You and I will be touched by suffering and pain.  But our hope is that someday it will be taken care of.  Not by illusionary post-modern thinking, but through the victory of Jesus who came to die on a cross. “He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way.” ( I Peter 2:24 – The Message).  Listen to Paul. “That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times.  The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next.  Everything in creation is being more or less held back.  God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead.  Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.” (Romans 8:18-21 – The Message).  Stan Seburg is dancing with his bride, Doris in heaven.  Meanwhile, Judy and I live in joyful anticipation of better things to come.

Men, did you know that a recent article in the Atlantic Monthly listed Tim Tebow as on the the “15 Most Divisive Athletes in Recent History.”  He was listed along with Michael Vick, Barry Bonds, Dennis Rodman, Pete Rose and O.J. Simpson.  The actions of these athletes include conviction for animal cruelty, obstruction of justice, tax evasion and  being banned from baseball for betting on games, someone who probably killed his ex-wife, and book signing wearing a dress.  So what is it about Tim Tebow that makes his so divisive?  Charles Colson in his comments on this article says, “what makes Tebow ‘divisive’  and ‘controversial’ has little, if anything, to do with what he does on the field.   It’s all about our increasing intolerance of faith in public life.  Tebow isn’t trying to ‘impose’ anything on anyone besides himself.”  I agree.  

Jen Engel, a sports writer for Fox made an interesting point about “Tebowing.”  If Tebow were an Islamic quarterback, who was making religious gesture and got ridiculed all hell would break loose.   So why is the faith gestures of Tim Tebow open game to all the ridicule from fans, players and especially the media.  It seems sports writers and commentators don’t quite know what to do about a young man who seems to so moral upright with a faith that determines how he will live not only privately but also publicly.  So for you men who read this blog, I have to make the confession that I am an out and out fan of Tim Tebow. I deeply admire him for his “spiritual guts.”  He is a blessing to the male sports subculture, which I am a part of.  Why?  Because he gets men to think about not just religious ideas and habits, but about faith in Jesus.  There is a “spiritual jab” that men are receiving through “Tebowing.”  It opens the door to the possibility of some good conversation.

So here is what I am going to do.  I challenge you men to do the same thing.  I am going to bring up the name of Tim Tebow with men both inside and outside of a church setting.  I want to hear what they have to say about this young man.  I want to know what they really feel in their souls – a kind of gut reaction.  I don’t want them repeating the opinions of the critics and synics.  I want to know how they feel about a young man who has a deep faith in Jesus.  I personally believe that it is convicting to a lot of “church” guys. I know Tim Tebow convicts me about my public posture as a follower of Jesus. I am going to challenge them to think about their own relationship to Jesus.  As a humble and loving follower of Jesus, I am going to use “Tebowing” as a God ordained opportunity to gently challenge men about their relationship with Jesus.

Remember Jesus did not call us to follow him when life is a “beach” and all is going well.  Men, we live in a day when all religious options are on the table.  This is not bad.  This can be good, if we know how to appeal to men.  Men need to be challenged to get off of “dead center” and truly decide if they want to follow Jesus.  But I must warn you it is not going to be a “Sunday School picnic.”  Listen to Jesus words from The Message. “If you find the godless world is hating you, remember it got its start hating me.  If you lived on the world’s terms, the world would love you as one of its own.  But since I picked you to live on God’s terms and no longer on the world’s terms, the world is going to hate you.” (John 15:16-19)   Those are strong words from Jesus.  This is what Tim Tebow faces every day.  How about you?  Are you willing to take some opposition as a humble, loving follower of Jesus?  It could be that if you are, you too will be called “divisive.”

Yes, men that is what it has come to during this Christmas Holiday.  A display of a skeleton in a Santa Claus suit was placed on a cross that was then erected on the courthouse in Leesburg, Va.  A spokesperson for the county explained, “The board of Supervisors currently has a policy in place to allow display on the courthouse lawn.  There are only 9 display sites that are filled on a first-come, first-serve basis.  This applicants (for the crucifed Santa) choose the third week period” to show their display.  The display was submitted by a high school student named Jeff Heflin, whose mother belongs to NOVA Atheists.  The pupose of the display was to convey that the spirit of the holiday was killed off by commercialism.  Rick Wingrove, of the NOVA Atheists said, “It was an art piece reflecting on the death of the true spirit of the holiday by greed and commercialism.  It was anything but an attack on religion.  It was, ironically, in line with a common complaint in the religious community about the hijacking of the holiday by big box retail interests.” 

I ask you men, how can we get more confused about this time of year.  It goes from bad to worse.  If it gets any worse next year, we might be able to get the attention of the culture regarding the fact that “Jesus is the reason for the season.”  That is the simple, underlying theme of the Christmas season.  But here we have a group of Atheists protesting the greed and commercialization of Christmas.  They contend that “the spirit of of the holiday” has been “killed off by commercialism.”  We can say a hardy Amen to that observation.  But what does an Atheist group say about the real meaning of the season?  What to them is the real spirit of the season?  Again I contend that the message of the season has so been “erased” from the public square, that we are left with a “naked square” in which the symbols of transcedent belief in God have been lost.  

Image the confusion that is created when people drive by and see a Santa crucified on a cross.  These are two powerful symbols of belief, “Santa” and “a cross.”  I seriously question Mr. Wingrove when he says that the display was not an attack on religion.  Image this display being erected in heart of Bejing, China, for example. Some might make the connection with the religious themes.  But most people would dismiss it as some kind of joke.  But not here in America, especially at this time of the season.  Why!  Both Santa and the cross are loaded with religious  and also cultural meaning.  After all, we have celebrated Christmas in peace for many years.  But not anymore.  Why?  Because we have lost touch with the symbols.

Men, I implore you to think through what you believe and why you believe it.  Again, at the ripe, old age of 70, I have come to the place that I simply want to be “a humble, loving follower of Jesus.”  I know what I believe about Christimas.  Christmas is very, very special and significant for me.  God became flesh – He became a man – a human being – someone who was both God and man.  This is the story.  Take time this season to think through the implications of Jesus becoming a man for you.  In our day, it is no use getting all worked up about the demise of the season.  Our job is to simply tell our story.  People still need to hear.  But they need to hear it in a new way – by simple story-telling – not just Jesus’ coming but also his death  and  resurrection.  You need to tell the rest of the story. 

I close with the words of Paul when he tells the story in I Cor 15.  He is getting to the rest of the story. “The first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically before me: that the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as Scripture tells it; that he was buried; that he was raised from death on the third day, again exactly as Scripture says; that he presented himself alive to Peter, then to his closest follwers, and later to more than five hundred of his followers, all at the same time, most of them still around (although a few have since died); that he then spent time with James and the rest of those he commissioned to represent him;  and that he finally presented himsef alive to me.” (I Cor 15:3-9 – The Message).  Men put your self at the end of this list.  He appears among us alive today through the presence of His Holy Spirit.  He comes to live in our heart – yes, the risen Lord who was born a man like you and me.

The title of my blog this week comes from the slogan on a McDonld’s McCafe coffee cup.  On the back of the cup are these words, “My moment to unwind.  It’s time to indulge myself.”  I like coffee.  When Judy and I travel we always stop in Mcdonald’s for coffee.  I also like to stop at Carbou for coffee.  I like Caribou’s coffee.  On their coffee cup it says “make it merry.”  Now I ask you men, what does “Celebrate Season’s craving” or “Make it Merry” have to do with the meaning of Christmas.  I realize the church has almost lost the cultural war of trying to bring back “Christmas.”   But I have to say, these two slogans show how far we have strayed.  We are now trying to invent ways of making the season meaningful.  

As believers we know that “Jesus is the reason for the season.”  However, these two titles tell me something about the culture. Remember big money is spent coming up with these slogans.  Adversting firms spend lot of money to hire pyschologists, so that McDonld’s and Caribou can get you to buy their coffee instead of driving up to Starbuck’s or another coffee place.  So what is going on with these slogans.  The first thing the strikes me is the fact that we have to create a desire and meaning for the season.  One asks you to indulge your craving.  This is the season to do it.  The other outright asks you to find a reason to be merry.  Men, the season has come to be whatever you want it to be.  If you can’t find a way to make it merry, at least use the season to indulge yourself.

So I have two “take-aways” from these slogans.  The first deals with our cravings.  There is something about the holiday season that stirs up positive sentiment  like no other time of the year.  But could it be that there is less sentiment being experienced since Christmas has lost its meaning.  The old sentiment made one feel good about life, by being in a giving, joyful mood.  At least that is the way it used to be.  But today we are not sure about those sentiments we hear in the Christmas carols. They seem almost out of place.   So with the old sentiments sponged out of the way, we have to create new sentiments.  McDonald’s says we ought to celebrate the season’s cravings.  I just ask –  what are the cravings?  How do we celebrate them? The coffee cup puts the responsibility upon me to find a way indulge.   Men, you want to get stirred and all energized.  Just take a few minutes and ponder the magnitude of what God did when He became one of us.  John tells us, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.  We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son.”  (John 1:14 – The Message).   God came to live in your neighborhood and he came to stay.  Wow!  That should get you “juiced.”

The second “take-away” has to do with the idea that we are to create the sentiment of being “merry.”  That show how far we have gotten away from the celebration of God becoming flesh.  For me the implication of the caribou slogan is that we still should be merry.  We are not sure why we are still supposed to be merry.  But this used to be the season for being merry.  So make it merry.  But I ask –  How do you make it merry?  We aren’t told what it is.  Why should we be merry?  The biggest question is for me is, “Why are we being asked to be merry during Nov – Dec.  Something got lost.  Maybe we are being asked to find it again.  Where are people looking?

With that in mind, let me quote from I John 1:1-4 about finding it. “From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in – we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands.  The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen!  And now we’re telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly this: the infinite Life of God himself took shape before us.  We saw it, we heard it, andnow we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ.  Our motive for writing is simply this: We want yoiu to enjoy this, too.  Your joy will double our joy!  (The Message).   So there you have it.  The reason to truly be merry.

Did you know that you are already holy as a believer, while being made holy.  Scripture calls us saints. A Christian is holy, because they are filled with the Holy Spirit and belong to God.  They are conscerated for God’s will.  We read in Ephesians 1:4, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight”.  The Message in I Peter 1:16 exhorts us to, “let yourself be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness.  God said, ‘I am holy, you be holy.'”  Holiness is a part of who we are as believers.   “But when this priest (Jesus) has offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool.  For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy (Hebrews 10:12-14).  Here we learn that we are also in the process of being made holy.  So while we are holy, there is also a process of becoming what we are in God.  This is a life long process.

With this short introduction I want to introduce a very helpful definition I ran across in a book by Father Albert Hasse in his book “This Sacred Moment.”  He is helpful in understanding the process of being made holy.  Holiness is, “a selfless openness and response to God’s call in this sacred moment.”  The call of God comes when there is an unmet need or something that needs to be done in the present moment.  It is a call to selfless openness.  “Holiness” says Haase, “is the lifelong journey out of slavery to the ego and its consuming preoccupation with self-concern, self-image, self-gratification, and self-preservation.”   Holiness calls us to selflessness.  An attitude of selfless openness attacks the ego head-on.  The ego desires to control and manipulate everything and everyone it confronts.  “But,” says Haase, “a selfless openness and response to whatever the present moment is asking of me, rooted in the desire to imitate the self-emptying of Jesus, incapacitates the ego and renders it powerless.” 

So what does this have to do with men becoming holy?  Why would a man even want to grow in holiness?  Because it frees a man from dark prison of self-enclosure so he can walk out into the open spaces of God’s acceptance  and experience the light of God’s presence.  It is like breathing fresh air each moment of the day.  The prison of self is place of fear, shame and guilt.  Choices need to be made, not just occasionally but in every moment as to whether we are going to grow in holiness.  The choice is to respond to the ego or the spirit of Jesus in our lives.  “The belief that the need of the present moment is an invitation from God to forget myself and enrich the life of another is the motivating force and insight behind selfless openness.  Indeed, the present moment as it unfolds before me is an expression of God’s will for me.”  This is a call to live outside the enclosed confines of our ego, with its constricting and exploitative obsession with what we have, what we do and what people think of us.

So the take away for me in this short discourse on holiness, is the realization that we are continually making choices throughout our day.  Holiness can be seen as choosing to reject the ego’s desires and to listen to the voice of the Spirit.  Now this is not easy. That is why we are a work in progress when it comes to holiness.  But we have a choice.  To choose the way of Jesus, is to come humbling and pententially to him asking for his grace and help.  We can’t do it.  It has to be Jesus in us.   But every moment we choice the life of the Spirit in us, the more we will be growing in holiness.  Remember holiness is freedom from the restrictions of the ego.  Holiness is learning to become who we were always meant to be in Christ.

Charles Colson discusses in a recent blog on an experiment that shows how easy it is to make people go against what they believe to be true.  This is how he described the experiments.  “One of the experiments involved wine-tasting, in which participants evaluate both the wine and one another’s wine-tasting skills.  The participants were given three samples of wine.  In reality, all three samples were from the same bottle.  One had even been tainted with vinger.  Before they delivered their evaluation, they listened to other participants, who were plants, who praised the vinegar-laced wine as the best.  Half of the participants went against their own taste buds and joined in praising the vinegary concoction.”

Colson goes on, “Even more interesting is what happened next.  Another participant, who was also a plant, told the truth about the wines.  But when it came time for the participants to evaluate each other, some of them were permitted to do so confidentially, and the others had to do so publicly.  The ones who gave their evaluations confidentially praised the truth-teller.  But those who had to evaluate the truth-teller publicly actually turned on him and gave him low marks.”  The researchers described this as “false enforcement”   – “The public enforcement of a norm that is not privately endorsed.” 

The norm was upheld not by popularity nor its validity.  It was upheld by their desire to “avoid a negative social judgment from one’s peers.”  Wanting to avoid “a negative social judgment” has been called the “spiral of silence.”  Colson’s conclusion: “….out of a desire to avoid reprisal or isolation, people go along with what they think is the popular opinion – even if they object to that opinion personally.  Instead of voicing their objections, they remain silent.”

I thought it was important enough to quote Charles Colson rather extensively on the blog.  I personally have a great deal of respect for what Colson does in helping followers of Jesus to think through the profound social issues we face in post-modern and post-Christian America.  Living in a pluralistic culture can be challenging for us men.  I was convicted reading his post, when I reflected on the times that I have remained silent about what I really believe, for fear of being in the minority or not being accepted. Listen to Peter’s exhortation to us in I Peter 3:15-16 from The Message. “Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master.  Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy.  Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick.”

I find that asking for discernment in knowing when to speak up and what to say is important.  I don’t want to be offensive and pushy, but I also want to be true to my convictions.  Men, in our day there is significant voices that are trying to quiet a clear witness of the gospel.  It is actually intimidation.  The present cultural climate will continue to militate against a clear witness of the truth.   But the darker the conditions, the more that the light of the gospel is needed.  Here is some encouragement from our Lord. “When people realize it is the living God you are presenting and not some idol that makes them feel good, they are going to turn on you, even people in your own family.  There is a great irony here: proclaiming so much love, experiencing so much hate!  But don’t quit.  Don’t cave in.  It is all well worth it in the end.  Before you’ve run out of options, the Son of Man will have arrived.”

The folks who produced the Christian films, “Fireproof” and “Facing the Giants” have produced a new film entitled “Courageous.”  If you haven’t seen it men, I encourage you to go and take your wife with you.  Every father needs to go.  Judy and I have seen it.  It’s about four cops in Albany, Georgia.  They do a great job at protecting and serving the community.  They are courageous and they uphold their duty no matter what.  But at home they are not the fathers they should be.  As fathers, these cops decide to make a change.  They pledge to embrace the principles of biblical fatherhood, and live as courageously at home as they do at work.

The producers of the film emphasize the connection between the failure of the fathers and crime.  “If fathers just did what they were supposed to do,” says one of the cops, “half the junk we face on the streets wouldn’t exist.”  As Charles Colson on his “breakpoint” blog noted in his reveiw of the movie, “Our prison systems are full of people who never had the example of a courageous father – or any father at all.  Over 70 % of long-term prison inmates comes from broken homes, and young men raised in fatherless households are at least twice as likely to be incarcerated as those from intact families.” As Colson goes on to say, “Take it from someone who has witnessed the destruction of failed fathers for over three decades: you’ve got a duty to your children.  And you can change the course of their lives and society.

Casting Crowns has recorded the song “courageous” to go along with the movie.   I have already used it for one of my “Wildman” Saturdays.  I encourage you men to download the song and let it sink into your heart and spirit.  Here are some of the words from the song.  I personally find them convicting as a man and father.  “We were warriors on the front line standing unafraid, but now we’re watchers on the sidelines while our families slip away.”  Wow!  The implications are that the warrior will fight for his family.  The chorus reinforces this truth. “We were made to be courageous and we’re taking back the fight.  We were made to be courageous and it starts with us tonight.  The only way we’ll ever stand is on our knees, with lifted hands.  Make us courageous, Lord, make us courageous.”  There you have it men.  It’s time to be a warrior, by starting on your knees at home. 

I want to quote one more phrase from the song. “We will reignite the passion that we buried deep inside.  May the watchers become warriors.  Let the men of God arise.”  I like this phrase.  It speaks right to the heart of the vision of “wildmen.”  A wildman is someone who has allowed himself to get in touch with his real passion for God.  I want to tell you men; it is there within you.  The problem is that we have ignored that deep passion, while fiddling around with lesser passions, that will never give us to energy and desire to serve God.  Listen men, God has put into your heart the desire to be a warrior for him.  He has put deep in you the passion to be their for your family.  He is asking you to stand and be courageous.  As the song says, “In the war of the mind I will take my stand.”

A very effective part of the song is the segment in which you hear the voices of children singing.  Guess what they are singing.  They are singing a paraphrase of Micah 6:8, “And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with hour God.”  The Message puts it this way. “It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, and don’t take yourself too seriously – take God seriouly.”  I never thought of it as beginning at home.  Yes, God wants us to be warriors and it begins at home.  So let’s be courageous, by doing what is fair and just, while walking humbly with God, not taking ourselves to seriously, but rather taking God call on our life seriously.  Remember, “the only way we’ll ever stand is on our knees with lifted hands.”

If you are like I am, as a committed Christian guy, I am pulling for Tim Tebow.  I want him to succeed as the quarterback of the Denver Broncos.  But I agree the jury is still out as the whether or not he will make it as the starting quarterback.  What I find interesting is the public fascination with Tebow.  There are many of us who admire him for his strong faith and his willingness to be so public regarding his convictions.  There are others who respect him for his character, what the people in pro football call ”’the intangibles.”  Others pay attention and just don’t know what to make of Tim Tebow.  The fans in Denver wanted him to have his shot at quarterback.  Time will tell if he will remain a favorite with the fans as a player.

As a result of his bowing, on one knee, and praying on the sidelines next to his fellow teammates while they waited for Matt Prater to hit the 52-yard field goal that gave Denver an 18-15 victory in overtime, a new trend called “Tebowing” has sprung up.  According to Tebowing.com the word means, “to get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone esle around you is doing something completely different.”  My questions to the guys who read this blog is this, “Why this sudden phenomenon of Tebowing?”  What do you think?  Are you in favor of the practice?  Would you practice Tebowing?  I have asked myself that question.  I also wonder what skeptical nonbelievers thinks of all this.

For me, Tebowing has made my evaluate my public witness for Christ.  Should I have a bolder witness for Jesus?  Am I more concerned about what others might think of say?  What is appropriate in a pluralistic culture such as ours?  I know that words of Mark 8:38 from The Message give me pause to wonder about my public witness. “If any of you are embarrassed over me and the way I’m leading you when you get around your fickle and unfocused friends, know that you’ll be an even greater embarrassment to the Son of Man when he arrives in all the splendor of God, his Father, with an army of the holy angels.”  I have to admit that I feel embarrassed in some secular settings.  Jesus is not rejecting me for my weak public witness, but I could be embarrassing him.   

But I do think that Tim Tebow is a challenge to all of us men.  We are to be public witnesses to our faith.  We are to have courage and boldness.  We are to be ready for opposition and ridicule. Jesus said this would happen. “If you find the godless world is hating you, remember it go its start hating me.  If you lived on the world’s terms, the world would love you as one of it own.  But since I picked you to live on God’s terms and no longer on the world’s terms, the world is going to hate you” (John 15:18-19 – The Message).   After the game against the Detroit Lion, one lion’s lineman, Stephen Tulloch, celebrated tackling the Denver quarterback by dropping to one knee and imitating Tebow’s “Tebowing” prayer pose.  Tight end Tony Scheffler added salt to the wound by performing the move following his touchdown in the first quarter.  You can be sure this will not be the end of how people react to Tebowing.

I personally rejoice in the fact that here is a young man who has the courage of his convictions.  He is honest and sincere.  He wants to use his national platform to be a witness for Jesus.  So I take Tebowing  as a challenge to godly men who live in a more and more hostile culture.  Let’s examine our public witness.  Let’s allow ourselves to ask some hard questions about wanting acceptance and favor, while not seeming to be out of place.  For each of us, there has to be a line as to how far we go to be polite and “politically correct.”  When do we witness about Jesus by simply telling our story.  I believe you will be hearing more about Tebowing among your friends who are NFL football fans.  What a great opportunity to give a simply witness to your faith in Jesus.

We all know about the ponzi scheme of Bernie Madoff.  It was worth more then $60 billion.  But now in prison Madoff says he works in the one of the stores of his prison as “a glorifed bag boy” for $170 a month.  He believes he deserves to go to prison and to he punished.  As I read part of Barbra Walters’  interview with Madoff I thought of the words of scripture, “God opposes the proud, but give grace the humble.”  I wondered if Madoff is experiencing the grace of God after his fall to the bottom.  It is hard to imagine how far he has fallen.  But remember; a man can be lifted up in the arms of grace and mercy when he as been humbled and repents of his wrong doing.  I pray that for Bernie Madoff.  He has ruined the lives of countless people because of greed and arrogance.  Proverbs tells us, “There is a way that seems right to man, but its end is the way of death.”

In prison Madoff says,  “I feel safer here than outside.  Days go by.  I have people to talk to and no decisions to make…I know, that I will die in prison…I lived the last 20 years of my life in fear.  Now I have no fear…nothing to think about because I’m no longer in control of my life.”  What do you make of this comment?  Here is a man who lived in the lap of luxury as one admired for his investment skills.  He was rich and well connected.  People trusted him with their life savings.  Yet he lived in fear.  Fear of what?  I suppose it had to be the fear of being found out.  His whole enterprise was a lie.  He had to deny his very soul.  Jesus tells us, “What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself?  What could you ever trade your soul for?”  Bernie Madoff had to deny his very soul, while living in fear of others and probably himself.  Men, let me testify that there is nothing quite like the incredible freedom of being a man of integrity.  In other words, what you see is what you get.  What peace there is to be able to look others straight in the eyes with a “clear conscience.”  Bernie Madoff was haunted by his secret life.  Men, don’t go down that path. Don’t compartmentalize your life.  You will begin to lose your soul, that is, the person that you really are created to be.  Bernie Madoff was a fraud and he knew it.  That’s why he lived in fear, fear of his past and great fear of the future.  Now in prison he has less fear of the past, because he is “locked up,” but he most be haunted about the future.

We also have a small window into his family life.  After his son, Mark committed sucide in Dec. of 2010 Madoff’s daughter-in-law, Stephanie blamed him.  She said, “I’d spit in his face” if she saw him.  His wife visited him in prison after the sucide, where they had a very emotional meeting.  She said to her husband, “let me go.”  They have not spoken to one another since.  To me, this is the saddest reality of life in prison.  Bernie Madoff is in prison, separated from the rest of the world he once knew.  He says, “Ruth (his wife) hates me.  She has no one.”   He said, “Not seeing my family and knowing they hate me” is hard matter to deal with as he lives alone in prison.  Let me ask you men, is this worth all the deception and duplicity of a $60 billion ponzi scheme. 

Again I say loud and clear to whoever reads this blog, that your life is made up of relationships.  It’s how you live with God, others, especially your family and yourself.  So my encouragement to men today, is to pay attention to your relationships.  Be a man – stand up – and live open, honest, repentant and transparent lives before God, others and yes, yourself.  Don’t be like Bernie Madoff, allowing yourself to be cut of from the life of your soul.  I have found that living as honestly as I am able with those closest to me is the most humbling aspect of my walk with Jesus.  But as I cry out for mercy, He give me grace to live with integrity and honesty.  Listen to these words of Jesus. “Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat.  But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over.  In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life.  But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal” (John 12:24-25 – The Message).