So Goes the Captain…so goes the crew!

 

Believe it or not…this is the transcript of an actual radio conversation between a US naval ship and Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October 1995. The Radio conversation was released by the Chief of Naval Operations on Oct. 10, 1995.

US Ship: Please divert your course 0.5 degrees to the south to avoid a collision.

CND reply: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

US Ship: This is the Captain of a US Navy Ship. I say again, divert your course.

CND reply: No. I say again, you divert YOUR course!

US Ship: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS CORAL SEA*, WE ARE A LARGE WARSHIP OF THE US NAVY. DIVERT YOUR COURSE NOW!!

CND reply: This is a lighthouse. Your call.

Okay, so that is really an old Navy joke and never really happened.  However, it really is useful as we are starting a new school year here in Texas.  I began to think about this story as I had recently heard it and how to apply it to my life.  I have heard this story many times and wondered why it kept coming back up.  Well, I was in church yesterday and was challenged with a commitment to get into the Word of God on a daily basis.  The challenge was made to not just do it for yourself, but for your family.  As a Husband and a Father, it is my responsibility to be the Priest of my home.  I am responsible for setting the tone for my family, spiritually.  I have to admit, I have done well at this on the personal level.  But in all honesty, I have been very spotty to virtually non-existent in leading my family spiritually, well.  They deserve better.  So, with that moment of transparency and a ‘new’ school year starting, I am making efforts to captaining my family spiritually on the path we need to go.

When I don’t fulfill my role as Priest of my family, there are dangers that can arise that leads to dangerous outcomes.  So goes the captain, so goes the crew…Look at how 2 Chronicles 36:14-16 says it…

2 Chronicles 36:14-16

14 Likewise, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful. They followed all the pagan practices of the surrounding nations, desecrating the Temple of the Lord that had been consecrated in Jerusalem. 15 The Lord, the God of their ancestors, repeatedly sent his prophets to warn them, for he had compassion on his people and his Temple. 16 But the people mocked these messengers of God and despised their words. They scoffed at the prophets until the Lord’s anger could no longer be restrained and nothing could be done.

In this passage, we have the leaders of God’s temple and spiritual leadership becoming more unfaithful to the things of the Lord that they are supposed to be leading in.  Instead of doing the things of God that were prescribed in the Law, they began to turn to pagan religions that other surrounding nations followed.  The spiritual leaders desecrated the Temple that had been previously consecrated to the things of God.  The Lord loved his people and offered them prophets that would come to warn them of the path that they were going down.  He did this out of compassion for His people.  However, the people only mocked these messengers and hated the words that God sent to his people through them.  This resulted in the Lord becoming angry and His anger could no longer be restrained and nothing could be done.

As the spiritual leadership of a family, nation, team or church goes, so goes that family, nation, team or church.  When the spiritual leadership turns away from following the things set forth by God in His Holy Word, it sets into action a path that is not a desirable path.  While God loves his people, He also grieves when they turn from His ways.  This grief turns to anger and eventually God will turn those and its spiritual leadership over to their sinful, prideful ways.  Adoption of pagan spiritual practices that originate from people and leadership that do not follow the things of God, leads to a desecrated Temple.  Today, this is played out more frequently in the form of idolatry.  This idolatry is found in tolerance of pagan religions, relaxed morals, justifications for actions and so on.  These are just excuses for behaviors that are contrary to God’s Word.  This applies to you as an individual because you are the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  You have been set apart by God for His service and His plan.  When you turn away from following Him and choose to follow those outside influences of other religions, then you are desecrating what God has set apart.  This turning away and following outside religions in today’s society is called “toleration”.  When you tolerate the practice of other religions, then you have compromised your belief system and ultimately desecrated the Temple of God.  What you tolerate spiritually today, becomes status quo tomorrow.  As followers of Christ we are called to stand out, not blend in.

What is your plan for leading your family spiritually?

What steps can you take personally to prepare to lead?

How can I help you lead?

Spiritual Trading Cards

It is a good thing to have things in common with your kids.  When I was a kid, I used to collect baseball cards. I would save up my money and ride my bike down to the corner store and buy as many packs as possible.  I will never forget the anticipation of paying for the cards and rushing outside and opening those packs, grabbing the concrete piece of bubble gum that was inside each pack and shoving it in my mouth to begin the cavity process.  4 out of 5 kids recommended Donruss bubble gum, but I was a Topps man!  I would then smell the cards…yes, I was a weird kid.  I loved the smell of the cards with the scent of the bubble gum.  I remember looking through the cards in search of my heroes.  It would only be a few days and I would have them ordered, alphabetized and put in my shoebox for proper storage.  I would then memorize the stats on the back of each card and do the math to check to make sure that Topps didn’t make any mistakes figuring out each player’s stats.  I was a stat junkie!

My son, Cole, has started collecting cards.  In fact, I don’t remember myself being this excited about cards.  However, he is searching Ebay and looking up values and if we ever get separated at the store, I can always go to the baseball card section to find him.  He has them all separated by team and in a binder with protective pages. He takes his cards and trades them with our neighbor’s kids and rushes home to ask me if I have ever heard of such and such a player.

Cole loves the history of the older cards and the players that are depicted on them.  He has a respect for the game and realizes that there are those who played baseball long before he was even born.  He asks why Jackie Robinson’s number is retired at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, TX, because he knows he never played for the Rangers. I love it!  His passion for those cards and collecting them take me back to a place when I loved being a kid.  The only thing I notice about today’s cards are that they don’t smell like bubblegum…what a tragedy!

I was reading in Romans and cam across a series of Scripture that reminded me of trading cards.  The passage is found in Romans 1:21-22 & 25.  This is what Paul wrote to the Romans…

21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.22Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 

 

25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.

When Paul was addressing the Romans, he spoke to them like the people had knowledge of God.  However, just knowing  about God doesn’t imply worship or facilitate the implementation of worship.  People have a will, that means they have a choice to worship God or not.  They would not even return thanks to God, much less worship Him.  They began to concoct their own interpretations of who God is and what He was like.  This takes place today.  Some may refer to God as a woman or say that God is in everything or God is who you want Him to be.  Some may even believe that all gods, Allah, Buddha, Hare Krishna, the various Hindu gods are all the same.  This is called polytheism.  As a result of these beliefs, people’s minds can become confused and darkened to the light of the Truth.  In their wisdom that they feel the gain from this wide spectrum of religions/gods, they instead become fools.  A fool is one who says in his heart that there is no god.

As a result of these actions, people traded the truth about God for a lie.  The Truth was in the form of Jesus Christ and the lie believed is the lie that there are many ways to heaven so worship whatever you think to be god.  Instead of worshipping the Creator, they worshipped creation.

The first commandment that God wrote on the tablets for Moses on Mt. Sinai was,

“Thou shall have no other gods before me.”

This is the most important commandment.  You must always put God first.  Many times you will be confronted with ‘possibilities’ that God is found in all and in everything.  However, don’t buy in to the lie that there are many ways to heaven.  There is one way, that is, through Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9-10).  Make sure that idolatry doesn’t creep in and focus is diverted to the attention of what man has created over the Creator himself.  Remember, confusion doesn’t come from God.  Worship God for who He is…first and foremost…the Creator.

What is that “thing” you are trading for your reverence to God?

How can one find comfort in the realization that there is ONE way to heaven, that is, through Jesus Christ?

What are the things, idols, that you are putting in front of God that competes for His rightful place in your life?

Triumph in the Truth

Over the past couple of weeks I have done something I never dreamed I would do.  My son and I built a backyard chicken coop.  We are chicken farmers!  I am pretty proud of the job we did and hopefully the chickens are comfortable in their new home.  Yeah, right, they don’t even know the difference…they are chickens!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are true carpenters now!  So we got the coop built and these pictures prove it.  I know, they have nothing to do with what I am writing about, they are just shameless father/son bragging photos.  You know, we built a chicken coop and you didn’t kind of thing.

Cole and I spent all day, literally, on a Saturday working on this project.  It was hot!  We were tired!  He had never built anything before.  However, the time that I got to spend with him working on this project was more profitable than anything or any other sporting event or planned activity we have ever done.  We got to hang out and just talk.  It was during this time that I got to question him on somethings that I found out he did that he had no idea that I knew about.  They weren’t really bad things, but they were what I call marginal things that could get him in trouble depending upon how he responded to my inquisitions.  I wanted him to tell me the truth the first time I asked.  I assured him that he can tell me anything.  Now, for females, this type of conversation is more comfortable than with males.  Guys are not used to talking.  We have a harder time ‘sharing’ our thoughts or feelings…especially when confronted with a potentially awkward situation.  Cole stepped up and owned up to my questions.  I was proud but still had to deal with his answers and be the parent.  It was a great teachable moment for me and my son.  I shared with him the wisdom he showed in telling the truth and even the confirmation found in Solomon’s Proverbs where it says,

Proverbs 12:19

19 Truthful words stand the test of time, but lies are soon exposed.

Truth always stands the test of time.  Lies may be accepted as truth in the beginning, however, a lie will run its course and the truth will be exposed and told. When truth is set forth, its own integrity is what it stands on.  When someone lies to you, the message that the person telling the lie conveys to you is that you aren’t really worth the truth to them.

It has been said,  

“If a person will always speak the truth, they will never have to worry about remembering what it was they said.”

Truth will stand.  However, one who tells lies will continually be employed by trying to remember what they said and hoping it will never become exposed and they, found out for who they are.  Truth is held on to, built upon and infallible.  Lies are like a house built of cards and can all come crashing down at the slightest breeze of the truth.  Sometimes, the truth hurts but a lie always injures!  Fortunately, Cole learned a lesson as did I, expectations of the truth breed truth.  Now, I have a foundation of truth with my son, happy chickens and a chicken coop to boot!

 

Is your foundation built on truth?

 

 

Omnipotent Boss

I love the CBS television show, Undercover Boss!  In fact, while I was in Richardson, TX, I found myself eating at a local restaurant just across the street from an immigrant to the United States from Russia.  He was on Undercover Boss working for 7-Eleven as a delivery driver with the hopes of one day owning his own convenience store.  As the show progressed and he took his “trainee” out for deliveries, he corrected, taught, instilled trust between the workers in order to do the best job for the company he could possibly do.  Little did he know that this “trainee” was the CEO of 7-Eleven.  You can read the Dallas Morning News article about Igor Finkler and his experience on Undercover Boss here.

I love this story!  In fact, when I walked across the street to the store to see if I could meet Igor, the worker’s said, “Go ahead, he is around the corner in the office…he would love to meet you.”  That day, I met the man who is living his dream.  One thing that Igor said that stuck with me that day was this, “I am a nobody that worked hard.  My work somehow got noticed and now I am living my dream.”  He then said, “I would rather push a broom sweeping up the worst filth in the United States of America than be a dignitary in my former country.”  Wow!  What a powerful set of statements he shared!  The CEO of 7-Eleven changed Igor’s life!  Igor was given his own franchise in one of the busiest areas of Richardson, TX.  I guess it does pay to sweat the small stuff!

Luke, the physician/disciple of Jesus, describes Igor’s journey this way in Luke 16:10,

If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones.  But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater things.

I love this!  Why?  Because faithful, trustworthy handling of small things builds trust with the person that is asking you to take responsibility for them and handle the issues they want completed.  It is character building.  It creates an ethic of dependability in and individual.  Once trust is gained and dependability built, larger assignments can be given and trusted to be completed.  However, the converse is also true.  If dishonesty, unfaithfulness and being undependable are evident, then greater assignments will not come.

I remember when I first went to a bank to get my first loan.  I went with my grandfather and my dad.  We walked in to the bank and I asked for my first loan of $1000.  There was one piece of paper that I filled out.  What was interesting about this paper was it just had my name and the amount.  It was and IOU!  I didn’t even have a place to sign it.  The deal was sealed with a question from the banker about repaying the amount and a handshake.  That was it!

People need to return to a lifestyle of honor and being people of their word.  Faithfulness is being true to your word and following through with what you say you will do.  When I am trusted to do the small things and have proven myself trustworthy, then larger responsibilities come my way.  I paid back the loan in full, early!  What was the beginning of my credit history, with the $1000 loan, now has helped me to buy cars, houses and even start my own business.  These things come from God.  These larger things may show up on your job, community, family or other unseen ways.  But, they are the result of being found faithful by the Omnipotent Boss.  Now for the bad news…the opposite of this is true as well.  If I would have been found to be untrue to my word with that $1000 loan, then I would have had a different path to redemption to take.  Trust would have been abated and I would have been stuck in my own consequences of dishonesty.

My prayer is the God continues to find me faithful and keeps his hand on my life…what about you?

What are some of the little things that God entrusted you with?

How did you handle those things…faithfully or dishonestly?

What larger things are you currently handling now?  

Is the ethic of dependability on display or are you being caught in the trap of dishonesty?