In honor of school being out and the beginning of summertime, I want to share Mikey’s Funny for the day:

YOU might be a school employee if you want to slap the next person who says, "Must be nice to work 8 to 3:30 and have summers off."

YOU might be a school employee if it is difficult to name your own child because there’s no name you can come up with that doesn’t bring high blood pressure as it is uttered.

YOU might be a school employee if you believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says, "Boy, the kids sure are mellow today."

YOU might be a school employee if you encourage an obnoxious parent to check into charter schools or home schooling and are willing to donate the U-HAUL boxes should they decided to move out of district.

YOU might be a school employee if you think caffeine should be available in intravenous form.

YOU might be a school employee if you believe the playground should be equipped with a Ritalin salt lick.

YOU might be a school employee if you can’t imagine how the ACLU could think that covering your students chair with Velcro and then requiring uniforms made out of the corresponding Velcro could ever be misunderstood by the public.

YOU might be a school employee if meeting a child’s parent instantly answers this question, "Why is this kid like this?"

YOU might be a school employee if you would choose a tooth filling over a parent conference.

YOU might be a school employee if you know how many days, minutes, and seconds are left in the school year.

HT: Mikey’s Funnies

It is rare for me to plan a sermon series and then change it at the last minute.  I have been planning our series Tall Tales? for a couple of months but over the last couple of weeks, the Lord has been stirring my heart about the things that hold us captive.  The enemy of our souls is holding many of God’s people hostage with doubt, worry, depression, bitterness and pride.  We must find release from these things.

Hebrews 12:1 tells us, “let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”  We must lay aside the things that ensnare us.  We must be set free!

Beginning Sunday we will start this new series Hostage.  Come expecting for God to change your life!

Last week I tackled a project at my mother-in-law’s house.  It was a simple project of just replacing  a vent a hood.  A vent-a-hood was already in place, so it should have been an easy switch.  Well, it didn’t work out that way.

First off, the old vent-a-hood had a five inch vent, the new one a seven inch.  I spent half a day trying to find a solution to that problem.  We modified (jack-legged) the vent-a-hood with some duct work and then we were ready to go.  We installed it! Or we TRIED to install it.

We put the old vent duct onto the new modified piece only to find out that the old duct was damaged.  We tried to figure out how that could have happened.  We were careful pulling it out so we wouldn’t damage it.  I decided to take a look up the vent to the ceiling.  Something was wrong, seriously wrong.  The vent was 8 inches off center.  8 inches!

When you are trying to fit a new piece of equipment onto an old one, you need it to be centered.  To hide the home builder’s mistake, they had built an enclosure around the vent pipe and nailed it shut.  Not only that, they enclosed it and then built the cabinets around it, so it was almost impossible to get to.  They were trying to hide their mistakes and we would have never figured it out unless something went wrong.

This is the way it often is in our lives.  We get off-center and then build a wall around it or cover it up so no one will ever know.  We look good on the outside, our talk sounds good but we are still off-center.  The word sin literally means to miss the mark.  We miss the mark and our lives don’t line up with our Creator.  When something is off-set there is not a free flow from one to the other.  So it is, in our relationship with God.  Our lives must be in line with Him so that we can experience His abundance in our lives.

We cannot cover up our sins or our failures by putting on a front.  God knows our hearts, we cannot hide.  Too often we keep things hidden in our heart and only acknowledge them when something goes wrong or gets exposed.  God wants us to live in an open relationship with Him, where we readily acknowledge our failures, admit we have failed and repent (change).  This keeps us in line with Him.

Where have you gotten off-center in your life? 

I want to express my apologies to my faithful readers because of my slow writing here lately.  We have been pretty busy and I have put writing to the back burner.  I see the light at the end of the tunnel and am hoping to be back on schedule with writing again next week.

This week we were out of town for a couple of days.  We went to pick up Josh from Gainesville, Texas.  He has been on vacation with my parents for the last 2 weeks.  It is great to have him back.  He helped me unload the car and will have to take out the garbage this evening:)  Well besides that, I am glad he is home.  Josh is my partner and helps me tremendously with things around the church.  When he is gone, it is like missing my right hand man!

While we were away we spent a couple of nights with Sonya’s parents.  It was great to see them and her dad seems to be doing better.  I tackled a project for my mother-in-law and as usual it took me two days to complete a two hour project.  I used to get mad at this kind of thing, but I am encouraged that at least I am consistent.

Hannah made my night.  She was wearing her Snow White outfit, because she is a princess.  So as she was going around the house she would address me as Prince, instead of Dad.  “Prince, will you get me___?”, “Prince, what are you doing?”  Is it any wonder I spoil her?  (For those of you who question her addressing me as Prince, she believes I am really a prince.  She is not referring to the 80’s rock star)

Anything by Fred Stoeker is a good book.  In fact, multiplied thousands have been changed by his Every Man’s Battle Series of books.  Hero is no different, except for the fact that it is co-written with his son, Jasen, who has conquered the young man’s battle.  He has dedicated his life to living purely and gives a clarion call for every other man to do the same.  What Hero reveals is that the battle over sin and temptation can be won and that young men can live purely from the start.  Hero takes you on a journey with Jason and shows how he has lived holy in an unholy world. 

Hero is a fitting title and is written as a challenge to be his woman’s hero through living righteous lives.

Here is a summary of the book

You already know it’s not easy being a single man in this culture today. But it is easy to be overwhelmed, to feel helpless and hopeless about living by God’s high standards for singles. It’s easy to cave in to the pressures of this sex-soaked world and accept defeat—blaming the media, the culture, even girlfriends who don’t know how tough it can be.

But many men have read books like Every Young Man’s Battle and Tactics and have committed themselves to stand strong and pure in the power of God, and to go on the offensive against the onslaught of negative stereotypes. Some have suffered. Some have fallen. But many have experienced victory—and you can be among them.

What makes those committed men so desirable to women? Be Her Hero is their motto. From best-selling author Fred Stoeker, along with his son Jasen, come the straightforward insight and real-life examples you’re looking for to help you take personal purity to its logical conclusion. Here’s straight truth with irrefutable evidence of what makes an ultimate hero to women who long for men of faith—men who stand by their convictions and make their world a safer and better place.

Are you ready to accept the challenge?

Author Bios:

Fred Stoeker is a best-selling author of several books, including Every Young Man’s Battle and Tactics, the president of Living True Ministries, and a popular conference speaker who challenges men to become sexually pure, to reconnect in true intimate relationship with their wives, and to train their sons to become godly men. A graduate of Stanford University, Fred lives in Des Moines, Iowa with his wife, Brenda, and their children.

Mike Yorkey, a writer living in Encinitas, California, has collaborated with Fred Stoeker in all his books for the Every Man’s series.

Jasen Stoeker is a popular conference speaker who challenges young men to be heroic in their relationships with women and to be a Christian, rather than just seem like one. Jasen is a graduate of Iowa State University with degrees in Computer Engineering and Computer Science and now lives in Minneapolis, MN, with his wife Rose.

You can pick up a copy here.

We have been doing some remodeling around the church, which is always fun.  The carpet was laid in my office Friday so I worked Friday evening and Saturday laying the trim.  I am by no means a carpenter.  I repeat, I am by no means carpenter.  I can put down trim and “make” it fit.  When I work by myself, no one will ever know how many missed cuts I have made, nor will they notice (hopefully) how bad I really am at this woodworking thing.  I have been reminded on occasion that I should stick to preaching. 

Nonetheless, I laid trim in my office.  I am not sure if the walls are not square or if I do not know how to cut, but when I get to a corner, it doesn’t always match up good.  This is why the Bible says that Caulk will cover a multitude of sins.  Maybe that is the Danny Cheney version.  Caulk covers the imperfections.  It hides the bad cuts.  It is alot like grace.

In our Christian lives, we often make bad cuts or have imperfections that need a good cover-up.  We mess up, we do things wrong, we make mistakes and it is awesome that God is a God of grace.  The Bible says, “Where sin does abound, grace does much more abound.”  Grace is the cover-up for our shortcomings. 

Now, we should always try to do better and do things the right way but when we fail, Grace is there to cover us.  I John 2 tells us that God has given us His word so that we might not sin, but if we do sin, there is an Advocate, Jesus Christ the Righteous.  What an awesome thought!  We are to do our best to live right, but if we fall short, there is one who forgives us.

From Kevin DeYoung, Just Do Something, pp. 50-51:

Passivity is a plague among Christians. It’s not just that we don’t do anything; it’s that we feel spiritual for not doing anything. We imagine that our inactivity is patience and sensitivity to God’s leading. At times it may be; but it’s also quite possible we are just lazy. When we hype-spiritualize our decisions, we can veer off into impulsive and foolish decisions. But more likely as Christians we fall into endless patterns of vacillation, indecision, and regret. No doubt, selfish ambition is a danger for Christians, but so is complacency, listless wandering, and passivity that pawns itself off as spirituality. Perhaps our inactivity is not so much waiting on God as it is an expression of the fear of man, the love of the praise of man, and disbelief in God’s providence.

HT: Between Worlds Blog

"It is often ignorantly and frivolously charged against Christian men that it is selfish in them to seek heaven and glory for their own souls; but no man who is truly seeking salvation will be moved by that accusation. When men really begin to seek their salvation, and to turn their faces to the glory of heaven, then it is that all selfish and ignoble desires receive their death-blow. It is not selfish, surely, for the diseased to seek healing, or the hungry food, or the prodigal his father’s house. So far from this being a sign that the heart is selfish, there is no surer sign that it is being sanctified."

Alexander Whyte, An Exposition on the Shorter Catechism, page 138.

HT: Ray Ortlund