Men's Fraternity Week 23

Men’s Fraternity
Week #23 – Practical Step of Manhood



Introduction:

Malachi 4:6
And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.

Four week focus:

To take action by leaving a godly legacy of faith, hope and love through the art of letter writing.

Our definition of the word “Blessing”: It is the unmerited, undeserved favor of God.

Four Biblical Principles Concerning the Blessings of God

2 Timothy 1:2-3
I am writing to Timothy, my dear son. May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord give you grace, mercy, and peace. Timothy, I thank God for you – the God I serve with a clear conscience, just as my ancestors did. Night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.

1. We are to ask for the blessings of God.
1. His favor.
2. His power.
3. His protection.
2. We are to recognize the blessings of God.
1. Cultivate a thankful heart.
Psalm 127:3 Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him. Proverbs 18:22 The man who finds a wife finds treasure, and he receives favor from the Lord. Proverbs 1:8-9 My son, listen when your father corrects you. Don’t neglect your mother’s instruction. What you learn from them will crown you with grace and be a chain of honor around your neck.
3. We are to receive the blessings of God.
Three prerequisites to do this are:
1. Fear and revere God.
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
2. Trust God.
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths.

3. Obey God.
1 Peter 1:14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance
• God wants us to give Him [trust Him with] our:
• Time
• Talent
• Treasure [money]
4. We are to give the blessings to others.
Proverbs 11:25 Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.

Exercise: 15 min.
Take the time we have left and use the fill in blanks and write why you are blessed to have your wife as your wife. If you are not married, write this letter to your oldest child, a sibling, mentor, teacher, pastor, etc…

”I am blessed because…

Sharing: 5 min.
I want each of you men to share 3 reasons why you are blessed to have your wife as your wife, or sibling, friend, etc…

Before next week

By next week I want you to set up a time with your wife or whoever you wrote the letter to. If you ave the courage, take that letter and read it out loud. Then pray a prayer of blessing over the moment. See what God does in that moment.

Men's Fraternity Week 20

Men’s Fraternity
Week #20 Comfort



Introduction:

John 4:31-35
Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.

I. Deep Idol of Comfort

• There is a hidden, yet sudden power in comfort!

1. Comfort Idol yearns for privacy, making no demands and will only do for others if it brings stability or relieves stress.


1. Selfishly introspective.
2. Constantly noncommittal.
3. Abhors anything impinging upon personl freedom.


2. Greatest nightmare for those who worship comfort is spontaneity and demands.

II. Comfort Idol’s Traps

1. The Fear of Responsibility.


• Man hides from obligation, believing that real happiness is found apart from responsibility.

2 Thessalonians 3:11
For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busy bodies.

[If we’re idle we begin to meddle, talking about how things could have been done better]


2. Trap of Consumption


• Preoccupation with consumption is a diversion, but it’s not a solution to the stressful messes around us.

Proverbs 25:27-28
It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one’s own glory. A man without self control is like a city broken into and left without walls.

Deuteronomy 31:20
For when I brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my covenant.


• If your “go-to” when times get hard and stressful is to consume, there’s a great chance that what is driving you is a deep comfort idol.


3. Trap of Escapes


• Rather than deal with the harshness of life or feel the pain that is part of life we create an alternate reality of escapes.

2 Peter 2:20
For if after they have escaped the defilements of the world, through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.


• The real pleasure in life comes not in the pursuit of pleasure but in the fulfillment of responsibility.
• Deep happiness and satisfaction is NOT actually found in pursuing freedom and escape, but it is actually found in the middle of walking with God in the midst of uncomfortable, challenging times.
• ”Sin is what you do when you are not fully satisfied in God.” - John Piper

III. Replacing the Idol of COMFORT

1 Peter 5:6-7
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because he cares for you

• ”Humble” - having a teachable spirit and attitude. That is our part!
• ”Proper time He may exalt you” - God will lift us up in His proper time. That’s God’s part!
• Cast anxious moments on Him - Run to God, not to your temporary comforts. That is our part!

1 Peter 5:8-9
Be sober-minded: be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

• Sober-minded…watchful – We must be on high-alert against an enemy who is seeking to gain access to our lives.
• Adversary - the devil functions like a prosecuting attorney in our mind bringing up our failures and messes creating fear.
• Devour - means to drink or lick, the enemy wants to create fear in us so that we turn into a mess of liquid emotions.
• Resist him - Stand! Keep your focus on Christ!
• Brotherhood - the suffering you face, others are facing too! Best have each other’s back!

1 Peter 5:10
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

• Suffering a little while - resilience in the midst of difficulty only lasts a little while. At the moment it feels like forever but compared to eternity it is a little while.
• God’s Grace is sufficient - God is the ________ of all spiritual comfort and help for every ________.
• Restore, confirm, strengthen, establish - That is God’s complete work in our lives.

If we are not fulfilled and secure in God, we will inevitably seek other sources of happiness and security.

Discussion:
Which traps are you most prone to find yourself in during stressful or difficult times: Fear of responsibility, trap of consumption, trap of escapism?

Sometimes we seek the idol of comfort because we lack overarching purpose in life or because of the pain of adversity. Do you agree? How have you seen this in your life?

In what sense can pleasure and comfort be an idol?

What is your “Comfort zone” that you struggle getting out of?

In Psalms 16:7-11, what is the Psalmist’s attitude towards pleasure?

Journal - The Next Step On Our Journey

Well, let me think now. I think I mentioned earlier that we were beginning our search for a new car today to replace my truck that got wrecked last week. I really had my heart set on getting another Explorer if I could manage it since I loved my old one so much. For the last several days I was searching online to see what was available in this area and was pleased to see that there were plenty of Explorers around. I already had it in mind that I would probably not be able to get a newer one than my old ’99 and that I might have to get one with lots of miles on it. Having those things in mind we set out today to visit our first used first lot.

In my online searches I had found a lot in Kearney that had two Explorers, both within my price range and both with lower than expected mileage. I had decided to make that our first stop. We got there and saw the two Explorers right away and both were pretty decent looking. The guy came out and asked what we were looking for and I said “I’m looking for these!” He went inside and brought out the keys and also the keys for a third one that he had on the lot. We drove the first one, a light blue ’98 with a dark blue interior. It was quite good looking but right away I thought that it did not feel very good on the road. It was kind of shaky and didn’t seem to have much power when I stepped on the gas and after a few minutes we started to smell something burning. So we took that one back.

2000 Dodge Durango 4x4

The next one was a green ’99 that was pretty much identical to my old one except for the color. We took it out and it felt much better on the road. It had some defects but nothing major. I was thinking that one would probably do, but I wanted to look further before making a decision. We took that one back and took a look at the third one he had. It was an old ’91 but it only had about 80k miles on it, which is amazing. I was pretty sure I didn’t want one that old regardless of the miles but we took it for a drive anyway. It was in amazingly good condition and we both liked the color too, white over blue. I didn’t get to drive it very far because it was almost out of gas. I was pretty sure I didn’t want that one anyway so we took it back after a short drive.

Durango Rear View

So after our third drive the guy came back out and asked us what we were thinking. I told him what I thought of each one and then asked him if he had any other SUV’s on the lot for around four thousand dollars. Just as I said that we were walking past a beautiful dark blue Dodge Durango and I said “Probably not this one huh?” He took a look at it and said “Yeah we’ve got that one marked at $3,988 and that silver one over there also for $3,988.” I was flabbergasted because it looked like it was probably a lot more expensive. He asked if we’d like to drive it and I said yes. Well, Joni and I got in and I think it was love at first sight for both of us. The color was exactly what I wanted and the interior was a beautiful cream colored leather and there was even some of that fake wood grain stuff on the dashboard. We pulled out of the lot and drove about two blocks and I told Joni “I love this truck.”

Love that fake wood grain!

So we drove for a bit and then took it back. I told the guy that I loved that truck and we spent a few minutes looking it over. It finally came time to talk about money so I told him I could give him $3600 for it. He said “Let’s go inside and see what we can do.” So we went in and he looked at some papers, although honestly I don’t think he was looking very hard, and he said “Yep, we can do that.” We signed the papers, handed over a check and we were off, me in the new truck and Joni in her car.

Journey and Carma

I love this truck! I miss my old truck, but this sure softens the blow. Is it perfect? No. Does it exceed my expectations? You bet. I got it home and spent the afternoon washing and waxing it, as I always like to do when I bring home a new car. Then I got out the camera and started shooting.

So, this is a 2000 Dodge Durango in one of the most beautiful colors of blue I’ve ever seen. It has a lot of miles on it but I think it has a lot left in it too. Everything seems to work, with the possible exception of the cruise control, which felt a little flaky on the way home. This is a truck that really looks, feels, and sounds like a truck. Oh, and it’s a four-wheel-drive, which is something I was really hoping to get. My old Explorer didn’t have that, which was okay back in Dallas, but not so good here in Nebraska. It also has a third seat way in the back, something else the Explorer lacked. Not that I have that many people to carry around mind you. It’s kind of neat though, and of course the seat folds down completely flat to make extra cargo space, which is what I will need more often. I think I mentioned before that Joni likes to name our cars. The old truck she had named Destiny, and our Cougar she named Carma. She has already decided to name the new truck Journey.

Now I will be hoping and praying that this will be a good truck for us. I sort of felt led to this truck, the way I felt led to the Cougar back in August. It wasn’t the truck I was looking for but when I saw it and drove it, it just felt right. And I didn’t run all over tarnation looking at vehicle after vehicle like I had planned either. Once again I am reminded that I can make all the plans I want to, but if God has something else in mind then I better be flexible. It’s a hard thing to follow His will rather than my own, but it always is the better way.

1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. ESV

Proverbs 3:5-5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. ESV

Journal - An Exciting Day!

So today, August 8, 2013, was a pretty exciting day.

Adam and I both had doctor appointments today, Adam at 10:45am and mine at 11:00am. Pretty tight schedule I know, but we got to Adam’s appointment early and they took him right in. He got a good report from his doctor and we were out of there in no time so that we actually got to my appointment 15 minutes early.

My appointment was my regular 3-month checkup with Dr. Feilmeier. They took us in pretty quick there as well, as they always do. His assistant checked my vision and pressure and everything as usual. Pressure was good and my vision has leveled off at 20/25; that’s where it’s been for the last few visits and is no longer fluctuating. Dr. Feilmeier came in and checked me all out and said everything looks great. He actually said something rather touching today. He said “You’re my favorite patient, I’ll remember you for the rest of my life.” He sounded sincere when he said it too. You know how you can tell when someone is saying something off-handedly or when they really mean it. Well, that’s the kind of guy he is. I said “Likewise.”

So we were out of there in no time at all and went up to McDonald’s to grab a bite to eat before the most exciting part of our day. But before I talk about that I need to back up a bit.

Two days ago, on Tuesday the 6th, I was at work in the parking lot at Walmart. As I was walking down one of the rows picking up carts I noticed a car that had a For Sale sign in the window. Now, I see lots and lots of cars every day naturally, and For Sale signs are nothing unusual, but this one caught my eye for a couple of reasons. First, it was a really nice looking car, and second because the owner wasn’t asking an outrageous amount of money for it: the sign said $1600. Most of the cars I see with For Sale signs are either junky or have huge price tags on them. Now, I should mention that I have not really been looking for a new car, although ever since I started working last September I’ve thought it would sure be nice to have a second car so Joni wouldn’t be stuck at home with nothing all the time. Anyway, this car was a 1997 30th Anniversary Edition Mercury Cougar XR7. It looked very nice on the outside and since the windows were down I poked my head in and saw a very nice interior as well. It had 121k miles on it, but you know a hundred thousand miles isn’t what it used to be. My ’99 Explorer has over 140k on it and runs great. This car looked like it had been taken care of so I stored the phone number in my phone and went on with my work day until I got off at 6pm.

When I got home I told Joni not to get excited but I had seen a nice looking car for sale. Joni followed my instructions very carefully and didn’t get excited at all (shya!) But I explained to her that I would have to see if Mom would or could loan us the money, then I would have to try to coordinate a day off with Brad so I could have him look at the car, then I would have to call the insurance company to see how much that would cost. A lot of different details to work out.

Well, I called Mom as soon as I had finished telling Joni about the car that evening, and she said she sure would loan us the money. First problem solved. Then I emailed Brad to find out when his next day off was. He wrote back a little later and said he was off on Thursday. Lo and behold, my next day off was Thursday as well. Second problem solved. So Wednesday morning at about 9:30 I called up the owner and asked about the car for sale. She said, “I think you have the wrong number.” Oops. I panicked for a moment before looking in my phone to see what number I had stored and I knew right away I had punched it in wrong. Phone numbers have a way of sticking in my head sometimes and I just happened to remember what was on the For Sale sign and I was a digit off when I stored the number. So I called the number and left a message on the answering machine and waited. In the meantime, I called my insurance company and asked about that and they quoted me about $26 a month, which is about what I was expecting. Third problem solved.

I worked from 2 to 7 that day and waited all day for a call back, but it never came. When I got home I called again and a man answered. I was happy to discover that I had gotten the right phone number that time. We talked for a few minutes and made an appointment for 1pm on Thursday. So that brings me back to our exciting day, today.

We pulled up to the man’s house at about 12:30, having finished our doctor appointments earlier than expected. The car was sitting outside and Joni got her first look at it and was more excited than ever. The owner, an elderly man named Buzz, came out and we talked about the car for a few minutes then he gave us the keys and we were off. I had asked him earlier if he would mind me driving it to Axtel so my brother could look at it and he had no problem with that at all. Oh, I also noticed as soon as we got there that the owner had reduced the price on the sign from $1600 to $1400. Everything seemed to be going our way.

So we drove to Axtel, a trip of 20 or so miles. The car rode great: the engine had a good feel, transmission felt good, the only problem was when I stepped on the brake it made the steering wheel shake. He had told me up front that he thought the rotors might be going bad, and when I told Brad what it was doing he confirmed that. We also noted that the car would need new tires before long. Other than that it checked out good. Brad checked out as much as he could without having a shop at his disposal and said it looked like a good buy. Just the words we wanted to hear.

We drove back to Kearney feeling very light-hearted. When we got back to the man’s house I told him we liked his car and would like to buy it. I said, “If I offered you $1300 would you take it?” He thought for about 3 seconds and said that he would. Honestly, I wouldn’t have fought very hard with him on that. So we went in and he signed over the title and gave us 3 sets of keys, took off his license plates and we were on our way with a new (to us) car. It just makes me giddy to look out the window and see two cars sitting in front of our house. And it’s nice! I don’t think I mentioned, it’s maroon with kind of a cream-colored partial leather interior. All the buttons and gadgets work, even the air-conditioning, everything except the cruise control, which isn’t a big deal. We like it very much.

I really wanted to include some photos, but I also want to wash and wax it before I take pictures, so those will be coming in the near future.

Rejoice with us in the rich blessings that have showered upon us!

Luke 11:28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” ESV

1 Peter 3:8-9 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. ESV

Journal - A Day of Praise

Sunday was an exciting day, and one I had been looking forward to all week. I was already completely blind when we started attending our church in Kearney so I had never seen the building, or the people in it that I have come to know.
I was also a little (okay a lot) nervous about it, because Pastor Mike had asked me to come up and talk a little bit about the miracle that has occurred in my life. Not long after my bandage came off last Tuesday, I began asking God what he wanted me to do with this amazing gift that He has given me, and when we got home from Omaha on Wednesday, there was an email from Mike asking me to do that. My first thought was, “That’s what I get for asking I guess,” but I knew it was something that I needed to do. I know God didn’t restore my sight just to make me happy, He did it so that people can witness it and so that He can be glorified through it. So that was my task: helping people understand how God has changed my life over the last couple of years, and how important it is to keep the faith, even when things look bad.
So we arrived at church at about 9am as usual, and I got my first look at the building. It felt really great to see it, and the new sanctuary that was completed early this year is really beautiful. It was quite an experience putting faces to some of the voices that I have come to know. Everyone was very supportive and seemed genuinely happy for me. At the beginning of the service, Pastor Mike called us up and he asked me a couple of questions about my experience. I know God was with me because I managed to say some things that sounded coherent, and I even remembered the bible verse that I had wanted to share which was 1 Peter 5:6-7. It only took a few minutes and then Iwas done. Through the rest of the service, I really tried to focus on Pastor Mike’s message, but I was just too excited about seeing everyone and everything. Afterward, Mike asked if we could stay for the beginning of the second service and do it again, and we said “Absolutely!” We didn’t stay for the entire second service, just long enough to do that, and then we left.
After church, we had to run up to Walmart to pick up a few things. That was pretty cool too, just walking through the store without having to be guided, and looking at everything. Then we made a quick stop at Walgreen’s to pick up my prescription, and it was back home for lunch.
After lunch, I sat down and watched, yes watched, a football game. It was the Lion’s again, they’re having a really good year so they’ve been on tv almost every week. Unfortunately, they lost to San Francisco. A disappointing finish, but it sure felt good to see a game. I’m looking forward to seeing Nebraska play next Saturday: 2:30pm on ABC.
The rest of the day was relatively relaxing and uneventful, although we had another trip to Omaha to look forward to on Monday.

1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that when the time is proper, He may exalt you; casting your anxieties on Him because He cares for you.

Journal - Complications

On Thursday morning, the day after we came home from Omaha, I awoke and knew right away that something was wrong. My right eye was watering a lot, and when I took off my shield, I could tell that my vision was not as good as it had been on the first two days after surgery. It was blurrier, and there were lots of funny shapes and patterns in my vision: light spots, dark spots and sparkly areas. This was a little bit alarming of course, but I didn’t let myself get too upset about it because I knew we were going to see the doctor that afternoon.
At 3pm, we were at the Kearney Eye Clinic for my appointment. Dr. Feilmeier didn’t like what he saw. The pressure in my right eye was dangerously low; the reading they got was 5. Normal eye pressure is 15, with anywhere from 10 to 20 being acceptable. Doc asked me again and again if I had bumped my eye or strained myself in any way, but I really hadn’t. I guess there’s no way to know for sure what happened, but he surmised that I may have slept on it just right (or wrong) and even with the shield on it had put pressure on the eye causing a leak around the cornea graft.
Whatever the case may be, it was something that would require close monitoring. Doc said we would need to go see him in Omaha on Friday. He said there was a good chance that the eye would stabilize overnight and nothing further would be required. But if the pressure was still very low on Friday, we may need to go back into the operating room to see what’s going on.
So on Friday, we got up early and headed for Omaha once again, arriving at Dr. Feilmeier’s office at about 10:30am. They took us in right away, and before too long the doctor came in.
Dr. Feilmeier spent quite a bit of time examining my eye, poking and prodding and studying. The pressure was still low, and my vision hadn’t improved from Thursday, but he was unable to find any leaks around the graft at all. He even had a glaucoma specialist come in and take a look. Eventually, they both agreed that the graft looked good and there was nothing much to be gained by further surgery. Whew!
And that was about it. Dr. Feilmeier went over all the rules with me again: no touching the eye, no lifting of anything more than 5 pounds, keep it shielded at all times, and drops drops drops. I already had three different eye drops that I was using at regular intervals throughout the day, plus one pill twice a day. At this time, Doc added one more drop, and some steroid pills, not Prednisone this time but something I’ve never heard of. Steroids help to keep inflammation down which is why they are such wonderful healing drugs, but I also know that they can reduce your body’s ability to fight infection. I asked Doc about that because infection is a very real concern and something I have had a lot of problems with in my eyes. He said this was a very light dose and I didn’t need to worry about that, so I won’t. Anyway, we will still need to keep a close eye on things, so he made us an appointment for Monday (yes, back to Omaha again) and we were on our way.
We made it home in pretty good time, arriving back at about 2:30pm, and we spent the rest of the day relaxing.
Today when I woke up, I looked around and felt like my eye was a little better. Still not as good as Tuesday and Wednesday, but better than Thursday and Friday. It’s not quite as blurry, and most of the patterns and sparklies are gone, although not completely. I’ll be hoping for a good report on Monday. He’ll probably still want to check up on me before November 18, his next visit toKearney, but maybe we can at least wait a whole week. But hey, it’s all in God’s hands anyway so that’s all right with me.

1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. ESV

Hebrews 12:11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. ESV

Journal - What Do Doctors Know Anyway?

Hi gang. I’ve already written to some of you, and if I have, this will largely be a recap of what you already know.

On Monday, Joni, Adam, and I traveled to Omaha for my visit to the doctor. I saw Doctor Halgren who is a cornea specialist associated with the University of Nebraska Medical Center. We left home at 10 o’clock, and arrived just in time for my 2 o’clock appointment, allowing for a lunch stop in York. I’m sorry to say that the news I got was not so great.

In my left eye, the eye I had a cornea transplant on back in 2003, the prospects do not look good at all. I was not surprised to hear him say that the transplanted cornea is breaking down. That thing has been through the wringer. Also, I already knew there was a significant cataract in that eye, so that was no surprise either. The bad news started with the retina. The doctor said there are signs that the retina has become detached. Since the retina is behind the cataract, he won’t know for sure until I get an ultrasound, but he thinks it could be bad. He said if the detachment is severe enough, he would probably not be inclined to do any work on that eye at all because it just wouldn’t be worth it. Also, the pressure in the left eye is extremely low. As you may know, our eyes are filled with fluid. There is an organ in there that is constantly producing new fluid, and also a drainage system to let the old fluid out. For the eye to remain healthy, there has to be a certain degree of balance between fluid in, and fluid out. Normal eye pressure is between 10 and 20, I don’t know what the unit of measurement is called. My pressure today was 5. Doc says that could mean that the eye is simply shutting down. At the time, I didn’t think to ask what happens when an eye shuts down, but I guess it can’t be anything good. Anyway, Halgren said that all of these complications since my transplant are not out of the ordinary for someone with eczema and allergies. I’m a little surprised that Doctor Hargrave back in Dallas never mentioned that.

In my right eye he said I need a transplant, of course I already knew that. He also said there is a significant cataract in that eye which I didn’t know, but didn’t surprise me that much. Pressure on that eye was 9, which is low, but not alarmingly so. He said that if I get a transplant in the right eye, I may very well experience the same complications I had with the left, and he said the odds of any success there are about 50/50.

So that’s where it stands. I’m scheduled to go back next Wednesday for the ultrasound, but about halfway home I realized that I have a dentist appointment that day. I think I’ll keep the dentist appointment. Maybe I’ll reschedule the ultrasound, and maybe I won’t. I honestly don’t know right now. Well, that’s not entirely true. I will most likely go ahead with it, but it probably won’t be right away. I still need to find out what the Lions are going to do anyway.

I suppose I should be depressed about all this, but I really don’t feel too bad. When it’s all said and done, I don’t think this really changes anything. It was in God’s hands before, and it is still in His hands now. Is a bad prognosis from a doctor going to influence the will of God? Of course not. Doctors are smart people, but they are just that, people, and I think doctors tend to be a bit near-sighted anyway, if you know what I mean. There is still hope. As long as I live and breathe, there will be hope.

1 Peter 4:12-13 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. NIV

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. NKJV

When you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.
--Victor Hugo

Letting Go

When I was a kid, I used to love reading about animals. Everything about animals: what they ate, where they lived, everything. I had a subscription to a magazine called “Ranger Rick.” “Ranger Rick” was a kid’s magazine that was all about animals and the environment. Grandma Howard got me the subscription for Christmas one year, and she renewed it every Christmas until I finally outgrew it. Okay, maybe a year or two after I outgrew it. Sometimes it’s hard to let go of something so comfortable and familiar. I also had another magazine called “Zoobooks.” “Zoobooks” was much more detailed and scientific. Each month, they focused on one particular animal and told you absolutely everything about that animal.

I can’t remember which magazine it was, probably Zoobooks, but I remember reading about a particular type of monkey one time. It told about a method that hunters or poachers would use to catch the monkeys alive. The hunters would hollow out a small opening in the face of a large boulder or something similar. At the end of this narrow opening, they would carve out a slightly larger opening and then put food in it that the monkeys liked to eat. You see, the opening was barely large enough for the monkey to slip his hand in, but when he clenched his fist around the food, his hand no longer fit and he was stuck there. Even as the hunters approach the monkey, he was so unwilling to let go of the food that he allowed himself to be captured.

How alike we are to those monkeys. We are so unwilling to let go of the things we have, that we often miss out on something even better, maybe even our own salvation. Just like those monkeys, we cling so tightly to our possessions that we become trapped by them. And just like those hunters, our enemy, the devil, knows of our weakness, and knows how to use it against us.

I am probably more guilty of this than most. I don’t have a lot, but I really like the things I have. My home theater system, my magic-motion clock, my computer, my comic books, not to mention the things that once belonged to my grandparents or great-grandparents. Those things are all so important to me and I would be devastated to lose any of them, even though I know that God doesn’t want us to cling to the materials of this world.

This is a lesson that God has placed on my heart and mind very clearly recently. Pastor Mike has delivered, I think, three different sermons now regarding this topic in various forms, and whenever I “randomly” browse through the bible, the topic seems to come up. It seems there is something that God wants me to give up, and I confess that I have been dragging my feet and not looking very closely at the matter. It’s never easy letting go of things. Then yesterday at church, Pastor Mike’s sermon was about following God’s will all the way, not just doing the things that come easily, but also the things that are hard.

This is going to take some thought and prayer, like almost everything else, and I want to make sure I’m clear on it. I got seriously dissed by someone close to me last week and it’s left my head in kind of a mess. Also, I have this thing with the Lion’s Club hanging over me and I’m still not sure what I want to do about that. Where do you draw the line between rushing into something, and doing more damage by taking too long?

Well, one thing that I’ve learned is that no matter how badly I screw something up, God will always be there to help me pick up the pieces. There is comfort in that, at least.

1 Peter 2:15 For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.

1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

Journal - Meta Tags

I’ve still been spending a pretty big majority of my time working on “Audio Book Heaven.” I wanted to post new book reviews every other day throughout the month of May, and it looks like that will be no problem. I had quite a few short audio books on hand, books that I can complete in a couple of days. Still, it’s been a bit of a scramble writing reviews and getting them posted.

I’ve also been doing a lot of work on my older reviews, revising them slightly and re-posting them. I’m trying to optimize the whole thing so that it will show up on search engines. That means adding relevant keywords like "audio book" and “book review", as well as using the book title and author name. To get good results, I need to use those important keywords several times in each review so that's why I'm revising them. While I’m revising the old reviews, I’m also adding my affiliate links for Audible and Amazon. I had about fifty book reviews posted before I started all this so the revision process has been kind of tedious. I’m making good progress though, and I guess I’m more than halfway done. I’m hoping to have all that done by the end of May.

In addition to all that, I’ve been looking at some different ways to increase traffic to my blog. The best way to do that is to make sure it shows up in search engines like Google. When someone goes to Google looking for audio book reviews, I want them to find me. The best way to get in the search engines, is to have good meta tags.

Meta tags are part of the actual html code of your website, and they are what search engines look at to tell them what your site is all about. The tags would include the title of your site, plus relevant keywords. The keywords for my blog would be things like “audio book” and the others I mentioned above. It works best if the keywords you choose actually show up frequently in your website’s content, so that’s why I needed to do all that revising; I am mainly adding more relevant keywords to my book reviews.

So anyway, I found some instructions on how to add the meta tags to the code of my blog and gave it a try. It turned out to be pretty easy to add the code, but I didn’t really know if I had done it correctly.

Luckily, the instructions I found, also provided a link to an online meta tag checker. That’s exactly what it does, it checks your meta tags to make sure they don’t have errors and to make sure they have good relevancy to your content. So I ran the checker and my tags were entered correctly, and it said the relevancy was good also. Very good in fact, so I was happy about that.

The stat counter I put on my blog a few weeks ago is working well. I’ve been getting a small handful of hits every day, usually around 3 or 4 which is about what I expected to start with. One day I got a whopping eighteen which surprised me. Of course, I hope those numbers will gradually grow as I complete more work on the blog.

So I’ve been busy, this has turned out to be quite a project. I’ve been staying up pretty late every night working on it andI’m starting to feel a bit exhausted. That’s probably why I was sick last week. I don’t mind though. For the last year and a half I’ve just been drifting and it feels good to actually be working on something again. And if I end up making a little money off the thing, then I guess that’s okay too. I’ll have to give a share of it to God though since He is the one who gave me the sharp mind I needed to figure all this out.

1 Peter 4:10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.

Mark 12:17 Then Jesus said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's.” And they were amazed at him.