Are you a BELIEVER, or are you a FOLLOWER?

Watching my friend getting baptized this weekend, one gentleman who preceded him stated he WAS a believer, but NOW is a FOLLOWER. That comment really resonated with me because for many years I have been a believer, but not necessarily a follower. During my walk I have been struggling to find the answer to what He would have me to do, and I realized not long ago I am in the desert because I was not following Him.

I posed this question recently to friends and not surprisingly, some like me, had not considered the difference between the two.

In the military when we were operating in a tactical environment with dozens of people moving around relying solely on their abilities to navigate and find key points to rally, people would often times not be at the assigned point and time in order to gather everyone together to accomplish the mission.  The one or two stragglers or folks who got lost, weren't disobeying their leaders or TRYING to fail. Rather, they were simply not following their leaders as closely as they should/could have.  They relied on themselves and in the bigger picture, their perspective failed not only them but those around them as well.

When I realized the error of my ways, and made a substantial change, I immediately felt more energized at work despite working 6 days a week for between 8-12 hours. I no longer felt as fatigued and stressed and now my family is benefiting from this. They are no longer getting my leftovers and a grouchy impatient husband and father.  I only wish I had been able to accomplish this much earlier for my sons. I was very difficult at times.

So, what is a believer, and, what makes someone a follower?Jesus is a leader today, but he followed God for his first 30 years before stepping fully into the leadership role God the Father had in store for his final 3 years on Earth. 

Below He illustrates the first maxim of leadership to Peter by serving or following first before leading men.

Jesus washes Peter's feet. An act of devotion and serving.

A believer is someone who, has accepted Christ as their Saviour and has received the anointing of the Holy Spirit as a believer. Call it Christianity 101 if you will.  They are often fervent and passionate about the Word and grace they have received. Hungry for more exposure to the Lord and plugged in so to speak about their church perhaps. Sharing with others their new-found faith and forgiveness.  This is an all-important first step, the significance of which cannot be overstated, for without first believing there can be NO following.  However, the new believer may not yet have a complete submission to God in all facets of their life.

For example, as a child, we mostly follow our parents' guidance for two reasons; positional authority and our innate belief they have our best interests at heart. This is true even though at times we don't understand why they may "rain on our parade" as it were. We lament to them "but everyone else is doing it (or going)". Sometimes we might rebel and defend it saying to ourselves "They just don't understand", thus justifying our disobedience and the breaking of their trust and wishes.

That doesn't take us away from being their child or even being faithful to them, just as a sheep may stray from the herd doesn't mean it no longer has faith in the shepherd. The child will learn a lesson from the disobedience, which is a part of the growing process, and the sheep likewise, will in kind follow the shepherd once again.

As we grow in our walk and become more and more spiritual as a follower, we learn at a far greater pace what God has in store for us. And we have to- it is simple physiology. When we take our eyes off a distraction and focus on the goal, we accomplish many things.  As a follower of Christ, our eyes are, by definition, upon Him and not on the earthly distractions. I firmly feel this is where "Christians" like the ilk of Westboro Baptist are so far astray from the walk with the Lord they are actually doing more harm than good. While they may believe, they are most certainly not following. I can say this with great faith for in John 8:1-11 Jesus forgave the adulterous woman when no legalist remained free of sin to cast the first stone. He forgave the sinner OF  the sin, and BECAUSE of the sin. WBC is proclaiming GOD killed our sons in battle because the Army is permitting homosexuals in it's ranks. That viewpoint cannot be reconciled with the heart and teachings of Jesus. It is clearly contradictory to anyone who is truly forgiven.

A Christian pointing his finger at sin does not realize he has THREE fingers pointing back at himself!

Furthermore, were there any Truth to their belief, would not ALL soldiers necessarily be condemned to the same sentence as their fallen comrades?

By following, we also receive better discernment on how to contend with sticky situations whether they be professional or personal, like how to help show the light to a non-believer.  This is critical for followers, for in order to be a good leader, you must FIRST, be a good follower. This of course is why people cannot simply start at a major corporation as a Vice-President or CEO without the commensurate experience. Likewise, Generals are not born into the army as they used to be but rather molded through experiences as a subordinate. Can you imagine a judge with no legislative experience hearing a case? A doctor having not completely subordinated themselves to their medical professors' experience and leadership? It simply could not happen in this world.

So the question falls to you now. Are you a believer or a follower?  If I can make the same type of impact on someone else I just received then that will bless me for my remaining days.

Preparing your children for the future

This weekend our oldest son, Michael, along with 734 other students from his high school graduated in the 2010 commencements.

Commencement. I wonder who chose that word initially to term the graduation from their schooling life to that of an adult about to enter the workforce? It really is a great word if you think about it- commencement. The start of something new, not the end.

During the last few months, my wife and I have been a bit melancholy about this date. It seems like just yesterday our little boy was running around in my boots and learning how to walk and talk. And now, he is a strapping young man, taller than me, and quite a good example of a fine human being if I do say so myself.

But we still wonder if we did the right thing. Did we teach him to make the right decisions? Did we teach him to think of others? Did we teach him to honor his family, friends and God? Did we equip him with the right tools to be a successful husband and father? Perhaps only time will tell.

We are not experts by any stretch of the imagination. Rather, we are God-fearing people who are dedicated to the 3 most important things (we think) in life: God, Family and country. For us, there is no family without God, and we cannot imagine living without our faith let alone raising a family in this world so fraught with evil. The family and it’s governance in is chronicled in the Bible. I often joked when I was younger that we (or babies) don’t come with an owner’s manual. How wrong I was!

The Holy Bible has so many life lessons in being a son or daughter, father or mother, a law abiding citizen, yet so many people allows these fundamentals to escape them. The same book also speaks to being a good citizen- to obey laws and when necessary, defending your community or nation. This responsibility has grave responsibilities and is what makes veterans so special in our house. The service of others is perhaps the greatest gift God has given us for when we do serve others, we are doing so out of obedience to Him and love of others. And there are countless servants- the teachers we learned from, the civil servants of our towns who kept us safe or healthy, the people of God with whom we fellowship in church. Each plays an important role in our cultural experience.

I could say we did our “best”, but as long as there was one more lesson, one more question I could have imparted upon him, spent one more minute with him, then I did not do my best. As far as I am concerned, there is almost always just one more thing we can do in our professional or personal lives yet we continually come up short because we are more comfortable with coming up short.

Fortunately, as I opened, he is simply beginning something new. He is not leaving us to never be seen or heard from again. We will still be there when he needs us, even if he doesn't think he does, or if he is to make a mistake.

We are very proud of him- he learned many tough lessons, particularly this past year, but his talent is perhaps where my greatest failure is realized. He has a penchant for playing video games as many his age do, and consequently was not quite as dedicated to his studies as his contemporaries. What is frustrating is he has the ability to have done better based on his SAT score without really preparing for it and having taken it with a broken nose from a wrestling match that weekend. How much better could he have been? He is one of the sharpest young men I know, having more on the ball than some “adults” I know. That comes from his intensity I should think. Perhaps I should have been still firmer in my expectations for him. I do hope I did not do him a disservice.

All I know is I really wanted to be a different parent to my children than my parents were to me, and to that end, I am confident I have thus far been very successful.

I hope not only Michael but all his contemporaries, from all over the world, are open to experiencing life through the eyes of a Christian eye, are ready for the challenges ahead of them in this trying period of our existence, and they cultivate others along the way. I pray Michael will take the lessons we gave him and apply them and emerge the leader I believe he is. But once again, only time will tell, and it will, I pray, reveal to him what his reason for being is.

Why do we fear a challenge?

A sort of follow up to my March article on Standing up to Challenges, I began wondering on my way home this evening why we shy away from challenges. I was listening to the radio decompressing before I got home and Taylor Swift's A Love Story was playing. In one verse she says "Romeo save me, they try to tell me how to feel; This love is difficult but it is real", and it got me to thinking how many people I know who are separated or divorced. How many people I know who have never faced their potential and chased their dreams. Why is that?

We live in the greatest country in the world. Freedom and liberty enable us to be ANYTHING we want to be, yet remarkably few take advantage of us. I see many immigrants in the area living the American dream. They work extremely hard, many have their own business and home. They chase the dream with a vengeance, and hang on to it.

When I was separating from the service after a short stint, I was faced with one of the greatest challenges of my life. All my life all I had ever wanted was to serve my country as an officer in the military for a career. It is all I thought of. And when I was faced with a difficult decision to separate and provide for my wife and 2 children, the task was quite daunting at the beginning of the journey.

Several colleagues and I went to a recruiter's informational meeting to see what options we had available. He was strong, convicted and very good at what he does. He suggested we read his book on PCS'ing to Corporate America. After the meeting, I conferred with a couple of friends and wondered about my meeting with him the following afternoon. "Don't worry" they said- "just go". The decision to go or postpone weighed heavily on my mind.

The next morning I phoned the recruiter and asked for an appointment on his next visit in a couple of months. He of course thanked me for my courtesy, and we went on with our day.

The next day I asked my buddies how the interview with the recruiter went. I heard all kinds of excuses: "He was arrogant", "He was an &**hole", "A jerk" etc. Predictably, everyone with these comments was not accepted by him to be a candidate for his recruiting agency.

Coincidence? I think not. You see, Roger only accepted on average 12% of the applicants. Not because they were extraordinarily talented, but because they were committed to the career change and were taking it very seriously. They demonstrated this commitment by reading his book and many others, and learning how little they knew about themselves and how to interview. Under Roger's leadership we became experts of ourselves and rose to the challenge. His course was rigorous and demanding, but deep inside my heart I knew by following his advice and direction and dedicating myself to his plan everything was going to be alright, and that is how I was able to lead my family during one of the most stressful periods of our lives.

My friends took the easy way out. They chose not to try to learn about themselves, and if they don't know themselves, how can they convey their best qualities to a prospective employer and land the big job? They can't.

When I landed my job with a cutting edge medical company selling devices to surgeons, my friends called me "lucky". That infuriated me.
God had given me a path, just like them, but unlike them, I chose the path less traveled and succeeded where they had failed. I suppose it is easier to point the finger at someone else and call it luck, but it was highly offensive nonetheless, and I am not one to get worked up about stuff like that.

Along the same lines, many people accuse my wife and me of being lucky for the relationship we have. We have been together since we were 16, and have never been with anyone else. What we have IS special, and I think we are indeed blessed to have each other (though I am DEFINITELY getting the better part of the bargain!), but the marriage thing has not always been a bed of roses. We have had ups and downs. We have fought. We have disagreed about things, but we have worked them all out. We trust each other implicitly, knowing the other would never do anything to harm what we have.

This is rare, I know.

But the point is the work and the investments we make into our relationship. While I am not always a teddy bear to be around, I do my best to leave my frustrations at work (or wherever they come from) and not take them out on the family. I am not always successful, but I try. My wife loves me for who I am, and she realizes the grumpy guy is NOT who I am. She looks past this inadequacy. How she put up with me when I was in the service and much more volatile is a mystery to me. (I told you I was getting the best bargain here)

Nothing worthwhile is free or easy, and if it is, it is most definitely not worth much to you.

People use all kinds of things to fill a void in their lives- shopping, home decor, cars, vacations, clothes, food, alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, sex. The list goes on and on. Each of these "addictions" as many are becoming known are nothing more than the human spirit, seeking more pleasure, being allowed to spiral out of control by someone not working to improve themselves. And if they are not willing to improve themselves for their own benefit, what chance does their spouse have of motivating them?


The bottom line: We fear a challenge because it makes us uncomfortable, we feel we have too much at risk or don't see enough payoff for the challenge. When we try to tie a monetary value to everything in our life, we devalue that which is most sacred- the love of our Father, our family and our neighbors. When we take our eye off the ball and focus on the material things in our lives, we lose sight of the greatest commandment and subsequently true joy. We Americans feel if we can have this vacation, raise, promotion, car or house we will truly be happy. Then, there is one MORE thing we want, then another. When does it stop? Never.

Truthfully, are you really happier today with all you material possessions or were you happier when you were a simple child and found wonder and joy in most things? Sadly, most of us will answer no. We have supplanted a simple life with gadgets and stress trying to procure more and more stuff we will leave behind when we die.

Trust me on this one- take a trip somewhere away from the advertising that surrounds us today. Turn off the t.v., radio and Internet and spend a couple of days away from it all and see what you start to think about. You may find yourself looking at yourself and wondering how to change yourself for the better or to have a closer relationship with God. If not, worst case, you end up with a relaxing few days away from the constant pressure of in your face marketing.

Go ahead and try it- I dare you!

Do you get personal?

Friday morning on Fox News was a news story that at first blush disturbed me somewhat. The teaser stated a Texas church was giving away a car on Easter Sunday. That got my attention!

When the show returned after the break, the anchors introduced Pastor Bill Cornelius of Bay Area Fellowship from the Corpus Christi area network of churches. They have several campuses in South Texas, and each one will be drawing names for a car, laptops, big screen t.v.s and more in what they call The Ultimate Giveaway. Here is the description from their home page:

"YOU are the next winner of The Ultimate Giveaway! That's right...With nearly $1 MILLION in prizes and giveaways, this Easter, everyone will win something at Bay Area Fellowship! And, wait...that's not all. Each service we're giving awayFREE FLATSCREENS, LAPTOPS...and CARS!!! Be here beginning April 1 (and...no, this is no April Fool's joke). This is the real deal! No tricks, strings or fine print! Show up and let Bay Area Fellowship bless YOU this Easter!"

This was of great interest to the anchors so they asked Pastor Bill what was up- what are you thinking here?

Bill told them he is copying a friend from Minnesota and using the Ultimate Giveaway as a means to reach those who ordinarily would not attend church, even on Easter Sunday. He feels if he has JUST ONE chance to introduce someone to the idea of meeting Jesus and developing a personal relationship with Him, the he has been successful. The video is here on the homepage.

I immediately saw the potential there with this publicity stunt, and apparently it has been successful; Pastor Bill having led some 300 people last year to a personal relationship with Christ when He was accepted as their Savior. Hence the title "The Ultimate Giveaway" for the gift of eternal life is the greatest gift anyone can receive.

How great is that?

But it is a fine line between using this stunt as an effective recruiting tool and turning the temple into a commercialized God-free zone. A fine line indeed.

As I drove to work, I started to remember the wonder when I was exposed to a personal relationship concept with Rene Cardiff and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in high school when I was 14. I was already a believer but I was not a BELIEVER.

Rene was our trainer in high school, and was always one of the coolest guys around. He was a little older than us (at the time I think he was in his late 20's) and was very happily married to his wife Mary. Several of us would hang out in his office during lunch and talk several days a week. He never seemed to mind it. In fact, he seemed to revel in it, and now I know why.

I remember thinking to myself how great Rene was- how friendly and supportive. He had it all, and I subconsciously wondered what I needed to get the same joy of life he had. He invited me to attend the next FCA event and I did. Of course every one there was someone I knew, most of them from the football and baseball teams I was on so the comfort level was there immediately.

Over the next few months, I was impressed with the scriptural knowledge Rene had for a lay person, but I began to feel differently about my relation with Christ. I began to take on a different belief or perspective of Christianity. A paradigm had taken place in my life.

As I was attending Sunday School in church, I was told how difficult the Bible is to read because it is full of hyperbole and analogies. You must be well-read in ancient studies and languages to fully interpret the Bible. And it made sense if you knew no better. What I learned was the Bible is literal and fairly clear. The analogies take place when Jesus was trying to explain to others what He was all about (and many STILL didn't get it) and others were used when the author was trying to explain a concept (like John in Revelation talking about the iron grasshoppers that spit fire, which are of course helicopters today).

To illustrate this point, I offer to you my analogy. The Bible is basically our Father's word to us. His rules, if you will. Given He loves us infinitely more than we love our own children or our parents loved us, and given most of us had a clear understanding of what was expected of us by our own parents, how likely is it God the Father would not provide the same to us? Clear, defined roles, rules and guidelines? Boundaries are things man has sought from the beginning for our own understanding. Boundaries on land, law, relationships etc. Infants continually push the envelope as they develop and explore their own world and influence therein.

So I ask again, how likely is God to have said my children are wise enough to understand my Word since I did not speak clearly?

Of course the Bible is clear. It is meant to be our Daily Bread- the conduit to develop a personal relationship with Christ and the Father. This is something I have begun to take for granted in the sense I often forget not everyone knows what I know- that Jesus wants to commune with me and that God is a jealous God. He wants His children to be close and to have a close walk with Him.

Is that too much to ask? I don't think so- especially when you consider what we are celebrating this weekend. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is risen. Rejoice in the good news and share it with others.