Monday Thinking – Is This What You Are Looking For?

August 5, 2015

From the Front Porch

Over the last few weeks there have been a ton of folks that have been sharing things they are reading and discussing on social media sites. And I’ve just had some thoughts on all the different distractions we have allowed to take our focus.

As I spoke to someone today on the phone, I went on this little side thought and Lori thought it was worth a share. So, be warned before you listen, it’s about the “crap” we take in. My advice, regulate what you take in and regulate what you look at and listen to. And remember, whatever you put in is what you will get out in the long run!

Anybody want some pie?

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July 13, 2015

Christus Victor

Isn’t it amazing that we view our reality through the lenses in which we wear? I mean, if you wake in the morning with a headache, is the day a “headache” kind of day? If we wake in the morning and there are storm clouds and pouring cold drenching rain, does that affect the way you see the day? I mean, really it’s hard to see the sun when the clouds are blocking it.

However, isn’t it true that the sun is always shining whether the clouds block or not?

This is the way I see the days and times in which we live. The sun is shining whether or not there are clouds in the way of my view. I awake and choose to remember the sun is shining whether I see it or not! The clouds don’t change the reality. They simply impede my view of reality.

I have learned over the years that fads and movements have a tendency of running their course and where one generation a pendulum swings one way, the very next will in rebellion swing that pendulum the opposite way.

Does the pendulum’s swing change anything about the reality that what is in the Bible is what it is? No. Truth is truth. The WORD is the WORD.

Let’s ask another question. Is Christ on the throne? Is HE? Is HE on the throne when the Nero’s of the world rule? Is HE on the throne when the church is under pressure or persecuted? Is HE on the throne when we are afraid or things are unknown? Yes. HE has NOT fallen off the throne!!!!! HE has NOT changed, shaken or even been surprised.

Jesus is on the throne. Here is the reality… Christus Victor! Christ is already Victor! HE is victor in our atonement. HE is victor in our struggle. HE is victor. Enough said. People can say what they want. Nothing changes HIS victory.

Therefore I can live in that reality. Nothing else matters. Are there clouds some days when we wake? Yes! Do they change the fact that the sun is still shining and burning and alive?

NO!

Grrrrrrrrrrr!

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June 29, 2015

What if Everything Like Fathering & Marriage Were an Olympic Sport

Today as I had my quiet time and sat on the porch with Malachi and Lori, GOD spoke to me about my devotional reading.

[Read this today from Oswald Chambers… (See the image)]

The key thing that impresses me here is the way he discusses how unspiritual people encourage us to lower the bar.

I was thinking about this yesterday. Isn’t it interesting that people daily encourage us to lower the bar in our work, family lives, fatherhood or whatever?

And yet if we were running a marathon or were an Olympian, they would be the ones cheering as we literally tore our muscles and beat our body down in order to overcome some challenge and race on toward the goal.

Why don’t we see our personal lives in the same way? What do I mean? Well, what if my fatherhood was an Olympic event? Would I train?

Would I study?

Would I incorporate the best coaches?

Would I spend time digging deep and gutting it out?

Would I work on the skills daily?

Would I create muscle memory through routines and habits?

Would I realize my inadequacy in myself and do all possible to develop skill and heart?

The short answer is “yes” I would if I wanted to be the best and win a Gold Medal.

Why not in life?

Why don’t we do this with the most important things in life such as fathering and marriage?

Don’t let anyone tell you to lower the bar. Raise it. Run the race. Finish well. Win gold!

Raise the bar, folks.

All that we are today in America is directly related to how we have lived as Fathers in the past. Time to love the kids better.

Run the race, Fathers!

Run

Blessings on your week

#fathers

#beawesome

#raisethebar

#encouragement

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May 4, 2015

Keeping the Vision

As I read a passage from Oswald Chambers for May 2, I was stirred about the thought that vision is able to keep us anchored and patient in the midst of everything. If we find ourselves shaken, weak, broken, lost or complacent, we should ask for vision. There is so much more to the passage, so I am adding it here. But don’t sit in the dark when you can walk into the light today!

May you have abundant vision and encounter with GOD. HE is living and real and waiting for us to ask for encounters.

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March 17, 2015

Work Day Encouragement | Living Beyond the Routine

You know it gets so easy to become settled into a routine. So many times in life, we have so much going on that it is nearly impossible to change even one small thing without the most energy and resources. For instance, have you ever gotten a call from a friend and found that your calendar is so crammed with all the stuff you always have going that you cannot find time to get together for weeks or even months?

You have conference calls, meetings, kids sports practices or extracurricular activities that have been scheduled for months or the immoveable dates such as birthdays, anniversaries, other peoples’ weddings, etc. And someone says, “hey you want to get coffee or dinner?” And you cannot work out a time for it.

How did we get so busy? How did we get so overwhelmed with the mundane? Isn’t it easier to just go with the flow and do what is on the schedule or what feels like life-cruise-control. However, at the same time, do you ever go to bed with the gnawing feeling that there should be more to life than just what you are doing over and over every day?

I think that is why so many people break at mid-life and do crazy things such as affairs and such. It’s like they have gotten so tired of the routine that they just snap one day and want adventure and the adrenaline rush again. They just want that life giving feeling they had in their younger years.

Here’s a thought. Why not deal with the routine here and now? Why not fight the mundane and have adventure now? Why not incorporate your family and spouse in the daily adventure?

I have a radical idea. Stop right now and determine to do something different. Don’t have that train wreck. Have adventure and life every day. It is possible to cultivate a conversation with GOD by taking just 7 minutes to start with every day and be still and meditate on a teaching or Scripture. Start with an online devotional like, Blackaby’s Daily Devotional Blog. Or even try Oswald Chambers’ daily devotional called, “My Utmost for His Highest.” Or for you ladies out there, maybe try Joyce Meyer’s daily devotional.

Take 7 minutes. Tell GOD, “this time is YOURS, LORD. Come meet with me. I have set it apart to you…” Take the devotional you are using and read it. Dig deeper into the passage in the Bible it mentions. Write down what spoke to you the most. Then turn that into a prayer and ask GOD to reveal to you that day what it means in life.

And then here is my favorite part. This is where the ADVENTURE begins. Before you leave that 7 minute moment, imagine in your head how GOD may invite you to join HIM. Every single day GOD is doing something around us. Are we looking to join HIM? Are we paying attention to what HE is doing? The Bible says, “…the Father is always at work…”

If HE is always at work and HE is everywhere, we can assume that there are places to join HIM in that work all day long, everywhere we go. So, look around and ask Holy Spirit all day long, “Where are you working?”

At some point, HE will show you. Expect it!!!!!

It may be someone saying, “I need you to pray for…” Stop right there and pray. That is where HE is working. It may be someone that needs the door held for them. Run and grab that door and when they say, “thank you,” respond with a word of encouragement. Maybe even a “GOD bless you…”

It could be a disheartened sales clerk. Walk up and pull a Lydia Grace Hedrick and say, “Do you know Jesus loves you?” I tell you what, that one line from a 4 year old takes grown adults to tears in two seconds, true story.

Why live mundane any longer? Expect interruptions. Expect adventure. You think I have stories??? Well, yes I do. But you will have better ones!!!!!

Cultivate relationship with GOD and have adventure today.

Blessings all!

just dustin

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February 2, 2015