Tag Archives: 4 Streams

Break the Cycle of Fatherlessness

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This Sunday, we celebrate an important day; Fathers Day.  A day where we recognize Dads and thank them for all they do in our lives.  As men, Dads have a very critical role to raise up children.  It’s a role that I have taken very seriously myself to ensure my kids grow with sound character, a heart for God, and a desire to live according to His purpose.  I believe that this is such a critical aspect of raising children.  If they are geared toward God in life, then He can begin to go to work on their hearts and guide them as they become adults and He leads the rest of the way.

Unfortunately, there is a problem.  There is a continued growing trend of dads who completely check out in one way or another.  They abandon their responsibilities and leave their kids to fend for themselves to figure things out.  All too often a mom is left to play both roles.  This is a big problem. It’s a heart problem.  All too often these guys, I won’t call them men, are so focused on themselves that they refuse to put any sort of priority into being a dad.

This does not just have to do with guys who leave their families.  There are also guys who are there, physically.  They are still married and are around, but they don’t father their children.  They checkout in a number of ways.  Some are so focused on their own career success and selfish ambitions that they are always emotionally checked-out by the time they do come home.  Many other checkout in number of other ways.  The simple fact is that there is a big heart problem with many guys today.  They refuse to be the men they are called and created to be.  They refuse to the warriors for Christ they are meant to be to raise up their kids with heart for God.

So what happens?  Our kids end up severely wounded in a number of ways and then often times as they grow-up, unable to cope with these wounds they cycle begins to repeat itself with the next generation.

We have a problem men.  Our wives and our children need us.  We have a specific call to raise our children in Truth and to love God first.  Not abandon them to figure it out on their own.  Deuteronomy 6:5-7 says that we are to, “Love the Lord your God with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall team them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up”  We are teach our children to love God first with all that they are.

Paul said in Ephesians 6:4, “Fathers, do not provoke your children in anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Colossians 3:21 says, “Fathers do not exasperate (aggravate) your children, so that they will not lose heart.” 2 John 1:4 says, “I was very glad to find some of your children walking in Truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father.”

We have an important responsibility men.  All to often this is forgotten for many number of reasons whether the dad is in the house our now.  There was a time when even I was not aware of this responsibility.  It starts here though.  When we teach our children to seek God first and to love Him first, the kingdom is theirs and they can truly live the life that they were meant to live.

It’s an incredible responsibility that God has entrusted us with.  Even if you have father wounds in your life that you’ve had to deal with, you can break that cycle.  You don’t have to continue that trail of brokenness.  You have that choice.  You can break that cycle now.  Seek God’s intimate counsel. Don’t let the enemy bring you back to your own wounds and sins that may cause you to checkout from your kids lives.  Break the cycle.  Be the son of God you were meant to be and let that reflect in how your kids are raised to be children of God as well.  It starts with us.

Why Christian Counseling?

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So, as of last week, I am now through my first full month back in school.  Talk about a big adjustment to being back in school full time as I pursue a Masters in Professional Counseling.  It’s a big life change, but certainly one I cannot ignore.  I am thankful to have a family that fully supports my pursuits.  It’s a complete gear change.  I have been pursuing that corporate ladder for the last 15+ years and to completely shift gears has been a little nerve wracking but I can certainly say that just after this first month of study I feel more confident in this direction.  I refuse to ignore God’s calling any longer.

With that said, the question comes to mind of why Christian counseling?  It’s interesting to get the reactions of folks who don’t really know the journey God has me on.  You can tell that they think it’s a little odd.  To just go from where I have been, comfortable and with a growing career to completely change gears and direction.  First and foremost, I believe firmly that we are all broken.  This is fact and everyone of us, due to our fallen nature, is broken and has a story of struggle and brokenness and sin in our lives.  We can’t hide from it.  With that said, we have Good News in that Jesus Christ came to heal our brokenness and set us free.  This is the heart of His mission, not only to bring forgiveness us sins, but to truly set us free to find the life that God intended for us to have with our hearts new and focused on Him.

With that said, this year, I came to real terms with my own brokenness on a scale larger than I could have ever imagined.  When I opened to the door of my heart, Jesus came right on in and began a work on my heart that has been absolutely amazing.  Now, I have to continue inviting Him in each day to continue this healing as it can become so easy to fall back if we are not careful.

When this journey began, God put it on my heart, who He sees me as.  He brought me to connect with people.  To not live a life of a lone ranger, but to get in the midst of people and on the front lines.  He put it on my heart that there are many more that need to be able to find the healing of Jesus Christ.  It’s right there for everyone, but so many continue to struggle and just don’t know how to find their way to let Christ in, to let Him counsel them, and the Him heal their hearts.  This is why I am joining the growing masses of Christian counselors.  It’s not about trying to do something for my own self-gratification, but rather to bring glory to the Lord and help lead others to find the healing that Christ offers.

Trust me, I certainly did not have to do this.  I could have been content in my career, but when God calls, you have to go.  He called and I told Him I would go.  At this point, it’s about learning skills and methods that I know will be needed to counsel others from a Biblical point of view and to develop methods for incorporating the 4 Streams of Christ into counseling others to help people find the healing and life that Christ offers.

It’s going to be a challenging journey to be sure.  I don’t expect to come out of this making riches.  It’s not about that. I have a real heart to help people through counseling and ministry.  I full trust in God in where He is guiding me on this journey.  He is filling my round table with solid men to help guide and mentor me on this journey, some that have gone through similar journeys of their own to follow God’s calling.  The journey is just beginning and I will continue sharing as I progress.  I look forward to the day of getting in the trenches to help people through real soul care.  Stay tuned as God continues His work in my life.

18 Years: Beautiful Life and Beautiful Love

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Yesterday, my wife, Amber, and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary.  18 Years!  What an incredible journey we have been on so far.  We started out so young back in ’97.  Fresh out of high school, yet we knew that we were meant to spend the rest of our lives together.  When I think back to the time when we married, you could probably count on one hand how many people thought we would even last six months being married so young.  We had a different plan though.  It was the two of us.  We were committed to each other and were going to make it through whatever obstacles that came our way.

Our life together has not been without struggle.  We essentially grew-up together.  I worked 50-60+ hours per week, plus attended college full-time to take care of our family.  Our first son came later that year and we had to figure things out.  We had to learn about each other and adapt to life together.  We lost a lot of friends in the process as everyone drifted to college and their own lives.  Through it all, though, we stuck together and stayed committed to the life we set out to have together, no matter what came our way.

We stand here today, however, 18 years later, even more in love than we were then.  We were united as one just as the Lord calls us when we marry and we have lived our lives that way.  She is my life and my love.  She is the other half of me and I know God destined the two of us to be together for life.  She brings out the best of me being around her.  She has supported me in all my schooling and career and now that God has really taken over our lives she is even more behind where He’s leading us now.  Our lives being committed to the Lord has drawn us even closer together and seeing the light of the Lord shine in her is so beautiful.  She glows with the beauty of a daughter of God.

I’ve been so blessed to have Amber as my wife.  To have a wife that loves me unconditionally is so amazing.  Sure we have our ups and downs, but we our still madly in love and that grows with each passing day, week, month, and year.  I look forward to many, many more years with my bride.  She is a beautiful woman, and beautiful and loving wife, a great mom to our 3 children, and the best part of my day, every single day.  I pray God’s hand in our marriage everyday and that as we grow together in love and faith that our hope in Him shines in our lives and reflects in how we glorify the Lord through our marriage.  It’s a beautiful life!

“Staying married, therefore, is not mainly about staying in love. It is about keeping covenant. “Till death do us part” or “As long as we both shall live” is a sacred covenant promise – the same kind Jesus made with His bride when He died for her.” – John Piper

I’m Alive…Because He Lives!

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I was driving back home from the gym this morning and this song came on in my truck from Matt Maher called “Because He Lives.”  I’ve heard this song numerous times and everyone morning I workout I have worship music or some Christ center hip-hop blaring.  A great way to get motivated, start the day, find clarity, and get the heart and mind focused on Christ for that day.  Can’t just do it Sunday morning.

Anyway, when this song came, it just hit me hard.  I could feel the Holy Spirit fill me and my heart leaped with joy.  The words of this song are a stark reminder of the offer of life that we have in Jesus Christ.  The chorus says…”Amen, Amen, I’m alive, I’m alive because He lives.”  It’s quite amazing how God will use certain things to fill you and remind you even when it’s things that are a little more common in your life.

The words of this song were a stark reminder of that because of Christ we are alive.  This is such an awesome and powerful thing to think about for our lives.  We are alive through Christ.  Paul said in Ephesians 2:5,”He gave us live when he raised Christ from the dead.”  If it were not for God’s love and grace, we were dead.  We would be doomed to our sins.  There would be no life.

Because we have this offer of life, what else do we need to worry about.  Yes, we face struggles, we face difficult, pain, suffering, and heartache.  That’s a part of the evil of this world and our fallen nature.  But with all that, if you know Christ and know that He is victorious and is alive so that we can live, we have much greater things to live for.  What a glorious and awesome thing it is to have a God that loves us so much that He was willing to go to the depths of hell in order to rescue us, and bring us back to the life that we were always meant to have.

I’m going to keep this short today, but this is all so simple.  We are alive in Christ!  We are alive because He lives!  When we recognize this and learn that we can now live for the life that Christ has for us and live a life with our hearts full turned to God, what else matters.  Let’s live the life that Christ offered.  He offers life and life abundantly (John 10:10).  It’s right there for us.  We have to chose to accept that offer, stop living for this world, living a life that self-reliant and self-driven.  Live today.

Why Are We So Busy?

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Being busy is bad…That would be false.  There is nothing wrong with being busy and having things to do.  It’s a part of our lives.  If you have kids like Amber and I, you know that they definitely keep you on your toes as they get older with their different activities.  We certainly have no shortage of it in our family.  On top of work, church, and the many other things that encompass life, we often find ourselves in a place where we are just on the go, non-stop.

I question though, our motives for staying so busy all the time every single day.  We rarely take the time to let our spirit, soul, and body recover.  The only time this happens is maybe during a week in the summer and maybe at Christmas time.  Otherwise, we are back to the grind.  Why is it though?  Why do  we live lives that are just crammed full of things to do?  I was listening to a Ransomed Heart audio recording this morning and something profound hit me.  John Eldredge made the statement that busyness gives us a false sense of power and a sense of importance.

That’s a pretty strong statement.  I know many people that pride themselves in being busy.  They feel like its a good thing to always have something to do.  But why?  Is there something to the distraction of being constantly busy that keeps us from things in our lives or allows us to hide?  I look around and people are always in a hurry going from what thing to the next.  Going from meeting to meeting, from conference call to conference call, and flying through stores and down yhe road to the next destination.  It’s a constant race with heads and eyes ahead focused on the next task.  We have to go faster and faster and for what?

This past Sunday, I had a few hours at home to myself.  I had finished my papers for school and had literally nothing to do for a little bit.  I stepped on my back patio and just sat there letting my mind go.  A true time of Sabbath; of rest.  At first I was itching for something to do.  I then stopped myself thinking, ‘what’s up with that?’  I don’t need to be doing something.  It’s a distraction.  I had force myself to literally do nothing.  It’s so important in life that slow down.  Yes there are things to get done and responsibilities we have to our family and jobs, but if we let our busyness run our lives, it will flat wear us down and distract us from the real issues and the important things of this life.

Slow down and take time to let God in.  Don’t let your life get so distracted by constant routine that you even lose site of your faith.  It can happen, trust me.  About a year ago, I was hard charging in my faith journey.  The problem was I was only focused on the ritual (going to church, reading Scripture daily, journaling) and not true growth.  I let life get in the way and for a few months, found myself pulled away.  It took effort to get myself back in focus again and then God’s hands began to work.

We have to make the choice in how we live our daily lives.  Do we let busyness rule the day or do we actually take time to slow down and actually live?  As Eldredge also discussed, we have a thousand small choices to make and those thousand small choices can make all the difference in our lives.  Check your motives and get to understand, even in asking God, what drives your daily life and the busy schedules we keep.  See if your motives are driven by faith or something else.  Understand the motives of your life and take an account of what you do and why.  Don’t waste your life in a state of constant go, go, go.

Check your motives, slow down, and seek the Lord’s guidance in everything you do with full devotion and surrender to Him.  I know that’s easy to say, but once you learn to let go, you’ll begin to realize the things that you were doing that meant nothing and then learn where you should be focused instead.  It’s pretty amazing to feel and see. I’ve lived it and continue living it out everyday.  It’s not always easy as the demands continue coming, but when you can live life not worried about what others think should be done and just on what your Lord thinks should be done, wow!  It’s a whole new perspective on everything.

Jesus – A Most Welcome Disruption

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Life takes us on a series of ups and downs.  I’ve written about some of them in my life.  We have those good days and we have those not so good days.  We have times of great joy and times of great sorrow and pain.  With the variety of changes in our lives, we have often come to the point where we have accepted things the way they are.  We accept the circumstances that are dealt to us and take the attitude that either life sucks or the attitude to just make the best you can with what you have.  Either way, we come to accept things as they are and find ourselves in the routine of living for this life.

So many of us have become so complacent in our lives.  We live life for this world and we don’t allow our hearts to be free to live.  We certainly don’t life a faithful life, or rather a life that has a heart completely open to Christ and allowing Him come in and do what it is He said He came to do in Luke 4, heal the brokenhearted and set the captives free.  This week at church, we actually dove into this part of the Gospel where Jesus proclaims His mission in Nazareth from Isaiah 61:1 to heal the brokenhearted and set the captives free.  As was taught, Jesus did something when He read this Scripture.  He completely disrupted the religious complacency of the Jews.  He turned the world upside down as He came to disrupt everything that this world had grown so used to.  Religious rules and viewing God as a cosmic sheriff ensuring everything was followed.  The Jews had been waiting for the Messiah to come but completely missed it when He was right in front of them.

Jesus came to disrupt this world from the darkness it had fallen into.  A world that was distant from God and that was separated by sin, by rules and laws, and religious rituals.  He did just that.  When He came and completed His works of laying down His life to defeat sin, raising to life to defeat death and hell, and ascending to the Father’s right hand taking all authority over the heavens and earth, He disrupted everything and the world has never been the same.

We view that and it seems so big story, so big picture.  But what does that mean for our individual lives?  What does Jesus’s mission and His finished works mean for us in our daily routines in today’s world?  Well, when you look down to our individual lives, that’s exactly what Jesus is trying to do now.  He wants to completely disrupt our lives and turn our hearts to Him.  When He does disrupt your life, all I can say is wow!

My life is complete testimony to Jesus’s disruption.  When I finally fully surrendered my life and let Him take control, He began to disrupt and change every aspect of my life.  You want to talk about the year of the Lord’s favor?  2015 has been an amazing year so far.  Jesus came in and changed my heart and changed my direction and set me on a path that will bring God full glory and help lead others to the healing and freedom that Christ offers us if we allow Him to come in and disrupt our lives.

Jesus wants into our hearts, but we have to let Him come in.  We have to be willing to allow Him to disrupt the life we live now, where we are so set on ourselves.  As Jesus says, in Revelation 3, I stand at the door and knock.  He is knocking on our hearts.  Not just tapping away. He is banging on our hearts, hoping we’ll let Him in.

My challenge to you is to open your hearts to the disruption of Jesus.  Let me tell you, when you do, the feeling and freedom is so amazing.  You know longer have to live a life filled with worries and fear.  Not to say things will all be roses, but you no longer have to fear when you just let Jesus take control of it all. Let Him disrupt the flow of your life.  Not with religion and routines, but with with real freedom that draws you to Him everyday of your life.

Welcome the disruption of Jesus.  You will never regret it if you do.

He Will Take You As You Are

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I used to worry about the strength of my faith and whether or not it was enough for God to let me in.  From the brokenness and junk I dealt with in my life and some of the decisions I made in my sin and brokenness I used to feel like I would never be good enough to come out of it.  I would try my damnedest to, but I was so caught up in myself, my sin, my wounds, my brokenness, that I didn’t know if there was a way out.  Have any of you felt or do any of you feel this way today?  Well, if so, there is some really good news, Jesus will take us as we are.  Not because of what we do, but because of His grace and love that is unending.  As Paul wrote in Titus 3, we are given new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit because of God’s mercy, not for what we do.

If you study the Gospels you see that nature of Jesus and the many, many times we healed people who came to Him.  The blind, the leper, the lame, and many more.  What did not those that he healed do.  They to Him in faith and Jesus would tell them they are healed because of their faith.

You see, there are many all around, especially in the church that believe you have to get all of your junk in order.  You have to fix yourself before you can come to Christ.  You have to learn how to be faithful first and how to follow Jesus.  You have to learn to be a good Christian and follow the religious code.  You have to clean up your act.

THIS IS WRONG!

Look at those that Jesus healed.  We they came to him in faith, He healed them.  What does that mean?  We turn to Jesus in faith and give our lives to Him and then the healing and the cleansing takes place.  Yes, we have to confess our sins.  You can’t not confess your sins.  If you hide it, you are never going to get away from it and move forward.  What does Jesus say? Go and sin no more.  Turn away from what we done, confess it, and leave it at the cross.  Then you can be set free with a new birth and new life that Jesus came bring.

It’s so simple folks.  Get past all of the religious fluff.  All of the hoops that churches make you jump through to become what they deem to be a Christian.  Just turn to Jesus.  Isaiah 61:1, he came to heal the brokenhearted and set the captives free.  What we have to do ourselves and know that Jesus loves us.  He absolutely unequivocally, unconditionally loves us.  He loves us so much, He was willing, though he suffered greatly, to be brutally tortured including being hung on a cross to die so that we can return to the Father and have the life we were always meant to have.  With that, if we turn to Him in faith and open the door of our hearts to Him, then through the power of the Holy Spirit, He will come deep into our hearts, help find and confess the sins we have, forgive those that wounded us, and we can then have our hearts restored to a new life.  We don’t have to jump through religious hoops first.  It’s all a matter of our own willingness to turn to Christ and let Him in.  He’s banging on the door, we just have to be willing to let Him in.

I can share this because I speak from my experiences.  Remember I said I didn’t know if there was a way out.  I was stuck behind the stained glass.  Behind the religious fog.  It was not until my mid-30s that I realized that the religion was a part of the problem.  Once I did, I turned from religion, which I despise, and opened my heart to Christ.  It’s unbelievable the revival that has taken place in my heart.  I say revival, because Jesus revived the me that was dead.  I restored me to a new life and I found the way out.  It was right there the whole time.

Folks, Jesus will take us as we are.  I am unashamed of my faith in knowing this now and will teach and counsel on this healing and freedom that is available to us all.  Get past the religious fog and open the door so that He can go to work on your heart.  He’s not even done with me yet.  This journey is just beginning in my new life through Christ.  Jesus took me as I was, junk and all, and He will do the same for you.  Just wait and see what happens when He does.

Do I Need Special Training?

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As I begin my journey into school and the pursuit of professional counseling licensing, the thought often comes to mind of the type of training needed to be able to counsel and provide the soul care to people.  For many who pursue specialized areas in ministry and discipleship work, there is often the need for schooling and training.  For me, there is a requirement by my state to meet certain qualifications in order to be licensed to practice as a Christian counselor.  A lot of hoops, but a necessary part of the journey.

Now, the question often comes for individuals of what they need in order to talk about the Good News, to disciple and share about Christ.  Do we need special training to do so?  The answer to its core, is no.  Once we have received Christ, repent of our sins, and receive the Holy Spirit, that is all you need to begin to share.  We all have a story.  We all have a testimony that is a powerful part of God’s larger story and can be powerful examples of where Christ is working in our lives.  This part does not take schooling to do so.

A little over a year ago, feeling called to do so, I made a video that is now posted to this site that shared a bit of my testimony in coming to faith in Jesus.  I shared some of the darkness I had gone through, especially the sudden loss of my Dad, the confusion I dealt with in religious practices and denominations, and never living a life fully surrendered.  This was just a surface look into my life, but this is a big part of what we stand on.  We don’t need special training to share about Jesus and the work He does in our lives.

I look to Acts 4:13 when it talk about the council observing Peter and John and noticing they were just ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures.  This is significant to us now.  Peter and John and the rest of the Apostles received their power to teach from the Holy Spirit and through Jesus training them while He was here for those that walked with Him on earth.  These were ragamuffins.  They were a ragtag bunch of fishermen, tax collectors, and more.  Ordinary, fallen men and women.  The Scriptures are full of people who were ordinary who were called to do the extraordinary.

Just think about this in your life if you question your own abilities to share and disciple.  Jesus commissioned us all to share the Good News.  We don’t need special training to do so.  Yes, there are certain fields that may need some additional specialized training, but your testimony is the basis of it all.  Stand on the Truth and what Jesus has done in your life and let Him do the rest.  He will lead you and guide your words if you surrender to Him.  Don’t feel like you are to insignificant to do so.  Know that you are enough and that your faith in Christ is enough.

My God Never Ceases To Amaze Me

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This week my family and I took a trip down to one of our favorite places down on the emerald coast.  It’s one of those trips we like to take when possible to get away from the norms of our daily hectic lives.  Sure we get may get a little crispy, but this whole time is so valuable to just slow down for a few days, take in the beauty and the power of the ocean before us and relax.  This trip down was a little different because I actually had to bring my school with me.  Been there before, but the first day or so, I had the hardest time relaxing and just letting go.  I spent part of that first day writing papers and taking quizes to close out the week for my classes.

It’s hard to get out of the mindframe of everyday life when you have things constantly rolling through your head and stresses about what is to come and what has been.  When I finished my work, went down to the beach to join my family.  Still not fully unplugged, I tried my best to just chill and enjoy sitting in the sand and playing in what has been a rough surf this week.  This helped.  Then my poor wife was not feeling the greatest, so I was worried about her that evening when we came back upstairs.

Then the next morning came.  I got up early as usual hit the gym for my normal Monday workout.  Always a good time to clear the brain as I have my music plugged in and getting moving and lifting.  Afterwards, I went out on the beach on my own and just set there on the edge of the water.  As I sat there taking in all in I could sense God’s presence around me and before me in the wind and waves.  I could sense Him trying to calm me down.  Trying to get me to that place where I was surrendered to Him and just let go for the stresses that I have had.  It was an amazing feeling to feel Him and hear Him.  After that time, I went back upstairs with the family to have breakfast and I just felt free again.  He was essentially telling me that it is okay to let go.

My God never ceases to amaze me.  Even when I get so caught up in the worries and pressures that comes with this life, with schooling, and everything else, He always finds a way to pull me back.  That’s part of what solitude does, just getting time alone with Him.  I felt that in Coloraod last winter and when I get away to places like here, it can feel Him again doing the same thing.  Just getting me to let go.  I don’t have to be everything to everyone all the time.  I can let go and just be in His presence.

It’s no wonder that I have grown to simply love my God more and more.  He loves me enough to pull me back into His precense.  He loves me enough to save me from myself and this world.  He loves me and all of us more than we could ever hope for.  I’m grateful to live a life that is fixed on Him everyday so that I can be drawn back away from the chaos.  A few years ago, I would never been like this, but now that I know Him and know His love, life is never going to be the same, because I am now alive in Him.  I may get caught in the craziness of life sometimes, but knowing God, helps me to pull back and remember what is important.  He is just amazing!  It’s seems so simple, yet so awesome!

The Joys of Being A Dad – For My Children

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Today’s post is a little different from things I normally write about.  As some of you may know we have a lot of things going on with our kids.  My oldest is involved in and outdoor adventures crew and the DECA organization at his high school where he is officer.  My middle son is a high school freshman and has a lifelong passion for baseball with dreams of playing professional one day. My daughter is an awesome singer, singing with chorus, and a highly competitive softball player.  My wife, Amber and I are so proud of these three for the young men and women they are, the things they do, and how humble they are in all they do.  Whether they excel or not, they stay humble through it all, which is so cool to watch.  So here, I’m going to brag a little about each of them in things they’ve accomplished just this year.  Amber and I don’t do this much.  We’ve always taken the stance that we let their actions speak for them.  Seeing how they’ve grown through it all is amazing.

So starting with Shawn.  He is my oldest and will be a high school senior next year.  So crazy how time has flown since we brought him home from the hospital.  A very reserved and quiet young man, we’ve seen him grow up in so many way this year.  First, spiritually, he has such a growing heart for God.  You can see him light up and the way he is eager to learn about God and grow spiritually in his faith.  From his involvement with FCA and Bible studies at school to small groups at our church, I love seeing him grow.  In addition, this year, we’ve seen him breakout of the shell as he got involved in an outdoors adventure crew where he gets to go out camping, hiking, and then this summer will take a 250 mile bike ride across Maryland into DC.  So cool.  In school, he is high involved as an officer in the marketing and business club DECA.  Competing in competitions, he took 1st in the region, 3rd in state, and for the 2nd year earned  trip to the international competition held in Orlando this year.  Now as he moves into his senior year he’s planning college to study wildlife management and eventually would love to do outdoors ministry.  So excited to see where God takes him.

On to Brandon.  He is my second and going to be a sophomore in high school this fall.  Like Shawn, Brandon has grown to have such an awesome heart for God.  Seeing him light up in worship and in his learning about God and then watching him get into worship music when we’re home and in the car is awesome.  You can see God working on his heart as well. In addition, Brandon is very involved as baseball player.  He has dreams of playing professionally one day.  He has played competitive travel baseball for several years and as a freshman split time with JV as a starting catcher and Varsity as the bullpen catcher.  What’s been cool to watch is his growth and humility in his role on the Varsity squad.  While not on the field, he plays a valuable role in the bullpen and earning his way through the system.  He’s been an intricate part of that squad.  What’s also cool, is that tomorrow his team competes for the state baseball title for the first time in school history and him getting to be a part of that run with such a hardworking and humble group of young men has been an awesome growing experience for him.  Can’t wait to see where the Lord takes him.

Now to my baby girl, Ashley, Sweetface.  Such a precious, sweet, and beautiful young lady.  Ashley will be going into the 8th grade this fall, which again just floors me.  You want to talk a bout a little girl that had me wrapped around her finger from day one.  Watching her grow and mature, just like her brothers, she has such a beautiful heart for God.  It reflects in her worship and also in her quest to learn more about God in our conversations.  She has had to deal with some drama with friends as many teenagers do, and seeing how she loves her friends through their troubles even when friends say they lost faith, the love of God just shines through her as she continues to love on them and them know God loves them.  In addition, Ashley is a chorus singer at school.  An amazing singer and she loves to entertain.  In addition, she is an awesome writer.  I think she takes after me in her love for writing and unlike me, she has a real knack for story telling.  Ashley is also a very competitive softball player.  Playing travel softball and with her school team as a catcher and 3rd baseman like her brother.  She has dreams of playing college softball one day as well.  I’m so  excited about her future and where God will lead her.

God truly blessed Amber and me with some awesome kids.  As our home has grown spiritually it’s awesome to see it reflect in their lives.  Through all their accomplishments, through all their hard work, they stay so humble.  They have a love for God and know that He is going to lead them.  They’ve grown to understand that things aren’t always easy, they know God will love them and lead then through it all.  As Jesus teaches in Luke 14, “Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” I believe my children reflect this.  They delight in their accomplishments, but they don’t let it define them as they know that comes from God first, not their own doing.  Once again, I’m so excited to see where God leads them as they grown in Him into adulthood.  I can only take them so far as their Dad, but we share a Father in God who will take them the rest of the way. I can only hope that I do what I can to continue leading them to Him and to seek Him everyday.

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