You may already be a hero

A couple of weeks ago Leslie and I met an interesting fellow by the name of Doug.  Doug runs a bed and breakfast on the Katy Trail.  He is a very positive and outgoing fellow---super friendly, a great encourager, and someone who places a high value on friendship and living life to the fullest.

Doug shared a story with us about how several years ago he was almost killed on a Dallas freeway.  It was not the way that most people are almost killed on Dallas freeways—he was the random target of freeway sniper!  As he was driving along a hole suddenly appeared in his front windshield, the passenger side window had shattered, and he was covered with blood because of the flying glass.  The sniper’s bullet had entered by the side window and went through the windshield, missing Doug by a fraction of an inch.

Doug said that he had always felt that God had some special plan for him, and after the sniper incident that sense of destiny intensified.  He used to fantasize about what his great purpose would be.  He pictured himself running to the rescue and saving the life of a child, or some similar heroic deed.  Somehow he would be in the right place at the right time and throwing caution to the wind in the face of great danger with only seconds to spare he would save the day.

However, as Doug has grown older and developed a more mature view of life he realizes that heroic deeds and high purposes may be accomplished in very quiet, unassuming ways.  A kind word to a stranger may turn the tide of depression.  A prayer for a friend may be the thing that changes the course of his life.  A small service rendered with a great attitude may become the door of great blessing in another person’s life—and you may never know it.

Our words and actions can have profound influence that we may never see.  The smallest words and actions can have world-changing impact.  Let us speak and act with that in mind.  Who knows?  You may save a life today, and never know it until you stand before Christ and receive your reward.

Brian

Whats Your Poser?

Hey Guys,
I have wanted to post something about our “posing” here for awhile, but it’s really hard to do that without being viewed as judgmental (or BEING judgemental for that matter). Truth be known, we all do it. Oh yea, for those not familiar with the term, posing can be defined as what we offer the world that we think will make others think more highly of us than we do ourselves; at least that’s my definition. If we talk incessantly, spout off our knowledge; control others through manipulation or even violence, you know, all those things we hate about ourselves, and sometimes think we are powerless to change. So, to avoid appearing judgmental, and to further explain what I mean about posing, I’m going to let John Shore relate a story for me. John is a brilliant writer, though he tends to get way out there theologically, he hits some gold mines like this occasionally.

Stayed tuned at the end for some dove hunt info.

From John Shore:
The other day I went to the San Diego Zoo (yay!), because if you can’t stare at animals while they’re wondering what went wrong with their lives, what good are they?

I was standing alone, beholding the Malayan sun bears, when a father and son came up to the rail beside me. The boy was maybe seven; his father, in belted shorts, tucked-in printed T-shirt, and baseball cap, certainly dressed like he was. But whatever. I was there to stare at the animals in the pens.
The boy pointed at the lolling bears, and asked his dad what kind they were.

“That’s the Helarctos malayanus,” the man pronounced. He went on to give a considerable dissertation on what sun bears eat, where they live, how long they live, how much they typically weigh, and how you could tell the males from the females. What luck for me: that guy really knew his bears! Throughout his talk I kept my eyes on the bears, the better to absorb his information.

Toward the end of his Malayan Sun Bears 101, I looked over at the professor. That guy didn’t know anything more about bears than I do. He was reading from the informative placard the good people at the San Diego Zoo put before every animal display, in case the animal’s hiding and you feel like doing a little reading. And he was trying to hide that he was doing that; he was sneaking his looks at the placard. He had actually positioned his body to block the boy from knowing the placard was there at all.

This faux-yogi of bears was trying to trick his kid (and also me, I guess; he wasn’t exactly whispering) into thinking that he just happened to be the world’s leading expert on Malayan sun bears.

Oh, wretched charlatan!

Then again, what man hasn’t done that? That’s what all men do, all the time. It’s like one of the testicles of every man in the world is named Know, and the other Everything. Once those bad boys drop, every guy is instantly committed to the idea of being Fully Knowledgeable about everything.

Oh, wretched burden!

It really does bite Malayan sun bear booty. Men feel that they must be … well, perfect beings, basically—or they fail. Part of the emotional burden men carry is the pervasive, ever-present conviction that being a man means they’re supposed to:

1.Know everything
2.Be like a magnet to women
3.Be in complete control of their emotions
4.Make a ton of money
5.Be exceptionally wise
6.Be naturally athletic
7.Have everything always go exactly as they planned
8.Scoff at physical pain
9.Know all about cars (and machines in general)
10.Be able to talk with animals
(Well, maybe not talk with animals. But I certainly expect dogs to instinctively obey me, and horses to be compelled by the power of my animal magnetism to do my bidding. And if I were honest, I’d have to admit that I would expect any wolf I came across in the wild to right away show its acquiescence to my domination by whimpering and lowering its head. But I don’t expect to chat with gophers or rats about the weather, or anything like that. I’m not stupid.)

Anyway, this drive to be impenetrably perfect is the reason that on average men die four years sooner than women. They die from the stress of having to be someone they can’t possibly be.

Enough, I say! It’s time that we men relieved ourselves in the bushes of having to be right all the time. That God made us in his image doesn’t mean we’re supposed to be just like God. We’re supposed to be like, well, us. Ignorance, incompetence, and all.


How much better would it have been if that father had said to his son, “I have no idea what kind of bears those are. Let’s see what this sign says.”? And then, side-by-side, his arm around his boy’s shoulders, the two of them, together, could have begun to learn.

from Alex again: Is the term posing more clear now?

The Apple doesn't fall far

Greetings from my beach view!
We are taking a few days of vacation after Tatum's National volleyball tournament in Port St. Joe Fl.
I wanted to relate a couple of stories, one from several years ago and one from this tournament that show how powerful your influence as a Dad goes. After ten years of focusing on ministry to men, I still haven't seen any one thing that has a bigger impact of a person's life than their Dad.
The first story happened when i was coaching my girls in softball. We played in an all too typical 9-12 yr old league of screaming parents and coaches, some worse than others. My commitment was that our team was going to learn the fundamentals well and have a good time without all the screaming. One night we played a team that the coach was over the top screaming at his players. In the handshaking line after the game, I calmly told him I didn't appreciate his screaming, at which point he started screaming at me, which I told him was fine, I could handle it better than those girls. All the parents told me afterwards that it was no use, he was like that all the time, and I said, i'm sure he is, no one wants to confront someone like that, so they just keep on screaming.
Did he calm down, yes, it was noticeably better the rest of the year.
So, at Tatum's tournament this past weekend, we were playing a team from Kansas City that NOBODY likes. Well, it didn't take long to figure out why as one of the Dads was standing at the net screaming his head off. Towards the end of the match, i noticed Tatum giving him the stink eye. At the end of the match, Tatum went to him and calmly but firmly told him she did not appreciate him yelling at her friends (evidently he was not restraining his comments to one side of the net), the poser then tried to justify himself but Tatum walked off. His poor daughter came up later to try to apologize for him saying that he yells all the time. Well, according to the team from Omaha that played them the next day, he didn't say a word during their match.
I wish that all the things I have taught my daughters, or like this, that they caught from me, were this positive, but sadly they have caught a few things that are not. I wasn't even trying to teach anyone anything when I confronted that coach, but, I obviously did.
You are too, weather you are trying to or not.
Heres to being the man Jesus wants you to be, may it be passed on down.
Alex

Upcoming:
Band of Brothers, Friday, 6:15 am. Warehouse. Great chance to get to know some great guys better and be prayed for and pray for others.

Labor Day weekend is the start of dove season. Anyone have a line on a good place some guys from New Heights could go? Or a place to fix a field?

Line from movie we watched last night: I hate to know I had a chance to make myself a better person and didn't take it.