We as men have a reputation of never asking for directions not matter how many times our wives tell us to stop and ask directions we just won’t do it. Why? First of all we don’t want to be perceived as weak or less of a man to our wife, friends or whoever is with us. Secondly, we don’t want the embarrassment of having to admit that we need help. Of course there is always the reason that we just don’t want to admit to our wife’s that they were right!
Direction – (1) the act of directing; management, supervision (2) instructions for doing, operating, using, preparing (3) an authoritative order or command (4) the point toward which something faces or the line along which something moves or lies (5) an aspect, line of development, way, trend
The subject of direction in my life is at its most crucial point it has ever been. Since I was a teenager I have always envisioned myself being apart of something great. Of course at that age it was being in a rock band or a professional basketball player. Now that I am 30 years old with a bum knee I realize that the NBA will not be calling me up anytime soon. Still the same feeling I had when I was a kid still exists today and for most men that feeling never leaves. Why do men well into their 30’s, 40’s and even 50’s chase after an image that maybe reflects the motorcycle ad that plasters a billboard that has some slogan like “The Legend Rolls On” or “Let the Good Times Roll” with some macho man and beautiful women. Why do people want tattoos well after the high school years and college years have past by? Why are clubs full of grown men partying with 18 and 20 yr old college girls? Why do men get divorced after many years of marriage just to marry someone that is 20 years younger? Men are lost! This doesn’t exclude Christian men because our churches are having a hard time giving men direction in their lives, an image that doesn’t include name brand clothes and over priced motorcycles. We are being lead astray by the world. The prophecies that where spoke of against Babylon by Jeremiah where the similar things that we are experience now, “My people are lost sheep, their shepherds have led them astray, guiding them the wrong way in the mountains. They have wandered from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place” – Jeremiah 50:6. We have been led astray to our favorite places of idolatry that seduce us; we have gone from one sin to another searching for our resting place. I can promise you that your resting place will not be found in a fifty thousand dollar sports car, not in a strip club and most certainly not buying into ads that make false promises. To find direction in our life’s we must turn to the blueprint of life – the Bible.
When I am lost on the road I will turn to my own information to try to figure out how to get to where I want to go no matter if I have been there or not. For some reason every time I am in Dallas I get lost. I don’t know why but there is something funky about that city that confuses that heck out of me. The last time me and Tabby where in Dallas we were looking for a restaurant. My wife, in a very sweet voice, said that I might want to check with the front desk about directions before leaving the hotel. So I did and you know what? We got there, sure there was some confession at times with the streets, cars, people and building to distract us but we did everything the directions said that we got from the hotel. You know what I finally figured out? That a person that has been in Dallas for a while, lives and works there has most likely encountered many people like myself and they just might have a better perception of the Dallas area. The guy that gave us those directions honestly didn’t want us to make the same mistakes that so many others had that caused them to miss their reservations or worse yet cause them unneeded stress when the whole time he was standing their with the directions. God has supplied us directions, the Bible.
If you are like me I didn’t know where to start. I would read it and most of the time fall asleep or get so frustrated with the wording or dialog that I would put it down. I started to pray that God would give me understanding, that he would put a desire in my heart to read the Bible, to learn the Bible, “…if you call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God.” – Proverbs 2:3-6. Something amazing happened in me when I started to pray for understanding, God started pointing out things that where taking away chances to learn his word. I went on a 40 day journey with David Nasser’s book, A Call to Die. I had to give up something for 40 days that took away time from God. I gave up my Playstation 3. Might sound crazy but I was spending hours during the week on my Playstation. I went on this 40 day journey and discovered that I had filled my life with so many things that I didn’t really have any time to “get to know God.” I started to realize that I was trying to find my way thru life with my own knowledge, with my own sense of direction. This is why I had been carried astray and I was falling under the seduction of sin. Psalms 119:9 says “How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping Your word”; keeping God’s Word keeps us pure, gives us direction. When I was up against the turmoil and struggles I had no idea where to turn so I got caught up in a cycle where I was jumping from sin to sin (Like Jeremiah said, mountain to hill).
I said that I have always had a feeling that I was going to be apart of something great. We people think of being apart of something great they may think of money, fame and power; I used to. Now I know that I am apart of something great, I am a follower of Christ. I am actively pursuing a closer relationship with God, sure I fall short but I don’t give up. It amazes me how people will work at something so hard that they want to accomplish and never give up, but when it comes to God’s word people are quick to quit. If you want direction in this life, if you want to find your image look to the author of the greatest blue print ever; look to God, look to God’s Word; “Do not be of conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” – Romans 12:2. Men, lets begin to look to the Bible for the way we should act, the way we should conduct business, the way we should run our households but also first and foremost turn to God for understanding and direction in our lives.
Lead Us.
Direction – (1) the act of directing; management, supervision (2) instructions for doing, operating, using, preparing (3) an authoritative order or command (4) the point toward which something faces or the line along which something moves or lies (5) an aspect, line of development, way, trend
The subject of direction in my life is at its most crucial point it has ever been. Since I was a teenager I have always envisioned myself being apart of something great. Of course at that age it was being in a rock band or a professional basketball player. Now that I am 30 years old with a bum knee I realize that the NBA will not be calling me up anytime soon. Still the same feeling I had when I was a kid still exists today and for most men that feeling never leaves. Why do men well into their 30’s, 40’s and even 50’s chase after an image that maybe reflects the motorcycle ad that plasters a billboard that has some slogan like “The Legend Rolls On” or “Let the Good Times Roll” with some macho man and beautiful women. Why do people want tattoos well after the high school years and college years have past by? Why are clubs full of grown men partying with 18 and 20 yr old college girls? Why do men get divorced after many years of marriage just to marry someone that is 20 years younger? Men are lost! This doesn’t exclude Christian men because our churches are having a hard time giving men direction in their lives, an image that doesn’t include name brand clothes and over priced motorcycles. We are being lead astray by the world. The prophecies that where spoke of against Babylon by Jeremiah where the similar things that we are experience now, “My people are lost sheep, their shepherds have led them astray, guiding them the wrong way in the mountains. They have wandered from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place” – Jeremiah 50:6. We have been led astray to our favorite places of idolatry that seduce us; we have gone from one sin to another searching for our resting place. I can promise you that your resting place will not be found in a fifty thousand dollar sports car, not in a strip club and most certainly not buying into ads that make false promises. To find direction in our life’s we must turn to the blueprint of life – the Bible.
When I am lost on the road I will turn to my own information to try to figure out how to get to where I want to go no matter if I have been there or not. For some reason every time I am in Dallas I get lost. I don’t know why but there is something funky about that city that confuses that heck out of me. The last time me and Tabby where in Dallas we were looking for a restaurant. My wife, in a very sweet voice, said that I might want to check with the front desk about directions before leaving the hotel. So I did and you know what? We got there, sure there was some confession at times with the streets, cars, people and building to distract us but we did everything the directions said that we got from the hotel. You know what I finally figured out? That a person that has been in Dallas for a while, lives and works there has most likely encountered many people like myself and they just might have a better perception of the Dallas area. The guy that gave us those directions honestly didn’t want us to make the same mistakes that so many others had that caused them to miss their reservations or worse yet cause them unneeded stress when the whole time he was standing their with the directions. God has supplied us directions, the Bible.
If you are like me I didn’t know where to start. I would read it and most of the time fall asleep or get so frustrated with the wording or dialog that I would put it down. I started to pray that God would give me understanding, that he would put a desire in my heart to read the Bible, to learn the Bible, “…if you call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God.” – Proverbs 2:3-6. Something amazing happened in me when I started to pray for understanding, God started pointing out things that where taking away chances to learn his word. I went on a 40 day journey with David Nasser’s book, A Call to Die. I had to give up something for 40 days that took away time from God. I gave up my Playstation 3. Might sound crazy but I was spending hours during the week on my Playstation. I went on this 40 day journey and discovered that I had filled my life with so many things that I didn’t really have any time to “get to know God.” I started to realize that I was trying to find my way thru life with my own knowledge, with my own sense of direction. This is why I had been carried astray and I was falling under the seduction of sin. Psalms 119:9 says “How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping Your word”; keeping God’s Word keeps us pure, gives us direction. When I was up against the turmoil and struggles I had no idea where to turn so I got caught up in a cycle where I was jumping from sin to sin (Like Jeremiah said, mountain to hill).
I said that I have always had a feeling that I was going to be apart of something great. We people think of being apart of something great they may think of money, fame and power; I used to. Now I know that I am apart of something great, I am a follower of Christ. I am actively pursuing a closer relationship with God, sure I fall short but I don’t give up. It amazes me how people will work at something so hard that they want to accomplish and never give up, but when it comes to God’s word people are quick to quit. If you want direction in this life, if you want to find your image look to the author of the greatest blue print ever; look to God, look to God’s Word; “Do not be of conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” – Romans 12:2. Men, lets begin to look to the Bible for the way we should act, the way we should conduct business, the way we should run our households but also first and foremost turn to God for understanding and direction in our lives.
Lead Us.
4 comments:
Understand how amazing the words you share are. I am not a man, (obviously), and I may not encounter the exact same challenges and battles that you do... but that is the awesome thing about the Word of God... it is for everybody! There is an anointing in you to share in the manner that you do. It speaks. It speaks to the hearts of the broken, the tormented, those battling like you, the sinner, the saved, and the righteous alike. Be encourage. Your gift will make room for you... It already is!!!
Thank You so much... that means allot. This has been such a step of faith for me but I know that God called me to start with this. Thanks... It is a blessing to me that people are actually getting something out of it.
Good stuff ! Keep it up and thank you.
Gerald,
Every single word you have written is truth, lovely and pure. Your thoughts are raw and real, and that makes them even better to chew on when we contemplate our own call from God. I am blessed by your writing which obviously pours straight out of your heart. Thanks for truth... lovely truth.
Kathryn
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