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Uganda team back home

The Uganda team arrived home around 2pm today.  It is great to have Austin back after being gone for ten days.  We spent the afternoon catching up - I can't wait to see the pictures and video but the stories of how God used this team are amazing.   

Go service your wife

I thought that would get your attention.   I am not suggesting that you service them the way you are thinking (not that there is anything wrong with that - "Seinfeld reference") but rather that you do acts of service to be a blessing to them.  The scripture says that husbands should love their wives - this is more than an attitude - it is a command to serve.  Love puts their needs before my needs.  Love leads me to be the right person instead of trying to make them the right person.  I am not sure that I have all of this figured out but I am sure that I am constantly looking for more ways to serve Beverly and demonstrate my love to her.  What you will discover is that when you start to serve your wife - it will come back to you.  This is not your motivation - that would be self serving and would miss the point but the result is that you never lose by putting her needs before your own.  Open your eyes or just ask the question - "what could I do to serve you" - "what could I do to be a blessing to you" - "what can I take off your shoulders"?  Another thing that you will discover is that you will find joy in making her life easier.  It is how God wired us - to provide for and protect our families - you will find fulfillment in serving her. 

Heroes

This past weekend, we finished a six week series called "Heroes".  We talked about Joseph, Daniel, David, Mary, Paul and of course we talked about Jesus.  I was recently thinking about who were some of my modern day heroes.  I don't have many but these two guys that I am standing with are on the top of the list.  My dad (the short - heavy guy with the ugly shirt - oh, that is both of them - ok the one with a beard) is my biggest hero.  He is a stud - marine - policeman for over 25 years - black belt in karate - but more than that - he is a true man of God.  Growing up, he was always there for me - at every game or event - home every night for family time and devotions - I have never seen him lose his temper - I have always known him to be a man of integrity and character.  I have said privately and publicly, if I could be like anyone in the world - it would be my dad - he is my hero.

The other guy is Roger Reeck.  Roger is one of the most amazing people that I have ever met, known or even heard about.  He surrendered his life to the Lord and called and gifted him to translate the Bible into other languages.  He spent many years in the mountains of Mexico - living among an Indian tribe who's language was not even in written form.  He learned their language - put it in written form - then translated the Bible into their language and taught them to read using the Bible.  Now there are schools and churches in this village.  He then moved to Honduras to do the same thing among the Garifina people living along the coast of Central America.  Now he is in Africa, helping translate the Bible into at least five different dialects.  I consider Roger to be one of my spiritual mentors.  When I listen to him, I feel like I am listening to God.  He hates it when I talk about him like that but I really do consider him to be my hero.

What an honor - hanging out with two of my heroes - I am a blessed man.

Practicing what I preach

I recently did a series about creating margin in your life.  Margin is the space between your load and your limit.  I confessed during that series that I needed more margin in my schedule and that I was going to start taking one day off each week.  If I had to grade myself as to how well I have followed through with that - I would give me a 6 1/2 (the scale is 1-10 with 10 being the best).  Today, I have done pretty good. I took care of a few minor things this morning - went to lunch with my mom and dad and one of my other favorite people in the world, Roger Reeck - worked out and looking forward to a date with my girl tonight.  Pretty busy and but not much church stuff.  It is difficult to shut it down because I love it so much - that is probably why so little of what I do feels like work.  By the way, I am so fired up about this weekend - I wish we could do ten services - it is going to be amazing.  Anyway, I know the importance of a day of rest so I will keep working at it (that sounds like a paradox).