The Traveler

1355 May 26, Logan Airport
I am sitting at the gate in the airport watching the hordes of people pulse by. There is one thought that is tracing its way through my mind. If the rapture were to happen right this moment would anyone notice. Would enough of people be taken up so that those left behind would notice? I’m watching thousands of people walk but how many are born-again Christians. When the trumpet sounds all these people headed toward glory, or something worse. As a Christian how am I supposed to reach these lost souls. These are people I’ll never see again, and I may be the only Christ they see. What am I supposed to do. Something. I’m supposed to do something. But what? What would Christ have done? Would he have sunk deeper into his chair, into his anonymity? Impotent? That is not the report we have in the Gospels! Christ reached out into the crowds, often selecting individuals. “Zacheaus, today I come to your house.” Jesus didn’t ask the crowd if anyone would like to go to dinner. He sought out an individual man, a wee little man in a tree. The Good News is spread man to man not man to crowd. The Gospel is spread by you and I telling our individual testimony to a lonely and lost man. I noticed the lady across from me is reading Mitch Albom’s Five People You’ll Meet in Heaven. I haven’t read the book. I wonder if she knows how to get to Heaven. I’m trying to get up the courage to be Christ-like. I’m very uncomfortable right now but I have read The Book. I know what I ought to do. Do I have the strength to do it? Can I press onward? So a quick prayer and off I go. God’s speed.

0000 May 27, Cambridge MD
I’m in my hotel room now. I did speak with the lady reading Albom’s book. I got up the nerve to simply make eye contact and ask her if she was enjoying the book. Stop laughing, this was quite a moment for me. The lady, Sue, was a grandmotherly figure. She was flying down to MD to attend her granddaughter’s high school graduation. I asked her how she liked the book. She told me about the book and I confessed that I only know Albom because he is a sports caster and I don’t have any intention on reading the book. In our conversation it became apparent that she was also believer, Bapist I think. She told me Albom’s view of Heaven was wrong and then proceeded to talk about a Heaven of fellowship with Christ. Sue was witnessing to me! I’m not sure why God put this woman in my path today, or why He choose today to intensify the burden on my heart. In this stream of conscience I just know what I’m supposed to do, seek Him. Listen for His voice. Submit to His plan. I don’t know the full plan yet, maybe the details will be filled in later. I know I am to be a tool in God’s hand. He will stretch me and use to reach the lost. I can be used. You can be used. If we submit to His direction, prompting and will.

God Bless
MCz

Is weakness sufficient?

My shoulder hurts. My shoulder always hurts. On good days it feels like if I could only push my thumb deep enough under my collarbone I could massage my shoulder dislodging the irritant and in doing so, finally enjoy peace. On bad days…

“He caused your dreams to fall” accuses the Thorn.
“My shoulder is injured and His grace is sufficient” I reply.
The Thorn retorts, “You know you could have been in a much different place.”
“But His power is perfect in my weakness.”
“You have become a fool among fools” the Thorn derides.
“I know. That has made all the difference.”

The last time I was not conscious of my shoulder was 1996. I was raised with Christian values, given a Christian education but had only been born-again for about a year when I got hurt. I know this might sound a little prideful so please bear with me, this is not my pride. I grew up loving baseball. I was good at it, physically and more importantly mentally. I threw my first “curveball” in 1983 when I was just 6. It broke about 6 inches to the left and about a foot in the vertical. It was actually a breaking-ball. My 16 year-old cousin taught my how to throw it during one of our daily sandlot games. I threw my last curveball in February of 1996. The ball traveled about 10 feet while I collapsed onto the blue rubber floor of the practice gym. The injury was the Devil’s major frontal attack but the offensive had begun much earlier. It began by simply stealing the joy of a little boy. Let me provide you with a little history. I was a kid who hated to lose, and didn’t even care too much about winning if I didn’t play perfectly. In 7th grade I was playing for my school and in Little League. I threw three “perfect” games that year. Not one was perfect. It wasn’t my Dad or any adult or any kid that told me that these games were not perfect. Each game saw 27 batters put bats back in the rack. The failure was all in my mind. I had lost my ability to just play in my own world and enjoy the moment. I began to measure my performance on a scale that didn’t exist. The Accuser brought doubt into my head because I was dangerous. This is when I first met the Enemy. The Accuser knows God has a great plan for me.

After I got hurt I didn’t pick up a ball until 2002…In a church league. I longed to play the game of my youth but it was different and not just because the pitcher now lobbed the ball over the plate. Last year, 2007, was the first time I enjoyed playing since 1989. I would like to stress this was in a church league, not the elite I spent so many years striving toward. I went into the season really not wanting to play. But I played out of duty and habit. I prayed that God would just give me the strength to throw the ball from first to the mound without too much pain. I took a lot of Advil too, maybe not fully trusting God. Then I started praying that God would really use this team. God did something marvelous. He built a team of brothers with a wonderful unity. In a way it was like returning to field I shared with my cousins. We were men reveling in a boys game. Joking, talking, teaching and caring for each other like I’ve never seen. We built relationships among each other that extended outside of the lines. We brought our families together. We were in each other's lives. God’s Spirit moved. We where believers gathering and God’s presence was felt. God’s presence heals, spiritually, emotionally and physically. My shoulder is still injured, the physical pain is persistent, but my joy has returned. I can’t tell you in words what was different last year. Only that I didn’t need to analyze every play after the game. I was able to have fun again. I can tell you that it was cathartic. That emptiness that was carved out so many years ago has been filled. The salt the Enemy poured into the wound was washed out. I feel satiated. I could hang up my cleats with no regrets, but I won’t. I want to pass on what I’ve learned to you and to my family.

The Enemy is after me and every man. My duty is to ask why is God allowing this attack. In II Corinthians (12:7-10) Paul talks about how the Enemy is hounding him and why God allows this pestering. The Enemy wants to destroy me. God wants me to rely on His strength, provision, love and grace. The Accuser can do nothing against the hand of God. God wants me to understand that His grace is sufficient for me. I need to know that God is strong in my weakness. This is a very difficult lesson. As men we are trained or maybe even formed to fix the problems we encounter. We're supposed to "Cowboy up." I'm sure like myself, you are very good as solving the problems, the strife in your life. But you, like me, are fallible. We make mistakes, we can't handle every situation. My God, Jesus Christ, is willing and able, capable and infallible. His grace is sufficient for me. His strength is perfect when mine is exhausted. When I’m shaken to my foundation, the Rock has not faltered. It’s about humility and relationship. I, and every man, need to know that I am a fool. I am nothing without Him who strengthens me. Perfect doesn’t exist, except in the Father, and yet I have desired to be perfect for so long. I desire and strive something I can not achieve but will someday be given. I am the very definition of a fool. I have been trying to attain perfection in my own strength when I should have rested in His grace, which is sufficient. In my struggle to reach perfection I have been shaken to my foundation, every stone tossed to the ground. My Rock has not faltered. My Rock was with me on the blue rubber floor, in that hospital bed, in rehab and ever since. I landed on my Rock. I have landed repeatedly on my Rock. My Rock is aways there and has not faltered. The days I can’t pick up my 20lb daughter, my God has shown glimmers of his perfection. She learned to climb onto the couch next to me on a day when I was overcome and could not pick her up. I know it sounds foolish. I know it sounds like coincidence. With all the grace of my tongue I can't explain this to you any better than saying that He, Jesus Christ, is perfect in my weakness. I will never again throw ball the way I used to but my Thorn has taught me well. I am nothing but a fool and God’s strength and grace are sufficient for all my needs. This is what I will teach my daughter all the days of my life. Be a fool, trust in the unseen God, be patient in your weakness and don’t run from it because God’s grace is sufficient for you and He is perfect in your weakness.

God Bless.

Every Dad

Aloha My Brothers,

I have been both blessed and challenged each week as I meet with my fraternity brothers here in Hawaii. While doing this new series by Robert Lewis – WINNING AT WORK & HOME, I find myself looking in the mirror and asking God to further my understanding as to finding who the real DAD is looking back. As men, we have three different faces we hide behind. The Public face, where everyone sees us, The Personnel Face, where you allow some to see you, and finally, The private Face, where only you see yourself, as does God. As Dad’s, let us be challenged to truly pick the face the most fits us as we hold the most Honorable title a man can ever be called - DAD.

"WHAT EVERY DAD NEEDS TO KNOW"

The most honorable title a man can ever get to be called, is “DAD”

These are our children speaking to us. Remember, you are looking into that mirror, and the one looking back is your child. Here are ten things they will say. How do you really respond? God already knows how you responded, and yes, we have all failed somewhere in these ten areas. Here we go……

1. Dad, I need to know, somebody must be there for me, in my early years.

It will make a blueprint for their life.
2. Dad, I need a balance of Discipline, Instruction and Love growing up.

3. Dad, I need you to know my Personality and honor it. The sooner, the better.

4. Dad, I need you to discover my Bent (Gifts Prov. 22.6), and actively support it.

5. Dad, I need you to know too Much is too Much

A. Too Much Control crushes or incites.

B. Too Much Money spoils and pacifies.

C. Too high Expectations discourage.

6. Dad, I need you to show me what to believe by Living it.

7. Dad, I need you to know your words can Wound me for a lifetime.

8. Dad, I need you to adjust your leadership Style to me as I grow.

AGES IN YEARS:

A. 0-13: COACH = directing

B. 13-18: CHEELEADER/COUNSELOR = encouraging, problem solving

C. 18 up: CONSULTANT = listening, supporting

9. Dad, I need you to make some great Memories with me to live on.

10. Dad, I need you to Love God and share Him with me.

If you don’t feel that any one of these applies to you as a dad, take this last step for your final understanding as to where you stand as a dad.

Ask your child or children to evaluate you as a dad. Tell them to be specific about what you do well and what you need to do better. After you ask – then Listen! This will give you a better understanding how your child or children really see you and our true faces we wear. You will find that God’s grace and love he has for us is the same yesterday, today and will be tomorrow. Being a Dad, is truly the best and Honorable title we can ever be called…. Please continue to challenge that person looking back at you, each and every morning you look into the mirror. This is just to continue to keep us all accountable with God in a very special and honorable way. Blessings my Fellow Dad's….

Serving Him,
Kevin Mahoney
NEHIM - Founder