Ready:

For am I now trying to win the favor of people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ. –Galatians 1:10

Set:

Lately, it seems like there has been a proliferation of sports scandals at the amateur and professional levels. In most, if not all of the situations, there was a key moment of decision when the allegations surfaced. The choice was between character and reputation.

Ideally, each of would like to have both – strong character and a good reputation. However, circumstances often force us to choose one or the other. If I choose character, then my integrity will lead me to do the right thing, perhaps even at the expense of the reputation of my organization, family or myself. If I allow the most important issue to be how something will look to others, then I will immediately go into damage control and take actions to limit any news getting out. This can easily lead to a delay or absence of proper accountability.

“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” –Coach John Wooden

The apostle Paul states clearly in Galatians that he is not striving to please people, but God. He played for an Audience of One. Shortly after I accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, my FCA Huddle Coach, Coach Myers, took me to my first Christian concert. Petra sang “Godpleaser” which includes these lyrics:

I just want my life to glorify His Son,
To Make my Father proud that I’m His child before I’m done.
No need to pat me on the back or stop to shake my hand,
I just want to hear my Father say, “Well done, well done.
Don’t wanna be a manpleaser, I wanna be a Godpleaser. (Written by Bob Hartman)

You will have opportunities throughout your life to uphold both your reputation and your character. Sometimes you might have to choose one. May you always desire to please God and make the choice that honors Him.

Go:

1. What matters more to you: the opinion of others or the opinion of God?
2. When you do wrong, are you more focused on the wrongdoing or on getting caught?
3. Could you be satisfied if God were pleased with you but everyone in the world was displeased?
4. What if everyone in the world was pleased with you, but God was displeased?

Workout:

1 Timothy 2:4
Colossians 3:23
1 Samuel 16:7
Hebrews 4:12-13

Overtime:

Lord, I am tempted to point the finger and judge others. Help me to look into my own heart. I want to play and live for you and seek to please you. Give me the strength to right the wrongs in my life, even when it may make me look bad in the eyes of others.

fca.org

Reputation vs. Character

Character Series: Endurance

“Blessed is the man who endures {perseveres} under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” James 1:12

Are you at a place right now where you have contemplated quitting?  I was at that place about two months ago with one of my jobs.  Do you ever feel like there is too much on your plate?  I don’t have all the answers you may need for where you are at in life right now, but I’d like to share some insight into what I read this past week and how enduring through trials is a powerful way to shape your character.

For the past 4 weeks, we’ve discussed courage, discipline, and vision.  Endurance is also known as patience, or perseverance.  Lets look at a few definitions. “The American Heritage dictionary defines perseverance as “steady persistence in adhering to a course of action, a belief, or a purpose; steadfastness.” It defines endurance as “the act, quality, or power of withstanding hardship or stress,” but in the second definition it defines endurance as “the state or act of persevering.” While they are synonyms and each word carries in it the idea of “continuance,” perseverance lays stress on a given course of action in the face of difficulty or opposition. Endurance perhaps more strongly adds the idea of continuing under resistance or the adversities of life, to carry on in spite of hardships.”

Endurance–continuing under resistance or the adversities of life.  Let’s think about that for a minute.  Continuing when things get hard, and I’m sure we’ve all realized that life can be hard.

From where we have come from in our series, in this I hope you can see that endurance sustains courage, endurance gives staying power to discipline, and endurance turns your vision into reality. Sometimes we want to quit being courageous–maybe standing up for what is right all of the time.  Sometimes we want to quit practicing the delayed gratification it takes to be discipline–we don’t want to go to the gym today, or stick it out in our friendships.  Sometimes we want to stop thinking of new ideas and visions because they never work out anyways.  They sound great, but they are never executed.  Occasionally though, it pays to consider the high cost of quitting. Many people live with scars or lingering wounds from having quit on something or someone and later on they ask themselves why they chose to give up.  “But the answer is obvious:  It is infinitely easier to quit than to endure.”

In a society that glamorizes quitting because it is full of instant gratification, its hard to practice enduring.  Nowadays we demand overnight solutions, success, growth, strong relationships, and even spiritual maturity.  When you watch TV, you see this giving up mentality all too much.  Here’s a scenario–“things are tense at work.  The employee is disagreeing with the boss.  Nerves are snapping as the background music builds.  The camera comes in tight on the employee and shows the veins popping out on his forehead.  A moment of silence, and then his voice proclaims, “I quit!”  The music crescendoes wildly as he storms out, slamming the door behind him.  Here’s another one–a husband and wife are disagreeing.  The tension builds.  At the peak of anger, the wife suddenly slaps her husband across the face, just as the cymbals crash.  She slams the door and leaves.”

We don’t stop to think that the person is now out of job, or that the husband and wive’s son has to grow up in a divorced family.  People quit too much now a days, but the only way to build endurance and grow your character is to push through quitting points.  If you play football, you know what a quitting point is.  It happens on the 50th up-down when your legs are burning, arms are in pain and your mind is screaming give up.  If you run, you know what that quitting point is.  It’s the last 100 meters of a 400 meter race where you feel like you are going to fall over because you are in so much pain.  It happens at work when the pressure is mounting and it seems unbearable and you just can’t stand it. It happens in an argument with your spouse, or friend when you strongly disagree about something and your emotions are going through the roof and all you want to do is give up, walk away, and ignore that person.  Pressing past quitting points happens in learning to building good character, and even in our walk with God.

We must remember our key verse…Blessed is the man who endures.  The lights and stardom in society shouldn’t be focused on the people that give up on marriage after two months,(many examples of those) but on those who grit their teeth and say, “With God’s help, and all that’s inside of me, I’m going to press on.”

The rewards and joys that come from pressing on are very rewarding.  The second part of the scripture says, “because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him”.  Sometimes though, I think letting something go is necessary to grow.  I believe that if God releases you from something you will have a peace about it.  I don’t believe peace means a calm river with birds chirping.  I believe peace is given in the midst of the storm.  It’s when you’re on the ocean, waves tossing you back and forth, thunder and lighting all around you, but still inside you are OK and you know you are suppose to be there.

I’d like to share with you something I faced a few years ago when it came to quitting/giving up.

Three years ago I had the opportunity to go to Disney World to participate in the Disney College Program.  I was assigned to a fast food position…not a princess :), but i decided to go anyways.  The college program would have lasted nine months.  It was so exciting going to my favorite place in the world to work, but to be honest with you I never had a peace about it.  I got there, went through training, met some great friends, and got to go to the parks for free!  Everything seemed great, but something just wasn’t right.  In the first month I was there, I had gotten bit by a spider, and was sick for about two weeks. After that, I came down with another cold and there were bed bugs in my bed! I was seriously contemplating leaving.  If any of you know me, you know that Disney is one of my favorite things out there.  This was my dream job.  Not working in a fast food restaurant in tomorrow land, but working for Disney had been something I always wanted to do.  Why would I want to leave?  While I was there, someone from home asked me if I would regret the decision to leave.  I thought and prayed about it and realized I wouldn’t.  A month after I arrived, I decided to go back home.  There were some other reasons I had left, but the main reason was I knew I wasn’t supposed to be there.  Someone once told me that if we push God enough, he will give us what we want.  When that happens, we aren’t always inside is perfect will for us, and things are more likely to go all over the place.  But when we “trust in the Lord, with all of our heart, and lean not on our understanding, He will make our paths straight.”  Sometimes we are put somewhere we don’t want to be, or somewhere we never thought we would be, but we have to trust God in it because He is going to make everything work out.  You see, I was making my own plans for my life, I wanted to work for Disney, I wanted to get away and do more with my life, but I knew that isn’t what God wanted for me.  It took me falling down a few times to realize it.

If you are at a quitting point right now, count the cost before throwing in the towel.  In Proverbs, it says to seek wise counsel.  Talk to someone who may have been in your place when they were younger.  Know that God will also honor what we are going through when we endure.  He will give you peace about it if you are supposed to leave your job, school, a church.  If you don’t have that peace, wait.  Sometimes hasty decisions put us back, rather than helping us go forward.  Enduring trials and hardships builds character.  Remember though that ultimately, the decision has to be made between you and God.

Make a play-

Time Out:

1.  If you are contemplating quitting, do you have a peace about it?

2.  Have you sought wise counsel from someone?

3.  Would you regret your decision if you quit?

Thanks Coach

What’s your typical view of a president or CEO of a company?  I could be wrong, but I haven’t heard much about the CEO or President meeting with employees under them.  I will admit, I’ve had a judgmental opinion about  CEO’s.  The way the media puts it, the news, and in movies , a lot of those men and women up there are invisible.  You don’t get to meet them or talk to them.  You go through someone else to do it.  I’m not saying that any of this is a bad thing, but wouldn’t it be great if you knew the character of one of the main people you were working for?  Wouldn’t it be great if he called you on your birthday, or anniversary?  How about texting you to meet for coffee?  Ya.  Right.  Well that’s exactly what I thought before this past weekend.

Coach Steckel (left), and Sports Ministry Institute Students at an FCA Colorado Event.

My husband and I had the privilege of attending a dinner with the president of FCA, Mr. Les Steckel.  There were other FCA Colorado staff members there, but he took time to speak with us and many others.  I’m going to tell you a little bit about Mr. Steckel.

Les Steckel was head coach of the Minnesota Vikings in 1984.  He also worked as an assistant coach with the San Francisco 49ers, New England Patriots, Denver Broncos, Tennessee Titans, Buffalo Bills, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  He also enlisted in the Marines and served in Vietnam as infantry. He recently retired from USMC Reserves after thirty years of service with the rank of Colonel.  Wow.  Talk about an honorable guy. Can you imagine being married, having a family, in the Marine Corps, and coaching?  I can’t.  I’ve heard that coaching is one of the biggest time commitments as it is. Les shares that most men get their identities from their jobs.   “Les faced hardship when he was fired on eight different occasions.   Les says that every time he got fired it was painful, and it didn’t get easier, but he persevered.  He learned to get his identity from Christ and knowing that God has the future in store. He says football doesn’t build character, it reveals it. On March 1, 2005, Les became the seventh president/CEO of the FCA.  His extensive involvement with FCA dates back to 1972 when, as a college football coach, he attended his first FCA conference.   In the 30-plus years since, Steckel has served as a huddle leader, platform speaker, camp dean and football clinician at various FCA camps across the nation.  He led Bible studies throughout his NFL career and served regularly as a guest speaker for FCA events.  Les feels he’s on a tremendous team with FCA.” (http://www.cbn.com/700club/guests/bios/Les_Steckel113006.aspx)

Coach Steckel didn’t get up in front of all of us and boast about all he’s done.  He talked about the privilege it has been for him to be involved in FCA.  A humble man, yet strong.  He shared some stories during his coaching years, and even talked about his time being President for FCA. He reminded all of us who we were working for.  He reminded us who our real CEO/President was.  He reminded all of us to work for the Lord, not for man.  “Whatever you do work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for man, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.  It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23

In any sport we are involved in we measure it by wins or losses.  Coach Steckel reminded us “we are in the game of life and death”.  There are students who are dying inside every day.  We who are ambassadors for Christ have a call to reach out to them and show them the the eternal life they can have with Jesus Christ.  We don’t do this by yelling in their face, or beating the Bible over their head, we do this through,with, and in love.  Coach Steckel reminded all of us “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” Mark 9:35.  A good President will remind you who you are working for, and demonstrate it through his character and actions.  Thanks for the reminder Coach.

Whether you’re the CEO, captain, secretary, administrator, rookie, quarterback, 2nd string, or underdog you can make a difference…all you have to do is step out and make a play.

~Sharing the Victory is FCA’s magazine that is published monthly.  They also have podcasts.  Here is this past weeks podcast with Coach Steckel, Tim Tebow, and Coach Bowden. 

Sharing the Victory Podcast featuring Tim Tebow, Bobby Bowden, and Les Steckel

Character Series: Vision–Escaping the Ordinary

What’s your day look like?  Many of you may have an every day routine, or an every other day routine.

Is it comfortable?

I know mine is.  Bear with me while I rant about my routine for a minute.

1.  I get up around 7:30 am…OK, lets be honest.  It varies 🙂

My husband, (bless his sweet heart) makes coffee every morning.  I grab a cup of coffee with vanilla chai creamer, YUM,  then plop myself on the couch with my Bible and journal.

2.  After my time with God, I have breakfast, get ready, and after that do one of these things…

• go to school
• work on a video for one of my jobs
• some sort of marketing thing

The days vary with which thing comes after getting ready, but I can count on one of them.  It’s become a routine, and it can become too comfortable.

How do you handle being under pressure?  If something comes outside of your typical routine, is it hard for you to handle?  Or (here’s the cliche question)  Do you see the glass half empty or half full?

Here’s an interesting story.  Two men were in prison for a very long time.  They had one small window that only let a little bit of light shine through.  One guy say the window as bars…metallic, ugly reminders of reality.  The other guy looked through the window and saw the stars beyond.  He had hope.  The prisoners were looking at the same window, but one saw bars while the other saw stars.  And the difference in their vision  made a huge difference in their lives.

Vision is one of those character qualities that go along with courage and discipline.  “The reason is simple:  it takes too much work to be a visionary.  It’s much easier to go with the flow and do what’s expected.  It takes courage to break out of conventional thought patterns.  It takes confidence and daring to risk failure with a new idea or new approach.  ” (Bill Hybels)

So I get stuck in my routine.  I do things just to finish them.  I try and rush through them so I can squeeze something else into my day.  Pretty much I’ve gotten into pattern of going through the motions.  I’ve lost my vision.

Vision can be defined in many ways;  vision is the God-given ability to see possible solutions to the everyday problems of life.  “Visionary people are solution oriented, not problem oriented.”   I’ve had Colossians 3:23-24 on my heart lately.  It says, “Whatever you do work at it with all your Heart, as working for the Lord, not for man, since you know that you will receive an inheritance rom the Lord as a reward.  It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

I have been praying for God to refocus my vision, and how I look at things for a while now.  I shouldn’t be comfortable in a rapidly growing ministry.  There is so much out there.   My husband and I are going through a trial and error stage…but through this, we are learning what ‘solution’ to take.  Instead of looking at our setbacks with a pessimistic attitude, we have to consciously choose to be visionaries and set our gaze upward.

Being a visionary doesn’t just apply to to ministry or a job…It’s an important character for every day life.  There are things all of us face; challenges, trials, disappointments, hurts…If we allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by difficulties, our future is clouded by darkness.

This may be common sense to a lot of us.  But sometimes, I’ll admit, I’ve been so overwhelmed and crippled by fear that its hard to be a visionary.  In those times, it’s important to find a solution.  Bill Hybels suggests four steps:

1.  Repeat Matthew 19:26 ” With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  God is Way  bigger than anythin we face.

2.  Go to a place where you can be alone and seek God.

3.  Meet with brothers and sisters in Christ you are solution-oriented people:  not people who will fuel the problem.

4.  In a spirit of humility, prayer and openness to the Holy Spirit, list four or five best possible solutions to my problem..Then by faith, start down the path of one of those solutions.

VISION IS NOT ONLY FOR PROBLEM SOLVING.  Vision is the ability to see beneath the surface of people’s lives.  Most of us have generalized, stereotyped, or judged another person.  But instead of looking at the things we think are wrong with someone else, or whatever it is, visionaries see beyond it and look beneath the surface.  They look at the heart, the character, and even the hopes and fears that motivate the person’s behavior.  “Visionaries have an important mission to accomplish in the lives of others–looking past the obvious into the shadows, trying to draw out the greatness that God himself put there.”

We need visionary business leaders, parents, spouses, coaches, teachers, disciples…we need visionaries in all aspects of life.  It takes vision to go beyond the ordinary–  I heard a great quote one time, and it has stuck with since. ” People are born individuals, but most people die a second-rate version of someone else.” Sometimes we can get so caught up in trying to live someone else’s life that we forget..

“Vision is the God-given ability to catch a glimpse of what God wants to do through your life if you dedicate yourself to him.”  We are unique.  We all are different.  We all have a call on our lives placed by God.  In Acts 17:24-34, Paul is speaking to philosphers in Athens and at one point he says, ” From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he

marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. ²⁷God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.”  And he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.   If you look at different translations, you find that God has placed every one of us where we are for a reason.  Whether you are a Christian or not,  you were placed where you are for a reason..the people around you, in your job, at school.  Whatever you are doing, God had appointed the time for you to be there.  God is a visionary for all of our lives…and we are all made in his image and likeness.

So, I’d encourage you, step our of your routine. Step out of your comfort zone. If something has been on your heart, do it.  Have a new idea?  TRY IT?  Facing a problem?  Look for a solution.  Sometimes we read Hebrews 11, the great Hall of Faith chapter, and are in awe of Moses, and Abraham, David, Ruth, Mary…  Remember they had faith in God, trusted in His vision, and went for it.  We all can do it.

Don’t stay on the bench because your content with being on the team.  Get in the game and make a play.

Character Series: Discipline: No Pain, No Gain

This past weekend, the Colorado Mesa FCA huddle had the privilege to go on their first retreat.  We journeyed up to Rifle, Colorado, just an hour away from Grand Junction.  It was the perfect time to go to go with the fall colors in bloom and the crisp air.  Suffice it to say…it was gorgeous!

Some students of CMU FCA went on a hike around the camp

The theme of the retreat was “Make Him Known.”  We learned how to make Him known in your own life, and make Him known in your world.

Typical retreats tend to wear you out.  You stay up late, get up early, and stretch your brain.  But even in the exhaustion I was amazed at the discipline the athletes had to do their work-outs even being away from practice.

A few cross country runners attended retreat and both days one girl woke up at 6:30 and went on a 10 mile run.

Some people might say that discipline is one of the most important character qualities a person can possess.  Pastor and well-known author Bill Hybels says “{discipline} plays a key role in developing every area of life.”  Hybels also defines it simply. “Delayed Gratification.”

According to Scott Peck in his book, The Road Less Traveled, “Delayed gratification is a process of scheduling the pain and pleasure of life in such a way as to enhance the pleasure by meeting and experiencing the pain first and getting it over with.”

Let’s break this down.  “…process of scheduling the pain and pleasure.”

– I would suggest, and might be assuming, that people who are retired understand this more so than my generation. (20 somethings)  In a world where it clamors for instant gratification and easy solutions, it’s hard to choose the way of discipline.  For example:  Out of adolescence and into adulthood brings more responsibility.  You put in longer hours, take short vacations, and have minimal pay…but behind all of that they known that the pay-off will eventually come in the form of more flexible hours, higher pay, longer vacations, etc.  They practice delayed gratification.  I just got married in May, (it’s such a blessing), but the financial strains at times can be challenging since we are both in college.  There are so many things that I want to do right now, but I know that if we wait to go on big vacations, and buy new furniture, it will pay off in the long run.  We are practicing delayed gratification.  “…in such a way as to enhance the pleasure by meeting and experiencing the pain first and getting it over with.”

Biblically, to practice discipline means to persevere.  Perseverance is defined: Steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.  Delayed gratification is important to spiritual life.  Getting up and making time to pray, read the Bible, or living out your faith…It takes time and discipline to learn about these things.  It takes perseverance to keep it going when you are in a lull period.

Working out and seeing results is impossible without discipline and delayed gratification.  Bill Hybels suggests that the key to practicing discipline can be described in three words–advance decision making. “You must make advance decisions as to how you are going to practice discipline in the various dimensions of your life.”  The cross country runner made a decision in advance and followed through with it because she wanted to enjoy the pleasure, the rewards, and the payoff later by the pain and sacrifice of practicing to get in more shape.  Families who are on a tight budget make an advanced decision to follow their budget regardless, and in the end it pays off during the holidays.  Marriages who make an advanced decision to stick it out through the good and bad and take care of the bumps in the road see the pay off later.

Discipline builds character.

Time-out:

In what area of your life could you be more disciplined in?

Who comes to mind when you think of being disciplined?

Make a play –>

Character Series: Committed to be Courageous

 

 

Character, a wise person once said, is what we do when no one is watching.  It is not the same as reputation–what other people think of us.  Character is not what we have done, but who we are.  

This past weekend I went and saw Courageous with my husband, step-mom, and dad.  First off, if you haven’t seen it I highly recommend it.  It is a heart wrenching, tear-jerking, family oriented movie that will make you think about your character.  I would say the movie’s main target audience is men/fathers/or husbands, but the foundational character quality of courage can apply to all of us.

 Character is our world’s most pressing need, and courage is a good place to start.  How do you define courage?  The online dictionary defines courage this way:

1. The ability to do something that frightens one.
2. Strength in the face of pain or grief.

We see courage displayed in our media today that coincide with these definitions only when we see an extreme act of heroism: someone rescuing someone from a burning building, firefighters, police officers, the military, running a marathon even though it hurts…so many different examples.   But it takes a great deal of courage to face life’s ordinary, everyday challenges.  Every single day we make choices that show whether we are courageous or cowardly.  We choose between the right thing and the convenient thing, sticking to a conviction or caving in for the sake of comfort.  Everyday we face these decisions and often times forget that we even have to make them.  The Bible definitely has something to say about courage a few times.

Deuteronomy 31:6
Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.

1 Chronicles 28:20 
David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the LORD is finished.

Psalm 27:1
The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?

Matthew 10:26
Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.

The latter verses don’t precisely say courage, but they talk about facing your fears.  People say that Christianity is for weak people, but it takes a great deal of old fashioned courage to be a Christian.  The Bible says that, to become a Christian, you have to own up to your sins before a holy God. No one likes to admit that they’ve hurt people, are selfish, have cheated, been greedy, gossiped, or was dishonest.  It makes people uncomfortable to tell your best friend those things.  Why would it be any easier to tell someone that you can’t see?  But too many people cave into their fears and say they can’t do it because it would be too humiliating, too hard, or they make excuses and say, “nobody’s perfect.”  In the movie Courageous, the rookie police officer portrayed this fearful person who made excuses for everything.  When the other men were talking about how important it was for them to have their fathers in their lives as kids and how it impacted their relationship with God, it was really hard for this young man to understand.  It turns out he was hiding something and was fearful of telling the truth. That is why he was so resistant to opening up to what the others had to say about the importance of fathers in their life and our Heavenly Father, God.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:7 “We walk by faith, not by sight.”  But following Jesus demands an enormous amount of courage.  Quite often the things we feel like we are called to do seem out of the ordinary, scary, and even silly.  Sometimes we just ignore those leadings and crawl back in a cave and just do what’s comfortable.  But it takes enormous courage to follow God’s leadings in the Christian life.

We use this courageous quality every day: Relationally, morally, financially, in school, and especially in sports.  When I used to run track, the 400 meter race scared me to pieces. I didn’t like the burning aching pain in my legs the last 100 meters down the home stretch.  Every time…I mean EVERY TIME, I was warming up I would think of excuses as to how I could get out of it.  I was afraid of pain, I was afraid of the race, I was afraid of a lot.  No matter my fear, I got into those blocks and the officiator said, “Runners to your mark…set..”…and the gun would go off and all of the fear went away.  Why?  Because you grow in courage when you face your crippling fears.

Courage–we all need it, and God wants us to have it.  He did not give us a spirit of timidity (fear) but a spirit of power. Courageous people are ordinary people like you and I.  They are the athletes on our campus who made a courageous decision to play college sports despite the physical challenges and time commitment.  They are the girls who asks to meet for coffee because she is struggling to make friends. They are the wives who effortlessly cooks, cleans, and keeps the home in order when she is trying to balance the ups and downs of a busy schedule.  They are the friends who graciously tell the truth because no one else will.  They are the young men who make a commitment to stay pure and respect women despite today’s culture.

Courageous people are all around us:  Ordinary people allowing God to do extraordinary things.

Time Out:

Who do you know that has shown courage and can help encourage you to face your fears?  Remember to surround yourself with good models.  The Bible says, “Bad company ruins good morals.” (1 Cor 15:33)

What area are you struggling with when it comes to being courageous?

In what ways can you make an effort to consciously allow your mind to be transformed and take courage?

 

Go and make a play ~

 

 

 

 

Responding In Love

Bible Beaters showed up on campus and were proclaiming a gospel of hate. See post for more.

Today two men stood on soap boxes in the middle of campus, and shouted hate at the students of Colorado Mesa University.  They professed to be Christians, and shouted ‘their gospel’ at the crowds.  While shouting that we are all sinners, which is true, they never got to the heart of the real gospel, Jesus Christ and his redeeming, undying, unlimited, unconditional, and self sacrificing love for all.  In the middle of their condemnation of homosexuals, Catholics, sinners, and Christians was a gospel of hate.  When we as Christians lose focus on the fact that God is love, and he loves us so much that he allowed the death of his son for our redemption we lose the gospel entirely.

Hate speech like this is why people reject Christianity, and the gospel.  Hate like this results in false gospel, and an anti Christ lifestyle.  The crusades, September 11th, racial discrimination, and so many more issues arise because of hate, and a perverted gospel.

We at CMU FCA want you to know that this is not the true gospel of Jesus Christ.  Hate is not why He died for you.  Christ died to save us from out sin, and not for us to condem each other.  No matter what you have done.  No matter where you have come from.  No matter who you are.  God loves you passionately, and is calling you unto himself.  God is love, and we are called to love one another because he first loved us.  While we were in our sin he loved us.  And we want you to know that real Christians will love you no matter who you are.

While hearing these mean screaming at the it was hard to love, and easy to hate them.  Yet, we are called to love those men.  When God said that we are called to love each other, He did not mean to love just the easy ones.  God loves us unconditionally, and we should love others unconditionally.  Yelling back at these men may feel good in the moment, but it is not what we are called to do.

1 Corinthians 13:1

The Way of Love

” If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”

In all we do it must be in love.  If there is no love in our speech, then we are just an annoying noise in God’s ear.