Bob's Blog

There are some skills that are important to have...

A few months back, I wrote a blog about a quote that I had read. See the details here , but the quote was "The young man who rings the bell at the brothel is unconsciously looking for God." Here is why... God is a God of beauty! He is continually wooing us to Himself with the beauty that is all around us. I have written about how this recognition of beauty and its impact is unique to mankind. I am sure that all of you have experienced this when you have gazed at the mountains, the ocean, a star-filled sky, the clouds of a gathering thunderstorm, etc. This feeling is the wooing that I spoke of above. Men, you know that the beauty of a woman has a similar, yet more intense, impact. That is because Woman is God's crowning achievement. This is what Solomon was saying in the Song of Solomon. Woman is beauty personified. Her beauty and all of God's creation are intended to stir a longing in our hearts. A longing for our creator. But, that intention and plan took a

Ok, just wanted to share this video for all of you who are Guitar Hero fans...

The makers of Fireproof and Facing the Giants have just announced that they are making a new movie. Courageous . Here is the info from the website... Four men, one calling: To serve and protect. As law enforcement officers, they face danger every day. Yet when tragedy strikes close to home, these fathers are left wrestling with their hopes, their fears, and their faith. From this struggle will come a decision that changes all of their lives. With action, drama, and humor, the fourth film from Sherwood Pictures embraces God’s promise to "turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers." Souls will be stirred, and hearts will be challenged to be ... courageous! COURAGEOUS. Honor begins at home! These guys make great movies! I am excited to see how they deal with this important topic.

I am sure that many of you have visited large cities that have subways. Many of the subway stations are frequented by "would-be" musicians who perform for commuters for whatever cash is placed in their cases, hats or buckets. One past January morning, in Washington DC, one such musician opened his violin case, placed it on the floor and proceeded to play for about 45 minutes. During this time he played 6 pieces written by Bach. Almost no one noticed. Of the estimated 2,000 people who passed by, only 6 stopped to listen and a few others did drop a few bucks in the open violin case. The violinist made a total of $32. His name was Joshua Bell. One of the most accomplished musicians on earth. The pieces were some of the most difficult written by Bach. The 3.5 million dollar violin was built in 1713 by Antonio Stradivari. In his usual venues, Joshua Bell sells out concerts in which the prices are hundreds of dollars per seat. This was actually a social experiment organiz

In a recent Phillies vs. Nationals game, a player from the Phillies fouled a pitch into the upper deck. A man there with his wife and two little girls made a great catch. He received all of the expected congratulations from the fans around him. Then reached down and gave the ball to his four year old daughter. Watch the video below to see what happened next... What a great dad! Many fans attend games for years and are never able to snag a foul ball. When this guy does it and gives it to his daughter, she throws it back. As the announcers say in the video, she is just doing what she has seen the players do. In an interview, the dad said that he could not believe that she threw it back. Then he saw the scared look on her face, like she had done something wrong. So he pulled her to him and hugged her. After the hug, you can tell that she is "all better." What a great dad, to understand the significance of the moment and take the opportunity to communicate to his daug

I had a great time talking about Liz Murray in last week's service. I thought some of you might like more information about her. Her website is www.homelesstoharvard.com See this wikipedia article to find out where Liz is today!

I am guessing that many of you have seen the 1984 movie called The Karate Kid. In the movie, Daniel has moved to a new town where he does not fit in. He is harassed by a group of martial arts trained young men. Through a series of events, Daniel meets a man named Mr. Miyagi who knows karate and who agrees to train Daniel. Daniel's end goal is to learn to fight so he can defend himself. Mr. Miyagi is wise and knows that the process of learning how to fight is not a short one. There are many things to learn. So he sets out to train Daniel-san. In the above clip, what Daniel-san does not know is that Mr. Miyagi is teaching him how to block. Later as Mr. Miyagi continues this method of teaching, Daniel-san gets angry. He feels that Mr. Miyagi is taking advantage of him. He wants to learn to fight and his teacher is just using him. It is only later that he learns that all of the seemingly menial unrelated tasks have taught and strengthened him. God has a plan for your life. W

B.Z is a cowboy in Utah. A few days ago he was our guide on a trail ride through sandstone cliffs overlooking Zion National Park at sunset. Despite the upper 90 degree heat, a comparatively cool wind had been blowing all afternoon across the arid hills that flank the eastern border of Zion. We briefly considered canceling our ride due to the dust the wind was kicking up. As 8pm neared, the wind and dust died down a bit. After mounting our horses, B.Z. led us up and around the sandstone bluffs. The horses were relatively sure-footed with only a few slips and stumbles on the narrow rocky sand-covered inclines. Looking into the wind toward the setting sun over Zion, the views from the narrow 200 ft. bluffs were stunning! The moment touched all of the senses. The sight of the sunset and majestic cliffs. The sound of the wind and the feel of it on my face. The exhilaration of sitting in a saddle on a horse just feet from the edge of a cliff. The smell of the sage carried on the

The Blended Church, my home church in Indianapolis, IN, has a strong prison ministry called "Broken Chains." Over the past few years, I have had the opportunity to partner with the leader of that ministry, Mike Miller, to teach classes at the Plainfield Re-entry Educational Facility based on John Eldredge's book called "Wild at Heart." I have to admit, before I got involved with this ministry, I was pretty judgmental of the men in prison. My attitude has changed over time. To be sure, my belief that they are accountable for their actions has not changed. But, I think I am getting a better understanding of the kind of situations most of these men come out of. In addition to this, I realize that in many cases the only difference between us and them is that they got caught. Clearly, Jesus has not given up on these men and neither should we. You don't have to take my word for it. When you get to heaven, just ask the thief on the cross.

On multiple occasions, in various meetings with men, I have asked them to give me adjectives to describe a Godly or Christian man. Most of the time the list includes words like these: honest loving meek gentle prayerful diligent trustworthy etc. etc. ... you get the picture Let me ask you this, are these what you dreamt of becoming when you were a boy? Yep, when I grow up I want to be ... trustworthy! Do they inspire you now. Don't get me wrong, they are great attributes, but they are only a part of the full picture. On rare occasions, I will get a few words like, courageous, strong, and mighty. Indeed, these words start to fill out the more accurate picture. Unfortunately, very few Christian men would call themselves out as courageous, strong or mighty. In these exercises, I have never gotten this word... DANGEROUS! But, isn't that just what Jesus was? Ask the Pharisees! Ask the demons! Ask Satan! The first words to describe Jesus that would come to their minds wou

In our last Connection Group meeting, we watched lesson number two of the 1 Month to Live Program. In this lesson, Chris Shook mentioned that in 1 Samuel 17, David had a "God Level Perspective." This comment really struck a chord with me. Everyone besides David in this chapter had a "ground level" perspective. Only David saw the situation through God's eyes. For in God's eyes, a giant from Gath is no big deal. David clearly demonstrates this perspective when he confronts Goliath. So the Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!" Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, and a spear, and with a javelin. But, I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.&qu

Oh God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. So I have looked for you in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. Thus will I bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips. David held nothing back in his relationship with God! He was a man of passion. He lived his life on the edge. He love God all out and he was "all in." Remember, this is a man who was one of the greatest warriors who ever lived. He was not a weak man. He was mighty, strong and courageous. Yet before God he says, "My soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you." He is not ashamed nor afraid to admit his deep need for intimacy with his Creator. God, help us live this way! All in!

Men need to be initiated into Godly manhood. We need to be mentored through the stages and levels of growth. The model I like to use is the one created by John Eldredge. Boyhood -> Cowboy -> Warrior -> Lover -> King -> Sage. This journey, through the stages, is made easier when men in the stages above, reach down and pull us up. Unfortunately, not enough of this is happening. In fact, because of the crisis of manhood in our world today, fewer and fewer Kings and Sages exist to help those below. The path through these stages has become overgrown and vaguely marked. Often, I feel like I am trying to navigate uncharted territory. It should not be this way. Men, we have an obligation and a duty to open this trail, to reach down and pull men up through the stages through which we have already passed. Kings and Sages, show yourselves. God is not finished with you! You are desperately needed.

"The young man who rings the bell at the brothel is unconsciously looking for God." from The World, The Flesh, and Father Smith by Bruce Marshall I love the quote above! I heard it recently when listening to a Podcast by John Eldredge. As I have discussed before on this blog, men often take their search for affirmation, intimacy, and validation to the woman. It is God's intention that we approach the woman with our strength, to protect and to lead our families. Instead, all too often, we approach the woman in search of our strength. But, she cannot, nor was she intended to, provide that. She is not God! But, we keep searching, thinking the problem is with the woman that we have chosen, not our expectations. Indeed, her beauty is the pinnacle of God's creation. But her beauty is not the destination. Instead, that beauty is intended to be an arrow, pointing us straight to the heart of the Creator.

Due to a recent business trip, Liza and I found ourselves in London this past Palm Sunday afternoon. We had flown all night and had arrived at our hotel in Ascot, England around noon that day. Even though we were tired, we decided to make our way to London which is about an hour train ride from Ascot to Waterloo Station. After visiting the London Eye and Parliament Building, we made our way to Westminster Abbey to see if we might be able to attend a service. As luck would have it, we arrived at 2:59 PM and found that the Evensong Service started at 3:00 PM. Westminster Abbey, pictured above, was built between 1245 and 1517. In addition to being an acting church, it is in effect, as most abbeys are in England, an indoor cemetery. No less than a dozen kings and queens of England are buried in the Abbey. Others buried there include Sir Issac Newton, David Livingstone, William Wilberforce, Rudyard Kipling and even Charles Darwin. Some of you may remember seeing the Abbey on television in r

This is a very cool animation of US Airways 1549 landing in the Hudson.  It is real time and includes the actual audio of the conversation between air traffic control and the plane.  It is incredible how fast things happened and how calm Captain Sullenberger stays.  

Back in 1998, our family took a vacation to Colorado.  While there, we went on a short hike in Rocky Mountain National Park.  As I recall, the trail extended north from Trail Ridge road.  I remember looking at a map and noting that we were indeed heading off into the wilderness.  The trail made its way through a valley with a small river.  Mountain peaks rose on either side.  It was a beautiful early summer day.  The valley was green with vegetation and wild flowers bloomed around us, but the mountain peaks were still snow covered.   As we walked, I had the feeling that we were leaving civilization.  The trail was the only thing that betrayed the existence of another human besides our immediate family.  It was a wild and rugged country, but it was also extremely beautiful.  The majesty of the mountains was breathtaking.  It was a profoundly spiritual experience. I have thought of that hike many times since.  What is it about experiences like it that touch something in our hearts so dee

I am sure that many of you are familiar with Facebook. One of my previous posts let you know that we now have a group on Facebook for the Jesus the Messiah Church Men's Ministry. I also know that many of you have not yet dipped your toe into this social networking thing. My career is in information technology and I have to admit that, even though I have had a Facebook account for a few years, social networking is still a curious thing to me. For those of you who are still just a bit uncomfortable with the concept, there is a new option that has recently been released by John Eldredge's Ransomed Heart Ministries. Here is the description straight from the site... RansomedHeart.net is a new Social Networking site for John Eldredge and Ransomed Heart's friends around the world. Come on in and make yourself at home...upload a profile picture, play with your page, write a blog post, set up a group for your band of brothers or a special area of interest (bow hunting anyone?),

On many occasions, in our meetings, we have talked about the dreams that we had and the games that we played as little boys.  We dreamed of hitting a homerun to win the World Series or catching a touchdown pass to win the Super Bowl.  For most of us, those dreams included hitting a last second shot to win the NBA championship.  Here is the story of a young man who hit the last shot of a high school game and not the NBA championship.  But, you would never know that it was only a high school game by the reaction of his fans and teammates.

Just wanted all of you Facebookers to know that there is now a JMC Men's Ministry Group on Facebook.  Just search follow this LINK  to join!  

This is a somewhat lengthy, but very impactful clip.  It is well worth the six and a half minutes.   I am sure that often we do not understand the significance of what God has done for us.  Jesus' death was excruciating for both Father and Son.  For God SO loved the world that He gave His Son!

When I was growing up in a small town most people had front porches.  Now, we all have back decks or patios surrounded by privacy fences.  We can drive right into our houses (attached garages) without ever seeing a neighbor for days or weeks.  With the invention of "self-service" lines, we can get groceries or gas without ever talking or interacting with another human.  We can even Christmas shop with out ever leaving our house.  We can bank online and we can "social" network while staring at an LCD screen.  Wal-Mart and other stores are actually hiring greeters.  How interesting!  We are now hiring people to do what just came natural only a few decades ago. We are becoming more and more disconnected with other humans.  What is so strange about this is, we were created to interact.  We desire relationship.  Even those of us who are "loners" are usually so because of woundings.  No wonder we feel alone.  We know something is missing.   That is why I am so e