fatherhood at thanksgiving

Here is a great story on a family that was separated by trials, circumstances, and choices. Recently the son has been reunited with his father. The son has always wanted to be loved by his father. The father had no idea he had a son. During Thanksgiving, no matter your family situation be thankful for what God is doing in your life and how much He is willing to pursue you through His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.

Read article here: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=reilly_rick&id=4688219

The dirty "A" word-adultery

Over the last several weeks, I have had the privilege of meeting with several guys to eat breakfast, pray, and discuss how we could better lead our homes for Christ. It has been real encouraging seeing several of these guys who come from different backgrounds, grew up in different hometowns, most have different seasons of life, and many face different challenges. This week, we continued reading the book, Point Man, by Steve Farrar. Today's chapter, Real Men Don't, discussed the dirty "A" word-adultery. Farrar discusses the fact that when a husband cheats on his wife its not just an affair but adultery. And with adultery comes tremendous consequences like losing your marriage, damaging your influence with your kids, losing friendships, hurting your witness to those outside of Christ, being removed from leadership, and suffering almost insurmountable emotional damage. Here are a few more quotes from the book:

*We have seen too many leaders in recent years who have preached righteousness in the pulpit while practicing unrighteousness in some hotel room.
*Righteousness must not only be found in our pulpits, but in our homes.
*The modus operandi (for all men) should be to flee sexual immorality. See I Cor. 6:18
*He quotes Boake Carter, "in time of war, the first casualty is truth."
*We are in the greatest danger of all when we think we are safe. (Stand heed unless you fall...)
*Each divorce is the death of a small civilization.
*There is nothing wrong with desiring happiness, but horrendous problems develop when we become disobedient to obtain it.
*Forgiveness is available to all. But forgiveness does not automatically restore the privilege of leadership.

Have you ever suffered negative consequences regarding someone's choice? Have you ever personally lost a friendship or relationship due to adultery? Just today, ESPN came out with a story about one of their leading baseball analyst who is taking a leave of absence from his commentating in the middle of the playoffs. Why? Evidently he has been having an affair-committing adultery-with a co-worker. He is married and has several children. It is important to feel the pain that he and his family and this co-worker are all currently feeling. It is important to pray for each of those people that they will experience the forgiveness of Christ and the freedom to obedience he brings. It is important to exam each one of our own lives to set up specific boundaries and accountability so that we don't suffer the same things. After all, its because of grace we can be forgiven, and its because of grace that we remain free from the same sin. May God continue to raise up Godly men at Rejoice, in our cities, throughout our nation and in this world to lead our families and point others to Christ. That is a real man! -casey

i am second

No matter where you are on the football radar this is a strong video for multiple reasons:
1) It reminds us that sports is an activity for enjoyment but not for worship.
2) That heroes are people we look up to not idolize.
3) That college football players are in many ways still late teenagers or young adults.
4) That ultimately God calls us to lead for Christ no matter our sphere of influence or platform.

So no matter if you are a Poke, Longhorn, Aggie, Sooner, Golden Hurricane, Razorback, Red Raider, or don't enjoy football at all, take a minute to watch this video and be encouraged by two young followers of Christ. -casey c.

learning leadership from those leaving a legacy

Just ran across Will Mancini's blog about Chuck Swindoll's talk today at the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. See: http://clarityevangelist.typepad.com/will_mancini/2009/10/10-profound-lessons-from-the-catalyst-godfather-.html Chuck Swindoll received the legacy award, he is 70 years old and was the former president of Dallas Theological Seminary and recent preaching pastor at Stonebriar Community Church. http://www.stonebriar.org/ Chuck Swindoll is also known for his worldwide radio bible program called: Insight for Living. http://www.insight.org/

Here are his 10 lessons from 50 years of ministry:

It’s lonely to lead
It’s dangerous to succeed
It’s hardest at home
It’s essential to be real
It’s painful to obey
Brokenness and failure are necessary
Attitude overshadows actions
Integrity eclipses image
God’s way is always better than my way
Christlikeness begins and ends with humility

praying continually and at all times, big and small

Do you find yourself praying more or praying less? Isn't it amazing that God can hear all prayers and all times, whether big or small, spoken loudly or whispered in the recesses of our mind! I'm so thankful that even when my heart yearns with a concern or prayer God knows it. This week, I find myself flooded with thankfulness of the good and perfect things that God is doing in so many people lives. I also find myself praying for many needs in our Rejoice family and throughout the world. This week I have been praying for a friend and spouse who were facing some major health questions. Today they got some really good news that their tests were negative and that was a huge positive! Today, I prayed for a family who filled out a Sunday communication card-they asked for prayer for their son and his emotional needs and social skills. I don't know who it is or their name-but God does. So I am praying for them. I have been praying for my relatives who are facing court battles with their children. God I want to lift up my brother-in-law Daniel while he is serving our country and Iraq in the middle east. God, I want to pray for my friend Gary and his healing from ear and jaw problems and my friend Eric in Nashville and his recovery from brain surgery. I find myself praying for the 14 people who have been baptized in the last 2 months at Rejoice, the many teens who have given their life to Christ...the three families that just attended church recently who I know are going through marriage difficulties! Last night, I was praying that God will continue to raise up men in our church who want to lead their families toward Christ. This morning I got to meet with 16 of them who are learning what it means to be the POINT MAN in their homes because of the gospel. Today, I found myself praying for a friend who had a "routine" procedure, but I also know that any time you have to go to the hospital and get a huge shot with lots of meds, it isn't routine. Today, I found myself praying for my family and thanking God for them. Praying that my wife would have a great day, be encouraged and reminded that God is using her in great ways to impact our children and our community. I have been praying for my son to grow in his understanding of who Christ is and his need so that he could come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. My prayers have been also for my daughter that God will give her a heart of learning, obedience, and an ability to communicate with her words. The nations who don't know Christ comes to my mind, all those people, so many needs...
Lots of things to pray for and about...What are you praying about? What do you sense God asking you to pray about? When was the last time you were overwhelmed with all your needs and it drove you to actually pray? -casey

nehemiah: reforming our lives in order to rebuild our communities

This past Sunday we started our REBUILD preaching series from the book of Nehemiah. One of the main teaching portions of this book is that God has called Nehemiah to be a catalyst for rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem which was a city for God's people and glory. This seemed to be an impossible task, since Nehemiah lived 800 miles away, the walls had been broken for mnay years and the wall was 4.5 miles long. The walls also covered 960 acres, which is about 1. 5 square miles. This task that Nehemiah had for leadership was incredible. Tons of people challenges, money needs, families represented, cultural understandings, opinions by multiple generations, expectations from thousands, enemies at bay, etc... What is really incredible is the task was accomplished in 52 days! Wow. However, when I think about how impossible this task was and yet it was accomplished by God through people in 52 days, that has me thinking. What could we accomplish if we set our minds, hearts, and souls toward over the next 52 days. What might God want to do amongst us and within us over the next 52 days? God could save a marriage over the next 52 days if we were willing to be led by God and serve our spouse. God could reorganize our finances in 52 days and take us from drowning in debt, to setting a new course, and having a new plan of action. God could enable us to forgive something or someone that we have been bitter towards for years in just 52 days. God may even want us to see more life change in the next 52 days than we have seen in the last 52 months? Who knows what God will do, if only we will set our hearts toward His plan over the next 52 days! -casey

Nehemiah: reforming our lives in order to rebuild our communities

Quick: What do you know about the book of Nehemiah? What can you tell us about his leadership, his culture, his task? How do you think it relates to our own lives? Join with hundreds of others this Sunday as we gather to look at how we can reform our own lives in order to help rebuild our own communities! -casey