Top 10 Ways to ruin your marriage

By no means are we suggesting that you take this path.  As you know, Lance, Gary and myself give you ways to build a legacy with your wife and kids.  Often, though, we find relationships that put "self" in front of God's ways, which brings me to this list: 

The Top 10 Ways To Ruin Your Marriage:

10. Not treating your spouse with respect

9.  Letting other things comes first

8.  Being unfair (not attempting to see her side)

7.  Being cold (dead to relationship)

6.  Taking away intimacy (both emotionally and physically)

5.  Being untrustworthy

4.  Breaking promises

3.  Putting yourself first and do not die to self

2.  A non-sexual affair (a computer, social network and/or improper friendships)

1.  A sexual affair (breaking the marriage-covenant)

Fathers, Mentors, Disciples of Christ

“Remember that mentor leadership is all about serving. Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).”― Tony Dungy, The Mentor Leader: Secrets to Building People and Teams That Win Consistently

“Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.”

― Plato

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”

― William Arthur Ward

Why are you here?  What is your purpose for living?  What should you be doing and giving with what God has given you?  How should I raise my child (children)?  Am I doing God's will?  What is God's will for my life?  Should I withhold good when it is in my power to act?  How can I (one man) make a difference?

Whether or not these are questions that you randomly ask yourself, at some time or another these themes keep popping back up in my head and my thoughts continue to ponder these questions over and over and over again.

I am writing this to followers of Jesus Christ (not unbelievers or just fans, but Followers).  That being said, if you do know know Christ as your personal Savior (google Romans Road of Salvation - or send us an email or find a bible believing/preaching church and ask their pastor/elders how to be saved.  For the rest of you that choose to continue to read this - thank you!  I would also beg for your input and thoughts into this post.   

A while ago, Lance had put out what our readers wanted to hear more about and one of the responses was this:  "Sacrifice/love of fathers/mentors? Much like the examples of Abraham/Isaac, God/Jesus, Paul/Timothy."  I love this response and topic.  Jesus Christ called us to be disciples and not just fans not just pew sitters - he wants Kingdom builders and Heavy Hitters for His will (Not ours!).

If we are to truly be disciples of Christ then we have to sacrifice everything for Him and His will.

Let’s see what Jesus said about the cost of discipleship:“Luke 14:25-33 The Cost of Discipleship

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."

Let's put it this way, as disciples of Christ, we are called to pick up are Cross and carry it daily.  Does that sound easy, passive and unresponsive to God's will and plan for us?  When you weigh these two things, for me, it is easy to see that sacrifice is paramount here.  As fathers we are called to be fully engaged and to develop and rear are child to love the Lord with all his heart, soul, body, strength and mind.  We are also told to teach them to love their neighbor.  When we mentor - we sacrifice our valuable time.  We choose to put others (serve others) before we serve ourselves.

All throughout the Bible we see countless sacrifice of mentors, leaders, fathers and disciples keenly aware of the cost (even in their fears and weaknesses), but they all have Faith.  Jesus was unquestionably the greatest example for mentoring others - he walked with his disciples for 3 years with patience and tolerance and even when they still didn't get most of what he was saying - God knew that they had so much more in them - the Holy Spirit to do his Kingdom work and not theirs.

Less of me, more of God!  That is the posture I will take more often than not!

Your thoughts?

Dante

5 Reasons why it is worth having kids...

The top 5 Reasons why it is worth having kids:#5     You see everything for the first time again through the child's eyes — even the littlest of things are amazing.

#4     The meaning of life, the importance of life and the extravagance of life are all rolled into this little gift from God.

#3     We get to enjoy the miracle of child-bearing and the role of parenting...

#2     No matter how much pain and grief our kids cause us, we are reminded daily (hourly and by the seconds) just how much God loves us no matter what (God's love never fades, never runs out on us)

#1     We begin to understand just how much God loves us!

Balancing act of church and sports with kids...(not just a fan)

WARNING:  The following words may offend you.  The following statements may anger you.  The following statements may wound you.  The following statements may make you say, it is about time someone said this.NOTE: The disclaimer you just read is for your health benefit and for mine.

An excerpt from Andre Agassi (World Champion Tennis Player):

"I play tennis for a living even though I hate tennis, hate it with a dark and secret passion and always have." "Agassi poignantly recalls a telephone conversation with his father after winning Grand Slam title No. 1 at Wimbledon in 1992. Dad's initial reaction? "You had no business losing that fourth set," Agassi writes." "Plenty, it turns out. Excerpts of Agassi's upcoming autobiography published Wednesday by Sports Illustrated and The Times of London contain graphic depictions of his use of crystal meth, an account of how he wriggled his way out of a suspension by lying to the ATP tour after failing a 1997 drug test and the jarring contention that he always hated tennis "with a dark and secret passion" because of his overbearing father."

At this point, you may be saying, "so what is your point?".  Have you ever heard of the phrase, "the devil is in the details?"  I think that that is very relevant to my topic.  I don't want to offend, nor do I want to tell you how to live your lives, but I hope and pray that this gives you something to think about.  That being said, I want to ask you when we as a society said that it is okay to let idolatry take over our call to be disciples of Jesus Christ?

Let me put it this way.  Some where in time we thought that sports, technology, television, work and your hobbies are acceptable before prioritizing God.  Take sports, for instance, year round travel league clubs, sporting clubs and the hustle and bustle of "you have to do this if you want your kids to move up and be considered for the next best thing".  You have to get the latest APP if you want to be in the know and relevant.  You have to do this and you have to do that.

Seriously?  Let's put this in perspective.  I am writing this not to condemn you the reader, but to give my life a reality check.  I want to have my children own my faith.  I want my children to love the Lord their God with all their heart, mind, body, soul and strength.  I want them to own that before anything else in their lives (gymnastics, piano, Star Wars, books, art, crafts, games, and so on).  I want them to have that modeled to them by their mom and dad.

There is a book, by Randy Frazee called, "Making Room for Life'  It is a good read and I would have sub-titled it, "Making Room for God".  Because, at the end of our lives, does it really matter what game our child won, or whatever I did that did not include God in my service (worship)?

At the end of the day, what should really matter to us?  Solomon, in all his wisdom, talks about life and our lives, "we are but a vapor."  When we put things into perspective, and if we really give an honest answer, how much of our time does God really have?  Be honest, do we squeeze him in for an hour on Sunday and 7 days worth of 15 minutes each day of prayer?   Less then?  More then?

Are you a fan or are you a follower of Jesus Christ? Revelation 3:13-15

¹³ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

¹⁴ “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. ¹⁵ I know your deeds,that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!

Are you willing to finish the race that Jesus Christ has set before you?

to be a follower!

What about you?

Thoughts?

Dante