No great love is there than a friend...

^{John 15:13}  Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

Psalm 22

English Standard Version (ESV)

Why Have You Forsaken Me?

To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.

22 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?² O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,and by night, but I find no rest.

³ Yet you are holy,enthroned on the praises^[a] of Israel.⁴ In you our fathers trusted;they trusted, and you delivered them.⁵ To you they cried and were rescued;in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

⁶ But I am a worm and not a man,scorned by mankind and despised by the people.⁷ All who see me mock me;they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;⁸ “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him;let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”

⁹ Yet you are he who took me from the womb;you made me trust you at my mother's breasts.¹⁰ On you was I cast from my birth,and from my mother's womb you have been my God.¹¹ Be not far from me,for trouble is near,and there is none to help.

¹² Many bulls encompass me;strong bulls of Bashan surround me;¹³ they open wide their mouths at me,like a ravening and roaring lion.

¹⁴ I am poured out like water,and all my bones are out of joint;my heart is like wax;it is melted within my breast;¹⁵ my strength is dried up like a potsherd,and my tongue sticks to my jaws;you lay me in the dust of death.

¹⁶ For dogs encompass me;a company of evildoers encircles me;they have pierced my hands and feet^[b]—¹⁷ I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me;¹⁸ they divide my garments among them,and for my clothing they cast lots.

¹⁹ But you, O Lord, do not be far off!O you my help, come quickly to my aid!²⁰ Deliver my soul from the sword,my precious life from the power of the dog!²¹     Save me from the mouth of the lion!You have rescued^[c] me from the horns of the wild oxen!

²² I will tell of your name to my brothers;in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:²³ You who fear the Lord, praise him!All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!²⁴ For he has not despised or abhorredthe affliction of the afflicted,and he has not hidden his face from him,but has heard, when he cried to him.

²⁵ From you comes my praise in the great congregation;my vows I will perform before those who fear him.²⁶ The afflicted^[d] shall eat and be satisfied;those who seek him shall praise the Lord!May your hearts live forever!

²⁷ All the ends of the earth shall rememberand turn to the Lord,and all the families of the nationsshall worship before you.²⁸ For kingship belongs to the Lord,and he rules over the nations.

²⁹ All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,even the one who could not keep himself alive.³⁰ Posterity shall serve him;it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;³¹ they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,that he has done it.

Act of Valor

Let me start this post out by saying that this week was a very rare gem for me.  I was asked to catch up with a brother from church that I have not walked with for a very long time.  He has had some ups and downs and has been restored in our body and I am proud to watch his spiritual growth in our church.  We had dinner before seeing the movie, Act of Valor.  We talked a lot about our kids and ministry and where are lives are taking us.He asked me what he could do for me.  I didn't see that question.  Actually, I was expecting more of just a catch up kind of evening.  I will say that I knew that he was walking and getting actively involved in some other ministries in our church and that was a very good thing.  My response to him was that he was already doing it.  He made some mistakes (we all do), he repented (we all need to) and he has been restored.  Now his life is bearing fruit of the Spirit.  He has a humility that I cannot explain, but I can tell that he truly gets what Christ did for him (for me and you).  He reinforced a very strong passion of Lance, Gary and myself:  To finish well and to reach men at their core and to serve in such a way, When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.”  (quote form Lance's Post).

After dinner,  we went and saw the movie (see trailor) Act of Valor, which is a movie about Navy SEALS.  The movie was nothing less then great.  You can pick on some aspects of the movie but things that were made abundantly clear from the beginning where character traits that we strive for legacy dads to bear witness to and live out daily:  Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, Citizenship, Perseverance, Loyalty, Duty, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, Grace, Justice, Humility, Humilty, Mercy, Discipline and of course, Valor.  I have to believe that some, if not all, of these men fear God and believe in Jesus Christ.  They would be remiss to be so giving in their sacrifice to their friends and family and country and not know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.  Some of the things said and principles shared in the movie can make one believe that they do believe in God (I hope and pray so).

Last night was another special night for me as I met with an Elder from our church and a man that is very involved with me in our men's ministry and we are working on some discipleship training.  Both men, that I met with these past two nights, have a sense of maturity (humility) that is great to see.  The one from Tuesday is just starting to grow deeper in his faith and maturity and the one from last night has come through a very long year and a half of a desert place.

I am celebrating these two men this week.  I believe in them and their walks and am proud to be involved in serving with both of them.  As we work through this discipleship process, our prayer and hope is that other men will move in a posture that can bring them to a place of worship, service, stewardship, purity and of course, being a man of God and a disciple of Christ.

To God be the Glory,

Dante

Blessed be your name

Tonight was a really tough night for me when I finally got home.  First of all, I worked all day.  Secondly, I helped a friend host a sales party and my wife told me on the way home that a friend died today.  These kids are close to my kids' age and this mom had been battling cancer for a very long time.  When everyone got home from school and the kids were put to bed, my wife told our son that his friends lost their mommy today, that is, she went home to Jesus.Now I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that she was a Christian and that tonight she is with Jesus in Heaven (to God be the glory).  But the other side of this is that there are 3, no 4, kids that will no longer have their mommy.  This statement really hits home with me for a numerous amounts of reasons:  1) I almost lost my wife both 3 and 2 years ago; 2) I have kids their kids' age 3) How do you explain this to your kids and 4) You can NEVER replace "mom".

So, when I finally got home, I changed clothes and went up and laid in bed with my son and talked.  I talked about what he wanted to talk about, which was his friends' mommy.  So we talked some more, we prayed and when I started to pray I sang him this song by Tree 63:

Blessed be your nameIn the land that is plentifulWhere the streams of abundance flowBlessed be your name

Blessed be your nameWhen I'm found in the desert placeThough I walk through the wildernessBlessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,I turn back to praiseWhen the darkness closes in, LordStill I will say...Blessed be the name of the LordBlessed be your nameBlessed be the name of the LordBlessed be your glorious name

Blessed be your nameWhen the sun's shining down on meWhen the world's all as it should beBlessed be your name

Blessed be your nameOn the road marked with sufferingThough there's pain in the offeringBlessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,I turn back to praiseWhen the darkness closes in, LordStill I will say...Blessed be the name of the LordBlessed be your nameBlessed be the name of the LordBlessed be your glorious name

You give and take awayYou give and take awayMy heart will choose to sayLord, Blessed be your name

I sang him this song and when I sang the part where it says, "you give and take away" he truly took away what I was trying to say to him:  No matter what, Trey, blessed be the name of Jesus!

He is our friend.  He suffered for our sins.  He died on the cross for our sins once and for all.  He understands what it is like being us.  He understands pain (he died on a cross) and he understands love and joy.  Because of Him, we are saved.  We are loved and will always be His.

When I almost lost my wife, the hardest prayer that I ever prayed was, "not my will, BUT your will be done!"  To God be the glory for ever and ever, Amen!

Dante

8 Years

Tomorrow marks my first born's eighth birthday and my wife and I are throwing him an "around the World" birthday part.  Rooms have been transformed into China, Russia, Italy, The USA , Mexico, The Caribbean Islands, Ireland and Australia.  Games will be played through each Country except for Italy (they will be making their own Pizza's) and the USA (they will be eating a cake designed as a flag).  When they enter the house they will be required to go through Customs and have their passports stamped and processed before entering the "Around the World" experience.  Their suitcases will be bags designed to hold their spoils of travel. As exciting as the imagination can make this sound, I have to tell you that I am more excited and humbled that eight years ago (tomorrow) my wife and I had our first child together.In these past eight years, this boy named Trey, has impacted our lives so much.  As a matter of fact, it was not until I had a son that I could even resonate the message of Salvation to my father.  You see, he didn't want a "know-it-all" son telling him what to do or how he should do it.  However, when I told him how I felt about my son and how, if the world had needed him to be sacrificed (in order to "Save" the world) that I (his daddy) would tell the world to go take a hike.  That resonated deeply with my dad and looking at me through the eyes of a father to a father, he said to me, "That is exactly how I feel about you." As I am typing this post, my son walked up to me and said, "Dad, before my guests arrive tomorrow, can we read Scripture together."  I truly thank God for his mercy and love in my life.  For his redeeming love and power to make my life new.  Because of his love, I am able to give love to my son and to my two daughters and to my wife.  Even when I make mistakes and fail, I know that I have a Redeemer who makes things new.

I like what 1 Thessalonians has to say about the role of a Father, to Comfort, Encourage and Urge your child to live a life worthy of Jesus Christ.  Not by our works, but by his mercy we are saved.  I love that God has given me a road map to parenting:  The Bible.  I am grateful that his Spirit works in me to give me the right heart attitude in raising my children, loving my wife (and our family) and to wake up each day with a new set of hours to minister to my family.

Trey, I wish you the happiest of days tomorrow.  I want you to know that your dad and mom love you very very much.  I want you to know that we will always love you and be there for you.  You are a very very special boy.  Thanks for being so special.

Love Daddy (Dante)

Anger

The Bible gives us a lot of warnings about anger and how we should guard against such things.  James 1:¹⁹ My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, ²⁰ because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires."Here are just a few verses on anger (and our attitudes):  Psalms 37:8, Proverbs 12:16, Proverbs 12:18, Proverbs 14:16-17, Proverbs 14:29, Proverbs 15 -20, and just a few more Proverbs, and some New Testament.

I guess the necessary question to ask is if we have had someone hurt us, betray us or lose confidence in us, and they have been hurtful, can we disconnect ourselves socially and emotionally?  There are necessary steps that have to be put in place to protect us from evil and wrongdoing (say in the case of abuse or or physical and even mental abuse).  However, if we don't forgive and give it to God, then what do you think happens to us and our walk with God?

Can we bear the fruit of the Spirit that is promised to us in the Bible if we walk according to the Spirit?  Can we serve two masters?  What do you think happens to us if we cannot forgive?  If we give into anger because we have been hurt or marginalized?

Personally, the older I get (soon to be 44 -ugh) the more that I realize that when I give in to anger or bitterness, those traits do not mean a thing to the people who I have these feelings toward.  That is to say, that even if I am the victim or the cause of the anger that is directed toward me, when I do not forgive them for it or let God have that, then I risk being separated from God's will in my life.  Does this make sense?  I can become prisoner to the anger/bitterness and I can let that engulf my whole world.  So when I try to bear the fruit of the Spirit - how can I do that when my life is yielding nothing but fruit of the sinful nature...?

Any questions - read Galatians chapter 5 and send me your comments.

Looking forward to hearing all sides to this,

Dante

Vision for 2012...

Christmas has come and we have celebrated the wonderful birth of Jesus who came to this earth to save the lost and to heal the sick and brokenhearted.  I am thankful that he has chosen to love and die for me and that his death and resurrection is what I need to believe to be saved.  As we approach this New Year I was hoping that we could all look back over these past twelve months and reflect and what we have done, what God has done and where we are going in 2012. 

My father came up for Christmas this year and we took him to one of our 6 Christmas Eve Services at our church and he was just telling us how much he missed my mom and how tough it really was on him.  Friday Night (12/23) at the service, our Senior Pastor informed the congregation that this message was really tough on him because that morning his administrative assistant had died. 

I texted him later that night and shared with him how I think he used the day’s event to share the “severity” and “sincerity” of his message.  That is, it is all about Jesus.  No other name, no other religion – without him there is no hope!  This is what brought me to this post.  I could choose to talk about the New Year and resolutions:  Spiritual Growth, Physical health and mental well being, but I want to talk about the “severity and sincerity” of the Message – it’s all about Jesus.

I think in our every day worlds we can sometimes lose focus on that.  I think with the technology and the demands of our daily jobs we get lost in the shuffle, we lose focus on what should really matter.  I think if I could fast forward all of our lives to the Judgement Seat of Christ, most Christians would be left wanting (thinking they should have done things differently or done more or loved more or given more).  I do not know about you, but for me and my family, I realize just how selfish I can be with my time.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to take away from steps that you, have taken and degrees of change in your lives that have brought you and your family closer to God.  I want to sharpen us further – I want to end this post with a challenge – go further – go deeper – grow deeper!  Psalms 37:3-4.

Happy New Year,

Dante