“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.” (Ephesians 5:22-23 / ESV)

Wow! Now there is a mouthful, hard to chew, harder to swallow, and at times, near impossible to digest. Husbands usually see it one way, highlighted by one word – submit. It looks like this for many men I know: my wife must submit to me. Guess what boys – most of our wives see it differently. They too see it one way, also highlighted by one word – submit. For a lot of our women though, it looks a lot more like this: I’m not submitting to my husband until he proves to me that he is following Jesus.

Now, I realize that in two short paragraphs, I have already ruffled some feathers (especially those of my local family and friends), and that’s ok. What if I told you that I believe both viewpoints are equally right…and wrong? Let me try and explain.

Men – we want our wives to submit to us, right? Of course we do. I want my bride to submit to me as her spiritual leader. Guess what though. I have to earn that from my wife. It doesn’t just happen because the Scriptures declare it to be true. God’s instructions often come with an expectation that we must do something. There’s action here. Just like our salvation. Yeah – that’s right. You have to do something to experience your salvation. “Wait, wait, wait! The bible states that we are saved by grace through faith.” This is true and more to the point, I’ll quote the passage in Scripture where this is taken from:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 / ESV)

So, what you’re saying then Pastor Eric, is contrary to the teachings of Scripture. Not at all. What we MUST DO is confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts. Please read the following Scripture verse and then we’ll get back on topic. Sorry for the rabbit trail…

“…because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” {Italics for emphasis} (Romans 10:9 / ESV)

See – Jesus requires action from us.

Back to our topic at hand. Our wives are not going to submit to us if we are not living the example that Jesus teaches us. As a pastor, I see this firsthand all too often. A husband will say something like, “My wife needs to have sex with me whenever I want it! That’s submission!” (Screamed in the best caveman voice ever) Dude – your wife is not going to have sex with you if you’re being a tool! News flash! If you stand there and expect and/or demand certain things from her without partnering beside her – you, husband, are archaic and wrong. I’ve heard it said that there’s a reason why God pulled Eve from one of Adam’s ribs – she was meant to serve beside him.

In the same breath, wives – this was not a suggestion from God. God didn’t say, “If you want to…I’d really appreciate you submitting to your husband.” God flat out says, “submit to your own husbands”. As if that isn’t difficult enough to swallow, He takes it up another notch and refers to us husbands as, “the head of the wife”. Ah, it appears we are at a crossroads. A conundrum is apparent. What must happen (another action requirement from God) in order for this potential pothole filled path to be smoothed out? My humbled opinion…TRUST and SUBMITTING to The Lord. You see, if both are in submission to Him, then the trust comes from Him and can therefore be spread over to our spouse. Your wives, if submitted to Christ, can fully submit AND trust you. If you – husband – are submitted to Christ, our wives will automatically want to submit AND will be able to trust you.

Do you see the beautiful dance here? It isn’t rocket science. This isn’t new – and yet so many men and women admit that they have a problem with this. The problem is almost solely found in our hearts. Who are we submitting to first? Mankind? Then we’re wrong. The Trinity? Then we’re correct.

When we get it wrong, divorce can happen. Bitterness sets in. If you throw a shovel of manure over a flower, the flower may still live – but if you dump a truck-load of manure over a flower, the flower has no chance. I’ve seen marriages fall apart after 40 or more years because of this simple truth. Who we submit to FIRST absolutely matters.

Truth? Our wives want to submit to our spiritual leadership within our marital dynamics. Every good woman wants to follow their good man. Please hear this. Every good woman wants to get behind their good man and will go to bat for them, die for them, nearly regardless of circumstance. I say nearly because the second we men start to waiver from Christ, spiritually our women sense it. They know when we’re not spiritually healthy. Why do they know? Because our godly women are praying for us. They’re lifting us up.

So, I’ve taken the liberty to lay out some things that we men can do from a practical standpoint.

1. Get involved in a men’s bible study. Read our bibles! Study God’s Word!
2. Ask for help – even if and especially when it seems mundane and trivial.
3. Open up by closing our door on pride. We men wreak of it!

There are other things, but 3 seems to be enough for now. Men – if your marriage is in trouble, don’t wait. Don’t turn a blind eye to marital apathy. Same goes for you women. I know that this blog is mostly for men and yet I know that a few women read it too. Pride can strike a woman down just as fast as it can a man. Amen.

There will be a ton of varying opinions about this particular blog – and that’s ok. I welcome your input. God bless your marriages and may the remainder of 2019 and all of 2020 bless you beyond your wildest imaginations. May God bless your literal socks off and expand your territories beyond any expected boundaries you may have.

I love you.

#TrenchBrothers4Life

“Is not this the carpenter’s son? … And they took offense at him…” (Matthew 13:55, 57 / ESV)

I stayed in bed a little longer than usual this morning, enjoying the opportunity to catch up with my bride. She had been gone for the past ten days. A trip that she faithfully takes approximately every 6 – 8 weeks but that for some reason, was harder this time around. Many of our kids still live back east, one of them still in high school (and 2 others, ages 12 and almost 11, but we do not get to see or talk to those children of ours – a blog for another day perhaps…).

As so often happens, the conversation got pretty deep the second we invited God in to our mini pow-wow. “But pastor, shouldn’t you bring God in to every conversation?” askes religion. “Yes, and just like you, we’re human and forget sometimes.” replies the sinner. So, there we were, breaking out our holy shovels and digging deep. Questions and responses aimed to encourage deeper questions and responses, and so on and so forth. I cherish this about my wife – unafraid to get cerebral with me. My friends will tell you (and I absolutely agree) that I married up in the brains department. I digress.

The question was thrown out on our little table for 2 (5 if you count the Trinity): “Why hasn’t God given us peace over our sacrifices that we’ve made in answering the call to be pastors?” And, “Are we actually called to be pastors?” Yeah…about that… You see, I told you our snuggle time was getting crazy! This prompted us first to discuss sacrifices, both ours and others that we both know and do not know about. Each and every person in the world has made some level of sacrifice(s) in their life. While the sacrifices we made to answer God’s calling over our lives often hurts, others have sacrifices more, and less. We came to a truth that is basic Christianity, and yet for some reason, both my wife and I will tell you that this particular time around, it pierced our hearts more than any other time we’ve had this revelation.

God understands. He understands our sacrifices and He understands your sacrifices because He made the ultimate sacrifice in His Son, Jesus Christ. He completely grasps our hurts and our struggles. We began to ponder how important it was for both of us to get out of Pennsylvania. Now, please do not read in that statement that we were running from responsibility. Many people pack up and move out when life gets difficult. My dad used to say, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” For us, leaving Pennsylvania was healing. We were stepping in to what God was calling us to do, and in doing so, we were answering His question, “Do you love me?” For Leslie and me, the only way to answer that multi-layered question was to show God that we were all in.

That’s when it hit me. In faith, we both needed to grow up. For many people, the growing up doesn’t happen where you grew up. Are you with me? In fact, often times, they aren’t even closely related. Take me for instance. I grew up in Battle Ground, Washington. Graduating class of BGHS, ’93. I went to a small Catholic church on Sundays faithfully! That is to say, I was made to attend. Monday through Saturday, I cursed and cheated in classes and drank after football games (and every other excuse to throw one back) like most of the other kids that grew up there. But I never grew up there in the sense that I became stronger in my convictions and filled with God’s wisdom to help me on the battlefield called life. It didn’t happen in Pennsylvania either, for the most part. I would say to you that I began growing up when I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ in 2010, except that I am not even sure that’s true anymore. I think (and am currently on a trek with God regarding the matter) I knew Jesus my whole life. Maybe?

Message here? Yeah, there is. Please don’t feel bad if you don’t have one of these amazing break through stories surrounding your salvation and the split second where you remember being saved into the kingdom of heaven. The real importance about your salvation – is whether or not it exists in the first place. I claim 2010 (and specifically February of that same year) as when I gave my life to Christ because it was the very first and only time, I could ever remember having a profound vision from the Holy Spirit. What was that vision? I remember it like God gave it to me yesterday. God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, as a boy, to show me the wonders of the outdoors and deliver me a personal message from The Father that I was going to be a pastor.

Hey fam – I still believe that today. Leslie and I still believe, unequivocally and emphatically so, that we were called to this region to pastor and shepherd those that have not grown up yet. This answers the second deep question we discussed in the privacy of our bedroom this morning. We’re here and the enemy cannot and will not kick us out of little ‘ole Troy, Montana. There’s some growing up to do still and we embrace it. We’re here because we said, “Yes!” to the Holy Spirit. For some of my brothers reading this today – just like your spiritual maturity does not hinge on how long you’ve been following Jesus – growing up in a place does not mean you’ve grown up. The Nazarenes scoffed at the notion that a “carpenter’s son” could be the Messiah – the Savior of the world. Is it a coincidence that God then moved Jesus’ ministry to Capernaum? Perhaps even Jesus felt the need to grow up and out from the shadow of being a Jewish carpenter’s son, stepping into the light of God’s Only Son – the Savior of the world.

What are you supposed to be stepping into today, that may require from you a great sacrifice? What areas of your life do you need to grow up in? If you take this trek, and I pray you do, be careful. God’s answers to our deepest questions are often nothing like the answers we imagine in our minds.

I love you.

#TrenchBrothers4Life

“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:5-8 / ESV)

Our world is full of it. We don’t have to search and it is not hiding. It is given to us. We pay for it. We desire it. We attempt to flee from it and at every turn, we come face-to-face with it…again and again. Corruption is what we call it. It goes by other names though, too. Deceitfulness, Betrayal, Faithlessness – these are all names synonymous with corruption. They work for something more significant, more detrimental. They work for Divisiveness, and Divisiveness works for Satan. And while we fully understand that God has ultimately won the war, we are watching our brothers and sisters get devoured by the enemy at an alarming rate. Platoon leaders and company commanders are being picked off, sometimes before they even roll out of the trenches they’re fighting from. Most notable and recent example: Joshua Harris. Look him up. It’s sad.

WARNING: it’s happening in our towns, too. The body count is not exclusive to literal church leaders. The enemy wants to take Christianity out. Period. The Bible tells us that his modus operandi, his method of operation, his m.o. is that he came to steal, kill, and destroy.

So look at the Bible passage above one more time. You should read and know the verse that comes before this passage found in 2 Peter. It explains why I chose to write about this topic today, having been gone for sometime from blogging for my Trench Brothers. It says this, “…by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” (2 Peter 1:4 / ESV)

Did you see it? God has given us, granted us, precious and very great promises…! What’s more, because of those precious and great promises, and through those precious and great promises, we may become partakers of the divine nature! What does this mean? The divine nature speaks of the very nature of the Trinity. The Trinity is the only thing truly divine in nature. Why do we get to partake in it? Because of that thing called the Holy Spirit that lives inside of us! So to sum it up in plain English, I think that this is letting us know that, because the Holy Spirit lives inside of us as believers in Jesus Christ, the enemy cannot cause corruption in our lives unless WE LET HIM. Read that again. UNLESS WE LET HIM.

Then Peter tells us, in a very practical manner, precisely how we DON’T let the enemy wreak havoc over our lives. The best part is, we have these tools to use at our disposal, whenever and wherever we need to pull them out. It’s like being a ninja with a black trench coat lined with multiple blades for different occasions. O.k. Today I’m fighting a false prophet. Looks like I need my blade of knowledge! Oh look! Here comes a spirit of moral and ethical decay – let me throw my blades of virtue at him and stop him dead in his tracks! Now do you see it? Pretty cool right!

So be a ninja wearing a black trench coat lined with blades for every occasion today! Refuse to lose. More than that, refuse to let him gain one inch over your life today! Look him in the eyes and allow the corner of your mouth to slightly turn up, wink at him, and then cut his head off with the Sword of the Spirit! God crafted and forged that blade for specially for you. One more thing – I think it’s time that we start parading the heads of demons we decapitate around the towns in which we live. Let’s start letting the enemy know what will happen when he comes marauding around, lurking in the dark of our homes and families. Show him what happens when he starts messing with our marriages, with our friends at work. Warn him what will happen when he attacks our churches and church leaders.

Get in my trench with me, and I will jump in yours – AND LET’S AGREE TODAY THAT WE STOP ALLOWING CORRUPTION TO EAT AT OUR TABLES WITH US! O’ death where is your victory? O’ death where is your sting?!!!!! My King lives and His Name is Jesus and He lives inside of me! Satan – your days are numbered. You. Are. Defeated.

Amen! Love you guys. Be great today. #trenchbrothers

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 / ESV)

There is much to be said about the man that confess his sins to both God and man. In the bible verse above, from the first epistle that John the elder wrote to the church of Asia minor, we pull from it the importance to confess our sins to God. James writes in his letter to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations (v. 1:1), that we should confess our sins to one another (v. 5:16). So we gather from John the elder and James, the brother of Jesus, that we should confess our sins to, as stated previously, both God and man.

This concept is extremely difficult for some to put in to practice. We, as men, would rather confess to God and pray/trust that He will take care of our sinful nature. The concept behind confessing our sins to one another is that it will put ownership and accountability to the sin. We, having committed and subsequently confessed our sins to our brothers and/or our sisters, are far less apt to become repeat offenders. This is true NOT because we don’t value God’s expectations and commandments that He has in place for us, but rather due to the fact that we are sinful by nature.

Consider when we were children. If we executed our parents’ wishes for us to come to them when we did something wrong before they found out by themselves, valuable lesson ensued and we walked away, respecting our parents and not wanting to disappoint them again in similar fashion. Are you with me so far? Why is this? Because they would inevitably check on us down the road – helping to hold our feet to the fire. Our parents could have and should have been our best and most valuable accountability partners. Don’t feel bad. Mine were not this either. Not for lack of full-hearted attempts though – but more precisely – because I simply did not value them this way. I valued living my life by my feelings and followed the pathways of my friends and their opinions/decisions.

In 2010 I noticed a change in my heart though – with this whole conceptual garbage. As I wanted to draw closer to Jesus, I began feeling both guilt and shame. I felt guilt towards the people that I wronged in my previous thirty-five years of existence, and I felt shame towards myself. The deal with both is that they breed in us this sense of owing someone something. Carrying both guilt and shame is like carrying a debt that is weighty, burdensome on back and shoulders. It’s like having 3 credit cards maxed out except you don’t have the money to make the minimum payment on either and you desperately want to; you cling to the idea of a payment plan that you can afford like you cling to a strand of rope from a cliff that spells eminent death if your fingers loose their grasp.

Andy Stanley writes in a bible devotional this: Nothing less than paying that debt will relieve a guilty heart of its burden of guilt. We can do so many things in our attempt to make us feel better. We can work it off, serve it off, give it off, pray it off, play it off, etc. but we all come to the realization that no amount of anything we attempt in these situations can actually relieve us from these debts. We. Can. Do. Nothing. Both guilt and shame continue to creep in to the cracked windows of our lives, utilizing the shadows on our bedroom floors to make it underneath our beds, sight unseen. As we toss and turn throughout the night, Satan begins to wage a personal war utilizing both guilt and shame in ways that would make our original SEAL team members proud. Silent. Calculating. Deadly. The monster under our bed is Satan, and he sends out his strike force platoons of guilt and shame with little guidance other than to kill, rob, and destroy.

To those that do not confess to both God and man, these platoons leave behind in their wake decimated villages. Families are destroyed. Marriages torn apart. Businesses declaring bankruptcy. Daughters without mommies and sons without fathers. Siblings declaring war on one another for the rest of their lives on earth. Complete and utter chaos.

To those that learn and create habit forming lives which encourage this practice of confession that John and James describe, life feels more full. Life is never easy. Were you looking for easy? I’m sorry, easy is found through the widest parts of our fortress gates – where one can literally stumble through with little effort, drunk and high on whatever life has brought them, living with little remorse and even less a conscience. But make no mistake – life is more full when choosing to live in accordance to God’s teachings. Sin. Repent. Confess to God AND man. CONFESS TO THE ONE YOU SINNED AGAINST.

Brothers – you do not have to live with the feeling of a debt not paid any longer. Today – make the choice to be debt free. Claim the promises God has for your lives. Confess your sins. The prince of darkness that the world has been serving for centuries only wants to cause you pain. He wants to make the journey unbearable. He wants to slow you down. He wants to hold you up. He wants to keep you from doing what he knows God has predestined for you. The King we serve, is faithful and just to forgive us. He wants to lift our burdens. Run to Him. King of Kings. Lord of Lords. You, by the blood of the Lamb, have been set free. Embrace and accept and stop walking in guilt and shame today. Let today mark the first day of the rest of your life!

Love you, fearless Trench Brother!

“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.” (1 Corinthians 16:13-14 / ESV)

This coming Sunday is Father’s Day so I will go ahead and take the liberty now to beat everyone to the punch: Happy Father’s Day! I’m preaching on the above scripture verses and I would be lying to say that I’m not excited. I’m pretty stoked to share my thoughts on Paul’s words to the church of Corinth because they apply today as much or more than they have applied to any other time in our lives. You will have to make your way out to Troy, Montana to hear the full sermon because I believe God wants me to write about just three simple, yet incredibly loaded and bearing much weight, words for my Trench Brothers today: act like men.

Many of us have heard things throughout our childhood and into our adult lives about what it takes to be a man. For instance, my father taught me that men work hard. Growing up under my parents’ roof, there was never a time that I can remember that my dad wasn’t outside doing something that he felt needed to be done. He was constantly working in the yard, planting things and trimming things. The grass was both cut and watered, once a week, like clockwork. He was starting new projects often. From patios to reroofing the house, from fence mending, to shed building – my dad was working hard.

He was tough, too. His father had passed on certain ways to conduct himself to my father, and he did his absolute best to pass that down to my brother and I as well. Stand your ground, or, stand up for yourself, were common words heard around the house as a young boy. Dad didn’t necessarily advocate for fighting and yet I heard these encouraging words about that: If you have to punch someone, punch the guy talking the loudest. Everyone else will shut up and leave you alone. He paired these “helpful hints” with stories from his own childhood about being the victor on the playground or at the park after school. It is safe to say that I developed my ideas and pictures of manhood from my father, and I believe today, that it is also true that only a small percentage of that information is actually truth, according to God.

I want to highlight and briefly lay out what I believe the bible means when Paul (and God) tells us to act like men. There are 5 basic principles here:

1. Have genuine humility before God. What does this mean? Brothers – (a) acknowledge your imperfections. The bible tells us that, “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23) When we start to compromise our stuff and act as if our sin is less than someone else’s sin, humility can swiftly start to look more like arrogance and pride. (b) Accept that we are saved through and because of Christ, and that nothing we have done or can do is able to improve our chances. Thank God (!) that we are saved by Grace and that He is patient with us. (Read 2 Peter 3:9) And finally, (c) we must have a continual sense of dependence on God. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. I don’t care how hard you work or how tough you are – without realizing that every single thing we do and are comes from God – that hard work and toughness is worthless. The author of Hebrews tell us that, “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.” (Hebrews 13:15)
2. Control our fleshly appetites. God, and only God, gives us a way out of every temptation we ever face. We run ourselves into real trouble when we start to think that our shoulders are broad enough. We think, as men, in so many different situations, that we have the power to say “no” and therefore allow ourselves to be placed by the enemy in harms way. God’s Word says, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Cor 10:13) If this is true, and I believe it is, then God allows us to be tempted, AND, He gives us a way out. The way out – in my humbled opinion, is to know where that line is drawn between Satan baiting you, and God’s allowance. For example, you see a naked woman standing at the door, just turn and walk away. When you don’t, and think you can control yourself after you walk inside, that’s where Satan baits you.
3. Protect our family. This means physically AND spiritually. Physically, we need to look no further than the model Jesus gave us. The bible tells us that we should, “…love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” (Ephesians 5:25) This means brothers – we ought to be prepared if need be to lay our lives down for our wives. But protecting our family means so much more than this. Spiritually, let’s look at Adam and Eve as an example. Yes it’s true that Eve sinned first in the garden, but who got in trouble for failing to lead her? Adam did. Why? Because as I understand this story in the bible, he was chilling out, not really paying attention to what Eve was doing when he should have been. We don’t know what would or wouldn’t have happened if Adam was standing beside his wife when the serpent first showed his slimy self. Once again though, thank God it all went down the way it did. We need Jesus as our Savior to help us protect our family!
4. Provide for our family. This means monetarily and it also means in every other way: spiritually, safety, love, healthy, familial, and the list can go on and on. The bible says, “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (1 Tim 5:8) That’s a pretty hard fact to consider. I don’t want to be considered worse than an unbeliever. Jesus help me to be a better provider for my family! Amen.
5. Lead our family. Again, we find ourselves looking to Jesus as the model of this principle. We are called to lead with love, service, and sacrifice men. This does not look like, get behind me or know your place sort of leadership. Where we really get this wrong is when we incorrectly interpret scripture where it refers to our spouse as the “weaker vessel”. This word does not actually mean “weak”. The context meant to be discovered in 1 Peter 3:7, where it says, “weaker vessel”, actually means precious, expensive, and valuable. How many times when reading this have we, as men, looked at that and said to ourselves, yep – she is the weaker vessel. I need to put her in her place. If you’re a woman reading this, that sounds pretty archaic and Neanderthal like doesn’t it? That’s because it is, and it’s incorrect. Women – you are precious, expensive, and valuable to us!

Now brothers, this is my interpretation of what it means to biblically act like men, and I think you’ll find that if you practice these things, your family and your wives will actually want to submit to you. This Father’s Day, my prayer for you, is that you will be renewed through the Love of Christ as Dads and Husbands, and that you will walk with the confidence that God has given you to ACT LIKE MEN.

Now let’s SUIT UP!

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 / ESV)

The above Scripture verse comes from one of the more famous chapters in the Bible. Reading through, we learn that Abel offered a more acceptable sacrifice to God than his brother Cain. We see Enoch being gathered up without seeing death, Noah constructing an ark out of, as the Bible declares it, reverent fear, Abraham being obedient and heading out to, and living in, the land of promise, and again offering up his only son when he was tested. We see Sarah being gifted with the power to receive child, long after our medical world today says that this would be a good idea, or even possible for that matter. Continuing on we notice Jacob and Moses, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and others.

That’s a pretty big list, wouldn’t you agree? From a spiritual perspective, that’s like looking at the inaugural Dream Team of ’92. How can basketball fans forget the likes of Magic and Barkley, Mullin and Stockton, Malone, Drexler, Pippen, Bird, Robinson, Ewing, Laettner, and that one guy…from North Carolina, 6’6″, at guard, Michael Jordan! Did that take any of you back? Why don’t I just throw this piece in here for nostalgic purposes? Enjoy: https://youtu.be/Zn6kiimEsYc

Do you know what’s interesting about both lists though, and true to life as well? Both the ’92 Dream Team and the Hall of Faith names mentioned above weren’t without faults, sins, shortcomings, and weaknesses. Do you know that Michael Jordan used to get so nervous that his hands would sweat? They would perspire so much that he had to use powder over and over during pregame to dry them up enough for him to palm the basketball. Larry Bird would have such bad butterflies that all the way up to the layup line he would feel nauseous – worried his pregame meal would come up at any moment. Players hid problems as best they could from the public eye. Bumps in their personal roads that ranged from gambling to infidelity. The Dream Team was not perfect – even though their Olympic record and individual career stat lines implied that they were basketball gods from different planets.

The Hall of Faith names were not perfect either. This may come as a shock to some of us because we are being asked to consider them, as if they are being kept in some glass case in some museum over in Europe somewhere – the kind of storehouse that has armed guards and houses such relics as the spear that pierced the side of Christ, and the ark of the covenant. They were not perfect though. Did you know that Moses and David murdered people? Others on the list mentioned above completely abandoned God’s plan for marriage – some having many wives and children with those wives. Solomon is reported to have somewhere around 700 wives! When I read this chapter in Scripture I often measure myself to their individual greatness. Each time I do, I end up short of feeling anything like heroes of faith, as God refers to them.

In fact, when comparing my personal life and the trials, tribulations, and triumphs I have endured with those of our seemingly glass incased brethren in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, I rather feel more like a zero than a hero. I think that this is because I’m looking at the individual trees instead of the whole forest though. I have the wrong perspective, and the wrong angle. There is hope men of God! Faith, when defined as the Bible is concerned, is being assured of the things we hope for – the conviction of things not seen. In other words, having faith in our future. Hebrews eleven was never meant to put these men and women on a pedestal for all the remarkable and amazing things they’ve done. God wants to shine the light on these individuals because in spite of all the sin and moments where they flat out missed the mark, they believed in their futures – because of Jesus!

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10 / ESV)

I want to propose to you, men, that this verse reflects on our future. That we are indeed His Workmanship! We are created in Christ Jesus for good works and that this was done, as the verse indicates, long before we came into existence, and that we will walk in those good works towards our future – because of Jesus!

Trench Brothers, we must stop looking at the famous Hall of Faith as if it too, is an ancient place where there are no more invites. The ballots are not closed! What does your future hold? Remember it’s never too late (a theme I will definitely address more in depth at a later date). Today – please decide to be heroes and not zeros.

This world, our country, your towns, churches, children, wives, and most importantly…YOU…depend on this choice: Have faith. Decide to be a man of faith. CHOOSE THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE…

“Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:14-15 / ESV)

“Far be it from me to say that you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me. I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.” (Job 27:5-6 / ESV)

Many know the story of Job and how God allowed the devil to test his faith by slowly chipping away at his armor. After realizing that Job’s faith was indeed an uncommonly strong one, you may remember how Satan then took matters into his own hands by emptying Job of all he had – literally plucking it from his fingertips – an onslaught of wretchedness, filth, and hate seen by very few people, ever.

My bonus (a term my wife and I use instead of “step”) son Brody plays for the mighty Yale Bulldogs Men’s Lacrosse team. Yesterday, on Memorial Day, he was on national television for the second year in a row, playing for the NCAA Division 1, Men’s Lacrosse Championship. The right to be called King, again. That’s correct. If you follow Lacrosse (and you should if you don’t!), you know that last year, on the biggest collegiate stage possible, they beat the mighty Duke Blue-Devils to win their first championship in program history.

Our son doesn’t play, though, and it’s a bummer because he’s good. Really good. The parent in me tries to stay positive, in spite of the fact that the starting goalie for the defending national champs is ranked 62 out of 69 goalies, with a .457 save percentage. What is impressive though, from my perspective, is the fact that Brody sticks with it. He works arguably harder than most everyone else on the team. His attitude about his situation could be so much worse, and yet there he is, every morning, afternoon, and night – busting his hump because he has committed to a higher cause in his life than his own.

There’s a concept that every man, including myself, can embrace. To commit to a higher cause than our own. Let’s get back at Job. What, do you suppose, was his higher cause? I believe, for every person, that there comes a point in time for one’s life, where, regardless of what is believed or said about you that isn’t true, you stand up. You straighten your back and stick your chest out. You stare with intent and do not flinch away. Even if your spouse doubts you, you conscientiously decide to rise up.

There is no bigger stage than college championships, if you’re a college athlete. The biggest stage of all though is the life you are living right now. Regardless if you are homeless, jobless, divorced, live in a mansion, run a successful business, you must have integrity. It is highly likely that Brody knows his starting goalie’s stats but integrity keeps him coming back for more. It is probable that our son will not see meaningful time between the posts before he graduates next year, and even when it gets to him (news flash – our son is human), you can bet you will see him on the practice field – acting like the second and third units are the first – giving his 110%.

I admire our “Bro – Bro”, as his momma affectionately calls him (she also calls him “Beastie” – but somehow that doesn’t seem to fit for this particular blog…) – and I admire Job. Till I die I will not put away my integrity. Trench Brothers – it’s in this particular place that I feel we as men can have the biggest impact on the world. I have struggled with integrity throughout my life. The Bible tells us to let our yes be yes, and our no be no. It’s safe to say that God puts a premium on integrity.

My hope and prayer is that you walk away from your computer, having read this blog, and decide to take a stand somewhere in your life where integrity has been absent. Learn from our son, a pretty darn good lacrosse keeper, and learn from Job. Most of all though, please learn from Jesus – to which no higher bar has ever been raised.

Congratulations to the University of Virginia Men’s Lacrosse Team – 2019 DIV1 National Champions! The Cavaliers were hungry!

Special Note: in no way was this blog post meant to take away from what Yale has accomplished throughout the history of their lacrosse program. Comments were not intended, in any way, to be derogatory towards coaching staff, players, or any other part of the Yale Men’s Lacrosse family. I am not a coach and do not proclaim or pretend to understand the difficulties in developing men at that level. Great job this year Elis! Hold your heads high and set your gaze upon next year’s throne.

“From the Gadites there went over to David at the stronghold in the wilderness mighty and experienced warriors, expert with shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions and who were swift as gazelles upon the mountains:” 1 Chronicles 12:8

The United States Military uses the phrase I got your six to signify that a brother-in-arms (or sister) is protecting the area behind a soldier that they cannot immediately see. If you picture a clock with ’12’ being in front of you, the ‘6’ is naturally behind you. It originated with our WWI fighter pilots and has been passed on through most, if not all, of our military branches today.

Yesterday was a strange day for the majority of our tiny, rural, mountain community here in Troy, Montana. My morning was going as planned, helping a local business owner and friend install a security camera system in our church. No real feeling or reason to worry, just precautionary measures planned weeks ago. We were upstairs running wire when a trench brother of mine shot me a text that read, “Code Red – for Lake Creek/School House Lake Rd/and possibly HWY 56 area in Troy Montana”. I opened the text and then it disappeared so I called him and asked him to send it again. Seconds later, I opened his Facebook message that read the same information with an additional, “Please watch for a male 20 – 30 years old with facial hair wearing a plaid shirt and blue jeans, about 6ft tall. He may be possible armed and dangerous. If you see someone with this description please call 9-1-1. Lock your residences and vehicles and stay in your home.”

At that point, my friend and I decided to go to lunch and lock the church up. Our church resides on Lake Creek Rd, an area of concern issued in the “code red” warning. There is a day care that sits next to our church so before heading to lunch I stopped by to make sure they were safe and to encourage them to keep the kids inside with doors locked and curtains drawn. We love our day care and the friendships and opportunities they bring. I felt it my responsibility to let them know we were (and are always) here for them.

Are you wondering where I am headed with all this? Do you remember the Scripture verse I chose for today’s blog? It falls amidst a passage of Scripture entitled, “The Mighty Men Join David” and it goes on to list these awesome warriors and their families. You see, these mighty men went to David. They were there for him. They had his six.

Yesterday it dawned on me. The people of this town, when push comes to shove, have one another’s six. According to some reports, there were WWII vets driving around with rifles hanging out windows. Law enforcement vehicles paraded in and out of developments that were areas of concern. Not to mention, nearly all own weapons in our town. If you are running from the law, to be honest, Troy, Montana probably is NOT your best choice, even though there are plenty of places to hide.

Men, this is exactly where we want to be – standing on the side that does not retreat. As Christian soldiers, we must desire to have one another’s backs. We must yearn to guard our brothers’ and sisters’ six. Like the mighty men that joined David, we must report to any stronghold in our community that happens to be crying out in need of extra firepower. General George S. Patton said this very thing, in his famous address to the troops of the 3rd Army: Each man must not think only of himself, but also of his buddy fighting beside him.

Here’s how I want to encourage you today, trench brother. You are an awesome warrior. An imposing force to be reckoned with. The enemy thinks he can mess with us but don’t you find it interesting that the only time he can actually mess with us is when we let him. EVERY TIME. WE. LET. HIM. He doesn’t gain any ground on our battlefield that we don’t surrender to him willingly.

Today, let us declare that we do indeed have one another’s backs. Let’s look in our mirrors and see lions and gazelles – fierce and agile! Let’s become experts with our shields and spears, and while You’re at it God, make us experts with our swords too, please! Amen.

There is no foot or handhold here, Satan. You will not gain any ground in my life. Make this your battle/heart cry. Become or continue to be mighty and experienced warriors. Commit yourselves to the fight. That commitment will move you from theoretical knowledge to revelation knowledge. That type of change can and will transform the lens from which you view the battle. I got your 6! Do you have mine?! Trench Brothers!

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:16 / ESV)

A few years ago I was playing pool with my dad in a relative’s garage. I was sharing with him how the young adult ministry my wife and I were leading, did this exact thing just a few short nights before. Bragging about how powerful the moment was, I failed to notice the look of disbelief and confusion that his body and face were conveying. When I was done talking he asked, “Confession? Why were they confessing their sins to you?” and then he hit me with, “I don’t understand son. You’re just a man.”

I probably could have diverted the argument that sat like fog in the garage that night but in my flesh I chose to engage. I wish I would have chosen different. The argument took on a strange religious context that both of us weren’t initially willing to abandon. You see, I was raised Catholic and so I retorted with the classic and ill-advised, “So is the pope.”

Thinking about that argument made me reflect on something else that it seems we men share. We seem to think that we can carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. Have you ever heard, God will only give you what you can carry? I don’t believe that for a second. That seems counter-intuitive. God wants us to depend on Him right? I think Paul wrote that, “…it was not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” And yet when trouble comes our way, self-inflicted or otherwise, we tend to, as men, keep it private.

I used to love telling my bride that I had broad shoulders. I would explain to her that I was more than confident in my ability to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders (think of the Greek god, Atlas). Today I believe that God gives us too much weight at times, so that we can learn to lean on His Grace and Mercy, and when we come to the point where we know that the load is too much because our shoulders are cramping – we confess our sins to one another and we cry out to Him in prayer.

I experienced this very concept a few years ago at the height of my porn-addiction. For a long time I sat with this dark secret alone. I told nobody and in spite of my encouragement to others that when we take the devil off our backs and throw him into the light, he becomes like the cockroach he is and scurries for the shadows, I was definitely not practicing what I was preaching. I’m not sure exactly when the shift occurred but I remember writing my bride a detailed note and reading it to her. It was the only way I could ensure that I would say everything I intended to.

Brothers, that was hard. I sat there in our driveway and read my letter to her and we both cried. I had been struggling with the shame and guilt that comes from lying and deceiving someone you care deeply about and at times, Satan probably came closer to winning than I’d care to admit. There we were, tears streaming down our cheeks, and I honestly thought she was going to leave me. That’s when God stepped in and began redeeming and reviving our marriage.

I confessed my sins that day and I watched God heal my marriage. The second I confessed, the sin was over. Realizing that this doesn’t happen all the time for everyone, I have to share with you that this was my reality, and I know others that share similar realities. We prayed together, too. It was like Jesus Himself was breaking chains and setting me, the captive, free.

Today, I struggle with temptation and lust but I have been set free by the blood of Jesus and sin no more with pornography. I have a support network that starts with God and trickles down (don’t all things trickle down from Our Creator?) to my bride and a few of my trench brothers that have been through the thick of things with me over the years. That’s what life is about – having that platoon of men (and your wife if you’re married) that are willing to dive into the trenches with you no matter what you’re going through. That’s where you’ll find me. In the trenches.

Real men confess their sins to one another. Real men pray with one another and real men pray for their marriages and their families. Real men grab their wives while they’re walking by and literally pray with them. Real men sneak into their kids’ rooms while they’re sleeping and pray over them. Real men are found in and lay a part of their foundation on what James writes in James 5:16. My question for you, is do you consider yourself a real man?

If you’d like to get in the trenches with me and confess your sins and pray, please leave your contact information and let’s get after it. I love you and I am humbled to stand with you. Grace and Peace.

“You are my hammer and weapon of war: with you I break nations in pieces; with you I destroy kingdoms… (Jeremiah 51:20, ESV)

God is speaking of Cyrus the Great – or Cyrus the Persian. We know him in the Bible as the monarch of Persia that became the liberator of the Jews who were being held captive in Babylonia. Notice in the beginning of this verse that God refers to him as His hammer and His weapon of war. Wow. That’s intimidating for some I suppose. And yet, this is precisely how God viewed this common man, called to do uncommon things.

The common man, called to do the uncommon… This sparked a memory of mine from years past. I served honorably in the United States Army for almost nine years, and yet I always wanted or expected more from myself during that time spent. While serving, and searching for more, I found myself intrigued by our military special operations units that seemed so, as the military puts it, squared away. I remember reading as much as I could about our military SPECOPS as our special operations teams are commonly referred to as.

I read about each group that represented each branch and the group I became obsessed with learning the most about was our SEAL teams. These were common men, doing the uncommon, every day. In fact, their creed starts off stating the following: “In times of war or uncertainty there is a special breed of warrior ready to answer our nation’s call. a common man with uncommon desire to succeed.” Brothers – shouldn’t this be precisely where God calls each one of us? Our call is first that we are common, but that God calls us as leaders of our personal lives, our marriages, our homes, our churches, our communities, to do the uncommon tasks. We are faced with times of war at every corner we turn, with every decision we make, and with every new challenge that comes our way. The places we work, the cities we live in, the very churches that we serve – all share one thing in common. They have become our war zone.

The SEAL motto is, “The only easy day was yesterday.” I read that and I’m blown away with how apathetic I can become at times. I woke up this morning praying that my day would be easy. No hassles please, Lord. Can I coast today please, Jesus? I want to throw this thought out there: If we are in a war zone, why would God’s Chosen ever ask a question so bleak and void of purpose? Would the same God who created us to fight, call us to a place where we weren’t actively engaged in a fight?

Perhaps the answer is yes, and maybe not. While I have a hard time picturing in my sanctified imagination that every man is literally called to wield a sword on the battlefield, I don’t believe this is the only meaning behind the word fight. I’ll prove my point by pondering with you over the following questions: if we visit the sick, are we fighting? If we pray, are we fighting? If we drive our children home from a party because they did something they know they shouldn’t have, with our intent to keep them and others momentarily safe, are we fighting?

You bet we’re fighting! In fact, we need to stop and regroup, take the time to sharpen our swords, and hammer out dents in our armor. I’ve inserted the entire Navy SEAL Creed. Please take the time to read this and let it play as a reminder, in part, that we are called. We are common men of faith that are expected to do the uncommon. God has created us to be weapons of war.

Navy SEAL Creed / Ethos

Here’s my prayer for us as we depart from this blog post together, safe behind our computer and phone screens, without immediate threat or danger of losing our lives over our faith: Father, God – please use me, and my brothers, as hammers. Please call upon us to be your weapons of war. And when You do, Father, give us ears to hear Your heart-cry. Give us the courage to answer in the affirmative. In Your Son Jesus’ name, the Name above all names, Amen.