I have been working in my current position for 7 years now. I am an Account Manager in our Training Department. This means me and my partner in crime, Matthew, are in charge of training needs for several accounts. We may need to build a program from scratch. We may come into your organization and build a strategic plan with you. We may come and be the Master of Ceremonies at one of your events. If you need it and we can make it or build it, we will hook you up. All that being said, we are on the road to meetings with our accounts on a weekly basis. We spend several hours just talking with people and brainstorming ideas. Building relationships are very important in our area of business. If our clients don't trust or like us, we don't have any work to do. Since we are younger and still working on the management of time, weekly agenda's and letting our supervisor know where we are is not usually a thought as we prepare for the upcoming week.
On the other hand, our supervisor is very insistent on getting those agendas each and every week. On a typical week, if the document is not to him by Tuesday, he will send a reminder to get it in. I will be very honest with you, it is not that I don't like to do the agenda, I just don't think about it. It is not important to me. I know what I need to do and when it will get done. My boss thinks otherwise. He feels like we need to know ahead of time when and where we will be for a week in advance. This is a crazy concept to me. I just don't think in those terms. I mean, come on, do I not do a good job? Does he not trust me?
It is important to him to know where his employees are at all times. It gives him peace of mind when he can tell someone, if asked, where we are based on an agenda he requested. I don't like it, I don't care about it, and I don't think about it most of the time. It makes me mad to do it.....
Now for the point of this....
This morning as I had my quiet time, I have started reading Multiply by Francis Chan and David Platt. It is a book over discipleship. It is a guide on how to disciple others and become a better disciple yourself.
One of the first questions it asks is, "do you believe Jesus is who he says he is?" Well duh....really....of course I do....
Romans 10:9 states, "if we declare with our mouths, "Jesus is Lord", and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the grave, you will be saved."
So, "Jesus is Lord", what does that mean? The word "Lord" refers to a title. It means, Master, Owner, All of Authority....
Now ask yourself again, "do you believe Jesus is who He says He is?"
Changes our thoughts when we start thinking in those terms. We were bought for a price. The price was His death and resurrection. We are not our own any longer if we profess Christ as our Savior.
(1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
That changes things. I want to do what I want. I want to go where I want. I don't have to give anyone an agenda, I can do what I want. If Jesus owns me and I belong to Him, I don't get a say in the matter. My agenda doesn't matter anymore. My plan isn't mine anymore.
I am following His agenda for my life and what I should do. I must become a slave to Christ. Following Jesus is not about a set of rules or defining morale conclusions to live good lives. It is about loving God and enjoying HIm as our Master.
John 14:45 "if you love me, you will keep my commandments."
God's love changes us from the inside out. God has His own agenda for my life and I will either follow it or I won't. One thing is for sure, if I do not proclaim Him as my Lord, I will still be following my own agenda for life.
It's funny how God uses things in our life to teach us about Him. I guess I will get that agenda done now for my boss. I will continue to follow God's agenda for my life though. It will lead me to Him every day.....
Question:
Can you say Jesus is your LORD? (without reservation)
On this cold and still morning, I got up early and headed out to the deer woods. Before I left, just like I do every morning, I was checking Facebook to see the newest posts from my friends. All over Facebook it was posted about all the veterans and the freedoms they fought tirelessly for. I thought of my wife's grandfather who fought in the army. One of the only men in his battalion to make it home alive. I thought of the tears in his eyes when he talks about doing what needed to be done. I remembered my step-grandfather Herschel. He fought in the army as well. I remember him talking about Korea and the stories he told me as a child. I wondered how it must of felt to get the draft notice in the mail. I wondered what it was like to leave their family and go to foreign soil, more than likely to kill someone they didn't even know. I thought about the sacrifice they gave to their country without reservation. I thought about the sacrifice their families had to make. I thought about all the friends they made in the service that came home in a wooden box or were never brought home at all.
Then it hit me.
We take for granted the simple freedoms we have on a daily basis. We get to wake up in our own homes. We get in our vehicles and drive wherever we want to in this country. We take our kids to the school we want them to go to. We show up to our jobs that we chose for ourselves. We can pass by a number of churches with different names on the sign and we can walk into all of them and worship. We can walk into any super market and pick out the items we want to purchase.
Tonight, at dinner, we asked our children what freedom was. They gave the typical answers they have been taught at school. I asked them to explain their answers and they couldn't. I began to tell them about their family members who had served and the battles they had been a part of. I told them about Grandpa Walter being the only one in his group to be alive. I was able to explain to them how freedom was something we take for granted. I told them about countries that little girls still don't get to go to school. I told them about places where you can't read the bible without fear of your life. They just looked at me like I was crazy. They don't understand how much their freedoms cost. They don't think about the life they have as being a freedom. They don't understand the costs of the men and women who served this country have paid for their freedom.
We have gotten very comfortable in our lives as we know them. We have forgotten our basic freedoms that were fought for so many years ago.
Thank you to all the men and women who have fought for me and my family to live in the greatest country on the planet. Thank you for sacrificing and staying the course for us to be free. Thank you for teaching us what a unified nation can do. Thank you for serving that we may be free.
It is amazing how many people are posting on Facebook about the upcoming election. Its been reported that over 70 million dollars have been spent on campaign ads on TV alone. There is no telling how much they have spent on flying to the "swing" states and how much has been spent on reserving concert halls and banquet events. All the campaign slogans and debates have been for one reason. To get us "americans" to cast our vote.
We have heard all the "good" each candidate wants to do. We have heard all the "bad" each candidate has done as well as what their "plan" will do for one party and not the other. We have heard about Donald Trump offering $5 million dollars to the charity of choice if President Obama will produce certain records. We have heard Mark Cuban offer Donald Trump $1 million dollars to shave his head. We have seen more open and blatant attacks of character on Facebook, Twitter, and all other social media platforms. The funny thing is, we have more than likely never talked to the men we are attacking.
I understand we haven't had to opportunity to talk to them and understand them personally. It may change the way we feel about them as a candidate. I am no way going to try and sway anyone to vote a particular way. That is for you and you only to decide.
I just wonder what would happen if we all put as much effort into getting to know Jesus the way we have studied about who we are going to vote for. I wonder if we spent $70 million on world hunger, how many people would be fed. I know, as a Christian, we cast our vote daily as to whom we will serve.
Luke 9:23
"if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow me."
You see, every day we cast our vote for our Lord. The verse says "daily"...
Tomorrow, we will vote for a man to serve our country in a 4 year capacity. It seems like a huge task and so many people are depending on this man to turn things around.....to fix the economy....to lead our country.....
How about us as "Christians", choose to take up our cross by casting our vote to follow God's command. How about instead of being hypocrites, we vote to show God's love in our actions at our homes, our job's, and in the community.
Let's cast our vote for the God who forgives us of our sins. He died for us on a cross. He is in heaven preparing a place for us to spend eternity with Him.
We cast our vote every day in our actions for God. We cast our vote by praying for our wife and kids. We cast our vote by lifting people up instead of knocking them down. We cast our vote by taking care of the poor and weary. We cast our vote by calling and just telling someone they were on our mind. We cast our vote by choosing Christ and showing Him to a lost and dying world. We cast our vote by doing what God has called us to do.
You see, tomorrow, the people will speak with their vote. A winner will be given the title of "President" and he will be in office 4 years. He will sign bills and pass laws that will affect my life here on this earth.
I will also cast my vote tomorrow to serve God. He will hold my hand and see me through the dark days. He will sign my name in the Lambs Book of Life. He will guide me through the storms and trials. He will give me direction to do His will. He will teach me to love and desire "His" love more. He will teach me to discern between my will and His. He will be in the heavenly oval office til He decides to come get his people. No term limits up there...
You see, a study was done that said 73% of Americans consider themselves Christians, but only 9% of them said their religious beliefs was the most important thing to them.
If "Christians" really casted their vote on a day to day basis for God, we could cure world hunger. We could put God back in our schools. We could say a prayer out loud at a ballgame. We could make the world understand why we are followers of Christ and show them love of the Father through our lives...
I will go vote tomorrow for the President of the United States of America and who ever gets the most votes wins.
I will also take up my cross and vote for my Savior to lead me and I know in the end, He wins....
justinpresley1977@gmail.com
