Calling All Men - It's Time for War

I want to put a call out to men everywhere.
A call to respond! A call to step up! A call to action!
A call to war!
Where are we anyway? Where have we been? What have we been doing?
Why are we standing on the sidelines watching the game when we know that we are created to be fierce competitors?
Where have we been when it comes to the orphan? Take a look at most of the blogs, most of the non-profits, most of the strategies, most of those leading the battle on behalf of the orphan. You will discover woman after woman with a passion for these forgotten children.
This is a war for the health and soul of the orphan!
Yet where are the men? This the first war in the history of the world where the men are standing on the sidelines cheering… “you go girl… if that’s what you feel…. you go!” We’ve become cheerleaders on the sidelines instead of warriors in the battle.

There are exceptions, of course, but for the vast majority of men – we have remained mostly behind the scenes.
But when my perspective changes, I change. A woman, like Linny, has a mother’s heart that just will not quit. She will do whatever she can from a mother’s heart for these children. It’s just in her nature – the nurturer!
Now men, we aren’t by nature nurturers. We are protectors. We are warriors at heart. We protect those we love without hesitation. If it means laying down our lives we will do so without hesitation.
So here is the perspective change we need regarding the orphan. Men, the battle for the orphan is about providing protection from the enemy’s plans for their lives (starvation, abuse, no love, despair, hopelessness, and alone with no family) and introducing them to Jesus’ plan for their lives (food, clothed, protected, hope, nurtured, relationship with Christ, loved, and a forever family).
We need to be a “Father Warrior” for these children without moms, dads and families. We must become the voice, the protector, and the provider for these children.
Our battle cry must be: “Not On Our Watch!”
Will you pray with me?
Will you obey with me?
Will you be a warrior on the orphan’s behalf with me?
I am in this war for these children. Their lives are at stake, their souls hang in the balance. Men, let’s take off the gloves. The orphans around the world need our help, our protection, our sacrifice.
Ask God what that looks like for you. But in any event – get in the game – take off the cheerleading skirt – put down the pom poms.....

and let’s go to battle for the orphans of the world.
You know God has put something of a fire in your heart for these kids. Let’s link up, let’s do battle, let’s go to war on their behalf! We will win!
Semper Fi Men, Dwight

I'm in Awe

Behold The Lamb

The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29

I'm wondering today. Wondering how much do we, as American Christians, take for granted all that Jesus Christ did for us? Has Jesus become so familiar that we have replaced His majesty with our limited understanding? Have I done the same? How about you?

When we think about people that inspire us, is Jesus part of this conversation? When we talk with our friends about those things we have experienced that create awe within us, do they include Jesus? More likely we talk and share the spectacular scenes we have personally visited and observed. The Rocky Mountains, the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, the east coast beaches or the tropics top many people's lists of things that inspired awe. But does Jesus inspire awe in you or does He not even register on your awe radar?

It's not that we don't care.... we really do. But there is so much that preoccupies our lives that Jesus in some ways becomes the familiar, common and taken for granted. When we fail to "behold" we forfeit so much of our personal intimacy with God.

It's time to make a renewed choice to stop and "behold"!

Do you want more?

Then....

"Behold the Lamb"!

The word 'behold' has four meanings 1. to wonder 2. to scrutinize, 3. to consider 4. to look intently.

Applying this definition to Jesus, we are to wonder in amazement that Yahweh (God) would send Jesus, Yeshua, (meaning salvation of Yahweh) as a sacrifice for our lives. Wonder at the amazing love that would compel God to take such drastic action to rescue humanity.

Let's scrutinize the word of God to see the "blood of the Lamb" throughout scripture.

Consider the obedience of Jesus and His incredible love for each one of us.

Finally, look intently, once again, at your Lord Jesus Christ.

Take a moment....stop, and "Behold the Lamb"!!!

Behold the Lamb: Who paid the penalty for our sin! In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Hebrews 9:22

Behold the Lamb: Who takes away our sin! … who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29

Behold the Lamb: Who erases every bit of our guilt. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. Ps. 103:12

Behold the Lamb: Who provides deliverance from any and all darkness. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Col. 1:13,14

Behold the Lamb: Who overcomes the enemy of your soul! They overcame Him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Rev. 12:11

When I stop and recognize "The Lamb" as "My Lamb" for my sin, I can do no less than "Behold the Lamb"! I gaze in awe and bow my knee in complete humility and wonder at the love Jesus Christ has for me. My heart begins to overflow with JOY as I join with the angels of Revelation:

"Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" Rev. 5:12,13

Begin today,

"Behold the Lamb of God"!

What if?

What if you decided not to be comfortable?

What if you decided to do something radical with your life?

What if you determined that mediocrity was no longer an option but that you would live a radical life for Christ?

What if you decided to sell everything and go to the mission field?

What if you concluded that you were to adopt and had to down-size to do so?

What if you practiced extreme evangelism - bringing a child into your home for a life-time?


Would you live with regret? I don't think so!



What if you decided to live safe, live comfortable, never risk anything?

What if you went along with the majority of humanity and lived a selfish life?

What if you stored away a great retirement and never gave a dime away to bless others?


At the end of life: would you have lived a life filled with regret? I think so!

Just sayin.....

My Home Town Hero

(This post was from an editorial I wrote to our hometown paper. Dr. Gram certainly qualifies to be in the "Difference of One" posts. He was living out his faith for other - it cost him his life.)

The Difference of One

"It was not a wasted life." So reads the front page of my hometown paper. Dr. Thomas Grams was a dentist in my home town of Durango, Colorado. He was mercilessly killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan a few weeks ago. Dr. Grams had retired from his practice in Durango to give his life away. He would go to the remotest parts of the world to give dental care to kids who needed it so desperately. Dr. Grams did not play it safe. Dr. Grams risked his life and paid with his life. So... was it a wasted life?

Dr. Grams could have retired in beautiful Durango. It really doesn't get much better than Durango. If he had chosen a different path, perhaps last week he would have gone out to eat with some friends, played a round of golf, went for a hike, played on the river, or went on vacation. But that was not the choice he would make for his life. He chose instead to give his life away. The children of the world had become his friends - he wanted to provide relief for those in pain, to show the children of the world someone cared.

Jesus said, "greater love has no man than this than he lay down his life for his friends." Dr. Grams laid down his life for children who never would be able to repay him. For children who desperately needed him. He paid for his decision with his life.

He is my hometown hero that I never met.

Wasted? No! Invested - yes!

He lived a life worth living. One with value, one with a legacy that will outlive any of us. Maybe it's time to take a deep look inside and see if you are willing to give your life away? People need what you have - give it away to the homeless, the fatherless, the poor.

Durango - is a good town, but we can go from a good town to a great town if we will live like Dr. Grams. A life worth living is life that gives our lives and possessions away for those in need.