The Next CrossTrainer book

I'm looking forward to the next CT book. Check it out!

Holy Ambition: What It Takes to Make a Difference for God

By Chip Ingram / Moody Publishers


God wants us sitting on the edge of our "life seats," leaning forward to pay attention to His Word. To really live this Christian life "on the edge," Pastor Chip Ingram teaches that we must be eagerly anticipating what God will do next, ready and willing to fully participate. Drawing wisdom from the life of Nehemiah, Pastor Ingram masterfully leads readers through six key components to achieving a life lived with a biblical perspective and an eternal purpose:

1. Developing a dislocated heart
2. Experiencing a broken spirit
3. Practicing a radical faith
4. Creating a strategic plan
5. Exercising personal commitment
6. Growing a courageous soul

Think of being a husband and father as being an Artisan

I just wrote a post titled "Teaching is a Craft" on my teaching blog. Read this and think about how your role as father and husband are a craft.

This calls for patient endurance.

Enjoying your Wife

During a business trip last week, I mentioned to a co-worker that I was missing my wife. His response caught me off guard: "Well, it's better when me and my wife are together less than 30% of the time." (He's a scientist, very analytical.)

This is a sad idea. An ungodly idea.

If you and I don't enjoy being around the precious wife of our youth for long periods of time, we need to go back to Ephesians 5 and check out our love level. We are not loving her as Christ loved the church. No, it's not her fault -- don't let that thought have any power, men.

Guy Perks

A friend sent me this list -- your wife may enjoy it even more than you do!

1. The garage is all yours.
2. Wedding plans take care of themselves.
3. Chocolate is just another snack.
4. Car Mechanics tell you the truth.
5. You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes.
6. Wrinkles add character.
7. Wedding dress $5000. Tux rental-$100.
8. New shoes don’t cut, blister, or mangle your feet.
9. One mood all the time.
10. Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat.
11. You know stuff about tanks.
12. A 5 day vacation requires only one suitcase.
13. You can open all of your own jars.
14. You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness.
15. If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend.
16. The same hairstyle lasts for years, even decades.
17. Your belly usually hides your big hips.
18. One wallet and one pair of shoes one color for all seasons.
19. You can wear shorts no matter what how your legs look.
20. You can “do” your nails with a pocket knife.
21. You have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache.
22. You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is too icky.

I'm not a father, but I play one on TV

Fathers still aren't portrayed well on TV, according to watchdog groups. Brent Bozell says "Hollywood has taken the typical image of Dad from Ozzie Nelson to Ozzie Osbourne."

1776 -- Character and Providence

I'm reading David McCullough's excellent history 1776. Great so far. It's helpful to learn about history, to see more accurately what people went through and how their decisions shaped their lives and the nation. You also see God's hand in history. (It could not be clearer than in the story of the retreat from Brooklyn!)

Check out this good interview with David McCullough.

Amazon has the best price.

What John Piper learned from his father

Here's a list of things John Piper learned from his father, based on his fabulous tribute to him. May God help us live so that our children rise up one day and give us similar tributes!

1. There is a great, majestic God in heaven, and we were meant to live for his glory not ours.

2. When things don’t go the way they should, God always makes them turn for good.

3. God can be trusted.

4. Life is precarious, and life is precious. Don’t presume that you will have it tomorrow and don’t waste it today.

5. A merry heart does good like a medicine and Christ is the great heart-Satisfier.

6. A Christian is a great doer not a great don’ter.

7. The Christian life is supernatural.

8. Bible doctrine is important but don’t beat people up with it.

9. Respect your mother.

10. Be who God made you to be and not somebody else.

11. People are lost and need to be saved through faith in Jesus Christ.

What will you pass on?

If you read 1 Chronicles 22-29 you will see an amazing picture of David actually being a father to Solomon. He gives Solomon a challenge to fulfill God's plan to build the temple. He lines up all the leaders to help Solomon, and provides nearly all the materials and a detailed plan. David ends his life well by passing on a legacy of faithfulness to his son.

There is no such record for Solomon at the end of his life. In 2 Chron 9:31 we read "Then he rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father. And Reheboam his son succeeded him as king."

Solomon began well, completed the temple, but then made daily decisions that took him farther from the heart of faith his father David had. He had great understanding and wisdom, but not obedience. Review Deut 17:14-20 and you will see that Solomon failed to follow the clear instructions for kings of Israel.

One of the important lessons here is that you cannot pass on to your children what you do not yourself possess. Take measure of yourself, dear father, and see where you need to build up your faith and perservance.

EMP and families

This excellent speech by Frank Gaffney about America's unpreparedness for an EMP attack on our electronics infrastructure is worth reading for two reasons.

First, as men and leaders we should take heed his warnings about preparedness and preventative measures. A number of America's enemies are pursuing ballistic missiles with fervor.

Second, consider this vulnerability not only as electronics dependence, but as a lack of family leadership. Were an EMP attack to be successful, and much of our electronics infrastructure wiped out, how would we do as family leaders? How could we hold our communities together? What would become important, and not important?

Given your meditation on this, what do you need to do differently?

Nature Must Not Be Worshipped

Check out this good Dennis Prager column about the distinctive difference between worldviews. This is an important concept to make sure your children understand.

"It is almost impossible to overstate how radically different Old Testament thought was from the thought of the rest of its contemporary world. And it continues to be, given how few societies affirm Judeo-Christian values and how much opposition to them exists in American society, the society that has most incorporated these values. Among the most radical of these differences was the incredible declaration that God is outside of nature and is its creator."

Biblical Marriage

Check out Marvin Olasky's fine column on "Strong Marriages"

"[the] Bible clearly shows the error both of feminists who claim no differences between men and women, and of sexual segregationists who argue that women are to be concerned only with marriage and motherhood.

Being Still

"Be still, and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10

There is very little in our culture that promotes being still. But my cultural environment isn't the biggest problem to being still. I am.

There is very little in me that wants to be still. I want to be busy (even though I complain about it). I want some , but not too much, noise in my life. I want to have thoughts churning at 2000 miles per hour, and am too content to let 96% of these be about things that will not last into eternity.

O Lord, save me. I am yours.

Quote to Remember

"There is only one quality worse than hardness of heart and that is softness of the head." -- Theodore Roosevelt

Sobering information on fatherhood in America

An estimated 40 percent of our nation's children are living in homes without their own father. (Source)

How this must grieve our heavenly Father!

Let us be dads that stick!

Acquiring Self-discipline

I wrote below about self-leadership. Yesterday I saw this quote from Mark Twain:

"Do something every day that you don't want to do; this is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain."

Sounds like a good plan!

Every Day Is Father's Day

Ok, I know it's not. But fathers are needed every day. I liked what Rebecca Hagelin said in her recent column:

"Dads, you know you can expect some nice gifts from your families when Father’s Day arrives on the 19th. And from homemade artwork to the inevitable tie, they will be things you treasure. But nothing compares to what you can give them all year long -- the gift of faith. "

Remember the last words of Hugh Latimer, burned with Nicholas Ridley at the stake for heresy at Oxford on October 16, 1555. (They refused to endorse Queen Mary, a Catholic, claiming that she was an illegitimate daughter of Henry VIII, born after he married his late brother’s wife, Catherine of Aragon.)

"Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out! "

Every day in your home is a day when you can play the man. And may the Lord fan into bonfires the flames of love that begin in our children's heart!

Self-leadership

"Everyone thinks of changing the world and no one thinks of changing himself." -- Tolstoy

Please note the title for this posting is NOT Self-help, but Self-leadership. Our narcissistic culture is fixated on the wrong perspective. Self-leadership is taking charge, accepting responsibility for your self (your genes are not responsible), and disciplining yourself into maturity.

Yes, maturity. That's a good thing. Staying young "forever" is not an objective. We should want to grow up and be mature, to seek out more responsibility.

Terry Storch has a great insight about self-leadership: we are only as accountable as we want to be. This short blog-posting is worth checking out.

Post-Jonathan

I'm working on a study of the life of David. One interesting observation: David makes most of his mistakes after Jonathan dies. He never seems to have a friend like Jonathan again.

It underscores how important our friends are, and the friends of our children.

How are you doing in the friend department? Are you working to make sure your wife and children have good friends who are good influences on them?

Quote of the Week

"There is not one square inch of life of which Jesus Christ does not say, 'It is mine!' "
-- Abraham Kuyper

How's Jesus doing with the square inches you occupy?

Fathers in the US

Ken Canfield wrote in a recent email that "in the U.S. there are approximately 62.5 million fathers."

Let that number sink in a bit.

62.5 million men who need help every day to love and serve and discipline and train their kids.

62.5 million men whom are charged with passing the baton to the next generation.

Will you pick just one today to encourage and help? Give him a call, drop by, share a verse to encourage him.