Star Wars is built on the life and death battle that is set amongst a love story that surrounds us all every day. Satan is real friends.  We do not want to bring glory to him but he must be dealt with.  Like Luke had to face Vader, we must learn to fight our enemy.

CS Lewis says,

There is no neutral ground in the universe; every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counter-claimed by Satan.

We must not underestimate the enemy.  He is not God’s equal but he is a fallen angel and angels are powerful.  John 10:10 says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.“  1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

Knowing and expressing the truth is pivotal in the resistance of Satan.  We must learn to fight!  Over the next several post we will be dealing with the truth about the enemy.  Stay tuned!

Joan of Arc said “I am not afraid…I was born to do this”

In the midst of your biggest challenges lie the opportunities to experience your greatest moments. We can either walk through life guarding ourselves by staying within the confinements of safety or we can choose our place where we will be exposed to the moments that will challenge the very core of our beings. Peter Marshall said, “When we long for life without difficulties, let us remember that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure”.

Not one of these men shook the world of sports without the feelings of doubt and fear being present. None of them achieved greatness without feeling tempted to quit along the way. None of them rose to heights never attained before without feeling weak and unable. Yet despite these feelings, all of them chose to stand their ground and continue to run the race set before them. Great opportunities in life often come dressed in overalls, look like hard work, and have risk all over them. It is only those that are willing to step out and take them on that will ever experience what it is really like to achieve the extraordinary and unprecedented.

If you are faithful in collecting the daily inches you are given you will eventually come to the cross roads of opportunity in life. The direction you choose will be determined by the readiness of your heart and the quality of the work you would have done during those times when no one was watching. Abraham Lincoln said’ “I will prepare and some day my chance will come”.

If you are in this place where you feel the overwhelming pressure that a major opportunity brings with it, count yourself privileged as there is no better place to be according to Theodore Roosevelt who said “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Today you may be in the process towards a great opportunity or you might even be standing at the cross roads of one. Which ever one of these two places you are in remember that the only ones that turn opportunities into great moments in their lives are those that are willing to believe that destiny always favors the bold and that they can be part of this select group, if they are willing to take the required risk.

Remember the biggest risk in life is not taking one!

Always for you!

Pablo

Copyright 2012 – Pablo Giacopelli www.holdingonloosely.com

I would encourage you to pick up Pablo’s book and follow Pablo’s blog. I know it will help you draw closer to the Lord!

Gary Barkalow in his book, “It’s Your Call” says,

“possessing a calling (a weighty purpose in life) is not just for a few—the “elite.” It is the design and destiny of every person. If there was not great meaning to our lives, we would not be asking questions about our calling.”

Is working at the Lumber Yard, the Bank, or the YMCA your calling?  Maybe but probably not.  How about moving close to your elderly parents to take care of them?  What about a Husband or Wife, Dad or Mom, or Mayor or Professional Baseball Player?  Nope!

The most common mistake I see people make surrounding their calling is equating it to their source of income.  I am the director of New Wilderness Adventures but that is not my calling.  Being the director of NWA is an assignment that I have.  I am a husband, a dad, a brother, a son, and a friend but that is not my calling.  I also will help the widow, feed the hungry, lead the blind but that is not my calling.  My calling is: to create environments where men can have those burning bush moments while walking with them all the way to Jesus. Gary helped me see that.

Let’s see an example of an assignment that will get your blood pumping.  While talking on the phone to his daughter, Liam Neeson’s character’s daughter has been trafficked and the phone is picked up by the napper.  Take a look at this short clip from the movie Taken:

See, much of our day-to-day lives are filled with assignments.  Was it his calling to rescue his daughter?  No.  Was he going to do it?  Come “hell or high water,” yes!  His skill sets, knowledge, and training had prepared him for this moment – for this assignment and woe to the person on the other end.

So what is your true calling, desire, passion etc etc?  How do you discover it?

First, I would encourage you to go to the source.  Ask God to show you what is written on your heart, what brings you joy, passion, and life.  He will begin to point out what the truest things about you are, your passion DNA will become apparent.  This doesn’t happen overnight for most, it certainly didn’t for me and it also is usually a journey of constant discovery with some refining but it will happen for you if you seek it.

Second, I’d greatly encourage you to read “It’s Your Call” by my friend Gary Barkalow. It is not a step by step guide to finding your calling but rather points you to God who is the author of your passions, desires and calling.  We all have original glory that God designed in us, we are His image barers after all, Gary will help you understand the glory of your life while helping you understand your purpose and the intentionality of your life.  Want to be the man God designed you to be?  “It’s Your Call” should be one of the stops on your masculine journey.

Lastly, change your thinking.  If you view your assignments as your calling you will settle and miss the great work of your life.  What if Jesus was only a carpenter, Paul a tentmaker or Peter a fisherman?  Where would we be?

I hate when I do that.

What holds me back from the truth or what I meant to say?  Why do I edit myself?

Matthew 5:37 says, “Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.”

So how about those edits and what do we do about them?  Here are few examples first:

• Reading faces and changing your story to get the desired response
• Playing a certain character that gives you that desired affirmation
• To keep up with socially accepted practices
• Conforming
• Like the first one, just plain on manipulation to get the outcome you desire

Seth Godin said:

“The story wins the day every time… Your position on just about everything, including, yes, your salary, your stock options, your credit card debt and your mortgage are almost certainly based on the story you tell yourself, not some universal fact from the universal fact database. —Not just you, everybody.”

Seth is so right.  We “edit” ourself to accommodate the “story” we have built around ourselves.  If we want to be different, if we want to not “edit” ourself to accomodate the impostor within, then we must believe the true story that God has written on our hearts.  In most instances, we must discover what that story is in the first place.  The daily conversation we have with ourselves must be given over to the Holy Spirit allowing the Spirit to direct our story leading us to the men and women God has designed us to be.

Baby Sailors #3 due in June 2012 The Hobbit (movie)

The election of a new president (hopeful)

Going Back to Alaska

The Rise of LifeQuest

Stay calm friends.. all of us are in this boat.

Today is my beautiful wife’s birthday.  This is the 4th anniversary of her 29th Birthday.  Happy Birthday pretty lady, and I was thinking this morning about how I push her buttons… and consequently how she pushes mine.

I think many times it is not meant to be mean or malicious.  It just becomes habit.  And our reactions… well..

So what to do?

Know this, if you are both believers, her heart toward you is “good” and yours toward her is “good.”  So those buttons are either the flesh or the work of the enemy.

Pushing those buttons is not your true heart for her.  It’s false.  You really do not desire to do that at all.  Just don’t go there…  you have what it takes to not push her buttons and if she is pushing yours, you have what it takes not to respond in anger or by striking back.  Remember, her heart is “good” and your heart is “good.”  Remove yourself from the situation if need be.  Become proactive.

I know that many of the things I do to push Kryssy’s buttons are avoidable.  If I would not throw my dirty clothes on the floor, if I would clean up better after myself or do a better job of helping her with the kids…  You know what those things are in your marriage..  Then there are those words.  Your words have tremendous power.  Think before you use them and use them with love and encouragement

Men, it’s your job to set the environment in your home.. if you are pushing her buttons she’ll push yours.  In Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge they say or women,

“We desire to possess a beauty that is worth pursuing, worth fighting for, a beauty that is core to who we truly are. We want beauty that can be seen; beauty that can be felt; beauty that affects others; a beauty all our own to unveil.”

Fight men…many times, when she is pushing your buttons, it’s because she is prompting you to fight for her heart.  Like Stasi said, “a beauty that is worth pursuing, worth fighting for.”  She wants to know she is worth it.  Remember forgiveness and that your heart is good… you have what it takes!

I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.  I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

This is not something I have mastered.  You?

In looking at 2012, rather than thinking of all the “resolutions” we’d like to make, how about resolving to be content wherever you are, in all situations, and allow God to do the refining.

At this very moment it didn’t matter where I was going or where I was.  Father God showed up in this elderly couple at the airport.  It was as if time stood still and a bubble of encouragement, love and conviction enveloped me.  Suddenly, all of my senses where on full alert and I felt Father wanting me to fix my attention on this couple.  For the next half hour, I watched and listened.  I know, I know, it’s not polite to ease drop but take it up with God, He told me to.  This man was so attentive to his wife.  He was sacrificial, kind, loving, selfless and funny.  At one point I had to contain myself from laughing out loud as they spoke of their grandson’s crazy adventures fishing and to not draw attention to my ease dropping.

This couple had presence.  The wife was radiant and well spoken and her husband was distinguished and everyone that passed by or interacted with him said, “Hello sir, yes sir, or no sir.”  His presence demanded respect.

Just before boarding, their son, who apparently was going to be traveling with them, arrived and embraced his mother and looked his father in the eye and shook his hand and then embraced him as well.  They shared a few pleasantries and the elderly couple began to encourage their son about a job interview he was going to.  Later in the conversation, I learned that the couple is going with their son as support.  He is single and freshly retired from the Air Force and is interviewing for a position with American Airlines in Dallas.

Sadly, we do not see this type of family unit making the headlines anymore.  We see more of the dregs of society, the broken and abusers.

Throughout this story unfolding, Father began to bring some conviction over my heart about being selfish in my love and interaction with Kryssy.  He encouraged me to be selfless and to serve her being, as the elderly man was, attentive to her heart and her needs before my own.  God brought up Eph 5:25-30 to my heart, encouraging me to “nourish and cherish” her as Christ did the church.

In our journey to recover the masculine heart and to embark on our quest to restore God’s masculine image within us, we sometimes overlook the strength and training it takes to serve our wife and or family.  Yes God has called us to have adventurous hearts and to battle for what is right in strength but do not overlook the calm and peaceful strength of laying down your life day by day for your wife and kids.  They need our selflessness and wise attention as much as they need us clearing the path before them with strength and aggressiveness.

We are, Warrior Poets after all.

However, this is a problem.  The king’s food includes things that would cause Daniel to defile himself in the eyes of God.  What does Daniel do?  I’m sure, like many of the other Israelites, he thought about compromise.  After all, they are in captivity, surely God’s rule is lessened a bit in this circumstance.  God wouldn’t mind if he ate the kings food – this is war time right?

In verse 8 we see Daniel’s choice:  But Daniel resolved in his heart not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.

Don’t let this truth slip by.  But Daniel resolved in his heart. Before he knew the outcome, he chose to do what was right in the eyes of God.  Daniel then went into action.  He asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Daniel could have been killed just for asking that question.  He was a slave remember.

Look at what happens next in verse 9: Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel. Once again, don’t let this truth slip by.  Now God. God showed up.  Daniel resolved in his heart to be obedient no matter the outcome and then -  Now God. This is so powerful and so hopeful.

There is so much more richness in this chapter.  We see Daniel offer a challenge to the chief official to test him and we see Now God’s over and over…  I want to encourage you to go read the rest of the story.

Do you need a Now God? Last night, I was meeting with a group of men I am co-leading with Jim Snyder in a New Wilderness Adventures Band of Brothers.  Remember Jim?  He is professional counselor on staff with us now. Anyhow, I challenged the men with a challenge I received in 2004 after moving back to NC from GA.  My mentor asked me, “What’s next?” I think I told him, “I dunno, a good job, kids etc etc…” but he dug deeper – “What’s next?” I really was not following him, so he spelled it out for me.  He said, “you need to choose to become the man God designed you to be.” He went on to say, “choose to be that man failing doing anything else – strive to be that man.  At all cost, become that man” This instruction has been so crucial to my life.

So, I, days after, resolved in my heart before I knew the outcome to do whatever it took to become the man God designed me to be.  And I have been experiencing the Now God’s ever since.  Becoming that man has not been at the expense of my family or my responsibilities but to their benefit.

I challenge you men and women too, to become who God designed you to be.  Begin to resolve in your heart to do what God says in His word and what He has spoken over your heart.  I guarantee the Now God’s, will show up every time in the way that is pleasing to the Lord and His plan for your life!

You are affected by your friends. We are of course responsible for our actions.  But after a while our lives will begin to reflect our community and the people we hang out with.  Your relationships will affect your success in life and will most definitely aid in your problems.  Many relationships lead to trouble.  Barry Strickland, NWA’s Texas Office Director, has a very vibrant prison ministry there, and I’ve had the opportunity to go into the prisons several times.  There is a common thread in all of their stories – they either had joined gangs, got involved with the wrong women, drug culture and/or they were born into a bad situation in their family.  The reason Cliché is Cliché is because it is grounded in truth and the Cliché is that “you become like your friends.”  These men were in prison, by in large, due to their relationships.

There are many friendships that have gotten me in trouble over the years.  Many when I was a teen or child but actually more as an adult although the adult friendships and the pull to do something that might not be as healthy is usually more subtle.  Remember the feel of the pull as a kid?  Lets go do _____________.  Maybe the blank was something that required a “white lie” to your parents so you could go sneak out and hang out with girls at the river or maybe it was the first time your friend convinced you to steal something from the store or took a smoke from a joint at the party.  It all seems harmless at the time but whatever the pattern, those patterns, if not life giving, will lead to destruction and death.

I love Proverbs 6:27-28:

Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?

Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?

Answer – No

And you cannot have friendship that will not affected you in some way, good or bad.

As I’ve reviewed my life, I’ve seen the intentionality that I have had over the past several years.  Many friends I’ve had to walk away from due to their choices and many have walked away from me as well due to my choices.  I’m a part of a community now that is redemptive, honest and truth seeking.  I’ve moved my family into that pursuit as well.  Our life is the best it has ever been – by in large due to our friends.

I want to encourage you to search your heart on who you are friends with and why?  Is it for some sort of gain?  Is it an unhealthy reason?  Are you trying to rescue them without God’s permission?  Maybe you need to walk away gracefully or invite them on the journey you are taking to become that person God designed you to be.  Your journey might take you away from what you thought was dear into some dry places for a while, but stick with God and He will bring that community to you if you seek it with all your heart.  Be intentional about who you are friends with.

No one has greater love [no one has shown stronger affection] than to lay down (give up) his own life for his friends. John 15: 13

Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.” 1 Corinthians 15: 33