Against the ropes. Stood up against a wall. On the mat. In the den. Buried in sorrow. Nothing to show. We will rise and rise again. To fight and defend. There is hope that must use courage. There is strength that must use faith. Until the last breath is taken. There will be no surrender. Not to he or she. Not to them or we. We will stand and fight for those we love. Backed by the force of a never ending love.
I wrote this for you. I can't explain it and you will have trouble understanding it until you have a kid of your own but there is nothing you can do that will make me stop loving you. You may upset me or even get mad at me but that will never change the fact that I love you. You will go through a lot in your life and when I may fail you I won't stop fighting for you. When I do fail though, there is a stronger Father that I hope you will always look up to. I will make my mistakes but God is there to help both you and me when we come up short. I hope you always raise you eyes to him and call on him to be your strength everyday. His love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (look it up). This is a clear message on how to love. Learn from it and hold on to it, it will never lead you the wrong way. Love everyone like this, especially if it is the hard. Forgive and love everyone around you, never intend to hurt someone. God has great plans for you and will build you to be an example of His glory and power.
Love ya,
Dad
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Friends
In this life you're going to go through some hard times, to be honest it will seem like the whole world wants to just take a dump on you. Other than having God there to carry you through the hard times, He has also provides us with people to carry us. Your friends are some of the greatest blessings that God has given you. They will be the people that know you best in this world. Most of all you will have the most fun with them and they will likely get you into trouble, if you're anything like me you might be the one getting your friends there. In order to have good friends you have to be a great friend. Always stand up for your friends. Be real, honest, respectful, and loyal. When you may have a question about friendship, the Bible is the first place you can go for answers.
John 15:12-15 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
Greatest Friend is God
James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
How To Pick Your Friends
Proverbs 12:26 One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.
Proverbs 13:20 Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.
Proverbs 14:6-7 A scoffer seeks wisdom in vain, but knowledge is easy for a man of understanding. Leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not meet words of knowledge.
Proverbs 22:24-25 Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.
1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”
How To Treat Your Friends
Luke 6:31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
Romans 12:10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Out do one another in showing honor.
Ephesians 4:29-32 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Colossians 3:12-14 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Importance of Friendships
Proverbs 11:14 Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.
Proverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
Proverbs 19:20 Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.
Proverbs 24:5 A wise man is full of strength, and a man of knowledge enhances his might,
Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.
Bible Examples of Friendship
Ruth and Naomi
Ruth 1:16-17 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”
David and Jonathan
1 Samuel 18:1-3 As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul.
Job’s Friends
Job 2:11 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him.
Elijah and Elisha
2 Kings 2:2 And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.
C.S. Lewis Friendship Quotes
“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.”
“Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a good fire?”
“The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.”
Love ya,
Dad
John 15:12-15 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
Greatest Friend is God
James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
How To Pick Your Friends
Proverbs 12:26 One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.
Proverbs 13:20 Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.
Proverbs 14:6-7 A scoffer seeks wisdom in vain, but knowledge is easy for a man of understanding. Leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not meet words of knowledge.
Proverbs 22:24-25 Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.
1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”
How To Treat Your Friends
Luke 6:31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
Romans 12:10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Out do one another in showing honor.
Ephesians 4:29-32 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Colossians 3:12-14 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Importance of Friendships
Proverbs 11:14 Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.
Proverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
Proverbs 19:20 Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.
Proverbs 24:5 A wise man is full of strength, and a man of knowledge enhances his might,
Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.
Bible Examples of Friendship
Ruth and Naomi
Ruth 1:16-17 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”
David and Jonathan
1 Samuel 18:1-3 As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul.
Job’s Friends
Job 2:11 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him.
Elijah and Elisha
2 Kings 2:2 And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.
C.S. Lewis Friendship Quotes
“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.”
“Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a good fire?”
“The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are.”
Love ya,
Dad
Monday, November 7, 2011
A New Hope
My wish for this blog is to have something for my son to read that will give him a hope when life may get to points in which hope is to far to hold on to or that it continues his hope and helps to provide perseverance. Most of these will be from my life lessons that I have experienced in my short time here. Some may pass wisdom and knowledge, and others may invoke courage. I hope to follow close with the Lord as he shows me how to be a great Father and pass on the legacy of following Him. My life has taught me that when you can't be certain of anything, you can be certain that God has got you covered and His plans are better than yours.
James, my favorite book in the bible and one I probably quote most often. Chapter 1 verse 5-8 (look it up). Never have I found this to be untrue. It is something I should walk out of my house everyday asking for. I have to say this is one of the greatest promises that God has given, granted he has given a lot and he promises much more but for me I see the most value in this one. Just simply asking for wisdom and getting it is all too powerful. There are many situations that I wish I would have asked for the wisdom to handle them but i relied on my own understanding. This wisdom can help in any situation. Need wisdom for a test? Ask for it! Need wisdom on a relationship? Ask for it! Need wisdom on how to out smart your dad? Ask for it! Although if you ask me, that one will never happen... but I am not the Lord. Wisdom is one of the things I don't feel bad about expecting. I expect that whenever I ask for it, it will be given. I know that is the promise He has made. You can never walk through this world with too much wisdom. Any time anyone gives you and opportunity to learn, you take it. Whether it's throwing a ball, knitting a sweater, or advice; you take it and learn from it. If ever you have a question just know your dad is there to help and what he doesn't know, Google does.
If you every hold on to any wisdom hold on to this: Your father loves you and would do anything for you, though I may make mistakes I will never stop loving you. Even while you may be miles away and I can't see you, my heart is always reserved for you. With how much I love you I can't even compare to the love that God has for you. He will be your savior everyday and if I'm lucky he will allow me to play that part for Him sometimes.
Love ya,
Dad
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