Being the BEST dad!

I visited a favorite local church this last Sunday, and wow did God give me the right message that morning. It was about being the best (B.E.S.T.) dad, or best parent I could be. The B.E.S.T. is a mnemonic with each of the initials reminding me of what our kids need from us.

The B tells us we should bless our children and not curse them or provoke them to wrath. It spoke about when we talk to others about our children we should talk about their good qualities and our pride in them.

The E tells us we should encourage our children and not criticize them. Lovingly correct yes, criticize them no. Being on their side as a cheerleader. After all isn't that what we want from our friends, encouragement.

The S says we should share with our children. Give them quality time, listen to them and their hearts. Share with them what the Lord has done for us, our struggles with life, that we love them and will always be there for them.

The T says we should touch or connect with them. Give them hugs, pats on the back, a warm, kind, gentle touch. We guys tend to be so macho. But, our kids need a touch from us. It is said that a mother's hug communicates love to a child, but a dad's bear hug communicates security to a child. Do you want your child to feel secure in this scary and wicked world? Give them a security hug today.

Guys, let's help each other be the BEST dad we can be!

The Leaders Led

That the leaders led in Israel, That the people volunteered, Bless the Lord! *

These words start the song of Deborah, a famous judge in the book of Judges in the old testament. I haven't been reading in the old testament for a while, and so I've been missing out. As a favorite cbmc'er once said, himself a Messianic Jew, "If you don't know your old testament, you're going into battle with half a sword!"

Reading Judges I was taken by what a bunch of scoundrels the Jews were. They weren't any more likeable, honorable, or sinless than the alien nations around them. Their only difference was that they had been introduced to the true living God, who had chosen them, and had delivered His law and favor on them through Moses and the Patriarchs.

The reason that things were tough for the Jews, with the Philistines and Moabites giving them a hard time, was that they were disobedient to the truth. They didn't put away the temptations of a worldly culture, and they worshiped foreign Gods. Then God would have to raise up a judge to straighten things out.

The United States, or rather colonies were first successfully settled by Christian pilgrims, Puritans if you will. And the world still views us as a Christian nation. But things aren't going as well for us as we'd like. Families in peril, finances in ruins, debtors to the world, and current high unemployment.

We, the church in America, haven't put away the temptations of a worldly culture. We have allowed God and the truth of the Bible to be taken out of our government and schools. And much of the church has set up the foreign gods of materialism, tolerance to sin, and ignorance, if not rejection of the true Word and standards of God.

Let's pray that God will raise up Judges, prophets, and leaders in our land to turn us back. Let's call on God and look forward to the time when...

The leaders will lead, the people will volunteer, and the Lord will once again be blessed by America.

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* Judges 5:2 PS: Guys there's also a message in the chapters around this if we men don't assume our headship and lead. God will use and raise up the gals like Deborah and Jael to get His work done.

An Egyptian’s Perspective on Islam

Last week on a business trip I had the blessing of riding with a Christian cab driver, who was also a Coptic Egyptian and naturalized American citizen. He had strong opinions about Islam, Muslim immigration to the United States, and the adopted country he loves.

He is familiar with both the Arabic as well as the softened English version of the Qu’ran. Both say that only Allah is God, and that Muhammad is a superior prophet to Jesus, and that Jesus is not the only Son of God, and that He did not die sacrificially for the sins of the world¹. Both say that a different duty is owed to Muslims than to non-Muslims.

Clearly, in the Arabic Qu’ran, Muslims are to either convert non-believers (infidels), or kill them⁴. If they do not kill them, they should try to cheat them, and they do not owe non-Muslims the truth². Allah says that they should hate infidels. Whereas, Christianity says that we should love our enemies, and that we owe all men the truth. Jesus is the truth³.

The Arabic Quran give men complete property rights over women⁶. He was dismayed at how a Muslim man would leave his wife and children in the Middle East, immigrate to America on a work or visitor visa, then marry an American woman, live with her for 3 years until his American citizenship was permanent, then divorce the American woman and repatriate any American born children back to the Middle East.

He spoke of his love for America which he said Middle Eastern countries equate with Christianity and the Cross of Christ. He believes it is not only a mistake, but a crime to allow the immigration of America’s ideological enemies.

We did agree on the solution. The power of the gospel and truth is still able to soften even a Muslim heart and make a new creation and child of God⁵. And we should evangelize and disciple the Islamic community with fervor. But, we should not be foolish about the Islamic agenda. And, he openly says that Allah is not any god, but rather Satan himself in one of his many names, the Father of Lies, and a Destroyer to all who follow his false religion.

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1. Qu’ran Surah 3:59: The similitude of Isa before God is as that of Adam; He created him from dust… 4:157: That they said in boast ‘we killed Christ Isa, the son of Mary”… but the killed him not, nor crucified him.

2.Qu’ran 8:30 They plot and plan, and Allah, too plans, but the best of planners (deceivers) is Allah.

3. 3Bible John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

4. 4Qu’ran Surah 8:65 O Prophet, urge the believers to fight. If there are twenty patient men among you, you shall overcome two hundred, and if there are a hundred, they shall overcome a thousand unbelievers, for they are a nation who do not understand. 9:29: Fight those who neither believe in Allah nor the Last Day, who do not forbid what Allah and His Messenger have forgidden, and do not embrace the religion of the truth, being among those who have been given the Bood, until they pay tiute out of hand and have been humiliated. 2:193: Fight against them until there is no dissension, and the religion is for Allah.

5. 5Bible Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

6. 6Qu’ran Sura 2:223 Your women are your fields, so go into your fields whichever way you like… 4:24: And forbidden to you are wedded wives of other people except those who have fallen in your hands (prisoners of war) (slave-girls are sexual property for their male owners.) Sura 4:3 And if you be apprehensive that you will not be able to do justice to the orphans, you may marry two or three or four women whom you choose. 4:34 … If you fear highhandedness from your wives, remind them, then ignore them when you go to bed, then hit them. If they obey you, you have no right to act against them.

Slaves to sin

"For we know that our old self was crucified with Him, so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin ... " Romans 6:6


Let's go, in our imaginations, to West Africa, circa 1801. Very early morning in our village, just before sunrise. The night sounds are still heard, but there is another sound as well. It is the sound of heavy feet; different from anything we have ever heard before. There is also a sound that is completely foreign to our ears; later we would learn that it is the sound of metal chains clanging against each other. A rather pretty and somehow melodic sound, but also a frightening sound. As sleep tumbles from our eyes, we sense firelight moving in and out among our tents. Then screams. Babies crying and mothers shrieking. Mens' and boys' voices raised in anger and fear. Then darkness descends as a heavy club knocks consciousness away.


We awaken, you and I, several hours later, to horrific smells and a foreign, sickening movement. Another unknown sound is heard - a whip, slicing through the air and splitting open backs and arms and faces. Again, angry screams and the smell of blood. There are chains around our ankles and our wrists and we have been stripped of our garments. We are inside some kind of a large box, it seems. This box sways and moves - it is a ship. We are captives aboard a slave ship and life as we had come to know it is forever over. Tears spill from our eyes, even as we are forced to sit on tiny benches and row at oars. Anger that is kept under control by the chains, becomes our constant companion.


After days and weeks of anguish and death, we would do anything to be free once again, but there is no hope for us. We are slaves now and we will be slaves forever, or so it seems. The only way out would be for us to die; for dead men cannot be slaves anymore to anyone ever again.


Do you see that that is what Paul is trying to have us understand? You and I were slaves, slaves to sin, but we died and have been given the opportunity to live a new life. Those chains, which used to bind us, bind us no longer, because they were loosed from our dead wrists. Those whips that use to scar us can do so no longer, for we are dead and dead men feel no pain and fear no whips. And the slave drivers who made our lives so unbearable? As soon as we died, they lost interest in us. Do you get it? When we died to sin, we were set free from its mastery over us.

"Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"


Today, recognize that you died and that sin has no hold on you at all! Live as free men! And don't go back to your old life of slavery.

Stinky Feet?

Are your feet stinky and dirty?

Have you ever washed someone else's dirty feet?

The thought that the creator of the universe, the king of kings and lord of lords washed stinky feet is such a strange thought, but a real story, and I think it bears another look don't you?

After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." "No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." "Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!" Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Isn't that an amazing story? Here are some things I'd like to point out:

Jesus said they wouldn't understand what He was doing until later? So He meant there was something symbolic as well as physical going on.

He said they were already clean except for Judas Iscariot, but He had also bathed, but He didn't receive Christ as the others did. So being clean referred to their lives being made clean, their sins having been cleansed or forgiven and covered by virtue of their belief and acceptance of Jesus.

He said that we still get dirty stinky feet. Because we're not yet separated from our natural man, the sinful world, and we still stumble (sin) our feet get dirty. Our Christian walk and communion with God gets compromised. So Jesus and other believers need to "wash our feet" restore us to a good walk and fellowship from time to time.

We are supporsed to wash each other's feet and it will be a blessing to us. But, how do we do that?

Pray for each other... Hold each other accountable... Live transparent lives in fellowship with other believers... (Stay in the light house, so the dark is not so tempting) Counsel each other... Train, forgive, and restore each other... Be there for each other...

Do you need your feet washed?

Is there someone else that needs you to wash their feet?

Your wife? Your kids? Your Christian brother?

The more sensitive instrument

In my first job out of college I sold Swiss made Mettler Balances. These sensitive instruments were used to measure grams 1/454th of a pound and even micrograms, 1/454,000 of a pound. Chemists and Gemologists used them to precisely measure amounts of chemicals for experiments and diamonds and rubies in Carat weights. Needless to say, you had to understand how to use these valuable instruments or if you ham handed them dumping a lot of weight on them without a thoughtful process, they were easily damaged.

1 Peter 3:7 says "You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered."

Where it says someone weaker, rather think about "a more sensitive instrument" as one marriage teacher explained, "wives are like your radar, they can pick up on people's feelings, and situations in a sensitive way that is oblivious to the average man."

If you've ever seen a young mommy carry around a toddler on her hip through a store pushing a heavy laden shopping cart for hours, you might doubt the "physically weaker" interpretation, but there is no doubt that they are made specially different to complement man, and they certainly have intuition and read situations better than us.

We need to understand this and treasure this for the value of the godly design and intent guys.

Let's honor our wives today, and work on that understanding part.

God’s Workmanship!

Do you want to be all God wants you to be? Do you feel like God’s workmanship as expressed in Ephesians 2:10? Watch this neat Christian Skit put on by the Skit Guys entitled Chisel Away and let me know what you think. Part of being like Jesus is the discipline part as expressed in Hebrews 12. When I think about this I remember an old football coach who used to shout, “No pain, no gain boys!”