Abraham was faithful to God, and God reckoned that to him as righteousness.  There is no single attribute desired more by God or humanity more than faithfulness.  If you think about it, if you want to be a great leader, you want people to be faithful to you. 

You can't lead if you aren't going anywhere. 

Now the Lord said to Abram,
"Go forth  from your country,
And from your relatives
And from you father's house,
To the land which I will show you;
(Genesis 12:1 NAS

And Abram went.  He left everything he knew and just left to go to, well he didn't know where.  As a leader, wouldn't it be nice if you yielded the same kind of authority?  Within family leadership, the kids always question, and argue.  In corporate leadership,  the subordinates always complain and cooperate only half-heartedly.  In churches the congregations always divide. We want faithfulness as leaders, and we don't know how to get it.

Abraham became the father of a great nation, the father of our modern Christianity simply because he was faithful.  People followed him, his wife and Lot went with him because he was faithful to the words God spoke to him.  To gain faithfulness, you have to demonstrate faithfulness.  Being faithful to God will lead you to be faithful to the mission God puts upon you.  As you pursue His mission faithfully He will place with you the resources and people you need to accomplish what He desires of you.  Truly, when it comes to faithfulness, you reap what you sow.

Leadership and success are hotly pursued topics of discussion in our modern society.  Recently, I  began to teach my children principles of leadership, and ingrain in them the idea that success is a life that honors and glorifies God. 

One day I was talking to my son and explaining how to identify his values.  I explained to him a business practice called benchmarking.  Basically, you identify something you like about someone, and you emulate that trait.  I had to explain that this is not copy-catting.  You don't want to try to be someone else, you just want to take a trait of theirs and develop it in yourself, because you really just want to be yourself. 

While this has been going on I've been reading the books of Kings.  One of my all-time Biblical heroes has always been Soloman, the wisest man to have ever lived.  I have prayed for great wisdom and knowledge for a long time now, and I have studied.  But in reading the story, I came to realize that all of Soloman's wisdom didn't make him a perfect king.  He used forced labor, and placed great burdens on the people.  He spent seven years building God's temple, then thirteen years building his palace.  Then Soloman turned from the Lord, allowing other gods to be worshipped under his reign.

I was mortified.  What good was the wisdom that led to the division of Isreal? What use is a wisdom that led God's nation into sin, and offended God so deeply?  Soloman was wise, but he was was not faithful.  Many of the great characters of the Bible had similar down falls.  I've been looking at this all wrong.  I don't need heroes from the Biblical texts, I need benchmarks.

I want to look at just a few briefly, and perhaps we'll explore this concept more thoroughly in the near future.

A few Biblical Benchmarks for Leadership:

Noah was righteuos, blameless in his generation and he walked with God.
Abraham was faithful and God reckoned that to him as righteusness.
Moses was humble.
Gideon was a mighty man of valor.
Ruth was loyal.
Saul was handsome.
David was a man after God's own heart, and God was faithful to him.
Soloman was wise.
King Asa did right in the sight of the Lord
King Hezekiah trusted in the Lord like no other.

Righteousness, faithfulness, valor, loyalty, pursuit of God, wisdom, trust, and even beauty are all traits that God has honored in his people.  The list goes on.  Job, Daniel, Jonah, and the disciples all offer amazing and insightful views of leadership.  Then there is Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  A wise man will learn from all of these people and their stories as he seeks to be a leader either in small things or great.

In 1 Samuel 15 Saul was told through he profit Samuel to destroy Amalek's entire kingdom, men, women, children, and livestock, the entire kingdom was to be utterly destroyed.  Amalek himself was to be cut into pieces.  Saul marched confidently into battle, and God gave him a resounding victory.  Saul returned triumphantly to Samuel, he brought with him Amalek in chains, and the best of the kingdom's livestock.  Samuel questioned Saul in an exchange that any parent can identify with.  First Saul said that the people required he keep the livestock.  Then he justifies himself saying he would sacrifice all the animals to God.  Saul tells him simply, "Obedience is better than sacrifice." 

That story is one I can so readily identify with.  I read the Bible seeking truth, not to justify my own traditions, but simply to identify how it is God would like me to live.   I want more of Him in my life.  I want to know Him better, and I want Him to recognize me undeniably as one of His sons.  I have prayed over and over for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.  Gracefully God has made it clear that I cannot hold onto what I know and still be able to receive the knowledge and wisdom He has for me.  The vessel must be empty in order for Him to pour into it.

This past year my family has stumbled through the feasts, reaping revelations and spiritual lessons in abundance.  This year Halloween has been terminated from our annual traditions.  Everything we do has been challenged rigorously against scripture.  Most recently, the Christmas Tree and all its trimmings and accompanying greenery have failed the test and fallen from the traditions of men that my family will observe.

Jeremiah 10:2-4 started the conflict for me.  The King James Bible gives the most true translation of these verses and it paints a perfect picture of a Christmas Tree along with God's warning not to observe such empty tradition.  This choice was not easy.  I looked hard and consulted many wise counselors before electing to live in obedience to this passage.  I loved my tree.  I really loved my ornaments.  I struggled for weeks, and searched for a way out.

One day I was wrestling through this subject with my incredibly patient wife.  I asked, "How can we take a clearly pagan practice of bringing a tree into our home, decorating it, and using that as a celebration of the Birth of the Messiah, now knowing full well that God had warned us not to do exactly that?   If we take such a practice from Pagan traditions and offer it as a tradition for God are we not doing exactly what Saul did with Amalek's livestock?"  At that moment, the decision was made.

With great anguish and worry I began to introduce yet another correction of our family's traditions to our children.  We all cried.  I explained the stories, read the verses, and the children were still upset.  I pulled them all together, and offered this explanation:

Christmas is about the birth of Jesus Christ.  This is a season we set aside as a human tradition to offer thanks and celebrate the birth of our Messiah.  So doesn't it make sense to be sure we give Him special gifts that we know He would find pleasing?  So far the kids were following me.  I looked at my daughter and asked, "How would you like a stack of two by fours for your birthday?"  She crinkled her nose.  I looked at my son and said, "How about a few Barbi Dolls?"  He crossed his arms and huffed.  Exactly.  So why would we think of doing something to celebrate Jesus that God the Father told us not to do?  I explained that Jesus said whatever we do for the least of these little ones we do for him.  That makes Christmas pretty simple.  Take care of those less fortunate than ourselves, give offerings to them, help them and we are in fact giving those gifts to Jesus.  The children got it.  Do you?

A dear friend of mine once related the story of her early christian life as a Catholic.  She had been reading scripture and went to her priest with a series of questions.  He asked her where all of these questions were coming from and she told him she was reading the Bible.  He replied, "My dear child, you will never make a good Catholic if you are going to read your Bible."  She left the church.

This year,  I started out to read the whole Bible, front to back.  This experience has caused me to begin to ask about the Covenants, Laws, and teachings that are said to be everlasting within this Old Testament.  I've been told that we are now under a New Covenant, but Jesus never said it was a New covenant.  I've been told Jesus came a fulfilled the law so we don't have to follow it.  But in the next verse He said that not a letter of the Law will change until both heaven and earth end.  In short I have found more evidence in support of the old teachings and directions than I have found against it.  It seems obvious that Jesus came to clarify the law, place it in proper perspective, and remind us that God loves us not because we are justified by the law, but because He just loves us.

I have wrestled and struggled with this understanding for months now.  I suspect now that many congregations all over the world are being sold a bill of good by a hypocritical church leadership caught up in a lying, greedy spirit.  Most modern, American, Christian Churches proclaim that the Law is fulfilled.  Mine does.  But I've been deeply troubled recently by the efforts my pastor has put into collecting the tithe.  He proofed his claim using several Old Testament verses.  Here in lies the problem.  If as he claims the Law is irrelevant and we are to live under a new Covenant then he cannot collect a tithe that is written in the law only to support the Temple and the levite priests in service to the Temple, unless he can show justification in the New Testament. 

That is something he cannot do.  None of the Apostles nor Jesus, ever collected the Tithe.  They may have asked for or accepted offerings, but never in the New Testament is the Tithe ever prescribed to the new churches.  The tithe was reserved exclusively for the Temple of God which housed the Mercy seat of God.

I have no perfect answers.  But I do know that we cannot Tithe in accordance to the scripture because we have no Temple.  Nor can we offer sacrifices, for the same reason and because Jesus did say his was the blood of the Covenant.  Read it, he never said new.  His replaced the animal sacrifices. 

You would be unwise to assume that your Church Leaders are leading you correctly.  It would also be unwise to think that I am correct.  Pray, read, and think for yourself.

My family and I have decided to keep the Old Testament Feasts.  This past couple of months have been a very full calendar.  We started with Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and then most recently The Feast of Tabernacles.  The first question we are confronted with whenever we mention such feasts is, "Are you Jewish?"  The answer to that is no, but Jesus was, and as a Christian my desire is to be as much like him as I can. 

Jesus Kept the feasts.  Paul did as well, and he instructed us to.  That leads to the next most popular question,  "why?"  It's funny really, most people think we are making up our own religion, and in a way they are right.  But, I can point to scripture and show you where we are instructed to keep each of these feasts, and with a little effort you can see the meaning each feast had to Christ and their significance to him.  Can you show me where we are instructed to celebrate Christmas?  Can you give me any prescribed date in the scripture that supports this holiday?  I'm not saying that I am anti-Christmas.  I think it is a great thing to commemorate the birth of our savior.  But to me, that's like studying really hard on just the extra-credit portions of the exam and ignoring the rest of the material.  What I am saying, is that we seem to have mastered the extra-credit, but what do we really know about the rest of the course of study? 

I am not one to even begin to tell you how to keep the feasts.  I have missed dates.  I have seen the dates arrive and found myself ill-prepared.  I have had great celebrations during the Feast of Tabernacles, but not with all the traditional Sukkots and music, and other parts of the traditional celebration.  But I can tell you this, it has been a blast this year just trying to practice and understand the whole fullness of these feasts, and from what I've learned next year will be even better.

Every time I've even tried to keep a feast, every time I have set a time aside and tried to do what God prescribed for that day, I have found myself closer to Him.  He has brought revelation, understanding, and wisdom to us through our feeble efforts to be obedient to His word.  If you would like to explore and practice the Feasts, post a comment.  I will be glad to offer up all that I have learned.  May God bless you and keep you.

As a nation we are in unprecedented times.  For the first time in our nation's history the bond rating for the United States has been lowered.  Unemployment is on the rise and I talk to more people every day who are out of work, underemployed, or truly fearful about their future.  Fear and uncertainty have gripped large portions of our population.

Overwhelmingly, whether I'm talking to Wall Street Executives, or someone facing homelessness, everyone looks to the Government for a solution.  Wall Street looks for deregulation, tax cuts or hand outs.  The poor look for jobs, help, and well more help. 

I have a harsh reality for you.  Your not going to like it.  ITS ALL YOUR FAULT.   This may be a harsh reality and it may be a difficult pill to swallow, but it is a fact, your status in this world, your level of satisfaction your acceptance of whatever reality you face, is ALL YOUR FAULT. 

I'm not saying that the world doesn't work on you and have its influence.  I'm not saying that God doesn't bring His will into your life. I'm not saying that Sh-- doesn't happen.  It happens to all of us.  But what you do about it, how you react to it is up to you. 

Too many people in this country want to be thin and healthy and have all the fat and sugar filled food they want.  My Dad was at a class reunion one year when an overweight teammate of his stood in front of him with a plate piled full of desert and asked, "How did you manage to keep your physique?"  Dad responded, "I watch what I shovel into my pie hole."  Here's the point, If your fat and you don't want to be fix the lifestyle that got you that way.  Likewise, If your poor, sad, lonely, or unhappy in any way, fix your lifestyle.  Take personal responsibility seriously.  One symptom of pride it thinking that you deserve something inherently. But you don't get skinny sitting on the couch eating bon-bons and you don't make money without generating results.  This country was founded upon the freedom to pursue happiness.  So pursue it. 

Writing takes a creative kind of energy that I have obviously been running low on lately. Time has become very compressed and simply doesn't exist in the abusndance it once did when I had the luxury to sit and thoroughly contmeplate every nuance of  a story, or a thought.

I am sorry to anyone who may have missed my posts.  Perhaps soon I'll get back to it.  In the meantime, I wanted to let you know I am still here, and every day that goes by I miss the time I spent writing at length about whatever the spirit moved me to write.

There are so many warnings in the Bible.  There's one about people taking on a form of Godliness that isn't Godliness.  Jesus says at different points that many will come to Him claiming to know Him and He will turn them away, saying He never knew them.  Passages like these haunt me.

How secure in your faith are you?  I'm not asking how secure you are in your salvation.   Through Jesus, I think out salvation is secure.  But have you read the Bible?  There's a lot of talk about being greatest or least in the kingdom of heaven.  It is written that there is a testing of fire, and all the unrighteousness will be burned from us all.  There is a lot to think about beyond Salvation.  Don't get me wrong.  I am chief among sinners myself, and without salvation of Jesus Christ, I would be dead.  There would be no hope for me due to all the inequity I have partaken of in the world.  Thanks be to God, Praise be to out Lord Jesus Christ.

It was great testing and crises in my life that brought me to scripture, and persistent prayer.  I am truly joyful and thankful for those trial today, for they called a proud and sinful man to God.  His forgiveness and care for me over those years showed me His loving forgiveness, grace, and mercy.  That relationship built within me a love for God that has no comparison in my life. 

Out of that Love, out of that relationship I study, and continue to seek more of His divine wisdom.  The more I study and learn the more I find great discrepancies between the word of God and the modern Church.  The teachings of man on the Bible are a dangerous thing to have faith in.  Think about it.  Your faith is Yours alone.  Your relationship with God is yours alone.  So how active are you in that relationship?  Do you study?  By that I mean do you read the Scripture for yourself.  Do you live out the lessons you learn?  Do you pray?  With an open heart?   Think about it. 

Christ commanded us to love God with all our hearts, but how?  What does that look like?

I strive for Obedience, in every conceivable way.  But over years and years I have found very few people who have led me 100% correctly.  I have found that the traditions of man have very little resemblance to the truth of scripture.  The more I dig into scripture the more I discover problems in translations and the more I have to challenge myself to seek truth rather than justification.

I have so many questions.

Do we Christians really adequately accomplish what our name implies?  Are we Christ-like?  What was Christ really like anyway?  We have four sperate portrayals of him, and each one is just a little different. 

Why do modern churches love so much to preach on a verse or two?  My most concise Bible has 1,012 pages of history and prophesy.  Preaching on a verse is a lot like using a microscope to try to figure out what a what looks like. 

We may all agree that Christ is the Messiah, the son of God.  But do we really have any idea why we think that?  There are several thousand years of history and prophesy that goes into that fact. 

I am not trying to say that history and understanding of all these mysteries prevent us from glorifying God or experiencing his presence.  Heavens no!  But as I grow in faith, as I develop, and draw closer to God, I find the more I understand His instructions, the more I feel free and the more blessed I am.  Think about your questions.  Seek your answers. 

I believe I've already published The Poop Story.  It's a family favorite about the day I brought my youngest daughter home, and her very first diaper change.  This is a story about one of the happiest days of my life.  Its very funny too, because I ended up covered in baby poop before I managed to get through the diaper change.

Yesterday, I taught a lesson on Joy in a bible study at work.  This was destined to be a purely academic study because frankly, there hasn't been a lot of joy in my life recently.  But the spirit had moved me to teach this topic that was feeling a little foreign to me.   As I reviewed scripture, and thought of all the joy in my life, I had to really consider how it is that we are supposed to have joy through trials and tribulations. 

The Poop Story kept on coming to me.  Here's the upshot, I laughed through that story, I laugh about that story, and that story is great because it is founded in love.  I persevered regardless of how bad it got.  I never lost a happy demeanor during those moments regardless of how messy I got. 

If we recognize God's love for us, and open ourselves to receive His love, His guidance, and his divine sense of humor, then we indeed can be joyful with him even through the poop.  He is our God, and he loves and smiles down upon us no matter how bad we mess up.  He relentlessly loves us and accepts us.  What more do you need to be joyful about?