These are some of the great attributes of faith. When we walk through life we can be fooled into thinking; “If I have enough faith, life will be sweet”. The wiser road says if I have enough faith I know the journey isn’t the destination. Heaven isn’t a ‘place on earth’. Jesus said he would ‘go’ and then he would ‘come’ to ‘take’ us where he had prepared a place. The catch cry of this video is the line “I Believe”. I love an old line I’ve heard many times. “If faith was easy everyone would be doing it”. Sure we go through the highs and lows, the times of banquets and the times when it feels like famine. Today just remind yourself of those two words; “I Believe”.

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
John 14:2-3

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.
Benjamin Franklin

When I read this quote I was challenged by it simplicity and its ending. Around the blogs and the twittersphere there is a lot of topical New Years material but there is a cathartic nature in writing about the topic. Like every good preacher I suspect that every blogger is 'preaching' first to himself before the audience reads a word. One of the ways that I approach each New Year is to think of three words that will keep the year ahead in focus. I will outline those three words for 2012 in an future post.

The challenge of Benjamin Franklin's quote is not in the looking forward but in the looking back. The looking forward has every opportunity to be approached fresh or brash, with trepidation or confidence. The choice is ours and that is the beauty of a new day and a New Year. The bounty is in whether we look back as a better man or woman.

As I consider where I am now I can see the fine tuning of years of learning and yet I have a deep desire to see more change. Is incremental change sufficient? Do we allow time to have its way and ask the world to wait patiently? There are somethings the world should wait for but a better man should arrive sooner.

“The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!
Matthew 25:21

This verse is the candy of funeral sermons and the goal of every Christian man and woman who wants to appear before their Lord and Saviour. It contains the words a sinner wants to hear from a Saviour who has given so much but it also presents a conundrum if handled unisely in that it could infer a life spent trying to earn God's free gift of salvation. I firmly believe that our salvation as well as our lives are a gift from our Creator. Like every good, valued and appreciated gift we should treasure them. Whether from reading Psalm 90 in our Bible or the lyrics of a song we have to ask what we're doing with our 'three score and ten'.

So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away.
2 Peter 1:10

As a Dad you sometimes find your gifts are squandered. It can break your heart for one of two reasons. First maybe the waste when a child doesn't see the potential in the gift you wrapped and leaves it amongst the torn papers for something shiny. The second would be when a parent who has made extra effort to bless a child with 'the gift' only to see it played with for a day and then drift into the memory of another Christmas morning because they didn't understand the sacrifice.

So when you were born you and I were given a gift. The moment we breathed our first was the starter's pistol and race ahead can be enjoyed, experienced or endured but its our race. I know some of us will run a marathon, enjoy the scenery and have a cup of tea on the way. Others will do a three legged race to help a friend and some will do the 100 metres to prove it can be done. The important thing is to be able to look back and ask have we run well, the race set before us.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
Hebrews 12:1

Right now I'm sitting on the side of the road watching runners go past. I caught some 'runner's stich' from too much good holiday food and I'm tired. So what can I do? Well I just saw another runner stop and look around a bit dazed. They didn't seem to know where they were going. The first thing I'm going to do is go help point them in the right direction. After that I need to get my stride back.

I want to be able to look back on this year not because of the faces I see over my shoulder but to know the greater distance between me and the start line means I'm closer to the finish. Its my hope that with prayer, humility and determination I will be a better man.

I know for myself I’ve often admired the artwork of a well inked tattoo and appreciated many of the personal tributes and anchor points in people’s lives that led them to mark an occasion or relationship. You can’t help but be touched by a photographic representation of a lost loved one or impressed by 3D art that encompasses the values of the individual. But what happens when life changes? When that living relationship has lost its savour or our values have changed. Do we try to erase the ink?

You’re probably picking up that this post isn’t about answers as much as the questions I’ve worked through asking the question ‘Should I get a tattoo’? As a Christian I’ve been observing two lines of thought that seem to embrace the extreme positions. On one side is the confident position that we shouldn’t deface our skin because the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Its found in 1 Corinthians 3 v16-17 and says; "Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple."  If you live your faith you probably take that verse and ask yourself if this applies to me and not only with tattoos but the way I live, the way I eat, the exercise I do or don’t all come under question. There’s no point applying it to only one part of our lives. Then you hit the topic right between the eyes when you read this;

Leviticus 19 v 28 challenges me with "You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the LORD."

Many Christians today are moving past these verses saying that we are under grace and not under law as they pursue ink art that declares their faith. This article at http://christianity.about.com handles it well. Firstly talking about the Leviticus verse it explains the context of the commandment dealing with pagan worship and then comes back to some wise guidelines that we can learn through reading and understanding Romans 14.

So what would you do? I’ve often thought about getting three tattoos possibly merged into one piece of art that speak about my heritage. I was born in England then at the age of nearly 5 came out to New Zealand where I was raised. In 1998 my job took my family and I to Australia for 13 years where we enjoyed raising our family and becoming Aussie citizens. Patriotism is one reason for a tattoo. A sense of being, connection and loving the values of a nation. For those reasons I looked at the idea of a tattoo for each place of citizenship. I could see an image with a Lion, a Kiwi and a Kangaroo engaged with the flags of each nation.

I guess a point that stays with me is that tattoos imprint us. Unless we spend some expensive money on laser removal you can bet its there for life. The thing I like about my life is that through the grace of God, patience and discipline I can change and be changed. When I receive God’s forgiveness he cleanses me as white as snow. Those broken relationships that come from lust and selfishness along with the greed based mistakes can all be wiped off the slate. I like a sarcastic quote I heard in a movie trailer for the new Happy Feet 2 movie. One of the characters is told they’re beautiful to which they respond, "Only on the outside". It’s true we are each beautiful people, unique in so many ways but the inside isn’t always so beautiful. To me thats the part of me that needs the most work and attention. I’m more interested in internal ‘heart’ surgery than the plastic surgery of the outside.

So where are we today? I haven’t an inch of ink on my body. The closest I’ve come is to write down to ‘Remember the Milk’ on the back of my hand. I also don’t feel there is enough conviction about it to make me step into any area I still feel is grey. As a Dad I don’t know I’d feel comfortable about my kids getting a tattoo so I have to then turn back to the mirror and ask how that applies to my own calls.

As you think this one through for yourself, enjoy this Weird Al parody and leave me a comment. Love to hear about your journey on this one.

For the 2011 event one of the key speakers was Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. As the event drew near a petition was formed by some individuals concerned that the CEO of Starbucks shouldn't speak at a church that they believed was anti-gay. Despite discussions with Starbucks to endeavour to work through the issue the perceived impact and threats from the group involved in the petition to boycott Starbucks meant that Schultz had to withdraw. For anyone that has had the privilege of reading his new book 'Onward' you will appreciate the disappointment that must have been felt by the GLS Willowcreek leadership. Yet the calibre of the way they dealt with the issue is found in this video.

Be inspired, go to a GLS, buy a Starbucks coffee and read "Onward"

Some good, some bad, all brushstrokes in a life worth living.

Some bright colours, others dull and fading but memories

resilient when the light shines on them.

Some smooth, some scratches,

An inspired thought after watching Amy Grant’s video “Better than a Hallellujah”

“Long socks, short shorts, it’s just wrong!”

This post comes to us from Tim Challies who has graciously allowed me to bring you this new series here. Tim’s blog at www.challies.com is one of the most challenging and insightful you will find. I subscribe to Tim’s RSS feed and encourage you to check it out.

The husband is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the family’s needs are met. While financial needs are the most obvious component of this, they extend far beyond. Here are several ways in which God has called you, as a husband, to provide for your family.

Provide Financially. The husband is to lead in the area of finances. In most cases this means that you, the husband, will be the family’s breadwinner, freeing up your wife to pursue her vocation in the home as wife and mother. It will also mean that you will be ultimately responsible for financial decisions and management. It may be prudent to allow your wife to actually pay the bills and keep financial records, but you must still be involved in the family finances. Time and ability would undoubtedly fail me to provide from Scripture a cut-and-dry case for these rather contentious declarations, but I would point you toward Ephesians 5 (where a husband is told to nourish and cherish his bride—is not provision an important component of nourishment?) or to 1 Timothy 5:8 where we’re told that a man who does not provide for his own family is worse than an unbeliever. I would also point you toward common sense. Common sense should tell us that women are specially created and equipped to do the work involved in raising children and that men are specially equipped to do the work involved in provision. This does not mean that a husband does nothing around the house and a woman never earns a penny. It is simply a matter of priorities.

In an attempt to head off questions, let me say that in this series we are dealing with broad principles and there are times that the principles seem to fall short in specific circumstances. The world being what it is, there are always exceptions and sometimes tragic exceptions. When it comes to theology it is important that we begin broad and go narrow rather than begin narrow and go broad. The broad principle here is that the husband is called to be the provider. But, of course, there are times when this cannot happen. Perhaps a husband is injured or disabled or just plain unable to find work. In such cases the wife may be called upon to be the primary breadwinner. In some circumstances a man may need to defer this task to the church or the government. There may also be times when a wife has to take on provision while the husband is studying or preparing himself for another vocation. Even here, though, he does not need to hand over leadership to his wife or to anyone else. He can still lead in this area even if circumstances prevent him from actually providing through the labor of his hands.

I know people will also wonder whether I am saying that your wife absolutely cannot have a job. I would again point to the broad principle that God’s primary call for women is to be involved in managing the home and raising children. As long as her job does not keep her from fulfilling her other responsibilities (such as a woman who decides she cannot have children because she wishes to prioritize her career), then I don’t see anything in Scripture that forbids it. Ideally I think the husband would wish to be in a position where if his wife works it is because of choice and not some kind of financial necessity.

Provide Sexually. The godly husband desires to serve his wife and to honor God through sex (see 1 Corinthians 7:1-5). You need to know the importance of sex in your relationship with your wife and know the importance of sexual purity to your own heart. You need to see sex not as something that is merely physical, but as a means of grace within your marriage—an act of love that binds a husband to his wife and a wife to her husband in a unique way. Pursue your wife not only in the act but in all of life so that she is willing and eager to join with you in the consummation of the act. Eagerly and willingly provide for her needs in this way, thinking more of her than of yourself.

Provide Spiritually. It is the husband who must take initiative in leading his wife into deeper and deeper truths of the faith. You need to take the initiative in providing a church home where you can join together with other believers in fellowship and in worship. Take the lead in willingly and eagerly studying the Bible on your own and with your wife. Be willing to encourage her to come before God on her own. Whether your wife is a believer or not, you should live before her in such a way that you put no stumbling block in her path—nothing that would keep her from pursuing God.

Provide Yourself. The godly husband provides himself, which is to say that he provides focused, undistracted time and attention. I think this is an area of particular failing for men today. We are a distracted and busy people who have a difficult time prioritizing what ought to be prioritized. We believe that we are owed endless hours of entertainment—that it is our right to be entertained for hours every day—and we give ourselves to this pursuit. We also recklessly pursue stuff, power, position, prestige and any other number of idols. And often these will come at the expense of your wife or children. As husband you need to provide time for your wife. Some of this time may be spent watching television, but there must be times where you can just talk without distraction, without the need for entertainment. You must provide time for your children, to talk to them, to encourage them, to ask them questions and to answer their questions. Seek to take the lead in arranging regular date nights with your wife; go on “daddy-dates” with your kids as well, finding special things to do with each one of them (alone) on a regular basis (even if that event is no more special than an early-morning breakfast at Denny’s—something I’ve been doing with my kids recently. Kids are remarkably unpicky when it comes to time spent with dad). Help your wife arrange similar dates with the kids so she can spend that focused time with them as well.

Conclusion
I can’t deny as I type the final words of this series that it did not come together quite as I expected. There is probably too much “me” in it. Nevertheless, I do hope that it can prove beneficial to men, and especially young men. I hope they can see in it just a glimpse of the high calling they’ve been given as husbands and that they can find great joy and satisfaction in their task as leaders within their homes.

Resources
I found a few books helpful as I prepared these articles. Among them are:

The Complete Husband: A Practical Guide to Biblical Husbanding

The Exemplary Husband: A Biblical Perspective

Being a Christian Husband: A Biblical Perspective