Legalism

I don't believe roller coasters are something Christians should participate in. Even those who enjoy them confess there is a fear factor involved, a "thrill" if you will. God has given us this natural fear sensation for our good, not our amusement. (We certainly don't have any indication in Scripture that Jesus pursued entertainment of any kind.) In addition, the Bible says that God has not given us a spirit of fear and that perfect love casts out all fear. To cultivate fear, especially for the purpose of reveling in fear is spiritually perverted. Given all the suffering in the world, including that endured by our Christian brothers and sisters. Riding roller coasters, at the very least seems like a poor use of precious time and an obvious violation of Philippians 4:8. ~Thanks to http://gospeldrivenchurch.blogspot.com/2010/07/it-is-easy-to-do-this.html

It is very easy to think this way. We can pull scriptures out of context to meet our own needs. We live out our lives in our own ways and may even make a very good case for whether or not to wear a Red Sox head covering Vs Yankees Head covering, wash your hands with water or use sanitizer only, drink only Welch’s grape juice, read only scripture (maybe the New Living Translation), no age segregated teachings, or even elders that are right out of seminary approaching a church in need of leadership but the young man knows he does not meet the qualifications due the fact he is not married with children, and the list goes on.

What are we to do in a fallen world as ours? Go to scripture where truth is found! Allow the Spirit that lives within shed the light. By all means, read the dead guys that have finished the race well. Always have a body close by that is ready and willing to hold you close and lift you up in prayer. Our actions should be the catalyst used to hold others accountable in the areas that are somewhat non-descript in scripture. We need not place our selves on pedestals to point out the problems with everyone else. God bless and find the joy in the Lord, His burden is light. Glorify God by enjoying Him and all He has created!

You Can't Start in a Dream World

A Guest Post by Samantha Axberg (aka my eldest daughter)


“Find your calling” and “follow your dreams” are two frequently used phrases when dealing with young men (and women) that are looking for their path in life. They’re often interchanged as meaning relatively the same thing; however, I believe that they are completely different.

Here’s an example:

Bob wanted to be a Texas rancher. However, when he settled down and got married he didn’t have the resources to do so. So instead of jumping into debt and “following his dream” he found a steady job and through his hard work become one of the top ten business men in the company.
After a while (with quite a few children too=) Bob realized that he had the resources that his family needed to buy the ranch.
Today, Bob has a wonderful family on a 200 acre Texan ranch outside of Dallas.

Bob didn’t start with his dream, he started with his calling. His calling (at that point in his life) was to work hard and prepare to live his dream. At the time, Bob had no clue he was ever going to be able to settle on a ranch, but he knew that if he was ever going to, he needed the proper resources.

Many young people today start out with big dreams (I mean, really, who doesn’t?) that they want to accomplish NOW. So we have song writers, novelists, instrumentalists, etc. who can’t fully provide for their family because they started with the dream.

Before I go any further, I want to make one point clear:

I have dreams.

Big ones.

They may seem simple to you, but I want to be a wife and a mother who can be known as her husband’s business and home manager, counselor, and entrepreneur partner. I want to be a mother who can raise a rocket scientist son or a daughter who turns out as the mother of a President or even an Idaho potato king.

But, I’m sitting answering phones at my father’s property management company waiting for Mom to pick me up and bring me to physics class.

Not exactly what I’d call “Living the dream.”

That also may be because I’m seventeen, haven’t graduated, and have no clue how to grow a potato or build a rocket=).
(Maybe physics will aid in the rocket part… I digress.)

Back to my point, in order to get to the end, we must be willing to accomplish the means. Our calling when we’re eighteen may not be what we’re going to do forever (I think Dad wrote a post about that a while back…), but at least we’re doing something. We’re supposed to always be working, and working HARD. “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop” indeed!

There’s nothing wrong with being a song writer, novelist, or instrumentalist, but if you can’t provide for your family (or even yourself) you may want to figure out whether you should find another job. Maybe writing is just supposed to be a hobby with computer programming as your full time job. Or maybe you split your time between being on tour with the band and acting as an independent salesman. Who knows, but as young people (and not-so-young-people) let’s make sure we’re where God would have us, not just where we “dream” to be.

Someday our dreams may become reality like Bob, but for now let’s be content with answering phones and taking physics=).

Open Bar Politics

OK, here we go again. I just had my class reunion adviser ask if we should pay $25.00 for dinner or $30.00 for dinner and an open bar for the first hour. All in all this seams Ok, for we will possibly cause people to come to the reunion early or on time. But, in reality people are going to come when they come. Now the open bar is going to cater to those who feel they need to drink their allotted amount or more to make the extra $5.00 worth it. I know, most likely they will not remember or even think about the $5.00 again. Many won’t even know there was an option. The hall will then pocket the $5.00 and be happy to have made the extra $. With all that said, let’s think about the extra $. It is to be for each of the attendees to have a couple of drinks before the dinner and festivities begin, right?
I personally love a good Guinness or strong stout brew but know they most likely will not have these at the function because they usually only have some kind of watered down, over fermented pilsner (ale). On the other hand, you can go for a hard drink that will get you tipsy quick. All in all the hall is making money. If they didn’t, they would not be in business.
I will be bringing my wife with me and that means we will be paying $10.00 for two watered down Pilsners that I could have purchased from the bar for $5.00. I, in turn am either fronting for someone else’s drinking habits or putting more money in the establishment’s pocket. Hey, I would be more willing to have one of my classmates ask me to buy them that drink with my $5.00. This way, they can keep up their buzz. Then at least they know where it is coming from and will have the guts enough to admit they have a possible drinking problem. I may then have an opportunity to help them to curb their habitual binges.
What is next, health care for all?
Just my $.02.

Go to Where Your Men Work

This is the best article I have read in along time on Pastoral Ministry in action. Thanks to all those Pastors out there in the trenches not making what we "lay men" do for livings feel like it's not enough.

This post is from Buzzard Blog...

Pastors, go to where your men work.

During my past 4 years as a pastor in the Bay Area I quickly discovered that one of the most important things for me to do was to hang out with men in my church at their workplace.

This helped the men. It showed them that I care about their callings, how they spend 50+ hours of their week, and the people they work with.

This helped me. It taught me about the unique opportunities & challenges men were facing in their different workplaces, it opened my eyes to a world bigger than our church, and it helped set new trajectories for my preaching and discipling.

This is how I did it (and how I will continue doing it once I get started in Phoenix):

-Schedule a lunch-time visit with a man in your church. The best use of your time is to make most of these visits with men who are leader types. Schedule to meet the guy at his office, not at the lunch spot.

-Once you show up have the guy show you around his workspace. If you’re naturally curious like me, you’ll quickly have 20 questions about all that you’re seeing around you. Ask your questions. Learn the man’s world.

-Introduce yourself to his co-workers. Don’t tell people you’re a pastor, unless asked or introduced that way. They will find out eventually and they’ll be incredibly surprised that a pastor looks and talks like a normal person and doesn’t spend all his time on church property.

-Once you get the tour, take the man out to lunch (if there’s a lunch place on the work campus, go there, it will lead to more learning about the workplace) and let him talk to you at length about his work. You’ll quickly discover how you can best encourage and empower the man in his calling.

-Always speak out against the “higher calling of ministry” idea if it surfaces. Three out of five times when I meet a man at his work he talks to me about how the work I’m doing as a pastor is “so much more important” than what he’s doing as a software engineer, financial analyst, etc. I always immediately crush and correct this unbiblical view of vocation. Your men need you to tell them that all work is a means of glorifying God, and that working for a church is not superior to working for Google. It’s your job to empower your men, to help them see the nobility of the work God has called them to do.

Men need pastors to jump into the fire of their work world with them and empower them to keep their eyes on Jesus and do their work in Jesus’ honor, whatever that work might be.

Also, at least for me, doing this is a whole lot of fun. It’s been a blast visiting men at their work here in the Bay Area. I’ve been able to see:

-The financial analysis & game development sector at Electronic Arts.

-The inner workings of a Secret Service office.

-A two-person flower shop in the financial district of San Francisco.

-A small architect firm’s hip office quarters.

-A contractor’s truck-office.

-The sprawling, impressive campus at Google.

-Several software companies who do things I still don’t fully understand.

-The venture capital world on Sand Hill Road.

-Several impressive work-from-home offices.

-(And when I didn’t have a man working there, AnneMarie gave me a great tour of Facebook).

Pastors, if you’re not already doing something like this, start incorporating it into your schedule. I think you should aim for a minimum of 1 workplace visit per week. Doing this is part of what keeps my calling fresh and alive, and what keeps me connected to men and the larger working world.

And make sure you budget for this. This is just as important as your book budget. Budget funds to cover meals and mileage for these crucial visits.

(PS. I’ve written this post from an architect/contractor’s home office)

Photo: Took this shot last week of Boston firefighters fighting a 3 alarm fire in Beacon Hill.

For Business Education – Know yourself

Many business failures and failures in life are cause by lack of knowledge in yourself and how you will adapt to the ups and downs of business life. To put it another way, there are men who are ditch diggers that would have been better suited for a profession such as, lawyer, doctor or other professional. In contrast there have been a lot of doctors and lawyers that should have been farmers, laborers or the aforementioned ditch digger.

One of the essentials in starting out in life is being properly educated for the profession you naturally bend to.

The public education system is not always the best system to be used in this evaluation. There are many different options out there; from home schooling to technical and agricultural schools. If parents are open to the possibilities of looking for these alternatives, they may better equip their children.


Consulting the inclinations and adaptations of the youth should be of the utmost importance. We ought not to rely on others before careful consideration has been given to the youth. Success or failure generally hinges on a proper choice of vocation.

One way to accomplish this may be something most people have set aside as archaic: Apprenticeship. The old method of apprenticeship is to try out a profession before spending thousands of dollars on education for something that may never be used. Are you doing the thing you went to school to do? I am not… Here is an idea, go show someone how to do what you do, or go find someone to show you what they do. This just may foster the direction and confidence the next generation needs to find that success.

Prosperity in Business according to:

Safe Methods of Business- 1920

“Let a man in business be thoroughly fitted for the position he occupies, alert to every opportunity and embracing it to its fullest possibility and he is a success.

"Lay a good foundation of business principles and practices. Do a legitimate business. Aim to have a home of your own early in life. Be strictly honest; work hard; be earnest; seek to be an intelligent citizen. Marry a good, healthy, loving girl, keep a clear conscience; fear God and work righteousness, and life’s sun will set in tints of gold and splendor.”

Wow, business men, or men in general do not normally speak that way today. Those who are true successes will agree to all of the above though. Good practices never go out of style.

How Success is Won

Safe Methods of Business, 1920-

“Success is a happy word for the average American. To achieve success is the aim of everyone. It would more frequently be gained were it not that it is too often wrongly understood to be innate smartness. Young man, the sooner you get rid of the notion that you are smart, the sooner will you win success. You may be a genius of exceeding brilliancy, but the chances are one to one hundred thousand that you are not. It is safer to conclude that you are just a plain ordinary mortal and then set about doing the best you can with the capital nature has given you. You may soar so high at first, but then, when your balloon of youthful conceit collapses, you will not have so far to fall. Bear in mind that there are thousands who consider themselves exceptionally smart and through a dependence upon that smartness have made utter failure of life, while on the other hand the apparently dull and stupid youth has by proper means overcome and is enjoying the prosperity that the supposed talented youth has dreamed of.

“Success must be won if it is to be enjoyed. The person who waits for it to come along is like a man who waits for the train to arrive before he gets a ticket. To use an ordinary term, both are apt to “get left.” Men ordinarily fail to succeed, not because they are naturally destined to fail, but they lack business ability, which is made up of equal parts of business knowledge, sterling integrity, strict economy and everlasting push.

“In our day knowledge can be acquired and is in the reach of all who possess the other qualities. The other qualities ought to be in the possession of every youth of sound mind. If not, nature can hardly be blamed for the deficiency.

“Again, success is the child of confidence and perseverance. The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it, so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it. How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience, would have achieved success. As the tide goes clear out, so it comes clear in. Sometimes business prospects may seem darkest when really they are on the turn. A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success. There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose.

“A firm resolution, that barriers shall be surmounted, that difficulties shall be cleared away, goes far toward achieving success, Let us repeat, success must be won. It never comes uninvited, never without effort.”

*Isn’t it so true that success must be won through hard work…