Nehemiah: The Man of God - Part I

1 ¶ The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,
2 That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.
3 And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.
4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven. (Nehemiah 1:1-4)

As I read through Nehemiah as part of my daily bible reading, I was really struck by the character of this minor prophet. He is the kind of Man that I could learn from in my quest to be a Godly man. So my next few posts will focus on some attribute of Nehemiah that I believe can help us as men in our roles as leaders, husbands, fathers, and sons of the Most High.

In the passage above, we see that Nehemiah was sensitive to the Spirit of the Lord. Now we as men tend to think of 'being sensitive' the same as being 'soft', but that need not be the case. When I speak of being sensitive, I don't mean that you like chick flicks and cry when watching them. If you do, you probably think Yanni and Richard Simmons are masculine. They're not. The kind of sensitivity I'm speaking of is the kind that Jesus had. We read in the gospels that when Jesus saw crowds coming to Him, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. He had compassion on them because He was sensitive to them and to their spiritual needs. Like Nehemiah weeping after he heard the condition of Jerusalem. He knew that wasn't what the Lord wanted for His people.

What about you as a husband...are you sensitive to the needs of your bride, like Jesus was to His? If you're not, you have an unloved wife. See, our wives feel very loved when we as their husbands and protectors are sensitive to them. Don't get me wrong, there's a time to knuckle-up and fight, and we'll see this later in Nehemiah 4, but when you're with your wife take the armor off and put the sword down, she's not your enemy. Or she's not suppose to be anyway! She is one with you and in covenant with you. She is the one who the bible says you should delight in and enjoy in all ways. She is the one that Paul told men to 'love as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for'. This means we are to love our wives as Christ has loved us. Sacrificially, completely, etc., etc.. This is not accomplishable without being sensitive to her as a lady, by not "living with her in understanding as the weaker vessel", as the bible says in 1 Peter. Your wife is like fine china, not cement. You be cement, let her be fine china.

So go ahead and try it. Try being sensitive to your wife. Try meeting her emotional needs. Try loving her as Christ loved the church. Then get ready for what's coming when the lights go out!!!

Book Review: Confessions of a Reformission Rev.

In this book, Mark Driscoll, who Pastors Mars Hill Church in Seattle, chronicles the journey he has taken overseeing the fastest growing church in Seattle's history.

From 3 families who totaled 12 people meeting in his living room, to hundreds of families who total over 5000 people meeting weekly, Driscoll gives us an inside glimpse into the growth of one of the 50 most influential churches in America.
From planting just over 10 years ago, to growing around 150% a year, its been a whirlwind for Mars Hill and the leadership team there.

This book is a great read. If church planting interests you, or if you're already in some form of church leadership, you'll do good to read Driscoll's book. This book is also good for gaining an inside view on how Pastors view people in their churches and how to best serve their Pastors in their roles as spiritual leaders. Understanding the dynamics of how a church plant functions, or how any church functions for that matter, will make you a much desired commodity in the church you attend.

Driscoll's approach to teaching doesn't appeal to everyone, but from someone who's grown under his sermons now for almost 10 years, I can assure you that what he says in this book is worth knowing. I especially like his emphasis on reaching the Men in his church. Driscoll understands that by reaching the Men you reach the culture, and by growing the Men you strengthen your church.

Driscoll is also the President of Acts 29, a church planting network that he founded to train Men who have a desire to plant missional churches.

If you've read it, post a comment and let us know what you thought!

To purchase off amazon or to view the chapter titles, which are hilarious, click here.

Book Review: The Total Money Makeover

When I finished this book, I thought "this is doable". Dave Ramsey lays out his plan for achieving financial success in his very popular book, "The Total Money Makeover."

For those of you like me who began your education after finishing public school, you'll like Dave's approach to money management. It's straight forward, clear, and achievable. It's not easy, but achievable.

So if you're looking for help in the area of money management, or just enjoy learning about the whole area of finances, go ahead and pick this book up.


Dave's 'baby steps' as he calls them to achieving financial victory are as follows:

1. Save $1,000 fast.
2. The debt snowball.
3. Finish the emergency fund.
4. Maximize retirement investing.
5. College funding.
   
6. Pay off the home mortgage.
7. Build wealth like crazy.
8. Live like no one else.

As husbands who are responsible for our homes, we should see that our financial lives are in good order. Though you may delegate the job of handling the money to your wife, you can never relegate that job to her. As the covenant head of your home you remain responsible for the financial condition of your home. So educate yourself in this area, you won't regret it.

To order this book of Dave's website click here.

If you've read this book post a comment and let us know what you thought of it!

The Joys of Fatherhood

Yesterday was a good day for me. I got home from work about 10:30am and after greeting my family I began attacking my "to do" list for the day. The first order of business for me was to re-build and erect our mailbox, which was destroyed about a week ago by a run-a-way car. For this job Ravi(5) and Stephen(7), helped me out. We measured and cut the wood needed, screwed it together, and carried it across the street to put it up. It went well and the boys really enjoyed helping out.

Next on my list was to take a load of old items to the dump in the my truck. Again, Ravi and Stephen helped out. They brought the old chairs, ottoman, box spring, etc., out of the garage and I loaded them in the truck. We also took 6 hay bails from our harvest party, and a swimming pool ladder that's been sitting around for a while. We strapped it all down so it wouldn't fly off as we drove and off we went to Ravi's favorite place in the whole world...the town dump!

The boys had a great time climbing to the top of our stuff and pushing it off so I could throw it in the dumpster. Stephen slid under the wing back chair we tossed while trying to pull it off the truck, then fell off the truck when he tripped on the gate cable trying to jump off. He wasn't hurt, so me and Ravi enjoyed a hardy laugh at all of it.

After unloading everything, we headed for home and on the way stopped off for a snack. I bought the boys a pack of cookies and a much needed bottle of 'bug juice'. They were extremely delighted to receive the snacks. I told them, "when men work, they get to eat, so enjoy it."

After some rest at home, June took our two oldest daughters, Janai(14) and Naomi(9), along with one of our twins, out for some ice cream. She wanted to bless them for being such good helpers. All the work that the boys and I did outside was only made possible by the work the girls did inside; lovingly caring for our baby twins Christian and Josiah, along with Joy(4) and Joshua(2). What a tremendous blessing it is to have daughters who love their siblings and love the Lord Jesus.

While June and the girls were gone I moved on to next item on the list which was to repair a dresser in my daughter's room. For this job Joy decided she was going to assist me and did her best to help and keep me company. The conversation was good and we both enjoyed the doing the job together.

At the end of the day I thought about how the Lord has blessed me with such a wonderful family and how being a Father truly has it's rewards. So if you're a Dad, truly embrace your role and savor every moment you can with your kids, because as you can see in the picture above, they won't be little forever!

Titus 2...Where Are You?

As I looked at this painting from Ron Dicianni I thought to myself about how infrequently I get to see what this young man is looking at. An older couple walking under the blessing of the Almighty fully content with one another and happily spending time together. Are they aware that the young man is watching them and thinking about his own future? Probably not, but the Lord is using them anyway. Many times we don't know who we're impacting, but rest assured, you are being watched.

In Titus 2, older men and women are commanded to teach younger men and women proper Christian behavior now that they've entered into covenant with the Lord through their faith in Christ. I wish this were happening more often and with more fervor. June and I have often talked about where all the older Godly couples are, and have been blessed to find some along the path of our Christian lives, but not often enough. Perhaps they're all in Florida playing shuffle board. Or maybe in Cancun enjoying a glass of red wine together while watching the sunset. One things for sure, they're not filling our churches looking for young newly weds to mentor. I wish they were because we need all the help we can get.

In many of our younger non-denominational churches, the "older Godly couples" are still in their late 30's or early 40's, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the problem is that many of these couples are first generation believers who've had a 'Christian' marriage for all of 5-10 years, so naturally the wisdom is still lacking.

Many marriages like my own are learning what it means to be in covenant and learning what it means to be a Christian at the same time. My hope for my children is that they'll learn what it means to be a Christian, in a marriage covenant, simultaneously by looking at me and their Mom.

I pray that within you're own home your children have the opportunity to watch two imperfect people who are in covenant with each other serve a perfect God. With His grace, June and I look forward to being that older couple for our children and for others as we seek to serve the Lord in our home and in our daily lives.

Perhaps in the final chapter of our lives, we can all meet in Cancun and enjoy some vintage vino as we toast a life well done!