The Right Connection

One thing that always comes along with the Holidays is decorating. I can honestly say that 'decorating' is really not my thing, but my wonderful wife enjoys it so I do my best to help out. One of my jobs this season was the outside Christmas lights. It doesn't sound like a hard project, but I always seem to mess it up. I take them all out of the box and look them over each year. I have learned from the past that it is a good, no great, practice to plug them all in first to make sure they are all still ticking and I proceed to lay them out. This is always the tricky part for me; I try to make sure that the plugs at the end of each light strand are in the right spot so that I can make The Right Connection. I really felt like I had it figured out so I proceeded to hang around the front of my house and thought they were looking great. When it was all said and done, the hanging process that is; I grabbed the extension cord and went for the power shot. It was at this point that I figured out that my calculations were, well wrong. Let's just say all ends coming together will not work. I had no plug, no prongs. I went through it a few times just to make sure and sure enough, I was out of luck.

Isn't that how it goes sometimes? We think we have gone through all the right steps, only to find out that they were the wrong steps or we didn't properly check before we started in our direction. I ended up taking all the lights down and reworking them correctly. It took me a few minutes, but the payoff is lights, that work. I don't think the lights get the full effect any other way....

How many times a day, a week or throughout the entire year do we try to do something without The Right Connection? Or should I say, how many times do we not include God in our decisions? I use to think that I could only go to God for the big stuff or the hard stuff, but the truth is He wants us to go to Him for each and everything. I came to the point of trying to just have a conversation with God throughout my day. I wanted to make sure I was connected and that what I was doing was being considered properly.  I can think of so many past times that, if I had only asked, things would have turned out differently. God wants to stay in close connection to us. He desires for us to keep a close connection to Him. It's about relationship. Just like the cords could not connect, even after all the work up to that point, we can not connect to God unless we stay in prayer.

Make the right choice, make the right connection and it will help considerably!

Do you agree?

Check Your Roots!

"He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." -Jeremiah 17:8

This verse is so simple yet packs a powerful message. Where is your seed planted, where are your roots headed and what type of fruit are you bearing?

It took me a long time to discover where I had planted my seed. I thought I was near the stream and I thought the the roots were being fed by a good source, but I couldn't have been more wrong. I grew up hearing about the stream. I went to a Chrisitan school, attended church and tried to keep to a value system. It's not that I didn't believe in God, I just never really knew Him. My seed had been planted in false soil. The world shows us different types of soil to plant our seed in, but doesn't guarantee the type of fruit it will produce. It's a risk we don't  have to take, but many people do. We all remember the first story about fruit.

So let's say we step into the worldly journey of risk. There is no guarantee for anything good to come of it, but it looks like good soil so we jump in. Planting our seed in the soil of Christ also comes with risks, though what grows will never fail to bear good and useful fruit. Once planted in the false soil, the path of the roots are questionable at best. The direction can come from friends, family, work, money, love, sports or anything really. This is exactly the problem, there is no clear direction. This allows for fear to come in, the droughts can become long and hard and the fruit can get real bitter.

Bitter fruit does not sound good to me! The bad fruit is the result of the seed in imitation soils, and the roots not near a stream. The verse is so clear to the willing mind. In order to bear good and healthy fruit we need to be centered, we need to be rooted in something solid, we need to be rooted in Christ. Planting your seed in the soil of Christ is the best place possible. Your will grow strong, you will stay humble and it will tear down your selfishness. By having your roots spread towards the stream of Christ, you can be assured many seasons of growing. No fear of coming droughts or seasons of intense heat. And finally the fruit, the fruit that Christ can bring into our lives is more filling and more delicious than anything else we can ever experience. So I say dig deep, real deep and find out where you are truly rooted and ask your self why.

Root yourself in Christ.

Check your roots!

Book Review: 'The Resolution for Men'

Up for a real challenge? One that could change you for the rest of your life? Are you sure...?

The Resolution for Men is a new book that corresponds to the powerful movie 'Courageous'. Courageous can now be found on Blu Ray and DVD! In the movie, the men come together at the end to sign a Resolution. The Resolution is document in the film that outlines how a man is going to live his life from that point forward. Check out the document here. All of the men come together in a ceremony, agree and sign the Resolution. It is a way of life, an act of courage and a statement to everyone around you that you are different. And if you sign the Resolution with other men, they are your brothers that keep you accountable ( a way of Locking Shields ).

The Resolution for Men takes the document to the next level. There is a chapter for each point, corresponding verses and a challenge at the end of each chapter. The book starts off in true Kendrick brothers form by saying it is not for the weak. It goes on to say that you will be challenged; you will be brought out of your comfort zone and that sacrifices are going to have to be made. On the other side of that it says that the rewards will be great; the impact will be radical and it will be worth it all.

The book continues from there and gets into "why" we need a resolution. The need to get Fathers back and the priceless value they have in their children's lives. One of my favorite chapters early in the book talks about being a "chain breaker". This was a powerful message for me, as I had to make the courageous decision in my family line to break the chains of my past fathers. The way they had done it for years was just not working for me. I didn't feel fulfilled in life, in work and especially in my marriage. It just wasn't working. I finally gave over the chains to God and the weights of all the past mistakes from myself and before were lifted. From there it's a matter of consistency and discipline. It's a matter of figuring out how to live out the life of Christ and do it as a man should. This is where the Resolution plays a crucial role in a mans life. It's not just about saying you want to live a life for Christ, it's about truly living it out everyday! This will take more courage and strength than you have ever experienced, but this time around God is with you.

A quick over view of the chapters goes something like this: Resolve to lead your family, to love your wife, to bless your children, to live with honor, to demonstrate love, to reconcile with your past, to be faithful and to leave a legacy. The Resolution for Men is a powerful challenge for any man to embark upon, but it might just be the most rewarding experience you will ever have. 

I encourage every man to read this book 

and become a Man of Resolution!

A Resolution for Desire

It's time for resolution! A Resolution for Desire..

September has been a month of researching and discovering more about the word desire. What the word means to us, how to understand it, the pressure of it and its place in relationships. In so many parts of our lives, we can attach the word desire.

But I want to maintain a true desire in all parts of my life. I want to make a resolution to keep my desire in line with God’s plan. So what is a resolution or what does the word mean?

Resolution or Resolve:

- to find an answer to

- to make clear or understandable

- to reach a firm decision about

Psalm 37:4 gives a clear definition on how to find your true desire. How? We must “Delight ourselves in the Lord”. In going back to the definitions, I would say that this is a good answer on how to find desire. The last part of the verse makes things clearer or more understandable by saying “And He (God) will give you the desires of your heart”. So this one verse has helped me find the resolution to desire. And finally, I am able to make a firm decision about my resolution of desire, because God has clearly shown me.

We need to do better than just understanding the word desire; we need to make a resolution to live it out in our lives according to God’s word and design. It’s easy to talk about desire, once you have a better understanding, but we are called to live it out. What an opportunity! The false desires of this world can be so loud sometimes. The enemy knows our hearts and tempts us with things that are passing away. But God has revealed to us our true desires. It’s time to take a step of faith, a leap of courage, and get our desires in line!

Resolve to be a man of true and Godly desire.

Find more resolutions HERE.