I have had the great privilege of several godly mentors in my life. They have been and continue to be men of courage and integrity. Before moving to Macon I had the great privilege of working with Pastor Ben Orchard – I miss our times together greatly. He taught me many things in our two years together, but one of them has come to me more often than the rest.

He once said, “Patrick, your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness.” Now, whenever some one praises me in some area of my life I automatically begin looking for my weakness in it. I am working on a blog series called, “Lessons from Leader’s Who Last”, a book by Dave Kraft and I realized something tonight. One of my greatest strengths is that I’m fairly even tempered and can adapt easily to most new situations (look at the last two years of my life to see that clearly). Tonight I realized that my great weakness in that is I can become very comfortable in a situation and not desire to change out of it.

Kraft was challenging me in being a visionary leader and I realized that I have a lot of work to do in this area. As I sat brainstorming and examining my life I realized the strength of adaptability and the weakness of a lack of vision for what could be. This revelation is perfect timing because God has me working with a great visionary leader in Keith Watson.  I continue to be blessed by God’s guiding as He forms me into the man that He desires.  This will become a new prayer and area of examination for me.

What is your greatest strength? You will probably find your greatest weakness there as well.

I only have a few hours in the evening to do anything outside of work and I love those hours.  Dinner with the family, conversations with friends, time to read and reflect on Jesus and His work in my life and in those around me.  I think I can say that most of my past transitions have been good ones.  This one is no different.  Thank you Jesus for your love for me, thank you for crystalizing your call on my life, thank you for this job, and thank you for my Bride.  I am genuinely excited about what is ahead.

Listen to the Song

some are reaching few are there
wandering from a heros chair
some are scared to fly so high
well this is how we have to try

have no envy and no fear
have no envy
no fear

brother brother we all see
your hiding out so painfully
see yourself come out to play
a lovers rain will wash away

your envy and your fear
so have no envy
no fear

when your sister turns to leave
only when shes most in need
take away the cause of pain
by showing her were all the same.

have no envy
no fear
have no envy
and no fear

every day we try to find
we search our hearts and our minds
the place we used to call our home
cant be found when were alone

so have no envy
no fear
have no envy
no fear

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;
time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

Ok, my self-induced hiatus is over.  I’m coming back to blogging again.  I have a lot of posts that I need to transfer from written page, bookmarks, and Evernote notes.  Those will be added over the next day or so.  I am going to record them on the dates that I wrote, bookmarked, or noted them and I’ll throw them up on Facebook.

What prompted this?

I was reminded, I am dying = Ecclesiates 9.

I know of no more terrifying, somber, and sad passage as Lamentations 2. Really, the entire book is devastating.  It came up in my readings today and I was struck on many levels.  Without much commentary, I’ll just let you absorb it.

Lamentations 2

(I’d recommend clicking the above link, then ‘Options’, selecting ‘Flash (Max McLean, complete Bible)’, click save and then listen to it as you read along)

2:1 How the Lord in his anger
has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud!
He has cast down from heaven to earth
the splendor of Israel;
he has not remembered his footstool
in the day of his anger.

2 The Lord has swallowed up without mercy
all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath he has broken down
the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought down to the ground in dishonor
the kingdom and its rulers.

3 He has cut down in fierce anger
all the might of Israel;
he has withdrawn from them his right hand
in the face of the enemy;
he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
consuming all around.

4 He has bent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set like a foe;
and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes
in the tent of the daughter of Zion;
he has poured out his fury like fire.

5 The Lord has become like an enemy;
he has swallowed up Israel;
he has swallowed up all its palaces;
he has laid in ruins its strongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
mourning and lamentation.

6 He has laid waste his booth like a garden,
laid in ruins his meeting place;
the Lord has made Zion forget
festival and Sabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.

7 The Lord has scorned his altar,
disowned his sanctuary;
he has delivered into the hand of the enemy
the walls of her palaces;
they raised a clamor in the house of the Lord
as on the day of festival.

8 The Lord determined to lay in ruins
the wall of the daughter of Zion;
he stretched out the measuring line;
he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
he caused rampart and wall to lament;
they languished together.

9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;
he has ruined and broken her bars;
her king and princes are among the nations;
the law is no more,
and her prophets find
no vision from the Lord.

10 The elders of the daughter of Zion
sit on the ground in silence;
they have thrown dust on their heads
and put on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.

11 My eyes are spent with weeping;
my stomach churns;
my bile is poured out to the ground
because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
because infants and babies faint
in the streets of the city.

12 They cry to their mothers,
“Where is bread and wine?”
as they faint like a wounded man
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers’ bosom.

13 What can I say for you, to what compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is vast as the sea;
who can heal you?

14 Your prophets have seen for you
false and deceptive visions;
they have not exposed your iniquity
to restore your fortunes,
but have seen for you oracles
that are false and misleading.

15 All who pass along the way
clap their hands at you;
they hiss and wag their heads
at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
the perfection of beauty,
the joy of all the earth?”

16 All your enemies
rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
they cry: “We have swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
now we have it; we see it!”

17 The Lord has done what he purposed;
he has carried out his word,
which he commanded long ago;
he has thrown down without pity;
he has made the enemy rejoice over you
and exalted the might of your foes.

18 Their heart cried to the Lord.
O wall of the daughter of Zion,
let tears stream down like a torrent
day and night!
Give yourself no rest,
your eyes no respite!

19 “Arise, cry out in the night,
at the beginning of the night watches!
Pour out your heart like water
before the presence of the Lord!
Lift your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
who faint for hunger
at the head of every street.”

20 Look, O Lord, and see!
With whom have you dealt thus?
Should women eat the fruit of their womb,
the children of their tender care?
Should priest and prophet be killed
in the sanctuary of the Lord?

21 In the dust of the streets
lie the young and the old;
my young women and my young men
have fallen by the sword;
you have killed them in the day of your anger,
slaughtering without pity.

22 You summoned as if to a festival day
my terrors on every side,
and on the day of the anger of the Lord
no one escaped or survived;
those whom I held and raised
my enemy destroyed.

I am not black.
I am white.

I am not a woman.
I am a man.

I cannot see out of black eyes.
I see out of white eyes.

It is not dead.
It hides beneath the surface.

It is not quiet.
It shouts with silent words.

It cannot be defeated.
It must be defeated.

It is winning.
We are silent.

One of the people that I have really appreciated lately is my assistant. Amanda Miles is working as an intern for New City as she finishes up her degree at Georgia College. She is one of those people that I can give a list of things to do while I’m gone and know that they will get done. So I feel very comfortable leaving for two weeks because Amanda is on the ball. During her interview I asked her about her personal relationship with the Lord – specifically, how did she nurture her relationship with Christ. This was her reply, in my own words, that I really appreciated.

A godly man once explained it like this. You can either be a gas tank Christian or an oxygen tank Christian. A gas tank Christian pulls into the station early in the morning and fills up their tank. They then drive for the rest of the day because they filled up early in the morning. The bulk of their ‘spiritual fuel’ happens in an hour, early in the morning, and that is their focus. I think a much better way to sustain an intimate Christian walk is to be an oxygen tank Christian. An oxygen tank Christian is connected to the tank of oxygen throughout the day and cannot live without it. There is not one moment of ‘filling up’ but a continual process of tapping into God.

While I’ve never heard this illustration before I greatly appreciated it.  I’m not a morning person, so I’ve often struggled with ‘beating my body into submission’ to appear more godly.  Matter of fact, I love staying up until 1 or 2 in the morning – I operate at my best there and I don’t brow beat anyone who doesn’t share my love of the evenings.

As I have matured in my faith I have come to realize that there is little godliness in a legalistic approach to meeting Jesus.  Don’t get me wrong, many people love rising early to spend time with the Lord and there is nothing legalistic about it.  But to require it of another or to hold it up as a goal or the standard for a person to eventually reach as they mature in Christ is an exercise in legalism that will not only discourage a person who may not share your early morning love, but will pass on your legalistic approach to grace and love.