A little bit about a lot.

Then they prayed, “You, Lord, know the hearts of all; show which of these two You have chosen to take the place in this apostolic service that Judas left to go to his own place.” Then they cast lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias. So he was numbered with the 11 apostles. (Acts 1:24-26 HCSB)

There’s been much talk about competence recently, and I just got an email from a Mighty Man of God who pointed out that “God will use the obedient and not the qualified” to which I agreed wholeheartedly. And I hope to paint a picture, for anyone who reads this, of a Biblical example of God doing this kind of choosing.

It is sad but true that many people elevate competence and qualifications above all else, and I recently read an article about a USMC Retired General who told a class of young Marines (in so many words) that without competence, character and other personal traits become irrelevant. I know I don’t have near the experience and credibility of this General, but I’d like to pose a question in regards to that statement: When does character ever become irrelevant? I also shared this with my older brother, David, and he said he disagreed with the General’s assertion that “if there is a #1 leadership trait, it has to be competence.” David said the number 1 trait will always be humility, and I definitely believe that Jesus – Who was the perfect leader – demonstrated that for us, as the Apostle Paul describes in Philippians 2.

What prompted me to start typing a YouVersion note, and later this blog post was a thought that came to my mind when I read that email I mentioned as I started writing this tonight – the one from the older and wiser man about God using the obedient. I responded by saying the following: “I learned in reading the end of 1 Chronicles that many leaders were chosen (as was their specific duty) by casting lots. I don’t think it was because leadership qualities weren’t important, on the contrary, I think these qualities were so important that everyone had them. And so there was no need to rack and stack man to man and conduct a ‘board process’ to determine who should be in charge. – they were all equally competent and up to the task!”

Much has probably been written about this Biblical practice, and balance is definitely key because God shows us who should lead based on performance sometimes – for example, when we’re faithful in the little things, God puts us in charge of bigger things, and other people will move you up into higher positions when you’re faithful in the smaller tasks as well!

I continued my email reply by saying, “I can’t help but wonder what an organization would look like today in which everyone did everything with all of his/her heart as worship to the Lord – then when it came time to select a leader, lots would be cast, and those who think they’re choosing would really realize that it is God Who chooses – they would then get out of the way and let the lot fall on whomever it may! This would surely be an organization I’d love to be a part of!”

Peace,
Adam

Full disclosure – now because I’m a Marine, of course I believe competence is important. I would just be very wary of any kind of message that elevates competence above character, that is a slippery slope indeed. And I’m not saying the General is purposefully doing that, but it would be a very easy next logical step for a young impressionable 2nd Lt to make who is trying to progress in this “gun club.” And it is a step, I’d wager, that has been already taken by many – as evidenced by some of the court martial’s I’ve heard about over the years.

Linked verses:
Acts 1:24-26
Philippians 2
1 Chronicles 25:8 & 26:13
Luke 16:10
Colossians 3:23

Meditation – MOOP’s Method which Might invite Modification by Mighty Men!

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night. (Psalm 1:1, 2 KJV)

So I get into these email discussions, which I really hate to acknowledge the label: debate, but that’s what some people call them. To me they’re all simply opportunities to get to know other people and allow them to get to know you. I say the written word has its limit, and I’ve told most people I know about elevating the level of communication to get away from all these written words, but alas, we continue… It’s insanity; that’s what it really is: doing the same thing and expecting different results. BUT, every once in a while – actually more often than not – I get a very valuable nugget of truth, or element of wisdom to add to my “tool box” for practical and personal application as I continue to march. Last night provided one of those that I wanted to write about.

In a discussion that started on the day we celebrated the resurrection of our Messiah, which devolved into the pro’s and con’s of celebrating that day as the rest of the world does, I was challenged many times. One of those challenges was for me to explain what I mean by “meditating on God’s Word,” which I actually have never really been given an opportunity to articulate to someone. I’ve told people during Bible studies that I like to meditate on the Scripture out loud with others as we ask questions of meaning and “think out loud” about how to apply it. The simplest definition I can think of for meditation is to think on deliberately for a period of time, and that’s pretty close to dictionary.com’s definition (feel free to look it up)

But of course, for me, simple is never sufficient, remember my modification of KISS? Of course you don’t! That’s why I linked it. But I wanted more elaboration, and as you can see from my alliteration in the title, I’m liking M’s right now for some reason.

I came up with 4 M’s for MOOP’s method of meditation, and I shared them with the gentleman who asked – I consider him a Mighty Man on my “Paul list” and I told him I’d blog about it so here they are and I’ll elaborate on each one below: Memorize, Meaning, Matter, Master.

1) Memorizing Scripture is very important to me for many reasons, but at the top of the list is the ability I then have to call a passage to mind in the time of need – whether sharing Christ with an unbeliever or resisting my own temptation, the Word of God is absolutely invaluable, and when I spend time memorizing, I believe I am meditating on it by saying it over and over to get it in my head – its the intellect side of me that I’m aiming at with this first M.

2) Meaning is a quest for how this impacts my heart. It’s the emotion side of me that I’d the target for this stage of meditation. I want to know not just what it can mean to me, but most importantly, what does this Scripture mean to God! After all, if it means something different to me than it means to God, them it doesn’t really matter what it means to me, and that leads me to
Part 3.

3) Matter is another word for substance. This is where I take the Meaning and look for practical application steps. I’m not to the point of working it out in fear and trembling yet, but I’m closer than I was in the heart, because this is where I focus on my will or volition to use a big complicated word (the 3rd part of me – how God made all of us: mind, emotion and will) of course I want my will to be conformed to His, so here I ask questions about why does it matter – whats the underlying substance? Is it hidden or is it obvious? Why is it important that I do this or that exactly how it’s written and how do I connect other passages to the meaning so I’m interpreting Scripture with Scripture, and not just what some Pastor says he thinks matters.

4) Mastering the message is last, and I really believe it won’t be done till I’m dead – that’s how long the sanctification process takes, so I’ve been told, and so I’ve experienced! But while I attempt to put into practice how the Word has affected my mind, emotions, and will I want to do it better each day. If I was able to be slow to speak and quick to listen in one occasion, maybe I want to be even slower, of not speak at all next time, and listen the whole time!

A balanced approach to all 4 phases in the meditation process is what I’m focused on. I don’t want to spend all my time memorizing and none putting it into practice. That’s like the guy who looks in the mirror one moment and turns away immediately forgetting what he looks like. No, I want to be a doer of the Word, and I’ve learned the hard way that the only way I can consistently do what it says is to consistently meditate on what it means and why it matters. Adding those 2 middle phases to the first and last that I mentioned seems to me to be a great way to accomplish that – being a doer of the Word!

Peace,
Adam

PS: I wasnt going to post a picture because I got a little annoyed by the google search for photos of meditation… No judgement here, but I am talking about a totally different kind of meditation than that shown in most images – what I am referring to has nothing to do with how your body is situated, it has everything to do with your mind, your emotions, and your will!

Holiness not Happiness

I posted the below paragraphs as a note on YouVersion and figured I’d log it on here as well since I feel very strongly about it. I don’t think that this is the kind of message most American Christians are very familiar with, and I have no preconceived notions that I can do anything to change that on my own. I believe it will have to be the Holy Spirit that will open the eyes of these people who would say what I’m about to condemn. It came about as I was talking to a friend who is going through a tough time in a relationship. He said, “what about people, even ‘Christians,’ who tell me that God just wants me to be happy?” I must confess, I responded with what I felt was righteous indignation – I was mad, extremely mad. After I settled down, I wrote this:

“You must be holy because I, the LORD, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be My very own.” (Leviticus 20:26 NLT)

If someone tells you that “God wants you to be happy,” I recommend you tell them to shut their mouth! And I’m dead serious here because that is a flat out deadly lie from the devil. You would even be justified to go all “angry Jesus” on them and say “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matt 16:23 ESV)

God isn’t concerned with your happiness, He wants you to be holy!!! Happiness comes from happenstance which is based on circumstances, and get this: your circumstances will change – they won’t always be happy! So you run from people who tell you God wants you happy. They are wrong and harmful to you. I know they might have good intentions, but as the saying goes: the road to hell is paved with those!

BE HOLY, and as you do that, you can join me in my quest to master the fine art of enjoying the unenjoyable. But leave happiness to those who only appreciate happy circumstances and don’t live in the real world.

Peace,
Adam

A.I. Actionable not Artificial

Back in December I had a phone conversation with my dad one night in which he couldn’t believe I hadn’t read or heard the latest news in Iran. I told him I don’t really concern myself with that stuff because, considering my current duty assignment, there’s no action for me to take regarding that intelligence –I have zero % chance of going over to Iran or affecting anything Militarily or politically speaking in that country for at least a couple years… I could be wrong, things could always change, but I basically, l can’t fathom any possible way that I could take any action on that intelligence he was giving me…

It made me think a bit deeper about what information (aka intel) I can actually act upon, and of course it provided an opportunity for my dad to make a playful jab at me the next time he shared with me some news, “oh, wait, that’s not intel you can act on, right?” he said. Little did I know when I started this blog post (which I’ve delayed writing for 3 months by the way – still need to blog on procrastination… Yeah, I’ll do that one later) but little did I know that a book had been written on this kind of AI, oh, and I never saw the movie whose picture I used, sorry if it wasn’t any good and I brought back unpleasant memories…

When it comes to Biblical principles on the other hand, I believe just about all of them include some actionable inteligence. It’s just another word for practical application, and I can give a few examples.

- The ten commandments; although there are some “thou shalt nots” the actionable intelligence is to do things that prevent those prohibitions, like loving your enemy by saying kind words so that you don’t hate which leads to murder.
- Continuing with the 10 commandment theme while throwing in some NT: How about loving your own wife so much that you don’t even notice someone else’s wife; and thanking God for what He’s blessed you with so you don’t covet what you don’t have?
- Then of course the principle of training up your children…
- And I can’t leave out making disciples (which is part of the previous bullet)

I could go on and on; the fruit of the spirit is another great place to get some actionable intelligence; love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, self-control – all of these drip with practical application, did I say drip? I should say, they OVERFLOW with the STUFF! And I’ve said it before so I’ll say it again; STUFF to me is Spiritual, Timely, Useful, Faithful, Facts.

This is the AI you can take to the bank – but you wouldn’t want to because it would just sit there; you actually gotta use it to see it pay dividends. So get out there and live what we have been called to live. Knowing isn’t enough, there must also be doing. James says it best: “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.”

So search the Scriptures today for some intel you can take action on, and then follow Nike’s advice and “just do it!”

Peace,
Adam

How much sleep is enough?

I have been wanting to write about this topic since one of the Mighty Men in my “Paul List” sent me this article from RZIM “Slice of Infinity” in the middle of last week. I told him I’d blog about my response when I have time, and I’ve not been able to start the blog post until now – when I got up at 0445 because my 5 yr old son (Gideon) climbed into bed next to me, and my wife got up to feed my other son (baby Boaz). Of course I needed to first pray, reply to emails, run on the treadmill, and do my daily Bible reading (Judges 13-16: Samson – AWESOME!) before I blogged, and now everyone is up again before 7 on a Sunday mornings! Looks like we should have no trouble getting to church on time, eh?! [Point of clarification here: that first "until now" referred to the current time - now 7 AM - in which I've got my iPad and Gideon has my computer trying to get me to play games with him (again) and we're trying to eat breakfast. So that's 2 hours after getting up, and the "now" that I speak of is just the start and I think this one will take a while to finish because now I'm holding Boaz because he's done eating, and Maria is going to try to get some more sleep - which turned out to be just 10 minutes, sorry Honey! -- It's 8 now and I'm proof reading downstairs w/Bo - and he's quiet on my lap- PTL!!!]

So in the battle for enough sleep, I must be very careful when I articulate these points because some people will take this personally and might get offended if I come across as sternly objective in my conclusions and unwavering. Anytime I write about these subjective issues, I must caveat my statements with: “this works for me and I am by no means proposing a one size fits all solution!” or in this case a “one time period fits all.” I agree that modern medicine and research including sleep studies state that the average individual requires 8 hours of sleep per night. What I disagree with is the notion that we are all average. I also agree with the rules of my career, namely Marine and Naval aviators must get 8 hours of uninterrupted rest before flying. Lastly, I’ve been blessed with the ability to sleep through just about anything, and so my quality of sleep is usually good which makes up for the limits I place on its quantity. So now that I have added all of those qualifiers to what I am about to say, please bear with me as you will most likely disagree with at least one point I’ll make.

I usually start out the discussion with people in regards to sleep with this opinionated statement: “The body only requires a certain amount of sleep to function and the mind thinks you require more.” I use the example of Navy SEALs during hell week when they perform excruciating tasks with barely a single nights worth of sleep, and I talk about how you and I feel tired in the afternoon after lunch even if we’ve gotten 8+ hours of sleep the night before. Some might interject here, “now wait, the mind requires the sleep too!” And I would agree, I’d just say, the SEALs go through mental challenges that week as well, and how many times have you made mental mistakes when you have had the recommended hours in bed? — That will hopefully be the last interruption I give myself as I complete the thought. — I continue with my Scriptural basis for the idea of “enough sleep” with two questions based on the one conditional: if it is true that the body requires a certain amount and the mind thinks you need more – 1) What are we suppose to do with our bodies? and 2) What are we suppose to do with our minds?

I use Romans 12:1-2 as the foundation for my views on how much sleep is enough. I also balance my view of sleep with two OT verses: Proverbs 24:33-34 and Psalm 127:2 which I’ve linked so you can reference them. As I understand the Romans passage, I am to present my body as a living sacrifice and I am to be transformed by the renewing of my mind. I remember another of Paul’s letters where he says “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection…” and there’s other verses about taking “thoughts into captivity” and having the “mind of Christ” which I also think can apply to this war in the mind for more sleep.

Now I’ve heard about people in the secular culture who preach limiting sleep in order to get ahead in this world. I read a book by Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump about 5 years ago in which Trump challenges the reader to “imagine what you could get done if you had 2 or 3 extra hours each day to read or work…” and my friend down in flight school sent me a YouTube video from a coach’s viewpoint about success – 3 minutes into it sleeping less (or not at all) is mentioned as a method to become more successful. These two examples are what that Slice of Infinity article is challenging, but I really don’t think the problem among Christians is that too many of us are limiting our sleep! Honestly, I think laziness is much more of a hindrance to pursuing Christ-likeness. But if the author of that RZIM article can show me in Scripture where Jesus challenged people to sleep more or showed His disciples how to add more hours of rest to their days, then I would warm up to his thesis. However, I think Christ’s calls to come and take His yoke and find rest, weren’t exactly encouragements to sleep-in a couple extra hours. And when He delayed in coming to Lazarus until he was dead, I don’t think Jesus was kicking back for a few extra Z’s.

The bottom line for Christians is that, contrary to popular belief, the Bible is NOT silent on ANYTHING!!! If you want to know how much sleep you need, go to the Scriptures! If you want to know how to live out any area of your life other than sleep, go to the Scriptures! – For in the Bible are all the answers to all of life’s questions and if you don’t seek answers in God’s Word, you will not have the answers God gives.

Peace,
Adam

PS: full disclosure, my stated goal is to get a minimum of 6 hours per work day and 7 hours on Sunday, but I don’t always hit that nail on the head! Sometimes after getting only 5 hours a few days, I’ll crash and sleep 8 or 9, but it’s about having goals and making the most of every opportunity – which every morning is a new opportunity for me – that’s why I don’t call the device that wakes me up an “alarm clock” thanks to Zig Ziglar I call it an “opportunity clock!”

Linked verses, in addition to the references given I’ve linked the following:

1 Corinthians 9:27 (parallel ref)
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (study article)
1 Corinthians 2:16 (website based on this verse)
Matthew 11:28-29 (ESV)
John 11:6 (HCSB)
2 Tim 3:16-17 (NIV)
Also used the NKJV, NLT and YLT for the Romans 12:1-2 passage

PSS: full disclosure pt 2 – its 9AM now and everyone is back in bed (including Gideon, well, he was… with me on the floor of his room) looks like our punctuality to service is again in question! Ah, they all need more sleep!

The Sea of Forgetfulness

Although that phrase isn’t I’m the Bible word for word, the principle rings true just as the “mysterious ways” of God sometimes rings true. Here’s a story of my morning that inspired this blog as I was driving in to work. (also inspired by this article I found as I thought and prayed)

Forgot my wallet this morning so I had to turn around and head back home (Govt workers will know you can’t really work without your ID card…) so I spent an extra 40 min in my car in which much prayers were raised heavenward while listening to my brothers “musictoprayby” and it dawned on me (pun intended at 6:05 AM) that God chooses to be forgetful at times…

So I just feel moved with gratitude for God’s forgetfulness — in regards to my faults and failures — verses like these really minister to me.

He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:19 NKJV)

Then He says,
“I will never again remember
their sins and lawless deeds.” And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices. (Hebrews 10:17, 18 NLT)

For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great are His mercy and loving-kindness toward those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:11, 12 AMP)

May you experience the joy and peace His forgiveness brings, knowing that when He forgives, He also forgets! Great is His faithfulness!

Ah, what a day!

Peace,
Adam

“Empty Religious Gestures”

I’ve seen 3 men who I respect greatly all share that they are saying goodbye (giving up) social media for the next 40 days of lent. I saw another man I greatly respect say that he is giving up empty religious gestures for lent. (Full disclosure: all of these things I’ve learned through Facebook and Twitter, and I’m not following suit with the first 3, but I am totally following the 4th’s lead on the empty religious gestures!) Fortunately, the 3 giving social media up probably won’t see this post, so I won’t offend them. [Of course one of them said whenever he gets offended he says to himself it's only because of his pride - so he'll be ok even if he stumbles onto this blog...]

I put these two concepts (giving up religious gestures and giving up social media) together not to judge (I’m also leaving names out to avoid gossip) I simply would like to question the “giving up” of something without follow-on statements about what you’re “taking up.” I’m sure these 3 (and I’ll say it again later) have a plan to take up something to replace what they give up, I just think it would have been helpful if they included that little detail in their final Facebook or twitter post for the next month and a half…

The NCC challenge I mentioned yesterday is really good in that it focuses on doing something not just refraining from something. I recall a message I heard a year ago about not just being anti something, but also being for something – it was Doug Philips from the Vision Forum, and The 10 commandments were used as the example because most people see then as a list of “thou shalt not’s!” Doug pointed out that they really aren’t just prohibitions, after all, Jesus summarized them all with two “Thou Shall’s” – 1) love God and 2) love people. The line I remember most was this: “It’s not enough to be an “anti” you’ve also gotta be a pro!”

You have to be for some things, and if you’re going to give up something, I simply want to know: what are you going to take up? What are you going to do in the place of what you once did? If you don’t fill the space, you can be sure that there’s someone who will gladly fill it for you – Jesus referred to him as the “evil one” and when you empty out without filling – you can expect to find worse things than before, which is a principle from Scripture.

I’m sure the 3 men I mention are going to devote more time to Bible reading, prayer, family time and fellowship in general, I just feel like their short bursts of declaration lack guidance for those who would follow in their footsteps… I think that without descriptive directions in disciplines of dedicated daily duties, someone might surmise that simple sacrifices of solitude are sufficient! I think not! You must not only stop doing evil, you also must pursue good.

So here’s to taking the lent concept to the next level! I pray those of you who read this will follow up all your offerings with obedience, and not just give up things like social media, but take up a daily discipline of focused prayer & Bible study, meditation & memorization. Surely the minutes you once spent checking and updating Facebook and twitter will allow you to memorize a handful of verses – you might even want to start with 2 Chronicles 7:14…

Peace,
Adam

PS: Full disclosure, since I wasn’t explicit in what I myself am taking up, it is the NCC “experilent” I mentioned yesterday and I am also going to give my best at posting blogs on 30 Mighty Men concepts at least once a week. So if I follow through – there should be about 5 new posts by Resurrection Sunday, and I hope to overshoot that by 2 to make it an “even” 7!

A Seven-fold Promise

I got my first text from Nat’l Community Church as they conduct the “experiLENT” for the next 40 days to memorize and meditate and pray this verse… It is very cool that the same verse has been out focus at the QRF (Quantico Revival Fellowship) which is a prayer meeting at 12:12 every Friday.

I’m pretty fixated on the number 7, it was my soccer jersey number when we went to state back in high school, and I’ve always thought of it – not just as LUCKY (Remember that’s inspired by Psalm 63:3 – Living Under Christ’s Kindness, Yeah!) but I’ve also been taught that the number 7 stands for completion – i.e. the days of Creation, the number of times a righteous man will fall and rise again, the number of times the disciples thought were sufficient for forgiveness till Jesus multiplied it by 70. It is all pointing to the point that it’s not about the specific number but about the completion aspect – Creation was done on the 6th day, but the rest on the 7th day was the completion! The principle in Prov 24 isn’t that a righteous man won’t fall or get up an 8th, 9th or 10th time, it’s that he will fall and get up until he is complete – meaning he doesn’t fall in that certain area any more. And the forgiveness of 70 times 7 means you forgive until that forgiveness is complete and you have no more bitterness or hurt from what the other person has done.

So here’s the significance I see in this verse about the 4 things we do (4 signifies the number of the earth – or our natural identity) and the 3 things God does (3 signifies the number of God – His divinity as 3 in 1- the Trinity) this promise of completion starts with humbling ourselves and ends with healing our land, and I believe we all should meditate and memorize this principle and do the 4 and wait for the 3 until the day of completion with Phil 1:6 type confidence.
So do this if you are called by His name:
1) Humble yourself
2) Pray
3) Seek His Face
4) Repent (turn from) your sin (wicked ways)
And wait in expectancy for this:
5) God to hear from heaven
6) Forgive us our sins
7) Heal our land.

Peace,
Adam

PS: here it is again, just for good measure:
“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV)

NYG- New Years Goals not New York Giants

Been in Chicago all week and posted many You Version notes but no blogs…
Sorry. Maybe I should have made it a new years goal to blog consistently – but I didn’t!

I do have a new years goal that I mentioned in this YouVersion note on 1 John 3:16. This goal I heard from my friend at HX-21 the Navy test squadron, who’s a retired Navy “phrog driver” and we were out in New Mexico flying test flights last year. Someone challenged him to run at least 1 mile every day all year long, and he was 4 months into it and said it really motivated him to at least get a little exercise every day.

Two things to mention this early Sunday morning before I either get a few hours sleep or go pursue another NYG. First is why I chose “goal” verses “resolution” to categorize what I’m attempting here. I really like the word resolution, but because most people don’t keep their resolutions, the word has lost its power. I thought about this when a friend asked me if I had any New Years Resolutions. And I thought it was interesting how this happens with other words too – like “love” “faith” and “hope” – even the 3 things that my friend (and apostle) Paul writes to a church a long time ago… What is even more unfortunate is that the diminishing of the value of words happens the most with the one he calls “the greatest of these.” I guess this idea really reinforces what I wrote on that YouVersion note I linked above.

The second point I wanted to make was about what I call “minimum goals.” the daily 1 mile minimum, is a perfect example because it’s just enough to get you started and takes less than 10 minutes, but when I start I usually find myself spending at least a few to several more minutes doing other exercise – its the minimum that gets things started. I’m reminded of a saying one of my past Commanding Officers use to say: “if we all just do the minimum, we’ll be a successful squadron!” At first I really didn’t like that because I pride myself in giving much more than the minimum in a lot of things, but now that it has had time to sink in, I’m a big believer in completing the minimum! And so I set minimum goals in other areas too – like contacting my brothers at least once a week with at least a text message, and like spending at least 5 minutes during a mile run to memorize scripture, and at the bare minimum taking the time before bed to pray with my son – for as long as he wants me there – every night that I’m home.

Here’s to setting minimum goals so you can reach the maximum potential in your relationships and what matters most in life!

Peace,
Adam

A 30 Mighty Men New Year!

Based on the following verse, I sent out the following message–
“The faithful love of the LORD never ends!
His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness;
His mercies begin afresh each morning.”(Lamentations 3:22, 23 NLT)

“Happy New Year to the Mighty Men of God!! You know, if His Love and Mercy are new every morning, it’s gotta be especially true of this first new morning of the new year! May you continually experience His Great Faithfulness all year long!!!”

I also posted this as a note on YouVersion!

So as I’m finishing my first entry of the new year in my prayer journal after I listened and read Genesis 15-21 – doing my best to get a head start on the Bible in a year goal – I figured I’d also shoot out a blog post for those who aren’t on my 30 Mighty Men list (yet)! Hopefully my wife and two boys will stay sound asleep until I finish this!!!

I want to share just some techniques in how I work out the system of the 30 Mighty Men. And you don’t have to consider it a system, I just do because I like systems – as you who read my posts back in August found out! Hopefully in the coming weeks I’ll be able to write more about how the 30 Mighty Men concept can work, and maybe more men will take this idea on board and build their own lists…

This technique involves “Level 1 or Level 2″ comms sent out by email or text message, Level 1 being mass Communication, and Level 2: individual messages. (For more on ELC – Elevating the Level of Communication, read some of my other blog posts on “communication” – specifically the “more” tab on the top of the blog) I plan to re-organize these lists and do my best to introduce those who are on the list to each other. I think it’s more effective if I send a message to 3 guys who all know each other, that way someone can reply-to-all knowing exactly who he’s replying to. Many times I see one person write a mass text reply to all and then someone else on that list asks “who is this?” I don’t think that should happen…

If I am going to use the mass email technique to blast a message to 30 Mighty Men (or more) I’ve also found the BCC method useful so people who reply are forced to take it to Level 2 – meaning they can only write to me. This is done by sending a message to yourself and BCC’ing everyone else. I only do this when there’s more than a dozen or so recipients, when I know most of them don’t know most of the others, and when I don’t think the message is best suited for ongoing discussion. If any of those three conditions are not met, I’ll just put some folks in the “To” block and “CC” others I think might be interested or willing to throw their 2 cents in as well…

That’s probably enough for now, but I’ll just add that daily messages are probably the worst because the only person that really wants to hear from you daily is your wife or your mom! Ha! And I did develop 3 separate lists which I planned to send 1 message a week splitting them up Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but I haven’t stuck to that very well. Sometimes I send out 3 a week, sometimes just 1, but mixing it up seems to work best.


Future posts I’ll hope to focus on how this last year has gone and what content the messages generally contain!

Here’s to keeping it elevated in the new year!

Peace,
Adam

Full disclosure: I haven’t read the workbook pictured, just found the photo and thought it was cool. But I’m sure it’s got some good stuff, so maybe I’ll buy it! (next year of course because another new year’s goal is to finish all the books I bought last year before buying any more this year!!!)