Tim Tebow is UGLY!!!

My belief

I have not been following Tim Tebow as long as most people, because I am more of an NFL guy than a college guy. My dad however is huge Tebow and Florida Gators fan. Now that Tebow is in the NFL for the Denver Broncos, I have been paying a lot more attention to him. Even more than paying attention to Tim, I have paid attention to all the “media hype” about Tim. They are ruthless toward Tim Tebow. They say his throwing motion is to slow. He will never make it the NFL. He should become a running back or something because he is not made for the position of NFL Quarterback. As harsh as they are about his football ability they are TEN TIMES more harsh about his FAITH!!! Tim Tebow is a HARDCORE believer in Jesus Christ. He is more bold for God than I could ever hope to be. He prays on the field. He evangelizes others on his teams. He even writes Bible verses in his facial eye black before games. I love to watch the NFL and when I miss the games I catch all the recaps on ESPN sports center. In doing so, I have to admit that Tim’s performances have been UGLY!!! His passes don’t look sharp. He gets hit by defenders because his release is slow and the guy seems to always want to RUN the ball instead of throwing it! Despite this, under his leadership the Broncos are now 5 wins and 1 loss. Tebow keeps on coming up with just enough to win. Big plays at the end of the game for a big score. I LOVE THIS!!!

Here is a man of faith that loves the Lord and has been given the chance to play in the NFL. He uses his opportunity to speak about Jesus with no reservations. He does not look and perform sharp like Aaron Rodgers, Payton Manning, or Tom Brady, but he continues to succeed. This is beautiful! I love it when the Lord takes a humble faithful servant to pronounce His own Glory. Tebow’s play is ugly because God wants everyone to know his success is from his faith in Jesus not his own ability. In this way God uses Tim to bring Glory to Himself. As a QB Tim looks ugly, but as a believer in Christ the entire package becomes AMAZING!

Scripture

1 Cor 26-31

²⁶ Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. ²⁸ God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, ²⁹ so that no one may boast before him. ³⁰ It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. ³¹ Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Application for Life

I pray and strive to be as bold in my faith as Tim Tebow. I hope God is able to use me to point to Himself. God always picks a loser to do his work because it shows that none of the glory is due to that person, but rather to the God behind the person. Thank you God for another beautiful example of how you operate. May I become as faithful of an ugly servant, just like Tim Tebow!

Before you do that…

My Belief

Being a First Officer (copilot) for a major airline is an important job. You must be just as proficient as the Captain in the event that something were to happen and he became incapacitated. In the last year alone I remember a time where a heavy jet liner coming back from Europe to the USA was landed by the First Officer alone. The Captain had a major heart attack and did not make it. Even as important as the First Officers job is, there is usually only one thing on his mind…… becoming the Captain.

I learned a lot of valuable lesson when I became a Captain. Training is a fast paced experience where the airline assumes you have gained the knowledge and experience to take command of a an aircraft. While I was in training I thought up a phrase that I would keep in head at all time. I continue to this day to utilize this phrase in all my decision making. The phrase is “before you do that…” Everything has a prerequisite before you do it. I will give you a few examples: Before you can turn the switches required to power up and aircraft you have to check the quality of the power available, before passengers board an aircraft the emergency oxygen has to be sufficient, before the main cabin door can be closed all fueling must be completed as a precaution against fire, and before each sequence of events happens the appropriate checklist must be run. In the event of any kind of inflight emergency even the most novice of pilots knows before any action can be taken they must ensure they have control of the aircraft first. This list can go on forever and applies to anything and everything.

This principle even applies to my walk as a believer in Jesus Christ. I believe we all get this principle wrong when it comes to the decisions we make in our lives.  We make decisions about buying cars, buying homes, taking jobs, marrying people, etc… without first accomplishing the prerequisite. As Christians, the prerequisite for everything we do in life is to first saturate that thing in prayer. Most of the time in my past I have done this in reverse. I go for it first and then I pray about it. I buy the house and then I pray, “oh God please let this work and please let me afford this”. If I am to live a Godly life and the life that the Lord wants for me I must first pray diligently before the throne of grace and then choose my path. God will honor this and guide my footsteps in everything I do.

Scripture

James 4:13-17

¹³ Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” ¹⁴ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

Application for life

Based on the Bible, prayer is our number one tool in this life. Billy Graham was recently asked by a reporter what he would have done differently in his life and he said, “I would have prayed more”. In recent years I have made it a discipline of my life  to seek God before I set out on anything. I will pray in the name of the Lord Jesus for my will to be conformed to God’s will. That he would use me in any decisions I make in this life.

Who is that 3rd Guy????

My belief

Even people who are NOT Christians have some idea who God and Jesus are. Whether or not they believe it, most people can at least articulate the idea that God created the world, and Jesus is the Son of God and died on the cross for our sins . But what about the third member of the God Trinity? I rarely ever hear a good description of the other member of the God Head from anyone, including true believers. I have been studying The Holy Spirit and what it means to live by means of the Spirit and this is JUST AS CRITICAL as any other part of God.

Jesus described the Holy Spirit as the helper that He would send  to each of us that believes in Him. God declares in the Bible that the Holy Spirit lives inside each true believer in Jesus Christ. Paul speaks extensively in Romans, Corinthians, Galatians and Ephesians about living by means of the Holy Spirit so that we do not gratify the sinful desires of our flesh. I have been working hard to grind this idea down into a few usable tools that I can apply to my life. I have come up with 3 of them so far:

1. The Holy Spirit convicts us of our Sin and when we pray and ask for His help, He helps us to overcome our sin nature. As a followers of Christ I am plagued by my conscious when I disobey God and commit sin. I can personally attest that there is sin in my own life that I have not been able to overcome. I have tried with all my strength to change my own nature to no avail. BUT when I began offering this sin up to God and telling him that I needed the strength of His Holy Spirit to fill me up and help me overcome, it was not long before my life began to change. I felt able to obey God and the desire to sin had lost its power over me.

2. The Holy Spirit draws people to Jesus! Jesus says Himself that NO ONE comes to the Father except through Him, and NO ONE comes to Jesus unless the Holy Spirit draws them to Him. This means the Holy Spirit is the first step in salvation. My pastor says that no one gets saved unless someone is praying for them. He says that when a believer prays for a non believer it is like placing a magnifying glass on their life. Just like as a kid you focus the power of the sun on a particular point with such a device, prayer focuses the power of the Holy Spirit on a persons life and draws them to a decision for Christ. I personally pray for this before ever talking to someone about my faith in Jesus. The best argument in the world will not convince someone to come to the foot of the cross, but the Holy Spirit can put a spot light on their brokenness and need for a Savior.

3. The Holy Spirit helps the believer to understand how God’s Word applies to their life. I love when I read scripture and I feel like God is talking directly to me and my circumstances. There are so many times when am I am able to directly apply God’s Word to my daily life. I understand what Jesus means by denying myself and walking with Him daily, I understand what James means when he says Faith without works is dead, and I know what Paul is talking about when he says the Holy Spirit will keep you from giving into your sinful desires.

Scripture

John 14:26

²⁶ But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

Galatians 5:16-26

¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

John 6:44

⁴⁴ “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.

Application for Life

No one knows how the Trinity perfectly fits together and we won’t know until we get to heaven. Parts of the Bible show a subservient nature within the Trinity, and other parts specifically say that ALL parts are and make up GOD. This is what I know. God The Father made me, God the Son (Jesus) saved me, and God The Holy Spirit helps me. The Holy Spirit gives me power over my sinful human nature, He gives me opportunity to share my faith in Jesus with others, and He makes me to understand how God’s Word applies to my life.

Steve Jobs had it right!

My Belief

Last week when Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple and designer of the iPhone/iPod, past away I heard a very interesting speech that he had given. He was the key note speaker at a Yale graduation ceremony a few years ago and the clip the news played was intriguing. Mr. Jobs conveyed the idea to the Yale grads that the reason he was so successful was because he had found a way to focus and drowned out all fear and criticism. Steve knew he was sick and would not live a long life. He knew his years were numbered and that he wanted to do the most with the time he had left. Jobs said that when he compares everything against the reality of death, every bit of doubt fades. He was not afraid to DO because he did not want to waste what time he had left.

As a follower of Jesus I want to have a perspective very similar to this. I know that time on this earth is short. I will either die or be raptured by Christ in the next 50 years or so. Maybe even sooner. I know that God wants me to give him my all with the short amount of time I have left. I know that I am rapidly racing toward a departure from this earth into a glorious existence with God. When I step foot into the presence of Jesus my hope is to hear “Well done good and faithful servant”. In this context I know death is coming, but I am not afraid of it at all. I want to be focused here and now to take any opportunity to share Jesus with who ever God brings in my path. I want to be a servant to my wife, family and friends. While Steve Jobs did not know Jesus and was only motivated by his coming end, I look forward to an amazing hope after this life. All of the noise and criticism fades away in the reality of Jesus not only in death. Who cares what people think of me or say about me. Soon my time will end and I only care about what Jesus says about me.

Scripture

^{2Cor 5:8-10}

⁶ Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. ⁷ For we live by faith, not by sight. ⁸ We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ⁹ So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. ¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Application for Life

One of my favorite quotes from pastor Lon Solomon is, “When your not afraid to die, then your not afraid to live”! Wow…think about that. If you are in Jesus, nothing can ever hurt you. Even if someone took my life, my situation only gets better. I desire to pray HARD that the Holy Spirit may fill me up and use me for God’s Glory. That I can be a light in a dark world. That I can speak boldly about Jesus. My heart aches for people who don’t have Jesus when time is up. Please Lord let me have a perspective that is urgent like Steve Jobs. Not because of death, but because of a life that has conquered death. Let me focus because time is short, and let me rejoice because my end is near!

Intermittent at best

My Belief

Do you know what an intermittent problem is? In my experience and my line of work it usually deals with electrical or communication problem. It is a problem that is not there all the time. The problem is usually caused by a faulty relay or switch. There is a connection there that is making contact, but it is not a good contact. Or perhaps it is a wire that is frayed and shorting out sometimes.

This is me in my walk with Jesus. I really want to walk with the Lord and I really try hard to wake up each morning and devote myself that day to the Lords work, but I do not always make “good contact”. There are days that I am tired or having a hard day and I let my old sin nature get the best of me. My walk with Jesus shorts out! I get fed up with people around me that don’t use a little common sense or I do what I do best and let my big mouth shoot itself off. I honestly in my heart wish and want to walk every minute of my day with Jesus. I feel the best when I am understanding some part of God’s Word or I get to share my hope in Jesus with another. I realize something though. Even though I am saved by the grace of Jesus Christ, I am not Jesus Christ. I am incapable of walking a perfect life of righteousness with our Lord. This is frustrating to me at times, but it helps me to remember that it is not about me, it is about Jesus. I know he is using me to impact peoples lives even in spite of my short comings. I continue to be willing and prayerfully hopeful that God continues to finish the refining work in me that He has started. I know that one day through my death or in His return He will completely refine me to a perfect state of righteousness and I will dwell with him forever. Until then I will continue to be a faulty contact for God, A bad wire for Jesus, and a loose connection spreading the Word of Christ. I am far from perfect, but God can use my weakness for His Glory.

Scripture

2 Timothy 2:13

¹³ if we are faithless,
   he remains faithful,
   for he cannot disown himself.

Application for Life

I have a Bible sitting on my desk at home that was given to me by a good friend who feels that God used me to help Him in his finding Jesus. Inside that Bible is a wonderful note of friendship from him and a thank-you note from another friend who feels the same way. I love that God has given me these two tokens from these two men. When I feel that I am broken and have fallen on my face again, I remember that even in my brokenness God is using me. Even when I do not feel faithful to the Lord, I am His and He will use me to accomplish His work.

3 Common Errors

My Belief

I am a few years removed from teaching young pilots the basics of flying in the clouds. This type of flying is also known as flying “IFR” (Instrument Flight Rules) and after thousands of hours of flying it comes as naturally to me now as walking. Even as such, I still remember the common errors that pilots make when doing this type of flying. These errors are labeled as 1. Fixation, 2. Emphasis 3. and Omission.

Traditionally cockpit flight instrument panels have been laid out in a “6 pack” format. Instruments that display Airspeed, Altitude, Attitude, Heading, Vertical speed, and Bank Angle have been placed in front of the pilot in a way that looks similar to a 6 pack of drinks. These instruments are what gives the pilot all the information that he needs when he is unable to see outside the aircraft. The previously mentioned errors are what pilots must continuously evaluate while he scans all of these instruments. He cannot let himself fixate on any one instrument because he will miss what the others are telling him. For a similar reason he can not let himself place any particular emphasis any individual instrument. And obviously it would be detrimental to the flight if he were to completely omit any of the instruments during his scan.

I was speaking with a buddy of mine who is also an airline pilot. We were chatting about how both of us put special emphasis to the point of fixation on our budgets. In this bad economy it is a hot topic for everyone. We both feel that we want to honor God with our money by being good stewards of it and debtors to no one. We both agreed that fiscal discipline is important, but it is not the only thing God called us to do. For us especially, we must not omit all the other things God has called us to do in this life. He also called us to be God fearing men and women that live a life of service and sacrifice to our family and friends. He called us to do the work of an evangelist and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone on earth. As we talked we both admitted that it is easy for us particularly to become fixated on this one thing and omit all the other responsibilities the Lord has given us. There is only so much time and energy in a day and it is my prayer that God would help me multi-task to accomplish all that He has set before me.

Scripture

Eph 2:10

¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Application for Life

I believe the keys to life are organization and discipline. There are so few hours in a day and for me to live the life that God has set for me I must utilize all of them. The only way I can do this, is if I rise in the morning and plan out my day. I know that I want to devote time in the morning to my relationship with Jesus. I know that I want to devote time to paying my bills and continuously evaluating our budget. I know that I want to spend time being a godly father and husband to my daughter and wife after school and work. I know when I go to work, the gym, or to play that I want to preserve my testimony and look for opportunities to speak about Jesus. Once I have organized my schedule, I pray the Lord gives me the discipline to stick to it. With God’s help, I will accomplish all that he has for me and not just get stuck or one or two things.

Never Happened!

My Belief

As we approach the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, something has started standing out in my mind. You would not believe the number of people who have told me that it “Never Happened”. What am I talking about, you say… I have flown with several people and sat next countless others in airports that all say things like that. They say the entire thing is a Bush White House cover up. The wing tip vortices when the planes hit the tower are not there or don’t look right. The planes were digitally superimposed on the TV and it was missiles that hit the buildings. The trajectory for the plane that hit the ground in Pennsylvania was wrong and to small, it was a missile too. The plane that hit the pentagon was a bomb set by the U.S. military. The entire thing was a hoax and a conspiracy devised by our own government.

Have you ever noticed that they say the same thing about the moon landing… There are tons of people and books that say that we never went to the moon, but instead the entire thing was a fake again set up by the U.S. government to inspire or motivate a nation. Why do people do this?!?! 9/11 was only 10 years ago! I fly out of New York! It happened! We have the moon rocks from the Apollo missions! You can see the trash we left on the moon with high powered telescopes. If people are willing to lie to themselves about things that we have all witnessed in recent history IS IT ANY WONDER THAT PEOPLE ARE WILLING LIE ABOUT SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED 2000 YEARS AGO BY SAYING THE THE LORD JESUS IS NOT GOD, NEVER CAME TO EARTH AND NEVER DIED ON A CROSS FOR YOU AND ME!!!

I can see the place where the twin towers once stood! I have seen the videos of the pilots that could have flown those planes! I know people who designed the Apollo missions! AND I can see the BIBLE is TRUE! I can see that it matches up perfectly with history and everything that archeologist pull out of the ground is talked about within its pages! I see the world around me and can see that our selfish, sinful world matches perfectly with the human condition described in the Bible. I know that when I put my faith in the Lord Jesus that I became very aware of my sinful human condition. When I walk with Him I feel comfort and joy and when I disobey I feel disgusting about myself. I see the “coincidences” that have led me to where I am in my life and I know it is the Hand of the Living God working in my life!

Scripture

Isaiah 45:5-7

⁵ I am the LORD, and there is no other;
   apart from me there is no God.
I will strengthen you,
   though you have not acknowledged me,
⁶ so that from the rising of the sun
   to the place of its setting
people may know there is none besides me.
   I am the LORD, and there is no other.
⁷ I form the light and create darkness,
   I bring prosperity and create disaster;
   I, the LORD, do all these things.

Application for Life

I did not witness with my own eyes the 9/11 disaster, but I saw the videos, I witnessed the evidence and have felt the pain that it has caused our nation - I KNOW IT HAPPENED! I was not there when Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, but I have seen him talk, watched the footage, and held the moon rocks – I KNOW IT HAPPENED. I was not there when the Lord Jesus was beaten and died on a cross only to rise again for my salvation, but I have studied the history, been unable to disprove one word of God’s WORD and I have witnessed the change in my very own life – I KNOW JESUS IS WHO HE SAID HE IS AND HE HAS SAVED ME!