“This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. 
Psalm 118:24 
This is the day the Lord has made!

DADs…each day is a rich and precious gift from God, with new grace and new opportunities.

This month I am officiating one funeral and two weddings. Quite the reminder of the importance of each day God gives us.

In all three of these events, many will gather. 
They will gather to celebrate a great life lived, and celebrate two couples unions, as they begin their new lives together.  

Why do we wait for the major life events to acknowledge the beauty and the sorrow of each day?

Why do we wait to give thanks for the countless blessings, hold others close in their pain, and speak the words to those we love, in "all the days between" the milestones of our lives?

In Hebrews 3:13 it reads:
But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called "Today," so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

DADs…do not withhold blessings. Encourage others in your family and those that you lead. 

Don’t wait for funerals and weddings to speak the words and acknowledge the blessings of each day.

Do not wait till tomorrow. Encourage, love and rejoice even in "all the days between!"
Celebrate today!

To God be the glory!

DADs...
“Get in the game”…Today is game day and so is every day…God gives you! 
So…C’mon men...
Suit Up!

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” 
(Jeremiah 29:11)

DADs…two words most men and DADs do not like to hear...“rest and wait.”

As men, we are often like the little boy fighting his mother at nap time to “rest" 
or like the anxious teenager who questions why he must “wait" until his 16th birthday to start driving.

As kids, many of our species are basically wired to work hard and play hard with little time to “rest and wait.”

We want it all and we want it now!

And as adults and DADs we carry those same characteristics into our many older life stage phases as well. 

And when it doesn’t happen on our schedule, and within our time schedule, 
many times we as men just forge forward, without guidance nor direction 
from anyone else besides our own self reliance. 

In Psalm 37:23, David shares, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord."
You see we as men we need order, and there is no one better to “order" our steps, than God.

In Proverbs 16:9, it reads, “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” 
You see we can feel it in our heart, believe with conviction what we are doing is important, but we must allow our feet to follow on His path “directed" by our Lord.

If we truly desire to “have all and get now" the Psalmist tells us in Psalm 37:4,7 to
“Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. 
Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass … 

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.”

Delight, Commit and Trust in the Lord!
And oh yea…Rest and Wait!

To God be the glory!

DADs...
“Get in the game”…Today is game day…and so is every day God gives you! 
So…C’mon men...
Suit Up!

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:10 (NIV)

DADs…last week we reflected upon the preparation that God does. 

As we also mentioned last week, preparation of the heart is an ongoing process.

Today we will look at the preparation we do.

It involves holding our heart out before the Lord, with an attitude of desiring to please Him in all areas of our life. 

The preparation on our end requires each of us saying to God: “Prepare my heart, Lord, for what You have in store for me. I trust that any change initiated by You is for the better, no matter how it appears at the time. Help me to yield to Your plans for my life, which are always good and full of hope.”

DADs…how many times have we heard ourselves say, “I just don’t see God in this situation," "I didn’t connect with the pastor’s message today,” "I cannot seem to find God in this place."

It is in these circumstances, we must prepare our hearts and be still.

DADs...when we humble ourselves before Him, confess our great need of Him, and desire to do His will, we will meet God on the path He lays out for us always.

God is always on the job, but in order for us to be reMade, we must reflect and relent,
doing our preparation allowing God to change our hearts.

To God be the glory!

DADs...
“Get in the game”…Today is game day…and so is every day God gives you! 
So…C’mon men...
Suit Up!

DADs…preparation of the heart is an ongoing process, providing each of us
accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior, to be continuously reshaped and reMADE.

There are (2) aspects to preparation of the heart. 
Today we reflect upon the preparation that God does. 
Next week we will look at the preparation we do. 

Psalm 10:17 (HCSB) is a key verse of Scripture concerning God’s role:   
"You will strengthen their hearts. You will listen carefully"
DADs...God desires a relationship, but He wants us to fully acknowledge Him along the way. 

He has the ability even when we are distracted and scattered to let our eyes see with His eyes and our ears to hear His voice calling in our lives. 

He not only prepares our hearts,He even prepares a path for our walk, He goes before us!

In Deuteronomy 31:8, it says, "The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; 
He will be with you He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed." 

God does this work of preparation in our hearts, while reMaking us. 

He is always there. Always. He can be doing His work preparing us, in spite of us…
or He can do it with us!

DADS…God's preparation is unceasing, giving us countless opportunities daily to be reMADE!

To God be the glory!

DADs...
“Get in the game”…Today is game day…and so is every day God gives you! 
So…C’mon men...
Suit Up!

But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. - Jeremiah 18:4 (NASB)

DADS…so many versions all meaning the same thing:
- "so the potter formed it into another pot"(NIV);
- "so he made it again" (KJV);
- "so he made it into another jar" (HCSB);
- "and he reworked it into another vessel" (ESV);
- "so he made it again into another vessel" (NKJV),

but I think my favorite version is…

- "so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over." (NLT)

Maybe I favor this version because it reminds me of God’s mighty sovereignty 
and His almighty power to wipe it all clean,  while creating a new masterpiece from nothing.
Even a sinner like me!

I love this parable of the potter found in Jeremiah. 
Jeremiah says, “Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make” Jeremiah 18:3-4.

Then Jeremiah went on to quote God as saying, “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand” Jeremiah 18:6.

DADs, here is a vivid picture of life painted by the Prophet Jeremiah. He portrays God as the divine potter and man as the clay that the Master Artist seeks to make into a vessel of usefulness. 

But in the process, the vessel becomes marred, a flaw appears in the work and the skilled Craftsman of life refashions it to His own liking.

DADs, we can identify three points standing out boldly in the parable of the potter: we were made; we became marred, and we are remade again.

Notice that the Book of Jeremiah doesn’t say the Potter mended the vessel; it says, “He made it again into another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make.”

The great preacher Billy Graham, once shared, “every day a million scenes like the one in Eden are reenacted. Men trade their divine rights for a pittance of pleasure, their favor with God for the tawdry things of this world. Each day a thousand sons of Adam slip away into the shadows of their spiritual Eden."

But now as then, God in His patience and tenderness seeks to restore and redeem His marred vessels. 

Through Christ, a way has been opened to God, but now as then, we must approach Him in the manner which He has prescribed, and not our own.

DADs, in Christ, we are crushed into a lump of clay and reMade into a NEW Vessel!

To God be the glory!

DADs...
“Get in the game”…
Today is game day ...
and so is every day God gives you! 
So…C’mon men...
Suit Up!