MEN: Unsung Heroes

“Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.””
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11‬:‭28‬-‭30‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I’ve restarted this post a number of times, but I like to write guided by the spirit. The stake in that is sometimes you have to be willing to put aside your own messaging to allow His message to be heard. I’ve always prided myself on my work ethic. These past several months have been a humbling experience for me. I’ve had to change my entire diet, vitamin supplements, new medications and an array of tests. A couple days ago I had a dizzy spell that quite literally brought me to my knees. What blessed my heart was the way the Lord showed up for me.

Sometimes He’ll break us down, so that when He rebuilds us from the ground up, we’ll be more free than we’ve ever been. Family expectations, our own expectations, it’s all bondage that keeps us from living in true freedom.

There was a sermon I heard a long time ago, and he used the yoke as an object lesson. He explained, when a farmer acquired a new ox, he would yoke it together with a stronger, more obedient ox. Sometimes the new ox would be either too stubborn for its own good or just too weak to carry its share. At first the stronger ox would carry the majority of the load. As the newer ox became stronger or learned to cooperate, it would gradually pick up more and more of the responsibilities.

This is what Jesus does for us. When we are yoked to Him, He not only carries the load, but He carries us along with it. As He shapes us and molds us, we are given the opportunity to use the strength He has given us to serve along side Him. You see, all our strength comes from Him.

“Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”
‭‭Job‬ ‭2‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭NASB

What makes you tick? Have you thought about it? What’s your purpose, what’s your reason…? For me, it all started a smidge over 18 years ago. I was a broken man that ran out of purposes. Fast forward to today, and I found my purposes, 4 to be exact.

Being a husband and a father are the most rewarding roles that I’ve ever had. There are many days you feel judged, even more where I feel insufficient or not good enough. When I enter that front door and three angels drop everything they’re doing so that they can give me the tightest hugs, that all fades away. I’m not gonna pretend I don’t still have nights where all I can do is wait until they’re all asleep so that I can ugly-cry as I release the hurt and pain that ails me during the day. It’s those hugs that keep me going. With each tight clasp God strengthens me for more. You see, it’s only by God’s grace I have breath in my lungs, and it’s in Him I find the strength to fight each day, for them and fight I will.

There’s a great movie where the titular character gives the arguably best movie speech ever. I don’t want to get in trouble for copy-writes, but to paraphrase he explains that life is mean and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there if you let it. He continues to say that man is not measured by the amount of times he’s been knocked down but rather having the will to pull yourself to your feet and keep fighting back.

As a son this will to work and provide with every ounce of my heart was inspired to me by my father before he passed. As a man of God I have learned that my human body can only go so far and without Him I am never enough. With Him no matter how big the mountain, obstacle, etc when I’ve given every last bit of myself, He will carry me the rest of the way through. When I seek inspiration as I father my own kids I generally draw from a combination of both.

As I continue to follow God, I have found myself in the presence of many great men who have shaped my faith in amazing ways.

Life never stops being hard but something that has brought me great comfort is that no matter how hard it gets or how many people I’ve lost, I will never be alone. Thank the Lord!!

#mentoo,#unsung_her0es

⁷ That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

⁸ Solomon answered God, “You have shown great kindness to David my father and have made meking in his place. ⁹ Now, Lord God, let your promiseto my father David be confirmed, for you have made me king over a people who are as numerous as the dust of the earth. ¹⁰ Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

⁸ Solomon answered God, “You have shown great kindness to David my father and have made meking in his place. ⁹ Now, Lord God, let your promiseto my father David be confirmed, for you have made me king over a people who are as numerous as the dust of the earth. ¹⁰ Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

⁸ Solomon answered God, “You have shown great kindness to David my father and have made meking in his place. ⁹ Now, Lord God, let your promiseto my father David be confirmed, for you have made me king over a people who are as numerous as the dust of the earth. ¹⁰ Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

I started this blog a few months ago yet this is only my second entry. I’ve been seeking Him for direction. I have always loved to write and share of the great works I’ve already witnesses by His hand. I continue to enjoy sharing as I learn from Him, with each step as I follow, as I grow to be the man He wants me to be.

Something that’s echoed on my heart since my father passed away is the idea of legacy. Legacy is about making an impact of the world. Leaving one’s imprint on those left behind. I think commonly we think of this generational in the way we impact our children, and their children and so on. In Gods heart I believe it’s much bigger than that. It’s an impact that’s not bound by name. We leave a bigger impact than we’ll ever realize.

Something my father would often say is we’ve got it better than 90% of the world. You see he wasn’t referring to wealth our family attained, because we hadn’t. At this point he had lost his wife to cancer leaving him to raise on his own three boys, before he himself fought cancer for 13 years. Anybody would excuse him for complaining or brooding about his struggles. He referred to those as the, “Woe is mes.” It was his belief, it never helped anyone to complain about our situations or our losses, but rather concentrate on what we do have. As a fairly new Christian, I wondered how I’d find this kind of humility, this kind, the kind of gratitude I’d only been able to witness in a few men to this point.

I knew who he was to me. While we bumped heads throughout my teens and into my twenties, likely because we were so similar, he became my hero. As I grew to be a man, I saw him as the man I wanted to be. At his funeral I was surprised to see how many he’d impacted and how great that impact had been. People spoke about his optimism and how he’s inspired them passed their own struggles in life. You see it was never meant to be about our impact on the world. It’s about His impact through us.

At a certain point I believe Solomons mistake was concentrating too much about his own legacy and loosing site of God’s.

So I guess I should start with how I got here so you can get to know the carpenter behind the carpentry. Thirty years ago I lost my mother to cancer and with her my link to this world. Throughout my teen years, I continued to struggle with depression. I couldn’t find a place or a people to belong to, so I found my comfort in my own head. When I was in my early 20’s casual drinking graduates to drinking for escape. While it didn’t solve my problems, it slowed my racing thought to a point where I could get through each day. That only lasted a few years. At 25 my liver shut down, they told me 6 months was all I had left. I was blessed to have a father who never gave up on me even when I gave up on myself. He pulled me out of the shelter I was staying in and with great reluctance on my part he sent me to His Mansion Ministries, ( https://www.hismansion.com/ ). Sometimes the help we need comes from the place we least expect, and the last place we’re trying to look. Little did I know I was about to make an encounter that would change my life forever. It was there I experienced the love of Christ for the first time. In a very short time I surrendered my life to Him. It was through Him I also found freedom from the depression and alcoholism. He healed inside me, filled that void, that was giving me the desire to drink. He took me on an amazing journey as I learned more and more who He was and further understand the depth of His love. So often in todays church we don’t pray big enough prayers. Surely he doesn’t do miracles and healings like those we read about in the bible. In the back of my mind I held the memory of that diagnosis of which by now I was on borrowed time. As I went through the immigration process to join my wife here in Ontario where we now reside, doctors tell me they no longer see signs of the cirrhosis. I now sit here as I type this a month away from 42 years of ago, with a lovely wife, three incredible children and a community to serve and be part of. I’m not gonna lie my fears and doubts still get the better of me some days, but His grace is always bigger than my fear.