What made the bully afraid

The thin golden brown skinned man stood tall, facing his enemy.  His penetrating dark brown eyes focused on the neck he planned to strike.  Calmly he spoke this warning: 

Step back. 

His voice could be heard, but barely.  It had the same attitude as the words “Excuse me.”  He wasn’t angry or threatening or commanding.  There was the same certainty as when you say your name after being asked. 

The bully, the enemy, saw two possibilities, as certain as memories, as final as history:

1. He steps back, and the golden man passes.
2. He steps forward, and he struggles to breathe, folded over in what seems to be his last moments on earth.

But how could he step back?  How would everyone see him from that moment on?  Who is this skinny scrawny "boy" to strike fear in this massive mountain of manhood!?  Shouldn’t the strong intimidate the weak?  “How dare this boy make me afraid!”

Yet the bully knew that there was more to lose than his reputation, or even his breath.  In the skinny boy’s eyes the bully saw a fury unlike any he had ever seen.  He saw a fire that inevitably consumes its fuel.  He felt like ice in mid air before landing in hot tea. 

Something, or someone, behind the boy’s eyes made the bully feel helpless.

But why?

The golden boy (who was really a man) didn’t strike the bully as especially strong.  Yet his body looked plantedly agile, as if no one could move the “boy,” nor stop the boy from moving.

This still didn’t capture the fear. 

There was in the boy’s eyes the silent confidence of the hawk before capture, the moment when the prey sees his end, the first time and last time.

“I’ll let you pass…this time!  Punk.”

The golden boy passed, and the bully felt like going home and going to sleep.  He breathed more slowly, and wiping the sweat from his forehead, he thanked God, for saving his life.  (He thanked God for sparing his life.)

And from that day forward, the bully made sure he would never be the object of the Immortal Gaze’s anger.  He now feared The One behind the “boy’s” eyes.

 

To Men (and Women who want Men) Part 3

If you are a man, God is for you, so who can be against you? 
He wants to see Christ formed in you. 
He loves you. 
He likes you.

So often you receive little to no encouragement, only corrections and admonitions. 
Receive honor and encouragement from me in the Name of our Lord and Brother.

To my sisters who read, we love you.  Your honor, and the look of admiration in your eyes, is like heaven on earth.  We seek to be genuinely your glory.  In Jesus' name, pray for us as we pray for you.

God is for us.  Both men and women.

To the men who read, if you haven't done so, start now to control your words. 
In this way you put aside childish speaking, thinking and reasoning.
I know as a father of 7 that children have little to no self control, expressed in their constant chatter. 
They are learning and growing, practicing words, gaining vocabularies.  Yet they talk, talk, talk, talk, talk!

As men, our words should be measured by truth and love. 
This isn't an issue of being introverted or extroverted, talkative or quiet. 
It's an issue of self-control, so that the talkative are not too talkative, and the quiet are not too quiet.

How do we know when we talk too much or too little?

Love and truth.

We should not say more than we know, as it is written of Christ,

"He speaks what He knows and testifies what He has seen and heard."

Every word should be motivated by love, as it is written,
"Speak the truth in love."

With love as our motivation, and truth as our limitation, we will not say too much or too little.
We will be perfect men, able to control our whole body.
You are God's image and likeness and glory.

May you be encouraged, and may you encourage.
Amen.

To Men (and Women who want Men) Part 2

To every man who reads, the word of God says you are the image and likeness and glory of God. 
I honor you because God honors you.

To every woman who reads, the word of God says you are the glory of God's glory. 
I honor you because God honors you.

To every man who reads, know that God is for you, and will help you be the essence of masculinity: 
Self-controlled.

To every woman who reads, if you seek a husband, seek one who has learned and is learning self-control.  This will be a rock to you and your future children.  If you are already married, and your husband displays this grace, honor him.  If he does not, pray for him, and continue to honor his free will.  He will shine when you let him.  Never mother him.  Honor him as God does.  He will become honorable with your honor.

Men, how do we begin?
Where do we begin?

Our words.

The first impression we get of God is in His speech.  We must speak like God speaks.  To control our words is to control ourselves, because our tongues are to our being as a steering wheel is to a car.

To experience the authority of your masculinity, speak briefly according to your identity.
For example, I had a situation where I made a request to my captain about inmate TV issues.  His response:

Officers determine what happens with the TVs.  Captain X.

One sentence.  Then his name.

I had another issue with my chief about my job assignment and schedules.  His response:
Officers work assigned posts when assigned.  Chief X

One sentence.  Then his name.

Of course you may need more than one sentence, but don't say more or less or other than the truth of your assignment and the authority behind your assignment.  Represent the one above you, doing all in his identity for his glory.  This is your masculinity and its glory. 

Click HERE for part 3...

To Men (and Women who want Men) Part 1

It is written,
"Exhort young men to be self controlled."

It is also written,
"If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to control his whole body."

And again, it is written,
"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me."

I read somewhere I can't remember that manhood and womanhood are not opposites. 
Woman is not the opposite of man.  Men and women are not opposing or opposite sexes.
Childhood is the opposite of manhood (and womanhood.  But focus on manhood.)

As a man, husband, father, and officer, I bear witness to the truth of these scriptures.

I've seen that the key to my manhood in all of these areas is self control, as Rudyard Kipling said in his poem, "If," a poem written from the perspective of a father teaching his son about manhood:

"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you..."

I've seen that the atmosphere at my house or job rises and falls with my disposition.
All hell can break loose around me, as long as it doesn't break loose in me.
If I loose it, all seems to be lost.

As it says in one of my favorite songs, so it should be in the spirit of every man:

"No storm can shake my inmost calm."

How can this be so?
By God our Creator, for Whom every man is a reflector.

The prophet Isaiah spoke these words from God:
"You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You."

As a man, I've learned, and I am still learning, to trust God's perspective of me, to seek His honor only, to submit to His authority only.  If God honors me, I am honored, whether the world bashes me or not.

Click HERE for part 2...



Hoodie Wearing Drug Dealing Gangbanging Thugs (Part 2)

The sins of some are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them. In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not obvious cannot remain hidden forever.  1 Timothy 5:24-25

In 2010, as an officer, I was arrested for a crime I didn't commit.
How many times have you read, saw on TV, or heard on the radio, those words?
How many times have they actually been true?
Are they EVER true?

They must be.
They were for me.
God vindicated me and glorified me.
I was shown not only innocent, but honorable in a news paper article with front page picture, and a radio interview.  I was honored by the Undersheriff.  I was promoted.

But before all of this...
I was arrested.

I looked the Internal Affairs Investigator in the eyes, having allowed him to search my home with dogs, and having volunteered to a lie detector, urine test, skin test, and pubic hair test, I said these words:

I'm sure you've heard these words over and over in your career:

"I'm innocent."

"I was set up."

I'm sure you're jaded and skeptical.

But you can also read people.

Surely you should be able to look into the eyes of an innocent man and see innocence. 

If not, our jobs are meaningless.

What does my false arrest and vindication have to to with hoodie wearing drug dealing gang banging thugs?

Everything.

The problem with trials is the complication of human relations.
The lack of a dead man's version.
No, I am not a lawyer, but surely you and I understand the basic premises of law and justice and fairness. 
Is it possible for a hoodie wearing drug dealing gangbanging thug to not actually be a hoodie wearing drug dealing gang banging thug?  If so, how do we know?  If not, why not? 

When I became an officer, a lieutenant said these words:

"The only difference between officers and inmates is that we haven't been caught."

With every atom, molecule, cell, and gene in my body, I DISAGREED WITH HER.
There must be a difference between guilt and innocence.
Not only a difference, an obvious difference.

Isn't it obvious that a 17 year old should still be alive, even if he was awaiting trial for allegedly trespassing, or loitering, or the battery of a 30 year old neighorhood watchman?

Isn't it obvious that I shouldn't strap on my gun and follow a man around my apartment complex, with my wife and children in my home, wondering if I'm going to come home?  After all, if I'm following a dangerous "suspect," it stands to reason, if I've strapped on my gun, that either I or the suspect won't make it home?

As God revealed to me, so I say:
Deception is when the obvious is no longer obvious.

It is written,
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

Hoodie Wearing Drug Dealing Gangbanging Thugs (Part 1)

"The acts of the flesh are obvious..."  Galatians 5:19

In my experience, most hoodie wearing drug dealing gangbanging thugs profile themselves. 

They are proud of their hoodie wearing drug dealing gangbanging thug status.  They are usually in and with a gang, this being the source of their power.  They are usually very "vocal" about their status and territory.  If they invade another territory, again, it tends to be obvious.

But assume I'm wrong.

Assume that you could be sitting next to a hoodie wearing drug dealing gang banging thug RIGHT NOW.

How would you know, if I'm wrong?
Profile him or her?
Ask him or her outright?
Would the "supsicious person" owe you an explanation, a self definition?

In other words, if this hoodie wearing drug dealing gangbanging thug is not obivous, and he or she is sitting next to you, on his or her cell phone, not bothering you at the moment, what is the real problem?  You obviously "suspect" this "suspicious" hoodie wearer.  You don't think it's cold enough to wear a hoodie.  So, if you "suspect" this hoodie wearer, should you follow him?  Should you pursue her?

If she is what you suspect, it wouldn't be wise.
If he isn't what you suspect, even less.

NEVER FAILING

In your area of authority you can expect to be perfect. 
This is what I mean:

As long as you know your boundaries, the limits of your territory and ability, you can expect success in all you do.

How do I know this?

Love never fails.
God is love.
Therefore God never fails.

God commands us to do all we do in love.
Love never fails.
Therefore, if we do everything in love, we will not fail in anything.
The word of God says, "Pursue love."
If we pursue love, we will not fail in our pursuit.

Against love, there is no law.
No limit.
No boundary.
You can love freely and infinitely and eternally.
You cannot truly love too much.
There is no where and no one limited or restricted from love.

You really can't fail with love. 
You'll never be wrong in loving someone.
You'll never go wrong in loving God or your neighbor.
Love
Never
Fails.