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There were two things earlier this month that really got my blood boiling. A good, rolling boil ... not just some bubbles at the bottom of the pot. A let's-do-something-about-it boil. So let's see what Christmas lights are out on memory lane, shall we?

Exhibit A: My wife and I were watching TV one evening, and saw that eBay currently has an ad campaign running that discusses the merit of putting thought into holiday gifts. In the TV spot that we'll discuss, the actor's grandmother knitted and gifted him a pair of socks, to which he promptly (and ungratefully) turns up his nose. He wants a snowmobile, see ... because they're very much the same thing, in the same price range (particularly when purchased via a service that nearly universally requires shipping) and best left up to septuagenarians to select. But I digress.

After the requisite look at the eBay logo and some other plugs, the actor reappears to sniff the socks before turning his nose up and proclaiming, "Smells like church."

:: record scratch sound effect ::
:: blood pressure soars ::

I looked at Allison and said, "Really?" in a rather incredulous tone of voice. "What does church smell like, exactly?" I asked next. (I still haven't figured that out, but surmise it smells a lot better than most of my socks.) More on this in a bit. Moving along...

Exhibit B: (obligatory spoiler alert) the Christmas episode of NBC's popular The Office had a storyline where homely Phyllis was granted permission by Jim to be Santa this year instead of Michael during the office party. Miffed, Michael turns his Santa outfit inside out and - voila! - becomes Jesus, albeit sulking, brooding, insulting Jesus who Michael later blames for "ruining" the office's Christmas, though the actions were his own.

Exhibit A made me pretty indignant, which Exhibit B felt more like a personal insult. Not because I'm a big Office devotee (I'm not) but because of the very public lack of respect for something so sacred, something I hold so dear right there in front of me, in my home. (Though it's by no means the first example of such a thing on Earth.)

A case could probably be made that I'm making more of this stuff than I ought and being too uptight, etc. Perhaps. And after thinking about it in past weeks, I think the eBay commercial is open for interpretation. (Do only old people go to church?) While I don't really know what they were going for there, I do know that they've since taken that part out of the spots. So if it wasn't intentionally insulting, even in a backhanded way, why remove it?

On, finally, to the point of this post. It often feels that "the world" is becoming increasingly antagonistic to Christianity. These two things, especially together, made me angry. It doesn't get more mainstream than eBay and The Office, does it? I wanted to make Facebook posts, swear off eBay, and in effect stick up for a God who really doesn't need me to do anything of the sort for Him. (In the interests of full disclosure, I'm pretty sure I knew that any action would be to make Jason feel better, not God.)

Sure, it hurts when people insult your core beliefs. But as my pastor has said before, quoting Ecclesiastes, "There's nothing new under the sun." We've seen it all before. God most certainly has. Why was I surprised? These were just two more examples of the unbelieving world being and acting like ... the unbelieving world.

The more more I thought about it, they do a whole lot less harm than believers who act like the unbelieving world. It's true. I needed to be self-examining, not getting angry at people who know no better.  And so I thought back on things I've done (and do) that hurt my witness. Using this word or that at work. Talking about this or that at work. Things I do behind the wheel of a car. (Stressful commute or not, there's no place for it.) I was broken. Seriously broken, humbled, and shamed.

My point here is that we're nuts to get upset when the world acts like the world. instead, do WE do that insults our Lord? What do we do that makes "the world" want nothing to do with Him? Forget about whether they want anything to do with us (namely, whether people want to visit our church). We must live in a way that shows God's love and peace to them in the midst of the turbulence raging in the uncaring world! This was Jesus' charge to us as He ascended to Heaven. We can't take it seriously enough.

Take that to Facebook instead.

Jason

Just a quick-hit thought as I was sitting here at work:

It has been a long week, and I commented to a co-worker that it felt more like Friday today than Thursday. Or perhaps that was just wishful thinking.

But whatever the case might be, it's foolish (and wrong) for us to sit at work and pine away for Friday. We're not promised Friday, but God has generously given us Thursday. There's plenty we can do to serve him today instead of waiting for tomorrow to get here.

We all wonder what "tomorrow" has in store for us. We hope, we dream, we plan. But I've always found that when I concern myself with what's in front of me, God always takes care of tomorrow.

Be blessed TODAY.

Jason

Lately I've been reading the book "Walking From East To West: God In The Shadows" by Ravi Zacharias.  Last night I came across this illustration in his book, it is a story that touched his life and now I realize why.  I haven't stopped thinking about it since I read it and I hope somehow it touches you.  Here's the excerpt from the book.

     "A wealthy man walked into a village one day seeking to buy up all the homes.  One by one,  the villagers sold their houses to this man for a good price, except for a poor fellow who lived in the middle of the town.  He simply wasn't willing to part with his home.  The wealthy man offered a generous amount, but the poor man said no.  Finally the rich man said, 'Name your price. I'll give you whatever you want, because then I'll own the whole village.'
     'I don't want to sell to you,' the poor man said.  'I'm happy where I am, and this is where I want to stay.' He continued to stand his ground, much to the wealthy man's disenchantment.
     A few days passed and the rich man was seeing strolling through town with his friends, showing them the village.  When the poor man heard about it, he stopped one of the wealthy man's friends and took him aside. 'Is this man telling you that he owns the whole village?' he asked.  'Don't believe him! The ground you're standing on still belongs to me.'"

The speaker went on to explain the story: "I believe the enemy of our souls must taunt God the way this poor man taunted the rich one.  You see, if there is any part of our lives that we haven't turned over to Christ, the devil reminds him. 'No, that one isn't totally yours.  I still have this patch of ground here.'"

"Jesus is totally committed to us.  And until we learn to be totally surrendered to him, we'll never find the joy of what it means to fully belong to him.  That is the key to every believer's life--full ownership by Christ.  Everything we are and want to be belongs to him."   

-Will

We'll go ahead and assume that Jason is Reject #1 since he was the first to get married off.  Now he has a compadre in the life of a married man.  Congratulations to the newly engaged Reject #2.  Better known to everyone else as Chris.

Chris is marrying an incredible woman named Allison.  (Yes, we've gained another Allison, and are better for it!)  So on behalf of Reject #1 and myself, here's a big congratulations to the engaged couple.

Good luck Allison, you have your work cut out for you :)

-Will

When I joined in with Jason and Chris to write this blog I wanted to be able to share with you guys some of the lesser known characters in the Bible and some of the really incredible things we can learn from them.  I first thought about Jonathan, the son of Saul, but as I continued through my study I happened upon Josiah.  At that moment, I knew that Josiah was the one I wanted to share with you first.  (I'll get back to Jonathan later...which is a great story in its own right)

For those of you that aren't aware of Josiah...(I knew very little about him previously)...he was the last good king of Judah and reigned about 600 years before Christ.  Josiah was preceded by two kings who lacked greatly in character including his father that "did evil in the eyes of the Lord" and his grandfather, who murdered his own children and participated in the dark arts. 

So it is obvious that Judah was in a very difficult place at this time...they had been away from the Lord for so long when Josiah took over as King.  Somehow, despite his upbringing, Josiah loved the Lord.  Josiah did all he could to restore Judah to being a group of God fearing people.  Josiah was determined to be different from his father and grandfather and serve the Lord.

Unfortunately for Josiah his reforms were not supported by kings after him and Judah was set to face judgement.

I encourage you to read Josiah's story...because even though God considered him blameless in the fall of Judah, I think we can learn two powerful lessons from this great man.

1.  Your past does not define who you are, or who you will be.
2.  God calls us to be faithful, not necessarily successful.

Let's start with the first.  I cannot tell you how many times the enemy has used my past against me.  I'm certain at some point in your life he has done the same to you.  I would encourage you to look at Josiah though.  This is a man that was brought up in horrible circumstances by a father and a grandfather that turned their backs on the Lord.  Josia, though, was determined to be his own man and to serve the Lord with all of his heart, mind, and soul.  If you allow the enemy to cripple you and tell you his lies, you might never be able to serve the Lord as fully as He intends.  The enemy will tell you that you aren't good enough to be a leader, you aren't qualified to do that mission trip, you don't have enough knowledge to lead that Bible study, or he will tell you any number of lies to disable you from doing what God has called you.  Please guys...don't let it happen to you.

As for the second part...this is tough for a lot of us.  As men, we are all competitive.  We want to win.  Truth is...Josiah didn't win.  Josiah didn't succeed.  The kings that came after him reverted everything back to the way it was before...away from God.  Josiah was told by a prophetess that this would happen before he even ended his reign as king.  Did he give up?  No.  He continued reforming Judah and trying to point them back to God even when he knew that it wouldn't make a difference in the end.  The people of Judah would return to their evil ways.  That's the tough part.  Josiah knew the end...but he still loved the Lord enough to be faithful in a difficult situation.  I pray that He will give me the patience, strength and faith to be faithful even when I may not be successful.  Because if it is His will...it is perfect, and there must be a reason I'm called to do it.  I refuse to believe otherwise.

I'm encouraged by Josiah.  I know that my past, whatever it may be, doesn't define me...and I cannot let the enemy use it as a foothold.  And I know that while I may not always be successful, if I am faithful to God's words, then my Savior will be pleased with me.

-Will

So like Will, I have missed a month on the blog.  I’m rather embarrassed given the fact that my last post was ‘stop talking, start doing.’  I’ve had the idea for the post probably for three weeks now, yet haven’t gotten around to it.  But when Will made his post last week, I knew I couldn’t wait any longer because this subject is a great follow up.

I should start with a little recent history on me.  When I moved back to Greenville four years ago from Columbia, I moved back because there was an opportunity in my father’s company I wanted to take advantage of.  He and his partner are homebuilders with a staff of two superintendents.  One of their superintendents was going out on his own and my Dad asked me if I wanted that spot – and I accepted.  It was a tremendous opportunity; I’ve always wanted to be a builder.  If I were to start my own company, my business training would cover me in that area but I lacked in the operations component.  This career has really prepared me for homebuilding – one day.

Fast forward three and a half years.  The market grows ever tightening.  I’ve already passed my builder’s license examination and would be building already, but there’s no business to be had.  RCB (our company) is coming closer and closer to a halt.  I see the writing on the wall and begin researching other job opportunities.  Well RCB beats me to the punch.  After a difficult conversation mid December, I’m out of work January 1.  There were no hard feelings – neither partner had been taking a regular salary for quite some time and the other superintendent was more experienced and more qualified.  I wish them the best, they had no alternative.

So where does that leave me?  Dealing with the unemployment office and looking for work.  I’m a guy that needs work.  I need it for the obvious financial reasons but I also need it because I hate having nothing to do.  And I’ll be honest, despite no real bites in my job search and dealing with the incredibly inefficient South Carolina unemployment services I still felt God watching over me.  I knew He would take care of me, but that wasn’t giving me peace. 

That was January.  In March, my faith had taken a bit of a hit.  Its not that I didn’t trust God, but that I was feeling deflated.  I had three second interviews by the start of March, with none of them materializing.  It was kind of flattering when each employer said they had a range of between 100-250 applicants.  But I kept getting that close.  I kept preparing for days before my interviews going over every possible interview question I could think of and all the reasons I would be a great addition to their team.  But I failed.  And I was starting to become bitter and cynical.

Its not that I didn’t understand the large labor force for a sparse job market; I get that.  But this job was something I needed.  I was nothing without a job.  I wasn’t working five days a week, I wasn’t making any money – I found myself to be worthless.  But I was wrong.

In my last post I referenced a book my Bible Study is ready, “One Month to Live,” and I really want to get into it deeper at a later point.  The book is written by a preacher and he says in the opening that of all the hundreds of people he has been with towards the end of their life, not one has lamented if only they made one more sales call.  If only they had spent a few more days at work.  Of course they didn’t, because what is important in life is relationships.

I found this peace within myself mid March.  And it changed my life.  Yes I needed money.  Yes I need something productive for my days.  But a job is only that; a job.  Now whether you love your job, or you’re riding it out until something better comes along remember that it is only a job.  My faith, my family, my friends – those are the constants in my life.  If I am Chris Foy, Garbage Man or Chris Foy, President those three constants will remain.  I am the same person with a great job, with a mediocre job, or with no job.

Please let me be clear.  Jobs are important.  But look at what Will went through in April and what I’ve been through since January.  Will I’m sure would gladly trade his struggles for mine.  Because what I’ve been through, while stressful, is insignificant in the big picture.  God gets us through all struggles big and small.  With that said, its easy when caught up in the moment to lose perspective.  If I had to forgo work for three years in a deal with God that all my loved ones would live healthy and enriching lives, I would do it without hesitation.  And I’m glad I now see this struggle from that mindset.  Because even though I was in the middle of my ’40 days,’ I was blessed well beyond my deserving.

Well on April 3rd, day 41 came for me.  I am happy to report that I am now the Manager of Accounting and Administration for Foreign Translations, Inc. a great company downtown Greenville.  But it is just a job.  And as much as I love it, I must keep developing and growing the relationships in those three constants: faith family and friends.  Because that is what’s truly important in life.

  --Chris

"Father please forgive me, for I cannot compose the fear that lives within me, or the rate at which it grows."

-What If I Stumble, DC Talk

In a perfect world, it wouldn't have taken me four weeks to post another blog.  If I hadn't explained it to my fellow keepers of the blog they would have thought that I made one post, became bored with the whole blog idea and quit.

The truth is, the month of April was a difficult month.  I'm not going to get into too many specifics, but I want to speak about a crippling emotion in our lives, whether we as men will ever admit it or not.

Fear. 

The above quote has pretty much been my prayer to God for the past four weeks.  As men, we are programmed to be brave.  Nothing bothers us...we fear nothing, we will take on anything thrown at us, we can handle it.  We can "man-up."  Sound about right to you?

The past month has been an incredible learning experience for me, I don't relish going through it...but I'm grateful for how much closer it has brought me to God and the things he decided to teach me.  I guess you can say it started around April 1st when it fully sunk in that I was going to undergo a procedure to correct a torn ACL.  I'm not a big fan of doctors or medical procedures, so naturally I started getting nervous and throwing up all of these ideas of things that could go wrong. 

I'm ashamed to admit it...but at times during those few days I didn't trust God.  I sat down the night before the surgery and read three chapters in Psalms that I would recommend to you.  Everyone's "go to" Psalm when they are on edge, Psalm 23.  After that, I dove into Psalm 51 and then Psalm 91.  (Take some time later to look up Sonicflood's song "Psalm 91" then you'll understand a little better God's protection. 

Incredibly long story...short, I made it through just fine and have everyone's prayers, along with God to thank for that. 

A few days later, something else occurred which didn't effect me directly, but someone close to me.  The situation was tough, and truthfully I was frightened.  Now that I think about it, I believe God was telling me...

I brought you through your last fear.  Will you trust me that I will bring you through this one?

I froze.  I found myself engulfed in worry.  I thought, by worrying, I was actually doing something.  I wasn't.  You see, worry is not biblical.  Worry is not of God.  What could I do though?  Pray. 

Over the next couple of weeks I was praying like crazy.  God was drawing me closer and continued to remind me His will is perfect.  He knew what was going on and he had a reason why it was happening.  I, then, remembered a sermon I heard just a few months earlier by Dave Edwards called "Chapter 40"

If you want to hear this sermon please get in touch with me...I will be more than happy to make sure you receive this incredible blessing of God's word.

Chapter 40 is based on Genesis 40 where Joseph is imprisioned for a crime he did not commit.  Joseph doesn't know why he's there and is doing everything he can to get out.  Dave explains that Chapter 40 comes in all of our lives.  Chapter 40 is a time of confinement where God is trying to teach us something that we need for the next part of our lives.  Although it is a difficult time to go through, Chapter 40 isn't a punishment.  God is not condemning us.  It is a time of shaping, molding and teaching.  The thing to remember, though, is that Chapter 41 always comes.  In Chapter 41, Joseph meets Pharaoh and is put second in command over everything.  God was preparing Joseph for the next step in his life. 

I do feel like I've recently gone through a Chapter 40 in my life, and I know that at some point you will too.  God is telling us, I believe, in these times...

I have you here for a reason...can you trust me?  Are you willing to live here in this Chapter 40 until I am ready to pull you out?

Pretty heavy stuff, and yes...it can bring about a lot of fear.  God will handle that, if you let Him and realize that He has the control.  You have no control.

Chapter 41 always comes.  I'm going to finish out this post the way Dave finished out his sermon that night...with the promises of God.  I hope you feel God's presence in it the way I did that night.

"When the earth came under judgement by flood for 40 days and 40 nights, on the 41st day the covenant of peace hung in the sky because for every 40 there is a 41. 

Isreal wonders in the desert for 40 years and on the 41st year a new generation had risen up to take possession of the promised land symbolic of the will of God, because for every 40 there is a 41. 

Goliath stood against Isreal for 40 days and 40 nights and on the 41st day a little boy named David shows up and kills him with one shot because for every 40 there is a 41. 

And Jesus the son of God goes into the desert for 40 days and 40 nights to do hand to hand combat with the enemy himself and on the 41st day he emerges The Victor, because for every 40 there is a 41. 

And Jesus dies on the cross and three days later rises and for 40 days and he appears to more than 500 people and by the 41st day he has ascended to take his rightful place at the right hand of God, because for every 40 there is a 41."    

41 will come.

-Will

We would be completely remiss to allow this blessed, sacred Easter Sunday to pass without marking it here. On behalf of the other two "Rejects," below is all you need to know about why we're here. God Bless.

Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia! 
Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia! 
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia! 
Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia! 

Love's redeeming work is done, Alleluia! 
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia! 
Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia! 
Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia! 

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia! 
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia! 
Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia! 
Where's thy victory, boasting grave? Alleluia! 

Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia! 
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia! 
Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia! 
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia! 

Hail the Lord of earth and heaven, Alleluia! 
Praise to thee by both be given, Alleluia! 
Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia! 
Hail the Resurrection, thou, Alleluia! 

King of glory, soul of bliss, Alleluia! 
Everlasting life is this, Alleluia! 
Thee to know, thy power to prove, Alleluia! 
Thus to sing, and thus to love, Alleluia!

"Christ the Lord is Risen Today"
Words: Charles Wesley

Late to the party is better than skipping, right?

I'm Jason, the third of the appropriately-named "Gamecock Rejects." It's great to be here, thanks for having me, and where is the craft services truck?

My wife's job (banking) has her attending a motivational seminar today with a rather star-studded list of schedule speakers: Rudy Giuliani, some Microsoft president (not Gates...), Suze Orman and USC's own Steve Spurrier, to name a few.

Now, when I think of motivational speakers nowadays, my mind (and probably yours) immediately thinks about this:

The missus was looking forward to going, and obviously there's nothing wrong with that. Already this morning she sent me a TXT listing several people we know who are also there. Listen hard and go get 'em, kids.

But it's got me thinking back to the very first sermon I heard from the pastor at my church, which was titled "Besting." My memory's fuzzy and the notes I took are long gone, but the basic tenet was that it is entirely Christian to always give your all and to always do you best, as we are called to do just that. How?

My new Bible study reminded us this week that God's main goal in creating each of us was to bring glory to Himself. What we do in our time here is to glorify Him. Not Jason, not Jason's work, not Jason's anything except his heavenly Father. Besting, therefore, is innately Christian. How can we not give everything 100% when we're doing it to honor and glorify the God who breathed the universe into being? What more motivation do Christians need than that?

Before proceeding, it's cards on the table time. This blog is about being real. We would not ever put ourselves forward as examples of anything or in anyway suggest that we're authorities on Christian conduct. We are human and we err. Like everyone else, we're reliant on God's saving grace to sustain us. So, that said...

We should be totally convicted about all the times we go into work and just do the things we need to do to make it through the next eight to nine hours. We should be totally convicted about all the times we go to church more concerned about what's in it for us (I'm bad about this...) instead of going to worship and praise the living God who has saved us.

Gosh, it's hard to do. You almost need a motivational speaker for it. Christians absolutely can go to any seminar they want to get a pep talk, but keep in mind that you're hearing the world's pep talk.

Let's go back to high school economics: The world cares about how many widgets you make and your profit margins. More, more, more! Make enough, sell enough, move into a McMansion and live the good life.

God, however, doesn't care if you outproduce MegaWidget Co. (ChinaWidget has their number regardless) or outsell them. God cares that you "best" and produce your widgets to glorify Him, not to make a pile of money to glorify yourself. Now if you make a pile of money because your "besting" widgets are better, great! But God's desire is for you to say, "Look how the Lord has blessed me; I've done this only because of Him." It's about your attitude and motive with God, not your bottom line.

So let's get motivated. We all have days where we don't want to leave our warm beds. We don't want to go to this meeting or that. We don't want to go take the dog out for a walk when it's raining. We don't want to clean up after dinner. It's human nature. But human nature is sinful nature, and we're called to better.

Catch up with you soon.

- Jason

“Stop talking.  Start doing.”  No doubt you’ve seen this slogan in one of the countless ads IBM has put out in the past couple of years.  The commercials make fun of the fact that a lot of people and businesses consume their time developing plans and strategies only to find very little carrying out of their objectives.  As a business man and a church going man, I love this concept because in both venues all I ever see is a lot of talking.

When Will pitched the idea of this blog to me, I thought it was a perfect way to “start doing.”  As men of God, we are called to be spiritual leaders.  We all should be, but we’re not.  And I’m not pointing fingers, because I have been a constant failure in this department.  But look around you.  Yes you will spot a few “Men of God” but if you’re looking in the areas that I am, you’ll likely see church and Christian groups largely dominated by women.  And while I never want to complain about being surrounded by women, this is unacceptable.  This isn’t a subject up for debate – we are called upon to be leaders.  And this is certainly not to say women can’t be leaders, but that there is something wrong with church leadership teams barren of willing men. 

Maybe you’re already a doer.  Maybe you’re just now processing that now you should step it up in the leadership department.  But I bet a lot of you are like me.  For far too long you’ve thought about the steps to improve your Christian life and haven’t had the guts to do it. 

My weekly Bible study has just started a new series “One Month to Live.”  Its pretty straight forward and I’d like to get deeper into the study in a later blog, but the overall premise of the study is applicable here.  All my life I’ve kept promising to God and myself that I have some sort of plan to slowly curb out the bad things in my life, and lead a life more pleasing to Him.  But this is poor judgment on my behalf.  I’m not promised tomorrow, so why am I living my Christian life like I’m guaranteed another 50 years on this earth?  I’d love to be here on Earth until I’m 80 but I could be gone tomorrow.  So why do I keep talking about the life I should live when I should just do it.

Plans are great.  You get a bunch of ideas, you strategize; the concept really is a good one.  But as Christian men, this approach clearly isn’t working.  The time is now.  We need to start living the life we are supposed to – we know the basics.  We need to just start and the rest can be worked out along the way.  We’re not going to live forever on this earth. 

We need to stop making excuses.  We need to quit putting it off until some things are "right" in our lives.  We need to start doing.  And the rest will fall in place. 

--Chris