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Tired of feeling like you aren’t what you should be?

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Want to learn how to be the best man you can be from some guys who have earned the right to teach us?

If you answered YES to any of these questions, you really need to check out MEN’S FRATERNITY!!!  Click here or on the Men’s Frat tab above for all the details and registration information.

And for guys in the Baton Rouge area, come be a part of “REFUEL” Men’s Conference at the Church of the Highlands on Saturday, August 14.  Click here for details and registration information.

I just read this post today by my blogging buddy, Lantz Howard, and I thought it was well worth sharing.  Great stuff, Lantz!

My six year old had his first sleepover party this week.  The original guest list had four of his buddies from school coming over for the mayhem.  Only two made it.  If felt like a whole army!

Please don’t misunderstand.  I am not complaining.  It was a blast, and I thoroughly enjoyed being an active part of the melee.  Without having made any grand plans beforehand, the central theme of the evening quickly became evident – BATTLE!  The teams and individual competitions shifted continually as the warfare raged on.  Plastic swords.  Electronic guns.  Click guns.  Holsters.  Foam battle axe.  Foam war hammer.  Shields.  Direct attacks.  Sneak attacks.  Gang attacks.  Team attacks.  Disney World “light saber.”  Homemade battle-ready light sabers.  Marshmallow guns.  Even balls on the trampoline.  It was all about who was best equipped and who was delivering the best attack.

For all the fun I had both watching and participating in the bedlam, my favorite moment came when my wife wanted to get the boys’ attention before “bedtime.”  She was trying to talk to them, but they could not overcome the distraction of their weapons enough to listen.  So she told them to lay their weapons down on the TV tray by the chair where she was sitting.  What a pile of plastic munitions!!!  I wish I had taken a picture.  It was all I could do to keep from busting out laughing.  But “Ms Chemaine” was in serious mode talking to the boys, and I didn’t think it wise to cut up at that particular moment, so I summoned all of my strength and silently reveled in the sight.

Here was the thought that came to me so clearly, and I have been thinking about it ever since:

Males are made for battle!

We really are.  No one trained these youngins to do this.  It came naturally.  Granted, we had the toy “weapons” available.  But that is simply because they are so highly valued by my son and his buddies.  They want a war to fight.  They want to prove themselves.  They want to be victorious.  They want to conquer.  They want to come out standing when the dust clears.  They want to deliver a well-aimed blow and make it count.

And the truth is – I do, too!

Guys, isn’t that still part of your deepest desire?  Whether you show it outwardly, or not?

So, here is my thought for the day, and I won’t belabor the point: We men were wired for battle, and we basically have three choices as to what we will do with this nature.  We can hide from it and suppress it one of many ways.  We can turn our warriors loose on a misguided campaign that ultimately will lead to damage.  Or we can surrender our soldier-natures to the High King of Heaven to fight the Enemy and stand for righteousness according to His battle orders.

Brother, what battle are you fighting today?  Whose campaign is it?

If you have not yet heard about the success of Urban Prep Academy in Chicago, check this out!  Hats off to these young men and the educators who have believed in them and called them out and up.

* Thursdays from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm

* 17170 Perkins Rd, Baton Rouge, LA 70810 (C-K Office Park)

* Please contact John Hall at 225-933-1542 if you are interested in attending, or would like more information.

Colt McCoy – hats off to you, brother!  Folks, you’ve got to see this minute and a half interview!  For those who aren’t aware, Colt McCoy was a Heisman runner-up for the last two years, and one of the most outstanding quarterbacks ever to play college football.  His Texas Longhorns played an impressive undefeated season and clearly earned the number two spot to play against the Alabama Crimson Tide for the national championship last night.  In the very first series of Texas downs, he took a hard hit to the shoulder, which apparently caused some type of nerve injury that was significant enough to sideline him for the entire game.  This resulted in the freshman backup QB playing the entire game.  No one knows how the game would have gone had McCoy played, but the Longhorns lost to a fairly dominant Alabama team, despite an impressive rapid buildup of poise and confidence in Gilbert, the green QB sub.

Given all of that, listen to the humble, steadfast words of this incredibly talented young man of faith:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVsSvx3UQOY[/youtube]

I am increasingly realizing that I have been terribly duped for much of my life.  My flesh has conspired with the American culture of hedonism to raise me on a steady diet of the consideration, “What do I feel like doing?”  Some regular variations include, “What would make me more comfortable?” “What would make me happy?” and “What is easiest?”  Let’s face it, a great deal of the advertising that bombards us on a daily basis is built on these kinds of questions.

And it usually starts very early.  As a parent, I have a tremendous responsibility to train my child in the reality that being led by these flesh-directed considerations will not bring him to fulfillment, joy, and freedom.  No small task, when the millions of mighty voices of our worldly culture are chanting in unison, “Have it your way!”

I am sick of being duped by this insidious lie that my flesh will lead me to contentment.  It never has, and it never will.  God, have mercy on me.  Lord, free me from this self-imposed slavery.  Spirit, lead me in the paths of righteousness.

And so – last night I decided to defy this old way of life.  I checked my schedule for the coming day, and realized I didn’t have to be in the office until late in the day.  “Yes!  A perfect morning for sleeping in!!!  My wife will head to school for the day with our son, leaving me to enjoy the peaceful slumber of an empty house.  Beautiful!” Thus spoke the old familiar voice of Comfort.  And then another voice spoke within me.  A voice more removed, and yet, somehow more intimate.  “You don’t need more sleep.  Your son does need more time with you, though.  And, haven’t you been seeking to cultivate a life of greater discipline?”

Okay, Lord, you guide my steps.  And, so I said, “Hey son.  How about if I drive you to school tomorrow?  Would that be cool?”  So this morning, I got up “early,” led my son through his morning tasks, and drove him to school.  And not that there is always an immediate, tangible reward for following the voice of God rather than the voice of Comfort, but today there was.  As we sat in the car line, waiting for his teacher to bring him to his classroom, we discovered he had his first loose tooth.  It was a wonderful moment of growth and mystery and creation and relationship.  A moment I would have missed if my lazy bum had been lying in bed, slumbering to the soothing melodies of Comfort.

I got this book in the mail today.  I just finished reading it.  It was one hundred and two pages of the most gut wrenching glimpses of humanity I have ever taken in.

And yet, it gave me hope.  Someone is making a difference.  A lot of someones are making a difference.  Real, soul-freeing differences in the lives of once helpless, victimized, brutalized women and children.  WAY TOO MANY CHILDREN!!!

Please, for the love of life and humanity and freedom and innocence and countless thousands upon thousands of children – ORDER YOUR FREE COPY OF “FROM CONGRESS TO THE BROTHEL” RIGHT NOW!!!

Men, I am issuing you a double challenge to order and read the book, and to take the pledge of The Defenders USA and to uphold that pledge with all your might.  The harsh reality is that there are demons walking this earth, disguised as men like you and me.  Their cold, calloused souls are in desperate need of deliverance and redemption, but first they must be opposed by strong men of faith.  Not men like you and me.  No, they must be opposed by YOU AND ME, men. The men of God across this planet must rise up and man up and stand and fight against this onslaught of unspeakable wickedness.

Think I’m over the top?  Fine.  So long as you order the free book and read it.  Then get back to me and tell me what a nutjob I am.  I am FURIOUS.  I am DISGUSTED.  I am HOPEFUL.  And I have reason for all three.  I’M IN THE WAR!  Will you join the fight?  Would you be in the fight if your children were in the stories on these pages?

Not sure you’re ready to order the book?  Okay – read my post entitled “Hell” from a few nights ago and let it sink in.  Then come back to this one and click the link to order your book.

What is your concept of Hell?  An eternal fiery inferno.  Being in the grotesque presence of Satan forever.  Complete separation from God for all time.  There are several common Biblical and not-so Biblical concepts and descriptions of Hell.

How about this one?

You are a child who wanders across the wrong path one day and you are violently abducted and transported to some other part of the world where you begin a new “life” of being drugged, beaten, and daily forced to endure sexual assault by wealthy, flesh-hungry men up to 20, 30, 40 or more times a day, and are given only enough food, shelter, and rest to keep you alive enough to keep the customers happy.  And if you don’t keep the customers happy, you will be denied even those essentials for a few days, just to teach you that you no longer have the human right to choose anything other than surrender to the will of the money-wielding monster who longs to take you, break you, and discard you for a few moments of twisted pleasure.

DAY AFTER DAY AFTER DAY AFTER DAY AFTER DAY AFTER DAY AFTER DAY.

Sounds like Hell to me!

And human trafficking is happening in shocking numbers every day.

All around the world.

Including in various forms throughout the United States – “The land of the free and the home of the brave.”

In Louisiana.

In Baton Rouge.

I don’t yet know how God is going to use me in this fight, but I am answering His call.  I will not stand on the sidelines, knowing innocent lives are being ravaged by demons in the flesh.  I have to fight back.  I am praying God will show me where He can best use my gifts to bring hope, healing, freedom, and justice in response to this unspeakable atrocity.

Here are some of the organizations I am prayerfully investigating:

www.traffickinghope.org

www.ijm.org

www.sharedhope.org

www.stopthetraffik.org

http://ccatcoalition.web.aplus.net/

www.childrenofthenight.org

www.tradethemovie.com/get_involved.html

www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/

Is God calling you to join the fight against Hell on earth?