Several of my football teammates had been seen drinking beer at a party next door to one of the new to town assistant football coaches home, at the start of the football season. The assistant told the head coach about it and the head coach went to the players and asked them about it. They admitted to the incident. Coach could have kicked them off the team, due to the rules of the team, but he did not. He made them apologize to the team before practice one night.

All of us at one point or another in our lives have chosen to break the rules. Either we break Gods laws, human laws, and the laws of nature or even the coach’s rules for the team.

Thankfully, God does not reject us at our first offense of ignoring the laws or the second or third etc. God continually draws us towards him as long as we are still alive on this earth and wants us on the team. But there may be a penalty to have to pay.

The best place for rule breakers is on the team, because those rule breakers are all of us.

Paul Bear Bryant was football coach at Alabama for 25 years and on the day he died this folded up poem was found in his wallet. He read this poem to his team ever so often and told the team, “Don’t be to proud to get on your knees and pray.”

“This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use as I will. I can waste it or use it for good. What I do today is very important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving something in its place I have traded for it. I want it to be gain, not loss, good, not evil. Success, not failure in order that I shall not forget the price I paid for it.”

It is very important to read from the Bible everyday, but I also read other books. These are my favorite books from the past several years. Most all were found at thrift stores or used online.

Anam Cara by John O’Donohue (A book of Celtic Wisdom)

He Leadeth Me by Walter J. Ciszek (American priest that spent 23 years in Soviet Gulag)

Holy Desperation by Heather King (Praying as if your life depends on it)

Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes (A novel of the Viet Nam War, but actually Karl’s story)

Evangelical is Not Enough by Thomas Howard (Worship of God in Liturgy & Sacrament)

Dakota by Kathleen Norris (A Spiritual Geography)

The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris

Prayer Shield by C. Peter Wagner (How to Intercede for Pastors & Other Christian Leaders)

The Unnecessary Pastor by Marva J. Dawn & Eugene Peterson

Working the Angles by Eugene Peterson (The Shape of Pastoral Integrity)

Ten Things Wrong with the Modern Church by Paul Washer

Knowing God by J.I. Packer (Took over a year to read, so much good information.)

Catholics Wake Up by Jesse Romero (Be a Spiritual Warrior)

Map of My Dead Pilots by Colleen Mondor (The Dangerous Game of Flying in Alaska)

What if your football team only came to weightlifting one day a week? Would the team get better with this one day a week workout? Would the individuals on the team be able to increase their personal maximum best lifts and be able to run faster and jump higher with greater agility with a one day a week workout?

Everything that I read about weightlifting says that if you lift once a week you are just maintaining what you have. You are not increasing your strength and you are basically standing still.

So in our spiritual lives if we work out with God only one day a week do you suppose you are growing your strength and faith or are you just standing still?

Get busy and grow your strength and faith in the Lord to your maximum potential by working out more often with our Father in Heaven.

Isaiah 40:30-31 Even youth grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

This video was not put here as a political statement on who I voted for or didn’t vote for. This video was put here to stop men and women from dealing with the pain of abortion.

A good friend of mine got his girlfriend pregnant in college and paid for her to have an abortion. She ended up in a mental institution for a period of time and my friend became a drunken drug addict. Both of them eventually found Jesus, but they were never together again.

It takes courage to stand up for what is right and this priest has got it right. I pray we have more leaders of faith do the same.

https://youtu.be/M92PX3Df7HM

Several weeks into the football season, the coach would tell us he wanted a perfect play drill. He would call an offensive play and we were supposed to perform it with no mistakes. He then would put the offense against the defense and expect the same perfect play. As you can guess it rarely happened to be perfect against the defense.

In life we are not perfect either. King David was a man after God’s own heart. He knew the Ten Commandments, he knew right from wrong, but he saw Bathsheba and desired her in his mind first, which lead to coveting, adultery, lies and murder.

You and me are men just like King David. We know we should not commit adultery, lust or fornicate, but we do have inner thoughts of things we should not do and at times we fail even if it is just in our imagination.

There is no perfect church where there is no sin. There is no perfect pastor, priest or preacher. If your pastor and church is held up as the perfect place you know it is a fake. None of us are perfect, but we must strive for perfection.

Paul the Apostle talked about this imperfection in men and claimed he was the chief sinner of us all. He took the Gospel to the gentiles and wrote many letters that are in the Bible today. A great man, but still a sinner, just like you and me.

1 Timothy 1: 15-16 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.

Romans 7:15-20 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.  For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.