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Motivation

10 Oct

Dear God, I’m helping teach a class for Christian Men’s Life Skills (CMLS) next week on Motivation. These men have done something to get sideways with the law and now have community service hours to fulfill. They chose to fill some of them by taking this class. And it’s a commitment: 3 hours a night, 3 nights a week, for 10 weeks. 90 hours. Some of them are driving a long way to take it.

Maybe that’s where I start. Maybe that’s how I enter into this with them. I’m teaching with another man who’s taught this class nearly 50 times so he has refined his material over and over again. He knows it very well. And it’s tried and true. But for my part, while I’m using his materials as the skeleton of what I’m going to say, I need to find my own flesh to put on the bones. I need to hear from you, Holy Spirit, what you want them to hear. What you need them to hear. What seeds you have for me to plant.

So I guess the first message for them is that they have already exhibited great motivation by choosing this intense commitment. I just got this idea while I was typing the first paragraph. Was it from you? I hope so.

  • What motivated them to be here tonight?
    • How people get accurate surveys. If you want good results you figure out a way to get answers from as many people across a spectrum as possible. Social class. Race. Geography. Gender. Age. Sexual orientation. For example, if I only survey people by calling landlines, how might I skew my results? For the most part, the people who still have landlines are older so I won’t hear from younger people, poor people, and likely people of color. For the most part, my survey will skew old, white, and middle class or higher.
    • Lies, darn lies, and statistics. When they were explaining to me that CMLS has a very low recidivism rate (I think they said 13%), I thought, “Wow, they must do some great teaching.” But after I got involved I realized the results are skewed like a bad survey. But this is an impressive skewing. One of the things that drives their results is the commitment the men are making to be there. Three nights a week for 10 weeks. If you’re going to commit to that much time over that short of a period you are already saying something about yourself. You want to change. You want to get better. They all have a choice to be here or not be here tonight. They chose to be here.
    • So back to motivation, what motivated them to be here? What’s driving their participation? They set out every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from September 15-November 20 to attend the class. They deny themselves. Maybe it’s to stay out of jail, but there are other ways to do their community service. But even the motivation to stay out of jail is a choice. Some people who aren’t motivated will just accept jail rather than climb the hill the judge has put in front of them. So why are they here? The answers will be different for everyone:
      • Be a better man for their wife and/or children.
      • Be a better man for their parents.
      • Tired of running and kicking against the goads (Acts 26:13-14)
        • Their lifestyle is not getting them what they want so they are ready to explore a new path, and we, as instructors, are here to give them that path and introduce them to who God really is and how he is there for them as much as he is for us.
      • So why does CMLS have such a high success rate? I’d like to think it’s because of the amazing teachers, but ultimately it’s because they skew the results because we don’t have a random sampling of people who get assigned community service hours by the courts. We have a skewed sample of men who are motivated to do something about their lives.

This is where I will pick up and get into Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and go with the slides from there.

Father, this really helped me, and I love the Acts 26:13-14 reference. Paul explaining his conversion experience said this to King Agrippa:

13 “About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. 14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

15 “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

“ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied.”

You were telling Paul, “I’m trying to tell you and teach you about me, and all you keep doing is persecuting the messengers. I’m trying to steer you in the right direction with a goad and you are fighting it? Aren’t you tired of fighting me? I have something for you that’s so much better than what you’re living now.”

Father, as I get into later slides, I think I’m going to try to address my motivation for being there. My co-teacher’s/mentor’s motivation for being there. I’m there because you’ve taught me my ultimate purpose in life, ultimate fulfillment, comes from simply following the two great commandments. And you didn’t do these two great commandments for you. You didn’t tell me to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength for your ego. Because you needed that from me. No, you did it because you know I need you and the closer I get to you the happier I am. And then you said the second greatest is like the first one, but then you turned it out to other people. Love my neighbor as myself. My life is best when I’m giving it away. When I’m loving. When I’m caring. When I’m sacrificing. So on Maslow’s scale of five: 1.) Basic Needs, 2.) Security, 3.) Social Needs, 4.) Self-Worth Needs, and 5.) Self-Actualization, all of the other teachers and I, including the alumni that show up to support are addressing levels 4 and 5. I am finding my joy and peace through serving these men and being your messenger to them. Oh, how I praise you for this. Thank you, Father. Thank you for loving me, calling me, teaching me (continually), and sending me.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 10, 2025 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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“Proud Corazon” by Anthony Gonzalez

30 Sep

Say that I’m crazy or call me a fool
But last night, it seemed that I dreamed about you

When I opened my mouth, what came out was a song
And you knew every word and we all sang along

To a melody played on the strings of our souls
And a rhythm that rattled us down to the bone

Our love for each other will live on forever
In every beat of my proud corazón

Our love for each other will live on forever
In every beat of my proud corazón

¡Ay mi familia! ¡Oiga mi gente!
Canten a coro, let it be known
Our love for each other will live on forever
In every beat of my proud corazón

¡Ay mi familia! ¡Oiga mi gente!
Canten a coro, let it be known
Our love for each other will live on forever
In every beat of my proud corazón

Written by Adrian Molina (lyrics) and Germaine Franco (composer)

Dear God, I was playing this song for some extended family last night and I had it going in my head when I woke up this morning. I thought I would sit in my sadness with it a while and bring that sadness to you. You said that those who mourn would be comforted. Please comfort me now.

I have a couple of family relationships that are completely broken and it hurts. It is a hole in my heart. Sometimes, like even right now, it brings tears to my eyes. But I’ve accepted that maybe, at least for now, this is the path you have for all of us so that you can get us to the place you want us to be. I don’t want to get in the way of your plan for them or for me just because I selfishly want them back in my life. No one ever said (besides prosperity gospel preachers) that my life wouldn’t have pain. In fact, Jesus started off the beatitudes with being poor in spirit and mourning. He knew we would experience that.

And now that I’m sitting here in this sadness, I am thinking about the sadness in Ukraine over people being randomly killed by rockets being indiscriminately fired at them. Their family. I think about those is Palestine and Israel who have experienced incredible pain and loss. I think about the families here being separated by immigration rules that need reformed. I think about the pain of people who have family members with addiction issues. Parents who are fighting and don’t love each other. Parents who are drug-addicted and CPS is having to intervene. Yes, there is a lot of mourning out there. Yes, there is a lot of pain. Yes, there is a lot of those who are poor in spirit.

So I go to this song. It’s from the movie Coco. And I’ll say up front that the theology presented in Coco is not good, but I don’t really care about that in this moment. The movie is beautiful. As this song wraps up the movie, and as I listened to it last night, the part about dreaming really hit me. There are two people about whom you give me dreams. I’ll say the dreams are from you anyway. Even though our relationship is completely fractured, every time I dream of them they are good dreams. They are dreams filled with love and mercy. Forgiveness. Repentance. Hugs. Tears. I usually wake up from those dreams with tears in my eyes. I’m grateful for those dreams. Thank you for them.

Father, I pray for restoration of the relationships that are possible on this side of life. It’s too short to reject family love. But regardless, for the people who have loss through death and the people who will not see the restoration of relationship on this side of life, I pray for an eternity that, within your will, will be spent together worshipping and serving you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 30, 2025 in Hymns and Songs

 

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Unforgiven (Movie with Clint Eastwood)

29 Aug

Dear God, I came across a short audio clip yesterday of Conan O’Brien talking about this movie, and he had a great take I’d never considered. One of the deeper, subtler parts of this movie is that just about every character, with the exception of one cowboy and English Bob, wakes up in the morning thinking they are doing the right thing. They even see beating or killing the people they attack as justified and even noble to some extent. He said, “In Unforgiven, if Clint Eastwood and everyone else, if Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman, if everyone got in a room for a minute and talked they go, ‘Oh, wait a minute. So that was meant…Right. Okay. Let’s go. Let’s get out of here.'” Truer words.

Much like the cast of this movie, almost all of us (not all, but almost all) wake up in the morning feeling justified in our own actions. Maybe even self-righteous about it. And we all have blind spots to our own character and actions. How we hurt people. How we misinterpret the way we see others hurt people. We assume the worst and we expect no less than the best. Now, it’s getting even worse because we assume beliefs of people without knowing them. Politics is the easiest example. If I don’t like or don’t like the president, whether Republican or Democrat, it’s assumed that I like or don’t like everything about that person and their policies/actions. And we are even starting to put those limitations on ourselves. I remember talking to someone before the 2024 election about the choices for president, and I told them, “I’ll tell you three things I disagree with [my preferred candidate] on if you tell me three things you disagree with [their preferred candidate] on.” They couldn’t do it. They couldn’t allow themselves to enter a mindset that would disagree with their candidate on anything. And this is a person who wakes up in the morning thinking they are doing the right thing and fighting for the right thing. And I am the same. I wake up and think I’m doing and fighting for the right thing too.

Father, I have a challenging situation at work that I need your help with. I need you, Holy Spirit, to guide me. I need to confront a situation that is hard. What makes it hard is that I desperately want it to be a constructive solution that leaves everyone in a better place than we are in now. I’m being intentionally cryptic because this prayer gets published in a public space, but you know everything that’s going on in my heart. I’m here to submit myself to you and ask you to guide me. Help me to assume the best in everyone and let my interactions with them be a reflection of you and how you want to build us up and transform us more and more into who Jesus was and called us to be. Raise up people in my life who can help me on that path as well. Hold me to a higher standard. Push me in areas where I have blind spots. Call me to repent. I submit myself to your correction. Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on August 29, 2025 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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Job 19:1-6

29 Apr

19 Then Job spoke again:

2 “How long will you torture me?
    How long will you try to crush me with your words?
3 You have already insulted me ten times.
    You should be ashamed of treating me so badly.
4 Even if I have sinned,
    that is my concern, not yours.
5 You think you’re better than I am,
    using my humiliation as evidence of my sin.
6 But it is God who has wronged me,
    capturing me in his net.

Job 19:1-6

Dear God, it can be hard to be a friend and know when to speak and when to remain silent. When to give a solution, when to give an admonition, or when to say, “That sucks,” and just give the other person a hug.

In this situation, Job was wrong, but he was also right. He was wrong that you had wronged him. But he was right in that he hadn’t done anything to incur your wrath so his friends were wrong to keep accusing him of such. Everyone was looking for someone else to blame when there was simply no one to blame. Job’s friends blamed him. He blamed you. None of them were right.

If I had been Job’s friend, what should I have done to help him? If I have a friend now, what is my role in their life. Where do I draw the line between helping them find a solution, perhaps pointing out an area where they are possibly at fault, and then just holding them and telling them, “That sucks”?

I heard a story recently about a father whose daughter intentionally threw a youth league game in a tournament so they wouldn’t have to go into overtime because she was too nervous about overtime. The father then sent out an email to the coach and possibly others saying his daughter was so anxious over two girls on the team who are not as good as she thinks they should be that she intentionally threw the game. In my mind, the father was so horrified he looked for someone else to blame so he put his daughter’s anxiety on these two young girls who are likely not part of the problem at all. But his blinders caused him to lose perspective.

Father, I’ve been too close to things and lost perspective before. I am sure there are things going on in my life that I can’t see as well. I am a fool, and I need to be careful in my own life to prayerfully consider situations before I speak. Before I act. To take a beat. Whenever I speak or act impulsively, I am almost always wrong. And I almost always cause more damage than I resolve. So continue to teach me. Forgive me for my foolishness. And I do want to say thank you for everything. For the food I am about to eat today. For the home I live in. For my health. For my wife’s health. For my wife and who she is. For our friends. Thank you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 29, 2025 in Job

 

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Isaiah 49:14-15

02 Apr

14 Yet Jerusalem says, “The Lord has deserted us;
    the Lord has forgotten us.”

15 “Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child?
    Can she feel no love for the child she has borne?
But even if that were possible,
    I would not forget you!

Isaiah 49:14-15

Dear God, verse 15 is so powerful and wonderful. So reassuring. You built in a love of child into parents–especially mothers–that is amazing. And you knew how to put it there because that love for us is in you.

What’s interesting is that it is easier and easier for a child to forget its parent, just as it is easier and easier for us to forget you. There is an epidemic in our country today of adult children walking away from their families of origin. There can be any number of reasons for this. There can be unhealed pain. There can be just plain ol’ selfishness and even cruelty. Vengeance for something either done or perceived to have been done. And it can be hard, as the adult child, to see the parent with your eyes. To give them grace.

And we do this to you. We walk away, either from unhealed pain or selfishness. We might even want to be intentionally cruel to you or exact our vengeance upon you for something we perceived you did that we felt betrayed us.

But your love for us does not work that way. You never forget. You never leave. You are the father on the porch, waiting for us to come down the road. You give us the freedom to walk away, but you also never take away our freedom to turn around and come home.

Father, I have pain as a parent. I am sorry I have inflicted that kind of pain on you in the past. I am sorry my figurative brothers and sisters in the world continue to inflict that kind of pain on you. I hope that my love and the love from my other figurative brothers and sisters who are worshipping you today brings you joy in your existence. I willingly and gladly receive your love. I give you my heart and my soul.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 2, 2025 in Isaiah, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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Life is cheap?

07 Feb

Dear God, I don’t really have a verse to go with this thought today. Or, better said, I’m not starting with a verse today. I’ve just had a thought festering in my mind for the last two or three weeks that I wanted to work out this morning (not that I’ll get to any real resolution because I’m too ignorant to get that far).

I have a friend’s funeral today. She was a precious woman. She was loved by her family. It was a long struggle for her with various ailments. In and out of hospitals. In and out of physical rehab facilities. A real concern for how she would be cared for after her mom passed. And now her mom has outlived her. Her mom has other children facing physical ailments. Her mom is unbelievably strong and resilient, having survived her own bout with serious cancer about five years ago. And here she is now, burying her daughter today. I cannot imagine how her heart must be breaking right now, even as I type these words.

So my friends life was precious. Her life brought some of your presence into the world. Her life was not cheap. Or was it? It seems like lately, on an aggregate scale, we have started to treat human lives as cheap. I read yesterday that 40,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza in the last 16 months. Even if that number is inflated and only half that many have died, how can we just blink and move on when we here that that many lives have been snuffed out unnecessarily. Then there were the Jewish lives that were snuffed out in a day back in October 2023. Then I read another story yesterday that the Russians are taking the North Korean off of the front lines in Dursk because of their heavy losses. As I understand it, these North Korean soldiers were literally cannon fodder. But each one was a life. Each one was a soul. then there are all of the Ukrainians who have died over the last three years simply because a leader in one country decided he wanted their land as his own. Tens of thousands (hundreds of thousands on both sides?) dead at one man’s whim. And now in our own country, people groups are being marginalized and discriminated against. Racism has reared its ugly head, and people are judging others–bullying others–based simply on the color of their skin. We don’t see these lives as precious. We see them as cheap and something to be exploited for our own advancement.

But what if my life, in the end, is that cheap too? What if it is simply not important that I continue to live? Yes, it would leave a hole like any one of the other hundreds of thousands of people I’ve mentioned here left holes. Just as my precious friend leaves a hole this week. But in the end, am I not just 1/8-billionth of the current population of the earth?

Father, in the end, the value I add is that I get to worship you and the bring your kingdom and your will into this world my treating the lives around me as precious as you treat them. To love them. To encourage them. Maybe to admonish them, but lovingly. Love my neighbor as myself? Well, I think my life is precious, so I think what that really means is that I see each person’s life as being as precious as my life is. Life is not cheap. Their lives are not cheap. At the same time, I could die today and leave the hole that all of us leave because while life is not cheap, it is certainly fleeting. Even a life lived to 100 is still such a small piece of history. So help me to feel the value you place on me, respect and appreciate the value you place on us all, and then act on that. And please comfort the family and friends of my friend who died. She was loved by us. She is loved by you. She is precious still.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 7, 2025 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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