Men of Fuel

Many years ago when I first started going to church (in my late twenties), I went to this little church in Vienna (http://www.antiochdoc.org/index.html) that shared the driveway with the house where I was living. I went there for a few months, and can remember being there the day the attendance hit 19 people, a high-water mark for the time that I attended. Unfortunately I don’t remember much else about my time in that church. As a matter of fact I can bring to mind only one sermon I heard. It was on John 11, where Jesus brings Lazarus back from the dead and of that entire teaching that day I can recall only one verse. Verse 6 reads “ So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days”

The reason I remember that so clearly is because the moment he read that verse all I could hear in my head was “WHY?”. I honestly thought he explain why Jesus waited, to the point that when he didn’t I started looking around the room to see if anyone had their hand up to ask. “Can we go back a second please” is all I wanted to ask, but being new to this church thing, it didn’t seem like something that you did. I eventually found out why Jesus waited, but I can’t help thinking about the missed opportunity that day in that tiny church in Vienna, as I have to imagine I wasn’t the only one that had that question.

Over the last few weeks, we have been collecting questions from the tables that guys have about lust. Tomorrow we will start to answer them. Set your alarms and come on out as Dr Clark begins to go down the list of questions that have been submitted. We will continue to collect questions from the table, so if you didn’t submit one, or have a new question in the next few weeks please feel free to ask away. An opportunity was missed years ago in that church in Vienna, let’s not repeat that. After all, if you are thinking it odds are you are not the only one

See you guys in the AM

Regards
D.R. Carlson

Men of Fuel

From our time together at the tables last week, it seems as if none of us had any issue discussing places or times in our lives where we sought to build our own Jericho. The issue seems to be, how do we stop the process or even realize when we are doing it. It reminds me of the saying “ How did I end up in such a deep hole and what is my best shovel doing here?”

If last week was the “So What”, this week will be the “Now What”, meaning now that we know there is a difference between building our kingdom and God’s kingdom, what do we need to do to better align our actions. Look forward to seeing you guys in the AM.

Regards

D.R.

Men of Fuel

Just got done watching the movie “Looper”. It’s pretty far out there. So much so that after trying to come up with a two sentence overview of the movie I gave up went to IMDB. Here is how they explain the movie
In 2074, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent 30 years into the past, where a hired gun awaits. Someone like Joe, who one day learns the mob wants to ‘close the loop’ by transporting back Joe’s future self.
Told you it was out there. If you are wondering if it’s any good…….”2074”……”Mob”………need I say more.

Anyway, one of the main characters is this little boy named Cid. He can’t be older than six, and about halfway through becomes a focal point in the story line. This little boy has this amazing power (remember it’s 2074) but he is completely unable to handle it, and continues to put himself and others in danger.

I wonder if that is why God calls us not to build our own kingdoms. Maybe that’s why we are called to pray “Thy will be done”. Maybe in all of His infinite wisdom God knows that we are not able to handle the power that we seek. The power after which we lust. Maybe, He knows that even the pursuit of that power will not only put ourselves in harm’s way, but harm the ones closest to us.

I would bet a large chunk of change that there are men on this list right now, who lost their fathers to their jobs or their pursuit of making their own name great. And I would bet that many on this list feel that same desire. Not to sacrifice their families, but to make our own name great. But what if there was a possibility that they went hand in hand. Would you want to know?

Set the alarms and come on out tomorrow as we continue our series with “My kingdom come”

D.R. Carlson

Men of Fuel

Years ago we created our mission statement, which is; “To provide a relevant environment where men can explore aspects of life purpose and faith”. Well, I am not sure you can get more relevant than we have been the last few weeks. It has been an absolute blessing to hear all of the reports of not only guys starting to look at aspects of their life differently, but also to see the amount of new guys that have been invited out and the number that are now coming back. Again, we are ALL battling something and the first thing we all need to do is stop thinking that we are the only one dealing with this type of stuff.

Bill Clark is back on the MIC tomorrow morning, which you should know by now is guaranteed to be off the charts. What most excites me about tomorrow is Bill will have us begin to look at what lies beneath the lust with which we struggle. Set your alarms and invite a buddy as we continue our current series

Invest and Invite
D.R. Carlson

Men of Fuel

A huge hats off to all of you that answered the call to action last week. If you remember I asked those who did not attend to reach out to someone that did, and asked those that did attend to reach out to someone that didn’t, due to the fact that the previous week with Dr. Clark was unbelievable. We had a big jump in the number of men that came out on Wednesday and all of the reports from the tables are that week II was just as amazing as week 1.

Please don’t let the short week allow you to forget that today is actually TUESDAY and that we will be meeting again tomorrow morning at 6:30am. Dr. Clark will continue our series in what is sure to be an amazing continuation of the past two weeks. I will once again ask those of you that did not attend to call someone that did just to see how valuable this session has been, and if you did attend, I would ask you to reach out to someone that didn’t attend. Just let them know that this isn’t for everyone, just guys that might have noticed that Lust may be impacting their lives.

Invest and invite
D.R. Carlson