Men of Fuel

I hope you guys are able to join us tomorrow morning for our final Fuel of 2012. In Fuel wrap up fashion we are going to end the year by stuffing an entire breakfast into a warm tortilla. After giving guys enough time to choke down 1 (maybe 2) burritos, we will open the floor for guys to stand up and share anything they feel led to share. I would ask that each of you spend some time between today and tomorrow morning thinking if there is ANYTHING that stuck with you, convicted you, encouraged you, spoke to you, or moved you, over the last year.

Should you come up with nothing, I would ask you to spend some time in prayer, asking God to show you ONE thing that stuck with you, convicted you, encouraged you, spoke to you, or moved you, over the last year. If you still come up with nothing, I apologize because we have absolutely failed you. However, should you come up with one thing, I would ask that you pray about sharing it. Believe me, if you are going through it or have gone through it, I can guarantee you that there is at least one other guy in that room who has gone through it, going through it or about to go through it.

I have a friend of mine who recently went through something that Jenny and I had gone through a few years ago. I shared with him my experience, and just talked about some of the things we went through. He recently let me know that just knowing someone else had been there was helpful, because at the time he felt like he and his wife were alone. His actual words were he “felt like he was in a well”

If you knew someone in the room tomorrow could be encouraged by you sharing something, would you share it? Believe me when I tell you that whatever you are going through or gone through, you are not alone, even if that is the lie we are told. At the same time, if you feel as if the storyline you are in is not to the point where you are ready to share, please feel the freedom to just crush a burrito and listen.

Burritos will be served at 6:30. First come, first served.

See you in the AM

D.R. Carlson

Men of Fuel

Tomorrow morning we will continue our series ‘You’ve got to be kidding me”, looking at some of the ridiculous claims that God makes. Now maybe “ridiculous” isn’t the word to use when describing the things that God calls us to, until of course you bump them up against the way WE think things should work. It’s like golf, or perhaps I should say the way I play golf. Harder swings equal longer drives……right? Now you would think that after years and years of evidence that harder swings do NOT equal longer drives, that I MIGHT be open to the possibility that there is a better way. Slow my swing down? “You’ve got to be kidding me”, yet the very few times that I have ever agreed to try that ridiculous nonsense things seem to go much smoother, if not much straighter.

Now if my golf game were the only thing that could be impacted by this “radical” thinking, I might listen, but if the same type of results were available in other areas of my life, you would have my full attention. Please set your alarms and join us in the AM for week two of “You’ve got to be kidding me”, and feel free to bring a friend…….FORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See you guys in the AM

D.R. Carlson

Men of Fuel

One day while I was at JMU a buddy of mine and I were driving past McDonalds, when he said “Did I ever tell you, that I can eat a Big Mac in one bite”. I said “No chance’, and with that he turned into the parking lot of the McDonalds and said “I tell you what, you buy the Big Mac and if I don’t pull it off I will give you your money back”. Sounded like a good plan to me. I mean how many times have you ever gotten to see someone attempt to eat a Big Mac in one bite.

So I buy the Big Mac, we sit down and my buddy begins to shove the entire Big Mac into his mouth. Now if you have ever seen the size of a Big Mac, you know this wasn’t a quick process. He started by going straight in at first and then started to pack the sides of his mouth with this gargantuan burger. Meanwhile, my doubt, that had shifted to curiosity had now turned into full on laughter as I sat in this McDonalds in Harrisonburg Virginia with tears running down my face. I would have never believed it had I not sat right in front of him, but needless to say my friend ate for free that day.

I think I am often like that with God. I am so quick to doubt, and yet even when I see His truths coming to fruition all around me I still doubt Him. And yet those few times in my life where I have stepped out to trust him, I find myself laughing at just how ridiculous His abundance can be.

Tomorrow morning we start a new series titled “You’ve got to be Kidding me”, where we will look at some of the things that God indicates are ways of life, that to us seem to be absolutely laughable.

Got any friends that think God’s ways are foolish and outdated? You might want to bring him along

BTW, I just got a text from the guy that ate the Big Mac in one bite. He is going to be in town today and wanted to know if I was free for lunch. I wonder if he still has it in him?

See you in the am

D.R. Carlson

Men of Fuel

A huge apology for getting to you so late. Seems as if everyone was making up for being off for Thanksgiving and needed everything today.

Just to let you know how bad it was today, I had to have a salad for lunch. A salad!

But tomorrow is a new day, and Fuel will provide the kick start we all need. Again I apologize for not getting this out to you sooner.

Invest and Invite

DR

Men of Fuel

I was headed into the office this morning listening to a number of guys on a sports radio show talking about how the Redskins were going to get beat this week by the Cowboys. They had all kind of stats from both teams as well as team history and player injury reports, all pointing back to the simple fact that the Redskins were going to lose this week. After about 10 min a guy calls in and says “Hey guys, appreciate all of the facts for the upcoming week, but what about a little celebration for the fact that the Redskins won yesterday”, and with that I was instantly taken back to our time together last week.

Why do we find it so hard to celebrate? I have to admit that I failed miserably at our call to action last week. For those on this distro that were not with us last week, we agreed as a group to celebrate/encourage one person a day for one week. In other words we were going to celebrate one person each day until we got together again. The first day I did great. I came in to the office, and during a conversation with a co-worker I let him know that he was doing a great job. Day one I was batting 100%. Day two my average dropped to .500. Day three my son got his report card, so day three I was good, but day 4 I was back to .500. Fortunately this weakened was my wife’s birthday, so I got to celebrate her, but here I sit on Monday wondering why I can’t seem to celebrate people in my life.

A follow up challenge to the initial challenge: Let us finish strong. Two more days until we meet again. Let these be days of celebration.

We will be meeting this Wednesday at the same time (6:30). I am sure many of you guys have a light week this week, and hope you can join us on Wednesday morning

Hope to see you there

Invest and Invite

D.R. Carlson