Men of Fuel

A number of years ago, a friend of mine kept telling me about this TV show called “Lost”. Apparently he and his wife were completely hooked on this show, and said it was a “must see”. It was getting ready to start its 3rd season, and he offered to loan my wife and I the DVD set of the first two seasons. My wife and I watched the very first episode, and agreed that while it was interesting, it didn’t seem to captivate us like it had our friends.

Then we watched the second episode, and it was over. We became obsessed. To the point that after a few nights of little sleep we had to implement the “Two Episode Only” rule, as we were watching up to three shows a night.

I bet I am not alone. I bet everyone reading this E-mail can relate. It could have been a book, or a movie, a TV show, a sporting event, a conversation, a deal on which you worked, a test, a class that you took or something else that just grabbed us in such a way that every bit of us was committed to seeing what the outcome was going to be. Now while we might not be able to all agree on what the situation was, we could probably all agree that at some point it involved mental or emotional strain; intense, suppressed suspense, anxiety or excitement. Would you be surprised to know that is the definition of Tension?

That’s what makes a story great. Tension is what makes sporting events epic. It’s what makes almost anything we do memorable. Unfortunately I don’t think we leverage it like we could. You know who did………….Jesus.

You read through the bible and He never seemed rushed to give an answer or relieve the tension of a situation or conversation. Why? My guess is that His believed His message was more important than relieving the tension that hung in the air.

Last week we kicked off our series “The Greatest Story ever (mis)Told”. We looked at the first three verses, and what we see is a very tense situation that Jesus is about to address. Please join us for week two tomorrow “The One or the 99”

Please know that unlike the series Lost, you can join midstream. However like the show Lost, the first week was just putting things in place for the rest of the series.

Hope to see you guys in the AM

D.R. Carlson

Men of Fuel

I used to have a co-worker that had a very odd way of settling disputes regarding some things she held to be true. Now I don’t mean important things, I mean very trivial things like what she believed to be the best TV show, or the best pizza in the area. Every time someone would question what she believed (again, about trivial things) or suggest another “best”, she would simply indicate that there had been a “contest” and what she held to be the best had actually won.

It sounds a bit odd, because it was, however the brilliance behind it was that to continue the conversation meant that you had to either ignore her comment about the contest or mention that there was never really a contest to begin with. The issue, and the brilliance of this was that if you ignored her comment, she would again just point to this contest, and if you actually mentioned that there wasn’t a contest, you looked like an idiot because, of course there was never a contest.

Fast forward a few years, and I am sitting at my in-laws for Thanksgiving dinner. At this point we are well past the 5,000 calories of the main course and headed straight for the pumpkin, Apple and Pecan pie. As people were sitting around making small talk, my mother in law puts Whip Cream (Canister), and Cool Whip (Tub) on the table.

As my father-in-law begins to bury his Apple pie under a CO2 induced spray of Whip Cream, he motions to the Cool Whip and says “Not sure if you even need to bring that out” Being a Cool Whip guy, I say “Are you kidding, Thanksgiving just isn’t Thanksgiving without Cool Whip”

Whip Cream vs. Cool Whip was ON.

The first few rounds were as you can imagine, until of course I brought out “The Contest”. After stating again how he thought Whip Cream was the best I just shrugged my shoulders and said “Really, because they had a contest between the two and Cool Whip trounced Whip Cream”

It was over.

I mention that because I think we seldom know why we believe things, or why we hold things to be true. So seldom in fact that when a person can point to a reason for something they believe, even if it’s a fake contest, we don’t know how to respond.

Why do we believe the things we believe? Do we know them to be true? Have we experienced them to be true? I am sure that we could say yes to the previous questions when it comes to some of the things we believe………but all of them?

Ever been asked why we believe something, and responded with “I’ve just always believed that”? I have. The crazy thing is, that doesn’t even answer the question.

Where do we get our beliefs? If I am being honest I have to admit, that some of them I have made up. I have created a set of beliefs that fit comfortable into my life. In other words I have backed into them.

Tomorrow morning we begin our seven week series “The Greatest Story ever (mis)Told”, where we will look at the most important thing we will ever believe or not believe. And if it is the most important thing, let us at least make sure we are believing or not believing what God says is true, not something we made up.

I realize that seven weeks of Fuel will be up against many other things in your life competing for your time, but they once had this contest……………

See you in the AM

D.R. Carlson

Men of Fuel

There are very few things that ever live up to the hype that usually surrounds them, except perhaps Beach Week my Sophomore, Junior or Senior year of High School, Spring Break my Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, or Senior year of College, Mardi Gras or New Years in New Orleans, or the Golf Trips to Myrtle Beach 2003-2007, and most recently last Wednesday morning. Awesome time together and pretty fired up to see all of the familiar faces as well as the number of new guys that joined us. Thanks to the guys who invited them out.

Tomorrow we will continue our two week series titled “Unchained”, which will continue to serve as a primer/call to action for our seven week series, The Greatest Story Ever (mis)Told, starting on Sept 26th. I have included the below for you guys to send out to anyone in which you have been investing. Use this as an invite for the 26th. One week, that’s all we ask. If they hate it they never have to come back.

I am as excited for this series as I have been for anything we have done together as a group. I am excited to see what God is doing, I am excited to see what God has planned, excited to see how that impacts each and every one of us, and excited that all of us have an opportunity to be part of it. Let us all share that excitement with the men that God has put into our lives.

See you in the AM

D.R.

Men of Fuel

Well tomorrow morning we will kick off our third year of Fuel (www.MenofFuel.com) at Hidden Creek country club. To be honest I haven’t been this fired up to hang out with a bunch of dudes since Beach Week my Sophomore, Junior or Senior year of High School, Spring Break my Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, or Senior year of College, Mardi Gras or New Years in New Orleans, or the Golf Trips to Myrtle Beach 2003-2007………the point is, I am pretty fired up.

As the website (www.Menoffuel.com) indicates we will start a two week series tomorrow titled “Unchained”, which will serve as a primer/call to action for our seven week series, The Greatest Story Ever (mis)Told, starting on Sept 26th. Let me encourage you to send the link (https://menoffuel.com/the-greatest-story-ever-mistold) on to friends as this is a series that is tailor made for them.

As we speak our workbooks/Guides for the series are at the printer and over the next two weeks through the series ‘Unchained” we will discuss more about the series “The Greatest Story ever (mis)Told and the driving force behind the series.

Again, I am fired up to see you guys in the am back at Hidden Creek CC (https://menoffuel.com/directions). We will START at 6:30am sharp.

Invest and Invite