“On your mark, get set, go”.

For some reason, my two year old Son (Connor) got that in his head this weekend while we were driving to the zoo. Seeing that we ventured down to DC, my son had enough time to say it about 187 times. Being two it sounded a little more like “On ur mock ges set go”. Over and over and over again, all I could hear from the back of the car was “On your mark, get set, go”. It was a little disturbing around time #6, not to mention extremely distracting as I was going over in my mind what I was going to send to the group in preparation for Wednesday Morning. This is week three of our series and this is where the story really starts to pick up speed.
Week one was not only the intro to the story, but also intro to our series. Week two was the emotional hook, or the setting of the stage for where Jesus is going to take this parable. And now week three is where this parable really starts going. It was these three ideas that I was going over in my mind, when all of a sudden I heard from the back of the car for the 98th time…..

“On your mark, get set, go”.

That’s it…..after all if you look at it, that is how the section of Scripture is laid out. Week one we looked at the first three verses and saw that the “tax collectors and the sinners” had drawn close to Jesus to hear him and the religious leaders had complained………….” ON YOUR MARK”

Week Two we looked at the two stories that Jesus told about the lost things (Sheep/Coin), and how He had used these two stories to get everyone (emotionally) on to the same page that otherwise (intellectually) would never be on the same page………..”Get Set”

And tomorrow, week three we start the parable of the lost son “Go”

I am looking forward to seeing you guys in the AM. Please remember, this isn’t like the show Lost…..you can join us at any time throughout this series. As a matter of fact, tomorrow morning (6:30am) would be a great time to start.

On your mark, get set……

See you in the AM

D.R.

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

After thinking about yesterday’s conversations at Fuel, I suspect Jesus loves Billy Joel. OK, not that He’s going to concerts and tracking with his life style, but sort like in the same way I read on a T-shirt that said, “Jesus loves Porn Stars.” Its an awkward statement when you hear it, but its true.

The point is, Billy Joel wrote these lyrics “I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with saints; sinners are much more fun…” And on many levels, I believe this thought resonated with Jesus back in the day, and still does.

I think if we were honest most people we consider to be “religious” are not really the people we often consider to be the most fun. I think Jesus knew that; and that’s part of the reason why he hung out with tax collectors, prostitutes, and Samaritans. And the funning thing is, THEY were drawn to Him. There was this mutual attraction. What was it about Jesus that caused people who did very little to think about God, or righteousness, or being good to be interested in Him?

Maybe perhaps God is not as interested in our behavior as we may have been led to believe. Maybe its something more.

Maybe they sensed something in Jesus that most people don’t sense from the church, or people claiming to be Christian.

Maybe it was a sense of acceptance, and an unconditional love—like one would receive from a Father…

Whatever it was and is, it had to be relevant. Like we discussed, Jesus wasn’t out there running a break-dance ministry or instructing people with a list of do’s and don’ts. Maybe He was just a little more understanding and compassionate. Maybe He listened more than He preached. Maybe He seemed more forgiving than condemning?

Whatever it is, something about Jesus is different than what most of us have been told to believe.

Is it possible that the real message of Jesus is relevant to your life? And are you open to that possibility?

And if you follow Jesus, do you attract the people who don’t follow Jesus? And what might you be able to do in order to be “more like Jesus” and change that?
Maybe Virginia SHOULD wait, and Christians could be much more fun, and Billy Joel hasn’t heard the real story either…
We’ll continue this conversation next Wednesday, and look into what God is really concerned about…because its not what you have been told. It’s a lot more…

Invest and invite,

Pat

After thinking about yesterday’s conversations at Fuel, I suspect Jesus loves Billy Joel. OK, not that He’s going to concerts and tracking with his life style, but sort like in the same way I read on a T-shirt that said, “Jesus loves Porn Stars.” Its an awkward statement when you hear it, but its true.

The point is, Billy Joel wrote these lyrics “I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with saints; sinners are much more fun…” And on many levels, I believe this thought resonated with Jesus and still does today.

I think if we were honest most people we consider to be “religious” are not really the people we often consider to be the most fun. I think Jesus knew that; and that’s part of the reason why he hung out with tax collectors, prostitutes, and Samaritans. And the funny thing is, THEY were drawn to Him. There was this mutual attraction. What was it about Jesus that caused people who did very little to think about God, or righteousness, or being good to be interested in Him?

Maybe perhaps God is not as interested in our behavior as we may have been led to believe? Maybe its something more?

Maybe they sensed something in Jesus that most people don’t sense from the church, or people claiming to be Christian?

Maybe it was a sense of acceptance, and an unconditional love—like one would receive from a Father…?

Whatever it was and is, it had to be relevant. Like we discussed, Jesus wasn’t out there running a break-dance ministry or instructing people with a list of do’s and dont’s. Maybe He was just a little more understanding and compassionate. Maybe He listened more than He preached. Maybe He seemed more forgiving than condemning?

Whatever it is, something about Jesus is different than what most of us have been told to believe.

Is it possible that the real message of Jesus is relevant to your life? And are you open to that possibility?

And if you follow Jesus, do you attract the people who don’t follow Jesus? And what might you be able to do in order to be “more like Jesus” and change that?

Maybe Virginia SHOULD wait, and Christians could be much more fun, and Billy Joel hasn’t heard the real story either…

We’ll continue this conversation next Wednesday, and look into what God is really concerned about…because its not what you have been told. It’s a lot more…

Invest and invite,

Pat

Pat Mancuso
patmancuso@mac.com (703) 401-8302
FUEL
See our Blog at: https://menoffuel.com/blog
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“It’s what you need to keep you going…”

Our mission is to create a comfortable, relevant and honest environment where men can explore and discuss aspects of life, purpose and faith.

We accomplish our mission by reviewing pertinent issues in men’s lives, examining them through relevant biblical principles, followed by a time of discussion with other men.

Wednesday mornings, September through May…and beyond
6:30 AM to 7:30 AM @ Hidden Creek Country Club, Reston, VA.

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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