struggles

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Looking Back at 100 minutes

Posted by Rev. Bro. Coach on November 6, 2020
Posted in: The Mindful Minute. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

October 26, 2013, I published the first article on the Mindful Minute blog. Since then, each article has been called “minutes.” The idea is that it offers readers to take a minute (ok a few minutes time wise) to see into what I’m thinking and maybe provide help or perspective to a certain situation in their life. Most of these minutes are based on my faith because my faith is what dictates my life and I certainly pray that you see that in me. I don’t want you to see me as trying to be perfect because Lord knows how flawed and sinful I am, but it has always been my hope that you see me as genuine. Even though my “minutes” are typically about my faith or the church (I am a Pastor after all), I don’t intend for my audience to be solely Christian. In fact, I know several people who read this blog that do not share my beliefs and that is great. I welcome any and all to be a part of these minutes.

So, today marks a milestone. While I haven’t been completely faithful in writing each week, sometimes taking considerably long hiatuses, today I am publishing the 100th minute of the Mindful Minute. As I look back, I have written about God, the church, social issues, one viral (for me) article on the ice bucket challenge, and things that God has placed on my heart that I simply couldn’t get out of my head. I love this part of my life. I love to write. I love my readers and I am constantly in the pursuit of gaining more readers- because I love my friends and I love interacting with people.

Today though, I am at a loss. It’s the 100th article and I am sitting here struggling to find words to type. I am struggling to find reason to celebrate. I am hurting and my heart breaks as I read post after post on social media from people I love, taught, admire, and look up to. It’s not pretty. I simply don’t know what to say. I guess I want you all to know that I love you and I can love you and not vote like you- either side. I’ve seen the growingly popular post that “you can’t tell someone you love them and vote for someone who will hurt them.” This is an unfortunate and narrow view of love and speaking from my point of view (because that’s all I can do), my love for you is, and always will be, greater than my vote for any one person and I have a long list of references on the other side of my political beliefs who will back that statement up. But that is the last I am going to mention voting because we have enough to read about the election and frankly, I’m tired. When I was trying to put my thoughts together just for this paragraph, I couldn’t help but think about the movie The Green Mile. Michael Clark Duncan played the character of John Coffey and his words perfectly convey what I am struggling with this morning:

“I’m tired, boss…Mostly, I’m tired of people being ugly to each other, I’m tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world, every day. There’s too much of it. It’s like pieces of glass in my head, all the time.

-John Coffey, The Green Mile

So as the sun sets on the 100th minute of The Mindful Minute, I guess all there is left to say is…please. Please find a way to lift each other up. Please find a way to reach across the divide and be good to someone today. Please reach out to people, especially those who may not think like you, and bridge a gap that we keep waiting for someone else to close. Please listen to each other. There are so many people struggling, hurting, and looking for reasons to have hope. I love you all, let me know how I can help you today.

In Christ Alone,
Rev. Bro. Coach

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You Don’t Have to Try

Posted by Rev. Bro. Coach on August 4, 2014
Posted in: The Mindful Minute. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

First of all, let me thank all of you who follow this blog for faithfully waiting during my summer sabbatical from writing. Sometimes, it is good to get away from the keyboard and allow your creative juices to replenish themselves. During my hiatus, God truly blessed my life. We were fortunate enough to buy a new house, I got to spend 3 amazing weeks of ministry in various places, and in the process got to see 41 people give their life to Christ.  It has been a truly amazing summer. But, now here I sit, writing my first blog from my new office in my new house and tonight, I’m speaking particularly to my girls out there. As a father of two boys, you may think that I am oblivious to such matters as beauty and the self esteem issues that go on in a woman’s life. Let me assure, however, mamma raised me better and I have two beautiful Goddaughters that I treat as my own. So this topic is near and dear to my heart because I think of them when I talk about it.

Now I have been blessed to have a ridiculously awesome career. By day I teach my favorite school subject, history, and I also get to have the coolest job on the planet ministering to teenagers. I have also been blessed in the last couple of years to be a published writer (both a hobby and a passion). Now, while I truly love being the writer of a blog, I would not count self publication. I am actually a writer for a magazine called YLO (Youth Leaders Only) where I am given various Christian songs and I write bible studies for those songs. Youth Pastors all over the country subscribe and use these studies…it is pretty cool to think about.  One of the things that I get to do for YLO is I get to write Re-tunes. This is where they give me a secular song and I write a bible study for it. This latest edition, I was given the song Try, by Colbie Caillat. Not listening to secular music much, I hadn’t heard it. When I did, it hit me like a ton of bricks. self-esteem3

You see there is an increasing problem in our society today. The definition of beauty has been vastly distorted by the Godlessness of the world. The entertainment business has led the charge in giving women and men alike, unrealistic images of what true beauty is. These images, which are often enhanced by today’s computer editing software, paint a picture that is both demeaning of women and misleading to men. That is only half of the problem though. The other half of the problem is that we continually buy into this fairy tale land of what we are supposed to look like. We have abandoned the one source that truly defines beauty in favor of the world’s definition that is practically unattainable, and causes heartache, insecurity, and at the worst case…suicide.

In order to return to a true definition of beauty, we need to look no further than Genesis 1:27 which tells us, “So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.” This one simple verse points back to the true and original source. This verse points to the One who created the definition of beauty when he created us all. God created the Earth and said, “it was good,” but when He created us, He said that it was “very good.” We need not look to the world to define our beauty.

The song, Try, echoes this false doctrine given to us by this world, a world not influenced by God, by the carnal urges of sinful man. The song points out that women should wear certain makeup, dress in ways that are revealing because that is what men want. The song talks about how girls are told that they need to look a certain way, be a certain size, and wear certain clothes. But, the song reminds women that they don’t need to try to please a world that doesn’t appreciate them for who they are. The song points out what many women forget and that is answering the question, do you like you? The God of all creation does not take time to make junk. This includes all of us. This includes even the guys who are feeling increasing pressure to have a certain look. We are told that God made us fearfully and wonderfully in Pslams 139:14. It is time that we start looking to the Father for the definition of our beauty instead of relying on a world where the cultural DNA promotes a skewed version of reality.

The world is a Godless place that constantly preys on our insecurities and our perceived deficiencies. However, we need to take heart in the fact that God does not take the time to make junk. We need to block out what the world tells us is the only way to look. Our focus should be on our Father’s definition of beauty, the way He created us. The only words we should ever concern ourselves with is when our Lord says, “Well done good and faithful servant.” God made you special. He made you who you are, how you are for a great purpose. Do not conform to this world and their thoughts and ways because you don’t have to try, God loves you just the way He made you.

In Christ Alone,
Rev. Bro Coach

Who Am I?

Posted by Rev. Bro. Coach on March 15, 2014
Posted in: The Mindful Minute. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

who-am-i_nametagI have often felt that it is important in any person’s life to know who they are; to have an open and honest picture of the person they are and the person they are trying to be- without forgetting the person they once were.  So, while this post can only offer the encouragement for you to do a self examination of who you are, where you’ve been, and where you intend to go, I will attempt to do what I feel is necessary for anyone asking so much of someone, I will lead by example.

You could say that I was a baseball player and though many have played the game far better than I could have ever hoped to, I was decent enough. You could say that I was a high school and college athlete, an honor student at every level. You could say that I was a nerd and a bit of a geek, and you wouldn’t be that far off in saying so. You could say that as of about 7 years of age I was saved, though saying that I was a follower of Christ probably wouldn’t be accurate until about 22. Some will tell you that I was a womanizer, addicted to wrecking the lives of girls and they would show you the carnage that I left in my wake that stretched for miles, and they wouldn’t be wrong.

I am a pastor. That doesn’t mean that I am better, holier, or have a more direct line to God than anybody else. Because of what Jesus did on the cross at Calvary, the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and at that point, we all had equal access to our creator. Being a pastor doesn’t mean that I have it all together. I am constantly at war with my anger and have the ability to be manipulative and cut people out of my life as if they never existed- not skills I’m proud to possess, but nevertheless they are there. I am a man who struggles with self worth and the constant, nagging guilt of my past. I doubt myself…..a lot. 

I tell you my background so that you see the struggle I go through is not that dissimilar to yours. The problems you face on a daily basis are some of the same struggles I face along with countless other people.  I tell you of my struggles so that you don’t run away from God saying, “how could you,” but instead so that you may toward God saying “please help me.”  You see I share this so that I can tell you who I am in Christ.

I am a son, a brother, a cousin, an uncle, a husband, and a father. My life is a story of how God can and will call anyone to do His work. I get too passionate at times, work too much, and often speak on shear emotion; but, I love fiercely, honesty is my favorite virtue, and God’s word is what drives my thoughts. I am a person who wears his heart on his sleeve, says I love you all the time (and means it), and can sometimes come across as “smothering.” I am a man who once you ask me to be a part of your life, you get all of me, because I don’t know how to only give you part of myself and  I don’t do anything half way. I am a man who loves to write and gets inspired by words. I am a part of the Fellowship of the Unashamed and  I want the world to know what God has done for me. I often ask God the very lyrics to songs such as:

“Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name,
Would care to feel my hurt?…”
and
“Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love and watch me rise again?
Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me?”

Only to discover that the answer is given in the lyrics of another song like:

“In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;”

So, who am I you ask? I am sinner saved by grace. A sinner that should have rightfully been put to death for everything I have ever done, but here I am- a sinner, alive and well. Who am I? I am better than I deserve and I cling to one of the founding truths in my life:

“No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.”
Now I ask, who are you?
In Christ Alone,
Rev. Bro Coach.
References:
Fellowship of the Unashamed by Dr. Bob Morehead
Who am I? lyrics and Music by Casting Crowns
In Christ Alone, Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend