Original Entry: May 29, 2008
McMinnville, OR
Glory in
His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad. Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His face
continually. 1 Chronicles 16:10-11
It was a
lesson learned the hard way.
As I
mountain biked down the Manzanita Trail in Los Osos, California I could see the
ominous rock protruding from the trail.
Did I say rock? At a foot high,
two feet long and buried half-way in the ground this boulder starred me down
from its domain, which happened to be in the dead center of the trail I was
riding down.
Our stare
off continued while I considered how to avoid hitting it. The angry rock seemed to challenge me with,
“Come on, you can’t handle the truth!”
The two
options for avoidance were on either side of the glowering sandstone, but
before I knew it my body was in mid air as I flew over the top of my
handlebars! In our game of chicken
neither had relented but the rock had obviously won. I picked up my ego along with a “taco-ed”
front tire and limped home with a great lesson learned.
A man will
hit the object of his focus every time, whether he is trying to avoid it or
not. Try not to lose, and you will you lose. Try not to overeat and, trust me,
you will overeat. Try not to miss the shot, and you will miss. Try not to over
react, guess what, you will over react!
Avoidance
is not the issue.
Focus is.
The
problem with trying to avoid something negative is that is has a tendency to
become a focal point. Good or bad, you will hit what you are the most focused
upon.
Men are
bombarded by a world staring us down. It
calls. It pleads. It challenges men to seek its many options
that are intended to pull a man far from Christ.
How about
a new car on loan, a better career and move, a bigger house and mortgage, or a
nicer woman and divorce?
It begs
you to focus on the temporal desires. It offers as a prize for you fix your
eyes upon. The grass looks so much greener to the man who focuses away form his
current responsibilities. But Hebrews
12:2 tells us to “Fix your eyes on
Jesus the author and perfect or of faith.”
A real man accepts responsibility for he things in his care and not
the things over there! A boy stares at the green grass over the septic tank of
sin!
Men focus
on the right things. Men accept responsibility for the commitments they make.
Men focus on fulfilling these commitments as they focus on the things of God.
“So we fix
our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is
temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2Corinthians 4:18)
