Slow Down!

by Charles R. Swindoll Read Galatians 1:11--17

Part of the solution is to pursue the benefits of solitude and silencefound in times of obscurity. For the first time in seven years, I took six weeks off one summer. No preaching, no writing, no counseling, no speaking engagements . . . no nothing. I focused on slowing down and refilling my soul with the deep things of the Lord. I prayed, I sang, I studied, I walked, I fished, I stayed quiet, and I sat thinking about and reevaluating my life. It was magnificent!

You may not have that much time available. You may have only three days, or perhaps two weeks. If you're not careful, you'll quickly fill those days with things to do, places to go, and people to see. Resist that temptation to crowd out the Lord. What a perfect opportunity to carve out time to be alone, just you, the family, and the Lord. Computer off. Fax unplugged. Cell phone tossed in the ocean.

Instead of speeding up, slow down and rethink. I don't want you to miss any of these words. I've thought about them for years. Instead of speeding up, let's find ways to slow down and rethink. Taking time to discover what really matters is essential if we're going to lift the curse of superficiality that shadows our lives. Don't wait for the doctor to tell you that you have six months to live. Long before anything that tragic becomes a reality, you should be growing roots deep into the soil of those things that truly matter.

Once Paul left Damascus and slipped into Arabia, he began taking inventory. There were no "To Do Before Sundown" lists. No "Six Fast Steps to Success" or other self-help scrolls clumped under his arms. He was alone. He walked slower. He watched sand swirl over the stones. He thought deeply about his past. He relived what he had done. He returned to what he had experienced on the road to Damascus. He considered each new dawn a gift from the Lord, the perfect opportunity to rework his priorities and rethink his motives. It takes time, of course . . . lots of time. But time spent in solitude prepares us for the inevitable challenges that come at us from the splintered age in which we live.

Slow down. Sit still. Be quiet. Rethink.

Upcoming Men's Retreat

Top Gun 2009

"Wild at Heart Weekend"

You are invited on an Expedition to pursue more of your Heart and the LIFE God offers.
Top Gun is a weekend with three main objectives: help a man get his heart back, teaching him how to fight and showing him where the battles are. To watch Christ come for a man's heart and to see what God is up to in validating a man, initiating him and calling him into The Larger Story is truly a glorious thing. It is a fierce journey for every man, but one that desperately needs to be taken. Men who are coming to God to better know who they are and why they are here...A man who walks with God, this is a man who is dangerous for good.

Date: Thursday, March 19th to Sunday, March 22nd, 2009
Check-In: 4:00-5:30 pm on Thursday Conclusion: 12:00 pm on Sunday
Tuition: $290.00 (Tuition for this event covers all costs for accommodations, meals, teaching and event supplies.) Attendees are responsible for their own transportation.
Location Details: Rockbridge - Alum Springs, 170 Spring House Road, Goshen, VA 24439
Sponsored by the Eastern Alliance of Ministries

Register at www.zoweh.com – Men’s Events – Top Gun
For details contact Kevin Kifer at kevin@outpost-ministries.com or 703-856-2161

The Price of Freedom

God will not look you over for medals, degrees or diplomas but for scars.

-Elbert Hubbard

“If the Spirit of God has stirred you (emotion / desire), make as many things inevitable as possible, let the consequences be what they will.” Oswald Chambers -My Utmost for His Highest, March 22

Just imagine pursing your hearts dersires with the reckless abandonment. I'm not talking about quiting your job and buying a Harley and driving across America. I'm speaking of the desires God placed on your heart when he created you. The desires for His kingdom. You know the ones...the ones that make you come alive! You know the saying...The glory of God is man fully alive.

Can you conceive the notion of talking with God through out the day, everyday. Asking him about the little things and decision. Inviting him into you daily activities. Living in the strength of Christ and only being concerned about what He thinks of you! It's inevitable you will be in His presence if you are a believer. Why wait to walk with Him!

When the storm comes

It seems that more than often God allows a storm or two to disrupt our busy schedules and lives. Might it be that He simply wants to refocus our attention from the urgent to the important?

In my life He seems to pursue me like a jealous lover, that doesn't like to be ignored. I like that! God uses hardship lately to discipline me like any father does. The book of Hebrews talks about it in chapter 12.

The storms that blow into my life are always at a bad time and are painful. The enemy is always trying to use them as an opportunity to disrupt, discourage and disappoint. Trying to get me to agree to some lie about myself, family or even Gods heart. The enemy is as constant as a rip tide. Looking to carry me away from the safety of Gods embrace by taking me away with seemly urgent matters. I find myself exhausted by the struggle to keep my head above water. I even forget that God is always with me even while consumed in the storms surges.

When I look back at the scriptures God has given me books of examples of men and women that endure every kind of storm, yet remain faithful. They remained grounded in their faith in God. Whether it be Moses, Joseph, David, Samuel or Abraham, all of them examples not exceptions. Most of these guys were knuckle heads but they trusted the heart of God in all situations. Praise God for hope!

Many of the examples did not receive what had been promised or expected for their faith. "God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect." Hebrews 12:40 So something to think about is that just because God allows a storm to raise up in our life and we respond correctly and faithfully, we don't always get what we want. Hopefully we get what He wants.

What we do get is the chance to live Life in relationship with Christ. And that is what we were created for! That is why the enemy will oppose any and all moves toward Life. The joy is to live Life and get to say, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." 2 Timothy 4:7

Everything is Spiritual

In the Hebrew Scriptures there is no word for "spiritual." And Jesus never used the phrase 'spiritual life." Because for Jesus and his tradition, all of life is spiritual.

Isn't is strange that we speak of our spiritual life as if it were only part of our life and not our whole life. We spend a lot of our life trying to find Life in all other areas of our lives. Our work, our family, our hobbies, none of them come through completely for what our hearts truely desire. A true spiritual relationship with our creator. To get back to a walking and talking realtionship with Jesus.

But something always seems to get in the way of that relationship. Could you admit that your spiritual walk could use some refining? Is it the first thing you think about when you wake? Does it keep you up at night with unexplained excitment and anticipation? For most people it doesn't. It seems to fall short of expectains and feel almost dutiful. Could that be because our view of spirituality is some what foggy. Or could it be hazy because the enemy doesn't what you to discover the truth?

Ever since the beginning of mans relationship with God, satan has been distorting the truth about our relationship with God. We fell for his lie that God's heart wasn't good and the He was holding out on us. And in a moment we gave away our kingdom. And since that time we have longed for those times with Jesus in the cool of the day. The mentoring and fathering. The love and affirmation. The security and wholeness.



We now live as captives in a world or kingdom if you will, that is ruled by the enemy. A story that is so much bigger that we can see. One that's backdrop is war and that story line is full of battles. Battles over our hearts and for our hearts. We are living in a land that is occupied by the enemy. And that enemy is set against our joy.

When Jesus anounced His ministry he did so by making an incredible statement. He proclaimed He had come to heal the broken hearted and set the captives free. The Hebrew word used for broken was more like the word shattered, like pieces of pottery. The assumption is that all of us of broken in some way and are captives.



I find it amazing to think that God, the Son of Man viewed spiritual life as all enclusive. If He sees it as Life shouldn't we. Just a thought but if He came ot bring us Life and more abundantly, I don't think He was referring to our hobbies. He meant Spirituality...LIFE!

Our Heart’s Capacities

As our soul grows in the love of God and journeys forth toward him, our heart’s capacities also grow and expand: “Thou shalt enlarge my heart” (Ps. 119:32 KJV).
But the sword cuts both ways. While our heart grows in its capacity for pleasure, it grows in its capacity to know pain. The two go hand in hand. What, then, shall we do with disappointment? We can be our own enemy, depending on how we handle the heartache that comes with desire. To want is to suffer; the word passion means to suffer. This is why many Christians are reluctant to listen to their hearts: They know that their dullness is keeping them from feeling the pain of life.
Many of us have chosen simply not to want so much; it’s safer that way. It’s also godless. That’s stoicism, not Christianity. Sanctification is an awakening, the rousing of our souls from the dead sleep of sin into the fullness of their capacity for life. Desire often feels like an enemy, because it wakes longings that cannot be fulfilled in the moment. In the words of T. S. Eliot,

April is the cruelest month, breedingLilacs out of the dead land, mixingMemory and desire. (The Waste Land )

Spring awakens a desire for the summer that is not yet. Awakened souls are often disappointed, but our disappointment can lead us onward, actually increasing our desire and lifting it toward its true passion. (The Sacred Romance, 200)

A Father's Prayer

Build me a Son, O Lord, who will be strong enough
To know when he is weak, and brave enough
To face himself, when he is afraid;
One who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat.
And humble and gentle in victory.

Build me a Son, whose wishbone will not be
Where his Backbone should be;
A son, who will know Thee
And that to know himself is
The foundation stone of knowledge.

Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort,
But under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge.
Here let him learn to stand up in the storm;
Here, let him learn compassion for those who fail.

Build me a Son, Whose heart will be clear,
Whose goal will be high;
A Son who will master himself before he seeks to
Master other men;
One who will learn to laugh,
Yet never forget how to weep;
One who will reach into the future,
Yet never forget the past.

And after all these things are his,
Add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor,
So that he may always be serious,
Yet never take himself too seriously.
Give him humility, so that he may always
Remember the simplicity of true greatness,
The Open mind of true wisdom,
The meekness of true strength.

Then, I his Father, will dare to whisper,
“I have not lived in vain.”

~General Douglas MacArthur

Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders and says...

'Oh no....he's awake!!'

"Like many fly fishermen in western Montana where the summer days are almost Arctic in length, I often do not start fishing until the cool of the evening. Then in the Arctic half-light of the canyon, all existence fades to a being with my soul and memories and the sounds of the Big Blackfoot River and a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise. Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of those rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters."

A River Runs Through It-Norman McLean

Mother's Day

Her children arise up, and call her blessed . . . Proverbs 31:28


Mom, thank you for being a source of support and encouragement in my life.

Your loving son,

Kevin

"So others might live"...Life

God Is with Us

Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous . . . Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. (Josh. 1:6–7, 9)

Isn't if funny how we can forget that He, the Spirit, is with us all the time. Have you ever caught yourself, as I have, asking God to be with me in a tough situation. All the while the Spirit is in us wanting to heal, waiting to war for us, desiring to counsel us and walk with us in disciplship. Yet we forget and find ourselves in situations of life that make us feel alone or afraid of the outcome!

Joshua knew what it was to be afraid. For years he had been second in command, Moses’ right-hand man. But now it was his turn to lead. The children of Israel weren’t just going to waltz in and pick up the Promised Land like a quart of milk; they were going to have to fight for it. And Moses was not going with them. If Joshua was completely confident about the situation, why would God have had to tell him over and over and over again not to be afraid? In fact, God gives him a special word of encouragement: “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Josh. 1:5). How was God “with Moses”? As a mighty warrior. Remember the plagues? Remember all those Egyptian soldiers drowned with their horses and chariots out there in the Red Sea? It was after that display of God’s strength that the people of Israel sang, “The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name” (Ex. 15:3). God fought for Moses and for Israel; then he covenanted to Joshua to do the same, and they took down Jericho and every other enemy.

(Wild at Heart , 167)

Just a thought, but do we live as though God fights for us? And if we do, do we live as He did, fighting for others. Do we fight "so others might live"...the Life Christ came to bring us?

This is for the dads

A Father Forgets
W. Livingston Larded

Listen, son: I am saying this as you lie asleep, one little paw crumpled under your cheek and the blond curls stickily wet on your damp forehead. I have stolen into your room alone. Just a few minutes ago, as I sat reading my paper in the library, a stifling wave of remorse swept over me. Guiltily I came to your bedside.

There are the things I was thinking, son: I had been cross to you. I scolded you as you were dressing for school because you gave your face merely a dab with a towel. I took you to task for not cleaning your shoes. I called out angrily when you threw some of your things on the floor.

At breakfast I found fault, too. You spilled things. You gulped down your food. You put your elbows on the table. You spread butter too thick on your bread. And as you started off to play and I made off for my train, you turned and waved a hand and called, “Goodbye, Daddy!” and I frowned, and said in reply, “Hold your shoulders back!”

Then it began all over again in the late afternoon. As I came up the road I spied you, down on your knees, playing marbles. There were holes in your stocking. I humiliated you before your boyfriends by marching you ahead of me to the house. Stockings were expensive-and if you had to buy them you would be more careful! Imagine that, son, from a father!

Do you remember, later, when I was reading in the library, how you came in timidly, with a sort of hurt look in your eyes? When I glanced up over my paper, impatient at the interruption, you hesitated at the door. “What is it you want?” I snapped.

You said nothing, but ran across in one tempestuous plunge, and threw your arms around my neck an kissed me, and your small arms tightened with an affection that God had set blooming in your heart and which even neglect could not wither. And then you were gone, pattering up the stairs.

Well, son, it was shortly afterwards that my paper slipped from my hands and a terrible sickening fear came over me. What has habit been doing to me? The habit of finding fault, of reprimanding-this was my reward to you for being a boy. It was not that I did not love you; it was that I expected too much of youth. I was measuring you by the yardstick of my own years.

And there was so much that was good and fine and true in your character. The little heart of you was as big as the dawn itself over the wide hills. This was shown by your spontaneous impulse to rush in and kiss me good night. Nothing else matters tonight, son. I have come to you bedside in the darkness, and I have knelt there, ashamed!

It is a feeble atonement; I know you would not understand these things if I told to you during your waking hours. But tomorrow I will be a real daddy! I will chum with you, and suffer when you suffer, and laugh when you laugh. I will bite my tongue when inpatient words come. I will keep saying as if it were a ritual: “He is nothing but a boy-a little boy!”

I am afraid I have visualized you as a man. Yet as I see you now, son, crumpled and weary in you cot, I see that you are still a baby. Yesterday you were in your mother’s arms, your head on her shoulder. I have asked too much, too much.

Walk with me...

"Walk with me and work with me--watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
Matthew 11:29-30 (The Message)

Flying Circus Air Show in Bealeton, VA

June 14th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Dads bring the kids!

Enjoy memorable day with the kids, biplanes, loop, spins and rolls. And oh yeah popcorn and cotton candy!

Check out http://www.outpost-ministries.com/ for more details.
Adults $10 and Kids $3

Welcome home Cale!

Thank you everyone for your prayers for his deployment. Thank you Lord for bringing him home safely and keeping him out of harms way.

Please continue to pray for Nick as he has signed on for another deployment in Iraq.

You know me and pictures! This spoke to me tonight!

Isn’t it intriguing how the Spartan King Leonidas explained the phalanx formation to a would-be soldier. The strength was in the impenetrable wall of shields it created, allowing Greeks to fight against superior numbers and prevail. Teamwork, not individual heroism, is what wins the day.

Each soldier’s shield protects the man to his left, from thigh to neck.

It is important to note the phalanx was not about protecting oneself

from harm, but defending one’s comrade for the greater good.

Done effectively, the line would hold against droves of combatants.

Through this, each soldier’s strength was multiplied exponentially. This brings to mind Psalms 27:17.

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” – NIV

It is also reminiscent of Ephesians 6:10-18.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Strength and honor,

Kevin

First of all, thank you for your prayers! They were answered beyond our expectation. Our prayer was for the men to have eyes to see, recovery of lost things, healing and restoration of the heart, freedom and life. Whoa, what an incredible God we have and how passionate He is for the hearts of His image bearers. This Top Gun weekend God gave us the most
broken and hurting group of men we’ve seen. A MASH Unit was what they needed. The ammo boxes (prayer request boxes) were full of cards of deep hurts, the conversations we had collectively with men saw common themes of deep agreements and deep wounds that men had not known or seen till this weekend. The Healing session was more than an exercise, it was a turning point
for many.

Remembering the advance words God gave us, "Keep it Simple, Share your Stories and Give them to Me." The recovery of lost things was a huge part of this mission (Luke 19:10) and we prayed over the mission for the men to have eyes to see and ears to hear. The objectives of, help them get their hearts back, teach them how to fight and show them where the real battles are we’re addressed to the best of our abilities and God showed up.

It was a glorious and hard fought weekend. I can’t begin to pick from
the Experience and Impact (evaluations) pages that men turned in as to
how the weekend went.

Celebrate with us Gods goodness and how He came for the men and came for us.


For His kingdom.

Kevin