We have just completed our first Beta session of “AMP>D! Gaining Momentum in Life” with a great group of men at The Summit Church.  AMP>D! is a unique process which provides a practical framework for gaining postive traction in areas of your life where you feel defeated, ineffective or just plain stuck.  Through a series of highly interactive group sessions, mini-challenges and real-life applications we give participants the tools and insight to become more effective and purposeful in their daily lives.  If you are interested in learning more about our AMP>D! seminar or small group material please contact me at khollaway@39principle.com.

hat an incredible day with the Lord!  Lake Sylvia and the Ouachita Trail are a little slice of heaven :)   It was so refreshing to just take in His creation while meditating on His word and in prayer.
God confirmed in me that we are on the right path and to be BOLD in pursuing Him.  As I walked through the woods on the trail He kept putting a phrase in my mind…Breaking Free.  In order for us to join Christ where He is and to live Counter-Culture for a Cause we have to break free of the ties that bind us:  materialism, pride, prestige, money, safety, comfort, work, kids, family, security, sin…All of these things were like the spiderwebs that hung across the path.  To attain my goal I had to break free of them.

We can not sit and hope that God will just loosen the ropes…we must struggle (press forward) to break free of them in pursuit of Him.  It is about action, movement and passion.  We can not be complacent where we are.  The prize is worth the effort, and should be our driving focus.

Today I am breaking free!

kh

PS - I strongly urge you all to sit down and read Acts 1-7 and take care to note the posture of the Apostles.  They start with prayer, and then proclaim with boldness and confidence…those guys were convinced to their core that Christ was the Messiah and knowing Him was worth EVERYTHING.  Oh that we could be so strong!

hat an incredible day with the Lord!  Lake Sylvia and the Ouachita Trail are a little slice of heaven :)   It was so refreshing to just take in His creation while meditating on His word and in prayer.
God confirmed in me that we are on the right path and to be BOLD in pursuing Him.  As I walked through the woods on the trail He kept putting a phrase in my mind…Breaking Free.  In order for us to join Christ where He is and to live Counter-Culture for a Cause we have to break free of the ties that bind us:  materialism, pride, prestige, money, safety, comfort, work, kids, family, security, sin…All of these things were like the spiderwebs that hung across the path.  To attain my goal I had to break free of them.

We can not sit and hope that God will just loosen the ropes…we must struggle (press forward) to break free of them in pursuit of Him.  It is about action, movement and passion.  We can not be complacent where we are.  The prize is worth the effort, and should be our driving focus.

Today I am breaking free!

kh

PS - I strongly urge you all to sit down and read Acts 1-7 and take care to note the posture of the Apostles.  They start with prayer, and then proclaim with boldness and confidence…those guys were convinced to their core that Christ was the Messiah and knowing Him was worth EVERYTHING.  Oh that we could be so strong!

Some poignant words from Adrian Rogers / Love Worth Finding (www.lfw.org)

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
For the first time in history, man is afraid of what he knows. His head and his hands have outrun his heart, and we are being faced with things for which we have no answers — the plague of AIDS, the tinderbox in the Middle East, the outbreaks of famine, the irregular weather disturbances, and much more. But, we don’t have to wring our hands and say, “What is the world coming to?” We can look up and say, “Who is the world coming to?” It’s coming to Jesus! Praise God!

BIBLE MEDITATION:
John 12:32 - “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.”

God has created each of us uniquely, but we must not forget that He is the fullness of all things - Head, Heart and Hands. 

It is easy to lose sight of the important things in life, especially in times of economic turmoil and uncertainty.  All too often I find myself consumed with my own fate or condition and I fail to put things in the right perspective.  There are moments however, when all of that is brought into stark clarity and I shake my head with chagrin, acknowledging how petty and self-absorbed I can be.  Today was one of those days…

It started with being reminded by my wife that her cousin was waking up to his first day of R&R back in the United States having just returned from Iraq where he has been posted as an MP for the past 6 months.  As joyful as that may seem, there is the sadness that his return departure date is already set - this is just a respite from the war.  My heart was heavy for him.

Then, as I sat in my office on a conference call a good friend of mine stuck his head in the door to tell me that his Army Reserve unit (which I had served with for 4 years) had just been called back up to return to Iraq - this would be their second tour.  He is a father of 4 with his 5th child on the way.  I could tell his heart was grieved, but there was determination and acceptance in his eyes.  My heart was heavy for him. 

And if that weren’t enough, my business partner Dan emailed me this story sent to him by Sal Molinare (www.salmolinare.com).  There are so many lives affected by the war, yet it is so easy to lose sight of that fact.  There are men and women - many of them young and full life - that are serving with honor, dignity and pride.  They don’t ask for much in return because they serve out of duty and love of country rather than for money and fame.  What they deserve though, is our gratitude, support and love.  My heart is heavy for them.

I’m thankful for these moments that bring me back to the right perspective…thank you to all who serve!

===========================

The Sack Lunches
 
I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down in my assigned seat. It was going to be a long flight.

‘I’m glad I have a good book to read Perhaps I will get a short nap,’ I thought.
 
Just before take-off, a line of soldiers came down the aisle and filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding me. I decided to start a conversation. ‘Where are you headed?’ I asked the soldier seated nearest to me. ’Petawawa. We’ll be there for two weeks for special training, an d then we’re being deployed to Afghanistan
 
After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that sack lunches were available for five dollars. It would be several hours before we reached the east, and I quickly decided a lunch would help pass the time.  As I reached for my wallet, I overheard soldier ask his buddy if he planned to buy lunch. ‘No, that seems like a lot of money for just a sack lunch. Probably wouldn’t be worth five bucks. I’ll wait till we get to base.’
 
 
 His friend agreed.  I looked around at the other soldiers. None were buying lunch. I walked to the back of the plane and handed the flight attendant a fifty dollar bill. ‘Take a lunch to all those soldiers.

‘ She grabbed my arms and squeezed tightly. Her eyes wet with tears, she thanked me. ‘My son was a soldier in Iraq; it’s almost like you are doing it for him.’  Picking up ten sacks, she headed up the aisle to where the soldiers were seated. She stopped at my seat and asked, ‘Which do you like best - beef or chicken?’  ‘Chicken,’ I replied, wondering why she asked. She turned and went to the front of plane, returning a minute later with a dinner plate from first class. ‘This is your thanks.’
 
After we finished eating, I went again to the back of the plane, heading for the rest room. A man stopped me.  ‘I saw what you did. I want to be part of it. Here, take this.’ He handed me twenty-five dollars.
  
Soon after I returned to my seat, I saw the Flight Captain coming down the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he walked, I hoped he was not looking for me, but noticed he was looking at the numbers only on my side of the plane.  When he got to my row he stopped, smiled, held out his hand, and said, ‘I want to shake your hand.’
 
Quickly unfastening my seatbelt I stood and took the Captain’s hand.  With a booming voice he said, ‘I was a soldier and I was a military pilot.  Once, someone bought me a lunch. It was an act of kindness I never forgot.’  I was embarrassed when applause was heard from all of the passengers.
 
Later I walked to the front of the plane so I could stretch my legs.  A man who was seated about six rows in front of me reached out his hand, wanting to shake mine.  He left another twenty-five dollars in my palm.
 
When we landed I gathered my belongings and started to deplane.  Waiting just inside the airplane door was a man who stopped me, put something in my shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without saying a word. Another twenty-five dollars!
 
Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their trip to the base. I walked over to them and handed them seventy-five dollars.  ‘It will take you some time to reach the base. It will be about time for a sandwich. God Bless You.’
 
Ten young men left that flight feeling the love and respect of their fellow travelers. As I walked briskly to my car, I whispered a prayer for their safe return.  These soldiers were giving their all for our country. I could only give them a couple of meals.  It seemed so little…
 
A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to “The United States of America” for an amount of up to and including my life.  That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.

I have to admit that I am something of a technophile (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technophilia) in that I love to read and study about the future applications of technology in everyday life.  I think that is what appeals to me about SciFi as well…the convergence of reality with possibility.  I read a great article today that talked about the potential for the recently enacted Stimulas Bill to advance the influence of technology in our aging infrastructure.  It was truly facinating.  Here is the link to the article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB12344 … 31779255.html?mod=djemTMB

It is amazing to consider at the unique applications of our modern technology.  As instruments get smaller and smaller (even to the point of nano-sized components) and wireless connectivity gets more pervasive it seems that there are limitless ways to implement technology.  Certainly one of the drawbacks to such pervasive use of sensors and communication devices is the sheer volume of information.  I recently read somewhere that there is more “new” data/information generated in the past year than in all of human history before that…wow - that is exponential growth for sure.  The biggest challenge is how to make use of the data.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the convergence of traditional mediums/industries with modern day technologies…

I recently read an interesting article on MSNBC.com titled “Is conflict between God and science hardwired?” by Robin Lloyd (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28675668).  It was a review of a scientific study that suggests “our minds are conflicted, making it so we have trouble reconciling science and God because we unconsciuosly see these concepts as fundametnally opposed”.  While the psychologists running the study found evidence that people tend to place science and religion on opposite ends of the arguments surrounding the larger issues of life such as the origin of the Universe and the evolution/creation of man.  The leaders of the study believe that their results show that a Dual Belief System does not exist in our brains.

Ultimately the article did point to other potential causes to the conflict, such as cultural opposition, that influence the results of the study.  I tend to agree with that potential, and would even tender the suggestion that the 3:9 Principle is an influencing factor as well.  Consider it this way - people that tend to gravitate to numbers, facts and science are primarily Head-centric in Nature, while those who gravitate to relationship, emotion and faith are Heart-centric.  The questions posed by the study force a potential tug-of-war between these two Natures.  Since most people are dominant in a Nature, then they are see the world through that particular lense.

It is an interesting thought and adds yet another twist to God’s design.  Take a moment to read the article if you get the chance.