This picture has become my new nightly commitment.  As silly and small as it might sound, I have become dish man.  My commitment to my wife is that I will do all the dishes after dinner each evening.  My mission is an empty sink.  I know you might think that I should have figured out such a simple act of service years ago.  Godly men are called to serve their wives as Christ does the church, and this should have been happening in our home years ago.  Amazingly, I needed a brother to inspire me to become dish man.
My dear brother's wife was bragging on him because of his dish man commitment.  The Lord used that to speak to me.  Truth be told, my commitment to being dish man has been a big thing for my wife.
Men, by God's design, we need each other.  Proverbs 27:17 says, "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." How can you help sharpen a brother today?  And, may I encourage you, if you are married, find a way to serve your wife today.  Maybe be the dish man tonight.

This past Thursday night at Man Church we had the honor of hearing from God through the words of Raymond Berry.  I want to encourage you at the start of this week with his words to us.

Men

Click on the link here to view my teaching "In The Trenches".  I hope it will help motivate you to live today in light of "that day", when we'll be with Jesus.  Your part in this life matters greatly!

http://www.vimeo.com/9682146

Last night at Man Church I was inspired on many levels.  God spoke to me and I trust all who were present in many ways.  I include a couple of my take aways in this blog in the hope that it will refresh your memory concerning what God spoke to you about and/or will serve to encourage you not to miss our next Man Church March 4th.

As we heard from Paul Sr. and Paul Jr. during the interview time - I'm taking away inspiration to pour more intentionally into my three children - like Paul Sr., I've got two pirates and a princess.  The examples of Paul Sr.'s laying down in the bed each night with his children to talk to them about their day even when he was exhausted, is convicting and motivating to me.  His admonition to love their mother well is a big reminder-type take away for me as well.

From Paul's talk, some of my key take aways are:
1.  Your character is your calling card - this is the first and best form of witness in our spheres of influence.
2.  "Be, Know, Do" - the simple leadership model the army uses is a great and concise way to remember our calling to be witnesses and influences whether it is to our own families or the other people He gives us the privilege of influencing for Him.
3.  Pray for opportunities.  As I ask God for discernment in seeing opportunities to speak the gospel, He opens those opportunities and gives me wisdom to know what to say and how to say it.  God will empower me to do what He has commanded me to do.

We have designed Man Church to be "a gathering to inspire revolutionary manhood".  Our next Man Church is right around the corner, March 4th, and registration is open right now at www.johnsonferry.org.  Our special speaker is Hall-of-Fame wide receiver and Super Bowl Head Coach Raymond Berry.  I'm including a link to a video segment ESPN did on Raymond Berry and his QB, Johnny Unitas as a promo.  I hope you'll make a point to come on the 4th and bring others with you.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-network-top-ten/09000d5d8074cc9c/Top-Ten-Pass-Combos-Johnny-Unitas-and-Raymond-Berry

1 Kings 3:7-9 “"Now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties.  Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number.  So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?"

Genesis 41:16 “"I cannot do it," Joseph replied to Pharaoh, "but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires."

On my nine-year-old football team this past Fall, one of the many funny things that happened came from my left tackle. He is a wonderful boy, but in this one particular game he was way in over his head.  We were playing the best team in the league.  The young man he had to try to block was a lot bigger, a lot faster, and a lot meaner than him.  I had spent all week trying to prepare him for the challenge.  I tried to reduce his task down to diving into the shins of the guy across from him, trying my best to convince him he could do it and we had to have him succeed to have a chance.  All week he reassured me with great braggadocio, “Coach, he’s going to wish he never met me!”  etc… During the game, his man beat him terribly every play. (Now I know you football guys are asking yourselves why I didn’t double-team that kid.  The problem was that the other team had five defensive linemen that needed to be double-teamed.  We only made one first down the whole game; and that was because of a penalty on them.)  The funny thing (in a tragic way J) was that my left tackle kept trash talking/bragging about what he was going to do to that guy every time he came back to the huddle. 

I see that same ridiculous posture in men all the time.  We pose, strut and boast out of a tragically hilarious attempt to cover pitiful insecurity and weakness. 

My simple encouragement to you is to be honest.  Don’t be afraid to say you’re weak and need God’s help.  This ultimately turns out to be the only legitimate position of strength.  Listen to two of the world’s greatest leaders:  Solomon, upon his coronation as King and Joseph before Pharaoh when his life and future were on the line.  Both of those contexts would be optimal times to strut, brag, and trash talk for most men.  These great men were honest, real, and therefore, ultimately strong.  Be the same way!

James 4:10 “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

Men

What a glorious effort!  Thank you to every man who formed the unbroken chain of readers.  We read God's Word from beginning to end over our church in 75 hours.  What a powerful relay team you were and will continue to be for His glory.  Click on the link to view the video of the end of the Read Through.  Also, I would love to hear from you.  If you have a little testimonial about how God used this effort in your life, I'd love to hear about it to share with the other men and give God the glory.  You can e-mail your testimonial to me at tom.gray@jfbc.org

http://www.vimeo.com/8945812

Men - if you are wanting to be here for the finish, you'd better come now - as of 9:20 pm, we're in Revelation chapter 8.

Men, we just started 1st Peter - we'll be done before midnight!  I hope I can get my children home and run back over in time to see the finish!

Men  -  as of 4:00 PM we're in 1 Corinthians chapter 7.  According to my calculations (which up to this point have been like forecasting the weather - no offense Rich) we'll finish between midnight and 1:30 in the morning.  So, if any of you want to be on hand for it, plan on being here sometime in the 11:30 pm - 1:30 am range.  I'll send out another blog after dinner to update our progress.

Wow men, we're getting to the end much quicker than I thought.  As of 11:00 AM we are in John chapter 10.  Stay tuned for the final laps and crossing the finish line some time this evening.  If your time is scheduled after we finish, obviously you won't need to come in.  Great job guys!