Man Alive – review
We pick up in chapter 4 of our study entitled – Created for a life of purpose.
“The primal need of every man: to believe that my life has a purpose – that my life is not random”
Patrick does an excellent job of discussing this, nut not from the standpoint of what we get out of life that we “think” brings meaning, but by defining God’s Big Holy Audacious goals for our life. The key factor being a disciple. A disciple is called to live in Christ, equipped to live like Christ and sent to live for Christ. When we wrap our heads around our position as a disciple of the almighty God our life really takes on meaning – the God of all creation chose us yes, chose me as His disciple.
Windows 8 day 1
I successfully installed Windows 8 on my notebook using VM Player. My first impression is that this build will have a bit of a learning curve for the average user. The interface is much different and is modeled after the Windows mobile operating system, of course with more real estate on a desktop monitor you can have more thing opened and/or on your desktop. One of the immediate things I noticed is that applications want to open in full screen – with a 24 inch monitor it really seems excessive. Windows 8 does natively support dual monitors and will be good for many people. Yes older versions of Windows also support dual monitors, but it wasn’t as directly available as it is in Windows 8. Using multiple monitors allows you to be working on one monitor and using the other for email, twitter and such.
Later this week I’ll be adding additional applications to see how it works.
Windows 8 what’s it?
Throughout the history of Microsoft vs. Apple there has been accusations – both ways – of stealing technology. On the surface this may be another case. The latest version of OSX from Apple has taken a step forward in making the desktop/server software work like the iPad. Many of the touch features are brought over so that, with the use of a magic mouse or touch pad, features such as pinch and multi touch are now available on non-touchscreen hardware.
Microsoft has taken a similar approach with Windows 8. Here they take the look and feel of their mobile OS to the desktop, and surely to the server world. With the preview downloaded I’m installing this to a VM for testing and I’ll provide a review here soon.
Initial reviews that I have read suggest that its nice but not worth the trouble for the enterprise. We’ll see!
Book Review: “Man Alive”
In this chapter the theme is for men to know, understand and believe that God really knows and cares about us. It seems that its relatively easy, if you’ve been around any sort of Bible or religious teaching at all, to believe that God loves us. We’ve heard it in many ways, we’ve even heard the verses that identify God is love, not just that He loves, but He is love. So what’s the lack that we men deal with? Does God know us? Does He like us? We know that He loves us, its kind of a requirement of His position as God. But we’ve done so much, we’ve sinned so much, we’ve been such a disappointment. . . God knows all of that and how could he like that . . . Unlike people God really can separate people from their actions. We as men tend to identify ourselves by what we do – watch the next time you are around men for the first time – what’s the first questions and bulk of the initial conversation? What do you do for a living? We identify by what we do. That bleeds into our identity with how we see God.
However God sees us and our actions completely separately and He sees us as His individual creation, and if you are a Christ follower and His child He sees us as that. One of the most outstanding concepts in this chapter is the fact that God doesn’t have a plan A, plan B, etc. He has a plan A for each of us.
God does know us – in the most intimate details.
God loves us – He is love.
God likes us – He has a plan a for us no matter what our past, or circumstances, or feelings say.
Found favor, in person
Today I needed an extra dose of patience and started the day with a prayer. “Dad, its all about you make me trusting and patient.” The day was like any other a little firewall monitoring and some changes, a little trouble shooting, some documentation, then right before quitting time we get a call that was bound to take some time – a little patience reminder.
Then he expected becomes the un-expected. The worker that showed up to evaluate some work on the house gave me the bad news and upon mentioning I had been a customer for several years he said, give the office a call tomorrow and tell them that Tim needs to look at this. His name was Tim and he happened to be the owner – “I’ll make sure you get a discounted rate.” Thank you Lord reminding me that You are in charge and looking out for me.
So then we head to the hardware store for paint, seven gallons before the painter arrives on Saturday. Preparing a house for sale is a lot of work, tiring and expensive. Upon checkout the salesman insisted upon giving us a discount. Again, Lord, thank you for another reminder.
Blessings come in three, at least they did this day. Upon returning home I found my front lawn had been cut by my neighbor.
Found favor and reminders of His provision and care – He is always faithful and His timing is perfect.
Book Review / life lesson
The first of the seven premises of “Man Alive” is that men need “To feel like I don’t have to do life alone.”
In our effort to handle business, do it ourselves, and be strong we isolate ourselves. But we were created to be social creatures. Now this is something we have all heard time and again. But Patrick does an excellent job of not just stating the matter, but relating in a way that really makes you evaluate where you are in relation to others men. It really hit home when I read his comment about who your friends are and questioned “have you been to their home?” Wow, isn’t that what we do? We “make friends” with people to whom we haven’t even been to their home, we don’t know their kids names, or really any details other than the teams the follow or the cars they drive.
So it was already hitting home and I headed out to my men’s group for a “safe” discussion about putting on our armor. Specifically the shield of faith. As the discussion began over and over man after man commented about the matter of going it alone. By a show of hands how many of you have made 5 non work related calls this week – one hand.
I get it genuine relationships, coming up.
Book Review
I’m currently reading and will be reviewing “Man Alive” the latest book from Patrick Morley.
Patrick’s material is always challenging, and practical. His style is easy to read and relate to. This book addresses 7 key areas the every man can relate to:
1. To feel like you don’t have to do life alone
2. To believe—really believe—that God loves and cares about you personally
3. To understand how your life has a purpose, that your life is not random
4. To break free from the destructive behaviors that keep dragging you down
5. To satisfy your soul’s thirst for transcendence, awe, and communion
6. To love and be loved without reservation
7. To make a contribution and leave the world a better place
A core value portraied throughout:
“We are men unwilling to settle for spiritual mediocrity.”
911 to go?
Is it time to let the 911 go? I love that car, its been my “dream” most of my life to own a Porsche 911, and this one is a special edition – so special in fact that the 1980 Weissach edition was designed to be the farewell edition to the 911 model. Yes back in 1980 the direction forward was the new front engined water cooled cars. Thus the Weissach edition was built – all the bells and whistles of the day as a final exit for one of the greatest sports cars in history. Well long story short this was not the end of the line and many great versions of the 911 have been produced over the years. All that to say, I love this car.
But there is something I love far more, its someone – God is my passion and giving is a core value of mine. Recently we have been on a road to reduce and simplify. We are preparing for full time vocational ministry in the IT field and as the Lord directs we are reducing the things from our lives and seeking ways to give more.
So maybe it is time – I’ve advertised her on the Porsche Club of America classified pages. If its time , and His plan maybe she’ll sell soon. I really hope she finds a good home that will provide and care for her like a classic car of this nature deserves – parting with her is going to be very, very difficult, she’s become much more than just a car, she’s a friend – how do you put a price on that?
Found Favor
These last two weeks we have been blessed to have the founder and lead pastor of one of the fastest growing churches in America speak to us at LifeChurch.TV. Steven is an excellent speaker and clearly devoted to and led by the Lord. His church is a multi-campus church called Elevation.
His message was living in God’s favor. He did a great job of clarifying the difference between living in God’s favor vs. the common desire of favors from God. God is not a “genie in a bottle” and we cannot manipulate Him. I see the difference as how we see God. Is he there for you, to do your bidding, or is he sovereign Lord and its all about Him? Are you seeking Him for who he is or what He can do for you?
In Starting Point we have been reminded that everything exists for God and we are here to glorify Him. This is all his story and He allows us to be a part of it.
Starting Point Week 2
This was week 2 of Starting Point at the NDUB. Week 2 is actually the first week of material as week 1 was an introductory session.
It was a great session, a good crowd, good discussion and lots of personal interaction.
This session introduced us to the idea that its all about God and His story. He seeks us to be a part of His story – what a wonderful opportunity. What a wonderful God.
We are getting to know one another and the discussion is really clarifying things. Each person identified where they currently are – at a starting point, a turning point, returning point or a returning point. This is a essential step in looking forward. As we identify where we are we can look to what we seek to learn over the next several weeks.
Looking forward to next week – looking forward to what God will accomplish in each of us through Starting Point.