As we have just celebrated the 4th of July, I thank God for the freedom that we enjoy.  Yes, I am thankful for all of the "normal" things we are thankful for when we come to the 4th of July, Freedom in our Country, Freedom to Worship etc.  This 4th of July I am thanking God for a few more freedoms that the older I get, the more special they are to me.  I am so thankful for the freedom to be myself and not have to pretend I am someone I am not.  I realize Jesus not only loves me for who I am, but he created me and he wants me to be......me.
I am also thankful for the freedom to FAIL.  Yes I said fail.  Not that I am going out to fail, nor am I looking  for ways I can fail God.  Instead I am realizing that I will continue to struggle with this flesh until I am with Christ.  I will keep striving to run a "good race" in my life, but I am thanking God for the freedom to FAIL and then get right back up again.  

So this 4th was a day that I thanked God for so many more freedoms than I normally do.  It was a GREAT independence Day.

​Eddie

So New Years Eve has come and gone and many have made resolutions about 2024.  It may be centered around loosing weight, saving money, spending more time at home with the family, shaving 5 strokes off of your golf game or any number of areas.  The question that we always ask is this, will this year be any different because the above mentioned areas of change for many men are the same areas that you wanted to change last year, and the year before that, and the year before that, you get the picture.  What makes this year any different?  The answer is...........I don't know.

Seriously, I really don't know why this year is any different.  To be honest, each year at this time I am as passionate about change as I am this year.  I pray, I try, I seek help and anything else that I feel will help at the start of the year.  So what is the "secret sauce" for this year's success you may ask.  The "secret sauce" is trying again.  Yes that is what I said, try again.  

The bottom line is that I CAN"T guarantee that this will be the year that you take the weight off, become a better family guy, get that promotion at work and shave those strokes off of your game.  The one thing that I can guarantee you is that you will NOT see any of those changes if you don't try again this year.  Not earth shaking I know, but it is TRUTH.  I may not change even if I try again this year, but I can be assured there is NO WAY I will see change if I quit.

Whatevert you do, stay in the game.  Perhaps this year is the year.  

When I think of all of the things that I did not try, it really makes me sad.  In my 59 years of living I have had the opportunity to do things that would have been AMAZING, but I turned them down.  One time in particular, I was invited to speak at a conference in GREECE.  Yes, you read it correctly, Greece.  Now, why they invited me, I will never know, but a missionary invited me to go and spend the week and speak.  So I know you are asking me, "How was the trip?"  Unfortunately I must tell you I did not go.  I can't remember the LAME excuse why I could not go, but that is all it was, an excuse.  I was afraid to travel that far by myself.  Yes, I get it that I was acting so childish and lacking in faith, but it happened.  

As I sit here today and think about WHAT IF I had gone what would have been the results.  How would have God used me to touch the lives of these youth in Greece.  What amazing things would have God done in my own life I often ask myself.  It grieves me to say, but I will never know.  Fear kept me from moving forward into an amazing opportunity.  There is nothing I can do about that trip over 25 years ago, but I can change today.  How about you. Do you have regrets?  How about doing 2 things with me about these regrets.  First, accept that you did allow fear or whatever feeling you had to cheat you out of something great that God had for you.  Second, make a decision to never allow that to happen again.  Just because you blew it once, does not mean that He is finished with you OR that He will never give you other opportunities.  Seize the day.

Think about that
​Eddie

I excitedly logged on the the Men's Fraternity website and begin to rebuild it.  As I worked on new pages and added new photos, it occured to me that I have "revised" or restarted the website before.  Actually, I have restarted the website more times than I care to admit.  Each time I started,  I had the most sincere desire to re-engage the men at Men's Fraternity through the website and worked hard to get it going.  Unfortunately it only lasted a few months, and I got distracted and thus resulted in me having to begin the website again as I did a couple of weeks ago.  

You may ask, what does that have to do with me, a lot.  If we're honest, we all have had times in our lives where we begin new diets, health regiments, hobbies, etc and find ourselves abandoning these efforts within weeks and months of beginning them.  Often it is not the "motivation" that derails us, but the "reason" we begin that seems to be the problem.  Let me see if I can explain.

At times, most people at one point or another go on a diet.  They begin with excitement, they institute a good plan and they are off and running, most often they 'crash and burn."  They began the diet because their clothes are a little tight, or they want to look good for the summer trip to the beach.  After a couple of weeks they find themselves not only buying bigger clothes, but the vacation has moved from a week at the beach to a week in the mountains.  However if i decide to go on a diet to become more healthy because I want to be around longer for my wife and grandkids, it becomes more than an event, but a life crusade.  See how it works.

When I look at my own life, I realize that most of the time, I began for the wrong reason.  If I can clarify why I am starting something, and make sure it is being instituted for a good reason, then I am much more likely to keep it going.  Next time you want to start something new in your life, ask yourself why do you want to begin this.  It may save you a lot of redoing and restarting things in your life. 

So you may be asking me how does the above philosophy relate to this website.  I have often began working on this website because I thought it was something I needed to do OR all good ministries have a website.  Yeah, pretty weak reasons.  This time I began because I really want to connect with men in all walks of life and to share with them the amazing men here at First Assembly.  I felt that this group can and will make the difference in the lives of men in the future and with that thinking being my motivation, I knew I had to go this going again.  The website now has "eternal" reasons for existing.