A Strong Man - Part 2

The year was 1988.  It was a cold evening and our family had just finished dinner.  Before we left the table, my Dad announced that he needed to speak to us as a family. I remember glancing at my brother wondering what had Dad found out?  Had he looked behind the poster in the back of our closet to find the target we had painted on the wall for Chinese star throwing practice?  Or had he found out that we had been taking his ax out of the garage in the attempt to chop down a giant tree in the woods near our house......a project that we had been working on for about a month.  It was a seriously huge tree.  My father was not known for random conversation or long speeches so with trepidation my Mom, my brother and I joined him in the living room for what was to be a life changing conversation.

               

As I sat there figuring out how I was going to blame my brother for one of the yet unrevealed transgressions, I heard these words, "Boys, I'm sorry."  Immediately the gears of my mind stopped spinning and I focused fully on my father.  Sorry? That was supposed to be my line!  My dad continued on, "It is my responsibility as your father to make sure we, as a family, are doing the right things.  Recently, I have not done that.  I have let my guard down.  I have let our family participate in things that we normally do not do - things we don't believe in.  Things that have been convictions of your mother's and I since we were married.  Just as important, our new Pastor, Bro. Macey stands against those same things and we must be under the leadership of the Man of God.  I'm sorry I've allowed these things to happen.  Today we will get back to doing the things that we know are right."

Wow!  That was pretty heavy for two boys, 12 and 10 years of age.  In fact, we were a bit disappointed because we had been enjoying the "freedoms" that had been denied us so long.  All of my life we had served the Lord.  It was safe to say that we were very conservative in our walk.  Just ask my cousins who came to stay with us from time to time...always having to pray before they ate, go to church 3 times a week and no TV to watch!  It was more like boot camp for them.  But an overwhelming relief came upon me as I lay in bed that night.  Our ship was back on course.  Sure, I would miss some of those things we had experienced for a while, but things in our family were again as they should be.  As young as I was, I knew how we believed and how we should live.  I knew that our convictions were valuable and sacred.  And I knew that following the direction of your Pastor was even more so.  My Dad had taught me that all my life but that night, he proved it to me.

I called my father recently and asked him if he remembered that night and he said that he did.  As I tried to explain how much it meant to me, his courage and his love for us,  I choked up and could barely talk.  I told him that so many times in my single life, in my marriage, with my children and on the job, I had come to the realization that I had ventured down the wrong path.  Each time I have thought of that night 25 years ago, I followed exactly in his footsteps.  He taught me that a strong man will say he's sorry and correct the course immediately.  He is willing to show weakness and will expose mistakes, even his own, in order to make those around him stronger, to strengthen them against the times to come.  A strong man influences others, so that his values become their values. 

The values and principles that my father stood for long ago are the same values I love and hold dear today.  They are the same values my wife and I teach to my daughters daily and will teach to my infant son who sleeps in my lap as I type.

Thank you Dad for loving our family. Thank you for being a strong man.

Click here to read "A Strong Man - Part 1"

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PJ Dial is a husband, father and servant of Christ. He grew up in Royalwood and is involved in several aspects of ministry including Praise & Worship, Anthem Student Ministries and currently serves on Royalwood's Board.

The Strength of Resolve

It has been 50 days since most of us made our New Year's Resolution. And by now, most of them have fallen by the wayside. 

Why do we make resolutions in the first place and what exactly does it mean to resolve? Is it a wonderfully useful cleaning product for carpet? I know I have a bottle of that in the cleaning liquids stored under our kitchen sink. I can not quite help but wonder how the manufacturer decided upon that name for this product. Most likely they reached this decision because one of the definitions for resolve is to dissolve, melt or break up. With “Resolve,” your carpet mess can be cleaned up in a jiffy. Is this how we view our resolutions - a way to make things right that are wrong in our lives? 

Another definition for resolve is "to deal with successfully and to reach a firm decision about." It is from these definitions that we draw the concept of our New Year resolutions. Whether or not you believe in making any resolutions at the beginning of each year, you must believe in the importance of resolution.

Here is the important part: A resolution will do you no good without the necessary amount of resolve. Not the carpet cleaner variety to be sure. Our resolve must be firm and our conviction inescapable when making a decision to move forward in a life changing direction. Too many resolutions flame out because the one making it has done so without the necessary amount of fortitude.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Philippi to give them encouragement. Part of what he said gives us a proper background for making any resolutions at all:

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14)

Any and all resolutions we have made for 2013 would be greatly enhanced if we made them with the priority of drawing closer to the call of Christ. When our first task is to fulfill the will of God, the rest becomes much easier. May God bless us this year with the resolve to carry out the task before us and may we find this year the strength to carry out the mission of our Lord.

Mitch Gallaugher is a minister and serves in many capacities at Royalwood. He is married to his lovely wife, Tammy and has three kids.

Leaning Towers

I had the amazing privilege of seeing the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa when I was in Italy several years ago. It’s such a beautiful architectural structure. It was built as a bell tower for the city of Pisa. As you probably know, the tower was not meant to lean. This was a defect in the structure and foundation from the very beginning. Although this structure is celebrated, it was never able to fulfill it’s full purpose and was unable to be used at all for many, many years.

As they continued construction on the tower it began to get worse. Because there was a defect in the structure, as they built, it began to lean more and more. There were many people who wanted to tear down the tower and rebuild it with the same materials so they could fix the problems in the structure. For whatever reason, they left it and tried there best to stabilize it.

How often do we find ourselves a structure that has a defect at the core? We go through life and we build our spiritual structure with bricks of brokenness and stones of sin on slabs of selfishness. We make mistakes. Sometimes big ones.

I was looking at pictures of a devastating storm recently. Almost every building was completely destroyed. It was so terrible, but in that moment the Lord spoke to me about storms. God allows such devastation to come through our lives sometimes because we have built a broken structure, much like the Leaning Tower. We keep building, trying to move forward in Christ but as we build, we get worse. Our structure is unable to fulfill it’s purpose. We have become so defective that we are almost useless for His kingdom. So, God allows the storms to come. It seems to destroy us; to end us. BUT, God always has a purpose for what He allows in to our lives.

In 2 Corinthians 5:17 it says, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”  This scripture gives us the opportunity to look at the devastating storm in a NEW light. The old things are passed away, and ALL things are becoming new. You want to be used of God? You want your life to be more than a leaning tower of disappointment? Then do not begrudge the storm that has come through. Let it bring forth a new start; a clean slate. He wants to rebuild you. He wants to make all things new in your life. Once that crippled structure is torn down, He is able to rebuild you stronger than you’ve ever been before. Don’t give up after the storm, instead, begin rebuilding through Christ and you will be everything that God intended on you being.

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Lorna Brittany Wells leads worship at Royalwood and is also a youth leader in Anthem Student Ministries.  She is married to Tauren Wells and is expecting their first child in 2013.