GodTube Video

For those of you caught in the mindless time killing world of YouTube, here is a more uplifting alternative...GodTube. This video hit me in an area that lately God has really been working on me. The lost and hurting people of this world. I think this video puts a face and a story to a song that some of us have heard before. Yet for me, watching the video, made me look at it differently. If you attend church somewhere, have you ever looked at someone who looked lost or out of place and thought "what are they doing here?" Well, if so, take a look at this video. It should also serve as a reminder to dads that your daughters need affection and attention from you. If they don't get it from you they will look for it elsewhere. Would you then blame them for doing something that breaks your heart? Dads, hug your daughters tonight and this week as if it was the one thing in their life they need right now. If your daughters are still young, now is the time to start...and never stop.

Casting Crowns- Does Anybody Hear Her?

I am...yikes...hmmm....let me think...

I wrote the E-Sports newsletter today and like seemingly everything I do lately, it got me thinking...What if we all carried a self-describing label around our neck everywhere we went? It would be especially tough if it could only list one thing about you. No, not a list of 5 things that describe your likes and traits. Just one sentence. One aspect.

With that being said, I would think it would be way to shallow to put something like, "I am a Red Sox Fan." Too narrow to put, "I am a great listener." And there is no way I am putting ,"I am a Gen Xer." (yes, I do somehow fall just inside that age group.)

About 2 years ago, I was similarly challenged during my bible reading to do something along those same lines and to a degree I still do. I had decided to wear my work name tag (name, church, job title) around everywhere I went. It was a great reminder to always be mindful of what I am doing and how I am acting. It was accountability that likely all of us could stand a little more of. At least it is for me anyway.
How about you? Could your walk be strengthened if you everyone you encountered could just look down at your name and church listed right there in front of them? Makes it easier to overlook getting shortchanged by a cashier or cut off in a parking lot doesn't it?

I am Christ's Church

The LeSage Family photo...

I am sorry, but I just had to share this photo with you all. I don't want to get so wrapped up in other things I write about that I fail to share with you my love of my family.
I have noticed a problem that I must get a better handle on and it may be one some of you can relate to.
The challanges of being in ministry are similar to my prior profession as a basketball coach. Coach Joe Pichardo of Bishop Kenny told me one day that it was important that I marry a woman who was capable of being a "coaches wife." As a 25-year-old that didn't really mean a bunch to me at the time. A coaches wife would have to accept that her husband who have late nights watching game film, travel to scout upcoming teams, staying after games to talk to coaches, parents, players and know that their husband might also be a little more stressed out on occasion.
Though I am not officially a "minister," my wife also has similar challenges to the basketball coaches' wife. She has to deal with having to share her holidays with the church and me taking phone calls from people who I feel might need to talk to me. She has to deal with countless people knowing who she is though she has never seen or met them. She has to deal with waking up Sunday morning and getting three kids under 7-years-old ready for church by herself. And of course because my ministry happens when people are off of work, that means I am gone when she is off work and home with the kids.
I am so thankful that she supports what I do while keeping me accountable to my God-given responsibility to her and my kids. Too many times, I take for granted that she should accept whatever I happen to be doing because "it's ministry." Yes, too often I overlook the ministry that I have to lead that is positioned right under my own roof. (Thank you my love for being the helper God has called you to be.)

How about you? Sacrifice diner with family regularly because of work? Because of sports? Because the neighbor has a '57 Chevy he needs rebuilt?

No, I am not preaching. I am sharing.

I learned a while back that when people talk about something and they are referring to other people such as "lots of people don't like talking about money," that usually they should insert the word "I" in place of "people." Of course, you can't make that a blanket statement because I might say, "people like the Yankees." And well, the word "I" can't be used there! Hahah! (Truth be told, I don't hate the Yankees anymore. Not since game 7 of '04. October 20th, 2004 to be exact. But who's counting right? I don't root for them, but I don't hate them.)
Actually, I think that God blessed me with the gift of forgiveness when I became a Christian. I shudder to think of how much hate I carried with me for years. In the first 7 or so years after I graduated high school, I basically became friendless because I couldn't forgive anyone and over time, my sinful mind would only build up resentment and lies in my own head. Man, I could justify ANYTHING. Two of my closet friends in the world, Shane Leonard and Mitch Callahan had to endure me not speaking to them for years as I acted like some 4-year-old child angry with the boy who got the blocks first. Sorry boys! "Thank you Lord for putting those two back in my life." Both were actually there with me and my wife the night I became a Christian at the Billy Graham Crusade in 2000.

For those of you who read last week's blog about me making it a point to share the Good News with someone on my list, well, this week I made contact. He was busy, so it was brief but we got the ball rolling. For the sake of not wanting to offend anyone, I will be as vague as I can while still giving you the rundown. Please pray for this task I am on. Please pray for me to have perseverance because you know "some people" have the best of intentions but get sidetracked.

Oh, by the way, every morning I am praying for those people on YOUR list and for you to have the courage to fight through whatever excuse you have allowed to be bigger than possibly saving a soul for eternity. "Jesus, of course you already know this, but I must confess that I never told 'Mr. Lost Soul' about you because...well, he cussed a lot and had a lot of anger and I felt uncomfortable around him. Like he would reject me and not like me anymore. Yea...I guess you can relate to that, huh? So, I guess I choose to keep my relationship with him and that may have stopped him from having one with you. Yea, that doesn't sound too fair does it?"

Tell them before it's too late...

How many friends or loved ones do you know that AREN'T saved? For me, just counting off the top of my head and including only those who are close friends/relatives, I come up with a number around five. Yea. Five. Now that does not include all those in the sports programs. Just those in the "inner-inner" circle of friends. That next layer out, which for a lot of you would include co-workers or next door neighbors, the number goes up significantly. Because I work in the "Outreach" ministry, it would be safe to say the number is around 70 for me. Conversely, because I work for a church, I don't have co-workers who fall under that category. (Ideally of course.)

Do you have a brother or neighbor who you don't know for sure if they are saved? If so, shouldn't that move to the top of our "To Do List?" Now, in no way do I mean that you have to be able to sit down and give them your best impression of Billy Graham. But just tell them what Christ has done in your life. THAT is what non-believers will listen to. Someone they know telling them about their own life. Not someone else's story but your own.

We have all seen the emails and heard the stories about how harsh words were said and then something tragic happens and you never have the opportunity to fix it. If those stories are to encourage us to not skip saying "I love you," where are the stories of those who never shared the Good News to someone and now they are gone. If we can all at least somewhat relate to the guilt of not loving someone enough or at all before they died, imagine the burden of not knowing if someone was a Believer?
If a loved one dies whom I wrongfully haven't spoken to for years, then I am the one who has to live with the guilt. But if they died before coming to know Christ, they are the ones who will live in Hell for eternity. Before you say, "well, I am not comfortable sharing my testimony," are you saying your willing to risk their soul? Maybe YOU are the one person who could make a difference...and you aren't comfortable?

Is that really a position your willing to take? As a Believer you are to be ready to share the Good News at anytime and any place. I know it's not always easy but it's something we have to do.

Let's do this together. I have no idea how this is going to go but I must be able to walk the walk if I am going to talk the talk. So I will target one person on my list and outline on my Blog how that is coming. Good or bad. You do likewise. Post your comments (without naming names of course.) and that might encourage someone else to work on their unsaved friends/loved ones. Success in this endeavor is not to be judged solely on making them a Believer. Sometimes we are just called to plant the seed. While the next person waters and fertilizes. Whatever rung we are in the ladder, we must be willing to do that part.

Please pray for me and the people on my list and those on the list of the others who are reading this Blog. I will attempt to make contact by tomorrow and keep you updated. If each of us can just make an effort to move these souls up one more rung in the ladder, think of the impact we can make on the Kingdom.