A Wanted Man Page 9

  Righteous Music

  I have a huge affinity for music. I think I get it from both sides of my DNA. My dad was a rocker. During the 1960s he saw virtually everyone who played on a stage. Deep Purple, Grand Funk, the Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix—I could go on. Because of his love for classic rock, I grew up listening to those tunes every time we were in the truck. My mom was and still is a Motown fan. She also has a huge love for ‘70s soft rock.

  So my love for music is quite schizophrenic. If you were to look at my iTunes account, you’d see the Hollies alongside Bruce Springsteen and Merle Haggard and, yes, Poco, Ambrosia, Rod Stewart, The O’Jays, Percy Sledge, the Temptations, and virtually every Motown act that accompanied that era. Then throw in that I grew up in the ‘80s and you’ve got yourself one messed-up musical database—but I love it, and you’d better check your wallet before you play me in any kind of “name that tune” game, because I’m gonna take your money, honey!

  When it comes to growing in Christ, the only thing that has consistently grown my heart, other than scripture, is God’s power working through music.

  Whenever I find my heart stale, I discipline myself to listen only to Christian music. That works well for me.

  Obviously I’m not one of those types who believe you should listen only to Christian music. Yet I do think that believers should not fill their minds with things that work against the holiness of God. So I’ve had to cull singers and bands over the years that perform music working against a pure heart.

  However, music, to me, is a fast and proven way to set your mind on those things that are “pure” and “right.”

  Philippians 4:8 tells us, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute…dwell on these things.”

  Spiritual Structure

  Another source of course correction for me in times of dryness is adding simple structure to my daily life. Now before you freak out at the threat of 4:00 a.m. wake-up times, wait a second, because that’s not what I’m going to point toward.

  I’m a very “from the hip” kind of person, so anything that has the slightest hint of structure automatically sounds to me like micromanagement and boring results, so I run from it like a scared dog.

  I’m learning that structure doesn’t have to be complicated or binding. In fact, it can be quite simple and easy. The most important aspect is to do something different. Change it up.

  Let me show you how this has worked for me in the past.

  Many years ago I was in a deep funk with prayer. I just couldn’t seem to get my mind focused on it. And I didn’t want to tell anyone because I felt embarrassed that a young minister was having a hard time praying. Because, you know, I was sure that nobody else in my congregation ever struggled with praying, and I figured I’d lose my job if they knew their pastor was struggling with it.

  So I decided to pray at stoplights. I know it sounds weird. Can’t even begin to tell you where I came up with that idea, but I did it. I wanted to get in the habit of having my spiritual eyes open throughout the day, not just one time a day when I read scripture. So every time I hit a traffic light, I knew that I had about sixty to ninety seconds to talk to the Lord about something.

  It worked. I built in the habit of watching for God to work throughout the day. Yes, it was structure. No, it was not complicated.

  Don’t Fight What You Can’t Change

  One of the greatest flaws in the spiritual structure approach is that people often work against their personality in order to find new results. Sometimes you do have to do that, for sure, but oftentimes you need not try to rewire your spiritual hard drive; what you need is to use your created design to your advantage.

  I have a friend who is heavily gifted in areas of metrics and strategic operations. Like most people gifted with this mindset, he’s not seen as much of a relational guy. The idea of “grip and grin” at a party gives him acid reflux.

  He’s the kind of guy who feels the whole world is right if he can close his door, get some work done, and never get interrupted. To him that’s a super-great day. To me that’s cruel and unusual punishment!

  Yet that’s why he’s incredibly good at what he does in his career field. The problem is, he has a few people who report to him, and their greatest criticism of him as a leader was that he didn’t seem approachable. His employees felt as if they were bugging him if they had a question about something.

  He wanted to change his leadership style to accommodate relationships, but he didn’t know how. And to be more specific, he felt awful when he found out that his teammates secretly didn’t like him that much.

  He wanted to learn how to honor God by loving people better, but he didn’t know how.

  We met for lunch one day, and I walked him through how important it was that he remove the guilt over how God had made him. God made him introverted for a reason, and he couldn’t have been more “relational” even if he wanted to be, because it wasn’t in his DNA. God needed him to be who he was designed to be: a systematically structured person. However, he did need to learn how to be the best version of himself, and that meant learning to value people not as interruptions, but as living, breathing souls.

  Knowing that he lived and died by his calendar—that is, he scheduled everything to the quarter hour—I challenged him to use that to his advantage.

  I said, “Look, man, do this. Set up one hour on Tuesday and one hour on Thursday to walk the halls, shake hands, talk about football, or just drop in on your teammates and check on them.”

  I told him that at first people were going to freak out and not know how to take him. However, the greatest thing he could do was to learn that interruptions were of God.

  That’s right. Interruptions, for him, I said, were sent from God. God was trying to teach him that people needed his amazing wisdom, and that was not an interruption: that was a gift!

  The crucial thing was that he could “schedule” loving on people. Now that may seem stupid to those of us who are “people persons,” but to him it wasn’t stupid at all; it was revolutionary.

  After three weeks he couldn’t believe the difference. His team’s morale saw a massive upturn. Imagine that!

  Yet what my friend put into practice did not work against his personality—he employed it to his benefit.

  That’s a simple example of using who you already are to love God and love people better. It wasn’t rocket science, but it was just creative enough to get him back to center.

  Tell Your Story

  If it were possible to scream and yell on paper to get your attention, I’d do it. This would be my screaming and yelling section. About all we have in the writing world is the exclamation point!

  We are left with this sad excuse for intensity: !—a stick and a dot. Somebody just wasn’t thinking when they created the keyboard.

  My brother, if there is one place where I could force you to do something, it would be right here. I’d force you to tell your story of failure to anyone who would listen to you tell it.

  We’ve spent a lot of time talking about a thief. Let me tell you, from years of experience, about the way he keeps stealing from you after you’ve failed. It’s called shame. You feel shame for what you did. You feel embarrassed. You wish you could just move on and nobody else would ever know.

  My brother, if there is one place where I could force you to do something, it would be right here. I’d force you to tell your story of failure to anyone who would listen to you tell it.

  I get it. I really do.

  When you conceal your wounds, you also conceal the goodness of God.

  No kidding, you really do. When you let shame hold you hostage, you conceal the story from those who most need to hear it.

  Did God forgive you? Absolutely.

  Did God restore things? Yes, He did. And while He may not have restored all of them yet, He’s not done.

  When you conceal the victories because of the s
hame, you throw everything out of whack.

  When a quarterback is interviewed after a Super Bowl victory, what does he talk about in those precious seconds? Does he go over every single time he threw a bad pass or made a bad defensive read resulting in the play falling apart? No!

  He talks about the victory. He talks about the things that went right. Why? Because that’s what champions do. They accept the failures as part of the journey. Yes, they’d love never to fail, but that’s not reality. That’s not life outside the wire.

  You must tell your story. With your head up.

  Here’s what so many Christians never realize, and it’s so very sad. What most believers never see is that their greatest ministry ventures, their most amazing stories of redemption that healed wounds for other people, their most exciting moments of serving God never happened because they never used their pain for God’s glory.

  They kept their pain concealed, and after the wounds healed, they just lived out the rest of their days with scars, allowing no one to see the places where the Great Physician healed the wound.

  Oh, sure, they saw the healed wound. They gave personal, secret glory to the Father, but nobody else was allowed to see the victory.

  That’s the real shame, if you ask me.

  What if, just by God’s grace, you were telling your story of greed and financial mistakes over lunch one day with a buddy, never knowing he was struggling with envy and greed himself? What if, just by that one lunch, God used your story and a simple club sandwich to wake that guy up? What if his kids were able to go to college because Dad didn’t squander the money on a home and a truck and a lifestyle he couldn’t afford, and all of that was traced back to a time when he had lunch with you and God spoke to him through that encounter?

  God uses your story of pain to show His redemptive glory. Don’t rob God of His glory, and don’t rob others of the opportunity to avoid pain and suffering just because you are ashamed of your past.

  Do you see how simply and easily that happens?

  God uses your story of pain to show His redemptive glory. Don’t rob God of His glory, and don’t rob others of the opportunity to avoid pain and suffering just because you are ashamed of your past.

  You don’t have to go on television. You don’t have to start a website. You don’t have to write a book.

  Just be faithful to tell your story when the opportunity naturally arises. That’s what obedience to God looks like, my brother.

  8 : IN THE END…

  I have a friend who is a famous Christian author. He’s written some classics. Not long ago we both arrived at church early and saw each other in the lobby. We began to talk about writing, publishing, and upcoming projects.

  I speak at men’s conferences all over the nation, but my author friend speaks at international conferences and at prayer, healing, and revival services before full stadiums of people.

  We were discussing the primary audience that tends to read our work, and for me, of course, that’s men. He writes for Christians at large.

  He elaborated, “Most of my audience is overseas.” That shocked me because he is a big name here in America among believers.

  As we spoke about the types of events where we speak, he said something that, for whatever reason, I’ve never forgotten to this day.

  As we drilled down into the spiritual climate of evangelicals in American churches, he said, “You know, Jason, if I speak at a conference or assembly here in America, there might be a few hundred people at best.”

  Now before I go on, please realize that my author buddy is a very humble person. He wasn’t disappointed in the numbers who come out to hear him speak in the United States.

  If you’re reading this book, my gut tells me you believe the devil is real.

  He then said, “But if I speak overseas, there will often be ten thousand or more people in attendance. No kidding.”

  I said, “Really? Wow, man. Why do you think that is?”

  His answer stung: “Honestly, Jason, I really do believe it is simply because you don’t have to convince people in other countries that the devil is real.”

  And there it is.

  He’s dead-on accurate.

  If you’re reading this book, my gut tells me you believe the devil is real.

  BRIAN AND HIS PARTY

  My buddy Brian Hinkle knows the devil is real. Just ask him. Brian saw him face-to-face—in the form of a woman.

  Brian is doing better now. A ton better.

  Brian has an amazing wife, Jeanine, who stuck with him through the whole ordeal. Not many women would have possessed the courage to push through the pain and find the joy she and Brian cherish today.

  A few months ago my wife, Michelle, and I got a wild text from Jeanine.

  She told us she was hosting a small surprise party for a few people to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the worst day of Brian’s life.

  As I looked at my phone, her message grabbed me.

  A lot. We were definitely going to be there.

  This I wanted to see.

  We arrived, and five couples were there who were “in the know” on the entire situation. We were all friends, so it wasn’t weird or awkward at all.

  After a while Jeanine had us all gather in a circle. She said, “I know this whole idea of a one-year celebration sounds weird, really weird at first. God has done so much for me and for Brian in this past year. His grace, His mercy, His redemption. It’s just surreal how good God has been through it all, and there was no way I was going to let this calendar date pass as a failure. That day was awful, but this year has been awesome. I wanted to celebrate and not let the enemy dominate this day. For on that day, what Satan meant for evil, God took and used for good.”

  I cried. We all did.

  Tears of joy were in our eyes as we went around the circle and spoke love and admiration over Brian and Jeanine, along with praise to our great God, the Reconciler.

  So here’s to you, all of you, my brothers in Christ.

  Here’s to praying that you never have to host a party like Brian’s party.

  Yet if you do, go all out. Have the cake. (We did!)

  Celebrate the truth that yesterday’s dramatic failures do not define tomorrow’s story.

  You may be a wanted man, but you are chosen of God.

  And don’t ever forget it.

  Celebrate the truth that yesterday’s dramatic failures do not define tomorrow’s story.

  NOTES

  Introduction: You Are Being Hunted

  1. Jim Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t (New York: HarperCollins, 2001), 324.

  2. Ibid., 325.

  Chapter 1. Brutal Fact #1: Confront the Hunt

  1. Claire Groden, “This Is How Much a 2016 Super Bowl Ad Costs,” Fortune, August 6, 2015, http://fortune.com/2015/08/06/super-bowl-ad-cost/.

  Chapter 2. Brutal Fact #2: You Live outside the Wire

  1. www.GunSite.com

  Chapter 3. Brutal Fact #3: The Power of Obsession

  1. F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983), 226.

  Chapter 5. Brutal Fact #5: It’s Critical to Know Why You Are a Wanted Man

  1. Steve Chapman, “What I Wouldn’t Give” (Times & Seasons Music/BMI/Admin. by Capitol Music Group, 2002). Used by permission.

  Chapter 7. Brutal Fact #6: You Must Navigate Failure and Do It with Brutal Hope

  1. Jim Collins, How the Mighty Fall (New York: HarperCollins, 2009), 29–33.

  2. Ibid., 85.

  TURN THE PAGE TO READ AN EXCERPT FROM

  A perfect combination of book and DVD offers a high-caliber tandem of biblical insights that will draw you closer to God, who has called you to a life that transcends complacent, run-of-the mill manhood.

  Find this book and more from Shiloh Run Press at your local bookstore or www.shilohrunpress.com

  Preface

  Who knows why this book ended up in your hands? Perhaps you received it as a
Christmas gift, or maybe your kids picked one up for you in hopes of fulfilling the gap on Father’s Day. Many things in life seem random.

  There’s often something unexpected about the way God moves a man forward; at least that’s my experience. I’ve noticed that more often than not, God moves a man forward quietly. It’s odd, really. No lightning split the sky the day I came to Christ, and no thunder shook the kitchen floor the day I first thought of putting out a word of truth that a man could read in about 60 seconds. These things happened on seemingly ordinary days.

  With 60 seconds in mind, I didn’t put much thought into it when I gave the original series the title of The Man Minute. It seemed to fit decently enough, I suppose.

  Very quietly thereafter, God took His normal approach of moving something forward in men. To be completely candid, I cannot explain it. I cannot explain why other projects I’ve launched didn’t move very far, and something as seemingly random as The Man Minute has spanned denominations, people groups, and even oceans to get inside the souls of men of all walks of life.

  I cannot attempt to explain why The Man Minute fell into your world, either, but it has no doubt landed on the path of your journey. I cannot tell you what’s going to happen to you as you encounter scripture throughout this journey, other than to say that your life won’t be the same. You’re going to have God say things to you through some of these 60-second time investments—and only He will know the reasons why the words hit you the way they did.

  God doesn’t take part in the coincidental, and He doesn’t offer random. His paths are sure and battle tested. And His words are worth slowing down long enough to encounter.

  Now that our paths have crossed, my heartbeat for you is that you never rush the 60 seconds as you read The Man Minute, because I know from experience that God can do a lot to a man in just a minute.