A personal note to the people that read One Man Revival

Hey gang!

I don’t usually write to publish on Sunday, but this week has been really interesting. If you follow me on Facebook, you know I’ve really been down this week. I’ve fallen behind in The Bible in 90 Days further than I ever wanted to and I’ve been tired. Really tired.

As a diabetic, I’m going on 17 years this Christmas with the disease. It has been a struggle this year to keep my weight under control. Who am I kidding? The struggle has been with how fast I can get to the fridge and the sweet stuff. I’ve gained 40 pounds this year, or approximately 1/6th of my weight has been added again. It makes me sick, but it’s hard to stop. The sin of gluttony is kicking my butt.

As a dad, I have three darling children most of the time. But they are getting older and constantly needing dear old dad. There’s nothing wrong with that, but when I am trying to get other things done (I.e., the laundry, writing, cooking, etc.), I feel strained from the directions I’m being pulled.

As a husband, I’ve come to a place where I was spending almost no time with my wife. This past week, we probably talked more than we have since well, it’s been a while.

As a writer, I’ve been writing more discipleship material, which requires more study. I love that part. I love getting into God’s Word and learning from him. I can honestly say I have learned more this summer of His Word than any time in the past, especially the Old Testament. But it requires time and truthfully, I wish there was more of it.

So this week, I was throwing myself a lovely little pity party. I was asking questions like, “Are people really reading what I am talking about?”, “Does anyone care?”, “Is anyone being blessed by me trying to be Godly?”, “Am I failing everyone?” and of course, “Do people respect what I am trying to accomplish?”.

To be honest, all of these questions were wrong. I don’t mean that I shouldn’t ask myself how I’m doing, but there has to be an understanding of why the questions are being asked.

John Maxwell made a great comment in a video I was watching a week ago Sunday, which started this thought process. “You know, if you think it’s lonely at the top, you’re not a very good leader.” Scary, huh.

I admit, I have been lonely. Maybe it’s because the main brains in my life love Dora and Diego much more than the teachings of Joyce Meyer, Charles Stanley and John Hagee. Maybe it’s because I spend most of my waking moments behind a computer. I actually was told this week that I needed some fresh air, six times, by six different people.

Maybe it is Satan attacking every area of my life at the same time. When you are doing something for God and you are being effective, the attacks will come. I know this in my head. I probably didn’t expect it in my heart.

There are good things that happened this week, but they all made me distracted. I lost focus this week. My oldest daughter got accepted to regular preschool here in the county. That means my 4-year old will be whisked away for three hours each day and will begin to learn her letters better and have social interaction with other 4-year olds. I am so thankful for her. But I am also thankful for me. She challenges me because she is just like me. She thinks an awfully lot like I do. She doesn’t like to accept status quo and wants to know why for everything I say. It makes me proud, but it drives me crazy.

My wife has three days off this weekend and it will be awesome to have her home on Monday. She’ll have plans for the kids and give me time to work on the website and will also give me time to work on two other projects I have in the fire. The first is a presentation I’m making on Saturday for the Christian Writers group here in Effingham on how to be an effective writer on the internet, social networking and making a difference as a Christian writer.

The other project is trying to build a new webpage for The Cross in Effingham. I’ve already been successful on this, at least partially. I posted a fan page on Facebook for it and it went over 600 people today. Not bad, for three and a half weeks. I also got up their page for MySpace. That one has been a dud. If you are reading this in MySpace, you can always look up The Cross in Effingham under people and you’ll be able to add it. The main web page has not gotten the amount of attention I wanted to give it by now. Again, it’s a time demand more on myself than given by the people that are wanting it done.

But today, God just was so good to me. I think God knows when we need encouraged. He gives us his Word first. Someone was talking about how the rich, young ruler came and was disappointed when he was told to go sell all he owned and follow Christ. Jesus then tells the disciples that it is hard to get into heaven. It isn’t easy. He told them about being saved in Mark 10:27, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

I know that this was about salvation and how hard it is, but I took something away from it. God realizes I’m weary. He knows that I am pushing everything this body can give. But he tells me that I can’t save them all. Neither can anyone else. It is impossible for one man to do it all, not even Clarissa Does It All. If you remember the Disney Channel show from the late 90’s, I believe.

God wants us to give it all. But he also knows that we need him to do anything. Have you ever skipped a moment of prayer to start writing because all the thoughts are in your head? I have. I need to be saying to God to bless the time and the words that are coming off my fingertips. Every single time. Period. The work takes longer and isn’t as sharp as it should be when I forget this.

Being godly shouldn’t put pressure on any of us, at least in the realm of performance. We don’t have to be marionettes touting God’s Word. He wants us to let the strings go and just do the work, with him.

I’ve said before how guilty I feel if I don’t get a blog up in a timely manner. But it’s my timely manner. God’s time is perfect, mine is not.

Something I’ve said this week to my kids, my spouse and a couple friends has come to me today. I say to them, “You can only do so much. All God asks for is for us to be consistent.” When my wife said that to me after lunch today, it struck a nerve.

Most of you that read One Man Revival don’t know me personally. You don’t know how serious I take the challenge of presenting the Gospel to you as often as possible. It is an incredibly high responsibility. I never wish to mislead you with the words I write each time out. Living a godly life is work. Hard work. I do love to bring you words that encourage you. I love it even more to bring words that help you grow in your walk with Christ.

Why? Two reasons. The first is that none of us ever really receive the encouragement we need. If you do, then God bless you and you can gladly tell me that I am wrong. I think everyone I’ve met has told me they’d love to be encouraged more to be bold, standing Christians. The second is that I feel a lot of churches, notice I didn’t say all, don’t take you any further in truth than being saved, baptized and getting your name on their membership roll. That’s fire insurance for them. Hey, we did our part. No, you didn’t church. People need to be taught how to take the life they’ve just inherited from Christ and take it to the rest of the world, just like the Word says in Matthew 28:20. There are way too many comfortable Christians sitting in pews today that feel their job is done. I don’t want to go to heaven without everyone that I can possibly take with me.

Maybe that’s why One Man Revival is serious business for me. I want to be the spark that turns people on. I want lights to shine so bright that people can’t help but know that you are a Christian fighting with every ounce of your being for heaven.

Today, I got another piece of good news. Someone special to me joined the readership. He’s a teacher I’ve respected since the first time I ever saw him on television. We don’t see eye to eye on everything in the Word, but we don’t have to. I respect him as a brother that has taught me so much about wisdom. He’s not the reason I started Wisdom Wednesday, but I’ve used his words as part of it. Welcome to the Revival, Dr. Murdock. You helped carry me along many nights as I sat in a television studio learning the Gospel and putting it out to the people of north central West Virginia as a master controller at WLYJ TV 46 in 1996-1997.

Getting added to my readership doesn’t vindicate my work or validate that I’ve arrived. However, I’m very honored to have someone that I respect when it comes to the things of God reading the things that I do.

I’ll close by telling all of you how much I appreciate that you take the time and read the words I type. Without you, I’d be talking to myself and looking like a derelict in the corner of a bad neighborhood. I love to get comments and emails, whether they agree or disagree with my view. Why? Because sometimes I can learn from you. Let’s be honest. I’m just a guy who wants to go to heaven. That’s what makes me special. I don’t have a Ph. D. in ministry studies, but I study the Word to try to share honestly and with God’s intention above mine.

When I made the decision to be a part of the revival in 1994, all I knew was that I had a life that was pretty messed up and just wanted God to use it to the best possible way. I had no idea what I would be doing in 2009. I just said, “God, I have made a lot of mistakes. I’ve done things my way and it hasn’t been very good. Just take me as I am and make me whatever you want me to be.” I thank God that as Brandon Heath sings that “I’m Not Who I Was”, but I still have a ways to go in the revival. I am just thankful that you are walking with me.

I love you guys!
Frank