Good Monday morning!

It has been said that Michael Jordan, the Hall of Fame professional basketball player, was a stickler for fundamentals.  It is most likely something he learned early on as he was cut from his freshman basketball team in high school.  Before I go on, can you imagine what people think about that coach today?  “You cut Michael Jordan?”  Here is what Jordan said about fundamentals:

You can practice shooting eight hours a day but if your technique is wrong, then all you  are doing is becoming very good at shooting the wrong way.  Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.  (Fundamentals for Men, Vince Miller)

Did you catch that?  Get the fundamentals down and everything else will improve.  I believe it is the same thing in our spiritual journey.

This week, if you don’t have a regular time set to dig into the Bible, set a time.  Take that first step today.  For Sherry and me it is in the morning.  If we don’t get it done then we find that life has a way of interrupting.  Start with 5 minutes or one chapter.  It helps me to journal using the SOAP method as I study.  I write down a particular verse or passage that spoke to me that morning, that is the S – Scripture.  Then as I read it, I look at it to see what it is saying to me, O is for Observation.  The A is an important part.  Whatever we have read and studied should move us to some kind of Action or Application. Write down what you think the Word is calling you to do.  And then turn it into a Prayer.  Turn it in to a prayer?  Wait a minute…that is another spiritual discipline!  One turns into two!

Another thing that is important to me is the spiritual life of men, especially younger men.  I read one article recently where the chief executive officer of a wealth management group said that young men not being men will lead to a crisis in the housing market!  The next generations’ attitude towards work and life are issues.  More young men are living at home with their parents, starting families later in life.  Then we top it off with the number of homes without a father figure physically present or if he is present he is not engaged.  Most of the homeless men at the Union Rescue Mission that I worked with had no father figure.  I taught a fatherhood class at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility and guess what?  Most of the men in the class had no father figure in their lives either.

Now, I know we don’t have many “young men” in our congregation but we all know younger men who are struggling.  They may be your sons or grandsons, your nephews, a neighbor or a co-worker if you are still in the workforce.  This coming Sunday we will begin a new class looking at how we can make a difference in their lives and even ours.  Remember that “transfer” of information to the next generation we talked about in Sunday’s message? As for us, Paul said we won’t have it all together until we get to heaven, keep working on it.  I invite you men to join me in choir room behind the Sanctuary this Sunday at 9:10 am.  We will look discuss the “Statehood of Manhood” and hear from a leading men’s pastor on that topic.  If you didn’t pick up a copy of the report yesterday let me know and I will email it to you.  Also, think of someone you might invite to join you.

Have a great week.  Set up that Bible study time and get busy getting the fundamentals down.

Pastor Rick