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Tag: truth (Page 1 of 2)

Integrity

May 16, 2024 / / 0 Comments

In a world where filters reign supreme and authenticity sometimes feels like a rare Pokémon, let’s take a moment to appreciate the underrated hero of the character trait world: integrity. It’s like the Jedi of honesty. Yes, I’m talking about that seemingly old-fashioned concept of doing what you say and saying what you mean. Integrity isn’t just for boy scouts and tea parties; integrity is the must-have accessory for navigating the rollercoaster ride of life.

Now, let’s get one thing straight: integrity isn’t about being a goody two-shoes or playing by the rules 24/7. N0, it’s about being true to yourself in a world that’s constantly trying to mold you into something you’re not. It’s about being undivided and wholly minded. It’s like blowing society off and saying, “Nah, I’m gonna do me.” But to be you, you have to know who you are.

In a world where fakeness runs rampant, integrity is like a breath of fresh air. It’s the antidote for all the bologna in the world, the secret sauce that separates the real deal from the wannabes.

Think about it: when you’re true to yourself, you attract the good stuff—real connections, genuine friendships, and maybe even a free coffee from your local barista who just thinks honesty is cool! But when you’re living a lie, well, let’s just say you’re more likely to end up in a world of hurt.

Now, I’m not saying integrity is always easy. Nope, sometimes it’s like trying to juggle flaming torches while riding a unicycle! But here’s the thing: when you’re walking your talk, you’re unstoppable. It’s like strapping on a pair of boots and stomping through life with confidence.

And let’s talk about trust, shall we? If trust is like currency in the bank of life, then what about integrity? Well, it’s your golden ticket to unlimited withdrawals. When people know they can count on you to shoot straight, you become the go-to guru, the rockstar of reliability.

But hey, I get it—sometimes the truth hurts. Maybe you’ve got a secret stash of embarrassing childhood photos hidden in your closet, or perhaps you overstated your abilities. Maybe you totally blew off some commitments and now are rushing through life doing them half cracked and you’re afraid someone will notice. But here’s the kicker: owning your truth is liberating as heck. It’s like ripping off a Band-Aid and shouting, “Yeah, I’m flawed, but that’s who I am!”

So, here’s the deal, friends: embrace your inner rebel, wear your integrity like a badge of honor, and remember that being real is something that will never go out of style! Life’s too short for fake smiles and filtered realities. So, go ahead, show the world what you’re made of—warts, quirks, and all. After all, being authentic just might be your best side yet.

Truth

May 10, 2024 / / 0 Comments

I was taught as a child that telling the truth was important. As a matter of fact, as I grew up, telling the truth became a sign of who you are as a person. Perhaps another post for another day will be on integrity and hypocrisy, but for now we’ll stick with something that should be simple – tell the truth.

To get started we probably should make sure we’re all on the same page. There is a ton of misinformation swirling around about what truth even is. So what is truth? According to the dictionary truth is defined as the property of being in accord with fact.

Did you get that? For truth to be truth, it has to be true and based on fact. Unfortunately, we live in a day and age when the common understanding of truth is that which is true to me. But that my friends is not truth. Truth is not relative to your circumstances. Truth doesn’t change just because you don’t like or you don’t agree with it. You can’t erase truth or cancel it just because it hurts your feelings!

Think of the truth of gravity. Say one day you don’t like the idea of gravity. You think it is restrictive and oppressive to have to live your life with your feet planted on the ground. Some people seem to be able to defy gravity because they can jump higher or longer than you. It’s just not fair and it makes you feel bad about yourself. So you one day decide you no longer believe gravity to be truth.

It doesn’t work that way! Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean you can get rid of it. Erasing gravity from a text book doesn’t mean it’s not real! Getting rid of a person or place or historical period because it infringes on your personal beliefs and happiness quotient is like trying to erase gravity just because you don’t like it. Can’t do that and you know it.

Ok so what do you do when you don’t like what’s going on around you? There are really only two options. You can suck it up buttercup and deal with the harsh realities that sometimes life sucks and try to do something positive with it. Or you can mope around retelling your particular version of truth to make yourself feel better. Neither will feel great in the moment but one will make you stronger on the other side. And if you need a hint, burying the truth won’t make you stronger. It will just let you live in denial a little longer – and no I don’t mean the river in Africa!

Look sometimes the truth hurts. It hurts to tell. It hurts to hear. And often it hurts to have it applied to you. But it’s the truth, which means it’s what really is or has happened! You can’t change that any more than you can change gravity.

I’m not a fan of liars. Actually, lying is one thing I just can’t stand. If you’re on my staff and I catch you lying, you won’t be there long. My kids know that I’d rather them tell me the hard truth than me catch them in a lie. I’ve walked away from friendships with people who just can’t tell the truth.

So be a truth teller. Be honest. Even if you don’t like the message or what it means could/should happen to you – the truth is the truth and your raw emotions don’t have the right to spin a truth to make your feel better.

When To Fight

August 26, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Doing the wrong thing for the right reason is still wrong. I know that this is not necessarily a popular opinion but it’s the truth. You can’t just throw away the right thing and do wrong because it’s not working for you in the moment. You can’t just do what you want even when the situation dictates otherwise.

I’ve been involved in a number of situations where one has to play a challenging game of teeter totter. But it shouldn’t be that difficult. When we truly understand right and wrong. When we truly value the power of truth, none of this should be an issue. The challenging part happens when we throw truth out the window and make everything in our day to day subjective. I’m sorry but you don’t have the right to change truth.

Look I get it. We all want to be in control from time to time, but you can’t throw the God card. It doesn’t work like that. You don’t have to believe in God to still value truth. And I hate to break it to you, but you cannot change truth. No matter how much you want to or how much you don’t like it, truth is truth whether you agree with it or not.

Think of it this way. I know it’s fairly simplistic and you might not think it applies in every situation but honestly if you really think about it changing truth is like changing something as simple as 1+1. Just because I don’t like the number 2 or don’t want the equation to equal 2 doesn’t give me the right to change the outcome of that formula. I mean I can’t say 1+1=4 and be anywhere near right. No matter how much I try to weasel my way around making it sound like the right answer. It never will be right.

The same is the case for altering standards of truth to fit your desires in the moment. You just can’t do that. Right is right. Wrong is wrong. Calling one the other doesn’t change reality at all!

So do the right thing. Whether you want to or not. Right will always be right even if everyone around you doesn’t like to hear it. It sure seems holding to the truth is no longer fashionable. You might lose out on a few things by holding to what’s right. But I am pretty sure that what you get by clinging to truth will be far better than anything (or anyone) you lose who can’t handle hearing the truth called out to them.

So when is it time to fight? When you’re fighting for truth not how you feel. When you’re fighting for something that surpasses your personal desire in the moment. Fight for the truth and you’ll always come out on top in the end (not always in the middle but in the end you will).

Just Be Real

April 1, 2022 / / 0 Comments

One thing that I absolutely cannot stand is people being fake. It shows a massive lack of integrity and I quite frankly don’t have space in my life for fake people. So why in the world do people pretend to be one thing in one group and then act totally different in another? What would it take for you to just be real, all the time?

In my nearly 46 years of life, I’ve met a lot of people. Some of those people have made an indelible mark, but not all for good reasons. There are some people who come across your life and just make a special handprint on your heart. You can’t really describe it. Something they say. Something they do. There’s just something about them. But what happens when those kinds of people turn out to be, well…fake?

There has been a trend in the past couple of years in many levels of relationships that has been startling. People have abandoned who they were for some new version of who they are today. People have given into some version of change that has shifted their entire being and made them less real.

Now some will say maybe this is who I was the whole time. But that’s rubbish. Which brings me to my first point. The person you really are is the person you gravitate toward internally, not the person you feel you have to be in order to be welcomed into a crowd. All too often we let the crowd determine who we are. We change who we are based on the company we keep. If you have to change to be accepted, then frankly those people aren’t worth your time.

This is where our second point comes in. Be very careful the company you keep. If the company you keep is bringing a significant shift in character or lifestyle, then you might want to give second thought to those so called friends. A real friend is one who is there for you even when you don’t act like them. If you have to change who you are and what you find acceptable to be welcomed into a specific group of people, then it’s pretty likely they don’t care about you at all. They just want something from you. Or they welcome you because of what you add to the group dynamic. When you have served your purpose, they’ll quickly set you aside.

Another aspect of this whole just be real idea is that many people are just weak. If you’re feeling the need to do something you never before would have done or that is questionable relative to your morals, then you’re probably a pretty weak person. Look I know this is going to hit some people the wrong way, and that’s ok. Sometimes you need someone to tell you the truth, even when you don’t like the message. But seriously get some guts.

Something we have tried to instill in our children is the realization that you don’t need to be liked by everyone. There will be people in your life who won’t like what you do or say just because it’s different. That’s ok. Just be you. Be true to who you are. Don’t shift your character because you want to be included, or you’ll end up with a compromised character and no friends in the end. Don’t be one person in public and another in private or you’ll soon not even know who you are anymore. And for crying out loud man up a bit, or woman up works too. Be confident in who you are. You’re not a spineless piece of clay that everyone can mold.

The long and short is that people change over time and that’s to be expected. But when the person you are becoming is the polar opposite of who you once were, then you’re likely headed down a road that will lead to loneliness, destruction, and embarrassment. So how about you just be real and save everyone, including yourself, the trouble.

Tattooed Truth

March 24, 2022 / / 0 Comments

There are two things in life that are very hard to cover. You can’t erase them. And you can modify them but can’t totally change. Tattoos and the truth. I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a new part of this blog or maybe a podcast that’s a little more hard hitting on matters of truth.

You see I’ve never really been one to mince words when it comes to truth. If I see it, I call it as I see it. Some don’t like that. Some of us are used to people dancing around hard topics. And I can respect that, but it’s just not how I operate on the daily. So I have made it my practice to be honest, truthful but tone down the blatant hitting between the eyes with the truths they don’t want to hear.

I’ve lost friends because they didn’t like the truth when it came out. I’ve angered some people who weren’t ready to have the truth of what they are saying or doing shined back at them. I’m not laying total blame on everyone else by any means. I’m just as much at fault as they are. I can’t help it if someone else doesn’t like the truth, but I can adjust how I go about saying the words. So I try to filter the delivery of truth without changing the message of the truth.

It may come as a bit of a shock to some, repulsive to others, and cool to still others that I am a huge fan of tattoos. For me, they have to be tastefully done and tell a story. So I have a couple of stories that are permanently etched into my skin. Just like the truth is etched into my heart and mind, these images are etched into my shoulders. And no matter what, they can’t be erased or changed. Sure some won’t like them and might stay away because they know I have them, but they’re part of me. They’re a story that I carry with me wherever I go. And I am not ashamed of them or the story the convey.

Some day, maybe on that tattooed truth page to which I was referring at the beginning, I’ll tell you the story. But if you see them popping out underneath my t-shirt and if you’re interested go ahead and ask me. I am not ashamed of the tattoos or the story they tell anymore than I am ashamed of the truth in which I believe.

There’s a line from the movie A Few Good Men that really applies here. And many of you who are of the right generations are probably saying it in your minds, if not out loud. You can’t handle the truth. That’s the line. You can’t handle the truth.

Unfortunately there are people in our circles today who simply can’t handle the truth. They say they can, but when the truth they apply to other people is applied to them, they flip out. We are living in a culture dominated by thin-skinned people who in general have a hard time with matters of truth.

So it’s time to toughen up a bit. If you’re going to belittle someone for something you better make sure you have your story straight. And you better darn well make sure you know what you’re saying. There’s a passage in the bible that I love to refer to in my own life, so I’ll share a summary of it with you. The gist is this – don’t go picking someone else apart for something they said or did if you haven’t addressed your own shortcomings first.

Here’s a truth for you. Finding a problem with something someone else is doing, then turning around and doing the same thing yourself makes you a hypocrite. Don’t do that! And for those of you who are a little soft skinned and need that tamed down, that is the tamed down version of the truth. It’s just not cool to put someone down at all, but even worse to do it only to turn around and do the very thing you were just belittling someone else for doing!

There you have it. As bold, direct and unapologetic as the tattoos on my right and left shoulders. I sure hope you can handle the truth, because we don’t change the truth to suit our desires.

Can you handle the truth?

When Truth Challenges

October 6, 2021 / / 0 Comments

As a product of the generation known as GenX, I know the struggles with absolute truth versus relative truth. The idea that what’s right for you isn’t right for me. And in some cases that’s right. There are somethings in life that are just not for everyone and that are very relative. But there are other things that are historically, across time and space to be considered truth. Some things are established as truth for the proper ordering of civilization and prosperity. Some things are intended to be in place for a very distinct purpose.

If you’ve ever studied economics or sociology you know that low income, high crime areas have something in common. Dads generally are no longer in the household picture. You see what happens when dads fail to live in their role is that families start to crumble. And when families crumble, communities crumble. And when communities crumble, so also to entire civilizations. As a matter of fact, I recently read that in ever civilization that at one time was thriving and now is a shadow of itself, the downfall started by the devaluing of the family structure.

In the video below, I address the family structure. Not mom, dad, two kids and a dog kind of family but the way God intended them to function. And whether you’re a believer in the whole Jesus thing or not, if you just look at history books, sociology studies, crime statistics and economics you’ll see evidence that backs this up. A proper understanding and valuing of family is the foundation of a thriving civilization and when we lose sight of this fundamental truth, we begin the degradation of not just family values but an entire culture.

Losing Ground

July 14, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Hold the line! I can hear this echoed in movie after movie. Whether Braveheart or one of the Marvel movies, hold the line is a reference to battle where everyone stays put and does not let anything through. Hold the line can by and large be seen as a defensive methodology. But simply holding the line is never the end goal. At jsut the right time, advancement is key. No military worth its weight will simply hold the line. They’ll advance. They’ll overtake. They’ll move forward and slowly, methodically, effectively overtake the enemy’s advancements.

Unfortunately it seems the church has for many years now taken a hold the line approach to ministry. We’ve grown largely comfortable simply holding the line. We’ve circled our wagons to protect the weaker ones in our gathering. We’ve protected our buildings and our programs, our staff and our families. But is that really the right way? Is that even biblical?

If we’re at all honest with ourselves, it will be very clear that Jesus never said Hold the line. He never said protect your buildings and programs. He never said cower in fear because you might lose your job or hurt someone’s feelings by telling them what you believe. Holding the line should not be our plan. It wasn’t Jesus’ plan and it certainly should not be ours either.

By simply holding the line we’ve given up a significant part of our identity as church. There are some in church-topia who are called evangelical. An evangelical church is one that identifies with the commission of Jesus to share the gospel. It’s kind of where we get our idea of evangelism. You can see how the two words are very similar. But when we circle our wagons and hold these biblical truths to ourselves, we lose this evangelical portion of our identity.

Jesus wasn’t joking when he said that he came to seek and to save the lost. This wasn’t a derogatory claim about people who saw life differently. It was an honest assessment that without Christ who is the way you are left without a way, therefore you are lost when it comes to eternal salvation. I don’t want to get all end of the world, book of revelation on you here but we’re living in a time that is unlike anything we’ve experienced before. Sure there are similarities to previous generations but due to population density and technology advancements, we’re moving faster than ever. And that movement is largely away from the way.

So the longer we try to hold the line the more ground we’re going to lose. The evangelical church across the country and likely around the world, is losing credibility. We’re losing ground because we stopped doing what was inherent to our DNA. An evangelical church is to be about the gospel, but the church today is more concerned with tradition, politics, social justice matters, buildings, programs, styles of music and dress code than the gospel. None of these things are wrong and the church definitely needs to take a stand in some of these arenas, but we must never step off of our primary identity as proclaimers of the gospel.

The gospel, for those of you that don’t know, is the truth that there is no other way to salvation than through Jesus Christ. It’s the harsh, for some, reality that Jesus lived, died and rose and went through what we deserved. The gospel is that on our own we can do good things like help our neighbor with their lawn but we’ll never do anything of lasting value in someone’s life. The gospel is that Jesus did for you what you could never do for yourself and that apart from him we all are lost.

If the church today wants to be relevant in society. If we want to have credibility in our communities, then we need to get back to who we are at our core. We must step back onto the Bible as our sole source and norm for all that we teach and confess. We must stop circling our wagons. The time to stop holding the line is now. We must advance into this world with the power of the gospel, the life-changing, sinner freeing, eternity unlocking gospel.

If you don’t know this gospel message, then by all means reach out. I’d love to share it with you! If you do know this gospel message, then who are you going to share it with today (not tomorrow but today)! The world is in desperate need of what you have to offer. It’s time to release the line. The time is now!

A Lost Voice

May 7, 2021 / / 0 Comments
When We've Lost Our Voice | The Prodigal Thought

Lion’s are one my favorite animals, aside from Koala bears but that’s a post for a different time. They are one of only four different species of cat who can actually roar. And roar they do! A lion’s roar can be heard for up to five miles in the right conditions. It’s pretty spectacular to say the least. A lion will roar for 3 basic purposes. And each of those reasons can teach us something about our own lives and how we should use our own voice.

Direction

A lion will roar to indicate where the pride is and where they should be headed. A lion will sound its roar to alert everyone around where it is. It’s their way of saying stay away this is my territory. They don’t merely roar to alert any potential threats to their presence. It’s often used to tell the pride where to go for safe passage or lush grounds or where food can be found. The roar of a lion can be used as a mapping system of sorts.

I personally think that we as humans, and I’m going to speak directly to men because I am one but this likely applies to women as well, we have lost our roar. We have failed to roar for the safety and provision and direction of our families. We’ve stopped speaking up for our wives and children. We’ve let culture and politics and education systems remove our voice. We’ve grown passively quiet and in the process let our children, wives and families wander aimlessly without direction or protection.

Roaring doesn’t mean yelling. It means using your God-given voice to alert your family to danger, which means you have to be present. It means to use your voice to call out direction to those around you. Not as a dictator but as someone who’s looking out for those around you. When we start to use our voice again, we’ll speak life into our family and provide direction to those around us.

Power

They roar to demonstrate their power and ability. The roar of a lion is so powerful that it echoes through the jungle. You can hear it for miles in every direction. They do this to demonstrate that they are in charge. No pride of lions is led by a quiet lion. No lion will ever abdicate his position in the pride to someone else because he doesn’t like using his voice.

Again I focus on men but this is equal for all, we’ve let our voices grow eerily silent. Maybe it’s because we’re tired but I fear it’s because too many men, and women, don’t think their voice matters or have been belittled too many times to let their voices be heard. Men I know that it’s not easy some days. I know that we don’t know whether we should hold the door for the woman entering behind us at a store because we don’t know how they’re going to react. I know that it’s hard to compliment someone because we’re not sure how they’ll take it. But you have a voice. It’s time to use it.

Your voice isn’t just the vocal box in your body that allows you to speak words others can hear. Your voice is your actions and lifestyle. Using your voice isn’t about yelling to demonstrate dictatorial power. It’s about letting people know who you are what you stand for. Using your voice is about standing in the gaps in society to speak up for those whose voice isn’t being heard. You voice is about lifting others up not putting others down.

The church collectively has grown just as silent as the individuals in it. We need to roar. Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah. When he roared from the cross, the graves split open. What would happen if we would roar with His power and His truth? Could we split the death markers in our own culture?

Protection

The lion is the king of the jungle. A good king not only has power but it also is in charge of protecting those in his care. The Disney movie, Lion King, is a great image of what happens when a king goes off the rails and stops using his power for the benefit of the people. If you’re not familiar with the movie, a bad lion – Scar – sides with the less than desirable hyenas and they convert the lush pride land to the barren dead land in very short time. He doesn’t try to protect the rest of the animals, rather he looks out for himself.

I think we can learn a lot from the way Scar leads the lions and how he treats the rest of the jungle. He doesn’t take his position seriously. He uses the other lions for his personal benefit. He abandons the weaker. He expects the world to bow down to him even though he hasn’t earned it. He abandons his voice for a moment of self pleasure.

We run the risk of doing the very same thing. When we don’t flex our voice boxes and let our roar come out, we end up leaning into our selfish ambitions and personal pride moments. It’s time for men and women to stand up and speak. We need to speak for what we believe to be true, not putting someone down to make ourselves feel better but honestly, rightly, boldly, unapologetically speaking for what is right. We need to confidently and clearly speak to defend the things we love. We need to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. We need to speak for our future while accounting for our past and present. All in all we need to roar and make those roars heard far and wide. It’s time to protect our pride land or Scar will soon cripple what we value most.

Truth Be Told

January 18, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Do we even know what the truth is anymore? We’ve become so conditioned to just float certain answers around as if they were truth when they really are far from it. How often do you really tell someone the truth when they ask How are you?

Oh I’m fine! We say. All is good…we proclaim. But truth be told we’re far from fine and things are nowhere near good.

Here at church I hear the phrase It’s fine. Everything is fine! a great deal. But one thing I know for certain is that when I hear that phrase, I know things are far from fine and stress is already mounting.

We live in a culture where not being good or even fine is viewed as a weakness. But you know what I’m not fine. Some days I’m far from it. I get tired. I let stress mount to the point where I get headaches. I get so not fine at times that I can’t sleep. But no matter how not good I am, God already knows it.

Today’s Music Monday is about being honest and truthful with who we are. It’s about admitting the not good moments. It’s about realizing and recognizing that even in those not good moments when nothing is going right, God knows and he still wants to be near us.

Truth be told life is good somedays and it thoroughly sucks other days. But truth be told, God loves me even on the bad days and that makes them more bearable. What’s your truth moment today?

Truth Be Told

November 9, 2020 / / 0 Comments

The truth is that rarely is the truth found in our world. We tell those little, innocent lies all the time right? I mean someone asks how you’re doing and instead of being honest and telling them what you feel, it’s just easier to say Oh I’m fine. Thanks for asking.

But the truth of the matter is, it’s ok to not be ok. It’s ok to be broken and feel like the world is crashing in. It’s ok to feel like you’re losing control and need help. It’s ok to feel like you’re all alone at times. But it’s not ok to hold it in.

Truth be told we all need someone in our lives that we can confide in. Someone who we trust so much that we can lay our darkest secrets on. Someone whose opinion matters, whose ear listens, whose heart cares. We all need someone with whom we can share truth but also who will honestly share truth back to us.

It’s easy to surround ourselves with the people who will tell us yes. It’s easy to find the people say what we want to hear. But to find real strength, we need to find the truth. Not your version of it. Not your opponent’s version of it. But the truth. There is only one truth in a situation. And in the end the truth comes to light. When the truth is revealed, we need to accept that truth and walk on. But be careful in your search for truth, make sure you’re not just listening to the voices who are all saying the samething. Try to put holes in the story you’re hearing. See if it holds water.

Most importantly find someone who will speak truth to you. Lean on them. Confide in them. Let them love you with the tough love that’s sometimes needed.

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