Welding and the Bible? How do they go together?

Good morning fellow Bloggers.  I grew up in a family owned business where my grandpa and my dad were both welders.  They also taught me the trade through apprenticeship.  I learned a lot over the years about proper heat, the importance of how certain materials bond each other together and how others can be easily separated if you apply enough heat.

Without getting technical, welding can be done many ways and with many different types of materials.  The end result (if done properly) is either creating or strengthening a very strong bond between two otherwise unconnected things.  I have no idea why this came to mind, except to say that it motivated me to speak about human nature and how we can strengthen our bonds with each other and how we can empower and edify our relationship with God.

I can't tell you how many times in my apprenticeship where I ruined a weld (bond) between the pieces I was trying to join with too much or even not enough heat.  It brings me to this morning for example.  I overslept my workout (currently on day two) and made my friend wait an extra half hour to start the workout.  He simply said, "A late start is better than NO start at all."  I have known this man for many years and am reminded constantly why God placed him in my life.  What if he added a bit too much heat and said something like, "Bill, you really have to be more responsible and be on time for our workouts!"  or  even more heat,"If you can't be on time, I will just start without you and maybe you need to figure out if this is something you want to do."  Maybe that would weaken the bond we have and not serve the lifting up of a fellow brother who is struggling with a new change, like waking up at five a.m.

17 


Proverbs 27:17 states, "As iron sharpens iron,
    so one person sharpens another."

I immediately though of the iron sharpening iron verse, because I grew up in trade shops and I even saw men working on metals and creating swords with a forge.  This involves heating and shaping metal into the shape you desire, then super-cooling it in water and then repeating the heating, pounding with a metal hammer and cooling again.

I am reminded that we will all have "heat" or things that detract us from cultivating and strengthening  our relationship with Christ.  Will we allow it to weaken our earthly relationships with the people we surround ourselves with each day?  Will we allow the heat of life to pile on stress and force us to make unwise decisions?  I feel that when the heat of life is on the rise, it is a perfect opportunity to lean heavily on God for wisdom, discernment, perseverance, and grace to guide us to a path that strengthens relationships and bonds with Him and with our friends and family.

Lord - my prayer is that you will reach into the lives of anyone who reads this or anyone that is struggling with something and help them realize they are made in your image.  That they can come to you anytime for guidance.  That you are always there and they don't have to go through struggles or solve them on their own.  I praise you for the gift of being in your family and allowing me to talk openly about the Gospel.  In Jesus name - AMEN.

Recharging my Spirit in Him daily,

Bill Blanck

Losing Weight ... Pause ... U Still There???

I am blessed in that I am reasonably healthy (all things considered).  With that being stated, I was recently in the hospital for a suspected stroke and it was diagnosed as inconclusive TIA (mini stroke).  It has been hard for me to accept that I had some sort of stroke, but it also got me back on track and re-dedicated to watching what I eat and making wise choices about food.

The entire ordeal really scared me, because both my father and grandfather had disabling strokes.  I am acutely aware that I a extremely out of shape and need to get serious about that portion of my self-care also.  I have found that when my body gets to around 220lbs or more - my knee hurts all the time.  I have lost 20 pounds by watching my food choices carefully and am now down just below 200 pounds.  Could I lose more - maybe?  It seems like I always hit some sort of wall when I get to around 200 pounds and can't seem to push through that barrier.  I am also concerned about hurting my knee when I return to the gym this coming Monday with my friend Jurrell.  What I can say, is that we are taking it easy and methodically each day we will work out.  Jurrell seems to have worked out a nice 20 min workout plan and occasionally a 45 minute plan.  They say you eat a whale, one bite at a time.  In the past I have gone in and over-done it and then gave up due to frustration.  I don't want that to happen again.  My plan is to continually offer my fitness to God in prayer and ask for wisdom, discernment and perseverance to honor His Creation.

I really have no excuses except laziness.  I set my own schedule and can fit exercise into my day whenever I want.  Plenty of people don't have that luxury.  I am also going very early in the morning and with an accountability partner, which will keep me from skipping a session and possibly help with my late-night insomnia.  My friend told me he was a night-bird also, but when you get up at 5am and hit the gym at 530 every day, it is not very hard to go to sleep at 8 or 9 pm.

My other fear is centered around eating.  When I switched to a low-carb diet, it makes me hungry all the time.  I fear that when I work out, I will be even more hungry and may not continue to make wise choices.  BTW - eating healthy is hard and it is compounded by the fact that it is expensive.  Then again, what price can you put on your health.  We were created in God's image and need to honor Him by taking care of the body He created for us. 

I welcome your comments and contributions to any topic that I share.  May God Bless you and Guide you every day.

Recharging my Spirit through Him daily,

Bill Blanck

Go figure ... can't sleep again

A close friend of mine challenged me recently with the following quote:  "you are either a content creator or content consumer - which do you want to be?"  Those words have inspired me to start contributing to my blog again.  Instead of picking one topic like Spiritual Formation (which is what I designed the site for) I will post the rambling  sand insights from a new business owner, who also happens to be a husband and a father; as well as a seminary trained pastor.

The blog started off well.  It was originally based on spiritual formation.  Unfortunately I found myself considering posting things on the topic that I wasn't even personally involved with in my own life.  That led me to stop posting.  My friend also inspired me in our recent conversation by mentioning his recent journey with his personal care and getting into shape.  His original goal wasn't to start some sort of movement or following, but it just kinda happened that way.  I have often felt like I probably don't have anything worthwhile to contribute to blog readers.  I now realize that I am just a man, going through the same things other men and women are experiencing and maybe we all just need to be transparent share our thoughts and experiences with each other.  You never know who God puts in front of a comment and if it may have some sort of impact in their life.

Topic # 1:  starting a business is very hard.  It is no wonder that the success ratio of people who enter into the financial advisory services industry is very low.  If you can stay positive and use discernment with the financial choices you make, AND last your first three years, you will likely stay in the industry and retire from it as well.  A very high percentage don't prosper enough to last past the first year and that number only decreases slightly for the second year.  All that being said, after much prayer and discussion with family and friends, I feel this is where I am being called.  I have the opportunity to meet great people each and every day (or evening) and help them to be better stewards of their time, talents, and finances.  I love meeting with people.  On the other hand, getting appointments is very hard work.  I don't love calling strangers and friends on the phone.  I am a social extrovert - but I am also pretty shy and even nervous approaching people via the telephone.  I value my friendships and am constantly concerned about damaging those personal relationships in any way, shape , or manner with my job.  We all know what it is like to be approached by people selling things to friends and I constantly pray that God's hand be on everything I do and in my daily interactions with people.  There are so many things to learn:  what to invest into the job, how much time to invest into marketing myself, how to be respectful of people's opinions and not take denial personally, all the unforeseen expenses that come with owning a business, and so on.  I am also trying to teach my children the value of working hard, but balancing work and family and ministry appropriately.  I figure that there may be many people who are currently going through similar experiences right now and I welcome you comments and feedback.  Think of this blog as a sort-of sounding board or "think-tank" for those of us having similar experiences.  As the Scripture says in Proverbs 27:17, "As irons sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."

I will keep my posts reasonable in length, so for now I will close today with my life verse from Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.  Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Recharging my Spirit through Him daily,

Bill Blanck

The pages of the Bible come alive

Have you ever experienced a situation where you are involved in an experience and a Scripture from the Bible suddenly becomes crystal clear to you?  Almost as if you are actively involved in the situation from Scripture or the Scripture "literally" leaps off the pages and becomes vivid and clearer than you had ever imagined before.

I recently returned from a mission trip to Pignon, Haiti - where a group of 16 of the most amazing Christian disciples I have the honor of serving alongside, glorified God through a variety of avenues.  We helped to train a group of six Haitian men on how to tape and mud drywall, so that when more containers are delivered to the surrounding churches in the future, they will be able to step right in and get the walls prepared for painting.  They will also be able to pass along the training they received to other men who can take that trade to other villages and use it when the need arises.  We honored God by perfoming Vacation Bible School for three days at two completely different towns and fed approximately 200 children and adults each day at both sites.  Our group was also able to witness the life-transforming effects of the micro-loans that many churches have been supporting in the Haitian countryside.  For informational purposes, a micro-loan is a small amount of money (starting at $25) that is given to around five people/families that are members in the church being supported.  Those five members are given training on how to invest the money in a business that can hopefully prosper and allow them to pay back the loaned amount.  On that note, the group can only get the next highest amount of micro-loan when the entire group of five has completely paid back the initial amount borrow (plus 1% interest).  The accountability built into the ministry has around a 94% re-payment history.  People are able to earn money  in ways that would have never possible for them without the micro-loans.  One of the recipients mentioned that he wanted to get to the final loan amount and then begin a micro-loan venture of his own, to pay forward the gifts that God had bestowed upon him.  There were so many other things we experienced,but those will be discussed in future blog posts.

With regards to Scripture lifting off the pages and becoming vivid and real.  One member said about the time when we walked to the market, that it must have been what it was like when Jesus had a person touch his cloak and He felt the power go out from Him (Luke 840-48).  The crowds in the market were at times overwhelming, with people crushing into very small spaces and several people trying to get your attention at the same time.  It was at times, overwhelming to all of the senses.  I also felt this way when walking through the marketplace and it reminded me of the sights and sounds that must have been going on when Jesus walked into a town for the first time.  With our group, all eyes were on us because we were "different" from the local people and they all wanted our attention.  I imagined that some wanted to sell Him food and various other goods, while others wanted to be healed.

Another experience occurred when I was invited to join our group and attend a choral concert across the street at Pastor Jepthe's church.  He was our host for the eight days we were in Pignon, Haiti.  When I arrived in the church, I was not sure what I expected to find.  I witnessed youth groups from all over Pignon, Haiti joining together, regardless of faith and making a "joyful noise" in worship of their savior (Ps. 100:1-3).

Psalm 100

A psalm. For giving grateful praise.

1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2     Worship the Lord with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
    It is he who made us, and we are his[a];
    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

During the service, the power went out several times and the groups that were singing never lost a beat, they just continued to sing praises to the King.  The church attenders just lifted up cell phones to help light the sanctuary.  It was truly a moment for me where the psalms came alive and I gained a deeper awareness of what it means to worship joyfully.

The final thing I was blessed to learn from the Haitian culture was to be a better steward of God's resources. 

 "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." (Luke 12:48).  

I saw a robustly creative culture of people who utilize every resource available to them (and they don't have many) in ways that serve a functional purpose and in ways that serve a spiritual purpose.  I realized that I am "spoiled" in my country.  I can use my computer to look up key verses - instead of actively opening my Bible and searching.  I can also use my computer to spread the Gospel and glorify God - and yet I have let this blog sit dormant for months because it became difficult for me to come up with new topics on Spiritual Formation.

God has inspired me to glorify Him in every creative way possible through the Haitian people and I hope I am able to use this blog as one pathway to do just that.  What about you? How are you using the resources with which God has given to you? Listen to what Jesus says: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25).

I pray that this blog entry finds you doing well and working every day on strengthening your relationship with the Creator.  I would love to hear any feedback or stories you feel moved to share in the comments section.  You never know who may be reading and who can prosper from the wisdom and discernment given to you by the Holy Spirit.

Recharging my Spirit Daily,

Bill Blanck

Prayer ... Whoa ... What is it good for ... Absolutely Everything!!!!

I would like to discuss the topic of prayer today.  This is a topic that I often get questions from the youth about what is confusing or has them grappling with in their mind.  One question I often get is:  what is the correct way to pray?  My quick response is that there is no one proper and "correct way to pray" - but there are many different ways to pray and even the Scriptures cite praying while kneeling, sitting, standing, facing the skies, etc.  I tell them that I often pray while I am driving in the car (with my eyes open of course) and just have a conversation with God, like I would have with any "earthly" friend - I learned that one from my wife.  Some people pray while they are in the shower, or during their morning exercises.  It is a personal choice and develops over time as you develop your personal relationship with God.

I like to give resources on this blog to help you research and continue to read and learn about your spiritual development, so here is a great website about prayer http://christianity.about.com/od/prayersverses/a/basicstoprayer.htm  and it tackles the many questions that may be on your mind or you may even have been asked by others, bt were not quite sure how to answer (there are three pages to look at - so don't miss the robust information on pages 2 & 3).  I want to give credit to May Fairchild on About.com, because she does a very in-depth discussion on prayer and provides plenty of Scripture for you to research, reinforcing the need for daily prayer to supplement everything else you are doing to grow your spiritual formation.

If you are looking for someone to model your prayer life after, look no farther than Jesus.  Although the New Testament does not give an actual number count of how many times Jesus prayed, it does describe the frequency of His prayer life. According the Nelson Study Bible, Jesus prayed day and night and throughout the day. The New Testament also gives numerous accounts when Jesus prayed, such as on the mountain, in the Garden of Gethsemane, in the wilderness, the Lord's Prayer, in distress, for comfort, after the Lord's Supper and at the crucifixion. Jesus prayed endlessly, as noted throughout the New Testament.

Have you ever been in a situation where you have either said or have had someone say to you, "I will pray for you?"  If you are anything like me, you are more likely to forget unless you pray with that person right then - on the spot.  It also shows the intentionality of you on behalf on the person.  What I mean by that is sometimes people may feel like you are offering them a platitude by saying you will pray for them, when they know that you probably won't.  I had a professor at seminary who was in charge of our spiritual formation group that once shared with us a story about how he had been praying for each student in his formation groups, as well as for various friends and family members for decades and used to keep the prayer journal manually, but now has it on his PC.  He will often update the prayer journal, when he is given an update about an answered prayer or a change in an individual's status to a new or different prayer need.  This level of devotion and dedication to prayer and worshiping the Lord showed me how powerful prayer can be and also how dedicated we demonstrate to God we are in our spiritual formation and the formation of others in their journey.

Have you gone to the Lord in prayer today?  If the answer is no, consider starting by saying the Lord's prayer aloud right now.  Matthew 6:9-13 states,

"⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

¹⁰ 

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

    on earth as it is in heaven.

¹¹ 

Give us today our daily bread.

¹² 

And forgive us our debts,

    as we also have forgiven our debtors.

¹³ 

And lead us not into temptation,^[a]

    but deliver us from the evil one.^[b]’"

I just returned from a men's bible study group where about fifty or so men are involved in the study of Scripture and daily devotion to God's Word, which involves Scripture memory each week, time together discussing how things went each week (accountability) and prayer together as a group (Mtw. 18:19) "

¹⁹ “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven."

If you begin to see a pattern here, that is a good thing.  The overlapping of spiritual practices will start to happen without you even trying to make them happen.  You will find yourself involved in doing things that stretch you beyond your normal comfort zone and nudge you into volunteering or going on missions trips in foreign countries, finding more time in each day to build upon your relationship with your heavenly Father and preparing a way for you to share the joy that resides within you to everyone around you.

As always, I welcome any thoughts or feedback you may have on this entry and would love to hear any personal testimony about you spiritual formation journey so that others may prosper from reading it.

Recharging my Spirit daily,

Pastor Bill Blanck

These are NOT the lyrics you are looking for ... Move along!!!

So far we have discussed being in God's Word daily, memorizing Scripture as a part of your daily devotional time each morning, the friends and small groups we associate ourselves with.  This entry will be about worshiping God through the type of songs we lift up to Him and the lyrics we subject ourselves and others to in the process of listening to music to entertain ourselves.

To be honest, I have an extremely eclectic music listening style, but over the last dozen or so years (and even in the last two or three years) I have become more discerning with what I listen to and why I listen to that style or genre of music.  Let me explain!

My life used to be extremely fast paced and filled with stress and self-induced goals about things that I felt would fill me up with joy and satisfaction.  I used to pick my music based on the tempo and beat and maybe a line or two, or the main chorus - without ever really paying attention to the entire rest of the song's lyrics to see the message they may be putting forth.  If it sounded good or fit the mood I was in at that moment, I listened to it. If I am being truthful right now, this has led me to find out about some truly amazing artists and genres of music over my lifetime and that is a great thing.  On the other hand, it has also led to many a time, when I would listen to very long periods - even days of sad, depressing, or dare I say hopeless lyrics that had a profound impact on my general mood and demeanor.  This is not difficult to test, all you have to do is think about the type of music you listened to the last time you were extremely upset, sad, depressed, or even thoughtful, relaxed, upbeat and maybe even overjoyed.

So what does all of this have to do with spiritual formation?  A lot!  It took me a very long time to slow down and begin to listen to the music of life.  When you are able to listen to some of the lyrics of your favorite songs in entirety, you may become surprised, even appalled at what their actual meaning and message was aimed at saying to the world.  I could go on and on about various artists and give specific examples, but that takes this entry off the topic.  The point is that music that is done to worship God is often done with a Scripture or several Scriptures as its basis.  As a long time listener of Christian Rock groups like:  Petra and Stryper, and also of Christian artists like Steven Curtis Chapman, Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant and to be more current with artists like Tenth Avenue North, Third Day, LeCrae, and Group 1 Crew; I have found most of these artists will include a direct quote from a Scripture verse in the song and will often put that reference in the liner notes on the CD insert.  My favorite group Building 4:29 based the name of the group on Ephesians 4:29 which says, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." (emphasis added)

If you are a not a regular listener of Christian worship music I encourage you to give it a try.  There are plenty of ways to sample all of the various genres of Christian music for free.  You can go to the local library that you support with your taxes and check out a few CDs to listen to; you can also use online music listening sources like Pandora, Songza or IHeartRadio (to name a few).  The beauty of the online radio sources is they are free and you are able to let the station know the songs and artists you approve of with a thumbs up and those you don't like with a thumbs down and it with adjust the station to your preferences.  What you will find is that as you listen to Christian music more often, it will supplement your daily reading and Scripture memorization and you will often say to yourself that you recognize the verse that was just vocalized in the song.  You may even find a certain joy and peace that starts to build as your "walk" with God begins to strengthen and build "layers" during your day.  

Spiritual formation is about maturing in your relationship with God.  It is about finding ways to continually expand and grow in your faith.  There are many ways to investigate and learn about our Lord and Savior and there are many ways to offer up our worship to Him as we continue in the process.  As we walk down the path of life, we will find it beneficial to partner with Him by seeking out music that uplifts and edifies others and Glorifies His name in the process, versus the plethora of alternatives we are offered down the dial that has another agenda in mind.  

I treat each song like a trivia game now, I listen to the song and try to figure out the Scriptural inspiration the artist had for writing the song.  Sometime I will even jot myself a quick note and go online and look up the lyrics, there are also plenty of free websites that will provide you with the entire songs lyrics.  A quick Bing search will give you plenty of options.  I like to use http://www.azlyrics.com/l.html to find lyrics because they have a pretty vast selection of artists.

You will find that with each post I am attempting to show you that this process is like the opposite of peeling back the layers of an onion, we are adding on a layer each post and each layer adds to your spiritual formation journey.  As Paul states in 2 Timothy 4 6:8, "⁶ For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. ⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing."  

As we go through our life, we will add layers to our formation spiritually, and this will take faith and determination, but our goal is to "finish the race" and I pray that you will remain in the fight and continue in your devotion to know Christ and to grow to be more like him each and every day.

Recharging my Spirit daily,

Pastor Bill Blanck

Friends, how many of us have them?

Today I want to talk to you briefly about the people you surround yourself with and those you may even call close or "best" friends.

One thing I learned quickly in the corporate world is that you surround yourself with the people that you along most with in terms of goals and aspirations.  In other words, if they are goal oriented, leaders with a passion and zeal for similar things that you also have a passion for, then I would surround myself with those people.  I found there are plenty of "Eeyore" types, who are happy only when there are trying to tear down another person, through things like gossip or by stealing credit for their accomplishments.  I am sure you have met this type of person.  The eternal pessimist, who can't stand working where they do, and is always happy to complain about something and to try to get you involved in that gossip or complaining.  What I also learned is that it can be very hard to trust people who you think are your friends, because in business, it would seem that everyone is looking out for themselves to get the next promotion and if you get in their way, sometimes people overlook their morals or trade them for "perceived" success and prestige.

When I left the corporate world and moved into ministry I though that things would be different, and they were, but human sinfulness stayed basically the same.  Why do I bring all of this up?  I bring it up because I have found that it is crucially important to continue to trust in The Lord that He will surround you with amazing and upright people in your life, who will uplift, edify and also hold you accountable when you backslide (and we will all backslide).

I first found an amazing group of people by joining a small group.  I was deeply entrenched in my corporate world, filled with stress and accomplishing the newest "title" and pay promotion and would often show up to the group with all of this stuff showing all over my face and general countenance.  I thought I was doing a great job hiding it from this amazing group of people, but after a period of time, it was apparent to some of them and they began to ask me very pointed and powerful questions.  It seemed like the particular individual was delving deep into my innermost thoughts.  How is this even possible?  As I stayed in the group, I found that my entire personality changed when I was around the group.  I could be free to be myself.  I could share what was really on my mind and had been troubling me.  I still have many of these same people involved in my daily life and I am happy to call many of them my close personal friends.  It was also during my time with that group that I made an extremely difficult decision to leave my corporate life and nice paycheck to pursue a life of ministry on a full-time basis.  I am deeply grateful to this powerful group of people that God placed in my life and I am certain that without the leanings of the Holy Spirit and a few amazing people calling me in ways I was too scared or stubborn to challenge myself, I may have never taken this path.

Do you have a group of like-minded Christian friends that you meet with on a regular basis?  It can be youth ministry groups, adult singles, young married couples with or without kids, older small groups, a mixture of ages doing life together, you name it.  Most churches offer small groups to the attendees and if you have been holding off or are just not sure because you feel like you may be judged or you don't feel like you have anything to contribute, let those concerns go.  Lift them up in prayer to God.  Ask Him to help provide you with guidance and patience to step out of your comfort zone and to join in the spiritual life journey together with a group of strangers, who by the way, will not be strangers to you for very long.

What about other friends that you hang around with?  Do they all have to be Christian?  Do they all have to share your same views or doctrine?  Of course not, in fact that is what makes it possible to expand our diversity and have potential opportunities to be open-minded and experience other cultures and religions.  My wife's best friend for years (and still is) at work is a Jewish woman who is twenty some years older than her.  We have had amazing conversations with her over the years and forged a powerful friendship that will last forever.

In closing, I would just want you to think about the people that Jesus surrounded himself with.  Look up the background of the disciples as homework.  It will truly open your eyes. Who did He regularly see when he traveled to the various cities on His journeys?  Was it the people who were strong in their faith or those who others would have ignored as not important enough to preach to?

I look forward to any comments or feedback you may have on this entry - Blessings.

Daily recharging my Spirit,

Pastor Bill Blanck