Men's Breakfast Notes / Thoughts

 Attended a men's breakfast this morning at church - the topic of discussion was Worship and I wrote a handful of ideas down in my notebook that I wanted to transfer here and possibly expand upon if able. Also just some general notes/thoughts to follow

Books to read: C.S. Lewis "Letters to Malcom" also "The Analects" by Confucius. The latter was mentioned today in that Confucius wrote how conflicts arise generally because we miss title things or fail to define things correctly. Or we don't treat things as the title demands they be treated i.e. the title no longer has a meaning that it once did. Interested in getting a copy to read more. Also of note just came across Confuscious in another book I am listening to on my commute called "The hundred year marathon" about chinas strategic 100 year plan for world dominance which is currently being carried out, to be completed in 2049 so hang tight. I digress, Confucius was quoted in that book saying something along the lines of, the sky cannot have two suns, nor the earth two emperors. 

Psalm 96 vs 4-5" For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols." 

If you read this and say amen, but then fail to identify what exactly the 'gods of the peoples' are in our society today then you may find yourself giving praise (with your time, effort, devotion, and fear) to one of the said gods of the people. So, it is necessary to ask, what are the false gods of our age? How do people serve them? Am I serving them? Do I fear them? Do I fear the repurcussions of not fearing them? You cannot answer those questions unless you actually define them. I think this is a point that is often missed in sermons and christian cirlces. We don't go deep enough to understand our current times and what to do with them. Like the men of Issachar, those men of old. 

Romans 1 vs 21 - 22 "Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools" This verse came up in discussion, definitely one that is underlined in my bible. Worldly wisdom is not wisdom at all. 

On Abraham and Isaac. I had never realized until today that before Abraham took Isaac up the mountain and left the rest of their party at the bottom he told them to stay and he said "when WE return". He didn't know what was going to happen but he knew that someone there would be descendants as numerous as the stars that would come from Isaac and he trusted that Promise that God had given him. Made me think about recent things I have read in which people question God and request signs in order to believe him - this is a time when Abraham didn't need any further questions to be answered but fully trusted in the Lord. Genesis 22

2 Timothy 3: 1-5  Throws in that children will be disobedient to their parents with a whole host of other sins . that they will appear righteous but deny God's power. Just another great verse that is underlined. And a good one to have in memory when thinking about disciplining children. 

Starting a book study with two other Leutenants from church. Going to read through Principles of war by jim wilson first and go from there. Excited to be doing a study with other guys at work. 1x infantry officer and 1x ground intel officer. Hope to add more as we go. 

Will be promoted to first Lt on Dec 15, Comes with a pay increase. And increase in responsibility as well as room for maneuver as more will trust automatically that you know what you are doing. 

Enjoying our advent this year, today is baking cookies to take to the neighbors and I am holding everyone up by typing so farewell, lets bake cookies!!