One
of the most miraculous displays of the Lord’s power is His ability to
transform an unrighteous man into a shining light for Jesus. The apostle
Paul is a great example of how God can change ...
• The religious into the redeemed (1 Timothy 1:12-13).
Before his conversion, Paul was deeply religious, but not in a good
way. He relied on his pedigree, performance, and piety to gain authority
and acceptance. When he met the Lord on the road to Damascus, however,
he discovered that all of his religious works and credentials meant
nothing. The only way we can become acceptable before God is through
receiving the saving grace of Christ—and that’s how Paul’s sin was
replaced with a righteous spirit.
• A servant of sin into a servant of God (Romans 6:17-18).
Paul had been hostile toward the early church—promoting blasphemy,
punishing believers, and voting for them to be punished with death (Acts 26:10-11). Yet after salvation, he became a dedicated missionary who spread the gospel wherever he could.
Our
Father turned one of the early church’s enemies into a wise and
repentant leader. Commit to obey the Lord, and see what happens. He is
faithful to complete the good work He has begun in you (Philippians 1:6).
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The Miami Heat defeated the New York Knicks in Game
4, 109-101. Jimmy Butler led the Heat with 27 points, 10 assists, and 6
rebounds as Bam Adebayo added 23 points and 13 rebounds. Jalen Brunson tallied
32 points and 11 assists for the Knicks while Julius Randle totaled 20 points
and 9 rebounds. . The Heat lead the best-of-seven series, 3-1, with Game 5
taking place on Wednesday, May 10 (7:30 p.m. ET, TNT).
Jimmy Butler recorded his 5th career Playoff game of 25+ points, 10+ assists, and 5+ rebounds for Miami, giving him the most such games in Miami franchise history.
Jimmy Butler – 5
LeBron James – 4
Dwyane Wade – 3
Bam Adebayo recorded the 22nd double-double of his Playoff career for the Heat tonight, tying Dwyane Wade for the 2nd-most such games in Miami franchise history.
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Yesterday
we started reading Psalm 37 and discussed what we must do to receive
our heart’s desires. But if we keep reading that chapter, we find the
psalmist encouraging us to rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him
to act.
Rest sounds easy, but sometimes it may require
supernatural strength. Our natural tendency is to scramble, fret, and
push our agenda, and those habits turn our mind away from delight and
trust in the Lord. The stronger our desire is, the shorter our fuse.
Sometimes we may even try to give God a timetable, but true rest occurs
on His schedule. Only He understands every circumstance and knows the
precise moment when answering our prayer is best.
So, the basic
tenets of Psalm 37 are interrelated: We must spend time enjoying God in
order to learn to trust Him and commit to His way. And doing so then
frees us to rest in His control and patiently wait for Him to act.
Take a moment to pray: Father,
thank You for giving me the desires of my heart. Today, help me to
delight in You, commit everything to You, and rest in the knowledge that
You have everything under control. I will wait for Your perfect timing.
Amen.
I
think anyone who carries a firearm as a defensive tool has thought
sometime about what they would do if this or that scenario took place. I
think these “what if” scenarios are valuable mental exercises, provided
we keep some things in mind.
“What If” Exercises—
First, it's important that when we run our “what if” scenarios, we
have an accurate understanding of our level of skill in a specific area.
A simple example would be knowing your draw to first shot time. Knowing
this number gives you a rough idea of the time it would take to draw
and get a shot on a threat, under ideal conditions.
Then you can accurately “what if” a scenario with your skills instead
of what you think you could do. And no, you're not just going to rise
to the occasion when the time comes. Don't get me wrong, I hope you do.
It's just not a good idea to rest on possibly performing at a high level
under stress if you've never done it before.
Secondly, we need to have an idea of what real violence looks like.
I'm not talking about staying safe by looking at crime trends in your
neighborhood and pattering your behavior accordingly. One example is to
think no one could ever get the drop on you because you're “always aware
of your surroundings”. Or as soon as the criminal sees you have a
firearm, they will comply with your commands.
Situational Awareness—
Reality is that situation awareness is critically important, can buy
time and may keep you from being involved in a deadly force incident,
but it doesn't ensure that. Furthermore, as much as we think we “have
our head on a swivel” if you spend enough time in public places, you'll
be vulnerable at some time even if it's brief.
A well executed plan by a couple of criminals catches these two completely off guard.
Additionally, you may respond appropriately, but will your loved one?
Each person involved adds another variable that you can't control. The
point is, real life violence and self-defense is far more complicated
than it appears on the surface.
Which brings me to this video.
Armed Robbery of 2 Pedestrians Caught on Video—
The video is brief, lasting only about 8 seconds. But in these 8
seconds a lot goes down. There are many things we can take from this
short video, but here are just a couple things I think we would be wise
to note.
First, while we train to defend our lives, criminals who've been
around the block a few times know what they are doing, and they can
become quite proficient in their profession. A smart criminal picks the
right moment and minimizes their risk. They want the upper hand, which
is usually the element of surprise. And since we typically must respond
to a threat, the criminal can gain a position of advantage before we
have time to react.
Now someone may say the victims had poor situational awareness. They
never should have let anyone ride up on them like that. But in reality,
if you're walking down a busy street, do you assess every single vehicle
and person in your vicinity? Do you do it 90% of the time, 75%?
Anything less than 100%, and that's unlikely, leaves the door cracked
for a criminal with a plan.
Things Can Happen Fast—
We see how fast this goes down. The motorcycle is on them in seconds,
and the rider in the back has a gun drawn and on them before they know
what happened. At this point, even the fastest draw is a high-risk play.
The couple goes with compliance, which in this case seemed like a good
call. Sometimes compliance works. Other times, you may have to take the
high-risk route because the criminal shows a high level of violence.
These criminals have the position of advantage.
Then we see the man take off and leave the girl to fend for herself. I
don't want to get wrapped up too much on the chivalry or lack thereof.
Or the post incident conversation between these two victims. I just want
to mention again that we may have a plan or ability to escape. But if
our loved one doesn't or can't, what's your Plan B?
The Role of Protector—
I think sometimes men nobly fill that protector role. But we can't
always be there, and even if we are, there is strength in numbers when
they've trained, have the means, a plan, and are on the same page. This
is just one of the several reasons I love to see couples attending
training together.
Adios amiga.
For example, last year we had several husband and wife, and father and daughter combinations attend the Annual Guardian Conference.
We purposely designed this training conference to be family friendly,
capture people of every skill-level and provide a diversity of training
from live-fire to legal, to trauma medicine and so much more. If you've
thought of attending a training course, consider going as a couple. And
then consider checking out the line-up of instructors teaching at this
Annual Guardian Conference.
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We
love the promise in verse 4 of today’s passage: God “will give you the
desires of your heart.” Unfortunately, when we focus only on receiving
gifts, we miss the psalm’s context—namely, that our cooperation is
needed.
The first requirement for receiving the desires of our
heart is that we delight in God (v. 4). His highest priority is our
relationship with Him—He wants to give us Himself more than anything
else. We are to take pleasure in communing with the Lord and serving
Him, and over time we’ll begin to appropriate His ways of thinking.
The
second requirement of this promise is that we commit to His plan (v.
5). Following God’s path restructures our heart’s desires until they
look like His. Now, sometimes what God provides appears different from
what we requested. But He always answers our appeals based on His
infinite knowledge and great love. He bestows the perfect answer to our
prayer, whether it’s what we asked for or not.
Remember, God
wants to grant our requests, but His greatest joy is a relationship with
us. Seeing our heart’s wishes fulfilled is simply a byproduct of
delighting in God and committing to His way. The real reward is a
relationship with the God who offers to share Himself with humanity.
The XFL is the league of opportunity and that opportunity is the chance to play in the NFL. In the first 5 days that followed the 2023 NFL Draft there were 38 XFL players invited to NFL training camps.
The XFL allows players to display their skills to get the looks they need in order to take the next step in professional football. That step is playing in the NFL. Hear from XFL Head Coaches and Directors of Player Personnel on who they think will get a look from the NFL and their goals for every player who steps onto an XFL field.
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