Alone!

The Bible says, “Come let us reason says the Lord”! I find myself wanting to spend more time by myself these days. Not that I have little desire to be with the ones I love but I need to hear another voice other than those around me. Alone is so different that lonely because to be alone means I can hear the voice of God but to be lonely means I can only hear the voice of pity and self interest. One voice takes through the valley to the mountain top where the other voice takes me from the mountain top to the valley but seldom through it! I need to be alone but I never need to be lonely. Alone means you are away from the people however lonely means the people are away from you. I must leave my crowded life and slept away to just be with my Father. It might just be for a moment a few minutes when I turn off the world to turn on the His word! I want to no other voice but His. God never raises His voice so we must be silent to hear Him. Go ahead Lord I am listing.

 

No!

What is the difference between being busy and being productive? As I race through what is left of my life I am reminded that the Bible says,” our life is like a vapor”! I guess that means very quick with few stops along the way. I believe the main difference between busy and productive is found in one word…intentional! I simply choose to make my life matter even if it means making a few people mad along the way. The ability to be intentional is to have the courage and I mean courage to say NO and to set priorities with the wisdom of ridged flexibility. The key as a man is to know when and more importantly who to say no to. If I live intentional someone at any given moment will be disappointed with my ability to say NO. As I say yes to God He teaches me who to say NO to starting with me!

 

 

 

Buzzed!

Buzz Oates was in the cave last night sharing the life of an 86 year old man and a journey that could easily become a major motion picture. If I were to give the film a title it would be, “How to Get the Buzz On”! From mowing lawns for 25 cents per yard (push mower) to near death experiences during WW2 as a bombardier to becoming one of the leading businessmen in the nation Buzz Oates typifies what it is to have a dream and never look back. During his presentation on three different occasions through watered eyes this millionaire several times over said,” This most important decision he or any man can make is to give their life to Jesus Christ”!  He went on to say that he has had failures but Jesus Christ has always been faithful. He refereed to Jesus as his best friend. I guess I walked away knowing what has real value a true significance. Buzz did not write me a big fat check but he did make a huge deposit in my life. I am truly Buzzed!

 

 

 

Marriages!

Over The last 4 weeks Cherisse and I have been teaching a marriage class at Sunset Christian Center. Our  focus has been The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman. Many guys said they have the book but never really have taken the time to read it. Wow is that the story of men’s lives… I have something that will change my marriage but I just haven’t taken the time to use it. It seems like every time Cherisse and I decide to teach a class on marriage ours comes under attack. Now I am not sure attack is the right word  maybe the proper word would be test as in do you have your act together? I love Cherisse with all my heart and I know she loves me but we defiantly do not speak the same language. Sometimes I feel like we are from two different countries try to be missionary’s to one another. We both have some life changing truth but we just don’t have the right language. After 20 years of marriage I think I have learned two words…forgive me!

 

Confessions!

The Bible says, “Confess your sins one to another so that you may be healed”. We men have a difficult time with the whole thing of confession. I mean what are we to confess and to who? Many times the sins that are the deepest the ones that bring to us the greatest shame and fear are the last ones we are going to confess to anyone. What about the fall out of our confession what about dealing with the ramification of the sin confessed? Will people treat us differently with their new found information? The great lie of the enemy is to get men to be more concerned with their outcome than their freedom. Confessed sin is about healing not pleasure it is about freedom not reputation it is about becoming a man of God not maintaining a hidden agenda. These are the end of days for I believe the return of the Savior is very near. Now is the time for all men to come clean and to be honest with who they are and who God wants them to be. I have felt the pain of confession but I also have seen the gain of confession. Confession to God brings forgiveness confession to man brings healing.  So confess!

 

Thank you!

I just want to take a moment and say a huge thank you to all of my volunteers that give themselves to the cave week in and week out. All of you are such a blessing to my life and the cave simply would not happen without you. You all have jobs you all have families and you all do not have the time to do what you do. However you choose to do something that the other 80% have failed to do…sacrifice! You arrive early and many times are the last to leave the gym. You never complain and have this, “whatever it takes” attitude to get the job done. And you do it all for one outcome that a man might experience the life transforming message of Jesus Christ. To my precious brothers  thank you from the bottom of my heart! We set up the cave to tear down satins’ kingdom!!!

                                                                                                                              

 

Attitude!

There are a lot of things that happen in my life that I absolutely have no control over such as my hair loss, how tall am not, my waste size ok forget the waste! Let’s face it life has a way of sometimes just slapping us silly. We are all one phone call away from a life altering situation good or bad. The days we are now living in are days of uncertainly and for many men the fear of a loss job, kids freaking out, unplanned illness and no retirement brings stress and sometimes crazy choices. Guys are just plan tired of all the demands and feeling like is this all worth it? I am the first to admit that my attitude is determined by what is happening around me rather than who is happening in me. I choose to let life determine my attitude rather than letting the life giver Jesus Christ so invade me so encompass me that the “who happenings” are more significant that what happens. Not to sound too religious but I need to be so in love with Jesus that His who overtakes my what! I can choose my attitude when I submit to His authority. Attitude is all about perspective how we see ourselves and others. My attitude changes when it is more about how He sees things not how I see them. Jesus let me see what you see moment by moment!

 

Rejections!

Last night my wife and I went out to dinner in downtown Sacramento. After dinner we decided to go look for the perfect desert and came upon a place that made chocolate crepes…oh ya!  When I got out of the car I saw a homeless person asleep on the cold concrete with nothing more than a thin jacket to cover the person’s legs. It was one of those moments that we all have when it comes to the homeless, do I do something or not? I decided to keep walking (stop judging me) but I couldn’t get the person out of my mind. After desert (awesome) we made our way back to the car. The person was still lying there so I decided to give them a small blanket I had in my car. As I walked to give the blanket the person woke up and to my amazement it was a young woman. I asked her if I could give here the blanket and she said she was fine! But she wasn’t fine she was cold and homeless. Her pride or mental state would not allow her to receive the perfect gift on a cold winter’s night. I had what she needed but she had what she didn’t need… a cold heart or messed up mind on a cold night. I guess I know how Jesus feels when it comes to giving to me at times!

 

Freedom!

Men live their life in layers! We know how to let people get as close to us as we deem necessary. The walls that we have carefully constructed from layers of hurt, pain, fear, failure and rejection will one day serve as the same walls of our inner personal prison. Few if any have the awesome privilege to walk into a man’s person cell of hidden passion, dreams and visions. Men make the walls even thicker by dwelling on what they don’t have rather than being grateful and thankful for what they have been blessed with. Guys live in a quiet desperation that is shield with performance based acceptance. The walls serve only one purpose and that is to keep every man from discovering his God given passion/calling and thereby never becoming fully alive and significant. The only person that holds the keys to man’s inner cell is Jesus Christ the Lord! He sets the captive free, He unlocks everyman’s potential, He alone has the power to restore the lost years due to fear and isolation. The great exchange…His life for yours! His keys for your freedom!

Rejoice!

The definition of rejoice is to be happy or to make someone else happy. Happy seems so shallow to me at times and it changes like the weather in Denver. I believe happiness is based on what while joy is based on whom. The Bible says, “Rejoice” not re-happy! I am happy when the what is in my favor and what makes me happy is performing well. I am happy but I do not have joy! Joy is a result of “who” God is in my life while happy is a result in the “what” to my life. As a Christian man I am to rejoice in the Lord not to re-happy in the Lord. Joy is the person in my life while happy is the performance of my life. My joy may bring me happiness but my happiness will never bring me joy. Nothing can bring me the joy of the Lord but the Lord of my joy. I am a man of consistency when I rejoice in the Lord not seek a temporary happiness through life’s performances. I can praise God as a result of joy not happy. Today I choose to rejoice not just to be happy! Happy is the desert!

 

 

 

 

Road trips!

For those of you who follow my blog I am sure you have noticed it has been a couple of days since my last entry. I was asked to speak to the California Republican Assembly in Los Angeles over the weekend so the Z family decided to make a road trip out of it. I love road trips because it always gives me a few life tips along the way. One of the life tips when taking a road trip is to try to leave the laptop turned off and give your focus to the family not work. Even though it is sometimes difficult turning something off in order to turn something on is well worth the effort. Another life tip I learned was to try to take more road trips! You learn a lot about the people you love when traveling in a car for more than 8 hours like the need to use the bathroom when there isn’t any for miles. I guess the thing that made this trip special is that the next Zelesky road trip will be taking my little girl to Tennessee to go to college. What a life tip that will be!

 

Productivity!

My days fly by and with every passing minute I continue to ask myself one question where did that minute go? Men want to know if they are producing anything that has any significance. We live to do and what we do is very important to who we are. At the end of the day we want to know that in some small way we mattered! In our false humility we do not want the recognition however we do want the reward of knowing that we are not invisible. Productive is different than busy. Busy is simply doing a whole bunch of stuff that is somewhat out of control it is letting the day control us. Productive is being intentional with the stuff that we have to do and we take charge of the day and our life. Jesus was never busy but always productive. He knew when to DO and He knew how to walk away and BE. I believe the greatest productivity is doing nothing but setting at His feet and learning how to BE not DO! After all we are human Beings not human Doings…

 

Little things!

I woke up this morning and tucked away inside of my laptop was a sticky note. Someone knew my life well enough to know that I would be sure to find it there. Someone took the time out of the craziness of their life to think about mine. Someone gave me one of those “little things”! I mean it was just a few lines on a sticky note nothing huge nothing that took a lot of time or money. It was a moment of sweet surprise that touched me and moved me and gave me what I needed… acknowledgement. It is always the little things that cause big things to matter. Sometimes the little thing can cause the heart to break and and over a period of time the marriage to breakup. And sometimes it is the little things that can cause a heart to find healing and warmth and the courage to say I forgive you. Today I received my little thing and all it said was, “you’re a great dad! Love ya pops xoxox Nicole”! She changes my big world with her little things. Thanks sweetie!