Words to ponder

One of my birthday gifts was a book by former football head coach Tony Dungy called “Quiet Strength.”  I am really enjoying reading through this book – and I would like to recommend it to you. 

As a football fan, I am enjoying Coach Dungy recount the highs and the lows of his football career.  For instance, Bronco fans will remember, with sadness, the year that the Steelers defeated the Broncos 34-17 in the AFC Championship game.  They eventually defeated the Seahawks 21-10 in Super Bowl 40.  It’s interesting to note that the team the Steelers had to beat to get to that championship game against Denver was the Colts.  The Colts were 14-2 that year, but they lost a heartbreaker in the final seconds to the Steelers 21-18. 

The interesting historical context of that year (a fact that I didn’t know until I read "Quiet Strength") was this was the year that Tony Dungy’s son, Jaime, died a tragic death.  I remember watching that Steelers-Colts game.  I was rooting for the Steelers because I thought the Broncos had the better chance of beating them.  Knowing more about the trial that Coach Dungy was going through that year, I am very sad that his football team had to lose in the playoffs, and that they had to lose in such a heartbreaking way.

Having spent a lot of time talking about football in this particular blog installment already, I must admit that “Quiet Strength” is not all about football.  Tony Dungy, if you didn’t know, is a strong Christian.  Just from a cursory reading, one can tell how important his Christian faith is to him.  It was a happy day when his Colts won Super Bowl 41, but Tony Dungy – in my opinion – is a success even if his team had never won a Super Bowl.

I’ve written all that I have to this point so that I can relay this one sentence from his book (this blog turned out longer than I thought it would).  In chapter 11, a chapter entitled “Defining Success” he asks the reader a penetrating question: “Are other people’s lives better because we lived?”  This question really made me evaluate my own life afresh.  Can I claim that other people’s lives are better simply because I lived?  I hope the answer is yes.  I’m certainly striving to live a life that impacts others in a positive, God-honoring way.  How about you?  Can you claim that other people’s lives are better simply because you lived?

Kevin

A wonderful holiday

I want to wish everyone a very happy Independence Day!  In God’s timing, He worked it so that I would be taking a class at Colorado Christian University on America leading up to the fourth of July.  I’ve actually been contemplating this great land of ours since early June!  The United States of America is truly a great nation.

We as Americans are blessed, and it is very easy to take the blessings that we have for granted.  Today I would encourage you all to contemplate afresh the wonderful freedoms that we enjoy.  For example, we are free to worship God without having to risk personal safety.  We are free to vote.  There's a tremendous thought!  We are free to elect a new President every four years.  Not every nation gets the privilege of choosing our leaders.  I could go on and on.  I am very thankful to be an American!

I'm also thankful for the Founder Fathers of our nation and all they did in America's beginning days.  I've noticed an attitude in our culture that mistrusts the Founding Fathers, but this is a mistake.  Check out a book called "Vindicating the Founders" by Thomas West if you are interested in learning more about this.

Happy Independence Day!

Kevin

Each day is a gift

I recently discovered that July 1st, 2011, was the day that Princess Diana would have turned fifty years old, if she hadn't died back in 1997.  This fact only intensified a message that had already been bubbling inside me to share: every day is a gift.  Life itself is a gift that God grants to us daily.  We don’t know how many years we have on this planet.  We sometimes talk like we are going to live for decades, but truth is, we really don’t know.  Life is fragile.

I confess I’m feeling a bit more reflective right now as I look back at my recent 30th birthday celebration.  Many people conveyed to me how much they love me.  I felt their love.  I’m blessed to know many wonderful people.  But, the truth of the matter is, it took God’s providence for me to get to age 30.  As I’ve shared before, God protected me from death when I was just a baby.

So I just want encourage you (and I direct these words to myself, too) to live each day with gratitude to God.  He is the one who keeps our hearts beating, and gives us the breath we need to sustain us.

Kevin Bauer

Humility versus pride

I've been thinking about humility and pride lately.  I once heard a preacher describe how there's a constant battle in a Christian's life with pride.  I'm inclined to agree with him.  I actually wrote about pride and humility a while back for a writing project I did.  Here's an excerpt of I wrote:

"The antithesis of humility is pride; this is repugnant to God.  To parade around saying, "my talent and ability has taken me this far" is to be blind to God.  He is the one who gave you your talents and abilities.  What is humility?  I'd say it is to boast of God rather than to boast of self."

If we are humble, we stand out, simply because so many around us are broadcasting how great they think they are.  I for one want to be a humble man.  I want to be someone who - as I put in my excerpt I shared with you - boasts of God.

Kevin Bauer

My birthday sentiment

It was on this day, thirty years ago, that I was born.

I actually went back and forth regarding about how I was going handle the blog on my birthday.  I even considered skipping it altogether.  But I decided to basically just say these five words:

To God be the glory!

Whatever I've done that is praiseworthy, I direct the credit and glory to God for it.  Check out these lyrics from Klove.com, I echo these words from Aaron Shust.  

http://www.klove.com/music/artists/aaron-shust/songs/to-god-alone-lyrics.aspx

Kevin Bauer

A day to remember

This afternoon, I had an amazing birthday celebration with family and friends.  For months now, my parents have been planning this birthday party.  I wasn't involved in the planning in any way.  They shrouded everything with mystery.  So I was blessed when I saw that they chose to create a birthday cake that had this message on it: "Happy 30th birthday, Kevin" and "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, rather in humility value others above yourselves."

They considered who I am as a person, the kind of life that I live, and they chose to represent me in this way.  I'm glad they did; they got it right.  That sentiment from Philippians 2 is the essence of who I am.  This is not to suggest that I always perfectly live out these words, I would be lying if I made such a statement.  That said, I certainly strive every day to obey this admonition.

Kevin Bauer

Checking in with Rebecca and Jacob

Recently, I had fun reading an interview with the newly married Rebecca St. James.  The most interesting section for me was how she described her wedding.  She talks about how, early in the ceremony, both she and Jacob exchanged their purity rings to each other; a vivid non-verbal expression to each other and to all the guests that they were sexually pure.  On page 2, she talks about how there were several guests that told her that the wedding was a very powerful one.  Rebecca comments that it is probably “the purity element that set it apart.”  Here’s the interview link.

http://www.growthtrac.com/artman/publish/rebecca-st-james-marriage-1366.php

I have previously talked about sexual purity in this blog (see the installment I entitled “Some Words from Tony Dungy”), and I think you might find it helpful to go back and read what I wrote that day.  Yet it occurred to me that some people will read this and they will have this question: why is sexual abstinence so important?  To aid me in answering that question, I refer you to this article from Got Questions.org.

http://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-virginity.html

Kevin Bauer