My Favorite Person - My Wife

He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. Proverbs 18:22

An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. Proverbs 31:10

Solomon, the writer of Proverbs, is right. If you are not married, let me encourage you with words from the Raiders of the Lost Ark, "When you choose, choose wisely." The wisest man who ever lived (Solomon) and the strongest man who ever lived (Samson) were both ruined when they chose women that didn't have a heart were fully devoted to the Lord. Thankfully, I chose wisely!

Cindy didn't date anyone for three years before we met. She didn't want her heart to become attached to someone who didn't love Jesus. She was committed to honoring God in her dating life and was willing to wait for God to bring the right man into her life. I thank God for her spiritual courage.

I didn't date for a year before I met Cindy. In similar fashion, I concluded I would not date anyone I knew couldn't be a potential mate.

We were both determined to wait for God's best. We didn't want to date someone just because we were afraid of being alone. We know the comfort our hearts long for can only be found in God. Until we learned to be satisfied in Jesus alone, we would never experience satisfaction with another.

God honored that waiting. He brought me a wonderful wife. A wife who loves Christ, her children and her husband. I am blown away on a daily basis with her kindness, love, and beauty. I never tire of saying to her, "I would rather be with you than anyone else." Of course she isn't perfect. Neither am I. Thankfully, she passionately loves Jesus. As we both seek to follow and honor Christ, we find ourselves drawn closer to one another.

She was worth the wait!

My Favorite Activity - Weight Lifting!

I used to run. Getting up at 5:30 A.M. to hit the road for 4 miles was my style. As a high school and college athlete, I lifted weights for wrestling but never took it too seriously. In recent years, I returned to the gym. I typically lift for 90 minutes over my lunch hour four days a week. This little escape over lunch relieves the stress, provides a welcome break from the office and helps me refocus. I feel better in my mid 40's than I did in my 30's!

Cindy, my wife, joins me for weight lifting over the lunch hour. This gives us a little time to connect outside of the home apart from our children. Like myself, she has lost weight, built muscle, and feels better in mid-life than she has for years.

Outside of the health benefits, weight training provides a pastor an unexpected way to connect with the community. Most of the people I need in the gym don't initially believe I am a pastor. A pastor and his wife lifting in the gym doesn't fit the stereotype they have in their mind.

Breaking the stereotypical image of a pastor have become one of my most effective tools to share about Jesus. It allows me to share openly about repentance, God's wrath, Christ forgiveness and the good news of Jesus.

As a pastor, while I have a heart for shepherding the congregation I love, my heart is also filled with love for the lost in our community. Regular time helps me keep those who need Jesus as part of my life.

My Favorite Sport - Wrestling!

As a Freshman in high school, I was 129lbs and 6 feet tall when I joined the wrestling team. My hope was to gain some strength and respect. I had no idea how God would use the sport to shape my life.

I never became a wrestling success. I only made the varsity line up for one match in four years of high school!

I continued wrestling at Messiah College (NCAA Div. III) and was on the varsity lineup all four years. I wasn't a top athlete but I enjoyed the sport and continued to learn what I could. God taught me self-discipline and perseverance. Wrestling prepared me for the most difficult challenges I faced in life. As Dan Gable once said, "After you have wrestled, everything else is easy."

God graced me with the opportunity to travel with with Athletes in Action International Wrestling twice and compete against the Olympic hopefuls in Central and South American countries. It was an honor to compete at that level without a resume of wrestling awards and accomplishments behind me.

After college, I continued the sport by coaching in a variety of high school programs.

Recently the sport came full circle. I now enjoy coaching my sons. Unlike their father, who started the sport late in life, began enjoying competition in first-grade. It is a pleasure to help them succeed and pass on the sport into their life.

In the 2007-2008 season, David, my older son, took 5th in the Michigan State finals and 1st in NUWAY National Championships. Daniel, my younger son, took 7th in the state finals and 7th in NUWAY nationals.

In the 2008-2009 season we moved to Iowa. David took 4th in USA Iowa State Finals. Daniel took 4th at Elementary and Grade School Iowa State Finals and 7th in AAU Iowa State Finals.

Currently David is a high school wrestler at Spirit Lake High School in Iowa. Daniel is a junior high wrestler for the same school district. I have the privilege of serving as an assistant coach for the wrestling team in that school system where I can invest in the lives of my sons and many others.

My Favorite Time - Bible Reading with My Children.

What is your favorite time with your children? Is it pulling them on water-skies? Is it watching them in their favorite sport? Is it hearing them play in the band or orchestra? While I enjoy many of those family times with my children, without a doubt, the most enjoyable time I spend with them is family Bible study.

It is a privilege to grab a copy of the read a chapter with my family and explain it to my children. I find God continually applying that studied Scripture in our family life. I encourage you to take the time to study the Bible with your children. You will be surprised with the spiritual good it does in their life.

My Favorite Quote

"Don't you know, young man, that from every town, and every village, and every little hamlet in England, wherever it may be, there is a road to London?" "Yes," said the young man. "Ah!" said the old divine, "and so from every text in Scripture, there is a road to the metropolis of the Scriptures, that is Christ. And my dear brother, your business is when you get to a text, to say, 'Now what is the road to Christ?' and then preach a sermon, running along the road towards the great metropolis - Christ. And," said he, "I have never yet found a text that had not got a road to Christ in it, and if I ever do find one that has not a road to Christ in it, I will make one; I will go over hedge and ditch but I would get at my Master, for the sermon cannot do any good unless there be a savor of Christ in it."
-Charles H. Spurgeon, "Christ Precious to Believers" (March 13, 1859) Accessed online: http:/spurgeon.org/sermons/0242.htm