quit like men

I have been praying through some areas of my life...as a pastor those areas seem to coincide with what I am speaking about on Sunday mornings...one of my closest friends said that a pastor must speak from the overflow of God working in his own life...we cannot take anyone where we have not been...and we will not be believable if we do not believe it ourselves...back to the areas of my life I am praying through...for about 6 or 7 months it has just seemed like I have this black little cloud following me around...do you remember the story of King Midas...well the stuff I touched didn't turn to gold, if you get my drift...and it really began to effect everything in my life...how I treated Laura, the kids, the people God called me to shepherd...in fact I was becoming downright nasty...well, I began to rely on the scripture that promises us that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us...do you notice that He wants us to initiate the closeness?...OK, back to quit like men...I was listening to my favorite podcast and during this podcast a light bulb went on...yes, I am slow on the uptake...as a man the scriptures are very clear that we were created very different than women...we are creators, we like to build things, we like to build big things...fast things...and even faster things...I can smell the testosterone as I write this...as I am praying through this little black cloud stuff going on...I am wondering why everything is always so hard...even the simplest task seems to just be a pain in the butt...in the podcast he took me back to the beginning...it is always best to do that you know...start where it started...well in the garden Adam who named all things and was given the responsibility to keep the garden up...messed up...he sat silent as Eve handed him the fruit...God did not create man to be silent...(that is a whole nother blog)...well the consequence was that God cursed the ground... the very thing that God gave Adam's hands to do....now just got a lot harder...the light bulb moment...Phil anything you put your hand to is going to be hard...relationships with wife, kids, friends...my work...even play...man this was really liberating for me...it is going to take work...deal with it...be a man 1 Corinthians 16:13 says: be on your guard; stand firm in your faith; be men of courage; be strong...I actually like part of how the KJV says it, quit like men...relax God is in control!