Scared Stiff

Can I be very honest with everyone? Today I am scared; I am quite literally shaking in my boots. Its one thing to say "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" it is another thing entirely to actually have to do it. I am scared because today I come up against something that I can not do in my own strength. I lack the skill, I lack the experience, I lack the wisdom, none the less it is mine to do and no one else can do it. I really wish God would just take this away from me. I wish that I would wake up one morning and it would all be over. But it won't. The bible says we are "Co-heirs" with Christ, that means we get to co-inherit heaven with him, it also means we get to co-heir in his battles with him. It means some times God doesn't rescue us, sometimes he helps us fight our way out.

Let me take you the first chapter in Joshua. Moses has Just died. Joshua is now in charge of leading Gods people into the promised land. It is not as easy as it sounds, it is not a short walk across the Jordan and then over the hill into a beautiful and fruitful valley. It was a very long walk across treacherous terrain filled with hostile peoples, some in fortified cities, with armies greater than his own. Now Joshua had been in skirmish or two in his life but this was all out war, not to mention he was leading the Israelites. For those not familiar with the story the Israelites complained and wanted to quit several times before they finally got to the promised land, they were not what you would consider a hardened soldiers. So Joshua has just been put in charge of a nation and its destiny which by the way involves a massive war that will be fought by a bunch of potential quitters. Do you think he was scared!?

The lord speaks to Joshua just before they enter the promised land. He says two things I want to note. One "Be Strong and courageous" (he says that twice) and "Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go". So do you think he was scared? I do, I don't think God says things like that to people who aren't scared.

So what is the morale of the story? The morale is Joshua won and the people inherited the land. Despite his fears he won, despite what he lacked he won. Maybe your like me this morning maybe you are faced with an obstacle in which you in your own strength can not overcome. As is the case with me and with Joshua that obstacle, that battle is not going to go away, you are going to have to face it. In that situation the words that were spoken to Joshua are also spoken to you and me. Be strong and courageous do not be terrified, do not be discourage for the lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Remember Joshua won, after many scary long battles Joshua won and so will you. Live the Adventure.

Why Not Me!? Why Not Now!?

If we go the first chapter in Luke we find the story of the parents of John the Baptist. His parents are Zechariah and Elizabeth. Zechariah was priest and the bible says that both Zechariah and Elizabeth were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lords commandments and regulations blamelessly. The bible continues to say "but they had no children because Elizabeth was barren and they where both well along in years."

Now I put these two statements together here for a reason. Israel at the time a theology known as the "Retribution Principal" the principal was quite simple, it stated: That God blesses the righteous and curses the wicked therefore those who lived blessed lives are obviously righteous and those who do not lived blessed lives must be wicked. In other words your suffering was your fault you brought it on your self due to your own sin.

How horrible it must have been for Zechariah and Elizabeth. They not only had no children they also had to deal with the fact that they were looked down upon by friends and neighbors who believed in the retribution principal. Elizabeth dealt with the women taking behind her back; Zachariah had to deal with all of his priest buddies trying to figure out what his secret sin was. Think of their Sabbath services, they are sitting in the pew as rabbi teaches on how God blesses the righteous and punishes the wicked. Not only would people look down their nose at them while affirming their own righteousness they must have been asking themselves the question "why me?" They must have been frustrated to say the least, to say the worst they may have had moments of anger and bitterness towards God.

Ever felt like these Guys. Maybe you don't have people taking behind your back but maybe you suffer, maybe you suffer despite the fact that you live righteously, maybe suffer though you keep the commandments and regulations with out blame. Maybe you sit in your pew frustrated. Maybe as you hear the preacher talking about the promises of God and how they are available to those who believe you sit there and ask your self "why me" why am I not getting the blessing?!

It can not be emphasized enough that the kingdom of God is more like an army than a family. Let me explain that a little. In a family if children are good and they follow the rules they are more likely to get better gifts and more privileges from mom and dad. It must also be said that in families that rewards can come at fairly regular and predictable intervals. These times might be in holidays, birthdays or right after report cards. In the army soldiers who are good are asked to go through more difficult training and to go on the more difficult missions, in essence the better you get the more difficult and more dangerous your life can become. Also in the army there are no regular intervals; periods of rest, relaxation and reward are based on the needs of the army. Some soldiers (especially the good ones) must go on long difficult missions

Such is the case with Elizabeth and Zachariah, the bible says they where off in years. They had suffered the results of being barren for a number of years. Their mission was difficult; however they gave birth to John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus Christ. There timing of reward was based on the needs of the Lord's army, if John where born to early or to late he would have been of little impact. Also if John had not been born in such a miraculous way it may have diminished evidence of God's hand in his birth.

So if this is you. If you are following the Lords commandments with out blame and yet continue to suffer than take heart. The reality is John the Baptist's parents where highly favored among the lord, they were some of his best soldiers that's why he chose them for such a difficult mission. Such is the case with you. Your are one of his best soldiers. God appreciates what you are doing. Live the adventure.

Does Size Really Matter

Does size really matter? I am referring to size the of your obstacles, or the size of your problem. Does it really matter. I was reading about the Israelites the other day they where in captivity. They were slaves in Egypt and they have been for the last 400 years. God sent Moses to them to tell them that he was going to free them from Egypt and send them to a land flowing with milk and honey. Sounds good right, sounds good to me I will take milk and honey over captivity.

So I am going to make a long story short the Israelites got to the promised land....Well they almost got there. You see they were about a two weeks journey from the promised land and God tells Moses to send some spies into the land to see who lives their how strong they where, and to see what the land was like and if it had a good crop.

So Moses selects 12 men, 1 from each tribe and he sends them out. What they find there is awesome. The grapes where so big that to carry one cluster they had to carry it on a pole between two men. 1 Cluster between 2 men that is crazy. The land was everything God said it would. Oh yeah there was one little catch, the sons of Anak where there.

Sons of who? The sons of Anak, to keep it short the sons of Anak where a race of Giants. Goliath was a son of Anak. Goliath was 10 1/2 feet tall, it gives you guys an idea of how big they where. So these guys where huge. I must ask again does size matter? To the Israelites it did they went back to the camp and said and I quote "We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit." Then came the but. Here is another quote ".
But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there." Then they said "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." They began to chicken out. Why? The sons of Anak were to big. Does size matter.

To the Israelites it did. In fact the whined and cried and moan until God got so sick of them he sentenced them to wander the desert for 40 years. In fact that generation that whined and cried none of them entered the promised land God told them he would not allow them to enter until "everyone of you lies dead in the desert."

Here is the moral of the story God calls every single one of us to something awesome. Just like the Israelites, we all have a promised land to enter. Also just like the Israelites there will be sons of Anak which stand in your way. They will be big huge problems, things you don't think you can beat. However size doesn't matter. We must remember God called them to promised, it was their destiny to live their and rule over it. We must also remember our destiny's are our God ordained mission. we used to have saying in the army "mission first" that was your first priority the mission. God is looking for warriors people to go and expand his kingdom, people that want the promised land, and people that are willing to fight for it. That particular generation of Israel didn't so they got to hang out in the desert. It wasn't all bad they were provided for and they were safe, very little war takes place while they are in the desert however there is not a more mediocre existence than wondering the desert. If you want the best of God, the promised land you have to be willing to stand up against your own individual sons of Anak. God can get you through it, with him you will succeed but you have to be willing to fight to step out on faith and Live The Adventure.

SHOOT EM UP BANG BANG

I have a confession to make, I am an action guy. Want my top 4 movies try the 4 Die Hard movies. Long drawn out elequent and poetic diaglogues do not impress me, give me a one liner. Here is some dialogue from the t.v. "According to Jim" That I can relate to:

Wife: "I don't want to see a movie where something gets blown up"

Jim: "If something doesn't get blown up it ain't a movie"

You know what else I love Action Video games. My favorite video games are those in which youre surronded by a thousand bad guys and each level there just becomes more and more of them. I love to see just how far I can get and how many bad guys I can kill.

I think we can learn alot from the action video games and the movies. The hero never gives up, never quits, never thinks its impossible. There are no odds in which he is not willing to come up against. If he is going out he is taking as many bad guys as he can with him and saving as many as he can with his own life.

As christians we would do well to live this way, never give up and never quite and never be afraid to battle the odds. In addition you know youre life will eventually end so take out as many bad guys as you can and save as many good ones ( I am talking of removing demonic strong holds and saving lost souls remember our battle is not against flesh and blood. So don't kill anybody). Live the adventure.

MOOSE DISCLAIMER: Jake Godlewski does not support violent video games that endorse or condone violence done to the innocent or criminal activity AKA: Grand Theft Auto is bad so are games like it.

I'M A VIRGIN!!!!!

When is the last time you have heard that announced with pride from the roof tops. When was the last time you have seen a man puff up his chest and say "yep, never had sex" or a guy wearing a bright yellow bracelet that says VIRGIN. I have never seen it nor heard of it. Lets be honest, and I am talking mostly to the guys, virginity is not something we wear with pride. Its more like an embarrassing cumbersome burden that must be carried until marriage. The sooner we can legally get rid of this burden the better. I mean you're not even a real man until you've had sex. Those who have not had sex are quasi-men, semi-manly, kinda of manly, but not really manly, right.? I disagree.

Who do we consider men, who are the toughest of the tough, the bravest of the brave, the manliest of the men? How about Army Green Berets, or Navy Seals, or Pro-Athletes? Most men would consider these among the toughest of the tough and the manliest of the men. What makes them the most manly?

What makes them the manliest is the fact that they are conquers, they kick butt and take names, they do what few can. In fact of every 100 aspiring college athletes only 3 will become pro, out every marine who enters seal training less than twenty percent will be able to complete it, out of every 100 candidates for the Army's Green Berets only 7 will dawn the coveted green beret. These are sobering numbers but they are what make these men the best of the best, the toughest of the tough and the manliest of the men.

Let me share a few other numbers for you. 95% of all Americans have had sex before they were married, 54% of teens claim to have had sex at least once in their lives, 81% of the males in America have sex before age twenty. This is the thing we classify how manly men are by the obstacles they can overcome, the things they can do that others can't. According to these numbers in the struggle against premaritial sex 95% fail, the majority before they get out high school the rest shortly thereafter. The bottom line is staying pure is hard, in fact it is satistically harder to stay a virgin until marriage then it is to become an Army Green Beret or a Navy Seal, and just 2% less difficult than becoming a pro athlete. By these numbers I would say being a virgin makes you a certified butt kicker not a wimp. Take pride in purity you're achieving a feat few others can. Virgin is not an embarrassing classification but rather a title that should be worn with pride. Its right up their with Centurion, Spartan, Gladiator. I AM A VIRGIN!!!! scream it from the roof tops, puff up your chest and say "yep never had sex", dawn a bracelet that says virgin, your a certified butt kicker, you're the elite, you are doing what others can't. For the record I stayed a virgin for twenty six years, until I got married, and I am proud of it! Live the adventure.

Elisha Noah Godlewski

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce my son Elisha Noah Godlewski. He is not born yet but he his on the way. I think I might be the typical proud father, I like this picture because he is smiling. I remember leaving the Doctors office that day thinking "yep, my son can smile" as if smiling was some tremendous feet. I am also proud when he kicks or makes movement. Its not so much what he is doing it is the fact that my son is doing it. I also look forward to meeting him, this is a puzzling because I don't even know what he is like, in fact really I won't be able to socialize with him for about another twenty years. It doesn't matter though because he is my son and I am interested in him and proud of him for whatever. Doesn't matter what he is or is doing he is mine.

This leads me to my point you are gods, gods love is not based on performance or what you can do for him its based on one thing and one thing only, you are his, you belong to him. That's it, nothing you did or will ever do matters to him, he isn't attracted to your personality or your looks, he likes you for you because you came from him.

That's awesome. It gives us the freedom to screw up, fail, make bad decisions, say things that are stupid and know gods love isn't going anywhere because it was never based on that to begin with. Live the Adventure.

Wher have you been?

Where have you been, who is this. You mean there is something actually different than a picture of oranges up on the screen. Crazy. Okay so I have been gone awhile. In fact its been so long I had troube finding my own site.

The questions looms; where have I been and what have I been doing and why did I stop my blog. The very simple answer is I have been living the adventure in real time. This blog has been adamant in expressing one thing, life is an adventure and like all true adventures it has its very high high's and its very low, lows. In fact the reality of the situation is that in most adventures there are more downs then up, there is more time spent in grave danger and extreme hardship than there is time spent in the sweet moment of victory.

We have seen enough adventure movies to know one thing the sweet moment of victory is well worth all the hardships that the hero must suffer to get there. In the hero's sweet moment of victory we all marvel him and wish we where them and wish their story was ours. So where have I been, I have been one of the low lows, I have been is the scene in the movie where nobody wishes they're the hero, the part of the adventure we wish we could skip, but with out this part (the hard part) it would not be an adventure and the hero would not be a hero. While I am not a hero yet, I want to be, I want to man who stands at the end of the story in his sweet moment of victory. I want all you out there in blog land to be a hero as well. I encougrage you if youre down then get back up, if youre struggeling don't stop just keep moving, the hero that quits is not a hero. I am including a song in this weeks blog its an oldie but a goodie its words in this season of my life have rang truer then anything I have heard on christian radio, I hope it encourages you as it does me. Don't back down and live the adventure.