AuthorDino Katsiametis

#77 Love Thy Neighbor Even When He (your dad) Doesn’t Deserve It – Caleb Vaden

      1. The Devil loves it when we doubt ourselves, but the truth is that God loves us no matter what.  If we remember our faith and put our lives in God’s hands, the we have nothing to fear and no reason to doubt.  In this episode Caleb Vaden talks about God, Family and the military.“Because I feel that it is as real as it gets, and it is exactly what Jesus wanted us to retain” – Mark 12: 30-32,
        1. Biggest Weakness –  Self judgement and doubt plague Brian.
        2. Biggest Strength – Faith in God.
        3. Caleb was saved when he was 9 years old, and it was a “light bulb” moment when he realized the sinner he was.  His hatred for his dad kept him from embracing the Lord.
        4. At the time,  there was a baptist church that Caleb had been going to that had an evangelical preacher visit.
        5. Dark Time – I found out some horrible news about my dad and some heinous crimes.  Caleb was then deployed overseas and his marriage was coming undone.  He began allowing hatred to ruin his life.
        6. After the revelation where God showed Caleb forgiveness through Mark 12: 30-32, he started to see that his anger, hatred and even malice was causing him to sin and miss out on God’s many blessings!  It has helped him witness by allowing him to really understand someone’s pain along their journey.
        7. Advice –  Read Job, and then hold on to God’s promises.
        8. GMOI – We are called to lead our families, communities, nation by God’s example.  Caleb tells people to let that sink in, really sink in and then look at circumstances through God’s lenses of love.
        9. Recommended Books – Raising A Modern Day Knight, Wild at Heart, Killing Lions, and Quiet Strength.

         

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Christian Tips To Practical Parenting

Last weekend I had a full house.   My two daughters were with Lindsey and I for the weekend and they were busy playing with our two boys.  Toys were everywhere and the house was a mess…I’m sure many of you are familiar with the scene.  As parents who are overworked and sleep deprived, it’s very easy to feel frustrated when things get out of hand and I think at this particular moment we were on the brink.  Then one of God’s little miracles happened, the kind you see all the time when you’re looking for them.  It was nothing too dramatic or anything, let’s just say that God reached down and touched me in that moment to change my perspective.  One second I had no patience and the very next I was filled with this kind of warmth as I watched my daughter swinging my son around the living room laughing gleefully.   What a blessing!  I have so much more than one man should ever expect in life and they’re all right here with me in my living room.  Parenting 1

I spend a lot of time thinking about the type of father I am and asking the Lord to be with me as I make decisions that will affect my family.  For every mistake I make, I believe God has a lesson for me to learn and is guiding me to be the best parent I can be.  It takes persistent attention to what God is showing me, because if I turn away for just a moment I’m at risk of blowing the most important thing I’m here to do, love my wife and raise my children.

With this in mind, I recognize that God brings people into my life to help me make the correct choices on my journey.  One such person was a guest on God’s Men of Influence  Marriage and Family Therapist Mark Howerton.  Mark is a Christian man who came on to give us the 5 Tips To Practical Parenting.  I found them to be simple, but very powerful if only I could remember to use them and I’d like to share them with you now.

  1. Discipline Math – Having a systemic approach to teaching your kids.  Give a warning and then a consequence if the behavior is not changed.
  2. How To Approach Your Own State of Mind in Every Parenting Situation –  Be calm, Firm, Consistent and Follow Through.
  3. Choosing Your Battles – Sometimes a battle is not worth fighting.
  4. No means No – Say yes as often as possible, but when you say no hold to your word.
  5. United Front – You are a team with your spouse and you must be on the same page in every decision and display that for your children to see.

 

Parenting 2I hope this is as valuable to you as it was to me.  If you’d like to see Mark explain the tips in more detail, which he does very well by interweaving some fun stories, click on the button below and watch the video.  God puts in front of us all, the lessons that he wants us to learn and I believe this is one of them.

Thank you for being a part of our ministry.

Be blessed, be joyous and be welcome at God’s Men of Influence.

Send Me The 5 Tips For Practical Parenting

 

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#76 God Took A Gun from A Man’s Mouth and Brings Back A Man’s Family To Save Him From His Diagnoses of MS – Brian Croom

      1. Brian Croom was addicted to drugs and alcohol in high school and women in his 20’s.  He was an adulterer and lost his job and his family.  With a gun in his mouth he heard God’s Voice and was saved.   Now diagnosed with MS, Brian has his family back, a job and is incredibly grateful of God’s Mercy.  This is his moving testimony.“Trust in the Lord forever,for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.” – Isaiah 26:4
        1. Biggest Weakness – Having a hard time praying for his spouse and he’s not sure why.
        2. Biggest Strength – Transparency in his relationship with God.  It’s a great way to help a lot of people.
        3. Dark Time – Was in rehab while in high school for drugs and alcohol.  Then in his 20’s he became addicted to what women could do for him.  That caused him to be adulterous.  When he lost his job the affairs become public.  At the time Brian was not Christian, but his wife was a church-goer.   His wife left him and took his 2 youngest girls.  He had a gun in his mouth that morning, but he heard the words in his head, “that’s not the way my son.”  He knew God had found him.
        4. Brian went with his friends to church and cried throughout the service.  He took communion that day.
        5. Brian lost his home and his cars.
        6. On his 40th birthday on May 18th, Brian was baptized.
        7. On July 12th Brian woke up and had lost all feeling in his legs.  He went to the emergency and then a few days later a neurologist.  His fees were paid by a member of the church because he had no insurance.
        8. Brian had been pursuing his wife to get his marriage back and she was with him when he got the call for the MRI results.  Brian was diagnosed with MS.  Brian laughed and said, “my God is going to heal me.”  That was the moment that his wife decided to come back to him.
        9. God knew Brian wouldn’t make it on his own and brought Brian to church many, many times during his time without his wife and that continues today.
        10. Brian confessed to his children what he had done during the separation with his wife.  He’s blessed that they are back and knows we as men are responsible for our legacy with our children.  His kids are excited to go to church.
        11. Share this testimony with your friends.  You never know what they’re going through.
        12. bcroom10@yahoo.com

         

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#75 Left To Die As A Baby and Saved by the Lord Part 2 – Mauricio Rodriguez

      1. Forgiveness is the key to freedom.  God wants us to look at all people through his eyes and at that moment you can forgive anything.  Mauricio Rodriguez was thrown down a hole in an out house in Nicaragua and left to die by his biological mother.  God saved him and is now bringing him back to Nicaragua at age 31 to spread his words and help young women to be better mothers.  That is the power of forgiveness.“But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth”  Exodus 9:16
        1. Mauricio works full time on the Tree of Life 84.  His work for the foundation requires Mauricio to be in Nicaragua in the town of Esteli, when meetings are called.
        2. Biggest Weakness – Asking for Help.  Mauricio wants to be available for everyone, but can’t ask when he is having a problem.
        3. Biggest Strength – Compassion.  When he sees others suffering, Mauricio’s heart breaks and he must be with them.  He’s asked the Lord to always help him to hold on to that compassion.
        4. Dark Time – At age of 15 Mauricio discovered he was the result of Fornication and adultery.  He was the last of 25 children his father had with different women.  His mother threw him as a baby into an outhouse hole and threw rocks down on top of him.  Amazingly boys playing heard a baby screaming and their mother and a man with a rope went down into the hole and pulled him up.  His body was purple and he was raced to a hospital an hour and a half away.  Nobody knows why there was no broken bones or brain damage.  It was a miracle.
        5. The story spread and his aunt on his dad’s side, came down to claim him, but he was going to have to be sent to an orphanage.  That was the beginning of the fight to raise him.
        6. Mauricio has met 10 of his brother and sister.
        7. The authorities kept fighting Mauricio’s aunt, but she was determined and after a year of fighting, and the community getting involved she was allowed to adopt him.  She was an extremely poor single mom, but had a strong relationship with God and taught that to Mauricio.
        8. Mauricio’s grandfather had a similar story to his father and had sired 31 children with different women.
        9. Mauricio came to the US at age 4 and his family dynamic is very difficult because he was told to call his father his dad, but there was no affection between them or attentiveness from his dad.  Even when his dad promised to come and spend a day with him at 7 years old, he never showed.
        10. At 15 Mauricio was told by his adopted mom about the abandonment.
        11. He was thinking what’s wrong with him and asked God are you real?  How could his past be God’s plan?  This was the opportunity for the enemy to come in.  Mauricio began getting angry and though he would’ve been better off dying in the hole.  He cried himself to sleep at night for 4 years.
        12. His adoptive mother said the only thing that could heal Mauricio is God.  She believed God was the only counselor that had the power.  Mauricio never hated his adoptive mother, she was his hero.
        13. At 15 after some time he decided he wanted to meet his biological mom.  At the house was his biological grandmother, so he waited for his mom.  The Lord had given him specific instructions.  When she got there she hugged him and called him her son.  Mauricio said, “I forgive you and God loves you.”  There were no tears, just smiles from his biological mom.  Mauricio didn’t get what he thought he should get and his anger with God became clear.
        14. During this time in high school, he had a social group, but never really let them into his life.
        15. God had to take Mauricio out of Nicaragua, to bring him back and do his work.  It helped him realize that he didn’t want to have hate in his life, he wanted forgiveness.  He began searching for the answers to why he was here.
        16. Mauricio at 19 began working for Foursquare Church, but had so much hate for his dad that he wished he was dead.
        17. His grandmother got ill and his father showed up at the hospital.  The Lord said to talk to him, but Mauricio didn’t want to.  He didn’t want to see him through God’s eyes, because he didn’t want to forgive him.  The first words out of his mouth was “Forgive me for hating you.”  Again he didn’t get the response that he wanted.
        18. Forgiveness is a daily choice and it’s not about them, it’s about Mauricio being free.  They have not been able to accept the forgiveness.
        19. Repentance and Remorse are very different.  Repentance, creates the opportunity to ask and be forgiven, remorse is guilt.
        20. Psalms 40:2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.  This was the inspiration for Mauricio’s foundation The Tree of Life 84.
        21. The Tree of Life 84 gives young women the knowledge of the Lord and fundamental tools to be loving mothers.
        22. http://www.treeoflife84.com/ and donate to help Mauricio buy the land in Nicaragua to set up the foundation there.
        23. Advice – Be inspired to know that God can turn all evil into something good

         

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