God Bless The U.S.A.

 

God Bless The U.S.A.

 

I urge you, first if all, to pray for all people.  Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.  Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.  1 Timothy 2:1-2

On this 4th of July, we celebrate our freedom and independence here in the United States of America.  Too often, we take for granted the sacrifices of the many brave men and women who have fought to defend this country and continue to keep us safe.  One of the greatest things we can do as Christians, is to offer our prayers for this nation; and right now prayers are needed more than ever.

We can pray that our nation is protected by God's might hand.  We can pray for our ALL of our leaders to discern what is good, noble, and right for our country, seeking God's wisdom in the process. We can pray for the least, the lost, and the last to be taken care of. We can pray for the "call to arms" to finally end racism in this country and make it equal for all.

I am proud to be an American and this year as we celebrate America's 250th we all must remember to keep praying for this country and to remain diligent about doing so.  A nation that collectively seeks God and worships Him will stand firm and live in peace!  

Surrender

 

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  Therefore submit to God.  James 4: 6-7

Our sons are both growing up too fast-Elliott graduated high school and is off to college soon and Elijah will be turning sixteen and driving, but along with all of the milestones, both capable of also showing child-like attitudes at any given moment. I feel like a ‘broken record’ at times, reminding them to clean their rooms and occasionally still to this day reminding them to flush the toilet. When they were younger, rounding the boys up for their sporting events was virtually an every week event day/night. Almost every lacrosse and flag football game of the season and it's like these two don't know that they need their uniforms, cleats, gloves, cups...you catch my drift. Despite our many efforts to stay on them, they are both stubborn and usually don't yield to what Alicia and I ask of them. 

 

The same principle holds true in our relationship with the Holy Spirit.  If a drowning man thinks he can help himself, he becomes dangerous to anyone who attempts to rescue him.  Until we surrender to God and give him full authority to reign supreme in our lives, we are not in any position to be helped either.  We may not realize it, but when we aren't following his lead, we are listening to ourselves and being disobedient.

To truly follow God, we must make his will our own and it starts by surrendering our own will!

My Father's Eyes

Take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your week knees.  Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.  Hebrews 12: 12-13

We all model something to someone else.  Being a father, this has never been more apparent to me in all of my lifetime.  There are times that I set good examples for our children; other times, I wish I that could take back something that I have either said or done.   The reality we now are facing is that our oldest is off to college in a few weeks,  and we are almost certain that we won't be able to enjoy having the four of us here at the house on a regular basis.

After almost 52 trips around the sun, I have really come to appreciate all of the wisdom, advice, and love that my father has given me through the years.  The Bible promises us the way we live our lives will influence others; it may be for good or bad, for Christ or the enemy, so ask yourself what kind of example you have been setting for others lately.

I hope that one day our two sons will look back and realize that I tried to set a good example for them to live by, just like my father has for me...

Amazing Grace

 

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  Romans 10:13

We celebrated our oldest son's 19th trip around the sun just yesterday. What is truly surreal is that he just graduated high school a few weeks ago and is off to college in a few short weeks. Equally hard to believe, is that our youngest will turn 16 in August and will soon be driving.  All of these major life milestones are happening way too quickly but reminds me of growing up which doesn't seem that long ago...  

I can still recall when my little sister got what seemed to be 'cool' gifts that I was always a bit jealous of when we were growing up.  My parents surprised her with a sweet Ford Mustang GT Convertible when she turned sixteen. One year, she was given a ATV/4 wheeler for Christmas from Santa Claus, and if I am being honest, I expected something similar or equally as 'cool' from my parents/Santa. 

To some extent, we are all childish with the gifts we expect to receive, but there is one gift that is given freely to each one of us-the perfect gift-the gift of God's grace. 

There is nothing you need to do to receive this gift other than calling the name of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and accepting that His death on the cross is that which saves you from sin.

If you haven't accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, what are you waiting for? 

People Are People

 

The sun is glorious in one way, the moon is glorious in another way, and the stars are glorious in their own distinctive way; for one star differs from and surpasses another in its beauty and brilliance.  1 Corinthians 15:41

As our two sons continue to grow up way too fast and the differences between the two brothers is astounding.  For instance, Elliott, while a great athlete on his terms, is much more into music much the way I was at his age.  Elijah, on the other hand, likes music, but is a natural athlete, just like my younger sister was.  Elliott who celebrates his 19th birthday today, still only enjoys vanilla ice cream just like his mother; Elijah, on the other hand, will eat any flavor; but prefers chocolate ice cream, just like me. Point in case, we are each uniquely made and thankfully created by God to be different from one another.

To truly live the lives God intended us to live, we are to accept who we are as individuals and fit into His great plan rather than comparing ourselves with others and trying to fit into everyone else's plans.

Each of has been uniquely made to fill a need and we are ALL part of God's master plan.  Make it a personal goal of yours to find out what you are individually supposed to be and then succeed at being yourself.  It's okay to be different, in fact, God made you that way!

With or Without Reason

 

“I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!"  At this they picked up stones to stone Him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.  John 8: 58-59

A long time ago when our two sons were much younger, I recall attempting to make a point to our boys and was at a loss for words, so I uttered something completely ridiculous: "Because I said so." It was the parent counter for " you are not the boss of me."

When Jesus spoke the words above from John 8:58, He spoke one of the most radical and powerful statements of His lifetime.  He boldly proclaimed His divinity when He said that He existed before Abraham was born.  In addition to claiming that He was around before Abraham, He also applied God's holy name-"I am."

Jesus' claim is one that demands a response and cannot be ignored.  The Jewish leaders attempted to stone Jesus for blasphemy, because He claimed equality with God.  Who do you say He is?  Is He truly God or just a great prophet that did nice things for other people?

If I was not a believer, I would certainly question some of Jesus’ outrageous claims, but the truth is that Jesus is God, so how do you respond to His claims?  

Maps and Legends

 

We are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.  2 Corinthians 5:20

I work for an brokerage firm here in Knoxville and am blessed to be part of an awesome team that extends to Lexington, KY, Atlanta, GA to Nashville, TN and beyond.   While I’d like to think that 26 years of benefits experience has made me proficient in cranking out renewal/marketing analysis comparisons in Excel or whipping up presentations in PowerPoint, I must admit that I had quite a difficult time constructing a feasibility analysis  for a client recently. 

I won’t bore you with the details of the analysis, but the one thing I realized is that no graph, chart or analysis, as simple or as detailed as they come, is readable without a proper legend and/or markers. 

The same holds true for our lives.  You see, just like a graph with an understandable legend, we too are to lead others into a relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, by the way we live our lives.  If our legends and markers don’t include kindness, gentleness, patience, generosity, and love, then how can anyone possibly distinguish us as believers from the rest of the world?

We must allow God to shape our lives in such fashion that our lives guide others towards Christ.

Graduate

 

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3:13-14

I am so very proud of our oldest son, Elliott, and all of his friends as they prepare to graduate from Hardin Valley Academy this evening.  We have had a great weekend celebrating Elliott with family and friends and just
witnessing the excitement from these young men and women reminded me of how I once felt graduating from high school; the excitement mixed with a little fear of the unknown about college and beginning a new chapter in my life...

I remember it like it was yesterday when I graduated from Springwood School back in 1993.  Those were certainly some exciting and memorable times.  I had been accepted to Auburn University and the one thing I knew for sure was the size of the college campus was 20 times bigger than what I was accustomed to at my small private school.  My orientation was interesting as I was bunched in with several hundred freshman and we all were given a tour of the campus.  We also attended a class to prepare us for the days that were to come. We learned how to register for classes, where to eat on campus, how to find the library, and were issued our student tickets for football, baseball, and basketball. 

When all of the student body had returned from summer break, the parking situation was pure madness and I felt a bit lost among the throngs of students on campus.  No matter how early I left for classes, I could never seem to find a parking space, so I racked up several parking violations my first quarter and my parents were not happy with me, to say the very least.  To be quite honest, the orientation was helpful, but I had to learn an awful lot as I went along.  I pledged a fraternity my first quarter and many of my Pi Kappa Phi brothers helped teach me what I needed to know about college life on The Plains.

While high school graduation is the end of a chapter of a young man or woman’s life, it is by no means their final destination.  Even after college, when the milestones are fewer and far between, we must all learn to ‘press on’ toward the goal that Paul mentioned in the above letter to the Philippians. 

As followers of Christ, we must make a daily commitment to walk with the Lord, understanding that we will never learn too much by attending church or reading Scripture to earn a diploma of sorts.  Regardless, we can be at peace knowing where our final destination is-heaven, and that is the ultimate goal/prize for all believers in Jesus Christ!

Wait For You

 

Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.  Psalm 37:5

The older I become, the more I understand that God's ways are not my ways and that I sometimes must wait patiently before He sends His blessings.  Our boys are growing up way too fast...Elliott will be graduating from high school in a few days while Elijah is finishing his freshman year and is quickly approaching his 16th birthday this August. 

When I stop to look back at how fast time has flown by, it has made me acknowledge the season of waiting I was in for the better part of the boys' first years on this earth.  

Five months into 2026, and during this crazy busy time both personally and professionally, I am now in a much different season now as a father, but I have learned yet another valuable lesson in learning to trust God fully and completely while patiently waiting for His many blessings.

When we refuse to trust God with our needs, we will continue to live in panic, chaos, and fear because we do not cry out to the One who can meet our needs.  Jesus' disciples learned to trust Him on the Sea of Galilee during a frightening storm that had each one convinced that they would not survive.  Jesus walked across the water and commanded the storm to be still and the sea quickly became calm again.

If you do not trust the Lord, then who do you trust?  Jesus is waiting with His arms outstretched for you and will lift you up despite the tempestuous circumstances you may find yourself facing.

Success Yourself

 

The Holy Spirit...bears us up in our weakness.  Romans 8:26

Our youngest son is a freshman in high school and sometimes goes to great lengths to 'fit in' with some of his upper classman friends; especially some of  teammates on the lacrosse team.  As adults, it’s not too much different for us either.  Think of how many people project false images of themselves through social media each and every day.

The truth of the matter is that I am tired of playing games and trying to be someone that I am not. There is a lot of freedom in just being accepted as we are without being facing the pressures of being someone we simply are not.

God wants us to accept ourselves for who we are, and wants us to actually like who we are, despite our weaknesses. Everyone has weaknesses, but we must realize that God will never reject us because of them.

We must also be careful of placing too much value on our weaknesses because we will then underestimate our value. Our worth is not based on anything good or bad that we have ever done/are doing/will do, but on what God has already done.

We were purchased at a high price and yes we have all disappointed God, but God will never abandon us because He loves us just the way we are. So tell Satan to 'stuff it' the next time he tries to convince you that you don't measure up to someone else’s standards!

Under Control

 

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-which is your spiritual worship.  Romans 12:1

Both of our sons used to be into a variety of different things when they were younger; Pokémon, Nintendo, Marvel and DC superheroes, and anything sports related (i.e. football and basketball).  Transformers were (and in my book still are) 'all the rage' in the Fisher household and can be somewhat complex for younger children to transform.  While the Transformers are totally awesome, the ones they make nowadays are sometimes even difficult for an old veteran like me to actually transform from a vehicle or aircraft mode to a robot and back... 

Just the other day, I was reminiscing about helping our youngest son transform his vast collection of robots (when he was in elementary school) and how he became so impatient with me being so delicate as not to break.  I remember vividly telling him to be careful as he was forcing the plastic toy to where it would eventually break if he was not more careful.  After repeated attempts, he managed to break the arm off of one of the Autobots (the good Transformers) and was very disappointed.  I was eventually able to repair his broken toy and was also provided with the wonderful opportunity of teaching our son a valuable lesson.  In fact, I learned a little lesson from this incident as well…

You see, if you are like me, you have no problem giving God control over the ‘big’ or ‘important’ areas of your life.  I struggle, at times, to give God control over the small and day-to-day things.  I can face a number of situations and foolishly try and convince myself, “ You've got this, Will” or ”I can handle this on my own, God” and end up royally screwing everything up along the way.  Just like our son did with his broken toy, I will proceed to turn things over to God so that He can fix or repair the same things I thought I had under control. 

We must ask God to take control of our lives each and every day. One we have admitted our powerlessness and inability to manage our lives, we must come to a place in our faith where we decide to turn our will and lives over to God’s loving care.

Acknowledge the need for God’s guidance in our lives.  When He becomes our new manager, we must also choose to accept life on His terms as well.  God offers us a way to live that is free from our past, allowing us to enjoy new and wonderful experiences in accordance to His good and perfect will for our lives.  Thanks be to God!

The Road

 

This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.  Ephesians 4:13

Our two boys, are growing up way too fast.  It's hard for me to believe that our youngest, Elijah, will be celebrating his 16th birthday this summer and driving soon, while our oldest,  Elliott, is about to graduate from high school. Both just started their high school lacrosse season, and I am a very proud father as HVA won their first game.

Along the lines of a tourney or a game, what if a believer’s walk of faith was determined with a grading system or final score?  How would we measure up?

A believer’s perfection is not a flawless imitation of God but rather a process of maturing into a purer and more godly person.  Growing in godliness means becoming more like God, even when we fall way short of his perfect standards, and believe me when I say that quite often I fail to measure up.  

Let us remember that the process of reflecting more and more of God’s nature will be completed when we reach heaven, and then indeed we will finally be considered ‘perfect.’

Picking Up The Pieces

 

He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.  Psalm 147:3

With two young men in high school, both student athletes that play hard, and at times can be somewhat accident prone which tends to lead to the usual scrapes and bruises and injuries that come from being boys. Of course both of our boys have made trips to urgent care centers a few times over the past few years, but I digress. 

There aren't too many minor injuries that cannot be healed by a Band-Aid and an ice pack or a laugh, but just thinking about the way we as parents tend to our children’s wounds is very similar to the way that God tends to ours as well.

God actually tends to our physical wounds and pains just as He heals our emotional wounds too.  There is no sickness, injury, or pain that the Great Physician cannot heal.

When God performs His healing in our lives, we find joy and others will rejoice in our healing.

Thanks be to God!!

Fear Of The Dark

 

We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to Hus purpose for them.  Romans 8:28

Our youngest son, when he was much younger, was scared of the dark.  In can recall many nights trying to convince him to sleep through the night without a lamp on in his room. Through deductive reasoning, would often times point out some items to give him peace of mind.  For starters, our old master bedroom was right across the great room/kitchen.  No one would have been able to sneak past our master bedroom without us hearing it.  We also had a security system that was armed at night before bedtime, so it was highly unlikely that someone would have entered our home without triggering the alarm.   

All of these things are solid safety precautions but regardless, we still had to leave a light on in the hallway most nights to get Elijah to go to bed at nighttime.  This reminds me of the way many believers sadly live their lives as well; in fear. 

We have no reason to live in fear once we understand that Jesus died on the cross to spare us from eternal punishment and the free gift of eternal life puts the troubles of this world into perspective.

We can live with peace of mind knowing that our eternal futures are secure.

No matter what happens to us in this lifetime, we can have peace knowing that the trials and troubles we face won’t last forever…

It's A Mistake

 

When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, "Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners ?"  But when Jesus heard this, He said, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. "But go and learn what this means : 'I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,' for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."  Matthew 9:11-13

With only a couple of weeks into 2026 and I have made my first big mistake at work for the new year.  I am certainly not proud or boasting here, just accepting the fact that I am a human and make mistakes; in fact, I make a lot of them; all of the time, sometimes daily...

One of the most common misconception about Christians in that all believers should be perfect.  Many of us go to extremes to pretend that we have every facet of our lives in order, but the truth is that while we are all forgiven, we all  still have many shortcomings.

Salvation through Christ doesn't change the fact that sin is still present in our lives.  When we become believers, God forgives us and sees as righteous.  We must continue to renew ourselves and fight the ongoing battle against sin while we are on this earth.

We must be careful not to put up a façade and cover up our shortcomings so that we appear to be “good Christians” to the outside world.  Instead, we must recognize and confess to God, our sinfulness, so that we can be forgiven when we do screw up and fall short of his glory.

That Is Why

 

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 9:12

It is inevitable, but we will always face hardships while we are here on this earth.  Regardless, we must come to a place in our relationship with Christ where we can truly open our hearts and minds to receive all that He has in store for us.

Our children are growing up way too fast but on rare occasions, our youngest will let us comfort him with a reassuring hug. (Both of our sons are in high school, so the displays of affection are few and far between.)  Just like a child finding comfort in his/her parent's arms, we too must seek our Father with that same child-like faith and determination.

We must also let our guards down and simply allow Jesus into our hearts to do the work only He can do.  Little by little, Jesus can turn our weaknesses into strengths through His transforming power and grace.

Have peace knowing that there is absolutely nothing that can separate us from His presence!

Born of Frustration

 

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Psalm 34:8

Working in sales, I have experienced some high-highs and some low-lows over the past 26 years of my career path.  Just last year our team exceeded our sales goals before the Q3.  From August until December, things were just busy, stressful, and the last few months of 2025 just flew by, and while difficult and often times tiresome, we finished the year on a high note as a team.

Much the same, I truly believe that the reason God allows us to experience trials and sorrow in our lives is so that we might learn that He has the power to sustain and provide for us all things that produce earthly blessings.  All of God’s children go through storms in their journeys through life.

We must remember that it is while we are in the “ going through” stages of any crisis or trial that God’s peace becomes clear to all.  Praise be to God!