On Azimuth

For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. II Timothy 1:7 English Standard Version                Get any group of men together, and if they engage in honest spiritual discussion about temptation, sooner or later the issue of porn will come up. In this age of easy access to the internet, almost every man has struggled with an attraction to porn. A quick internet search reveals what we know in our hearts, at some point in our lives most men engage in looking at pornography. Various studies show that somewhere north of seventy percent of men look at porn at some point in our lives. 1 This comes as no surprise since men seem to be hard-wired to be visually stimulated in the sexual arena. Among those of us who claim the name of Christ, this poses a significant problem.                “I know it is wrong, but I find...

  12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. James 1:12 English Standard Version                “Just keep putting one foot in front of the other,” intoned SSG Williams, as we ruck-marched through the forests surrounding Fort Leonard-Wood, Missouri. He gave me this advice while I was enduring Army basic training in 1981. I was a squad leader at the time, and he wanted to see me succeed. Ruck-marches were a crucial test. We started off easy short distances   and progressed until at the end we completed a twenty-mile ruck-march in order to graduate and move on to our next assignment. I think this was the fifteen miler and I was sucking wind as they say. Ruck-marches are hard. They are supposed to be. They test your mettle. Loaded down with all the accoutrements one needs to survive...

  8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:8 English Standard Version                “What did you guys do last night,” asked my mother?                “Oh, not much. Just watched a movie on HBO,” I replied.                “What movie?”                Without thinking, I said, “Rollerball.”                “You know that’s an R rated movie,” she said, looking at me with narrowed eyes. And the conversation went downhill fr...