Restoring Faith, Family, and Freedom in America

As God has called me to a new position of leadership this coming school year I boldly and humbly accept this calling He has placed on my life while at the same time saying God, surely there is someone more qualified than me to do this job? Why me?

As I look around at our ever changing culture all around us this question keeps coming to mind:

Why is culture so important and what does it look like?

A leader’s God given vision shapes the type of culture that he or she imagines. There is a vision and there is a certain type of culture that comes with realizing this vision.

What does a “winning” culture look like? Is that even an appropriate question to ask?

But Let me rephrase this question? Winning is not the right word.

Is winning all that matters and what does it mean to win?

Tim Tebow once asked what the difference is between being successful vs being significant. This is a question I am always asking my high school students.

He said success is about you while being significant is about other people.

There is nothing wrong with being successful but often times we make our own success about us. Significance is about the timeline of others.

He said if you live for Jesus and love people you will have a life of significance. I like that.

I’m a competitor and I like to win. I love sports and find nothing wrong with winning. But overall is the final score all that matters so long as you come out on top? On the field, on the court and most importantly in life?

Do the ends justify the means no matter how we as leaders act and carry ourselves? When it comes to winning what and how are we teaching and leading our younger generations?

I was sitting in service one Sunday morning and I heard the man of God say as he was leading worship….

What are we leaving behind for the future generations? What are we teaching them?

We are teaching them with our words and our actions. What we say carries weight along with our actions.

So if the ends justify the means does having good character and integrity still matter?

Sometimes winning blinds us to doing what is right.
I’m referring to both competitive sports and in life.

But then the question is what is the right thing? Many will justify their words and their actions so long as the ends justify the means. Winning and Numbers. So long as we get what we want?

I have found in life, winning and numbers are not the most important thing.

Former head football coach Jim Tressel said that he has learned more in losing than he ever has in winning.

The problem is, some of us haven’t lost enough and we are swelled up with pride and arrogance to the point that it blinds us and those that we may lead.

Or…Maybe we’ve lost too much, we’re tired, we are so desperate for help that we will take the first person or group of people that offer help no matter their character or the culture they bring with them. They win, they help, it makes it easy on us as leaders to take the easy way out even though deep down you know it’s not the right way out because there is an underlying agenda.

In the absence of oversight and/or leadership the wolves creep in. Sometimes these wolves are dressed in sheeps clothing and are welcomed in through the front door.

Discernment in leadership is key in cultivating a vision. Those whom we place in positions of leadership, we must place a certain level of trust in them to help care out that vision. These people are so important in having discernment themselves.

Losing can send us into desperation mode but it can also humble us. It builds character, empathy, and integrity. It’s in these trenches of life where we must dig down and hold fast our faith.

Humility.

Something our leadership in all areas sorely needs. Pride has no place in leadership.

Some boast and justify themselves about winning but at what cost? If winning is the most important thing in a culture, many times we will look the other way when we see red flags in an individual’s character and integrity.

Because the combination of desperation along with “winning” equates success right? That was a rhetorical sarcastic question.

I would ask this question, if you are trying to build a culture is winning the top priority?

Here is what I have learned in working with kids. They watch our every move and listen to our every word whether we realize it or not so pride and arrogance have no place in leadership. In my honest humble opinion.

Many are in leadership because they cannot follow and it has to be their way or the highway. I can tell you, they have their reward. These types of individuals have no place in the culture that we desire to cultivate.

When Nehemiah had a burden and a vision to rebuild the walls, many came back with him to help. Many did not. There were also those that claimed to want to help but only wished to further their own agenda. They had no place on the wall.

There will be those who desire to help but ultimately will have no place when the realization of the vision comes to fruition because the vision is not about us. It’s about God and it always will be. Those who desire to be seen have their reward.

In winning and in losing our kids not only learn something about themselves but they learn something about us.

When we are building a culture based on what I just described, we must trust those that we have in leadership positions.

If you are in leadership to be successful then you are making it about you but…

If you are in leadership to be significant then you will make it about others.

Are you interested in making a name for yourself or a name for Christ?

What will your legacy be? Successful or significant?

Proverbs 22:1
“A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.”

Esther 4:14 – For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Mordecai was saying to Esther the possibility that she had become queen was…

……”for such a time as this”……

He reinforces the idea that, all of Esther’s life and the series of unusual events that led her to become queen, there was a greater purpose for her. 

Former President John F. Kennedy quoted Edmund Burke in a speech in 1961 stating that “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” 

The men of the revolutionary generation who stepped up, I believe in my heart, were born for that time. God had placed them there “for such a time as this.” I ask the question. What if those same men decided to remain neutral? Indifferent? Many of them were Christian men. Many were not. 

The matters that our Founders were dealing with were primarily spiritual. Taxation without representation was on a list of 27 grievances and was number 22 out 27 on that list of importance. That’s what we grew up learning was the sole cause of American Independence. 

As we dig deeper and read in the 1st Amendment, our Founders primary concern dealt with a spiritual matter saying that our God given RIGHT is freedom of religion. Freedom to worship along with the RIGHT to say it wherever we are fit and that the Government, here in America has no right to interfere in anything that the Church says or does concerning the preaching the Gospel.

That generation of our forefathers sacrificed so much to gain their/our independence. 

Fast forward to 2024. What is happening is happening on our watch? We are in this mess due to the indifference of good men and women over a long period of time. Yep I’m included in this.

What if we take the stance, I’m just not gonna get involved, I don’t like politics, Im tired of the nonsense, I’m saved what does it matter? I’m going to Heaven so what? I’m just gonna board myself up in my house and wait for Jesus to come back. What possible difference can one man make?

We cannot take the stance of turning a blind eye and burying our heads in the sand. Our nations problems are not merely political but spiritual. 

If just one good just man or woman starts to care he or she can impact generations to come. 

But to invest in building relationships requires a sacrifice of our time, energy, personal wants and sometimes finances.

There are certain issues that I’d just like to avoid altogether but the issues and problems in our nation go way beyond Critical Race Theory and The LGBTQ Agenda being pushed on our children in our schools, BLM, Defunding the Police, the attacks on the traditional family unit, Marxism, Communism, Socialism. It’s much deeper than these agendas. These issues are symptoms of the sickness that our nation has.

Our world views are shaped by the idea that either God Is or God Isn’t. Everything else is just a sub category.

It comes down to a spiritual matter as many of our Founders knew that God Is.

“God Is” is what set up the Bill of Rights, our first 10 Amendments. These rights do not come from man therefore the first 10 amendments are concrete and cannot change. 

Right now “God Isn’t” is what is driving current policies in our Nation. That combined with good men not wanting to help change the culture. 

How do we change the culture where God has us? How do we turn the world upside down as the Early Church did? How can one just man who cares make a difference? 

Know your Bible, get involved, stay informed, know your history, know your rights, teach your kids, and be ready to stand and fight when things get tough. For such a time as this, we cannot afford to remain indifferent. 

We are in the middle of a culture war that is a spiritual war that will either take us back to our foundation rooted in the Word of God or it will reshape western civilization as we know it. 

Where do you stand? Will you stand idly by and do nothing? Or…will you pick up your sword and your hammer and help fight and build?

The time for choosing is now.

AW Tozer said this:

“The Old Testament prophets were men of CONTENTION.
Jesus while on earth was in deadly CONFLICT with the devil.
The Apostles, the Church Fathers and the Reformers were men of CONTROVERSY.

They fought the devil to the death and kept the torch of truth burning for all succeeding generations.

Is our contribution to history to be the generation of letting the torch go out?”

I ask this question: Are we going to keep the torch burning?

In order to do so it will take good men and women of courage and faith to step up to the standard if we are to take back our homes, take back our communities, take back our schools.

We cannot remain indifferent. Indifference is a cancer that can only be cured by good men and women of God to rise up and start caring again.

But here’s the thing…it will cost us something.

I believe our kids are worth it. I believe our homes are worth it. I believe our communities are worth it. I believe our schools are worth it. I believe our nation is worth it.

So many today have agendas that prey on our young people while they are seeking truth.

We need good, genuine men and women of God who are willing to stand in the gap to keep the torch of truth burning, to show our kids a better way, to protect our kids, our homes, our communities from the wolves who seek to devour whatever is in their path.

But….

Beware of the wolf/wolves who seek to help for they may appear friendly and helpful…for a time. Ultimately they only care about what they want and that is to devour the sheep by intimidation, by force, or by deception.

These wolves generally travel in packs and look for the most vulnerable individuals to sink their teeth into.

These wolves generally creep in during the absence of leadership, weak leadership or in transition of leadership. Watching and waiting for the right moment to attack.

This is when they come because these wolves know that the shepherd will fight to the death to protect their flock.
The shepherd won’t allow the wolf to do what it wants to do.
The shepherd can spot the wolf a mile away no matter deceptive the wolf tries to be.
This is why the wolf hates the shepherd.

As leaders we must be vigilant and stand guard against the wolves in sheeps clothing. Because they will come. Many wolves have already infiltrated the flock.

Husbands and Fathers I speak to you directly here as we are providers and protectors both physically and spiritually.

If we bow out of the fight because we are tired of the wolf and his tactics we are giving the wolf exactly what he wants. He wants control and he will do anything to get it.

1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour”

We must remain in the fight if we wish to make a difference. Again, Indifference is the biggest difference maker.

“The only way for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” – Edmund Burke

We have the same comfort that Nehemiah had when he faced those who sought destroy his work.

Nehemiah 4:20…..”our God shall fight for us.”

So my question to you is…

Those in our community are you willing to stand in the gap with me and help keep the torch burning?
What are you willing to do to keep the torch burning?
Are you willing to fight the devil to the death?
What are you willing to sacrifice?

Our kids are worth it.

Healing from trauma and pain can take a lifetime of figuring out how to navigate through it. Whether it be verbal or physical. But we don’t have to do it alone. We are never alone. There are some things that people go through in life where they are left dealing with these responses due to the trauma they have suffered.

Due to the experiences that I had, for so many years I felt unworthy, I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror, I had trouble looking people in the eye because I had been told I was worthless, I was torn down and cut down at every turn for years and for a lot of years I let it control me. Fear of inadequacy is something that I still struggle with but it dominated me to the point where I became a recluse and wouldn’t truly let anyone in my heart. I did not want to get hurt anymore. I didn’t know how to deal with it. So I buried deep down inside my heart and soul hoping it would just go away.

Don’t get me wrong I had good friends and family in my life who were there for me and still are but I never truly let them in. I do not harbor any hatred in heart but I still am in the process of facing my past and dealing with it. Its a constant battle. At least I know what side I’m on. It’s been a lifetime of navigating this. My poor wife lol. She’s been my rock.

We can bottle up the pain and try and put it out of our minds and pretend it didn’t happen and try and continue as normal but it’s not healthy for us or those around us. If we take this route all of our relationships going forward will be affected by this way of living.

It wasn’t until I experienced true love in Christ that I began the healing process. My heart was filled in the Summer of 2007. I was now on the road to recovery. It’s been a journey but I have found personally that Christ is there to help us navigate through the healing process by giving us encouragement, guidance, comfort and hope whether it be through the Scriptures as well as others that He places in our path that may have gone through similar traumatic experiences. When you see what He went through for us it gives us strength.

Due to my own experiences all I have wanted to do is encourage and lift up those around me. To be a blessing to those who God places in my path. I did not want to follow in that same path. I wanted to do the opposite. Maybe that means I’m a bit naive and vulnerable at times but when you invest in people, when you open up your heart it’s left open for joy and heartache.

I spent so many years guarding my heart and mind from all but a select few for so many years that it wasn’t until here in the last few years that I decided that I was going to invest in people and in building relationships because I was so tired of letting Satan hinder me with fear and doubt. I was tired of living in fear.

Keep in my mind my guard is still up but I’m tired of Satan and his games. I’m tired of him taking people down with him. He loves to destroy relationships and it’s heartbreaking. It really is a battlefield of the mind. He loves to play mind games. Who you surround yourself can determine how far you make it in this race.

I decided I wanted to go the opposite route of my own experiences and try and be there for people as much as I can. And while being there try and be a help, be a friend, be an encourager, be the dad that God wants me to be, be the husband that God wants to be, be the teacher that God wants be to be.

Sometimes just being a listening ear is the best medicine we can give someone who has had a traumatic experience.

I don’t know who needs this but I just wanted to encourage with my words and hope what I said was a blessing and a help to someone.

For those who have suffered and fought through traumatic experiences in your lives whether it be physical or verbal,

Keep fighting and keep pushing forward, you’re not alone. You’re never alone

As God has called me to a new position of leadership this coming school year I look around at our culture this question keeps coming to mind:

Why is culture so important and what does it look like? A leader’s God given vision shapes the type of culture that he or she imagines.

What does a “winning” culture look like? Is that even an appropriate question to ask?

But Let me rephrase this question? Winning is not the right word.

Is winning all that matters and what does it mean to win?

Tim Tebow once asked what the difference is between being successful vs being significant.

He said success is about you while being significant is about other people.

There is nothing wrong with being successful but often times we make our own success about us. Significance is about the timeline of others.

He said if you live for Jesus and love people you will have a life of significance.

I’m a competitor and I like to win. I love sports and find nothing wrong with winning. But overall is the final score all that matters so long as you come out on top? On the field, on the court and most importantly in life?

Do the ends justify the means no matter how we as leaders act and carry ourselves? When it comes to winning what and how are we teaching and leading our younger generations?

I was sitting in service one Sunday morning and I heard the man say as he was leading worship….

What are we leaving behind for the future generations? What are we teaching them?

We are teaching them with our words and our actions. What we say carries weight along with our actions.

So if the ends justify the means does having good character and integrity still matter?

Sometimes winning blinds us to doing what is right.
I’m referring to both competitive sports and in life.

But then the question is what is the right thing? Many will justify their words and their actions so long as the ends justify the means. Winning.

Sometimes in life, winning is not the most important thing.

Former head football coach Jim Tressel said that he has learned more in losing than he ever has in winning.

The problem is, some of us haven’t lost enough and we are swelled up with pride and arrogance to the point that it blinds us and those that we may lead.

Or…Maybe we’ve lost too much, we’re tired, we are so desperate for help that we will take the first person or group of people that offer help no matter their character or the culture they bring with them. They win and it makes it easy on us as leaders to take the easy way out even though deep down you know it’s not the right way out.

Losing can send us into desperation mode but it can also humble us. It builds character, empathy, and integrity. It’s in these trenches of life where we must dig down and hold fast our faith.

Humility.

Something our leadership in all areas sorely needs. Pride has no place in leadership.

Some boast and justify themselves about winning but at what cost? If winning is the most important thing in a culture, many times we will look the other way when we see red flags in an individual’s character and integrity.

Because winning equates success right? That was a rhetorical sarcastic question.

I would ask this question, if you are trying to build a culture is winning the top priority?

Here is what I have learned in working with kids. They watch our every move and listen to our every word whether we realize it or not so pride and arrogance have no place in leadership. In my honest humble opinion.

Many are in leadership because they cannot follow and it has to be their way or the highway. I can tell you, they have their reward. These types of individuals have no place in the culture that we desire to cultivate.

When Nehemiah had a burden and a vision to rebuild the walls, many came back with him to help. Many did not. There were also those that claimed to want to help but only wished to further their own agenda. They had no place on the wall.

There will be those who desire to help but ultimately will have no place when the realization of the vision comes to fruition because the vision is not about us. It’s about God and it always will be. Those who desire to be seen have their reward.

In winning and in losing our kids not only learn something about themselves but they learn something about us.

When we are building a culture based on what I just described, we must trust those that we have in leadership positions.

If you are in leadership to be successful then you are making it about you but…

If you are in leadership to be significant then you will make it about others.

Are you interested in making a name for yourself or a name for Christ?

What will your legacy be? Successful or significant?

Proverbs 22:1
“A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.”

Listen to the most recent episode of my podcast: The American War of Independence Part 3: Vigilante Justice or Divine Justice? https://anchor.fm/nick-eanes/episodes/The-American-War-of-Independence-Part-3-Vigilante-Justice-or-Divine-Justice-e26gk3h

Listen to the most recent episode of my podcast: The American War of Independence Part 2: We Must Fight! https://anchor.fm/nick-eanes/episodes/The-American-War-of-Independence-Part-2-We-Must-Fight-e26gihu

Listen to the most recent episode of my podcast: The American War of Independence Part 1: Biblical Liberty https://anchor.fm/nick-eanes/episodes/The-American-War-of-Independence-Part-1-Biblical-Liberty-e26ggto

Listen to the most recent episode of my podcast: The Genius of the American Republic https://anchor.fm/nick-eanes/episodes/The-Genius-of-the-American-Republic-e26adj8

Esther 4:14 – For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Mordecai was saying to Esther the possibility that she had become queen was…

……”for such a time as this”……

He reinforces the idea that, all of Esther’s life and the series of unusual events that led her to become queen, there was a greater purpose for her.

Former President John F. Kennedy quoted Edmund Burke in a speech in 1961 stating that “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

The men of the revolutionary generation who stepped up, I believe in my heart, were born for that time. God had placed them there “for such a time as this.” I ask the question. What if those same men decided to remain neutral? Indifferent? Many of them were Christian men. Many were not.

The matters that our Founders were dealing with were primarily spiritual. Taxation without representation was on a list of 27 grievances and was number 22 out 27 on that list of importance. That’s what we grew up learning was the sole cause of American Independence.

As we dig deeper and read in the 1st Amendment, our Founders primary concern dealt with a spiritual matter saying that our God given RIGHT is freedom of religion. Freedom to worship along with the RIGHT to say it wherever we are fit and that the Government, here in America has no right to interfere in anything that the Church says or does concerning the preaching the Gospel.

That generation of our forefathers sacrificed so much to gain their/our independence.

Fast forward to 2024. What is happening is happening on our watch? We are in this mess due to the indifference of good men and women over a long period of time. Yep I’m included in this.

What if we take the stance, I’m just not gonna get involved, I don’t like politics, Im tired of the nonsense, I’m saved what does it matter? I’m going to Heaven so what? I’m just gonna board myself up in my house and wait for Jesus to come back. What possible difference can one man make?

We cannot take the stance of turning a blind eye and burying our heads in the sand. Our nations problems are not merely political but spiritual.

If just one good just man or woman starts to care he or she can impact generations to come.

But to invest in building relationships requires a sacrifice of our time, energy, personal wants and sometimes finances.

There are certain issues that I’d just like to avoid altogether but the issues and problems in our nation go way beyond Critical Race Theory and The LGBTQ Agenda being pushed on our children in our schools, BLM, Defunding the Police, the attacks on the traditional family unit, Marxism, Communism, Socialism. It’s much deeper than these agendas. These issues are symptoms of the sickness that our nation has.

Our world views are shaped by the idea that either God Is or God Isn’t. Everything else is just a sub category.

It comes down to a spiritual matter as many of our Founders knew that God Is.

“God Is” is what set up the Bill of Rights, our first 10 Amendments. These rights do not come from man therefore the first 10 amendments are concrete and cannot change.

Right now “God Isn’t” is what is driving current policies in our Nation. That combined with good men not wanting to help change the culture.

How do we change the culture where God has us? How do we turn the world upside down as the Early Church did? How can one just man who cares make a difference?

Know your Bible, get involved, stay informed, know your history, know your rights, teach your kids, and be ready to stand and fight when things get tough. For such a time as this, we cannot afford to remain indifferent.

We are in the middle of a culture war that is a spiritual war that will either take us back to our foundation rooted in the Word of God or it will reshape western civilization as we know it.

Where do you stand?