I spent four years at what I consider to be an excellent university, one that has far more to offer than most other educational facilities in the world, because it incorporates a living faith into all of its teachings. As someone who was uneducated in the Christian faith, Liberty helped me find a solid foundation for my life that has defined my work and ministry ever since.

When I was finishing high school, I was overwhelmed by a desire to live my faith properly. Having grown up in public school, I determined that I would pursue a Christian university to help me get my life in order. I had to go to college, according to my parents, so I tried to pick a school that would educate me in faith, as well as in life. With a little providence from God,  I landed an academic scholarship to cover the cost difference between a state school and was off to Lynchburg, Virginia–to a school in a state where I didn’t know anyone. I was as terrified as I was excited…but Liberty did not disappoint me.

At Liberty, I received an education in business, the Bible, and life. I endured some of the most challenging classes on business finance, strategic planning, and marketing.

At Liberty, I experienced friendship like never before: I spent two years on a dorm with a bunch of guys who truly cared for me: laughing, praying, encouraging, and even weeping with me. And I met my best friend there, my wife. My fun-loving, adventurous, Spirit-filled companion in life.

At Liberty, I was given the opportunity to serve Christ by serving others. I was able to lead small groups of men in Bible study, care for the spiritual development of the entire floor, and manage a huge food service operation. And I was trained by good leaders every step of the way.

I owe a great debt to my alma mater. I owe a great debt to it’s founder and God’s visionary: Jerry Falwell. And I have a great heritage that I must carry with me into my service for the Lord.

Congratulations Liberty, on a Dream Realized, 50,000 students!

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100221/dr-falwell-s-enrollment-vision-fulfilled-50-000-students/

If I had to select one quality, one personal characteristic that I regard as being most highly correlated with success, whatever the field, I would pick the trait of persistence. Determination. The will to endure to the end, to get knocked down seventy times and get up off the floor saying, “here comes number seventy-one!”
~ Richard M. DeVos

Perseverence is not a long race;
it is many short races one after another.
~ Walter Elliot

I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career.
I have lost almost 300 games.
On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game-winning shot…and I missed.
I have failed over and over and over again in my life. An that’s precisely why I succeed.
~ Michael Jordan

Patience is the companion of wisdom.
~ Saint Augustine

Patience and Perseverance have a magical effect
before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.
~ John Quincy Adams

There will be a time when loud-mouthed,
incompetent people seem to be getting the best of you.
When that happens, you only have to be patient and wait for them to self destruct.
It never fails.
~ Richard Rybolt

Learn the art of patience.
Apply discipline to your thoughts when they become anxious over the outcome of a goal.
Impatience breeds anxiety, fear, discouragement, and failure.
Patience creates confidence, decisiveness, and a rational outlook which eventually leads to success.
~ Brian Adams

Like farmers, we need to learn that we cannot sow and reap in the same day.
~ Unknown

Let me add a little substance to my post yesterday. I have a tenancy to be cynical when it comes to languages, not because I wish to display any ability of mine, but because I’ve learned that it is VERY important to ensure you are not adding to the Words of God by promoting your own meaning with His text. In all honestly, I’m just as likely to make mistakes at this point…I haven’t learned enough Hebrew to be effective in using it yet.

What makes Hebrew or Greek difficult?

1. In order to use a language, you need to know “syntax/grammar” not just the meaning of words. Remember sentence diagramming in elementary school, where you had to show the relationship of words? Well, that matters a lot in other languages too. The Greek word for “the” has 24 different forms. Why? Because how it is used in a sentence matters.

2. No word means the same thing every time it appears in Scripture. “Son” in Hebrew is used to identify children, distant relatives, and even the nation of Israel. We’d have some really interesting stories if we translated “the Sons of Israel” as if it always mean Jacob’s 12 sons. The Hebrew word “day” can mean a physical day, or an span of time.What indicates which meaning is being used? Lots of things, in particular, the words “evening” “morning” or “first day” always specify a 24 hour period of time. Hmmm…wish a lot more scientists were aware of that.

3. Greeks and Hebrews had idioms too. Have you ever heard the expression “my dogs are barking” or “we’re cooking with gas, now”? Well, they don’t mean the way they sound…which is why non-English speakers spend time specifically learning to identify these phrases before being thrown into the language. Greek has some word combination that can’t be easily translated either. How would you know? You’ve got to know the language!

4. What time frame is it? Greek and Hebrew have very different ways of specifying past, present, and future. Completed action, action in progress, and potential action. Greek builds it all into different forms of the verb. Hebrew uses the same verbs, in a specific order with other words. Either way, there’s a big difference between the statement if you get these elements wrong. “I am my beloved’s” vs. “I was my beloved’s” vs. “I might be my beloved’s” (just a humorous joke, not a real example)

So many people think that getting a tattoo in a foreign language is cool, and many who try take their phrases from the sacred words of Scripture.

This is not unlike people who know enough Hebrew or Greek to use Strong’s Concordance, or sound out the words of a phrase Jesus spoke and conclude that the sound of the Greek “Obama” points us toward the antichrist.

Tip for the world: if you don’t know the language, don’t use the language!!!

There’s a lot more too it than the meaning of individual words, and the picture above illustrates. This poor guy tried to copy the VERY popular phrase, I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine…and ended up with a broken phrase that suggests incest with his father. Even in it’s proper form, this phrase speaks of a male lover: it can only truly be taken as a female’s statement.

Think this is just a fluke?
BadHebrew.com posts another tattoo every couples of days!
I check back for a good laugh all the time.

And the poor use of language for ‘spiritual reasons’ is more common that its’ misuse on tattoos.

A flat tire on the way to your big presentation, a new boss that is impossible to please, a big zit on the night of Prom.

Life is filled with trials… BIG & small.

But the way we define the size of the trial often depends upon our age, experience, and maturity.

A zit on prom night looks a lot different to a mother than it does to the high school girl who is getting ready for “the big night”. A new boss that cannot be pleased can be harder to work with to the person whose life is wrapped up in his work than to a person who is daily in prayer for Christians dying for their faith in Asia.

I must be sensitive to the specific circumstances of the trials of others…I do not know all the details of the situation. I, myself, have been consumed and distraught over issues that really were minor. Things that might have been minor to others have been great trials to me. But I am CONVINCED that it is of utmost importance that trials be seen in their proper perspective.

It disgusts me that I consistently see typical American Christians emotionally distraught over life circumstances that seem embarrassingly small to me. They are not small to God, mind you, who has the capacity and desire to care for every hair on our heads…but they are small from the perspective of a Christian who tries to be aware of and supportive of the activity of God and the church in the world. They should not consume our attention and emotional energy.

I won’t try to create some arbitrary rating system for the size of specific trials here, rather I would like to share a few key principles that I believe help us to maintain a proper perspective on our own trials:

• Christians are called to lives of sacrifice. To give their money, their time, their wants, and even their very lives to the work of God on the earth. If we are seeking great things for ourselves, or additional comfort for our already comfortable, well-fed, air-conditioned, rich, home-owning, SUV-driving lives, let us remember those who have none of those things. Let us seek to share our blessings with others, and empathize with those who truly suffer. Let us pray for those who will die today for the sake of the gospel. Let us hold the perspective that we are rich Americans, and that normal people have far less than the vast majority of us.
• Christians are called to lives of service. As Christians, our mandate is to love others through physical acts. Serving others on a weekly basis has an amazing effect on our perspective of our own lives. Don’t just give, don’t just pray, go. Serve others at a food pantry, at a church office, or in a ministry of the church. When you are physically touching people who are suffering physically, emotionally, and financially, you’re worries will fade into the background of your life.
• Christians are called to the lifestyle of soldiers. The exhortation of Jesus and others in the New Testament is the call of a life of focus. Not to marry if you are not called to do so. Not to raise a family unless you are called to do so. Not to get tied down with the everyday worries of life. Owning a home, raising a family, having a car payment…these things might one day prevent you from being able to follow Jesus’ call. Be content to live simply, and be earnest in seeking God’s will when it comes to things requiring long-term commitments and financial obligations.

There is so much more to this…what would you choose to add to this blurb?