The Quest

Mentor-Father, is not a role a person could just assume in a person's life. It is a place that has to, in a way, be given, earned and, certainly be destined.

As my heart began to yearn for more knowledge and skill of what a mentor-father should be, my quest was to discover how to do this. Personally, my own father had been good to me, but absent and lacking in passing on the skills of fathering. The father-mentor in my life was being an amazing inspiration and source of impartation to my life. His influence was creating a definite sense of being just who I am and need to be. Spending time with him on a regular basis fashioned me more and more into a secure self-sufficient individual capable of functioning without the constant approval of certain groups. This influence helped me to quit wanting to be like someone else or anybody else other than myself, simply because I didn't believe in who I was. I realised how that, my view of myself, had an impact on on how I functioned, how I related to others, especially leaders. Many didn't know I would just tremble inside when I spoke to them. I needed their acknowledgemnet; I needed their acceptance; I desperately needed them to approve of me. I worked so hard to have them as friends, to belive in me; and yet I couldn't find it there. The more I sought it, the more I seemed to be rejected, the more insignificant I seemed to end up feeling.
Except for the man who was destined, whom I had given permission in a sense, and
who through his own strength of character and open-heartedness, was now my mentor-father.
Outside of his influence, there were no books, CD's or DVD's about the topic to guide my thinking and understanding and quest to learn. No, I had to depend on the what I would learn through impartation.
Honestly, I now see that is the only way we can in fact learn this age-old skill, passed down from the Heavenly Father Himself.

Who has permission to impart the skills of the father's to your heart?
Who do you trust to leave behind in your life the understanding necessary to pass on the skill to another generation?
Is there someone you believe is destined to do this with you?

Your Legacy, Your Significance.

I heard of a man whose father had died. He was reqested, by his mother to do the funeral. His father was not a very significant leader as far as the circles he moved in. He had been the minister of a small local church and had been a rather obscure figure in the city.
Upon arrival in the city the night before the funeral, the son decided to visit at his fathers little down town church to pay his last respects. Upon entering the building the lack of light caught him off guard and his made his way into the little auditorium he found himself stumbling over something and then again and again. As his eyes began to adjust to the dark he noticed that young men were laying in the aisles and between the pews.
These were young men who had come from all over the country to pay their last respects. These were the next generation leaders that his father had mentored and invested in over the years. This seemingly insignificant leader had invested himself in what others had not noticed or paid attention to.
Now my details may be sketchy, but this story I heard about 12 years or so ago, affected me deeply. The cry of my heart after hearing this was that I may influence many in this way.
What an honour to this mans life and work. What an honour to his time and investment. It wasn't about his legacy, his 'great' name, his great ministry. It was all about pouring his life into another generation.

I began to see that the only true legacy I could leave behind was in the lives of others. To deposit the little of my revelation and understanding into someones life was the most significant contribution I could ever make in this life. I was so stirred and inspired. And yet I was broken and feeling incapable of such a task.

Where is your focus?
What is your significance?
What are you leaving behind?

My call has been since then and still is "Where are the Fathers?","Where are the Mothers?"

The Mentor-Father

Where does a journey begin, really? It could start anywhere. But let me tell you where mine started - searching, unknowingly for a mentor-father. I was insecure and rejected by some whom i highly respected and needing the affirmation of a mentor-father. It just seemed nobody understood what that meant. I didn't even know what that meant.Until a friend explained it to me and suggested I request a certain man to be a mentor-father to me.
When I did it seemed that a weight lifted off of me that had kept me inferior for so long. His acceptance and unconditional love offered me a whole new world of understanding of myself and of others. No more would 'leaders' be out of my league. No more would I feel insignificant in their presence. No more would I have to do anything to 'earn' their acceptance and love. I didn't 'need' their acknowledgment anymore.
You talk about liberation! This was huge! Our journey since then has experienced joys and tests, but that commitment to journey together stood the test of time. What an understanding of mentor-fathering it deposited in me.
what a threat it became to others...
Till next time.

My Journey

"Dad", my middle son exclaimed."I really am the happiest and the most excited when we are planting, or doing church."
Wow~ My heart was stirred within me. That after all we have been through, that would still be his heart. As a father, that is all I could ever have wished for.
But now...How was I to see that fulfilled for him, for me. I feel so weary, so dispaired!

As each of my sons were born, there was a prayer and a cry in my heart, that one day, we would be able to serve together in great army of the Kingdom. This became a mission for my wife and me, as a father, to teach and train them in the ways of the Kingdom and to lead them to its true riches; to be their mentor and model first and foremost, before I was to any others.

But now, at this point, I felt a broken man, maybe a failure. How can I do this?
"Let's start again, Dad. You can do this! You are the best at it. You know how to reach people. God uses you Dad. More than in anything else." His words stabbed my heart. I don't even know in which city I belong anymore, let alone to what purpose. Oh my heart ached to be able to be the father I had set out to be years back.
So much had happened since then, since the day my Heavenly Father had spoken to me as I looked at my firstborn sleeping soundly, " My son, you are not raising a son , but a father."

This is going to be a story about my journey. The journey includes principles the Father taught me; the changes I made; the mistakes I committed; the fathers who impacted me, both spiritual and natural; and the dream I carry in my heart.
Please feel free to join me as I unfold my personal journey. I hope it instructs you in some ways, and heals me in many.

Choices

"You and I are essentially infinite choice-makers.
In every moment of our existence, we are in that field
of all possibilities where we have access to an infinity of choices."
— Deepak Chopra: Doctor and mind/body/spirit author

On the free teleconference call I did last night I quoted Albert Einstein who said:"

In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity."

Regardless of what the situation or crisis or circumstances, we can find opportunity. Its all based on the choice we make of attitude, of perspective and of possibility. You can choose to develop your skills; your knowledge; yourself; you can choose to serve your ability, your gift, your energy to someone even though you yourself may be in a tight place.

I remember my grand mother would give so much to others even though her and my grand father would be in dire need themselves, and I never knew them to be in place where they could find a way out of their situation.

Make wise choices today that will make and take opportunity in the midst of anything the world may offer.

Keep The Right Perspective

With a constant stream of 'bad' news, telling us that there is a world-wide financial crisis, we need to 'see' beyond the current state of affairs.
There is no denying what we are facing is serious and has been brought upon us by the greed and ultimately the fear of the world.
I learnt in a share trading course a few years ago that the economy and especially the share trading market where we find most investment taking place is kind of ruled or controlled by the emotions of greed and fear. Robert kiyosaki in Rich Dad, Poor Dad, said the same thing, declaring that based on the emotional state of the economy we should have without the goverments help been in a depression long ago, simply because the general feeling in the market is depressed.

But there is another side to this, a good friend who is geologist once shared with me that everything in the earth moves in cycles. He shared that with me soon after the tsunami, stating that shifts and moves take place on the earth as a matter of cyclical routine. At first I didn't agree, but now I see what he was saying is true.
Even business and markets go through cycles. Everything gets shaken. All that can be shaken will be shaken so that what cannot be shaken will stand.

Maybe we need a tightening of the proverbial belt for a time, but this is a great time for entrepreneurs and especially those who have their hope in another Source. Now is the time to begin looking for opportunity, make use of this time to begin thinking outside the box.

Don't look at what is falling; look at what stands.

Take hope in the fact that what goes up comes down, but what comes down also goes up again. Its a cycle.

Where do you stand?

• Set a plan in place.
• See your future as a somewhere to go with confidence.
• Believe.Believe in the Promises that never change.
  
• Add faith to an amazing hope we have.
• The just shall walk by faith. Begin to walk.
• Take inventory of what you have in your hand. What skills and passions do you have? What has God given you that you can develop into an economic viable opportunity?
• Stay positive in your outlook and perspective.

If you quit, you lose. If you stay focused and positively full of hope and faith, opportunity and clear vision will be attracted to you.

Imperfect

A Chinese proverb says "Do something imperfectly, rather than nothing perfectly".
Isn't it amazing how we can 'sit on' ideas and be frozen in action because we do not feel what we have is perfect yet.
There are many things we do have to get right, and skills we need to aquire, but we will never have everything perfectly in order to start. A perfect start just doesn't exist. The best have started without any idea where they were headed but started anyway.
Take action and begin to move with what you have in your hand today. I mean wasn't that Moses excuse to the Lord when he was being sent to the Egypt.
Wherever you are sitting today, under whatever conditions, do not let the wall of perfectionism stop you from starting.
Do your reseach, develop a plan, make a decision, and then begin, begin, begin...
Opportunity never is lost. It always passes on to someone else.