Author Archives: cwfrantzen

An old truck in all it’s Glory

It was a weekday morning like any other.  Driving to work on the typically bustling and often jam packed freeway running thru the heart of the big city.  Everyone driving  fast with a mission to reach their destination first.  And there it was- as I waited at the light to get on the freeway, next to me sat  an old beaten up truck with two men in it.  Between the truck and the guys inside, they both seemed equally out of place.  The truck was dirty, scratched, faded paint, cracked glass, you get the picture.  The guys were wearing old, dirty clothes and  they were looking around both ways, on the phone seemingly asking a friend for directions and seemed lost.  As the light turned green and all the brightly colored, new clean cars raced by them to get on the freeway first, it hit me–  sometimes the best thing to be in life is a beaten up old truck letting everyone else pass you by.

To be going the other direction from everyone else. To look not ‘normal’ by your surrounding. To seem out of date, out of style and inferior by all accounts.  To be content and resting while all others race to achieve their goals. There was  a sense of inner peace, calm and unfettered freedom  to the old truck that I desired to have that escaped all  the other cars on that freeway.

As so it is with my life and yours – there comes a time [if we are so blessed to have such a moment] that you begin to see things with the eyes of an old truck.  That is, your eyes now see pretty things become ugly and  things previously unnoticed become breathtaking; goals become less consuming; and life finally starts to slow down as you see your environment in a different way.  You view your family different. It is an altogether transcendent moment, albeit a fleeting one most often that seems out of our grasp.

So what does one do once you have had ‘an old truck in the big city’ moment?  I would presume that old truck’s destniation that day was not some fancy downtown high rise office building or a fancy shopping center or even a Starbuck’s.  I would have to think he was in the city for a purpose and after that would go back to where old trucks shine like the golden sun in all their unique glory.

As so should we- follow the road that is in our good heart where God is speaking and is present and active.  Do you hear it? Or is the freeway noise of the world drowning it out??  That road won’t look like a busy city freeway during rush hour; there’s no way anyone’s heart can survive such.  The roadmap is different for each, but ask the Father to reveal to you with new eyes such a  moment of your life and may it  be your guide.  It is True.

Embrace it. It is all True.

Father’s Day 2012

A note to our Heavenly Father on Father’s Day.  Let us all remember and never forget that as believers in His Son Jesus, we are sons and daughters of the King forever. -Amen

Father,

How can I comprehend you?  The love you have for me has existed since before time; since before all that I see came into existence.  Unfathomable.

Your plan all along, even in the midst of my sin, evil and unbelief was one of ransom and rescue.  Your only begotten Son would  leave the glory of Heaven and your side to be made like man and to be poured out as a perfect Blood sacrifice.  All of this so that I could become a son of yours. Your only begotten son Jesus who you love dearly, became the first begotten, so all those who believe in your Son can come and receive the sonship and daugthership of the One True God. We get to be co-heirs with Jesus Christ to your kingdom and receive all the benefits of sons and daughters.

Why is this so hard to see? Why do I seek to indulge my own passions and desires and seek the illusion of control?  Why such unbelief on our part?

Why is this so hard to receive from you, this free gift of grace? Why do I seek to earn it based on knowledge, works, merit, actions, deeds?

This gift, this freedom, this everlasting act of grace you have bestowed- it’s all of You.  There is nothing else needed or required.

Your ways are not our ways; your thoughts are not our thoughts.  We can but receive this great love and adoption by grace that you have poured out; receive it in all humility and meekness.  You have breathed life into us and you have imparted to us life everlasting thru Jesus, the first begotten Son of many.

I am overwhelmed by you Heavenly Father, and so we do cry out Abba “Daddy”.  You are truly all we need.  I receive  sonship from you Father.  I walk into it fully and wholeheartedly and ask you to breathe your Fatherly presence over all of my life and my family.

Teach me and use me thru your Holy Spirit, how to be an earthly father.  How to offer always out of love, grace and genuine deep strength.  May your life flow out of me, your love and might always to others for your glory.

Scripture References:

Hebrew 2:10-11

John 1:1-15

Romans 8

Revelation 21:7

John 20:17

Galatians 4:5-7

1 John 3:1-3

Men- what an adventure our trip to Eagle Rock Loop was! What a sincere honor and pleasure for me to meet and fellowship with each of you, many for the first time.  God truly spoiled and blessed me in the company of such fine men.  Thank you.

Writing in a journal has been a way that I have been able to process, and hear from the Father about life. And so, I wanted to take this opportunity before time passes and busyness creep in, to write a few thoughts and reflections on our hiking trip to seal the experience in my heart.  I want to share this with each of you as a way to encourage and crystallize your own experience in this trip and allow the Father to reveal more to you.

Walking with God is Frontier

Walking with God as Father is a journey of ongoing initiation.  My life [and each of yours]  is one of  a loving Father molding, shaping, challenging and disciplining his beloved son with the intent of the son  bringing the father glory thru his full experience of life and freedom.  Often times it doesn’t look this way or seem clear to the eye; sometimes it feels opposite, but feelings and emotion can mask the  truth.

We all are uninitiated and unfinished men.  Each of us is on a different part of the trail of life and at different levels of experience, need, and expectation.  Each of us carry around different ‘stuff’ [good and bad] in our backpacks.  Every man has a separate unique design that the Father is crafting and pulling out in hopes of you becoming  the true YOU.  What a powerful thing to sit around the campfire on the second evening and hear each man verbalize what he feels is the unique glory/giftedness God has created in him and how each man was  wrestling with it, pushing further in to seek the Father in this.  There were a few times when guys mentioned their glory/giftedness and I immediately saw them in it  after having  only spent two days around them-

“Yeah, servant of course you are; teacher, yeah, definitely.”   That  conversation alone is rare and worth the trip by itself.

I would classify myself as a beginner when it comes to hiking/backpacking.  Although I had some experience growing up doing this, that had been years ago.  So even with the training I did ahead of time I found myself at the end of the first day- cold, overwhelmed, exhausted, tested and with badly sore and blistered feet…  I know each of you were challenged on this hike  in different ways and I think it’s important for us as men to be ok with the ‘vulnerability’ of such testing.  To not be controlled by the mindset of “I’m fine, I’m in control, I can prove myself, I’m not weak…”  There is something good and noble in that vulnerability and openness that the Father can speak and minister to.  And sometimes it will only come out in a wilderness experience such as this.

In thinking about the last day of the hike on that Sunday morning, it is amazing to me how God was at work and His genuine kindness on display in the details of that day.  What if one of us hadn’t got sick?  Would we have all made it the final 7 miles to finish the loop? Would it have likely been dark before we finished and midnight before we got back home to our family? Possibly.  I know I would have suffered in those final miles.  What if there hadn’t been a medical professional in the group to minister care?  And what about those people who gave us a ride in the truck who were living out of a tent? $20 bucks was probably a pretty big deal to them to get out of nowhere just to drive some guys 2 miles… And to do all that and yet still give the guys in the group who had a passion to finish the entire the loop, the satisfaction of that achievement. Amazing.

His love.  His Kindness.  His Grace.

On full display in the splendor of his great outdoors and creation. So that He may be Glorified.

While you trail warriors were finishing off the loop so we could head back home,  I found myself sitting on a rock in the river, praying for each man in our group and just worshiping God in His Glory.  I pulled out my journal to capture the moment… Here are a couple of excerpts of what  I wrote that the Spirit spoke that I believe are not just for me but for our whole group of men.

“Stay in the River of My Love”

Well Done!  Are you ready for more?  To keep hiking on this trail with me?  My strength is enough; but it is still your choice for when and how far you wish to go.

Do You Trust Me?   Will You Follow?   Let me Lead You!

Powerful words for deeper initiation on the masculine journey with the Father.  There is more.  More revelation; more life; more mystery; more challenges.  But He is Faithful and True. He is our Trail Guide.

I pray our Father in Heaven thru the Holy Spirit would speak and move in a personal and intimate way for you in your life right now;  that He reveals himself to each man.  That the glory and the work he uniquely created for you and in you will manifest and bloom and His grace and favor will fall like rain.  And that we will each  be vulnerable and open to receive it humbly.

So that He is Glorified.

Your fellow brother on the trail-

-Chad