Scott L. Moore's Blog, page 14

What Makes A Man, Part 2

10 Leaders NOT in the White House

Real leaders are rarely elected to any office. They occasionally get awards or medals, but if they do, they don’t care about them. Sometimes they get disciplined, fired, arrested, or court-marshaled for doing the right thing. But, they are the real leaders and you know them when you see them.

So, here’s my list of ten leaders not in the White House:

Andy Andrews - Homeless in his early twenties after both his parents died when he was 19, Andy has become a best-selling author and highly sought-after speaker. He’s been called a modern-day Will Rogers that is quietly changing America. Four different US Presidents have invited him to speak at the White House. His books are used by schools, business leaders, and professional sports teams. Why? He teaches simple principles, from a unique perspective, that produce success when applied.
John Maxwell - John Maxwell is, simply put, a leader of leaders. He has written a thousand books on leadership (ok, a few less) and he trains leaders all over the world.
Tyrone Woods - Tyrone was the Navy SEAL in Benghazi who disobeyed orders and risked (and ultimately, gave) his life to protect the Americans at the embassy. “Greater love has no one than this…”
Franklin Graham - Continuing his father’s ministry with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Franklin also founded Samaritan’s Purse, helping the poor throughout the world. He is one of the few Americans to go into North Korea to bring aid to the people as their economy collapsed. His ministry exists to help the poor and the persecuted in places like Sudan, Ethiopia, Myanmar, and around the world.
Beth Moore - You’d be hard-pressed to find a church in America that doesn’t have at least one small group studying a book by Beth Moore. Millions of women (and probably a few men, too) around the world benefit from her writing, speaking, and teaching.
Dave Ramsey - Dave Ramsey is, almost single-handedly, changing the financial futures of millions of Americans and others throughout the world with his Financial Peace programs. Not content to stop there, Dave has recently begun putting his stamp on the business world with his wildly successful EntreLeadership events, book, and podcast.
Michael Hyatt – The former CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, Michael Hyatt is an author, speaker, and leader of leaders. He hosts one of the more popular blogs on the internet, is a best-selling author, and a dedicated family man.
John Eldredge - Quietly leading men to recover their hearts, John Eldredge’s Wild At Heart Bootcamps are booked years in advance. His influence is felt far and wide through his books, events, and podcast.
Bethany Hamilton - Bethany is the young surfer whose faith and determination have inspired millions around the world through her book, Soul Surfer, and the movie of the same name inspired by her story.   http://soulsurfer.com/
Tim Tebow - As Tebow-mania calms down from its peak last year, Tim Tebow continues to lead, on and off the football field. The epitome of grace under pressure, he has handled a meteoric rise to fame and the nearly instantaneous attacks from those who would tear him down. Through it all, he continues to inspire people with his faith and his classy attitude.

I know these aren’t the only leaders out there – far from it. Many of the leaders I respect the most are people you probably haven’t heard of. They are the dads who keep pounding the pavement to try to find work so they can put food on the table for their kids; the homeschooling moms who, with CEO efficiency, juggle the responsibilities of managing a home and teaching the next generation of leaders; the pastor who ministers to the sick and dying, preaches to the faithful, fixes the boiler in the church basement, manages an unreliable staff, and listens to the nitpicking of the congregation tearing apart his sermon every week. They are the older brothers and sisters learning to lead their younger siblings, the grandparents raising children for their children; and the small business owners trying to reach their dreams. Those are the real leaders, to me.

Who are the leaders that inspire you?

Five Reasons You Shouldn’t Vote

Photo by Wikimedia Commons User Tyrol5

All politicians are liars.
You’re too busy.
It takes too much effort to learn about all the issues and the candidates.
What does one vote matter? My vote doesn’t count. The election’s probably rigged anyway.
If you don’t vote, it makes my vote count more.

What Makes A Man?

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Finish Well

I recently spent my first day ever at a horse race track. It was a fun day, but I noticed something. Sometimes a horse would start out great and even lead the race into the home stretch, only to be overtaken by one or more other horses in the last yards of the race. Occasionally, a horse would lead for ¾ of the race and then finish dead last because it just plumb ran out of steam.

Last night, I heard about a pastor of a church nearby that just confessed to having had two affairs. He was, I’m told, going to do a sermon on holiness, but couldn’t go through with it because he felt like such a liar. I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing he had some external motivation to come clean, as well. I could be wrong, though. Regardless, this man has been a respected, godly leader of his church and community for two or three decades. I have personally visited this church on several occasions with relatives that are members there. He’s a good preacher and a loving, godly man. Or, so it seemed.

Why? That’s the question everyone is asking now, why? Why did he throw away a thriving ministry, career, and do such harm to his family? Of all people, he knew the end result of having an affair. Did he just run out of steam? My guess is that it’s a bit more complicated than that, but not as much as one might think. Sin is sin. Much of it we do out of habit or stupidity or just plain evil. But, sometimes we do it because it feels good. It’s fun. It’s an adventure. It’s an escape from the pressures and/or the doldrums of life.

Whatever the reason, he did not finish this chapter of his life well. I pray that God pours out grace and mercy on him and his family and that they finish well.

The thing about finishing well is that it’s not just about the finish. To go with the horse race analogy, if you go all out for the first ¾ of the race, you probably won’t have much left for the home stretch. A strong horse that paces well through the bulk of the race can explode down the home stretch to victory.

Are you setting yourself up to finish well? How?

Things We Leave Behind

“We can’t imagine the freedom we find

From the things we leave behind.”

- Michael Card

Dr. Jekyll and Me

“When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” – Romans 7:21

I don’t know a man who can’t relate to that statement from the apostle Paul. Much to our wives’ chagrin, we blow it. We screw up. We lose it. It’s a common tale: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Banner and the Hulk, the new creation and the sinful nature. The excuse, “The devil made me do it,” may have fallen by the wayside decades ago, but we haven’t come up with a better reason for why we men behave the way we do.

I’m not looking for a quick way out of my guilt. On the contrary, I’d like to understand myself better. When I see that look in my wife’s eyes, that look that lets me know I’ve blown it… again, I want to crawl in

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde poster. Converted losslessly from .tif to .png by uploader. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

to a hole and die. But first, I want to know why I couldn’t stop it. Like the mythical doctors, Jeckyll and Banner, I try desperately to keep “the other guy” (what Dr. Banner calls the Hulk in the recent Avengers movie) at bay. There are times, however, when I can’t seem to control him.

Before you start to dial 911, I don’t smash things or scream obscenities or hurt anyone, which only proves I have a measure of control, right? So, why can’t I control it completely? Why can’t I stop it?

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” – Romans 7:15-21

It’s an age-old problem. Part of me wants to say it’s just a difference between men and women, but I know better. And, even if it were, at the end of the day, I can either try to do better, try to find a solution, or I can have a miserable wife. I may even alienate my children in the process. So, I must find a way to tame the monster within. But how?

Daddy’s Girl

Daddy’s Girl

Click the link above to hear my daughter’s song (“Daddy’s Girl”) that she wrote and sang for my 42nd birthday. She is a joy to me, my family, and to God. I couldn’t be more blessed.

Enjoy.

Ideas Matter

Ideas matter.

Ideas become words.

Words become actions.

Actions become love or hate, art or obscenity, life or death.

Ideas matter.

The Lie Detector, Part II

“There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.” – Morpheus, The Matrix

How do you know which path to take? How do you know if you are being deceived?

“Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way,…

… in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” – 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 9-12

Bank tellers and secret service agents are taught to recognize counterfeit money the same way. They don’t study counterfeit money in great detail. Sure, they learn about it, but the way they really learn how to detect counterfeit money is by becoming intimately familiar with the real thing. The more you handle real money, the more likely you are to recognize a counterfeit bill because it just won’t feel right. It’s intuitive.

If you don’t want to be deceived, become intimately familiar with the Truth.

“ Jesus answered: ‘Watch out that no one deceives you.’”  – Matthew 24:4

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