toe-MAY-toe...toe-MAH-toe...

I used to hate tomatoes. They are still not my favorite but I eat them on hamburgers and other sandwiches because I know they are really good for me. You eat anything solely for the health benefits?

I used to hate cucumbers. Why? Because my Dad did. Still does to this day I believe. I eat them now for the health benefits and to set a good example for my kids--my boy, especially--who hates most anything called a vegetable. I want to be the best influence I can be on all my kids. There are PLENTY of areas where they have picked up bad behavior from me that I truly regret. It's ingrained in them now and I have to live with the consequences. At this point, it will take THEM realizing they are behaving that way and desire to see God change it in their own lives.

Wow, this post degraded from an entry on food to changing bad behaviors pretty quick! Maybe it's still the same topic though. I saw the following article pop up in my twitter followings and quickly perused it for the 5 Foods Men Should Be Eating Daily only to find, to my surprise that it wasn't 5 foods that I'd never want to put in my mouth but foods, for the most part, I have been eating--granted not daily, but I do try to eat them as I have occasion to.

Back to the point about changing behaviors. Are there things in your life that you want to change? Maybe it's not as easy as changing your diet to include eating a tomato or two a week, but it can be just as easy to identify the things that need changing. A great past associate pastor and mentor of mine, Dr Clayton Cloer, once gave me and a group of men the recipe for changing our lives. We used to meet once a week at "First Light" where he would pour his life into ours. Two lessons that I still hold on to today are: "Evaluating Your Walk" and "Characteristics of a Mature Believer". Each are "recipes", if you will, that will help you evaluate where you stand in life: as a Christian and as a man. As with any recipe, you have to follow it to get the end result. But, they are not magic panaceas and the results are not even up to you or me--but Almighty God and His work in and through your life. ("For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." - Philippians 2:13) But, you do your part and the Holy Spirit will do His. :) I will post these here in later posts for your benefit. Hopefully you will find them as encouraging and useful as I have over the years.

photo by orangeacid