HBO’s 10-part series on the Pacific campaign of World War Two just ended. That story of island-hopping was mostly about how the old breed of US Marines fought diehard Japanese infantrymen face-to-face in places like Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, Guam and Okinawa. No one can question the Marine Corps’ record of having defeated the most savage infantrymen of the age, shattering the myth of Japanese military invincibility.

Since World War Two, the Marines have turned up almost anywhere that America finds itself in a jam against supposedly unconquerable enemies — in bloody places like Inchon and the Chosin Reservoir in Korea, at Hue and Khe Sanh during the Vietnam War, at the two bloody sieges of Fallujah in Iraq and now in Afghanistan.

Over the last two centuries, two truths have emerged about the Corps. One, they defeat the toughest of America’s adversaries under the worst of conditions. And two, periodically their way of doing things — and their eccentric culture of self-regard — so bothers our military planners that some higher-ups try to curb their independence or end the Corps altogether.

After the Pacific fighting, Defense Secretary Louis Johnson wanted to disband the Corps. What good were amphibious landings in the nuclear age? Johnson asked. His boss, President Harry Truman, agreed and didn’t like the cocky Marines either. Then came Korea — and suddenly the Pentagon wanted more Marines.

The fighting against hard-core North Korean and Communist Chinese veterans was as nasty as anything seen in three millennia of organized warfare. The antiquated idea of landing on beaches once again proved a smart way to outflank the enemy.

The Marines survived Korea, Louis Johnson and Harry Truman — and continued to carve out their own logistics, air-support and tactical doctrine. Marine self-sufficiency was due to lingering distrust dating back to the lack of air and naval support in World War Two, and to Marine paranoia that the other services liked their combative spirit but not their independence.

We are once again seeing one of those periodic re-examinations of the Corps. This time, the old stereotype of the lone-ranger, gung-ho Marines supposedly doesn’t fit too well with fighting sophisticated urban counterinsurgency under an integrated, international command.

After all, America is fighting wars in which we rarely hear of the number of enemy dead, but a great deal about the need to rebuild cities and infrastructure. In Afghanistan, there have been rumors about a new medal for “courageous restraint” to honor soldiers who hesitated pulling the trigger against the enemy out of concern about harming civilians.

The Marines are now starting to redeploy to Afghanistan from Iraq and are building a huge base in Delaram. They plan to win over southern Afghanistan’s remote, wild Nimruz province that heretofore has been mostly a no-go Taliban stronghold.

While NATO forces concentrate on Afghanistan’s major cities, the Marines think they can win over local populations their way, take on and defeat the Taliban and bring all of Nimruz back from the brink — with their trademark warning “no better friend, no worse enemy.” So once again, the Marines are convinced that their own ingenuity and audacity can succeed where others have failed. And once again, not everyone agrees.

The US ambassador to Afghanistan, retired three-star Army Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry, reportedly made a comment about there being 41 nations serving in Afghanistan — and a 42nd composed of the Marine Corps. The Washington Post quoted an unnamed Obama administration official as saying, “We have better operational coherence with virtually all of our NATO allies than we have with the US Marine Corps.”

Some officials call the new Marine enclave in Nimruz Province “Marinestan” — as if, out of a Kipling or Conrad novel, the Marines have gone rogue to set up their own independent province of operations.

Yet once again, it would be wise not to tamper with the independence of the Marine Corps, given that its methods of training, deployment, fighting, counterinsurgency and conventional warfare usually pay off in the end.

The technological and political face of war is always changing. But its essence — organized violence to achieve political ends — is no different from antiquity. Conflict will remain the same as long as human nature does as well.

The Marines have always best understood that. And from the Marines’ initial mission against the Barbary Pirates to the battles in Fallujah, Americans have wanted a maverick Marine Corps — a sort of insurance policy that kept them safe, just in case.

Victor Davis Hanson is a clas sicist and historian at the Hoover Institution.

I finished reading Proverbs this morning.   It’s probably my favorite overall book of the Bible, Proverbs 3 is my favorite chapter and Proverbs 27:27 is one of my top verses.

As iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend.  Proverbs 27:17 And as a former Marine I was trained in this way.  Friendship is not easy, neither is leadership.

Here are some verses from the notes in my life application Bible that show qualities of good leadership.

• Work hard, Set the example.

Work hard and become a leader; be lazy and become a slave. Pro12:24

• Don’t punish Honesty.

It is wrong to punish the godly for being good or to flog leaders for being honest. Pro17:26

• Listen before responding.

Spouting off before listening to the facts is both shameful and foolish. Pro18:13

• You are not the smartest person in the room.

Intelligent people are always ready to learn. Their ears are open for knowledge. Pro18:15

• Listen to all sides.

The first to speak in court sounds right, until the cross-examination begins. Pro18:17

• Strong under fire.

If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small. Pro24:10

• Remain humble.

Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but a person is tested by being praised. Pro27:21

There is a lot more leadership wisdom in the Proverbs but these 7 points are some of the essential qualities that each leader needs no matter what level they are at.

Which of these qualities do you need to work on?

What quality would you add to this list?

(click above for video link)

What does God want the most?

Romans12 answers what it means to be a Christ follower.

Matthew13:44-46
Total commitment is the channel through which God’s best and biggest blessings flow.

People that have made the to accept Christ, saved, but live no differently than nonChristians – Christian atheist. We live as if He doesn’t exist.

1 of 10 are actually an authentic Christian life.

We have bought into religion, we think God wants religion. Religion is manmade rules to connect with God. Religion = rules. Mans attempt to know God.

Adherring to list of rules can make think you are better than those that don’t. Other people have list that you can’t live up to, no feeling of fullfillment in Him. A facade that is empty.

He just wants you, no list. Just life, love and relationship. He wants all of you. Losing the religion will give an intimate relationship with God. Total commitment – life, marriage, finances, job, all that you are.

Negative List:
Sacrifice
Self- denial
Noble
More spritual
Martyr
Better than

Positive list:
Joy
Wise
Peace
Contentment

The problem = lack of commitment.
The answer = Romans12:1 ‘…offer your body as a living sacrifice…’
The command= offer your body
Surrender = Lordship
Motivation = mercy of God
The reason = act of worship
What does God the most? ME, Psalm84:11, Lord whatever you want to do
The surrender question: Are you all in?

God wants you as a signed and dated blank check! He fills it and you go on a journey together.

When you go all in, the game is on.

They believe God exist but live as if he doesn’t really exist.

I surrender all…

http://www.westridge.com/messages/archive/losing-my-religion/what-does-God-want/

What is solution to getting refocused?
-Relax & let God live His life through us – Psalm46:10
-Rest in who God made you to be – Eph2:10
-Focus on Jesus while doing everything else you’ve been asked to do – focus on Him to blur out everything else, everything will fall into place.

Learn to sit at His feet. Matt6:33 spend time with God to become what He created us to be

Invite Him into the chaos of your day. Colossians3:23 do all your work for Him

‘Walk in the dew in the morning so you don’t get caught up in the do of the day.’ Joanna Weaver

Its ok to put the list aside and sit with Him to rest and relax with Him.

7 H’s

Healthiness:
physical*you have to stay in shape, it can effect how you feel about everything else
spiritual – reading/journaling
mental/emotional

Humility: the key to having God’s hand on your leadership. Choose to humble yourself!

Home: satan is out to get my family & marriage. Cheat in the right areas but don’t cheat your marriage & family. ‘If you don’t determine what you do, you will do everything.’ Make a list of what you do. Values, sabbath, vacation/dates, work cut off time. What’s your plan?

Happiness: contentment, joy; God is the one who determines how things turn out. Choose joy! Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, choose the Spirit to work in you. Jesus has to be enough!

Holiness: struggles with addiction, immorality, porn. Seek purity. Yeild yourself to Christ. Walking intimately with God, Christ. Purity brings clarity.

Honesty: Romans 12:3, know yourself

Hunger: Matthew 5:6. The flesh pulls against the desire to hunger for God. Absolute dependence, absolute surrender.

Personal leadership, self-discipline, what’s your plan, God never promised to make up for misguided priorities.

Humility – dying to self.
‘Spiritual renewel day’

Questions: God’s Will.

Making decisions in Biblical grey areas: emotions can fog it up,
‘principle of the path’; does it violate God’s law, does it violate God’s principles (debt – slave to lender, stress), what is the wise thing to do
what is the story I want to tell

How do handle tragedies? Look back at the cross, romans 12:1
look forward – romans 8:18-21
this will be no more
walk closer and depend on him more

Why does following His will seem tougher than those who don’t? Psalm73:4-5,16-17, don’t be envious of those that will die without knowing God.
Perspective, having peace while having nothing.

How do you handle God saying No? Deeper relationship with Him, know Him more, Psalm103:2-5, romans 9:15-16, look at what God IS doing in your life.

Does prayer affect God’s will? Why Pray? The reward of prayer – Matt:6-6, relationship with God
He listens. 2Kings20:1-6, Psalm106:20-23, James4:2

How do you discern God’s voice from others? 3 voices; God, flesh/desires, satan.
Train yourself to hear Him, Humbly seek Him for answers, jeremiah29:12-13.
God’s voice and word will never contradict one another, God does not give passes.
Holy Spirit & Godly councel, Prov11:14.

How is it God’s will for son to be addicted to drugs and in jail? It is not God’s will!
He gives you a choice between Him or sin. 2peter3:9, james1
keep loving your son, sharing the gospel, don’t give up.

Bottom line…we can’t answer everything about God
He wants a relationship, focus on Him wholeheartedly
seek Him 1st and everything falls after that
live for His glory

I learned this little adage in the Marines but…
as a Marine we learned to deal with the things that aren’t planned for; Adapt and Overcome, right.

So I guess what I don’t do very much…plan. However, I am better at dealing with issues that come up. Some call it ‘putting out fires’.

With that said, some people are just planner and others don’t; some deal with sudden situations and others don’t. I like to think I can plan on the fly but my wife would say otherwise. She is the planner, a very good one at that.

Today at my job, I got thrown a couple of wrenches. Other than the stress and frustration of the situations, I enjoyed the working through the issues at hand.

How do you plan or deal with the unplanned? What goes as planned anyways?

A lot of the stuff he talks about is based on scripture. So, it relates to everyone. As a man, husband, father, christian. One tidbit of wisdom he gave (paraphraseing) ‘You’re probably not the smartest person in your organization but you are the leader’. Doh, that can hit ya. The biggest place I see this is at home, he mentions the same also. The Bible calls for the man to be the head of the household.  I lead the house…so that leaves my wife as the smart one. Or until the kids become teeanagers! lol

Seriously though, think about it, you make the decision but how or ‘who’ got you to that conclusion. Remember, Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived, surrounded himself with wise counselors; he wrote Proverbs expounding on this wisdom. In Proverbs Solomon referenced wisdom as a woman.  Honestly, we both make decisions but we discuss the options.  As a leader, I have to listen and from good counsel.  She is the smart one.

So what are you leading in your life.  It has to be something.  Just look behind you, if no one is there you may be in the missing out.  You can’t see His face that well from back there, He wants you up here with rest of us.

What do you see?