Regret

Regret incapacitates, robbing physical strength and emotional resolve. Grace invigorates, restoring vitality of every sort and most importantly, hope.

A New Year's Proverb

Here's a tightly packed proverb worthy of daily attention this year:

"Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do; He reveals to you Who He is."

(Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, p. 2)

What Imprint Will I Leave?

Reject the myth of the self-made man; each of us is a collage of influences. As M. G. Fray put it, "I cannot be 'just me.'" We are a divinely stirred mixture of others that imprint us with their own unique reflection of the Triune God. "There is a sense in which I have become like those who discipled me--I have become the people I have known and the (authors) I have studied and read" (M. G. Fray, "It Is Enough", 2000).

Anything good seen in me carefully resembles my mentors, both the ones I walked with and the ones that continue to mark me by written expression. There is really no such thing as 'Dane Fowlkes' except in that a name is given to denote this curious montage painted by Henry Fowlkes, Lois Fowlkes, Katie Richey, T. H. Harding, Bill Clark, Bill Malin, Donald Potts, Ira Cooke, Bud Fray, Al Fasol, Vance and Cherry Kirkpatrick, St. Francis, Brother Lawrence, Frank Laubach, Andrew Murray, Oswald Chambers, A. W. Tozer, A. B. Simpson, Henry Blackaby, Stanley Mwongella, and the list goes on.... There is no such thing as a self-made man.

What imprint will I leave on those who follow me?

Thanksgiving Reminiscences

Thanksgiving affords the perfect opportunity to say "thank you" to special individuals, living and deceased. Here are a few of my Thanksgiving reminiscences:

- Thank you Jo for allowing me to see God's grace in your eyes every morning. You will always be the most beautiful and incredibly special woman in all the world to me.
- Thank you my daughters for overlooking my shortcomings as a father and loving me in spite of disappointments along the way.
- Thank you Melody for loving a brother who has always been something of a maverick.
- Thank you Mandy and Missy for allowing me into your lives and blessing me with that proud designation of 'Papa' with your precious children.
- Thank you to my students from the past decade that found something beneficial in my musings along the way about what it means to be a Christ-follower and servant leaders.
- Thank you to generous Kingdom-minded business people that have taught me volumes by allowing me to listen and observe.
- Thank you to good friends that validate the axiom that a true friend is someone who walks in when everyone else walks out on you.
- Thank you Mom and Dad for granting unconditional love from beginning to end and everything in between. I miss you more than I can say.
- Thank you to churches along the way that taught me the importance of living in community (Trinity, Midyett, New Faith, Lily Grove, Memorial, Parkway, Bel Air, Crossings).
- Thank you my Kenyan brothers & sisters for softening the edges of my own ethnocentrism.
- Thank you Father for grace and infinite love that changes everything.

When Good People Disagree

Today a good friend confronted me over my latest blog containing strong political opinion and expressed his concern that my post painted him into a moral corner inappropriately. He insisted on a direction diametrically opposed to my own insistence and was both gracious and courageous enough to own the difference out loud so as not to allow the differences to nullify the common ground of relationship. In other words, we reaffirmed our convictions and our friendship at the selfsame time. Could this be the proper tact when good people disagree? Is it possible to hold conviction and another's heart with equal sanctity? This is a good reminder to me that authentic friendship allows honest debate and substantiates relationship as a cardinal virtue. No doubt more debate awaits our next conversation, but the sharp edge of opinion will be softened (not dulled) by grace and mutual respect.

Saddest Day for America

If projections hold true, we are witnessing the saddest day in American political history. This is far more than a narrow electoral victory for a Democratic incumbent; this is a statement of how deeply America has embraced the catastrophic downgrade into Socialism. With this election result, America rejects her democratic New World heritage and rushes headlong into the failed ideologies and economic policies of socialist Old World Europe. Bill O'Reilly got it right tonight when he said America is clearly now a majority that wants "stuff" from a government, regardless of how far in debt that government must go to provide the "stuff." So, where do we go from here? Tragically, the only way for this beloved country to go is down. We race headlong over a fiscal cliff, the economy will collapse into depression, and the "stuff" so many feel entitled to receive will soon be unaffordable for a bankrupt nation. But far worse than the growing economic chaos is the moral collapse that this election evidences. Obama's re-election means that America has embraced same-sex marriage, will arrogantly pay for abortion on demand, and legalizes the removal of religious liberty.

This election was a moral as well as ideological one and the outcome is that America is now a secular, liberal, socialist nation where "one nation under God" no longer applies.

Waters Calling

I am more poet than fisherman. For that reason, when the waters call my name I choose fly fishing because I deem it more art than sport. Like verse aloft and prose landing feather-like on quiet waters, fly fishing is literature of the highest form. This poetry of motion is balm for a hurried soul and therapy for a ragged mind. Please excuse, I sense the waters calling me to compose...

The Choice Has Never Been More Clear

Barack Obama did offer one truth at the Democratic National Convention in the middle of a mountain of half truths, twisted truths and blatant untruths. That one statement was that in this election, the choice has never been more clear. Focus on whatever issue one chooses, the paths delineated by the Democratic party and the Republican party differ widely--the Democratic platform leads radically to the left; the Republican party leads strongly to the right. And while many speak only of economic recession and resurgence, the most critical contrast for me in this election is a moral one. The official Democratic Party platform aggressively promotes same-sex marriage and abortion on demand. The official Republican Party platform stands upon and promotes traditional family values and the sanctity of human life. Obamacare demands institutions to relinquish freedom of religion, while Republicans fight to defend it. It is obvious to me that this then is a moral divide and that to vote for a Democratic candidate is an immoral choice.

So, finally after a term as a failed leader, we have heard Mr. Obama utter truth. Ours is a clear choice. But more significantly, ours is a moral choice. For me, I choose traditional morality and that means I will cast my vote for morality in America on November 6 by electing Mitt Romney as the next president of this one nation under God.

Spinning the Truth

Barack Obama and his political party does do one thing well--they can spin the facts faster than LeBron James does a basketball on his best day. But this time the liberal media got one right. CNN wire staff reported following Tuesday night's Democratic National Convention that a statement repeated throughout the night was at best misleading. The Democratic speakers quoted the number 4.5 million several times in reference to new job creation during Obama's time in office. "Despite incredible odds and united Republican opposition, our president took action, and now we've seen 4.5 million new jobs," said San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, the party's keynote speaker on Tuesday night.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick both cited the same number. However, according to CNN: "While a total of 4.5 million jobs sounds great, it's not the whole picture. Nonfarm private payrolls hit a post-recession low of 106.8 million that month, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The figure currently stands at 111.3 million as of July. While that is indeed a gain of 4.5 million, it's only a net gain of 300,000 over the course of the Obama administration to date. The private jobs figure stood at 111 million in January 2009, the month Obama took office.

And total nonfarm payrolls, including government workers, are down from 133.6 million workers at the beginning of 2009 to 133.2 million in July 2012. There's been a net loss of nearly 1 million public-sector jobs since Obama took office, despite a surge in temporary hiring for the 2010 census.

Meanwhile, the jobs that have come back aren't the same ones that were lost.

According to a study released last week by the liberal-leaning National Employment Law Project, low-wage fields such as retail sales and food service are adding jobs nearly three times as fast as higher-paid occupations."

Spin the truth as fast as you can, there are still fewer people working now than when Obama took office at the height of the recession.

Mitt Romney Is Not The Messiah, But ...

Mitt Romney is not the Messiah... but he is desperately needed at this juncture in the history of the United States. While the media pundits downplay the contrast between candidates, differences that matter could not be more stark. The incumbent plays to the camera and his policies are bankrupt--morally and financially. The Republican challenger is a man of value, morality and proven ability--corporately and domestically. This is not about control of the oval office; this is about the soul of America. No, Mitt Romney is not the Messiah. However, he is a man worthy of leading America and able to right the careening ship that Mr. Obama is defaulting to the ocean floor.