A children's ministry friend of mine, Roger Fields, sent this creed to me. I find it challenging and inspiring.

I want to be a member of the Real Deal Club.
I want to be authentic on the inside and outside.
I want my actions to match my words.
I want to get out of the center of my own universe.
I want to lay down my agenda in favor of what God is doing.
I want to treat people better than they expect.
I want to get over it fast when someone does me wrong.
I want to be in secret what I am in public.
I want to always remember that it’s not all about me.
I want to accept God’s forgiveness when I mess up.
I want to be able to laugh at myself.
I want to notice when someone else is hurting.
I want to talk to God and listen to what He says.
I want to relax and let God do the stuff I can’t do.
I want to stop occasionally and remember what is important.
I want to stop pushing my opinion on others.
I want to learn new ideas.
I want to enjoy making adjustments from failures.
I want to live like I believe God can do anything.
I want to stop being consumed by success.
I want to stop taking on burdens I can’t carry.
I want to do what is right even when it costs me.
I want to love people I don’t like.
I want to do what I say I will do.
I want to keep appropriate boundaries with the opposite sex.
I want to trust God without telling Him how to do things.
I want to keep from expecting more from people than they can do.
I want to read the Bible like God wrote it for me.
I want to own up quickly to my mistakes.
I want to stop living in the past.
I want to see the big picture.
I want to let go of small irritations.
I want to admit it when I don’t know something.
I want to let others succeed without being jealous.
I want to let others fail without being critical.
I want to be really happy when something good happens to someone else.
I want to try new ideas just for the fun of it.
I want to be secure with who God made me.
I want to be thankful for what God has done for me.
I want to be thankful for what I have.
I want to learn from others without feeling threatened.
I want to be peaceful.
I want to listen more than I talk.
I want to be interested in what interests others.
I want to learn to enjoy my work more.
I want to be a blessing to someone else when I can.
I want to face the future knowing my God has already been there.
I want to be the real deal.

This past weekend I had a rather eye-opening experience, that greatly saddened me.
My brother Rick called me, asking about the last time I ever heard any news about our old youth pastor, from when we were teens (too many years ago..). "Its funny you asked," I said, "I was thinking about him just last week." Rick told me, "I think I found him."
Some background- Johnny (name changed) was an exciting, young, energetic youth pastor that came to our church when I was in 10th grade, and was a new believer. The youth group grew, reached many new kids for Christ, and Johnny was a role model for many of us. They were great years, and I made great memories in that youth group.
But Johnny had a character flaw, that became apparent after I graduated. He was found to have been committing adultery on his wife. He resigned his position, but they got counseling to preserve their marriage. They eventually moved back to Fla., to the church they came from, and he served under his former pastor again, who gave him another chance. We later heard he had another affair on his wife, which destroyed his marriage and his ministry. The last I had ever heard of Johnny, he was back up here in Ga., living in Conyers, running a successful sign-making business. It seemed, finally, all was settling down in his troubled life.
But Rick told me about a "MySpace" page he had found, with a guy that looked remarkably like Johnny. The guy had tons of pics of himself at bars & nightclubs, surrounded by women much younger than him, with wild partying, drinking, etc. going on. He called himself a "celebrity photographer", and it looked like he made a living taking pictures of people living wildly & sinfully. He even had a couple of website links, which also seemed to include a nightclub DJ business, among other things.
I looked at him in all his pictures, and told Rick, "Yeah, that's him- I'd know his eyes and smile anywhere." Here he was, gray-haired, wrinkly, in his mid-50s, living like he was some godless 22 year old.
I was saddened and troubled by all I saw. This guy had once been such a great role model to so many of us when we were teens, and look where the choices in his life have brought him to. Sure, he may appear, may even believe, his life is one big party, but will he have anything to show for it, at life's end one day?
I pondered him much of the weekend, and thanked God my life didn't go the way of Johnny. At the end of life, all he will have in hand as he stands before God will be failed marriages, destroyed ministry, and a life wasted on vanity, sensuality, and selfish ambition. In other words, nothing.
I don't want that to ever be said of my life. I want to stand before my Father one day, and hear Him say, "Well done, son. Welcome home." In fact, if I could write my own epitaph for my tombstone, I hope it will be, "He walked with God, and brought others along." That's what I want my life characterized by. The things that will last.
Jesus said of the last days, "Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved." Matthew 24:12-13.
May I walk with God, bring others with me, and endure to the end.

I'm home sick today, its Monday, an unusually warm February day, and I'm fighting a head/chest infection. No fun.
An old friend of mine sent me this remedy-
"A big bowl of chicken soup, followed by a 60-mile motorcycle ride in the country always makes me feel better. If that doesn't work follow up with 40 pages Brennan Manning, taken along with 6 tracks of Rich Mullins. A guaranteed cure for whatever's got you down." Sounds like a cure to me!!
I was thumbing through some devotional readings I've compiled from John Eldredge and others, and came across one called, "Restoration". It struck a chord in my heart today, I guess due to the combination of my illness, the warm day, and my longings for spring to get here. Here's a few thoughts from it-
"The blind saw, the deaf heard, the lame walked, the dead were raised. Wherever humanity was broken, Jesus restored it. He is giving us an illustration here, and there, and there again. The coming of the kingdom of God restores the world he made."
"God has been whispering this secret to us through creation itself, every year, at springtime, ever since we left the Garden... After months and months of winter, I long for the return of summer. Sunshine, warmth, color, and the long days of adventure together. The garden blossoms in all its beauty. The meadows soft and green. Vacation. Holiday. Isn’t this what we most deeply long for? To leave the winter of the world behind, what Shakespeare called 'the winter of our discontent,' and find ourselves suddenly in the open meadows of summer?"
"The restoration of the world played out before us each spring and summer is precisely what God is promising us about our lives. Every miracle Jesus ever did was pointing to this Restoration, the day he makes all things new."
(exerpts from "Epic", by John Eldredge)
Restoration- that is what Jesus' mission was all about, what His crucifixion accomplished, what it means to walk with Christ in this life, and ultimately, what we set our heart and hope on for our eternity. The ultimate restoration of all things. "Behold, I make all things new", says Jesus in Revelation 21:5.
My heart looks for, and longs for, the final restoration.