SecondIron's Blog

Sharpening Iron to Live Second

When Do You Finally Tell Your Story?

Everywhere you look lately, you read or hear about people telling their story. The question is when do you finally tell your story? Whether it is a story of success, recovery, or disastrous brokenness. Everyone has one to share. Until recently even I hid behind the pages of my story. Burying the pain, awkwardness and sin behind the curtains so that no one could see. It was not that I was any better or any different from anyone else. My story was my story, or so that is what I had been conditioned to believe. It was not until I was able to face my past head on that I could finally breathe, at last, give my story to Him to read.   Although He was the author all along, scripting my every step. I spent most of my life trying to edit the ink with a pencil and eraser. Not until on bended brokenness, was I was able to kneel down amidst my filth and give Him credit. It was not until I faced my mortality in a third world country, years later that I finally was able to give Him the glory, and truly humble myself into serving others. For years, I occupied a pew in one church or another. I went through the motions year in and year out. Attending mass because I felt it was the only way I could make it through the week. It became more of an obligation than a source of repentance. I felt unforgiveness within the […]

Becoming more than just another tool in the tool shed

  Picture yourself entering into you’re a large tool shed in the backyard gentlemen, you step inside and the smell of rust and sweat wafers out into the sunlight. You take a moment as your eyes adjust to the darkness within and you reach for the lone light bulb dangling from a rope in the middle of the shed. As the aged bulb flutters on and off as the filament heats up, your eyes adjust to the dimly lit shed. Within this old shed there are tools, tools on the walls hanging from pegs, tools leaning in all directions against the walls where they were left in a hurry. There are still more tools that have fallen off the aged hooks that lie on the floor in disarray. You search for the right tool that you need for the pressing job that is still on you honey-do-list. In the dim light, even as the bulb flickers above it is still difficult to see every part of the shed. You are forced to trust your instincts and remember back to the last time you used that tool where you may have put it as you fumble around in the darkness, tripping over the scattered tools on the floor. Finally you find the tool for the job, you breathe a sigh of relief and frustration at the mess you have left the old shed. You think to yourself that you really need to clean this mess up, but again it is left for another day. Imagine if […]

Man in the Mirror

In today’s lifestyle it is difficult for anyone to walk past a mirror without taking a moment for self-absorption or self-loathing.  We have become a society that is focused on the way we look to the rest of the world. “Sometimes I hate the man in the mirror.” – Lecrae Instead of being consumed by what is wrong with that guy in the mirror, we should focus on the gifts within. Public opinion makes the assumption that the psychological disorder of vanity is mainly a female problem. Yet I am sure you like myself know many a man who spends more time in front of the mirror than is healthy, maybe even it is you. Rather than dwelling on how skinny or young we should be; or how we need the abs we used to have back in our hay-day.  If we focus on God’s grace in the gifts that we have to share to others, all the rest will come naturally. Focus on making yourself into the reflection where others see Christ when they look at you. If your actions speak volumes it will not matter what the man in the mirror may look like to you. “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.” – Psalms 94:11 We look into the mirror and see ourselves big and mighty strong as a lion. Yet many of us are with scars of hurts and pain of sin that we carry unable to forget our past.  Unlike the women in our lives, we […]