I remember when breakfast was just the first meal of the day…when you got to search for the prize in the cereal box…got to read the comics on the back of the box and discovered the many ways they can shape cereal…

Now, breakfast is a nutritional exercise…enough bran, fruit and no suger for cereal. Healthy consciousness over fun eating…

Reminds me of the story of two sisters walking around heaven admiring everything when one says to the other…”we could have been here earlier if we had not eaten so much oat bran!”

Back to the muffins…

Jason and Jeremy have significantly upped their golf games.
My game is in serious need of fixing.
My dad can still play at 72 (shot 78 last day)

Cooper is growing too fast.

Branson is full of joy.
Andrea is going to deliver Sadie Hope in 60 days
Kathy loves the water.
My parents are still tops.

Vacations are too short.

I’ll have pics and more details on Friday.

I was born to Judy Isaacs on September 23, 1957. For more than 50 years I have called her MOM…well not quite that long because I did not talk immediately. My mom is one fantastic lady. Such class and always supporting her children. My sister, brother and I are incredibly blessed. Among the many things I have to be thankful is that my mother is a praying woman. Throughout my life, I awoke to hear my mother on her knees in the adjacent room–calling on the name of the Lord for her children. There has not been a day in my life when my mother was not praying for me. When I have been in places far away from home, feeling vulnerable or alone, I could say with assurance–Mom is praying for me. How I love her!

(Shirley, Corrie and Andrea)

Kathy’s mom–Shirley Lanier– has been very precious to me. She has shown me grace under fire. Since the passing of Kathy’s father, I have learned by watching–God’s grace is sufficient. I once told Shirley–”you are a testimony to the grace of God!” I’m so proud of you and I love her very much. She, of course, is responsible for bringing my precious wife into this world. That’s worth a big SHOUT OUT to Shirley!

(Kathy and me)

Most of all, the mother of my own children is none other than the incredible Kathy…Yahooooo! I got to watch her give our own children an amazing spiritual foundation. She deserves so much credit for all that she has done for our boys. What a model of stability and faith she was and still it. As the years have graced our journey, I’m still amazingly in love with her.

Now, my sons have married two marvelous girls who themselves are now mothers (well Andrea is less than 4 months away with Sadie). Both girls are so wonderful and the model the same marvelous qualities as mothers which will enable their children to succeed and grow. What gifts Corrie and Andrea are!

So, I’ve been blessed to have 5 wonderful mothers…each making their mark upon me.

Happy Mother’s Day to you all!

God blessed my life with two great parents. There are none better.

I have one sister, Lynn and one brother, Tim.

There is another brother, Robert Stanley who died in 1968.

This past week I was able to spend time with Tim and his son, Landon and play some golf. It was totally refreshing. I’ve missed these kinds of moments with Tim. He is not a credentialed minister, although there is a distinct call on his life. He is a machinist and so he does not get to go to the Assembly or come to my Camp Meetings or travel like other ministers in our family. I see Tim when I go home to North Carolina…that’s all. We’ve missed a lot of time together. He is 10 years younger than I, though you cannot tell it from the pictures–he’s aged quick! and yet our early years were somewhat separated by our age. Perhaps as the older, I thought myself too cool to have my younger brother hang around, although I admit we had some good times.

He once took a whipping for me and my sister although he as not at fault.
He does a mean impression with a puppet and does many strange noises with his voice.
He hardly plays golf at all and yet is fiercely competitive on the course when the game is on the line.

He’s a good man and is raising a good family.

I love my brother Tim!

Recently, we played together in Atlanta and my brother Tim joined us. Corrie brought Cooper and Branson out and the picture tells the story.

I’m blessed!

Today as I traveled to another meeting (?$%#), I began to pray and think about some future thoughts. Naturally, these thoughts war in their process to apply human logic and reasoning–after all we are human. Yet, there is also a spiritual component because I am a believer, a man who fully and completely believes in God’s divine work in my life, the things which touch my life and the steps of my future. As I considered the challenge before me this week, I remembered a wise man once giving me a pointed response to my pondering…”either the God you serve is in charge or He isn’t–you decide!” It was a strange but powerful wake-up call to my soul in the coming days. I began to reflect on how faith works in my heart and how I apply GOD THOUGHT to my life moments. Does that make sense?

I’ll admit it…I believe He’s in charge.

I’ve seen and witnessed too many moments to doubt His sovereign control over the affairs of my life…and yours! In ways that we will never know, the Sovereign and Holy God is at work in my life, setting the stage, enabling my heart to believe and causing me to find success in my heart’s desire to see Isaiah 26:8 be the reality of my whole life. The verse reads…

“Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.”

I’ve been reading feveriously this month the novels by Joel C. Rosenberg Last Jihad, Last Days, Ezekiel Option and finished Cooper Scroll on the plane today. If you like the Left Behind series, you’ll love these as they are written in the context of Israel and the middle east and end-time prophecy. It has got me thinking about the world and the things which seem to exasperate us in the world…sin, lawlessness, indifference to morality, crime, abuse, neglect, etc. and the question…does God care? does He notice?

He does and He is engaged…more than we know.

Men and women are in position to bring about His will upon the earth. The decisions and actions of our evening news are only signs to us that Sovereign God is in control of this world and all that happens. It brings peace to my spirit. I rest in the embrace of my soul to the value that God is in control. Do you?

Lest you think I so Calvinist that I think we are not participants of choice, let me tell you I believe I do choose every day…to believe…to surrender and to know that my life when fully surrendered to His calling, His assignment and plans enables me to be His voice and light in the darkness of this present world. I represent Him with joy like an ambassador in the presence of another land…as I wait for the fulfillment of His plans in my life and this world. I take comfort in the worlds of the Psalmist…

“Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat for he grants sleep to those he loves.” (Psalms 127)

On my shelf in the state office is a book by Ron Mehl and at a very critical point in my life, it brought a powerful word of encouragement. I looked at just a day or so again and recalled the transformational message that came through reading it. The title–God Works the Night Shift. While I’m busy sleeping and going about life in the Isaacs process, God is working, designing words, feeding hungry people, making grass to grow, keeping all things by the power of His might and often I never notice until the heat is on.

Today’s problems are smaller in the view of His surpassing Greatness!

What about you?

What a strong thought for leaders of churches, families, businesses and any entity which desires to be relevant in today’s market. How does this relate to what we do in our churches, our ministries, our families? What are the implications for our personal leadership model today?

There is only one word that comes to mind…WOW!

I have some other sore spots that I thought were healed. Do you? There was that guy who hurt me with his words and I thought I had worked through it but then I saw him the other day and my sore point got a quick but painful jab and I realized I was not healed there yet. Then there was the deep regret over a misspoken word that caused another pain and though I apologized and was verbally forgiven, I found myself pricked and pained at the thought of what I said, albeit not intentionally.

The ”old sores don’t heal as quickly as they used to” is the way old-timers describe it. It is truer than we might admit. As leaders we must be aware of our vulnerabilities and work to ensure they don’t become hindrances to our effectiveness.

The tenderness of my fingertip serves to remind me that I must be more careful next time. Danger lurks in unexpected places and I must be sensitive to its potential without being intimidated from leading courageously.

How are you doing with your secret sore spots?

(from Ezekiel 16)

Using the “Build a Bear” concept from the mall…she is talking about how God wants to prepare us.

Step 1: Choose Me–how do I get God’s attention?
Step 2: Hear Me–Is God listening…what does it take to get His attention?
Step 3: Fill Me–I’m empty and I need to be filled…I leak! When I am “void and empty” He “hovers” over me like he did in Creation. He places new life in me.
Step 4: Stitch Me–I’m connected to a network of those who like me are seeking after that which God ordains. God has connected us. I’m joined to a “toefar”–a group of like minded seamstresses.
Step 5: Cleanse Me–God will draw my bath water to wash away my stains and cleanse me from the ugliness of my life battles.
Step 6: Name Me. God has entered into a covenant with us…He has put his name upon us, redeeming us from a life of bondage and putting new life and new name on us.
Step 7: Dress Me. God is anointing you and dressing you for His purpose. What is God preparing you for?
Step 8: Take Me Home! Don’t let me return to my former place…take me to your Palace! Take me to the place where my destiny will perform, to the place where you prepared me for.