out reach - take up your cross

telling some one about Jesus is easy, what is hard is taking up your cross ever day and loving those around you, those you live with, it is hard to live day in and say out as a man of chirst.

yes it is a good thing to tell people about Jesus and to pursie men and women for the kingdom. but if you do not daily take up your cross and love those around you and live each day as Christ would have your work advancing the kingdom is like spitting in the wind.

without the live the action is nothing. Jesus actions of sharing with people would have been nothing if he had not love those around him and had not every day lived a blameless life.

i know of to many people who have focused on their ministry and have gone nowhere because they ahve destroyed their life or the lives of their families. people who spent their lives in ministry and their children turned their back on God or commited suicide or ran to drugs and alcohal. what went wrong? they lost sight of the whole picture. they did not live each day picking up their cross and loving their family and loving their wives and loving their children.

the greatest commandment is to love the lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul. the second is to love your neighbor as yourself.

the purpose of hte christian life is to love Jesus with all wo who we are. it is to trive to be like him in always. the first goal of a christian is to pursuie a relationship with Jesus Christ with all of who we are. the second purpose of the christian life is loving our neighbor it is the great commission. it is because we love Jesus so much and are growing to be more like him. we then know how to love our neighbors and to bring people into the kingdom. we are overflowing with love for Jesus and excitment in the life that we have found in him that our cup is full and we have to share that live and love with those around us.

we have to start by picking up our cross everyday, day in and day out. that is what is hard, really really hard.

we as christians have to keep the first things first and make sure we are running after the right things. there is so much i could write about this i have spent the last couple of years thinking about his and hte past 3 months actively wrestling over this and engaging in discussion and debate, but i have to stop now. if you have questions please ask, comment, email (forfreedomifight2011@gmail.com) or call 951 440 4293.
Jesus i pray that you will help us to pursue you will all of who we are. to focus on you and everything else will follow.

Living with Guys

I will be down here at Fort Benning for about a year. I am living in a Navigator house it is a great expereince. because in this time i am not only surrouneded by great men and great christians but i am learning how to deal with conflicts and with issues that arrise in the house. i just moved out of my house and into another house because there is a dog in the house i was living in. it was me or her.

i have learned in a house with men or with any one is that you have to have rules and you have to have strong leadership to follow through on the rules and if necessary you need to enforce the rules and if some one is not following them. they have chosen to not live in the house and they need to leave. this is not mean or cruel it is real love. we as christians can not be door mat and allow people to walk over us.

Jesus loved people but he did not coddle them he love then in the way htey needed love. i am learning what it means to have tough love for those around me.

step back up to the plate

you know when you feel that God points out his plan for you and as you move towards it the door gets shut in your face? Well that happend to me and i am not sure what to do about it. when hte door was shut i was content to say ok i thought that was right but now it is shut so that is it. but i keep asking God to answer this question in my life and all i can think about is the door that was shut. it is all i can do to throw my heart into the purpuit of other things. i want to go back and try for round two.

i keep praying and i keep going back to where i was. may be that is the way it is supposed to be but the time is not right. i need more time wondering in the wilderness to learn and grow into who God intended me to be.

well i hope God makes up His mind soon or he speeds up my growth even though that will hurt a lot but i want to know. the constant cry of my heart is to know what he wants for me. i see it every where and am constantly reminded of this cry!!!

should i step back up to the plate and if so when is the right time? i guess that is the dance of hte holy spirit. i need to stay in step with him and when it is the right time i will know, without a shadow of a doubt that this is what God wants for me.

"Please God what ever you are working on in my life please bring it to a conclussion and move me back up to the plate!!!!!!!!!"

Long time to talk/write/anything

So i am still here at Fort Benning snow birding.

i actualy have nothing to write tonight. i just wanted to get on here and update put something up here. one of my roomates just turned 26 on tuesday and we are going to celebrate his brithday tomorrow night. i have been trying to get our house in order for that party but it is hard when i as 25% of the house am the only one who is trying to get it ready and the other 50% is doing nothing the other 25% wants to help but has a real job unlike the other 50%.

i have to practice self restraint every day to keep from hurting anyone when they push my buttons i have tried to show love to them. even though i do not feel any love what so ever towards them. we have house chores and mine is not sweeping the common areas but i did it again today because my roommate can not seem to find the broom which is right in front of him.

i really do not have anything nice to say so i am going to stop here. this was not a good blog so i am going to stop now.

i am sorry to all how read this.
joey

Long weekend - Navigator Retreat - Great Commition

Hey everyone (or at least those who read this)



We just finished a long weekend and i had some great adventures i wanted to tell you about. I finished work on Thursday afternoon and jumped in the car with a friend of mine and headed up to Atlanta to pick up his girlfriend. Then we drive up to his family’s lake house. We were up there with me and two other couples one married and the other dating. Friday we took his families boat out on the lake it was as great i tubed and knee boarded. then we all swam around for a while it was great, well they all had someone to do it with but i was fine because i got to drive the boat and it was amazing. I have decided i am going to have to own a boat one day. It is not an if any more it is only a when. The rest of our group showed up late Friday night and we made dinner, it was another couple who is dating and two other single guys. Saturday morning we boated again and swam a lot it was a lot of fun. The three couples, one married and two dating and then me and this other single guy but again i got to drive the boat so i was in heaven.



We then headed up to the Navigators conference Saturday night. Checked in went to the first session, roasted marshmallows, swam in a lake we were not supposed to and had a great time. we got up on Sunday at an ungodly hour to run up Currahee (the hill from Band of Brothers) it was a great time.it was dark so i could not even see the group beneath my feet but i could see the vagu out line of a white road and that is where i went and supporsingly i did not fall or twist anything. Then we got back and had two workshops which were good.



That afternoon/evening i had a minor melt down. This may take more than one post but the BLUF is: we are all human and no one is perfect.



The navigators have developed an amazing way to witness to people and to disciple people but at the conference i was reminded of why i left the navigators while i was at West Point. The Focus of the retreat was on disciple ship. Whenever i would bring up the direction that God has been taking me and the cry of my heart i would be shut down (most times in not so graceful or loving a way) and told that i needed to relook at my way of following Jesus.



What is sad to me is that what i feel is the cry of my heart is where all these people came from and they have such a clear grip on. There are basic truths that are infallible however how each of us takes those truths and applies them in our own lives is going to be different we are all individual and unique people.



the cry of my heart, the reason i wake up every day and read my bible and pray, the reason i go to battle everyday with my mind to have victory is so that i can be one with God! The cry of my heart is to be in a relationship with Jesus Christ and to be close to him.



I believe that is our mission that is our journey however while we are on this journey we were "commissioned" to bring other into the kingdom to join us on the journey.



if my focus is on Jesus and to be close to him to have him fill my cup to over flowing then from that over flow of my heart i will be so excited about Jesus who i know that i will have to share it with others and bring them into the kingdom.



Here is the problem how do you get 100% of the body of Christ doing Great Commission work 100% of the time??



Only a small percent about 5% of the body of Christ is called to be missionaries or pastor or called to full time ministry. But what about the rest of us? What about us in the trenches?



well in the normally use of the word we laborers who go to work every day and have a normally job are not in full time minister...however this is where i would raise a red flag and ask you to reevaluate. I would argue that we in the trenches, we laborers are called to and can do Great Commission work 100% of the time.



When I go to work i devote myself to my job 100%, when i am working out i devote myself to it 100%, when i am working on relationships with people i am there 100%. That is how we obey.



The cry of my heart is to obey, not to go. Yes it is hard to go to Africa or some other nation. However i would argue it is just as hard if not harder to go to work day after day working at it with all our hearts as working for the Lord and not for men. Being faithful. Being a light for those in the dark of how a man or woman of God should live their lives. Now do not get me wrong this does not mean that we on the line do not have to be ready to go for the fumble at any time and run for the in-zone but our focus is giving it our all every play. If you have ever played D or O line in football you will understand this, you have to sell your body every play. You have to sell out every single time the ball is snapped. There is not holding back and going half speed. That is what i believe living for Jesus looks like.



One day i hope that someone will look at me and i do not want them to day that was a man who disciple people, or who told people about Jesus.



I want people to look at me and say,



"There is Joe Lambert; he is an Infantry officer who is squared away and excellent at his job. That is a man who is a PT animal. Joe Lambert is a Christian. That is a man who has something different and something i do not have and that is what i want."



Well now you have my two cents. I am not down playing any other point of view and i hope that i have not offended anyone. However if we can agree on the base line truth:



1. Our relationship with Jesus is our Number one priority



2. As we grow close to him we will bring other into that same relationship



These are true. However how they are manifested in my life is going to look different than they are going to be in your life.

Day in the life of a Snow Birding LT

So right now I am at Fort Benning, GA. Waiting for IBOLC to start (Infantry Basic Officer Leadership Course). This time now before I start IBOLC is called “Snow Birding” do not ask my why but it is. I am going to walk you through what my week day looks like.

0415 – Wake up: I get up to do my quite time. I am getting my body used to getting up early and doing my reading so when I have a full day I am used to it.

0545 – PT formation: we have formation every morning at this time for PT, which I live all of a 4 minute bike ride away from.

0610 – We start PT: it takes about this long to do accountability and revelry, then we finally stretch and go to run. We normally run about 3 days of the week. Tuesdays is our combative days and Thursday is our squad competition days.

0730 – Releases to shower and breakfast: this is when I ride my bike home to shower and eat breakfast.

0830 – Head back for 0900 formation: normally the last people in the squads get picked for details so if you get there early you can stand next to the squad leader and get out of details.

0900 – Formation: this is when SFC K hands out information, schools, and details.

0930 – Normally when we are released for the day

1000 – Smith Gym: this is when I head over to Smith Gym and get a lift in.

1200 – Lunch: I am still working on cheap health bachelor lunches. Right now my favorite meal which I had all last week was hamburgers and zucchini with feta cheese. It is great.

1200 – 1700 – read/nap/read/hang with Judd

1700 – Normally cardio workout: this is when I go for another run or go out on my bike depending on the day and when we did for PT and what we have tomorrow.

1830 – Dinner: which for the last week it has been steak and zucchini and or yellow squash with feta cheese.

1900 – 2100 – read/watch movie/call people

2100 – Bed time: I normally try and go to bed at or just before 2100. It is great to get all that sleep.

I have so much free time right now it is great. God is doing some big time renovations in my life, teaching me to rely on him and to trust his plan for my life. I do not have much to do here but grow my relationship with Him so that is what I am using this time for. I am never going to have this kind of free time again; I am going to enjoy it for all it is worth right now.

Well that is what a day in the life of Joey lambert looks like during the week.

Plebe Year Part 2 – Beast

My family and I arrived in New York a couple days early for R-Day. The night before I went into Beast I watched Gladiator still one of the most motivating movies in the world right behind Man on Fire. The next day I walked down the steps into Ike hall in the big auditorium we were told we were to go through the huge double doors and we had 30 seconds to say goodbye my mom had been saying goodbye all morning and crying all the while. I walked through the doors and started on one of the greatest experience of my life to date. That first day was a blur but I do remember meeting my roommate and trying to make my bed as soon i got there and he told me slow down Turbo we have time for that, that name would stick with me for a long time and would be what I was known for in Foxtrot company during Beast.

There is little that stands out to me of my beast experience some highlight here and there. But mostly I remember it as an experience a set of emotions and feelings not as specific events. I remember one time huddling up with my squad out in the rain our squad leader called us in and we all got really close trying to stay warm. I remember one day playing ultimate Frisbee, the CO was on my team and he called for me to pass to him, “hey Turbo over here.” I remember Sunday morning and crying to the chaplain because I felt so alone and incapable to do what I was required. I remember the repel sight and talking crap to the repel master and racing him. I could not start as fast as him but once I got going I hit the ground literally inches behind him.

The biggest thing I remember from beast was on developing a name for myself as the loudest and most motivated person in the class of 2011. The feelings of fear, self-doubted and not measuring up were growing and continue through Beast and into Plebe year. Those feelings for doubt and fear where to become a driving force in my life over plebe year.

However God as always proved himself too good to me over Beast even with these feelings racing through me I was able to enjoy every minute of Beast and have nothing but fond memorize of it. God gave me success that I did not deserve during our activities during Beast.

This success would and the lies in my heart I believed would make my first couple years at the Academy very painful and a time of struggle and turmoil for me.

“FOXTROT!!!!!!!!!!”