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Tuesday, September 29 2020
 Hello, Men! Happy end of September to you. It is officially fall! That is so great, its one of the best times of the year. Changing seasons, leaves, fire pits, stouts, roasting s’mores, camping, hunting, football and on and on. I hope that you have been able to get outside and enjoy God’s creation. I hope that you have gotten your family outside to soak in the glory and majesty that lies all around us. Oh, how easy it is to forsake the landscape of our lives. Don’t do it. Don’t let it happen. You know better! You are better! Take the time to make it happen to the best of your ability, trust me its so much more rewarding…start today, STOP, rest and smell the roses. Training Day This past weekend I trained. Trained in some heady mental and physical exercises. It was good, it was hard and a challenge, it was worth it and I want to do it again. To protect the sheep you gotta catch the wolf, and it takes a wolf to catch a wolf. - Denzel Washington as Alonzo Harris When’s the last time you trained for something? A skill either widely or rarely used? A competition? A big presentation? Do you consider the areas of your life that you have to train in? Or better yet the areas of your life you need to train your wife and kids in? How about training your employees or co-workers? Or for my few friends who recently got puppies, now you’re training puppies and kids!… I’d contend we are all training. We are all training for THAT day. Its different for each of us but then it’s also the same. In life our experiences will all be different leading up to THAT day when we will either succeed or fail based on our training for the big event. And the big event will be different for each of us as well. The event could be family oriented, or business oriented, a competition, some type of test or rite of passage, perhaps just a normal day and execution of the basics…it all depends on where we are and who we’re with. Training Day Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. What about the most important day? What about the day that’s your last? Are you training for that day? Are you training your wife and kids for theirs? No matter your theology and belief systems we will all have our last day on Earth. Does your training give you access to eternal life? Does your training acknowledge your chief end? To Glorify God daily is that answer if your fuzzy on it. 1 Timothy 4:7-8 - Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. So men the challenge for you today should you accept is this: take one step to training yourself to be the man of God you were designed to be. What do you have to lose? Nothing. What do you have to gain? Everything in Eternity. Go For It! Don’t Fear That Day!!! Jonathan E. Kennedy Jr. Tuesday, September 22 2020
 Men! I pray that each of you had a fruitful weekend, an outstanding Monday and a great week ahead. This change in weather is spectacular, I absolutely love fall. It is an amazing time of year, bringing in the rest of winter to prepare for another spring and summer. I need rest. I need to plan rest. It is so easy to not rest or to not plan or better yet to make too many plans (guilty as charged!). A REAL Man plans! Who else loves to make a plan? Come on, raise your hand high! Don't be shy, it's okay to plan. Men and plans go together like peanut butter and jelly. A plan presents a course of action and gets us moving. We like to move, we like action. Action is exciting. Excitement in Action makes life more enjoyable. It's what we are designed for and wired to do, create plans and build things. And then… "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." - Mike Tyson A REAL Man plans! That truth hurts, and its real. We’ve been punched in the mouth, now what?? How do you respond when you get punched in the mouth? What do you want to do? Have you given up your plans? Why? A little adversity…come on, you are better than that. Adversity is here to allow us to find alternate ways to be better men. Without adversity life’s too easy. We need difficulties to shape and harden us. When we look back this year, 2020 will be one of the best things that EVER happened to us. Think I’m kidding? A REAL Man plans! Remember how easy life was in February, its hard to remember, you must remember. You Can Plan for It to be Back! Your job is to plan for it. Your job is to plan for your future. Your job is to create a vision for your family, not just for now, but a year, 3 years, 5 years, 10 years, a Generation from now, You must plan this out. If you do not no one else will and your Life will be driven by others and happenstance. You can do this, its part of your God-given purpose. You are a man! Men are intentional. Men are deliberate. Men want to be great. Dare to be great, start planning now for 2021. Plan everything down to the last detail. Every single detail. And then realize this: "best-laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley [go often awry]." - Robert Burns And then roll with it and make the next best plan. Why? Because a man without a plan is just a plain peanut butter sandwich and lets be honest we need that jelly to bring some flavor to the plate of life!! This weeks Action:
“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”- Dwight Eisenhower The Victory comes in the intentional action of taking charge of your life and those around you and leading them to something bigger and better than where they are now. Focus on how God is leading you and them to make 2021 the counterpunch to this year.
Don’t Fear That Day!!! Jonathan E. Kennedy Jr. Tuesday, September 15 2020
 Hey O! Men, good evening. It's awesome right now, it's late, it's quiet. The air outside is cool and the windows are open and crickets, cicadas and the like are signing their tune. Oh, what a glorious evening. Who else is rejoicing at the return to school and learning and purpose for our kids? It is so important for them to find structure and rhythm again. Could you imagine for a moment, all the pressure and tension and unknowns of the past 6 months but you're not an adult man, you're a child. A child. Imagine how they've felt without routine and structure. Very little rhythms to follow. It's like saying you're retired (which is a misnomer btw) and just waking up and going whichever way the wind blows. That is no way for Endeavoring Men to go through life. We all require discipline, habit, structure, rhythm, and standards to be able to find and live into our purpose. Your family, your wife, your children are no different. Help them with this and you will forever be their hero, even more than you are now. And oh yeah you'll teach them a life school that very very few ever fully develop...the ability to Finish. Family Rhythms What are yours? Do you have any? How did you arrive at them? Have you ever discussed your family rhythms with your family? Why NOT? Family Rhythms The Rhythms or Disciplines of everyday life are so important. Most times when we get into these rhythms they are not on purpose. Sometimes these rhythms come to us from our family of origin. For instance, my wife grew up with Friday night pizza night; her dad would stop at Johns Pizza on the way home with pies for dinner. Happened like clockwork. Food rhythms with families seem to flow easy. Saturday is pancake day, Sundays are for brunch, etc. etc. Family Rhythms A few months ago I listened to a great podcast by Michael Foster that goes by the name of It's Good to Be A Man. BTW he is right. He was asking us to identify what our spiritual disciplines were as a family. What the daily activities we did that showed our wife and kids that we were living into our faith. It's not a complicated thing, it's really as simple as saying prayers before bedtime. Blessing a meal prior to eating it, reading the Bible together, participating in the Sabbath, going to Church... In this current world, our family's spiritual disciplines and rhythms are highly disrupted. You need to fight to not allow this to continue. Also, don't forget you are your kids' first best teacher. You were given your kids to train up in the ways of the Lord. Do that, every day, don't delay; their souls and eternity depend on this! Family Rhythms Some family rhythms can be destructive, you know what these are, stop doing them, it's hard. I know I fight the same urges. Today's Challenge is this: Identify at least 3 Family Rhythms to institute that will allow your family to become the type of family you desire to be. Implement them. Enjoy them. Whether a walk after dinner, more intentional conversation about people's hopes and dreams, a family meeting over the weekend, cooking meals together, or just reading books to your kids, intentional and deliberate family rhythms are a game-changer for all involved. Act! Now! Time to change the game! Don't Fear That Day! Jonathan Kennedy
Monday, September 07 2020
 Men! I pray you were able to enjoy your extra day this week with your family!! May you each have an amazing week. Please enjoy this podcast conversation I had with my friend Aaron of The Dad In The Trenches Podcast and website. Don’t forget life is happening For you! (not too you) Listen to 32. Redefine “Success” (w Jonathan Kennedy Jr.) from Dad In The Trenches on Apple Podcasts. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/ Don’t Fear That Day!!! Jonathan E. Kennedy Jr. Tuesday, September 01 2020
 Hello Man! Yes you man, hello! Welcome to Monday as the dog days of summer come to an end, its time to move on to the next phase of year, school. This may be the most challenging yet. May Your Dash Be With You!
There's a great children's book called, What do you do with an Idea? by Kobi Yamada.
In the book a youngster births an idea and it's in the form of a golden egg. The golden egg grows and grows and won't leave the child alone. Eventually the child starts caring for, nurturing and loving the egg to the point it sprouts the idea and changes the boy and the world around him. The imagery is amazing.
To me our whole life is like that golden egg. A golden moment encapsulated in a person that has the potential to change and grow and affect the world around him...
May Your Dash Be With You!
One way to quantify this potential is with your Dash. Your Dash is the time between when you're born and you die. The Dash (hyphen) that is used to show the extent of your life here on Earth.
How do we measure our Dash?
How does your Dash measure up to others?
Who determines the value of your Dash?
What constitutes a Dash well-lived?
May Your Dash Be With You!
I spend a great deal of time planning aspects of people's Dashes. I see the ups and downs and sideways events that affect how one's Dash plays out. It's never in a straight line. It's more like a stair step or climbing up the side of a mountain. No smooth edges here, even though on paper it appears so.
Our Dash is something to be nurtured and loved and appreciated and grown. Our Dash is to be lived into with boldness and confidence.
It's the part of us that is uniquely us, its make up is ours and ours alone. How should we pursue our Dash?
I know how.
May Your Dash Be With You!
In the last 2 months I've been an observer to 3 men finishing their Dash. (None related to the virus.)
This weekend I had the privilege of attending the celebration of one man's Dash. And what a celebration it was. The thing about this man, and his family, that was so unique and celebrated was how he spent his Dash. While he was young, he was bold. While his time was limited, he was not limited in his time.
You see this man spent his Dash focused on an inheritance that would not fade. He spent his time on life well lived in the service of others. He spent his time on the only thing that orders our Dash in such a way that all other aspects of our Dash work in harmony with the world around us.
May Your Dash Be With You!
You see a Dash well-lived, well-loved and well-focused is the Dash focused on the Eternal; the life we live forever, that is only found in one place, Jesus Christ, as the only son of God, who became human to atone for our sins so as to make right our relationship with God for our eternal salvation!
How about that? Eternal salvation promised through a God-Man named Jesus Christ.
This weeks action item: CHOOSE TO LIVE AN ETERNAL DASH
Isn't this worth your time to figure out? I think so, all of your eternity rests on this.
Answer these, is this all there is? where will you rest when your Dash is complete? How about those you care about the most?
According to C.S. Lewis..."if false, this of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance, the only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”
Don't Fear That Day!
Jonathan Kennedy Jr.
ps...inspired by Matt, thank you!
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