Author Archives: expressyourself4him

Back in the spring of 1993, I received my first teaching job at a boarding school in West Virginia for underachieving junior high students.  I taught active learning classes in the morning, tutored students in various subjects each afternoon and led a workshop in the evening during the Spring semester.  The 3 subjects I was responsible for were probably my 3 weakest areas at this time in my life: language arts, communication and poetry.  However, God used this position as a stepping stone, a work in progress to prepare me for future endeavors.  This first teaching experience inspired the following poem.

A LAMP STAND of GRACE

My attempts to be a light for Christ

Is hampered by a weaken flesh

Faulty wires and burnt out bulbs

Often shut off this light daily

A Chief Electrician went into business

To deliver customers from the dark

Justifying the sins of the world

By raising a light out of this darkness

The Spirit is willing to lead you

Throughout a journey of faith

To gain access into the mystery

Of a Lamp Stand full of God’s grace

I have tried to stand upon a hill

Where the light of Christ will be seen

But when I left this original source

My faith was only a dream

Grace is not achieved through works of mankind

Nor gained by the life which you live

The only way to receive this gift

Is by embracing the ONE who has come!

by Jay Mankus

2012 has been the worst of times and this year on some occasions has been the best of times.  My first resume of 2012 was like a nightmare.  A hidden defect only appeared after it was attached as a file.  Therefore, when I sent the first few out to positions I was hotly pursuing, I was disappointed when an interview was not extended.

After working in the same position for ten years, trying to take a crash course on how to get an employers attention has been a long and grueling process.  It’s not like anyone else is looking for a job except for high school students trying to earn some extra money, recent college graduates, the millions of Americans who have been laid off and those looking to upgrade their position or management status.  Anyhow, on a day when most Americas are off celebrating the 4th of July, I have been hard at work trying to resurrect my resume by creating a portfolio of my experience and expertise.

As I look at my freshly completed resume, I have come to peace with who I am, where I have been and what God has allowed me to accomplish.  According to my records, I have been writing since 1993 as I began exploring poetry and wrote 19 songs, 12 of which compromise my one and only album, A Simple Confession.  Only the Lord knows the future, yet I can rest assured this evening that any future job opening that attracts my attention will be greeted by my latest edition, a resume that will God willingly open the door to my future.

by Jay Mankus

Writing Resume 2012

The Holy Spirit convicted me yesterday about holding grudges.  God is teaching me that my perfectionist nature often prompts me to remember when someone has let me down or failed me.  In the end, holding grudges creates friction and often divides and or ruins relationships.

Holding grudges is also similar to tithing.  If you don’t tithe, usually 10 percent of your days wages to the Lord, God will not bless you, Malachi 3:6-9.  However, if you do give back to the Lord, God promises to open up his storehouse, Malachi 3:10.  In the end, God will open the floodgates of heaven, richly blessing you like never before.

Finally, Jesus talks about holding grudges in the Lord’s prayer.  Matthew 6:14 says if you forgive, letting your grudge go, then the Lord will forgive you.  However, if you hold on to a grudge by not forgiving a person, then the Lord will not forgive.  As hard as it is, let your grudges go and let Jesus carry them to the cross.

by Jay Mankus

For the first 40 years of my life almost everything came natural.  Seventy five percent of the colleges I applied to accepted me with the only one that rejected me put me on a waiting list before finally revealing the bad news.  Nearly every place that I applied to either hired me or offered me some type of position.  I guess you can say success followed me in every avenue of life.  However, these last 2 years I have plenty of experience obtaining God’s mercy.

When strange things begin to happen, I often look to God for insight.  As bizarre events continue to occur to me mixed in with a string of failures, I have learned to look inward before I question God.  In Psalm 41:4, David cries out to God acknowledging his life of sin, seeking to obtain God’s mercy.  In my current state of affairs, I recognize that I haven’t prayed enough, haven’t trusted God enough nor I am believing like I should that Jesus has the power to change my circumstances.

So this morning I am having a Psalm 41:4 moment, in desperate need of God’s healing and mercy.  As I wrestle with my next destination, whether in Delaware or some other place, I am running out of options.  Either God is allowing me to fail miserably because I am not looking in the right place or sin is present in one or more areas of my life which is blocking the path to my future.  As I ponder these things, there is one thing I am certain of, I am a sinner in need of God’s mercy.

by Jay Mankus

Most people have at least one person or a few people that they hold up on a pedistel.  These people that you look up to may be the real deal, secretly hiding a specific sin or they are living a double life.  However, regardless of how godly someone may appear, if anyone goes a day or two without the Word of God, they will quickly begin to think like the world.

I am a kind of person who only talks when I feel like I have something important to say.  The days that I share the most are usually due to inspiration I received from scripture or insight from a book that I read after work.  The times in my life that I withdraw from others is when I am not consistently reading scripture or spending time studying an interesting book.  What I am trying to say is that without the Word, my life is boring like salt which loses its flavor, Matthew 5:13-16.

This is why the apostle Paul told the Ephesians to be very careful how they live.  It takes to lifetime to build a legacy.  It takes hard work and dedication to develop a good reputation.  However, it only takes a day or two without being in fellowship with God to make a bad decision.  In an instant, everything that you worked for can be gone, tarnished forever.  Therefore, do not let the sun go down today without spending time in the Word.  As Moses said in his farewell address to Israel, choose life or the world will drag you down.

by Jay Mankus