Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Mark Batterson (2009-12-09) from his book, Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity (Kindle Location 1411). Random House, Inc.. Kindle Edition . I love the opportunity to explore.  I am fortunate to have been given the opportunity to see what other places are like.  I have lived on both coast and in the South and the North.  I was almost born in a car.  The only state I haven’t been to is Alaska.  I love to explore. Margaret and I are headed into a new experience.  We are moving from Long Island in New York to Seminole, Florida.  I have already lived in Seminole but I have never lived in my own home.  That for us is a new adventure.  I have already explored Home Depot as a homeowner.  That is a different experience than visiting it as renter.  There is more you can do in your own home. But the wonder of exploring God’s creating is a way to glorify Him.  Psalm 121.1 & 2 is one of my life ...

A thought by Miles McPherson (2009-11-01) from his book, DO Something!: Make Your Life Count (Kindle Location 332). Baker Books. Kindle Edition. Well today is the day that we celebrate love, at least the emotional part of love.  The truth is that is what we view as the definition of what love is but it is really more than that. When I was young I had a weird idea about love.  I didn’t want to cheapen it so I made a self-commitment to when I told that someone that I loved them, the next question would be, will you marry me?  I told two ladies that and asked them both THE question and I got it right on the second one.  I made my lifetime commitment to Margaret Ann Fletcher on November 9, 1974 in Maud, Ohio Wesleyan Church.  We have said that we have never contemplated divorce, murder, yes.  We have been married 37 years – 34 good ones and 3 bad ones.  Those 3 years were what I call my jerk time but Margaret held on and we made it through....

A thought by Miles McPherson (2009-11-01) in his book, DO Something!: Make Your Life Count (Kindle Location 1006). Baker Books. Kindle Edition. God wants us to meet the needs of those around us.  That is one of the parts of being created in God’s image that we so many times miss because of our self-focus.  He is here to meet our needs and that is one of our purposes as Brian Moll, my pastor said yesterday. Margaret and I are moving to Florida for one reason.  When God made it clear to me that I was going to Florida to help in meeting the needs of a widow in our family, my mother, then everything fell into place. It is unbelievable how God has worked everything out.  That is the first reason for our going but there are also so many benefits: close to my brother, sister and brother-in-law, warm weather, the Gulf, our own condo, and other purposes.  One purpose comes because we are moving into a 55 and older community.  What a tremendous opport...

A thought by Steven Pressfield (2010-08-30) from his book, The War Of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle ( p. 7). PREMIERE. Kindle Edition. Whenever you make a commitment to do something to better yourself or someone else there is always going to be a challenge to start and also to keep doing it.  It will be a daily struggle. Now if it is to go to Disney World then you are wide awake and ready to go way before you need to get up.  But if you are in your fifth month of working there it takes an alarm to get you up and most people wait till the last moment to get up and go.  It is always easier to get up to do fun than it is to do work. I have always said that we do what we want to do.  When someone used the excuse to me as a Pastor that they couldn’t make it to church because they were up late I would then say to myself, “We do what we want to do.”  If they were going to Disney World they wouldn’t use that excuse because they want to go to Disn...

A thought by Steven Pressfield (2010-08-30) from his book, The War Of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle . PREMIERE. Kindle Edition. I usually write this blog in a Starbucks right after I have done my daily walking.  I have put it into a routine that helps me to do it.  Now today my routine was a little off and I almost said, “I won’t write today”. There are so many things in life that it’s not the doing that is difficult but the starting.  My walking was one of those.  I knew I needed to exercise, I needed to lose weight but I didn’t start until my wife found out she had diabetes and she needed to change her diet and to exercise so I did it with her.  Now because of different schedules I do it by myself but it is a part of my six day a week routine.  It is not an option. Now it is good to have choices.  But there are some things you just need to do. One of those areas for my family was going to church every weekend.  It was ...

A thought by Mark Batterson (2009-12-09) from his book, Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity (Kindle Locations 1457-1458). Random House, Inc.. Kindle Edition. I lived in so many different places in the United States.  I have been to 49 States.  At some point I will make it to Alaska.  But I have loved living and exploring everyplace I have lived. I lived in Las Vegas, Nevada for 15 years and I loved to go to Zion National Park.  Whenever people would come to Vegas to see us if they had a few days we would take the 2 hour drive and go see this beautiful Canyon.  I loved it but there were so many of my friends who had lived in Vegas all their life who had never been there.  What a waste. I live now on Long Island, a 45 minute train ride from New York City.  I know people who have lived here all their life and have never been to the Thanksgiving Day Parade.  They have never experienced the excitement of those balloons beca...

A thought by Mark Batterson (2011-01-18) from his book, Soulprint: Discovering Your Divine Destiny (pp. 47-48). Multnomah Books. Kindle Edition . In your time of depression are you remembering what God has done for you in the past, thanking Him for all His blessings?  In your time of loneliness are you remembering that He will never leave you or forsake you?  In your time of fear are you remembering that perfect love casts out all fear?  In your time of worrying are you remembering that God is greater than anything you are facing?  In your time of guilt are you remembering that God forgives?  In your time of wandering and wondering are you remembering that if you trust Him He will make your way straight? Look at your mood.  That will tell you what you are remembering and what you are forgetting. What are you remembering?

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus from his book, Chasing Daylight: Seize the Power of Every Moment (Kindle Location 595). Kindle Edition . I just have had a tremendous valuable time for 1 ½ hours.  First of all I walked.  That is making a difference in my health.  I am 64 and I decided a few years back that I didn’t want to be an invalid so I started eating healthier and started walking.  That has been of benefit to me.  Then today I listened to 2 messages by Robert Morris who is the Lead Pastor of the Gateway Church in Austin, Texas.  The messages were on prayer.  They challenged me and gave me new insight on this tremendous subject.  But if all I did was to walk and then to listen I would have been helped but it would have been all for me.   My world was changed but that was all if I didn’t do something.  The first thing I did was to pray.  I took what God had taught me through Robert Morris and came back to pray ...

A thought by Miles McPherson (2009-11-01). DO Something!: Make Your Life Count (Kindle Locations 1024-1025). Baker Books. Kindle Edition . God gives us each day to live, not endure.   It is our choice.  Because I have a relationship with God and I believe in a big God and I believe He knows what He is doing then I believe He built today for me for a reason.  That is living life with confidence with faith.  So what is there to learn today, what is there to do today and who is there for me to encourage today?   That is what living life is all about. “This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.”  Psalm 118:24 (NKJV) So what is your choice for today, living or enduring? 

A thought by Darren Whitehead and Jon Tyson (2011-07-19) from their book, Rumors of God: Experience the Kind of Faith You´ve Only Heard Abou t (Kindle Locations 362-363). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. Millions of people tomorrow at 6:30 pm will stop for a few hours to watch an event that will change people’s desires and needs.  Yes some will be watching the Super Bowl for the football but many more will be watching for the commercials.  I used to watch the World Series to see the new car designs for Ford, General Motors and Chrysler introduced.  I remember when Ford introduced the Edsel and when Chrysler came out with those big fins.  Yes sports and advertising go together. Now if we can just watch all those commercials and not get hooked then it would be OK but we will watch and then want even when we have more of that particular item than we really need.  Right now I am sitting in a Starbucks writing this after I have just walked for 1 ½ hours....

A thought by Miles McPherson, (2009-11-01) from his book, DO Something!: Make Your Life Count (Kindle Locations 1018-1019). Baker Books. Kindle Edition . I am writing on my other blog, bill’s front porch , about what James in his New Testament book says about patience.  It is what we as a family need right now.  I like what Margaret, my wife has been saying, our plans are written in pencil.  We have changed our plans over and over in the last few months about when Margaret and I are going to load up the U-Haul with all our stuff here in Oceanside, New York and head down to our condo in Seminole, Florida.  The truth is each time we made the plans they seemed like a good idea until the day we changed them.  There were different things out of our control that needed to fall into place for our plans to happen but the truth is they weren’t out of God’s control.  We may not see the why now but down the road we will see that the time we finally did it...

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus from his book, Chasing Daylight: Seize the Power of Every Momen t (Kindle Locations 440-441). Kindle Edition. So much teaching has been on the don’t that we lose sight of the do.  Christ died on the Cross to forgive us for the don’ts so we could do the dos.  That is Good News.  I am now free of the guilt of my sin so I can be free now to do the purpose for which God created me to do.  Now in living the holy victorious life we deal with the cleansing part but too many times we forget the empowering part.  God wants to empower us though His Spirit to make a difference for Him and with Him in the world we live in.  Yes we need the Holy Spirit to cleanse us of that self-centeredness that we were born with and then to fill us with Himself, with His love which empowers us to fulfill His reason for creating us.    We need to ask for Christ’s forgiveness of our wrongs, our sins and to ask the Holy Spirit to...

A thought by Miles McPherson, (2009-11-01) in his book, DO Something!: Make Your Life Count (Kindle Location 424). Baker Books. Kindle Edition. That is truly a God thing, to have that perspective in our lives, that God is out ahead working things out for us.  Now of course that isn’t true of everyone.  It is only true of those who have a relationship with God through Jesus.  Now let’s say that this perspective is just what you needed to hear, to believe today.  This is exactly what you needed today.  During my time of prayer I prayed that God would show me what thought needed to be shared today for some particular person who would read this today.  God wanted to speak to you personally and He was going to use today’s blog to do that.  Now you come across it somewhere but you decide to not click on it and read it so then you wouldn’t have benefited from the thought that God had provided for you personally today.  in order to receive...