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“If you’re going to do what God has called you to do, you have to intentionally bring the people into your life He wants you to have.”

A thought by Steven Furtick, (2012-09-04) from his book, Greater: Dream Bigger. Start Smaller. Ignite God's Vision for Your Life. (p. 162). The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Back when I stepped out of pastoring into the adventure of retiring I knew there would be some difficult challenging days. Any new adventure no matter how great it is has some daily struggles.  Steven says it this way, “Life’s daily demands exert a strong downward pull into the tyranny of the ordinary.”  And that was true for me in those beginning days of retirement. I no longer was a Pastor but to God retirement wasn't to be ordinary for me.

We had moved to Long Island in New York State so I went looking for a set a friends who would be a new group of friends.  I found my Starbucks close to home and then started making friends.  I don’t always tell people that I am a minister or now a retired minister.  That always gives them a different way they look at me.  Well when this one older professor found out my background he then set out to challenge me in my beliefs.  Now I am not an arguer.  I don’t spend any time with negative people so I moved on to another location and I let him know why I was moving on. 

Steven has some practical thoughts on this, “How can you identify the people you need to put out of your life for a season or altogether? I’ve found it helpful to ask a few pointed questions: 
1. Who in my life leads me to attitudes or actions outside of what God prescribes for me in His Word? 
2. Who leaves me drained rather than empowered after a typical conversation? 
3. Who keeps me thinking smaller rather than helping me dream bigger? 
4. Who constantly asserts that what I’m attempting to do for God will not work? 
If there are people in your life who fit these descriptions, it might be time to limit their access to you.”

You see we get to intentionally bring the people into our life He wants us to have.  And when we are in a new adventure you need positive people who will encourage and challenge and motivate and understand what you are going through and who don’t always come with a negative perspective.  You probably won’t change them but there is a real possibility that they will change you.  Who you classify as close friends is your choice so choose wisely.

Steven says, “Jesus put out the people in Jairus’s home who laughed at Him when He wanted to bring Jairus’s daughter back to life (see Mark 5: 40). The concept of putting people out of your life may not sound very loving. But I’m not talking about drawing a circle around people and refusing to care for them. I’m talking about drawing a circle around your spirit and allowing only certain people to affect it. There’s a big difference.

By the way I came back to that Starbucks and that man changed his approach to me because he wanted me to be his friend.  Now he never was a real close friend but there was another man who was a very real encouragement to me and me to him.  God brought him into my life at a key time in my new adventure.

So what are your friends like?
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