“Life is facing and solving problems.”

A thought by John Ortberg, (2015-02-24) from his book. All the Places to Go . . . How Will You Know?: God Has Placed before You an Open Door. What Will You Do? (p. 118). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

But I thought that if I give my life over to God then He would take away all my problems and He would take care of them all. I’m afraid that if you believe that then you are wrong.

John says, “If you don’t have one, your current problem is you don’t have a problem. Life is facing and solving problems. When God calls people, he calls them to face a problem. The standard word for the condition of being truly problem-free is dead.”

He quotes Ichak Adizes who writes, “Having fewer problems is not living. It’s dying. Addressing and being able to solve bigger and bigger problems means that our strengths and capacities are improving. We need to emancipate ourselves from small problems to free the energy to deal with bigger problems.”

I love living in LA. For many the problem of driving in LA is what keeps them from living here. When we first moved here I decided that I wasn’t going to drive, I was just going to walk everywhere and then drive on the weekends. I would walk five days a week or maybe take a train or a bus but one day I decided to start taking my wife, Margaret to her job every day. That was one of the best choices I have made in my retirement. I love those two to three hours I spend driving five days a week. It has opened up a quality time on the way to work and after work that is making a great difference in our life together. And the more I drive in LA traffic the better I am at doing it.

I said to Margaret yesterday that the challenge mentally to navigate the LA Freeways keeps my mind active and possibly will cause me to live a quality mental life longer than if I would just stop and vegetate in front of my computer or TV. Yes it is a problem, but I love it.

John says, “Growth is not the ability to avoid problems. Growth is the ability to handle larger and more interesting problems.”

A month from today I turn 68. I am not done living. I still have too much to do with the life God has given me. And sitting down and being problem free is not living to me. As Ichak says, “Having fewer problems is not living. It’dying.” Thanks God for the life and the problems you give me every day. I am truly alive in Christ.

So how does this thought make a difference in your day today?

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