Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Ed Young, from his book, The Fear Virus: Vaccinating Yourself Against Life's Greatest Phobias (p.73). Creality Publishing. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Maybe you're one of them or you know someone who is. Ed says, “Ironically, we are not alone in feeling alone, but when fear comes in and whispers, ‘You are alone, no one cares, no one has experienced what you’ve been through,’ we feel utterly isolated. ” He goes on, “In the midst of the pandemic, we were told to self-quarantine. For a lot of people this made their fear of loneliness rise to the surface. God made us to be relational; He put those longings in us. While desiring relationships is good, fear of loneliness can cripple us and cause us to act in unhealthy ways. When our hearts feel broken with longing and fear of loneliness, we must remember that with God, we are never truly alone. He understands us better than we understand ourselves, He ...

A thought by Ed Young, from his book, The Fear Virus: Vaccinating Yourself Against Life's Greatest Phobias (p.59). Creality Publishing. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) It really can, can’t it? Ed says, “It can keep us from what God has for us, it can make us stagnant in our faith, our relationships, our careers, and our goals. When the fear virus attacks our hearts and starts whispering about failure, we have to fight back. We must remember that God is with us, guiding us, helping us finish the work that He started in us. God is a God of victory. He never lets it end with failure if we turn to Him; He always redeems, always loves, always lifts us up. Undoubtedly, you have some dreams that have not been realized, and we have to ask ourselves: What is the blockage? What is holding you back?” He continues, “I believe the answer is fear. Specifically, we have paralyzed our own hopes and dreams by our own fear of failure....

A thought by Ed Young, from his book,  The Fear Virus: Vaccinating Yourself Against Life's Greatest Phobias    (p.34). Creality Publishing. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) That makes sense, doesn't it? Ed says, “Have you ever tried to move the steering wheel of a car that is not moving? The friction of the rubber against the pavement resists the guidance from the steering wheel. On the other hand, when the vehicle is in motion, you can steer the car with your pinkie finger. I wouldn’t recommend this as a rule, but you can do it. Vehicles were designed to be steered on the go. ” He goes on, “Likewise, people were created by God to be guided on the move as He often illuminates one step at a time. I wrote earlier of how Proverbs 3:5-6 has been a guiding verse for my family. It promises that God will make our paths straight if we trust Him one step at a time. Another one of my favorite passages in Scripture is P...

A thought by Ed Young, from his book, The Fear Virus: Vaccinating Yourself Against Life's Greatest Phobias (p.28). Creality Publishing. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) We do that, don’t we? Ed says, “Dr. Robert Leahy, clinical psychologist and director of the American Institute for Cognitive Therapy in New York, reported a study that he did showing that 85 percent of what subjects worry about never happens. And with the 15 percent of events that did happen, most of the subjects discovered either they could handle the difficulty better than expected or they were grateful for a lesson learned through the experience. We take things from tomorrow and the next day and we dump it on today. That’s why Jesus is saying to us, ‘Don’t do it. You take care of what God has given you today and don’t freak out about tomorrow.’” Earlier he said, “We all deal with different fears. For many of us, it’s the fear of the future, the fear...

A thought by Ed Young, from his book, The Fear Virus: Vaccinating Yourself Against Life's Greatest Phobias (p.23). Creality Publishing. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) But we don’t need to stay that way, do we? Ed says, “We are in such turmoil, so apprehensive and anxious. Our heavenly Father is saying to us right now, ‘Trust me, I’m in control, I will get you through this and I will show you the way. You are safe with me. I know the way home.’ “It’s one thing to trust God in times of plenty; we can sing worship songs about His goodness all day long. It’s a completely different thing to trust God in times of lack, times of want, times of fear. In times like these, we all need the reminder that God is trustworthy. ” He goes on,  “Do you know what the word trust means? Our English word trust comes from an Indo-European root word meaning ‘to be solid,’ which is also the source of our word tree. If you want to be ...

A thought by Ed Young, from his book, The Fear Virus: Vaccinating Yourself Against Life's Greatest Phobias (p.17). Creality Publishing. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) So, we need to name them. Ed says, “We might find ourselves doing certain things without knowing why we are doing them. Our bodies and minds naturally seek coping mechanisms, even if we aren’t aware of the reason we need to cope. For example, you might be unaware of your social anxiety, but every time you meet with someone you are always picking at something—tearing up a piece of paper, picking at your cuticles, playing with your keys. Those habits are your body’s ways of coping with stress and fear. You might be unaware of your fear of abandonment, and every time you start a new relationship, you become really clingy and always need to be around the other person. Maybe you have an unnamed fear of clowns, and you haven’t been to a carnival in years. Whateve...

A thought by Ed Young, from his book, The Fear Virus: Vaccinating Yourself Against Life's Greatest Phobias (p.13). Creality Publishing. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) That is so true. Ed says, “That reminds me of Psalm 27:1: ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear?’ When you know The Man, you don’t have to fear the little man.” The little man was who Ed feared when he was young till finally his mom turned on all the lights and showed him there was no little man. It seems that the light showed that it was the vacuum cleaner that he thought was the little man. He goes on, “When the fear virus takes root in our hearts, it distorts our perceptions and leaves us feeling out of control. We fear the feelings of helplessness caused by fear, so we try to run away. We can’t run away from our heart condition, the deep-rooted fear in our hearts, and pretend we are healthy; we have to do the painful work of subm...

A thought by Ed Young, from his book, The Fear Virus: Vaccinating Yourself Against Life's Greatest Phobias (p.8). Creality Publishing. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Yes, we are. Ed says, “I’m not talking about the vital organ in your chest but the heart that is the seat of yourself, your intellect, your morals, and your spirituality. And because of sin, we are heart patients, vulnerable to sicknesses like fear. You may not know it, you may not feel it, but at this very moment you could have a severe case of the fear virus attacking your heart. You could be in danger right now of missing out on God’s best for your life because fear is choking out your future. We all need to come to terms with the fact that we are heart patients and we have a fear virus that is taking life out of us. But there is a peace and joy God has for you—regardless of the circumstances in the world…” He goes on, “Fear is often rooted in the ine...

A thought by Bob Goff, from his book, Dream Big (Kindle Locations 1228). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) This sounds great. A Mustard Tree Bob says, “Jesus told His friends nothing less. He talked about mustard seeds and said they were the smallest kind of seed. The fact is, they’re not. Because I’m a lawyer, I checked. The smallest seed in the world is a Peruvian orchid. It weighs less than one twenty-four millionths of an ounce. The story isn’t about the seed though; it’s about the tree it grows into and the rest it gives to those who need it most. I’ve done a couple of big things but a lot more small ones. You have too. God can use both, I suppose, but I think He delights in the small stuff a lot more. “Other than my kidneys being permanently shot, I’m just fine after getting malaria. I’ve crossed kidneys off of my donor card. They’re just no good anymore. I’m trying to grow a strong heart to make ...

A thought by Bob Goff, from his book, Dream Big (Kindle Locations 1184). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) It really can! Bob says, “I try to find reminders about the power we can experience together everywhere. When we’re in Canada, we see thousands of sea otters drifting along on the top of the water in the inlet. They’re everywhere—kind of like Priuses. Did you know sea otters hold hands while they’re floating? It looks a lot like they’re going out on dates with each other. After seeing so many sea otter couples drifting two by two through the water, I figured there had to be some reason for the hand holding. I dug a little deeper and it turns out the answer is simple: they don’t want anyone to drift away. He goes on, “As you pursue your ambitions, you’re going to need some hands to hold and some friends to love so you don’t drift off into the open waters. In other words, you’re going to need a community...

A thought by Bob Goff, from his book, Dream Big (Kindle Locations 1128-1129). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) He didn’t and He still doesn’t even during this time that we are in. Bog says, “He didn’t have any middlemen, and perhaps you shouldn’t either. Sure, He spent time alone, but it wasn’t long before everyone showed up. He didn’t have someone vetting everyone who came His way either. I have a couple of friends who put loads of barriers between themselves and everyone else under the banner of efficiency. That’s fine, I suppose, if that is the messaging you want to release into the world. But what is efficient isn’t always effective. The people you spend time with will play the largest part in the ambitions you achieve, not the minutes you saved each day by avoiding them. Be available. Talk to everyone. Become their student, not their teacher. Love’s goal isn’t ever efficiency; it’s presence.” He goes o...

A thought by Bob Goff, from his book, Dream Big (Kindle Locations 1030-1031). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) That is a part of the process of pursuing. Bob says, “The truth is, you’re probably going to need to make a couple of easy things uncomfortable. If you’re going to live fully awake and full of anticipation, you need to spot those areas in your current life where you’ve slipped into numbing routines that are putting you to sleep. “Perhaps the routines that once brought some positive rhythms to your day have become a bland, enslaving drumbeat. Here are some telltale signs. Maybe you have become generally dissatisfied and listless. Perhaps you’re short with the people you love or respond to small inconveniences with disproportionate annoyance. If this is you, you’ve got three choices: wake up, chill out, or get a puppy. You can have ours. If you want to press through the resistance you’re facing, you...

A thought by Bob Goff, from his book, Dream Big (Kindle Locations 1015). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Fantastic! Bob says, “One of my personal practices is to memorize each of them. Try it sometime. It will bring tremendous focus to your day and meaning to your interactions, and it will amplify your faith. Here’s how to do it. Almost everyone knows the first miracle Jesus did, right? There was a wedding celebration and they ran out of wine. Jesus took some jars of water, turned them into wine, and the party kept going. What I’ve been looking at aren’t just the miracles, but what was happening around the miracles. At the wedding, Mary leaned over to the host after he spoke to Jesus and whispered, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ This is my hope for you as you pursue your ambitions. Whether faith is important to you or not, whether you talk to Jesus all the time or almost never, I hope you will take the ideas in t...

A thought by Bob Goff, from his book, Dream Big (Kindle Locations 1007-1008). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Could that be you and me? Bob goes on, “Actually, it’s more sinister than that. It’s not stopping you on the way to the starting line; it’s keeping you from even getting your jersey and running shoes on. The fix is as simple as it is hard. We need to wake up. This is going to take more than just smelling the coffee. It means getting out of bed, planting some coffee trees, having some patience, picking the beans, doing the roasting, and grinding them into something more useful.” He then says, “Take the next step. Don’t just look awake; come alive to who God has made you to be. Practice walking around fully awake to yourself. Take notes, sing songs, laugh a lot, smell the flowers, roll on the grass, write the letter, take the class, make the call. You’re not doing this just for fun; it’s one of your f...

A thought by Bob Goff, from his book, Dream Big (Kindle Locations 915). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Let’s see what Bob says. He says, “It’s not. Hate is merely the opposite of love, but not its enemy. Hate only has as much power as we give it. Love works the same way. It’s fear that stops love in its tracks every time. If you think about it for a moment, most of what we do is motivated by either love or fear. The trick is to figure out which one is doing the talking at any particular point in time. As we’re figuring out our ambitions, we need to figure out what’s been controlling our lives.” He goes on, “That can be confusing, though, because the voices behind these competing influences of reflection and reaction sound a lot like us. Because they are us. If we take the time to listen a little closer and with some discernment, we might find out that some of the ideas holding us back didn’t actually or...

A thought by Bob Goff, from his book, Dream Big (Kindle Locations 891-892). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) He really does care! Bob says, “I didn’t grow up in the Church, and while I speak at quite a few faith gatherings, one thing I’ve found to be true is that people don’t grow where they are merely informed; they grow where they are fully accepted. Before we go any further, let me get this out on the table where we can talk about it. You are loved and accepted. One hundred percent. No qualifications. No prerequisites. You can’t be good enough, smart enough, or nice enough to be loved by God. He decided He would love you before you decided you were interested in loving Him back. Even if God is no big deal for you, your life is a big deal to Him. You are some of His most creative work ever. Pursuing your ambitions needs to start from a position of acceptance, not compliance. Compliance only lasts until you de...

A thought by Bob Goff, from his book, Dream Big (Kindle Locations 861-862). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) We do, don’t we? Bob says, “The fix is a simpler, more intentional faith, not a busier or easier one. Complicated theology isn’t bad; Jesus just never said it was a prerequisite or qualification for the unschooled, ordinary people He invited to follow Him. Certainly, learn a ton about what you believe, but don’t be like the self-identified teachers who gave educated waves to Him. You don’t need a bunch of twenty-dollar words to couple your faith to your ambitions. When your faith is anchored by the few things God said we should care about, it will be more than enough to keep you clear and focused on the road ahead.” Bob continues, “Let’s say you clear the room of everything in your faith and ask yourself, ‘If I had to add one thing back to my life, what would it be?’ It sounds like one of those mome...