Skip to main content

“There are thirty-seven recorded miracles in the New Testament.”

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 these pages about pursuing your ambitions and then do whatever God tells you to do with them.”

Bob goes on, “I’m a meat-and-potatoes guy when it comes to faith. I don’t see ladybugs landing on my nose as a message from God. I’m confident if God had a message for me and I missed it, He knows where I live and would send an elephant to land on me next time. Still, I enter each day assuming there’s a thirty-eighth miracle waiting for me if I’ll fully engage life and the people around me with love, honesty, and an unreasonable, almost annoying heap of expectation. What would happen in your life if you started doing the same?”

He then says, “If you want to make progress toward your ambitions, live in constant anticipation of what might happen next. Look constantly for opportunities to give your ambitions some lift, and when an opening comes along, be ready to do something about it. People who actively anticipate opportunities don’t just sit on the edge of the chair hoping. They stack books on the chair and stand on top of them looking for an opportunity. Try it. The view will be great.”

So, let’s go looking for some books to stand on, okay?

Yes, yes!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

“There’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.”

A thought by Bob Goff from his book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People ( p. 41). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)   Have you ever built a sand castle or maybe a Lego castle?   Have you? Bob says, “We actually build castles all the time, out of our jobs and our families and the things we’ve purchased. Sometimes we even make them out of each other. Some of these castles are impressive too. Lots of people come to admire what we’ve built over the course of our lives and tell us what great castles we have. But Jesus told His friends we weren’t supposed to spend our lives building castles. He said He wanted us to build a kingdom, and there’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.” Bob goes on, “You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in. Castles have dungeons for people who ha...

“When you understand that life is a test, you realize that nothing is insignificant in your life.”

A thought by Rick Warren, (2012-10-23) from his book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Purpose Driven Life, The) (p. 57). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. To realize that from God’s perspective life is a test goes a long way in determining how you handle your life.   It is important to see that in testing your character is both developed and revealed.   Rick goes on to say that “even the smallest incident has significance for your character development. Every day is an important day, and every second is a growth opportunity to deepen your character, to demonstrate love, or to depend on God.” So there is a God purpose behind each situation in your life.   Even the bad ones are there to strengthen you and develop you.   You see those bad situations are really good ones because they are there for your good. I start each day with a reminder that God is good.   Not every situation that is going to come in my day is good but because G...

“What areas of my personality, background, and physical appearance am I struggling to accept?”

A thought by Rick Warren, (2012-10-23) from his book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Purpose Driven Life, The) (p. 35). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. Rick posed this question at the end of his chapter, You Are Not an Accident.   In this chapter he deals with the fact that God created you the way you are with a purpose.   In other words you are not an accident.   I am also reading the Apostle John’s view of Jesus and what He said and did while He was here on earth.   In the beginning of Chapter 9 there is a story about a blind man.   And the disciples who were with Him asked Him a good question, “Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind? ”   Have you ever asked the same thing about something in you that you don’t like?   Like that characteristic is a curse or something.   Society has set a standard that is not a standard of God.   Remember, He created you and you are not an accident. Je...