Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Andy Stanley from his book,   Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets   (p. 19). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) That probably isn't the way it should be, but it is. Andy says, "You have talked yourself into . . . deceived yourself into . . . every bad decision you have ever made. Worse, you were the mastermind behind most of your regrettable decisions. Financial, relational, professional, academic. You were there for and willingly participated in all of ’em. "You’ve done more to undermine you own success and progress than anyone on the planet. Granted, there were outside pressures. Other voices. People promising you stuff. Maybe even threatening you with stuff. But in the end, you decided. But in most cases, you didn’t decide by carefully weighing all the options and seeking wise counsel. You did the opposite." He goes on, "In many instances, maybe even most, you knew better. Or, you should have known ...

A thought by Andy Stanley from his book,   Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets   (p. 11). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) So what does he mean by that? Andy says, "When we see other people make what we know to be bad decisions, it’s as if they are strategically and intentionally undermining their own happiness. It takes a lot of planning to marry someone you are incompatible with. It takes time and energy to launch a business built on faulty assumptions and poor market analysis. Think about all the paperwork couples have to wade through to purchase a house they can’t afford or apply for a loan they will struggle to repay. In most cases, these weren’t spur-of-the-moment decisions. It took planning." "Nobody decides to blow up a marriage. But every divorce is on the tail end of a string of decisions, including the decision to get married in the first place. Nobody decides to raise irresponsible, codependent children. But l...

A thought by Andy Stanley from his book,   Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets   (p. 8). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) And direction and quality are what we want. Andy says, "Our decisions determine the direction and quality of our lives. Your decisions have shaped the direction and quality of your life so far—for good and for . . . well, maybe not so good. You are where you are for the most part because of decisions you’ve made. "So yeah, it’s your fault. I thought we should get that out of the way up front. But it’s not all bad news. "Regret and disappointment aren’t the only things spilling out of your decision pipeline. Your greatest joys and accomplishments are as well. Moral of the story: regardless of how things are going or have gone, you are responsible for you. You get to write the story." He goes on, "If you’re like most people, you would like to go back and unmake a few decisions—the decisions t...

  A thought by Andy Stanley from his book, Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets (p. 1). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) I'm sure every child thinks this to be true. Andy says, "I thought it was terrible, anyway.  "He wouldn’t tell me what to do.  "Specifically, he wouldn’t tell me what to do when I didn’t know what to do and wanted him to tell me what he thought I should do." He goes on, "True, most kids don’t want their parents telling them what to do. And I was like most kids most of the time. But on occasion, I wanted him to tell me what to do. And he wouldn’t. Worse, instead of answering my questions, he asked me questions! His go-to question was: What are you going to do when I’m not around to tell you what to do? "My go-to response was: But you are around, so tell me! "Clearly, his response did not indicate a lack of interest on his part. Just the opposite. As it turns out, I employed th...

A thought by Shaun Nepstad from his book,  Don't Quit in the Dip  (p. 92). Worthy. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Here is the whole thought, "God has a best, but mediocrity always seems reasonable when you doubt God’s best." And that is true too many times, isn't it? Shaun says, "Tell yourself right now, I’m not going to settle. Do not settle for the thought that God is to be seen from a distance but not experienced. Do not believe the lie that this is all there is in life. God has more available. But He needs you to not settle and to never quit in the dip." He later says, "Sometimes we settle because we get tired, and other times we settle because we get distracted. That’s why it is so important to keep vision in front of us. 'Where there is no vision, the people perish' (Proverbs 29:18 KJV). "You may have heard the phrase 'vision leaks.' That means that we can get inspired, but if we d...

A thought by Shaun Nepstad from his book,  Don't Quit in the Dip  (p. 86). Worthy. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Do you feel you have a lid over your potential, something that is keeping you from fulfilling your dream? Shaun says, "A lid, by definition, is 'a removable or hinged cover' (per Dictionary.com)." He goes on, "READ THAT AGAIN. I want to make sure you catch it, because there’s good news tucked inside that definition. It’s removable! Meaning, as my friend and leadership expert John Maxwell so many times reminds us, 'You can lift the lid!' There is hope that the lid can be removed. I don’t care how long the lid has been over your life, and it doesn’t matter how heavy you think it is. That lid can be removed, whether it be guilt and shame, or the negative words that have been spoken over you, or the weight of current circumstances. What I’m trying to say is, you’re not as boxed in as you think. ...

  A thought by Shaun Nepstad from his book,  Don't Quit in the Dip  (p. 79). Worthy. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) And that is such a very good thought. Shaun says, "In 1 John 1:9, we read this promise: 'If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.'" He goes on, "Asking for forgiveness looks like this: God, I’m so sorry for going my own way. I confess I have allowed other things to come before You. Today, I’m reordering the list. Forgive me my sin and cleanse me. I’m putting You first again. Be specific. Invite Him to be Lord again. Then He will do something that is almost unexplainable. When you reset the order, He resets your heart. Resets your life to the manufacturer settings. He makes you brand-new." He then says, "In the dip, we’re looking for direction in life and feel so confused. When you reorder the list and make God firs...

A thought by Shaun Nepstad from his book,  Don't Quit in the Dip  (p. 76). Worthy. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) And that can be a too easy thing to do. Shaun says, "I spoke to a guy who claimed he was feeling far from God and didn’t know why. So I inquired about a few things. 'Are you praying?' He responded with his head down, 'No.' 'Are you reading the Bible?' 'No.' 'Are you in a small group of other believers where you encourage each other on a regular basis?' 'No.' "... I encouraged him: 'You’ve forgotten the basics and allowed things to get out of order, which brings confusion and the feeling like God is distant. But God didn’t move. You did.'" Shaun goes on, "It’s so easy for aspects of our lives to get out of order. We may start off focused and deliberate on doing first things first, but pretty soon Instagram invades the spot where we used to pray. Checki...

A thought by Shaun Nepstad from his book,  Don't Quit in the Dip  (p. 68). Worthy. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) That is so true! Shaun says, "Maybe you feel God has given you an amazing picture for your life. I love it when God opens a glimpse into His plan for our lives, but that excitement can quickly turn into frustration if we dive right into that plan without first understanding exactly where we are at the moment. If God gives a high school senior the dream to be a surgeon, he can’t just go running toward a scalpel and bribe his friends to lie down on the table for him to practice. He has to first recognize that it’s just the seed of a dream. Knowing where he is right now will help him determine the steps he needs to move toward that dream. If he circumvents this, that dream will die quickly… along with one of his practice patients!" So true! He goes on, "You will never know how to go for the dreams and visions God ...

A thought by Shaun Nepstad from his book,  Don't Quit in the Dip  (p. 61). Worthy. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Here is the background to this thought. This is after Jesus had been crucified and then resurrected and the Apostles hadn't known what to do so they went fishing, back to what they used to do. Shaun says, "On the beach, Jesus was cooking fish for breakfast over a fire/ You’ve heard of the Last Supper? I once heard Joseph Stowell call it the Last Breakfast. It wasn’t just your normal fire, though. If you look at the Greek language here, in which the New Testament is written, this fire was actually a charcoal fire. Why that detail? Well, there’s only one other place in the entire Bible where there was a charcoal fire—the fire where Peter denied Christ. Why would Jesus do this? Think about it: Isn’t it crazy how certain smells can take you back? You smell someone’s perfume that reminds you of your mom. You smell a cert...

A thought by Shaun Nepstad from his book,  Don't Quit in the Dip  (p. 48). Worthy. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Have you found that to be true? Read on. Shaun says, "Jesus saw them wrapping up their night of work and still came over to ask if He could get into their boat and finish teaching the crowd from it. They agreed, but can you picture the look that must have been on Peter’s face? He was exhausted, his blistered hands were washing his nets, and then this guy walked over and asked them to go back out. It’s like if you’ve ever worked at a restaurant and you close and lock up at 9:00 p.m. so you can clean up and go home. And then someone comes at 9:05 p.m. asking if you’re still open. Jesus got in the boat before Peter climbed back in. He was still washing his nets, wanting nothing but to leave and clock out from his shift. But Jesus is always ready before we are. You need to know that He’s just waiting for us to get into ...

  A thought by Shaun Nepstad from his book,  Don't Quit in the Dip  (p. 43). Worthy. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Now that is a great thing to know. Shaun says, "A lot of things in our world promise 'more,' but there’s actually only One who can deliver more, and that’s Jesus. Only He can offer us the deep satisfaction that our hearts are longing for. He promises us, 'A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of' (John 10:10 MSG, emphasis mine). The devil came to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus came to bless, give life, and restore." He goes on, "We have an innate desire for more; discontent is the human condition. Either you haven’t accomplished all that’s in your heart, or you have achieved all your earthly goals only to discover it doesn’t satisfy. What you thought would deliver the ultimate fulfillment...

A thought by Shaun Nepstad from his book,  Don't Quit in the Dip  (p. 31). Worthy. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Do you have an area in your life, are you in the middle of a dip and you've asked God to work but you don't see anything happening? Shaun says, "He is working behind the scenes of our lives. In fact, He is always working all things together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28), even though many times when we are in the dip, we can’t see it. We need to let Him work." Later he asks, "So, in what area in your life has the devil backed you into a corner and gotten you to believe you’ve lost? That you’ll never succeed? That you can’t win because time is up? Is it your marriage? Your kids? A dream? Where in your life is there a pile of facts that say it can’t happen?" He goes on, "Be encouraged today by remembering that God is bigger than the facts...

A thought by Shaun Nepstad from his book,  Don't Quit in the Dip  (p. 23). Worthy. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Is that you, sometimes? Shaun says, "Most people, when asked to pray publicly, would rather die. They say, 'I’m not good at praying.' What does that even mean? Can you talk? Great! That’s all prayer is: talking with God. Why are we so intimidated by prayer? I’ll tell you why. It’s performance anxiety. We get scared because either we are trying to impress people when we pray, or we attempt to sound like someone else when we pray. God is not impressed when we are trying to impress. But He is impressed with honesty and transparency and faith. Prayer is simply talking to God. If you are doing that, whether privately or publicly, you can never go wrong." He goes on, "In our prayer meetings, we would show worth to God. We’d spend time telling Him how much we love Him. We’d thank Him for what He’s already done...

A thought by Shaun Nepstad from his book,  Don't Quit in the Dip  (p. 4). Worthy. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Maybe this is where you are but didn't know what to call it. Shaun says, "When you’re in the dip, you can see where you want to be, but no matter how hard you try, it seems you can’t get there. You begin to loose hope and doubt you’ll ever reach it. The dip is where your dream is just out of reach and you feel stuck. We all have a dream, but there is always a dip before you get there. Sadly, most people give up in the dip. But successful people don’t quit in the dip and they’re the ones who see their dream fulfilled. We’ve all been in a dip at one point or another. Maybe you’re there now." He goes on, "None of us have the perfectly filtered life we present on social media, right? Every person, even the ones who seem to have everything together, has at least one area in life that isn’t what they want it to be...

A thought by Shaun Nepstad from his book, Don't Quit in the Dip  (p. 3). Worthy. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)  Shaun says, "There is a story told of a chess champion who is on vacation. Also an art connoisseur, he finds himself wandering through the hallways of a prestigious art gallery. One masterpiece stops him in his tracks and captures his full attention. It’s a painting of a chess game. But this is no ordinary chess game. On one side of the board sits the devil, leaning back in his chair with a fiendish grin, confidently tapping his fingers on the table. On the other side sits a young man in utter terror, clenching his teeth, wringing his hands, sweat dripping from his brow. The painting is titled Checkmate . It appears that the young man’s soul is dependent on the outcome of the game—and he’s about to lose. "The chess champion is so taken with this painting that he cannot look away. As his eyes scour the chessboard, his...