Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus from his book, The Last Arrow: Save Nothing for the Next Life    (p. 18). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) That is so true for so many of us. The whole thought is, “We can become so afraid of death that we never live, so afraid of failure that we never risk, so afraid of pain that we never discover how strong we really are.” Erwin later says, “Sometimes we forget that people respond differently to trauma. At the same time, it is those moments when we are confronted with the uncertainty of life that allows us to see ourselves most clearly. Even as I write these words, I am a few hours away from learning the results of a recent biopsy. But I am convinced of this: you must not allow fear to steal your future, and every day that you walk this earth you must make sure you save nothing for the next life. You must never allow fear to keep you grounded. The moment you choose

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus from his book, The Last Arrow: Save Nothing for the Next Life (p. 5). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Erwin is giving us a choice and God does that to us every day, doesn’t he? Erwin says, “Odds are that you and I will fall at the average. That’s why it’s called the average. It’s where most of us live. To be above average demands a choice. It requires that we defy the odds. You have no control of whether you have been endowed with above-average talent or intelligence or physical attributes. What you can control is whether you choose to live your life defined and determined by the status quo. Even when the law of averages works against you, you can still defy the odds.” At a key time in his life, Erwin had his step father, Bill, describe him as average.   Erwin says, “Bill’s was a statement of outcome and actions. I walked away from his house that day with a clear res

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, (2014-02-25) from his book, The Artisan Soul: Crafting Your Life into a Work of Ar t (p. 178). Harper Collins. Kindle Edition. There are two words in this thought that caught my attention.   The first was broken.   There are so many in this world have and are living broken lives.   They have no hope. I’m looking at this in my other blog, Bill’s Front Porch .   There are so many areas in our life that we need to recover from.   Areas such as: Overeating * Overworking * Alcohol/Drugs * Overspending * Grief * Guilt * Anger/Rage * Fear/Anxiety * Divorce * Abuse * Insecurity * Sexual Addictions * Codependency * Habit * Perfectionism * Lying * Hypochondria * Hurtful Relationships * Procrastination * Gambling * The Need To Control.   There are so many areas of brokenness and helplessness in people’s lives.   One of these could be yours and you see your world through your area of brokenness and you see no way out.   Life can be very hopeless c

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, (2014-02-25) from his book, The Artisan Soul: Crafting Your Life into a Work of Art (p. 178). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. I don’t know what voices in your life seem to control who you believe you are.   In so many people there is a chain reaction of families who don’t believe in the potential of each other but have the desire to protect them from too high expectation.   To some you are just water, just common water and you don’t need to worry, you just aren’t going to amount to much of anything. And I wonder if that is why the first miracle that John writes about Jesus is of His being at Wedding and of their running out of wine and His mother asking Him to do something about it?   She know who He was.  So He took some common water and turned it into wine.   He took nothing but water and solved the problem. That is what happens when something common is placed in the hands of a master.   Erwin says, “It’s hard to escape the voices t

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, (2014-02-25) from his book, The Artisan Soul: Crafting Your Life into a Work of Art (p. 52). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. I live in greater Los Angeles.   There is so much here to experience and explore but to really do it right, you have to get in a car and that is one dangerous thing to do.   When I retired, we moved to Long Island in New York.   A great place to live but the traffic was horrendous to the point that most people took the train to work in Manhattan and of course to many, Manhattan is scary.   You could get mugged. When I retired Margaret and I decided that every Saturday where ever we lived, we would explore.   As a Pastor I worked on Saturday which was the day Margaret was off so after I retired we used our Saturday to see and experience where we lived.   We went all over the place on Long Island and New York City.   We even made it to upstate New York and saw where they had Woodstock and to Hyde Park where FDR lived.

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, (2014-02-25) from his book, The Artisan Soul: Crafting Your Life into a Work of Art (p. 168). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. Have you found that so?   That is if you hang out with someone who really enjoys life you find your spirits lifted and you enjoying life too.   But if you are around that person who is always depressed and always rehearsing the negatives in their life then you see your spirit start going down and you discouragement going up.   I am reading Job right now and his time with those negative friends.   Granted Job had it rough but those friends made it worse. Let me ask you, what kind of friend are you?   Do you help others enjoy their life or do you bring them down.   Let me tell you, if you bring people down then you will probably be alone a lot.   Life is tough but I don’t want to live in despair about it.   I want to live in hope and joy.   That is what happens when you have a deep strong relationship with Christ.