Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus from his book, The Last Arrow: Save Nothing for the Next Life (p. 100). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) I know, I know.   It is so easy to blame God for not coming to our rescue but maybe it isn’t up to him. Erwin says, “We expect God to act but we never take responsibility to act ourselves, which is why so many of us never get down to that last arrow. We decide that playing it safe is the reasonable choice. We tell ourselves that only fools would believe that their best future would exist in a place of their greatest danger. What we can be certain of is that God is never apathetic. If there is apathy involved, it is ours. What in fact might be in play is that we haven’t prepared to receive what God wants to give us. It is unfortunate, but far too often it is desperation that creates openness to the provision of God. And beyond a desperation for our own survival, we are

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus from his book, The Last Arrow: Save Nothing for the Next Life (p. 43). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) I have been sitting here reading and having a problem finding a thought to write on today.   You see I have had a good week of the number of people who have read this blog and that success has made it more difficult in finding a thought to write about today.   So, I got up and walked around the block and sat down in a different place and started looking back on thoughts that I have passed up and this one jumped out at me.   So here it goes. Earlier Erwin said, “There is a subtle difference between your identity being rooted in your essence and your identity being rooted in your success. What you do comes out of who you are, but who you are must exist apart from what you do. If your identity is rooted in your success, then you will lose who you are when failure comes you

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus from his book, The Last Arrow: Save Nothing for the Next Life (p. 28). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Each of us needs to settle on some things and let go of some things.   Have you found that true yet? Erwin says, “One of the nuanced skills of people who maximize their capacity and optimize their impact on the world is that they know which battles not to fight. They know which ground to give up. They know where to settle. This is not because they’re postured for compromise; it’s because they have a clarity about what really matters to them. They know what their lives are about. They have profound intention, and that intention informs every arena of their lives. Those who care about everything actually care about nothing.” He goes on, “You have to know what matters; you have to know who you are; you have to know what your life is to be given to. For in the end, the o