Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Mark Batterson (2011-01-18) in his book, Soulprint: Discovering Your Divine Destiny (p. 140). Multnomah Books. Kindle Edition. One of the great benefits to a relationship with GOD is that as our creator HE knows what our real potential is.  HE is our greatest fan.  HE knows what we can be because HE created us.  HE knows what I might have been. But so much of the time we are controlled by the “it’s too late” attitude.  Do you live with a sense of despair because you feel that life has left you behind and there is no way you can catch up?  You have so many regrets, so many failures; you’ve made so many mistakes.  In the next paragraph Mark said, “Your mistakes may define your past, but they don’t have to define your present.”   That is so important for us to really grab hold of.    I don’t care what age you are GOD is not done with you.  Your best days are ahead of you if you let HIM transform your mind and give you HIS perspective on what you still can be.  Despair wi

A thought by Andy Stanley (2009-03-31) in his book,   The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to B e  (p. 14). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. I was almost born in a car.  The truth is I was born in a hospital but within 3 weeks we were back on the road.  My dad was an evangelist.  We would hold services in a church from Wednesday through 2 Sundays and then we would travel to the next church and start again on Wednesday.   It was a good life. Now when I got a little older I was in charge of the map.  It was my job to get us to where we were going by the best most direct route.  And I was good at it.  So I am an experienced map guy. A couple of months back on a Saturday, Margaret and I wanted to go in New Jersey to Thomas Edison’s home and factory but I couldn’t find my Jersey map.  So I broke down and went and got a Garmin GPS.  It is great.  At least it is if you put the right info in it. The next day was Sunday and Margaret and I wanted to go to

A thought by Andy Stanley (2009-03-31) in his book, The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (p. 48). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition . I retired at 62 and moved to Long Island in New York.  At that time I weighed 260 lbs. and I was slowly becoming an invalid.  Also that summer we found that Margaret my wife was a type 2 diabetic.  Now we could have gone into depression because of both our situations but we decided that wouldn’t accomplish anything.   So we changed our diets and started walking.  Margaret lost over 40 lbs. and I lost over 20 lbs., a start in the right direction for me but not enough. When I turned 64 in June of this year I was in a holding pattern of 235 to 240.  I wasn’t the cripple I once was but I still was in the danger zone.  So I had to make another decision.  Do nothing, do the same or do more.  Doing nothing and doing the same wasn’t accomplishing what I knew needed to happen.  One thing I had come to realize at 64 was

A thought by George Barna (2011-05-15) in his book Futurecast: What Today's Trends Mean for Tomorrow's World (Kindle Locations 467-468). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition. I never realized how our family wasn’t with it.  Every one of us – husband, wife, son, daughter, son in law, daughter in law – was a virgin when we were married.  Somewhere we missed the memo that said we were supposed to go along with the norm. Now that meant that each one of us didn’t need to worry about whether their partner had a STD or a child somewhere.  But it did mean that each one was an individualist who didn’t let someone else pressure them into doing something they didn’t want to do before they were married.  Now for me personally it meant I chose that path.  But let’s say I didn’t and I was one of the 76 percent who isn’t a virgin.  Now if that is true I do know one thing and that is GOD loves me just as much as if I was a 24 percent person.  HIS love for me isn’t based on me be

A thought by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch (2011-04-15) in their book, The Faith of Leap (Shapevine) (p. 31). Baker Books. Kindle Edition. Tony Campolo in his sermon,  Revolutionary Love ,   tells of a study that was taken of people over 95 and they asked them the question, “If you had to do it all over again,  what would you do differently?” The 3 most distinct answers were: reflect more, risk more, and do more things that would live on after their death.   Save more for retirement didn’t make the top 3. We spend most of our time worrying about things that really won’t matter when we come down to the end of our lives.  But the problem is those worries keep us from seeing those things that really make a difference in our lives. I am a retired church planter.  What that means is I started churches that had no people.  I have lived a life of no security but an awesome life of adventure and challenge. I remember when we were moving as a family to Las Vegas, Nevada to plant a church

A thought by Mark Batterson (2011-01-18) in his book Soulprint: Discovering Your Divine Destiny (p. 146). Multnomah Books. Kindle Edition.  We have had for a number of years in the church world, worship wars.  What that means is there have been major disagreements over the kind of music we use in our church gatherings.  I know, it doesn’t make sense to me either.   Worship is the way I share my love for GOD.  It’s toward HIM, for HIM not toward me, for me.   Yes music is one way we worship but of course it’s not the only way.  I love my wife Margaret but I don’t just sing love songs to her to express my love.  The same is true with GOD.  A little over 64 years ago GOD created me and released me into the world.  He gave me a potential that HE created me to be.  Now because of sin I am an imperfect marred human being.  But I have within me the ability to have a relationship with CHRIST which in turn will empower me to become what HE created me to be.  So the best way I can show HIM I

A thought by Jeff Manion (2010-07-14) in his book The Land Between: Finding God in Difficult Transitions (p. 41). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. What an awesome thought.  We have a choice - grace and poise or bitter and resentful.   I lived with a man who aged with grace and poise.  There was a lot of disappointment in his life but he didn’t let it change his response to life.  He was my hero.  He was my dad, B. Ivan Williams.  I always said that when I grew up I wanted to be like my dad. Life is tough. That is so true. There is a phrase that people love to use when they are going through difficult, disappointing times.  When our kids were growing up we tried to never use it.  We even outlawed it in our family.  It was hard sometimes. But for many it is an attitude toward their life.  When you are going through tough times do you ever say, “Life isn’t fair?”  0f course life isn’t fair.  If life was fair the most perfect man who ever lived would never have been put on a cross to die.  B