Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Darren Whitehead and Jon Tyson (2011-07-19) from their book, Rumors of God: Experience the Kind of Faith You´ve Only Heard About (Kindle Locations 1356-1357). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. We live in an age of bondage.  So many of us are in bondage to what someone else has done to us.  But of course that is our choice.  We choose to let someone else have that much control over our life.  That is our choice.  We didn’t have a choice in what happened to us but we do have a choice in how it affects us. Now it is so easy to rehearse and rehearse and relive and relive until that is all we think about.  We hear a certain song and we relive the hurt.  We drive by a certain place and we relive the hurt.  We come to a certain holiday and we relive the pain.  Now we may not realize it but all of that reliving is a choice.  We can also choose to quit letting that other person have so much control over our life.  We can but it is difficult. It is so difficult to not r

A thought by Mark Batterson, (2011-01-18) from his book, Soulprint: Discovering Your Divine Destiny (p. 72). Multnomah Books. Kindle Edition. I have learned in my later years how to get to know people so I can help them.  I don’t remember where I found this but it has really helped me.  Here it is: I am not what I think I am , I am not what you think I am. I am what I think you think I am. Did you get that?  Read it again… I am not what I think I am; I am not what you think I am; I am what I think you think I am.  It doesn’t really matter what the truth is but what I think the truth is.  Now of course in deeper relationships the real truth is what matters but that's for another time. I know some people who believe that nobody likes them so they go through life very alone and very afraid.  It doesn’t matter what the truth is.  The truth is there is one person who likes them, me, because I have chosen to like everybody.  But it still doesn’t matter what the truth is if they

A thought by Gabe Lyons (2010-10-05) in his book, The Next Christians: The Good News About the End of Christian America (p. 94). Doubleday Religion. Kindle Edition . There is a telling part of the Good News that Jesus came to give us life and to give it more abundantly but there is also a showing and doing part in my life.  Many times it is easier to tell than to do. I mean we can share with everyone that God is love but never love anyone.  We can say that Jesus loves all the children of the world but our actions show that we hate Muslims and gays. Or we can be a person that everybody loves but never tell anyone how that Jesus is the reason why we are the person we are. The awesome part of the Good News that Christ has given us is that it is both. Now we can know the Bible inside and out.  My mom started me memorizing the Bible when I was very young.  That is a very good thing.  It helps to have the Word at our disposal when we are going through tough times. Back when I

A thought by Darren Whitehead and Jon Tyson (2011-07-19) in their book, Rumors of God: Experience the Kind of Faith You´ve Only Heard About ( Kindle Locations 525-526). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition . Some wonder how a loving God could allow so much starvation in the world.  I mean, there are so many people who live with no hope of enough food to sustain them so they go to bed hungry every night.  If God loves them how can that be?  That is a good question. The truth is we don’t have a shortage problem but a sharing problem.  Do you realize that we produce enough food every year to feed the world but some eat more than they need thus taking away from some who don’t have enough?   God has provided and we are to be His instruments of supplying but we have kept it and gotten fat off of it. I was born just after the Great Depression but I lived through some of the aftermath of that very difficult time in our history.  One of the problems that came out of that time was a grea

A thought by Jeff Manion (2010-07-14) in his book, The Land Between: Finding God in DifficultTransitions (p. 191). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. Have you ever noticed that the fruit that is the easiest to pick is on the ground because it is too ripe so it has fallen off the tree?  Have you also noticed that the best fruit usually takes some effort to pick?  Could that also be true about those things we really want in our life. Two years ago in August I weighed 260 lbs.  I always used to laughingly say that I didn’t have a weight problem, I had a height problem.  I should be 7 ½ feet tall.  But the truth was I had a real weight problem and it was affecting my quality of life.   I was having trouble with my feet; I was becoming an invalid and a prime candidate for a heart attack.  I was not looking at the quality or quantity of life that I wanted. Now something happened that month that change the direction of my wife’s life and in turn changed mine.  Margaret found out that she was

A thought by Kyle Idleman (2011-05-24) in his book, Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus (p. 30). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. That is true of anyone who is important to me.  Almost 37 years ago a girl named Margaret started interfering with my life the day I fell in love with her and the day she became my wife.  The same was true when our son Brett came to live with us in Phoenix, Arizona and Stefanie our daughter in Valparaiso, Indiana.  But along with the interfering comes so much enjoyment and pleasure.  I wouldn’t trade the life I have had since each one of then came into my life.  It is also true of Andrew, Stef’s husband and Marissa, Brett’s wife and of course Ashlyn and Addison my two granddaughters.  My life has only gotten better and better. Love has a way of interfering doesn’t it?  So I welcome the fact that when I fell in love with Jesus He interfered with my life to the point that I am sitting here in a Starbucks writing this to you becaus

A thought by Andy Stanley (2009-08-22) from his book, It Came from Within!: The Shocking Truth of What Lurks in the Heart (p. 82). Multnomah Books. Kindle Edition . An injustice has been done, someone has gone back on their word, they haven’t done what they promised, you feel like you are owed something and you are angry.   You are very angry and you feel justified in your anger. But here is the problem.   In most cases the person who has hurt you probably doesn’t even know you are angry with them but you know it and the people closest to you know it.   The person you are angry with isn’t being hurt but you are and those closest to you are. Now not doing anything is not the best answer for your anger.   As you know the anger inside of you is tearing away at your insides and it can even damage you physically and for sure emotionally.   Unresolved anger can hurt you and it can also hurt the people you love.   It can hurt your relationships because it is like a time bomb that is