Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Steven Furtick (2010-09-21) from his book, Sun Stand Still: What Happens When You Dare to Ask God for the Impossible (pp. 44-45). Multnomah Books. Kindle Edition. There is a story in the New Testament about Jesus walking on water.  I’m sure you have heard about it.  Well Jesus had just spoken to a bunch of people and had even fed all 5,000 of them (that was also an extraordinary thing He did) and it says in Matthew 14.22&23 (MSG), “ As soon as the meal was finished, He insisted that the disciples get in the boat and go on ahead to the other side while He dismissed the people. With the crowd dispersed, He climbed the mountain so He could be by Himself and pray. He stayed there alone, late into the night.”    So they got in the boat and left.  Now after they had gotten far out in the lake the wind came against them and they were battered by the waves. They were having a rough time. Verses 25-27 (MSG), ”At about four o’clock in the morning, Jesus came

A thought by Steven Furtick (2010-09-21) from his book, Sun Stand Still: What Happens When You Dare to Ask God for the Impossible (pp. 44-45). Multnomah Books. Kindle Edition. There is a story in the New Testament about Jesus walking on water.   I’m sure you have heard about it.   Well Jesus had just spoken to a bunch of people and had even fed all 5,000 of them (that was also an extraordinary thing He did) and it says in Matthew 14.22&23 (MSG), “ As soon as the meal was finished, He insisted that the disciples get in the boat and go on ahead to the other side while He dismissed the people. With the crowd dispersed, He climbed the mountain so He could be by Himself and pray. He stayed there alone, late into the night.”     So they got in the boat and left.   Now after they had gotten far out in the lake the waves came against them and they were battered by the waves. They were having a rough time. Verses 25-27 (MSG), ”At about four o’clock in the morning, Jesus

A thought from Andy Stanley (2009-08-22) from his book, It Came from Within!: The Shocking Truth of What Lurks in the Heart (p. 46). Multnomah Books. Kindle Edition . The scandal that is now coming out at Penn State University sure proves the bad part of this thought.  The reputation of the football program was one of integrity.  They may have appeared to be upright from a recruiting standpoint but the fact that an upstanding, highly successful assistant coach was molesting young boys finally is coming out. The fact also that some in the administration were covering it up shows what the real heart of the program was.  Who they really are is coming finally to the surface. We are also seeing a part of that in our Presidential campaign.  Eventually it will come out who is good and who is bad, whether it is the attacker or the attacked.  Time will eventually show what the truth is.    Jesus says the same thing over in Matthew 12.34 (NIV), for out of the heart the mouth speak

A thought by Steven Furtick (2010-09-21) from his book, Sun Stand Still: What Happens When You Dare to Ask God for the Impossible (p. 30). Multnomah Books. Kindle Edition. We don’t usually have faith when things are going great.  What we usually have is credit.  We usually take credit for how much we have accomplished.  “Wow, look how smart I am.”  Or we give credit to the wrong thing.  Now here is the secret in handling the dark times.  If we give God credit for the good in the good times not ourselves or whatever political party is in power then when the dark times come, which they will, our faith will be strong enough to handle the dark times, our faith will shine bright.  How we Christians are handling these dark days tells a lot about how we handled the good days.  Our faith in these darks days should be brightest if our faith is and has been in Him. Somehow we need to see that the darker life gets is the best time to show that our faith really makes a difference.

A thought from Steven Furtick, (2010-09-21) from his book, Sun Stand Still: What Happens When You Dare to Ask God for the Impossible (Kindle Locations 230-231). Multnomah Books. Kindle Edition. What an awesome, soul searching question.  I’ll be honest, I want as a 64 year old retired church planter to believe that even at this stage of my life the impossible can happen and I don’t want to sleep through some of the best parts of my Christian life.  I really don’t believe the effective time of my life is over.  I really don’t. But what is the impossible that God wants to do through me?  I am very serious about asking that question.  Oh I know I should just be satisfied with the life I have lived so far and to just settle in to living out my retirement but if I do that I just might miss some of the best parts of my Christian life.  I don’t want to do that.  I have been for the past three years getting my emotional and physical life in order.  I really was tired after fighti

A thought by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch Lance (2011-01-01) from their book, Right Here, Right Now (Shapevine) (p. 130). Baker Books. Kindle Edition. That statement tells a lot about the problems we are having in the world today.  We are not a “we” society but an “us and them” society.  Too many times those is control don’t see the responsibility for those they lead. I don’t begrudge those who have the responsibility of leadership to not get paid but this fact that one person has that much more value to a company is wrong.  No one person can run a business alone.  Yes there needs to be a leader but a leader is not a leader without followers.  And each is important.  Each company needs a team to make it happen. I am a LA Dodgers’ fan.  I love baseball.  This year there were two Dodger players who were outstanding, Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp but they couldn’t do it all by themselves.  No business, no team can win without a group of people each one doing their part.  A

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. 41). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. Now we always hope that the result will be different but it isn’t.   We may even pray that it will be different but it isn’t.  We believe that it will be different but it isn’t.  Now God is amazing.  To realize that He created each and every one of us and He created every part of us should show us that He has a plan.   Now He gave us a mouth so we could speak; He gave us eyes so we could see; He gave us feet so we could walk; He gave us hands so we could do; and He gave us a brain so we could think and He wants us to use each and every one of them, even our brain. Many times we do the same thing that didn’t end right the first time and before we do it we ask God to make it come out differently.  Now God has that ability but God has also given us the ability to evaluate, to contemplate, in other words