Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Seth Godin (2011-03-01) from his book, Poke the Box (Kindle Location 915). AmazonEncore. Kindle Edition. I was sitting this weekend at my local Starbucks talking to a new friend about life.  I do that a lot.  It is kind of what I do now to make a difference.  I used to be afraid to talk individually with people to strike up a conversation with someone because I was socially shy.  Oh I could get up in front of 100’s of people and sing but one on one scared me.  I was immature socially.  Now please understand that it is a risk to step out of one’s comfort zone in order to make a difference.  Making a difference doesn’t just happen. There was a time that I moved out of the secure job that I had as a staff minister.  I had been a part of music almost all of my life, had a lot of success.  I also had great days as a Youth Minister and then as the Associate Minister in charge of the Adult Ministry for a large church.  But I remember the day that I sensed there was

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus from his book, Chasing Daylight: Seize the Power of Every Moment (Kindle Location 1105). Kindle Edition. When we use the phrase personal relationship that can cause us to believe our relationship with God is just for us.  The reality is that any personal relationship is a two way street.  My relationship with my wife, Margaret, has some personal benefits for me but it also has some personal responsibilities for me to do toward Margaret.  My life is no longer a self-centered existence.  I now have a relationship with someone who has needs and desires and my love wants to fulfill them.  Now our personal relationship with God is also one that is not singular.  He does stuff for me and it could be easy to think that is it.  It is me and Him and no one else.  But if you really have a personal relationship with Him then you will do all you can to know Him.  And if you really know Him you know that it is not me and Him and no one else.   It is He d

A thought by Seth Godin (2011-03-01) from his book, Poke the Box (Kindle Locations 129-130). AmazonEncore. Kindle Edition. Have you ever thought about the fact that you have to learn to get past the no’s in your life to get to the yes?  With every yes there are going to be no’s.  Do you realize how many different thoughts that I said no to before I said yes to this one that I am writing about right now?  I could not find one today that really gripped me to start writing about until I got to this one by Seth Godin.  Now I could have stopped at one point and said, I guess I’m not in the mood today so I’ll go do something else but I didn’t.  I changed my location from the Seminole Library to Starbucks and continued looking in my Kindle to different thoughts that I had highlighted in my reading until I came to this one.  Something about it clicked and here I am writing. I didn’t get married until I was 27.  There were a bunch of no’s both from me and from them until I came t

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus from his book, Chasing Daylight: Seize the Power of Every Moment ( Kindle Location 1102). Kindle Edition. Manipulation has at its core a desire to change situations and people for the manipulator’s good.  It is a self-centered act.  That is why when I know someone is striving to manipulate me and they say it is for my good that it isn’t.   The act of manipulation is for the good of the one manipulating not the one being manipulated. The Bible tells us that the person who doesn’t have God in their life is a selfish being.  David in the Psalms said that in sin did my mother conceive me.  We came into this world living for ourselves and striving to manipulate the world to take care of us and to do what we want.  Have you noticed how a baby when it is hungry does all it can to manipulate you to feed them.  They do not stop and think of how it might not be the best time for you, they are hungry and they want it now.  And that carries over in

A thought by Miles McPherson (2009-11-01) from his book, DO Something!: Make Your Life Count (p. 44). Baker Books. Kindle Edition. That is the truth!  I had a period in my life for three years that I was a real jerk.  It was a tough time for my wife, Margaret but she stuck with me and we are still together living some of the best days of our life.  God has used our life together in so many different unbelievable ways.  We have been able to help so many other marriages in their tough times.  I remember the day that we found out that Margaret had the C word, Cancer.  That was a tough time for us but we held steady and didn’t run from God.  We have made it through with God’s sustaining grace.   She went out this morning and walked 1 ½ hours with my sister.  She is Cancer free after all these years.  She is a survivor. There was a Sunday in my life as a church planter when a good friend of mine came and told me that he was going down the street from our church to plant a

A thought by Jeff Manion (2010-07-14) from his book, The Land Between: Finding God in Difficult Transitions (Kindle Location 1785). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. I really like the Psalms in the Old Testament.  I read one every day.  I love them for a lot of different reasons but for one, I like people’s honesty.  They tell God what they feel and He lets them because He understands. In our times of pain and disappointment He knows that we need to see how desperate we really are.  We need help.  We are at the end of the rope and we feel like we are about to slip off the rope.  We can’t make it on our own.  And we want to tell someone.  Now we can tell everyone else that but it won’t make a lot of difference.  It will just be a time that we spew it all out and maybe feel a little better but that is it.  But when we tell Him and we really come to Him in total trust and total dependency and total confidence of His love for us then something more will happen.  It is in our time o

A thought by Jeff Manion (2010-07-14) from his book, The Land Between: Finding God in Difficult Transitions (Kindle Locations 311-312). Zondervan. Kindle Edition . On my other blog, bill’s front porch , I dealt with today the fact that we are never going to be problem free.  Problems are inevitable and the same is true of hardships. I think that may come as a surprise to some Christians.  They believe that because they have asked Jesus to come into their life then there will be no hardships in their life but what that means is they haven’t studied too much about the life of Jesus.  One of the reasons why He came to earth was to show us how God would handle hardships.  They will come.  They are a part of His plan to cultivate our dependency on Him and to strengthen us in our resolve and our character.  Now our reaction to the hardship is of major importance.  What do you do?  How do you react?  Do you whine or complain?   Those reactions show a definite immaturity.  God w