Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Leonard Sweet, (2014-02-21) from his book, The Well-Played Life: Why Pleasing God Doesn't Have to Be Such Hard Work (p. 52). Tyndale Momentum. Kindle Edition. I never thought about that.   He then  says, “Young or old, a fly doesn’t change, and it remains the same size throughout its adult life. Even after death, it does not rapidly decompose.” There are people who just fly around telling you to not make waves, don’t take risks, just accept things the way they are.   Don’t change, don’t grow just accept. He goes on to say, “Too many followers of Jesus are living a ‘fly gospel’ that produces nice people rather than saints; that stands for convention rather than adventure; that is respectable rather than passionate; that calls for guarded, take-care living rather than heroic, take-risks living; that is more at home with the status quo than with living on the fly.” What would have happened if the Apostle Paul was like that or Peter or John?   Where wou

A thought by Leonard Sweet, (2014-02-21) from his book, The Well-Played Life: Why Pleasing God Doesn't Have to Be Such Hard Work (p. 3). Tyndale Momentum. Kindle Edition. I have done that this week and will do it this weekend.   I have spent the last two afternoons with our middle granddaughter, Addison and I really enjoyed our time together.   Tonight our daughter, Stef, her husband, Andrew and Harper, our youngest granddaughter will be coming to spend the weekend with her Papa and Gigi.   It is going to be great to have us all together.   I am looking forward to the fun that we are going to have, just being together. Now here is the point, if I enjoy my kids and grandkids so much, how much does my heavenly Father really enjoy me?   He takes great pleasure in me.   That is why He created me.   But we live so much with this fear of being a disappointment.     And I’m sure that a lot of kids live with the fear of being a disappointment to their parents.   And the truth i

A thought by Leonard Sweet (2014-02-21) from his book, The Well-Played Life: Why Pleasing God Doesn't Have to Be Such Hard Work (p. 33). Tyndale Momentum. Kindle Edition. He then said, “Other surveys indicate that happiness peaks at eighty-five—in other words, you get happier and happier the older you get.” But somehow we believe that a useful life ends at 65.   When we retire it means that we are to just wait out our end.   But Leonard also said, that “when Jesus was the equivalent of our 'retirement age',  he set out on a journey to save the world.”   He states that today “Fifty percent of all baby boomers (those born between 1945 and 1972) will live healthy lives beyond one hundred.”   “This dramatic expansion of life span has been relatively recent. Whereas in the 1890s, the average life expectancy for a male was thirty-seven, by the 1990s it had doubled, and now it’s even higher, into the mid-eighties.” We need to change our perspective about age an

A thought by Leonard Sweet, (2014-02-21) from his book, The Well-Played Life: Why Pleasing God Doesn't Have to Be Such Hard Work (p. 29). Tyndale Momentum. Kindle Editio n. I have been spending some time in searching out this matter of living and making a difference at this point in my life.   During this time, my wife, Margaret and I have had some interesting conversations.   And during this time I found this book by Leonard Sweet.   It has been a God find. There is a danger in looking at one’s life from the perspective of being at the end of one’s true effectiveness or living off the faded splendors of the past but Leonard gave this thought about rising to God’s occasions .   He said, “Have you considered the possibilities? Has the church? The question now at age sixty is not, ‘Where should I start on my bucket list?’ or, ‘How do I best set things in order?’ or, ‘Where do I rock?’ but, ‘What should I do with the best years of my life?’ ‘How can my life be pleasing to

A thought by Leonard Sweet (2014-02-21) from his book, The Well-Played Life: Why Pleasing God Doesn't Have to Be Such Hard Work (p. 13). Tyndale Momentum. Kindle Edition. He says right before this that “Every person we meet is a hurting human being. We don’t all hurt in the same places, but we all hurt. Find the hurt and mainline the soul with blessing.” I believe that is so important to realize.   Somehow we seemed to be so focused on our self and believe that the world revolves around us.   And because of that we can take things so personal and so our feelings can be hurt so easily.   But the truth is they are so focused on their hurts that they don’t feel they can notice anyone else’s hurts. The key is to give people the benefit of doubt and not take it personal.   To strive to reach out to give them a blessing by showing them they are not alone.   What would happen if each one of us would do that?   It would change you and it would change your world. Leonard

A thought by Leonard Sweet, (2012-02-01) from his book, 11: Indispensable Relationships You Can’t Be Without (Kindle Location 1035). David C. Cook. Kindle Edition. It’s in my genes is an excuse that many people use about not changing a certain personality or character trait in themselves.   Now David did say in the Psalms that “In sin did my mother conceive me” but that isn’t where it stopped.   Jesus came to earth and died for us so that can be taken care of and also the many personality and character bents within us. But there are some things that can’t be changed.   I have to accept the fact that I am going to be short.   That was handed to me but the fact that I have a tendency to be heavy just means I have to work harder at losing weight.   I can’t use it’s in my genes as an excuse. Now somewhere in my background I was handed the trait to be moody.   It was a pain through many of my years but by the grace of God and a lot of maturing I don’t have to any more accept

A thought by Kyle Idleman, (2013-02-19) from his book, Gods at War: Defeating the Idols that Battle for Your Heart (Kindle Location 397). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. Kyle goes on to say, “Whining shows what has power over us. Whining, in many ways, is the opposite of worshiping the Lord. Worship is when we glorify God for who he is and acknowledge what he has done for us, but whining is ignoring who God is and forgetting what he has done for us.”   That is so true.   We want comfort don’t we and when we don’t get it we really complain.   Comfort can become an idle for us.   Maybe God doesn’t want us to be comfortable.   Maybe He has something for us that we are to do. I was tempted to go to a Starbucks this morning that was just down the block from where we live.   I usually take the bus to a Starbucks that is a couple of miles away then I walk home after I’m done.   I usually have to stand out waiting on the bus to come, then when I get there I usually sit outside.   So