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. 43). Tyndale Momentum. Kindle Edition. I find that to be a lot of people’s belief.   They are trusting God in order to have good health.   They are trusting God in order to get good grades.   They are trusting God in order to not pay taxes or to not have to get health insurance or whatever self-interest they may have.   But is that really what it means to trust God?   Leonard says, “Faith is trusting God because of who God is - trusting God when there is nothing to get, when everything is gone, when only God is left.” Solomon wrote in his book of Proverbs that we are to “Trust in the LORD  with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths  straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6 [TNIV]).   Trusting in God mean to submit to Him. I have been in Florida this past weekend and I t

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, (2014-02-25) from his book, The Artisan Soul: Crafting Your Life into a Work of Art (p. 13). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. We were created by God to love Him and others.   Now we were created in the image of God but because of the Fall that image has been marred.   And the world constantly does what it can to continually destroy that image.   Now God is creative and within us He has also made us creative.   But society does what it can to make us believe that we are not creative.   Erwin says, “We don’t have to convince children that they are creative; all we have to do is let them do what comes naturally. We never have to give a four-year-old permission to color outside the lines or to not follow the rules or to simply draw on the page what they see in their imagination. Yet somewhere along the way, this gets restructured. We become convinced that only those who are drawing inside the lines are doing it right, that the rules are more imp

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, (2014-02-25) from his book, The Artisan Soul: Crafting Your Life into a Work of Art (p. 7). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. We think of having courage when we do something that we are afraid of doing and in that being honest about our self takes courage.   Accepting the fact that we may not have it all together takes courage.   We are really afraid that people will see where we are limited so we strive to hide that fact even from ourselves.   But we do honestly have limitations.   But we are afraid that those who we work for and with will find out and maybe we will lose what we have worked so hard to have.   But if we accept them then we don’t have to hide them and then can work on our potential. But that also brings some fear.   I mean if I know then I have to do something about it.   And that is just too much pressure.   I don’t want to have to work that hard but in reality embracing ones potential brings fulfillment and excitement.

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