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. 115). Tyndale Momentum. Kindle Edition. I think that is a good thing to wonder about.   Our kids today live with so much pressure to excel and it deadens their enjoyment to really live.   And I think that carries over into being adults. We live in a world where we strive to not only be good but to be great.   Like being good is a problem.   But God said each time that He created something that it was good and even when He created man He said it was very good.   Now I love life.   I strive to not be pressured by it.   I also strive to make a difference but to also enjoy it.   Six days a week I wear an LA Dodgers’ hat.   I love the Dodgers.   I really enjoy baseball and I don’t feel guilty doing that.   Seven days a week I wear a Mickey Mouse watch.   I love and enjoy Disneyland.   I also wear 24 hours a day a wedding ring.   I really enj

A thought by Mark Batterson, (2013-09-24) from his book, All In: You Are One Decision Away From a Totally Different Life (Kindle Locations 1373-1374). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. Then Mark says, “Our job is to make ourselves available anytime, anyplace.” “What would happen if...?” is such a great question to ask in so many areas of life that fear is holding us back.   One “What would happen if...?” question that has monumental potential in our lives but one that so many times holds us back is the question, “What would happen if I knew what God wanted me to do?”   We hide too many times behind the fact that we don't know that we say, “We don’t know then we don’t need to do” but God is just waiting on us.   What would happen if we said, “Here am I, God, use me.”?   There is unlimited potential in making a difference in someone’s life, in our neighborhood, in the world, if we would just say that to God and really mean it. Another “What would happen if?” question we ask

A thought from Leonard Sweet, (2014-02-21) from his book, The Well-Played Life: Why Pleasing God Doesn't Have to Be Such Hard Work (p. 86). Tyndale Momentum. Kindle Edition. We are constantly looking for that four step plan.   Oh I know I have used the four or three steps but life is more than a recipe, it is an adventure.   We miss out on so much of life when we look for a plan.   Leonard goes on to say, “God did not create us to live out a ‘life plan’ or a ‘master plan.’   There is no one plan with definite specifics. God has made us with special gifts and blessings, with the expectation that we enjoy using them in God’s mission in the world, the ‘reign of God.’ Or as Augustine put it in such memorable form, ‘Love God, and do what you will.’” Now the adventure starts with having a relationship with God through His Spirit in us.   We are His creation and in that we explore and live out His purpose and His mission.   Look at who He created you to be then go live the

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