Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, (2014-02-25) from his book, The Artisan Soul: Crafting Your Life into a Work of Art (p. 52). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. I live in greater Los Angeles.   There is so much here to experience and explore but to really do it right, you have to get in a car and that is one dangerous thing to do.   When I retired, we moved to Long Island in New York.   A great place to live but the traffic was horrendous to the point that most people took the train to work in Manhattan and of course to many, Manhattan is scary.   You could get mugged. When I retired Margaret and I decided that every Saturday where ever we lived, we would explore.   As a Pastor I worked on Saturday which was the day Margaret was off so after I retired we used our Saturday to see and experience where we lived.   We went all over the place on Long Island and New York City.   We even made it to upstate New York and saw where they had Woodstock and to Hyde Park where FDR lived.

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, (2014-02-25) from his book, The Artisan Soul: Crafting Your Life into a Work of Art (p. 168). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. Have you found that so?   That is if you hang out with someone who really enjoys life you find your spirits lifted and you enjoying life too.   But if you are around that person who is always depressed and always rehearsing the negatives in their life then you see your spirit start going down and you discouragement going up.   I am reading Job right now and his time with those negative friends.   Granted Job had it rough but those friends made it worse. Let me ask you, what kind of friend are you?   Do you help others enjoy their life or do you bring them down.   Let me tell you, if you bring people down then you will probably be alone a lot.   Life is tough but I don’t want to live in despair about it.   I want to live in hope and joy.   That is what happens when you have a deep strong relationship with Christ.

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, (2014-02-25) from his book, The Artisan Soul: Crafting Your Life into a Work of Art (p. 149). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. It is so easy at my stage of life to make the excuse of not doing something because of my limitation of being 66 going on 67.   I have to fight that temptation over and over and that is why I find this thought so challenging.   The key is to embrace the limitation, to see the benefit of being 66 going on 67 as a great opportunity to continue to create who God wants me to be.   He isn’t done and I shouldn’t be either. As Erwin says, “Every creative endeavor becomes a realization of both how limited and how unlimited we are.”   He continues, “What makes you a chef is what you do with those five flavors; what makes you a musician is what you do with those twelve notes; what makes you a painter is what you do with those three colors; what makes you an architect is what you do with those three shapes; what makes you

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, (2014-02-25) from his book, The Artisan Soul: Crafting Your Life into a Work of Art (p. 141). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. As you stop to think about it do you see where that is true in your life?   I mean it is so much e asier to just fantasize than it is to do something about your life.   I mean to dream you have a perfect marriage especially with that other guy/gal than to set about to do what needs to be done in your marriage is so much easier.   To do something about your marriage  can be hard work and who really wants to do that?   I t is so much easier to dream but that doesn’t make anything better, does it? Erwin says, “In our dreams there is no risk. This is where the creative act is vastly different from a dream. The creative act requires courage and demands action. The creative act moves us from ideation to implementation.” What is your God-given dream?   Is it something that you just dream about?   It doesn’t have to be.

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, (2014-02-25) from his book, The Artisan Soul: Crafting Your Life into a Work of Art (p. 130). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. It is so easy to leave the fulfillment of a God-given task to God to do through us.   I mean if He wants it then He will do it.   But the truth is He has given us the dream, the call, the potential and then expects us to ask for strength and courage and then to go do it.     Erwin says, “It is not incidental that when David calls Solomon to build the temple, he says to his son, ‘ Be strong and courageous, and do the work . Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished .’” [1 Chronicles 28: 20 NIV)]. What potential, call, opportunity or dream is God waiting on you to set out to do?   He believes in you and He knows how hard it will be for you to do.   But He will give you strength

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, (2014-02-25) from his book, The Artisan Soul: Crafting Your Life into a Work of Art (p. 115). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. I was walking back from one of my coffee shops to home listening to a podcast by Erwin and stopped listening and starting thinking.   I started thinking about what really matters to me.   Not what matters to others about me but what really matters to me.   In other words I was thinking about what makes me unique.   God created me to be me with a unique thought in His mind.   And He did the same thing with you.   Who you are is not based on what other people’s opinions of you are but who you are.   I had a little song that I wrote when my son Brett was very little.   The first part goes like this:   Brett is so neat and he is so sweet and he is so “special” and before I would say the word “special” I would tickle him and eventually I would stop and hold my hand over him until he would say, “special” then I woul

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, (2014-02-25) from his book, The Artisan Soul: Crafting Your Life into a Work of Ar t (p. 92). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. That is so true for me.   I was telling a friend of mine this morning of something that I was dealing with.   It was a dream that I had to live in a RV and travel when Margaret retires and I said but it doesn’t make sense because I will be in my seventies.   That is what happens when you get old.   Your imagination and your dreams give way to making sense. Erwin continues, “You don’t have to be Einstein to know that imagination is more powerful than knowledge, yet practical, everyday life seems to press us into an imaginationless reality. The longer we live, the more we become practical and reasonable.” I think the problem is I have come to the conclusion that I am old and therefore my potential to realize a dream is becoming more nonexistent.   But that isn’t true.   I like how Leonard Sweet in his book, The