Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Andy Stanley (2015-01-06) from his book, The New Rules for Love, Sex, and Dating (p. 52). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Here is the point.  Andy is dealing here with the situation that if we are looking for the right person for our lives then we need to be the right person for their lives.  In other words Andy asks, “Are you the person the person you’re looking for is looking for?”   You have a list in your mind of what the person who is the right person that you eventually want to be THE person in your life looks like.  So are you making choices in being the kind of person that person would choose?   He goes on, “If you choose to prepare yourself relationally, you will gravitate toward environments that aid you in that pursuit. In the same way, it will bring you into contact with those who share your priorities. When people complain that ‘nobody’ thinks this way, what they’re really saying is, ‘The peop

A thought by John Ortberg (2012-08-07) from his book, Who Is This Man?: TheUnpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus (p. 164). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Now we call this day, the day that Jesus died on a cross, Good Friday.  Satan thought it was a good Friday.  He finally had gotten back at God.  He hated God and he thought killing His only Son was a good thing.  But if you read the last book in the Bible you will find that it was not a good thing for Satan.  He hadn’t won. Now the Jewish religious leaders thought it was a good Friday.  I mean they finally got rid of a major problem for them.  But did they?  If you read the rest of the story you will find that it wasn’t really a good day for them. No, it was not a good Friday for them but a Good Friday for us.  As John says, “Out of his remarkable brilliance, breathtaking courage, and inexplicable love, Jesus sized up a situation that defeated every human at

A thought by John Ortberg (2012-08-07) from his book, Who Is This Man?: TheUnpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus (p. 143). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) But we use any excuse we can to strive to find that right person.  We thought this person we married was the right one until we lived with them for a while and we found that we were incompatible.  She/he didn’t always agree with me and give me what I want.  That isn’t incompatibility that is selfishness. John quotes G. K. Chesterton who wrote “I have known many happy marriages, but never a compatible one. The whole aim of marriage is to fight through and survive the instant when incompatibility becomes unquestionable. For a man and a woman, as such, are incompatible.” Andy Stanley in his new book, The New Rules for Love, Sex,and Dating says, “Looking for the right person is a great idea as long as you don’t assume that finding the right person ensures ever

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2000-03-08) from his book, Failing Forward: How to Makethe Most of Your Mistakes (p. 114). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) I don’t think in any way we could overestimate the event of Easter.  I mean Jesus was resurrected, He came back to life.  That has made all the difference in our lives, in our world and in our future.  But the reality is, we wouldn’t have had Easter without Good Friday.  He had to die first. Oh how we would like to do away with the Good Friday’s of our life.  We hate the pain of adversity.   We in the middle of it have a pity party or even a life is not fair lament.  But the Good Friday’s of our life can be our friend, not our enemy.  It is in those horrible days that we will go through that something can be built into us that will make all of the difference in our lives if we chose to let them help to make us better and not bitter and draw us closer to God. Now w

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2000-03-08) from his book, Failing Forward: How to Makethe Most of Your Mistakes (p. 102). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) It is so easy to be self-absorbed isn't it?   John says, “Selfishness ultimately hurts not only the people around a self-focused person, but also the selfish person himself. It inclines the person toward failure because it keeps him in a negative mental rut.”  Man that is the truth. I read so much of that on Facebook. So how do you get out of this negative mental rut?  John tells of a response by Dr. Karl Menninger when asked, “‘What would you advise a person to do if he felt a nervous breakdown coming on?’ Most people expected him to reply, ‘Consult a psychiatrist,’ since that was his profession. To their astonishment, Menninger replied, ‘Lock up your house, go across the railway tracks, find someone in need, and do something to help that person.’” John t

A thought by John Ortberg (2012-08-07) from his book, Who Is This Man?: The Unpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus (p. 130). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) I understand that some people have a problem with the matter of Christians striving to convert people who don’t believe like them.  That is one of the things they say they don’t like about Christians but that is one thing we can’t help doing.  As John says, “The idea of conversion itself would come to the world through Jesus.”  And to us it is a very good thing.  It is good news and we want to share it. John says, “Where before Jesus was there a movement that actively sought to include every single human being, regardless of nationality, ethnicity, status, income, gender, moral background, or education, to be loved and transformed? Not only had there never been a community like this before, but there simply had never been the idea of a community like this before

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2000-03-08) from his book, Failing Forward: How to Makethe Most of Your Mistakes (p. 84). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) OK, I can see that I need to take care of some things in my past to not let them hold me back to not let them be my total focus but how do I do that?  What do I do?  John gives some good guidelines in this.  He says, “Take time right now to list the negative events from your past that may be holding you hostage: For each item you listed, go through the following process. 1. Acknowledge the pain. 2. Grieve the loss. 3. Forgive the person. 4. Forgive yourself. 5. Determine to release the event and move on. If you are having a hard time because you're holding grudges, talk to God about the issue and ask Him to help you through the process. No matter how difficult this becomes, persevere through it. You will not be able to be your best today until you say good-bye to y