Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by John Ortberg, (2015-02-24) from his book,  All the Places to Go . . . How Will You Know?: God Has Placed before You an Open Door.  What Will You Do? (p. 15). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) What is God’s will for my life?  What does He want me to do?  The problem is that is the wrong question.  Here is the whole thought of John, “God’s primary will for your life is not the achievements you accrue; it’s the person you become.”  He continues, “God’s primary will for your life is not what job you ought to take; it’s not primarily situational or circumstantial. It’s not mainly the city where you live or whether you get married or what house you ought to be in. God’s primary will for your life is that you become a magnificent person in his image, somebody with the character of Jesus. That is God’s main will for your life. No circumstance can prevent that.” No the question is, who does He wa

A thought by John Ortberg, (2015-02-24) from his book. All the Places to Go . . . HowWill You Know?: God Has Placed before You an Open Door.  What Will You Do? (p. 7). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Here is the full thought by John, “What a gift to know that open doors are not reserved for the specially talented or the extraordinarily strong. God can open a door for anyone.” And God writes through the Apostle John in Revelation 3:8 (NIV), “See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.” Now John in his book here quotes one of his college professors, Jerry Hawthorne, who says, “A door is one of the richest images in literature. It can mean safety (‘my door is chained and locked’) or hiddenness (‘no one knows what goes on behind closed doors’). It can mean rejection (‘she shut the door in my face’) or rest (young mothers’ favorite room is the bathroom, where they can close the doo

A thought by Andy Stanley (2015-01-06) from his book, The New Rules for Love, Sex andDating (p. 97). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Have you ever stopped to think about that?  Andy says, “What come naturally are passion, lust, chemistry, and that ‘can’t wait to get you alone’ feeling. But over time, all of that is eventually squashed by our unbridled, selfish, self-preserving natures.” You see real love is un-natural. The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:3-8 says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”  Andy says, “Do any of these traits come naturally? Granted, we know how to turn them all on when we’re winning and wooing. B

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2000-03-08) from his book, Failing Forward: How to Makethe Most of Your Mistakes (p. 155). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Do you like people?  Do you get along with people?  Do you have problems with people? Listen, people are very important and it is very important that you realize that.  If you don’t then you are going to have problems with living a fulfilling and successful life.  John said, “I was talking to some people a couple of days ago, and they were complaining about not winning a business contract that they had bid on. ‘It wasn't fair,’ one person told me. ‘All the people involved knew each other, and we didn't have a chance. It's all politics.’ But what he went on to describe wasn't politics. It was relationships.” He then said, “Authors Carole Hyatt and Linda Gottlieb indicate that people who fail on the job commonly cite ‘office politics’ as the reas

A thought by Andy Stanley (2015-01-06) from his book, The New Rules for Love, Sex, and Dating (p. 91). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) What Andy is dealing with here is the last part of verse 5 in 1 Corinthians 13 (NLT) which says, “Love…keeps no record of being wronged.”  He talking about people who are record keepers and he is saying that love doesn’t do that. Does your spouse do that?  Did you have a parent who did that?  Do you do that?  That isn’t love, that is a relationship killer and that is a power play.  It’s not love. Andy says, “Love chooses not to keep dousing the present with the past. Besides, it doesn’t do any good. It doesn’t move the relationship forward. If one of your parents was a record keeper, I suspect you gravitated relationally toward your other parent, didn’t you? Whose influence were you most open to? The filer’s or the forgiver’s? Who did you feel closest to? The filer or the forgetter? Fun

A thought by Andy Stanley (2015-01-06) from his book, The New Rules for Love, Sex,and Dating (p. 94). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Andy is striving to show us in this section of his book, that we need to strive to embrace love as an action verb.  And he has taken us to the love chapter in 1 Corinthians 13 in the Bible to show us God’s thoughts on love.  Now in verses 6 & 7 of this great chapter says, “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”  What does love do?  “It always protects , always trusts , always hopes , always perseveres .”  Not exactly our definition of love, even as Christ followers, is it?  As Andy puts it, “Love does not delight in or get its kicks digging up dirt or catching someone doing wrong. Love isn’t looking for or expecting bad behavior. Love is hopeful… Love looks for and celebrates good behavior. Unlike th

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2000-03-08) from his book, Failing Forward: How to Makethe Most of Your Mistakes (p. 142). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) In my reading, I come upon so many good thoughts that it is hard to sometimes choose what to highlight.  This Monday morning was one of those times.  But this one is the first one that caught my attention.  Maybe this thought is for you. John says, “You need to determine if what happened was really a failure. What you think is your fault may have been an attempt to fulfill unrealistic expectations. It doesn't matter whether you place them on yourself or someone else does; if a goal is unrealistic and you miss it, that is not a failure.” We are so quick to want to play the blame game even if it is with ourselves.  Now it is important to learn from our mistakes but a realistic evaluation is very important.  And many times unrealistic expectations can be the prob