Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Ray Johnston (2014-05-13) from his book, The Hope Quotient:  Measure It. Raise It. You'll Never Be the Same. (p.139). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) This is such a good principle.   It has held me steady all through my life.   Oh, I whine around for a moment but not for very long.   What about you? Ray says, “If you do that, you’ll have a future. If you do that, your family will have a future. If you do that, your kids will have a future. If you do that, your church will have a future. If enough people do that, their country could have a brighter future. No one is going to do well over a decade if they don’t respond to bad news in great ways.” Ray goes on, “The great American inventor Thomas Edison started more than one hundred companies before the age of forty and held more than one thousand patents that changed the way the world works. His inventions of the incandescent lightbulb, the phonograp

A thought by Ray Johnston (2014-05-13) from his book, The Hope Quotient:  Measure It. Raise It. You'll Never Be the Same. (p.136). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) That is just the beginning of the thought.   The whole thought by Ray is, “The team that makes the most mistakes is usually the one that wins, because their mistakes mean they’re trying something. ” He goes on, “John Wooden, the famous UCLA college basketball coach with the most men’s championship banners in history, never let failure keep him from reaching toward success. ‘If you’re not making mistakes,” he said, “then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.’” Here is another good quote, “Johnny Cash, the famous singer who battled serious drug and alcohol abuse, said, ‘You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’

A thought by Max Lucado (2012-01-02) from his book, He Chose the Nails   (p. 119). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Max explains, “Yours might be a telegram from the war department, an ID bracelet from the hospital, a scar, or a court subpoena. We don’t like these symbols, nor do we want these symbols. Like wrecked cars in a junkyard, they clutter up our hearts with memories of bad days.” He says, “Could God use such things for something good? How far can we go with verses like this one: ‘In everything God works for the good of those who love him’ (Rom. 8: 28)? Does ‘everything’ include tumors and tests and tempers and terminations? John would answer yes. John would tell you that God can turn any tragedy into a triumph, if only you will wait and watch. “To prove his point, he would tell you about one Friday in particular. ‘Later, Joseph from Arimathea asked Pilate if he could take the body of Jesus. (Joseph was a s

A thought by Max Lucado (2012-01-02) from his book, He Chose the Nails  (p. 91). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Have you ever had the problem of not being included?   Maybe it was in sports, maybe it was the smartest in the class or the best looking group?   You felt left out.   And that is not fun. Max says, “Universities exclude you if you aren’t smart enough. Businesses exclude you if you aren’t qualified enough, and, sadly, some churches exclude you if you aren’t good enough.” Again, that is not fun. Max goes on, “But though they may exclude you, Christ includes you. When asked to describe the width of his love, he stretched one hand to the right and the other to the left and had them nailed in that position so you would know he died loving you.” Max then says, “But isn’t there a limit? Surely there hast to be an end to this love. You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But David the adulterer never found it. P