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Viewing 1 - 5 out of 5 Blogs.
This is an absolutely incredible interview with Rick Warren, author of "Purpose
Driven Life." His wife now has cancer, and he now has "wealth" from the book
sales. In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said: "People ask me, "What is the purpose of life?" And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body--but not the end of me. I might live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness. This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in our life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, "which is my problem, my issues, my pain." But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people. You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and inluence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72. First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call "The Peace Plan" to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.
We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)? When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.
Yesterday afternoon my sister Esther and her daughters Kimberly (15) and Melissa (13) were hit head on by a pickup truck who fled the scene. My sister suffered a broken hip and broken leg and was in surgery until 1:30 am this morning. Melissa is in ICU Shock Trauma with a torn spleen and torn liver. They will decide today if she will need surgery. Kimberly has cuts and bruises but was released from the hospital. Please keep them in your prayers that God will watch over them and bless them in their healing. My daughters mother-in-law, Pam, was hit last month head on by a drunk driver. She suffered a broken knee, broken leg in 3 places, broken ribs, and her scalp had to be sewn back on because she was thrown through the windshield and back into the backseat. It took rescuers 1 hour and 7 mins. to free her from the car. She is still recuperating in the hospital and needs prayers also. The doctor says she has a very long recovery and will be in a wheelchair for at least 3 months. Thank you to everyone ahead of time for your prayers! God Bless,
Ka†
Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, "I love you and I wish you enough". The daughter replied, "Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom". They kissed and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking, "Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?" Yes, I have," I replied. "Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?" "I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral," she said. "When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough'. May I ask what that means?" She began to smile. "That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone". She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail and she smiled even more. "When we said, 'I wish you enough', we wanted the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them". Then turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory. ~ I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear ~ I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more ~ I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting. I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger ~ I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting ~ I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess ~ I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye She then began to cry and walked away. They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them but then an entire life to forget them. Only if you wish, let someone know you will never forget them.
"Hand In Hand"
By Sharon Jaynes Key Verse: “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up…A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12NIV) Friend to Friend Looking out my den window I noticed two of my neighbors puttering slowly down the street. Ernestine, with her bald head snuggled in a woolen cap, held tightly to Patti’s supporting arm. Patti’s chestnut hair, just two inches long, shone like a victor’s crown – the crown of a cancer survivor. In May of 1998, Patti felt a lump and feared the worst. A doctor’s visit confirmed that she had cancer. For three months she endured chemotherapy followed by seven weeks of radiation, five days a week. As God would have it, her final treatment fell on Thanksgiving Day. Yes, she had much to be thankful for – a full life, a loving husband, and Ernestine Nevils, her new next door neighbor who had moved in two years before.
When Ernestine moved into the neighborhood, she and Patti connected as if they had known each other all their lives. Patti said, “Even though Ernestine is too young to be my mother, only fifteen years my senior, I feel as if God has given me just that, the gift of another mother.” During Patti’s cancer treatment, Ernestine was right by her side, an extension of Jesus’ hands and feet providing love, encouragement, and support. By July of that year, Patti had lost all her hair, and Ernestine was the one person, besides Patti’s husband, with whom she felt comfortable not wearing her wig. One year after her final radiation treatment, Patti was given the opportunity to return the kindness to Ernestine. In November of 1999, a trip to the doctor revealed that Ernestine had lymphoma, cancer of the lymph nodes. Now Patti was the nurturer. She took Ernestine to her first chemotherapy and explained what to expect. She told Ernestine what to eat, where to go to have a wig made, and how to deal with depression. “I never had to tell Patti what I needed,” Ernestine remembered, “because she already knew, sometimes when I didn’t even know myself. She’d say, ‘Ernestine, I think you need to take a little walk. It’ll make you feel better.’ Now, if someone else had told me that, I might nave said, ‘Leave me alone. You don’t know how I feel.’ Put Patti did know how I felt. She’d traveled the road just a few months before. I know without a shadow of a doubt that God moved me here, right next door to Patti. He is good.” As I watched the twosome make their way down the street that chilly November day, I whispered a prayer, thanking God for girlfriends in God… friends with whom we can be His hands and feet when a one is too weak to walk unassisted, His strong arm when a burden is too heavy to bear alone, and His voice when a friend has forgotten the words to the song in her heart. Now It's Your Turn - When reading about Patti and Ernestine’s friendship, did you feel a sense of warmth because you remembered a time when a friend stood along side you during a difficult season, or did you feel a sense of emptiness because you lack similar relationships in your own life?
- The best way to have a friend is to be a friend. Is there someone you know who is struggling with life that God is nudging you to help?
- Think of two women who have walked along side you during a difficult time and write them a note telling them just how much their encouragement meant to you.
Sandpaper People
by Mary Southerland Today’s Truth “We are God’s workmanship.” Ephesians 2:10 (NIV) Friend to Friend Sandpaper people, the people who rub us the wrong way, are not only a reality of life but a gift from God. How? God has used these difficult relationships as catalysts in my life through which He has lovingly upset my comfortable plans and purposefully redirected my self-ordered steps. The results have often been chaotic and unsettling, but always life changing! Our son, Jered, has played football since elementary school. Over the years, he has endured several injuries, but as a junior in high school, experienced his first surgery to repair a broken bone in his foot, The orthopedic doctor explained exactly what he would do during surgery. “First of all, I will remove the scar tissue that has formed around the break. I will then insert a metal screw to connect the broken bones.” As he spoke, I was comforted by my mind’s depiction of a shiny thin and smooth metal screw resting gently in my son’s foot. There are times when ignorance is a blessing. The surgery went well and after two weeks, I took Jered in for a follow-up visit during which the doctor once again x-rayed his foot to make sure it was healing properly. The doctor walked in, smiling and waving an x-ray in his hand. “Your foot is healing beautifully,” he announced with great pride. Curious, I asked the doctor if we could see the x-ray. As he slapped it up against the light board, I was horrified to see a thick, long metal bolt. In fact, on closer examination, I was certain the beginnings of rust could be seen on that barbaric screw jammed up into my son’s precious bone. Seeing the look on my face, the doctor assured me that everything was fine. I was far from convinced and had a few questions that needed answering – immediately. “Is that screw supposed to look like that or did you put the wrong screw in my son’s foot? Will he be able to play football? Will his foot hurt when it rains? Will that enormous screw set off airport security detectors? Will Jered’s foot ever be as strong as it was before the surgery?” I asked. The doctor listened patiently, smiled and said, “Well, now that you mention it, I need to be honest and tell you Jered’s foot will not be as strong as it was before.” The evil doctor then grinned and said, “It will actually be stronger.” I find it interesting that all through life, the greatest strength is forged in broken places. The same is true in dealing with difficult people. God is not committed to our comfort. God is committed to creating His character within us. One way He accomplishes that goal is through the abrasive and coarse work of sandpaper people as they grind off and sand away our rough edges, even to the point of breaking. Suffering comes in many ways, but always with the purpose of making us strong enough to endure pain and weak enough to rely upon God. Many times, it is through difficult relationships that we experience the most pain. Peter writes that God will “make everything right” which indicates the promise that He will take our circumstances and relationships, adjust them and make the broken pieces fit together in order to equip us for service. “Making everything right” can also be translated in the original language as “mending nets”. A fisherman’s net was a vital part of his livelihood. A broken net meant no fish. One broken net affected the fisherman’s ability to make a living and provide for his family. It was imperative for the fisherman to keep his nets in working condition, constantly mending the broken places. Every time we are broken but allow God to do the mending, we become stronger and new life is provided. Paul was certainly no stranger to trials, pain and broken nets. “We know that these troubles produce patience. And patience produces character, and character produces hope.” (Romans 5:3-4 NCV) I must admit I have been known to insert the name of my current sandpaper person into that verse so that it reads, “I know that my sandpaper person produces patience. And patience produces character, and character produces hope.” What an amazing progression, from a difficult relationship to Godly character and then on to hope. Hope follows pain because pain forces to trust God and rely upon His power to mend a broken life. It is in that abandonment to God that we find hope. Difficult relationships and the brokenness they bring can make us either bitter or better. It is our choice. We can insist on comfort and forfeit character or we can embrace the brokenness, knowing that God will use it for our good. Sandpaper people are grindstones. Whether they grind us down or polish us up depends on what we are made of. Harry Truman said: "Fame is a vapor, popularity is an accident, riches take wings, those who cheer today may curse tomorrow and only one thing endures - character." I believe sandpaper people voice the silent prayer that someone will be strong enough to stop their vicious cycle of offensive behavior. God calls us to be that strong someone. I also believe God allows difficult relationships to form within the realm of our daily walk in order to strengthen us for the very task of life. Let’s pray Lord, please fill my heart with Your love for the sandpaper people in my life. Please let me see them as You see them. Use them, Father; to refine me to the place that I am the woman You created me to be. I choose to thank You for the difficult relationships in my life, knowing that through these abrasive people, Your work is accomplished in me. Amen. Now It's Your Turn - Write down the name of a sandpaper person in your life and list five reasons you consider that person abrasive.
- Pray for that sandpaper person.
- Thank God for bringing that difficult person into your life. What do you believe God wants to accomplish through this sandpaper person? Are you willing to trust Him enough to praise Him for that person?
More from the Girls Loving the unlovable is impossible – outside of God’s power at work in us. Pray that God will give you His eyes to see the hurting and wounded He brings your way. And remember, hurt people…hurt people. For more on this topic check out Mary’s new CD, Love that Never Fails
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