NFT.
2.20.2009
2.10.2009
Sorry I've been MIA. I got this in an email from my mom and thought it was worth sharing. :-)
To: YOU
Date: TODAY
From: GOD
Subject: YOURSELF
Reference: YOUR LIFE
This is God. Today I will be handling all your problems for you. I do not need your help. So, have a nice day. I love you.
PS:
Remember, if life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do not attempt to resolve it yourself! Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box. I will get to it in MY time. All situations will be resolved, but in my time, not yours. Should you decide to send this message to a friend, thank you. You may have touched their life in ways you will never know.
Now, you have a nice day!
God
To: YOU
Date: TODAY
From: GOD
Subject: YOURSELF
Reference: YOUR LIFE
This is God. Today I will be handling all your problems for you. I do not need your help. So, have a nice day. I love you.
PS:
Remember, if life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do not attempt to resolve it yourself! Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box. I will get to it in MY time. All situations will be resolved, but in my time, not yours. Should you decide to send this message to a friend, thank you. You may have touched their life in ways you will never know.
Now, you have a nice day!
God
2.03.2009
Interview with Pastor Rick Warren
No, I didn't personally interview Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life. My mother actually sent this to me in a forward, but I thought it was worthy of sharing.
You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having 'wealth' from the book sales. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren, 'Purpose Driven Life ' author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California.
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 not 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 may 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 Godlike character.
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 your 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 bo th 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 influence.
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.
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.
God's Blessings on you today.
You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having 'wealth' from the book sales. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren, 'Purpose Driven Life ' author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California.
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 not 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 may 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 Godlike character.
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 your 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 bo th 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 influence.
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.
Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.
God's Blessings on you today.
2.02.2009
This cycle is coming to an end, folks. On to cycle #5! I'm praying that this will be the lucky one, even though I'd be due right before the holidays.
I'm going to talk with Dan (the campus center minister) on Thursday about the job opportunity I applied for there. I have a few other prospects on the horizon as well, which could bring in some extra $$. Any money I make will be going straight into savings for baby/house/car.
It's tax season, and we already have all of our documents ready to go. I think we'll probably go to H&R Block this weekend and file. :-) I'm not sure if we'll get a refund or not, but hopefully we won't have to pay much. (By the way, I LOVE living in a state that has no state income tax. It is wonderful)
I am in the middle of a cleaning rampage through my house. It has been neglected for far too long, especially considering I stay at home. I filed all of our paperwork, and I'm in the midst of doing laundry. I still have a lot to do:
-dust
-vacuum
-declutter
-clean bathroom
-tidy kitchen
-mop kitchen and bath
-water plants
I really need to buy a new, bigger file box to keep all our paperwork in. We currently have two small accordion files, but they are full to the max. It's a bit ridiculous, really.
I'm still working on my homespun scarf. I think I may send it to my mom when I finish, since I really don't need another scarf right now. She kept commenting on what a pretty color it was when I was visiting her last week, so I think she'd like it. :-)
I use :-) too much. I apologize for that, but it probably will not stop.
I made homemade bread last week. It turned out wonderfully, and I am pumped about adding this to my repertoire of housewifely accomplishments.
This concludes my most rambling-est blog post to date. Your comments are encouraged and I await their arrival in my inbox anxiously. TIA!
I'm going to talk with Dan (the campus center minister) on Thursday about the job opportunity I applied for there. I have a few other prospects on the horizon as well, which could bring in some extra $$. Any money I make will be going straight into savings for baby/house/car.
It's tax season, and we already have all of our documents ready to go. I think we'll probably go to H&R Block this weekend and file. :-) I'm not sure if we'll get a refund or not, but hopefully we won't have to pay much. (By the way, I LOVE living in a state that has no state income tax. It is wonderful)
I am in the middle of a cleaning rampage through my house. It has been neglected for far too long, especially considering I stay at home. I filed all of our paperwork, and I'm in the midst of doing laundry. I still have a lot to do:
-dust
-vacuum
-declutter
-clean bathroom
-tidy kitchen
-mop kitchen and bath
-water plants
I really need to buy a new, bigger file box to keep all our paperwork in. We currently have two small accordion files, but they are full to the max. It's a bit ridiculous, really.
I'm still working on my homespun scarf. I think I may send it to my mom when I finish, since I really don't need another scarf right now. She kept commenting on what a pretty color it was when I was visiting her last week, so I think she'd like it. :-)
I use :-) too much. I apologize for that, but it probably will not stop.
I made homemade bread last week. It turned out wonderfully, and I am pumped about adding this to my repertoire of housewifely accomplishments.
This concludes my most rambling-est blog post to date. Your comments are encouraged and I await their arrival in my inbox anxiously. TIA!
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