Interesting. I was reading in John 8 this morning and Jesus said this:
"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but
will have the light of life."
What struck me today were the words "follow me". I thought about how I have done three different things with Jesus in my life...
*Ignored Him. For the first 14 years of my life, I didn't care about Jesus. Then there have been other times, even as a Christian, where I did not think about Him.
*Used Him. Ow. It hurts to admit this, but I have used Jesus. It usually happens when I'm ignoring Him and something goes wrong. All of a sudden, Jesus is my "buddy". Why? I need help. Now, Jesus is loving and gracious and responds to this call for help, but it's not optimal.
*Follow Him. This is the goal of my life now. I want to remain in HIM all the time so that His life fills me. GPS is the key to this. You can KNOW Jesus and He can guide you when you recenter your life around Him.
Which of those three describe you today?
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Friday, September 17, 2010
Final blog from this post
Due to a mistake made while setting up this blog, I've been forced to open up a new one. Here's my new blog address: www.HVCCBrian.blogspot.com
Please jump on over to my new blog and bookmark it.
Thanks,
Brian
Please jump on over to my new blog and bookmark it.
Thanks,
Brian
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Creativity Conference Coming Soon
Some of you know that every year, I pick a theme that I want to study. Last year, it was the theme of creativity. I read some of the best books on creativity last year and then I've spent tons of hours going back through those books and making notes. I call that "Book Reporting" a book. It's how I glean the best ideas from the best books so that I can implement those ideas and incorporate them into my life. I think I had 28 pages of notes by the time I was done.
Now, I've been transferring all that information into a conference that I plan to teach sometime in the next six months. I'm having a BLAST putting it all together and it's coming along quick. I hope to teach it to the staff this fall. If that goes well, I'll open that up to the entire church.
Now, I've been transferring all that information into a conference that I plan to teach sometime in the next six months. I'm having a BLAST putting it all together and it's coming along quick. I hope to teach it to the staff this fall. If that goes well, I'll open that up to the entire church.
A BRILLIANT BOOK!!!
Want to read just one great book this summer? Go get a copy of Henry Cloud's book "How people grow." Unbelievable! I'm going to have to do a book report on this one. My mind was stretched! I have never marked up a book so much. Wow...
Monday, July 5, 2010
Time to rest
I'm off on vacation...actually, this first week is not vacation. I'm actually preaching five times at a camp. It's a great Christian camp just over the border in IA called Village Creek Bible camp. I'm preaching on marriage and family for five days. Then we come back and we're going to do something we've never done before. We're going away for a week and leaving the boys behind! They don't enjoy sitting on a beach reading books all day anymore. We were a little reluctant to leave them until we realized that they are both one year away from leaving for college. Gulp! I guess it's just time to trust them and see what happens. We'll have lots of people checking in on them :)
I plan to read a LOT of books on "emotional intelligence" this summer. It's the ability to learn how to really listen to another person. I have a friend who is a professional counselor in this field and he says it's supposed to be the #1 key to success in life. That definitely made me curious!
I plan to read a LOT of books on "emotional intelligence" this summer. It's the ability to learn how to really listen to another person. I have a friend who is a professional counselor in this field and he says it's supposed to be the #1 key to success in life. That definitely made me curious!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
George Mueller - why I'm writing about him...
Way too many people don't know what is possible with God. This man's life is a great example of what God is willing to do through anyone who will trust in Him.
You can live an amazing life with God if you are willing to develop your faith.
Today and next week at HVCC, we are talking about how to build your faith muscles. You can listen to these online for free any time you want at www.hiddenv.com Look under the Cardiac 9-1-1 and open the two middle messages.
You can live an amazing life with God if you are willing to develop your faith.
Today and next week at HVCC, we are talking about how to build your faith muscles. You can listen to these online for free any time you want at www.hiddenv.com Look under the Cardiac 9-1-1 and open the two middle messages.
George Mueller - How to strengthen your faith
In giving advice gained through daily trials of his faith, this father of the orphans laid down rules for Christians to follow by which they might also strengthen their faith. These rules are:
1. Read the Bible and meditate upon it. God has become known to us through prayer and meditation upon His own Word.
2. Seek to maintain an upright heart and a good conscience.
3. If we desire our faith to be strengthened, we should not shrink from opportunities where our faith may be tried, and therefore, through trial, be strengthened.
4. The last important point for the strengthening of our faith is that we let God work for us, when the hour of trial of our faith comes, and do not work a deliverance of our own.
"Would the believer therefore have his faith strengthened, he must give God time to work," he declares...
1. Read the Bible and meditate upon it. God has become known to us through prayer and meditation upon His own Word.
2. Seek to maintain an upright heart and a good conscience.
3. If we desire our faith to be strengthened, we should not shrink from opportunities where our faith may be tried, and therefore, through trial, be strengthened.
4. The last important point for the strengthening of our faith is that we let God work for us, when the hour of trial of our faith comes, and do not work a deliverance of our own.
"Would the believer therefore have his faith strengthened, he must give God time to work," he declares...
George Mueller - How to discover the will of God
Many asked Mr. Muller how he sought to know the will of God, in that nothing was undertaken, not even the smallest expenditure, without feeling certain he was in God's will. In the following words he gave his answer:
1. I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter. Nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord's will, whatever it may be. When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is.
2. Having done this, I do not leave the result to feeling or simple impressions. If so, I make myself liable to great delusions.
3. I seek the will of the Spirit of God through or in connection with the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also.
4. Next I take into account providential circumstances. These plainly indicate God's will in connection with His Word and Spirit.
5. I ask God in prayer to reveal His will to me aright.
6. Thus through prayer to God, the study of the Word and reflection, I come to a deliberate judgment according to the best of my ability and knowledge, and if my mind is thus at peace, and continues so after two or three more petitions, I proceed accordingly. In trivial matters and transactions involving most important issues, I have found this method always effective."
And did this plan work?--one asks. Let Mr. Muller's testimony answer.
"I never remember," he wrote three years before his death, "in all my Christian course, a period now (in March 1895) of sixty-nine years and four months, that I EVER SINCERELY AND PATIENTLY sought to know the will of God by the teaching of the Word of God, but I have been ALWAYS directed rightly. But if honesty of heart and uprightness before God were lacking, of if I did not patiently wait upon God for instruction, or if I preferred the counsel of my fellow men to the declarations of the Word of the living God, I made great mistakes. (Italics his.)
1. I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter. Nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord's will, whatever it may be. When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is.
2. Having done this, I do not leave the result to feeling or simple impressions. If so, I make myself liable to great delusions.
3. I seek the will of the Spirit of God through or in connection with the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also.
4. Next I take into account providential circumstances. These plainly indicate God's will in connection with His Word and Spirit.
5. I ask God in prayer to reveal His will to me aright.
6. Thus through prayer to God, the study of the Word and reflection, I come to a deliberate judgment according to the best of my ability and knowledge, and if my mind is thus at peace, and continues so after two or three more petitions, I proceed accordingly. In trivial matters and transactions involving most important issues, I have found this method always effective."
And did this plan work?--one asks. Let Mr. Muller's testimony answer.
"I never remember," he wrote three years before his death, "in all my Christian course, a period now (in March 1895) of sixty-nine years and four months, that I EVER SINCERELY AND PATIENTLY sought to know the will of God by the teaching of the Word of God, but I have been ALWAYS directed rightly. But if honesty of heart and uprightness before God were lacking, of if I did not patiently wait upon God for instruction, or if I preferred the counsel of my fellow men to the declarations of the Word of the living God, I made great mistakes. (Italics his.)
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
How to really get ahead
Came across this today in my message prep. I love it!
Author Malcolm Gladwell shares his research that shows few people get to the top of their game without putting in at least 10,000 hours of preparation.
"The closer psychologists look at the careers of the gifted, the smaller the role innate talent seems to play and the bigger the role preparation seems to play."
Whether it's Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, the Beatles, Yo Yo Ma, Mozart, or Warren Buffet, it appears no one gets to the top without putting in their 10,000 hours. If you put in 40 hours a week, that's 5 years. If you only find 20 hours a week to work on your area of excellence it will take 10 years. If you're just squeaking out 5 hours a week - it's going to take 40 years. Talent will only take you so far; it's the hours of work that will separate you from the pack.
The problem is that we have become an "instant" society. We have been spoiled with email, cell phones and microwaves - and become impatient with the nanosecond required to load a new web page. College graduates expect the $100,000 job and the $500,000 house instantly. Talented musicians and athletes expect fame and fortune long before investing 10,000 hours in practice. Writers give up after writing their great novel in a weekend and after a month of searching for a publisher. Christians are often confident their idea came from God, thus assuming success will be easy and instantaneous.
So where have you put in your 10,000 hours? If you are in a job that you hate, have you been investing hours in an area of excellence that will give you a new opportunity? Or do you just waste the hours away from work, hoping for something more fulfilling to appear? If you are a writer, a musician, a landscape designer, a web designer or a husband, have you put in your 10,000 hours of concentrated preparation to be great in that area?
I trust this is an encouraging bit of information. You don't have to regret having average talent, or not having the highest IQ, or being born into the wrong family. Just find your area of excellence and put in 10,000 hours of preparation. You'll bypass those with more "advantages" and find success that others only dream of.
What are of your life are you pushing on? Where are you striving and driving to excel? I just spent hours of my life condensing a book on creativity down to 28 pages so that I can now turn it into a conference on creativity that I hope to teach in the fall. I love reading things like this because they inspire me to keep working.
Author Malcolm Gladwell shares his research that shows few people get to the top of their game without putting in at least 10,000 hours of preparation.
"The closer psychologists look at the careers of the gifted, the smaller the role innate talent seems to play and the bigger the role preparation seems to play."
Whether it's Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, the Beatles, Yo Yo Ma, Mozart, or Warren Buffet, it appears no one gets to the top without putting in their 10,000 hours. If you put in 40 hours a week, that's 5 years. If you only find 20 hours a week to work on your area of excellence it will take 10 years. If you're just squeaking out 5 hours a week - it's going to take 40 years. Talent will only take you so far; it's the hours of work that will separate you from the pack.
The problem is that we have become an "instant" society. We have been spoiled with email, cell phones and microwaves - and become impatient with the nanosecond required to load a new web page. College graduates expect the $100,000 job and the $500,000 house instantly. Talented musicians and athletes expect fame and fortune long before investing 10,000 hours in practice. Writers give up after writing their great novel in a weekend and after a month of searching for a publisher. Christians are often confident their idea came from God, thus assuming success will be easy and instantaneous.
So where have you put in your 10,000 hours? If you are in a job that you hate, have you been investing hours in an area of excellence that will give you a new opportunity? Or do you just waste the hours away from work, hoping for something more fulfilling to appear? If you are a writer, a musician, a landscape designer, a web designer or a husband, have you put in your 10,000 hours of concentrated preparation to be great in that area?
I trust this is an encouraging bit of information. You don't have to regret having average talent, or not having the highest IQ, or being born into the wrong family. Just find your area of excellence and put in 10,000 hours of preparation. You'll bypass those with more "advantages" and find success that others only dream of.
What are of your life are you pushing on? Where are you striving and driving to excel? I just spent hours of my life condensing a book on creativity down to 28 pages so that I can now turn it into a conference on creativity that I hope to teach in the fall. I love reading things like this because they inspire me to keep working.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
