Do you need reminding that change is coming and there is a purpose to life?
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Please know this, God will allow times of struggle greater than YOUR ability to handle it. He allows these times so that you might learn to fully and completely rely on Him. Apart from Him you and I can do nothing. When you and I learn that principle and live accordingly we will be free to experience His power, which is perfected in our weakness.
My friend Tony Hill sent me this email this week asking me about our experience with church planting: (Tony is the mastermind behind my blog design.)
My advice to parents is to surround your children with kids they can be encouraged by later in life. Pick your children’s friends, while you can, based on their parents. Look for people who share your values, share your discipline philosophy, and are heading their children in the same direction you want your children to go. Then get your children around those children as much as you can. Hopefully you will instill in your children the skills of picking the right kinds of friends wisely that will carry over into other periods of their life.
Yesterday I shared a post about the consequences of making mistakes after a person ignores repeated advice from others. It was based on a Biblical principle found in Proverbs 29:1. You can read that post HERE.
We also learn, however, by the wisdom of others and humbling ourselves enough to accept the correction or criticism others offer can often help us avoid costly mistakes. The verse ends with a warning of such, “will suddenly be broken beyond healing”. That part of the principle doesn’t ignore grace or the ability to recover, but it does point out that some mistakes can leave lasting consequences.
I wish it never happened to anyone and I hope it never happens to you, but in my job I hear it almost every week. It’s a word we are afraid of, one that can destroy, and certainly one that will break a heart. Sometimes people admit to it, but mostly they deny it.
The word is AFFAIR.
I tried to tell people. Next time follow my lead. Just kidding…kind of, but I was saying a year ago to watch out for Twitter and people kept making fun of my new hobby. Now we have Oprah, Ashton, and Andy Stanley on Twitter. Apparently it’s catching on fast in the world of sports too. Check this Tennessean story out!
Since government economic numbers lag real time, we were technically in this current recession before we knew it. My prediction is that we will find months from now that the recession has already officially ended by this point and the recovery has slowly begun.
I love interacting with seminary students. As they have their minds stretched, they continue to stretch me attempting to wrestle through doctrine with them. That happened this weekend with a young man who attended our church prior to his call to ministry. We were discussing the concept of grace and I was reminded of a passage that has stretched my thoughts over the years.