Here are some thoughts I think are worth while sharing:
- Success is the “progressive realization of a predetermined, worth while goal” (author unknown)
- Success means “a person is reaching the maximum potential available to him at any given moment” Ted Engstrom
- “You can always tell when you are on the road to success, as it is up hill all the way” Paul Harvey
- Success is continual. It’s not an event but a journey, and on going process. Success is the positive result of a steady forward movement.
- Some thoughts on goal setting:
o Your goal MUST include others: No goal is worth while that is only for yourself. Set a goal big enough that will positively effect others
o Your goal must be worthwhile
o Your goal must be clean. If you do not know were you are headed, a map will be of no use.
o Your goal must be measurable
o Your goal must be expandable. As we grow, we see the picture more clearly, and we need to continually “up” or goals. It is a sad day when we realize we have achieved our goals and have nothing else to do
o Your goals must be filled with conviction: conviction is the unshaken confidence that the goal is worthwhile
A song for those having a bad day at work: http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/whipass/whipass.m3u (thanks Ray!)
A GREAT remix of that same song: http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/whipass/goose_whipass_exteeeended.m3u
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary is offering several courses free online. http://www.gordonconwell.edu/ockenga/dimensions/ - I have signed up and will post my thoughts as I take the courses. However, I have heard they are very good!
R. Albert Mohler Jr. and Paige Patterson discuss their differences over the doctrine of election, stressing that believers can disagree on the topic while remaining friends and unified in the goal of evangelism and missions. http://baptist2baptist.net/b2barticle.asp?ID=291
Joy is the serious business of Heaven, so why is it generally so far down on our list of priorities? I think it is the most accepted sin by the church, how many times have you been asked in a pastoral visit "so, I see your joy level is not were it needs to be, how do we get this up?". I also believe this has caused great damage to to the church. In the book "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce his hero is faced with the decision of becoming a priest but is worried what might become of his face. He worries that it might become like the face of the religious people he knows "a mirthless mask reflecting a sunken day... sourfavored and devout, shot with pink tinges of suffocated anger." I wonder how many people stay home on Sundays because of these faces. Francis de Sales wrote "The evil one is pleased with sadness and melancholy because he himself is sad and melancholy, and will be for all eternity. Hence he desires that everyone should be like him". I think we need to take joy seriously. In the apostle Paul's words "Rejoice in the Lord always and again I will say Rejoice."
I am learning about joy from my Son. He finds joy in all places, wether a tractor drives down the road or Mom offers him a cookie, he is completely joyful. Now, he has his moments were he is completely empty of joy but the amazing part is, within a few seconds all the joy has return. He has forgotten all his sorrows and is now completely full of joy all over again. My issue is I can not find the joy, I miss the small things and allow the perceived big problems oversee all the many joys God has placed in my life. That is the difference between my son and I. He forgets his mishaps, or at least can block them out when he sees a gift, no matter the size. One minute he is crying because he can not have the remote for the TV, the next completely happy over the Tonka Truck now in front of him. He sees the joy in the gifts he has and has the ability to be joyful in them. Part of this is because I have a problem with repetitiveness; I take repeated blessings for granted and no longer see them as anything to be joyful about. This is everything from waking up every morning to watching Sportsnet every night. G. K. Chesterton say this: "Because Children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want this repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite for infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we."
I need to learn this ability for joy. As John Ortberg puts it "we will never understand the significance for joy in human life until we understand its importance to God. Joy is at the heart of God Himself."
