>>plan.to.fail

>> I’m a person that likes to plan.  Ever since a child I have heard “if you don’t plan, you are planning to fail.”  I guess that is one of my greatest strengths because anytime I have a list of things to do or some sort of objective to accomplish, I immediately try and devise a plan to get it done.  I’ve never really liked being late and I have always liked to know where I am going.  But as I was sitting in church the other night I began to think about some scripture.  In the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah begins to talk to God and when he prays he says something that is defintely something that is hard for me.  He prays, “God, it’s not in him that walks to direct his own steps.”  How hard is that for us who can’t help but to plan?  Because Jeremiah admits right here that as a human-being we can only walk.  We can’t direct ourselves and when we make our plans and ”to do” lists; if we get so tight on that list we can end up making no room for God and that is planning to fail. 

That doesn’t mean we don’t plan, but when God steps on the scene in our daily lives and begins to switch things up, we have to be ready to be flexible.  Because if we think that leading and planning our own lives is the way to do it, than we have missed it.  We have to learn to let God ultimately lead us and find our direction in life in Him. God has a direction that is unlike any other.  Many people in my early walk with Jesus tried to dictate and argue my issues with God and church.  And yes, they were trying to help me, but God had a great plan than not even myself understood. God lead me on a path that most people didn’t think was going to lead me to him, or even ministry.  But God gives the best direction and although my path wasn’t necessarily a “cookie cutter” one, it was God’s direction that lead me.  So just how God lead me then, I am challenged to keep my direction in God’s hands and not my own.  God made me with the ability to plan, but God lets us all grow into giving our daily lives and daily directions to him.

So may you learn to let God plan your life.  May you learn to create a “no to do” list.  May you let go, walk, and let God lead you.

and me too.

Catalyst.Quotes(2)

>>Hallo everyone.  Here is part two of some great quotes from the speakers at Catalyst.  Enjoi.

Dave Ramsey-

>5 main Enemies of Unity= 1.Poor communication 2.Gossip 3.Unresolved disagreements 4.Lack of shared  purpose 5.Sanctioned Incompetence

 >”gossip is when a negative is discusses with anyone who can’t help solve the problem”

Andy Crouch-

>”Our people have to live the same life as staff without rewards.”

>”Unless they succeeed, we don’t succeed.”

>”Culture got good at: condemning, critiquing, copying, consuming.”

>”Wherever culture changes it moves the horizon of the impossible.”

Matt Chandler-

>”The Gospel is about getting and Jesus and that being enough..”

>”Following God and it all is going to be ok is trumped by reality…and the Bible.”

>”Where your church is weak, you are weak.”

>”You can tell how you are doing with how you spend your money and how you treat people.”

Andy Stanley-(These are quotes Andy uses from others as well as himself in his last session)

>taken from Craig Groschel “To reach people no one is reaching, we must do things no one else is doing.”

>taken from Focus, Al Reis “The Next Generation product almost never comes from the previous generation.”

>Only the Paranoid Survive, Andy Grove “If we got kicked out and the board brought in a new CEO, what would he do?  Why shouldn’t we walk out the door, come back in, and do it ourselves?”

>”I don’t want to be an expert on how to do ministry in the past 15 years.”

>”Success breeds complacency and complacency breeds failure.”

Catalyst was an amazing time of worship, encouragement, and fresh looks at leadership as well as ministry.  Check out www.catalystspace.com for more info and much more.

>>Catalyst.Quotes (1)

>>Hallo everyone.  Here is the first part of some great quotes from a great Catalyst Conference.  Enjo/i.

Andy Stanley-

“We should be able to speak with moral authority in the area of forgiveness.”
“If you want to lead cheerful people, be a cheerful person.”

“Give.  Save.  Live on the rest.”

Jim Collins- “Good is the enemy of Great”

“Greatness is not a function of cards you’re dealt.”

“You’ll find a culture of discipline in any great enterprise.”

“If it is about you, you will not build something great.”

“It might take 50 years to build a reputation, but three seconds to ruin one.”

“Every generation needs its own practice to show how the values are ‘long lasting.’”

Brenda McNeil

“‘Here’ is always a place of transition.”

Seth Godin-

“We define ourselves by who isn’t there”

“It’s about leading, not controlling.”

“The idea that everyone wants to join your tribe is a lie.”

Tim Sanders-

“Leaders gauge reality and give hope.”

“If not you, then who?  If not now, then when?”

>>God.Say.What?

>>I was recently reading a very well-known portion of scripture: Jeremiah 29:11 and came to a new revelation about this portion of scripture.  Here it goes.

God’s people are in captivity and they have been run ragged with false prophets, rebellion, and sin.  And when God’s “chosen people” get thrown into slavery, they automatically think that their God is going to deliver them.  And once again their false prophets are telling them “don’t settle, God will bring us out,” but the whole time God really says, “Settle down, get a house, marry away your children, and get used to living here; because your going to be here until I deliver you later.” (about 70 yrs)  And then we get to the portion of scripture Jeremiah 29:11 and I was like what!?  God, you just said that they have to live there 70 more years, pay for their mistakes, and later you say there is more bad stuff coming.  Where are the thoughts “of peace and not of evil?”  See the thing is that God had redemption up his sleeve and although to the world it looked like God’s people were forsaken,  God knew all the time that he was going to bring his people back better than ever.  And sometimes the key isn’t, to look around at the situation around you or the situation you have got yourself into, but hear the words that God is saying like “I have got it under control” or “I promise I have got good thoughts about you and your future” or even Romans 8:28.  God help me to hear and trust your words.