Day by Day

Day by day, and with each passing moment,
Strength I find, to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,
I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.
He Whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each day what He deems best—
Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Every day, the Lord Himself is near me
With a special mercy for each hour;
All my cares He fain would bear, and cheer me,
He Whose Name is Counselor and Power;
The protection of His child and treasure
Is a charge that on Himself He laid;
“As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,”
This the pledge to me He made.

Help me then in every tribulation
So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,
That I lose not faith’s sweet consolation
Offered me within Thy holy Word.
Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,
Ever to take, as from a father’s hand,
One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,
Till I reach the promised land.

"Blott en Dag" by Karolina W. Sandell-Berg, translated into English by Andrew L. Skoog)

Most Misunderstood Missiologist

An insightful article by Bill Eason about Don McGavran, the father of the church growth movement.

I was privileged to sit under his teaching a few times during my days at Fuller.

Winning over Worry

Two men were climbing a steep hill on a bicycle built for two. When they finally made it to the top, the first man said, "Whew! That was a stiff climb. I think it was the hardest hill I've ever been on.""It certainly was," his companion replied, "and if I hadn't kept the brake on, we would have slid down backwards!"

When we worry, it's like pedaling uphill with the brakes on. Anxious thoughts make life ten times harder.

Unfortunately, our natural human tendency is to worry about our situations. Is there anybody on this earth who is not familiar with the uncomfortable gnawing of worry in the belly? I seriously doubt it.

Yet, although worry is familiar to us all, we don't have to treat it like a welcomed guest. In fact, we have every right in the world to kick it out! "No Vacancy" -- There's no place for anxious thinking here!

How can we evict worry from our lives? Let me offer a few suggestions:

1. Talk to yourself!
A great way to abolish worry is to ask yourself the right questions such as,

* Why am I feeling tense right now?

* Will the world end if what I'm worrying about comes true?

* Is stewing over this making it any better?

* Who else is worked up over this issue? Why or why not?

* Is this worth losing sleep?

* What is the bottom line fear in this situation?

* So what?

2. Sell yourself some hope.

Y ou've already been selling yourself on fear, tension, and all the "What if's". Why not switch gears and start looking for what's going right?

Elmer Wheeler, in The Wealth Within You, said, "we become courageous by the same process that we become fearful; successful and confident by the same process that we become failures. Both are ideas that we sell ourselves. If you are timid and fearful or feel inferior, you do not need to learn the technique of selling ideas to yourself. You are already a past master at the art. All you need to do is change the ideas you sell. Suggest confidence to yourself in exactly the same way you have been suggesting failure."

3. Seek wise counsel.
It really helps to talk the issue through with someone who has a level head and the wisdom of experience. Good advice is worth more than gold.

4. Pray about it.
A burden is really a call to prayer. If it's big enough to fret about, it's big enough to pray about. The Bible tells us to cast our cares upon the Lord because He cares for us! Prayer increases faith, which puts the kabosh on worry.

5. Take a dose of reality.
Worry casts long shadows on little things. It exaggerates the problem, and turns mice into monsters. If you think your situation is really bad, why not look around? You will find lots of people who have it worse. Chances are, your problems are not nearly as terrible as they seem.

6. Think "through" not "to".
Often, people think "to" a difficulty and then panic. When we come up against a big problem and then camp out, it only leads to frustration and worry. The much better path is to keep exploring solutions. Refuse to let the issue get the best of you. Working at a solution drains the worry away.

7. Keep moving forward.
Worry and positive action don't usually go together -- You're either invested in one or the other. If you're spinning the worry wheels -- it's better to get onto another track of thinking.

Perplexities

"By such things men live, and my spirit finds life in them too." Isa. 38:16

Procrastination

Ideas are a dime a dozen. Millions of people have good ideas, but never get around to doing anything with them.

What a tragedy to see so many unrealized hopes and dreams. Why do we put off the important tasks of life? Why do we allow ourselves to settle into the plateau of mediocrity?

Here are a few possible explanations for this phenomenon:
1) We tend to value comfort more than accomplishment. When forced to make a choice between the two, most people follow the path of least resistance.

2) Fear of failure can keep us from starting. Of course, the greatest failure is not trying. I'd rather attempt something great, and fail -- than to attempt nothing and succeed.

3) Poor time management keeps us from fulfilling our dreams. If we don't schedule the important things into our lives, they won't get done. Poor planning leads to hectic living - with little to show for it.

4) Our actions reveal our true priorities. We live what we really believe - regardless of what we say. Rethinking priorities helps to turn the vision into a reality.

5) Often, a huge goal seems impossible to attain. We stand, immobilized, as we stare at it. However, a mighty mountain can be moved one shovel at a time. What small steps can you take today which will set you in the direction of the dream?

6) Critics and small thinkers can derail the best ideas. Always welcome wise counsel, but refuse to allow petty people to sidetrack you from your mission.

7) Believe it can be done - and it will! (Believe it CAN'T be done - and it wont!)

8) You say you don't have the time? Yes you do! "I don't have time" is just an excuse. You have 24 hours in a day just like everybody else. Use 'em or lose 'em.

Hudson Taylor said there are three stages in any worthwhile project -
Impossible
Difficult
Done!

Filled Up and Poured Out

We are filled up to be poured out.

Fill up with love -- and then pour it out.
Fill up with faith -- and then pour it out.
Fill up with hope -- and then pour it out.
Fill up with joy -- and then pour it out.
Fill up with the Spirit -- and then pour it out.

We're blessed to be a blessing.

If we fill up. but don't pour it out -- we're bloated.
If we pour it out, but don't fill up -- we're depleted.

Keep filling up and pouring out! That's how we're created to live and serve in this world. Let the river flow!

When You Don't Feel Like It

John Bloom has written a great post over at Desiring God -- When You Don't Feel Like It, Take Heart.

The Sabbath Demise

Found an interesting Wall Street Journal article a while back about the demise of Sabbath Keeping in America.

Sundays changed when the world changed. Stopping farming in the Middle Ages was easy. But to close restaurants, shut up amusement parks or clear the airwaves when Americans with money were trying to spend it that day was impossible.