This is the "Next Level" of things I'm learning. It's a place where I record what I'm studying (my quiet times) or other valuable information that I want to remember.
I'm not here as an accident or a random occurrence. I'm here because God wanted me here. He made me just the way I am for a purpose.
3 "Family of Jacob, listen to me! All you people from Israel who are still alive, listen! I have carried you since you were born; I have taken care of you from your birth. 4 Even when you are old, I will be the same. Even when your hair has turned gray, I will take care of you. I made you and will take care of you. I will carry you and save you. [Isa. 46:3-4 (Ncv)
God made me for a reason and I can discover this when I make God the reference point of my life.
Point to Ponder: I'm not an accident. God uniquely created me and I need to accept who I am and not struggle over appearance or status.
A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump; a God-shaped life is a flourishing tree. [Proverbs 11:28 (Msg)]
“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit." [Jer. 17:7-8 (NLT)]
The first sentence in Rick Warren's book, "The Purpose Drive Life", says a lot.... "It's not about you."
What I'm realizing is that my purpose in life is much larger than my own personal fulfillment, family, or career. I was put here by "His" purpose and by "His" will. The only way for me to discover what His purpose is for me, is to consult his written manual, The Bible.
In essence, life is really about letting God use me for his purpose, this is quite a contrast to what the world teaches us. I find myself trying to fit God into my desires or purposes.
The point for me to ponder today is "It's not about me!." So I need to remind myself that life is really about living for God, not me.
I've been thinking a lot about my purpose in life.
Recently my church went though a series on "The Road to Financial Freedom." Included in this was an opportunity to attend a one day seminar from Crown Financial Ministries. The whole series and the seminar provided a lot of detail on God's perspective toward money and possessions and really got me thinking about my walk with Christ.
The Key Points Were:
. "God is in Control." He owns and is involved in every thing. . We are only stewards of his resources. . With debt we become a slave to the lender. . We are to enjoy (be content) with what he have given us. . We are to give back, and those God will provide for others and allow us to be part of it.
From this series our church launched summer small groups for managing finances God's way. I was happy to volunteer to lead one of these small groups. As we began the study, the introduction was from Rick Warren and in it Rick pointed out that were five purposes for our lives. We are called to:
. Worship God . Have Fellowship With God and Other . Grow like Christ . To Serve Others . Be on-mission for God in the World
I decided to go back through Rick Warren's book "The Purpose Driven Life." What will follow in the next few weeks will be my observations and thoughts as I review this and as I go through with my group the materials on Managing our Finances God's Way.
I'm not sure if anyone will ever read my posts, however, I pray that God will use the insights, concepts and perspective's I write about to make a difference in the life of someone else.
I've been extremely busy the last several months (work, school, ministry, family..)
When I first created this blog, I intended to use it as a place to record what I'm studying or other interesting tidbits of valuable information I came across (mainly about Computers, Technology, and Security/Protection.
I've decided to switch things up a bit...
A while back I created another blog named "techideout.com." I've decided that I'll use the newer site to continue posting about technology there and use this site as a personal blog and to record my walk with Christ..
I'd still love to here your comments on the items I post so feel free to comment or email me directly at mark@gresak.com.
The sub-title for this passage was a "Warning about Self-Confidence" and it said:
"13 Look here, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit." 14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it's here a little while, then it's gone. 15 What you ought to say is, "If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that." 16 Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil."
James points out some interesting comments/warnings here about how we should make our plans...
We often take for granted what will be available to us today, tomorrow and the future. And we can tend to put our confidence in our own abilities.
James warns us that we do not always know what lies ahead for us. This life in comparison with eternity is like a brief fog that occupies only a brief portion of the day. Here one moment, gone the next.
James continues to warn us that what we should be saying/thinking is, if the Lord wants us to, we will. God is in control!
Does this mean that we shouldn't have plans or goals?
It is good to have plans or goals, however, these plans and goals will disappoint us if we leave God out of them.
There's no point in making plans as though God does not exist or is not a part of it, because the future is really in his hands.
The key ingredient is including God!
If your like me, I have lots of plans/goals going on right now. This passage is pointing out that I need to review these to be sure that I'm including God and His desires within them.
In Summary:
It's important that I put God at the center of my life
Make plans, however, make sure they are in line with His desires
Talk/pray to God for wisdom and insight
Continue to Love people in the process
Continue to meet and discuss plans/goals regularly
So, Plan ahead... but hold your plans loosely. Be Sure to put God's desires at the center of your planning, he will never disappoint you.
Let me know if this perspective has been helpful to you. I appreciate your comments and love to hearing from you.
I admit it... For the longest time, I ignored RSS and what it was all about or what it could do!
I know, some of you may say, "wow, your a technology guy and you didn't use this?"
Well in the past I only briefly looked at RSS and understood that it could deliver some content. For me, I was used to going to each site I liked and manually seeing what was new.
Recently in my studies of how to blog, I was turned on to the power of RSS for the blogger and for the subscriber (reader.) It's definitely worth looking into.
Ok, so you may ask (like I did), if its really simple then how come it doesn't really jump out at me about what it could do?
After doing a little research I found, the most common definition is RSS is "Really Simple Syndication."
RSS describes formats used to publish content that is frequently updated such as blogs, news feeds or even podcasts. An RSS document, which is also commonly referred to as a "feed," "web feed," or "channel," contains either a summary of content being published or the full text from a source web site.
What it does is reverse the typical process.
• Instead of you going out to see what's new • Your favorite web site provides you with an update that something has been added or has changed
So, an RSS feed makes it possible for you to keep up with your favorite web sites in an automated manner that's easier than checking each of them manually. If you find something in your reader that you want to investigate in further, clicking the link will take you directly to the web site that published it.
So how can you get started?
RSS content can be read using software called an "RSS reader", "feed reader" or an "aggregator". You would subscribe (much like subscribing to a magazine, but much better, there's no cost) to a feed by entering the feed's link into the reader or by clicking an RSS icon on your browser that initiates the subscription process. The reader software then checks the user's subscribed feeds regularly for new content, downloading any updates that it finds.
The easiest software to get started with it "Google Reader."
If your still a little fuzzy on this concept I found a great video you can watch that will make it easier to understand called “RSS in Plain English.”
It's been a little while since I last posted a message here, so I wanted to provide a little background as to what's going on with me. On one of my previous posts (Feb. 7th) I talked about my recent interest in the technology of Blogging and Podcasting. Well, I decided to move forward in researching how to properly create and publish a blog (one which would benefit others.)
I know, I've been blogging for a while (essentially random bits of technology, etc.) however, I really wanted to learn more about creating one that provides benefit and is interesting / entertaining to read.
So, I began my research, and made some decisions and put together a plan. Then I purchased a new domain name and obtained my own web hosting account.
The basics of this new site is now up and operational however, I'm still making some changes to it.
The new site is "techideout.com", and its will be dedicated to Technical Tips, Tutorials/How-to’s, Utilities and News for techies.
Now that I have gleaned a fair amount of knowledge about creating a blog, I'll do a future series of posts on how I established my blog. You can use the points I found to help establish one of your own, or let me know how well I've achieved my goal.
I'll still retain this blog for various topics, however, most of the technical posts will be on Techideout. Look forward to seeing and interacting with you there!
If you’ve started your own blog, send me a comment about your adventures. I love hearing from you so feel free to comment on this post or just let me know how I'm doing.
