http://maranatha.steepleconnect.com Sat, 19 May 2012 22:31:52 EST What if? This is always an interesting question. Usually this question is asked after a decision is made and the outcome of that decision is not what was expected. It is at this point that we ask the question; what if? What if is a Monday morning quarterback question. What if we did something else in the football game on Saturday, maybe the outcome would have been different. I have been reading Gary Thomas' book titled <b>"Sacred Marriage"</b> with a subtitle question, <b>"What if God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy?"</b> (By the way this is Feb. 2012 marriage retreat material, book is great would encourage the read.) I am intrigued by Gary's thought process. What if God designed marriage more to make us holy than to make us happy? Looking at life from this different perspective has intrigued me to ask other questions in the same fashion. What if God designed the struggles of this life more to make us joyful rather than angry, frustrated, or that they happen to teach us patience. Maybe they do happen to teach us patience but maybe they are in our lives in order for us to learn how to handle them God's way and bring us joy in the journey because we did handle them His way and not have to Monday morning quarterback. Maybe that's why James wrote, <b>"Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result so that you will be lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him." (James 1:2-6 NASB)</b> Trials where God has provided wisdom in handling, result joy! Is that the way I look at them? I'm not so sure I can say that is the way I perceive trials! http://maranatha.steepleconnect.com/blog/64 Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:55:48 EST 2011-12-13 64 Just this week I finished another John Piper book titled, <b>Filling up the Afflictions of Christ</b>. This book is the fifth book in a series by Piper called <b>"The Swans Are Not Silent."</b> Let me explain the series title as Piper explains it. When St. Augustine's the Bishop of Hippo was retiring in North Africa in 430 AD (who Piper calls "one of the greatest voices for biblical truth in the history of the Christian church" John Piper, Filling up the Afflictions of Christ, preface page) "his humble seccessor (Eraclius), preached at the retirement celebratoion, he said, 'The cricket chirps, the swan is silent.'"(John Piper, Filling up the Afflictions of Christ, preface page). The meaning of this quote is this, Eraclius was humbled by preaching at the retirement of such a great person as St. Augustine that he considered himself a cricket while standing before the swan, St. Augustine. John Piper believes that the "swans", like Augustine, of our faith have not been silent down through church history. In this series he writes about those who have paved the way for us with their lives lived "All for Jesus" a phrase familiar to our founder A.B. Simpson. I have been challenged by these books in my own personal walk. I can live like a swan. I can live a life which impacts the world for Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God! http://maranatha.steepleconnect.com/blog/63 Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:53:53 EST 2011-12-13 63