Month: April 2008

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Thoughts on Chapter 3 of Chasing Daylight (Part 1)

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Here are some quotes and thoughts from Chapter 3 of Chasing Daylight by Erwin McManus that stood out to me or spoke to me: Please share in the discussion!

The Chapter is about Uncertainty, and how as we move with God, we will face uncertainties. I am about a quarter of the way through the chapter and it’s really good!

  • We have no control over when we die or how we die. We must instead take responsibility for what we do have control over – how we choose to live.
  • Our wealth and abundance of human resources have positioned us to accept a paradigm that provision precedes vision. This has been the foundation of building no-risk faith. This is a tragedy when a part of the adventure is the discovery that vision always precedes provision.
  • If you wait for guarantees, the only thing that will be guaranteed is that you will miss endless divine opportunities – that you can know for certain.
  • [On Uncertain Faith] “By faith Abraham, when called [by God] to go to a place where he would later receive an inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” Hebrews 11:8
  • Faith is all about character, trusting in the character of God, being certain in who God is and following Him into the unknown.
  • One of the wonders of uncertainty is that it is the environment in which God invites us to be creative.
  • First-dimension faith is about trusting the character of God – and transforming your character.
  • Much of first-dimension faith is about doing the right thing regardless of the circumstances or consequences. It is about having the faith that God will be with you when you do what is right.
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Conversations with a 5 Year Old

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Nicki was reading the Bible story of Jesus’ first miracle to Gavin out of his Bible story book. It got to the part where Mary told the disciples to do whatever her son told them to do. So I was trying to convey to Gavin that he could be a disciple of Jesus and part of that was doing whatever Jesus tells him to do…

Gavin: “I asked Jesus to come live in my heart, but I don’t know what he’s doing in there. I don’t know what he says, I won’t know what he says until I get to Heaven!”

I love the innocents of children. Everything is pure and simple to them. I was so excited that he was talking about asking Jesus into his heart…this was news to Nicki and me. Nicki talked about it with him about 6 months ago, but she did not know he asked Jesus in his heart or even remembered the conversation. We are continuing to talk to him about “asking Jesus into his heart,” as he had trouble remembering ‘why’ he did it.

We finished the night by talking about miracles. I told Gavin that a miracle would be like Jesus turning a cup of water into a cup of chocolate Milk (His favorite beverage of choice).

Gavin: “If I went to the store and bought a watch and prayed that Jesus turned it into an Omnitrix watch, that would be a miracle!” – [Yes! He understands miracles…]

Me: “Yes, that would be a miracle!”

Gavin: “Well at night and in the morning I prayed that Jesus would give me an Omnitrix watch, but I never got one!”

Me: “Well, Jesus doesn’t always give us what we want, but he promises to give us what we need. You can pray and ask Jesus for extra money so you can buy food and mosquito nets for children in Africa…” (We are trying to teach Gavin to help other people less fortunate than himself) “That would be a miracle for those little kids.”

Gavin: “Well I ‘need’ an Omnitrix watch because when mommy goes into the hospital to have Hailey, when someone comes here to watch us, I will need an Omnitrix watch to turn into an alien to beat up the bad guys if they break into the house.”

We still have a long way to go, but Gavin did agree to start sorting through his toys to give to less fortunate kids. We discussed him living outside and having to sleep in the grass. He didn’t like that, because bugs would bite him, so since he has been taught that bugs bite little boys and girls all the time who do not have a house to protect them from such things, he is going to bless them with his excess. Little by little, I hope we instill healthy lessons in our boys. It is tough!

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Final Thoughts on Chapter 2 Chasing Daylight

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Final Thoughts on Chapter 2 of Chasing Daylight by Erwin McManus:

  • Until our bodies return to dust, there will always be a voice crying out within us to move from existence to life.
  • The possibilities that await us in each moment are fueled by the potential God has placed with in us…Its about the kind of life you live as a result of the person you are becoming. The challenges you are willing to face will rise in proportion to the character you are willing to develop. With the depth of godly character comes an intensity of godly passion.
  • It is the process of transformation that we find the fuel to engage with confidence the opportunities placed before us.
  • For some strange reason many sincere followers of Christ have come to think that their passions are always in conflict with God’s purpose.
  • When we delight in God, we become anything but apathetic. In fact, we become intensely passionate. These desires of our hearts are born out of the heart of God.
  • The more passionate you are, the more proactive you will tend to be (even if you boldly do the wrong thing).
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Coming Soon to a Blog Near You

Its been a crazy and busy last few days. Things are slowing down and I will be getting back to some regular blogging by this afternoon.

  • I will be posting my closing thoughts on Chapter 2 of Chasing Daylight.
  • Starting my thoughts on Chapter 3
  • Within the next few days I should be posting my article for simply youth ministry “Infusing Passion” I want it to release on their newsletter and website first, so I do not take away from what they are trying to do. I am excited about the article and hope that it will make for some great dialog. I had to keep it short for them and I really wanted to add to it, so I may do that on here.
  • All of this coming soon…
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Living Delusional

In Chapter 2 of Chasing Daylight, Erwin McManus writes about a conversation with his friend Joe White.

Joe has been diagnosed with terminal cancer…(In the conversation) He was clear that today might be the last day he had to live. I could live under the delusion that today is just one day of many still to come. The gift of his cancer was the value of today.

I’ve heard it asked several times, what would you do if you had 30 days to live? 30 days to live still gives enough time to procrastinate. What would you do if you knew that today could be the last day that you lived?

What could we do as a community of believers if we approached everyday as if it were our last one? What could we do as individuals, if that was our focus? Would we fix that broken relationship? Share Christ with that lost family member or friend? Would we set out to fulfill that dream that we never took the initiative to conquer? Would we spend a little more quality time with our family? Would we (fill in the blank) ________________?

How much further could the mission of Christ be furthered if we simply lived like this was our last day to live? Would we truly choose to live or would we choose to sit back and exist for one more day? There are some dreams that I want to see happen, things God has spoken to me about that I want to obey Him on, but I have been sitting back and waiting for “the right timing” to do it, but what if I sit back too long? Could my delusion of another day lead me away from seeing those things ever accomplished?

How about you? Are you living with the delusion of another day? Or, are you living today as if it very well could be your last day? If you are reading this, you have been gifted the value of a day, what are we going to do with that gift?

I close with this challenge from Erwin…I think it sums this up pretty nicely:

Wake Up! Get out of bed. God wants to change the world through your life if you’ll just do something.