Donald Miller

I know it has been a while since I have posted anything on here, so forgive me, but I just read the first couple pages of Donald Miller's (author of Blue Like Jazz...cool dude) new book and couldn't believe it was about remembering. Here's the link. Let's hope this works....
http://www.scribd.com/doc/19148891/A-Million-Miles-In-A-Thousand-Years-by-Donald-Miller

Remembering Past Experiences

From Vantage Point 3, Equipping Leaders, Stage 4: Process:

Remembering past experiences can be a barrier to openess in relationships. Often when leaders are challenged to practice openess with their followers, they respond by saying, "I tried that once. But what I shared with them, they later used against me." Past experiences can be quite a deterrrent to developing positive, open leader-follower relationships. Whenever a person shares something personal with another person and that person misuses that information, trust is broken. Broken trust results in feelings of betrayal and rejection and adds to one's fears and insecurities. All of these are painful in the life of the leader.

David Prior, in the book "Creating Community," warns us of the risk involved with being vulnerable as a leader, "It is costly and painful to be open in leadership; it will never be otherwise...When those in leadership set an example in openess, permission is given to others to be open - but opportunity is also given for others to manipulate and maneuver for their own ends. Because of this danger, it is important that we are committed, for strong personal and spiritual reasons, to pursuing an open style of leadership. Anything less than such a considered and consistent commitment will soon flounder."

Do Not Forget the LORD

Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers. 2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
6 Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him. 7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; 8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.
10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. 16 He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. 17 You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." 18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.
19 If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. 20 Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.

Deuteronomy 8

The Holy Spirit in Our Conversations

From the book "Tell It Slant" by Eugene Peterson.

A great deal of Spirit-inspired, or Spirit-accompanied, language takes place when we do not know it whether it comes from our own mouths or the mouths of others.

So we need reminding. We need guidance. We need friends who are capable of hearing the Holy Spirit's whispers in what we are saying - and sometimes between the lines in what we are not saying.

Do you have friends like this?

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
John 3:8

Remember me lyrics

I heard the song "Remember Me" by Mark Schultz on the radio the other day and thought it fit well with the blog. Here are the lyrics:

Remember me
In a Bible cracked and faded by the years
Remember me
In a santuary filled with silent prayers

CHORUS:
And age to age
And heart to heart
Bound by grace and peace
Child of wonder,
Child of God
I'll remember you
Remember Me

Remember me
When the color of the sunset fills the sky
Remember me
When you pray and the tears of joy fall from your eyes

CHORUS

Remember me
When the children leave their Sunday school with smiles
Remember me
When they're old enough to teach
Old enough to preach
Old enough to leave

CHORUS

Age to age and heart to heart
Child of wonder child of God
Remember me
Age to age and heart to heart
Child of wonder child of God



What does this song bring to mind for you?

Money, Possessions, and Eternity

From the book "Money, Possessions, and Eternity" by Randy Alcorn:

Will we remember our lives and relationships on earth? Of course. (We'll be smarter in heaven, not dumber!) Remembrance is important to God, which is why the heavenly city has memorials of people and events of earth (Revelation 21:12-14). It's also why God keeps in heaven "a scroll of remembrance," written in God's presence, "concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name" (Malachi 3:16). The pain of the past will be gone. But memories of being together in the trenches, walking with Christ, and experiencing intimate times with family and friends will remain.

What do you think heaven will be like?

Understanding Leadership

From the book, "Understanding Leadership" by Tom Marshall:

The importance of remembering lies in our tendency to absolutize the present. If things are going well, I may blithely assume they will always be like that and fall into presumption or carelessness. If things are going badly, I can easily feel they will always be like that and fall into despair. Therefore, in the good times we probably need to remember the bad times and certainly in the bad times we need encouragement of rehearsing the good times.

In your need, turn towards the body for its prayers.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
2 Corinthians 4:7-10