I’m typing out a quick dispatch to my kind readers regarding an excellent book that has been made available for free this month. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life is a simple book that explains the role of building habits and routines into life in order to grow consistently as a believer. I highly recommend that you take advantage of this opportunity to download and share this book.
Get it here:
Growing Leaders produced a Mac vs. PC parody a few years ago that still speaks clearly to the relationship between the many “programs” that we utilize in our society. It speaks to the relationship between a event in our lives, and the process that we use to solidify the change that event promotes. This is true in so many areas in our lives…for instance:
We commit to love and cherish our spouse at the wedding ceremony, but the outcome of that commitment is lived out in our daily actions and habits at home.
We commit to change our lives every Sunday during the emotional high of a church service, but the reality of that change only becomes concrete when we adapt our routines to remind us of the decision we’ve made.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngHccKbSBl8[/youtube]
Can you think of another event-process relationship in our society?
Craig Groeschel has put much of the content of his latest book, It, on video. I for one am grateful for leadership training that can be shared in both formats, as it is with another favorite series of mine: Habitudes. Enjoy the same video from Craig below, and check out Lifechurch.tv for more on the resources. Habitudes is available on GrowingLeaders.com.
Bookie from LifeChurch.tv on Vimeo.
This semester finds me navigating uncharted waters…particularly in the area of public speaking. I have often used my education in Christian matters to speak before other people, but the majority of that speaking has been in a classroom setting. Now that I am faced with the prospect of spending forty minutes exhorting and explaining the Word of God to a crowd, I am terrified. And not without good reasons:
1. DTS has convinced me that Scripture must not be misused…and staying true to the text is harder than it looks. I spend hours on assignments, only to have my understanding of passages corrected in class. I thought I was smart!
2. Writing eloquently is easier than Speaking effectively. You can pause and collect your thoughts between sentences when you write, but when you collect your thoughts while speaking, it’s usually accompanied by the word “Ummmm”
3. Exhortation only works when you are yielded to the Spirit. Being earnest requires having applied the Scripture to your own life, as well as to the life of others. Understanding comes faster than application. Proper application takes time…and how many of us plan far enough ahead in our teaching to allow the Scriptures to sink into our own actions?
Married life can be comparable to an extended road trip…spending long hours together deciding where to go, how to get there, what to eat and who’s driving. There’s bad weather, dull conversations, and traffic to make the trip difficult sometimes (not to mention occasionally getting lost), however, find the right traveling companion and follow a few key rules of road etiquette, and your bound to have a great time…and collect a lot of great road trip memories.
This post begins a multipart series of tips for marital bliss. I hope you appreciate my suggestions, and that they contribute to a smoother ride for you and your beloved companion.
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