I just finished reading probably one of the best books I've read in a long time. The book is called In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson. The purpose of the book is to help us realize that opportunities are meant to be seized, even when they are disguised as ferocious lion. Here are some of the things that stuck out to me...-"God is in the business of strategically positioning us in the right place at the right time. But the right place often seems like the wrong place, and the right time often seems like the wrong time."
-"When we don't have the guts to step out in faith and chase the lions, then God is robbed of the glory that rightfully belongs to Him."
-"Lion chasers thrive in the toughest circumstances because they know that impossible odds set the stage for amazing miracles."
-"The more we grow, the bigger God should get. And the bigger God gets, the smaller our lions become."
-"Faith is unlearning the senseless worries and misguided beliefs that keep us captive. Faith is rewiring the human brain. Neurologically speaking, that is what we do when we study scripture. We are literally upgrading our minds by downloading the mind of Christ."
-"One of the greatest things that could happen to you is for your fear to become reality. Then you would discover that it's not the end of the world. Your fear is worse than the actual thing you're afraid of. And if you learn from every mistake, then there is no such thing as failure anyway."
-"We should stop asking God to get us out of difficult circumstances and start asking Him what He wants us to get out of those difficult circumstances."
-"Worship is forgetting about what's wrong with you and remembering what's right about God."
There is so much more that I wish I could share, but then I'd basically be typing the whole book out. It's that good! That last quote on worship is so powerful. How many times do I come into the Presence of God and worry about my short comings? I am very guilty of this. But the times when I focus on Him, my short comings fade away and I don't even remember what I was getting hung up on. That's a truth we need to drive deep into our lives. Because when we worship Him for who He is, all the lions start to seem like tame little "puddy-tats".
3 comments:
I'm learning all this from experience slowly but surely. Both in the little everyday things I do and especially musically (which is a huge part of me).
As I relisten to the recordings of the music we did yesterday morning in church I pick apart what I did wrong. I know that people don't notice most of it, but you're the hardest critic of yourself. But when I hear these flubs I think back and can pinpoint exactly when they happened and the common thread is that those were the times I was worrying most about playing the perfect part. I mess up the most when I try the hardest to be perfect. When I let go is when it comes out just like it's supposed to. I have more fun up on stage AND in the crowd when I just don't care who's watching or don't focus on being perfect, but just being authentic about it. I think I realized this more the second service and just let it go. God doesn't ask for our best or the finest we can offer Him. He asks for ALL of it. The broken, the dirty, the wrong notes, the right notes.
Kevin, you need to memorize the worship quote and remind us about that every once in a while on Sunday AM's.
great post, especially the part about our being in the right place at the right time may seem like the wrong place at the wrong time.
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