Being vs. Doing

I am not always a fan of chain mail (remember when it actually all came through snail mail?), but every once in a while they are worth a read. A co-worker sent this one to me... and it really just hit home, made me stop and think. So, have a read:

Rick Warren..... (Do you remember that he wrote 'PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE’ , moderated the "first" McCain and Obama debate, and also delivered the invocation at this year's inauguration?)You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having 'wealth' from the book sales. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren, 'Purpose Driven Life ' author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California.

In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren , Rick said:

"People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.

One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me.
I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.

We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.

The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.

God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.

We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.

I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore.

Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.

No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.

And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.

You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.

If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is 'my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her.

It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.

Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.

It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.

So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases.

Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.

Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.

Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?

Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, "God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better." God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings. "

I think it hit home because I am someone who always gets caught up in the "doing." If you know me, you know I live for my planner, I live for my to-do lists. In fact- on my Facebook Profile I mention that when I am stressed, making lists helps to calm me down. Knowing what I need to get done helps me focus long enough to do it. But Rick Warren is right- God didn't put me on the earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He created me to glorify Him, to live for Him.

Lord, I pray that this stays with me today, that I remember this as I work hard at my job. But that I work hard at my job, at my life FOR YOU! Lord, allow me to be... be at peace with where you have me, at peace with how you created me, to be long enough to see if you have someone you want me to reach out to or something you want to use me to do. Allow me to be available for Your plan. Amen.

Prison vs Work

My friend send this to me today. Thought anyone in the working world could appreciate it.

Just in case you ever get these two environments mixed up, this should make things a little bit clearer.

At Prison, you spend the majority of your time in a 10X10 cell. At work you spend the majority of your time in an 8X8 cubicle.

At Prison, you get three meals a day fully paid for. At work, you get a break for one meal and you have to pay for it.

At Prison, you get time off for good behavior. At work, you get more work for good behavior.

At Prison, the guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you. At work, you must often carry a security card and open all the doors for yourself.

At Prison, you can watch TV and play games. At work, you could get fired for watching TV and playing games.

At Prison, you get your own toilet. At work, you have to share the toilet with some people who pee on the seat.

At Prison, they allow your family and friends to visit. At work, you aren't even supposed to speak to your family.

At Prison, all expenses are paid by the taxpayers with no work required. At work, you get to pay all your expenses to go to work, and they deduct taxes from your salary to pay for prisoners.

At Prison, you spend most of your life inside bars wanting to get out. At work, you spend most of your time wanting to get out and go inside bars.

At Prison, you must deal with sadistic wardens. At work, they are called managers.

There is something seriously wrong with this picture!!! Now get back to work. You're not getting paid to check emails (or in my case, type this into a Blog).

HeeHee... thought it was funny. Sometimes, things like this can be sooo true.