Beautiful Truths



My spirit resonated while I read this email today. I have often had so many of the thoughts and feelings about life that Rick Warren expresses so eloquently below.

I don’t know the source for this, as it wasn’t cited in the email.

Rick Warren (Remember THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE)

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 not 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.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.
God's Blessings on you today.

NOW. PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FRIENDS.



Thanks for sending the email—you’ve reminded me of the many treasures to be found in the dark places of life, and of the importance of embracing joy when makes its blessed visit.

Thanks be to God.

I’m happy.

I’m sitting here at the computer, smiling, and thinking of the blessings that the Lord has given me this year. I am grateful to the Lord for the recent season of rest from school, for the time I had with Don, the kids and our family, visits with friends of many years, and a week at the beach. Now there are new challenges, a full schedule, and positive growth in my children’s lives. I’ve got some nice challenges before me at school, and I hope to grow in my teaching skills and give my students a fulfilling year musically. It is enjoyable to be working with such delightful and talented children, and there are so many of them! What fun for me as a teacher! There are 41 in the 6th grade choir, 27 in the MS choir, and 33 in the HS choir, which is a huge leap in numbers for all our groups. There’s a nice dynamic in the classroom that is dressed in bright eyes amidst a sea of smiles. Already, they’re producing beautiful tone, and they recognize how cool it sounds when they all do it together. I’m still smiling.

Even more wonderful is the desire to reach the kids spiritually. (It’s also humbling and terrifying, and makes my knees weak, for I know my own struggle with sin.) We have a tremendous opportunity before us to go and take the worship of the Lord with us as our primary focus on a trip for our choir. We’re scheduled to go and sing 3-4 concerts in Cathedrals in England in February. Our program will be composed of sacred american music in the genres of Shaker Tunes, Folk Hymns, The Spiritual, Jazz, and contemporary Gospel—each song pointing to Jesus and the message of salvation. We will also incorporate Scripture and readings. Pray for these young men and women as they prepare and work toward going.

Please pray…

*that the students will be able to raise the amount of money needed to participate in this ministry opportunity

*that the Holy Spirit might captivate our hearts and minds as we digest the text and the music for these programs

*that our students might serve as lead musicians and worshippers—worshipping as they sing, presenting the Gospel in song and in Word

*that the Word of God would reach the hearts of the listeners as it rides the melodies of our children’s voices

*that we would be ambassadors for Christ everywhere we go

I’m still smiling, but now with nervous anticipation. It’s going to be a busy year!