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Living The Solution – Online Newsletter |
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| NOVEMBER, 2002 ISSUE |
(read past issues here)
IN THIS ISSUE
What's the Hurry?
In The Spotlight
What's New & Coming Soon
Daily Thoughts & Reflections
Prayer Requests/Results
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| FEATURED ARTICLE |
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What's the Hurry?
Everyone
is in a hurry…hurry to eat, to work, to play, even
to worship. We want our entertainment in quick, rapid
sound bytes. If you are on the Internet what matters
most is your connection speed and the time it takes
to download whatever site you are on.
This is especially true with the holiday season. We can get
so caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season.
The danger is that we miss the whole point of living.
If we don't slow down we can't absorb. If we can't absorb
we can't benefit. Meaningful things take time.
This hurried way of living is particularly distressing for
us as believers.
John Ortberg pinpoints this in his article, Taking Care
of Busyness.
"For most of us, the great danger is not that we
will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so
distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle
for a mediocre version of it. We will just skim our
lives instead of actually living them."
But I Can't Do Nothing!
The flipside is a real danger that if we slow down, or even
stop and do nothing once in a while we will become overwhelmed
with guilt. It feels wrong to so many of us to be still
or to stop "doing". So, we jump back into
the race. We fall into the trap of activity being the
point, rather than what our activity should result in.
Take a lesson from the farmer. Time to plant, time to grow,
time to harvest. This process cannot be rushed. It requires
persistent, dedicated effort and if the necessary time
is not taken it will not bear fruit. Or worse, we'll
attempt to harvest before the fruit is ripe. Ugh, sour
grapes!
This hurried way of doing things has even infiltrated our
evangelism. We rush people into accepting Jesus. You
must get saved now-don't wait!
It's unwise to delay, but the solution is not rushing a decision.
We must take our time with the truly important things.
Maybe we forget how powerful God's message is. Once it sinks
in and is honestly considered most people don't hesitate
to make a decision. If we do give them enough space
let's be cautious not to rush them headlong into growth.
Lead with confidence and God's timing.
Be Here Now
A wonderful way to slow down and escape the "hurry
trap" is to simply be in the now-the sacred present
moment. Young children know how to do this. The older
we get the more impatient we become. The desire for
instant gratification swells within. We want more and
more faster and faster.
No wonder we feel so refreshed after a retreat. If that
quiet time has indeed been many hours of contemplation
without a strict schedule or a clamor of activities
then we treat ourselves to living in the present. It
can be incredible to savor life in slow segments.
There are many tools and tactics to confront our hurriedness.
Retreats have been mentioned. Also beneficial is centering
prayer and silent meditation. Or, as Ortberg suggests
in his article, we can deliberately place ourselves
in situations that force us to slow down, such as the
long line at the grocery store and the slow lane when
driving.
Quality, Not Quantity
What we learn from slowing down is the important thing. We
live in such an information/content heavy society that
we fail to understand, much less appreciate, what we
read. It's like shoving fast food down our gullets while
driving to our next appointment. Not much tasting and
certain indigestion.
What's the point of reading something if you can't recall anything
significant from it five minutes later?
The real lesson in all this is the quality of our life,
not the quantity. This is nothing new, but some of the
most important lessons are the ones we re-visit regularly.
As the holidays approach take the time to live in the
moment and to live fully. One day at a time. Rejoice
with the happy, mourn with the sorrowful, encourage
the troubled and love everyone.
Discover more thought provoking articles
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| IN THE SPOTLIGHT |
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John
Fischer's newest, Fearless Faith, is a bold and challenging
book. It's about getting out and living your faith in
the world and not staying "safe" behind the
walls of a Christian subculture. It reminds us that God
is at work everywhere. Jesus has prayed to keep us safe
in the world - let's not hide out. Read a review at www.livingthesolution.com/reviews.htm
Get Fearless Faith on sale now at our e-store
Discover all the incredible savings and tremendous resources
at our online store:
featuring over 120,000 of your favorite Christian books,
bibles, music, videos and more. When you purchase through
our site you help us to continue our ministry - thank
you!
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| WHAT'S NEW & COMING SOON |
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Does
prayer work? How the arrest of the Washington DC snipers
came about points to answered prayer - visit our new PRAYER
RESULTS page.
We also have a FEATURED AUTHORS area on line with links
to
selections by these writers, such as C. S. Lewis, Max
Lucado,
Stormie Omartian, Philip Yancey and others!
We'd like to think we have everything you need for your
spiritual nourishment – but that would be incredibly
arrogant. There are many worthwhile sites on the world-wide-web.
Discover some of them at our all-new LINKS section
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| DAILY THOUGHTS & REFLECTIONS |
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Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God
(Mathew 5:9).
The
world can be a place filled with fussers and fighters.
Countries
declare war over little differences. Friends break off
their friendships
over the smallest things. Husbands and wives get divorced
over little
annoying issues. That's because a lot of people think
that being right is
more important than being at peace. You can spend your
whole life trying to
be right, and you won't have a moment's peace.
God wants a better life for you. He wants you to be a peacemaker.
The more you know Him, the more you will understand
how to bring love and peace into the middle of arguing
and fighting. God will help you be humble enough to
make His peace more important than your pride. When
you become a peacemaker, you will truly be living as
His child.
Get daily inspiration with a Scripture verse and commentary
at Daily Thought
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Everything
we need to know about life, we can learn from Noah's Ark...One:
don't miss the boat. Two: Remember that we are all in
the same boat. Three: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when
Noah built the Ark. Four: Stay fit. When you're 600 years
old, someone may ask you to do something really big. Five:
Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that
needs to be done. Six: Build your future on high ground.
Seven: for safety's sake, travel in pairs. Eight: Speed
is not always an advantage. The snails were on board the
ark with the cheetahs. Nine: When you're stressed, float
a while. Ten: no matter the storm. When you are with God,
there's always a rainbow waiting.
Author Unknown
Join us on our spiritual journey at our journal.
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| PRAYER REQUESTS & RESULTS |
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Prayer
works. It really does. Only those who've never truly tried
it with the proper intentions would say otherwise. We
want to pray for you and your needs. If you have a specific
request let us know at prayer requests.
Of course, we keep you information confidential.
We also like to share testimonies of answered prayers
at prayer results. You can send us your testimony by
email. Use our form at contact us. If you do not want
your name to be listed simply let us know.
By sharing God's love and how He helps us you encourage others in a powerful way.
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SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS AND ENCOURAGEMENT
We welcome and appreciate your feedback. If you would like
to submit an article please see our writer's guidelines.
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It is our hope that the content of Living The Solution will stimulate
you to deepen your faith. That is certainly a result
for us in both our writing and reading. If you would
like to see articles on a particular topic or you have
comments please let us know.
Send an email.
"I'm not entitled to anything else until I'm grateful for
what I already have."
— Anonymous
Copyright 2002 Living the Solution, all rights reserved
Tom Gilbert
Editor/Web-servant
Living The Solution
www.livingthesolution.com
Toll free 1-800-399-2564 ext 105
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Practical
Biblical Solutions for life's challenges
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John
Fischer challenges believers to break out of the safety
zone and share Christ through acts of love, intelligent
conversation, and genuine compassion.
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