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The NightMare

The NightMare

The NightMare

We took some of the teens from our church to the NightMare tonight. The NightMare is a Christian themed haunted house in Tulsa, OK, presented by Guts Church. They have done an exceptional job with this presentation.

While we were in line (close to the front, within the first couple of hundred), we watched another five to six hundred people arrive and line up after us. The NightMare will see approximtely 40,000 people this year, and have the opportunity to present the Gospel to them. That is awesome!

Based on the quality of the presentation we saw tonight, we estimated that Guts Church probably invested well over $100,000 into this opportunty to present the Word to the world. That’s awesome, too!

They started us off in a mortuary, where we saw a body in a coffin. They announced that we were dead, and that this was the beginning of our NightMare. After leaving the mortuary, we entered an elevator, which descended into hell.

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Book Review – Unshakable Faith: Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver by John Perry

Unshakable FaithI’m experimenting with a new (for me) format for some of the books I read and review. As I review and process my thoughts about what I’ve just read, I’d like my ideas to be as coherent as possible. I’d also like my thoughts to be easily presentable. So here goes…

Author
John Perry

Book Name
Unshakable Faith: Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver (A biography).

Book Synopsis In Twitteresque 140 Characters Or Less
A biography of the lives and the relationship of Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver. Great men. Great leaders. American heroes.

Where I Bought It
George Washington Carver National Historic Site near Diamond, Missouri.

How I Paid For It
I have no idea. I’ll explain that in a moment. If I had to guess, probably my old Discover card. I know, that wasn’t a great thing to put on a credit card, because I’m probably still paying it off. I know. Quit rubbing it in.

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The Principle Of The Path by Andy Stanley – Extended Review Part 5

This is the final part of my series of reviews about Andy Stanley’s new book The Principle Of The Path. If you haven’t read the previous parts of this series, check them out here:

Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers Review
Extended Review – Part 1
Extended Review – Part 2 – The Heart Of The Matter
Extended Review – Part 3 – My Italian Job
Extended Review – Part 4 – The Story You Will Tell

In this last post, I will take a closer look at another one of the chapters that spoke to me the most.

The Principle Of The PathChapter 8: A Little Help From Our Friends

This chapter was perhaps the most inspiring (read: challenging) chapter in the book for me. This is the chapter that tells me to stop, look around, and get help.

Andy Stanley makes a very strong case here for the invaluable help from others for us to reach our desired destination. We can’t do it alone. We need the assistance of wise mentors; people who have been where we are, and have traveled further along the road to where we want to go.

The key to being successful isn’t to be smart, although that can help. Most successful people attribute their success to the collective wisdom and insight that they’ve received from others along the course of their path. Successful people are successful not because they know all of the answers. They are successful because they were willing to pay attention and apply the lessons learned from others.

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The Principle Of The Path by Andy Stanley – Extended Review Part 4

This is the next part of my series of reviews about Andy Stanley’s new book The Principle Of The Path. If you haven’t read the previous parts of this series, check them out here:

Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers Review
Extended Review – Part 1
Extended Review – Part 2 – The Heart Of The Matter
Extended Review – Part 3 – My Italian Job

In these next few posts, I will take a closer look at a few of the chapters that spoke to me the most.

The Principle Of The PathChapter 7: The Story You Will Tell

What legacy will I leave for my children and others to follow? The path I choose by the decisions I make will contribute much more than we realize to that legacy.

Life is full of decisions that must be made in emotionally charged environments. And emotionally charged environments make it almost impossible to gain the perspective we need to make the decisions that keep us on the best paths to lead us to where we want to go.

When we make decisions under the weight of an emotionally charged circumstance, we make decisions that are “me-centered” rather than God-centered. We simply don’t have the clarity to make the best decisions to keep us on the path.

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I Can’t Stop What God Is Doing!

TitusLast night, I was sitting in my office at home, catching up on some reading. My son, Titus, came in to talk to me. He’s five. He was going on about something he found on a website or some game he played online. It was entertaining to listen to him and watch his excitement.

After that conversation was over, I simply stated, “Titus, you’re getting too big. I want you to stop growing.”

With his arms flung wide, he replied, “I can’t stop! God’s making me grow! I can’t stop what God is doing!” There was a ton of excitement and passion in his voice as he made that exclamation.

There’s a truth there if we have the eyes to see it. Who am I to stand in the way of God moving? Whether it’s causing a child to grow, like Titus. Or it’s causing me to grow. Or my church. Or the kingdom.

I can’t stop what God is doing. My responsibility is to align myself with His will and allow Him to work in me and through me.

How is it, then, that I get so wrapped up in what I’m doing, in what I want, in what is going on in my life? How is it, then, that I seek sometimes, it seems, to squelch what God is doing and elevate my own agenda to the top of the list?

I can’t stop what God is doing. Nor should I want to stop what God is doing. Rather, I should display some excitement and passion in my life about what He is doing. And about the fact that He has chosen me to be a part of it.

Thanks, Titus, for teaching me more about God and my faith. It’s amazing, the deep faith lessons one can learn from a five year old…

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The Principle Of The Path by Andy Stanley – Extended Review Part 3

This is the next part of my series of reviews about Andy Stanley’s new book The Principle Of The Path. If you haven’t read the previous parts of this series, check them out here:

Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers Review
Extended Review – Part 1
Extended Review – Part 2 – The Heart Of The Matter

In these next few posts, I will take a closer look at a few of the chapters that spoke to me the most.

The Principle Of The PathChapter 6: My Italian Job

The challenging aspect about picking the right paths is that the choices are now. The outcomes are later. The decisions you make today have ramifications down the road.

The choices we make are like a rock thrown into a pond. Once the initial splash has happened, the pond changes. There are ripples. Those ripples keep going. And going. And going. Those ripples affect every part of that pond; some areas it affects right away, some areas it affects later.

Our choices in life make a splash. But that splash leaves ripples that have an effect much more far-reaching than we know at the time.

So how do we learn how to make those choices? Good intentions aren’t enough. Good information helps, but again, it’s not enough. So what else is there? What are we missing?

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The Principle Of The Path by Andy Stanley – Extended Review Part 2

This is the next part of my series of reviews about Andy Stanley’s new book The Principle Of The Path. If you haven’t read the previous parts of this series, check them out here:

Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers Review
Extended Review – Part 1

In these next few posts, I will take a closer look at a few of the chapters that spoke to me the most.

The Principle Of The PathChapter 5: The Heart of The Matter
This chapter pointed out to me that we (I) deceive ourselves. We are lead by our hearts. We trust our hearts.

But Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that…

“The heart is deceitful above all things? Who can understand it?”

Our hearts have the ability to deceive us. Our hearts have the ability to lead us astray. And yet we frequently say things like “Trust your heart.” “Follow your heart.”

If our hearts are deceitful by nature, then it’s no wonder we are so prone to deceive ourselves. We justify our actions, our poor decisions, our course changes that lead us away from our desired destination. And quite often, we do it without even knowing that we’re doing it.