Bible

• Proverbs 25:11-13 – “Timely advice is as lovely as golden apples in a silver basket. Valid criticism is as treasured by the one who heeds it as jewelry made from finest gold. Faithful messengers are as refreshing as snow in the heat of summer. They revive the spirit of their employer. A person who doesn’t give a promised gift is like clouds and wind that doesn’t bring rain.”

• My prayer based on these verses: “God, surround me with faithful people who will give “valid criticism” when it’s needed, not afterwards! And help me to follow through on the commitments I make as a result of their input!”

John Wesley’s Journal

• This made me laugh… Wesley was just getting ready to preach when “a poor Papist, at a small distance from me, began blowing a horn. But a gentleman stepping up, snatched his horn away, and without ceremony knocked him down.” OK, basically the dude that interrupted got decked! That’s kinda funny! We don’t have people blowing trumpets in church, but we do have cell phones going off! I think that if someone’s phone goes off in church we should yank it out of their hands and knock them down… it’s the Wesleyan way!
  

In a Pit With a Lion

• “Lion chasers are more afraid of lifelong regrets than temporary uncertainty. They don’t want to get to the end of their lives and have a million what-if regrets. So they chase lions. In the short-term, it increases uncertainty. But in the long run, it reduces regret.”

• “… you have to do something counterintuitive if you want to reach your God-given potential and fulfill your God-given destiny. Sometimes you have to run away from security and chase uncertainty.”

• “Everyone’s path is littered with the debris of dysfunction and disappointment. We’ve all been misjudged or misled. And we will be many more times before our lives are over. But God is in the business of using those experiences to prepare us for future opportunities.”

• “Lion chasers are humble enough to let God call the shots and brave enough to follow where He leads.”

• “The more you’re willing to risk, the more God can use you. And if you’re willing to risk everything, then there is nothing God can’t do in you and through you.”

• “Almost like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, we are part coward and part daredevil. The coward is constantly whispering, Better safe than sorry. The daredevil is whispering, Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Which voice are you going to listen to?”

• “Most God-ordained dreams die because we aren’t willing to do something that seems illogical.”

Batterson’s book is a timely read for me… kind of like the verses I read in Proverbs this a.m.! God, thanks for wise counsel!