I love my God …

The greatest gift you can make to your children is: healthy marriage
A healthy marriage will produce a personal security in your children.
Rev. Andy Stanley

“What will matter is who you love, who love you, and what you do together the service of the Lord.”
James Dobson

7/25/08 Focus on the Family radio

In 1988, 16-year-old Piyush Jindal totaled his father’s new car a few weeks before graduating from Baton Rouge High School. Piyush — who then and now prefers the nickname “Bobby” he adopted from “The Brady Brunch” sitcom — had to assess more than fender damage with his parents.

“Which God do you have to thank for your safety?” Mr. Jindal, now governor of Louisiana, remembers his mother, Raj, a practicing Hindu, inquiring after he escaped from the wreck. For the child of Punjabi immigrants who had announced his Christian beliefs the previous summer, the question was difficult.
….

Hinduism is a diverse religion, with varying interpretations. Mr. Jindal, speaking from his office in Baton Rouge this month, said his parents raised him “in a monotheistic home with a firm belief in a God with traditional values — the same sort of values you find in the Ten Commandments and other mainstream religions.” Recalling their religion as “not a faith that was necessarily tied to a particular historical scripture or revelation,” Mr. Jindal said, his parents “made their faith their own.”

It is rare for Hindus to convert to Christianity or any other religion. According to a survey released by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life earlier this year, eight in 10 American Hindus who were raised in the faith remain so as adults.

“I did not have an overnight epiphany like so many people do,” said Mr. Jindal, calling his conversion a “very intellectual-based journey,” where he studied countless religious texts. “Given my background and personality, that was an important part of the process.” But, he notes, “I don’t think you can ‘read’ yourself into faith. I had gotten to the point where I knew what history had to say about this person named Jesus and what he had done on Earth. . . . I think at some point you have to take a leap of faith.”

As a teenager, Mr. Jindal said he sought out chaplains at nearby Louisiana State University as he grasped for a religious identity to call his own. During a youth group’s Easter season musical production in 1987 at LSU’s campus chapel, a black-and-white video of the Passion played during intermission. “I don’t know why I was struck so hard at that moment,” said Mr. Jindal. “There was nothing fascinating about this particular video. . . . But watching this depiction of an actor playing Jesus on the cross, it just hit me, harder than I’d ever been hit before,” he said. “If that was really the son of God, and he really died for me, then I felt compelled to get on my knees and worship him.”

“It was liberating,” said Mr. Jindal about his moment. “Up until that point, my prayer life was like a child talking to Santa Claus — making deals with God saying ‘I’ll be good, but this is what I want in return.’” Soon after, Mr. Jindal began to pray and fervently read the Bible, principally parables in the New Testament. “It was like the words were jumping out of the page. It was literally as if it had been written just for me,” he said.

Revealing his Christianity to his parents was difficult. “I was scared to approach them,” said Mr. Jindal. “I didn’t know how they’d accept it. I wanted to make sure they didn’t view it as a rejection of them, that I still loved them and still shared many of the values they instilled in us.”

Source: Excepts from WSJ July 25, 2008

Our Will:
Self-serving, convenient/feels good, peer pressure, cost effective

God’s Will:
Scripture, consistent with God’s character, confirmation of mature christians, prayer

Christian principle of stewardship from Harper’s biblical dictionary:
the Christian principle of stewardship of possessions, time and personality is the outgrowth of the fundamental teachings of Jesus concerning a person’s obligation to make any needful sacrifice for the progress of God’s kingdom (will)

Source: Trinity Baptist Church, NY

Bono: Yes, I think that’s normal.  It’s mind-blowing concept that the God who created the Universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma.

Assayas: I haven’t heard you talk about that …

Bono: At the center of all religions is the idea of Karma.  You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics–in physical laws–every action is met by an equal or an opposite one.  It’s clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the Universe.  I’m absolutely sure of it.  And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that “as you reap, so will you sow” stuff.  Grace defies reason and logic.  Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff.

Assayas: I’d be interested to hear that.

Bono: That’s between me and God.  But I’d be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge.  It doesn’t excuse my mistakes, but I’m holding out for Grace.  I’m holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don’t have to depend on my own religiosity.

– from Bono in Conversation with Michka Assayas

Tom Landry is the former coach of Dallas Cowboys and he served on the Dallas Theological Seminary board. He was a humble man of quiet strength and dignity, and when he chose to say something, an entire room would stop and lean in to hear what he had to say.

Once during a breakfast with a group of men, Coach Landry was asked how he was able to forge individual players into a team so that they would win — something he managed to do for twenty-plus years. His answer was unforgetable. The table grew silent as he paused for a moment and then said, “My job is to get men to do what they don’t want to do in order to achieve whatthey’ve always wanted to achieve.”

The something that those men wanted to achieve was a victory at the Super Bowl. What they didn’t want to do was the grueling work it would take to get them there. Achieving anything requires discipline–determined, deliberate, definable actions with a clear goal in mind. A good coach helps the team achieve its goal by outlining the exercises and motivating the players to stick to the plan. Facilitating and encouraging discipline in order to win, that’s what coaching is all about.

(typed in from a letter of the Monthly Partners Friends of Insight for Living)

George H. Gallup, Jr. says research indicates six basic spiritual needs that people share. He encourages churches to consider these needs and meet them.

1. The need to believe that life is meaningful and has a purpose.
2. The need for a sense of community and deeper relationship.
3. The need to be appreciated and respected.
4. The need to be listened to and heard.
5. The need to feel that one is growing in the faith.
6. The need for practical help in developin a mature faith.

Quotes From Charles Swindoll:

Unfortunately, in the larger family of the church, many confused and hurting Christians are left floundering in a vacuum of silence.

Some have learned that it often isn’t safe to openly confess having too many problems. As one veteran believer observed, “The Christian army is the only one that shoots its wounded.”

Others have been taught that the ” Christian” way to deal with problems is to pray them away—that with enough faith or the right doctrine, we can be free from problems, stress, and disappointments. But when we start believing this line, spirituality starts being measured by our lack of problems instead of our response to them, and we are enticed to equate the goal of eliminating pain with the goal of conformity to Christ.

There is a story about a frustated basketball coach, Cotton Fitzsimmons, who hit upon an idea to motivate his team. Before the game, he gave them a speech that centered around the word, pretend. “You guys, when you go out there tonight, instead of remembering that we are in last place, pretend that we are in first place; instead of us being in a losing streak, pretend we are in a winning streak; instead of this being a regular game, pretend this is a playoff game.”

With that, the team went onto the basketball court and were soundly beaten by the Boston Celtics. The coach was upset about the loss. But one of the players slapped him on the back and said, “Cheer up Coach! Pretend we won!”

Source: http://www.moodychurch.org/radio/newsletters/Vol2No3.pdf

To jump start your prayer:
1. Don’t worry about length
2. Don’t worry about eloquence
3. Don’t worry about an audience

Prayer is … more assumed than achieved
Prayer is … more preached than practiced
Prayer is … done quickly in the crisis, but rarely in the calm

The Relevance of James
———————–
Looking back on James, we can find four specific applications for us today in the area of prayer.

First, prayer is to be continuous. Prayer is not something we should practice only at mealtimes or in moments of panic or when we’ve exhausted all our own efforts to meet our needs.The Puritans described this kind of prayerful attitude as practicing the presence of God–keeping alert to His presence throughout the day.

Second, prayer is designed for every part of life . Affliction, sickness, sin, specific needs–nothing is too big or too small for prayer. If it’s a concern–ask!

Third, prayer is not a substitute for responsible and intelligent action. Remember the one who is sick is supposed to contact the elders and seek proper medical treatment. If you’re not willing to see a doctor and take the right kind of medicine, don’t ask people to pray for you. And remember that healing some physical illnesses may involve confessing sins and seeking forgiveness.

Fourth, prayer is not for the perfect, but for the imperfect. Because we are imperfect and have needs, we need to pray. Elijah wasn’t perfect, but he was persistent about prayer. So was James–”Ol’ Camel Knees.” What nickname would you use to describe yourself in light of your prayer life?