Thoughts by 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 an other 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.

MLK

"The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But... the good Samaritan reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"

“Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?'

Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?'

But conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?'

And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but because conscience tells one it is right.”

"I decided early to give my life to something eternal and absolute. Not to these little gods that are here today and gone tomorrow, but to God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever."

Martin Luther King, Jr 1929–1968

New Camera

Ever wonder what we've been up to today????? Well, imagine a house full of children being chased by their mother who is playing with her new camera.

And, yes, my sweet daughter is indeed fixing the rest of us a delish dinner of Top Ramen while mom plays with the camera. Good thing she is keeping her hair out of the food with the kitchen towel.

Good thing dads at work!

Can you guess which child drank a gallon of red gatorade today?

January Adoption Update.....

Not much excitement in the adoption department but so far things are continuing to move along smoothly.

Our big form that was sent to the US immigration dept. is being processed which we know because they cashed our whopper of a check and called us up to the Homeland Security office in Portland last week to have our fingerprints taken. It should be another 6 weeks or so before we see that piece of paperwork completed.

Since I last wrote we have sent off and received back a huge pile of paperwork to the Chinese Consulate in San Fran. That was a stressful little ordeal but I am happy to report that we have the far majority of our state-certified-AND-authenticated papers in our possession and ready to head overseas to China.

Currently we are awaiting our immigration form to return to us which we will then have to notarize/certify/and authenticate. This is our last and only remaining form that we are waiting to complete our dossier. Then all the forms will be sent to our wonderful agency to carefully check over and then they will send them to China as our dossier.

In the meantime we are also awaiting a referral for a baby. It could come today, it could come in 6 months. CRAZY.

Mornings

I have no doubt about it that God wants me to wake up to Him and be with Him every morning. I could talk for hours (shocking) about the experiences in my life that have led me to believe this but none of them speak louder then His word.

The Sovereign Lord...wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.
Isaiah 50:4

In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.
Psalm 5:3

Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23

Each morning everyone gathered as much as he needed. (referring to the manna)
Exodus 16:21

In the morning...Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God...
Exodus 19

Be ready in the morning...present yourself to me there...
Exodus 34

International Adoption

Okay, so there's this new catch phrase going around about international adoption which is "it's always best for a child to stay and be raised in their country of origin". Ofcourse after that then everyone agrees that there aren't enough people in those countries who are able to care for those children so then ofcourse a home and a family in any country is second best and is better than being raised in an institution.

We will be bringing home our Chinese daughter to raise her in a different country then she was born in. Does this mean that we are giving her what is second best for her? A thought I am currently processing.

Every time I hear this mentioned (which is frequently) I ponder it. I wouldn't say it has bothered me but I would say that I have felt challenged by it. Frankly, I am leaning towards not agreeing with it. Would I be any worse off if I was raised in a different country? Or would my kids be any worse off if we take them and raise them in another country (which we just may do some day....if God calls us to serve Him in another country)?

This is what I believe and know to be true: The best place to be for any of us is in God's will. To be right where He has called us and led us to be. Where we are in life may look to many people on the surface as less then the best. Perhaps in a smaller house, or living in a lower economic area, or wearing out dated clothes, working in a job with low prestige, to some going to public schools is less then the best, or driving a really old ugly car, etc... All of these things our world and our society would say is less then the best, just as some studies and some adoption "professionals" have said that it's less then the best to be raised in a foreign country. However, God has called many many many little sweet babies from other countries to live with their new mommies and daddies in the good ol' US of A. And God's plan is always the best. So, even if these little people have different skin color or have "different eyes" (as Caleb says it) or have different heritage, if they are just where God's wants them to be then THAT IS the BEST!

I just got to thinking about all of this again as I was discussing the life of Moses with someone. Moses lived with his biological parents (who were awesome, by the way) until he was about 3 and then adopted by the princess of Egypt. This adoption was all orchestrated by God so that he could be trained and prepared (unknowingly at the time to him), with the best that the Egyptians had to offer, to lead God's people out of Egypt. This adoption WAS the best plan for Moses because it was a part of God's amazing plan to deliver His people. If his mother had not feared and had faith in God then Moses would have remained at his place of birth and been surrounded by his own heritage/culture/environment, in the comfort of his own home, loved on by his own people....which on the surface sounds really good....until you go deeper in understanding and realize that the reality of that story is that his life would have ended while he was still an infant. How much more of an abundant life he had because adoption is a part of his story. How can you deny that being adopted by a people of different ethnicity was not the BEST for Moses?

If it's best for these orphans to stay in their own country, then that is where God will place them. If it's best for them to move in with the Skipper family, then that is where they will go. No one loves them and cares for them as much as Him.

oh Lord God, I praise you!