Thought of the day 20/11/06

A few people have asked me to mention something about 'Pressure'. These people are in situations where they are feeling the pressure, pressure of expectations, deadlines and their own thoughts. I found it necessary to shed some light on a word that we tend to ignore, or not pay enough attention to. Below are a couple of thoughts of mine about Pressure.

"Pressure is a word that is misused in our vocabulary. When you start thinking of pressure, it is because you have started to think of failure."


"Christian history looks glorious in retrospect; but it is made up of constant hard choices and unattractive tasks, accepted under the pressure of the Will of God."

The second thought is what i want to focus on. We often read stories about certain Biblical events and we are in awe of the people who carried out mind blowing tasks to satisfy God. We dont realise the pressure humans must have been under, put in a heavily pressurised situation/position to do only 1 thing. Satisfy God. Bringing Glory to His name is a Christians life sentence, an honour given to man at birth, but have you ever wondered what type of pressure people were under to satisfy our Lord? We are often distracted by worldly pressures such as deadlines at work, a manager breathing down your neck, parents expectations, peer pressure and the media telling you how to dress, speak and behave. We never actually sit and think about what pressure really means, pressure is a cousin of the word 'Persecution' for that too is often misused without understanding the true meaning. Tears are the result of too much pressure being exerted on our hearts, while that may sound a little corny, its romantically true. Too much pressure on an object and the result can be devastating and deadly. In our prayers and thoughts, we need to remember those who experienced pressure 1 million times greater than what we experience today. So the next time you break a nail or miss the bus, remember that far worse could have happened to you, save your tears for a real issue. BE GRATEFUL!

Remember that no matter what you are going through today, what stresses you may experience at home or at work, there is always, ALWAYS, at least one other person out there far worse off than you!

JI

Thought of the day 15/11/06

On the train this morning i was thinking of pursuing a challenging career which would stretch my already stretched imagination and strongly test my creativity. My questions and doubts were eased when this thought popped into my head as the train pulled up to my stop. .

"Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that amateurs built the ark.
Professionals built the Titanic."

This is so true. We all know the stories of the Ark and the Titanic. It is yet another example of how God can provide us with the ability to surprise ourselves. We often ask ourselves "How am i going to be able to do this?" without first asking ourselves how we can gain the knowledge and strength we need in order to take the first step, which is always the most difficult. If we rely on our own strength and wisdom, we are sure to either fail, or not produce the work we were hoping for, considering the Titanic had expectations and plaudits poured all over it, it was to 'make history' and so much noise and media hype was surrounding its voyage.....but it sank. Whereas the Ark survived a rough journey because, simply put, it was what God wanted. There are endless Biblical verses highlighting God's enormous and mysterious power, but we need to understand that we can be capable of anything if we first look into our own minds, which God has filled with wonderful thoughts, ideas and knowledge.....the secret for us, is that we need to discover HOW to find these beautiful God given gifts within our mind.........FIND HIM!

JI