Dreams And Goals | Wayne Stiles

Archives For Dreams and Goals

The Jordan River—Your Place of Transition

Other rivers have more beauty. Many are longer. Most are cleaner.

But none has garnered as much affection as the Jordan River.

The Jordan River—A Place of Transition The Jordan River—Your Place of Transition

(Photo: The Jordan River, courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

It wasn’t the beauty of the Jordan River that inspired centuries of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to include it in their verses.

Its significance began as a simple geographic barrier, which—practically speaking—represented a border (Joshua 22:18-25). In fact, the serpentine river still represents a border between Israel and the nation of Jordan.

In Scripture, however, the river’s presence on Israel’s eastern edge stood as an enduring metaphor of transitions.

Significant transitions, in fact.

Tuesdays with Morrie [Book Review]

I’ve heard for years that I should read, Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life’s Greatest Lesson. My wife and I picked it up at an estate sale recently and read it aloud.

Tuesdays with Morrie Tuesdays with Morrie [Book Review]

The greatest takeaway from this touching account of the slow death of Mitch Albom’s friend, Morrie Schwartz, is that you’re not ready to live until you’re ready to die.

Over the course of many Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch visits with Morrie about “life’s greatest lesson,” discussing issues of life such as self-pity, regrets, death, family, emotions, aging, love, marriage, and forgiveness.

“Aging . . . is more than the negative that you’re going to die, it’s also the positive that you understand that you’re going to die, and that you live better because of it.”

Everyone reads a book through the filter of his or her own world view. And although I can appreciate the truth and wisdom of each chapter as it relates to life, I couldn’t help but think the book overlooks the potential insight this life offers to the next life.

“Aging . . . is more than the negative that you’re going to die . . .”

Yeah, but you can’t sidestep the negative. It’s the most-certain event of anyone’s life.

I totally understand that the book isn’t about the afterlife. I get it. Nevertheless, it seems strange to read a book about a dying man sharing distilled wisdom about life and death with no discussion about life after death.

Tuesdays with Morrie does a great job highlighting how death brings clarity to life.

Okay, so you apply those lessons and have a great life.

Then what?

Question: Have you read the book? What did you think of it? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

What if Your Busy Life Isn’t Productive?

I used to have an old car with a funny way of handling cold weather.

In the mornings I’d turn on the headlights, the heat, the rear defrost, and the radio. Everything was fine until I got to an intersection and turned on my blinker.

When I did, the radio blinked off and on.

What if Your Busy Life Isnt Productive What if Your Busy Life Isnt Productive?

(Photo by yellowj, via Vivozoom)

The small drain from the blinker was more than the power source could handle.

Many mornings I feel like my old car. Every ounce of energy is already being used, and if even one small additional drain is required from me, the overload starts shutting down my system.

We’ve all been there. A busy life means little margin. And often, little productivity.

Jesus told a story that directly addressed the busy life of a believer.

Being Better than Your Parents is the Wrong Goal

You can live better than your parents did.

Or you can live worse. It’s true.

Growing up in a godly home is no guarantee you’ll follow God. But it’s also true that a godless home doesn’t doom you to a failed life.

Being Better than Your Parents is the Wrong Goal Being Better than Your Parents is the Wrong Goal

(Photo by Design Pics, via Vivozoom)

I know of one young man who had as his goal to be a better father than his father was to him. And he did it.

But then he realized that wasn’t enough.

Being better than your parents is doable, sure, but it’s the wrong goal.

Why You Should Avoid the Path Of Least Resistance

Taking the path of least resistance is a fact of nature.

Rivers always flow around a mountain because it’s easier than going through it. Electricity will always move through a circuit along the “easiest” route. A car is designed aerodynamically for the least resistance to wind.

Human nature is no different. Unfortunately.

Why You Should Avoid the Path Of Least Resistance Why You Should Avoid the Path Of Least Resistance

(Photo by Perry from Ottawa, Canada. Fading. CC-BY-2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

We tend to do that which is easiest, often to the neglect of that which is best.

It’s easier to read a magazine than to read your Bible.
It’s easier to sit in front of the TV than to spend time with your kids.
It’s easier to lose your temper with your spouse than to control it.

Following the path of least resistance can become a habit that guides our lives. We make choices based on what is easiest, most pleasant, or least painful.

But God has a better plan for you.

When God Takes Something Away from You

It’s always great when God replaces something painful with something wonderful.

Or when He provides for a need in a context of desperation.

But what about when God takes away something we enjoy—or even something we need? Or when He allows something bad to invade something good?

When God Takes Something Away from You When God Takes Something Away from You

(Photo: by Hariadhi. Own work, GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

Can we then say what Job said?

Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised. —Job 1:21

During the times when God takes something away from you, it’s easy to feel duped, as if God was some kind of pusher, giving free samples and then removing them after the cravings have their hooks in your heart.

The Lord’s generosity can be misunderstood as cruelty.

Rather than praise God for the time we enjoyed His blessings—we tend to resent His sovereign prerogative to confiscate them.

Here’s some perspective that can help when God takes something away from you that was a blessing.

Getting What You Want Out of Life

I always get a big grin when I’m driving on a highway and see the sign: “Freeway Ends.”

I get the mental picture of cars flying off the end of the freeway into a deep ravine. Or, perhaps, a calmer image might be all vehicles stuck at a dead end with nowhere to go.

If we knew that’s what the sign meant, we’d stop and turn around.

vivozoom 38849645 w Getting What You Want Out of Life

(Photo by iofoto, via Vivozoom)

Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a warning sign that gave us more important directions?

“THIS ISN’T THE ROAD TO GETTING

WHAT YOU WANT OUT OF LIFE”

If we had such a sign—and we believed it true—we’d immediately stop and turn around.

The Word of God gives us that sign. It tells us the results of a certain path. But it also gives us other directions.

It tells you the secret to getting what you want out of life.

How to Face the Future without Fear

My favorite New Years Eve happened before the infamous Y2K.

I pulled a practical joke that made the people in my grandmother’s house believe their fears about the future were true.

HK Lantau Island sunrise How to Face the Future without Fear

(Picture: By Flickr user: 29cm CC-BY-SA-2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

My relatives had gathered to watch the televised countdown at New York City’s Times Square. Midnight hit America first on the east coast, so all eyes waited to see what would happen at midnight.

Would all power go dark in America?
Would computers suddenly stop working?
Should we stockpile more food?

While no one was looking, I snuck outside and found the breaker box to my grandmother’s house.

Looking for God in the Wrong Places

The world makes promises it can’t keep.

It says the reason we’re unhappy is that we just haven’t found the right whatever yet.

The right spouse, the right hairdo, the right salary, the right entertainment system, the right church, the right pastor, the right Bible, the right seminar, ad infinitum . . . ad nauseam.

58676487 w Looking for God in the Wrong Places

(Photo: Design Pics, via Vivozoom)

You don’t have to be without Jesus to fall into the trap. Even those of us who do believe in Jesus can chase those shadows.

But God won’t let us hide from reality. He loves us too much.

Walk the Path of Wisdom without Falling Off

The connection between between the first steps we take in making a decision and its final outcome often seems unrelated.

Walking the path of wisdom or the way of foolishness has domino effects far greater than we can imagine.

Grant park in the fall milwaukee Walk the Path of Wisdom without Falling Off

(Photo by Indy Kethdy. CC-BY-SA-2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

For us, a disciplined intake of Scripture certainly promises wisdom. But wisdom offers a course of action, not just a course of instruction. (Tweet that.)

The book of Proverbs reveals the outcome of the pathways we are walking.

And it tells us how to stay on the path of wisdom.