| ..excerpts from an interview with author Rick Warren... 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 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,just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another 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 is not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness. ...life is not simply a series of hills (good times) and valleys (bad times) .It is more like two rails on 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 need to b worked on.. And no matter how bad things are,there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purpose or you can focus on your problem. If you focus on your problem, your going into self-centeredness,...my problem,my issues,my pain..The easiest way to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others. ...sometimes, learning to live with the good is harder.It is then we have to ask ourselves if we are 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 purpose (for my life)? When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of the bed and say, God, If I don't get anything done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put us 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 are 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 |