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HOME » ABOUT PASTOR VON » OTHER PERSONAL THOUGHTS » PAGE 02 COMMENTS about this page: When I have a little extra time I often spend it thinking in a variety of areas. These are my creative times. I don't regularly journal, I simply write my thoughts and observations down and number them. If I come across another's thoughts or sayings that impress me, I write that down preceded by #. Here are some that might make sense. THOUGHTS AND IDEAS EXTREME: When the tail begins to wag the dog, you have one of three options. You can shoot the dog, cut off the tail or grow the dog up to his tail! CROW: From time to time we all have to eat crow and humble pie but it shouldn't be a regular part of our diet! BATTLE: Where the battle is won or lost isn't behind the lines in curbing my impulses but on the front line of my inner thought life. The chambers of my mind. What I feed my mind. What I allow and dwell on in my thinking chamber. Bottom line: The disciplining of my thought life. ACTIVISTS: We need to recruit, involve and keep activists in our Churches. Indeed they can create problems and become problems, but they are the workers! A successful Church can't function without them. Go after the activists ! MY GOAL: To stay alive as long as I live, indeed to live until I die! PRAYER: God give me the discipline to wait and the determination to grow until God positions me. MAINTENANCE: There are high maintenance people and low maintenance people. Give me the workers who require "little maintenance." ... not much stroking and attention. Many workers require too much attention for what they produce. The unfortunate fact: "high maintenance" people rarely change. WISDOM: Work on and use Solomon's wise decision over the two mothers and the one baby. He knew "human nature" ... "Woman" ... "Mothers" ... "Jealousy." He knew how to calculate "risk." ICONS of our fantasy stand tall and strong in our age of "vicarious living". Like our heroes, we have become actors living double lives in an increasingly artificial world ... looking for a stage to act upon. Such a pity and waste of life! IDOLS: Man in his primitive state displays his perverted nature and desire to become God by creating his god or gods ... and then bowing down before them! He has been made in God's image and soon he wants to return the favor, by making God in his (mans) image. Idols. THE REAL ME: What goes on in the hidden world of my mind is really the stuff I'm made of. My hidden thoughts, plans and attitudes, etc. These are mine alone to deal with. These ultimately form the true me, and my true lifestyle. OPTIONS: Options can be good and options can be dangerous too. It is possible to have options abort your goal. When the pressure comes, a man will often opt for his next best "option." However, when a man has no options ... he has to reach his goal! Options can rob you of the strength you need to reach your goal. Originally people came to church for who they were and what they needed ... today people come to the Church for what they like and what they can get. To get a man you have to invest in a boy! COMMITMENT: (There are degrees of commitment) Total commitment can only be experienced by the mature. Commitment, to be commitment, must be incurred by a cause or goal. It is costly! It is single and often fanatical. Commitment is a promise that results in a performance. Commitment isn't a label, lyrics, or a Tee shirt stencil. Commitment isn't a future goal but a present attitude! True commitment is 90% determination and 10% discipline. Commitment is built with the muscles of self discipline. Options and compromise are what destroy commitment. Unfortunately, pleasure often comes at the expense of happiness. The pleasure one gets on the road to purpose and/or fulfillment is good because it isn't the goal. Exploiting life to receive perverted pleasures If you don't plow deep you get a shallow crop. Capitalism is simply the controlled exploitation of the greed in all of us. It works! For the great majority this is a satisfactory system. Where greed slips into power we have significant abuses and corruption. "God will provide" ... says the slothful Christian ... and "God will work it out" say those individuals without judgment and sure enough He doesn't! POTENTIAL: (Example) You can have a great car, a good engine and the best of maps ... BUT until you put it in gear you aren't going anywhere. ACCOMPLISHMENT: Accomplishing nothing for all the right reasons is no better than accomplishing a lot for all the wrong reasons. Problems created by us are not necessarily created for us ... but God works it all out. Anger always carries a high price tag. Vengeance is always sweet at the time, but what a bitter after taste! MISSIONS: # God's plan to use His people to reach the whole world. I long to enjoy and employ the miraculous! Eternal treasure ... giving to "missions" BRINKMANSHIP: Carnal "Brinkmanship" How much spice (sin) can I add to the soup and still have it taste like soup? Walking the line! COMMUNICATION: It is one thing to speak (hear me talk) and another to communicate (hear what I say) ... What I want to do is connect! I want people to buy into my message! Inspire. Motivate! God brings continuity to life. The Holy Spirit personalizes the general Scriptures! BRINKMANSHIP: The delicate art of walking the line of right and wrong ... sometimes living on the line. (walking the fence) the result, being twisted, torn, defeated, exhausted by competing passions, the flesh ... the spirit. The climax of the inevitable big fall! TRANSITION: When you aren't what you were and not what you ought to be. PIG TROUGH: Its a shame that we prefer the rhinestone studded pig-trough of the world (with its tasty garbage) to the banquet table of God, with its nourishing food! Trust, a most valuable gift. Never take it for granted. It is earned. Don't abuse it and never assume you have it when you don't! Jesus met people where they were ... not where He wished they were or where they should have been! He started where they were, to bring them to where they should be or could be! To mature them. We must enter people at their level to lift them. Ex. Zacchaeus, Woman at well, etc. We are one in Christ! We must stop placing stumbling stones in the path of oneness and unity. One basic culture. Gal. 3:28 & Jn. 17:2. We should never conform the Church to culture, yet we are! The church is here to change the culture! Brinkmanship is a great way to live the defeated life! The nice thing about Brinkmanship is that it is "permissible" in today's Christian culture. MEDIA: The media has it's own immoral agenda. It not only reports the news but it creates the news. It defines and dictates what is news and what isn't news. It is more than a force to be reckoned with. The media not only reflects the morality of our country, to a large extent it has created that morality. In a sense it is the morality of our country.

HOME » ABOUT PASTOR VON » OTHER PERSONAL THOUGHTS » PAGE 02

COMMENTS about this page: When I have a little extra time I often spend it thinking in a variety of areas. These are my creative times. I don't regularly journal, I simply write my thoughts and observations down and number them. If I come across another's thoughts or sayings that impress me, I write that down preceded by #. Here are some that might make sense.

THOUGHTS AND IDEAS

EXTREME: When the tail begins to wag the dog, you have one of three options. You can shoot the dog, cut off the tail or grow the dog up to his tail!
CROW: From time to time we all have to eat crow and humble pie but it shouldn't be a regular part of our diet!
BATTLE: Where the battle is won or lost isn't behind the lines in curbing my impulses but on the front line of my inner thought life. The chambers of my mind. What I feed my mind. What I allow and dwell on in my thinking chamber. Bottom line: The disciplining of my thought life.
ACTIVISTS: We need to recruit, involve and keep activists in our Churches. Indeed they can create problems and become problems, but they are the workers! A successful Church can't function without them. Go after the activists !
MY GOAL: To stay alive as long as I live, indeed to live until I die!
PRAYER: God give me the discipline to wait and the determination to grow until God positions me.
MAINTENANCE: There are high maintenance people and low maintenance people. Give me the workers who require "little maintenance." ... not much stroking and attention. Many workers require too much attention for what they produce. The unfortunate fact: "high maintenance" people rarely change.
WISDOM: Work on and use Solomon's wise decision over the two mothers and the one baby. He knew "human nature" ... "Woman" ... "Mothers" ... "Jealousy." He knew how to calculate "risk."
ICONS of our fantasy stand tall and strong in our age of "vicarious living". Like our heroes, we have become actors living double lives in an increasingly artificial world ... looking for a stage to act upon. Such a pity and waste of life!
IDOLS: Man in his primitive state displays his perverted nature and desire to become God by creating his god or gods ... and then bowing down before them! He has been made in God's image and soon he wants to return the favor, by making God in his (mans) image. Idols.
THE REAL ME: What goes on in the hidden world of my mind is really the stuff I'm made of. My hidden thoughts, plans and attitudes, etc. These are mine alone to deal with. These ultimately form the true me, and my true lifestyle.
OPTIONS: Options can be good and options can be dangerous too. It is possible to have options abort your goal. When the pressure comes, a man will often opt for his next best "option." However, when a man has no options ... he has to reach his goal! Options can rob you of the strength you need to reach your goal.
Originally people came to church for who they were and what they needed ... today people come to the Church for what they like and what they can get.
To get a man you have to invest in a boy!
COMMITMENT: (There are degrees of commitment) Total commitment can only be experienced by the mature. Commitment, to be commitment, must be incurred by a cause or goal. It is costly! It is single and often fanatical. Commitment is a promise that results in a performance. Commitment isn't a label, lyrics, or a Tee shirt stencil. Commitment isn't a future goal but a present attitude! True commitment is 90% determination and 10% discipline. Commitment is built with the muscles of self discipline. Options and compromise are what destroy commitment.
Unfortunately, pleasure often comes at the expense of happiness. The pleasure one gets on the road to purpose and/or fulfillment is good because it isn't the goal. Exploiting life to receive perverted pleasures
If you don't plow deep you get a shallow crop.
Capitalism is simply the controlled exploitation of the greed in all of us. It works! For the great majority this is a satisfactory system. Where greed slips into power we have significant abuses and corruption.
"God will provide" ... says the slothful Christian ... and "God will work it out" say those individuals without judgment and sure enough He doesn't!
POTENTIAL: (Example) You can have a great car, a good engine and the best of maps ... BUT until you put it in gear you aren't going anywhere.
ACCOMPLISHMENT: Accomplishing nothing for all the right reasons is no better than accomplishing a lot for all the wrong reasons.
Problems created by us are not necessarily created for us ... but God works it all out.
Anger always carries a high price tag. Vengeance is always sweet at the time, but what a bitter after taste!
MISSIONS: # God's plan to use His people to reach the whole world.
I long to enjoy and employ the miraculous!
Eternal treasure ... giving to "missions"
BRINKMANSHIP: Carnal "Brinkmanship" How much spice (sin) can I add to the soup and still have it taste like soup? Walking the line!
COMMUNICATION: It is one thing to speak (hear me talk) and another to communicate (hear what I say) ... What I want to do is connect! I want people to buy into my message! Inspire. Motivate!
God brings continuity to life.
The Holy Spirit personalizes the general Scriptures!
BRINKMANSHIP: The delicate art of walking the line of right and wrong ... sometimes living on the line. (walking the fence) the result, being twisted, torn, defeated, exhausted by competing passions, the flesh ... the spirit. The climax of the inevitable big fall!
TRANSITION: When you aren't what you were and not what you ought to be.
PIG TROUGH: Its a shame that we prefer the rhinestone studded pig-trough of the world (with its tasty garbage) to the banquet table of God, with its nourishing food!
Trust, a most valuable gift. Never take it for granted. It is earned. Don't abuse it and never assume you have it when you don't!
Jesus met people where they were ... not where He wished they were or where they should have been! He started where they were, to bring them to where they should be or could be! To mature them. We must enter people at their level to lift them. Ex. Zacchaeus, Woman at well, etc.
We are one in Christ! We must stop placing stumbling stones in the path of oneness and unity. One basic culture. Gal. 3:28 & Jn. 17:2.
We should never conform the Church to culture, yet we are! The church is here to change the culture!
Brinkmanship is a great way to live the defeated life! The nice thing about Brinkmanship is that it is "permissible" in today's Christian culture.
MEDIA: The media has it's own immoral agenda. It not only reports the news but it creates the news. It defines and dictates what is news and what isn't news. It is more than a force to be reckoned with. The media not only reflects the morality of our country, to a large extent it has created that morality. In a sense it is the morality of our country.