Monday, October 27, 2014

The Purpose Driven Life aka "the 'It's not about you," book'

My church up here in the freezing no-where has decided that this semester my college group will be going through The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. It's a fantastic book and one that I think every person should go through, especially every college age kid who's just starting out, or trying to figure out their lives.
The book comes with a study guide for group participation and group questions, during the study I didn't write down my answers to the questions; I wanted to take the guide home, reread it and think about it more thoroughly.

"God created me to love me." (Jerimiah 20:18, Proverbs 16:4, Ephesians 1:4) When did you fist hear about God's love?
I've always known that God loved me, and I've always known that I was created to love him, it kinda followed that I was created to be loved. I was raised in a Christian family, so I just grew up knowing some of these things. Growing up military it was kind of a constant, God was always there, he was always the provider, he always had his best for us even when we didn't feel loved, or when we felt lonely. For me, knowing that God loved me was just a basic part of my childhood.

"I was made to last forever." How does that Statement strike you? Are you encouraged, puzzled, dissapointed, surprised?
Unless you're just some uber depressed person who just doesn't want to live and wants death to be the end all, who doesn't want to see heaven, why would anyone be dissapointed that we were made to last forever and be in the presence of the one who created you so specially?
I'm pretty excited about being made to last forever, it reminds me of the elves from Lord of the Rings actually. I get to go chill with Jesus and learn more about God than I will ever know here, I'll do things I never imagined I could, or at least, that's what i'm assuming.  I find it really hard to believe we're just going to be sitting around playing harps and singing tunes, unless you're a musical person and really enjoy singing and playing the harp, in which case, enjoy your day.
Overall i'm just excited about living forever.

Are you ready to explore the truth about god's plan for your life?
Yes, it's frequently been a struggle to figure out what God wants for my life, and just as often I tend to lose focus from what I believe he's called me to do. While I can quote what I believe He has called me to be and to do backwards and forwards, it's always good to check with my Supervisor Upstairs and see if the game plan is still on track.

What difference could it make if I acted like life is all about God and not about myself?
That's actually a tough question, I'm not perfect, my relationships with other's would be more focused on God and the other person, not what i can get out of the relationship.
I could be more giving with my time and rescourses.
my relationships with the kids I work with would be more "how can I show God to these kids?" and less "How can i make these kids behave for two and a half hourse."
my passions would be more "how does this art, bring glory to God?"