Excerpts from "Have a little faith" by Mitch Albom worth sharing

Here are a few excerpts that caught my attention while reading this fantastic book. I strongly recommend everyone check it out when you have a chance. Quick and easy read!


"There is a salesman, and he knocks on the door. The man who answers says 'I don't need anything today'.
The next day the salesman returns, 'Stay away', he is told.
The very next day the salesman is back. The man yells 'You again! I warned you!' He gets so angry that he spits in the salesman's face.
The salesman smiles, wipes the spit with a handkerchief, then looks to the skies and says, 'Must be raining.'"

*There are a few things that we can learn from this. First, no matter how many times you get rejected, persistence is key! Get back on the horse and try it again. The second thing I think that sticks out here is an attitude of positivity. This man takes a terrible circumstance and makes it not terrible at all which allows him to continue on. Lastly, the book explained this story as faith. They will spit in your face so do you have the ability to respond with "it must be raining' and still come back tomorrow?



"A man seeks employment on a farm. He hands his letter of recommendation to his new employer. Its reads simply, 'He sleeps in a storm.'
The owner is desperate for help, so he hires the man.
Several weeks pass, and suddenly, in the middle of the night, a powerful storm rips through the valley.
Awakened by the swirling rain and howling wind, the owner leaps out of bed. He calls for his new hired hand, but the man is sleeping soundly.
So he dashes off to the barn. He sees, to his amazement, that the animals are secure with plenty of feed.
He runs out to the field. He sees the bales of wheat have been bound and are wrapped in tarpaulins.
He races to the silo. The doors are latched, and the grain is dry.
And then he understands. 'He sleeps in a storm.'"

*I thought this was such a great story because at first "he sleeps in a storm" is not understood and almost mistaken for a bad quality. When things are tough, I would not want someone on my team sleeping through it and not accessible. However what we come to find out is that this is actually a wonderful quality because this man actually takes care of all his responsibilities before the storm ever comes (and without knowing the storm is coming) which allows him to sleep comfortably through the storm. You see if we take care of the things we are supposed to, if we live our lives doing things right, as the bible teach, when the storm comes our faith in all we have invested will allow us to lay calm and "sleep through the storm'.



"There was a farmer that wakes up to find that his horse has run off.
The neighbors come by and say, 'Too bad, Such awful luck'
The farmer says, 'maybe.'
The next day, the horse returns with a few other horses. The neighbors congratulate the farmer on his reversal of fortune.
'Maybe," the farmer says.
When his son tries to ride one of the new horses, he breaks his leg, and the neighbors offer condolences.
"Maybe," the farmer says.
And the next day, when army officials come to draft the son- and don't take him because of his broken leg-everyone is happy.
'Maybe,' the farmer says."

*No matter what you are going through or what is happening in your life, good or bad, you never know the final outcome. Many things that happen may seem good today but end up being bad tomorrow or the opposite, what seems bad is actually great. Everything takes time and is part of God's plan. God is a faithful God and loves you and I dearly. Faith that he will guide you in the right direction is a must!

~Super Tuesday
EC

God is knocking at the door

If God showed up on your doorstep and told you that he would now be using you to glorify His Kingdom, how would you respond? Would you change certain things about your life? Would you live differently or act differently? Would you tell Him "No thanks" and shut the door? If God wants to use you to glorify his name would you be willing to participate? Are you ready to participate?

I heard a very amazing sermon this morning at the Austin Stone about how God chooses the weakest, the most sinful, the least expected and the unwilling to share the His story and to spread His word. He has also chooses people with a past, people that may have problems in their family, less than perfect parents, you name it. There are countless examples in the bible in which God chooses people that have done horrible things, things in which we as humans would never forgive, to carry out His glory. This sermon really hit me hard today because it made me realize that everyone, including myself and you, are potential disciples of God and that at any moment or all moments, he could be working in us to teach a lesson to the world. The most amazing part of this is that he would even consider people like you and I for such an important task.

As I started thinking more about it, I realized that it all makes perfect sense. You see, if God's kingdom was all about being perfect and about people that live perfect lives, it would be irrelevant to our lives because our lives are far from perfect. We as humans are flawed and will never be without sin so if sin was the deciding factor, the kingdom of God would not be for us. Thankfully, because Jesus gave his own life on the cross, our sin is not the deciding factor but rather our faith in God. Thus in order to teach relevant lessons God must use people, and thus he must use flawed or sinful people as sin is present in all people.

So would you do things differently if you knew God was using you for something greater than you? Should you do things differently, or is the whole point that you do what your heart desires and the lesson is taught because you did what you did or do what you do?

Now what if God showed up at your door step to tell you about his plan to use your life, rang the doorbell, and you didn't answer? Maybe its distractions of life, maybe its a bad friendship or relationship that was blinding you, or maybe it was a desire for money and success that kept you from hearing the "knocking at the door". Maybe your life is going great right now and you just aren't paying attention. Would you care? Would you be happy you didn't hear it so you could continue on living in your own ways? Or would you regret it with everything you had?

I want to be sitting on the front porch, waiting for him to drive up! I don't want him to have to get out of the car. Oh wait, he is already here and waiting.

Speakin my mind
-EC