NowTHINK!AboutIt

Avoiding Hackneyed...Making Sense

4 Things Failure Is Not

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Sitting around doing nothing is waste, not failure.

Failure Catalyzes
Clarity And Focus

Is failure a good thing or a bad thing? When does it happen? Should I avoid it? How does it work?

Failure provokes many questions and it’s common. Is there anyone who hasn’t been body slammed by its after effects?

Some think failure is synonymous with loser. Not a nice idea. Also not true. People who succeed greatly also fail badly.

In order to get through failure effectively, and use it to win rather than lose, we need to manage it like popular winners. The first step toward doing that is understanding what it is not. [Read more…]

8 Resolutions For New Beginnings Every Year

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Now is the time for new beginnings, not tomorrow

Failure Is The Doorway
To New Beginnings

Fortunately, we get more than one attempt at success. In fact, life constantly moves from New Beginnings to Failures and back to New Beginnings. It’s the universal cycle of personal experience. The cycles begin when we take our first breath and never end till we take the last. Unfortunately, Failure is the center piece of that cycle.

We don’t like it, but what that means is failure is inevitable. Not bad. Not regrettable. Not unusual. Everyone fails. It is unavoidable, but perceptions notwithstanding, failure isn’t entirely negative.

Winston Churchill said:

Failure is not fatal!

It may feel like you’re dying at the time but with the right approach, failure becomes the mechanism that helps us improve. The number of people who have succeeded through failure is endless.

Don’t worry. I’m not going to bore you with the entire list of every person who failed and then succeeded. Someone else has done that elsewhere.

More to the point, Failure is why there are Refresh buttons on browsers, Restart buttons on Apple TV and Ctrl+Shift+Esc on PC’s. Software development, like life, is an imperfect science and constantly needs updating. Happily, the outcome of that process is a new start and a better experience.

Since we live the process, we should own it and following are eight ways to refresh your life, whether your aiming to improve the next year or the next week. [Read more…]

6 Lessons From The Life Of Moses

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Read Moses' story and you'll think differently about faith.

Moses Breaks
All The Molds

Moses is the guy that intrigues us all but I don’t know of anyone who wants to trade places with him. King David, yes, but not Moses.

Moses accomplished more in his life than any other Bible figure and he wore many pairs of shoes in the process: statesman, historian, judge, commander, prophet, author, teacher and intercessor, but that doesn’t make him appealing. Interesting, maybe, but not appealing.

I’ve never aspired to lead a nation, and can’t understand why anyone would, but Moses didn’t just lead a nation. He did something much more complicated. He built one.

People who read Moses respond in two ways. They love God or accuse Him. Let’s talk about it.

Three Stages In Moses Life Each Lasting 40 Years

The life of Moses is divided into three stages that make it easy to analyze.

  • Infant To Adulthood (Pharaoh’s house)
  • Exile in Midian
  • Exodus to Canaan

Significant events in the first two stages shaped Moses in ways that prepared him for God’s ultimate purpose. The high points are:

Stage One:

  • Spared from destruction as an infant.
  • Adopted into Pharaoh’s house and enjoyed the privileges of a family member.
  • Tradition (Josephus) says he successfully led military campaigns.

Stage Two:

  • At the age of 40 he makes an unsuccessful attempt at alleviating the suffering of his people, the Israelites.
  • Rejected by the Israelites and threatened by Pharaoh, he escapes to Midian.
  • In Midian, he meets Jethro and marries one of his daughters, Zipporah, with whom he has two sons.
  • Becomes a shepherd.
  • Called by God out of the burning bush.

Stage Three:

  • Returns to Egypt.
  • Meets with Israelite leaders.
  • Confronts Pharaoh.
  • Leads Israel out of Egypt, eventually arriving at Canaan.

Observations: [Read more…]

3 Reasons Christian Living Is Not Ideal

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Correct your mistakes, don't worry about them.

Consequences For Christians
Are Opportunities To Grow

Let’s start with a question. What do Christians talk about most, when they discuss their spiritual lives?

It’s a good question, and I have no hard evidence to prove my answer, but the conversations I’ve witnessed firsthand are a bit introspective, revolving mostly around personal issues like:

  • Am I a Christian?
  • How can I know I really did what is necessary to become a Christian?
  • How can I be sure that I’m still a Christian now?

And so on.

The focus is inward, not outward or onward. It’s the proverbial all-about-me, in-the-moment mindset.

The Philippian jailer expressed it well:

What must I do to be saved (become a Christian)? (Acts 16:30)

He, of course, had a very good reason for asking the question. But as far as we know, he never asked again. He didn’t repeatedly harangue Paul for reassurance.

Today things are different. People often ask over and over and over again, “how can I be saved” or “Am I really saved” or “How can I really be sure?” The question is overworked. [Read more…]

6 Things Parents Learn From Kids

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First Step: Get over your highfalutin self

Everyone Learns
Everyone Teaches

The fact that kids learn from parents is so apparent it smacks you in the face.

Kids start out as bundles of curiosity and parents are walking talking versions of Google. Kids learn. Parents teach.

What we don’t readily see, or wish to admit, is that parents can also learn from kids, and that shouldn’t sound strange. The adage “Never stop learning” applies to every person – including parents – and every relationship – including kids.

I’ve provided a sufficient number of lessons here (6) to establish the learning-in-reverse point. There could be more.

Before jumping into the lessons, there are three irrefutable facts that support the idea. [Read more…]