Perseverance

Perseverance is one of a number of words that could be used to describe a man by the name of William Wilberforce. Yesterday, I took in the movie that chronicled Wilberforce's effort to end slave trade and bring about the emancipation of all slaves: Amazing Grace. It was an outstanding movie that depicted well, the battle between good and evil. Since money was a driving force behind the slave trade, it was not surprising to hear one of the members of parliament (MP's) misquote the bible by saying: "Money is the root of all evil." There was one critical word left out of that quote and it was, and still is: "Love of money is the root of all evil." William Wilberforce understood what love was, and he understood that love of God and love of man is a command given to each of us by God. Wilberforce also understood that slavery didn't jive with that command, therefore he spent 46 years of his life in a battle - often lonely and discouraging - to end the slave trade and free the slaves completely. That's perseverance...that's passion. He faced incredible opposition but continued on with a purpose and a plan. His life is an inspiration to me and countless others! Amazing Grace.

Make sure you take the time to see this movie soon!

SURRENDER

Surrender is not a popular word or action. No one really wants to surrender yet most of us have done so in one way or another during the course of the last week. For instance, we may have surrendered our place in the checkout lane of the local grocery store, to a young mom. Or maybe we surrendered a $10 bill for a box of Girl Scout cookies that may be worth $2. Each of us have learned that surrendering is often good for our health.

At Erik Rees' recent Only You Can Be You seminar, he spoke of the importance of our surrender before we can move into what God's purpose if for us. He led us through an exercise of writing on a 3X5 card, that which was keeping us from moving into God's kingdom purpose for us. Each person was then asked to pin the card on the cross. It was an awesome moment! You could almost hear the chains fall off.

Forgiven,
Dibs

TENNIS EXTRAVAGANZA

This past Tuesday the G-woman and I made our way to Grand Rapids to have a nice dinner at Tillman's and then proceeded to Van Andel Arena for the Ace of Hearts Tennis Tour event. It was a great evening with some really good tennis, as well as some hilarious moments mixed in. Proceeds of the evening were earmarked for the Miracle Match Foundation that was established in 1997 by tennis professional Bill Przbysz. Bill was diagnosed with Acute Monocytic Leukemia (AML) in 1995.

The tennis lineup for the evening included Bill, John McEnroe, Jim Courier, Jana Novotna, and Anna Kournikova. In the featured match, Johnny Mac beat up on Courier, 4 and 4. Even though McEnroe, always the bad boy in professional tennis, is 48 years old and Courier is 12 years his junior, he handled his opponent without breaking too much of sweat. In the mixed doubles feature, McEnroe and Kournikova defeated Courier and Novotna. Courier has a great sense of humor and was talking and cracking jokes all night long.

4 hours of tennis and lots of fun.

WHAT AM I BID?

The following is an excerpt from the book Red Moon Rising by Pete Greig and Dave Roberts.

WHAT AM I BID?
"Suddenly I find myself in a giant hall. Surrounding me are thousands of young people, battered, bruised, and broken. Then suddenly, hear a voice: "What am I bid?"

A young girl stands out before the crowd of leering, sneering men.
"What am I bid for this piece of flesh?"

The men start to cheer and shout figures: "Ten" "Twenty" "Fifty" "One Hundred!"
What can I do, God?

I start to bid. I have to save her. The cost becomes huge, and I begin to waiver. Can I afford this? What price will I pay?

The dream stops.
I'm alone again. But the faces are real enough:
Sarah being sold into prostitution. Mike with a revolver in his mouth. Kate covered with cuts and bruises. John falling into crime. Laura alone and desperate. Steve, heroin needle bulging into his vein.

"What am I bid?"

The voice shatters the silence. The auction is on again. The bidding has begun. It continues night and day until the end. Most of the bidders desire only use and abuse. Satan drives them on.

And so I find myself in the auction. Will I watch or will I bid? The price of a single life is huge. The currency is prayer. The cost is massive, but the prize is glorious. A life for a life.

What am I bid?"

OYCBY

This past Saturday, we hosted a seminar at Central entitled, Only You Can Be You. The presenter of this seminar is Erik Rees, pastor of Serve and Shape Ministry at Saddleback Church in southern California. The seminar was incredibly interesting, helpful, encouraging and challenging for a large range of ages - students through senior adults. As I was going through the evaluations today, I was encouraged by all the positive personal comments. Erik is a gifted and passionate communicator who grabs your attention and holds it.

Erik has recently authored the book: SHAPE - Finding and fulfilling your unique purpose for life. (Zondervan)

I've been involved in teaching SHAPE workshops for 10 years now and when I picked up a copy of Erik's book, I thought that it was going to be another interesting take on SHAPE. I was surprised! This is Erik's first book and it's a homerun! His book hits key areas that are all too often passed over quickly in the area of ministry discovery. One of those quickly passed over areas is, our incredible significance in God's eyes. The book also digs into the "stuff" that keeps us from moving into God's kingdom purpose for our lives, and the need to Surrender that "stuff" in order to move on in freedom. When we fail to surrender what God has invited us to surrender to Him, we live with a burden that makes us feel even less significant in His eyes. Surrender and Significance go hand-in-glove.

There's so much more. I recommend the book and encourage you to attend the seminar if you see it popping up in your area.

Here's a bio on Erik.

Erik Rees
Erik Rees is pastor of ministry and S.H.A.P.E. discovery at Saddleback Church, which gives him the great opportunity to empower thousands of people each year to find and fulfill their unique purpose for life. He also dedicates time to equipping pastors from all around the world on how to do the same within their church. Erik is a certified life planning coach and enjoys reading books in the areas of servant leadership, significance, spiritual leadership, and organizational development. Erik spends his free time with his wife of twelve years and their three children.

Author Website:
http://www.shapediscovery.com