Beautiful Life Wednesday: Everything I need to know, I learned from Noah's Ark

I received this bit of wisdom from a friend via email a long time ago. It was one of those viral messages that get passed around but I saved it because it was so concise and yet spot-on.

I'm posting it as I got it, and then beneath that, with a teensy bit of commentary.

Everything I Need to Know, I Learned From Noah's Ark

ONE: Don't miss the boat.

TWO: Remember that we are all in the same boat.

THREE: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.

FOUR: Stay fit. When you're 60 years old, someone may ask you to do something
really big.

FIVE: Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.

SIX: Build your future on high ground.

SEVEN: For safety's sake, travel in pairs.

EIGHT: Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.

NINE: When you're stressed, float awhile.

TEN: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.

ELEVEN: No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow
waiting.

Now here's the same again with just a dash of my opinionated comments. : )

ONE: Don't miss the boat. [Stay alert to what's happening in the world and around you. Opportunities don't come with neon lights.]

TWO: Remember that we are all in the same boat. [No one has it easy in life. Don't judge yourself against other people--you don't know what they're going through or have survived to get where they are.]

THREE: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark. [Listen to wise voices who know more than you and act accordingly.]

FOUR: Stay fit. When you're 60 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big. [You don't know how long you'll live but staying fit is a gift you can give your future self and loved ones.You can accomplish much more than you think, at virtually any age.]

FIVE: Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.
[That includes your own inner critic.]

SIX: Build your future on high ground.[Trust the tried-and-true, like biblical principles that have prospered civilizations wherever they take hold. Christian nations are never ruled by despots and tyrants--not even communists, for that matter.]

SEVEN: For safety's sake, travel in pairs.[Marriage is a good thing. And "a three-fold cord is not easily broken."]

EIGHT: Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.[Do the groundwork before starting any venture; take time to arm yourself with the knowledge you need, and, even if you're a snail, you'll catch up and overtake the cheetahs with your capabilities and expertise.]

NINE: When you're stressed, float awhile. [Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy! A well-rested individual can work and think at peak performance; All work and no play makes Jack (or Jill) dull!

TEN: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals. [I'm in the process of writing a book set on Titanic, so this one really struck me. The Ark was built by amateurs, perhaps, but was directed by a PROFESSIONAL--God himself. Seek GOD daily.]

ELEVEN: No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting. [Amen.]

Remember, it really is a beautiful life. Just keep it in perspective (God's perspective, that is!)

If you were writing the above tips, is there another you'd include? What little bit of wisdom do you live by that's based on a biblical principle? Leave your comment. I'll send one commenter a free copy of one of my books!


Warmest Blessings,

Linore
website: http://www.LinoreBurkard.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/LinoreRose
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Is God Sovereign Over Human Disability?

This is a reprint from http://www.desiringGod.org/blog/, which is the blog of John Piper. I've been struggling with this question a bit lately, and I appreciated this "commentary" of Knight's. Please note that I changed one little thing: He had written "Apert Syndrome," but since one of my children has Asperger's Syndrome, I inserted it instead.

Posted: 05 May 2010 11:30 PM PDT

(Author: John Knight)

Yes he is. He tells us so in Scripture:

Then the Lord said to (Moses), "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?" (Exodus 4:11)

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him." (John 9:1-3)

To be clear, God's sovereignty doesn't mean he merely permits disability. These verses show us that he sovereignly intends it, both for his glory and for our good—"that the works of God might be displayed."

With that in mind, what do you think about this expansion of Psalm 139:13-16? I've added some additional descriptors in italics to bring out what we really mean if we believe that God is sovereign over disability:

For you formed my inward parts with Down syndrome;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb without eyes.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made with cognitive challenges.
Wonderful are your works in creating me without limbs;
my soul knows it very well though my ears will never hear a sound.
My frame was not hidden from you as you made me with Asperger's Syndrome,
when I was being made in secret with autism,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth without Hexosaminidase A.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance with spina bifida;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me with cerebral palsy,
when as yet there was none of them.

GOOD NEWS

Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"
Isaiah 40:9

On today's "Revive Our Heart" broadcast, Nancy Leigh DeMoss reminds us that we have GOOD news to share with this world. Are you weary of all the bad news today? Look up, and BEHOLD YOUR GOD.

Be reminded of the One who has all things in His hands.
Who has called you with an everlasting love,
Who knew you from the womb, before you were born,
Who is the same yesterday, today and forever;
Be reminded of the love of the Saviour for YOU.

To forget God in his glory and strength is to forget His love and care for you.
It is to falter from the wind and waves like Peter on the water.

Your life is the water, fellow believer.
Don't allow the wind and waves to frighten you, though at times they may be fierce.

Instead, BEHOLD YOUR GOD.
Accept his strong hand of help. Bask in the GOOD news that He is
ready and willing to help you across the sea of this life.
In fact, He knows precisely which direction for you to take.
He certainly has led me on my path! And I praise him for it.

Behold your God!
Amen.

(Today's post is from John Piper's "Desiring God" blog. This topic is important to really understanding much of Scripture; as Piper says, it's a "principle." I think it's a vital one.)

One of the Most Important Principles in Reading the Bible

October 27, 2009 | By: John Piper | Category: Commentary

Sometimes readers of the Bible see the conditions that God lays down for his blessing and they conclude from these conditions that our action is first and decisive, then God responds to bless us.

That is not right.

There are indeed real conditions that God often commands. We must meet them for the promised blessing to come. But that does not mean that we are left to ourselves to meet the conditions or that our action is first and decisive.

Here is one example to show what I mean.

In Jeremiah 29:13 God says to the exiles in Babylon, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” So there is a condition: When you seek me with all your heart, then you will find me. So we must seek the Lord. That is the condition of finding him.

True.

But does that mean that we are left to ourselves to seek the Lord? Does it mean that our action of seeking him is first and decisive? Does it mean that God only acts after our seeking?

No.

Listen to what God says in Jeremiah 24:7 to those same exiles in Babylon: “I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.”

So the people will meet the condition of returning to God with their whole heart. God will respond by being their God in the fullest blessing. But the reason they returned with their whole heart is that God gave them a heart to know him. His action was first and decisive.

So now connect that with Jeremiah 29:13. The condition there was that they seek the Lord with their whole heart. Then God will be found by them. But now we see that the promise in Jeremiah 24:7 is that God himself will give them such a heart so that they will return to him with their whole heart.

This is one of the most basic things people need to see about the Bible. It is full of conditions we must meet for God’s blessings. But God does not leave us to meet them on our own. The first and decisive work before and in our willing is God’s prior grace. Without this insight, hundreds of conditional statements in the Bible will lead us astray.

Let this be the key to all Biblical conditions and commands: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13). Yes, we work. But our work is not first or decisive. God’s is. “I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).