Vinny,
Thanks for posting that. I needed to read it today.
--
Carol - Reading, UK
To you, o Lord, I lift up my soul;
In You I trust, o my God. . . .." PS25:1-2 NIV.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Vinny Samarco" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 02, 2006 1:47 PM
Subject: Fw: [CCNN] Fwd: Interesting Interview
> Hi,
> Thought you would like this interview.
> Vinny
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Rick Johnson" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 02, 2006 4:20 AM
> Subject: [CCNN] Fwd: Interesting Interview
>
>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: T.J. Northern <[log in to unmask]>
>> Date: Aug 2, 2006 4:59 AM
>> Subject: Interesting Interview
>> To:
>>
>> You may have read this before, but it is worth another look. Enjoy!
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>
>>
>> Rick Warren Interview (Author Purpose Driven Life)
>>
>>
>>
>> You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now
>> having cancer and his having "wealth" from the book sales.
>>
>> This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren,
>> "Purpose
>> Driven Life " author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California.
>>
>>
>> In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:
>>
>>
>> People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a
>> nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last
>> forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.
>>
>> One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my
>> body-- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth,
>> but
>> I am going to spend trillions of years in
>> eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal.
>>
>> God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in
>> eternity.
>> We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life
>> isn't going to make sense.
>>
>> Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just
>> coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go in to another one.
>>
>> The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character
>> than your comfort.
>>
>> God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making
>> your life happy.
>>
>> We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of
>> life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.
>>
>> This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the
>> toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.
>>
>> I used to ! think that life was hills and valleys you go through a
>> dark
>> time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't
>> believe
>> that anymore.
>>
>> Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of
>> like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have
>> something
>> good and something bad in your life.
>>
>> No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something
>> bad that needs to be worked on.
>>
>> And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always
>> something good you can thank God for.
>>
>> You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems.
>>
>> If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness,
>> "which is my problem, my issues, my pain."
>>
>> But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus
>> off
>> yourself and onto God and others.
>>
>> We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of
>> thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy
>> for
>> her.
>>
>> It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her
>> character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a
>> testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
>>
>> You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.
>> Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For
>> instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15
>> million copies, i t made me instantly very wealthy.
>>
>> It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with
>> before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own
>> ego
>> or for you to live a life of ease.
>>
>> So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money,
>> notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages tha
>> thelped
>> me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.
>>
>> First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our
>> lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases.!
>>
>> Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary
>> from
>> the church.
>>
>> Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace
>> Plan to plant churches,
>> equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the
>> next
>> generation.
>>
>> Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years
>> since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was
>> liberating
>> to be able to serve God for free.
>>
>> We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions?
>> Popularity?
>>
>> Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness?
>> Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my
>> life)?
>>
>> When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say,
>> God,
>> if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and
>> love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do
>> list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why
>> we're called human beings, not human doings.
>>
>>
>> Happy moments, PRAISE GOD. Difficult moments, SEEK GOD. Quiet
>> moments,
>> WORSHIP GOD. Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
>>
>> Every moment,
>>
>> THANK GOD
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> -----------------------------------------------------
>> Rick Johnson
>> http://360.yahoo.com/ccnnowner
>> http://www.frappr.com/ccnnowner
>> http://www.pandora.com/
>> http://wolfgangsvault.com
>> http://www.romad.com
>>
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