Dad's Proverbs

KNOWING His love for us results in a love for God and our fellow man that is not possible without a certainty of His love and care for us.

Though we can study and preach and teach we CANNOT love without knowing His love first.

If we don’t love the brother who is offending us, we don’t love God.

God has made His reality clear all around us, if we will see it.

I understand so little and my challenge is to trust either in my Father or in my understanding.

With each exposure to pain, whether in our life or in another’s, we choose our response. We can deny reality, wish it away, call evil everything unpleasant, or trust God and that His wisdom and purposes are beyond us.

Meditating on the world without me is a humbling, healthy exercise. I am loved but not essential to the outworking of God’s plans.

To “make” a disciple is to love a person, placing their lives and interests above our own. THEN, while loving them, we share about our incredible Father and help them to live in relationship with Him. Sadly, the church today often seeks to make disciples through teaching and doctrine, without love.

A key to cross-cultural adaptation... and to marriage, parenting, friendship, leadership, and disciple-making: "Shut up and listen."

Discipleship is more modeling than teaching. Who we are has greater impact than what we say...

If studying God’s word is our priority and our passion, we build on sand. If our priority is to know a little and do what we know, we build on rock. We need to know less and do more.

Contentment is not dependent on circumstances. Adam and Eve were discontented in EDEN!

Communicate grace (favor) in your every word and action.

Our Father communicates far more nonverbally that verbally... so do we.

We make people objects to feel better about ourselves and we manipulate objects for our benefit. We honor people and we give people freedom to make their own choices.

Living in surrender to Jesus is living with the freedom to be completely genuine, and this genuine-ness and freedom to be yourself (blemishes, weaknesses and all) is lived out in a community of people with the same motive for living (loving the weak and flawed, as are we…).

Our Father so often allows us to wander in our own choices (chasing distractions) until we arrive at a place where we realize we are lost without Him (again), at which point we are willing to yield to His guidance and to receive the encouragement, correction, or instruction that He has for us. He loves being our rescuer, our counselor, our helper and doesn’t hold our human-ness against us any more than we think less of a two year old for messing his/her pants while in “training.”

Skyscrapers are built one brick at a time, long journeys consist of many small steps, and Jesus impacts the world one broken, loved heart at a time. Today focus on loving one person and change the world…

Health is to know you are loved and to know you are flawed, weak and needy.

Our Father loves providing new beginnings for our ever-wandering hearts! His mercy is new every morning.

As soon as we expect someone to behave or react a certain way, we have made them an object and ourself a god.

That we know Jesus is demonstrated in HOW we do more than in WHAT we do, in HOW we speak more than in WHAT we say...

It is the radical difference in our love, not in our morality or “goodness” that opens people’s eyes and hearts to the “unseen” Kingdom of God.

Experience much or experience deeply.

Affliction and success both reveal our true allegiance.

Develop the habit of pausing before responding, whether in circumstance or in conversation. The fool lives reactively, by “instinct” or feeling.

Neglect is the biggest killer of beautiful, intimate relationships (and marriages). It usually does its work through its ever faithful partner, distraction.

With genuine Jesus-lovers, masks are off and every screwed up person in the bunch (all of them) admits freely their weaknesses and screwed-up-ness and lives in constant worship of their Father for HIS goodness (not their own). They are ever living out grace (unmerited favor), having received the same so many times.

Life is in Him, and Him alone. We wander, and then we realize again that Life is not in church, religion, healing, prosperity, ease, bible knowledge, friends, being married, a better job, becoming a missionary, having a big ministry, etc, etc. Life is in Him. Walking with Him, sharing our life with Him, surrendering to Him, worshipping Him…

All feel. The wise consider which feelings to express to whom, how and when. The fool expresses his/her feelings freely.

As to theology, we can seek knowledge of God as a means to love Him and relationally know Him and walk with Him better, or we can seek knowledge of God as an end. Knowledge about God, apart from surrender and humble relationship, is a primary means of arrogance in many churches today.

Fear kills love and love kills fear.

Forgive them, Father. They know not what they do...

Loving Him in adversity, loss and pain always brings Him more glory than loving Him in ease.

Our lives demonstrate what we believe. Our words demonstrate what we want to believe…

Impatience causes wise people to do foolish things.

Jesus washed Judas’ feet!

We can judge actions and behavior as healthy or unhealthy, but we are completely incapable of accurately judging another’s motives.

When we look back critically on a decision or response we made in the past, we are judging another person with the same name.

We make our decisions with the light that we have at that moment (life’s chaos limits our ability to see anything with complete clarity) and there is nothing “wrong” with looking back on a situation with more light (hindsight knows what was unknown at the time) but we are wise to remember that judging someone (including ourselves) in different light can be unfair, inaccurate, and destructive.

Because of our human-ness, our life is lived in an arena of less-than-perfect light, and we must give ourselves and others grace, much grace, to err and/or to see things differently than we do…

Because our very human perspective will always be quite limited, because this life is like walking through a minefield, and because only light gives clarity to darkness, Jesus, in a phenomenal demonstration of love, offers to walk with us every step (“I am with you always”) and He wrote to us many letters (He called both His letters to us and Himself, “light”) to help guide us on this challenging, foggy and wondrous journey…

We must never receive/accept the judgments and labels of others, as they are made with the same ignorance and lack of clarity.

No one understands you or your motives at any given time

In the grand scheme of things, we each (and our activity) are quite insignificant and humility embraces this reality, while arrogance disregards it.

The kingdom of God is about Him and His profound love for flawed creatures. It is the grace and mercy of God that make this messed up creature smile and worship, and it is this same grace and mercy (not my goodness or that of Moses, David, Paul, etc) shown to others that will open their eyes to see my Father’s beauty…

Grace (favor apart from performance) and mercy (favor despite poor behavior) are beautiful, indeed, and are rarely found outside of our Father’s Kingdom (unfortunately they are often absent within His church, as well).

Sabbath is about trust (as are all of the commandments)

Because of my hard-headedness, repentance must happen often, as I have such a propensity to walk independently of my Father. Every day I both wander from Him and follow Him.

The Kingdom of Heaven is centered on Him, His glory, His love, His abilities, etc and life is found in Him and not in me and my earthly understanding. When I remember this and focus on my relationship with Him and His perspective toward me, I know life and peace and, when I forget, I know emptiness, confusion, frustration and fatigue.

The message of the Kingdom is that this same Godhead has now included us in the love they know for One another.

I know that the experiences of our lives, when we let God use them, become the mysterious and perfect preparation for the work He will give us to do.
—Corrie ten Boom

People tend to believe the views of those they trust.
—Aristotle.

Humility is more about how I treat others than how I think about myself.
—John Dickson

We all walk with a limp.
—Danny Meyer

People are complex. We can win in one area, but be at a complete loss in another part of our lives. And we can be completely unaware of the gap. It takes time and patience to work these things out in our lives, and to help those around us.
—R. Bergen

Everyone needs help, only some realize it.
—Drunk administrator in Otchinjau

Jesus today has many that love His heavenly kingdom, but few who carry His cross; many who long for comfort, few who long for distress. Plenty of people He finds to share His banquet, few to share His fast. Everyone desires to take part in His rejoicing, but few are willing to suffer anything for His sake. There are many that follow Jesus to the breaking of the bread, few as far as drinking the cup of suffering; many that revere His miracles, few that follow Him in the indignity of the cross.
—T. á Kempis

Perhaps the greatest thing to fear is getting what you want and missing what God wants.
—E. Peterson

Only a minority stagger about with the delirious joy of the man who found the buried treasure.
—B. Manning

The most difficult part of mature faith is to allow yourself to be the object of God’s delight.
—A. Jones

If we could count the fears, both great and small, that once hounded us, and then thank God for each dread outcome that never materialized, we would reach no end of gratitude.
—J. Kavanaugh

Purity paves the way to intimacy.
—A. Stanley

Men will always be making mistakes as long as they are striving after something.
—Goethe

Dear Lord, grant me the grace of wonder. Surprise me, amaze me, and awe me in every crevice of your universe… Each day enrapture me with your marvelous things without number. I do not ask to see the reason of it all; I only ask to share the wonder of it all.
—J.A. Heschel

A saint is not someone who is good but someone who experiences the goodness of God.
—T. Merton

My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.
—Augustine

More precious to me than all your prayers, works and penances is that you would believe that I love you.
—Jesus to M. Kempe, 1667

The greatest fault of the church of this generation is its lack of self-evaluation.
—A.W. Tozer

All people are moving in one of two directions; toward God or away from Him.
—R. Nathan

Sorrow and suffering are often our companions while we journey with our Shepherd.
—H. Hurnard

There are two kinds of people: those who look at life and complain of what is not there and those who look at life and rejoice in what is there.
—Fenelon

Most problems do not require a solution, but rather an adjustment.
—D. Stranges

The opposite of intolerance is not tolerance, but love.
—J. McDowell

It's so hard to see, when my eyes are on me.
—K. Green

I’ve never had a selfless thought.
—C.S. Lewis

To seek love and fulfillment outside of God is to dig wells where there is no water.
—D. Meyer

Wherever you are, be all there.
—D. Stranges

One friend in a lifetime is much, two are many; three are hardly possible.
—H. Adams

We will always be disappointing somebody.
—D. Stranges

We teach what we know; we reproduce who we are.
—J Maxwell

When you train up a leader in love, encouragement, instruction, and example, when he is “older” (and leading), he will not depart from doing the same.
—H. Hansen

Our lack of clarity and understanding in this life (“we see through a glass dimly”) serves a primary Kingdom purpose: we remain dependent on our Father's leading.
—T. Price

Truth is a cold and bitter drink and few drink it undiluted.
—Loosely from “Byzantium”

What God says to those who make “mistakes” in ministry: 'Well done, my good and faithful servant.'
—H. Hansen

I believe in Jesus, not because it’s easy, but because it’s true.
—J.E. Tada

The majority of us do not enthrone God, we enthrone common sense. We make our decisions and then ask the real God to bless our god's decision.
—Oswald Chambers

To live is to change, and to have lived well is to have changed often.
—J.H. Newman

Jesus is the divine Enough.
—B. Manning

The usefulness of my life is His concern, not mine.
—D. Voillaume

Prefer contempt to honor, ridicule to praise, and humiliation to glory.
—B. Manning

I am what I am in God’s sight and nothing more.
—Francis of Assisi

A great deal more failure is the result of an excess of caution than of bold experimentation with new ideas. The frontiers of the Kingdom of God were never advanced by men and women of caution.
—J. Oswald Sanders

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can.
—John Wesley

All things have a purpose and they help again and again to bring us back to the Father.
—Alfred Depp (A Jesuit priest facing death in a German concentration camp)

How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter.
—Woody Allen

It’s hard to imagine how a religion steeped in so much pain and sacrifice turned into a promise for euphoria.
—Donald Miller

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.
—Jim Elliott

Nothing, therefore, happens unless the Omnipotent wills it to happen: He either permits it to happen, or He brings it about Himself.
—Augustine

If a man loves all men passionately, but says only about one man that him he cannot love, the man who says this is no more a Christian, because his love is not all-embracing.
—Marcay

The risk-free life is a victory-free life.
—J. Buckingham

When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.
—Dietrich Bonhoeffer

In my experience, 95% of the believers who face the test of external persecution pass it, while 95% of those who face the test of prosperity fail it.
—Romanian church leader

We are to stay in the first grade, grateful to Jesus, repentant for our sins, expectant of his coming. Don’t graduate or you’ll leave the basics behind.
—A Vietnamese Evangelist

Everyone in this world has only two choices - they can choose to do God’s will by co-operating with God, or they can choose to defy God and do his will unknowingly.
—Open Doors

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can.
—J. Wesley

Because we are human, we yearn to understand, but because we are human, we cannot understand.
—Anonymous

If your compassion does not extend beyond your prayer time, it isn't genuine.
—Stephen Davey

You know, Christians are the easiest religion to deal with, because you are all so good at stoning each other.
—Government worker in China

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.
—Henry Ford

There are two types of people: those who say to God, "Your will be done," and those to whom God says,"All right then, have it your way."
—C.S. Lewis

We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.
—Bertha Calloway

To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.
—Thomas Aquinas

I must be willing to give whatever it takes to do good to others. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts. Otherwise, there is no true love in me, and I bring injustice, not peace, to those around me.
—Mother Teresa

Thou hast made us for Thyself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee
—Augustine