Friday, September 8, 2006

Good Morning   

 

A recap of our reading assignments for this week: 

    

Tuesday: pages 1-8

Wednesday:  pages 11-20

Thursday :  pages 21-29

TODAY: pages 147-159 plus doing the exercise 

 

Hope to see everyone on Sunday.  Bring your homework to class (that sounds odd) from pages 147-159 so we can share some of these together.  Remember that it is a two part exercise -- the first part is a quick listing/one liners of your "sweet spot" experiences, and the second is an expansion of some of those one liners into a brief paragraph.

 

On the sweet spot experiences, there are a couple of things to note -- one is that you shouldn't overlook small things - those can have lots of value and insight.  The second is not to be shy or modest -- if it was something you did well, and you enjoyed it, then list it. 

 

Don't forget that back issues of our emails, along with some Max Lucado links and resources, are at leapclass.blogspot.com.

 

Today's Scripture 

 

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible"  

Matthew 19:26

 

Today's prayer requests:    

 

Yesterday our prayer request was for our expectant mothers, and I didn't include Ellen and Jake Barrett, because I was clueless.  We'll add them today so they can catch up with our other two expecting mothers.   

 

Today's class member prayer:   

 

Brad Douglas 

  

Jay 

Thursday, September 7, 2006

Good Morning   

 

A recap of our reading assignments for this week: 

    

Tuesday: pages 1-8

Wednesday:  pages 11-20

TODAY :  pages 21-29

Friday/Saturday: pages 147-159 plus doing the exercise 

 

The primary point of today's reading is to make the point that whatever it is that God has made us for, the thing that we made to do, we can find in our past.  If we look back at our life, especially our youth, and we take note of those moments, where we did something that we enjoyed and we were proud of, we can find that "thing" that we are meant to do.

 

Another way to look at this is that sometimes, other factors over the course of our lives can obscure the "thing" we have been made for -- and we need to go back and look fresh at our life to rediscover and uncover those special talents given to us by God.

 

This section sets up the exercise on pages 147-159.

 

Today's Scripture 

 

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.  

Psalms 37:4  

 

Today's prayer requests:       Our expectant Moms

 

Megan and Susanne are both expecting -- need to remember them and Brad and Wes as their pregnancies move along.    

 

Today's class member prayer:   

 

Wes Russell  

  

Jay 

Wednesday, September 6, 2006

Good Morning   

 

A recap of our reading assignments for this week:   

Tuesday: pages 1-8

TODAY:  pages 11-20

Thursday:  pages 21-29

Friday/Saturday: pages 147-159 plus doing the exercise 

 

I think that the important idea from pages 1-8 is on page 7 --

 

Use your uniqueness (what you do) to make a big deal out of God (why you do it) every day of your life (where you do it).

 

I think that a second idea to take away from the first eight pages is that this is a book about your work -- how you discover the work that God has made you for, and how doing the work God has made for you will provide you with a better life. 

 

Today's Scripture 

 

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 

1 Corinthians 12:7  

 

Today's prayer requests:      Our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan

 

We don't remember them as often as we should, but we still have thousands of men and women in danger in Iraq and Afghanistan -- we need to remember to pray for their safety and their success.     

 

Today's class member prayer:   

 

Ellen Barrett   

  

Jay 

Tuesday, September 5, 2006

Good Morning    

 

Good to see everyone this Sunday.  Time to get started with our new study, "Cure for the Common Life" by Max Lucado.  On the class blog at leapclass.blogspot.com, I've posted a link to Max Lucado's web page about the book, which includes a web presentation and a sermon by Max about the book and the subject.

 

This study will be a little different than our past study, in that we are really working a week at time on something, rather than having a daily reading.  Also, we'll have more specific assignments each week -- not all that much work, but more than just keeping up with the reading - but this is a book that is about you and your discovery, so there are some exercises that are about helping you with that discovery.

 

We need to read a bit more than originally noted on Sunday in order to work this section.  We need to read pages 1-29 this week, along with doing the exercise from 147 - 159.  That isn't as much as it seems.

 

A good daily breakdown for this week would be:

 

Tuesday: pages 1-8

Wednesday:  pages 11-20

Thursday:  pages 21-29

Friday/Saturday: pages 147-159 plus doing the exercise

 

Today's Scripture 

 

You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 

1 Peter 2:5 

 

Today's prayer requests:         Saundra Aaron

 

Valerie's brother's mother-in-law continues to go through treatment for cancer. Need to remember her and the her entire family

 

Today's class member prayer:   

 

Kelley Thaxton  

  

Jay