This chapter starts with an interesting question...what metaphor would you use to describe life? I'd say its like a ride in a car...it feels good going fast and looking at the scenery, so its hard to stop. But once you do, you find a whole world of interaction and possibilities
I've been thinking that part of my problem with being Purpose-driven is my tendency to be 'good enough'. Rather than choose a skill or talent to excel at, if I choose LOVE, all else will follow. That will take a lot of work, but like everything else I've done, if I stick to it, it will slowly come to be. I just have to make sure I excel at it (love) and not just accept 'good enough'.
Perhaps, to tie it all together, we can say discipleship is like Trading Spaces. Yea...We trust someone with our room/life, while we work on goals set out for us. Then, when we are done, we are finally welcomed to something more beautiful than we could have planned our selves.
During group time, the one key lesson I learned is that we tend to avoid opportunities to serve/minister because we perceive: lack of authority, lack of knowledge, established boundaries, or an unknown cost. The problem is that these are perceptions and that we need to be able to break them.
I have volunteered to lead our church toward developing a worthwhile website. No one was asking for volunteers, but the original leader-to-be is following one of his purposes, and I hate to see such a worthwhile project ignored any longer. Running a website is on of my talents/skills, and according to last night's reading, I have to apply my talents to more than my job.
The Jonah analogy is that I will be going to the people, trying to get them to understand a message that they don't understand and don't see the benefit of following. Perhaps God was warning me to be prepared for disappointment, just like Jonah. Or to warn me, so I can do a better job than he did. And like Jonah, I'd rather run off to Massachusetts to pursue a new career that isn't exactly my calling.