stop the auto-formatting

I cannot stand the auto-format function in Microsoft Word. I know that they created it with the intention of helping all of us compose better letters and create better presentation documents. It is supposed to anticipate what we "actually" want before we type it. It often seems to jump to conclusions with only a fraction of the information. I can type two lines and from that point forward my document is determined for me by the software. And undoing the auto-format can be as much of a pain as trying to utilize it.

So often in life, I believe that we jump into auto-format mode with God's plans. He starts one thing, and we often jump to the idea of "we know where He's going with this," and usually too soon. Our impatience sometimes pushes us to figure out what God is "really" trying to do, when He has only given us a fraction of the plan. Let me implore you, stop the auto-formatting. Don't make it more difficult for God to undo that which we did, jumping to a conclusion too soon. Let God compose your life with His beautiful style and flare and see what it becomes.

Grace & peace to you.
Tony

may you experience the JOY of being WINLESS!

When I was in elementary school, I played little league. One year I was on the Braves! Our team colors were purple and I had two friends from school (twins in fact) who were on my team. Their dad was our coach and I was so excited about what promise the season held for us. As we finished our first game, with a loss, I still had fun playing with my friends in an "official" game. Next week's game arrived and departed without adding a point to our win column. Week three, another loss. Week four, five, and all but the last game, losses! We were winless. We couldn't win a game if our lives depended on it. Finally, the last week of games was upon us and we were playing the number one team in our division. They were undefeated. There was little hope of us squeaking out a win before we received our compulsory trophies. But the moon and stars were aligned, someone must have kissed the blarney stone for us, and God had mercy on the Braves. We won. We actually beat the undefeated team for our only win. We were so excited. But the amazing thing was, we didn't need that win to experience joy. Of course we loved ending the season beating the team that no one else could, but we just loved playing the game together (kinda like the Bad News Bears). The joy was in the playing. Now that's a novel thought. We need to remember that joy doesn't come from being victorious in our endeavors, but rather in the endeavors themselves. Getting there is really half the fun (actually more than half)!

NOTE: if you attend the RISING, this is similar to the preview that will appear on the RISING blog tomorrow. But go ahead and listen to it too, just because I took the time to make it. Or at least I'm going to. I'll try to give it a little something extra to make it more fun.

Tony