Jim and Megan Pool aim to start church planting movements.
If you have a heart for America’s hurting people but don’t know how to help,
you may consider supporting Jim and Megan.
https://bambooinitiative.com/
They have a huge vision, and they are courageously on their way.
In Jim’s recent weekly MailChimp, he discusses The Hero’s Journey.
I’ll riff off of Jim’s Hero’s Journey idea with a thought about a Gap Analysis.
A Gap Analysis
1. The Christian life is an adventurous journey to heaven. The trail is narrow and has slippery slopes on both sides.
2. The Bible is long partly because God wanted people to describe some of the possibilities of how things can work out. The Bible is written in a way that a lifetime of meditation will not reveal all that is there.
3. Sometimes, we feel stuck. Things quit working out. We’re not happy.
4. A Gap Analysis may be helpful.
a) What is your idea of a perfect future? Chances are good God created you for that.
b) Ask God about His ideas for you.
c) Dream big. But dream forward. Spend your time dreaming and praying about what you are moving toward and who you want to become.
d) What do you see as challenges or gaps between you and your ideal future?
e) After prayer, dream up a wild impossible plan that would be fun.
f) Make a picture or way to remind yourself, and tape it to the wall by your door. A big picture.
g) Start talking about it.
h) Soon, you’ll be there, and you’ll be on to your next plan.
DREAM
I had a dream this week. July 2023. It repeated three times. I saw the title of a book. I don’t know if I wrote it or how I came to see it, but the title was “Love and Faith: Learning to Live in the Now.”
Maybe all courageous Christians are writing this book as they move toward the dreams God wants them to achieve.
Adobe’s Creative Suite is diving into the AI thing. I cropped the cowboys from this photo of cowboys I took last week when they were in town for the rodeo. I asked Photoshop to create an oil painting of a bridge over a chasm. It’s original art and perfect for this illustration! I used the warp feature to add perspective to the horses on the bridge.
The gap between us and our ideal future may lead to an impossibly huge chasm.
It looks like there is a path, but we cannot see clearly.
Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path (Psalm 119:105).
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known (1 Cor. 13:12).
“Hindsight is 20/20, but the way forward is still foggy.”
Finally, we think we crossed the chasm. Thankfully it all went well. We’re tired, but it looks like we’re home-free. What could go wrong? Except that it looks like there is another chasm, and this is going to take longer and cost more than I originally understood. But then I remembered, “What else was I going to do with my life? That other path was going nowhere. This path is going somewhere. And plus, it kind of fun living on the edge. It grows on you.”
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (Matt: 6:24).
1. Start with prayer and dreaming.
2. Take the first step, and think about possible next steps.
3. Talk about it.
4. Soon you’ll be looking for a new dream because that one will be behind you.
5. A great secret is learning to enjoy the journey.
But godliness with contentment is great gain.
For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it (1 Tim. 6:6-7).
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