Thinking & Preparing: How Often Do You Do It?

 Acts 8:1

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

Why do you think it took these drastic events to get the early to church to start living out its Great Commission calling?  Jesus had told all the disciples, not just the apostles, to "go into all the world and preach the good news."  But they hadn't yet. It took the murder of Stephen and the persecution of the church in Jerusalem to motivate the disciples to leave Jerusalem and get out into the world.

Sometimes our situation needs to change drastically to motivate us to do the things we know we are supposed to do.  These events come in all different forms: a significant health scare, the loss of a job, the death of a family member, etc.  Why do so many of us wait for these big events to finally do what we know we should have been doing all along?  

Why do we wait for our health to fail before we get serious about our physical fitness?

Why do we wait to lose our job before we start pursuing our passion and calling in life?

Why do we wait for the death of a loved one before we get serious about our relationships?

Much like the early church in Jerusalem, the answer for us too, is Comfort and Familiarity.  We get into the groove of life and we just do what we do, day in and day out.  We don't need to stop and think all that often because we are dialed in.  We know how to do what we do and we have put life on cruise control.  So, just like that church in Jerusalem we need big events to wake us up.  We need a strong enough slap in the face to wake us up from our years-long slumber.

What have been some of your big life events?  What are some lessons you learned from them?  How have they helped to get you where you are today?

While there are some big lessons to learn from major life events, we don't have to wait for them before we take stock of our lives.  It is actually better to do something every day to prepare yourself for those events.  Even if they don't come, you'll be better off just for going through the exercise of thinking and preparing.  That is really the point of all of this: Thinking and Preparing.

I encourage you to take time every day to think through your life.  Think through your day and learn something from your experience.  Evaluate your life often.  Are you living your purpose, or are you just chasing a paycheck and health insurance?  This is ultimately how you prepare yourself for the storms of life.  Start preparing financially for financial chaos.  Start intentionally investing in your most important relationships.  Start exercising and eating better.  Today is the day to start doing all those things you keep telling yourself, "I really need to..."

The best way to start doing this is by developing the habit of reading.  Reading every day will help you to start thinking every day.  Reading is the easiest and, maybe, the most important place to start.  So get started.  Don't wait for the next storm to expose how much time you have wasted.

God bless

Jason Fredrick