"The loudest noise ever heard by man occurred August 27, 1883 when Krakatoa, a volcanic island in the South Pacific, erupted with a bang heard 3,000 miles away. That’s like people in Seattle hearing an explosion in Orlando, Florida. A ship’s captain 40 miles away wrote in his log, “Over half my men have had their eardrums shattered. I am convinced the Day of Judgment has come.” The 172 decibel blast created shock waves that continued to circle the earth for 5 days.
Today we face even more noise, of a different kind, than people in 1883 could ever have imagined. Electronic media have filled our lives with noisy distractions that clamor for attention. Hectic schedules allow little time for silence and focus on what’s really important. The result is often a noisy life signifying nothing and missing God’s best.
Remember, cut through the noise and turn down the volume, at least once a day, by spending time with God and asking Him how you should redeem the time.
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"The word “deadline” originated during the American Civil War in a confederate prisoner of war camp. Officials at the camp in Anderson, Georgia created a line over which no prisoners were allowed to cross without risking death by gunfire from the guard towers.
That original deadline produced fear and death. But today deadlines can do just the opposite. They can give life and hope to a project that would otherwise never be completed.
Maybe you are facing a project right now that is dead. It is lifeless. At one point you were enthusiastic about it. But now there is no progress. There is no movement. It’s cold, languishing and failing. That could be because there is no deadline attached to it. Deadlines bring focus and energy to get the job finished.
The death of Jesus was actually a life-giving event. We have the hope of eternal life because He completed His mission on time and could say “It is finished.” Follow His example and you’ll redeem the time.
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"The greatest success story in restaurant history is Ray Kroc. He was a milkshake mixer salesman who, in 1954, visited a small chain of restaurants in California owned by two brothers named McDonald. He liked the way the McDonald’s had built their business using a system of assembly lines to quickly prepare a limited menu of inexpensive items.
Ray eventually bought the rights to the McDonalds hamburger system and created a new franchising system that became the world’s largest restaurant chain. Ray Kroc’s mastery of system creation make him a very wealthy man.
System creation is a very powerful tool because systems define results. God designed nature to operate in systems. Your body is a system of systems working in harmony to sustain life.
But when it comes to organizing their day, some Christians resist using a system, claiming they will “Just let God lead them.” What they forget is that God generally works in systematic ways to show us how to best redeem the time.
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"I came across an interesting quote last week. It read, “Your direction, not your intention, determines your destiny.”
That quote connected well with me, because quite often I start my day with good intentions. I have a clear sense of what God is calling me to focus on and accomplish by the end of the day.
The problem comes a few minutes later, when I have finished devotions and planning time and tantalizing little diversions present themselves. They temp me to change direction from what I already discerned God wanted me to do that day. At that point I have to make a choice to stay the course and end up where I believed God was directing, or change directions and wind up somewhere else.
But changing directions can not only change your destiny for the day, it can change your destiny for eternity. If the path you are on today is leading away from God, an immediate change toward His direction is your best way to redeem the time.
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