Journal | Heartstone Journey

Why We All Need A John Sculley In Our Lives

I was watching the movie Jobs, the biopic of Apple’s founder Steve Jobs and one scene in particular really hit me. The scene where current CEO John Sculley , Mike Markkula and the rest of the board went around the table deciding the fate of Steve Jobs with a show of hands. The scene pauses at Mike Markulla’s turn to see if he would support Jobs. You could see the betrayal in eyes of Jobs as each board member including Mike Markulla sides with Sculley which results in Jobs removal from the Macintosh project and demotion. Ouch!

Does this scene sound familiar? Ever been in this place?

What The Gospel Isn’t!

Sadly, this is how many view the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Check out this segment of the Wall Street Journal article called “Prophets, Not Profits!” Jesus was not a capitalist. When he turned water into wine, he did not open a liquor store. When he multiplied loaves and fishes, he did not establish Wal-Mart. When he miraculously healed the sick, he did not bill Medicare or start an HMO. Somehow, profiting richly from the sick and infirm was considered unjust back in those days.

This is the true gospel – that God is relentlessly pursuing us with his love. This is why God stepped into human history as a man. That’s why Jesus is God Himself who walked among us, because in matters of love you have to go yourself! Jesus came to us, engaged us, and pursued us. He bled for all mankind sacrificing Himself to set us free, to set the record straight and to pave the way for relationship with God Himself – because He loves us that much!

What distortions of the gospel have you experienced?

What God Is Not Doing

Wanted to share a page of of my journal from April of 2007…

A little bit of the backdrop here…I was in the middle of going through divorce and these words are “as written” and not edited.

During conversations with my Heavenly Father I often ask for Him to reveal more of Himself to me and to speak to my heart. So often, I have found that He does reveal Himself in our lives and He does speak to our hearts, but we simply miss it in all of our business; we don’t listen. Well, recently I guess I was at a place where I was ready to listen because He spoke to my heart loud and clear and I hear Him. I have to tell you that it was a tough word for me to receive, but it was a word that I needed to hear.

Life is a Storyline

Was reading through one of my journals and wanted to share a snippet of that entry from September of 2005.

During my prayer time with the Lord this morning, He showed me an image of an open book with the pages slowly turning. I did not fully understand the depths of what He was trying to speak into my heart, but I did have a sense that part of this had to do with Him beginning to write new pages in my life. Later that day, God continued to pursue me with this in a message my dad gave me from his church called, “Life is a Storyline.” For me the paradox of this message was both simple and difficult.

Playfulness of God

Have you ever paused and thought about the following story found in Matthew 17:24 -27?

After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?”

“Yes, he does,” he replied.

When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?”

“From others,” Peter answered.

“Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”

Coins from the mouth of a fish? What?

Seems like a crazy story doesn’t it?

Why We All Need A John Sculley In Our Lives

What The Gospel Isn’t!

What God Is Not Doing

Life is a Storyline

Playfulness of God

Favorite Quotes

Cool Scripture

Never Out Of The Fight!

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