I have been reading through Stephen Covey's book "7 Habits of Highly Effective People," and in the beginning of the book Dr. Covey talks about paradigms and what they are, how everyone experiences them to some extent.
Through all this that is going on with my dad and our whole family, I have experienced a paradigm shift. A paradigm, according to Dr. Covey, is how people perceive the world and life. A paradigm shift is when that perception is changed by an event or realization, and you see everything in a whole new light.
This is what has happend in my life. Experiencing this change in our lives and realizing its impact, I now see life itself and death in a whole new light. This is something that is hard to explain, but is very real to me.
In my upbringing I have been taught and studied about life and death according to God's Word. But now I am seeing what I have read in the Bible and been taught my whole life come to a new light. It's like it's being played out right in front of my eyes.
I know I am not the one practically looking at death in the face, but I am right there with my dad, and know his response to it. For a believer in Christ, death is actually a beautiful thing. It is the beginning of real life; life with Him forever. As my dad has quoted his life verse many-a-time, "...for me to live is Christ and to die is gain." Oh how true that is.
Now I see life and death through my dad's eyes and God's eyes so much more clearly, and I realize how perfect God's plan is in all of our lives. He has so intricately, in His wisdom, put together a plan for each of us, and we should be striving to live by that plan so that we can truly live in our death for His glory. Amen!
Helping you get the upper hand to change your life forever,
Peter Bunn
Rising Leader
Want a more stress free life and be able to be home with your family? Learn how to empower yourself with this experience: http://www.workingathome.co/19415?go
Monday, April 18, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
The Beginning Of A New Spiritual Journey
God has taken us on an extraordinary and unique journey this past week when we found out that my dad was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive cancer in it's end stages. This was a shock to all of us including the doctor, and caused us all to re-examine our lives in a whole different way. I wanted to share what I have observed and experienced so far in this adventure (as my dad called it with a smile).
Faith
From the beginning, my dad has demonstrated the strongest faith I have witnessed in real life. After hearing about his cancer some of his first words were his life verse, " I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:20-21. He was at peace with whatever God was going to allow; whether he lives or dies.
Many people visited while he was in the hospital. Some came to be encouraged by my dad because they knew he would be the only one that could encourage them, which he did.
Unity of the Church
There has been no time or place that I have seen the unity of the church of God better demonstrated than what I have witnessed in this past week. We had many Christian friends visit and offer to help in any way they can. My mom's boss was an angel brought to us. She coordinated meals that were brought to us throughout the week. She also screened calls for us so we wouldn't be bombarded with calls. Several people gave money as well as groups from church and work.
Before dad was discharged, he asked the elders from their church to come and pray over him. We had a great prayer session and dad was anointed with oil. What a great example of the passage in Romans about the unity of the church.
Relationship of Husband and Wife
In the twenty plus years my parents have been married, I have never seen a better example of the affection and intimate relationship of a married couple as was demonstrated to me this past week. I witnessed the best biblical example of true love of a husband and wife in my parents. What a blessing it was to witness such a incredible thing in this time.
The Sovereignty of God
God has shown Himself in many ways through all of this. He has shown us all that He is in control, will take care of us and knows what's best for us. A lot of questions have been asked though. We don't know what's going to happen to dad, but we do know that he is in God's hands and whatever happens, God will get the glory.
It is hard to trust a God we cannot see and let Him take total control when we can't see the big picture and only have a small piece of the puzzle. But we CAN trust Him because He is the only One that sees the whole picture and the only One that knows exactly what we are going through.
This past week has been a growing experience for all of us. We have cried. We have laughed. We have shared many things together. As my dad said it, it isn't going to be easy, but this is going to be an adventure. We trust God for His will to be done and are satisfied that He will carry us through this adventure and provide us with the strength and peace we need to get through it.
Helping you get the upper hand to change your life forever,
Peter Bunn
Rising Leader
Want a more stress free life and be able to be home with your family? Learn how to empower yourself with this experience: http://www.workingathome.co/19415?go
Faith
From the beginning, my dad has demonstrated the strongest faith I have witnessed in real life. After hearing about his cancer some of his first words were his life verse, " I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:20-21. He was at peace with whatever God was going to allow; whether he lives or dies.
Many people visited while he was in the hospital. Some came to be encouraged by my dad because they knew he would be the only one that could encourage them, which he did.
Unity of the Church
There has been no time or place that I have seen the unity of the church of God better demonstrated than what I have witnessed in this past week. We had many Christian friends visit and offer to help in any way they can. My mom's boss was an angel brought to us. She coordinated meals that were brought to us throughout the week. She also screened calls for us so we wouldn't be bombarded with calls. Several people gave money as well as groups from church and work.
Before dad was discharged, he asked the elders from their church to come and pray over him. We had a great prayer session and dad was anointed with oil. What a great example of the passage in Romans about the unity of the church.
Relationship of Husband and Wife
In the twenty plus years my parents have been married, I have never seen a better example of the affection and intimate relationship of a married couple as was demonstrated to me this past week. I witnessed the best biblical example of true love of a husband and wife in my parents. What a blessing it was to witness such a incredible thing in this time.
The Sovereignty of God
God has shown Himself in many ways through all of this. He has shown us all that He is in control, will take care of us and knows what's best for us. A lot of questions have been asked though. We don't know what's going to happen to dad, but we do know that he is in God's hands and whatever happens, God will get the glory.
It is hard to trust a God we cannot see and let Him take total control when we can't see the big picture and only have a small piece of the puzzle. But we CAN trust Him because He is the only One that sees the whole picture and the only One that knows exactly what we are going through.
This past week has been a growing experience for all of us. We have cried. We have laughed. We have shared many things together. As my dad said it, it isn't going to be easy, but this is going to be an adventure. We trust God for His will to be done and are satisfied that He will carry us through this adventure and provide us with the strength and peace we need to get through it.
Helping you get the upper hand to change your life forever,
Peter Bunn
Rising Leader
Want a more stress free life and be able to be home with your family? Learn how to empower yourself with this experience: http://www.workingathome.co/19415?go
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Me and my wife Sara enjoying Las Vegas at the Venetian in November 2010