Failing Forward

I read an article in a magazine by Dr John C. Maxwell, which is titled "Failing Forward". John Maxwell talked about Vincent Van Gogh's many failures: he failed as an art dealer, failed his entrance exam to theology school, and was fired by the church after an ill-fated attempt at missionary work. In fact, during his life, he seldom experienced anything other than failure as an artist.

Although a single painting by Van Gogh "Stary stary night" would become one of the most paintings in histroy, in his lifetime Van Gogh sold only one painting, four months prior to his death.

Before developing his theory of relativity, Albert Einstein encountered academic failure. He was expelled from school and another teacher predicted that he would never amount to anything. Einstein even failed his entrance exam into college.

Failure didn't stop Vincent Van Gogh from painting, or Albert Einstein from theorizing, but it has paralyzed countless leaders and prevented them from reaching their potential.

At some point, all great achievers are tempted to believe they are failures. But in spite of that, they persevere. In the face of adversity, shortcomings, and rejection, they hold onto self-believe and refuse to see themselves as failures. Here are seven abilities of achievers that enable them to rebound from failure and keep moving forward.

Romans 8:28

God uses every circumstance in the lives of those who love Him to shape them and use them for His purpose! It can be hard for us to accept this. It does not mean that God is pleased with all things. God grieves with us when we see the many who have died of the bush fires in Victoria, Australia or when we bear the brunt of someone else's sin. He is angry when a drunk driver slams into the car of someone we love. He grieves and groans with us. And He understands our painful experiences.

But God sits on His throne above all these things, and He overrules even the most evil purpose and uses even those fallen, evil or senseless things to accomplish His good purpose in our lives. That means we can embrace any circumstance we find ourselves in (good or bad) as God's opportunity for us to grow and to minister in His name to others.

**inspired by John North**

Colors Of Website

Today I received an email from a very successful business owner, who told me that the use of the colors on website has implications. When people see certain colors they can change their emotions or they can symbolize things related to the colors. According to this person, here are a list of colors with some emotions and symbolizations they can cause:

Red - love, excitement, warmth
Pink - romantic, affection, sensuality
White - purity, peace, perfection
Blue - sky, water, travel, freedom, truth
Purple - royalty, dignity
Black - space, night, authority
Green - money, calm, envy, greed
Yellow - light, purity, understanding
Orange - autumn, youthfulness, fire
Brown - wood, comfort, strength

What do you think?

Relationship With God

It’s interesting how fast January 2009 seems to have flown by, its already February 2009. I have been really enjoying the One Year Bible Blog. My marathon pace is going well. The wonderful habit of reading from God’s Word regularly is settling into place in my life, and I want to keep my eyes forward on the path before me in 2009!

As Paul tells us in Philippians 3:14 - "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Let us each press on toward the goal! At the moment, I am up to the readings in Exodus with the Plagues, the Passover, the Exodus, the Crossing of the Red Sea, and Manna from Heaven! Matthew brings several incredible Parables, Palm Sunday, The Great Commandment and the Seven Woes!

I have set some big goals and resolutions for 2009 and amongst that, I know that ultimately my life is in a very good place because I am moving forward with my relationship with God. Reading and studying God’s Word regularly is a high priority. How about you? Do you agree that reading from God’s Word each day and growing in your relationship with God is a priority and very important in your life?