The Dip (book)

A while back I read a book by author Seth Godin titled, "The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When To Quit (And When To Stick)". It was quite interesting and honestly a bit unsettling. According to Godin, the "dip" is the barrier between those who try and those who succeed. The book helps you to think about the long-term consequences of quitting. Certainly there are some things we should never quit and learn the biblical character qualities of patience and perseverance. Things like following and obeying Jesus, family life (marriage & parenting). However, there are some things where we have to consider and ask, "Is _______ worth my time and effort? Should I persevere or quit?" It may be a project, a relationship, a business, a ministry or whatever, we all travel through dips. The point is, for the sake of our life's God-given calling, gifts, talents, resources and purpose we need to carefully decide our priorities and investments.

Here are a few quotes I jotted down from the book. Enjoy,

"Winners quit all the time. They just quit the right stuff at the right time." p.3

The "biggest obstacle to success [and effectiveness] in life... is our inability to quit soon enough." p. 22

"The people who set out to make it through the Dip - the people who invest the time and the energy and the effort to power through the Dip - those are the ones who become the best in the world." p. 23

"A woodpecker can tap 20 times on 1000 trees and get no where, but stay busy. Or he can tap 20,000 times on one tree and get dinner." p. 29

Here are 7 reasons you might fail to become the best:

1) You run out of time and quit.

2) You run out of money and quit.

3) You get scared and quit.

4) You're not serious about it and quit.

5) You lose interest or enthusiasm or settle for being mediocre and quit.

6) You focus on the short term instead of the long and quit when the short term gets too hard.

7) You pick the wrong thing at which to be the best in the world.

Gospel Comes To Life

A few weeks ago I attended a conference at Southeastern Seminary (my alma mater). It was called The Gospel Comes To Life. It was a great conference theme showing how the gospel is relevant for any culture and is useful not just for Christians to get saved but a way of thinking and acting in all of life.

I attended a couple break out sessions. Here were some notes from one.

Breakout: Psychology's Gospel and The Gospel's Psychology by Dr. Sam Williams

Biblical counselors must reclaim the cure (salvation) and care (sanctification) for souls. The fundamental problem with humanity is that we are sinners. Every soul is broken and disordered and it traces all the way back to the original fall of mankind (Genesis 3). We cannot manage or cope with this problem with our own solutions. The only cure and freedom is found in the offer of forgiveness in Jesus Christ. Jesus frees souls from a history of messes, mistakes and failures. Even more, the continuing care for our souls is found in repentance, faith and obedience to God and His Word. At the heart of the issue is everyone is a worshiper, therefore every problem we face is a worship problem. The question is who or what are we worshiping and what is it that we are using to find "freedom"? This is the goal of biblical counseling and there is a difference from biblical counseling and "Christian counseling". Christian counseling is often secular counseling cloaked in christianese language. To be clear, if prayer and seeking God's wisdom through the Scriptures is not central to your counseling experience then it's highly unlikely there will be any effective or long-term benefit to your sessions.

Dr. Williams offers this quote from David Fitch (The Great Giveaway):

"...psychology is an intepretive enterprise that shapes the very way we make sense out of our lives and see the world... It is a structure for the interpretation and understanding of self-identity... schools of psychology have as much interpretation in them as any religious history or other sytem of knowledge... As [others have noted], the therapist sits in a position of power over me imposing this pre-structured story line upon how I am recounting my life. The patient is virtually submitting his or her life to be analyzed and re-narrated according to a particular brand of psychology... Christianity and psychology do not necessarily lead to the same truth and experience. Instead, they are two different ways of interpreting our reality, producing two different ways of experiencing and living in the world... Now the all important question for the Christian entering therapy becomes, out of what story will I allow my life to be formed, Jung (or some other theorist) or [Jesus] Christ?"

God's Word on the subject:
Colossians 2:2-8 My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.


Another resource that has been helpful to me and that I am considering further education opportunities with is http://www.ccef.org/ This is probably the leading organization when it comes to restoring Christ and the Scirptures to counseling.

Bibles & Kids

I got 2 Bibles for Christmas. One is for reading to my daughter and the other for my own study. The one for my daughter is called "The Big Picture Story Bible". It's exciting because it present the unified "big picture" of the entire Bible concerning God's promise of Jesus. It's wonderfully illustrated on every page for kids to enjoy. Also has short and concise sentences on the pages so you are not endlessly reading with the short attention span of your child. This is the perfect (if there is one) introductory children's Bible.

The other Bible is the English Standard Version (ESV) Study Bible. It has tons of study helps and notes to help you better understand the meaning of the Scriptures. Of course, the notes are not God-inspired but they are written by many of the most respected and leading scholars today.

Here is a video introduction to this Bible if you are interested