Hanging out with Dave Rolph
After studying, in 1 Peter 1, what Peter felt were the important things he wanted to pass on to others before his exit from his tent, I asked in our fellowship discussion questions “What three important life lessons would you want to pass on to others if you knew you were about to leave them?”
Here are my three, that come to mind at the moment:
1. Accept the realities in your life as being God’s plan for the moment, and respond to life in as graceful a way as possible. Flow with reality, don’t fight it.
2. As John Mayer sings, “Say what you need to say.” Don’t leave good things unsaid. Don’t leave love unexpressed. A lot of things we say don’t need to be said, while a lot of things we don’t say need to be said.
3. Let the Word of God and the Son of God call the tune. You dance to it.
Dave Rolph is the Senior Pastor of Calvary Chapel Pacific Hills in Aliso Viejo, California, and is the Bible teacher for the radio program The Balanced Word. He has been at CC Pacific Hills for seven years, and prior to that he was an assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa for 25 years.
i loved this!
thanks for sharing your three…how were you able to narrow it down? =)
Thanks Sally. Age has a way of narrowing things down for you.
I kind of feel like the life lessons II Peter and you have been teaching us about could be a big part the good news we are called to walk/dance in and share with others. Ultimately, I know the entire Bible message is the good news but if you think about it for a minute, after accepting Jesus as your savior, where is it supposed to go from there? Is the good news a means to an end? If so, what more beautiful end can there be than letting the word, will and person of God call the tune to your life (just a thought)?
Either way, all I know for sure is that I’m so excited to know God has a beautiful dance prepared for us all and I just want my dance to make Him happy.
Today my granddaughter and I were listening to your message on KWAVE and that was a blessing in disguise. Soon after the message I received a phone call and in that conversation I was asked to stay quiet and not say anything about someone’s behavior for fear that I would be shunned. I had noticed that the topic was getting off course and I needed to steer it back course to say that I am not going to stay quiet and start walking on ice (I should have said eggs) and be afraid to speak up when I know that it is wrong, especially in the eyes of God. (Usually I am quiet and let things be but only because it is not that serious plus I try not to be a meddler) Then soon afterwards I tell my granddaughter “what a coincidence, after hearing Pastor Dave’s message on the radio, then this comes up. This is how Our Heavenly Father works. This is part of life. Sometimes you see a love one making wrong decisions/choices and if you do not say your peace in a polite manner, it is not going to be heard and most importantly do not be afraid to speak up. It is God’s plan for each of us to take care of each other. It was a good afternoon with my granddaughter, talking about different kinds of religion yet having the understanding that there is only one God, no Buddas, no Prophets, no statues.
I keep having this very visual image of me standing on my father’s feet and dancing around the room. I never had a chance to do that in real life with my earthly father, but I am stepping onto my Heavenly Father’s feet and letting Him lead me in this wonderful dance. He often has to remind me to relax, enjoy, and stop leading.
My three things:
1. Trust God, let Him lead the dance he really does know best, and he is an awesome dancer.
2. Smile while you are dancing, even when your shoes are too tight and you have blisters from this dance of life.
3. It’s ok to sit down and rest for a moment, I know my partner, He will come over and get me back on my feet, He loves it when I dance with Him.
I love all your posts. Thanks so much for sharing!
I’ve really enjoyed meditating on that beautiful picture of “the dance” in 2 Peter. I think I get it–you must understand grace well to dance; legalism would make you jerky and awkward. Thank you for the three important words of advice, Pastor Dave. Number Two reminds me of the little poem that my grandmother repeated often and passed on to my mom who, in turn, passed it on to me:
“It isn’t the things that you do, my dear.
It’s the things you’ve left undone,
That cause many a heart break,
At the setting of the sun.
I passed this on to my daughters along with Romaines’ good advice which I have always appreciated: “Give flowers to the living.” I enjoyed your three words of advice, too, Cathy. What a great dance partner we have!