Taking On Goliath

Welcome

I've always loved the story of David and Goliath.  It's one of the stories that people know about even if they've never read the Bible.

There are a lot of things that we can learn from David and how he handled his battle with Goliath, and all the other problems that he faced on the fateful morning a few thousand years ago.

In this blog I will give you a brief glimpse of the book, and discuss questions and share further insights related to this well-known story.

Please let me know if you have comments or questions.

The Conquering Life

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to this lesson.

When I started talking with the pastor of our church about the book I wanted to write, he asked me if there were any Bible characters that exhibited the characteristics I wanted to teach about. My immediate response was: David in the story of his battle with Goliath.

He went to the blackboard, grabbed a piece of chalk, and said, "OK, what are the characteristics and how do they fit into the story?" We spent the next twenty to thirty minutes putting together a list of nine different characteristics, all of which started with 'C'.

Celebration - Rejoicing in Achievement

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In week two we talked about writing "Thank-You" in big letters on a 3x5 card and taping it to your alarm clock. Learning to be thankful is one of the most important steps that we can take toward living in abundance.

Recognizing that everything comes from God helps us to keep things in perspective. Not just that we learn to be thankful for all that we have, but we also remember that there is an unlimited supply. If we gripe and complain about what we don't have, we affirm the belief that there isn't enough and that God can't supply our needs. But that simply isn't true.

Courage - Facing Our Fears

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Someone once said that the person who can keep his head when everyone else is losing theirs, probably doesn't appreciate the seriousness of the situation.

I was recently asked if I had the opportunity to invite three of my heroes to a dinner party, who would I invite? I thought about it for a moment and realized that one of the people I would invite would be David. I'd love to ask him what was really going through his mind that day as he ran out to face Goliath.

Commitment - Making Decisions

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There is an old saying that goes: "Ignorance is bliss." What it's supposed to mean is that if you don't know what's going on you'll be happier. And in some cases, that may be right. As an example, take the story of George Dantzig from Cynthia Kersey's book "Unstoppable."

Creativity - Using Our Imagination

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My wife and I like watching the Discovery Network's Science Channel. Some of programs show the inventions that people have come up with that range from vaccines to skateboards. We especially like inventions that are useful and simple. For example the invention that can be built into city roads that will actually generate electricity as traffic rolls over it.

Confidence - Learning to Trust

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If you planted an acorn in the ground today, how big would your oak tree be tomorrow? If you went out and didn't see the oak tree, would you dig up the acorn and take a look at it to see if it had done anything? And if the acorn hadn't changed, would you assume that the acorn must be broken, throw it away, grab another one and plant it?

Would you then go out the next day and see how big your oak tree was? And if nothing had happened, would you again dig up the acorn, see that nothing had happened, assume that it was broken, throw it away and plant yet another acorn?

Confrontation - Handling Criticism

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I felt uncomfortable as I sat in the lawyer's waiting room. I didn't like the idea of being there but I didn't know what else to do. The company I had worked for had gone bankrupt and my health insurance had gotten cancelled right before our second son was born. He had been born at 27 weeks, three months premature, and the doctor had warned us that the hospital bills would be over $300,000.

So there I was, unhappily sitting in the waiting room of a lawyer who specialized in bankruptcies. I was hoping he would help me force the insurance company to pay the hospital bill, a bill I had no hope of paying any other way...or so I thought.

Interview on Inside Scoop Live

Just a quick note to let everybody know that I recently did an interview with Gayle Campbell of Inside Scoop Live.  The interview is available at my author's page, and you can listen to the it at:

http://www.insidescooplive.com/author-pages/Marshall-Rob-reading-interview.html

God bless,

Rob

Consequences - Risks and Rewards

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In the Old Testament we read the story about the spies that went into the Promised Land. The spies were amazed at the abundance they saw in the land. It says that they cut down a single cluster of grapes that was so large it had to be carried on a pole between two of them. They returned to the children of Israel in the wilderness and said, "We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit." (Num. 13:27)

The land that God wanted to give them was so beautiful and bountiful that it was beyond anything they had imagined.

But there were some problems. . .

Challenge - Learning To Be Faithful

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For some time now I've been struggling with my weight, and no, it's not because I'm under-weight.

Every now and then it will begin to really bother me so I'll decide that it's time to get in shape. I'll set aside an hour and work real hard and get good and sweaty. Then force myself to cut down on all that bad stuff I'm not supposed to be eating. All of this hard work and discipline usually lasts for a couple of days, maybe even a few weeks if I'm really good about it.