In July after returning to Hong Kong from Canada, I had the opportunity to meet Rick Warren, author of the book “The Purpose Driven Life.” Gail Hudson, Editorial Reviewer at Amazon.com, described as follows: The spiritual premise in The Purpose-Driven Life is that there are no accidents---God planned everything and everyone. Therefore, every human has a divine purpose, according to God's master plan. Like a twist on John F. Kennedy's famous inaugural address, this book could be summed up like this: "So my fellow Christians, ask not what God can do for your life plan, ask what your life can do for God's plan." The book is about purposeful devotion to a Christian God. The book is set up to be a 40-day immersion plan, recognizing that the Bible favors the number 40 as a "spiritually significant time," according to author Rick Warren, the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, touted as one of the United States largest congregations. Warren's hope is that readers will "interact" with the 40 chapters, reading them one day at a time, with extensive underlining and writing in the margins. As an inspirational manifesto for creating a more worshipful, church-driven life, this book delivers. Every page is laden with references to scripture or dogma.... This is probably an excellent resource for devout Christians who crave a jumpstart back to worshipfulness.
On Friday, July 21st, roughly 80 Hong Kong business people met at the posh Hong Kong Club to have dinner with Rick Warren and hear him speak. The setting was intimate and ideal for a restorative discussion. The Rick Warren team was excited. The dinner – and their trip to Hong Kong in general – coincided with the completion of The Purpose Driven Life’s translation into simplified Chinese text, and a full endorsement of the book by mainland China officials. In other words, you can now legally buy this book in China. One of the Saddleback team sat at each table, and I had the good fortune of sitting next to Dave Arnold, one of Rick Warren's top leaders who helps him run the business side of Saddleback. We had a fascinating discussion about many things, but one of them was Christianity in China. Watch this space!
For the one hour that Rick Warren spoke he focused on Affluence. His message was very clear… business people are given three things – but not necessarily limited to three – by God: Income, Influence and Identity.
Warren gave a brief scriptural exegesis on a passage from Exodus, where God asks Moses: “What’s that in your hand?” Moses, holding a staff throws it on the ground. Once on the ground and out of Moses’ hand, God turns the staff into a serpent and then back again into a staff when picked up by Moses. The staff, Warren tells us, signifies Moses’s identity, income and influence. When Moses lays it down, God makes it come alive, makes the impossible possible. When Moses keeps the staff to himself, nothing happens.
The staff represents Moses’ income – how he makes his living. His money is not wrapped up in a bank account or gold coins but in his flock. The staff represents Moses’ influence – how he gets things done and helps, protects others. In this case sheep – moving them from one place to another. The staff represents Moses’ identity – who he is in the world and how he relates to himself.
God said to Moses, “I want you to lay down your identity, your income and your influence. If you do, I will make it come alive in a miraculous way. If you pick it back up, it will be a dirty stick.” After this, it is referred to as the Rod of God. It is this rod that parts the sea, makes water come out of the rock, turns the river to blood. The staff had power when laid down – God made it come alive and did miracles that Moses never dreamed of.
Rick Warren challenged business people to ask themselves the same question, “What’s in your hand and what will you do with it? What is your identity, your influence, your income? Will you lay it down?”
I left with several copies of The Purpose Driven Life, written in Cantonese, in my hand… I gave them all away to people who I felt would benefit from reading the book. (I have my own English copies!) As I walked back to my office to pick up my car I snapped some pics of affluent Hong Kong and contemplated Rick Warren’s comments. For me it's what is in my head… a book waiting to be written and given away that perhaps could cause miracles beyond my wildest dreams.
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Fly high with the God-given dream, Chuck.
M xox
Posted by: Maureen aka Mo aka Grandmother aka Mozilla | October 06, 2006 at 05:08 AM
Charles,
What a great recount of our time together. It was wonderful to meet you and it has been great to get to know you better through your bolg. Keep up the work on your book! You have a lot to say that many others need to hear.
God bless you and your beautiful family.
Dave
Posted by: Dave Arnold | October 06, 2006 at 01:12 PM