Learning to Soar: How to Grow Through Transitions and Trials
FOREWORDIn the book you now hold, Learning to Soar, my good friend, Avery Willis, and his twenty-something grandson, Matt, offer a fascinating look at the four ways God uses to guide you through the process of understanding and living out God's purpose for your life.   God Himself describes in Deuteronomy 32:11 the process that He uses to develop your faith and character so you can carry out His purposes.  He uses two easy-to-understand analogies--eagles and the real life laboratory of Israel's journey from Egypt to the Promised Land--to teach how He leads His people. As God compares Himself to a parent eagle he tells us that as the eagle guides the development of its offspring so He develops His people.   One of the most fascinating parallels is how, when the mother eagle knows it's time for her growing eaglets to leave the nest, she stirs the nest with her talons in order to make the nest less comfortable. As the fluffy down feathers of the birth nest are scraped away, the exposed twigs underneath now stick the growing eaglet, and the discomfort motivates him to leave the security nest and test his wings. Over time, the eaglet ventures farther and higher and eventually learns to soar--but he would never have taken the first step had he not experienced the relative discomfort of the nest in transition. The ways of the eagle beautifully illustrate God's nurture and purpose for His people--not only for the Israelites on their journey to the Promised Land but also for you and me, today, as we encounter the challenges of contemporary life. You will discover anew just how great, how magnificent, are God's ways for you. You'll marvel at how he loves you so much that he nurtures you with care, using the transitions and trials of life to help you grow stronger in Christian maturity. As you and I journey in faith toward spiritual adulthood, God wants to give us "wings like eagles" (see Isaiah 40:31, NIV) so that we may truly soar to new heights in living out our God-ordained purpose.  You are in for a God experience. I urge you to take the time to go through the time-proven processes that God uses to help us know and do His will and learn to soar by the power of the Spirit.  It's a God-thing! --Rick Warren - Pastor, Saddleback Church