Max Lucado - Great Day Every Day: Navigating Lifes Challenges with Promise and Purpose

GREAT DAY
EVERY
DAY

NAVIGATING LIFES CHALLENGES
with PROMISE and PURPOSE

MAX LUCADO

2007, 2012 Max Lucado.

Previously published as Every Day Deserves a Chance.

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (CEV) are from the Contemporary English Version. 1991 by the American Bible Society. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked (GODS WORD) are from Gods Word, a copyrighted work of Gods Word to the Nations Bible Society. Quotations are used by permission. 1995 by Gods Word to the Nations Bible Society. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (JB) are from The Jerusalem Bible. 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd. and Doubleday & Company, Inc. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked (NCV) are from the New Century Version. 2005 Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are from the New King James Version. 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (PHILLIPS) are from J. B. Phillips: The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition. J. B. Phillips 1958, 1960, 1972. Used by permission of Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc. Scripture quotations marked (RSV) are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. 1946, 1952, 1971, 1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked (TLB) are from The Living Bible. 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (WEY) are from the Weymouth Bible.

ISBN 978-1-4041-8357-5 (IE)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lucado, Max.
Great day every day : navigating lifes challenges with promise and purpose / Max Lucado.
p. cm.
Rev. ed. of: Every day deserves a chance.
Includes bibliographical references (pp. 11315).
ISBN 978-0-8499-2073-8 (hardcover)
1. Christian life. I. Lucado, Max. Every day deserves a chance. II. Title.
BV4501.3.L8175 2012
248.4dc23

2011037301

Printed in the United States of America

12 13 14 15 16 QG 5 4 3 2 1

To Vic and Kay King,
whose love for the least reminds me of His

CONTENTS

H ere are some friends who deserve a great day off after shepherding this book...

Liz Heaney and Karen Hill are to editors what Rolex is to watchesyou make the pieces fit.

Steve and Cheryl Greenyou set the standard for friendship.

Byron Williamson and Joey Paulthanks for not thinking this idea was kooky.

Rob Birkheadwhat creativity!

Jared Stephensyou went beyond the call of duty.

Carol BartleyIf it wusnt fur you, all my sintinces wud look lyke this!

The UpWords teamthey dont come any better!

Jenna, Andrea, and Sarayou keep my heart in springtime.

And Denalyn, my wifeyou make the grayest day explode with joy!

1
EVERY DAY
DESERVES A CHANCE

S and soft to the feet, breeze cool on the skin. An apron of Pacific turquoise precedes one of deeper blue. Waves lap and slap. Birds whistle and coo. Islands loom on the horizon. Palm trees sway against the sky.

I found myself relishing the morning as I was writing this book. What easier way to have a great day every day, I mused, than starting it right here? I leaned back into a beach chair, interlaced my fingers behind my head, and closed my eyes.

Thats when a bird chose my chest for target practice. No warning. No sirens. No Bombs away! Just plop.

I looked up just in time to see a seagull giving high feathers to his bird buddies on the branch. Yuck. I poured water on my shirt three times. I moved to a chair away from the trees. I did all I could to regain the magic of the morning, but I couldnt get my mind off the bird flyby.

It should have been easy. Waves still rolled. Clouds still floated. The ocean lost no blue; the sand lost no white. Islands still beckoned, and wind still whispered. But I couldnt quit thinking about the seagull grenade.

Stupid bird.

Birds have a way of messing things up, dont they? Count on it: into every day a bird will plop.

Traffic will snarl.

Airports will close.

Friends will forget.

Spouses will complain.

And lines. Oh, the lines. Deadlines, long lines, receding hairlines, luggage-losing airlines, nauseating pickup lines, wrinkle lines, unemployment lines, and those ever-elusive bottom lines.

And what of those days of double shadows? Those days when hope is Hindenberged by crisis? You never leave the hospital bed or wheelchair. You wake up and bed down in the same prison cell or war zone. The cemetery dirt is still fresh, the pink slip still folded in your pocket, the other side of the bed still empty... who has a good day on these days?

Most dont... but couldnt we try? Such days warrant an opportunity. A shot. A tryout. An audition. A swing at the plate. Doesnt every day deserve a chance to be a good day?

After all, this is the day the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24 NKJV). The first word in the verse leaves us scratching our heads. This is the day the LORD has made? Perhaps holidays are the days the Lord has made. Wedding days are the days the Lord has made. Easter Sundays... super-sale Saturdays... vacation days... the first days of hunting seasonthese are the days the Lord has made. But this is the day?

This is the day includes every day. Divorce days, final-exam days, surgery days, tax days. Sending-your-firstborn-off-to- college days.

That last one sucked the starch out of my shirt. Surprisingly so. We packed Jennas stuff, loaded up her car, and left life as wed known it for eighteen years. A chapter was closing. One less plate on the table, voice in the house, and child beneath the roof. The day was necessary. The day was planned. But the day undid me.

I was a mess. I drove away from the gas station with the nozzle still in my tank, yanking the hose right off the pump. Got lost in a one-intersection town. We drove; I moped. We unpacked; I swallowed throat lumps. We filled the dorm room; I plotted to kidnap my own daughter and take her home where she belongs. Did someone store my chest in dry ice? Then I saw the verse. Some angel had tacked it to a dormitory bulletin board.