Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities
    If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities
    If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities
    Ebook157 pages2 hours

    If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities

    By Mark Batterson and Parker Batterson

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The word If is a powerful little word. Some people are stuck in if only, trudging through lives marked with regret. But God wants us to live lives marked with possibilities, with the what if attitude that looks forward to the future with confidence. Why? Because the answer to "If God is for us, who can be against us?" is "No one." God is always on our side, every day, in every way.

    Young people especially need to hear this life-changing message of hope and freedom from Mark Batterson and his son Parker. With his trademark enthusiasm and contagious joy, Batterson helps teens and young adults overcome those feelings of guilt, fear, and doubt that plague them and embrace the truth that in Christ there is no condemnation. Unpacking the promises of Romans 8, he shows young readers that they are more than conquerors--right now and forever. And because of that, the possibilities for their lives are limitless.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBaker Publishing Group
    Release dateMar 29, 2016
    ISBN9781493401536
    If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities
    Author

    Mark Batterson

    Mark Batterson is the lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, DC. One church with multiple locations, NCC owns and operates Ebenezers Coffeehouse, the Miracle Theatre, and the DC Dream Center. NCC is currently developing a city block into the Capital Turnaround; the 100,000-square-foot space will include an event venue, a child development center, a mixed-use marketplace, and a coworking space. Mark holds a doctor of ministry degree from Regent University and is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty books including The Circle Maker, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, Wild Goose Chase, Play the Man, Whisper, and recently released Win the Day. Mark and his wife, Lora, have three children and live on Capitol Hill.

    Read more from Mark Batterson

    Related to If

    Related ebooks

    Christianity For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Wednesday, January 29

      Dec 16, 2019

      I SPENT FOUR DECADES PRAYING a prayer Jesus didn’t want to answer. My prayer was framed by what I knew was possible, not by reliance on the limitless creativity of Jesus. The always faithful One knew He should ignore my idea and go with His own plan!

      1 min read

    • Article

      Mark Batterson

      Jul 30, 2021

      Mark Batterson
      2 min read

    • Article

      Sunday, January 27

      Dec 14, 2018

      YEARS AGO, I WAS AT one of the lowest points of my life, weighed down by family and personal problems. Prayer support from friends kept me going, but I felt so useless, unfit for ministry—like I had nothing to offer anyone. During the three-hour driv

      1 min read

    • Article

      Monday, November 1

      Oct 15, 2021

      Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands . . . Isaiah 49:15–16 (NIV) MY MOM RECENTLY GAVE ONE of my

      1 min read

    • Article

      Mid-Life-What?

      May 18, 2021

      Mid-Life-What?
      4 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      May 8, 2023

      The Big Issue, 2nd floor, 43 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 1HW letters@bigissue.com @bigissue /bigissueUK @bigissueuk @thebigissue Beth Prescott’s heartbreaking article about vanishing schoolchildren attendees [Issue 1539, April 10] is mind numbing

      3 min read

    • Article

      Getting to Yes

      Apr 19, 2023

      Getting to Yes
      16 min read

    • Article

      Letter From The Founder

      Dec 8, 2022

      Letter From The Founder
      4 min read

    • Article

      Something Like Vertigo

      Aug 17, 2017

      Something Like Vertigo
      12 min read

    • Article

      50 Years of MOTHER EARTH NEWS

      Nov 8, 2019

      Has it really been 50 years? As a 13-year-old in 1970, I remember my straight-laced dad devouring this new magazine, all in black and white on rustic paper. It was called Mother Earth News, and it was filled with every kind of back-to-the-land and se

      5 min read

    • Article

      Why You Didn’t See It Coming

      Feb 2, 2017

      You don’t see it coming. You probably couldn’t if you tried. The effects of large changes in scale are frequently beyond our powers of perception, even our imagination. They seem to emerge out of nowhere: the cumulative effects of climate change, the

      7 min read

    • Article

      Motor Muse Monthly

      Dec 8, 2022

      Motor Muse Monthly
      3 min read

    • Article

      Backyard Travel Writing

      Feb 6, 2020

      Backyard Travel Writing
      6 min read

    • Article

      Imagine That…

      Jun 8, 2022

      Imagine That…
      7 min read

    • Article

      Imagine That…

      Jun 8, 2022

      Imagine That…
      7 min read

    • Article

      Imagine That…

      Jun 8, 2022

      Imagine That…
      7 min read

    • Article

      Letter From The Editor

      Oct 12, 2018

      Letter From The Editor
      2 min read

    • Article

      Patrick‘s Pages

      Mar 25, 2022

      WHAT’S STILL good about Britain? How would you reply if a visitor from a foreign country asked: “What is special about your country today?” Interesting question… There was a time when the older ones among us might have spouted about our heritage, our

      7 min read

    • Article

      TRAVEL Guy

      Aug 12, 2021

      TRAVEL Guy
      8 min read

    • Article

      TRAVEL Guy

      Aug 12, 2021

      TRAVEL Guy
      8 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for If

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      If - Mark Batterson

      © 2016 by Mark Batterson and Parker Batterson

      Published by Baker Books

      a division of Baker Publishing Group

      P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

      www.bakerbooks.com

      Ebook edition created 2016

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

      ISBN 978-1-4934-0153-6

      Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

      Scripture quotations labeled ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2007

      Scripture quotations labeled KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

      Scripture quotations labeled NASB are from the New American Standard Bible®, copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

      Scripture quotations labeled NEB are from The New English Bible. Copyright © 1961, 1970, 1989 by The Delegates of Oxford University Press and The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press. Reprinted by permission.

      Scripture quotations labeled NIV 1984 are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

      Scripture quotations labeled NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

      Scripture quotations labeled NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

      The authors are represented by Fedd & Company, Inc.

      Contents

      Cover    1

      Title Page    3

      Copyright Page    4

      1. The Power of If    7

      The First If: If Only    19

      2. The Most Terrifying Fact    21

      3. Can’t Forget    29

      4. Muscle Memory    37

      5. Factory Reset    49

      The Second If: What If ?    59

      6. Who If    61

      7. The Kingdom of Unintended Consequences    71

      8. Bold Predictions    83

      9. Change Agents    91

      10. I Dwell in Possibility    99

      The Third If: No Ifs, Ands, or Buts about It    109

      11. The Cornerman    111

      12. More than Conquerors    117

      13. Keep Calm and Carry On    127

      Epilogue: Forty Years Hence    137

      Notes    139

      About the Authors    144

      Back Cover    145

      1

      The Power of If

      Kiss my wife on top of the Eiffel Tower.

      You can imagine the Parisian picture perfection of the Champ de Mars in spring. After climbing 669 steps to the second floor, we hitched a very sketchy elevator ride to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Then, with France as my witness, I (Mark) kissed my wife. Life goal #102—check!

      And as with all poetic moments, it started with an if.

      I’ll explain, but first, let’s have a little fun. How was that goal accomplished? You could simply say that I puckered my lips, took an approach path from the left, closed my eyes at the last second, and voilà—a kiss in France (not to be confused with a French kiss).

      That’s how it happened, but there’s more to it than that. That simple kiss was the result of a rather complex itinerary. We flew out of Dulles International Airport on an Airbus A320, made it through French customs, took the regional RER train to Paris, hailed a taxi whose driver was obsessed with saying mademoiselle, and got walking directions from a lady with a dog in her purse. All of that is still only a fraction of the story.

      The Eiffel tower kiss originated the moment I set life goal #102. You won’t accomplish one hundred percent of the goals you don’t set. But the true origin of our kiss traces all the way back to the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris when more than a hundred artists submitted plans to design the centerpiece, the masterpiece of the Exposition Universelle.

      The winner was an engineer named Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, who proposed a 984-foot tower, the tallest building in the world at that time. Skeptics scoffed at his design, calling it useless and artless. Eiffel called her La Dame De Fer—the Iron Lady.

      It was Gustave Eiffel’s if that made our romantic rendezvous, along with a million others, atop the tower possible. But Eiffel himself thanked seventy-two scientists, engineers, and mathematicians on whose shoulders he stood. Their names are inscribed on the tower, and without their collective genius, that moment would have been doomed to never exist. So I guess we owe our kiss to each of their ifs as well.

      Then there are the three hundred riveters, hammermen, and carpenters who put together the 18,038-piece jigsaw puzzle of wrought iron in two years, two months, and five days. Oh, and don’t forget the acrobatic team Eiffel hired to help his workers maintain balance on very thin beams during strong gusts of wind. We have each of them to thank—as well as the Paris city council that voted in 1909 not to tear down the tower despite the fact that its twenty-year permit had expired. We owe our kiss to each councilmember and to each of the voters who put them in office.

      It’s starting to sound like all of history revolves around and conspired for our kiss, so let me stop there and make my point. Every moment is created by millions of ifs that combine and coagulate in a million different ways to make any given moment possible. I didn’t even mention all the people it took to help us fly across the Atlantic Ocean in a plane and everything that happened to make that possible. Don’t get me started on planes.

      Gustave Eiffel did not build his tower so Lora and I could kiss on top of it. Nevertheless, his if made it possible. And your ifs open doors of opportunity for others. Make no mistake about it, every little if has something of a ripple effect, a butterfly effect, if you will, on people’s lives and world events.

      If history is a giant hoodie and people are its fabric, then if threads the needle. Your ifs have the potential to change both the trajectory of your life and the history of anybody else’s.

      The kiss is part of a chain reaction that started when I wondered if Lora would go out with me. Then I acted on that if—well, actually I dialed and hung up a few times first. You could get away with that before caller ID.

      Long story short, one if led to another if, which led to I do.

      Every achievement, from the Nobel Prize to the Oscars, begins with what if?, consciously or unconsciously. Every dream, from landing a man on the moon to moon pies, begins with what if? Every breakthrough, from the internet to iTunes, begins with what if?

      There are 1,784 ifs in my English version of the Bible. Most of those ifs act like conditional conjunctions (you don’t have to diagram this sentence) on the front end of God’s promises. If God promised it, He’ll deliver it if you do your part!

      One little if can change everything.

      One little if can change anything.

      What If?

      On August 15, 1987, Howard Schultz was faced with the toughest decision of his life—whether or not to buy a small chain of coffeehouses with a strange name: Starbucks.

      Knowing what we know now, it seems like a no-brainer. But to Schultz, the $3.8 million price tag felt more than outrageous. In his memoir, Pour Your Heart into It, the architect behind the Starbucks brand reflects on his what if moment.

      This is my moment, I thought. If I don’t seize the opportunity, if I don’t step out of my comfort zone and risk it all, if I let too much time tick on, my moment will pass. I knew that if I didn’t take advantage of this opportunity, I would replay it in my mind for my whole life, wondering: What if?1

      Howard Schultz made a defining decision to give up the safety net of his $75,000 salary to pursue his passion for all things coffee. Starbucks stock went public five years later, on June 26, 1992. It was the second most actively traded stock on the NASDAQ that day, and by the closing bell its market capitalization stood at $273 million. Not bad for a $3.8 million investment!

      Starbucks now has 16,580 stores in 40 countries, with revenues topping $4.7 billion, and their 137,000 employees totals twice the population of Greenland. By conservative estimates, Starbucks sold 3,861,778,846 cups of coffee last year.2 Not to mention the other 87,000 possible drink combinations!3

      And every sip of every drink started with what if.

      If you reverse engineer Starbucks all the way back to its humble origins, it started with Howard Schultz’s what if. Starbucks, of course, goes back even further than Schultz, but we don’t have time for the history of coffee. This is all true of Ebenezer’s too—our coffeehouse on Capitol Hill that started with a what if. What if we built a coffeehouse where our church and our community could cross paths?

      A million customers later, what if is making lots of dreams come true. Every penny of net profit, more than $1 million now, has been reinvested in a wide variety of kingdom causes. And every penny traces back to what if.

      What’s your what if?

      If you don’t know yet, keep reading.

      I want you to know that I’ve been praying for you. While I may not know your name or your circumstances, God does. And I’ve been asking Him to put this book in the right hands at the right time. That’s my prayer for every book I write. A lot of people have apologized for not reading certain books. Apology accepted. No hard feelings. God has the best timing.

      Of course, the flip side is true. The fact that you hold this book in your hands is evidence that you’re ready for what if. I’m praying that God will reveal it as you read.

      Let this book be your what if.

      Step one: get past if only.

      Your Greatest Regret

      One of the saddest epitaphs in the Bible is hidden away in Jeremiah 46:17. This is why they don’t let me teach Sunday school: I’d have everyone memorize the most depressing verses in the Bible. This image reminds me of an old headstone in an overgrown cemetery. The prophet exclaims,

      Give Pharaoh of Egypt the title King Bombast, the man who missed his moment. (NEB)

      Pharaoh Hophra was the

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1