Category: Big Picture

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Hanging on by a Thread (Part 3 of 3)

(See Part 1 and Part 2)

Lee with two of his grandkids after returning home from the hospital

When my father-in-law Lee suddenly had a medical emergency right after Christmas a few years ago, it caught us all off guard. For almost a week we didn’t know anything, and all we could do was wait for new developments.

In order to shield the family at the hospital from having to do all the communicating through texting and phone calls, I started emailing out updates to close friends and family. The list of recipients grew quickly though, and soon we had our own Facebook page to help keep people updated and to pass along specific prayer requests both for Lee and for the needs of his family. Lee meant a lot to a whole lot of people, and eventually hundreds of readers received the daily updates I sent out.

There must have been some people hitting their knees hard in prayer on Lee and his family’s behalf, because Lee eventually opened his eyes. After spending a few days in a medically induced coma with a body temperature somewhere in the 80s, his body had some adjusting to do when he regained consciousness. He was extremely disoriented and weak, but, at least for now, he was still with us.

We were all thrilled to see Lee moving in the right direction, but the world didn’t stop turning because he was in the hospital. My young family was far from home; we were able to stay in the area for a few more days, but I had to get back to my job. We had already stayed about a week longer than we had planned, and we couldn’t stay much longer. Lee was still in the hospital when we left to head back home. The day we left the hospital, he was weak from a related surgery he just came through, but was still happy to see us and understood why we had to leave. We had no idea at the time, but that was the last time we would see him in person. We made it back home the next day and we closely stayed in touch to hear the latest news.

Time went on and Lee got discharged from the hospital. Since his scare, the only times that I had spoken with him were in the hospital when he was exhausted or groggy. After he had made it home and had time to recover some of his strength, he called and wanted to speak with me on the phone. After getting a little bit of an update on his progress, he began to thank me. I assumed he was referring to the rescue breathing I did for him when he initially lost consciousness. Just as I was about to brush it off, though, he surprised me.

Of course he appreciated my helping him live long enough to make it to the hospital, but that wasn’t the main reason he wanted to thank me. He was more thankful that throughout all the updates I sent out to the masses, I kept the focus on our family being open to accepting God’s will, rather than forcing God’s will to comply with ours. Lee didn’t have a problem with intercessory prayer, but he appreciated the balance I put on the messaging. It turns out that on multiple occasions during his recovery in the hospital he had read every email I sent out. He was surprised at all he had missed while unconscious; he enjoyed reading the emails to catch up on all of it, and he felt that the updates had taken the right approach.

That was the last time I ever spoke with Lee. A few months after coming home from the hospital, he again caught us off guard and unexpectedly passed from this world into the next. I’m not sure if it was God’s plan all along to have Lee recover enough to come home after his initial scare, or if all of the prayers sufficiently moved God to give us a few more months with Lee, but in the end, God had His way even when it conflicted with ours.

At Lee’s memorial service, as a testament to his character, the church was packed with hundreds of people. Extra chairs had to be brought in to seat everyone. Lee lived his life knowing what was truly important while ignoring what wasn’t, and people recognized that.

It’s so easy to get wrapped up and even be consumed by the things of this life, but it’s important to live in light of eternity. Too often we lose sight of the fact that very few of our daily struggles or any other distractions that preoccupy us will even be a memory once we’ve moved on from this life. The only things that will have eternal significance are the actions you’ve taken to know God and help others know Him too.

How’s your focus? Are you paying attention to the things that are important? As you go through life, are you leaving a positive lasting impact on the people with whom you interact?

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Thinking About Thinking

Sleep analytics

Technology today enables us to obtain “analytics” about everything. Most new cars tell you what kind of gas mileage they’re getting. Social media accounts tell you with ridiculous accuracy all kinds of statistics about interactions between you and your connections. You can wear a watch that tells you how many steps you take and how much and what kind of sleep you get.

What if we had something that tells us how much time (and the level of intensity) we spend thinking about various topics?

Uh oh. It just got uncomfortable in here.

Think about this: your daydreams and wishes may not always come true, but the things you spend your time thinking about represent the direction in which your life will move. Stated another way, your life moves in the direction of your most prevalent thoughts. If you received a pie chart with percentages of the time you spend thinking about different things, both good and bad, would you be pleased with your life moving toward the biggest slice of the chart?

I have a full-time job and a family that includes three kids. Life is busy. After we lay the kids down, most of the time I just want to switch my brain off and watch something entertaining. There’s definitely a time and a place for that, but if that’s what you do most of the time, there’s not much deliberate thought built into moving your life in the direction you want it to go. A life with thoughts that constantly drift leads to the kind of life that does the same thing.

Time for another hypothetical chart. How many hours a week are you a Christian? One hour, sometimes, on Sunday mornings? Are devotions built into your day? Is there a group you can join…some kind of a Bible study or home group you can be a part of? A close friend with which you’re able to discuss the challenges you face in your Christian walk?

I say this not to shame anyone, but to help you determine if any sort of changes are in order. There are five weeknights in a week. Let’s assume that for whatever reason, two of them are already spoken for, and you have three nights available. Consider devoting at least part of one of them to this second chart. Put down that book that isn’t doing anyone any good, and pick up something that’s going to focus your mind where it should be focused. Instead of channel surfing, there are plenty of inspirational talks, or even sermons, on YouTube. To get you started, check out this website’s “Additional Resources” section: https://daregreatlynow.com/additional-resources/.

Your time is valuable. That means that you probably value the things you spend thinking about during your small amounts of free time. Do they honor God? Strive to make that happen, and I promise you your life will move in a better direction.

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Reintroduction

Endless possibilities…

I hope you’ve either enjoyed or gotten something out of the things that show up on DareGreatlyNow. Now that I’ve posted over 30 entries on the website, it makes a little more sense to explain a bit about it and how the site is laid out.

On and off over the years I’ve had flashes of an idea that is currently embodied in this website. At first I thought about doing a book, then it morphed into some type of devotional, and then it showed up here. The short version is that I’ve seen and done an unusual combination of things over my life so far, or gained unique insights as a result of doing the things I’ve done. Many of the stories I relate in the pages of this website are stories that ought to have become faint memories, but for some reason they haven’t yet faded away. In writing so far, those memories have come to the forefront and I’ve been able to tie a godly or spiritual application to them.

Sometimes in life you’ll encounter unusual circumstances that don’t make much sense until you’re looking back at them in hindsight. Before you get to that retrospective moment it can just seem like a disjointed collection of random experiences, but then something happens to bring it all together.

This is how God works. Not only does He weave your life’s experiences into a plan (or even a masterpiece) for His purposes, He also weaves together the experiences of your life with those of other people’s lives.

Have you ever felt like you were meant for more than just the life you’re living? When you felt that way, you probably were meant for more! You might even be feeling that way right now. Even though the stories on this site jump around all over the place, the central theme to which they all point is the idea that God didn’t intend for you to live a life of mediocrity.

If you’re willing, you can accept the invitation, the challenge, that God has extended to you. You can be a mighty warrior for Jesus Christ.

That concept can be fulfilled through many different avenues. If you believe the Bible, you believe that this world will get darker before it gets lighter. Yet the Bible says that despite all of that, the Church is still God’s plan to reach the lost. We don’t seek to conquer or subjugate anyone, or bludgeon them into converting to Christianity. We’ve simply been commanded to share the news of Christ with everyone. What they do with it is up to them.

The stories posted here are meant to encourage…to inspire…to show that big and daring things are not beyond your reach. Although it is not my aim, it may sometimes sound like I’m petitioning to be the next spokesman for some kind of energy drink. 🙂 I’ve written so far about experiences in the Air Force, having a house knocked out from under me, lifeguarding experiences, going kayaking, flying down a steep hill on a skateboard as a kid, rappelling out of trees or down cliffs, adventures in parenting, and figuring out how to go see the Winter Olympics.

Some of the things I expect to address in the future include more experiences in pursuit of survival instructor status, medical emergencies, skydiving, an adventure sports trip to Australia, kayaking over waterfalls, a few near-death experiences, some kneeboarding, and of course more parenting stories.

These stories are all meant to say that you can do things you think you can’t. Hopefully they’re done in an entertaining way. I hope to encourage you to embrace the idea that God has empowered you to go as far as you’d like with regard to accomplishing things for His kingdom, and that the limits you impose on yourself or allow to be imposed on you are not your actual limits. The only limits that exist are the ones you allow to take hold.

If you haven’t already, I’d love for you to subscribe, but in truth, I’d love even more for you to pass individual entries on to people that you think would benefit from hearing them. The Church today is in a strange place, where it needs to both keep reaching people through traditional means while at the same time evolving to communicate with people in new ways to convey the same truth. If you know someone who’s thinking about moving out in support of one of these directions, by all means please point them to this blog.

Now that the site has a decent number of entries, I’ll explain the categories and tags. When you look at an individual post, down at the bottom of every entry it has categories and tags listed. For every post, I try to list it under two categories: one that tells the type of activity it is, and one that tells the spiritual lesson it’s geared toward. If you look at the site’s homepage, all the available categories are listed. If you wanted to see all entries I’ve written that have something to do with stories about my kids, for example, click on “Parenthood.” Clicking on “God Can Use You More Than You Think He Can” will bring up all the entries I’ve listed under that category.

Tags do more or less the same thing, but through a different way and by naming different topics. The more entries I post over time, the more useful tags and categories will become if you’re seeking a specific post.

So you tell me…what do you like about the site so far? What do you dislike? Are the stories too long? I post on Monday and Thursday mornings; is that too much? Not often enough? How can I help get people off the sidelines and into the game? How can I reach more people so they can be encouraged to live a life of higher impact? How can I get Christians to believe that they have an unparalleled power living inside them, waiting for them to unlock its potential?

Your comments are welcome! If you don’t want to comment publicly where everyone can see it, email me at tim@daregreatlynow.com.

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Blind As a Bear

When I was in college I majored in biology. It wasn’t pre-med biology though; the program was geared more for a career in wildlife management or forestry. As a result, I had a lot of courses that had interesting field trips. We radio-tracked deer, did forest surveys, went behind the scenes at a zoo, toured a fish hatchery, visited botanical gardens, and generally spent a lot of time in the fields of western New York during all parts of the school year.

One of our professors knew a guy that worked for the state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), which opened the door for us to do some neat stuff. As it turns out, a farmer probably an hour away had discovered a black bear hibernating in one of the big round hay bales in his field. The farmer invited the DEQ to come and survey the situation, which would add data to the organization’s knowledge of the bear population in the area. Our class got to go along and observe.

We arrived at the farm and waited a safe distance away while the DEQ folks tranquilized the bear. (When bears hibernate, they’re not in a solid, deep sleep the whole time; they wake up and move around on warm days, so they had to make sure it wasn’t going to do anything unexpected.) I’m not sure what method they used to do it, but after they stuck the bear, it got scared and took off running. It probably made it 100 yards before it stopped running and laid down. The farmer and DEQ folks then gently loaded it into the bucket of a tractor and brought it back to the area right in front of the den, where they weighed it, checked its teeth, determined its age, and collected some other information.

It’s a tricky thing to tranquilize something when you don’t know how much it weighs. If you use too little tranquilizer, the bear’s going to start moving sooner than you’d like, but if you use too much, you’ll have a hard time reviving the bear. Whoever was responsible for this part did a good job, but you’re never quite sure if the estimate is going to be good enough. As a precaution, they used a bandana to cover the bear’s eyes after they had laid it down on the ground. The thinking was that as the bear began regaining consciousness, it would stay a little more calm if it couldn’t see how close all these people were. Keeping it more calm would hopefully prevent it from trying to lash out without even having regained full control of its body, which could be harmful for both us and the bear.

It didn’t take very long for the DEQ folks to collect all the desired information, so after they finished they pretty much just needed to monitor the bear until the tranquilizer wore off. In the mean time they let people take pictures with the bear. After a bit, they shooed us all away because they didn’t know how much longer the drugs would last. We left to head back to school, and we found out later that as the last DEQ employees were getting ready to depart, the bear started growling. (If that’s not a “time to go!” signal, I’m not sure what is.)

Have you ever asked God to let you know what’s going to happen if you proceed in a certain direction, only to be met with increased murkiness? He might just do that on purpose. A lot of times it’s because we can’t handle knowing what’s on the other side. You don’t know what will happen if you obey, but if you did, you might not follow through with what you know you’re supposed to do. That might be because you believe the personal cost of the outcome will be too great, or it might be because you’d be overwhelmed with seeing just how far beyond you your actions will go and it just seems too daunting to begin. Either way, the result is the same: you’re not setting out on the calling God has laid before you. In many cases, we’re better off being kept “blindfolded,” like the bear, because too much information will actually be detrimental.

Instead try this. Think of your obedience to God’s calling in terms of chapters, rather than as a pamphlet. You need to find out what happens in one chapter before moving on to the next. By the end of the book, you’ll have the whole picture, but if you had started out knowing what happens in the end, some of the important stuff that happened in the middle would lose its significance or change the outcome.

It might feel as though you know what God’s prodding you to do, but it seems insignificant. Well, that might be true, but part of the reason for that is because you might just be starting a new book. You’re blindfolded right now, but don’t just lay there growling. Step out in obedience and faith; chapter two is waiting for you, but you can’t start it until you finish chapter one.

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A Temporary or a Lasting Peace?

Our youngest child is at the stage where she still has bad dreams fairly often. She wakes up crying during the night, and my wonderful wife usually goes running into her room to try to settle her down before she wakes up anyone else in the house.

A few mornings ago my daughter woke up crying. I was already awake, laying in bed, when I heard the cry begin. I jumped out of bed before my wife started stirring, trying to return the favor. I went into my daughter’s room and told her “Daddy’s here now.” I brushed her hair out of her face, rubbed her shoulder, and kissed her cheek. She calmed down and we prayed, but she wasn’t settled. I stayed with her a little bit longer, and then went back to bed.

Laying there for a bit, it wasn’t long before I heard her little feet came walking into our room. But she didn’t come walking over to my side. She made a beeline right for Mommy. My wife talked and cuddled with her a little bit, then brought her back to bed and got her tucked and settled in, where she stayed for the rest of the night.

How many of us are like that? Whether we like to admit it or not, there’s a God-shaped hole in all of us. We’re restless until it’s filled. We try to fill the hole with different things…anything. For some it can be destructive things; alcohol, drugs, relationships that aren’t built to last, more serious types of crime, or even dark spiritual things. Others try to fill it with things that might be good, but don’t quite quench the thirst. Making more money, performing charity work, being very active in community groups, donating your time/energy/resources to civic or political causes you believe in, etc.

The problem is, those things are like Daddy trying to settle his daughter in for the night after a bad dream. They might serve as temporary solutions, but they don’t bring a peace that lasts.

To fill the God-shaped hole in your life, only Christ will satisfy.

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A New Chapter Begins

Congratulations! You have officially made it through Christmas, New Year’s, and if you haven’t already, you’ll probably be getting back into the normal routine soon.

For some, 2018 was a great year with uplifting stories and good fortune. Others have experienced loss or heartache and are happy to close the book on this past year. Wherever you are, we’re now taking our first tentative steps into 2019. The year that lies ahead holds unforeseen challenges as well as circumstances you can choose to interpret as either sweet or sour.

In a previous post I said that God does not force you to do great and impossible things; He invites you to come along and be a part of them. If you choose to turn down the invitation, don’t be confused when you wonder why you’re not finding more to this life.

To kick off the blog for 2019 I’d like to include an excerpt taken from a book I read this past year. It’s by a man named Erwin McManus, called The Last Arrow. The book takes its name from an Old Testament story where the king of Israel sought out the prophet Elisha to plead with God for protection against approaching enemies.

One of the odd instructions Elisha gave the king was to take some of the arrows he had and strike them on the ground. The king then complied, but stopped after striking three arrows on the ground. This angered Elisha, who said “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.” The king’s heart wasn’t in the effort, and he gave up too soon.

When an archer has a quiver full of arrows, they are not doing any good until they’re in flight. Regardless of how cool they look, a group of arrows still in a quiver only represents potential. They do not serve their purpose until they come flying off the bow. During a time when they ought to be used, an arrow that remains in a quiver is an arrow that’s been wasted.

Most of us naturally attempt something with less than full commitment, or we naturally maintain a bias for inaction. In other words, we don’t begin something unless we receive “a clear sign” that we’re supposed to embark on a new undertaking. We’re modern-day versions of Gideon, rolling out fleeces on the ground and waiting for improbable signs that will help us avoid acting on opportunities set before us, even if we recognize them.

Instead, what if we maintained a bias for action? What if we alternatively had the attitude of “I’m going to keep going until I get a clear sign to stop?” Another way of thinking about it is to “Go until you get a no.”

Wherever you are in life, don’t give in to the doubts you have. Don’t allow the excuses to pile up and sway you. “I’m too old.” “I’m too young.” “I’m too hurt.” “I’m too busy.” Whatever your “I’m too” is, don’t let that stop you. If you’re breathing, you can employ the gifts God’s given to you.

From The Last Arrow:

“The great tragedy that I have witnessed over and over again is that we keep underestimating how much God wants to do in us and through us. Too many of us have believed the lies we have been told: that we’re not good enough, we’re not smart enough, we’re not talented enough, we’re just not enough. One of the facets of God that makes him extraordinary is his ability to do the impossible through ordinary, everyday, common people like you and me. This book has one intention: that whether you win or lose, succeed or fail, live a life of celebrity or anonymity, that when you take your last breath, you will know without reservation that you have given everything you have, everything you are, to the life you have been entrusted with.”

There’s more out there. You were made for more. As we start 2019 I’m going to continue exhorting you to accept the challenges God has already and will continue to lay before you. Accept His invitation and prepare to be amazed at the power of God working through you.

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Hang On Just a Little Bit Longer

College is expensive.

One way that most students help offset the cost is by getting a job during their studies. The school where I attended was pretty good about having lots of jobs to which students could apply. Since it takes a lot to make a learning institution function, there were all types of positions available: working in the cafeteria, cleaning the common areas in the dorms, being a teacher’s assistant for various professors, etc. If you can think of a position that smooths life for the orderly function of a college, it probably exists in some capacity. You just have to be quick if you want to get something good.

When I first got to college, I needed a job that would give me a good number of hours per week. It’s a bonus if you can find something that you like. Also, when you first get to college, you don’t know many people, and it would be nice to meet at least a few. I figured that since I’m not the outgoing type, it would probably work out a little better if people came to meet me, rather than trying to go out and meet everyone else. I thought “You know, getting a job in the mailroom would probably be kinda cool. You’ll probably meet just about everyone on campus if you stay there long enough.”

I thought it was a good idea. So I went to the mailroom and inquired about hiring. The lady in charge there asked me a few questions, and boom, I was hired.

As it turns out, I wasn’t hired to work in the mailroom. I was hired to deliver packages to the faculty and staff in different buildings around campus. Anything from new books for professors to a special-order replacement part for the maintenance guys…I brought it to them once it arrived at the college mailroom.

It wasn’t quite what I expected, but I still got to travel all over campus and get to know people from the different departments. I got to drive a sweet blue station wagon that I’d load up with packages at the loading dock, then tear all over the place trying to get rid of them.

After someone taught me all the normal places where I needed to go, I was left to do it on my own. The problem was that the lady in charge kept telling me that I needed to do it faster. “Oh, uh…okay.” So I tried to do it faster, but it still wasn’t fast enough. I started trying to see how I could trim time off the process. Was I taking too long to log the packages at the beginning? Should I hit the Art building and the Athletic department at the beginning, or at the end of the route? Should I park at the Finance Office and hit that and then drive over to the Science Building and do that, or should I park in between and hit them both from that same parking spot? What if I just did the first three buildings entirely on foot, without the car?

By the end of the first semester, I was just running ragged, unsure about how I could possibly go any faster. I ultimately decided that I’d find a new job the following semester. I had lots of these different work/study jobs over the course of my time at college, so I don’t remember specifically which one I took next, but I do remember something about this one. Only after quitting this package delivery job did I learn that I was about to be scheduled to work a large number of hours in the mailroom itself.

Well, that would’ve been nice to know a bit earlier. I had to turn down the offer, because I had already worked something out with another employer. If I had known what was coming…if I had known how close I was to getting the job I originally wanted, I probably would’ve hung in there just a little bit longer and not started looking around for something different.

Ever been in a situation like that? “Oh, man, if only I’d known!” There are times when you need a little encouragement to stick it out just a little longer, and there are times when enough is enough. As you take a look at your life, and whether or not you’re doing what God wants you to do, you’re probably going to find yourself wishing at times that you could just get through this rough patch so that you can move on to something else.

Keep the situation in prayer, and seek the counsel of some close, trusted, Godly friends. Answers to this question are usually not that easy to find, and you may have to wrestle with it for awhile. In the end, the choice is yours, but it usually works out best when you choose what you think God would want you to do, as opposed to what you want to do.

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Why Would God Create People if He Knew They’d Let Him Down?

Photo courtesy of eBaum’s World

Kids are nuts.

If you don’t have kids, having one (or several) changes just about every aspect of your life. When you don’t have kids, you might not even think about it, but life can be amazingly simple. I’m not taking a shot at people without kids; I’m saying that if you don’t have kids and you want to walk out of the house and go somewhere, all you need to do is put on your shoes and leave. Doing the same thing with young kids can turn into a wrestling match, a drawn-out battle of wills, or a frustrating game of hide-and-seek that results in one of you (parents included) wearing mismatched shoes and only one sock as you walk out the door.

Kids can simultaneously be the sweetest and most frustrating people in the world. When my son was 3, he had a bad habit of coming downstairs after we had laid him down. Most of the time it would happen before my wife and I went to bed; we’d hear something that didn’t quite sound right. We’d mute the TV or stop whatever we were doing and say “What is it?” Almost always, our little guy would sheepishly stand up from sitting on the bottom step and come walking toward us, trying to see what was on the TV. It wasn’t always at night though; sometimes it was in the early morning. I usually get up long before everyone else in the house so I can beat a lot of the traffic on my way to work. One morning I heard him coming down the stairs when he was still expected to have a few more hours of sleep to go. Exasperated because I didn’t want my sleep-deprived wife to hear him and wake up, I walked over to the stairs and asked him in a sharp tone “what are you doing?” At that age he had trouble pronouncing his “L” sounds and would have lots of pauses in his sentences. My little guy looked anxiously at me with a furrowed brow and nervously said “Umm, I just…wanted to tew you…to have a good…day…at work.”

Imagine how badly I wanted to melt right into the floor.

You can often tell what kind of environment kids spend their time in by listening to the things they say. We’ve told our kids many times that we love them no matter what. When they’re still a little too young to make total sense of everything, they start to say it back to you in their own little way: “Mom? Dad? Did you know that I love you even when you’re bad?”

Kids bring so many crazy moments to your life. I’ve received bloody noses from little elbows. They break stuff that you really didn’t want broken. They seem to know the difference between when you’re prepared and when you don’t have an extra diaper or outfit for them. They’re sick and have stuff oozing out of every hole in their heads for the first two years of their lives. Their “help” with something you’re doing actually makes it more difficult. I’ve been in a totally dark house after everyone’s bedtime, then went to open my bedroom door only to jump out of my skin when I saw a toddler standing on the other side of the door, holding a stuffed animal and staring up at me with big eyes.

They’re messy, expensive, and suck the energy out of your body. They make your hair gray (or thin). Why in the world would anyone ever CHOOSE to have children?

You can’t explain why, but after you’ve had them, you know you wouldn’t trade it for anything.

It’s the time they spend with you and the love they have for you. It’s the times you get down on the floor and they use you as a jungle gym. It’s the way they shriek “Daddyyyyyyyyy!” and come running to hug you when you come home from work. It’s the way they cling tightly to you when you wade into water that’s deeper than what they’re used to. After you’ve disciplined them and they come and just want you to hold them as they sit crying, broken, and sorry, you want to squeeze them back and wipe their tears away, sometimes blinking back tears of your own in the process.

When I hear people ask “Why would God create humans if He knew they would let Him down?”, these are the things that come to mind. Like children, we are deeply flawed and are prone to do things our Heavenly Father doesn’t want us to do. Again and again, we fail to meet the standards set before us. We are stubborn and take forever to learn the lesson that’s being taught to us, sometimes even intentionally.

At the same time though, we are the source of tremendous joy to Him. When His children want to spend time with Him and seek a deeper relationship with Him, it brings Him colossal happiness. We all mess up again and again, but when we come to Him, broken and sorry, He holds us gladly while blinking back tears of His own. He doesn’t need anything from us, but He’s thrilled when we pursue Him.

This is a difficult time of year for many people, and maybe that includes you. You’ve almost certainly heard this before, but God loves you. Just in case those words have lost their meaning, I’ll say it another way: God really likes you. You’re loved, and you’re loved hard.

There’s a battle going on out there. You may not think of it in those terms, but that’s what it is. Christ came to offer salvation to everyone. The enemy didn’t like that, so he’s doing everything he can to prevent people from hearing about or accepting that gift. God created you to be a part of that fight, but the enemy’s going to try everything he can to demoralize, distract, discourage, and deceive you.

You have it within you to do amazing things for God’s glory that you dare not even think possible. Let me tell you…it can be done. There’s going to come a time where He calls on you to do something you’re not comfortable doing. He can and will empower you to do things you can’t do on your own, and it will surprise you what He can do through you.

For now, just know that like a child who knows Mom or Dad truly has their best interests at heart, it all starts with being confident and secure in your Heavenly Father’s love for you.

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Go Back to What You Were Taught

A couple of guys during lifeguard training

At age 15, I started lifeguard classes. The group of us lifeguard trainees had an instructor named Linda. Linda was our teacher for everything from lap swimming to academics, first aid and CPR to practicing hands-on rescue techniques in the pool. There was an enormous amount of material to learn, and she was a very hard instructor. During the course, she learned the weaknesses of all the students in the course, and she would ask us the questions she knew we’d have difficulty answering, both as individuals and as a group.

That was a very strange summer; one of the students was a pastor, and he had a pretty busy schedule. My family took a vacation outside the country for a few weeks, and I also attended a youth convention in Colorado. There were a few other scheduling conflicts too, if I recall correctly. As a result, our training schedule was pretty chaotic and wildly inconsistent. Whenever we convened for our first class in awhile, we had to review what we had learned up until that point. We had to practice the first aid and CPR skills once again. We had to get back in the pool and return to our habit of lap-swimming. All of those “first-in-a-long-time” classes provided opportunities for us to demonstrate how much we forgot or didn’t know.

During the reviews, and then during the regular classes, Linda would pose questions in ways that made you question what you thought you knew about the material. You’d go to blurt out an answer because you thought it was an easy question, but she asked it in a way that made you second-guess yourself. As time went on, though, the material became ingrained in our minds and in our muscle memory. We became confident in our knowledge and our actions, and we were able to face increasingly complex challenges.

Learning and practicing CPR

Linda was a hard instructor, yes, but if I had the choice to go back and do it differently, I would not. I believe that the lessons Linda taught saved lives, and I’m sure that people retained the skills she taught them very well because of the way she did it. I’ll write more about it in a later post, but almost 20 years after I first learned these skills from Linda, long after my certifications had expired, I found myself in a situation where someone’s life depended on me remembering what I learned in those courses. My most recent refresher classes were with a different instructor, but when I needed the knowledge the most, I didn’t think of my most recent refreshers, I thought back to Linda’s instruction. The teachings came flooding back to me, exactly when I needed them urgently, and it’s my belief that I thought of her teaching rather than others’ because of the fervor, the absolute intensity with which the knowledge was drilled into my head, which was a hallmark of Linda’s courses.

If you are a Christian, you have been filled with the Holy Spirit, and are now capable of doing things that you cannot accomplish on your own. You have been commissioned by God to do great things. You can have an impact on an international level if you let Him use you. But as you press on with, or as you begin, this journey, don’t forget the basics. Study God’s word with fervor. Learn from a trustworthy teacher. As you go through your Christian life, you will encounter things that are lies, that are deceptions, and that are downright dangerous. When you find yourself in those situations, your response will come from the training you’ve had and the instruction you’ve received. Reputable Bible teachers, wise and trusted Christian friends, preachers and authors will all have an influence on the way you think and the way you perceive things. In the course of doing great things, don’t neglect these disciplines. You have to remember though, that if you want the answers to be there when you need them most urgently, you have to put in the time up front.

If it’s not your regular practice, dare greatly by cracking open your Bible and by praying to God about what’s on your mind. You might need to get your spiritual house in order before you move on to amazing things.

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Where We Are In History

Let’s consider for a moment where we are in history.

Christ came and made a new way for us almost 2,000 years ago. The War has been won, but the battle continues raging today. People pass away every day, permanently ending their ability to decide their eternal fate. We find ourselves somewhere between the early Christians figuring out how they should live, and the End Times, where widespread persecution of Christians will be a prelude to the chaos that culminates in Christ returning. We have no idea if we’re closer to the former or the latter, but we’re to live as though our time is short.

We live in interesting times. Our modern-day lives bear little resemblance on the surface to what we read about in Bible times, yet there’s really nothing new in the way of our shortcomings and temptations. Today’s technology is beyond what Bible characters could have dreamed. The speed of life has only increased since the most recently written words in the Bible. We can drive hundreds of miles in a matter of hours, and we can fly thousands of miles so quickly that we can see the sun set twice in the same day.

The amount of information we absorb and forget in a day is dizzying.

Despite all this, the focus of a Christ-follower has not changed at all. After His resurrection and immediately before he disappeared and ascended to Heaven, the last thing Christ said to His followers was “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

Our environment has changed, but our focus has not.

Here’s the really exciting part, and the part that makes me excited for you, and for us. Since Jesus didn’t put restrictions on the methods by which we are to follow that command, our imagination is the limit to the number of ways by which we do it! Can you imagine? Today’s elementary school kids Skype with astronauts in space! GoFundMe sites pop up for any and every reason! We have drones that deliver pizza! That same spirit of innovation and creativity can be used for “making disciples of all nations.”

YOU have been blessed with spiritual gifts! Jesus knew that His disciples were going to be anxious about continuing without Him. To help soothe them, He told them to expect help from the Holy Spirit, who He described as “The Helper” (John 14:26). 1 Corinthians chapter 12 spells out how it’s meant to go. The Holy Spirit brings gifts to each Christian, but they’re not the same combination of gifts for each person.

On top of that, each person has their own personal interests in different causes; it’s something that somehow hits a little closer to home than other causes for you. It might be a heart for the homeless, for orphans, for single moms, for shut-ins, for those in prison, or any number of countless other groups of people.

And then you have talents or skills that you’ve developed with time. Maybe you have a natural knack for languages, or it’s easy for you to do anything musical. Writing, art, academics, working on engines, writing computer code, fixing things, and on and on.

Maybe you’ve never thought about it before, but at the crossroads of these three things (spiritual gifts, interests, and talents) lies your ideal ministry. This is where you’ll be the most excited, the most energized, and the most satisfied to operate. That’s not to say it won’t be exhausting, but it’s where you’ll find the most compelling reason to get out of bed in the morning.

Here’s something to consider. For the rest of your life, the speed of change at this point, right now, is the slowest it’s ever going to be. That means that life is going to change, and that the rate of change will only increase from here on out. New technologies…new customs…new methods of communicating and interacting. What does that translate to? It means that in conjunction with the countless types of ministry mentioned just a moment ago, there is an exponential number of ministry opportunities in this world, and YOU are uniquely and ideally suited to own some of them!

There are things you can do that I can’t, or there are things you’re willing to do that I’m not, and vice versa. That means that somewhere, there’s a ministry role to fill that is waiting expectantly for you to grab hold of it! There’s a place for you to be plugged in…to maximize all of your gifts, talents, and interests! I’m talking about a unique spot in this world that you can slide into and it will be your perfect storm for you to find fulfillment in glorifying Christ, for you to be excited about what you do, to do more than you thought you could, and to reach your God-given potential!

As this world changes, and as the pace of change quickens, recognize that you might be the only person in the world to have the idea you’re having about new ways to reach people for God. Seize that idea! Make it happen as if other souls depend on it, because that just might be the case. The whole reason I’m writing this blog is to give you the push you need to move forward with that idea.

Billy Graham glorified God in amazing ways, and he was the right person at the right time, but the world has changed. His ministry was incredible, but it probably wouldn’t work as well if someone tried it today. Since the old things may not work as well as they used to, it’s time to take new ideas, encourage them, develop them, and dedicate them to God. Believe me, He’ll do the rest, as long as you follow His leading.

It’s time to step out in faith. Dare to do great things!