September is a gorgeous month for skydiving. The summer heat has lost its oppressive force, but you can still be comfortable either in shorts and a tee shirt or with a jumpsuit on top of that. It’s noticeably cooler up top when you get out of the plane, but it’s not cold enough to need gloves or extra layers yet.
Now, for those of you that don’t know me, I’m ordinarily a pretty laid back guy. If you see me lose my temper, something like, huge has probably happened. For some reason though, skydiving was a parallel universe for me. I was driven. I wanted badly to be good at freefall skills so I’d be able to turn formations deftly and be able to zip around the sky with other jumpers. When I tried learning certain maneuvers though, I’d try too hard, and I’d be more likely to lose my cool when something didn’t go the way I planned.
Goofing off with a buddy while waiting for our ride to altitude. It’s important to keep the mood light!
Early on I would jump out of the plane and my body tensed up. I’d go rigid not because I was nervous about plummeting toward the ground, but because I was overthinking the instructions and was too focused on trying to get it right. In freefall though, to get your body to do what you want it to do, you need to have your muscles very relaxed. Tensing your muscles causes all different kinds of problems for you. This wasn’t like kayaking, weightlifting, or skiing, where adrenaline or extra power can be a big help; this was an entirely new type of physical challenge…you had to stay chill when the wind is so loud you can’t even hear what someone six inches away from your face is screaming at you.
On one jump, I don’t even remember what happened…I just remember that even though I landed safely I was furious at myself for not getting the freefall objectives right. I mean like, livid. Before my canopy had even completely settled onto the grass, I ripped off my helmet and threw it on the ground, then started kicking it around for good measure. Oh, man, was I ticked! I was ready to get in my car and leave.
There was one instructor at the drop zone, Darlene, who really understood people and what makes them tick. She saw my little tantrum and talked with me about what happened on the jump. After our impromptu debrief she said something surprising. She told me that I needed to get one more jump in that day before I left.
It was surprising because on busy days you had to get in line to get a ride up to altitude; if people wanted to leave early, that was only good news for everyone else. I didn’t want any part of it, I was just feeling sour and wanted to take my ball and go home. She took a look at the schedule of remaining flights and found a way to get me another jump before I left that day. I jumped again, and it went much better than my helmet-kicker.
Darlene knew that if I left on the heels of a bad jump, it was quite possible that I might never come back. She understood that in order for me to flip the script in my own mind, I needed to walk out of there with success more fresh in my memory than failure. It didn’t need to be a stellar jump. It didn’t even need to be a great jump. It just had to be enough, in my mind, to crowd out the memory of a horrible jump.
It may not be skydiving, but you might be in the same boat today. You could be about to turn your back on the thing you thought you were meant to do.
Maybe you already walked away from it. You started walking and you didn’t even turn around to look back, because you want to convince yourself that this isn’t for you.
Well, even if you stepped away, what if you gave it another try? Do you have more to lose than you have to gain? It might just be worth another shot.
As it turns out, when we read the Bible in English, we’re missing out on a lot of the little details you might otherwise catch if you were reading it in its original language (mostly either Hebrew or Greek). I recently learned something interesting about how the resurrected Jesus interacted with the disgraced Peter, who had denied Christ three times.
We’re probably all familiar with the passage in John 21:15-17. It’s the one where Jesus asks “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”
He said to Him “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
He said to him, “Feed My lambs.”
He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?”
He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love you.”
He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”
He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?”
And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”
Jesus said to him “Feed My sheep.” – John 21:15-17
Just reading over it you might think “well that’s a little weird,” or “it’s because Peter denied Jesus three times.” Well, that might have something to do with it, but I thought it was interesting when I learned about a literary device used in the recording of this account.
When John wrote the gospel that bears his name, placing two words with similar meanings near each other actually amplifies the difference between the two. An example in our language might be something like “I love Krispy Kreme, but I adore Dunkin’ Donuts.” The words “love” and “adore” mean very similar things, but in this example, Dunkin’ is the favored product.
We’re looking at something along those lines in these verses, but you can’t see it in English. We’re dealing with two synonyms for the word “love,” but they have slightly different meanings. The one Jesus uses means loving without holding anything back…with complete and total commitment. Peter, still fresh off his stinging denials, isn’t quite so confident as he used to be in declaring his dedication. Instead of using the “total commitment” version, he responds with a synonym that declares his love/affection for Jesus, but is a little shakier as far as the commitment goes. Using our “original language lenses,” we read it again:
“Peter, do you love (total commitment) Me more than these?”
“Yes, you know that I love (I’m super affectionate for you, but maybe not super dedicated) You.”
“Feed My lambs.”
Then a second time:
“Simon, son of Jonah, do you love (total commitment) Me?”
“Yes Lord, You know that I love (affection but not commitment) You.”
“Tend My sheep.”
Now here’s where the twist comes in, and it helps reveal why Peter was so grieved. When Jesus asks the third time, He stops using the word for “love” that He’d been using. He switches to the word Peter’s using. Peter used this version instead of the one Jesus used because he thought he’d be safer. It pierced his heart to have Jesus question even this lesser level of love:
“Simon, son of Jonah, do you love (affection for, but not necessarily committed to) Me?”
Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time “Do you love me?” And he said to Him “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love (affection without dedication) You.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.”
Knowing this little insight, it helps us understand a bit better why Peter was so hurt by this exchange. Jesus knew everything that was still coming in Peter’s future, and this round of questioning helped prepare Peter to deal with his doubts and make the conscious decision to become completely devoted to spreading the Gospel.
God is really amazing in how He prepares people for what the future will bring. Some people seem to just be born with devotion to Christ, while others have to really wrestle with it. In either extreme, and everywhere in between, God knows you, and knows exactly what you need to emerge from that crisis of faith with complete commitment. Maybe you’re in the middle of that struggle right now. I personally would urge you to keep the faith, but for some people God needs them to lose faith before they can find it again. I don’t know what God has planned for your life, but He does, and He’s preparing you for it.
Imagine if someone offered you the chance to live for two weeks with two other people in an area about the size of three or four phone booths.
Before you answer, hold on a minute. It gets worse.
Courtesy of OhioMemory.org
It’s a closed environment, so nothing extra comes in, and no garbage goes out. All the food you’ll be eating during that time needs to be freeze-dried and packed inside. It’s not modern day freeze-dried food, either; it’s like, 1960s freeze-dried food. Add water, stir, and eat. Want to eat it hot? Add hot water.
On top of that, there’s no bathroom. You’ve got a little suction tube for liquid waste and you’ve got some bags for solid waste. Not a great deal of privacy, either.
What do you think, are you in?
Of course not. Why would anyone in their right mind sign up for that?
Now what if I told you that if you can endure these conditions, you get to walk on the moon?
From 1968 to 1972, the American space program sent a series of missions into space that resulted in 12 men walking on the moon and returning safely to earth. Would you be willing to endure the cramped quarters and terrible conditions if you could look forward to setting foot on the lunar surface?
That paints things in a different light, doesn’t it? Life is largely the same for a Christian; the main difference is that instead of two weeks, we’re looking at 80 or maybe 90 years or so.
This life has some fun times, and it has some miserable times. The older you get, the more you understand the temporary nature of things on this earth, and the more you realize that everything around you will one day turn to dust or otherwise become worthless. The joy, however, comes in knowing that you’re on your way to a destination of unspeakable happiness, where you come face to face with God Himself and can ask Him everything you’ve ever wondered about, you can praise Him with no distractions, and you can rejoice in the fact that nobody who’s there will suffer pain, heartache, or loss ever again.
The longest time of any Apollo mission that astronauts spent on the surface of the moon was during the final mission, Apollo 17. Two astronauts spent about 75 hours…a little over three days…either in the Lunar Module or out on the surface of the moon. That whole mission lasted about twelve and a half days from start to finish. Twelve and a half days in cramped quarters eating nasty food in exchange for 75 hours and three moonwalks on the moon.
In a Christian’s case, unspeakable joy that doesn’t end alongside your Savior in a body that doesn’t decay. That’s worth 80 or 90 years, even if a good percentage of them get rough.
Better times are coming. Hang in there.
Enjoying DareGreatlyNow’s posts? Let me know what you think. Email me at tim@daregreatlynow.com.
It’s difficult to overstate the level of disruption the Coronavirus has brought into our daily lives. A few years from now we’ll likely view this period as a lost six months, year, whatever. For many of us, we’ll probably be able to shake off this experience and view it as no more than a strange blip that we lived through. There are simply some things, however, that will be permanently lost. One of the first that comes to mind is the opportunity to walk with your peers at an in-person graduation ceremony.
Whether we’re talking high school or college, your senior year is special. After all the waiting, you’re now in the class that’s at the top of the heap. After graduation, you’ll probably keep in touch with some of your friends, but it’s never quite going to be the same again. In that sense, graduation ceremonies are bittersweet mixes of celebrations and goodbyes. In my mind the lack of an opportunity to partake in a traditional ceremony robs students of closure both in triumphing over the academic struggles and in parting ways with classmates.
To all the Seniors out there, I’m sorry the virus robbed you of this memorable experience. There’s nothing I can do to restore that for you, but this week’s post is in honor of you, and hopefully you can live vicariously through the experiences shared here. It’s nothing major, but hopefully it’s at least fun to read.
One other major thing that distinguishes your senior year from all others is that, as upperclassmen, you’ve got dibs on pulling pranks. It’s important to understand that pranks are usually pretty pointless in terms of what they achieve, but they can be a thrill to plan and execute. The journey is the destination. Very seldom does a prank result in something that alters the course of history, but history is full of memorable “what was the point of that?” pranks.
As a senior in college, I was super busy my senior year (see this post for more background about how I brought this on myself). Some of my friends and other people from my class took part in some antics around the campus, but I just didn’t have the time to participate. A group of my friends snuck into the cafeteria one evening under the noses of the cafeteria workers and swiped a few stacks of the trays students used during meal times. They then brought them to the gym after hours, where one of the participants had “accidentally” neglected to secure a certain door upon locking up for the night. The next morning a whole bunch of meal trays were discovered floating in the pool, and I’m not sure how the cafeteria supplied trays for breakfast.
To our college’s credit (and to our dismay as student delinquents), they had a fantastic prank clean-up crew. I was on my way to class one winter morning, at least a few days after it had snowed, and as I walked along one of the main routes that included a tunnel through one of the buildings, it was odd to see one of the maintenance staff using a snow blower to remove a huge pile of snow near the tunnel entrance. I didn’t think too much of it until later, when I learned that someone I knew and a group of his buddies had filled up the bed of a pickup truck with snow multiple times, and then proceeded to dump the loads of snow in front of this tunnel. (And I know at least one of you is reading this…it was a great attempt, thanks for filling me in on it later!)
We eventually figured out that the diligence of the “clean-up crew” was the largest barrier to the “epic-ness” of whatever prank we would attempt. How frustrating it was to undertake these endeavors only for them to be covered up or countered by the college staff. We had to come up with something more diabolical. (These days I use my creative powers for good. Mostly. I am a dad of three kids, so there’s still some mischief.)
In our last month of senior year, a group of us decided that in order to have a bigger impact, we had to do something that would overwhelm the ability of the cleanup crew to quickly return things to normal. We decided that to get the largest percentage of the student body to see our handiwork, we would target the campus chapel on one of the nights before a chapel session would be held the next morning.
Coincidentally, all of us had work/study jobs as a way to pick up a little money. One of us had a job as a janitor somewhere on the campus. I don’t remember if it was a little at a time or if it was all at once, but one guy snuck a garbage bag full of toilet paper rolls that would be used to TP the chapel. Considering how precious a commodity toilet paper has been over the past few months, this seems like it could be considered a felony today. It also lends some insight into the truth behind why tuition prices keep going up so much.
I didn’t have an appreciation for how wasteful this was until recently
I was still very busy with things to do, but on this occasion I figured out a way to get stuff done while being a part of this prank. We had recently returned from an eventful club whitewater rafting trip, and I wanted to record many of the details in a journal before I forgot them. (You can read about some of those adventures here and here.) Between classwork, activities, studying for finals, and winding down my final college semester, I didn’t have time to effectively capture those memories. I even recorded more of those trip details while sitting onstage during Baccalaureate and graduation.
For this prank, I was going to be the lookout, with a walkie-talkie, who journaled during the dull parts. This was a unique situation, because although two of us had walkie-talkies (the lookout and one of the TPers), I would be the only one talking. I ended up using different voices to pretend to be a couple of different people on the radio who were playing some kind of game nearby, and we had established certain words ahead of time to indicate how safe it was to participate in the hooliganism. The guy on the other radio would listen to my babblings, keeping an ear out for these code words.
I sat at a spot where I could see most of the entrances to the chapel, and saw the pranksters moving one or two at a time toward the door they’d arranged to enter. A few of them carried garbage bags. They got inside and got to work. I think someone else heard my radio’s transmissions though, because a few people showed up in the area looking like they expected to find someone. A security guard eventually made his rounds, and even stopped to chat with me. I’m sure it was unusual, though probably not the weirdest thing he’s seen, to find a college student writing in a book in the dark. He probably put two and two together the next day, but we didn’t get caught that night. I gave the TPers as much time as I could to do their thing, but little things kept adding up, and I eventually gave the signal to scram.
We all met back up afterwards, and the TPers were very enthusiastic about the feat they’d accomplished. I didn’t get to see the final results of their work, but they told me they’d been running around up in the catwalks and loft, tossing TP through the chandeliers and other hard-to-reach places for all they were worth. “Man, they won’t have it all cleaned up for a week!”
I don’t know if I ever looked forward to a chapel session so much. The next day as I walked into the chapel, there was no sign whatsoever that Team TP had even been there.
Thwarted again.
Class of 2020, pranks may not have been at the top of your to-do list, but you probably didn’t get to do all the things you wanted to do before your last day of in-person class. That’s not the end for you, though. As you move into your next phase of life you’ll have setbacks and you’ll have triumphs, but the most important thing will be for you to keep plugging away, even…no…especially if there’s more “rough” than “smooth.” I believe you can do it, and that this will shape your outlook even after things pick back up again. Good luck, God bless, and best wishes as you make the most of the opportunities you encounter.
Strange times we’re in. While there are many people that no longer have the job they held a month or two ago, many others now work from home. For those folks, the reality is that sometimes they just can’t produce the same quality from home that they’re able to at their normal place of business. I don’t advocate for shoddy workmanship, but it’s important to understand that if you’ve turned in low-quality work of some kind, all is not lost.
We’ve heard many times that God can take terrible things and use them for good. It’s like saying God loves us. We’ve heard it so many times we lose our appreciation for what it means. What if I told you there’s a story in the Bible where God used someone’s poor-quality work to both glorify Himself and accomplish His will at the same time? That might make you feel better when you’re unable to produce the same quality of work you’re accustomed to turning in.
There’s a story in 1 Kings 20 that has a funny little twist. The Bible often glosses over big events in a very short amount of time, and if you blink, you’ll miss it. In this case, the Israelites were at war with a numerically superior foe, the Arameans. Verse 27 says that the Israelites were like two little flocks of goats, but the Arameans covered the countryside.
The Lord was kinda mad at the Arameans in this engagement, so he enabled the Israelites to cut down 100,000 of their enemy in one day, and verse 30 says that the rest fled into a nearby city. Here’s where you’ll miss it if you blink: “But the rest fled to Aphek into the city, and the wall fell on 27,000 men who were left.”
Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a wall large enough to fall on 27,000 men. In order to have a wall that big fall on so many people at once, we’re talking about failure at a spectacular level. The book doesn’t say anything about how that wall was constructed or what made it collapse; we just know that it happened, it was bad news for the Arameans, and it was all part of God’s plan.
Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not condoning work that’s intentionally sloppy or poor. If you can’t meet the level of what you’re ordinarily capable of though, do the best you can. There may be a divine purpose for that imperfection later on down the line.
I’ve got three kids. It’s fun to watch them grow, figure stuff out, and then teach each other the things they’ve picked up over time.
My older two have figured out that when they’re scared of doing something, whether it’s go down in the basement or knock on a neighbor’s door, it’s usually not as bad if they take someone along with them. As a result, their little sister often ends up going down in the basement or knocking on a neighbor’s door along with them.
Taking it a step further, the two older kids are downright brave if they’re watching out for their little sister, even if it’s something that ordinarily gives them the willies.
Ever notice how you tend to be more brave if you’re watching out for someone? You can more easily pull yourself together in a bad situation when someone else depends on you. When someone else relies on you, it takes you out of yourself, and you can rise above your fears.
There are a lot of very anxious people out there these days. If you’re one of them, the first thing I’d probably recommend is to ease back on the amount of news coverage you take in. News reports aren’t known for their soothing nature. Beyond that, though, consider mentoring someone or helping them through the unique circumstances in which we now find ourselves. If you’re focused on helping someone else get through a difficult time, you spend less time worrying about how you are going to make it.
Don’t get me wrong, take care of yourself first. What I’m talking about is the extra time and energy you might waste worrying. I’ve heard it said that worrying is like rocking in a rocking chair; it gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you anywhere.
If you’re prone to excess worry, take a look around and see who you can help settle. It’s going to be okay, but in order for some folks to believe that, they might need to hear it from you.
I believe all scripture
is God-inspired and useful for Christian instruction/education in some respect.
I’ll also acknowledge, though, that some portions of it resonate more strongly
than others.
Ever read a verse (or group
of verses) that really jump out at you? It’s as if that section applies
directly to you, and God had you in mind when He inspired the author to write
it down. It might be that this section of scripture can be identified as your
life verse. A life verse is a verse in the Bible that speaks to you in a
profound way, somehow has special meaning to you personally, or otherwise
reaches you in ways that other areas of scripture do not.
Sometimes you hear
another person’s life verse and you can totally see how it fits them. It makes
so much sense that they would have that verse memorized! Just because they
claim it as their life verse does not mean it’s exclusively theirs, though. I
like to think that if someone has selected a life verse that fits well, it
helps illustrate that verse’s meaning to others, who then internalize and
appreciate it in a new way. In this manner, a person can become a living illustration to others of
what God meant when He inspired that particular verse. In the hopes that
that’s true, I’d like to share my life verse with you.
Mine comes from a point
in Biblical history where there was a passing of the torch, and the successor
had enormous shoes to fill. Humbled, perhaps even fearful of fulfilling the
daunting role placed before him, Joshua knew that he could not take Moses’
place without the Lord’s help. Imagine Joshua falling to his knees, unable to
lift his eyes, saying “God, I’m so afraid!” It’s as if God reached down and
lifted Joshua’s chin with one finger and told him exactly what he needed to
hear:
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.
Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you
wherever you go.” –Joshua 1:9
There are a few
different kinds of “fear.” There’s the kind when someone sneaks up behind you
and startles you, but that’s not the kind this verse is talking about. This is
the kind of fear that causes anxiety and gives you an ulcer from worrying about
it all the time. There are all kinds
of things to worry about in this life if you choose to. We currently live in a
time, especially as we seem powerless to stop pandemics, where there is much
fear. It’s okay to be afraid…until it stops you from doing what God’s called
you to do. God has a purpose for your life, and fear is not a legitimate excuse
for avoiding it.
I’m not in the business
of translating the Bible, and I don’t pretend to be. If I could paraphrase this
verse and put it in our vernacular though, I’d probably state it a little more
like this: “I already told you, hold nothing back! Don’t be anxious and don’t
lose focus, because I’ll be right beside you every step of the way.” It’s easy
for fear to get in the way of the tasks God’s called you to do, and it’s a very
easy tool for God’s enemies to exploit.
Because of the life
I’ve lived, the sights I’ve seen, and the things I’ve done, this verse
resonates with me in a special way. It encourages me to work toward not
blinking when God throws an enormous challenge in my path. I’m of the opinion
that I will always have doubts during those times, but God’s with me every step
of the way, and I’m trying to get better at not flinching when I “receive a new
assignment.” Assuming I have more tasks to perform on God’s behalf in this
life, this verse will help me when I feel inadequate or ill-equipped to do them.
What’s your life verse?
Have you shared it with others? Will you share it with other readers in the
“comments” section of this blog? There might be a verse out there that your life
can provide a perfect illustration for. That would fall under the “love other
people” portion of the “love God and love other people” mandate that God gives
His followers.
Hang in there, keep the faith, and wash your hands. 🙂
Imagine you’re at the top of your game and you are successful
in everything you put your mind to. You have a great reputation, you have a
great job, you have a great family, and your volunteer work makes a difference.
Money isn’t a problem, and you lack nothing.
Does this give meaning to your life?
Long ago the world’s richest and wisest man took it upon
himself to seek out the meaning of life. In the book of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon
decided to investigate how to achieve fulfillment in life. First he tried
living a life of pleasure, but learned that this wasn’t the answer. He studied the
generalities of life and upon reflection was disappointed that death comes both
to the wise man and the fool. He implemented public projects on an enormous
scale, only to conclude that his lifetime of achievements could easily be
wasted after his death if his successor squanders what he inherits.
Very aware of his own mortality, Solomon realizes that this
life is short; it’s fleeting. We busy ourselves with many projects and
endeavors, but in the end we all pass through and then move on from this life.
Many times in the book of Ecclesiastes does Solomon exclaim “meaningless! It’s
all a chasing after the wind!”
The book is almost depressing; he spends 12 chapters
exploring different aspects of life in hopes of finding fulfillment, only to
realize that even our most notable achievements will be forgotten after a few
generations. Then at the very end of the book, almost as an afterthought,
Solomon abruptly gives us his conclusion. These two verses, only two verses out of the whole book, provide
us insight into what he’s learned. If you give up reading the book before the
very end, you miss out on Solomon’s “secret of life:”
Let us hear
the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for
this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every
secret thing, whether good or evil. –Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
After years of experiencing everything life has to offer,
Solomon concluded that your purpose is to please God and to live in such a way
that you will not fear judgment.
I don’t have the time or space to go into all of God’s
commandments here, but I’ll summarize them this way: love God and love people. Each
of these topics can have books written about them. It’s a lifelong endeavor, though;
there are always opportunities to keep getting better at it.
If you’ve got the “love God” portion down pat, it’s time to
“love people.” There are people everywhere you go. You know what I’ve
discovered? A lot of them are hard to get along with. It can be draining to
interact with them! That’s probably why so much of the Bible talks about how to
live and deal with others. Here’s the neat thing: you’re equipped to do it. You have everything you need to
do what you’ve been called to do.
For many of us, that calling has to do with making someone’s
life better somehow. That’s one exciting (yes, exciting) thing about the
Coronavirus-dominated time we’re living through…there are new opportunities to
love on people in ways that are not normally available. All you have to do is
look for them; you’re in the best position to see them and act on them.
Fear God and keep His commandments, and remember that He’ll judge all of your works. This comes from a lifetime of reflection from the wisest man who ever lived. Just a little something to keep in mind if life gets a little too meaningless for you.
As a fan of
professional football, this is an exciting time of year. It’s playoff season.
There are 32 teams in the league and at the end of the regular season only 12
teams extend their season into the playoffs. As of today there are only four
teams left. This weekend two games will occur, and the winners of those two
games will face off in the Super Bowl during the first weekend of February.
One of the things that
make the playoffs so exciting is that anything can happen. This past weekend
the team with the best record in the league was eliminated by a team that
barely made it into the playoffs. While many of the games in the regular season
are blowouts or otherwise unexciting, each team in the playoffs has earned the
right to be there. The level of play is elevated and the games are more
interesting to watch.
When you’re watching a
great game, it’s a shame that one of the teams has to lose and be eliminated.
As the game draws near to the end and it becomes more evident which team is facing
elimination, you see the desperation as they pull out all the stops. They think
bigger; they take more risks. The really
exciting games are the ones that aren’t decided until the last play of the
game. When teams are neck-in-neck, they both raise their level of play, and the
players sometimes seem to find another gear as they push each other to perform
at their highest potential.
How is this like the
Christian life? Think of it this way: a football game isn’t over until there’s
no time left on the game clock. Sure, there are cases where games go to
overtime, but the vast majority of games end when the clock runs out. Just like
a football game, a Christian only has a finite amount of time to be on the
field, making plays for the team and for the coach. After the clock runs out,
the impact of the individual’s efforts cannot be changed. What’s done is done,
and it’s too late to go back and add anything to it.
While we don’t have the
advantage of seeing how much time is left on the clock in our lives, we can
still make efforts to “up our game” and play to our full potential. Are you
disciplined in your spiritual diet (do you consume good things and avoid bad
things)? Are you surrounding yourself with people that push you to operate at
your highest level?
When we’re done with
this life, we’re going to want to be able to say “I left it all out there on
the field.” Don’t keep anything in reserve; use it all up before the clock runs
out. If you do that, believe me, the coach is going to take notice.
When Americans think of
Australia, one of the things they think about is the wildlife. Some of the
things that might come to mind are kangaroos, crocodiles, koala bears, etc. The
tour company I traveled with recognized that, so one of the things they built
into the itinerary of our Australian trip was a stop at a zoo that had a lot of
these animals.
I’ve been to some zoos here in the states. Things are usually set up so that you can’t get too close, but you usually have an unobstructed view of whatever animal is present. Not this place. It was kind of a cross between a petting zoo and a crocodile kennel. You could hand-feed the kangaroos (maybe they were wallabies), handle snakes, and get close to the emu.
I think the main
attraction was probably the crocodiles. The owner was a colorful character.
Think of him as an older version of Crocodile Dundee that put on a bit of
weight and wasn’t quite so light on his feet anymore. He was fun to be around
and took us on a tour of the sights.
I’d guess that this guy
had anywhere from six to 12 crocodiles in various chain-link pens throughout
the zoo. He brought us around to the various pens, sometimes teaching us about
crocs from outside the pen, other times going inside and feeding the crocs a
chicken or two.
I was a little
surprised by this guy’s willingness to go right into the various pens, and even
more surprised at how close he was willing to get to the various animals. He
would be within a few feet of the gaping jaws of these enormous monsters, and
he’d toss meat into their mouths. He was actually missing a few fingers because
he had gotten too close in the past and eager crocs had snapped down quicker
than expected.
He seemed so laid back
about being in such close proximity to reptiles that could kill him. The only
thing he kept nearby was a rake. He used it to scratch the back of some of the
crocs to help them relax, but he kept it with him for another purpose. When a
croc is getting a little too aggressive and you need to move him back, you can
flip the rake around and push on a sensitive spot on their head, and it will
back up. We got to see this first-hand when one of the crocs started coming out
of its pen. Farmer Dundee here flipped the rake around and pushed the croc back
far enough to close the door.
One of the things that
struck me the most about this guy was how confident he was in knowing when it
was safe and when it was not safe to approach one of the beasts. Again, he was
so casual about being in extreme close proximity to crocs that I didn’t know
what to think. He actually sat on one of them when he was tired and wanted to
take a break.
This guy’s behavior is
an example of how we can become so comfortable around danger that we let our
guard down and get careless. By the time I met him, this guy had been around
crocs for years, but for all I know, he could have been attacked and killed by
one of them the next week. You can go for years flirting with danger or
something you shouldn’t be around and everything turns out fine; until it doesn’t.
You won’t always see it coming, either. That’s why it’s best to simply avoid
such situations if at all possible. A few examples might help. If you’re a
recovering alcoholic, don’t go meet friends at a bar. Avoid situations where
you’re alone with that attractive co-worker. Each of us is more susceptible to
certain mistakes than others, but we’re better than we might think when it
comes to predicting where things can go south. Let’s assume you’ve got a good
head on your shoulders; just because you’re not looking at a guy sitting on a
crocodile doesn’t mean you can’t recognize a situation that’s a bad idea.
I don’t blame my
crocodile farmer friend for doing what he does, but he has to constantly be on high
alert for trouble. Even though he’s had a lot of successful crocodile feedings,
he’s still missing some fingers. The lesson here: if you’re perfectly aware of the danger but you
intentionally stay near it anyway, don’t expect to come out of it unscathed.
Are there any
unnecessary risks in your life you need to stop accepting?
