Tag: challenge

Posted on

Meaning of Life

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.

Posted on

Fortune Favors the Prepared

A college buddy and I took the opportunity in February of 2002 to drive from New York to Utah in order to attend the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Bobsledding is one of the hallmarks of the Winter Olympics, and it’s fun to see. Since the track is so expensive to install and maintain, however, organizers sought other ways to make use of the venue. That’s partly how the sport of luge came to be an Olympic event. Luge athletes lay belly-up on a one-person sled and go sliding feet first down the track. (Then somebody thought it would be a good idea to put two people on one of these tiny sleds.)

  • Bobsled
  • Luge
  • Luge doubles

The 2002 Olympics saw the introduction of a new sport that used the same track: Skeleton. This is an event where an athlete runs down the track as fast as they can, then dives onto a tiny sled. Once on the sled, the competitor is laying on their belly, flying head first down the track with their chin just a few inches off the ice. Of the three different sports that use this venue, Skeleton competitors seem least concerned with clinging to sanity.

Photo courtesy of NBC

We didn’t attend any of the Skeleton runs while in Salt Lake City, but during out time there we were well aware of what happened in the Skeleton competition. Everywhere we went, there were magazines and newspapers (when those were still popular) with American Jim Shea on the cover. He showed up in the highlights of just about every Olympic video we saw for the rest of those games. If I’m not mistaken, Jim was America’s first third-generation Olympian; both his grandfather and father competed in Winter Olympic events in their day. Jim actually won gold in Skeleton that year.

If you saw Jim without knowing anything about him, you’d probably have no idea that he was an Olympian. He looked like he could be your next-door neighbor or some guy that you see in church. He didn’t look terribly athletic. There were a few qualities he had, though, that helped him win this event. When it came to competing in Skeleton, Jim Shea possessed intensity, passion, and drive.

In no way do I want to sound like I’m diminishing the athleticism of Skeleton competitors. The biggest athletic output that occurs during a Skeleton run takes place at the beginning, when the competitor sprints down the track and jumps onto the sled. For the rest of the run beyond that, it’s focus and body control; leaning this way or that way, sometimes grazing the ice with a toe to make a small correction, all while trying to control breathing on a sled that’s flying down a track at up to 80 mph.

Jim Shea approached his Olympic run with ferocity. He wasn’t a “hope for the best” kind of guy. I later saw a picture of him that demonstrated how he approached the run that earned him a gold medal, and that image stuck with me:

This is a man that knew where he wanted to go, knew what he needed to do in order to get there, and focused all of his mental and physical resources so that he had the best chance of succeeding during his single opportunity to make it happen. While people have all different kinds of personalities and some will never be as driven as others to succeed in their goals, it’s the quality and type of preparation and planning they put into it that will help drive their success.

In the future you may only get one shot to make it happen. Are you preparing for success in achieving your goals, or are you just hoping for the best?

Posted on

Ever Look at Bad News This Way?

Let’s be real for a moment.

If you’re a Christian, the world sometimes seems like it’s getting darker. The culture is becoming more and more godless. Today’s young adults are less and less interested in attending church. Many local churches are dead or dying, and many of those still around are consumed with arguments over what kind of music to play or what should or should not be present on the stage during the worship service, rather than reaching the lost.

This is exciting stuff.

You read that right. This is exciting. Why?

Because the Church (capital “c”) is God’s plan for reaching the world. Regardless of the current state of affairs, the Church is going to emerge triumphant. That’s a fact. If the times we’re living in are making today’s local church bodies less and less relevant in reaching the lost, that simply means that the Church we see today is not the version that’s going to be most effective in performing the mission. It means we’re in a time of transition to something new.

So what does that future version of the Church look like? I can’t tell you.

It’s not that I know and I’m withholding the information from you; I can’t tell you because I don’t yet know the manner in which you’re going to be a part of helping the church evolve. In other words, it’s exciting because the Church is going to be effective in new ways because you, as a Christ-follower and part of the Church, are going to change how the Church approaches the problem of delivering the Gospel to people who haven’t heard it before.

Don’t look at the current state of affairs and see despair; look at it and see that opportunities abound! At its core, Christianity is about two things: loving God and loving people (after all, only a handful of the 10 Commandments pertain to our relationship with God; the vast majority of them deal with our relationship with each other). In what way(s) are you able to develop a relationship with someone for the purpose of glorifying God?

Can’t think of anything? Start out with this: make friends with at least one person in every decade of life. Regardless of what decade of life you’re currently in, imagine the perspective you can gain by interacting with someone who has the black-and-white outlook of a child, the idealism of a teenager, the enthusiasm of a twenty-something, the ambition of someone in their thirties, the experience of a mid-lifer, the expertise of someone in their fifties, the hindsight of a sixty-something, the clarity of what’s important in life of someone in their seventies, and the wisdom and life experience of everyone else. Whether or not all those people are Christians, you’re going to learn something, and they might too.

The Church is changing, and that’s not a bad thing. If you see a spot where the Church should be doing something but isn’t, you may have just found your calling. The entire purpose of this blog is to come alongside you, put a hand on your shoulder, tell you that God is capable of doing amazing things through broken and imperfect people, and encourage and exhort you to use the resources and spiritual gifts God’s provided…all for the purpose of reaching the lost and glorifying God. You’re not only capable of helping the Church meet the world’s current needs, you were designed to.

The exciting part is that even though (and perhaps because) the Church will evolve, it’s going to reach people in ways it hasn’t before. So by all means, if you’ve been prompted to or are toying with the idea of doing something unconventional, yet purposeful…please…start pursuing that course and see where it goes.

I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. –Matthew 16:18b.

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. –Ephesians 3:20-21

Posted on

Play Like There’s No Tomorrow

Graphic courtesy of WEBN/NFL

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.

Posted on

Too Much of a Good Thing?

One of the first “grown up” movies I saw as a kid was “Back to the Future.” It was a movie about a high-schooler that used a crazy scientist’s time machine to travel back in time 30 years to when his parents were in high school themselves. It was my introduction to the time travel aspect of science fiction, and I thought it was pretty cool.

Two sequels followed. A couple of my friends and I all loved the trilogy, and the three of us were constantly quoting different parts of the movies to each other. We even had a “Back to the Future” night for my buddy’s birthday sleepover, where we watched all three movies in one night. A couple of years later I was a roommate with that same buddy at a summer camp where we worked. One night after lights out I recited the script of the entire first movie from memory to him.

This is an extreme (or maybe misguided) example of what an engaged mind can do when it obsesses over something. The three of us were around each other and tossed quotes back and forth so often that they became second nature to us. The things we spent time thinking about became the things most important in our relationship to one another.

In the book of Philippians, Paul tells readers to dwell on the things that are worthy of being, well, dwelled on:

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. –Philippians 4:8 (New Living Translation)

I don’t think “Back to the Future” quotes qualify, but I can see why Paul makes the point. The things you frequently think about are the things your mind is moving toward.

Now that Christmas and New Years have passed and we’re closer to getting back into the normal routine, I challenge you to “think on” the things mentioned in Philippians 4:8. As far as quiet time with God, prayer, doing Bible readings, or some other type of devotionals, if you’re not someone who regularly practices them, consider building those items into your 2020 routine. If you do them sporadically, but not on a regular basis, consider doing them more routinely.

Try doing them for 30 days in a row. The reason you’ll often hear people talking about doing something for 30 days is because that’s roughly how long it takes to develop a new habit. In other words, if you were going to make this a part of your routine for the rest of your life, the first 30 days would be the most difficult to accomplish; after that it would be habitual and would require less conscious effort to complete.

God can use you for great things. Take the first step toward embracing that calling by spending time dwelling on the things Christ taught and did. Hopefully by this time next year, you’ll be closer to/more in tune with God than you are right now.

Happy New Year!

Posted on

Do You Honestly Think That’s a Good Idea?

Even the dogs in Australia are mellow.

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?

Posted on

Too Small To Make a Difference

We’ve got a fireplace at home, and we like having fires once it gets cold. Buying or collecting wood for the fireplace can be a hassle though, and this year we happened upon a different solution. Earlier this summer a nearby neighborhood cut down a lot of trees and sliced the trunks into slabs, leaving them to rot throughout the neighborhood. I actually enjoy splitting wood by hand (especially after aggravating days at work), so I went and picked up a bunch of them and brought them home for splitting and burning.

The problem is that I don’t have an efficient method of splitting the wood. Most people know what an ax is, but not everyone knows what a maul is. A maul is kind of like a sledgehammer with a wedge on one side. When I first started splitting wood earlier this summer though, I didn’t have a full-sized maul. The one I have is meant for splitting pieces of wood that have already been split, but are still a bit too big for the fireplace. It’s kind of a hand-held “mini-maul.”

This tool is great for splitting branches or small trunks that are, say, the diameter of a coffee-can. Once you get into dealing with slabs of trunk though, it becomes much more difficult.

I had a slab I was determined to split up, but it was so big I couldn’t even put my arms around it. Nonetheless, I put it on top of another piece and started looking at the natural grain of the wood, then started taking shots at it. At first the mini-maul just bounced off the wood. A few more shots, and each time the mini maul bounced. Each time the tool struck the wood, though, it left a pock mark. I started striking the slab in a way that the pock marks lined up to create a fault line across it. I didn’t really feel like I was making much progress, so I turned the slab and started doing the same thing in a different direction. Then I did it in yet another direction.

I struck the wood over and over and over again. Sometimes the tool bounced and other times it started penetrating into the wood. I was out there for a long time. My hands got sore and hot, like blisters were starting to form. I was tired, and eventually my shirt was so soaked with sweat that it had almost no dry spots, and I thought about packing it in. I must’ve left nearly a hundred pock marks before anything began happening.

Finally, the sound of the impact changed, and a crack emerged. When it did, it breathed new life into my effort.

Once the crack was established, it was easy to exploit into a split, and things moved quickly from there. After splitting it in two, it only took a few shots to make additional splits in one of the two sides. Those smaller chunks became infinitely easier to break into the size I wanted, often in a single blow.

In the end, this little tool was able to deliver enough targeted force to smash a strong, sturdy slab of oak into about 35 splinters that were shadows of what they once were. All of them were done in by the persistent strikes of a tool that was “too small” to do the job.

It’s an alarming spiritual analogy for those things we do that we know we shouldn’t be doing. It might not be anything major, but it happens again and again. Call it the straw that broke the camel’s back, or call it death by a thousand paper cuts. It’s something that doesn’t seem too bad, in and of itself. It’s not a crushing blow, but it’s something that delivers targeted strike after targeted strike against your Christian walk and, if it’s not stopped, has the ability to cause major damage to your spiritual health and relationships.

Maybe it’s gossip. It could be reading a certain kind of novel. Maybe it’s a glance that lingers longer than it should. Perhaps it’s tension in your marriage that goes unresolved and festers. Doing these things a single time is not something that’s devastating to your spiritual walk, but each of them is something that leaves a pock mark. You may have even told yourself “it’s not a big deal, it doesn’t hurt anybody.” Well, maybe doing it once isn’t a big deal, but have you only done it once? Consider whether your pock marks are aligning in a way that will lead to cracks and problems in the future, maybe soon.

Is there something you’re doing that you know you shouldn’t be doing? If you’re wrapped up in something that hinders your ministry or God-given purpose, even just a little bit, it can affect your ability to make your maximum impact for Christ’s kingdom. Like athletes that train hard to compete at a high level, cut yourself off from things you know aren’t helping you. Don’t run for third place, or for second place; run to win.

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. –Hebrews 12:1-2

I demolished each of these pieces of wood using that mini maul. If you feel you’ve stripped the unneeded junk out of your life, how can you help the “other pieces of wood” around you to do the same, so that they can better resist the onslaught of strikes that hit them every day?
Posted on

Who In the World Do You Think You Are?

Ever feel like God’s placed a burden on your heart, and it involves you doing something that you have no business doing? (If so, you’re in good company…Abraham, Moses, Noah, etc…)

“That’s absurd,” you might say, so you brush off the idea. For some people that’s the end of it.

For others, the idea lingers. You don’t outright shut the door on the possibility, but you might not do anything to move toward the goal, either. So it hangs out there for months, years, or even longer, just waiting until you allow other circumstances to kill the idea or you begin to take more concrete actions to commit to, or achieve, the goal.

Taking the perspective of God’s opponents, what would be your attitude toward the people who seek to fulfill these aspirations? As long as they’re not making any meaningful efforts, you probably wouldn’t care; but what about when they start committing to achieving those goals? That’s when you’d want their heads filled with thoughts like “Who in the world do you think you are? You have no business doing something like that! You’re not qualified in any way to even attempt to do something like that!”

You might feel ill-equipped to perform God’s tasks. Good. You’re supposed to. My friends, that is exactly what makes the idea so full of potential as far as bringing God glory. By way of example, what glorifies Him more…when a life-long highly skilled warrior defeats a giant soldier, or when a shepherd boy defeats a giant soldier?

My schooling is in the sciences and leadership. I took a basic writing course in college that was mandatory for all students, and a few other workshops about writing for the workplace. I barely know how to look someone up on social media. I’m no more qualified to write a blog about God working through imperfect people than I am to host a televised game show. When God placed the burden on my heart to start a blog that spurs Christians on, you can imagine my skepticism.

Here’s the thing, though: obedience is our responsibility, and outcome is God’s responsibility. That’s very important, so I’ll say it again…obedience is our responsibility, and outcome is God’s responsibility. If you’ve been burdened with a task that you know is Heaven-sent, don’t fixate on all the things that are going to need to be overcome. That’s God’s territory and is beyond what you can see. The part you should focus on is taking action, even if it means taking the first/next step without knowing the destination or what the end goal looks like.

It’s now been a year since I started blogging on this site. This is my 84th post. Some posts touch on times of high adventure while others are more mundane and relate to an everyday kind of experience. With all of them I’ve tried to articulate some sort of life lesson that can be used to encourage you to allow God to use you for His glory more than He’s using you right now. I’d urge you to read the Purpose page that describes how the blog got its name. It’s all meant to help you take action when you recognize “you know, I think I know what he’s talking about. I feel like God’s nudging me to…” In the absence of a nudge, I want to encourage you to use whatever combination of spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit has given to you. These gifts are to be employed for the very simple reason that God is glorified when His creation…you…does what it was made to do.

I want to help you live the life you were meant to live.

In closing, I want to explain a little bit about how this website works. If there’s a particular topic on this blog you’d like to read about, there are ways to sort through previous posts. Almost every post belongs to two categories. One category identifies the activity (whitewater, ropes, SERE Indoc, 2002 Winter Olympics, etc.), and is meant to set the stage for the point I want to pass along. The other category is the “moral of the story” (God can use you more than you think He can, Hang in there, Don’t let fear hold you back, Growing in Trust and Capability, etc.), and is the real purpose behind each story. You can see a list of categories at https://daregreatlynow.com/home/.

Another method of perusing the site’s posts is by using the same link to look through different tags. Tags aren’t quite as organized as the categories, but they might help you find what you’re looking for. They’re available at the same link.

I’d also love to hear feedback from you. What do you like or not like about DareGreatlyNow? Do you have any ideas that would make these posts easier to share or be available to more people? Finally, do you feel like you’ve been given a burden that you know you’re supposed to pursue, but you’re having a hard time coming to terms with it? Sometimes it helps just to tell someone, even if you do it anonymously. Feel free to comment on the page itself or email me at tim@daregreatlynow.com.

You were meant for great things, but you have to remember that you’re only a vessel. Let God be in charge. Be obedient to what He’s called you to do, and He’ll take care of the rest.

Posted on

You’re Not the First

Here’s a paddler going over a 10+ foot drop

By the start of senior year of college, most students are thinking about their last classes and life beyond their degree. I was thinking about it being my last year to take advantage of all the institution’s adventure sports programs.

I was into kayaking and whitewater rafting at the time. Coming back to college at the end of summer meant that the water in the local creeks and river was still warm. For kayaking, that was nice, but it was also the time of year where the flow rate was the lowest, so a lot of creeks and rivers were either too low or too slow to be enjoyable. Thankfully, we had a solution for that.

Not far from the college was a man-made lake with a concrete dam. The lake provided summer boating opportunities for visitors and residents. Every year, about this time in September, the dam operator dropped the lake’s water level roughly 10-15 feet to kill most of the shallow water algae over the winter. That way the water in these areas the following spring and summer would stay clear of excessive plant growth.

The faculty adviser for the college’s paddle sports club, a guy named Tim, was in touch with the dam operator. The operator was pretty cool about releasing the water in a time and manner that Tim would request. If we wanted a longer, sustained flow, this guy would accommodate us. If we wanted a bigger, shorter burst, he’d make it happen. The two would agree on a schedule for when the release would begin, and prior to that date’s arrival, Tim and a few other people would walk down through the creek bed with chainsaws to clear potential obstacles. It was a custom-ordered whitewater run!

I had only become interested in kayaking the previous academic year. I’m not sure why, but I got it into my head that I wanted to go over a drop in a kayak. A drop is just like it sounds…it’s a sudden change in the elevation of the creek/river bed. It could be a shelf that spans the whole width of the body of water you’re going down, or maybe a formation where one side of the river has a big drop while the other side has a more gradual slope. As it turns out, this run had a drop of probably 4-5 feet right at the beginning…great for a first-time drop. When I got the invite, this is the feature that sold me.

The day arrived and I met up with a few other guys. One of them, a maintenance guy at the college, was named Charlie. Charlie’s hobbies included woodworking and generally “MacGyvering” things. He carved his own wooden kayak paddle. He also fashioned a wooden bumper for his car when it needed to be replaced. His family hosted a number of us for dinner once, and his kids showed off a system of pulleys that allowed them to raise or lower their beds depending on whether they wanted more floor space or to go to bed. Charlie was going to walk me through my first drop.

We drove to the lake, geared up, and carried our boats down to the creek. We put in just downstream of the spillway, and the drop wasn’t far beyond. Charlie had walked me through the process a bit, laying out the mechanics of what needed to happen and the order in which they needed to happen. Much like I had learned years before, it was important to not reduce speed as you approach the drop.

Charlie was going to be the first to do the drop, so I could see where to do it and how to approach it. He worked out a signal with me before he went over the edge. A drop of 4 or 5 feet isn’t that much, but when you’re sitting in a boat that’s barely on top of the water, your eyes are only about two feet off the surface, so it looked much higher. After Charlie went over the edge, I wouldn’t be able to see him. Once he was safely down and he was ready for me to proceed, he’d stick his paddle up in the air and wave it back and forth, and that would be my “green light.”

Deciding that we were both ready, he went for it. He started paddling and kept going, right up until the bow of his boat dropped, his stern popped up out of the water, and he disappeared over the edge. A few seconds followed, and then I saw one end of a hand-carved wooden paddle stick up in the air and start waving around. It was my turn.

I went for it. I started paddling, and got faster as I neared the shelf. As I slid over the ledge, my boat’s bow dipped and for a fraction of a second I was in midair. The bow then sliced deep into the water before the kayak’s buoyancy bounced it back up to the surface. It was easier than I thought, and it was cool!

The thing that made this part of the adventure so easy was that I had someone right there to walk me through it. It was someone who had been through it before, who knew what to expect, and was physically right there to help me in case I got into a jam. In this situation, Charlie mentored me through the challenge successfully, and it was much different than if I had been there by myself and decided to try it and see what happened.

How about you? Do you have a mentor that can help guide you through a situation that’s foreign and scary to you? This life is full of unknowns, but it’s also full of people with lots of experience that you don’t have. Don’t be afraid of taking a shortcut to spare yourself some painful lessons by learning from others’ hard-won experience.

Maybe you’re more like Charlie. You’ve been around the block a few times. You see someone who’s enthusiastic but inexperienced, and it looks like they’re in an awfully big hurry to get themselves hurt or stuck in a bad situation. Why not see if they’re willing to allow you to help channel that enthusiasm into something productive? Don’t do it because you think it’ll make you look good; do it because you can help them.

Posted on

Don’t Rob the World of it…

The church we attend is fortunate to have a large amount of musical talent among its congregation.

Each week the church holds multiple services, so it’s asking a lot for the same people to be on the worship team week after week for all the services. Volunteers from the congregation stepped up, and as a result the worship team has a good amount of “bench strength.”

When the team is leading worship, there are usually a lot of people on stage. Normally there are two keyboardists, three or four guitarists, a drummer, and some singers. There’s a lot happening during a given song.

I’m not sure why, it’s probably the amount of movement, but my eye is always drawn to the drummer. Like any other role on the worship team, there are different types of people that play the drums. All of them can keep the beat just fine, but while some of them look calm and in complete control of the rhythm, others play with intensity and look like they’re out of breath and are right on the edge of losing musical control.

I always enjoy when one young man in particular takes his turn at the drums. Not only are his arms flailing around in perfect timing, smashing his instruments, but his head also bobs to help keep the beat. At the same time his facial expression conveys his sheer passion for the task.

The drums and cymbals our church uses are electronic; I’m guessing that someone made the decision to use electronic cymbals so that metal ones don’t overpower the rest of the worship team. They make less noise when the drumsticks physically strike them, and the sound system adds it in to the overall mix coming out of the speakers. When I’m sitting in the congregation and this guy is drumming, I can clearly hear the sound of his drumsticks slapping the cymbals no matter where I sit in the room.

This is someone that’s doing what he was created to do, and it’s a joy to behold.

We’re all created with gifts. I heard someone describe a gift as “the thing you do the best with the least amount of effort.” You might make a living from it, but not necessarily. For some people, standing up in front of a group and teaching is something that comes naturally, but for others that idea is terrifying. Some people are amazing hosts/hostesses. It’s possible to be an incredibly empathetic conversationalist and have an occupation where that skill isn’t used at all.

Your gift might be something you think is absurd, or even worthless. It doesn’t matter how you feel about it, but I’ll tell you that you’ll feel satisfaction in using your gifts to glorify God. If you make amazing fried chicken…fry it while giving God glory. If mowing grass in cool patterns comes naturally to you, mow it like there’s no tomorrow. If you write computer code or create algorithms effortlessly, write and create with passion! There’s no telling how your gift will combine with others that are using their gifts, and what that will result in.

What were you created to do? The more important question is: are you doing it? (What good is a drum that can’t be played, or a Lamborghini that sits in the garage?)

The drummer in our church isn’t changing lives or saving souls by playing the drums. I can only imagine though, that if it’s fun for me, an ordinary guy, to watch him play, our Heavenly Father is smiling even bigger to see one of his beloved children employ the talents entrusted to him to pursue his calling. Wouldn’t you like to bring the same kind of smile to God’s face?