I was sitting at a little coffee shop in Oklahoma City and saw my buddy Michael Leehan. Mike has a crazy story of redemption and he shares an even crazier story of his life of darkness and God’s saving grace in his book, Ascent From Darkness.
The above video is a recent news story shares a glimpse of his story, all the way down to the details of his plans to kill LifeChurch.tv Pastor Craig Groeschel.
Check out the story and share your thoughts.
Step Out Of The Traffic
God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him. We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom, courageous in seastorm and earthquake, Before the rush and roar of oceans, the tremors that shift mountains. Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God of angel armies protects us.
River fountains splash joy, cooling God’s city, this sacred haunt of the Most High. God lives here, the streets are safe, God at your service from crack of dawn. Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten, but Earth does anything he says.
Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God of angel armies protects us.
Attention, all! See the marvels of God! He plants flowers and trees all over the earth, Bans war from pole to pole, breaks all the weapons across his knee. ”Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything.”
Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God of angel armies protects us. ~Psalm 46:1-11 MSG
If you want something great in life you must be willing to risk something.
Risk is defined as – exposure to the chance of injury or loss; a dangerous chance. To act in spite of the possibility of loss or undesirable outcome.
If you are not achieving greatness, reaching your dreams or failing, there is a high probability that you are not taking enough risks. It’s time for you to reach your potential, it’s time for you to start taking some risks.
“The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live.” ~Leo Buscaglia
Do you think there is a correlation between risk and success? Share your thoughts on the unwillingness of people to take risks.
Even prior to the kickoff of Super Bowl XLVI, Twitter proved to be the ultimate fill-in. By fill-in, I’m referring to the fact that Twitter served as the great bridge for time and space. It didn’t matter whether you were an emphatic fan or the casual observer simply looking forward to the Super Bowl commercials, Twitter provided instant and on-going engagement.
Whether it was the New England wide-receiver Tiquan Underwood ( @TiUnderwood ) who was cut on Super Bowl eve sharing his game thoughts, @mashable hosting a live Super Bowl commercial chat or the millions of others who were joining in on some type of Twitter Super Bowl chatter. Bottom line is Twitter was the place to be, share and comment; additionally Twitter doubled as advertisement for the commercials that worked and those that missed the mark.
Twitter has changed the way people view events and the way that people engage culture. It’s the fill-in that provides instantaneous feedback. If you want to know what people really think about Howard Stern being one of the new hosts of America’s Got Talent, simply check your Twitter during the fill-in times. My observations were that most people were not fans. On the other hand, people were fans of the Volkswagen commercial that had some continuation of last year’s Darth Vader commercial.
If you want to know what people thought about Kelly Clarkson’s rendition of the National Anthem or whether or not the 53 year-old Madonna still has “It,” all you had to do was check twitter. People were able to fill-in their time with thoughts with everything ranging from Cee-Lo’s dress-like choir robe to the nun-like robes sported by the rest of the choir. Unfortunately for Madonna, many people had opinions on her performance and her wardrobe malfunction fall that NBC didn’t do a good job of editing out.
Time and space no longer have to be boring, lackluster or uneventful, because Twitter serves as the ultimate fill-in. Twitter continues to prove it’s game changing, news breaking and people connecting ability. Twitter allows people the luxury to think out loud and those thoughts to be shared with people around the globe. If you don’t want to think out loud, you can at least casually observe the thoughts of others. No matter what you think or how you think, here is some food for thought: According to Tech Crunch, Twitter reportedly received over 10,000 tweets per second during the last 3 minutes of the Super Bowl. That’s what you call filling in a lot of time and space.
My final Super Bowl thought while filling in time and space on Twitter was this, “Tomorrow’s Headline: ‘The Playbook of Eli.’ #superbowl“
Is Twitter the ultimate fill-in? Did you use Twitter to fill-in time and space? If so, please share your interactions and observations.
Posterized - A slang term depicting a play in basketball. In said play, a player dunks the ball over top or in front of another player, making a play so picturesque that it may appear on a poster, hence the term, posterized. (Blake Griffin makes a living out of posertizing NBA players.)
For those of you that follow sports you know that @blakegriffin is a freak of nature and is an ESPN top 10 highlight reel waiting to happen. I happen to know Blake and his family, as they attended the LifeChurch.tv Campus that I pastored for many years. (casual name drop)
Blake has always had an amazing knack for the rim and ability to finish with a power dunk. With the recent addition of one of the best point guards and floor generals in the game, Chris Paul, it’s power dunk to the nth degree. So much so that the LA Clippers arena is nicknamed Lob City because of what Chris Paul combined with DeaAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin can do with the alley-oop.
Recently Blake Griffin did a monster dunk on OKC Thunder Big Man, my man Kendrick Perkins. The dunk has received over 3 million views and counting on YouTube. You can check it out here. I personally have seen way more powerful dunks by Blake Griffin than the Kendrick Perkins contested dunk.
The next game after the Big Posterization dunk on Kendrick Perkins, Blake Griffin and the Clippers faced the Utah Jazz. Every time Blake got close to the rim, players were scurrying like a bunch of scared mice, because they didn’t want to get posterized. It’s not only happening with Blake Griffin, but often times you will see players vacate the scene because they don’t want to get posterized.
In life or in basketball, if you want to be successful and you want to be a winner you must be willing to get posterized. Don’t back down from a challenge, a promotion, taking a risk, facing an opponent or contesting one of the most prolific dunkers in the game. Go after em’, give it what you got and be willing to get posterized. Kendrick Perkins’ response to the posterization sums up what I’m trying to say, “It happens… At the end of the day, if you’re a shot blocker, you’re going to get dunked on.” At the end of the day if you give it all that you have in life, business, sports etc. you’re going to get dunked on.
The ones that will be successful in the end are the ones that are willing to take a risk, the ones that are willing to get posterized. That poster is a symbol that you were willing to try and not run away like a scared coward. I’d much rather have a guy like Kendrick Perkins on my team than these other guys who are running scared. That timid business is just weak sauce… no matter the task; give it all that you have.
Our 26th President Theodore Rooselvelt spoke about those that are not willing to get posterized,
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” ~Theodore Roosevelt
Why is this generation a generation that is unwilling to get posterized? Share your thoughts on this new generation of cold timid souls.
I remember having a conversation with a pastor friend of mine who happens to be a female. She was sharing the various unique things that women in the church struggle with and things they have confided in her. One of the things that she shared made me have one of those “hmm” moments. She stated that women that she’s talked w/ in various churches struggle with the fact that They Think Their Pastor’s Sexy! Not to be confused with the popular country music song “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.” Not only do they think their Pastor’s Sexy, but they struggle with their mind and eyes wandering into inappropriate places. It becomes a challenge because they will have these lustful thoughts as their pastor is speaking. The same can be true for men with a female pastors or lust in general.
Many pastors teach the concept out of the book Every Mans Battle called “Bouncing Your Eyes.” In other words, don’t keep your eyes focused on someone of the opposite sex for too long. Keeping your eyes moving can keep you out of trouble. This is something that is stereotypically geared towards guys… but what about the ladies? There is a book called Every Womans Battle, although I have not heard anything about the content.
After my conversation with my female pastor friend, it’s probably fair for me to make the assumption that there are women sitting in pews and seats of churches all around the country that may be struggling with the inability to “Bounce Their Eyes;” especially as their eyes are having to be fixated on their “Sexy Pastor,” who happens to be in front of them for relatively lengthy periods of time each and every week. The fact that their pastor is a man of God, tells great stories and seems to be rather put together only increases the the sexiness factor.
The thoughts running through their head might be something like this: He’s Hot, I like that suit, Are those True Religion Jeans, He’s so spiritual, I wish my husband treated me like that, He’s so Handsome, Nice Hair, He dresses so fly, I can tell he’s been working out, He’s so considerate, I know he’s married but, I would, I wonder if I can share that with him, I bet he… After thinking these thoughts, their mind wanders for a moment or two or three or four and unfortunately, this cycle can repeat itself on a weekly basis. The Bible says this: ”But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Matthew 5:28 Ladies this passage applies to you as well, so please Stop Lusting After Your Pastor!
God created us with a unique ability to train and control our eyes, actions and mind. Exercise your ability and gain control.
Do women get a pass? Is this a problem? How does play into the overall adultery scheme of things? Share your thoughts.
hus-tler : an enterprising person determined to succeed; go-getter.
The more I understand the difference between those who succeed and those who simply talk about those who succeed, the more I understand the importance of being a hustler. Hustlers make it happen, because they are determined to succeed.
Do you want to succeed? Maybe it’s time that you become a hustler.
“Things may come to those who wait… but only the things left by those who hustle.” ~Abraham Lincoln
Are you a hustler? Who are some successful hustlers that come to mind?
en-tre-pre-neur: a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business,
usually with considerable initiative and risk.
Many people have a desire to become a flourishing entrepreneur; however only a small percentage are successful. Successful entrepreneurs exhibit 2 key characteristics: a.) They are willing to put forth considerable initiative b.) They understand they can’t be successful without a willingness to take considerable risk.
Do you want to be a successful entrepreneur? Get up, Step up, Show some initiative and be ready to take some considerable risk.
Is it really that simple? Share your thoughts!
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