Don't Hesitate

Can someone tell me what I am waiting for?

I am hesitant.....not scared.....hesitant....very busy but on the other hand hesitant.

This economy....this industry....wait a second....what industry?  

MOVE!   WAIT, if I move it might be the wrong move......hesitant.

Ever feel this way?  me too.

God, art, and innovation cannot be reliably and successfully industrialized (even though we try really hard most days to make them work this way.)

Maybe that is why I am having trouble....we all want order out of the chaos but maybe there is a new order.  

We keep hearing about the new economy.....can someone tell me the address to put in my iphone GPS because evidently I can not find it?

Maybe a map isn't the answer either.

I love this story about Walt Disney:

In 1924, Walt Disney wrote a letter to Ub Iwerks. Walt was already in Hollywood and he wanted his old friend Ub to leave Kansas City and come join him to build an animation studio. The last line of the letter said "PS I wouldn't live in KC now if you gave me the place—yep—you bet—Hooray for Hollywood." And, just above, in larger letters, he scrawled, "Don't hesitate—Do it now."

Don't hesitate.....Do it now!  

I am not sure what "it" is but I do know God does. 

So, here I am ready to NOT hesitate.  

God, show me the way! 

This is what God says, the God who builds a road right through the ocean,  who carves a path through pounding waves, The God who summons horses and chariots and armies— they lie down and then can't get up; they're snuffed out like so many candles:
"Forget about what's happened; don't keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it? There it is! I'm making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands. Isaiah 43:18-19 (The Message)

We have HOPE....

His name is Jesus!

This was designed by Mark Ballard

Visit his website here:  http://www.voicepoet.com/

DIRECTION

 

CONTEMPLATING AND BELIEVING GOD SEES, KNOWS, AND DIRECTS MY PATHS!

The END is NEAR!

Apparently, the world is coming to an end sometime this year or next year.  When will this happen, is anyone’s guess...and there are a lot of people guessing!

This continual obsession with the world ending is disturbing at the most and annoying at the least!

Will the world as we know it end someday? yes

Does it matter? yes

Can you do anything to stop it like in the movies (Will Smith in Independence Day comes to mind)?  No

Is there anything you can do to prepare? Yes.

Here is how:  Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus? if the answer is Yes...you are prepared!

If the answer is No, now is the time to prepare so you don't have to worry about when the world will end. 

(Click here to prepare for the end of the world)

Now what?  Help other people prepare for "the end" as you go about your life and go be everything God created you to be. 

Instead of living in fear, trust that God does have the whole world in His hands.

That's it...move along....nothing left to see at the moment....until this world really does end and Jesus comes to launch the new one!

"Forgive and give as if it were your last opportunity. Love like there's no tomorrow, and if tomorrow comes, love again." -Max Lucado

The Carrot

I am going to file this entry under motivation.
  
Motivation using a phrase I have heard through out my life but probably doesn't mean much to most in our current culture which involves a Carrot on a stick.

Carrot and stick is an idiom that refers to a policy of offering a combination of rewards and punishment to induce behavior. Some claim that this usage of phrase is erroneous, and that in fact comes from the figure of a "carrot on a stick" In this case, the driver would tie a carrot on a string to a long stick and dangle it in front of the donkey, just out of its reach. As the donkey moved forward to get the carrot, it pulled the cart and the driver so that the carrot would always remain out of reach.

Does the Donkey ever get the Carrot?  Well, if the driver of the cart gets where he is going then the donkey should get the Carrot.....correct?

As I have discussed this with a few friends I think there is a phenomena happening in our culture in which most people,
 
1. Don't know what their "Carrot" is or
 
2. Just want the "Carrot" without the effort of the journey or
 
3. Don't believe they will truly get the Carrot for their efforts so they are unmotivated at the minimum or just have totally given up at the maximum.

Here is where I am stuck on most days......I am the driver and the donkey!  I am on a journey so I am like the driver of the cart and need get to a destination but I am also the donkey (no wise cracks here) and I need the "Carrot motivation" of a reward at the end of the journey.

I know it is a crazy thought but sometimes it is easy just to focus on the stick.  The mentality is, "I have a stick, who knows if I will ever get to my destination and who really needs a Carrot because it is just always going to be out of reach anyway".  The problem with this is that anyone can have a stick and you and I are created in the image of the God of the Universe and we have inside of us the ability and the seeds to accomplish great things.  If we settle for the stick we will not only miss the Carrot but also all of the excitement and adventures of the journey to our destination and the destination itself. 

THE POINT:  I keep forgetting most days that the "Carrot" is actually not the goal it is just the motivator to get to the destination!!  (This is the place for the Donkey comment!)

Theodore Roosevelt said it this way:

“The credit belongs to those people who are actually in the arena…who know the great enthusiasms, the great devotions to a worthy cause; who at best, know the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, fail while daring greatly, so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Some days I am not excited about the road ahead but the calling and mission, or if you want to call it "The Carrot" is only rewarded by taking the journey that leads to the bigger reward, the destination of being every thing God has created us to be. 

Philippians 3:12-14 (The Message)

 12-14I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back.

Focused on the Goal, motivated by the Carrot, and not turning back!