after that

"What is after that?"

Consider...

that thing you keep pursuing...

that breakthrough you yearn for...

let's say it happens.

Well done. 

---- Then what? ----

Think ahead. Pray ahead.

Ask, "What is after that?"

Because at some point the answer is eternity.

Are you ready for it?

And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ (Luke 12:19-20)

go crazy

You're a little crazy.

That's what you'll hear, at least.

That innovative idea you have that you fear trying because of the peanut gallery commenting on it?

It just may be the "crazy" idea that all the "sane" people need to hear.

You know how when people are driving along on a road and see a fire burning off in the distance they slow down and pay attention to it?

What if you could light the right fire so that people will slow down and pay attention to it?

Consider the perspective of Charles Spurgeon on this:

"All those who have done wonders for Christ have always been called eccentric and fanatical. Why, when Whitfield first went on Bennington Common to preach, because he could not find a building large enough, it was quite an unheard of thing, to preach in the open air. How could you expect God to hear prayer, if there was not a roof over the top of the people's heads? How could souls be blessed, if the people had not seats, and regular high-backed pews to sit in! Whitfield was thought to be doing something outrageous, but he went and did it; he went and broke the alabaster box on the head of his Master, and in the midst of scoffs and jeers, he preached in the open air.

And what came of it? A revival of godliness, and a mighty spread of religion.

I wish we were all of us ready to do some extraordinary thing for Christ - willing to be laughed at, to be called fanatics, to be hooted and scandallized because we went out of the common way, and were not content with doing what everybody else could do or approve to be done."

It's time to do that crazy thing.

It's time to get your family back into church.

It's time to get your church back into being a family.

It's time to reach out to new people who are not like you in any way.

It's time to be reached out to by people whose phone calls and texts you've been avoiding.

It's time to step up and reveal the greatness inside of you that blush about.

It's time to blush about the not-so-great things you've gotten used to happening in the world.

Go crazy.

And if the elevator tries to bring you down... go crazy (Punch a higher floor!)

I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.  (2 Samuel 6:22)

the danger of momentum

We all like momentum, but it is deceptive.

When you have momentum, it makes everything look better than it is.

When you don't have momentum, it makes everything look worse than it is.

- Andy Stanley

It's why one of your roles in any arena of momentum -

be it life, work or play -

is reminding people what reality is and isn't.

The best way?

Celebrate actual momentum when it happens.

And if it doesn't happen?

Point toward somewhere it is outside of your circle and humbly ask, "What can we learn from that?"

How?

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith" (Hebrews 12:2)

this is the life

How innocent it is to see what's before you as a great curtain, ready to unveil the next presentation before you.

This is the life.

Then...

How disheartening it is to start to see the curtain differently.... to notice its dust, rips and tears... to wonder if there ever was any genuine magic at all.

This is the life.

Then...

How redemptive it is to review it all, and review yourself... and then to not just see the seams, but to see the seams as yet another unveiling of the next presentation before you.

This is the life.

"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." (1 Corinthians 13:12)

fan the flame

Think about a value that you’d like to nurture in your circle of influence.

Your home. Your business. Your neighborhood. Your school. Your church.

How can you fan the flame?

• Maybe it’s something proactive, like a sense of Divine Expectation in what’s about to happen today. You will look for blessings and help others to see them.
  
  
• Maybe it’s Genuine Humility so that everything that happens is less about ego or rights and more about putting the spotlight on someone/something else.
  
  
• Maybe it's Fearless Conversation that allows others to talk about what matters most in the way that matters most.
  
  
• Maybe it’s Radical Hospitality that makes sure everyone is profoundly relational in how they authentically interact with each other.

(thanks to Thom and Joani Schultz for the unique wording of those powerful concepts)

On the other hand, maybe what you want to nurture is reactive to something you feel isn’t happening at all or in the way you want it to. We all have these moments, and sometimes frustration is a way God gets our attention. Sometimes it’s to help offer change to the situation, and other times it’s because He wants to initiate a change inside of you.

Be aware of the difference.

We all have opinions. We all get fired up about certain things.

Imagine what would happen... what could happen...
if you keep your eyes focused on Jesus – the Author and Perfector of our faith.

Imagine what would happen... what could happen...
if we love and lead each other as we grow.

"For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands." (2 Timothy 1:6)