A Shielded Safety

I really enjoy Star Trek, and I have taken the time to watch it over the years. In the show, whenever a confrontation between two starships happens, the captains are given updates about the “shields” and how they are holding. The more recent technologies of Star Trek shields work as a force field around the ship, a bubble to protect the ship and its crew from external dangers. Some shields even have a cloaking capability, which renders the ship invisible to any outside forces. It occurs to me that our comfort zones work pretty much the same way: they exist to protect us from dangers that we perceive are coming near. A difference here is that the shields on Star Trek can be lowered pretty easily; the same cannot be said of the comfort zone.

The idea of lowering our shields when we feel faced with a threat is certainly counterintuitive to our human nature. We know that we are safe in our comfort zone, and if safety is our primary purpose in life, then our shields should indeed remain perpetually raised.

I believe, however, that our primary purpose in life is not safety.

And so, friends, we must be brave. We must lower our shields, and we must welcome the trials and challenges and growth opportunities that are sure to come our way. In Star Trek, the shields prevent anyone from transporting on or off the ship. If anyone wants to leave or come aboard, the shields must be down. Think of that analogy for a moment. Do you want to spend your whole life aboard a star ship? Or are there perhaps other worlds to explore? Are there perhaps other people who will make your life meaningful ... people that one day you will want to bring aboard with you? You’ll never know if your shields are up.

How do we lower our shields and move outside the comfort zone? It begins with a deliberate choice. We take small steps of exploration and bravery, and what we usually find is that we are far stronger than we ever gave ourselves credit for. Enough successful experiences erode our fears and make us bolder. We discover that our fear dissipates in the excited anticipation of the unknown challenge and adventure that lies on the path to becoming all that we are created to be.

Author: Skip Ross

Skip Ross was the owner, founder, and director of Circle A Ranch. He and his wife Susan dedicated their lives to making a difference in the development of teens through their ministry and spent the over 40 years giving their summers to the work of Circle A.

Skip authored the books Say Yes to Your Potential and Daily Disciplines, and created the Dynamic Living Seminar and the Thrive Study Series. He traveled the globe teaching the principles of attitude development and leadership to millions of people for over 50 years. He also recorded numerous audio and video teachings that have been distributed around the world with the help of Network 21 and podcasts.

He was a successful business executive, recording artist, and motivational speaker. He was founder and president of the OFIDA Project, on the Board of Directors of the Fred L. Hansen Corp., a Crown IBO with Amway, and a graduate of Westmont College and Fuller Theological Seminary. He worked with many different ministry organizations over the years but has most recently been working with the Equip Organization, founded by John Maxwell, to produce highly effective Christian leaders around the world.

Skip Ross went home to be with Jesus on June 13th, 2021, at the age of 82.

This excerpt is taken from Skip’s book, Daily Disciplines.

Pioneer of Possibility

The way ahead has not been mapped,

For none have gone before me.

I cannot follow trails or tracks,

No, this is a new story. 

This crossroads begs no turning back;

Ahead is all I know.

And yet without a guide or map,

Wherever shall I go?

To climb a mountain yet unseen,

Or ford river wide,

Or sail across an unknown sea

Will take more than my pride. 

I must learn how to blaze a trail,

Since others long to come.

A guiding light might still prevail,

So steady, I go on. 

No roads, no maps, no trails or tracks

And yet, perhaps one tool

A compass may yet guide my path

And lead me by its rule.

The One True North will call to me

When darkness clouds my view.

With time and care I’ll learn to see

And find the best way through. 

Into the woods I go at last,

The country undiscovered.

The future pulls me from the past

And I will travel onward.

The ancient ways will cast out fear,

And then I’ll be set free.

I find myself a pioneer

Of possibility.

Author: Melody Farrell

Melody Farrell is the co-founder and acquisitions editor of Lost Poet Press. She also serves as co-pastor of Element Church Tampa and operations manager of Echo Media Group. She is associate director of Circle A Ranch, a program which teaches teenagers principles of leadership. She serves on the board of Grow Into You Foundation, a non-profit that provides coaching, mentoring, and housing for teens aging out of the foster care system. She is a wife, podcaster, musician, and mother of two from Sarasota, Florida.

Slowing Down To Notice

Something powerful takes place when we learn to be fully present physically, mentally, relationally, and spiritually. Noticing brings us into the present and demands that we move slower and engage each moment more thoughtfully and intentionally. Is it too much to suggest that worshiping created things rather than the Creator is to have an entire world of people looking down instead of looking up, fixated on small screens, shares, likes, and finger swipes? What are we doing? These shadows are not what we were made to see.

Can we really claim to walk in the light if we continue to notice only what we learned to see in the dark?

One time when my family and I visited Disney World, I asked them to slow down and take a moment to notice what was around them. We pointed out all the things we saw that were good. There were many! It was Disney World, after all. We paused a while longer to look for the broken, and there it was. In the happiest place on earth!

My kids noticed some trash on the ground that was rather out of place for the usually pristine environment. They also noticed the noise level. It was wildly loud. We noticed a young boy in a wheelchair. His limbs were twisted and his expression vacant. When my kids first noticed him, they didn’t see anything broken. To them, he was just like any other person enjoying the happiest place on earth. I found their acceptance delightful. But at the same time, it allowed us to have a conversation about what it might be like when all things are made whole, when that young boy could run freely at their side. We noticed the broken commingled with the good, and we looked to the future.

My wife and I are learning to live with Vision Out each day as we help our kids develop a habit of noticing. Together we are learning to travel through our days with curiosity and wonder, looking for the good, the broken, and the future. This habit lifts our heads and opens the door to new connections, unexpected delights, honest tears, new relationships, critical thinking, and good conversation. Life to the full means noticing the commingled reality of this wonderful, complex, confusing, challenging, beautiful, tragic and exhilarating human experience.

Live slow.

Look again and again.

Author: Zach Elliott

Zach Elliott describes himself as an ordinary man who loves Jesus. Anyone who knows Zach Elliott would describe him as far from ordinary. Zach began his career with Oregon State Police as a Forensic Evidence Technician, then served as a church planter and a pastor before launching V3, a ministry committed to sharing the Gospel and loving the Church. He is a husband, father, speaker, author, and thought leader, engaging the world with a powerful message of hope and restoration in Christ. He has a contagious love of life, finds beauty in the most unlikely places, and loves people with an uncommon depth of respect and honor.

This excerpt is quoted from Zach’s book, Now I See.

Love Is A Choice

The most powerful choice you will ever make in your life is the choice to love.

During the Dynamic Living seminar at Circle A, we devote one of the longest sessions to the topic of love. I have consistently and regularly received feedback that this portion of the seminar is incredibly impactful and paradigm shifting for the campers who attend.

In the world we live in, love is distorted to be something it is not. Our music sends the message that we “fall in love”, and our movies give us the idea that we just might meet someone who is our perfect “soul mate”. Unfortunately, these same media sources seem to indicate that it is about as easy to “fall out of love” as it is to “fall in love”. Although these emotions and experiences do occur, many buy into the idea that these feelings are the basis for a relationship of love. They believe that if these emotions cease to exist, then the love must have fizzled and died. If we believe this, we are often left searching for this lasting euphoria. We are left disillusioned when we discover the more difficult parts of all human relationships.

The thesis of the love seminar at Circle A is that we are all inherently lovable. We derive a worth and value that is not based on anything we do or become. It is based solely on the fact that we are beautiful, unique, individual creations of God. When we arrive at the conclusion that we are all inherently lovable, then for us to love anyone ... all we have to do is decide. There isn’t anything we have to do; there are no conditions or expectations to meet that make us lovable.

Before Susan and I were married, she would often ask me what I loved about her. I refused to give her an answer. I didn’t want to put a condition on my love for her. As an example, if I said that I loved her hair, and then something happened one day that made her lose her hair, she could begin to doubt my love for her. At first this was somewhat upsetting to Susan, but as we talked more and I explained why, she understood and deeply appreciated the fact that my love for her is a choice. We developed ways to complement each other without it creating conditional love.

This concept of love being a decision extends to far more relationships than marriage. Is there something your kids could do that would negate your love for them? How about your parents? Or your friends?

Today, let’s think about what our relationships would look like if our love were truly unconditional. Let’s think about what our world would look like if we treated people as though their worth was inherent in their existence and not based on living up to a set of criteria. Let’s think about the way we love ourselves too. What sort of criteria are we placing on our own worth?

Author: Skip Ross

Skip Ross was the owner, founder, and director of Circle A Ranch. He and his wife Susan dedicated their lives to making a difference in the development of teens through their ministry and spent the over 40 years giving their summers to the work of Circle A.

Skip authored the books Say Yes to Your Potential and Daily Disciplines, and created the Dynamic Living Seminar and the Thrive Study Series. He traveled the globe teaching the principles of attitude development and leadership to millions of people for over 50 years. He also recorded numerous audio and video teachings that have been distributed around the world with the help of Network 21 and podcasts.

He was a successful business executive, recording artist, and motivational speaker. He was founder and president of the OFIDA Project, on the Board of Directors of the Fred L. Hansen Corp., a Crown IBO with Amway, and a graduate of Westmont College and Fuller Theological Seminary. He worked with many different ministry organizations over the years but has most recently been working with the Equip Organization, founded by John Maxwell, to produce highly effective Christian leaders around the world.

Skip Ross went home to be with Jesus on June 13th, 2021, at the age of 82.

This excerpt is taken from Skip’s book, Daily Disciplines.

The Garden

the garden waits

expecting life

and beauty will follow

after all

after fall

sweater weather seems

to last forever

until

unexpectedly

life appears suddenly

surprised

we really shouldn’t be

expecting life

is pregnancy

waiting first expectantly

Hope Begotten mystery

life matures in wombs

quietly

the whisper heard

speaking

outside every speechless tomb

bowing

silently

as life appears like it counted

down from three

still surprised

we really shouldn’t be

the garden was made for spring

made to sing

made to ring

made to fling out broad a name

like the rest

but not

One

but we’re not the same

mortal things forever witnessing

his Life conquering

Death where’s your sting?

life’s a symphony

scored brilliantly

a finished work playing endlessly

lovely in each masterpiece

you and me

the garden waits

but now on first of days

it’s early spring

a new creation

echoing

words that summon

earth’s great kings:

He is risen indeed!

Author: Zach Elliott

Zach Elliott describes himself as an ordinary man who loves Jesus. Anyone who knows Zach Elliott would describe him as far from ordinary. Zach began his career with Oregon State Police as a Forensic Evidence Technician, then served as a church planter and a pastor before launching V3, a ministry committed to sharing the Gospel and loving the Church. He is a husband, father, speaker, author, and thought leader, engaging the world with a powerful message of hope and restoration in Christ. He has a contagious love of life, finds beauty in the most unlikely places, and loves people with an uncommon depth of respect and honor.

God's Discipline

I love the way Eugene Peterson interprets this passage from Hebrews.

My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline, but don’t be crushed by it either. It’s the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects.

God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God’s training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God’s holy best. At the time, discipline isn’t much fun. It always feels like it’s going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it’s the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.

Hebrews 12:5-11 MSG

It’s an intriguing and important metaphor to see God as a disciplinarian, but a lot of people have trouble with that. A lot of people have trouble comparing God to their parents, especially in terms of discipline. It’s either because their parents genuinely inflicted trauma on them and they sustained long-term wounds because of it, or – more often – it’s because most people have a real challenge being honest and authentic with hurts from their past while also remaining loyal to their family. It's really hard for many people to acknowledge guilt or shame from their childhood without casting blame on their parents.

I've been a counselor for over 25 years, and I can tell you that almost every person that I've ever helped, even the ones who were in really difficult places as a result of how they grew up, had parents who did what they thought was best, even when they made some really bad choices in their parenting. Parents do what they think is right; they discipline and communicate in the best ways they know, because they are wired to do the best they can for their kids. Sometimes it does damage, and sometimes it does good.

But God is not doing just what He thinks is best for your life. He is truly and completely doing what is best. And as this passage suggests, we're in training to become something more than we could ever be on our own. God allows challenges to happen to us in order to bring us to maturity in relationship with Him, and in relationship with every important person in our lives.

Discipline, at least human discipline, can trigger embarrassment, guilt, or shame. After all, it usually means we’ve done something wrong, and we are experiencing the consequences of our actions. But what I hope to remind us, is that God never desires for us to land in embarrassment, guilt, or shame as a result of discipline. He desires for us to land safely and squarely in His grace, the place where we can learn and grow and thrive in our relationships with others and with Him.

The next verse in the Hebrews passage rounds out this message so beautifully. I like the way the NLT puts it:

So take a new grip with your tired hands and stand firm on your shaky legs.

Hebrews 12:12 NLT

There is hope! There is hope for the exhaustion we feel. There is hope for the shame we carry. There is hope that our Father God, who loves us personally and individually, will see us through our story and into freedom and wholeness.

Author: Dr. Richard Shaw

Dr. Richard Shaw is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Mental Health Counselor. He is an ordained minister with the International Foursquare Church and he is an Associate Professor of Counseling at George Fox University. He has traveled extensively in the U.S. and overseas to teach and facilitate workshops for his groundbreaking work around shame and grace. Richard is originally from the great state of Nebraska and currently lives with his wife, Karen, in the pacific Northwest. He loves both college and pro football and he enjoys spending time on the Oregon Coast. He has two adult children in education and ministry.

This excerpt is taken from Dr. Shaw’s book, Shame No More.

Poor In Spirit

Jesus dealt in holy irony. He still does.

Lay down your life to find it. Love your enemies. The first will be last and the last will be first. On and on he goes, subverting our culturally shaped striving and pride, revealing the topsy-turvy ways of his kingdom. And then, as he sits on the side of a hill, blessing the whole world with his chapters-long manifesto for kingdom living, we get this little beauty:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven...”

Ok, then. Holy irony.

The Greek word that is translated as “blessed” here is simply, happy.

The word for “poor” means cowering like a beggar and destitute.

The word for “spirit” here is pneuma, which means breath or air.

So, let’s get this straight. We are happy when we are totally spiritually spent? When we’re helpless and needy? That’s like saying we're rested when our bodies are out of oxygen! Right?

Author Andrew Root, in his book Faith Formation in a Secular Age, talks about kenosis and theosis. Simply put, kenosis means self-emptying, and theosis means sharing in personhood.

The idea here is that through self-emptying we come to a place of spiritual union with Jesus. That is to say, his life and my life begin to unite in Oneness. We signify this union and it’s high cost every time we partake in the Eucharist. Does that sound mystical? Mysterious? Good! Because it is.

But the path to this Oneness through self-emptying is laid out for us. It was taught to us by Jesus through his incarnation, teaching, praying, living, and dying and reinforced and expanded through Paul’s writings. Just as Jesus took on full humanity, emptied himself even to death on a cross, was raised to new life and union with God…so are we, if we walk the path of the Way.

Am I saying that we should poorly steward our energies until we are left exhausted and depressed? No. Jesus’ life also taught us much about rest, retreat, and refueling - this is the crucial other side of the coin here. What I am saying is that what makes us blessed, or happy, or fulfilled, is union with our Creator - identifying with him through our suffering, our emptying, our giving, our sharing. As we suffer, empty, give, and share, mysterious things begin to happen. Things like the purging of our addiction to consumption, our idolatry, our self-centeredness, our self-reliance, and our self-worship. As we empty ourselves for others in the way Jesus did, we also begin to be emptied of the lesser loves and filled with the reality of Love Himself.

What about this part: “For theirs is the kingdom of heaven...”? The kingdom of heaven is not something we possess. It is something we learn to see and participate in. When our self-emptying (kenosis) leads to shared personhood with Jesus (theosis), we begin to see the kingdom of heaven for what it is. It is realization through participation. That way of seeing, of living, is life in the kingdom of heaven. And when we are “poor in spirit”, there is space for the Oneness to flourish.

Can you imagine a world where this is the kind of faith that followers of Christ are embodying? I can. I want to be poor in spirit. Who’s with me?

Author: Benjamin NeSmith

Benjamin NeSmith has spent his life working with people. He put his social science education degree to use teaching students of all ages, including those with special needs, for over a decade. He spent years as a recording and performing musician and is now a Certified Professional Coach and Pastor at Element Church Tampa. Benjamin enjoys family time, hiking, and creating meaningful liturgical experiences for others.

Contemplations on Coherence

I recently had a friend suggest to me that I embrace the word “coherence” as part of my aim for the next season of my life. As I approach the landmark of my 40th birthday, I suppose such an invitation is a wise and welcome one. The years are growing shorter and shorter as time passes by, and the questions about living a life of purpose and significance growing louder and louder.

But what is this notion of coherence?

When I hear the word, the first thing I think of is a very trippy film from 2013 having to do with quantum theory, which I may or may not recommend depending on one’s taste for sci-fi. But that sort of coherence, the quantum theory kind, is not exactly what I am referring to in these contemplations.

Coherence, defined by Webster, means simply “integration of diverse elements, relationships, or values; logically or aesthetically ordered or integrated; having the quality of holding together; clarity or intelligibility.”

When I think of this definition as a description of a life, I am compelled. There is something most appealing about an integrated life, where values and relationships and efforts and aspirations all unify into one cohesive whole. As I ponder the beauty of such a notion, I realize that it is indeed how we were created to live our lives as humans on the earth.

And yet we live in a time of dissonance, where the noise and chaos and division and hostility in our modern society has driven us into an absolute wilderness of fractured meaning. 

Our home, work, and social lives have been disrupted by a global pandemic, financial crisis, international tensions, and political controversies. We are conditioned by the news media to perpetually exist in a state of fear, suspicion, and animosity. We are tempted by the entertainment industry to consume mindless content for hours every day. We are bound to addictions that destroy our bodies, our relationships, and our minds. We participate in a workforce that is constantly shifting its expectations of our professions and outsourcing our trades to others or to artificial intelligence.

What sort of clarity and well-ordered purpose can we make of our lives amid such a disordered, unpredictable, intimidating mess?

Our focus is shattered to the point where it is almost beyond repair. A recent study of the Harvard Business Review discovered that the mere tasks related to “context switching” are disastrous to our productivity, mental wellness, and ability to contrate. They discovered that the average “cost of a switch is a little over two seconds and the average user in the dataset toggled between different apps and websites nearly 1,200 times each day. That means that people in these jobs spent just under four hours a week reorienting themselves after toggling to a new application. Over the course of a year, that adds up to five working weeks, or 9% of their annual time at work." And this is only in a work context, not including the context switching these study subjects were doing on their own time.

What sort of possible coherence, integration, and unity can we find in life when our brains are being trained to ping around the internet at the speed of a super-computer?

I don’t presume to have all the answers to these questions, nor even to know all the right questions to ask. What I do propose is that the conversation itself is essential to our prosperity, our purpose, and our peace.

I long for a life of coherence, where everything I choose to invest my time and energy into contributes to my wholeness. I long for a life of integration and meaning, where my relationships and my values and my work and my play align into a unified story of my time here on this earth.

As I continue the journey of pursuing this coherence, I think it begins with a choice, and continues with a prayer to the God who created heaven and earth for Shalom.

May the Creator

of bodies and beauty

of mountains and mystery

of seas and salvation

draw all of creation

back to Himself

again

Author: Melody Farrell

Melody Farrell is the co-founder and acquisitions editor of Lost Poet Press. She also serves as co-pastor of Element Church Tampa and operations manager of Echo Media Group. She is associate director of Circle A Ranch, a program which teaches teenagers principles of leadership. She serves on the board of Grow Into You Foundation, a non-profit that provides coaching, mentoring, and housing for teens aging out of the foster care system. She is a wife, podcaster, musician, and mother of two from Sarasota, Florida.

Into the Wild

Our family cabin at Diamond Lake has a perfect view of Mt. Thielsen where it touches on the eastern edge of the water. In the morning, when the sun comes up, light dances on the water and shines through the pines. Diamond Lake is a shallow lake, lined with dead trees whose roots can’t hold because they grow in dry, pumice soil. On each side of the lake, bone-dry jagged limbs reach out and grab at your clothing when you pass by.

I love this place. There can be snow in July, or warm days all the way into September. Our cabin has one room, no plumbing, and a cache of old comic books that feel new again each year we come to visit. The moment the front door opens, the smell of a wood stove, maple syrup, and Pendleton wool washes over us. It’s perfect, every time.

As soon as my feet touch that ground, I become a child again. The silence shuts my mouth and the enormity of the trees open my eyes. It doesn’t matter if it is the middle of an October night during hunting season or the late afternoon heat of a summer day; it’s not the season, it’s the place. I hear only the wind in the trees, the deep drawing in and pushing out of mountain air. No one moves, certainly not me.

In the wild, we remember who we are: creatures. We need to remember that, more often than we think. It’s good to be out in nature and admit that we live in a world we didn’t create and cannot control. It’s even better to be immersed in it, reminded that we were not here first. I am not a total anti-technology, granola, Wendell Berry loving Oregonian ... but I am convinced that a little more John Muir and John Denver could do the world some good. A little more fresh air, a little more silence, a little more intentional witnessing of the glory that surrounds us.

Author: Zach Elliott

Zach Elliott describes himself as an ordinary man who loves Jesus. Anyone who knows Zach Elliott would describe him as far from ordinary. Zach began his career with Oregon State Police as a Forensic Evidence Technician, then served as a church planter and a pastor before launching V3, a ministry committed to sharing the Gospel and loving the Church. He is a husband, father, speaker, author, and thought leader, engaging the world with a powerful message of hope and restoration in Christ. He has a contagious love of life, finds beauty in the most unlikely places, and loves people with an uncommon depth of respect and honor.

This excerpt is quoted from Zach’s book, Now I See.

A Sacrificial Offering

I woke this morning with an unexpected excitement to begin the season of Lent. I was surprised by my energy and anticipation to begin, since the practicing of Lent involves personal sacrifice, and my chosen fast is going to be quite a challenge for me. My feeling wasn’t exactly the joyful feeling of the beginning of the Christmas season, ushered in by holiday tunes and the twinkling lights of my Christmas tree. But it was a feeling of expectation nevertheless, the awareness that the journey I am about to take over the next 40 days will draw me towards the heart of God.

In my reading this week I came across this quote from Eugene Peterson. It filled my eyes with tears as I read it, and my thoughts have drifted back to it again and again. Perhaps this was the reminder about sacrifice I needed this year in order to engage Lent from a place of hopeful expectancy.

“We bring ourselves, our “bodies as a living sacrifice” represented by our offerings. These offerings are to be the best we have, the best that we can do. But this “best” is not given to God to show Him how good we are; it is not an attempt to gain his approval. These offerings are our best but they are also an acknowledgement that our best is not good enough. So we place our best on the altar to see what God can do with it, to see if He can do any better with it than we have been able to do. We let go of our best, give it up. So what happens next?

A priest builds a fire under the offering and burns it up. The fire transforms our gift (our lives) into smoke and fragrance that ascend to God… and we are declared whole, forgiven, healed, restored. God has used the stuff of our sins to save us from our sins.”

What a profound image. Our offering, which is not good enough but is the best we have, is BURNED in the fire. I did not have to live as an Old Testament Israelite, where my finest sheep and goats and crops were burned and sacrificed on the altar. Praise God, Christ has come and there is a new way to redemption.

And yet, God still asks for my sacrifice. He still asks for my best. And He still asks me to acknowledge that the best I have is not good enough. What humility it requires to accept my weakness. What release it requires to trust that the best I have might (and in fact, WILL) turn into nothing but smoke. Yet, because of the work of Christ… I am made whole. I am healed, accepted, cherished, restored, beloved.

Perhaps this is the reason for my hope and expectancy today. As I begin the season of Lent, I begin with the knowledge that the sacrifice I will offer to God over the next 40 days won’t be enough. I’ll likely fall into temptation or become distracted and forget. And even if I perfectly executed the 40 day fast, that surely would not be enough to save my soul.

But it will be enough to make room for the work of Christ in me. It will be enough to remind me to receive the gift offered to me by my Father in Heaven. It will be enough to keep me humble, keep me open, keep me emptied.  

Lent is about remembering who we are and who God is. It’s about coming to the end of ourselves so that we can embrace the fullness of what Jesus came to bring us.

Edna Hong puts it quite beautifully:

“Lent is a journey that could be called an upward decent, but I prefer to call it a downward ascent. It ends before the cross, where we stand in the white light of a new beginning.”

May we all embrace the opportunity to stand in the white light of a new beginning.

Author: Melody Farrell

Melody Farrell is the co-founder and acquisitions editor of Lost Poet Press. She also serves as co-pastor of Element Church Tampa and operations manager of Echo Media Group. She is associate director of Circle A Ranch, a program which teaches teenagers principles of leadership. She serves on the board of Grow Into You Foundation, a non-profit that provides coaching, mentoring, and housing for teens aging out of the foster care system. She is a wife, podcaster, musician, and mother of two from Sarasota, Florida.

I Forgive You

Forgiveness is an essential element to our healing and transformation. Without it, those places of pain in our past can never be truly healed. We must offer forgiveness to others, and we must offer forgiveness to ourselves.

As we work to replace pieces of our shame with the reality of grace, the process becomes more and more difficult. We discover the places where forgiveness is necessary, and we are faced with the reality that forgiveness is hard. Asking for forgiveness is hard. Receiving forgiveness is hard. Offering forgiveness is hard. Uncovering the hurts that require forgiveness is hard. And yet, it is a vital practice for our healing.

I'll never forget one time of going to my daughter to ask for forgiveness. She was about 5 years old at the time, and I had done some bonehead thing as a parent. I don't remember all the details of what I did, because there were plenty of opportunities for this to have happened. I had probably scolded her too hard, or raised my voice too loud, or done something that kind of scared her and made her cry. I felt pretty bad.

I remember going into her bedroom and kneeling down by the bed next to her and saying, "Honey, I'm sorry. Dad lost his temper. Dad raised his voice. He didn't do a very good job there. Will you forgive me for that?"

And she simply put her hand on my shoulder and looked deep into my eyes and said, "It's okay, Daddy. I forgive you."

That moment of forgiveness floored me. It was so humbling. It was so healing. I had acknowledged my shame and she had met it with grace. And light washed over the both of us in that moment. I was forgiven.

Author: Dr. Richard Shaw

Dr. Richard Shaw is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Mental Health Counselor. He is an ordained minister with the International Foursquare Church and he is an Associate Professor of Counseling at George Fox University. He has traveled extensively in the U.S. and overseas to teach and facilitate workshops for his groundbreaking work around shame and grace. Richard is originally from the great state of Nebraska and currently lives with his wife, Karen, in the pacific Northwest. He loves both college and pro football and he enjoys spending time on the Oregon Coast. He has two adult children in education and ministry.

This excerpt is taken from Dr. Shaw’s book, Shame No More.

Do It Now

In the Dynamic Living seminar that I have taught for the last 40 years or so, one of the 10 principles of success I have always talked about is “action”. The summary statement for this simple but powerful principle is: Do It Now.

I think this principle of action could almost be considered the ultimate daily discipline ... do it now!

If we were to come to the place where every single day we actually took action on something in our lives that would lead us towards growth and change and our dreams, imagine the productive, energetic, successful, charismatic people we would be! Picture the massive change we would see in our lives over time as we daily take action that moves us towards our dreams. Think of the momentum we would create with that forward movement.

There is a major difference between planning to take action and actually taking the action. Many components go into the planning and they are all important and good ... but only if we follow through on that planning with action. If we don’t act on our plan, then it’s really all for nothing. In fact, taking action without planning at all is often better than continually being in the process of planning.

Many have used the phrase “beginning is half done”, meaning that once we actually begin doing something, we’ve already more than half completed the mental work of getting it done. The problem for many of us as we work towards accomplishing our goals is not that we can’t do it. Rather, it is that we often don’t get started doing it at all. We never actually begin, or perhaps we take a small step, meet some opposition, and then never push through it towards continued action.

If you have something you want to accomplish, you need to get moving and do it now. If you aren’t sure exactly how to do it, just put one foot in front of the other and start going. Invest the time necessary for the planning but do not allow that to be a substitute for time invested in the doing, and you will discover that the lessons you learn in the doing will teach you things you could have never understood in the planning.

As we learn to make action a daily discipline rather than a sporadic burst of activity, we will find ourselves on a swift and sure path of achieving our goals and moving closer to our dreams.

Author: Skip Ross

Skip Ross was the owner, founder, and director of Circle A Ranch. He and his wife Susan dedicated their lives to making a difference in the development of teens through their ministry and spent the over 40 years giving their summers to the work of Circle A.

Skip authored the books Say Yes to Your Potential and Daily Disciplines, and created the Dynamic Living Seminar and the Thrive Study Series. He traveled the globe teaching the principles of attitude development and leadership to millions of people for over 50 years. He also recorded numerous audio and video teachings that have been distributed around the world with the help of Network 21 and podcasts.

He was a successful business executive, recording artist, and motivational speaker. He was founder and president of the OFIDA Project, on the Board of Directors of the Fred L. Hansen Corp., a Crown IBO with Amway, and a graduate of Westmont College and Fuller Theological Seminary. He worked with many different ministry organizations over the years but has most recently been working with the Equip Organization, founded by John Maxwell, to produce highly effective Christian leaders around the world. Skip Ross went home to be with Jesus on June 13th, 2021, at the age of 82.

This excerpt is taken from Skip’s book, Daily Disciplines.

Floppy Baby

Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for you. Psalms 9:10 NLT

Baby Benjamin was born October 16th, 2018 and evened the score in our household: 3 boys and 3 girls. As exciting as his arrival was, there was a lot to be learned about myself in the process. When my son came into the world, he was limp. My heart sank as the nurses called the “Floppy Baby” code. People rushed into the room to work on him. My heart sank lower. Keisha and I had not been able to name our beautiful baby boy yet. And I immediately thought, “This is why we couldn’t name him”.

But then I snapped back and remembered that God was in charge. As much as I loved this little guy, God loved him more. So, I put aside my fear and began to speak to my son. At the sound of my voice, he perked up, regained his color, and began to breathe on rhythm. You see, the outcome of the story turning in my favor is not what makes this story great. It’s the presence of God in my time of fear. He did not abandon me. With everything going on within His immense creation, He was present with me at Tampa General. So, I encourage you today to seek the Father and trust that regardless of the circumstances, He will NEVER abandon you. In your anxious, confused, or fearful moments, stop and breathe in His presence. He is there for you.

Author: Patrick Wheeler

Pastor Patrick began his work in outreach ministry as a young boy, riding the church van with his father, transporting parishioners from local neighborhoods to church services. As a teen, alongside his parents, Patrick volunteered for various food distribution and tutoring services in at risk neighborhoods.

While obtaining his Bachelor's in Business Administration from Florida A&M University, Patrick answered the call to pastoral ministry at the age of 19. In 2020, He and his wife Keisha graduated together with their Master's in Biblical Counseling from Luther Rice College & Seminary. Over the course of the last 18 years, Patrick organized, spearheaded, and held positions in various churches and non-profit organizations in Alabama and Florida while also progressing in his career field of business and logistics.  

He lived as a doting and hard-working family man, a friend to all, and leader in the community. He had a wonderful sense of humor and was a light to all who knew him. His passion was in sharing the love and gospel of Jesus with anyone who would listen, and in helping those in need.  

Patrick passed away suddenly at the age of 39, going on to join Jesus sooner than anyone expected. His legacy lives on through his wife of 16 years, Keisha, and their seven children, family, friends, and community of faith.  

 This excerpt is taken from Patrick’s book, Good Morning, Men of God!

The Unforced Rhythms

One of the most important teachings of Jesus about the idea of grace is found in Matthew 11:25-30 MSG.

Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer: “Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. You’ve concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people. Yes, Father, that’s the way you like to work.”

Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly. “The Father has given me all these things to do and say. This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge. No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But I’m not keeping it to myself; I’m ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen.

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

The truth is, this is a tough one for me. I'm a perfectionist, a go-getter. I'm an extrovert, and I'm a do it myself kind of guy. So, when I read Jesus’ words about connection with something beyond myself and settling into this rhythm of life, I have some trouble doing it. I love that idea of a rhythm, a sense of balance, a sense of purpose and meaning. But often, this means a rhythm that is quieter and slower than the pace I would like to keep. And it means trusting God!

As a professor at George Fox University, this is something that continues to challenge and grow me, because the University has a Quaker background. You may or may not know much about the Quakers, but their spiritual disciplines are very reflective, meditative, quiet, and humble. The reality is that it’s a good discipline for me to be in an environment where I have to move outside of the way I'm wired to live life.

It is not atypical for me to sit in a meeting where we are trying to reach conclusions and make decisions and for someone to say, "Let's go ahead and just have about 30 minutes of silence, just to see if God is going to speak. We’re going to take the time to reflect a little bit before we move forward with this really important thing that we're doing in the school or the department. And if God moves, and you want to say something, then we invite you to share that. If not, then I just invite you to be silent during this time."

Oh my gosh, I don't know about you, but on the inside I'm like, "30 minutes of silence?! Let's just take a nap, for crying out loud!" That's not how I'm wired. It is a real discipline for me to be alert and engaged and reflective during those times of silence and contemplation.

And yet, I’ve seen the way the Spirit works when we choose to do just that. Not only in the room, but in my own heart and life.

There are times when we have to slow down. When we purposely invite the Spirit into places where we might rush in on our own and try to figure stuff out, we end up with a lot less chaos and mistakes that we have to back and fix.

But look at what Jesus says about these unforced rhythms of grace: there is real rest for our souls. There is a chance to recover our lives. There is a Spirit who will walk with us and work with us, and who will teach us how to live freely and lightly.

This, my friends, is the way of grace.

Author: Dr. Richard Shaw

Dr. Richard Shaw is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Mental Health Counselor. He is an ordained minister with the International Foursquare Church and he is an Associate Professor of Counseling at George Fox University. He has traveled extensively in the U.S. and overseas to teach and facilitate workshops for his groundbreaking work around shame and grace. Richard is originally from the great state of Nebraska and currently lives with his wife, Karen, in the pacific Northwest. He loves both college and pro football and he enjoys spending time on the Oregon Coast. He has two adult children in education and ministry.

This excerpt is taken from Dr. Shaw’s book, Shame No More.

Finding Home

Home is never just a house, or a room, or a person.
It is not just a finale for the destination’s sake.
Home is only discovered in the echoing reverberation
of the wild whisperings of fate.

Home is over the river, it's through the woods,
buried deep in the hooded heart of the mountains grand,
surrounded by 10,000 angry foes
with 10,000 glittering blades in hand.

Its traces are hidden, etched in plain sight,
along the ancient paths in the cover of night.
So small, yet so deliberately there...
waiting to be found by those who seek it still,
whose bravery unassumed causes them to dare.

Some have said that home is ever only found
after the world spits one out.
For it is the heavy heart that carries well the weight of destiny
far beyond the walls of contingency.
Its mantle worn low, doom deep in its bowels,
like the hull of a mighty ship,
through each wave, its keel plows on.

Its canvas unfurled in search of distant shores,
and if the sails be tattered and in ruin, it brandishes oars.
For the search of true belonging
no matter how far it may seem,
will carry the heaviest of hearts along the darkest of seas.

Home is like the end of a journey,
in which our traveling brotherhood
bears up with greatness and the bigness of all that
we have become along the way.
In the same way and with the same intent,
we tend to the weariness of our companions
with a collective heart towards
a real and true rest.

So may we all find, by our seeking,
haven at the end of the fight.
May we all, by our journey,
find the pass in the night.
May we all ride the mountains,
over river and through vale
and question each fork
at the end of the trail.
May we rest and may we revel in hospitable delight,
by the glow of the kingdom of home’s hearth tonight.

Author: R.G. Triplett

Bobby, as his friends call him, is an artist at heart. He is a professional musician and author - not to mention a private chef, daddy of four, and self-proclaimed nerd. He is a church planter, and has served as Lead Pastor and Worship Pastor in several churches throughout his career, having earned his degree from Palm Beach Atlantic University. He is co-owner and founder of Lost Poet Press, and he is also the on-screen narrator for all of the THRIVE cinematic films. He is the author of the Epic of Haven Trilogy, an allegory/fantasy saga that expresses his passion for grand stories and his rather epic view of the world.

The With-Us God

Immanuel. That is the name we hear and sing of during the Christmas season, and for good reason. It means, of course, “with us is God”. But to engage this name a little deeper, let’s look at the first chapter of John.

John 1:14; 16-18 (ESV)

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 

 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.  17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

The Greek word for dwelt in verse 14 essentially means to pitch a tent. Jesus pitched his tent right here on our planet, in a real town, and walked real streets. But do you know what else was a tent? How about the tabernacle, or portable temple, we read about in the Old Testament?

This was where the presence of God came down into the innermost chamber, or the Holy of Holies. Only certain priests could go in this most sacred place in the direct presence of God. Can you see the significance already?

Whereas the presence and glory of God were made fully known only within the tent of the tabernacle in the past, Jesus embodied and personified the presence and glory of God by making his home right in the middle of the neighborhood. Instead of only the Spirit of God in the tent of the tabernacle, Jesus took on flesh and walked among us. He embraced full personhood in order to completely express the essence of the Father to us in the most intimate and meaningful way possible. And he did it in the most humble way possible - born not into royalty and riches, but commonness and commotion. Born not in a sanitized hospital but an animal pen. The way he came had everything to do with why he came. He came for everyone - including those that were born as he was - in the dirt of an unglamorous, common life.

So, if Jesus is the Word of God, as John writes, then what was God saying? He was expressing by his incarnated, divine utterance the fullness of his grace (unearnable, animating favor) and the fullness of his truth (the enchanted reality of Creator and created). Jesus was and is that divine utterance, and it is still through his birth, life, death, and resurrection here on our soil that we can know the Father and learn to embody that same grace and truth.

That is Immanuel. That is the With-Us God.

 Author: Benjamin NeSmith

Benjamin NeSmith has spent his life working with people. He put his social science education degree to use teaching students of all ages, including those with special needs, for over a decade. He spent years as a recording and performing musician and is now a Certified Professional Coach and Pastor at Element Church Tampa. Benjamin enjoys family time, hiking, interior design, and creating meaningful liturgical experiences for others.

Perfect Peace

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

Isaiah 26:3 ESV

What is imperfect peace? It is when we partially believe in God’s power. We believe enough to trust Him to wake us up, but not enough to trust that He will be our refuge. We believe He created the sun and the moon, but our anxieties are out of His reach. We believe in Him to sustain our breath, but not enough to trust His provision. To stand as a husband and father, there are some spiritual non-negotiables. The most important is truly keeping our minds on God and trusting in Him. The stresses, distractions, and temptations are many. The attack from Satan is unending. Confusion, depression, and defeat crouch at the door, waiting for us every day.

Our text tells us that He will keep us in Perfect Peace, whose mind stays on Him. Centering our focus on God is the perfect display of our trust in Him. It not only ignites our purpose, but it also brings us to a place of balanced peace. Stress and anxiety destroy our bodies and mind. Allowing ourselves to be engulfed in these things prevents us from experiencing life with the joy God intended. God designed us to trust in Him. Allow Him to solidify you in perfect peace today. Keep your mind stayed on Him.

Author: Patrick Wheeler

Pastor Patrick began his work in outreach ministry as a young boy, riding the church van with his father, transporting parishioners from local neighborhoods to church services. As a teen, alongside his parents, Patrick volunteered for various food distribution and tutoring services in at risk neighborhoods.

While obtaining his Bachelor's in Business Administration from Florida A&M University, Patrick answered the call to pastoral ministry at the age of 19. In 2020, He and his wife Keisha graduated together with their Master's in Biblical Counseling from Luther Rice College & Seminary. Over the course of the last 18 years, Patrick organized, spearheaded, and held positions in various churches and non-profit organizations in Alabama and Florida while also progressing in his career field of business and logistics.  

He lived as a doting and hard-working family man, a friend to all, and leader in the community. He had a wonderful sense of humor and was a light to all who knew him. His passion was in sharing the love and gospel of Jesus with anyone who would listen, and in helping those in need.  

Patrick passed away suddenly at the age of 39, going on to join Jesus sooner than anyone expected. His legacy lives on through his wife of 16 years, Keisha, and their seven children, family, friends, and community of faith.  

This excerpt is taken from Patrick’s book, Good Morning, Men of God!

Red Shirts (Part Three)

PART THREE

This is the third and final installment of ponderings on purpose. Thanks to the readers for coming along on the journey.

In the previous segments, I shared some thoughts about my personal calling and “role” in life, and about how I have battled feelings of disillusionment and comparison to others. In all honestly, the sadness which would come from the thought of having failed my creator by squandering the gifts I was provided is strong. In working through this, I began to wonder if perhaps the role I'm supposed to play is a “background role” or “supporting role” or one that is often not remembered. Earlier I mentioned the Red Shirts of Star Trek – background characters who moved the plot along. Recently I began watching one of the latest reimaginings of the Star Trek franchise: Star Trek Lower Decks. Interestingly enough, this show focuses on what would typically be the “behind the scenes” characters. While the show takes their roles to the extremes for entertainment purposes, it still reminds us that there are people working often in the background that are necessary for the people who are leading to accomplish what they do.  In Queen's song, Hammer to Fall the song starts out:

 Here we stand or here we fall

History won't care at all

Make the bed light the light

Lady mercy won't be home tonight yeah

You don't waste no time at all

Don't hear the bell but you answer the call

It comes to you as to us all

We're just waiting

For the Hammer To Fall

To me, this song is speaking about the people who answer the call to go to battle, or to work, and to do what is needed to get the job done. They aren't famous.  In fact, to most of us and history, they are mostly nameless. For many of us, these people could also be our teachers, coaches, friends, and parents. Sometimes we recall their names and sometimes we don't, but we remember how they impacted us. History is filled with people that showed up to fight a battle or work in a mine so their children could eat, or who went without to feed their children or pay for school. We don't recall them by name, and yet to some people in the time and place, they were the larger-than-life hero. In pondering this, I began to see that while the things that have to be done are often not amazing or glamorous feats, they are needed, and someone's gotta do it.

In the Broadway musical, Hamilton, we come to know that Aaron Burr will “wait for it”.  He will just keep going along, waiting for the big opportunity. Hamilton on the other hand just keeps striving. The question that Hamilton asks Burr after Burr has refused to be an author of the Federalist Papers:

We won the war

What was it all for?

And he goes on:

Burr, we studied and we fought and we killed

For the notion of a nation we now get to build

For once in your life, take a stand with pride

I don’t understand how you stand to the side

For Hamilton as portrayed in the popular musical, he finds success by continuously fighting and climbing up hill and going and going. In contrast, Burr is in motion and doing, yet at a much slower pace. Hamilton takes aim at multiple things and is off and running in multiple directions. Burr is doing a few things, listening and positioning himself so when the big opportunity presents, he can pursue it with vigor.

Perhaps the Red Shirts of the world may also find themselves presented with the opportunity to step up into a limelight role. Kind of like Ana from Frozen, doing the next right thing until her purpose and calling become clear.

And yet, beyond this possibly of an opportunity coming down the road, my conclusion at this point is that whether I'm a key figure in history or a mostly nameless roll, either way my life is essential. Either way, my life is important to God, and that is what really counts. Taking a step back from this, while I was grappling with these thoughts during the summer of 2022, I was provided with several epiphany moments.

Skip often talked about creating a description of the person you want to be and continuing to strive to become that person. This description will change as time goes on, and you find you want to focus on different areas, or perhaps you determine something isn't as important as it once was. This was coming back to me as I was trying to resolve the question of how to measure success. If humans as a society have created artificial measuring sticks for success in areas like money, fame, and power, and we need to disconnect from these societal measures to really live life, then how am I to determine if I'm succeeding? 

I finally came to the conclusion that creating the description of who I wanted to be and then reviewing where I was actually at versus the description was what I needed to do. Then another epiphany happened. While discussing the concept of a proper self-image, my friend Kevin Hughes noted that the proper self-image was ever changing if we are really living a dynamic life. Dynamic, by definition, means constant change. When I realized this true definition of the word dynamic, and realized that Skip named his seminar the Dynamic Living Seminar, it was like finding an easter egg in a Marvel movie for me. It means that we are ever-growing, and even the target is changing, and that's okay as we try to free the masterpiece from the stone.

In taking this out a little further as we write the description and then begin to really take an inventory of ourselves, we will come to better recognize our strengths and how we can best use them. Leaning into our strengths and trying to maximize them and strive to become the fulfillment of the description will lead to a successful life, whether history records it that way or not. Further, it is not really about the accomplishments, or feats, or colossal failures, rather it is about the person we become.

That's where I landed in walking through this myriad of emotions on reflecting on my life and whether I have lived up to my potential. I move forward with hope that by adopting this process I will make the most of my gifts. I hope reading about my journey through these thoughts will help you in some way.

Author: Mike Cooke

Mike Cooke is a Dad, Circle A Leadership Team member Emeritus, a good neighbor, a follower of Jesus, a Disney parks enthusiast, and a work in progress. He is also a contributing author to the book, Daily Disciplines.

Red Shirts (Part Two)

PART TWO

Let me open with another, albeit shorter, PSA: within this article, I will reference Part One, so if you haven't read that, please do. That's all. And away we go...

Remember when I mentioned in Part One about my enjoyment of reading biographies of figures of history? Well, I may have taken this to an extreme as a young adult. Additionally, I have a deep interest in history, so I've read and watched a lot about history in general. In doing this, my admiration for historical figures and their accomplishments grew. I did study a few of these in greater depth and gathered a few things from this.

One of my great mentors in life, Skip Ross, also studied historical and influential figures. His favorite in the historical realm was Winston Churchill. I ended up reading and watching a great deal about this man. The aim of his life was to be the Prime Minister of Great Britain. As most of us know, he achieved this and was a crucial figure in World War 2. While most of us know that part. The part that most of us often overlook is that his path to his goal was anything but straight.

During his younger days, he seemed to be making good headway into becoming Prime Minister when he initiated a military campaign that was a disaster. After this, he effectively became an outsider in political life. He then ended up switching political parties, which made most suspicious of him. Still, he kept working at rebuilding his political ties while becoming a prolific author. When the threat arose in central Europe, he kept writing and advocating about his perspectives. With war finally imminent, he was thrust into the role of Prime Minister with the war all but lost. He then went on to rally the British people and help win the war.

His journey is a very interesting one to me. He battled depression and a host of other circumstances yet kept striving toward his goal. I can look at his service during the war and see how his experiences leading to that helped prepare him and shape him into what was needed during those critical five years. What I take away from it is that he knew from a very early age what his calling and his end goal was. I admit to being envious of this.

My favorite historical figure was Lincoln. His life, for the most part, was a very difficult one. He seemed to go through tragedy after tragedy. He may have coped with this and the accompanying depression by being a workaholic, but his relentless pursuits brought rivals together in his effort to save the union. He kept moving forward, kept the nation together, and got the job done. 

Finally, another that I am often inspired by is Mother Teresa. She didn't seek out to make a name for herself. She simply wanted to do something to serve God, and so she went into the streets and loved people. She brought the love of God to others. In her case, she just kept repeating the same process of loving people and encouraging others to do the same. As John Maxwell remarked, others went to Rome and wrote papers, she went into the streets of Calcutta and loved.

Here are three people who are very inspiring to me. Some may be inspiring to each of you. I can tell you characteristics I chose to emulate from each of these. At the same time, I also took away the idea that if I didn't do something impactful on that level, then my life would not have as much meaning as these inspiring heroes. As I've aged and felt that level of achievement seem farther away, I can look to Churchill and recall that he became Prime Minister far later in life. Sometimes this brings the hope that things happening now are occurring to shape me for some work in the future. Even with that thought, my ruminations about my own lack of high-level accomplishment has at times made me feel unworthy of the gifts I was given. At times, it has felt like such a waste.

If you know me, before you give me your sympathy or empathy, I didn't share these last couple of thoughts to garner those things. More so, I put them out there so that others might realize that, if you feel unaccomplished at times, you are not alone. Perhaps the desire to be impactful and successful is a trait that unites us as humans, built on something foundational to our creation and purpose for being. I don’t want to live my second half of life remembering what I thought life was going to be and comparing it to something that seems lesser. I realized there must be another way to look at it, perhaps a more accurate and more encouraging perspective to take. This is what led me to continue to reflect on my own role in life, and I will share more about this in Part Three.

Author: Mike Cooke

Mike Cooke is a Dad, Circle A Leadership Team member Emeritus, a good neighbor, a follower of Jesus, a Disney parks enthusiast, and a work in progress. He is also a contributing author to the book, Daily Disciplines.

Red Shirts

PART ONE

What are we being prepared for? What is it that we are “called to”? What is the purpose and path of the life we are meant to live?

As we set out on this journey together, I feel the need - perhaps even the responsibility - to provide some PSA’s to the readership or emerging community. First and foremost, I will ask far more questions than I will answer. My purpose in compiling these thoughts isn't to teach, but rather to start a dialogue.  My hope is that this dialogue will challenge both myself and you, reader, as we wrestle with these questions together and discover some perspective and insight. Second, as we begin this journey, I'm going to approach my own engagement with this topic chronologically to give some background on where I'm coming from. I mention that to ask that you bear with me if it at first it seems like slow going.

With that, let's begin.

As a child, I enjoyed and was intrigued by characters of history. For Halloween I was both Lincoln followed by Washington at ages five and seven. I liked biographies and enjoyed reading them as well as other historical accounts, all the while dreaming of the future and all I would do.  When I was eleven, I first attended the Dynamic Living Experience at Circle A Ranch. There I heard Skip Ross' seminar for the first of many times. Amongst his many recommendations, he suggested reading the biographies of successful people and picking things to emulate. I came of age with a focus of working for my future. What that future was going to be was never quite clear. There were going to be houses and cars and trips and making life better, yet it was never clear how I would make life better, or how those other things would come about. The future, though, would be so much better than the present.

During high school, my focus was on getting into a good college. Entering the hallowed halls of a fine institution and emerging with a degree was sure to bring me the life I wanted. Or at the very least, set me on the path to the life of my dreams. There was a good deal to enjoy during high school, but the real living of the dream seemed always some place down the road. In Empire Strikes Back, Yoda remarks of Luke, "All his life has he looked away ... to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was." This aptly describes my high school experience. I was there and doing things, but real happiness was somewhere in the future. 

I would take this thought further by considering this exchange from Dazed and Confused:

Cynthia: “God, don't you ever feel like everything we do and everything we've been taught is just to service the future?”

Tony: “Yeah I know, like it's all preparation.”

Cynthia: “Right. But what are we preparing ourselves for?”

Mike: “Death.”

Tony: “Life of the party.”

Mike: “It's true.”

Cynthia: “You know, but that's valid because if we are all gonna die anyway shouldn't we be enjoying ourselves now? You know, I'd like to quit thinking of the present, like right now, as some minor, insignificant preamble to something else.”

Mike: “It's what everybody in this car needs is some good ol' worthwhile visceral experience.”

Reflecting on it now, it did seem like preparation to something. It didn't feel like a minor, insignificant preamble, but in some ways it was.

The challenge for me was that in early life, my path seemed obvious. When I got to college, I didn't feel that was the case. It all seemed less obvious, less clear. At one point, and I can take you to the exact spot I had this thought, I recall looking around and thinking, well this is it, I will get a decent paying job and live out an average kinda life.

Somewhere in my years of becoming an adult, my clear path got derailed. I felt that I was supposed to do something really impactful, yet what it was and the path to it never seemed obvious. I remember praying to God: You can make the road bumpy and obstacle-filled, just make it wide so I can find it.

I found myself unsure what the purpose of my life was and what I was called to do. Decision making became based on paying bills and getting by. Life was good, and yet it wasn't great. Was I really called to something bigger? Or was my role more like a “Red Shirt” in Star Trek?

I will now perform a public service for my non-Trek friends by explaining this reference. Typically, in nearly every episode of original series Star Trek, there would be a mission to a planet and mysterious things would happen, and then someone would die. This person was a nameless crew member in a red shirt. This death was critical to progressing the story, but you rarely remembered this person’s name. And so they became known to fans as “Red Shirts” – disposable characters identified by the color of their clothes and the brief time they spent on the screen.

Was that what I was called to be? A Red Shirt?

In the subsequent two articles, I will continue to explore this issue for myself, and I invite you along for the ride. From here, I will consider examples of historical figures who reached amazing heights. Then I'll imagine the possibility of being called to be a Red Shirt. Finally, I'll share with you the conclusions I am discovering for myself, and step you through how I am getting to them.

Author: Mike Cooke

Mike Cooke is a Dad, Circle A Leadership Team member Emeritus, a good neighbor, a follower of Jesus, a Disney parks enthusiast, and a work in progress. He is also a contributing author to the book, Daily Disciplines.