No Peaking

I apologize, because this is another crosspost from Beware of Artists, though I am going to expand the thought a little more.

Okay first of all, in case you were wondering, I didn’t misspell it. This is a play on words that occurred to me one day. We’ve all heard the story of that person who seemed to have the world by the tail in high school. They ruled the school and were likely a domineering bully. A big fish in a little pond, but when those four years passed, that was it, they peaked in High School. For the record, I can’t say I knew anyone like that personally, but I’m sure there were a few. The thing is, if we live this life properly, we don’t have to peak at all. We can keep growing, learning and expanding our horizons. Basically it involves giving each opportunity our best and to keep reaching for new heights. No I don’t mean some rat race/hamster wheel existence of chasing our tails and never being satisfied. Rather I mean one of limitless possibilities, where we continually ask “what if?” and like the results.

Consider our calling to expand the Kingdom and move the Gospel forward, as we prepare the way of our King. That job will never be done until He returns in His glory. Our call then is to keep moving forward. Consider the words of the Apostle Paul. Nearing the end of an amazing journey and a world changing life, do you remember what he said. 2 Timothy 4: 7-8. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

Keep moving forward, running your race, fighting your fight. There is a crown in store.

No Peaking!

Encouragement from Tim Tebow

This guy has some great things to say on trying, the naysayers and more.

Your Best

I see so many artists on-line who complain that their work isn’t up to par. They compare themselves to others and feel like something less. It’s easy to do and it happens to us all… and it’s POINTLESS. Look, your work today is not your best work. You might think, “He hasn’t seen my work, how can he know?” I know, or a lest I hope. You see if we artists are faithful, our best work is forever before us, because we keep bringing our best to the table every day. If we continue to do that, our work will continue to improve. Keep at it, and in the mean time do the best you can today, hold your head high and enjoy the journey.

In the Ideal World

It’s an expression I find myself using all the time. “In the ideal world this would happen or that would happen.” The ideal world is this mystical place where all the stars align and everything goes perfectly, every time. I’m here today to tell you that there is an ideal world and people are dying to get there. Unfortunately that’s the only way to get there. The ideal world is called Heaven and this ain’t it. Here on earth, things are often less than ideal. Things go wrong, or just don’t line up the way they should. There are problems and struggles, annoyances and catastrophes. We clearly do not live in the ideal world and the question to be considered is what do we do with that?

Some tend to wait until everything lines up and things are as close to ideal as they can possibly be. While that is the optimal place to get things done, life doesn’t often work out that way. Fortunately there is a better solution—that is to get to work when things are less than ideal. Of course we want to take full advantage of ideal situations when they occur, but success is often found when we buckle down when things are less than ideal and do it anyway.

Think about the people we admire most. Why do we admire them? Because everything was easy and everything went their way? No. Because they came up against tremendous obstacles, persevered and overcame them. People so often assume that the blessing of God on a person’s life is revealed in the ease of their lives. This negates the examples of people like Moses, David, Paul and even Jesus. God never promised an ideal world on this side of the grave (well at least not since we blew it in the Garden) what He promised was to go with us through the world we have.

This world is not ideal, but great things are still possible and those of us who stay in the fight, follow our Lord, walk in faith and persevere are best suited to point people beyond this world to the One who will take us to the ideal world.

In the mean time keep at it! You’re not alone.

Wise Words from Stan Lee

Getting back on the encouragement track, check out this short message from Stan Lee. It’ll make your day.

Conformed or Transformed?

Today’s encouragement takes a decidedly different turn. This is for those of you who feel like you’re swimming upstream. Like everyone else is going in one direction and you’re going in the other. You feel like you’re trying to do the right thing and everyone else is going a different way. I felt this way just yesterday. I was listening to what was for he most part a really good message, but somewhere along the way, it began to feel like the person was condemning so much of what I stand for. It was really disheartening, but it led me to a thought. I hear so many people talking about how the world is getting worse and worse and worse, and yet for some strange reason so may people feel compelled to follow along with the whims of the very things that are taking us in that direction. Why is that?
One of the things we are going to have to accept is that the conventional wisdom today is neither, and doing everything right will probably have consequences. To live in this world encouraged is to know who you are, and do what’s right even when it feels like you’re standing alone. Know this. You’re not alone.

There’s a verse in the Bible that says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2 The pattern of the world is what is taking the world in the direction it’s going, so don’t conform, be transformed.