Thursday, February 21, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
Chain Game
I was listening to a song by Deon Kipping titled "Prisonor of Christ." And the lyrics to the chorus are "Chained to his will, bound to his word....He has my life, I'm a prisoner of Christ."
The song metaphorically illustrates the believers connection to Christ. After hearing the song several times, I began to ask myself who, as a people, are we chained or connected to...both physically and spiritually. What you're connected to can cause you to progress, stagnate, or regress. Where we desire to go in life is co-dependent on who and what we're connected to.
How deep is our connection to people? I'm convinced that most of us have failed to connect with purpose because of who and what we're connected to.
We are what we repeatedly do. We are a sum total of our experience. If you're from a certain area, you're almost doomed to never make it out. Talk less of actually being significant in any capacity. People usually evolve into their surroundings, or as we like to say, "a product of your environment." You're identified by your affiliation. The Jews, according to the Bible, refused to believe that Jesus was the messiah because of his affiliation. In John 6:42 they said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?" Because of his affiliation to a less than "royal" family, they refused to acknowledge His significance. Where He came from did not match His significance... Most of us can relate.
Most of us come from countries, cities, towns, neighborhoods, and areas where nothing good or great has ever emerged. If we could just take a second and think about where we came from, or grew up, we probably cannot count on one hand how many successful people came from that area....
There's an attachment we have to our environment that gears us towards failure. Those attachments include family (mom and or dad, older siblings, cousins, etc.), friends from the block or same housing projects, and the number one raiser of most of our children, school.
These attachments mold and shape us into who we are today.
Our environments play significant roles in the outcome of our future.
An atmosphere, if sustained long enough, becomes a climate...a climate, if sustained long enough, becomes a culture....and a culture, if sustained long enough, becomes a stronghold or a mindset.
The first atmosphere we were ever introduced to is a delicate word called family....but we'll get to that later. (I may need to write a part 2)
This may not be the case for some of you reading, but for most of us, we were raised in atmospheres that were so hostile that our theme song is Marvin Sapps "Never Would've Made It."
I was raised in a section of Queens, NY called Far Rockaway...better known as The 6th Borough." Like most rural areas, Rockaway is flooded with young men and women of color with limitless potential to be successful in ANY capacity. But because we're chained to discord, murder, and mayhem, we have a deluxe package membership at central bookings and our own suite at the hospital to deliver baby's...while we're still baby's ourselves.
Through the selection of people that we're connected to, we're chained to a lifestyle that has warped our perception of fulfillment. To my sisters, giving IT up to anybody who says "I love you" will never bring fulfillment. IT serves a specific purpose for a specific someone of significance. When you don't know the value of IT, you'll give IT to anybody.
To my brothers, we were never created to chase after paper. We were created to chase purpose. When we're in our purpose, paper will chase after us. Cultivating our gifts and talents will always have us in demand. There is a need for the gifts that we have.
Truth is, when no one has ever looked some of us square in the eye and told us how valuable we really are. It's nearly impossible for some of us to even fathom. My brothers and my sisters that are reading this, YOU ARE SIGNIFICANT!!!
I just need you to ask yourself these questions... Would you be willing to disconnect with some friends in order to connect with your destiny?
Are you willing to burn some relationships to spark the fire of your passion?
Are you willing to spend a year or two alone (single) in order to have a divine connection with purpose?
One of the reason why we can't get things done in our lives is because we're busy trying to get things done in others....our allowing others to get things done in ours.
I challenge every reader to start looking at your chains...whatever or whoever it is you're connected to. If they are not conducive for your purpose in life, think about disconnecting one link at a time.
There's a purpose for chains in our lives to be broken ONE link at a time. If we just break the entire chain, we're liable to forget about some of the links that created the chain.
But when we break one link at a time, we get flash backs on where and who we used to be. This allows us to recognize this issue that another brother or sister may be dealing with, and be able to relate from a familiar place.
Through the pains of your experience, you can now reach your hands and pull someone out from their pit. You know their thought process the best because you've been there!
Log on next week as we discuss the mindset we developed from the Genesis of our issues. The household environment called "Home."
I'm calling it "Chain Game 2...The Direction of pain"
As always, run out of the circus, and live #LifeOnPurpose
The song metaphorically illustrates the believers connection to Christ. After hearing the song several times, I began to ask myself who, as a people, are we chained or connected to...both physically and spiritually. What you're connected to can cause you to progress, stagnate, or regress. Where we desire to go in life is co-dependent on who and what we're connected to.
How deep is our connection to people? I'm convinced that most of us have failed to connect with purpose because of who and what we're connected to.
We are what we repeatedly do. We are a sum total of our experience. If you're from a certain area, you're almost doomed to never make it out. Talk less of actually being significant in any capacity. People usually evolve into their surroundings, or as we like to say, "a product of your environment." You're identified by your affiliation. The Jews, according to the Bible, refused to believe that Jesus was the messiah because of his affiliation. In John 6:42 they said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?" Because of his affiliation to a less than "royal" family, they refused to acknowledge His significance. Where He came from did not match His significance... Most of us can relate.
Most of us come from countries, cities, towns, neighborhoods, and areas where nothing good or great has ever emerged. If we could just take a second and think about where we came from, or grew up, we probably cannot count on one hand how many successful people came from that area....
There's an attachment we have to our environment that gears us towards failure. Those attachments include family (mom and or dad, older siblings, cousins, etc.), friends from the block or same housing projects, and the number one raiser of most of our children, school.
These attachments mold and shape us into who we are today.
Our environments play significant roles in the outcome of our future.
An atmosphere, if sustained long enough, becomes a climate...a climate, if sustained long enough, becomes a culture....and a culture, if sustained long enough, becomes a stronghold or a mindset.
The first atmosphere we were ever introduced to is a delicate word called family....but we'll get to that later. (I may need to write a part 2)
This may not be the case for some of you reading, but for most of us, we were raised in atmospheres that were so hostile that our theme song is Marvin Sapps "Never Would've Made It."
I was raised in a section of Queens, NY called Far Rockaway...better known as The 6th Borough." Like most rural areas, Rockaway is flooded with young men and women of color with limitless potential to be successful in ANY capacity. But because we're chained to discord, murder, and mayhem, we have a deluxe package membership at central bookings and our own suite at the hospital to deliver baby's...while we're still baby's ourselves.
Through the selection of people that we're connected to, we're chained to a lifestyle that has warped our perception of fulfillment. To my sisters, giving IT up to anybody who says "I love you" will never bring fulfillment. IT serves a specific purpose for a specific someone of significance. When you don't know the value of IT, you'll give IT to anybody.
To my brothers, we were never created to chase after paper. We were created to chase purpose. When we're in our purpose, paper will chase after us. Cultivating our gifts and talents will always have us in demand. There is a need for the gifts that we have.
Truth is, when no one has ever looked some of us square in the eye and told us how valuable we really are. It's nearly impossible for some of us to even fathom. My brothers and my sisters that are reading this, YOU ARE SIGNIFICANT!!!
I just need you to ask yourself these questions... Would you be willing to disconnect with some friends in order to connect with your destiny?
Are you willing to burn some relationships to spark the fire of your passion?
Are you willing to spend a year or two alone (single) in order to have a divine connection with purpose?
One of the reason why we can't get things done in our lives is because we're busy trying to get things done in others....our allowing others to get things done in ours.
I challenge every reader to start looking at your chains...whatever or whoever it is you're connected to. If they are not conducive for your purpose in life, think about disconnecting one link at a time.
There's a purpose for chains in our lives to be broken ONE link at a time. If we just break the entire chain, we're liable to forget about some of the links that created the chain.
But when we break one link at a time, we get flash backs on where and who we used to be. This allows us to recognize this issue that another brother or sister may be dealing with, and be able to relate from a familiar place.
Through the pains of your experience, you can now reach your hands and pull someone out from their pit. You know their thought process the best because you've been there!
Log on next week as we discuss the mindset we developed from the Genesis of our issues. The household environment called "Home."
I'm calling it "Chain Game 2...The Direction of pain"
As always, run out of the circus, and live #LifeOnPurpose
Monday, February 4, 2013
Why...
Purpose is the original intent of a creation, or the reason WHY something was created.
Nothing in life is without purpose. Everything God created functions according to its purpose. Everything but the human race.
When mankind was created, we were created with something called choice. In the book "Journey to Excellence" by the Indianapolis Colts chaplain, Ken Johnson, he states that no one is born a winner or loser....We're all born choosers. Humans are the only creation that are born with the power of decision.
The earth never decides to just stop spinning on its axes...The sun doesn't wake up one day and decide to stop producing light....and the wildlife of the air, field and the sea can never stop hunting, gathering, and reproducing....they genuinely don't have a choice.
Mankind was created with the power of decision, and with that power comes responsibility. We're responsible for following our passions and using our natural and spiritual gifts in order to live life on purpose.
I mentioned before that nothing in life is without purpose. Our dilemma as human beings is that not every purpose is known. According to Dr. Myles Munroe, where purpose is unknown, abuse is inevitable. Abuse is abnormal use. If something is abnormally used, there's normal use for it. Our time, energy, and focus has been abused by pursuing careers that don't allow our gifts and talents to be put to use. When we neglect or haven't discovered our purpose, all we can do is experiment. Being that we have the power to choose which direction we want to go in life, we find ourselves experimenting with what we are exposed to. Our resumes are filled with experiments. We experiment with retail, fast food, customer service, administration, and a haul of other fields that put our passions and God given talents on the back burner. Although these experiments are necessary to help us as we climb the ladder of success, they are simply meant to be temporary or for a season. I compare them to layovers on a flight. The layover is never the final destination. Instead, we put time, energy and efforts into these nine to fives, and consequently miss our calling by dimming the lights on what it is that we were originally created to do.
I remember working as a clerk at a pharmacy at the University of California in San Diego a few years ago. I was making more money than I'd ever had before. It was one of my first full time jobs. My plan was to earn a decent living while pursuing a career as an actor. Although the salary I was earning was an absolute blessing at the time, I didn't have time to audition for roles. I told myself that I would request less hours in order to make time for auditions, but I was caught up in the paper chase. So caught up that, after some time, I received information about becoming a pharmacy technician. I was enticed by the increase of salary and comfortable living it was going to provide for me. I began to think about finally moving into my own place, buying furniture, owning a better car, affording suits for church, and just living a more comfortable life than the one I was living. For this brief moment I dimmed the lights on my acting career and began to experiment with this possible life of a pharmacy technician. When I snapped out of this delusional possibility, my passion for acting outweighed the quicker, easier road to becoming a pharmacy technician. I couldn't see myself working for this university for 20-30 years of my life when I understood that I have this gift to entertain. I knew at some point that I would wind up quitting to satisfy my passion for acting.
When we discover why we exist, we spark a flame that becomes almost impossible to put out.
WHY something exists is more important than WHAT it is that's in existence. WHY gives WHAT fulfillment.
So often, we have our minds on the WHAT in life as opposed to the WHY of life. We're so exhausted and worn out because we abuse or time and energy on WHAT we're chasing after. WHAT we chase after is usually what we've been exposed to, or what society trains us to pursue.
We have our minds on What relationships we want to get into, What kind of family we'd like to have, What jobs or careers earn a decent salary to just get by, What trades to pick up, What economic status' we'd like to have, What material things we want to posses, What fashion trends we want to follow, What education we'd like to have, and so on. Hip Hop artist Noreaga said it best....WHAT, WHAT, WHAT,WHAT, WHAT, WHAT, WHAT!
But rarely do we allow ourselves the opportunity to discover the WHY behind what it is we're chasing after.
There's a a reason Why you're attracted to certain types of people, Why we major in a particular field, Why we chose certain careers, Why we associate ourself with certain individuals. It's all connected to our purpose or Why we exist. The thing that we are passionate about gives us answers to WHY it is we exist. But, most of the time, we ignore them because they seem too far fetched and out of reach.
Passion is the greatest indicator of purpose. The very thing or things that drive us up the wall and can't stop thinking about, is what we were created to do. It is our responsibility to choose to stir up these gifts and get the training/education necessary in order to gain success in our respective fields.
The most fulfilled an effective people on this earth live #LifeOnPurpose.
Nothing in life is without purpose. Everything God created functions according to its purpose. Everything but the human race.
When mankind was created, we were created with something called choice. In the book "Journey to Excellence" by the Indianapolis Colts chaplain, Ken Johnson, he states that no one is born a winner or loser....We're all born choosers. Humans are the only creation that are born with the power of decision.
The earth never decides to just stop spinning on its axes...The sun doesn't wake up one day and decide to stop producing light....and the wildlife of the air, field and the sea can never stop hunting, gathering, and reproducing....they genuinely don't have a choice.
Mankind was created with the power of decision, and with that power comes responsibility. We're responsible for following our passions and using our natural and spiritual gifts in order to live life on purpose.
I mentioned before that nothing in life is without purpose. Our dilemma as human beings is that not every purpose is known. According to Dr. Myles Munroe, where purpose is unknown, abuse is inevitable. Abuse is abnormal use. If something is abnormally used, there's normal use for it. Our time, energy, and focus has been abused by pursuing careers that don't allow our gifts and talents to be put to use. When we neglect or haven't discovered our purpose, all we can do is experiment. Being that we have the power to choose which direction we want to go in life, we find ourselves experimenting with what we are exposed to. Our resumes are filled with experiments. We experiment with retail, fast food, customer service, administration, and a haul of other fields that put our passions and God given talents on the back burner. Although these experiments are necessary to help us as we climb the ladder of success, they are simply meant to be temporary or for a season. I compare them to layovers on a flight. The layover is never the final destination. Instead, we put time, energy and efforts into these nine to fives, and consequently miss our calling by dimming the lights on what it is that we were originally created to do.
I remember working as a clerk at a pharmacy at the University of California in San Diego a few years ago. I was making more money than I'd ever had before. It was one of my first full time jobs. My plan was to earn a decent living while pursuing a career as an actor. Although the salary I was earning was an absolute blessing at the time, I didn't have time to audition for roles. I told myself that I would request less hours in order to make time for auditions, but I was caught up in the paper chase. So caught up that, after some time, I received information about becoming a pharmacy technician. I was enticed by the increase of salary and comfortable living it was going to provide for me. I began to think about finally moving into my own place, buying furniture, owning a better car, affording suits for church, and just living a more comfortable life than the one I was living. For this brief moment I dimmed the lights on my acting career and began to experiment with this possible life of a pharmacy technician. When I snapped out of this delusional possibility, my passion for acting outweighed the quicker, easier road to becoming a pharmacy technician. I couldn't see myself working for this university for 20-30 years of my life when I understood that I have this gift to entertain. I knew at some point that I would wind up quitting to satisfy my passion for acting.
When we discover why we exist, we spark a flame that becomes almost impossible to put out.
WHY something exists is more important than WHAT it is that's in existence. WHY gives WHAT fulfillment.
So often, we have our minds on the WHAT in life as opposed to the WHY of life. We're so exhausted and worn out because we abuse or time and energy on WHAT we're chasing after. WHAT we chase after is usually what we've been exposed to, or what society trains us to pursue.
We have our minds on What relationships we want to get into, What kind of family we'd like to have, What jobs or careers earn a decent salary to just get by, What trades to pick up, What economic status' we'd like to have, What material things we want to posses, What fashion trends we want to follow, What education we'd like to have, and so on. Hip Hop artist Noreaga said it best....WHAT, WHAT, WHAT,WHAT, WHAT, WHAT, WHAT!
But rarely do we allow ourselves the opportunity to discover the WHY behind what it is we're chasing after.
There's a a reason Why you're attracted to certain types of people, Why we major in a particular field, Why we chose certain careers, Why we associate ourself with certain individuals. It's all connected to our purpose or Why we exist. The thing that we are passionate about gives us answers to WHY it is we exist. But, most of the time, we ignore them because they seem too far fetched and out of reach.
Passion is the greatest indicator of purpose. The very thing or things that drive us up the wall and can't stop thinking about, is what we were created to do. It is our responsibility to choose to stir up these gifts and get the training/education necessary in order to gain success in our respective fields.
The most fulfilled an effective people on this earth live #LifeOnPurpose.
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