During the 1912 Olympics Jim Thorpe, a Native American from Oklahoma was representing the U.S. in track and field. On the morning of his competitions his shoes were stolen. What did Jim do? Jim went dumpster diving and found two shoes in a garbage bin. The shoes were not a perfect match though. They were two different shoes. One of the shoes was too big. Did he throw them across the room in a moment of sheer anger? No, Jim wore an extra sock. Wearing two mismatched shoes and an extra sock he competed in the decathlon, pentathlon, the long jump, high jump and Javelin. He won four of the five events and placed third in the javelin, an event that he had not even competed in before 1912.
How did Jim
react? Did he stomp his feet and yell at the top of his lungs about how much
this sucked? Did he curl up in a ball or pass out from the stress? While I’m
sure this was not a happy moment for him by an stretch of the imagination it
didn’t deter him. He found a way to make it work. It wasn’t perfect but he
found opportunity in the midst of a crisis.
During three
stints in different Nazi concentration camps Viktor Frankl spent his time
refining his understanding of suffering and meaning. The author of the James
Bond novels Ian Flemming wrote Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car by hand
while he was on bed rest. He was told not to use a typewriter by his Doctors
because they were afraid he might over exert himself. Walt Disney started his
first company called Laugh-O-Grams but eventually ran out of money and the
company went bankrupt. I think we all know the end of that particular story.
My point:
None of these folks ever gave up. Neither of them stopped what they were doing
so that they could just sit around moan, bitch and complain about how their
situation sucked so bad. They used their “down” time to their advantage. Now,
listen I’m not saying that you’re not allowed to get mad or take a second to
have a good cry or complain for a moment about your crappy job or boss. It’s
good to get hacked off. Get hacked off, get angry. The world is not a perfect
place and it was meant to be something else. You should be angry at that. Pain
is terrible, war is terrible, Nazi concentration camps and Isis were and are
pure evil and starting a business and then going bankrupt is never a good thing
either. What I am saying is that these guys are great examples of people who
used their time to their advantage. Malcom X (regardless of what you think
about him) spent 10 years in prison. Did he complain or try to start an
uprising? No, he grabbed a dictionary and copied it by hand with a
pencil...From beginning to end. He opened up his world.
Whatever
you’re going through right now, whatever you’re experiencing that is bad like a
bad job, a bad boss, a bad marriage, troubled kids or your jerk of a neighbor?
Take a moment to step back. Don’t let your flesh and pride get in the way. Be
humble and ask yourself if there is something you can accomplish? What could
you possibly do with this time, this moment? Turn this crappy moment into a
revival. Use it as an opportunity. If you just simply let your anger rule the
day, if you just simply let this draw you into aggravation or allow yourself to
get depressed then you’re accomplishing absolutely nothing and you are
disengaged in your faith. There is nothing that can separate you from the love
of your Father in Heaven. Don’t allow fear to take you down for a T.K.O.
Pray, ask
the Lord to take your issue and redeem it for his good and glory. He’s good at
that kind of stuff you know. He will lead you through the valley of the shadow
of death and redeem and sanctify you in the process. Whatever is ailing you
it’s out of your control but how you spend your time in the midst of the
challenge is in your control. So, take action, be fearless and life free.
Now, get to
it.
Gordon
Have Faith,
Live Free and Live Fearlessly
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