What’s Holding You Back?

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I remember from my youth ministry days an inflatable that I would sometimes rent for major events. It was called a bungee run. The concept was simple enough. Two people, standing side-by-side, strap themselves to a bungee cord attached to the back of a long aisle. On go, they both run as hard and fast as they can to see who can get the farthest before the bungee snaps them back on their derriere.

It’s a fun enough game; but, the problem is we often live our lives the very same way. We try to move forward but find ourselves latched on to our past. It creates an endless cycle of hard run…fall back…hard run…fall back…leaving us discouraged at our lack of progress and disappointed that we can’t just move on.

Listen, you cannot move forward until you’re willing to leave where you currently are. You have to cut your bungee cord to the past…good and bad. That doesn’t mean you forget where you came from. It simply means you choose not to spend the rest of your life there.

God wants to keep moving you forward…from glory to glory. But, you have to be willing to move with Him…to pack your bags, let go of your past, and walk forward. Don’t let a bungee cord keep you from where God wants to take you.



Written by on January 10, 2012 and categorized under Impact, Individuality

What’s New?

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I love new things. They’re fresh. They’re exciting. They’re…well…NEW.

I firmly believe we have to regularly experience new things. It both lets us know we’re moving forward and KEEPS us moving forward. If it’s always the “same old, same old”…then we’ve probably hit a rut and are in danger of becoming ineffective.

Think about all the “new” we see in Scripture:

  • In Isaiah, God declares he will do a NEW thing
  • Jesus implemented a NEW covenant
  • Our relationship with Him makes us a NEW creation
  • At the end of all things, the old will fade and everything will be made NEW

Cherish the old…but ALWAYS move to the NEW!



Written by on January 2, 2012 and categorized under Impact, Individuality

Don’t Eat the Marshmallow

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A running joke for the past several years in our staff has been, “I’d eat the marshmallow.” It started when one of us read about a study that was conducted years ago by putting children in a room with a single marshmallow on a plate. They were then told that they could either eat the marshmallow …or…if they could sit and wait for x number of minutes, they would be rewarded with a 2nd marshmallow. The study was to show a correlation between patience and success.

It makes me think of how Esau, after a long day of hunting, was hungry and asked his brother, Jacob, for some soup. Jacob made him an offer. Esau could have some soup IF he would give up his birthright as the firstborn. Esau agreed. All I can say is…I hope that was some good soup.

Our enemy is crafty. He is willing to give us moments of pleasure. But, in exchange, we give up our purpose. In any kind of economy…a moment of pleasure is never worth a lifetime of purpose. I guarantee the enemy will never give you more than God has in store.

Don’t eat the marshmallow.



Written by on December 7, 2011 and categorized under Impact, Individuality

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