“Disorient literally means to replace east with west & north with south. To be disoriented means your world is turned upside down.”
ORIENTATION->DISORIENTATION->REORIENTATION
-Bryan Halferty, “Habakkuk, a free book”
Postures on a Journey over a Formula for Answers →
“He is the God of Adventure and the God in the journey.”
LB Scott Fujita Signs One-Day Contract with New Orleans Saints, Announces Retirement →
I will climb this mountain with my hands wide open…la la la la la
I love the New Orleans Saints so much. The story just gets richer and deeper all the time. Scott is hands down my all time favorite Saints defender. I’ve missed him since he’s been gone and now I can let go of hope he’ll come back.
Oh yeah, and he announced his retirement after pulling Steve Gleason up Machu Piccu. Whaaaat? Who does this? That guy, that’s who. Awesome ain’t easy.
Watch the video: Scott Goes Up A Man, Comes Down A Saint
So Steve Gleason has ALS and he climbed Machu Piccu. If he can do that you can do that thing you’re putting off.
Hey, “awesome ain’t easy.”
Read more about it here: Steve Gleans climbs Machu Piccu
And Here: Steve talks Machu Piccu
I encourage exploring both those websites and learning all about his trip and if (dare I say this) you have not heard of Steve Gleason learn who he is. If you read my blog ever you should know who he is by now.
CONFLICT LENDS VALUE TO THAT WHICH WE ATTAIN
“Years ago I was hiking in the Andes Mountains of Peru. I needed to lose some weight so I created an inciting incident to take a four day trek that involved climbing over a fourteen-thousand foot mountain pass. I trained for months and lost twenty pounds preparing. Still , the hike was brutal. I turns out the going up wasn’t the problem, it was the coming down. To this day, I’ve never been in more pain. We were dehydrated from the trek and on the second to last day had to descend nine miles down stone steps, many of which were two and three feet tall. We began the day’s hike before sunrise and ended it by flashlight. By the time we made camp, I walked into the shower without removing my clothes. I was too tired to undress.
Our trek followed the sacred trail and ended at the lost city of Machu Picchu. I’ll never forget the first day of the climb, though, when our guide, Carlos, took us to the edge of a plateau to show us a diverging path. We were only a few miles in and eager and feeling pretty good when they told us there was another path, a path that followed the river and if we wanted, we could take it all the way to the lost city. We’d be there in only six hours, Carlos told us, and the trail was flat and cooled by the river.
But seniors y senoritas, he said, we will not take this path. Instead, we will arrive at the lost city four days from now, and we will climb into those mountains. Carlos turned and pointed toward the snow capped Andes, many of them towering over twenty-one thousand feet, nearly seven thousand feet taller than any mountain in Colorado and only five thousand feet shorter than Everest.
The Inca, Carlos said, would only let commercial goods come into the city by the easier trail. Everybody on a spiritual pilgrimage had to pass through the mountains. Do you know why they demanded spiritual pilgrims pass through the mountains? Carlos asked.
Because they wanted people to appreciate the city when they got there, he said. And the pain of this trek will bring out the beauty of the lost city.
It’s true what Carlos said. We spent four days in those mountains and when we got to the lost city, I could swear it was more beautiful to us than to those who’d come by bus. It is, to this day, one of the most beautiful sights I’ve seen. And I’m convinced it had more to do with the pain of the journey than the steep green hills or the remnants of a lost civilization enshrined amongst the clouds.
Some o our ambitions will be difficult, but be thankful for the challenges. They may hurt in the moment but when we look back, the pain will add meaning to the story and joy to the celebratory ending.
Have you ever wondered why men and women are so different, why they find it so hard to communicate? Perhaps the reason is God actually embeds conflict into that which he wants us to fight for.”
-Donald Miller, Storyline
It's a journey, enjoy the ride. →
“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
― Michael Jordan
Click to Read for your Journey →
“Our anxiety is too often misplaced. We have no problem eating fast food multiple times a week, but fear the flu or the next pandemic is waiting to grab us like the bogeyman in the night. Ebola is a mere plane flight away from stealing our children. Food poisoning is lurking in every meal. We can never have enough triclosan, Purell, or antibiotics to quiet our nerves, but here’s a caramel mochachino to take the edge off.”
I’ve been watching the West Wing. Never saw a single episode when it was running. I love the richness a TV show has when I can watch it later back to back to back. Especially a show as rich as this.
I also love when a movie or a show can inspire me, not just as I watch it but in my daily life. Watching this show has shaped my outlook on things, the least of which is politics but that too. I look at the White House differently. This show is clearly what we aim for rather than reality, but I love that it shows what America could truly be if we let it.
The most impact, oddly enough (strange how things are affecting me in less obvious ways lately) is my view on teamwork. My teamwork ethic of course is not coming from a TV show but from years of agony and failure really. But I’m a point in my life where I really want to do what it takes to be a part of a team and what I love about the West Wing is the emphasis on the team behind Bartlett. The show is not about him, it’s about them.
Something ridiculously shocking happened on the episode I watched last night, even though it was perfectly organic to the story and added to the stakes and the pressure already pushing the freight train of a storyline. It was enough to throw the fictional President into a rage against God.
And that’s when I cried. Not because I am inspired to be a President, or because I couldn’t imagine such a load to bear. I cried because I can’t count how many of these rages against God I’ve had. Mostly I cried because now I know that God welcomes them.
Even when I give it all I have, I can’t do enough. Either the world will rain down on me and it will pour, or I will make a slight mistake that turns into the Trojian horse of my cause.
I am learning lately, and I mean truly accepting with my heart, that I just…can’t…do it. I need Jesus. And I need my team. And I need him to keep us together.
And when the world splits us apart, or our enemy splits my mind from my heart, I now know it is okay to rage like this to the God who holds all things in his hand.
Funny thing is, truly accepting that, I mean utterly knowing how merciful and gracious and loving he is, loving enough to hear my rage-filled heart even though He’s done nothing wrong, makes me want to praise him in the storm instead.
It’s weird how it works like that.
Opposites Attract
- valleys will be filled
- mountains and hills made level
- curves will be straightened
- rough places made smooth
- captives will be released
- the blind will see
- the oppressed will be set free
(Source: staypozitive)
There’s always great story lines during the Superbowl. But save for the win by the New Orleans Saints three years ago, it’s never been this full of gem stories, and never has it been more personal to me.
Some favorites:
-New Orleans Rebirth
-Bro Bowl
-Family oriented Superbowl in New Orleans
-Gay marriage on the Grand Stage
-Does God care about the outcome of a game?
But I think everyone’s favorite takes the cake for me as well.
-LIGHTS OUT
Everything surrounding this shocking “situation” punctuates the whole story. Wow.
Also, what a game. Best in a while, as I knew it would be. Was a little worried.
…Until the lights went out.
That all being said, as much talk as there is of the rebirth of New Orleans, as family oriented as it was this year, as much hoopla surrounds America’s biggest stage….
there is much work to be done.
In New Orleans, as much hope and ligth there is shining, there is still an underbelly of crooked justice, murder and sex trafficing among other things.
And this is the same for America.
Yes the light is shining, and darkness can’t overtake it, but let your light shine brighter. Yes, New Orleans, America, and especially you are far greater than the Superbowl.
I’m not kidding. I know it sounds corny but it’s true. You are a bigger deal than the creme de la creme of big deals, the Superbowl. You are more famous in the eyes of your creator than a star football player, and the star football players are much more than star football players. You are the pinnacle of all of life, more precious to the King of the Universe than any star Isn’t it crazy to think of that reality?
So let your light shine.
“It’s just a game you say? Like hell it is.”
The moment of that punt block changed my life. To this day, it makes very little sense. I have ideas, both grand and small. But they are sketchy at best. Learn this story, and the bigger story to it, maybe learn mine if you don’t know it. Then decide for yourself.
Is it really just a game?
