You Should be like Shaun White

¹⁰ God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. ¹¹ Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ.    I Peter 4:10-11

Watching the Olympics has been awesome. Nothing has impressed me more than watching Shaun White on the Half Pipe! He is amazing!

I started thinking though… why is it so awesome to watch him? Because he found out what his gift was, dedicated himself to it, and now he gives his gift to the world to enjoy.

Sadly, while Shaun White gives his gift away for the world to enjoy, too many of us sit at home watcing people do remarkable things, and never entertain the thought that we could give something remarkable to the world.

Here is a truth: YOU have something remarkable to offer the world. I don’t know what it is, but the people around you do. Ask people what your good at, discover the gifts that God has placed in you, dedicate yourself to developing those gifts, and then give something remarkable to the rest of the world.

The world will recognize when they see something remarkable – make sure when they see the remarkable in you- you  use it as an opportunity to point people to God, because the reality is, without the gifts and gracings He’s put in our lives, we would never be anything near remarkable.

Don’t neglect what God’s put in you. Be remarkable. Give Your Gift Away for the World to Enjoy.

Everything I do is Pointless, I want to do Something with Purpose

Ever feel like this? I know I have. When I was 18 I started interning at my church. It was an unpaid internship and I had no  idea what to expect out of the behind the scenes work at a church. For almost a year the biggest responsibility I had was washing pitchers of water and organizing bins for youth group. That’s what everyone dreams of when they think of working at a church, right?

“God is more concerned about developing your potential than you are!”

I would sit in meetings and hear my mentor delegate “significant” tasks to the rest of the team only to end with looking at me and saying, “Bubs, organize the bins and wash the pitchers.” After two months of that, I had enough. So when my mentor left for his 8 week sabbatical, I e-mailed him telling him I quit. I didn’t sign up to work for free and wash pitchers.

He got me in contact with another mentor and had him talk to me. He said, “Bubs, have you prayed about this?” Of course I hadn’t. He said, “Give God a chance to speak to your heart, if you come back and still don’t want to, then quit.” God had one chance – if he didn’t speak to me in my devotions, it was over. I opened to Isaiah 49:3.4:

³ He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, and you will bring me glory.” ⁴ I replied, “But my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose.Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand;I will trust God for my reward.”

This verse changed my life forever. I felt like my work was useless, done for nothing, and for no purpose. YET…I leave it in God’s hands – I trust Him for my reward.  I developed this mentality and decided to stick with the internship.

One Thing Leads to Another

For an entire year, I set up bins faithfully every week. At the end of the year, I got asked to give my first offering. I started getting more responsibility. I interned a second year and at the end of my second year, I got asked to speak for the first time ever. Which led to more speaking engagements, more responsibility, and eventually 4 years after I interned, I got hired on staff at my church.

What Would Have Happened if I Would Have Quit Because I thought Everything I did was Pointless?

I wouldn’t be writing this, I wouldn’t be on staff, I probably wouldn’t be living for God. My Conclusion? God has you where you are for a reason, for your development, and if you’ll learn to trust Him for your reward instead of people, in His timing, He will promote you and allow you to do great things for Him, but first, you have to be faithful in the things that seem absolutely worthless.

Book Review: Linchpin: Are You Indipensible? (A Must Read from Seth Godin)

Seth Godin is definitely a linchpin. He is indispensable. Why?  He knows he has something of value to offer to the world. Because of this knowledge, he ships -> he gives what he has to the world, and as a result thousands of people and organizations are in a better place. If he didn’t give what he has away, it would be to the detriment of all of those people and organizations. This makes Seth indispensable.

This book will at least give you the inspiration and motivation to become indispensable, of course,what you do with the knowledge gained through this book is what will actually matter. My summary of the book: Stop doing things that anybody else could do, and start doing things that will make you stand out, that make you indispensable. To do anything else is a waste of your talent, time, and to be honest, your life.

This was one of the best books I’ve ever read. If you’re plan on doing anything with your life, including actually having a job, you need to read this book.

Final Grade: 10/10   Buy It Here: Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?

Here are some of my highlights:

• You can train yourself to matter.

• The only way to grow is to stand out, to create something worth talking about, to treat people with respect and to have them spread the word.

• “Not My Job” Three words can kill an entire organization.

• What They Should Teach in School Only two things: 1. Solve interesting problems 2. Lead

• If you can’t be remarkable, perhaps you should consider doing nothing until you can.

• If you don’t have a résumé, what do you have? How about three extraordinary letters of recommendation from people the employer knows or respects? Or a sophisticated project an employer can see or touch? Or a reputation that precedes you? Or a blog that is so compelling and insightful that they have no choice but to follow up?

• The linchpin says, “I don’t want a job that a non-linchpin could get

• ”A day’s work for a day’s pay (work <=> pay). I hate this approach to life. It cheapens us.

• It’s okay to have someone you work for, someone who watches over you, someone who pays you. But the moment you treat that person like a boss, like someone in charge of your movements and your output, you are a cog, not an artist.

• I think the discipline of shipping is essential in the long-term path to becoming indispensable.

• If you are working only for the person you report to according to the org chart, you may be sacrificing your future.

• If your agenda is set by someone else and it doesn’t lead you where you want to go, why is it your agenda?

• Linchpins don’t need authority. It’s not part of the deal. Authority matters only in the factory, not in your world.

• Mentoring is rarely about the facts of the deal (the facts are easily found), but instead is a transfer of emotion and confidence.

• When you meet someone, you need to have a superpower. If you don’t, you’re just another handshake.