Talent

Brett Banasiewicz is a 15 year old BMX phenom from my home town of South Bend Indiana. This kid is awesome, they call him Mad Dog! He is the youngest person to win a competition on the Dew Tour and this weekend he will be competing in the finals at X-Games 16 in Los Angeles.



It's obvious that God has blessed this young man with an incredible talent. But what I find interesting is that he has found that talent and developed it at a very young age. For some of us the gifts are found early like with Brett. For others it takes years to find our God given talents, and for a few they may never be found at all. God has equipped each of us with various abilities that are unique to who He has made us to be. But in order to use them we must seek them out, search for them, find them and develop them into something great.

In our society we spend way too much time trying to fix our shortcomings, our inadequacies, our insufficiencies. If there is an area where we are weak we are taught to concentrate all of our efforts into transforming that weakness into a strength. But what happens is that we get frustrated and give up. What we should be doing is concentrating all that effort into developing our talents.

What would happen today if we sought out our God given talents? What would happen today if we found them, developed them and used them the way God had intended? What would happen today if we stopped trying to fix our weaknesses and exercised our strengths? What would happen today if we asked God to join us together as His men to use our unique gifts collectively to advance His Kingdom?

What would happen today...?

For more information on this subject I recommend the book "Now, Discover Your Strengths" by Marcus Buckingham. (only buy this book new, there is an access code inside to a web based evaluation assessment that will help you find your strengths, it can only be used once)

More

In the song More of You by my friends Pure Star Movement there is a line that says;

I need more of You...and less of me.

What would happen today if we admitted to ourselves that we need more of the Lord in our lives? What would happen today if we let Him into our hearts more and more every day? What would happen today if we put His desires for us before our own? What would happen today if we relied more on Him and less on ourselves?

What would happen today?

Exercise

Almost every day for the past 10 months I've been going to the Riverwalk in downtown Mishawaka Indiana, it's a 10 minute drive from my home. I started going there to prepare for a trip to Colorado in November and continued when I found out I was going to India in March. I really enjoy the atmosphere. The city has put a lot of effort into making it an ideal place for walking and bike riding. It follows both sides of the St. Joseph River in the downtown area, has footbridges to cross the river and underpasses so you don't have to cross busy streets along the way. I usually listen to books on mp3 or music while I'm walking but there are times when I just need to be alone with God without any distractions, and this is a perfect place for that. Much of the inspiration for this blog comes while I'm walking there. During nice weather it's very a popular place but during the winter most days I was the only one there.

The first day I started my power walk training I was really out of shape. It took about 50 minutes to walk the course and I was huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf. The next few weeks my time and breathing improved but my legs were still sore (didn't allow for recovery time). Two weeks before I went to Colorado I started carrying a backpack full of schoolbooks to add a little resistance. During the winter the city tries to plow the snow but most of the time it was just packed down which makes it more difficult to walk. Throughout this period my times got better and better, now I'm a consistent 36 minutes and have even broken 34 a couple of times. I hardly get winded, my legs no longer hurt, I've even lost 10 lbs. This training has become a part of my life and the days I don't walk I feel like I've missed something important.

What would happen today if we realized that God has put a lot of effort into making an ideal place for our walk? What would happen today if we exercised our faith on a daily basis so it will be strong? What would happen today if spent alone time with God? What would happen today if we talked with God regularly so that it becomes a part of our daily lives, and when we don't we miss Him?

What would happen today...?

Kindness

I was at the grocery store the other day doing my weekly shopping. I frequent one of those no frills places where you bag your own stuff. They have just about any thing your looking for but a very limited variety of brands to choose from. I go there because they have the cheapest prices in town. I got everything I needed and headed to the checkout. Most of the time they have one maybe two cashiers working but they move people through very quickly. The woman in front of me had a whole cart full of stuff and when it was her turn she stepped over in front of the cashier. She didn't say a word, she just stood there impatiently. The cashier said hi and started to scan her items, the woman still stood there. When it came time to pay the woman gave the cashier her money and waited for her change. As the cashier gave the change back the woman handed her a tract and said "My church is handing these out." and walked away. The cashier looked bewildered, said thanks and set it aside. She turned to me, smiled, said hi and started up a small talk conversation as she scanned my items.

What would happen today if we were nice to the people who serve us? What would happen today if we tried to build relationships with the people we come into contact with on a regular basis? What would happen today if we handed out smiles, compliments and kind words? What would happen today if we stopped for a moment, looked the cashier in the eye and simply asked her name?

What would happen today...?