Escape Team Blog Ramblings and Random Thoughts by the Escape Youth Ministry Team

Failure to Fail Will Make You A Failure

All last night and this morning this thought has been running through my mind "another failure Batterman...way to go...your getting good at doing poorly" Quite honestly, I didn't sleep last night, sick to my stomach most of the night. Why? B/c I've failed. I know, sounds like quite the pitty party, right? Well, you know as well as I do that failing at any given task is no fun, I don't care who you are.

I came into work this morning, grabbed a cup of coffee and headed to my desk to write something for this blog. Honestly, with how I was feeling , writing some "yippy skippy, happy go lucky blog" was the last thing that my flesh wanted to do! SOOOO, I pulled out a devotional by Justin Lookadoo and came across this article that really brought some encouragement to me and I hope that it does to you too.

"I love watching little kids play sports. They are clueless and loving it. And with a little knowledge mixed with imagination, you can piece together the futures of these children. I remember this one kid and his mom. Cute kid, and you could tell she was a very loving mom. She would do anything for her son, and actually she pretty much did everything for her son, When he would get a kids' meal,  he would dig in the sack straight after the toy, He would grab it and try and open it  and after maybe two half-effort tugs, she would take it and open it for him. When he put his shoes on and would try to place the end of each lace in a loop to make a bow, she  would knelled down and say, "here, let Mommy help." He would go play on the playground, and as soon as he would have to put forth any effort, she would boost him up the rest of the way.

Well, this little boy was finally old enough for T-ball. It was his first game ever and his turn to hit. He took his stance, lined up the bat and the ball, and swung with all of his might, totally missing everything. All the kids laughed because , hey, that's what kids do. He took aim again and with a mighty swing, the ball fell to the ground two feet in front of the tee. A kid picked up the ball and touched him, and he was out.

The boy ran off the field crying, He was devastated. He had never failed. He was so sheltered from the world that he had never had the chance to push himself. Mommy was always there to do it for him. He didn't know the struggle it takes to win, to reach new heights, to accomplish anything. If you never fail, you never stretch yourlsef to be more than you are. You never learn that there are many ways to solve a single problem. With out failure, you will never discover the cure for cancer. Without failure, man would have never walked on the moon. Without failure, we would still be riding horses to town, sitting around in the dark, hoping that we could get to the closest tree before our bladder exploded. Failures are the hurdles of greatness. Each failure is a brick that builds the foundations of a huge victory. The next time you try something, go big. Because if it is worth doing, it's worth doing in a large way. James 1:2-4 says, "Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing."

As I read that devotional I was reminded of God's love and plan that He has for me that as long as I keep my heart and eyes set on "things above" Col 3:1-3 I will always have the victory in Christ. And it's the same for you! Though failure can be hard on a guys pride the verse below is a promise you and I can stand on and trust God that He's going to work it out.

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”  Romans 8:28

God Bless,

Dustin

Meditate

Psalm 19:14
New Living Translation (NLT)
14 May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing to you,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

This scripture ties the words of our mouths to the meditations of our hearts. See, whatever we think about is what we're going to be talking about with our rather large mouths. Of course, there are always a few in every crowd who fail to think at all before they talk.

When someone talks about meditation, the image that usually surfaces in our minds is a Chinese-looking guy in a toga, sitting cross-legged, his eyes closed and his fingers in circles, humming in G minor. At least it does in my imagination.

However, to His eternal credit, this is not what God has in mind when He tells us to meditate. He's simply asking us to take a few extra moments in our day to really think about and mull over His Word. When you do, you'll gain new revelation and better understanding about how to make it work in your life. Try it!

Fear

1 John 4:18
New Living Translation (NLT)
18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.

When you listen to fear, it will limit what you try, and that will limit what you accomplish. Many people allow fear to rule their lives. Most of what people fear never even comes to pass. In fact, researchers tell us that 60% of our fears are totally unwarranted.

Here's an example to help illustrate the stupidity of giving in to fear. When the locomotive was first invented, a group of people tried to have it banned. Their argument was that if humans traveled faster than 30mph they would suffocate to death. Now, that sounds silly to us today, but they were really fearful of the unknown.

When you give place to fear, it robs you of faith, and that robs you of God's best. When you do have one of those legitimate reasons for concern, even then you don't have to panic. Give you problem to God and trust Him for the answer. He hasn't given you a spirit of fear but of love and faith, and they will overcome anything in the world.

The Wall

In my bible reading today I came across this scripture.

Proverbs 25:28 says "Like a city whose walls are broken down, is a man who lacks self control."

Back in the day the only thing that kept a city's enemies from coming in and stealing the woman and children, destroying the buildings and killing the King was a wall. A city with a strong wall was a safe city. A city with a weak wall was a targeted city. A city with no wall, was a destroyed city.

God makes an interesting parallel in this passage. He compares a man with no self control to a city that has no walls.

Apparently, it is our self control (being able to say yes to the right things and no to the wrong things) that protects us like the walls of an ancient city.

It is our self control (saying yes to the right things and no to the wrong things) that will protect our family, our finances, and our faith from the many enemies of our culture.

Self Control is something I generally don't think about until I make a mistake, a dumb purchase, or say something I shouldn't have said. When I lose control, is when I realize how important it is. But that is the equivalent of an ancient city realizing it has a hole in its wall, as the enemy is climbing in, by then...it's to late.

Today, I'm making a pledge to myself to work on self control. Like an ancient city, I have a lot of things that need protected. And if I say yes to the right things, those items will be safe. If I so yes to the wrong things, destruction is right around the corner.

Today, I'm going to work on my wall.

World Rules

Everything in life has rules. Rules are written, spoken and unspoken. However they are portrayed, rules govern everything we do. If you learn the rules, and play by them you are going to go far. If you don't know the rules or know them and refuse to play along, well your life is going to be far less than you ever hoped.

When you are young, it is easy to have a misguided view of how life is to be lived. However, a few months out in the REAL WORLD will wake you up very quickly. Here are some rules that I have learned over the many years I've lived in the real world. Unfortunately I've had to learn many of them the hard way.

1) Small is BIG

5 minutes is not very long. You can be 5 minutes early or you can be 5 minutes late. If you are only 5 minutes late to many times, you are FIRED. Small things make big impacts.

2) Your Intentions mean NOTHING. Your actions are EVERYTHING

"I was going to but...." "I thought about it, but...." "I really really wanted to, but....." Listen, your boss, your spouse, your kids and all the people in the world don't give a flying flip about what you intended to do. All they care about is what you actually did.

3) No one gives you anything.

A job, a raise, a house, a car, a vacation trip to the Bahama's....you don't deserve any of those things. The only way you will get and keep the things in life that you want or need, is by earning them. You earn a raise, you save for the vacation, you get a job so you can buy a car. We live in a society of people that feel entitled to everything, when in actuality they are entitled to nothing. The sooner you learn that no one is going to give you anything, the faster you will get the things you want.

4) Your talent and a one dollar bill will get you a cup of coffee.

Talented people are a dime a dozen. The world is full of great athletes, amazing musicians and incredibly gifted communicators that never made it. Far to often gifted people rely solely on their looks, talents or abilities to take them where they want to go. However, talent will only take you so far. Talent is a wonderful commodity when combined with character, but alone talent is not very powerful at all.

5) A servants heart will take you places you never dreamed.

What do Donald Trump, Quick Trip, Toms Shoes and Samaritans Purse all have in common? They have mastered the art of SERVICE. I need something to watch on Sunday nights, Donald Trump serves my need every week by taking time to make the Apprentice. People need gasoline and snacks for road trips, Quick Trip serves those needs by offering them in their stores. People need shoes,food, and medical care Toms Shoes and Samaritans Purse serves those needs with all of the philanthropical things they do around the world.

If you want to be great, have nice things, make an impact on the people around you, you must have a servants heart. When you do, you will go places and do things that you never dreamed.

Your Probably A Youth Pastor If…

1) Your hair is messed up and you have at least two plaid western shirts from Urban Outfitters.

2) You secretly desire to look just like the dude from Hillsong United.

3) You've ever scheduled a big outreach event, just so you could get free food.

4) Every time you want to "go deeper", the first thing you do is read a book by Mark Driscoll.

5) You can always come up with 3 legit reasons to do it later. (and it doesn't matter what "it" is)

6) Your car catches on fire and the first thing that comes to your mind is "this would be an incredible illustration".

7) You got married so that you could have one more steady youth worker.