Tag: Passion Groove

What did you enjoy?

On this week’s podcast, Justin Snyder makes a comment that’s stuck with me since our chat last week.

“You should do what did when you were 5, because that’s what you really enjoy – that’s what you’re really passionate about.”

I twittered it yesterday, and got some fun responses on Facebook…
Continue reading What did you enjoy?

What’s your Popeye moment?

Posted this question on Twitter and Facebook today. Interested to see what responses I get. I’ll try and post them here. Or you can visit search.twitter.com to see the Twitter responses.



question for today :: what’s your Popeye moment? what makes you say, “Thats all I can stands and I cants stand no more?” tweet with #popeye

Bill Hybels talks about this Popeye moment in his book Holy Discontent. He refers to the Popeye moment (see roughly 5:45 into this video) as an analogy for our Holy Discontent, or Passion Groove. It’s that moment when we see things going on around us and we simply can’t not do anything. We have to act. We have to take a stand for what we know is right.

Here are some thoughts I had on the idea from August of last year ::

  • What is it that motivates people to work where they work, volunteer their time to the groups they serve, and donate money to the causes they support? Simply put, why do people do what they do?”
  • That’s all I can stands, and I can’t stands no more!” – Popeye.. What happens when we reach the point where we can’t “stands no more?” What is is that you “can’t stands no more?”
  • The trouble with contentedness is that, when lived out in isolation, it can be lethal! If you’re not careful, you will become lulled into a state of satisfaction, safety and serenity, and you’ll altogether neglect needs in the world that should elicit deep discontent when you see them going unmet.
  • “I refuse to accept the idea that the “is-ness” of man’s present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal “ought-ness” that forever confronts him.” (- Martin Luther King, Jr) Friends, this is what it looks like to live from a place of holy discontent – where ought-ness simply overtakes is-ness.
  • On MLK: “The holy discontent that had taken up residence inside him simply wouldn’t allow him to give anything less than his entire life.”
  • Have you ever wondered why, when you turn your life over to God, you don’t get express-freighted right to heaven? Or, to put it a little more crassly, if you’re so heaven-bound, then why are you still sucking air down here? I love that question. It really makes you question why we’re here. What is it that God has placed us here for?
  • Eph. 2:10 says that “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
  • If you’re alive and kicking today, then there is a specific work that you are expected to do. There is a set of tasks with your name on it that God has given you to accomplish.
  • The goal is to cultivate your soul’s soil so that this doing-of-good-works process can unfold in your life.
  • “None of your tears or anguish will be wasted; I (God) plan to use every ounce of what you’ve been through for good in this specific area.” Can I make that first part any bigger? Go back and read that one again. Think on it. Trust in it. Believe in it. That’s one of God’s greatest promises to me and one that I hold to day in an day out.
  • How will you know when your one thing shows up? It will be the pesky preoccupation that vies for your undivided attention during the day and keeps you wide-eyed at night as is captures your heart and ignites your imagination. It will be the thing to force you to the floor, heaving sorrowful tears the whole way down. It will be the thing kicking and screaming inside of you, squawking for all it’s worth to be addressed.
  • My applecart got completely overturned by the thought of seekers going to hell simply because Christians refused to break out of their holy huddles long enough to embrace them… Seekers matter! And people far from God deserve better local church options that the ones available to them today!
  • When you find your holy discontent, feed it! Don’t run from it. Move toward it. If poverty is your holy discontent, don’t move to the suburbs to avoid it – move to the inner city where you can see everyday and night how it affects people until your blood simply boils over.
  • The pastor described how gut-wrenching an experience it had been to be told blatantly who mattered and who didn’t at church — and then to realize that his family was part of the “who didn’t” category — racism in churches is not acceptable.

So what is your Popeye moment?

From Facebook ::

Dave writes ::
“Oh man! How about the entire of city of Waco who continues a downward spiral of poverty. Worst of all the people equiped to help would rather help zoo animals and kennel Dogs! Ahhhhhggghhhg!”

Cheap commitment

I’ve been debating the issue of commitment vs. spending money lately with several people and I’ve found a few articles that tend to back my theory.

Anyways, I’ve been thinking and theorizing that people need to be committed to your cause. It doesn’t matter how much money you spend, you need people committed.

Check out Creating Passionate Users for a whole list of reasons why.

You can have the cheapest equipment and put out a dang quality product or have a dang high quality organization.

Or you can spend hundreds if not thousands on equipment and software and gadgets, but if no ones committed, you won’t see any increase in productivity or the output of your group/cause. If there’s no commitment, why would anyone take time to learn to use your gadgets better?

DISD has given my mom a Palm Pilot and a laptop in the last few years to help increase her productivity. But my mom doesn’t care. I think she’s probably used the laptop once or twice. She doesn’t see any need for it anywhere.

Having a laptop or Palm Pilot doesn’t make my mom a great teacher. It doesn’t help her students get higher test scores. My mom’s a great teacher because she’s committed to excellence and bringing her students to a point of excellence.

My dad’s a great electrician, not because he has the lastest tools and equipment, but because he will wait and work and stay at any project until its completed and works right.

Saturday night before heading to bed I showed him the damaged cord on my laptop charger. He said it could possibly be soldered, but since it was midnight, I dismissed it and went to bed, knowing I’d have to find another way to run Powerpoint the next morning at church.

But instead of giving up like I did, my dad woke up at 5 in the morning and came and got my charger.

He used a simple knife, some plyers and knot know-how and fixed the tear in my charger.

By 6:30 a.m. my computer was plugged in and charging again.

It didn’t take any fancy equipment to fix, just a commitment to be better.

The City of Belton is overflowing with a large revenue bucket. They run a super tight budget every year, but you know how?

Each of the employees has made commitments to make the city better. Sure they’re not getting super raises each year, and they could be making more money elsewhere, but they are committed to a city they love and enjoy working for. They stay and make Belton a great place to live and work.

Brian Bailey a staff member at Fellowship Church Dallas writes this about his church’s new commitment and mission statement, COFFEE.

“I would much rather invest resources in first-class staff. Hire the right people with the right skills, and they will allow you to accomplish more than you could imagine, for less.”

That sounds right up my alley.

Get people who know what they’re doing and are committed to their cause. Reward them for their hardwork and watch your productivity and output skyrocket.

One Idea is Better than Three

GarrettDimon.com has a great theory about presenting ideas to clients. I think he may be on to something. In his article, One Idea is Better than Three he wrote:

If you present clients with multiple ideas and expect them to choose one, invariably, the end result is muted and diluted as the message of the different ideas gets blended together. This is what happens when you approach the situation with an offering.
Instead of spending time creating 3 differnt comps, ideas, or concepts, take aim at that one that’s great and make it amazing. Blow them out of the water. Leave them speachless. That’s guiding.
It’s really about taking them where you feel and know they need to go. You may be a little off course and that is to be expected. Believe it or not, your clients are looking to you for answers, and they want to help you find those answers. They are looking to you for guidance to the best solution.

While I really haven’t purposely tried this, I know from past experiences that presenting one plan or design to someone and then letting them see why you’re passionate about it tends to get them on board with whatever your idea is.
When people see that you’re passionate about something they tend to want that same fire and passion in their own life.
I can’t recall who said it, but they were right, “Preach always, use words if necessary.”
If people see a passion in our lives about Christ or life or a silly computer game, they will want to be a part of it.
So be passionate and live hard and strong.
Let the grace of God shine throughout your life.