The best question ever?

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Some time ago one of my good friends and mentor, Rory Dyer, asked me a simple question:
“Dyl,” he said. “Are you going to race against man or journey with God?”

Journey (def.): The act of moving from one place to another.
Race (def.): To transport rapidly or at top speed; rush.
Rush (def.): To cause to move or act with unusual haste or violence.

If I could be honest, and I’m a real simple guy, this has gotta be one of the best questions I’ve ever been asked, or even heard for that matter. It stuck with me.
Think about it.

A journey, by definition, is the transition from one place to another usually over a long time.
For me it captures relationship along the way. The people you meet. The new friendships that are formed.
For me a journey speaks of memories. Those moments along the way that leave vivid memories in your mind and imagination for years to follow.
For me a journey speaks of authenticity. A genuine desire to make the most of the transition, not to rush, but rather to appreciate the ‘journey’.

A race however, is by definition a ‘rush’. Which is almost always accompanied with unusual haste & violence. A race is a competition. Someone must win. And, of course, someone must lose.
In a race there is no time to take in the moments. No time to build strong friendships & relationships along the way. In fact, if anything, at the speed you’re going you’re probably going to ruin relationships as you compete for victory.
Races are short lived. You can never win them all. And, like I said before, memories along the way are scarce.

Now.

Put this all into our relationship with God, and it starts to make sense that it will be one of the greatest questions you ever ask yourself.
I mean, if our Christian walk is all about building relationship with our heavenly Father, then what would be the point of racing against man.
But we all do it.
We’re forever comparing bank balances, and the size of our homes. We’re constantly commenting on the high standards of living amongst our friends, and in as many ways as possible, doing our subtle best to keep up.

It’s true right?

When someone’s business is flying it’s all celebrations, unless of course they’re in competition to you right.
When someone’s kids are excelling, it’s all great, unless of course yours aren’t.

Here’s the thing.
In all of us there is a competitive streak.
It may not be on the sports field or in the business world, it may be as a mom against other moms (true).
It may not be in the classroom, or in a short term challenge (like a board game), it may be in your conversations (always trying to get the upper hand).

I could go on. And the truth is, I battle with all this ‘stuff’ as well. And sometimes, I find myself in ‘race’ mode, as most of life begins to crumble around me.

But.

I keep asking the question. And. It causes me to pause. Step out of the race. And embrace the journey with my heavenly Father.
I’ve learnt to love the journey. And my prayer for you – is that you would to.

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Happy New Year.. Let’s make it a cracker!

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Happy new year!

A lot of people will tell you it’s just another day, and that there’s nothing significant about the 1st of January… But I would say, “don’t listen to them. They’re boring. They’re missing the potential of starting out a new year with a new positive & passionate attitude. They probably didn’t even make mid-night. Just saying.”

Me, I find a strange obsession with new years. This idea that in the ‘tick’ of a clock, everything from the year passed ends and whatever happens going forward – it’ll be spoken about in the new year (in this case – 2012).. Crazy hey! At least I think so.

New years excites me.

From the fireworks, to the mates around the fire, to the dreams, to the romance, to the new life it brings whilst at the same time ending old cycles.
I love it. So much so that I pretty much forced my beautiful wife to hang in there to celebrate the ‘big’ crossing… From 2011 to 2012 that is.

What does the new year mean for you?
Have you taken a moment to reflect on 2011 before setting some crazy cool goals for 2012. Reflection is key – we learn a lot from things we’ve been through.
My wife, Tes & a good mate of mine, Tom Basson have written some really helpful blogs on reflection & asking the right questions if you want to keep moving forward.
Check them out!

So from me – I look forward to journeying this road with you and seeing where God takes us. I have no doubt you have what it takes, in God, to make it and MAKE IT BIG.
At this point, if you were close by, you would hear me ROAR… It’s what I do when I’m excited. If its not for you, don’t, but if that sounds like a deal – go ahead and give it a go to.

ROAR.

LET’S MAKE 2012 a cracker!

Who am I?

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Who am I?

People are fascinating. Different. None quite the same, and everyone has their own story.

And yet, so often when I’m chatting to people they’ll say something like, “no-one really gets me because I’m quite (wait for it) ‘different’…”

Uhh, reality check. Everyone is different. I’m nothing like my wife (though we may share interests). I may share a lot in common with my close mates, but put the fullness of our characters alongside one another and you’ve got two distinctly different characters.
Ok, in fairness, on the odd occasion you do get two characters that seem identical. But that’s rare. And in my opinion, that’s not necessarily their true characters. I mean so often, we act out who we really aren’t on the inside, right?
Anyway, the point here again is that we’re all, as individuals, are very differently wired. And I believe that is truly the creative genius of God, uniquely creating individuals that would boast His creative, colorful & powerful character… Millions of people. Everyone unique.

And so, it concerns me to think that some (and this may be you), find themselves strangely different. So much so that you feel you don’t have a place in this world.
It’s just not true, and you’re not as different as you think you are. In fact, on the inside I think there’s a bigger question going down… “who am I?”

And generally we battle with this question for one of two obvious reasons… And both kinda lead to the same
1. You’re not confident with who you are.
2. You wanna be someone else.

Now I don’t want to get into the psychology of these two questions, but when reading through the book of Ephesians (in fact it’s just the introduction) I found a helpful tool in gaining confidence in being myself.

Paul says this, “I Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God…” (Ephesians 1)

This is a simple, and yet somehow, profoundly strong introduction, and I believe there are three helpful questions we can learn from it.

What is your name? and do you realize there is a certain story (good or bad in your eyes) that goes with that name. A story that God is writing, including you in His grand story. Your name is unique. Your name says a lot about you. What is your name?

Do you acknowledge that everything you have comes from God? If you think your life is an accumulation of your great efforts you will always struggle for more, and never find security in what you amount to. Acknowledge that God gave you everything, and find rest in what you have ‘amounted’ to.

Do you know that you’re not a ‘jack of all’? The quicker you learn this the better. You may be able to ‘do’ lots, but you’ll never stand strong in your gift and calling if you’re trying to be everyone else’s gift and calling. Sorry, it’s true. Know your limitations, and as Marcus Buckingham would say, “work on your strengths.”

Become yourself.

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People Pleaser & Powerless

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I love this series some friends of ours did some time back at their church called, “You don’t have what it takes.”
The second week looked at this idea of ‘people pleasing’, and the basic point of it all was that you really don’t have what it takes to please people. They’re way too demanding.

Isn’t that true?

Think about it. When was the last time a friend, or boss, or someone close to you said something like, “thank you, you really are perfect, and you’ve met every expectation I have of you.”
Nuh. not gonna happen. And if you haven’t heard anything, it’s because you’re nor ‘cracking it’.

Truth is we weren’t created to please people… We were created to please God. And while a whole lotta people out there may think God is real tough to please; truth is, compared to people, God is really easy to please.
In fact I’m convinced that we all, for the most part at least, live in a diminished reality of who we really are, and we’re created to be… Until God intersects our reality and restores our purpose and potential that we were created for.

Honestly I spent the most part of my life to date trying to live up to the expectations of the people most important to me, and sometimes even, no-one important to me.
- parents
- siblings
- peers (friends)
- teachers
- coaches
- ‘trend setters’
Come on.. I know if you’re still reading this you’re probably just like me. And it was trying right?

Right?

And let me guess, there we’re moments when you kicked out against the expectation, and behavioral patterns placed on you, and ‘rebelled’?
Ok, so just me.

Well here’s the thing. The bible clearly tells us that, “in Christ, God is making all things new.”
In 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul actually says it like this, “anyone who is Christ is a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come.”
I freakin love this… Because if it’s true (which I believe wholeheartedly that it is, because it’s been true for me), then it’s powerful and I’m all up for powerful.
How about you?

I mean come on… Why would anyone want to go on ‘pleasing people’, when it just gets tiring and takes you no-where.
What about ‘becoming yourself’!
What about breaking the mold!
What about ‘poking the box’, as the legendary Seth Godin would say!

Surely.

Surely it would be true for you, as it was and is for me… That if God existed (again I believe He does wholeheartedly), then you would wanna live a life pleasing to Him, rather than pleasing to those around you?

Come on… If I were close by I’d shake you, because I know this is tough sometimes, but what God sees in you is way bigger than what you want for yourself, and certainly smashes what culture is asking of you.

Be bold. Step out of your world of people pleasing, and become everything God created you to be.

Become yourself!

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My Purple Shoes Story

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Definition of generosity.
Willingness and liberality in giving away one’s money, time, resource
Freedom from pettiness in character and mind

The ‘Purple Shoes’ story.
A few weeks ago I was catching up with my good friend and mentor, Rory dyer, when one of the most awesome stories of my life went down.
He said he wanted to introduce me to a ‘mate’ (that’s friend) of his who worked in La Lucia mall. So we wrapped up the lunch bill, and took a stroll to Holmes Bro’s, which is where his mate worked.
Byron was his name, and honestly what a legend. Trendy, cool, full of life, and a salesman of note. His styles were interesting, in fact, I was half jealous of the kinda trends that he was pulling off.
You get what I’m saying right?
Anyway, When I asked Rory how he knew Byron, he said he’d seen him a few times when walking through the mall and had just thought he’d be a really cool guy to get to know. And so.. Get to know him he did, and now the were china’s.

So that’s Rory (my mate), and Byron (his mate), but here’s where the story get’s really cool.
Now Byron’s busy ‘selling’ Rory on a few new interesting T-shirt designs, when Rory stops, turns to me, and says… “Dyl why don’t you try on a pair of shoes?”
Now you have to understand. Firstly, Rory has a history of buying his mates shoes at key points in their lives, so I kinda knew where this was going. Secondly, the only shoes in the shop were bright green and bright purple, so I was feeling a little nervous to say the least.
Long story short, between the two of them they convince me that purple is my color (who would have thunk?) and Rory decides to throw in a quality T-shirt for good measure.
We high 5′d Byron, after one of my best shopping experiences ever, and headed home.

On the way out, and feeling slightly overwhelmed by the crazy experience, I asked Rory, “why?”.
His response… “Dyl, there’s guys God is wanting to impact around every corner, just like Byron. If we’re willing to go there, God will use us to change lives. And just like it’s kinda scary to wear a pair of purple shoes in public, it may be tough to take the Gospel into places where God is calling you (like Holmes Bro’s), but wear them with confidence, and preach the gospel boldly.”
I’ll never forget that day, and make no mistake when you get to see these purple numbers, I doubt you will either. But here’s the thing… Through one incredible act of Generosity so many lives were touched in a very profound way. I’m already looking forward to the next time I see Byron, in fact I bumped into him in Mozambique restaurant in my neck of the woods that Friday and we had a cool chat.

The point of this story.
For it to be real generosity there pretty much always has to be an element of sacrifice, and very often it’s spontaneous.
Generosity breaks through the culture of stinginess, and selfishness, and opens a flow of grace and freedom over the people it touches.

What is you Purple Shoe story?
Do something generous today for someone around you, and watch God do something incredible.

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