Chase The Lion part 2

Preaching For Change

Sermon #2 The Ripple Effect Series Scripture: 2 Samuel 23:8 This is the second in a three-sermon series on David’s mighty men. In the first sermon, “Run to the Roar,” I talked about Benaiah. In the third sermon, I talk about Eleazar. Here I want to introduce you to Josheb. Josheb-Basshebeth, 2 Samuel 23:8 That’s when most of us run away. But not Josheb. Those are long odds, but God loves long shots! And to the Infinite, all finites are equal. There is no possible or impossible. There are no degrees of difficulty. Impossible odds set the stage for God’s greatest miracles. I know the motto of the Hunger Games: “May the odds be ever in your favor!” Not in God’s kingdom. May the odds be against you! That’s how God gets His glory. He does things we can’t take credit for. Think of it the Israelites were chosen as a nation because they had no chance. Except… God and God was showing the other nations what He could do. Unless God does it, it can’t be done. Most of us, though, avoid situations where the odds are against us. And when we do, we rob God of the opportunity to do something supernatural. If Josheb wins a one-on-one match-up, big deal. I don’t think that gets him into the Bible. But when you beat 800-to-1 odds, someone is going to give you a promotion. And that’s what David did. He tapped Josheb as chief of David’s three mightiest warriors. Don’t run away from 800-to-1 odds. Josheb-Basshebeth, a Tahkemonite,[b] was chief of the Three; he raised his spear against eight hundred men, whom he killed in one encounter. And to explain how this can actually work, I want to focus on the last two words in 2 Samuel 23:8. This little phrase is pregnant with possibilities, full of hope—“one encounter.” You are one encounter away from an alternate reality. Here’s what I believe. I believe God is ordering your footsteps. I believe God is preparing God works in advance. Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. I believe God is strategically positioning you in the right place at the right time. I don’t believe in coincidence; I believe in providence. And because of it, I live with a holy anticipation, a sanctified expectation. Why? Because God is setting us up! You never know when or where or how God is doing to show up and show off His power, His grace, His goodness. But what I’ve learned along the way is that we’ve got to take the first step of faith. 1 Faith is the willingness to look foolish. 2• Faith is the process of unlearning our fears. Let me give you one more this week. 3> Faith is taking the first step before God reveals the second step. Many of us are waiting for God to make a move, while God is waiting for us to make a move. And that’s where we get stuck. “Why are you praying for something when you can do something about it” Butterfly Effect wiki Edward Lorenz gave a name to the phenomenon, the idea that small causes may have large effects in general and in weather specifically was earlier recognized by French mathematician and engineer Henri Poincaré and American mathematician and philosopher Norbert Wiener. Edward Lorenz's work placed the concept of instability of the earth's atmosphere onto a quantitative base and linked the concept of instability to the properties of large classes of dynamic systems which are undergoing nonlinear dynamics and deterministic chaos The phrase refers to the idea that a butterfly's wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that may ultimately alter the path of a tornado or delay, accelerate or even prevent the occurrence of a tornado in another location. The butterfly does not power or directly create the tornado, but the term is intended to imply that the flap of the butterfly's wings can cause the tornado: in the sense that the flap of the wings is a part of the initial conditions; one set of conditions leads to a tornado while the other set of conditions doesn't. The flapping wing represents a small change in the initial condition of the system, which cascades to large-scale alterations of events (compare: domino effect). Had the butterfly not flapped its wings, the trajectory of the system might have been vastly different—but it's also equally possible that the set of conditions without the butterfly flapping its wings is the set that leads to a tornado. There is an initial impact, but then there is a ripple effect. Those concentric circles ripple out further and further and further. The same is true of our lives. Every action we take, every decision we make has a cause-and-effect echo beyond our ability to comprehend, beyond our ability to control. Most of our life is comprised of very small decisions and events that determine our future. Our actions and inactions, our decisions and indecisions have a ripple effect way beyond our ability to comprehend or control. We have a tough time comprehending the cause-and-effect of our actions right here, right now, let alone the future-tense impact of those actions. But what I’m getting at is this: your decisions make a difference; your actions have an impact. And I believe that what God is doing for you isn’t just for you—it’s for the third and fourth generation. One of my favorite Christmas movies is It’s A Wonderful Life. We have no idea the ripple effect of one prayer, one act of obedience, one step of faith would set in motion. But that’s the beauty of precession. That’s the beauty of God’s sovereignty. If you keep doing the right things day in and day, God is going to show up and show off in ways that you could never You are one risk away from a totally different reality. You are one idea away from a totally different mentality. You are one decision away from a totally different eternity. That’s why teaching God’s word is so important. Mulling over the decision to go to Batavia IL heard a sermon in Goshen about spiritual mentors. And knew that God was saying yes. Josheb. I don’t think Josheb was looking for 800-to-1 odds. It just happened. But when it did, Josheb didn’t see 800 problems. He saw 800 opportunities! And he raised his spear. I don’t think Benaiah was hunting lions. It wasn’t on his to-do list that snowy day. But when it happened, he didn’t see a 500-pound problem. He saw a 500-pound opportunity. And he chased the lion. In the first sermon in this series, I asked a question: Are you living your life in a way that is worth telling stories about? What are you doing today that will make a difference a hundred years from now? Last week I talked about inaction regrets. Our greatest regrets at the end of our lives will be the 500- pound lions we didn’t chase. It’ll be the opportunities we left on the table. They’re called inaction regrets. Let me talk for a minute about a phenomenon in social psychology called inaction inertia. When you miss an opportunity, there is scientific evidence that you are even more likely to miss it the next time and the time after that. I like to call it the Recliner Effect. Newtons 1st law obects an object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force. It’s the natural tendency to keep doing what you’ve been doing, ad infinitum. It’s the tendency to keep thinking what you’ve been thinking, ad nauseam. Listen, if you want God to do something new, you can’t keep doing the same old thing. You tell me the last you were uncomfortable, and I’ll tell you the last time you grew. The status quo doesn’t cut it. It’s not going to get you where you want to go spiritually or relationally or professionally or physically. Let me have a little fun with this. what you do makes a difference. But it’s the little things—the small acts of kindness, the sacrifices you make that no one sees, the prayers you pray that no one hears, the little steps of faith that scare you to death. That’s how the kingdom advances. It’s when one person has the courage to raise his spear against 800 because he knows he isn’t outnumbered, not if God is on his side. If God is on your side, the odds are in your favor. It’s called the favor of God. Y Your dream predates you. God was setting you up before you were born. And your dream postdates you. Your legacy isn’t your dream. Your legacy is the dreams that your dream inspires. Tim Scott is the first African American in U.S. history to be elected to both the House of Representatives and the Senate. But he had to defy the odds to do so. Tim grew up in a single-parent household with a mom who worked 16-hour days just to put food on the table. And he struggled academically, failing English and Spanish. “That doesn’t make you bilingual,” Tim says in self-deprecating fashion. “It makes you bi-ignorant.” But in the eighth grade there was a teacher who spotted political potential and said, “You ought to think about student council.” Those seven words changed the trajectory of his life. Never underestimate the power of one well-timed, well-phrased word of encouragement. One sentence can alter someone else’s destiny! I recently met Senator Scott backstage at the Catalyst Next Conference in Washington, D.C. During an unplugged interview, the senator said, “I’m a big believer in writing down vision.” That’s precisely what he did as a 19-year-old. Tim’s mentor, a Chick-fil-A operator named John Moniz, had a dream of positively influencing one million people. One of those one million was a teenage kid who could only afford fries. John gave Tim free sandwiches and a steady diet of godly wisdom. When John died of a heart attack at 38, Tim adopted John’s dream and one-upped it. He then wrote down that second-generation dream: to positively affect the lives of one billion people. That’s a 500- pound lion! Against all odds, Tim is now making decisions that directly affect the lives of 319 million Americans. And those decisions indirectly affect billions around the globe. In our cultural narrative, Senator Scott is the hero of the story. But Tim would argue that the true hero is his mother, the true hero is an eighth-grade teacher, the true hero is a Chick-fil-A operator who saw his potential. They are the bylines that helped Tim Scott make headlines. Matthew 13:31–32, He explains, “The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.” And that’s true of Benaiah and his band of brothers. Every David needs a Benaiah. Every Tim Scott needs a John Moniz. And someone needs you! I’m eternally indebted to the people who have leveraged my dream—my parents, professors, coaches, mentors, and pastors. Most of their names you would not know—Bob Rhoden, Kirk Hanson, Jac Perrin, Opal Reddin, St. Clair Mitchell, John Green, Michael Smith, Robert Smiley, Dick Foth, Jack Hayford. Some of my uplines intersected my life for only a few seconds, such as a missionary named Michael Smith, who spoke a prophetic word over my life when I was 19 years old. He wouldn’t even remember that moment, but I’ve never forgotten it. The same is true of Opal Reddin and Jac Perrin. It was a sequence of conversations with each of them at a critical juncture in my journey that helped me resolve a theological conundrum. Then there is Dick Foth, who has been a spiritual father to me for two decades. The only way I can repay the debt I owe each of them is by doing for others what they have done for me. Your legacy isn’t your dream. Your legacy is leveraging the dreams of those who come after you. Your legacy is your downlines—those you parent, mentor, coach, and disciple. You may not influence a million people. But who knows? You may influence one person who influences a billion people. Success is succession. Success is precession. I don’t know what risk you need to take. I don’t know what decision you need to make. I don’t know what opportunity you need to stake. But I do know this: faith is taking the first step before God reveals the second step. I know that you cannot finish what you do not start. I also know that He who began a good work in you will carry it to completion. Renee Reed walked an aisle. Sarah Bayot started a business. Sam Farina preached a sermon. James Otis gave a speech. John Moniz mentored a teenager. Each of them raised a spear in his or her own unique way. May we do likewise. The first step in constructing a bridge over the Niagara Falls Gorge was made by a 16-year-old American named Homan Walsh. On January 30, 1848, Homan flew a kite he named Union from one side of the gorge to the other. Someone on the opposite side caught the kite and tied a stronger string to the end of the kite string, and Holman pulled the new, thicker string back across the gorge. The process was repeated with an even stronger string, then a cord, then a thin rope, then a thicker rope, and eventually a steel cable, which crossed the expanse and was strong enough to support workers, tools, and materials. Finally, a sturdy bridge, over which trains and trucks could easily pass, was completed. And it all began with a string. Jesus says, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much” (Luke 16:10). According to our Savior, little things can make a significant impact on the big picture. Sermon #3 It’s not the size of the dog in the fight. It’s the size of the fight in the dog. You’ve got to 1) Define Success 2) Take it One Step at a Time 3) Get Around the Right People 4) Adopt a Growth Mindset 5) Fight for Your Dream until your Hand Freezes to the Sword. Time Talent & Treasure Favor not Magic 2 Samuel 23:9-10 NIV 9 Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite. As one of the three mighty warriors, he was with David when they taunted the Philistines gathered at Pas Dammim[a] for battle. Then the Israelites retreated, 10 but Eleazar stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. The LORD brought about a great victory that day. The troops returned to Eleazar, but only to strip the dead. Psychologist Alfred Adler proposed theory of compensation. what we think of as disadvantages often prove to be advantages because they force us to cultivate compensatory attitudes and abilities that probably would have lain dormant or gone undiscovered without them. And it’s often as we compensate for those disadvantages that we discover our greatest giftings. 70 percent of the art students that Adler studied had optical anomalies. Rembrandt is thought to have only seen in two dimensions. And some of history’s greatest composers—Mozart and Beethoven among them— had degenerative conditions in their ears. A more recent study of small-business owners found that 35 percent of them were self-identified dyslexics. While none of us would wish dyslexia on our children because of the academic challenges that come with it, the disadvantage of dyslexia forced this group of entrepreneurs to cultivate different skill sets that set them up for success. Long story short, perceived disadvantages such as birth defects, physical ailments, or even the environmental challenge of poverty can be springboards to success. And that success is not achieved in spite of those perceived disadvantages. It’s achieved because of them. John Irving is a great example. Irving is considered one of the great storytellers of his generation. His book The World According to Garp won a National Book Award. His screenplay The Cider House Rules won an Academy Award. But here’s the thing: Irving earned a C- in high school English. And it took him five years to graduate. His SAT verbal was 475 out of 800, which means two-thirds of us who took the SAT scored higher. But do you have a National Book Award? An Academy Award? Irving’s teachers thought he was lazy, thought he was stupid. The reality is, he was dyslexic. But it’s that disadvantage that propelled him. Irving said, “If my classmates could read our history assignment in an hour, I allowed myself two or three.” Irving had to study longer and work harder. And it’s his study habits and work ethic that ultimately propelled him professionally. In Irving’s words, “To do anything well, you have to overextend yourself.” Your gifts maybe covered by what you think are weaknesses Destiny Revealed Saul slept in the palace on silk sheets while David’s band of brothers camped out in cold caves. Saul’s army was well armed and well equipped. David’s mighty men? Not so much, as evidenced by the fact that Benaiah had to steal the Egyptian’s spear to use it against him. And while Saul’s army ate Fogo De Chão served on silver platters, David’s mighty men had to hunt and kill everything they ate. In other words, they had to work harder, grow stronger, get smarter. I like random facts that you don’t need to know to live a long, happy life. Here’s one of them. The brains of wild animals are 15 to 30 percent larger than those of their domesticated counterparts. Why? Well, I don’t know about other pet owners, but we feed our dog, Mickey, by putting dog food in his bowl. It’s the greatest 60 seconds of his day. A wild animal, on the other hand, has to forage for its food, has to fight for its food. But that foraging and fighting require creativity and effort. It’s survival of the fittest in the wild. Those animals that survive get stronger and smarter simply because it’s harder for them to find food. David’s mighty men seemed to be at a disadvantage, but that’s how God makes heroes. The perceived disadvantages actually developed skills in David’s mighty men that they didn’t know they had. For Josheb, the disadvantage was 800-to-1 odds. For Benaiah, it was a 500-pound lion. For Eleazar, it was the rest of the army retreating. Destiny isn’t revealed on sunny days. It’s usually revealed on snowy days. Destiny isn’t revealed when everything is going your way. Destiny is revealed when everybody else retreats. Destiny isn’t just revealed in your natural gifts and abilities. It’s also revealed in the compensatory skills you have to work extra hard to cultivate. With that as a backdrop, let’s look at Eleazar’s story: Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite. As one of the three mighty warriors, he was with David when they taunted the Philistines gathered at Pas Dammin for battle. Then the Israelites retreated, but Eleazar stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. (2 Samuel 23:9-10, NIV) Now we’re ready to talk about five ways to fight for your dream. #1: Define Success (before you get started) If you succeed at the wrong thing, you’ve failed. If you fail at the right thing, you’ve succeeded. I’d rather fail at the right thing than succeed at the wrong thing. Stephen Covey- said that most people are so busy climbing the ladder of success that they fail to realize it’s leaning against the wrong wall. before you go after your dream, you’d better make sure it’s the right one. Here’s my definition: Success is when those who know you best respect you most. At the end of the day, I want to be famous in my home. There is a line in the lion chaser’s manifesto that says, You need to know what battlefield you’re willing to die on. Every one of David’s mighty men was willing to die. Why? Because they had a clearly defined goal—to crown David king. I’ve given a few definitions of faith before: • Faith is the willingness to look foolish. • Faith is the process of unlearning our fears. • Faith is taking the first step before God reveals the second step. Let me give you one more. I think it’s the best biblical definition. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Fighting for your dream starts there. You’ve got to know what you’re fighting for. And Jesus is the best example. Hebrews 12:2 says, “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame.” How do you endure nine-inch nails through your hands and feet? And not just endure it but scorn it? Jesus did it because He had a clear vision of His end goal—you. Your salvation was the joy that was set before Him, and evidently you are worth the cross to Christ. Success for Jesus wasn’t overthrowing the Roman Empire. He could have done that, but the goal was winning the whole world. The end goal, the end game was eternal salvation for you and me. #2: Take It One Step at a Time If life is like a box of chocolates, then dreams are like a box of Legos. The picture on the front of the box is the dream. That’s Hebrews 11:1. That’s “confidence in what we hope for.” But whatever is on the front of the box doesn’t come out fully assembled. You have to put the pieces together. And honestly, the process of pursuing the dream is more important than the final outcome. It’s less about accomplishing the dream and more about who you become in the process. We want fully assembled success, but we’ve got to go after our dream one step at a time. There are no shortcuts. In 1889, a hundred artists presented their plans for the centerpiece of the World’s Fair in Paris. The winner was an engineer named Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, who proposed a 984-foot tower—the tallest building in the world at the time. It was Eiffel’s dream, but it was really a dream within a dream. Eiffel tipped his hat to 72 scientists, engineers, and mathematicians whose names are engraved on the tower. It was their collective genius that Eiffel leveraged to build his tower. And without a team, his dream would never have become reality. It took 300 carpenters and riveters and hammermen to put together the 18,038-piece puzzle of wrought iron in two years, two months, and five days. My point? Your dream is a Lego set. You need a clear definition of success, but then you’ve got to put it together brick by brick by brick. You get into shape one workout at a time. You get out of debt one payment at a time. You earn your graduate degree one class at a time You get the job promotion one project at a time. You get the game ball one practice at a time. Whatever dream journey you’re on, you have to take it one step at a time. And if you keep doing the right things day in and day out, then one day God is going to show up and show off. #3: Get Around the Right People Second Samuel 23:9 says that Eleazar was “with David when they taunted the Philistines gathered at Pas Dammin.” He was in the right place at the right time with the right person. One of the best ways to discover your dream is to serve someone else’s. And if you don’t have a dream, get around someone who does. That’s what Eleazar did. Here’s what I believe. God is in the business of building your résumé. God is in the business of building your network. But you have to get around the right people. I see that example set throughout Scripture. Joshua climbed Mount Sinai with Moses. Elisha shadowed Elijah. Ruth wouldn’t leave her mother-in-law’s side. They got around the right people and it paid dividends. Joshua took over for Moses, leading the people into the Promised Land. Elisha got Elijah’s mantle and a double portion of his anointing. Ruth got a second chance at love by marrying Boaz. They had a boy named Obed, who had a boy named Jesse, who had a boy named David. Ruth became King David’s great-grandmother. Why? Because of who she hung out with! Choose your friends wisely. Benjamin Franklin’s curriculum vitae might be the most impressive among our Founding Fathers. Franklin not only signed the Declaration of Independence; he also edited it. His inventions include the lightning rod, the Franklin stove, and bifocals. And his periodical, Poor Richard’s Almanac, made him the most widely read writer in 18th-century America. Franklin started the American Philosophical Society, served as postmaster of Philadelphia, and was unanimously elected sixth president of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania. A résumé like that can seem a little surreal, but I left out a few critical pieces of the puzzle. It’s not insignificant that Benjamin Franklin served as a clerk in the Pennsylvania General Assembly for 15 years before he won a seat. He transcribed thousands of speeches before he delivered one. He listened to thousands of debates before he got into one. Benjamin Franklin also served for nearly a decade as an apprentice printer to his brother. And before he published Poor Richard’s Almanac, he collected the best essays from his favorite magazine, The Spectator. He read and reread them. He took notes. Then he hid the originals in a drawer and tried to rewrite them. Then he compared his version with the original version, discovered his shortcomings, and corrected them. That’s fighting for your dream! And by the way, it was Franklin who said, “There are no gains without pains.” #4: Adopt a growth mindset I believe that just about anybody can do just about anything if they work hard enough, work long enough, and work smart enough. Are there exceptions? Absolutely. If you’re four-foot nothing, you’re probably not going to play in the NBA even if you practice 10,000 hours. Yes, there are genetic limitations. But in the grand scheme of things, just about anybody can do just about anything if they fight until their hand freezes to the sword. It’s not the size of the dog in the fight. It’s the size of the fight in the dog. And it comes back to our mindset. In 1939, Finland was a huge underdog in the Winter War. The Soviet army was three times larger, had thirty times as many airplanes, and had a hundred times as many tanks. But the Finnish troops held their ground, much like Eleazar held his. In 1940, Time magazine ran a feature on the Finns. Here’s an excerpt: The Finns have something they call sisu. It is a compound of bravado and bravery, of ferocity and tenacity, of the ability to keep fighting after most people would have quit, and to fight with the will to win. The Finns translate sisu as “the Finnish spirit” but it is a much more gutful word than that. The New York Times ran a similar feature. It said, “A typical Finn is an obstinate sort of fellow who believes in getting the better of bad fortune by proving that he can stand worse.” Sisu is the will to fight. Sisu is unwillingness to give up. Sisu is fierce resolve. Sisu is guts, Sisu is grit. In her brilliant book Mindset, Carol Dweck defines two different mindsets that make all the difference in the world. A fixed mindset believes that our qualities are fixed in stone. A growth mindset believes that our basic qualities can be cultivated through effort. The fixed mindset tries to validate itself. It’s always on trial. The growth mindset tries to stretch itself. It’s always learning. The fixed mindset is focused on outcomes. The growth mindset is focused on inputs. With the fixed mindset, when you fail, you’re a failure. With the growth mindset, when you fail, it’s a failed attempt. Gold medalist Rowdy Gaines is a great example of the growth mindset. In 1984, Gaines won the gold medal, setting an Olympic record in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 49.8 seconds. We boycotted the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, so Gaines trained for the Olympics for eight years! Eight years for a race that lasts less than a minute Success is sweaty. Success is not glamorous. It’s gritty. But while I don’t believe in magic, I do believe in favor. Favor is what God can do for you that you cannot do for yourself. And I believe in anointing. I believe in supernatural gifting beyond human ability, divine revelation beyond human knowledge, and supernatural power beyond human strength. So I believe in favor. But God won’t give you those things if you’re lazy. You can’t just pray like it depends on God; you have to work like it depends on God. Y ou have to fight for your dream until your hand freezes to the sword. On July 2, 1863, Joshua Chamberlain and his 300-soldier regiment were all that stood between the Confederates and certain defeat at a battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. At 2:30 p.m., the Confederate Army charged, but Chamberlain and his men held their ground. This was followed by a second, third, fourth, and fifth charge. Only 80 Union blues stood standing at Little Round Top by the last charge. Chamberlain himself was knocked down by a bullet that hit his belt buckle, but the 34-year-old schoolteacher got right back up. One of his sergeants informed him that no reinforcements were coming, and his men were down to one round of ammunition per soldier. A 12-year-old lookout in a tree told him that the Confederates were forming ranks for another charge. Chamberlain knew he needed to act decisively. The rational thing to do at that point, with no ammunition and no reinforcements, would have been to surrender. But Chamberlain wasn’t wired that way. He made a defining decision that turned the tide of the war and single-handedly saved the Union. In full view of the enemy, Chamberlain climbed onto their barricade of stones and gave a command. He pointed his spear at the enemy and yelled, “Charge!” Chamberlain’s men fixed bayonets and started running at the Confederate army that vastly outnumbered them. They caught them off guard by executing a great right wheel, and in what ranks as one of the most improbable victories in military history, 80 Union soldiers captured 4,000 confederates in five minutes flat. Historians believe that if Chamberlain had not charged, the rebels would have gained the high ground. If the rebels had gained the high ground, there is a good chance they would have won the Battle of Gettysburg. If the rebels had won that battle, the historical consensus is that the Confederates would have won the war. After the war, Joshua Chamberlain went on to serve as the 32nd governor of Maine and president of his alma mater, Bowdoin College. In 1893, 30 years after he raised his spear, he was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Grover Cleveland for carrying the advance position on the Great Round Top. In his last years, Chamberlain would reflect upon the war with these words: “I knew I may die, but I also knew that I would not die with a bullet in my back. I had deep within me the inability to do nothing.” I don’t want to die with a bullet in my back. Two thousand years ago, Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” In other words, charge! We’re called to play offense with our lives by making the most of the time, talent, and treasure God has given us. Charge your marriage! Charge your children! Charge your dream! Charge God! Quit running away from what you’re afraid of. Quit sitting back and waiting for something to happen. You’ve got to run to the 500-pound lion. You’ve got to raise your spear against 800-to-1 odds. You’ve got to fight until your hand freezes to the sword.