Holy Discontent: Fueling the Fire That Ignites Personal Vision By Bill Hybels / Zondervan

One thing I am learning the older I become, is that life is full of changes. There is no getting around it. There is no such thing as “security” or “settling down” or a “bowl of cherries.” The real question is… how will I handle the inevitable changes that will come, usually when I don’t expect them, and with details that are really irritating and inconvenient? Will I allow these “curve balls of life” to get me down with discouragement and disappointment, or will I accept them as new opportunities for growth and maturity?

I recently read a book by Bill Hybels that was initially sparked in his life by the question, “Why do people do what they do?” In the book he talks about the idea of a “Popeye moment.” This idea comes from the old cartoon character, “Popeye the Sailor Man”… who I am old enough to actually remember watching on Saturday mornings at my Grandpa & Grandma’s house! You may be interested to know that my family did not have a TV until I was in Junior High – by choice!

In each episode of Popeye, some “curve ball” would arise in his life, and you would watch the inner tension rising, his pulse racing, and the adrenaline get pumping. At some boiling point he would blurt out… “That’s all I can stands, and I can’t stands it no more!” At that point, he would rip open a can of spinach, wolf it down in one gulp, and become a super-charged sailor man of overwhelming power for good. He would always save the day, bringing life back to a more “normal” state. He’d end the program singing “I’m strong to the finich, ’cause I eats my spinich, I’m Popeye the sailor man.”

Hybels proposes that we ask ourselves the “Popeye Question… What is it that you can’t stand?” He asks what is the “one thing” or the “pesky preoccupation” of our minds… “the things that keeps us up at night, and that ignites your heart and imagination.” It is the force bringing sorrowful tears, or the kicking and screaming inside of you… this he says, is the foundation of your “Holy Discontent,” the title of his book.

The Call By Os Guinness / Thomas Nelson

I am now reading another book by Os Guiness, entitled “The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life.” What does Os mean by “the call?” He states on page 4 that “calling is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion and dynamism lived out as a response to his summons and service.”

Recently there have been some “curve balls” in my life and I am in the process of understanding my “Popeye moment” and figuring out my “calling.” In my case it revolves around my work, career, business and skills and talents. I desire to use the gifts and abilities God has given me for the greatest impact for good and in service of others, as possible. I am not sure where this journey will lead, but I am definitely on a ride I did not expect even a year ago.

In the words of singer-songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman, “I’m diving in, I’m going deep in over my head, I want to be caught in the rush, lost in the flow, in over my head, I want to go, the river’s deep, the river’s wide, the river’s water is alive, so sink or swim, I’m diving in.”