Lessons From Louie

One of the books that I'm reading during my sabbatical is called "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand.  This book about Louis Zamperini is "A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption."  So far I've traveled with Louie through is childhood, his High School years as a track star, his days as an Olympic runner, his first couple of years in the military, and now I'm floating with him on a life raft.  I first learned about the heroic Louis Zamperini through John Ortberg and the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church.  John did an entire series on Lessons from Louie and at the end of the series interviewed the 90+ Louis Zamperini.  In the 150 pages that I've read, I have learned more about World War II then I ever learned in school.  I am so thankful to all the soldiers that served during this time of darkness.

The first lesson from Louie that I want to focus on is the fact that your mindset has a lot to do with what you can accomplish.  I've been learning this lesson over the past few months from the Apostle Paul and now from Louie Zamperini.  Why did both of these guys keep going?  Paul has an incredible list of the persecutions and trials that he went through in 2 Corinthians 11 after he became a Christ Follower.  Louie had an impressive list of his trials and tribulations before he became a Christ Follower.  Why in the worst circumstances, does it seem, that these two guys remained optimistic?  Why is it that sometimes, we can get so absorbed with the absence of luxury that we think life is so terrible?  One area that I will be working on in my spiritual life is my attitude.  I want to be more optimistic.  I want to have more faith that God is in control and my physical comfort has nothing to do with my spiritual optimism.

In the Game

This morning I listened to John Ortberg talk about playing the game.  This was his message from this past weekend as the entire country was gearing up to watch the Super Bowl.  This message was directly linked to serving the Kingdom (playing the game) during the entire week.  He related the church to a locker room where they go over the playbook, make adjustments in strategy, and where an inspirational speech is made.  He talked about how much the locker room is needed but we don't meet in the locker room for the locker room's sake.  We meet in the locker room so that we can go play the game.

We meet at church every Sunday to review the playbook (the Bible), make adjustments to our strategy for reaching the world, and find an inspirational thought or message to get us going.  One thing he said really caught my attention.  He talked about a child never dreams about becoming the best spectator to ever watch the game.  Children have a dream and a passion to become the best player to ever play the game.

When I was a kid, our favorite game to play in the backyard was tackle football.  I remember the players who we used to be.  I was always Deion Sanders.  My neighbor Nathan was always Barry Sanders and his brother Shane was usually Randall Cunningham or Derrick Thomas.  My brother was Christian Okoye because he always ran us over.  We never pretended to be fans or spectators.  We always dreamed of playing in the game.

Is it possible that God gives his children the passion and desire to want to play in the game?  The Kingdom of God is better when everyone who is a child of the King serves and when the spectating is left up to the world not to the church.  Then, when we all play the game from the same playbook, the world will watch in amazement and be stirred into a desire to "Get in the Game" themselves.

Thanks John Ortberg for inspiring me to stay in the game!