Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Playing Not to Lose

Found this post over at Pastor Steven Furtick's blog and thought it was great!


A phrase you hear all the time in sports is “playing not to lose.” This refers to a team who is either winning a game or is better than its opponent, but is so afraid of losing that instead of going for the win, they play it safe and simply don’t try to make any major mistakes. Not surprisingly these teams rarely amount to anything. They’ll win an occasional game, but not much more. And when they lose it’s usually in the final minutes of a game they could have easily put away much earlier. But now it’s too late to stage a comeback.

I think this attitude and mindset extends beyond the playing field. I would say that most people play not to lose. In other words, most of us live in such a way that our main focus is on not ruining our lives with some kind of a major failure.

Typically ruining your life is associated with a big decision that you make. You make it actively. Definitively. Maybe you do something completely stupid with your money and go bankrupt. Or maybe you have a major moral failure and devastate your personal life.

Most of us are so afraid of these things that we focus all of our energies on not doing them. And none of us should want to. We should be careful not to ruin the lives God has given us.

But there’s something that’s just as dangerous and more subtle that we should be just as afraid of. And that’s wasting our lives.

In fact, wasting your life has the potential to be more destructive because you don’t realize it’s happened until it’s too late. You wake up one day and your life is gone. You might still be able to make something of it, but you won’t be able to regain the time you’ve lost.

God hasn’t placed you on this earth for the sake of simply avoiding making mistakes. He put you here to do something. Something significant. Something lasting. The measure of your life isn’t in the mistakes you don’t make but in the measurable impact you leave.

The people who should be most afraid of ruining their lives are the ones who aren’t wasting them. They have the most to lose.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Cheerwine Krispy Kreme Doughnut

A little while ago I began hearing about a Cheerwine Krispy Kreme Doughnut. Since I was a kid, a Krispy Kreme Doughnut was a treat, and a Cheerwine (it's a soda) was a treat.

But to combine them - all I could think of was the greatness of what happened when chocolate and peanut butter was combined - the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup! So, I couldn't wait to try it!

Well, we don't live near a Krispy Kreme. So, last week when the kids and I went to my parents' in Winston-Salem (the home of Krispy Kreme), it was the big chance. We made a special point to go to Krispy Kreme - even loaded up mom & dad.

I really talked up this new doughnut, everyone was excited. We got into KK and was told that they don't sell them in the store yet, but you could get them at grocery stores. Whaa?

We got a couple of consolation doughnuts and headed to the grocery stores. Stopped by two on the way back to mom & dad's - sold out! Whaa?

Needless to say - I gave up for a few days. Today I had to go back to High Point for a meeting. Stopped in another KK, same story. Stopped in a couple of grocery stores. Same story. Crud!

I guess I just won't get to try that new doughnut . . . I'll back in the area next week, maybe better luck then.

I got back to Hertford - stopped by our Food Lion to get some apples and was walking down the milk aisle and guess what I saw - whaa? Cheerwine Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.

Yep. I drove all over the place looking for these things and they were at the grocery store closest to my house. Go figure.

Oh, yeah - if you like Cheerwine and you like Krispy Kreme Doughnuts . . . then this new doughnut is like the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup . . . awesome!


Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Vacation Week

This week must be vacation week for a lot of folks. Not for us, but for lots of other folks.

The crowd at church was off some Sunday, most of those not there were at the beach. At the Y this morning, nearly empty. We went to Target the other day in Chesapeake, nearly empty. The coffee shop this morning - just a few people.

So, it must be crowded somewhere. Probably crowded on vacation. That's fine. I can handle where I am not waiting in line. It's cool with me :-) Enjoy yourself!