When hope is gone, Life is gone.. but God is in control over brokenhopes

This article was culled from the book "God Built" by Steve Farrar.  I am blessed by the book. I hope you enjoy this piece and know that whatever situation you find yourself, you don't give up. God is in control. He has a plan for you.

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.  Romans 5:5 (NIV) 

Hope is the pillar that holds up the world.” - Pliny the Elder

Howard Head was a lousy athlete who radically changed two sports: skiing and tennis. And it was all because of his broken hope to be a capable athlete. Howard had wanted to be a good skier since he was a kid. But because of his poor athletic ability, just about every time he tried to tackle a slope, he wound up breaking wood skis. Even so, he held on to the hope of one day becoming a skillful skier.

That hope may have looked pretty faint to Howard at times, but not faint enough to keep him from trying something that seemed crazy at the time. The more Howard thought about it, the more he convinced himself that his problem with skiing wasn’t his skills on the slope, it was the skis! So in 1941 Howard Head, who was a brilliant engineer, took $6,000 in poker winnings, and focused his entire life on building skis out of air-craft materials. His friends thought he was nuts. Everyone knew the best skis were made out of hickory. Undaunted, Howard invested several years developing a composite ski that was virtually unbreakable- and the skiing world was changed forever.

Head skis became dominant company in the industry. Eventually, Howard Head sold his company and became a multimillionaire. Along the way, he also realized his dreams of becoming a better skier. Now rich and retired, Howard built a tennis court in his backyard and spent $5,000 on tennis lessons. But once again, his lack of athletic ability seemed to stymie him. He bought a ball machine to help him practice on his own, but he became convinced that the prince ball machine could be improved. So he bought the company and spent months improving the machine. Within a very short time, his improved ball machine captured 50 percent of the market. But he was still a lousy tennis player. Then it dawned on him that his trouble might be with the racquet. He should make it bigger.

Once again, his friends thought he was nuts- it was against the rules to have a bigger racquet. Howard Head looked up the rules and discovered that there were no regulations on the size of the racquet. As far as the rules were concerned, you could play tennis with a waffle iron. So he began to work on an oversized racquet that was two inches wider and three inches longer. He personally played with it, amazing even himself at the improvement in his game. After much trial and error and extensive tests in the lab, Howard eventually had test results that proved the sweet spot of his racquet was 20 percent greater than a normal racquet.

The prince racquet became the gold standard in tennis, and in 1982 Howard Head sold prince Tennis for $62 million. Because he had virtually no hope of becoming a better tennis player unless he improved the equipment, Howard Head did just that. And everyone benefited.

When most people lose hope, however, it’s usually about things significantly more important- and nearer to the heart-than skiing or tennis. How important is hope? It’s a fact of life that a man can live without water for only several days, and without food for a matter of weeks. But nothing kills the heart of a man more than the absence of hope. When hope is gone, life is gone.

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The Wisdom to Make a Difference

Inspiration from the book “THE INFLUENCER: THE POWER TO CHANGE ANYTHING” by Kerry Patterson et al

We've all almost certainly heard of the serenity prayer, and perhaps have said it at some point in our life. Just in case you don’t remember the prayer, here it is: ‘Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference”

THE SERENITY TRAP
We’ve come to believe that when we face enormous challenges that can be solved by only influencing intractable behaviors, we might attempt a couple of change strategies. When they fail miserably, we surrender. It’s time to quit and move on. We turn our attention to things that are in our control. We seek serenity.

This would be a good tactic were it not for the fact that the problems we’ve listed- along with everything from changing the culture of an organization to limiting divorce - can be and have been resolved by someone somewhere. That’s right. There are actual people out there who- instead of continually seeking the “wisdom to know the difference”- have sought the wisdom to make a difference. And they’ve found it. They’ve discovered that when it comes to changing the world, what most of us lack is not the courage to change things, but the skill to do so.

The key step to changing anything is to think differently and then act differently. All the profound pervasive, persistent problems we face in our lives, in our companies, and our world can be solved. They can be solved because these problems don’t require solutions that defy the laws of nature; they require people to act differently.

So instead of pleading for the wisdom to know when to give up, we should be seeking to expand the list of things we can change so that we don’t need to seek serenity so often. We should be demanding the names and addresses of influencers who have found solutions to the problems we face every day.

WE’ RE BETTER AT COPING THAN AT EXERTING INFLUENCE
People tend to be better copers than influencers. In fact, we’re wonderful at inventing ways to cope. For instance, at work we abandon our quality-control program and install full-time inspectors. Nobody will listen. Instead of fixing lousy schools, we complain to our friends and then backfill by tutoring our children. It’s the best we can do.

THE WISDOM TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Over the last year U.S. airlines lost over $10 billion and shed tens of thousands of jobs. At the same time, Southwest Airlines racked up its 14^th straight year of profits and double-digit growth. What do Southwest’s leaders do that others haven’t figured out? They engage everyone in doing more with less. They turn planes faster at the gates. They treat customers better. And they get a higher percentage of bags and passengers to arrive at the same location. In other words, they’ve perfected an  influence strategy that produces the behaviors that drive stellar results across their entire company.

While this has been going on in the business world, another influence genius in Dhaka, Bangladesh, helped over 4 million of the Developing World’s poor to emerge from poverty.

Likewise, thousands of previously overweight Americans declared victory in the battle of their bulges by developing sustainable influence strategies over their own unhealthy behaviors.

And finally, in Thailand alone, over 5 million people avoided contracting HIV because of a remarkably effective influence strategy developed by a quiet but enormously effective influence genius who has a lot to teach us. Read more on this here under Prime Minister, Anand Panyarachun. You may also check out this UNDP's report on Thailand's progress.

So there is hope. In a world filled with those content with seeking serenity, there are people who know exactly what it takes to exert influence over human behavior- and change the world in a good way.

We can all make a difference by avoiding the serenity-trap and praying to God instead for the wisdom to make a difference.

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INSPIRING STORY: THE BOY WITH THE BACKWARD LEG

INSPIRING STORY: THE BOY WITH THE BACKWARD LEG

A turned around leg, and still cheerful..."

A 10 year old boy, Dugan Smith, diagnosed with cancer had his leg amputated at 11. He went through an unusual surgical procedure that allowed him to keep the remainder of his leg, but reattached backward - that way the cancer is cut out, but the nerve that controls the foot is intact by turning it around backward. According to the report, Dugan's calf now acts as his thigh, his ankle acts as his knee and his foot acts as his shin bone. He also uses a prosthetic ankle and foot.

For Dugan, now 13, despite a slight limp and some lingering troubles with running, he is not giving up, he says "Never give up, because 90 percent of it is in your mind. Read the full story here.

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Al Pacino's transformation into Phil Spector: Lessons for Nollywood

You almost wouldn't know the difference between Al Pacino, left,  and Phil Spector (a one time movie producer serving a 19 years to life jail term for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson).

Al Pacino (Left) & Phil Spector (Right), Aug 2011"

Late last year, it was announced that Al Pacino will take on the role of Phil Sector in HBO biopic movie - read more here.

Al Pacino & Spector as seen on ABC, July 7th 2011[/caption]

Although the movie air date is not set yet, Al Pacino is already doing a pretty good Phil Sector.  To this, Courtney Hazzlet, says - "If the quality of the film relies heavily on Pacino's ability to transform into Spector,  it has a good chance of doing well. "

Bringing it Home: Nollywood producers, actors and actresses need to learn from this: to play a role well, you have to be able to bring the role to life in all spheres - character, appearance, behavior, in talking, in reacting, in thinking and so on.  This requires immersing yourself in the role wholly by becoming the character you are playing. Doing that involves a lot more from majority of Nigerian actors, actresses and movie producers than they are currently giving.

Really to act well, you can't just be yourself, you need to become the character.

As usual, we welcome your stories and musings. if you've got something to share, jump in...

XOXO

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When good men do nothing

There are various ways to save the world, you can name them. In this short piece, I discuss the consequences of the appalling silence of good men.

Each and every time we do not rebuff an evil act, we have made a choice to promote such evil act. We are therefore guilty. Guilty of helping evil succeed.

When we do nothing, we are accomplices to gross evil. In fact the Lord despises those who are lukewarm. Let us reason together. Jesus was very compassionate and yet He was consumed with Zeal for God when it comes to rebuking evil deeds. Some examples are sufficient to drive this point home:

• John 2:13-22 - Jesus violently drove the merchants and their merchandise out of the temple for ever daring to turn God’s house into a market place


• Luke 11:37-54 - Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their hypocrisy and insincerity.


• Revelations 3:15-17 - Jesus rebuked the church in Laodicea because they are neither hot nor cold.

It is often the case that evil succeed, not because of the numbers involved in the plot but more because good men like you and I are not willing to stand up for what is right.

Whenever you refuse to lift a finger when you see an evil deed, you are no longer a promoter of good works.

He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. -  1 Peter 3:11-12

If we are made in the likeness of God’s image (Genesis 1:27), if God is good, we are also by nature good. It follows that whenever you tolerate an evil act, that action is contrary to your God’s given nature. You are therefore no longer good.

Whenever you keep quiet, you are not only guilty, you are making an already bad situation worse. You fiddle with your future, those of your children and children’s children, in short, your destiny is at risk!

I am afraid because we all would suffer from this “appalling silence”.  The act of promoting evil deeds, calls for forgiveness without which the Lord will deal with us all (Jeremiah 17:10).  As Martin Luther King Jr puts it:

We shall have to repent in this generation, not so much for the evil deeds of the wicked people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.

Let us think about this. Every time you correct an evil act, you are not only trying to save yourself and those who are close to you, but the world as a whole and more importantly you are saving the soul of the evildoer.  You are ensuring that the man sees his own sin. You know, ones you are aware of your sin, repentance is easier.

Every time Jesus Christ put a wrongdoer in the right perspective, I believe it’s not just for the sake of it but I suppose to ensure that they change from their evil ways and turn to God.

Perhaps, the best way to make the world a better place is to increase the number of good men. Good men who are able to speak up against evil. Good men who stand their ground on what they know to be true. Good men who are not ashamed to forestall everything shameful. Good men who won’t just stand idly by and watch evil succeed.

See friends, the heart of man is desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9), if we do not want evil to succeed, then we have the responsibility to speak up against it.

Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness,but rather expose them. - Ephesians 5:11

Preachthe Word;be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebukeand encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. - 2 Timothy 4:2

To model goodness, you can’t just sit idly and ignore evil works.

It starts with you and I.

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