Past the Present Predicament
Jason Russell is a film director who helped start the organization Invisible Children in 2004. One of Invisible Children’s primary focuses is on bringing awareness and an end to the abuse and abduction of children in Central Africa. He was Las key to creating the (controversial) film Kony 2012 focused on bringing to light the horrendous crimes of Ugandan rebel leader, Joseph Kony. Kony 2012 gained rapid notoriety and in 2013 was called the most viral video ever. As Kony 2012 gained attention, Jason Russell, its director, experienced what was called a “brief reactive psychosis” and a naked Russell was detained by San Diego police walking and yelling naked in the street.
Since then, Russell has recovered and is back serving with Invisible Children and supporting work in Central Africa focused on local programs there. One of his worst and most well known moments, doesn’t appear to be who he really was. Thankfully, there were people in his life who knew that and walked with him through this challenging time. We need people in our lives helping navigate the hard times as well. We will see that from Paul’s example with Timothy from 2 Timothy as we begin Mentored Pt 2.
A Victorious Warrior
What are you focusing on? There was a driving instructor who believed it was important to talk to his students about paying attention to where they were looking. He pointed out that when they looked over their shoulder to the right, they would have a tendency to drift to the right. When driving, people often drifting the direction they are focused. If going straight, but not looking far enough ahead, they would be constantly correcting and would at times hit obstacles in front of them because they weren’t seeing what was actually in front of them. The same can be true in life, so Paul tells Timothy (and us) where we need to be looking to make the most of the life we are experiencing and have yet to experience. That’s what we are talking about this weekend.
A Waste of Time
Productivity has been a buzzword for years. In training for the decades old Franklin Covey Planner, they encouraged a person to write down their tasks for the day and note the importance of completing them in descending order. Since then, and probably before then, productivity experts have taught about prioritizing tasks and then addressing them in priority order. The we don’t do this, we can find ourselves distracted by less important things and fail to accomplish the most important things. The same is true in many areas of life, including our conversations. If we want to make the biggest impact, we need to focus on the most important things.
Healthy Avoidance
Dr. Henry Cloud and others have been advocates of healthy boundaries in life. He’s written at least four books on the subject that have the word “boundaries” in the name. This week we are continuing Mentored, Pt 2 and will see Timothy’s mentor, Paul, stress the need for healthy boundaries. We’ll see the type of people Paul instructs Timothy (and us) to avoid. We’ll also see how to not be or become those people who need to be avoided.
The Finish Line
Many people around the world enjoyed watching the Olympics this past summer. There were some amazing performances, including Noah Lyles and Kishane Thompson in the 100m dash finals. Both ran the race with a time of 9.79 seconds, but it was Lyles edging out Thompson in a photo finish. We all love a good ending! As we wrap up our Mentored Pt 2 series, Paul is approaching the end of his life with a message to Timothy about finishing well and not quitting. Join us this weekend as we talk about what it takes to finish well.