When Disney World first opened, Mrs. Walt Disney was asked to speak at the Grand Opening, since Walt had died. She was introduced by a man who said, “Mrs. Disney, I just wish Walt could have seen this.” She stood up and said, “He did,” and sat down.
Vision is like that; you see it before anyone else can. You see it before it is even there. You see it before you know how to do it. Vision is the dream that supports the foundation. The reason the Wright brothers pressed on in spite of all the failure is they had vision. Thomas Edison’s team of inventors kept on seeing how many ways to burn out a light filament because they had a vision of what could work.
I have a vision of a church network of people actively involved making disciples who can and will make disciples. I have a vision of people who are followers becoming leaders and influencing others to be more like Christ.
What is your vision? What do you see that no one else can see yet?
Tags: vision, Walt Disney
Former Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, spent 35 years with the United Nations organization. Although shadowed by controversy and scandal, he became known as an evenhanded man with an ability to see the parts and the whole at the same time. He recalled an unforgettable lesson learned in his native Ghana at age 17:
“One day our headmaster walked into the classroom and put up a broad white sheet of paper with a small black dot in the corner. ‘Boys,’ he asked, ‘what do you see?’ All of us shouted in unison, ‘A black dot!’ Then he said, ‘So not a single one of you saw the broad white sheet of paper? Don’t go through life with that attitude.’.”
When we were of the world, we only saw what was in front of us and what we wanted and thought we needed. But when we came to Christ, we stepped into an understanding of another dimension: a spirtiual dimension. We saw (or should see) a much bigger picture in everything we do. We look beyond the dot to see the white paper as well.
Tags: Kofi Annan, purpose, vision
It was a fog-shrouded morning, July 4, 1952, when a young woman named Florence Chadwick waded into the water off Catalina Island. She intended to swim the channel from the island to the California coast. Long-distance swimming was not new to her; she had been the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions.
The water was numbing cold that day. The fog was so think she could hardly see the boats in her party. Several times sharks had to be driven away with rifle fire. She swam more than 15 hours before she asked to be taken out of the water. Her trainer tried to encourage her to swim on since they were so close to land, but when Florence looked, all she saw was fog. So she quit…only one-half mile from her goal
Later she said, “I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen the land I might have made it.” It wasn’t the cold or fear or exhaustion that caused Florence Chadwick to fail. It was losing sight of the goal.
Maybe that’s why Paul said, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).
Tags: close, failure, goal, swim, vision
When I was a child, a big circus came to town. They set up the big top on the site where the Butler Elementary School sits today. That was only a block away from where we lived, so us kids were fascinated sitting on our side of the street watching the elephants assist in the heavy work. When the big show opened, of course we didn’t want to miss a thing.
I remember watching the lions in the center ring with the lion tamer cracking his whip and holding those big cats at bay with only a stool. How did he do that, I wondered. The answer is an old lion-tamers trick. The stool has multiple legs. As the lion tamer holds those legs out to the lion, he focuses upon his enemy, and becomes so confused and disoriented by the multiple focus points that he can’t move. He won’t attack one leg without making himself vulnerable to the others. All his energy is neutralized. So he just sits there.
I think its possible for such a thing to happen in churches. If there are too many things for the church to focus upon, it can become disoriented and not know what to do. So it just sits there for fifty years doing nothing, because it can’t decide what to do. What is the primary focus of the Lord’s Church (any church)? Let’s stay focused.
Tags: circus, focus, vision
A South American minnow-like fish is called ‘Quatro-ojos’ (four-eyes), because it knows how to make the best of two worlds. The Creator designed its large bulging eyes with an air lens on the upper half and a water lens on the lower half. As it cruises along the surface of the water, it is able to look at the world above and the world below at the same time.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if God gave us humans the ability to see both into the heavenly, spiritual realm, as well as the physical, worldly realm, at the same time. There is good news: God has given us that very ability.
The heavenward look enables us to focus on what God says is true and right , and the “earthward” look helps us see opportunities to demonstrate Christlike compassion to people who are entangled in sin.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talked about seeking righteousness and showing mercy (Matthew 5:6-7). The Apostle Paul reinforced these two concepts when he told the Corinthians to uphold God’s standards but also show mercy to a repentant brother (1 Corinthians 5:1-5 and 2 Corinthians 2:1-7).
That’s what Quatro-ojos Living is all about.
Tags: focus, vision