Hockey, for instance.

Today I read a story about how fans of the Montreal Canadiens cheered when a player on the opposing team was injured when a puck hit him in the face. According to Yahoo!, the Canadiens’ fans are known for their “inappropriate booing of anthems and cheering of injuries.”

But why is this permissible? Competitiveness? All’s fair in love and war? Good ol’ fashioned team rivalry? The author of the story doesn’t completely object to cheering at a rival team’s misfortunes (including injuries). He chalks it up to just being part of the game, the culture, of his ”fandom.”

And so I thought (outside of sports), what are some of the statements I’ve heard people make when they hear of other’s misfortunes?

• A new mom returns to work after maternity leave and is greeted with a pink slip (well, I guess that’s what happens when you take advantage of the government’s FMLA leave).
• A neighbor’s house is in foreclosure (well, I guess that’s what happens when you waste money and don’t pay your bills).
• A suicide bomber kills dozens that have gathered for prayer in a Mosque (well, I guess that’s what happens when you worship the wrong god).
• A famous singer dies alone in a hotel room (well, I guess that’s what happens when you won’t stop using drugs).

Translation: they deserved it.

When really bad things happen to me, I usually don’t think “I deserved that.” Why be so quick to label other’s misfortunes as being “deserved?”

Now, thanks to the fans of a hockey team I’ll probably never see play, I am humbled – to respond with love in a way that Christ would.

And to leave the culture of competition behind.

“Things are going to change.”

Profound, right?

Jobs are going to change. Relationships are going to change. Companies are going to change. People are going to change.

Change is inevitable. The question is will it happen to you or through you?

Right now, a relationship you’re in is changing. Will you recognize that and be part of the change? Will the change happen through you? Will you work hard to actively make the relationship better? Or will you ignore the change, let the relationship change in all the wrong ways until eventually the change happens to you?

Right now, the industry your company is in is changing. New markets are being born. Old ones are dying. It’s the wild wild west out there. Things are changing. Will the change happen through you? Will this be a moment you step up and help steer your company into the next decade? Or will you ignore the change and wait for the marketplace to pass your company by until eventually the change happens to you?

Some change is going to catch you off guard. This is going to come as a surprise to you, but you’re not God. There will be changes that hit you out of nowhere like a rogue wave.

But for the rest of them, the changes you see coming, the ones we all see coming, there is a choice.

Change can happen to you or through you. (And trust me, through is significantly more fun!)

from Jon Acuff’s blog on January 25, 2012

For more awesome videos by some awesome guys, check out www.ignitermedia.com.

Below is the blessing which was spoken over the congregation on July 10, 2011:

The Father’s Blessing

July
10, 2011

My child, I love you!
You are special. You are a gift from God. I bless you with the healing of all
wounds of rejection, neglect and any abuse that you have suffered. I bless you
with overflowing peace, the peace that only the Prince of Peace can give a
peace beyond comprehension. I bless you with success. I bless you with health
and strength of body, soul and spirit. I bless you with overflowing prosperity,
enabling you to be a blessing to others. I bless you with spiritual influence,
for you are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. You are like a
tree planted by rivers of water. You will prosper in all your ways. I bless you
with a depth of spiritual understanding and a close walk with your Lord. You
will not stumble or falter, for the Word of God will be a lamp to your feet and
a light to your path. I bless you with pure and edifying relationships in life.
You have favor with God and man. I bless you with abounding love. You will
minister God’s comforting grace to others. You are blessed, my child! You are
blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus.

Deuteronomy 28:1-14 (KJV)

If thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe
and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the
LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:

² And all these blessings shall
come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the
LORD thy God.

³ Blessed shalt thou be
in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.

⁴ Blessed shall be the fruit
of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the
increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

⁵ Blessed shall be thy
basket and thy store.

⁶ Blessed shalt thou be
when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest
out.

⁷ The LORD shall cause thine
enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall
come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.

⁸ The LORD shall command the
blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand
unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

⁹ The LORD shall establish thee an
holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the
commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways.

¹⁰ And all people of the earth
shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be
afraid of thee.

¹¹ And the LORD shall make thee
plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle,
and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy
fathers to give thee.

¹² The LORD shall open unto thee
his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and
to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and
thou shalt not borrow.

¹³ And the LORD shall make thee the
head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be
beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which
I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:

¹⁴ And thou shalt not go aside from
any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to
the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

As we were talking, the in-between of his comments to me about mercy was this question, “Why do you want mercy?” Although he never said it, I answered it to myself. I thought: I just want mercy to be one of my attributes like it was one of God’s attributes that he attributed to himself (Exodus 34.5-7). Then it hit me. Like a anvil on my head. A simple revelatory prayer from a place not associated with my heart or head – it came from my depths: “I want no adjectives ever attached to my name that have not been said about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

When have we recently realized that God is calling us to share in his character? What attribute of God do you desire? Have you welcomed him into that area of lack in your life expecting him to overflow you with his response? Give it a go. You might be amazed at the fruit of such reckless confidence.

“When I think about worship, I think about filling in all the space, because he went as far as he could to come to me, he’s done everything he could to get me and if there’s any space it’s because I created that space, it’s because I gave someone that place or some situation or something that place. So in worship, that’s a constant choice to remove the space and say ‘come fill in this space,’ so there’s nothing between us…”

- Steffany Frizzell, Worship Leader, Bethel Church, Redding, CA

The word that I have held the most of all of the words after my “the,” is Greatheart. I guess in some ways as I heard those words spoken over myself, I did not completely understand what that word meant. What is a Greatheart? As I began to process what this idea was, or rather how I was to be a greatheart. I had a feeling it had to do with loving others, something that I’m trying to learn to be intentional about. So I leveled with God, and was like, “Okay God, I know, I know, it’s all about love, blah blah blah.” How trite right now for me to hear God saying that I am supposed to love more.

I think that I just allowed my disillusionment to prevent from further thoughts of greatheartedness. And of course was the random rant in my head about how Jesus must’ve had a great heart since he was moved with compassion by seeing the need. Scriptures even say that he was moved internally with compassion and was compelled by his own love. I don’t think I’m quite there yet, but I’ve had it occur a few times. Funny is that people were still calling me a “greatheart” even when I didn’t believe it for myself.

This week we had a special time of prayer at church, and as we were praying, God took me to Psalm 119:32. “I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart (or Hebrew says for you set my heart free)” (ESV). As I read this verse, I recalled 1 John about how obedience to love was the major commandment we are to live in. I began to see that God wanted me to be a greatheart by doing just that – love because He loved and because I’m loved. I do not have to attempt love, it will be the finish line of my living of my life in the intention of love. And the only way for God to do that was to set my heart free.

And let me tell you that I thought I was totally “freeing” up my heart as I watched God increase new friendships and then random growth of the small group. I believed my enlarged heart was for everyone else. And I thought I was getting it. Then a friend and I were talking and a simple sentence that they said undid me. They didn’t mean this sentence to injure me, but God was using it to expose my weakness.

In this place of thinking my heart was growing, it was artificial. I had allowed comparisons to others hinder me from freedom, from God setting me wild in a field of his commandments to love and enlarge my life. I didn’t trust God and what he said about me. I didn’t believe I was a greatheart. Instead I let my heart shrink. I listened to lies that I was insignificant and all I was being was a waste of time. God shined his light on my life and revealed that lie.

How can I walk in freedom unless I believe the truth, since only the truth sets me free. Today, I can say that my shrunken heart from last night’s battle grew 2 sizes today when I woke to hear the truth over my life. I am a Greatheart. Why? Because I was made to be like my Father and my Brother. Greatheart is their last name, and so it is mine.