Awesome Exemplified

 this series is inspired
by

RIDING
MOBY
DICK

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(a Bowfoot Peter Series)

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A habit has to be established before it can be improved.

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TWITTER
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AUDIBLE

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You would be on point thinking, 

as much as you have the deepest abiding respect for the courage, character and conviction of an icon who assailed insurmountable odds to place an enduring mark on this universe, that icon is not you.

You are different.

Your journey is different.

Your space is different.

Your time is different.

Your odds will never be the same as anyone else's even if both of you are bent on the same achievement.

living water

I am made in the image of God, not your image of God.

Pastoral Quotes

Generosity Is Transformative

Generosity inspires generosity.

So let me ask you this: if ten second snippets about the value of public radio in someone's life can inspire millions and millions of dollars in donations, how much more powerful and indeed transformative are these testimonies to the faith that we live daily?

How much more powerful are the stories you share about the ways in which your lives have been touched and changed by your faith and your church?

How much more powerful are the stories of I-Care and hope and of those who came hungry and left full, those who came cold and left just a little bit warmer?

How powerful are the stories of doors thrown open for trans-youth looking for more than just a shelter, for immigrants looking for a safe place to pause before a long road ahead, for those who are rejected by the church in the past and are looking and finding a faith community that will love them for all that they are?

How much more powerful are the stories of the ways this church which has been there for you during the most poingnant moments in your life?

That is a cool thing shared.

Mission Impossible

What is in there, that a singled eye can spot a block of marble and see in it an iconic David, a porcelain beauty (Queen Semiramis), divine mercy - The Pieta; spot a blank canvas and see the Mona Lisa; a sheet of metal and see wings to our stars; a slop of mud and see the great pyramids; a loaf of bread and see souls freed; then pivot to breathe such visions into being? What's in there, lacking which, eyes have no power to reveal, and breath cannot seal?

Welcome to 'how they beat the odds - every time,' Episode 6, curated by your host Neville DeAngelou. We are exploring some of the world's most incredible events, achievements, individuals, schemes, and stories for actionable discoveries to test if we also can beat those odds.

Along our remarkable journey of life and learning on Mission Impossible we share what we find. We challenge ourselves (and you) toward the reaches of our highest ideals: to be our best, do our utmost, achieve our finest wherever necessary and practicable, redesigning the contours of possibility, reshaping human capability. Join our posse. Share your finding. We welcome your perspective. BOOKS !!! have the power to change lives, and READING, the fortunes of countless all through time as demonstrated throughout the Great American Read, the quest for America's best loved novels. Topped without wavering, Harper Lee's heart-wrenching truth, To Kill A Mockingbird, garnered America's vote for best of our 100 best loved novels / series, the top five of which includes Outlander, Harry Potter, The Lord of The Rings, and Pride and Prejudice. There is a heaving barrel of reality within these masterpeices. It goes directly to the crux of stacked and shuffling odds humans face pursuing a life worth living and speaks eloquently of keys to beating all odds - every time. Our antennae are drawn to the lynchpin of this latter revelation. Let's check out what might well prove to be a revolutionary discovery - the odd-beater's triple thrust. What about you? What did you find? Share your story.

is the traffic jam in place to prove your patience
- should you pivot to the green light path -

an enormously enriched life

Revelation + Mystery. During previous episodes we used storytelling features (heores, villains, romance, adventure) to explore, exercise, experiment, and engage with actionable discoveries from selections of phenomenal achievements and events in our world. It is a marvel, the mastery of these creative geniuses who get us to listen to our own heartbeats and to rummage through closets in our own lives. Truly, reading is a potent personal act. Reading is so powerful, across time it has been (and is) forbidden to certain groups and select individuals, forbidden by oppressive, brutish, totalitarian, dictatorial forces, and cultish bullies. Reading is so powerful, books are banned, access restricted, schooling limited, reading privileged. Those of us duly equipped with its facility do inflict grave personal injury limiting ourselves from the free exercise of it, narrowing our exposure, miscalculating its potency, its capacity to let us listen to ourselves and empathize with others. Yes, that's what reading does: it connects. It is a personal power. It is a social power. It is a revolutionary act. Therein lies its emancipation and its danger. We read to comprehend. That's what good reading does. We listen to understand. That's what good listening does. Ah, but there is a green light, an amber light, and a red light up ahead. You see, listening is a shared gift, but it is also a weighted gift of sorts; there is no guarantee of balance or equanimity at its delivery. We connect to each other through stories. There is an informational component and there is an emotional component to each delivery. Every time we open the conduit to deliver or recieve - reading or listening - inscribed or spoken - silent or scribbled - there exists a risk. Huge. Huge. We are vulnerable. That's life. Makes us wonder, doesn't it, whether Someone up there has got a fantastic sense of humor at our expense. For odds-beaters - grand achievers - this risk is worth it.

unleashed - confidence in human potential

soil: there is something in a seed - life! Back when vast swaths of our world were agrarian and soil was daily in our hands the precious realities of plants and seeds, of saplings and trees, were rich reservoirs of metaphors for the lessons of our lives. We've evolved. Still evolving. Garden produce cheffly disguised arrive magically at our lips. And we chew. Speedily. Mostly we swallow. Hm? We live longer - on average - now, so why knock a good thing? Doing so smacks of biting the hand that feeds. (Couldn't resist that one!) Nevetheless, I'd wager there is remnant value from our rooted knowledge of lands not yet crumbled into our oceans, still sustaining us. Yes? Hear me then! There is something about a seed; much more than life. M-hm! (See RMD)

seed: an encode - spirit - life - a play-maker - a game-changer - a wanna-be. Yes, that's what a seed is. I have proof. Then there is evil, or whatever its new name is today. Call it what you will. Evil functions relentlessly to keep the seed sealed - imprisoned in its own self - escaping which, evil's relentlesss pursuit is enslavement - total and uncompromising subjugation of will, blandly, subtly, sweet deception, or ingenuiosly disguised - no holes barred. But not all seeds oblige! Hello! That's the beginning of wonder. Have you seen it? You also are unsealed - step one! (See Riding Moby Deck)

sapling: i'd like to tell you a story about saplings - yummy - but I wont today. By the way, when last have you been to your farmer's market? Oooh-wee. Saplings are expensive, and hard to find - well, harder than they used to be. Is nurturing still a thing? I know - who knows how such tender babies will turn out; and why bother when full-grown is groomed and fits squarely in the Range Rover? But, oh, the joys we are missing! Aren't we? Oh, the dog? Trust me, I understand. Try owning four golden retrievers and a rottweiler - all five at the same time! Yeah, me! As my mama used to tell me, "stupid lesson good for dunce." M-hm. You're probably wondering what any of that has to do with saplings. I'll leave that to your imagination. But I've got something else to share with you. (See RMD).

An epiphany!

Back in the day, every competent farmer knew he or she needed good seeds, proper soil, good weather, and to apply appopriate care in order to have a justifiable expectation of a reasonable harvest. "The Good Lord willing."

Back in the day, a competent farmer knew he or she needed to treat a good seed the way a good seed needed to be treated in order for it to take root and grow shoots. "The Good Lord willing."

That shoot would then become a sapling.

Back in the day, a smart farmer knew he or she needed to nurture that sapling like that sapling needed to be nurtured in order for that sapling to grow sturdy and strong into the kind of tree it is encoded to be. "The Good Lord willing."

That tree would become what that tree is encoded to become.

Back in the day, any wise farmer knew not to treat a seed as a sapling, nor a sapling as a tree, nor a tree as a seed. According to sound training. For they are all at once the same - seed, sapling tree - and yet not none of them exactly the same as the other. Wisdom.

Back in the day, a farmer expecting a good harvest knew the value of time, the elements and care, to his farm. Solid millennia of passed along experience! And every wise farmer knew that each day is a new day - none like any that had gone before. Challenge.

I think I am learning something.

What about you? Do Share.

connected

re-imagined

realized

belonged

gritty

respect

integrity

example

know-how

genuiness

flexibility

maneuverable

confidence

agile

action

Smile. Live. Love. Laugh. Look. Listen. Learn. Be awesome. You are powerful beyond measure. You are not alone. You can do all things. I am you. You are me. We are one. Keep Sharing.

So, are you an odds-beater?

Not sure? What's your soul-song?

Discovery: Odds-beaters are not cheaters; they are a stacked deck, interwoven, interconnected - internally and externally. They are connected to an inner-voice they hear and see and trust and respond to. They are connected to where they are - an uncanny awareness - an undaunted curiosity. They are connected to the essentiality of those desires and dreams that feed off of their transformational capabilities.

Action Plan: Be connected to who and what you are - your internal team (body, soul, spirit, mind, voice, guide). Be an effective leader of your internal team. (LISTEN TO YOUR AUTHENTIC VOICE. BUFFER YOUR INTERNAL NOISE. KNOW THE DIFFERENCE. QUIET YOURSELF. UNDERSTAND YOURSELF - IT'S AN ONGOING PROCESS IN A CHANGING WORLD.) Avoid being stuck in patterns of the past - even if they may have served you well then. The present is an entirely different world. Enjoy learning to understand. Enjoy working with your internal team. Be a great lead. It makes a huge difference. (How about you?) What leadership skills do you find valuable for your internal team?

Breathe.
We are accompanied.
Balance - Focus - Rhythm

Dare to lead your internal team. Check this out - Be the best that you can be!

Every new era is marked by a challenge that reveals the true nature of its character, its soul, its heart, our very being; a challenge so pervasive, so corrosive, so corrupting, it indulges our need for respite; a challenge that demands a new breed - A Breed Beyond The Hero.

Something To Consider

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You are

What POWER!