Director at NBC/ Universal Studios in Cyber Security, a great job, great income, great family, grandkids, President of C-Suite for Christ...why pursue anything else. Passion will do that to you. It makes you dissatisfied with the status quo. It leaves you thirsting for more. Andrea's story fits right up there with all the other stories we've heard this season, so take a listen!
Chasing success has its financial rewards, but at the pinnacle it may leave you feeling empty and hollow! Chasing your passion on the other hand guarantees that you'll live a fulfilled life, because, as Myles Munroe always said, "The two most important days in your life are the day you were born, and the day you discovered why."
Join my guest and I this week as we navigate the undulating road of his journey towards fulfilling his passion. You won't be sorry you did, so invite a friend and get comfortable.
The struggle is real!
Sometimes, the greatest loss in the pursuit of your passion is the loss of relationships. While, people "cancelling" you because you see things differently than them, is definitely contrary to the teachings of Jesus, it's probably safe to say that it demonstrates a sad reality, "Our beliefs are stronger than our love!" - Hope Clark
What if we risked it all and chose to pursue that passion in spite of the potential fallout and potential losses? What would that look like for you? Joseph Campbell said, (and yes, I'm quoting a Mormon), "The cave you fear to enter often holds the treasure you seek."
Have you ever asked yourself what you could do if you removed all the excuses and barriers to simply pursuing your passion? This season my guests give you insight into how they answered that question. What does it look like to pursue your passion with all the attendant risks, fears, failures, and challenges? Listen in to this season of Open Spaces with Joseph Thompson, as we explore what it looks like to be, "IN PURSUIT OF PASSION".
Sometimes it's simply a succession of serendipitous events that bring you face to face with an overwhelming sense that you need to pursue your passion at the expense of all else. My guest this week has just such a story, and you'll want to hear it. Who said you couldn't find your passion running into a stranger at a laundromat???
Still have questions?
Come meet Kayse!
Living vibrantly takes courage. Choosing to pursue your passion in the face of opposition, criticism, and your own personal 'demons' of insecurity may cause anxiety beyond any you've ever experienced. But once you make the leap of faith, you ask yourself only one question; "Why did I wait so long to do this?"
Would you believe me if I told you that it's possible to chase your passion even when you're just fifteen years old?
No?
Challenge accepted!
Come meet my guest on this episode of IN PURSUIT OF PASSION, on this season of Open Spaces with Joseph Thompson. No she's not fifteen, but her journey began when she was. You might learn a thing or two about pursuing your passion as you listen in on Kylee's story, and don't be selfish, invite a friend or two!
What would it cost you to give up the security of a regular guaranteed income and take a step off the cliff of uncertainty to pursue your passion? That's the question I'm asking my guests who've already taken that step, and their answers may surprise as well as inspire you. Join me this week as we explore the fears, uncertainties, insecurities, and triumphs that accompany a leap of faith into the unknown when the only thing your certain of is that you're truly passionate about what you're pursuing!
Graveyards are littered with untold stories, unfinished projects, unrealized dreams and desires, simply because too many of us are afraid to take the leap of faith required to chase our passion. It requires faith in Someone or something bigger than yourself. Faith isn't jumping off a cliff with a parachute, it's free-falling with the clear understanding that if Someone or something doesn't catch you, there's no surviving the fall.
So what exactly is passion, and what does it look like to pursue it?
Over the last couple of years I've met several people who are discontent with the status quo, whether in their faith, their work-life, their family, and in various other areas that determine the direction of their lives. Many of these people left full-time employment that provided the security of a guaranteed paycheck, to explore what it would look like to pursue their passion. Join me as I talk with some of them this season.
What exactly is passion, and what does it mean to pursue it? Over the last couple of years I've met several people who are discontent with the status quo, whether in their faith, their work-life, their family, and in various other areas that determine the direction of their lives. Many of these people left full-time employment that provided the security of a guaranteed paycheck, to explore what it would look like to pursue their passion.
This season I'm talking to various individuals who've pursued their passions while experiencing different emotions and having different personalities, and who are in various stages of that endeavor. Come and find out how their passion has made, not just theirs, but other people's lives better. Their stories just might inspire you to begin to pursue your own passion.
Far too often, I've seen pastors of mega churches react negatively to staff members who feel called to step away from their roles into a different season of ministry.
Why do we do that? Could it be because we're insecure about our own leadership abilities? Paul modeled so well for us how we are to treat people that we're leading, so as to create spiritual "sons and daughters" rather than create acrimony.
Join me on the season finale of Open Spaces to join the conversation.
Paul writing to Timothy declares:
The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. - 1 Timothy 2: 1-3 (MSG)
So I ask, is there a formula by which we can know how much prayer is sufficient to ensure that these Scripture verses hold true in our lives? Join me in this episode of Open Spaces to find out.
God's provision of Manna in the wilderness was from heaven not from Publix, Walmart, or some little kids packed lunch. At no point did God scratch His head in confusion and then invite Moses' input on how to go about feeding six million people wandering in the desert for forty years. So when He fed the 5000 men plus women and children, the blessing for the disciples was in the fact that Jesus included them in the miracle!
Have you ever felt that successful people simply "lucked" into their success by being at the right place at the right time? If you answered yes to that question, I hate to burst your proverbial bubble, but you're completely wrong.
Innate in all of us is the seed of success, and "The tree is in the seed."
Out of a tiny seed grows a tree that may ultimately emerge as a room of exquisitely crafted oak furniture...the list of possibilities for the future of that seed are limitless.
In a world where we often wear "busyness" like a crown jewel (often because we mistake it for productivity or success), do you ever feel like your day is just too hectic to squeeze in time alone with God in prayer?
If you answered yes, you're not alone! Join me as I explore the only answer to that insufferable question this Friday.
What do you say to people who are walking through unimaginable pain, loss, hardship, difficulty... trauma? What are the perfect Bible verses that demonstrate the right amount of sympathy or empathy?
Don't answer that. It's a trick question!!!
Listen in this Friday for an honest, heartfelt conversation about Lament: An Invitation To Tell The Truth.
Many years ago my friend, Alex McManus, opened my eyes to the reality that, as Christ followers preaching the gospel, we're much like foreigners trying to speak a different language.
For the most part you can tell a foreigner from a native speaker by the distinct accent that sets us apart. Alex opined that this makes us "Experiments in translation." We're interpreting an ancient text in a present context, and interpretation requires a colloquial, cultural, and context understanding. This means that we don't always get it right.
Matt Walsh recently released a video which the mainstream media and streaming services refuse to air. To find out more go here: https://www.documentarymania.com/player.php?title=What+Is+a+Woman
Matt reveals a strategy to defeat the collective insanity that appears to have taken over our society. On his often comical, yet deeply disturbing journey, he answers the question which generations before us never knew they needed to ask: What is a woman?
This weeks episode dives into the science, religion, and angry vitriol that attends this volatile, yet critically important issue, regardless of what the current cultural zeitgeist is!
For those who position themselves against the idea of Christians deconstructing their faith, I'd ask just one simple question:
How do you grow and learn if you don’t deconstruct?
There are few things that will shake your faith more than the death of a loved one in a preventable plane crash!
The storms and vicissitudes of life bring pain, hardship, failure, betrayal and all the things that attend a life lived, dressed in human skin. And that WILL, to a significant degree, changed the lens through which one views Scriptures (Note that I didn’t say it would change the Scriptures or their meaning). When your sight is failing, you change lenses. That is the nature of deconstruction!
Like the storm that just hit Florida, I promised an explosive Season 7. Here it is!!!
(PS: Listen to episode 1 before you listen to this)
For those who position themselves against the idea of Christians deconstructing, I'd ask just one simple question:
How do you grow and learn if you don’t deconstruct?
I’ve cringed while listening to some of the sermons I taught 20 or more years ago.
Why?
Because, as I’ve grown, I’ve experienced life, pain, hardship, success, failure, joys, betrayal and all the things that attend a life lived, dressed in human skin. And that has, to a significant degree, changed the lens through which I view Scriptures (Note that I didn’t say it has changed the Scriptures or their meaning). When your sight is failing, you change lenses. That is the nature of deconstruction!
