Castles in the air

We have all heard of the sentiment of building castles in the air where people are said to be having baseles and meaningless dreams .

however a wise man once said u can build those castles in the air but make sure that u start building a foundation under them. basically what that means is that u begin with the end in mind, and u see what u want to achieve in life i.e the castles then from there you begin to do what u need to do in order to achieve what you envisioned...

the key is that you do not relax , when u know you have a dream, write it down and do all you can to build on that vision.

never let the fear of striking out keep u from playing the game

NEVER LET THE FEAR OF STRIKING OUT KEEP YOU FROM PLAYING THE GAME!

In a game of Baseball, when the batsman steps on the pitch he is afraid of one thing and one thing only, “striking out” . the rules state that when a batsman pisses three consecutive pitches he has struck out and he is out of the game. But this fear does not stop him from playing the game, for as he steps on that plate the other thing that is on his mind is that I am not going to strike out but rather “I am going to hit a couple of home runs before I am either caught out or struck out”

The fear he has, gives him the impetus he needs to make sure that he does not strike out, the fact that he has stepped out on that plate means that the fear he had has caused his body to release adrenalin, the hormone that is released when we are afraid, the “fight or flee “hormone which prepares him to either fight or flee. By stepping on the plate he has decided to fight and fight he will.

What the bats man knows is that he has the power and the ability to hit the ball far and wide and get as many home runs as he can, he trusts his potential and he knows he has done all he can and the moment he is on that plate its fight or die, he has to hit that ball and hit it hard or get out of the game. He did not allow his fear to stop him from playing the game he used that fear as a means to motivate Him to greatness.

The people that have achieved much in this life did not do it because they were fearless, yes they were afraid at one point or the other but they were not remembered for being afraid, but instead they were remembered for forging ahead despite of their fears. They went ahead and fought instead of fleeing. They knew that there was a chance of them striking out but the odds were in their favor that they might just hit a home run on one of those three balls that they were accorded, if not all of them.

A lot of potentially successful people are leaving mediocre lives because they allowed their fears to dictate who they are and what they could become. They were content sitting in their comfort zones and doing nothing to change their situation because they were afraid that they may miss the ball and strike out. I am more than inspired by the great inventor Thomas Eddison who Despite his many real failures looked upon them as lessons learnt, he even said; “I did not fail 1000 times but I learnt 1000 ways how not to do it” and he continued inventing. He even burnt down his Laboratory/ workshop when one of his many inventions went wrong but he said; now we can start afresh without a reminder of our mistakes” here is a man that utilized every ball, he might have missed the first two but he hit the third one so hard that it gave him a home run. Just imagine if he had given up after the first or second miss?

You see a lot of potential is lost because people give in to their fears , the fear of failure especially; we wonder how we are going to look if we fail (self preservation) “what if I fail? ”is the question we always ask ourselves and we analyze all the possible outcomes, if we see any likelihood of failure more often than not we come up with so many reasons why we cannot do something. Some would say; like Queen Esther “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”

That was her excuse, she was afraid to die, and Gideon would ask; “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” Judges 6:15. That was his excuse, I am weak therefore I cannot do it. However as God spoke to Gideon and after the three fleeces Gideon knew success was inevitable that is why he went.

The time has come for us to look our fear in the eye and ask: what if we succeed? What if I hit that home run?

People of God we were not give a spirit of fear, but of power, love and of a sound mind. Success for us is inevitable. Yes we might strike out but should that be an excuse for us not to step on that pitch, stand tall and give it our best shot?

Do you really want to die asking yourself, “What if I had tried it maybe I would be in a better place?”

He who gave you that idea or that desire knows that you have the potential to make it work, and he has given you the ability to do it so why don’t you throw caution to the wind this once and try it out. Go out there stand on that pitch and hit that home run. Write that book, paint that picture, ask her to marry you, start that business, record that song. I do not know what it is that you have been afraid to do but today I say instead of fleeing why not stand and fight?

The good thing with life is that you do not have just three balls, you have countless opportunities to hit a home run and the fact that you are still alive means that you still have the potential to hit that home run. So my friend do not let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game!

what good is unutilised potential?

God is not so much interested in you capabilities or gifts neither is He interested in your resources because He gave them to you. Waht He is interested in is what you do with the resources, are you being productive or counter productive.



 we have wasted so much time looking at what we have and we have failed to put it to use. potential energy has got no value, what matters is kinetic energy. in Zimbabwe we have heard it said so many times that we as a nation have the 'potential" to be the wealthiest and most productive nation in sub saharan africa and because we were happy with that potential we are still in the same place.



 we might wonder why the church is not growing and in fact it is shrinking...it is because we have too many people that are content with having the potential but they never utilise that potential. When Jesus called Peter to be His disciple; he told him that he shall be a fisher of men . which means that Peter had the potential to be a great evangelist but he did not become that until he utilised that potential on pentecost.



 you too have the potential to be a gerat leader but that does not make you one. you have a role to play to bring that potential out. God wants us to use our gifts and to praphrase the words of Jesus in john 20v 15 "if you love me, you will feed my sheep" simple.



 if we want our lives to have meaning we too must use the potential that we have and feed God"s sheep. we are where we are for such a time as this and if we do not start doing the work that we were called to do..."do not imagine that you in the kings palace can escape anymore than all the others. forr if YOU remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the jews from ANOTHER place and you and your father's house will perish. and who knows if you have attained royalty (salvation) for such a time as this?" Esther 4v 13-14



 you have to make up your mind, Queen Esther had the potential to save the jews but until she used it that potential was useless and in fact she also was useless and without purporse. what i am saying is if you remain content with potential then you are useless and without purpose or value....we value the potential that is being used, we value kinetic energy more than potential and that is the same with God..



 take stock, are you just potential lying there or...

think out of the box

we have all head bout thinking outside the box; but what does it really mean to "THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX?"

looking at the nature of a box, it has well defined boundaries and at times used to put things inside, when something is in a box, its mobility and movement is restricted by the boundaries of the box in which it is placed, that my friends is the same with our thought patterns.

as we were growing up we had specific box like boundaries placed upon us and our thoughts are limited to that box that we had as we grew up. the boundaries might be our environment or geographic location, the stereotypes that we heard, they might be our race or our nationality and even the education we recieved.
we were told what we could and could not do, i remember being told to "go to school; do my A levels; go to university, get a degree , get a job and work until i retire; and that my friend was the boundaries i had in regards to my future, so my thoughts were of studying getting a job, of which maybe one i didnt like at all make money and retire then die... quite a meaningless exisstance if you ask me..

when it came to what i was passionate about , well being a young black man no one really believed in my gifting let alone nurture it so i was basically confined to my box of thought.

it took someone saying to me, "You can do anything you want to do and be successful, follow your dreams and money will follow" and well thats what i started doing, and trust me i am not disapointed...

thinking out side the box is all about breaking past the boundaries of what we have been told to be true and exploring our own passions, taking time to look at the extra ordinary, taking time to to explore the world out there. do not just accept every train of thought but explore your curiosities and satisfy them, curiosity did not kill the cat, what did was poor planning.
be like Christopher Columbus who said if the world is flat, i will not come back, what if it isnt flat?

he went out to see if the world was really flat while most of the people were content with the boxed in mentality they had..

take a little time each day and ask yourself; what have i believed in each day that might not be true, and go out there and seek the truth for yourself.
kill the stereotypes, the thought pattrns and me disorderly in your thinking for a while. yes you are an accountant but you have a creative ability, you are a medical doctor but what about the book you always wanted to write?; i am a web designer but hey i am writting too, it doesnt matter who or what you are we all have a box that we have to think out of, discover that box and step out of it...esp us africans..

step out of the box for a minute

There comes a time where we need to be out of our right minds; just try and be crazy . Often times we think inside the box because that is the way that we have been brought up to think. People that have achieved much in life are those who thought outside the box and where beside 'their right minds'.

I have been looking and listening to the testimonies of some of Africa's greatest businessmen and their stories have one thing in common...

They thought out of the box!!

i can't, nahhh i can

When you say 'i cannot do it' ; is it because you do not have the inate ability to do that one thing; or rather a case of you being to proud to try in fear of a minor setback where you to fail?
In all honesty our own pride is the greatest hinderance to achieving our dreams...so lets give our pride a shove and try anyway