Tony Wheeler dot Net

In an unassuming cottage on Tripp Ave. in Chicago, Illinois a son is born. From humble beginnings, this child would build kingdoms. Magic Kingdoms. This was a man who has inspired millions of people to imagine, to dream, to do the impossible. This is a man who has changed my life in more ways that I even know. Since he was born about 1907 years too late to be Jesus, I must be talking about the one, the only, Walter Elias Disney.

I find myself amazed at the imagination, attention to detail and drive that Walt had. He was the ultimate vision caster. He was able to inspire people to work harder, do more and be better than they ever dreamed they would be/do. If you have ever needed something to inspire you to dream big dreams and do big things, pick up a copy of one of the many biographies of Walt Disney. A rags to riches story wouldn’t be accurate to describe this man’s life. Sure, he came from humble beginnings, but I don’t think that he realized the financial gain of the Walt Disney Company because much of that took place after his death. He didn’t even see the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. He did see the beginnings, but never the end. It is evident to me that Walt’s legacy is still alive and kicking at WDW and other Disney franchises around the world.

Some of my favorite Walt quotes:

“It is kind of fun to do the impossible.” (I have a poster above my desk is about Vision with this quote on it.)

“I hope that we never lose sight of one thing: That it was all started by a mouse.”

“All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”

“I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.”

“You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality. ”

Today, I salute you, Uncle Walt. Thank you for inspiring me to dream, create and do. I am forever thankful for your life and legacy.

Saw this over at Scott’s blog. Hi-lar-i-ous. Click here to venture out.
If you don’t know what Emergent is, you probably aren’t. Don’t bother clicking THIS.

Permission to speak freely? I am a dirty, rotten sinner. I totally blew it tonight. One of the guys that I work with is a Muslim with a view of Christians that is hard to explain. On one hand, he believes in a brotherhood of men, plus his wife is a good midwestern gal who grew up doing church. On the other hand, he is the first to point out when I don’t portray Jesus. Hypocritical Christians have formed that spirit inside of him. I am hopeful that my actions tonight do not help to foster that view. A poke on his part toward me led me to respond in a manner that is less than Christlike. Truth-be-told, his comment hurt me deep. It related to something that I have battled for most of my life at various points and I am so stinkin sick of the stigma that comes with it.

It is no secret that I am not a man of small stature. There have been choices in my life that have gotten me where I am as far as my physical stature, mostly I have been lazy. I think that a common misconception from people who don’t struggle with weight issues is that fat people just eat a lot. Truthfully, I don’t eat a lot of junk. I eat food that is, for the most part, good for me. I don’t drink soda very often. I don’t even have sugar in my house. I wish that I could say that I have a glandular disorder, but I have never been tested for anything. My physical state comes from sitting on my butt. For the past 3 years I have had a job where I work a lot and for most of it, I sit in front of a computer. When I was working in Florida, I worked between 6-7 days a week with an average of 60 plus hours a week. Not much time to do anything but work. Currently, I don’t work that much, but I find other things to do with my time such as discover life with my wife, planning stuff for church, running a business, plan for starting another business and sneak in sleep here and there. I am not trying to make excuses, I really am just trying to understand my own self.

Why do I write all of this? First, I need to ask for forgiveness and admit that I was wrong in my actions toward my co-worker and friend. I did not exhibit Christ in those moments and for that I am truly sorry. I hope that this didn’t cause another ripple in his already tarnished view of Christians. Second, I need to repent for being lazy. I have a gym membership and access to another gym at work. I really have no valid excuses and need to stop making them. My diet is really at an optimum right now and to supplement that with a healthy amount of exercise can only enrich my life. Third, I need support. I can’t do this on my own. My wife supports me and is my number one fan, but she loves me no matter what. If you want to encourage me in this, please do!

I pray that today is a new day for me and for you.

Blessings…

I have got to say that over the past month or two I have felt like I am metamorphosing. I have been studying a lot of different things, really digging in at work and attempting to do more ministry. The class that I have now is Biblical Perspectives of Worship…this has been a phenomenal class to really get to the heart of what we are. There have been countless times where I simply have had to pause to worship God. The books that I have been reading for this class have been simply outstanding and would commend them to anyone who wants to develop themselves not only as a worship leader, but as a worshiper. I have also begun to study small groups. Ted Haggard has a great book on small group stuff. I have also been reading “God’s Smuggler” by Brother Andrew. Man, that book is amazing. I don’t normally get very emotional when reading books, but let me tell you it is impossible to read of God’s provision and not have your soul respond. I commend this book to you if your view of God needs a refresher. You cannot read this book and be changed.
On the metamorphosis: I feel like Gregor Samsa. For those of you who don’t know who that is, feel free to Google. I awoke one morning and found myself changed. I think that this needs to happen daily. We need to be constantly evolving into something more…something better than the day before. We need to be a new creature daily.

Being transformed into Christlikeness is a process that we must engage. I for one look forward to tomorrow when I will be more like Christ.

I wrote a review last week for Mark Batterson’s book “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day.” I cannot emphasize enough to those of you who are twenty-somethings (or even thirty, forty, fifty or sixty-somethings), YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK!

The more I think about it, the less that I feel I did the book justice. What I posted were my gut level reactions to the book as I chewed on it and while I think that is good, I don’t feel like I was very motivational in my approach. This book really is a work of years of ministry experience among people who are looking for their lions. NCC where Mark serves as lead pastor is primarlly made up of twenty-something single people who are looking for life. Mark did not write this book from some crazy ideas that he came up with, this is real world chops.

Mark and NCC crew are in the process of coming up with study materials and the like @ Chasethelion.com. This is a perfect book for a college/young adult study.

(this is an unpaid advertisment…done completely because this book impacted me and I respect Mark and his crew)

A few weeks ago Mark Batterson offered to send copies of In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day to people willing to do reviews. I took him up on that offer. I was rather excited to see the UPS man pull up to my house and I eagerly opened the package. First, let me say that the cover of this book rocks! Knowing what Mark went through with the publishers to figure out this cover, I can say that it was time well spent! The book is based upon what Mark refers to as one of the most obscure passages in Scripture, 2 Samuel 23:20-21. In this verse we find Benaiah, who would eventually become the commander in chief of David’s bodyguard, chasing a LION into a pit on a snowy day. Was he scared? Probably. But he faced the fear.

I don’t want to simply rehash the book here, so I want to hit the highlights that really gritted into my spirit.

• ??A sense of destiny is our birthright as followers of Christ. God is awfully good at getting us where he wants to go. But here’s the catch: The right place often seems like the wrong place, and the right time often seems like the wrong time.?? (p. 12)

• 2 Samuel 23:23 David wanted Beniah as his chief bodyguard because David was the original lion chaser. Lion chaser recognize their own and understand that lion chasers do what needs to be done, even when facing a 500 pound lion.

• ??God wants you to get where God wants you more than you want to get where God wants you to go.?? (p. 30) Searching for the will of God is a hot topic in Christian circles. A lot of people get really wound up trying to figure out where God wants them to go, but I think they really do lost sight of the fact that God wants His will for us even more than we do.

• There are only two fears that we are born with: The fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. We learn the rest as we go. If fears can be learned, they can be unlearned. Faith is the process of unlearning fears.

• ??Maybe prayer is less about changing our circumstances than it is changing our perspective. Most of our problems aren’t the byproduct of our circumstances but of our perspective on our circumstances. Maybe we need to quit praying safe prayers.?? (p. 65)

• You can’t plan Pentacost. ??But what if instead of spending all our energy on making plans for God, we spent the energy seeking God??? (p. 82)

• ??Lion chasers are humble enough to let God call the shots and brave enough to follow where he leads.?? (p. 99)

• Sinking is better than sitting. Get out of the boat.

• Criticize by creating.

• Survival mode is reactive, prayer mode is proactive. The choice is yours, but living in reactive mode your entire life gets really tiring after awhile.

• Being willing to fail is a prerequisite for success.

• Faith is willing to look foolish. Even though it might look like it, doing God’s will is never foolish.

• Know who you are and who you are not. Wouldn’t you rather be disliked for who you are than liked for who you are not?

• ??I’m afraid that our version of Christlikeness is way too civilized and sanitized.?? (p. 153) CAN I GET AN AMEN! Truthfully, it was coming to the realization that Christianity doesn’t have to be Churchianity that opened my heart to yearning to serve in a ministry role again. Mark and NCC were instrumental in helping me discover this.

• ??If you run away from the lion, you’ll one day realize that you’re really running away from yourself ?? and God.?? (p. 169) Been there, done that. Not going back.

• Carpe Feline.

This is an excellent book that is sure to have an impact on throngs of people. Coincidentally, I was finishing up reading this book when I had lunch with a friend who keeps trying to get me to come minister at the church he serves in. I found myself wondering if this wasn’t one of my lions. I know what some of the others are. Two of them are already taking place in my life. I am excited to grab life by the mane and see where God is going to take me (and us)! If you want to pick up a copy, click the link in this post or on the sidebar. It is 11 bucks well spent!

Carpe Feline.

Why is it that polling places are either in schools or churches? The school part I get, the church part not so much. Why do people push so hard for the separation of church and state, but then hold elections for public office inside church buildings? It isn’t as if there is any evangelism going on, but it just seems to go against what those who stand against the church are for.

Just a random thought on this day when hopefully you hexercisedized your civil liberties.