Mediocrity: R.I.P

Mediocrity: the state or mindset of moderate or low quality, value, ability, or performance: ordinary, so-so.

I tend to believe that all are born with a earnest desire to be great. A desire to make a difference, to impact our surroundings, if not the world. At some point; however, we are some how convinced that "awesomeness" must be for someone else. That perhaps our place in life is somewhere between mediocre and ... The truth is God has created all with a divine purpose. Strategically designed for impact.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Lets put mediocrity to rest in our children by seeing in them what God already see's. To instill in them a legacy of hope and Humble Confidence. A mindset that in the boldest, strongest, and most energetic time of their lives they can make a difference. What a privilege to be trusted with the task of rearing the next generation.

Thoughts from a Mediocrity Slayer, fourteen year old Jenesis.

It has always been my dream to go to Africa since third grade. When visited by missionaries from Sudan, Africa I sat intrigued wishing that one day I could go to Africa as a missionary. I told my parents I wanted to go on a missions trip the beginning of 2011. When asked where I wanted to go, I didn’t know. Through many days and nights of prayer the Lord was leading me back to my first passion. Africa.

“How do I get there, it’s a dream, but can it become a reality?” This question was always ringing in my head along with many others. My Parents got me started and on my way. Mom was going to be a Team Leader on the trip and dad was and is always there for support. My parents played a big part in this trip. Mom was always on the phone asking for sponsors and to see where we can do our next fundraising. Dad did all the techy stuff. He made me a blog and made slide shows from Africa missions other people went on and as always my parents were faithful in praying for the trip. If it wasn’t for God, my family, friends, church and faith, I don’t think I would have ever pursued what God was calling me to do.

For 22 days our team stayed in a campsite outside of two cities called Diepsloot and Kyasand. Every time I think of this place I want to go back. I felt truly at home there, it was where I belonged. The culture there was different. They all lived in poverty, I have never seen so much of it. While doing shack to shack ministry we got to talk with adults, teens, and children. Most of the adults came to Johannesburg from different places all around Africa to find jobs, only to find none. There were two year old kids running around in the shanty town bare foot and dirty. Its amazing how when we see places like this we check ourselves. Just playing with the kids I didn’t care how dirty I got or how dirty they were, everything just seemed to fade away and all I had for them was the love of God.

After being in Africa for a month it was hard to say good-bye to the people. They were so kind and the kids kept asking me “Are you coming back? Don’t go!” It was very hard. As our team loaded the bus I couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. It’s just so hard to leave Africa, a place that needs the Lord so much. I want to go back and I am planning to. Don’t think you’re too young to start, God called me at seven and opened the door. Is He calling you? He is and He can open doors for you too.

So we bury a defeated foe and triumph in knowing who we are in Christ. Encourage your young person. Motivate them. Give them purpose. Let them know they are destined for "awesomeness". We close this series with excerpts from Robert F. Kennedy's June 6, 1966, speech to the University of Capetown in South Africa.

This world demands the qualities of youth; not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease.

Avoid the dangers of futility: the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills - against misery and ignorance, injustice and violence. Yet many of the world's greatest movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man.

Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality of those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change.

For some among us, the danger is comfort, the temptation to follow the easy and familiar paths of personal ambition and financial success so grandly spread before those who have the privilege of education. But that is not the road history has marked out for us.

With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.