Leo’s Leap! (a story for my son)

Deep in a foggy rainforest lived a little leopard named Leo 

Leo had a lot of friends, Mac, Syrus and Howie, were his best friends.

Mac was a beautiful macaw who’s colors were bright and stunning. 

 Syrus was agile and strong, he was fantastic at climbing trees.

Howie was a howler monkey who could swing from tree to tree with ease. 

Each of Leo’s friends also has a special gift. 

Mac has wings and could fly. Syrus could climb anywhere to find honey . Howie could hang from his tail. 

Leo felt sad… he didn’t have any of those. 

He didn’t have wings, he didn’t eat honey, and his tail couldn’t hold onto a branch.

Leo went to his dad, sad that he couldn’t do what his friends could. 

His dad placed his paw on Leo. 

“Leo” he said. “God gave us all different gifts to live in the jungle”

Leo replied “But none of my are special…”

Leo’s dad responded with a smile. “Leo, you weren’t meant to fly, or climb, or hang from trees. You were meant to LEAP!”

“God gave you big powerful legs to jump from tree to tree. And even in the fog you can leap because your claws can hold onto the trees”

Leo smiled. He hasn’t thought about that. Leo and his friends were all different. But they all had special gifts. 

Leo went to play with to friends. Thinking about how much more fun it was that they all had special gifts. Including him! 

We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach;  if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

-Romans 12: 6-8

Kyle Cornwell’s Leap

Kyle’s story…

Leap

People from the outside looking in usually think that once someone becomes a Christian it’s always rainbows and butterflies—but it isn’t. When I became a Christian in 2017, that first year of faith was a season of conviction for me. I still struggled with lust, comparison and pride among other things. I needed lasting change in my life, but what option would I go with? I needed accountability and structure. I found this by joining a bible study group to do life with.

  My reason for “leaping” was that I continually felt called by God to take the next step in my faith. I felt God pulling me in all kinds of directions to serve and grow in his ministry. Similar to a lot of men I was putting comfort over a higher calling. I had wanted to stay in my comfort zone, but I could feel God tugging at my heart to make a change and trust Him. Enter Man Challenge. Man Challenge is a bible study group that surrounded me with other men in similar life stages.

As men, we are called to be spiritual leaders of our families. Having just gotten married, I felt called to surround our family with more believers and members of our church. I wanted to start producing good fruit but I didn’t know where to start. Man Challenge pushed me to study scripture more often, read godly books, bring light to dark situations, replace idols, and relate on a deeper level to other godly men with comparable life circumstances. Getting out of my comfort zone was the first step, but to be honest it took intentionality week after week. The good fruit I was searching for came from humbling myself and being vulnerable. It shed light on all the sin struggles I dealt with on a daily basis.

This light also helped me to see that my desires for initially taking this next step were selfish. I wanted to be perceived as a leader, I wanted to be a person who was known as wise, I wanted to speak about God with more confidence. These goals for my life weren’t inherently bad but they were flawed since I put my perception of myself over God’s will for me. Unfortunately my sinful perceptions continued.

              As humans, we often project our ethics and beliefs onto others. I often judged believers, before I came to faith, for thinking that they thought they were “better than” when I had never talked to them. I often judged pastors who talked about money or tried to “market their book” during a sermon when I wasn’t aware of their intentions. I see now that what I continually projected onto others was what I indeed struggled with. I was frequently desiring to be seen in a better light or perceived in a superior way. I projected my comparison issue onto others who looked like they “had it all together”. I projected my idolatry of money onto pastors who have a genuine heart in pursuit of God. Having read several of my pastor’s books I see why he mentions his books because I got a glimpse of what the ripple effect would be if every member of my church soaked in that biblical wisdom.  

              These last several years in my walk with Christ have had its hills and valleys, as all lives

do, but a common theme has been spiritual growth. They say iron sharpens iron and with this Man Challenge group of dedicated and faithful gents it sure reigns true. I now feel like this “leap” has lead me to a place with consistent accountability and structure in my life. This pushes me to continually pursue Jesus and demands that I have my priorities in line.   

Paul Osting’s LEAP!

My Leap!: So my leap probably is not "pod cast worthy" by any stretch of the imagination, but it started out as a very basic an subtle switch in my life. Going back 5 years ago, I used to workout at a crossfit gym. Honestly, I wasn't close to being in the crossfit games or anything but I enjoyed functional fitness and the idea of changing my workouts up on a daily basis while trying to get stronger and more fit. Then, Norton Sports Performance opened near my house and they allowed my kids to work out there, which at the time they were 13 and 10. At crossfit, they were never allowed to touch a weight and they had to hang out while I worked out. I never like that part of it. So, since then NSP changed from D1 sports to several different names and is now partnered with Norton and is known as Norton Sports Performance. I can honestly say NSP has been a huge blessing for my family. My wife doesn't work out there, but we have all had some incredible breakthroughs going there. My son went from a 5-6 120 lb 13 yo to a now 6-0 195# 18 year old that has committed to play D1 baseball at Bellarmine. One of the huge selling points was being able to work out at NSP and the Slugger Science Baseball Center as a Bellarmine athlete. He is also on the verge of breaking the Trinity HS front squat and dead lift records for being < 200 lbs. When you think of the athletes that have come through THS, that's pretty incredible. My daughter tore her ACL and miniscus playing AAU basketball last year, but NSP has continued to be an incredible resource for her recovery. The trainers there always ask about her and push her to be better. It sounds simple, but it is quite profound really. As for me, last year, I lost 20 lbs in a January through March weigh loss competition. I have put back on 5 lbs, but I look forward to getting even lighter this year. All of this and at first I didn't want to change because I was crossfit "workout snob". Sometimes you just gotta take the leap. A big part of NSP is the people that I have met. As a former athlete, I am inspired by what the people around me in my workouts have accomplished whether it is making a college scholarship, winning a WS and a gold glove, or just getting through a workout that day for the first time ever, I always enjoy my time at NSP. It feels like family. I think the coaches are incredible that push us, Chad Miller has been an incredible resource for talking to schools about my son, it is just an amazing place. I truly feel God guided me there... there's just too much good stuff that has come from it. I wish I had a better example, but sometimes it is just the simplest decisions that have the most profound impact.

Dear Football…

Dear Football,

As I write this, my mind reaches to a story from Harry Potter—the story of ‘The Tale of the Three Brothers’ from the Beedle and the Bard.

That is how I see you, the game of Football. In so many ways, you are different—you are not a wand and you are not death, but the story still plays out. And I believe that at each point of my career, from college and up until this point, nine years later, I have been one of the three brothers. 

You gave me no wand, but you gave me a magical sense of power. As I walked on the campus at the University of Louisville, there was a sense of confidence I didn’t have before. When I was drafted to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2017, there was money in my account I had never seen or thought of before. You were not a magical wand, but you were a false sense of pride, that when I tried to claim as my own, robbed me of my true identity and left me a shallow shell of myself at times. 

There was no resurrection stone, but there was false hope. False hope in a god that couldn’t deliver. The idea of sitting around waiting for a phone call—some that came and others that didn’t. Ultimately, the idea of a rising phoenix  was merely a half-life that left well more to desire than it fulfilled. 

As I write these words, I haven’t spent much time as the third brother, but I think that’s the point. That as I meet you at the end, I see you as an old friend and what you should be: a game. Not power or hope, but a friend to shake hands with, and part mutually as I meet the end. Staying in my cloak of identity, of “Who I am” and “Whose I am.” Knowing my true identity kept me veiled from fallacies that you so easily sold me—not in your own fault, but in where I was trying to fill voids. 

Ultimately, Football, you were a route that God used in my life, and as long as I look at you through the correct lens, I can enjoy the path we took together. I can look you in the eyes and embrace the journey, the story that we experienced together.

Along the way, I found Jesus, I found myself, I found my wife, friends, family, and perspective. The idea of setting a goal and listening to where God was leading me. To listening to people around me and learning. To stop complaining and learn compassion. These were all roads I wouldn’t have learned without you. That is from the right perspective. 

I can’t hide the pain you inflicted on me, especially in my immature mindsets—pain of misplaced power and hope in wrong places. I experienced unfulfilled goals and dreams. I missed weddings, funerals, graduations, and baptisms. My family made sacrifices for holidays and our relationships in general. Struggling to keep my home life afloat so that I could be at your beck and call.

You strained my relationship with my wife not for what you did but because of the value I placed on you, you were my identity…

…

Football, you had such an impact on me that I wrote a book on identity—pouring out my heart for all to read who I was and who I’m becoming. And in the end, that writing process was therapy for me. Leap! was a tool I could use to reach out to other people who were hurting, who had fallen prey, and not gotten a third chance at what gift to ask for from you. Because of you, I am who I am today. I am where I am at because of you. And for that I am forever grateful God decided to use the avenue of a locker room, of a game, of an experience like you for the past decade to create a launching pad for the next chapter of my life. 

Football, as I take off my cloak—of pads, helmet, and cleats— for the last time, revealing myself vulnerable to the next phase, I want to thank you for everything. The good, the bad, the tough, and the uncomfortable. To look you in the eyes and thank you for the opportunity to pay for school, to meet my wife, and to make new friendships. To travel the country and have free time to spend with my son. To pour into high schoolers and  teach them your methods. To give me enough to talk about to write a book. To take me on trips that were once in a lifetime. The ability to play in big games on big stages. To suffer loss and defeat. To suffer anxiety and depression. 

You were the raw unpaved road that brought experiences of freedom that only the open road can. But you were also the raw and unpaved road that humbled and humiliated me the only way you can. For that, I thank you. Through the correct lens, you can be seen for who you truly are: an open door from God. Not just in the three brothers does death meet you at the end, but so does real life. You showed me how I wanted to live my life, revealing what I wanted my true identity to be. How to truly aim my passions directed at my true purpose, where my true sense of confidence and hope lies, in God…

So as I pass off my helmet to the next journeyman, I smile softly, knowing that this is just the turn of a page. That it is a collection of memories I look fond upon, and tools for the next chapter in life. Thank you for being the platform I could stand on, stumble on, and find myself on. I only wish everyone could view you the way I do, and enjoy you for everything that you are.

Get in the Boat

Bob Russell is a breath of wisdom. Recentlyhe has been a guest speaker at my men’s bible study from time to time. Among other topics, he truly challenges men to grow and become the men God created us to be. At one of our first meetings with him, he shared the following fictional story that I now share with you as a prompt.

.    .    .   

Imagineyou wake up in a hotel on the coast of California. Somewhere near San Diego (although that’s really not all that relevant). You don’t know how you got there, or really where you are. You see a note and it tasks you with going out to the beach and bring nothing but yourself, because you won’t need anything else. 

So, you walk out to the beach. On your journey out of the hotel, you notice there are others walking toward the beach. All of you have a confused look on your face. You hope the person next to you will know what is going on, but none of you have the audacity to ask what is going on. So you nod and give a half smile to hide your own confusion and nerves. As your walk continues, you notice there aren't just a few other people, there are thousands upon thousands of men and women venturing their way to the water. Not a single person walking with the confidence that they know what is going on. 

As you approach the beach, the line begins to form of people herding themselves to the water's edge, waiting anxiously for the spectacle that is happening. You turn around for the first time on this walk, and realize that the beach has grown in size, to the point in which you can’t even see the hotel where you came from. Your confusion and the confusion of the people around you grows. And then, over a set of loudspeakers saying that all of this will be explained to you. That there is understanding of confusion and anxiousness. Then there is a pause, and the voice simply states, just swim to Hawaii and all will be made clear…

Just swim to Hawaii, you laugh inside nervously, certainly that can’t be real, that isn’t the solution to this mystery, and yet, it is. You look back one more time and all you see behind you is people marching forward, you strain for glimpses of the hotel where you came from, and there is nothing, not even a building in site, the sand has grown to the size of the city itself, and you are now being spun around as people start their trek into the ocean.

How can this be serious? How is this really what we are being asked to do? What is the point of all of this? These questions race through your head as you feel your feet leading you into the powerful waves of the cool Pacific. You swim and swim, for what seems like hours, people start to separate themselves, some going fast, some going slow, some alone, some in teams, some just floating and letting the ocean dictate their course, others straining to fight the waves and keep their head above the water. Days turn into nights and nights into weeks. You are cold, wet, and still filled with the same confusion that you were when you woke up in the hotel back in San Diego. 

As you continue to wonder how on earth you will manage to make it to Hawaii you see in the distance, a vessel. Slowly it creeps along the horizon, and comes into full view, you see that not only is it a ship, but it is a cruise ship, you scream and flap your arms, praying that someone on that ship sees you and brings you aboard. 

When hope seems dashed, the captain himself throws down a life ring to you, and ushers

you aboard, telling you that he can take you as far as the ship is going, which just so happens to be Hawaii.  It was at this point that Pastor Russell concluded his story. Wrapping it up to move on with the rest of the sermon. Focusing that we are tasked with action, even when it doesn’t make sense, we have to trust that God is going to meet us somewhere along the journey. 

The imagery of that story was still haunting to write. How many of us have woken up, not known how we got to where we were, what we were doing or why we were doing it? We look around and everyone seems to be doing the same thing, and yet nobody has an answer. Many times, people don’t even question what is going on. And yet before we know it, we are in the ocean, floating, swimming, going alone or with a group, but are we going in the right direction, are we really making any progress? And ultimately, why are we here? 

Although not everyone feels that the call they feel to start the swim is from a divine call to action, we all still want to know what we are doing, why are we doing it? I skip back to the story, as I sat back and listened to Pastor Russell continue his sermon, I was pleased that he left the story open ended. While he was talking, he left the rest of the metaphor for our own imagination, or maybe not, but my mind couldn’t step away from it. What if that first initial plunge into the icy unknown was our first Leap, what if we look back and think that just stepping up to the plate was all that had to be done. But that can’t be, not in this metaphor, all that work and confusion just to get on a cruise ship and happily sail away to the destination. Rather, the same captain that rescued you from the waves, now approaches you, to be on the lookout for land, or maybe other people floating along. 

Maybe you got about a week to get your legs underneath you before you were asked to help out. Maybe you looked around and some people around you looked like they had been pulled from the water too and they are getting a better room, or food, than you, or they got picked up earlier. Maybe you were told you were going to have to help out around the ship when you got pulled up and so for a few days you’ve been ranking jobs, sure I’ll work on the crew of the engine, or I’ll help serving food, but no way I will go around collecting the trash, or cleaning the rooms, surely someone else will be asked to do that. 

The captain comes to you, asking you to please help with the trash, that’s actually why you were brought aboard. The last thing that you wanted to do, first you got a smaller bed, and now this, how is this fair? That’s not at all what you thought this ship had for you. Heck you only even got on board because they said they were going to Hawaii too… 

How quickly we forget about the fading skyline when we drift from shore to the water. How quickly do we forget the urge to move forward when that's all there seemed to be? That first Leap was one of instinct, the next was to get aboard the ship, you honestly didn’t even care where it was going! How quickly though, we get comfortable with where we are, what we are doing, even if we don’t know why. And how quickly do we turn our noses up on something that is going to take us out of our comfort zone. Something that isn’t exactly what we thought we should be doing. 

The beautiful thing about what Russell described was that we could all feel the anxiety of the picture he painted. What about once you’re on the ship? What is next? What is our purpose there, what is our platform there? What if we are called by the captain to a platform we didn’t think we wanted? 

As I write this I too, have, and continue to ask these same questions. Why have I gotten to this point, but I don’t get what someone else has? Why has someone been brought on board and they get to be the first mate, and I have to take out the trash?

This isn’t the platform that I wanted… In the end, the story is about the start, and the finish, and who you positively impacted on the way. Our task was to make it to Hawaii, not how we would get there. We were graced enough to get on the cruise ship and make our destination. I think in our modern life, we get so caught up in what we are doing on our journey, and lose sight, or appreciation, for the vessel in which we get to go on this great expedition we call life. 

As you read this book, know that we are on a journey together. You and me. This is the great journey we call life, that we get to do together. As we grow with each other, I want you to see that these Leaps of faith are not about us, they’re not about us championing our accomplishments. Rather, they are about filling our cups, about realizing that this great journey we are on isn’t about us, it is about trusting the Captain. About that at any moment when He asks something of you, you find the courage to accept. To find the faith to trust that He has your best interest. After all, He pulled you out of the depths of the sea. Like Jonah, and Moses, like Peter as well, we are all lost at sea. And He has pulled us all out, all on board, for a specific task. At this point you’re on board, at least for this book, let's fill our cups, wring out our beach towels and get ready to jump at whatever has been tasked in front of us.