Inciting Incident.

“The inciting incident is how you get (characters) to do something. It's the doorway through which they can't return, you know. The story takes care of the rest.”

― Donald Miller, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

Well, it's official. L is stepping away from his full-time job at WinShape Wilderness to embark on the next journey in our pilgrimage here on earth: full-time pursuit of the passions The Lord has placed within him - marriage, family and counseling. Forever thankful for our WinShape family and all they have done and continue to do to show their love for our family. Truly amazed at how God has used AdvoCare to open doors to do what seemed impossible six months ago.

Our God is such a BIG God with incredible purpose for our lives here on this earth, and we are in awe of His great mercy with us. Truth be told - we are not boastful of this opportunity; in fact, we are mostly terrified of this giant leap of faith that we are taking! But we are fully trusting in God's promise to uphold His integrity, and we are staking our lives on His vow to never leave us nor forsake us. He has proved Himself faithful and true to us in every turning, so we move forward confidently and boldly, even with uncertainty.

Especially grateful for those of you who are moving forward with us at this rather unforeseen fork in the road...thanks for your patience, your belief, your understanding and prayers. One of our own prayers is that every daring step of obedience to Christ we take encourages you in your faith as well.

-L&J

P.S. - To any of our friends who feel like we've fell off the map here lately...now you know why! ;) We'll be back as soon as the dust settles.

Transformation

As the day comes to a close, I feel the need to clarify my AdvoCare transformation pic that's been floating around on my page and the page of a few friends today. Seeing it over and over, and hearing a few comments have spurred a couple of important thoughts in me. 

If you didn't catch the pic on Facebook, here it is, along with the caption:

"Want to know how much AdvoCare has changed my life? This is just the outside transformation, which doesn't even scratch the surface...thankful and amazed at all that has happened in our lives in just a few years. I know my story is just one of thousands in AdvoCare, but sometimes it's hard to believe that it's actually MINE and they I'm living it. Feeling blessed today!"

So here's some end-of-the-day thoughts:

1) I'm thankful for all my amazing friends who have gathered 'round to state what might not have been outright said: those pics have not, do not, and will not EVER define "beauty" for me. Hear me when I say that I very intentionally never said that. I know Who defines beauty and I know that it is rooted in my wholehearted pursuit of Christ. So thank you for your reminders, or maybe clarification, of that point. :) 

2) Everyone knows I'm a CrossFitter. But people look at me now and find it difficult to separate what CrossFit did for me vs. what AdvoCare did for me. CrossFit helped me become a strong, functional, and confident girl. I LOVE CrossFit and I love being "CrossFit chick" and I love that I can snatch 135# and clean 175# (<----yep, that was bragging just a little ;)). On the other hand, AdvoCare has grounded me nutritionally to a system that helps me manage my weight and size for life, gives me performance products that have absolutely increased my PR's at CrossFit and has offered our family a business opportunity that is allowing us to one day be a family full-time while helping others do the same as well. CrossFit is awesome but will never afford the business opportunity that AdvoCare has, and I am truly grateful to have them both and thankful that they can go hand in hand!

3) At the end of the day, I still look at those pics and think how crazy it is that this is MY life. That I have this incredible husband and two amazing little girls. That we are writing an unbelievable story - one that will bring glory to God but that also has purpose and significance in our lives and in the lives of those around us and is leaving a legacy for our kids. AdvoCare has become our vehicle for unlocking that story. Paul was a tentmaker, we sell AdvoCare. Tents gave folks shelter back in Paul's day, AdvoCare meets REAL needs in today's society that is drowning in a sea of health crisis and financial debt. I get to help people with that. And be a wife. And a mom. And a CrossFit chick. :)

Dear friends, stick with us on this. Allow us to prove to you that we are not walking away from all that we once held dear, but are - in fact - now finally freeing ourselves of the things that held us back from running wholeheartedly after what is MOST important to us. And our greatest desire is that you would lock arms with us and run after Him Who sets us free and help others also be set free from those things that entangle and enslave all of us in this time here on earth. 

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years (The Beginning of a Story)

I bought a book for $4.99 on Amazon Kindle on Friday night after reading one page from the book and declaring to L that "This book is going to change my life. And yours." The page read:

"If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you wouldn't cry at the end when he drove off the lot, testing the windshield wipers. You wouldn't tell your friends you saw a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on to think about the story you'd seen. The truth is, you wouldn't remember that movie a week later, except you'd feel robbed and want your money back. Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo. But we spend years actually living those stories, and expect our lives to feel meaningful. The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won't make a story meaningful, it won't make a life meaningful either."

I want to make something very clear from the beginning, just so it doesn't get lost in what I'm about to say: Significance comes from Christ. There's no life story that, apart from Christ's redemptive work, has eternal meaning. His death, burial, resurrection, and glorious return to bring His people home one day is the grand meta-narrative that I first and foremost desire to be a part of. May God grant me the ability to never lose hold of that precious perspective.

But I do want my life here on this earth to matter, and I believe that's not an unholy thought. I mean, why would God go through the whole point of sticking us here on this earth if our life here didn't have meaning? Couldn't he have come up with a better plan of maybe lining us up to all have our turn at a pop quiz for who God really was and whether or not we really loved him and granting us immediate access to Heaven if we "passed"? I mean - seriously - what's the point of 70+ years of wandering around here on earth if the sole purpose of our life is to decide whether or not we want to spend eternity in Heaven with Jesus? I don't mean that to sound heretical. I just think that maybe there might be a little more at stake with the time we have here on this earth than just figuring out whether or not we want to go to heaven one day.

Donald Miller describes this "life purpose" through the analogy of story in his book, "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years":

"A good storyteller speaks something into nothing. Where there is an absence of story, or perhaps a bad story, a good storyteller walks in and changes reality. He doesn't critique the existing story, or lament about his boredom, like a critic. He just tells something difference and invites other people into the new story he is telling." 

"A story is based on what people think is important, so when we live a story, we are telling people around us what we think is important...The ambitions we have will become the stories we live." 

"'Writing a story isn't about making your peaceful fantasies come true. The whole point of the story is the character arc. You didn't think joy could change a person, did you? Joy is what you feel when the conflict is over. But it's conflict that changes a person. You put your characters through hell. You put them through hell. That's the only way we change.'" 

“Humans naturally seek comfort and stability. Without an inciting incident that disrupts their comfort, they won’t enter into a story. They have to get fired from their job or be forced to sign up for a marathon. A ring has to be purchased. A home has to be sold. The character has to jump into the story, into the discomfort and the fear, otherwise the story will never happen.” 

 “If the point of life is the same as the point of a story, the point of life is character transformation. In nearly every story, the protagonist is transformed. He's a jerk at the beginning and nice at the end, or a coward at the beginning and brave at the end. If the character doesn't change, the story hasn't happened yet. And if story is derived from real life, if story is just condensed version of life then life itself may be designed to change us so that we evolve from one kind of person to another. ” 

“Once you live a good story, you get a taste for a kind of meaning in life, and you can't go back to being normal; you can't go back to meaningless scenes stitched together by the forgettable thread of wasted time.”

“One of the reasons we fail to acknowledge the brilliance of life is because we don't want the responsibility inherent in the acknowledgment. We don't want to be characters in a story because characters have to move and breathe and face conflict with courage. And if life isn't remarkable, then we don't have to do any of that; we can be unwilling victims instead of grateful participants. But I've never walked out of a movie thinking all movies are meaningless. I only thought the movie I walked out on was meaningless. I wonder, then, if when people say life is meaningless, what they really mean is their lives are meaningless. I wonder if they've chosen to believe their existence is unremarkable, and are projecting their dreary life on the rest of us.”

“The most often repeated commandment in the Bible is 'Do not fear.' It's in there over two hundred times. It means we are going to be afraid, and it means we shouldn't let fear boss us around. Before I realized we were supposed to fight fear, I thought of fear as a subtle suggestion in our subconscious designed to keep us safe, or more important, keep us from getting humiliated. And I guess it serves that purpose. But fear isn't only a guide to keep us safe; it's also a manipulative emotion that can trick us into living a boring life.… the great stories go to those who don’t give in to fear.” 

"There is a force in this world that doesn't want us to live good stories. It doesn't want us to face our issues, to face our fear and bring something beautiful into the world...I believe God wants us to create beautiful stories, and whatever it is that isn't God wants us to create meaningless stories, teaching the people around us that life just isn't worth living." 

“We live in a world where bad stories are told, stories that teach us life doesn't mean anything and that humanity has no great purpose. It's a good calling, then, to speak a better story. How brightly a better story shines. How easily the world looks to it in wonder. How grateful we are to hear these stories, and how happy it makes us to repeat them.”

“Here's the truth about telling stories with your life. It's going to sound like a great idea, and you're going to get excited about it, and then when it comes time to do the work, you're not going to want to do it. It's like that with writing books, and it's like that with life. People love to have lived a great story, but few people like the work it takes to make it happen. But joy costs pain.”

And so I'm left to wonder...

What kind of stories have I been telling with my life? 
What kind of story do I want to tell with my life?
Am I willing to do the work of facing my issues and facing my fears in order to create a beautiful story that gives glory to God and develops meaning for the time He has given me on this earth?