SecondIron's Blog

Sharpening Iron to Live Second

Do You Have Mighty Big Shoes to Fill?

Growing up I heard that I had  “mighty big shoes to fill” quite often. Many people grow up thinking they want to be like someone else. Whether we are trying to follow the footsteps of our father, or in my case grandfather or some other person we want to be like. The shoes we long to fill seem unobtainable and never the right size or fit. Shoes are usually pretty personal, I don’t know too many guys that share their sneakers with their friends. Yet we spend much of our lives trying to fill the shoes of others before us. We spend our childhood looking up to others. It could be a family member, friend, or even a church or community leader. Hoping to be like them, we change who we were born to be. Sometimes we spend such an effort to be like someone else we begin to forget who we really are. We might talk differently, hang out with an unusual crowd. Maybe we work at places that challenge our morals, all just to be like someone else who we think has it all. I’ve got big shoes to fill. This is my chance to do something. I have to seize the moment. ~ Andrew Jackson All the meanwhile we ignore God’s design for our own lives. Getting consumed by the expectations of others we fail to see our creators fingerprints and true beauty. Forgoing our own destiny we chase after dreams, fancy clothes and fast cars trying to fill a void we […]

Are You Really Crushing It?

If you are like me you are pretty competitive. Okay maybe really really competitive at times. That’s a good thing right?
Like many people I am trying to get a few things done. Since I sit at a desk in a cubicle for my day job. I bought a FitBit Surge to improve my health. Replacing the FitBit Flex I had been using so I could better track my 10,000 steps. Crushing it right.. wrong! I am in a Facebook group where some people treat the 10,000 steps as a starting point.
I set a blogging goal for myself, even committed to my readers (you can see here). Although I control my own destiny I failed. Instead of blogging three times a week, I currently average …. that’s not crushing it. Sure my stats have improved with my consistency. Compared to other bloggers it is just a drop on the edge of the bucket. See not even enough to make a ripple.. so not yet crushing it.
Then there is school, yes I am in my eh hem forties and in school. Finishing what many of my friends and colleagues did a long time ago. I will graduate this May (God willing). Did I crush it .. nope.
I mean sure I have been on the dean’s list and president’s list every term since I went back. Sure I will finally have my degree after many years of blood sweat and alot of tears. I struggled.

Discovering Your True Passion

How do you know you are being called to your real passion?

No I don’t mean on your cell phone in the middle of the night. Your calling is going to sound different. But how do you know when you found your passion? That gravitational pull to do something bigger. The one that keeps you awake at night, and gets you up early. You will even skip meals, gatherings with friends and family to chase it down.

We all pass through life hoping to make a dent in the universe. Many of us will spend our whole life searching. Jumping from job to job, hobby to hobby. All meanwhile searching for meaning. A meaning, where not only are we making a living but we a living a life of purpose. Where you no longer hide your ambitions, because your audacious dreams are too big to silence any longer.

We like to think we were born to do something bigger and better. Whether it is to become a writer, lawyer, preacher or singer. No matter what it is there is a design for your passion. This design is a calling that you and only you can fill. Designed by the hand of God, our purpose is determined. Now what do you do?

“Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Living our lives just to make ends meet. Many will let fear get in the way of their passion. Although they dream about it at night. Taking a leap is more than they can bargain. They would rather sit on the seashore watching all the boats go by than take a chance. How about trying to jump off that cliff and build your wings on the way down? How about today, better yet how about now?