Archive for the 'The Book' Category

30
Aug

Untame Yourself!

Happy Monday!

A few unedited clips from Chapter 17 of my coming book. Each clip is taken from various sections of the chapter. Hopefully they will merge to form a complete thought and inspire you to break the chains!

Make Me A Legend

Chapter 17 Untame Yourself

Just like ancient Israel, we have become less and less responsive to the moral and spiritual deterioration in our nation and world. For more than 50 years, we have hidden behind the timid banner of passive resistance—and instead of influencing our government, and educational system, and economy, and entertainment industry, and all the other national arenas—instead of fighting hard to save our cities, instead of holding up a flag of enduring standard, instead of facing a little persecution along the way—we’ve forfeited our influence to louder evil voices!

We’ve abandoned our cities—run away from politics—fled from the blistering battlefront of every godless agenda! Our cities have been taken over and so goes the city, inevitably—same goes the country! There is nowhere else for the godly people in our land to move. We’ve been running scared to the remotest country places, and this seemed to be working out for a while. Until today, we find ourselves cornered with nowhere else to run!

Please don’t label me an America basher—and please, please don’t call me as a gloom and doomer. That would really hurt my feelings! (smiling) I’ve tried so hard to write the greatest message of HOPE you’ve read in a very long time! I love my country, and I know we can be so much better than we have become in recent years. That’s why I’m writing so passionately right now! That’s why I have to say some of these difficult things with so much unrestrained courage. How are we ever going to build tomorrows better world—how are we ever going to be the legends of tomorrows better world, unless we take a few more big gulps and face the reality of where we are right now?

This country and has become a modern Sodom and Gomorrah—and you and I have become the “Lot” figures in our beloved land—tormented in our righteous souls, wondering how much longer we have! We have been tolerating a gigantic deviation from the standards of our faith, and through repeated exposure, we have become less responsive—until in recent years, we have been unresponsive! The moral and spiritual voices in America were first lulled into complacency, and then beaten into submission—until the entire nation is breaking apart from harshness, severity, and cruelty.

This is our nation—this is our world. Our youngest generations have never seen a better way. They are born into the earth during a time of unprecedented Christian repression; oblivious to the fact that this is not how their forefathers wanted things to turn out. They hear us talk of yesterday’s awakenings like we’ve crafted the fairy tale of something that can never really be. Today’s kids can hardly understand why it is not natural for a man to marry another man. Or what is wrong with sex before marriage. Or what’s the big deal with using drugs and still claiming a heartfelt relationship with God. They live in a world without boundaries, a world lacking a moral compass and a spiritual conviction—a world when self is god, and anything that feels right is perfect.

Up until now, you and I have reasoned: that to rise would be far too costly. So we’ve chained our passions and toned our standards down—we’ve silenced the John the Baptist voices among us. We’ve chosen rather, to coexist in unevangelistic compromise with Islam and the other false religions of our era. If Jesus had lived like this generation, he would have never been nailed to a cross.

Political correctness is killing us! Cowardice has neutralized our creativity! Our message is no longer a message. Unlike Jesus, we want our world to like us, enjoy us, approve us, and celebrate us. We’re cowering in the face of so many disgusting liberal agendas. We’re tolerating the gross immoralities of our day, increasingly agitated in our righteous souls as we switch through the channels on our televisions and move about in public places—somehow, we just know that tomorrows better world is a very real possibility, but we just don’t see how—because we have become the only sect in today’s culture without a voice!

While the entire nation of Israel was breaking apart from harshness, severity, and cruelty—under the tyranny of a demonic Pharaoh, Moses suffered under another less obvious form of slavery. God’s mightiest would be prophet of all time was growing up the royal palace, where he slurped up his days in untold pleasures—a wild prophetic animal by birth—tamed and fattened on the beguiling delicacies of his royal upraising. A prophet, not yet aware of his destiny—chained up tight, in the warm embrace of a very wrong default alliance. And it would have been so personally beneficial for Moses to cover his ears to the crying slaves. Some historians even assume that Moses was the likely candidate for the next Pharaoh in his stepfather’s legacy. How would he ever walk away from this?

Just like Moses, today’s prophets have also been thoroughly domesticated! The Christian church of this modern world has forfeited her instinctive prophetic nature. We preach what this world tells us to preach. We give them the message we think they want to hear instead of the message we know they need to hear. We do everything just as this world tells us to do it. And if were good little doggies, they will fill our bowls with water and throw us a nice little treat every once in a while. We’ve swallowed down the pill of political correctness.

Today’s Christian will do almost anything for secular approval. We’ve become well groomed and soft skinned. We’ve lost the edge that founded and fueled our movement throughout history. We’re just like that infamous movie boxer, Rocky Balboa—we’ve lost that “eye of the tiger” and we’re fighting scared! This godless world owns us right now. We’ve been chained up for so many years—we no longer bark.

Here is the perfect song for this moment! Jason Upton, Feedom

That’s all for today… please let me know what you think. As with every morning, I just finished praying for you! Make this a most triumphant day. With much love…

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck

The Donate Link, FacebookTwitterMake me a LegendDestiny Family CenterYou Tube

28
Jul

100 Years From Today…

Happy Wednesday!

Looks like I’m driving to Virginia Beach this morning. Emily and I need to look at the college our son Coree hopes to attend this fall. He’s already enrolled at the Art Institute of Washington DC… and he wants to look at the Virginia Beach campus for a possible change (for the obvious reasons). At first, we were strongly opposed to this option. But after having many conversations with Coree and after looking further into the advantages of this campus, we’re now open to the possibility. Today, we’re touring the school and getting our questions answered for a final decision. Coree wants to open a web design company in a few years!

I’m so proud of Coree and Heaven! They both have a very clear vision of their future… at least until God swoops down and recruits them up for his eternal mission. It’s exciting to see them so excited to leave home and grow and learn and do something big with their lives. I know that God always calls active, motivated people. When I listen to them dream, it almost brings me to tears! God, please keep your hand on their lives! Guide them with your strong right hand.

At 39, I’m consumed always with thoughts and dreams of tomorrows better world. I’m living every day for the world I will leave as an inheritance to my kids… and yours. Here’s a great clip from my coming book on the subject…

Chapter 4: The Great Hope Of Tomorrow

One Hundred Years From Today…

Long after our last breath, a generation yet to live will look back on this critical hour. Hurry up! Catch my hand, and together we will run to the place I’ve been spending so much of my time lately. I’m asking you to imagine that we’ve been translated into the future. As you look around at the people, you can’t avoid noticing how their genetic features match yours, and you’re overtaken with the reality that these are your beloved descendants. For ten seconds, the sheer awe of this mystical experience leaves you panting. Tingling all over, you wipe your eyes to make sure you don’t miss anything; your curiosity has never been this out of control!

Not knowing how much longer this experience will last, your mind is engulfed with a few startling curiosities. Right now you must know, “What kind of world are my babies living in? Is it a better world, marinated in love and peace? Or is it an unstable one steeped in hatred and deep turmoil? Are they smiling or frowning? Are they laughing or crying? As they look back over their tiny little shoulders at you and me, are they gazing with gratitude or glaring in bitterness? Who are they admiring for their advantages? Who are they pointing fingers at for their privations?”

Have you ever given yourself a few hours to eyeball your future in this sort of way? One thing is for sure: your name may never find its way into their history books, but every move, even the slightest one, that you and I make during our short span of time here on earth is creating the world of tomorrow. Clearly, the cowardly bystanders are never held in remembrance. History consistently honors those selfless pioneers who voluntarily forward vast segments of their personal pleasure into their future—the heroes who live and labor for dreams they never even realize in their lifespan! These are the real champions of our civilization.

Don’t relax yet; because we still have one more stop on our way back to the present. From the future, let us now turn 180˚ and travel back in time, all the way into the awe-inspiring world of 1837. Truly this was a salient dash of time, sadly disregarded by our twenty-first-century populace. For more than 200 years, a legendary band of forerunners had been moving about the earth, contending for the 2.3 billion acres of terrain that would become one of the most illustrious nations to ever exist. How easy it would have been for those patriarchs to revel in their accumulated wealth and blessing, and deafen their ears to the piteous groans of their children and grandchildren to come. It would have been so natural for them to yield under the pressure of their fears and cower in the face of the unknown, to reach an awfully low sacrificial threshold, to offer up that which was convenient—and nothing more.

Fortunately, for the hundreds of millions of sons and daughters living and thriving in the United States of America today, there are scores of legends radiating from our sacred chronicles—beautiful legends, men and women who were far too noble to shove us out of their charitable hearts. We are the present legacy of these great legends. Because of us, and only because of us, they never would have tolerated themselves if they had not gone all the way, if they had sold away these future generations for their own personal fantasies. Look around, my friend. Look into the endless amenities we enjoy in this fairy tale country. Our legendary forefathers purchased America the beautiful at a premium so much more costly than any of us will ever know.

Just after the American Revolution and the War of 1812, and during the time of the Indian Wars, Jonathan Quincy Adams, the eighth president of the United States, sent a message echoing into his future. In 1837, while musing over the sacred bravery of his legendary contemporaries, he spoke to us with these impassioned words, “Posterity, you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it!”

From the pure richness of this classic statement, it’s plain to see that President Adams wasn’t living for himself. He and his friends were dying for us. Oh, the warmth of their love gently blowing over my thankful soul. Some days, when I think about this long enough, real tears collect at the bottom of my eyes. I can almost hear them whispering in my ears, “Chuck Balsamo—hey, little guy, we are the legends who built your Eden. Even though we will never meet face to face, you need to know that we each carried a portrait of you in our right-front pockets. We held the dream of you deeply within our hearts, and even though it wasn’t easy at times, somehow we found a way to love you so much more than any of us loved ourselves. Please, don’t ever take this for granted; because if you do, it will all be gone.”

Every time I read quotes from people like President Adams and the hundreds of leaders and war heroes who forged my fatherland, something beautiful breaks open inside of me. To be such a young fellow, I’m uncommonly grateful to my predecessors for every blessing I enjoy. I am old enough to remember when schoolteachers still taught from the original version of our history. I still remember seeing God in the middle of our picture! I remember Him working brilliantly through so many highly religious American leaders! Our foundational stones were laid as biblical values were cemented together in Christian prayer! Despite recent efforts from the persuasive irreligious community to rewrite American history, our Christian heritage will never go away! No matter how decisively today’s humanistic society seeks to deny the God under whom we became one nation, they will never successfully eliminate the evidence of our Christian origin.

Like it or not, our honorable ancestors were never ashamed to openly and aggressively acknowledge the greatness that surged out of their profound relationship with God. Oh, the contrast between their words and actions, and those of the celebrity-leaders of our day. Where has these legends archetypal spirit gone? Where is that open and unashamed reliance on God they each modeled so impressively? Where is that old-fashioned honor and bravery, that selfless and sacrificial passion that ran through their legendary veins?

If you’re keen for a sobering check of reality, please hush for three minutes, mentally mute out your background, and listen to the silence you’ve created. What do you hear? Most people only notice the unpleasant sound of their impending personal problems. Yet, muffled behind the high volume of our twenty-first-century way of life, there is a muzzled protest reaching out for a listener. Sometimes for me it is very faint, while at other times it takes me over, deafening my heart to everything else. If you should ever hear this protest, you may never get it out of your head!

Who is protesting? What is the complaint? Listen a little more closely, and you will hear the upsetting lamentations of the departed—their blood is crying out to us from the past. Our forefathers are increasingly agitated, tossing and turning in their unsettled graves. They willingly poured out every last drop of their consecrated blood that we may take up the gauntlet and carry their visions into another generation. Without a doubt, their fading reverberation seeps up through the soil of time. “Is anybody out there? Kids, can you hear us? What are you doing with our precious sacrifices? How much longer will you turn your noses up at our gifts of love while squandering your inheritance on empty pursuits? Soon enough, you will be joining us. Posterity! Even though it seems like you’re going to live forever, your days are numbered. Very soon your time will be up, your brief episode in this cosmic saga will be over—and then what?”

That’s it for today. Please let me know what you think! I just finished praying for you all. Make this a most triumphant day! With much love…

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck

The Donate Link, FacebookTwitterMake me a LegendDestiny Family CenterYou Tube

16
Jun

Hurry Up And Find Rock Bottom

Happy Wednesday!

Here’s a large EDITED clip from Make Me A Legend, chapter 6: Hurry Up And Find Rock Bottom. We still have a final edit to go, so be kind! I’m listing the other subtitles for this chapter, so you can get a feel for the flow. I hope you love it!

My Crazy Little Theory

The Struggle is Part Of The Trap

Hovering Over Rock Bottom In The Pig Pen

Isn’t it sad and ironic to think about how much God loves us, and how we spend so much of our lives running and hiding from Him? Why do we muscle through our days in human strength, only turning to God when we have nowhere else to turn? Aren’t we out of our minds for making Him our last resort? Why are we like this?

We live in a time when anyone claiming a close relationship with God is shunned as a religious fanatic. This modern world makes it seem as if the only people who actually use the Bible as their guiding light are the Jesus freaks. We want God to leave us alone so we can live as we see best, without having responsibility to some heavenly Father. Take a look at the beautiful story Jesus used for describing this insanity:

To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now, instead of waiting until you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and took a trip to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money on wild living.

About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him to feed his pigs. The boy became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. [Tough love] When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired men have food enough to spare, and here I am, dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired man.” (Luke 15:11-19 NLT 1996, Emphasis added.)

Can you see why this message was, and still is, such a big hit for Jesus? Millions of people, who have never heard about Jesus, have still heard His story of the Prodigal Son. I think it’s so popular because every one of us has served time in the pig pen haven’t we?

Of course, not everyone in the mud is perceptibly trudging around in some extreme state of human deprivation. There is a vast sea of prodigals who seem to have their lives together-living in nice homes, driving nice cars, and having nice careers–while the real truth is that they’re torn to pieces on the inside! No matter how successful we become in this world, nothing ever truly satisfies when our connection with the Father is broken.

Almost every day, I run into people who are worn down with hard life in the pig pen. Some of them have spent so much time in the mire they’ve started to oink, grunt and squeal at their own reflection! Their weather-beaten hides are bone dry and callus covered–coarse like sandpaper. They look 30 years older than they are! In a haze of misery, herds of these history-maker hopefuls drift into the wastelands with very little chance of return. They stopped liking themselves a very long time ago, their dignity is shredded; they feel like they have nothing and nobody to live for.

God forbid that you’re up to your neck in the slop right now, reduced to a fraction of the amazing person you once were or could be, gasping for your life under the unbearable consequences of a big series of wrong moves. I’ve seen this so happen so many times to so many people. Nobody ever plans a trip to rock bottom. Everyone gets there trying to go somewhere else.

The Worse Thing About Deception

I remember not too long ago, I was praying and even crying about several of the off course people scattered throughout my wide circle of acquaintances. Just as I once lived prior to 1991, these people had thrown up a five second thought about God and then they went on living dangerously with their fingers crossed! They didn’t know it yet, but they were racing straight into Hell without any doubt over their chosen course of direction. They needed to be rescued–and I really wanted to rescue them!

During this time, I was meditating almost daily on 2 Corinthians 4:4, “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.” (NLT) (Emphasis added.)

Look at the key phrases from that verse: blinded the minds, unable to see, and don’t understand. Isn’t it scary to admit how often we’ve confidently devised idiotic plans, only to find out later how far we were off? Over and over again, we drive ourselves to dead ends because we’re too prideful to stop and ask for directions. Even worse is the frustration of trusting an inaccurate source of information-the wrongness of being hoodwinked! At first glance, the wrong path usually feels perfectly natural. After all, everyone’s doing it, right? But how can we know for sure that everyone’s going in the right direction?

This prodigal son Jesus talked about was also confident in his plan! There was no doubt about it; he just knew his life could be so much better if he didn’t have to suffocate under his father’s rules. He felt that his father was somehow holding him back from the better things in life, that if he could just break his father’s restricting grip, he would be a free man with limitless opportunities!

That is when the journey to destruction begins: an unpatrolled false impression grows into a faulty belief that inevitably steers us in fatal directions. We become stubbornly emboldened in our feeble stances and we refuse to talk about options because we’re 100% convinced that we are right. (Blind minds, unable to see, and don’t understand.) The worst thing about deception is not knowing when you are deceived.

“There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.” Proverbs 14:12 NLT, Emphasis added.) The Contemporary English Versions says it like this, “You may think you are on the right road and still end up dead.” (Emphasis added)

Thresholds Of Pain

Where Is God When We Need Him?

The Turning Point

Humpty Dumpty

Writing Your Happily Ever After

That’s it for today… I just finished praying for you all! Have a most triumphant day!

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck

The Donate Link, FacebookTwitterMake me a LegendDestiny Family CenterYou Tube

12
Mar

Hovering Over Rock Bottom in the Pigs Pen

Happy Friday!

Yesterdays blog: 31 Random Facts About the Chuckster was so much fun! Thanks for making it great with your HILARIOUS random facts!

Todays… a clip from Make Me A Legend chapter 6: Hurry Up & Find Rock Bottom!

hovering over rock bottom in the pigs pen

Isn’t it weird to think about how much God loves us, and how we spend so much of our lives running and hiding from him? Why do we muscle through our days in human strength, only turning to God when we have nowhere else to turn? Aren’t we out of our minds for making him our last resort? Why are we like this?

We live in a time when anyone claiming a close relationship with God is shunned as a religious fanatic. This modern world makes it seem like only ‘Christian extremists’ or ‘Jesus Freaks’ actually use the Bible as their guiding light. We want God to leave us alone, so we can live how we see best, without having responsibility to some ‘Heavenly Father’. Take a look at this beautiful story Jesus used for describing this insanity…

To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now, instead of waiting until you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and took a trip to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money on wild living.

About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him to feed his pigs. The boy became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. (Tough love) When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired men have food enough to spare, and here I am, dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired man.” –Luke 15:11-19

Can you see why this message was, and still is such a smash hit for Jesus? Millions of earthlings, who have never heard about Jesus, have heard his story about the Prodigal Son! I think it’s so popular because every one of us has served time in the pig’s pen. Haven’t we?

Not everyone in the mud, is perceptibly trudging around in some extreme state of human deprivation. There’s a vast sea of prodigals, who seem to have their lives all together… living in nice homes, driving nice cars, with nice careers! While the real truth is… they’re shattered and empty inside! Because nothing satisfies when the connection with Father is disrupted.

God forbid you’re even up to your neck in the slop right now, reduced down to a fraction of the amazing person you once were, gasping for your life under the unbearable weight of some great big series of wrong turns. It can happen so fast!

Every day, my heart aches so badly as I run into people worn down with hard life in the pig’s pen. Anyone that knows one of these pig dwellers almost wonders if they’re going to die right there in the mud! Some of them have spent so much time in the mud they oink at their own reflection! Their humanity has been leeched away… their identity is gone. In a maze of misery, these history maker hopefuls drift further and further into the wastelands, with very little hope of escape.

If I’m describing your scenario with startling prophetic accuracy, then please, with everything you have left, dig your frail fingernails deep into the cover of my book and hold on for dear life… I’m here to carry you out into safety!

Let’s dedicate some time praying today, for all the prodigal people we know! Look around! Things are not usually as they seem. Some of the worlds most hopeless people hide it sooo well.

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

10
Mar

Clip From Chapter 15: Sometimes, I Fear Success…

Happy Wednesday!

Had a board of directors meeting last night… love those guys! We’re all so happy with the continued forward momentum of our lives and ministry… every week, this becomes more and more apparent! We are growing like crazy right now, the stories of transformation are almost too many for us to hear them all! And this is just the beginning…

Spring is coming soon… I can SMELL it in the air! The birds are starting to chirp in the mornings! Our koi fish are up from their wintery abyss… before long our FROGS will RIBBITING from their rocks again!

Soon, I’ll write a few SPRING blogs… about LEVERAGING the ENEGRY OF THIS SEASON to BREAKTHROUGH in different areas of your lives. I’m not quite feeling it all the way yet… but it’s building up!

Here’s a clip from Make Me a Legend chapter 15: Bow Lower as You Climb Higher! (unedited) I’m about 9 pages from finishing the entire book… having to climb over a million demons to write these final pages! From the resistance, it’s very obvious: I’m sitting on the next shot heard around the world! And that makes me tingly!

sometimes, I fear success…

Even though this is not the final chapter in our great journey together, it is the chapter I’ve chosen to write last. I saved it for last, because I felt like God needed to do so much more in my heart before I could say this like it needs to be said. I never want to be a hypocrite on purpose, or in ignorance… so I have to be honest with you, my dear readers: I’m still working so hard to walk out so many of the things I’m writing about in this chapter! Please pray for me, that I will become everything I’m asking you to be. Just like you, I want to be so much more like Jesus… and sometimes I still fall way short of that.

I think often, of all the men and women who once stood where I am standing at this moment… all the beautiful Christian people who started out with a similar degree of humility towards others… and a perfect dependence on God. I think of all the men who once loved their wives, and cherished their families, and desired nothing in life except to run a faithful race. I think about how many times they must have prayed, “Please God, don’t let anything in this whole world ever drag me away from you. Please, don’t let me ever forget where I came from. God please, don’t let me fall down and make a fool of you in front of everyone!” And then, after five or ten years of being worn down and worked over, they wake up to an entirely different eviler version of themselves. In total perplexity, they have to wonder, “What happened to my heart? Oh dear God, how I’ve lost myself!” This is why I fear success, sometimes!

the angry mobs

Every time another high profile leader collapses, I pray so hard for God to bend down in mercy to help them up! I get outraged with all of the merciless people in our world, who so arrogantly sidestep their own failures… to expose a broken person! And while many of the newscasters, talk show hosts, and self righteous church folks mock them for months, I fall down on my face in real tears for these humiliated people, and their suffering families!

I never join with the angry mobs… never ever point my arrogant finger in judgment! I never want to be the person who knocks a strong man down, or kicks a knocked down man. Instead, when a mighty person falls, I shake all over with the fear of God! I always spend those horrifying moments digging far into the depths of my own heart. I keep telling myself, “Chuck, you have no idea what kind of pressure that leader was under that led to such a failure! And Chuck, if you even think for a minute this could never happen to you, then think again… because you have never known that colossal degree of internal erosion… the kind of pressure that person has faced these past so many years. Someday, soon enough, you’re gonna have your shot! Someday, you will stand on their mountain! And in that day, you will see how much more violently, the wind blows up there! So, don’t brag because you’re doing so well these days. You’re only facing a few diaper demons, and look at how easily they still slap you around at times!”

Remember what God said to Jeremiah? “If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan?” I guess this is why we need to read and re-read chapters 9 & 10-and dedicate plenty of years to our extravagant foundation. This is why we need to grow slowly! We have to master the footmen before graduating up to the horses! We have to crawl at each next level on our knees, knowing that it’s violent up there… and if we do not graduate in humility, if we do not graduate with a bigger faith… if we don’t learn to trust in God in a much bigger way, then we will be crushed with what lies ahead.

Even with a perfect foundation, even if we should memorize all the great principles gushing from the pages of this book, even with a sold out stadium of frenzied fans and all the best mentors, peers, and apprentices… even then, we must dedicate especially to the preservation of our lowly hearts… because, if we ever lose our heart, we lose everything!

what if I fall?

Sometimes, I think that my dreams may actually happen, and in a single day… I will rocket into the public eye as the next high profile Christian leader! The thought of bringing hope to millions and leading so many of them to my savior… it’s too wonderful for words! And then I think about how fast money, and fame, and the exaggerated praise of fellow humans could get so out of control.

What if I can’t handle success? What if I can’t assemble the correct team for properly managing the millions of dollars laid at our disposal? What if I can’t handle the seductiveness of those celebrity crazed women who prey on powerful men? What if I become arrogant, impatient, and mean spirited? What if I burn out and lose my willingness to sacrifice? I would rather turn back now, than to gain this whole world and lose my soul!

so much to risk

1Timothy 1:15-16 “This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”-and I am the worst of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life!”

God has done so much for me. Right now, I’m still so obsessed about him! When I pray, several times each day, I still pray like I did when he first saved me! I still cry during a good worship song, and I’m not ashamed to bow on my knees in front of any audience! I feel like my heart is in the right place. Even though there is still so much more I want to change about myself, I love the person I have become! Please, don’t mistake my gratitude for conceit. I am a very thankful man… and I never want to forget how I feel right now!

God has given me the very best wife in the entire world. We’ve been married for 20 years this summer. Emily is my best friend! I can’t even describe to you guys how much I love her! And my kids, dear God I love them too… and now, while they are young adults; I think they still look up to me! God has given me so many loyal friends… and every one of them knows how much they mean to me! God has given me a Christ like compassion for all the destitute people in my world… I actually cry real tears when I walk up on a suffering person… it eats me alive! Anyone that really knows me… they will tell you that as of today, there is nothing more important than preserving the condition of my heart! There is nothing more important to me than my relationship with God, my witness of him to this world… and the way I love my wife and kids!

saving my future–and yours

Of all the chapters in this book, this is the one I’m sending ahead of us… to save our future! It’s the chapter I plan to read every year for the rest of my life! I can’t explain to you how much of a pressing obligation I feel about hurrying to write this! I don’t even want to walk out of my office one more time… I don’t want to lay my head down one more night, before this message is penned! It’s the message I’m afraid I may forget as I succeed… the one I’m writing before my heart has a chance to harden!

I always want to be the beautiful person I am today. I don’t want success to corrupt me. I always want to value the message I am above the messages I preach. I want the open book I’m living each day, to be far greater than any of the books I write. When I talk about fearing success… I’m protesting the very real threat of me being a better person today, than I may be five years from now! Does this make sense?

So many people stop being great once they succeed! They forfeit the inner beauty that caused their rise to prominence. I think this is why so many people are going to love my book. Because it’s written from this regular guy, while he’s still depending on God for his next breath… a guy who’s living wholly in the arms grace. People identify with this!

The chapter is all about PRESERVING your HEART! I’d love to know how you feel about this clip… so leave a few comments (if you can) and have another most triumphant day! Love you all…

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

18
Feb

BC/AD-4ME (In the Beginning…)

Todays Video Blog!

Watch live streaming video from chuckbalsamo at livestream.com

Happy Thursday!

I got so carried away with yesterdays message, that I forgot to tell you guys something VERY important! Yesterday was a HUGE DAY for Emily and I! February 17 ring a bell? Come on you guys… some Chuck and Emily trivia!!

Ok, I’ll just go ahead and tell you. On February 17, 1991 @ 10:45pm, Emily and I invited Jesus into our marriage, our home, and every single small and big part of our lives! This happened 19 years ago, yesterday… so happy SPIRITUAL birthday to us!

Instead of me trying to tell the story from memory, let me give you a FUN clip from my coming book, Make Me A Legend! It’s taken from the middle of chapter 8, Get a Dream!

Eventually, those high winds of passion and romance would blow over us young and restless kids one more time! Just after my High School graduation, Emily came begging for me to take her back! (ha ha-hey, this is MY book Emily! If you want to tell your version, write your own book! lol) Really, the sparks of attraction were flying… and we were sweltering for each other!

Time had been cruel and we both carried way too much emotional baggage back into this tender, rekindled, volatile fling! We did some things unmarried people are not supposed to do and ‘somehow’ Emily became pregnant! She was only seventeen, and I was just turning nineteen… and we were having a baby!

So we were married in my Grandparents back yard, standing on top of an old creek bridge on August 11, 1990… and we lived happily ever after! Well, not exactly… because neither of us had been to rock bottom yet. And little did we know just how close from disaster we really were! It wouldn’t be long now; we were falling out of love and into hate… sliding into the divorce of no return at breakneck speeds!

With Emily having to move from Richmond to finish out her senior year (with child)… in a new town, while going to hair school at nights and working as an apprentice hairstylist, and making time for all the doctors appointments, and cooking dinner and everything else that goes with having your own home… and then me having to find ‘jobs’ paying enough money to support my new family… the pressure was unbelievable!

So the honeymoon didn’t last long… and just before our first Christmas, tears were falling, love was lost, and we were looking for the fastest way out! Emily got an attorney and we were going our separate ways. Neither of us really wanted to be apart, we just couldn’t find a way to end the fighting.

During those days, I remember watching Little House on the Prairie and thinking, “If we could just get a little religion in our home, maybe we could work things out.” Looking back now, I know it was God who planted these thoughts. He was reaching out to both us in so many ways… and we were just about to reach back!

There were three primary forces impacting us positively at that time. First was a group of kind and loving volunteers at the local Pregnancy Help Center. After the free pregnancy test, a girl named Amy gave Emily a free Bible and started sending handwritten letters of encouragements to both of us.

Then there was our bold redneck neighbor Dale… the guy who smothered us with his great big Jesus smile every time our paths intersected. Dales niceness was so profound, I actually wondered if the guy was on feminine hormone pills!

Besides Amy and Dale, there was one old high school buddy of mine… he really made the difference! Just as soon as my heart started opening up, Kevin is the first person I thought to call! I had not forgotten that unexpected September day when Kevin first came into school claiming he “found Jesus” at a summer youth camp. None of Kevin’s friends were happy about his apparent experience. I’m betting I was the unhappiest! In fact, I did everything I could to lure Kevin off that straight line he walked so well.

Here I was just two years later, pitifully humbled… and on the phone begging for Kevin to show me the way! Thank God he stood his ground in high school and did not weaken in the face of all that peer pressure. Thank God for people like Kevin, who willingly forfeit friends and reputation and everything else-to live their faith right out in the open for all of us to see. It was about one month into my near divorce experience, while on the telephone with Kevin that Emily and I welcomed Jesus into our hearts! It was the night of February 17, 1991. 10:45pm EST to be exact!

We we’re so excited that night! Emily was on one phone and I was on the other, both sporting our puffy wet cheeks. I remember when we got off the phone, she ran from the bedroom and I met her from the living room… and we hugged for what seemed like hours, crying in each other’s arms!

Our experience was the real thing! At last, when it seemed as if there was no help for us, God dived headfirst into our blazing inferno, scooped us up in his loving arms, and blasted us out the other side of rock bottom. What new confidence had that night, knowing that our lives had finally taken a turn in the right direction!

That’s a small piece of our amazing story…

Here’s a video that best expresses my heart at this moment! Love you all!!

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck

The Donate Link, FacebookTwitterMake me a LegendDestiny Family CenterYou Tube

16
Feb

On a Trash Pile of Wasted Decades?

Todays Video Blog!

Watch live streaming video from chuckbalsamo at livestream.com

Happy Tuesday!

Yesterday, I wrote page 334 in my book, Make Me A Legend! Only 25 pages to go and we’ll be on way to the editing and publishing phases! 360 Word Document pages should translate into approximately 250 book pages… the perfect size! I’m writing at a rate of 4-5 pages per day right now… should be finished by the end of next week, definitely ahead of my March 15th goal!

No kidding… my eyes water 10-15 times a day, just thinking about the profound series of events getting ready to unfold for my friends and me!

Yesterday I worked on my final chapter, Untame Yourself… here’s a very sloppy clip, about the making of Gods greatest legend! It’s a lead-in to my final few pages: the wild is calling!

For 40 years, Moses existed as a regular guy with the perfect, average life! Fourty years of hard labor & living in the sandy cocoon of Midians desert wilderness… the untaming of Egypt’s Prince! God worked on him and worked on him, and even though Moses must have went about the routines of his meager daily existence unmindful to what was happening… he just had to know, deep in his heart, that God would return for him again someday!

During those four long decades, when it would seem as if Moses had been forgotten, God was doing his greatest work! None of this time was lost time, for God was creating his greatest legend of all time! 40 years, of uprooting, tearing down, destroying, and overthrowing every weak and vulnerable place in Moses! 40 years of welding and banging and forging into creation, Gods epic reprisal… the LEGEND MOSES, Gods vengeance on the destroyer of his beloved children!

When the time was right! On that day of no turning back! The restored instinctive Monster nature of Moses heard a howling on the distant hills! Perhaps, when the time is right you and I will hear it too… the call of the wild! Aaaooooooowwwwwwwww!

Have you ever felt like this before? Like you’re a could-have-been legend, sitting exhausted on a trash pile of wasted decades?

Then, you MUST know deep inside your heart… God WILL return for you again someday! When the time is right! After the welding and banging and forging into creation… on that day of no turning back! God will come for you!

We’re all made for something GREAT. We all try hard and fail miserably. And as long as we are still ALIVE, then there is still a reason for our unique existence! We have a heavenly calling, a divine purpose… an eternal destiny! We’re all called to rescue somebody…

Perhaps, when the time is right, that restored instinctive Monster nature within YOU and I, will hear a howling on the distant hills!

Perhaps that time is now!

Aaaaooooooooowwwwwwww! Moses, Moses… I have heard the cries of my people… and I am sending you…

There you have it! Encouragement for the seemingly forgotten ones! I just finished praying for you all… have a most triumphant day!

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck

The Donate Link, FacebookTwitterMake me a LegendDestiny Family CenterYou Tube

15
Feb

Developing Your Personal Confirmation System!

Todays Video Blog!

Watch live streaming video from chuckbalsamo at livestream.com

Happy Monday!

Had an excellent weekend, excellent Sunday… how about you guys? Would love to hear about it!

I don’t want to get weird on you guys, but I was on Fox News dot com this morning and noticed the following advertisement. Why am I posting this random image and what the big deal with this Nation Wide Insurance advertisement?

Well, first because: society seldom uses the term “in the wilderness”… and second because: I wrote and spoke about moving away from the middle ground of the wilderness yesterday! Talk about the bizarrest confirmation of all time! Just thought you guys might get a kick out of this!

Very cool story!

Speaking of confirmations… well, as you read on Saturdays blog: I had a most triumphant writing week, laid down something like 27 pages of the best material I’ve ever written! The last thing I wrote about on Saturday… came from the final chapter of the book, Untame Yourself!

I read some of it to my assistant, Kristin Via… and we both agreed that I had pushed the envelope WAY TOO FAR… maybe the most INTENSE and PROVOCATIVE literature I’ve read in my life! So intense, it felt like my book was turning into the manifesto of a revolution!

In fear of isolating myself from some of the mainstream folks in our nation and world, I sought to tone it back… and it was like my arms and fingers FROZE UP SOLID… I could not make a single change! For to do so, would directly violate the purpose of that chapter.

An unedited clip from that chapter:

This is our nation-this is our world! Our youngest generations have never seen a better way! They are born into the earth during a time of unprecedented Christian repression; oblivious to the fact that this is not how their forefathers wanted things to turn out! They hear us talk of yesterday’s awakenings like we’ve crafted the fairy tale of something that can never really be.

Today’s kids can hardly understand why it is not natural for a man to marry another man. Or what is wrong with sex before marriage. Or what’s the big deal with using drugs and still claiming a heartfelt relationship with God. They live in a world without boundaries, a world lacking a moral compass and a spiritual conviction… a world when self is god and anything that feels right is perfect.

Up until now, you and I have reasoned: that to revolt would be far too costly. So we’ve chained our passions and toned our standards down… we’ve silenced the John the Baptist voices among us. We’ve chosen rather, to coexist in unevangelistic compromise with Islam and the other false religions of our era.

We’re cowering in the face of radical liberal agendas. We’re tolerating the immoralities of our day, increasingly vexed in our righteous souls as we switch through the channels on our televisions and move about in public places… somehow, we just know that tomorrows better world is a very real possibility, but we just don’t see how… because we have become the minority voice!

Give me a sign!

So I finished up Saturday, writing a segment from the life of Samson: the original hulk! And I prayed, “God, if this chapter is far too radical, please give me a sign. If you’re smiling on it, and if you are giving me these goose pimples and teary eyes… then confirm it in some strange way!”

I woke up Sunday morning at 4:45am, got up and gathered my belonging to head for the office. Emily leaves the television on all night long, every night. Before bed every night, she presets a bunch of channels for the entire night.

So, when I woke @ 4:45am Sunday morning… the television in our bedroom was on some kiddy channel… and it was airing a bible cartoon! Anybody wanna guess which Bible character? It was a cartoon of SAMSON!

Talk about a strange approval! I remember looking at the TV and chills shot across my body… and I thought to myself, “What are the chances of this HAPPENING!”

Thought you might like to hear this goofy story of mine.

The bigger the impact of a potential action, the more confirmation we should seek. There are many ways to seek Gods direction for a potential action. The bigger the decision, the more of the confirmations I seek out. Here at the Destiny Campus of Life Christian University, we teach about developing your own confirmation system.

Here’s a sloppy version of my personal confirmation system!

  • Prayer: We must develop the ability to listen, hear, and follow the voice of God in our lives. Jesus promised, “My sheep LISTEN to my voice; I know them, and they follow me!”
  • Peace or the absence of Peace: Philippians 4:6-7 promises that the peace of God will RULE in our hearts. That word rule is the same word we would use to describe an UMPIRE in baseball. What does the UMPIRE do? He shouts, SAFE or OUT or FOUL BALL, etc. So I pay attention to my heart AS I AM IN COMMUNION with God.
  • Gods Word: according to 2Timothy 3:16, the Bible is PROFITABLE for all things! God never leads contrary to his written word. Many times, if we are reading our Bibles often (as we really should be), God will reveal his will to us through the repetition of certain principles, through our thoughts concerning certain verses… by arresting our attention as we read and listen to our Bibles.
  • Wise Councel: If my intended course of action is really from the voice of God, then it will be able to withstand the scrutiny of wise councel. Psalm 33:11 talks about how the councel of the Lord will STAND! In earlier years, I surrounded myself with people who always told me what I wanted to hear. Today, I surround myself with people who are: truthful, bold, but not controlling… compassionate, passionate, teachable themselves… people who are not afraid to INFORM me with a strong opinion, and then still humble enough to let me make my own final decision.
  • Supernatural: dreams, visions, angels, and prophecies.
  • Circumstances: open doors, closing doors… this one is dangerous, because we do not want to be tossed all over the place by good and bad circumstances. The Apostle Paul talked about a WIDE DOOR of opportunity OPENING UP IN FRONT OF HIM… and he went through it! There were other times when he did not go through what SEEMED to be an open door. Not all good things are God things.

Thats about it for today… I almost feel as if I’ve given my readers INFORMATION overload. Sorry, I just got carried away! I pray todays blog adds tremendous value to your amazing lives… I love you all so very much!

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck

The Donate Link, FacebookTwitterMake me a LegendDestiny Family CenterYou Tube

04
Feb

Book Clip: From the Brink of Annihilation!

Happy Thursday!

Looks like the party’s over for Heaven and me! (lol) The other half of our family is coming home today… just in time for the next big snow storm! Yaye, I ‘ve really missed them!

Just a little more laundry to do… and I have to dust, and vacuum, and clean the bathrooms, and take out the trash, and clean the refrigerator, and fluff the couch pillows, and wash the bed sheets, and make the bed, and put a few chocolates on the pillows, and clean up the mess Lucy made when she CHEWED her way out of the bathroom yesterday (grrr Lucy, no water for you today… ha ha haaaaa!)… and then I’ll be ready for the big reunion!

The weather man says we will be getting between 12 and 20 inches of snow on Friday and Saturday. I’m trying to figure out how we can still have church @ Destiny Family Center this Sunday! If snow plow man gets everything cleared off, maybe we can pull something off!

the Super Bowl party

And I really want to have the annual DFC super bowl party! This year I will be rooting HARD for the Indianapolis Colts. Who would have EVER imagined this… being that I’ve been a die hard New England Patriots fan since 1984!

No offense to all of my New Orleans Saints friends, I’ve just had a very bad experience with a few Louisianian’s this past year, and it left a raunchy taste in my mouth. lol

my book: Make me a Legend

This has been a profound week of writing for me! Right now, I am 100% finished with 13 chapters and about 30% finished with my final 3 chapters… right on schedule for the March 15th deadline-for-completion goal!

Instead of mailing a pile of query letters and manuscripts all over the place, crossing my fingers for a publishing contract… I think I’m gonna drive to the Thomas Nelson Publishers headquarters and stalk Michael Hyatt until I’m able to make my pitch LIVE AND IN PERSON… with HIGH ENERGY and ENTHUSIASM… and a GREAT BIG CHEESE SMILE! Wish me well!! lol

Yesterday, I was reworking chapter 2: My Greatest Spiritual Fantasy. I had just wrapped up a very passionate summary of the first and second great awakenings and the great prayer awakening of 1857-1858… and I wrote:

from the brink of annihilation

Once again… in a dark moral and spiritual hour, everything changed in a day! Prayer meetings started up that spread all over the country. One million Americans came into the church during those two years. Another one million nominal churchgoers reclaimed their first love with Christ!

If we were to have an awakening like this today, it would translate into 20,000,000 Americans set ablaze for Christ in two years time! Churches that reported 121 members in 1858 had 1,400 members in 1860!  The social and ethical affects of this awakening rippled forward for almost half a century! Can you image this kind of spiritual fire breaking out in today’s Christian church?

I could go on and on with such stories until tears are streaming down your faces for several hours or more! Revival-Principles to Change The World, by Winkie Pratney is the best book I’ve ever read on this subject! Get it and read it once a year for the next 20 years, just as I have! And watch what happens to your passion for such things!

Over and over again, in Biblical and secular history, God has been able to move society from the very brink of spiritual annihilation to the decades we now refer to as the Great Awakenings! Every time it seems like the world is too far-gone, like evil has taken our civilization… good rose to challenge evil one more time!

That’s it for this morning… gonna get back to CLEANING, then writing, then a few afternoon meetings, then evening prayer at DFC, then chill time with my loving family!! Have a most triumphant day everyone! Love you all!

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck

The Donate Link, FacebookTwitterMake me a LegendDestiny Family CenterYou Tube

05
Jan

Overnight Sensations!

Happy Tuesday!

Emily and I left town Sunday afternoon, will return sometime tonight. We’ve been staying at a friend’s house… attended the memorial service for his grandmother yesterday. She passed away at 104 years old!

Our friend has baroque music playing softly throughout his house 24 hours a day. What a peaceful environment he’s created here! I feel so CALM right now.

Here’s a great clip from my soon coming book Make me a Legend! It’s taken from the middle of chapter 8: Build an Extravagant Foundation! I do hope you like these few paragraphs!

Overnight Sensations!

“Would you look at that lucky guy-out of nowhere, he’s an overnight sensation!” We’ve all heard this sort of bitter-chatter a time or two in our lives. It really does appear like some people are born with a silver spoon in their hand. They sweep the playing board in record time, leaving the rest of us scratching our heads. And if you and I don’t put it all into perspective, we will catch ourselves envying their ‘instant successes’ as if life is just not fair for the rest of us.

Since ‘foundations’ are always constructed below the surface and out of the public eye, we don’t often hear much about them. For some odd reason, we don’t usually recognize a rising legends value until the rest of the world starts singing their praises. We wait for the crowds to point out our stars, and then we look right next door to us-wondering where that mystery person came from! It’s so true-legends are invisible right up to the exact day they are NOTICED!

A few years ago, I was trying to work this all out in my own mind, when I happened upon Bishop TD Jakes, preaching one of his slam-dunk sermons! In that message, Bishop Jakes spoke very openly about his ‘foundational years.’ I can’t tell you what an inspiration this was for me-to watch with my own eyes and listen with my own ears as this esteemed legend spoke of his humbly beginning.

During this candid timeline of Mr. Jakes success I was taken to the place where it all began for him-all the way back to the remote hills of West Virginia. Bishop Jakes held nothing back, describing the dirtiest moments of his average, every day life-just years before he would be one of the most influential men from this era.

Spilling over with that Jakes kind of humor, he told about one of his clunker cars from those good ole days. He claimed that car was such a pile of junk, he would park it down the road from the churches he was speaking at-and walk the rest of the way to the services so nobody saw what he was driving! Some would call him vain for placing too much value on outward appearance. I say thanks for the honesty! I believe the sermon was titled, Fake It Till You Make It!

Here was one of the most celebrated preachers to ever grace the earth describing the agony of his intense poverty. He went on about the many threats against his family, as Jakes haters busted out his windows with rocks in the night. He was carefully recounting his long and tedious journey to greatness. And towards the end he said something I will never forget. He explained how he’s preaching the same sermons today that he preached before he was famous! This well seasoned orator was trying to help his followers understand: legends are powerful long before they are noticed!

Don’t be fooled by some blown up fairy-tail and undervalue the DECADES of hard work and dedication ‘overnight success’ requires. Even though I’m one of the most impatient people I’ve ever met-I’m always asking God to pull me back when I get ‘too big for my britches.’

So if a million people rave over this first book of mine so that I become the next ‘overnight sensation’, I will never forget the 456 months of schooling it took to get me here. I will never forget my day of small beginnings-my hunk of junk cars and busted out windows. Even though it would have been nicer to grow faster, I wouldn’t change a thing! Because Gods timing has been absolutely perfect thus far! So, here it is again… If it (the fulfillment of your vision) seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.” -Habakkuk 2:3

I hope today’s blog ads tremendous value to your amazing life. I hope it helps you… to take a deep breath and dedicate to that extravagant foundation ONE MORE DAY… because you’re already making a difference… and if you can just be patient a little bit longer… you are closer today than ever before to achieving your dreams!

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck

FacebookTwitterMake me a LegendDestiny Family CenterYou TubeThe Donate Link