Vision | Chuck Balsamo

To Rage Against the Proverbial “Box”

Thursday, June 7th, 2012 by chuck 10 Comments

I love my hometown, the simplicity of country living and the high moral character of the people here. I would not be the person I am today, if it were not for the loving nurture of this lowly community.

Small towns raise GOOD people. Historically, so many great soldiers and political leaders have come from the mountains and the hills.

Yet, small towns can sometimes be the death of big dreams.

Remember Joseph from the Bible?

When he was 17, Joseph dreamt of leading the future world. It was a dream that clearly came from God. He was a nobody to most of the people in his life, but in God’s eyes, Joseph was chosen for something legendary!

Joseph shared the dream with his family … and they hated him for it. His brothers were so jealous, they sold him into slavery and told their father he had been killed by wild animals.

Thirteen years later, despite the many trials he faced, Joseph realized his dream just like God said it would happen. He was promoted to Prime Minister of Egypt and became the second most powerful man in the world of his day.

-From Genesis 37-50

Sadly, not all stories end good like this one.

Some people wear out with time and tribulation, and eventually they conform.

If you really wish to achieve your divine purpose, then you must go hard to your last breath… to become the person of your dreams!

You must never lose your hope, never lose your will to fight, never stop being faithful.

RAGE AGAINST THE BOX!

“The box” is the casket of divine purpose!

My old real estate coach used to tell me, “If you’re not willing to do what it takes to be great, then get into the casket and wait.”

Unless you want to spend your future merely existing, but not thriving. Unless you want to live and die without true fulfillment, as tiny fraction of what you could have been…

RAGE AGAINST THE BOX!

Check yourself today. Is your vision fading? Are you conforming to your environment instead of transforming it? STOP IT NOW!

RAGE AGAINST THE BOX!

Dream again, dream bigger then before. Dream on a bigger canvas… for the whole world is yours!

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. (Ephesians 4:20 NLT)

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NLT)

So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. (Galatians 6:9 NLT)

This past week, God gave us tremendous ministry success in Tampa, Florida. It was very nice to break out of the box… to see the world from another angle… to realize that my legendary dreams are still very possible!!! I’ve returned home with new hope and radical new thoughts… ready to transform instead of conform. I’ve seen a grand horizon and I’ve dreamed with greater clarity. I’m filled with the wonder of what’s ahead. God’s FAVOR lasts for a lifetime! (Psalm 30:5)

Your thoughts?

I just finished praying for you. Have a beautiful day.

Dream Big,

Chuck Balsamo

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: dream, Joseph, vision

The Dirty Part of the Job

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 by chuck 5 Comments

Good Morning!

It’s Tuesday… birthday eve for me! Gonna be 38… it’s been a good life! I have so much to be thankful for… and so many dreams to be realized in the next 38…

An Extravagant Foundation: So far, this is what I have… or this is what I JUST ABOUT have! It’s taken a very LONG time getting to this place… 38 years of LEARNING and ADJUSTING… underground: shoveling dirt and laying block!

This morning I want to give you guys a few paragraphs from chapter 7 of my book, “Make Me a Legend.” Please keep praying I will FIND FAVOR with the right people… and get the publishing process underway! Enjoy the clip…

the dirty part of the job
Nervous people demanding split second results; this is our world. And when today’s achiever can’t measure results in terms of above ground progress; they usually jump ship in search of something far more immediately gratifying. It’s comical to watch how enthusiastic people are when they first encounter a sizable vision like ours. Springing up so quickly… out of no where, unreservedly committing their blood, sweat, and tears to nothing more than a well pitched dream… only to fizzle as they calculate how much longer it could take before they will be able to personally benefit from this dream.

Building foundations takes a very special kind of people. Building extravagant foundations takes the rarest of all! Foundation workers have remarkable foresight. With bizarre enthusiasm, they bed down in dirty places for however long it takes to get a towering dream into the air. They’ve counted the cost, knowing they may never experience the pleasure of standing on their own platform. Foundation workers accept responsibility; they welcome responsibility… for the dirty part of the job!

Get what I’m trying to say here? We must never become discouraged with these foundational years. Legendary buildings require extravagant foundations. So hey, let’s take our time… and build something extravagant… something that carries the very real potential of outlasting us by a hundred years or more! Let’s bed down in dirty places… for however long it takes to GET OUR TOWERING DREAMS UP INTO THE AIR!

I hope todays blog adds tremendous value to your amazing lives! I’m praying for you guys, with great joy in my heart! Have a super duper day everyone!

Filed Under: Journal & Message Tagged With: dirty jobs, Dreams, foundations, Make Me a Legend, sacrifice, vision

Envisioning the Best Week of This Year!

Monday, June 8th, 2009 by chuck 3 Comments

It’s Monday!

Another new week… a whole new set of OPPORTUNITIES… a clean slate… a fresh start! This could be the week you… get a BIG raise at work, discover a new career, blast through a mountainous obstacle, make a new friend, break from a destructive pattern, cut off a destructive relationship, have the spiritual breakthrough of your life, help a miserable person receive the transformational breakthrough of their LIFE… THIS COULD BE THAT WEEK!

Hebrews 11:6 And without FAITH it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that HE EXISTS and that HE REWARDS those who earnestly seek him.

This scripture contains the BEGINNING OF FAITH: to believe that God is a good and REWARDING kind of God. That he CARES and LOVES and wants the BEST for the ones who seek after him! I believe in this kind of God… and my God REWARDS me as I EARNESTLY SEEK HIM!

Life is not always easy and my life has its FAIR SHARE of adversity… but I am an overcomer because I believe that I am an OVERCOMER!

The way we APPROACH our new weeks, makes ALL the difference. You can be like, blah, blah, blah it’s Monday ggrrrrrrrrr! Or, you can say, THANK GOD for last week… and THANK GOD for the SENSATION OF ADVENTURE I FEEL RIGHT NOW looking over the days ahead!

Are you EXPECTING a miracle THIS WEEK? Are you EXPECTING good things to happen… GREAT things to HAPPEN… for THIS WEEK to be the BEST WEEK of your year so far?

When we LOOK for destruction, we usually find it! When we look for success, we find SUCCESS! Whatever we think about all the time gets bigger and BIGGER and BIGGER. I want victory, so I think victory! I pray for victory FROM A STANCE OF VICTORY… believing that God is IN ME, WITH ME, and FOR ME… therefore NOTHING or NO-ONE in all this world can stop his beautiful plan for my life!

Today, we must choose NOT to focus on the miserable aspects of our current situations… but we SHOULD LOOK FOR THE BLESSINGS that ARE MOST DEFINITELY ALREADY HERE!

Pray with this anticipation and a SUPER BIG SMILE… think about HOW GREAT GOD IS and how much he LOVES YOU… all day long, live this day like a kid on Christmas morning… this is YOUR WEEK… this is MY WEEK TOO!

Believe bigger than you ever have before! See the whole world conspiring in YOUR FAVOR! As you head for victory… envision VICTORY COMING TO YOU! Believe in the God you are praying to… that HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN. Believe that HE IS MIGHTY TO SAVE… and that he CAN MOVE THE MOUNTAIN!

Or… you can do like almost everyone else does… and grumble through everything that comes your way! Instead of LIVING BY FAITH and CREATING YOUR WORLD BY FAITH and PRAYER, you can let life happen to you… and play the victim, AGAIN. Nut-huh, not me baby! I am a mighty CHAMPION and THIS IS MY WEEK!

Hope this blog helps you off a better start than most Mondays! Sorry its late getting posted… LONG WEEKEND… little behind! LOL

Please leave your comments… I love to read them! I just finished praying for you ALL! So go get-em tiger! LOL

Filed Under: Journal & Message Tagged With: adventure, adversity, beginning of faith, blessing, faith, hebrews 11:6, opportunity, vision

One On One | In A World of Billions

Wednesday, February 4th, 2009 by chuck 5 Comments

crowd Happy Wednesday Everyone!

I hope and pray that you’re all doing really well these days. I write each morning because I sincerely desire to make life better for my loving bloggers. You know this morning, I can FEEL you guys… your hearts are being brought up before my eyes as I type this message. It’s pretty wild whenever this happens. I can see your faces as you come onto my blog… hoping for something that will lift your day. There you are, on your computer… breaking away from the craziness of life to read chucks thoughts. It’s such an honor to have this very special moment of your time every day. And even though there are hundreds of page views each day… I can see in a vision, each one of you. When I pray for you, it’s as if I am praying for each person separately… it feels to be effective, life changing!

Maybe this gives us a glimpse into God’s omnipresence. He rules a world of billions… and each moment is a personal communion with you and me! When life is rushed and I hurry through the ritual of my Christian walk, God seems to be a million miles away communicating with me through a mass email campaign. But in those moments that I slow my world down and SILENCE my noisy surrounding… and I look into his eyes… our HEARTS CONNECT. Thus, the unfathomable beauty of an omnipresent God. Wow… what an amazing thought! It brings to me, a precious awareness of God. RIGHT NOW, I can FEEL him connecting with ME as a loving Father CONNECTS with his son! It takes my breath away… brings tears to my eyes… leaves me numb.

Psalms 73:28

“But as for me, how good it is to be near God!
I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter,
and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.”

Ok, well that was fun… I hope these thoughts bless you as they are blessing me to write them. Whatever you are facing in life these days, know this: God is as more near than your clothing… he is the air we breathe. In a world of billions he is ONE ON ONE with you and me. I can’t snap my fingers and make your problems go away… but I have given you a secret to happiness this day. Walk with God… enjoy him… experience him… feel him… surrounding you… filling you… blessing your life with all he has.

Chat with you guys and gals later… have a super amazing day!

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: communion, god, omnipresence, prayer, psalm 73, vision