Rick Vance's Teaching (01.24.08)

I shared about a wake-up call I had recently and a system that is helping me break a generational curse and prevent myself from settling ( becomming stagnent in comfortability).

I told about my grandfather whom I never new until just before his death. He was a man who avoided combat during two wars by playing basketball and baseball for the Army then bartended for 30yrs. He left my grandmother with 3 teenage daughters and moved to Cali (from FL) to later start another family. A little more than 20yrs later (1991), he showed up without any savings and a meager social security check. My dad and his sisters rotated him from family to family for planned 6-month periods until they worked out a deal to rent an apartment with two other family members. He died of Diabetes within 2yrs while still talking about getting his “pool game back” (billiards) to make some money. He was a dreaming smooth talker who was good at finding an angle out of responsibility.

Although we liked Pops, my cousin and I (the most likely candidates) vowed to not end up like him.

When I visited for Christmas 2007, I noticed that my cousin is right sync with the old guy (sparing you the details). No commitment. Avoiding responsibility and ...

Then I looked at my life and I was settling too. Where's my career? Retirement fund? What type of decisions have I made thus far? I realized that we ALL exist exactly where our past decisions have led us. We can’t blame anyone else. God empowered us to take dominion and we live in the United States. Something in me has to change. No more settling. No more stagmenting.

Today's call was all about STIRRING.

I had to stir the pot....Bring the power that God gave me to the surface and mix it into each of my decisions. I had to change the way I look.

Stir - stimulate; affect; summon into action; agitate; excite; begin moving; bustle: active commotion.

Following Koop’s lead, I created an acronym to trigger movement from the stillness of my comfort zone.

S.T. I. R.

Self Talk - From now on, I give my self verbal (out loud) atta-boys whenever possible. I correct negative thoughts (lies) and I re-write (verbally) the ending of bad dreams. I use words, like "leader, provider, man, and integrity” in my self talk and with others.
Integrity - My words must match my deeds. Credibility and Dependabiliy are crucial for a man of God, Alliance member and world changer. If I say it, I must do it. If I fail, I clean it up fast and bounce back with positive self-talk.
Responsibility - No excuses. I must take responsibility for every time my integrity fails. My self-talk should tell me that I am big enough (through Christ) to take ownership of for every decision I make. (e.g. The accident on the 405 didn’t make me late (breaking my word). I’m big enough to plan for unexpected events.)

These are not easy decisions to make, but I have to do what’s tough to break the mold or I’ll end up like my grandfather by default. He died without responsibility or anything else.

I think God empowered us to succeed at whatever we aim at. This was true for my grandfather. What are you aiming at? Don’t kid yourself, we are all aiming and succeeding.

Joel 3:9 (Amp)
Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Stir up the mighty men! Let all the men of war draw near, let them come up.

Exodus 35:21 (Amp)
And they came, each one whose heart stirred him up and whose spirit made him willing, and brought the Lord's offering to be used for the Tent of Meeting, for all its service and the holy garments.

I hope this was helpful.

Rick Vance.

Leading men, changing lives, bringing strength, impacting people.....Alliance Strong