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Lessons From Fruit Ninja

Keeping with my life lessons from ____ posts (read those here & here), I thought I’d give Fruit Ninja a try.

If you’ve never played Fruit Ninja, the concept is quite simple. Fruit flies up from the bottom of the screen and you have to use your finger to slice the fruit before it goes back down off the screen. Occasionally, you get other stuff flying that isn’t fruit… it’s important that you don’t slice this stuff. If you do, the game is over. The object is to slice as much fruit as possible. That being said, here are 3 lessons we can learn from this addictive mobile phone game…

1. Know Your Target.

In Fruit Ninja, your target is the fruit. In life, we have to learn what our target (or calling) is. If we spend our time chasing everything that comes across as an opportunity, chances are, we don’t achieve anything. We have to know what we were meant to do. Where our passions lie and where our gifts are help determine what our target is. Of course, ultimately, we have to hear God speak and tell us our target.

2. Know Your Method.

When playing Fruit Ninja, the method is slicing. Touching the screen with your finger does not good, you have to make a slicing motion. In life or ministry, we have to pursue our target with the right method. It’s not just enough to know where we’re going, we have to have a plan and a strategy for getting there.

3. Know Your Limits.

Playing Fruit Ninja means you don’t slice anything but the fruit. If you try to do too much, the game is over. In life, leadership, and ministry, it’s much the same way. We all have limits. It doesn’t matter how talented or gifted we are, we’ll eventually run out if we don’t limit ourselves on what we do and how much time we spend doing it. It’s important that we take regular times to get away, recharge, and retreat.

If you’ve played Fruit Ninja, what can you learn?

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Life Is Like A Game of Bop It

Do you remember the hand held game “Bop It”?

I loved playing Bop It as a kid.
In fact, I think it’s still around (yeah, its that good!).

In Bop It, the goal is to repeat a set of commands given in the game. – pull it, twist it, bop it.

As the little thing gives you a command, you have to perform the action it commands. The commands get quicker and quicker until eventually, you’re certain to perform the wrong action.

I think a lot of us live life like I used to play Bop It.

We have so many things going on in our lives that our goal becomes just not taking a fatal step and performing the wrong action at the wrong time. Sure, we’re able to keep up for periods of time, but eventually it all comes crashing to a halt at the wrong action.

God never intended your life to be a game of Bop It.

God gifted, equipped, and called you to a specific purpose.

When we begin to try to do everything and keep up with others’ demands, we begin playing a life of keeping up rather than a life of effectiveness.

We begin to tire out from all of the extra stuff and lose energy for the God stuff.

Whatever God’s called us to do, its important that we make a concentrated effort to do it…
Not to do everything…
Not to do what others think we should.

Live the specific calling God’s given you before you undoubtedly make the wrong move and hear the words “game over”.

What was a favorite game of your childhood?

28
Mar 2011
POSTED BY Jonathan Pearson
POSTED IN

Life

DISCUSSION 14 Comments
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Wait. NO!

I very well could be the most impatient person in the world.
I’ve never liked waiting.

No matter what I have going on or how much or little I have to do,
I always tend to be in a hurry.

Lines don’t make me happy.
Traffic makes me mad.
Slow people get me frustrated.

It’s just something I’m not good at…waiting.

It often gets me in trouble though…

I often miss out on what I could have because I’m unwilling to wait.
I’ll buy something that seems really good only to see something better in stores a few weeks later.

I try to make things happen in my timing.
I sometimes miss out on God’s blessing because I’ve jumped the gun.

So…

I’m learning….
Trying to learn.

That the best sometimes comes to those who wait.

What are you waiting on?

22
Dec 2010
POSTED BY Jonathan Pearson
POSTED IN

Blog, Life

DISCUSSION 21 Comments
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3 Signs What You Got Ain’t What You Need

In life, we find ourselves in different kinds of situations.

Some of them are exactly what we need at the time.
They have life and are straight from God.

Others are out of our sweet spot, and drag us down, or aren’t what God has planned.

Here are 3 signs what you have ain’t what you need…

1. It sucks the life out of you.

If you’ve ever been in one of these situations, you know what I’m talking about. A place, person, or relationship that doesn’t breathe life, but sucks life out of you. You have no opportunity to grow and, in spite of your best efforts, you just can’t seem to get it.

2. It sucks the life out of those around you.

Sometimes, things come into our lives that take such a toll on us that they begin to demoralize the people around us. Our family and friends begin to be put last because of the place we’re in. Guard your relationships.

3. It just sucks.

There’s something to be said for being out of your comfort zone. There’s something said to being stretched. But, sometimes things just aren’t what we need them to be or what God intended them to be. It’s critical that we HEAR what God has to say in these situations and not make a knee-jerk reaction.

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Don’t Just Mend Your Net

Matthew 4:21-22 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

When I was a senior in high school, like many others, I struggled with where I should go to college.
I knew that I wanted a four year degree, but I also knew that I wasn’t ready to leave home.

So, I ended up attending a technical college for a year with a plan to go a second year as well.
As the end of my first year came, I began to believe that God wanted me out of the house and into the 4 year school I had chosen.

To be honest, I didn’t care much…
I wasn’t ready to leave home.

During the summer of that year, a lady from my church came up to me and said,
“Jonathan, I appreciate all you do here, but I really believe it’s time for you to go away and learn how to do it even better.”

WOW!

I knew what I had to do.
God had spoken it to me, now He used someone else to confirm it.

You see, I knew what I was doing wasn’t what God had for me.
I knew that even though I was planning on going and becoming a pastor,
I wasn’t exactly where God wanted me.

James and John had the same kind of experience in this passage…

They were doing what they always did.
Hanging out with their Pops, doing the family business.

BUT,

Notice that they were trying to mend their nets.
Some translations say “Preparing their nets.”

Something just wasn’t quite right about where they were and what they were doing.
They were prepared for something different.

What they were doing wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t godly.
It was mediocre, not miraculous.
It was a living, but not really LIVING.

So, Jesus called…
And they answered.

They were willing to leave everything they knew.
Everything they were comfortable with.

If you feel like something isn’t quite right about where you are,
no matter how “good” or “acceptable” it may be,
seek God.

We usually know what His calling is and why we feel a little uneasy about what we’re doing.

We just have to do it.
We have to quit doubting it’s really Him speaking and do what He called and equipped us to do.

I’m glad I did.
I met my wife at the 4 year University.
I graduated.
I was prepared  for God’s next place.

Don’t just sit around mending your net…

Obey the call.
Follow Christ.

04
Oct 2010
POSTED BY Jonathan Pearson
DISCUSSION 15 Comments