LION CHASERS MANIFESTO

LION CHASERS MANIFESTO BY MARK BATTERSON:

Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Grab life by the mane. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Accumulate experiences. Consider the lilies. Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Don't let what's wrong with you keep you from worshipping what's right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze new trails. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don't try to be who you're not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away.

Chase the lion.

THERE'S NO TURNING BACK

"There is no turning back now. That's right, you have extinguished that last cigarette and you can't go back to it. It's over and out. You cannot return. That door is closed for good. Locked and the key is MIA. Period!"

I am on my third week and I find myself saying the above to myself a lot. I must say though, I am beginning to feel a growing sense of pride and increased self-esteem. It's a great feeling, a terrific sense of power to realize that you no longer have to search out a smoking section or a hiding place to carry on a bad habit. It's a nice feeling to know that you don't have to light up after a meal or when enjoying a cup of coffee--I have the power to say NO! Amazing what a few days of "doing without" can do.

It has been a pretty rough journey so far. Besides all the withdrawal symptoms of over the top irritability and dizziness, I have experienced waves of irrationality. That's when, as the cigarette urge strikes you particularly hard, you convince yourself smoking isn't all that harmful. Those types of thoughts can distort and dissolve your willpower for sure. That's when God reminded me that my Daddy died of Lung Cancer and how I held his hand, when he struggled to take his last breath.

It's as if there are really two of me, at war within. One side does the rationalizing. The other half still believes, although ever more faintly, that this is the time to quit and for the most compelling reason: TO LIVE. Who wins? The non-smoking child of God... that would be me.