This is Success?

So I realize it has been a while and I have 3 topics I am going to Blog about.. To make them not so long, I will break them into 3 smaller blogs:  the first blog will be about "Success"

On my way to church last night I started thinking about my next blog and this subject really popped in my head.  But once, I got to church, JP's message just made it so much more evident that this was what I needed to talk about..  So here it is:  SUCCESS- how we define it, how we live it, how it effects us.

Watching the Olympics, I was kind of put off by some things.. I LOVE the Olympics, I love sports, but the idea of success is sometimes skewed.  For instance, when Apolo Ohno was DQd in the 500m race, the announcers spoke like it was a huge failure.. This is the same athlete they were praising as the most decorated Winter Olympic athlete just last week.  Was it disappointing that he DQd?  Yes, absolutely!!  But a failure? by no means.  Ohno had won medals in all his other events up until this point.  I mean, if Micheal Phelps had been DQd in one of his races two years ago, or if he had placed second in the 200 fly instead of out touching Serbia's, Milorad Cavic by .01 seconds, would that two have been considered a failure?  He still would have won 7 gold medals... I would call that successful.. JUST making it to the Olympics, to me, is considered success.    Then, watching the USA vs. Canada Hockey game.. First off, how awesome was that goal by Parise with 20 seconds left in regulation to tie the game and send it into overtime?  And what a hard fight between both teams, with the players giving it their absolute all.  I don't think we have any reason to think Team USA failed by placing second.  Again, it was hard to see Team USA not win.  I know everyone was ready to "believe" that we could win again, although it would have been nothing compared to "Miracle on Ice".  But hockey is Canada's sport.. it's what they are known for.. It's like Tex-Mex is to Texas.. Team USA played their heart out, and won the Silver medal at the Olympics.  The team that won gold was playing their country's game, on home ice, and fought harder in the end.  But USA also beat Canada earlier in the week to get to that point and should be very proud of their success.

Last night at church JP preached part four of "Life's Too Short".  He opened with a film that credited the accomplishments of several people.  So I want to look at people considered to have fame, fortune, success.. These are just SOME of their accomplishments. 
- Steve McNair: 3x pro bowl selection, All Pro selection in 2003, 2003 Co-AP NFL MVP, the Walter Payton Award, he was a first round draft pick going 3rd overall in 1995. 
- Michael Vick:  first pick in the 2001 draft, Best NFL Player (ESPY 2003), 3x Pro Bowl selection, in 2006 he became the only quarterback in NFL history to rush for over 1,000 yards during the regular season, became the first quarterback to throw for more than 250 yards and rush for over 100 yards in the same game in Denver in 2004. 
- Tiger Woods: 97 career wins, numerous Golf Writers Association of America Player of the Year and Associated Press Athlete of the year, Associated Press Athlete of the Decade (2009), and multiple ESPY Award for Best Male Athlete (beating out Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant, and Alex Rodriquez). 
- Heath Ledger:  Nominated for several Golden Globe, Oscar, BAFTA, SAG Awards.. 
- Brittany Murphy: burst into Hollywood in her role as Tai for Clueless, went out of her box in Girl Interrupted, cute in Just Married, Uptown Girls, and sweet as the voice of Gloria in Happy Feet. 
- Britney Spears: ...Baby One More Time is the best-selling album by a teenager and best-selling female debut act in the United States, she has been given a star on the Walk of Fame (youngest singer to do so), her career success was highlighted by Forbes magazine in 2002 when Spears was ranked the world's most powerful celebrity, the first and only musician to reach number one.. 
- and Andrew Koenig with his rise as a childhood actor with am accomplished father.

Reading that, I bet you can see a resemblance through out them, a trend per say..  They have all been in the headlines for their accomplishments.. and then for tragedy.. for death.. for falling from grace. 
Think about this video and how it goes in reverse order, like all the celebrities' touted accomplishments, then reversed to see their fall..
- Britney Spears:  in February 2007 she stayed in an off-shore drug rehabilitation facility in Antigua for less than 24, the following night at a hair salon she shaved her head with electric clippers.  A few days later, she admitted herself to another treatment facility in Malibu, and lost custody of her children for her fall. 
- Brittany Murphy:  went into cardiac arrest and died.  Cited as pneumonia, with secondary factors of iron-deficiency anemia and multiple drug intoxication. About two months later, the coroner released a report stating that Murphy had been taking a range of over the counter medications, with the most likely reason being to treat a cold or respiratory infection. These included "elevated levels" of hydrocodone, acetaminophen, L-methamphetamine and chlorpheniramine. All of the drugs were legal and the death was ruled to be an accident, but the report observed: "the possible adverse physiological effects of elevated levels of these medications cannot be discounted, especially in her weakened state". 
- Heath Ledger: after being found unconscious and pronounced dead in his NY apartment, toxicological analysis report concluded, in part, "Mr. Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine."  It states definitively: "We have concluded that the manner of death is accident, resulting from the abuse of prescription medications." The medications found in the toxicological analysis are commonly prescribed in the United States for insomnia, anxiety, depression, pain, and/or common cold symptoms. 
- Tiger Woods: After over a dozen women claimed in various media outlets that they had affairs with Woods, media pressure increased. Tiger Woods released a statement, admitting to infidelity, offering an apology, and announcing an indefinite hiatus from professional golf.  On the same day, lawyers acting on his behalf obtained an injunction in the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, preventing the publication in the UK of any images of Woods naked or having sexual intercourse, while denying that Woods was aware of the existence of any such images.  Woods lost endorsements and fell from grace, a pedestal that we put him on. 
- Michael Vick: In 2007 the police and animal-control officers find 66 dogs - 55 of them pit bulls -- and what appears to be a dog-training complex of dark-painted buildings in the woods just behind the house, which is owned by Vick. There are blood stained walls.  Other dogs were found dead, some of them starved; and a majority of the dogs found had to be killed. 
- And Steve McNair: husband, father of four, found brutally murdered by an upset girlfriend.  McNair had been shot twice in the body and twice in the head, with only one of the shots coming from closer than three feet.

These are all people that we look at and when we see the headlines of their destruction we're like "How could this happen?", "You had EVERYTHING", "Depressed? HOW?!?!", "Lonely? How?!?!"  How can these people have so much and yet be so empty and so lost?  "They are so successful" we say.   

In an interview with 60 Minutes titled "The Winner" talking with Tom Brady, there was a moment of surprise.  With all Brady's fame and career accomplishments, the interviewer, Steve Kroft was caught off guard to hear this from him:

“Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, ‘Hey man, this is what is.’ I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think, ‘God, it's got to be more than this.’ I mean this isn't, this can't be what it's all cracked up to be.”

What's the answer? asked Kroft.

“I wish I knew. I wish I knew,” says Brady. 

You want to know what I think?  You want to know what I think was missing with Woods, Spears, Vick, and the other celebrities that we have seen be destructed?  They don't have God.  They are trying to be successful on their own, they are too proud to say, "God I can't do this on my own.  I need you."  If they knew that there was a God who loved them so much they wouldn't be depressed, looking for more ways to make money, cheating on their spouse, having millions of dollars and still feel like something is missing.  Being rich in love can be more lasting and fulfilling than being rich in material possessions.  I know it is.  I don't have money, I may never drive a luxury car, or make six figures, but I am blessed beyond imagination.  I have a family that loves me, that's proud of me, that supports me; I have friends that would jump through hoops for me, are there for me through thick and thin; I have a job that pays the bills and puts a roof over my head; a precious Malti-peek-a-poo that I could not love more.  And most importantly, I have a church that challenges me, that pushes me to keep on trusting Jesus.  I have The Porch and amazing friends through The Porch that hold me accountable, that make me laugh, that fill me with Joy!  And I have a group of girls who are beautiful inside and out, who love the Lord, who correct me when I'm in the wrong and love on me when I need it most.  So I don't need money to make me happy..  I have what I need in my Faith: faith in God, faith in my family, and faith in friends.  

With all that is temporary and materialistic, my success comes from the things that are ever-lasting.  Things that are true, real, and can't be taken away.  Because in the end, even if I had a luxury car, a gorgeous home, and all the designer shoes and clothes; when I die, they are all staying here.

What would be your answer to Brady's question?

Have you been honest enough to ask that question for yourself?

How do you define Success?

"Live full lives, full in the fullness of God." 
- Ephesians 3:19

Everything you need has already been fully provided.  Fully means completely - every area, every way.  In Him nothing missing.  The key to staying full is to remain connected to the One who fills.