Rule #2: Have Passion

Steve Jobs, your second rule of success was, Have Passion.  Passion, now that is a loaded word with a load of definitions, but the definition I am talking about is, any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling (from Dictionary.com).

The first person I thought of when it comes to passion is my mother.  I thought of a number of people but I just kept coming back to Georgia Stone.  

• She went back to college at night from ages 35 -45 to get her bachelors degree...that is passion
• She went to school from ages 50-55 to further her education and become a pastor...that is passion
• She stood between a gang of youth holding a gun and a little boy that said they were going to kill him.  She said, If you are planning to kill him, you will have to go through me first...that is passion
• When her church was set on fire by gang members and the congregation wanted to give up, she told them they had to rebuild and even forgive the gang...that is passion
• When she learned that women are released from jail at 2:00 in the morning with no money and no place to go, she started Woman At The Well House so they could receive education and vocational training and a place to live so they could start a new life...that is passion

I could give hundreds of other examples of Mom's passion but maybe this will sum it up:

ANGEL WINGS

Silently he entered,

loudly the prison doors slammed.

He never thought it would happen,

that he would take the life of a fellow man.

His days will soon be numbered,

either many or very few

Somehow he must face this tragedy,

a nightmare he never knew.

His cell was cold and empty

with no escape from the day’s events

His anguish may last forever,

from his few moments of pain and anger.

In the midst of his silence she enters,

with a Bible and a heart of mercy

The compassion in her eyes brings hope,

to a child in the cell and body of a man.

Behind the glass between then,

she sees a mischievous boy whose mischief

grew to sin, whose sin grew to hatred.

Yet behind him is an angel,

just waiting to give him wings.

The woman sees it clearly,

a boy whose sin cannot be erased by man.

For all mankind is damaged,

by the movement of a trigger in hand.

But with faith and determination,

she reaches the souls of the lost.

For she never met a boy to guilty

for the forgiveness of the Lord’s cross.

Deana Boggess

February 27, 1995

I have learned many things from Mom's passion about people, grace, and forgiveness.  I guess I feel the same way.  At times, however,  I have to work at forgiveness for the people that hurt others, that leave others out just because they have to do something in a different way.  I have to forgive the church when we forget to look at others the way Christ Himself did.  It is my passion for people of all abilities to feel welcomed and valued in the church.  I know I have often failed, but my passion drives me to learn more and strive to be better.  I have a powerful or compelling emotion or feeling for Luke 14:21,23,

21 Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’

23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.