Who or What is Piloting Your Life?

An airline pilot’s main job is to get people from point A to point B safely. When you call West Jet to book a flight, one of the first things they will ask you is where are you going? And you might say, well its November, and I don’t like the cold so take me somewhere warm, like Cancun Mexico. Then they’ll take all your information down, charge your credit card a bazillion dollars and save you a seat on a flight to Cancun in November. They will pass that information onto the pilot who will then map out a route to Cancun and make sure him and the rest of his crew get you there safely and, (if weather permits) zero turbulence.

People have things piloting their life everyday. People may not be Boeing 747’s filled to the brim with passengers and luggage, but we all have things, like the air line pilot that guide us down a path to a certain destination. I hope to inspire you today by asking who or what is your pilot, and where is your pilot leading you?

For example, I heard a story the other day about a mother who was addicted to crack cocaine. She had no money, no steady job and would spend her nights seeking floor space in homeless shelters so her son wouldn’t freeze to death at night. Any money she had, she would use it to feed her drug addiction. At one point she got so desperate for money, she gave her son up for adoption in exchange for a weeks worth of drugs. By doing so, she gave him a better life, but now a mother has to live everyday with the guilt of treating her only child like a simple trading card.



This is an example of a bad pilot. In this story, the driving forces behind mom’s decisions were selfish. She cared more about scoring drugs and where to get her next high, and then she did about a life together with her son. As a result she’s now in a lonely depressive state, bearing a pain that no one should bear. Drugs were piloting her life and lead her down a dark, lonely path.

What about your pilot? Who or what is your pilot? Is it leading you down a dark path, or is your pilot directing you with purpose and vision like Rick Hoyt?

Piloting Rick’s life are his parents Dick and Judy Hoyt. Born in 1962 with cerebral palsy, doctor’s advised Dick and Judy to put their son in an institution. Against doctor’s advice, they kept Rick out of the hospitals vowing that he will live a full and happy life just like everyone else. And that’s whaRick did, entering public school in 1975 and graduating from university in 1993.

Graduating from university is great, but it’s not what Rick is known for. Rick Hoyt loves competing in marathons. He did his firs 5 mile road race in 1977 and loved it. He loves it so much that he has now competed in over 1000 marathons, including a few triathlons. All thanks to his pilot. His father and friend, Dick Hoyt.

Whether he’s pushing Ricks chair down the path, or swimming his son across the river in a small raft, Dick Hoyt guides his son from point A to point B as safe as he can. Dick and Judy Hoyt are piloting their son’s life, making choices that put a smile on Ricks face, and joy in their hearts.

I started by asking about you and your pilot. I’m also going to finish by asking about you and your pilot. Who or what is piloting your life? And where is it leading you? Is it an addiction, forcing you to make bad decisions leading you to a lonely and desperate place? Or is your pilot an adventurer guiding you down paths and across rivers of excitement? Who or what is piloting your life, and where is it leading you?

You're Not Moses

I am six weeks into my membership with a toast masters club. I have been going since January but have been reluctant to join. When you join you get a couple workbooks; one that teaches you about the leadership roles necessary to run the club smoothly and another is filled with assignments that guide you in formal speech delivery and preparation. Some examples of roles in their leadership manual include a time keeper. Someone to monitor the amount of time you spend speaking to the crowd. Another role is the head toastmaster, or emcee of the evening. Their responsibility is to host the crowd and provide smooth transitions between each portion of the meeting.

The workbook with speech assignments give you tools to become a better public speaker. The first assignment’s goal is to build your confidence in public speaking. It’s also designed to show you how easy it is to find content for your speeches.

I became hesitant to join after looking through the assignment book. My hesitation was due, in part, to the fact that I already know the basics of public speaking. I know that opening with a good hook, or catch phrase captivates your audience and if successful, you have lured them in wanting to know more. With approximately a decade worth of public speaking experience, instead of building on the skills I already have, I was afraid I would be digressing.

I also considered Moses who wasn’t the most eloquent speaker (Exodus 4:10), yet led an entire nation of people in revolt against Egypt’s pharaoh (Exodus 3:7-10)

These are two reasons that slowed my obedience to God in becoming a public speaker. I eventually swallowed my pride, listened to the Lord’s promptings, joined, and as of this past Tuesday, completed my second speech at toastmasters.

I have been obedient in joining a toastmasters meeting, but there are still times I catch myself asking why, if I have experience speaking before crowds, am I at toastmasters, revisiting the basics of speech preparation. Until this week.

Possibly my greatest roadblock to being obedient to God's call of pursing public speaking was knowing that Moses wasn’t the most articulate speaker, yet he was chosen by God to transform Egypt’s prime labor force into a seperate nation. If Moses wasn’t the best with words, why must I go through this training that forces me to revisit and reuse skills I have had for years? The answer came in two parts.

First and (perhaps) foremost, Moses wasn’t the one that spoke to the Israelites. His brother, Aaron, spoke to them for Moses. Comparing myself to Moses was irrelevant. Moses barely spoke to the crowds if at all. This comparison could never disqualify me from having to be part of toastmasters.

The second part of the answer had to do with name sakes. If my life was a carbon copy of Moses’ life, I’d still have to go to toast masters, or at least take part in some formal training for public speaking and relearn the basics. Why? Because I’m not Moses, I am Tim. I’m not some adopted son of a pharaoh living as a sheep herder in the Middle East. My name is Tim and I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  So comparing myself to Moses and insisting I don’t need to climb the ranks as a public speaker is just goofy, because I’M NOT MOSES.

And unless your living in the ancient middle east and share the same name, occupation, and lifestyle of the characters in the bible, perhaps your just like me: you’re not Moses (or any other biblical person for that matter), so don’t be surprised when God calls you to do something that no other biblical character has done, regardless of your likeness to any Biblical Patriarch, because, like me, YOU’RE NOT MOSES!!!

A Speech I Gave at Toastmasters This Week

I joined a toast masters club about a month ago and gave my first speech at this weeks meeting. Below is a copy of the speech I gave. I titled it, The Epic Journey of Tim Schmidt and contains snippets of my life story... so far! I hope you enjoy it, and please don’t hesitate to comment and let me know what you think of it, blessings, Tim

____________________

Good evening Mr. Toastmaster, fellow members and guests. I hope you all feel welcome here today. As mentioned in the introduction my name is Tim, and I would like to spend the next few minutes telling you a bit about myself. Because today’s theme has to do with story telling and fables, I want you to listen closely and then afterwards tell me when I was being a mother goose.

The first question people ask when they meet me is: what happened? How did you end up in the wheelchair? I usually respond by saying I was born. Wheelchair and all. That’s why my mother had a C-section when I was born. They couldn’t get the chair through the birth canal.

Okay, really, I was born with cerebral palsy which is the doctor’s way of saying I was born with brain damage. Because of this I use the wheelchair. But having this chair doesn’t mean I just sit there all day, these wheels take me places and I hope to share bit of my journey with you here today.

My fondest memories start at the age of 15 when I discovered a passion for cooking. Earning top marks in foods class filled my head with dreams of going to SAIT and being a chef. Sadly, I never did fullfill that dream. I may not be the sharpest knife in the kitchen but I can still make an orgasmic chicken soup and turn chocolate haters into chocoholics.

my plans for going to SAIT changed when I attempted suicide at 19.  After this I made a life altering decision to go to Bible College and be a youth pastor. It was here that I earned the nickname globe trotter as I embraced a new passion for travelling. If I wasn’t in class I was en route.

For 5 months in 2002 I juggled school work while travelling to the following places:

the country of Belize, Ottawa Ontario, great falls, Montana, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Edmonton, red deer, Grande Prairie, Pine Lake, Taber, and Regina Saskatchewan. I’ve even seen the towers of Isengard and Mount Doom. The last stamp in my passport was in 2005 when I traveled to Poland for 2 weeks.

I think it goes without saying, that after that I cooled my jets, stayed home, and studied. I graduated in 2009 with a bachelor of religious education and since then, my adventure continues. I moved out of my parent’s house, and into a one bedroom apartment in Inglewood. I help lead a small church in McKenzie town and am 2 thirds of the way through editing my first book.

I still like to travel and on Boxing Day in 2009 I took the greyhound to Hamilton Ontario and back. Never do that! That was a LOOOONG trip. That’s 2 and a half days one way.  this past summer I was a counellor at a camp for people with disabilties and a guest speaker at camp Chestermere in august.

Mr toastmaster, fellow members and guests, there you have it. I hope you’ve enjoyed my trip down memory lane and that I have been a good host. there is more to my life then what I’ve shared here today and I look forward to sharing it with you in the days to come. I also hope that I have kept your interest and you’ve been able to pick out my fables.

SPEECH! SPEECH! SPEECH!

“Hey Tim?”

“Yeah Ed?”

“Thanks for doing this –”

“No problem Ed”

“I was able to breathe a sigh of relief when I read your response to my email…” Ed was expressing his gratitude to me for agreeing to share the workload, of preaching to nearly 200 kids at Camp Chestermere. Heading east on the 1A highway out to Chestermere, Ed continued as we approached 52 street. “When we get to camp, I’ll introduce you to the Camp Director. He’s a close personal friend of mine. Well, more like family. You see, Tim, his uncle married my mother less then a year ago. But that’s neither here nor there; I was thinking of speaking to the 10 o’clock crowd and having you speak to the younger kids at 11. And tomorrow we’ll switch. You speak at 10 and I’ll do the 11 o’clock service.”

Being in front of crowds is familiar territory for me. As far back as I can remember I have graced a stage in one way or another. The very beginning of school – kindergarten – for example, I was part of the school choir. If we weren’t rehearsing for some school assembly, we were practicing for trips to senior centre’s to provide the meal time entertainment. In Grade 5 I was fortunate enough to join a small group of grade sixers for reader’s theatre. While my fellow classmates were trying to earn gold stars for reading through their “choose your own adventure” books; I was whisked away to the grade 6 room, to practice for a reader’s theatre competition at the jubilee auditorium.

In grade 7, I played the trumpet in the school band. In Grades 8 and 9 I took a performing arts class. It was here that we’d put on plays, either for our classmates or performed song and dance numbers at school assemblies.

While kids in high school were either shooting hoops, or hanging out in the smoke pit, I hung out with a group of guys who, with the help of a teacher, formed a cover band. We’d get together over the lunch break and cover Tom Petty tunes.

 or we’d be perfecting our performance of Jimi Hendrix’s Voodoo Child.

Just in case you’re wondering, due to fire regulations we weren’t allowed to set any guitars on fire.

We were also constantly reminded by teachers that our teeth were NOT ideal guitar picks.

In college, I had grown quite comfortable with speaking, teaching and preaching, and my near decade career as a college student afforded countless opportunities to speak at churches, and take on various teaching roles. This past summer I was even fortunate enough to share pastoring duties at a camp for people with disabilities. But speaking at Camp Chestermere was different.

When I walked on stage I was greeted by the coolest sound EVER!!!... 200 kids, all chanting, “WE WANT TIIIIIM!!!!! WE WANT TIIIIIM!!!!! WE WANT TIIIIIM!!!!!”

Another first for me happened after one of my speaking engagements that week. Two kids asked me to sign their bible. I didn’t know what to say, I’ve never been asked to sign anything other then a check before. I was able to blurt out some sort of “yes” type response and wrote an encouraging remark on a blank page in 2 people’s bibles. I’m not going to lie. I left that camp feeling like a rock star!

My friend and Pastor, Ed, asked me to speak a total of 4 times that week. And although the chanting and 2 person autograph session are top notch in all things cool, I will admit it’s not the greatest thing to happen that week. The best part of the week (as far as I’m concerned) is that my words made a difference. I was used by God to change someone’s life. That’s the point of ministry. To impact peoples lives with the Gospel of Christ. Through word or deed, everyone has a need for the love of Jesus.

A few weeks after camp, I was invited to a leadership meeting with my pastor, friend, and ministry partner, Erik. As Erik, his wife bonnie and I chatted over dinner Erik challenged me to find ways that I could contribute to the leadership of Expressions. This summer proved to be a busy one. In July and august I had taken on leadership roles at 2 different camps. Armed with nothing but my bible and a servant’s heart, I was able to speak to hundreds of people and spur them on in their pursuit of righteousness and holy living. I left that meeting with an attitude of prayer. What was it that God wanted me to do – not only in expressions community, but perhaps with the next stage of my life? As I lay down at night asking God these questions, I find myself in situations where God’s answer is clear.

As the summer ended, I had an interview with an old employer about possibly working with them again. When we got to talking, she encouraged me to get into public speaking; particularly paid speaking engagements. Some of my Facebook friends would post links to various public speaking groups. Whenever people asked me about my dream job, I would tell them stories of being a keynote speaker at some sort of conference where I would not only get a fee but all transportation and accommodations are paid for. But the clincher came just a few weeks ago during a coffee meeting with another pastor friend of mine, Dallas.

Dallas told me I have a way with words. Not only is my writing an apt tool, but my abilities as a public speaker proved to be an effective ministry as well. He then encouraged me to get into the realm of public speaking. In the days leading up to this meeting, I had been thinking again about Erik’s question posed to me in the fall: how do I/can I best contribute to the ministry of expressions community? My thought was some form of public speaking. But I wasn’t sure if that was something God wanted me to do. In fact I remember saying: “God I think I’m hearing you say go do public speaking, but I’m not 100% sure. Could you be more direct? Like someone telling me: Tim you should do this.

The speaking opportunities I had over the summer were tons of fun. I was extremely humbled and thankful for the opportunities to speak. In pursuing this public speaking route, is it my goal to become world famous, selling out the like of the O2 Arena, the Houston Astrodome or speaking to crowds of 50,000 chanting ““WE WANT TIIIIIM!!!!! WE WANT TIIIIIM!!!!! WE WANT TIIIIIM!!!!!” in unison? Absolutely not! If it happens along the way, that’s great! But the reason I’m taking this route is to bring glory and honor to God.

My life makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble and afflicted hear and be glad.

Psalm 34:2

Bringing Faith to Life

The book of genesis tells us that in the beginning the earth was empty. A formless mass; devoid of anything but God and His spirit. And then He spoke.

Day one, “light.”  

Day two, “sky.”

On day 3, “I command the water to separate,” and this reveals the land. Then God speaks seed bearing plants and trees into existence

On Day four, God sets the stars in the skies. Spoken into existence, they are to be a difference maker. Stars and varying kinds of light are to keep night and day separate. Their second purpose is to mark a change in the seasons. Before standard time, people would look to the skies and determine whether it was time to plant crops or to harvest; to grill steaks outdoors or use their oven for the night’s meal. To toss a ball back and forth with your good buds wearing shorts or to light a fire and snuggle with your sweetheart as the snow falls on a chilly winter’s day. Whatever the activity God set the stars in the sky to help us determine the day’s activities.

The next day God said, “The waters need some life in them. I didn’t create them to be desolate and stagnant, but to teem with living creatures. So I shall fill them with fish and other waterfowl. I’ll set some in a random lake and let them reproduce. That way, they will fill the earth and I can enjoy watching them as they populate this planet.” After filling a lake with fish and watching them for a bit, God smiled. His fun continued as he filled the land with livestock and the sky with birds. Thinking about the next days work, day passed into night and soon day 6 began.

On Day 6, God’s creativity culminates with his greatest creation: mankind.

 Genesis 2 provides some detail on exactly how God did it. Genesis 2:7 paints a picture of God in a sandbox saying he took some dust and formed it into a shape of a man. But it didn’t end there. When God was finished shaping his sand-man, he was lifeless until God breathed life into this sand-man. “Now that this man has been brought to life, he needs a purpose. What shall I have him do?” thought God, “I’ll put him in charge of everything I have created! That way he – and those that come after him – won’t wander around aimlessly.” God’s time of creating ended on day 7 with a time of rest.

What captures my attention in this story is the importance of God breathing life into mankind. Prior to that, the inaugural human being had been just like the earth on day zero. Devoid! Or, if I can use a different word here, lifeless or even dead! Genesis says that God’s greatest creation was otherwise dead and lifeless until God breathed life into it. I wonder if the same could be said of a person’s faith. It is dead, lifeless and devoid until God breathes life into it. At least that’s what I find myself learning these days.

There are things that I say I believe but when rubber meets road, living out what I believe becomes a real challenge. I trust God with my life. I am convinced that His plans for me are far better then mine. Yet His timing can frustrate me. Take for example this publishing contest. In May I discovered a free publishing contest for authors. Having written a book but not published it yet, I decided to take a chance and enter the contest.

As far as I know, the manuscript is still floating around their office climbing the ranks and etching its way ever closer to the finish line. But I find myself getting impatient and growing restless with not knowing what’s going on with my manuscript. Daily I fight the urge to pick up where I left off and continue towards self publishing. It’s so tempting and leads to frustration but I continue to wait. As my patience is being tried I find my confidence in God growing. The feeling of trust and confident assurance that comes when you trust a tangible person is welling up within me. As I think about unknown territory my fears and worries for the general future feel more secure. I’m becoming more optimistic. My pessimism is wading away. For this I am thankful.