I’ve found myself thinking about Passion a lot lately. Not Passion that makes the kids flee the room passion… passion the makes the kids run TO the room. Passion that gives. Passion that serves. Passion that sacrifices.
I don’t want to lose any of you by switching this to a sports post… so please… bear with me. One of the most passionate men that I have ever witnessed was Ron Santo… number 10 for the Chicago Cubs. He was passionate as a player but even more so as a broadcaster on WGN radio. Anytime the Cubs blew it… and let’s face it… that was often… Ronnie would yell… grunt… and moan into the microphone. He wore emotion on his sleeve and apologized to no one. The picture above is a t-shirt that is a tribute to Ronnie after he passed away this past year. I love it.
I hope that I’m so passionate about something that there is no question what it is. I hope that there is something that I wear my emotions on my sleeve for and I hope that I live up to it. Ron Santo was able to be passionate for the Cubs because he was the Cubs… He was Mr. Cub more than Ernie Banks if you ask me… but only because he became a great broadcaster for the Cubs after his playing days. Ron Santo lived being a Chicago Cub.
I hope my passion looks something like this:
Galatians 5:24
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.
Right after the fruits of the Spirit, Paul says get rid of your old passion by killing them to a cross. I believe we should replace our old passions (sinful desires) with a new passion (Godly desires)… because we belong to Jesus. He is where our passion should come from… He is who we should live for… He is who we should look like.
The problem with passion today… is we have a jacked up view of it. We think passion… we think sex. Passion is not sex… passion is life.
Another problem we have with passion is that we allow other people to tell us what our passions are… what our passions should be… or even when our passions die.
You are the only person that can determine your passion… dictate your passion… articulate your passion.
Discover your passion and live it out… TODAY!
What are you passion about?
How are you living out your passion?
Procrastinating Tomorrow 
I’m passionate about civil rights.
mostly, I live that out through voting and trying to convince my friends to vote for equal rights even when they don’t like how people will use them. After all, isn’t that how freedom works?
I’m also passionate about a good cigar over a large tumbler of whiskey, but I don’t think that’s quite as altruistic.
If I had to say what defines the passion of my life, I’d say ideas. I love ideas. I love the search for truth. I love hearing what other people think is true and (especially) why they think it’s true. I love challenging ideas and I love when mine are challenged.
Oh John… I love you… I love that you read my blog… I love that we disagree on so many things yet we still love each other.
Civil Rights are a great cause… I like to call it social justice. That is a great thing… our problem is that even social justice becomes trendy in America and then social justice is no longer altruistic.
So often when our passions are challenged we question them… some passions may need to be questioned… some passions we need to be grounded in. Either way… my challenge is to discover who you really are and be it. Of course… I hope that people discover who they are in Jesus Christ… something I know you disagree with… however I know you are able see the benefit in that… and that is what I love about you.