If you haven't already seen the movie, I highly suggest that you do. I was one of those people that hadn't seen the film until just the other day. My kids and I were looking for a movie to watch on Disney + and there it was. We are big Marvel fans, and I grew up reading the comics and like most people today when we see Hugh Jackman all you can think of is when are the claws going to come out!
Yes, he at one point does give the Wolverine eyebrow, but I can never look at Wolverine the same again. I am not writing this to give you a review of the movie, but give you the reason why this movie changed my life. Yes, a musical about the original ringmaster changed this grizzly F-16 Crew Chief.
Very few times a person can say that there was a movie, or some sort of event that changed their life. I have had a few, such as when I was younger, watching "Top Gun" ignited my passion for military fighter aviation. When I witnessed the devastation of 9/11 with my own eyes days after the event. The birth of my children, and yes watching "The Greatest Showman".
Why did it change my life? Well, not only did it resonate with me, and yes, I enjoyed the music as well, it spoke to my soul. When I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in September of 2000, I did so because I wanted to fly fighter jets. After 9/11 I wanted to protect the nation. As the years went by and I progressed in my career, I felt a sense of "showmanship". I put on the great show, not because I wanted to entertain, or become a "Thunderbird" but I wanted to prove something. I wanted to prove that I was someone.
I wanted to show everyone that never believed in me, who didn't accept me, that I was made to be someone great. The problem was, it wasn't until I lost my career, and my marriage that I realized I was "blinded by the light" and I forgot the real reason why I was fighting. Here is the other problem, I was marching not to the beat of MY drum, but the drum that society was beating. I was searching for acceptance in everything that I did, but yet I never accepted myself.
It wasn't until I watched that movie that I realized I have never accepted myself for who I was and I was denying myself of the blessing that God wanted to give me. I held myself back by distracting myself in every conceivable way. I hear all the time of how people believe in the mission of Faithfully Led, but I felt like I was going to fail. That people were going to think of me as a fraud.
P.T. Barnum said that "The noblest art is that of making others happy." and yet I didn't believe in myself enough to realize the knowledge that I have possessed was going to be able to do just that. I didn't believe in myself enough to see what others saw in me and I denied other people to be happy. I didn't believe that I could because I felt that I needed to be successful first to make someone happy.
I know that I have what it takes to change someone else's life. This is what God put me on this earth for, to help and guide people. To lead others to help show them their true potential. The same way P.T. Barnum looked at so many others and helped them shine their light so others can feel free.
A true celebration of humanity.
Here I am!! I am no longer looking to the world to define me or my success. I finally see myself the way God sees me. I sign off my podcast every time by saying, "Be blessed, but most importantly, be that blessing." and I honestly can say that up until now, I was trying hard to be a blessing, but I didn't believe in me as a blessing. I didn't believe that I deserved any blessings. I lost my imagination.
I was just interviewed by Jill Nicolini on Business Talk Radio and I wrote a statement that I didn't share with everyone. I should've, but I didn't believe that anyone would believe in me, worse I didn't believe in me so I didn't share it. I am going to share it with you, and before I do I want you to know...HERE I AM, AND I BELIEVE IN ME. COME ALONG FOR THE RIDE!!!
Don’t be paralyzed by dependency.
If you are dependent on money, don’t let that lack determine your vision. If you are dependent on what others say about you, don’t let their idea of how you live your life determine your self worth. If you are dependent on your ego, don’t let that override your character. If you are dependent on your ability, don’t let that hinder your imagination.
In the bible in John 5:1-9 Jesus healed a paralyzed man at the pools in Bethesda where people would wait for the angels to stir the pool to receive their blessings and the elderly man who was paralyzed would never make it in time. He stayed there for years, and one day Jesus asked him if he wanted to be healed, and the man replied that he did. Jesus commanded him to get up and walk, and so he did. Sometimes, all we need to succeed is to get up and walk because that will begin our paths to create our legacy. We should always want to create a legacy, not just an impact. The legacy, that creates lasting influence.
“The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.”-Bruce Lee
That is why we all should strive for creating legacies, because moments can fade and unless you were there, it can be forgotten...but your legacy...that right there will be felt for eternity.
Look out world, because HERE I COME!!!