Catalyst - Craig Groeschel

Craig Groeschel is perhaps one of my favorite live speakers.  His humor immediately wins the audience over, but his passion is what keeps them listening.  He talked about IT, his latest book.  He defines "IT" as the special something of God.  Some churches have "IT," some don't.  Some people have "IT," and others don't.  Here are some of his philosophies about "IT":

• God makes IT happen.
• We can't create IT.
• IT is not a model to be replicated.
• IT changes lives.
• IT attracts critics.
• IT happens. (Are you seeing his humor?) 

He suggested, well, more like directed and made us repeat after him, that we use this prayer in an effort to find IT.

God - Stretch me.  Heal me.  Ruin me.

I've tried it.  I'm not going to lie.  It is a scary prayer to pray, but it is exactly what we are called to in the Christian faith.  Surrender ourselves and our own desires to the one who has the perfect plan.  I find that when I follow my own plan (which, not surprisingly, I do quite often), I am ruined and miserable anyway.  So why not be ruined for God's purposes?  I want to make this a sort of personal mantra, but it has been harder than I imagined.  I've found that it is not exactly natural to pray to be ruined.  I guess it's not the kind of challenge that I can just accomplish and move on; it's more like a deliberate action that must happen daily.  I dare you.  Try it.  See how hard it is to say those words and really mean it.  I guess it depends how badly we really want IT.  

If you have a minute, watch this video to get some insight into his humor.