Be All You Can Be: A Challenge to Stretch Your God-Given Potential Read Online Free PDF Page B

different . If you stretch, you’re no longer ordinary. To stretch is to be out of sync with many of our friends and associates.
    I would encourage you to put this book down for a moment and evaluate yourself. Ask yourself why it is that you’re not always stretching.
    Take about five minutes to do some introspection and be honest as you sense God dealing with the reasons for your complacency. If you’re trying to avoid stretching, you need to begin to regroup so you can become useful and effective in your ministry and leadership.
M OTIVATED TO S TRETCH
    Most of us need to be motivated before we will stretch. It’s not something that comes naturally. We need to learn how to stretch and motivate ourselves, but we also need to know how to motivate others and help them to reach their potential.
    One of my modern-day heroes is Bear Bryant, who was the coach for the Alabama Crimson Tide for many years and who held the record for several years as the college football coach with the most victories. Bear Bryant was an outstanding coach and a tremendous motivator. His players knew they had better play good football. The story is told that during one important game his team was ahead by six points with only a minute left in the game, and they had the ball. It looked as if they had the game sewed up. He sent in a running play to his quarterback, but the quarterback decided to surprise the other team—and Coach Bryant—by calling a pass play. He said, “They’re looking for the run; let’s throw a pass.” So he went back and threw a pass, and sure enough, the defensive cornerback, who was the speed champion of the league, intercepted the ball and headed toward the goal line. Alabama was about to lose the game. The Alabama quarterback, who was known for a good arm but not for fast legs, took off after the cornerback and caught him on the five-yard line. He saved the game; Alabama won. The opposing coach went to Bear Bryant after the game and said, “I thought that quarterback was slow! How’d he catch my world-class sprinter?” Bear Bryant looked at that opposing coach and said, “You have to understand. Your man was racing for six points. My man was racing for his life.”
    Some of us have to be racing for our lives before we’re motivated to stretch. What motivates you? What makes you want to be your best for the glory of God? Think about it for a few minutes. For some people, challenge itself is a stimulant. Others are motivated by dissatisfaction with their present situation. Or we can be spurred on by previous success.
    One of the things that helps me stretch is a public commitment, a public goal. I have found that when I tell others what I want to do, it really helps me to keep on track. They can hold me accountable by checking my progress. John F. Kennedy loves to tell stories about his grandfather Fitzgerald. When his grandfather was a boy in Ireland, he would walk home from school with a whole group of boys. There were a lot of very jagged, high cobblestone fences. They were kind of difficult to climb, and some of them were ten to twelve feet high, so they were a little dangerous to climb. But, being adventurous boys, they always wanted to go over the walls, but were afraid of getting hurt. One day as they were walking home from school, Fitzgerald took his cap off and threw it over the wall. The moment he threw it over the wall, he knew he had to climb over to get it back, because he didn’t dare go home without his cap or he would be disciplined. Throwing your cap over the wall commits you to stretch and do something you would not normally do. I encourage you to begin to throw your cap over the wall.
V ULNERABLE IN THE S TRETCH
    Most people are vulnerable when they are stretching. When a rubber band is pulled taut, it’s much easier to break. A runner who’s stretching for the wire is in a precarious position. If you were to push him a little bit you could knock him clear off his course. Every energy, every