Prodigal Magazine

I was thinking about some things I learned a few years ago, back to February of 2005 to be exact.  It was then I had the opportunity to hear a particular message from Rick Godwin.

Rick’s message was about taking risks and how important it is to be willing to take risks in your life.  There was one statement he made that hit me so hard, it still impacts me today.  He said, “you can change the world…start with yourself, by becoming extraordinary”.

One thing I have learned over the years is it is very difficult to become something unless you understand what it is.

Extraordinary [ik-strawr-dn-er-ee, ek-struh-awr-] adjective

beyond what is usual, ordinary, regular, or established: extraordinary costs.

exceptional in character, amount, extent, degree, etc.; noteworthy: remarkable: extraordinary speed; an extraordinary man.  (Dictionary.com:  http://dictionary.reference.com)

In Hebrew, the word we translate for extraordinary is yotzai dofen; (lit. “go out from the wall.”) Balashan-Hebrew Language Detective, February 16, 2006; it is the word used in the Hebrew language for cesarean section.

Cesarean Section, as you know, is the act of opening the mothers womb and removing the child.  Often this act is performed to save both the life of the child and the mother.

For fathers, this reference to an act performed on a mother takes on an even more significant note when we think of the world around us as having such a significant impact upon who we are.  Both good and bad, the world around us has molded us into the person/personality we are today.

If we continue on in who we are now, with no change, we will not only continue to perpetuate the past, through our children, but we will never grow to a point that we can make a difference in our world.

Cesarean section is not without pain, danger, or complications.  This is where the risk comes in.  As fathers we must be willing to change the world through yotzei dofen. We must “go out from the wall”, for at the wall there is protection, security, even warmth, but we must move away from the wall.  Away from the wall, away from the shadows cast, there the light can shine directly on us and things become much clearer.  We will see things in a new light, the clarity of which has the potential to change the world.

As a society we have walled ourselves in to protect our children and not allow them the exposure to risk.

A wall we fiercely protect and sustain with every financial and physical advantage we can give.  Our children have little opportunity to change the world.  From birth to graduation from college, we maintain the wall and then turn them loose on a world that is in need of extraordinary people to save it.  With few tools at their command, true change is not likely to happen.

Our ancestors did not have the luxury of walling in their children.  They had to learn to adapt.  They had no 401k, no social security, not pension, just extraordinary faith.  Extraordinary faith is the basis for extraordinary risk and thus extraordinary acts.  Extraordinary acts performed by extraordinary men creating extraordinary change that made this world great.

Today, we must “go out from the wall,” for if we do not, we can’t expect to change the world.

Become an extraordinary father

En servicio como padre
Dave