Navigating Life's Twists and Turns

In today's episode, I talk about the unexpected yet transformative power of life's pivots. These shifts might come as sudden as a spin on a dime or as slow-going as a cruise ship turning. But no matter the pace, they are precious opportunities to grow and lean into the Lord and find a deep experience of love and connection that transcends our achievements. I also talk about my upcoming Creative Legacy Conference, my "Eden's Twilight" Film, and a new LIVE album that's coming in just a few short weeks. 

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Hey, what's up, welcome in. It feels so good to be sitting down here in my writing room with the soundproofing all around me here to do another season of this podcast and kind of share where I'm at with creativity, some of the things that have gone on this past season in terms of creativity, you know, life, family, ministry, all those sorts of things, lots of good lessons that have been learned that I'm going to be sharing here in upcoming episodes. So really excited to be back for another season, also going to be talking about the creative legacy conference coming up this January. We hosted our first one here in Kansas City this past January and now January 25th through 27th, here in KAC, we're hosting our second conference, called the creative legacy conference. It's for pastors, worship leaders and Christian innovators, so we'll be talking more about that. We'll be talking a lot about this third film that I'm producing as a musical film. We start shooting this October, so we're kind of in the thick of pre-production on that. We'll be talking about that. And also we'll be talking about an album, a live album that I'm releasing in just a couple of weeks that are recorded at the creative legacy conference this past January.

Speaker 1: 1:18

But kind of this first episode of the season, this one I kind of start by just being really, really honest with you guys and hopefully this speaks to you and you guys can relate to this is the ability and the need to pivot in your life, in your job, spiritual walk with the Lord, family, friends. You know, being an entrepreneur, being a creative, you know, whatever it is the ability at which you can pivot. Now, obviously, pivoting is on a dime, like you're turning the other direction, right, you just put your foot in the ground, you pivot and bam, suddenly you were going right and now you're going left. And you're going left for a little bit. Then suddenly you got to pivot back, to go to the right. Learning to be flexible, learning to trust the Lord through everything in your life, through every single season, is just so important, and that's the message for this first podcast. Again, we got a lot more good stuff we're going to be talking about here in this season, but I just wanted to really, you know, share that here in this first episode that the ability to pivot is so, so key, not only to being successful or, you know, hitting some, you know metric of creativity or numbers or finances or whatever. It is sure that that can apply to that, but just in your life in general.

Speaker 1: 2:38

So I, much like probably many of you, I'm a routine guy. I love things, saying the same. Not everyone is like that. I have friends, you know, who don't like that. They love, you know, spontaneity or whatever it is. But you know, for myself, I love the methodical, I love kind of knowing, okay, one plus one equals two.

Speaker 1: 2:56

This is the direction that we're going, and so the ability to pivot over these past several years has been something I've been learning is really, really necessary to do, and there's two different kinds of pivots that I have experienced and I see One. It's like you do it on a dime. It's like instantaneous, like you're going right and suddenly you're going left in a matter of like two seconds and you pivot and you're left to deal with the expectations. You're like, well, I thought I was going this direction, but okay, I guess we'll go this direction. And your ability to be able to, you know, pivot on a dime sometimes can make or break you in that season. Right, and sometimes you go against the, the wave, if you will, of where the Lord's directed you or where life is directed to you, and you're like no, I'm not going to change, I'm going to keep going the opposite direction and I'm not going to pivot. And sometimes that works. Sometimes it's like you know more of a train wreck of the soul, or you know life or whatever. So there's, there's a quick pivot, but then there's also what I like to call the cruise ship pivot, where if you try and pivot and turn a cruise ship, this huge ship, on a dime, you're going to have a major, major problem.

Speaker 1: 4:09

And the cruise ship pivot is where, slowly but surely, you begin to turn that ship that you were going to the right and now suddenly, over months, years, you're going the other direction. So it's less suddenly, obviously, than two seconds pivot. And I don't fully know if it's the Lord's like design, that he knows our makeup and our personality, where, hey, you're going to get a cruise ship pivot Because I know the other way would kill you or whatever it is. But those have been what I've experienced in different ways, different shapes and forms the past several years, but even specifically the last several months, where mentally, spiritually, physically, it's almost like you're playing, you know, catch up to like wait a minute, where am I going now? Like what am I doing Like I thought it was this and now it's this. And so I know you know for a fact that, speaking to some of you guys out there, you know, if that's you, you know, please hit me up in the comments of this, hit me up on social media. I'd love to hear from you of kind of where your, your journey is at.

Speaker 1: 5:15

But through it all, whether you've experienced this, whether you've not, you probably will. If you haven't, you know at some point. I mean, the Lord is super gracious, but the Lord loves us leaning on him, and there's so many ways in our lives that that he causes that to happen. And one of the ways that that has been really, really clearly demonstrated in my life of leaning on the Lord has been through change and through shifting seasons and having to not rely on Justin Rizzo's ability, justin Rizzo's wisdom, justin Rizzo's strength to know even you know where to go. And again, that that sounds like, oh yeah, of course, justin, that's. That's like the Bible man.

Speaker 1: 5:55

We're supposed to have faith in God, which, of course, yes, I agree with you but I think there's seasons in our life where the Lord's like I really want this to go deep in your heart. I really want you to learn this one this time around Matthew 5.3, one of my favorite verses blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And so if you're listening to this today and you find yourself in a place of feeling like you have nothing, feeling like man, I've I've, you know, experienced this change, I've had to pivot. Or I thought I was going to do this, or I thought, for sure, by this age of my life, you know this would have happened, or you know, whatever. I want to encourage you that maybe, just maybe, the Lord has you exactly where he wants you in a place of utter dependence on him, where it's not your strength that's going to get you through, it's relying fully.

Speaker 1: 6:48

As Song of Solomon, chapter eight, the very, very end of the book says you're leaning upon Jesus, you're leaning upon your beloved, and there's, there's, all the different seasons, even in the Song of Solomon that you know, the Shulamite, which is a representation of us as the bride of Christ, that that she goes through. There's different seasons of life that we go through. Sometimes we feel, you know, on the mountaintop, sometimes we feel his presence in the valley, but sometimes we don't feel it at all and sometimes you don't know. You know there's all these different seasons, but at the end of it all, the Lord wants our heart fully fashioned in love with him.

Speaker 1: 7:25

John, chapter 15 abiding in the vine, the everspring of life. You know this. This is about love, this is about connection, this is about relationship. It's more than just you know you being successful in your business, or you being successful in your creativity, or you know your church, your ministry, whatever it is. He's after something much deeper, and I've experienced that in a new way, at a new level in my life here recently, and so I'm excited to talk about that in upcoming episodes and hopefully you guys can relate to even just what I've shared today. If so, hit me up in the comments of this, hit me up on social media and let me know and I look forward to talking to you guys again here soon about my upcoming album that I'm releasing in just a couple of weeks. You