Be a Moment Maker

Do you know someone who has the most fascinating stories?

The coolest things in the world happen to them. When they open their mouth about their last trip to Walmart, you know it’s about to get interesting. (Okay…bad example, because something unbelievable happens to everyone anytime they go to Walmart; the doors launch you into an alternate universe.)

You know the people I’m talking about though. The Cosmo Kramers of the world (to all those Seinfeld fans). But whenever they finish a story, you jealously think to yourself, “Nothing ever happens to me like that!”

Don’t you just hate those people? But then you remember that you’re a Christian and you aren’t supposed to hate people and now you feel guilty because you sinned.

What if I told you that you could be one of those of people?

Of course, you don’t want stories just to have stories. You don’t want to be the World’s Most Interesting Man just to have that title. The truth is you want to matter. You want to be useful. You don’t want to live a mediocre life. You want to live a Spirit-filled life.

image via Amazon

Carlos Whittaker recently wrote a book called Moment Maker. This post isn’t a review or critique of that book, but rather an implementation of it. If you want to have moments worth telling to other people, then you need to add this to your library and read it ASAP.

Carlos is one of my favorite writers. He isn’t a Pharisee, but someone who pushes the envelope of what it means to be a Christian. He makes you think and isn’t what I would call a “devotional writer”. I love faithful Christians who make you ask, “Is that okay for him to say?” Carlos is one of those people. (You can check him out at www.ragamuffinsoul.com.)  

I actually should have written this months ago, but life got in the way. I was lucky enough to get the book before it was released. My family was on vacation and going to Disney, so I put it on my phone to read off and on while we waited in lines. Really to read while we waited in ONE line to meet the princess from Frozen.

We got to EPCOT at park open and I ran with two girls in a stroller directly to get in line. When I got to the line it was already a five and a half hour wait! That’s right, FIVE and a HALF HOURS in the hot Florida sun waiting in line.

Really that was fine with me because I figured I would finish reading the book while in line. Already about a third of the way finished with the book, I started reading. I read for about five minutes and then Carlos started shouting at me through the screen on the phone. “Joel, what are you doing? This is a moment to be made. Quit reading and start talking!”

I can get pretty task oriented sometimes, but if you want to make moments that matter you can’t do it by ignoring the people around you.

I had five and a half hours to engage with people in line. So that’s what I did. For the next four and a half hours (that’s right, there were a bunch of sissies that day that bailed letting us move on up) I talked with my family and the families around us.

Nothing too interesting happened. Other than getting multiple offers from crazy mothers trying to buy our daughter’s Elsa dress for much greater amount of money than it was purchased for (while she was still wearing it I might add). And it’s fun now to tell people how long we waited in line for a three-minute meet and greet from Disney princess to get their looks of how crazy we are.

But my point is the book made me act in a way that I normally wouldn’t. The book reached a level that is worth sharing it with other people, it became applicable. It wasn’t mumbo-jumbo. I was picking up what Carlos Whittaker was putting down. There are different moments in life to be seized; we just have to be willing to go after them. So that’s what I did.

Carlos labels these different moments and uses his life and Jesus’ life to teach them. So if you need something to read this summer and want to have stories worth telling, read this entertaining and applicable book. Or I suppose you could just go to Walmart…