Motive vs. Purpose





I have been at a point where I want bigger and better things for some time now. Almost as soon as I got into the fire service I wanted to be on the busiest company in the most run down part of the country seeing the firehouse only to come and go at shift change! This is not a dream I hold alone. Many guys I know would love to be able to chase that dream! I have put my name in many a hat up and down the coast! Some had to hang up the dream, some still chase it. Who’s to say that you can’t tweak the dream a little...

This idea has come to me a time or two but I fought it. I poked at me like that little kid does to his big friend on the play ground. Egging him on to do something he didn’t want to do; and like the big kid with a little hesitation I pushed back with a stern NO! Its not that I was afraid to learn the job, get hurt, or fail; I didn’t want to let go of the dream! I use the term DREAM loosely. Dreams, to some are just thoughts of what could be or a story line that runs in your head while you’re asleep. To me and other like me, it’s merely a synonym for goal. I wanted to stay focused on nothing but the goal ahead. I didn’t want the GOAL to turn into my NIGHTLY STORY LINE. Fortunately that little kid kept poking me in the back egging me on!

I have not given up my quest for the ultimate assignment. I have not settled for what I have. I WILL make it to what I want to be. What I have come to realize is that while on my journey I CANT SKIP STEPS, I cannot assume that what I THINK I WANT lines up with what GOD HAS IN STORE FOR ME, and I cannot allow myself to be surrounded by those that aren’t also pushing to be something more. Simple once you grasp these ideas and hold them as truths but a soon as a year ago I fought them with all I had!

I WILL!!

I will is simply that! I WILL. A two word sentence can have a HUGE impact if you hear it. When it is used as a preface in a sentence it can change a person’s life! I WILL finish the academy. I WILL learn something new. I WILL make an impact in the community today. I WILL push myself in the gym harder every day. I WILL trust in Him to show me the way.

Those last two seem to be what the guys at my house and I, are working on most. We are not accepting that we are in good shape or that we are lifting weights. We are striving to be in GREAT shape and pushing ourselves to be in BETTER shape then everyone else. WE are raising the bar by which everyone else will be measured. We are also under a fair amount of stress and uncertainty. This weighs on a lot of people in different ways but we understand that it is His plan. Not our plan. We strive every day to do Gods will and live the life He gives to us in his image. God doesn't build walls to keep you back. He builds them to show you that you can go through anything no matter how big and bad they seem to you now.

I CANNOT SKIP STEPS!

This is something that no matter how much I complain about other people doing it I myself am still guilty of doing it. My dad always got onto me about "half assing" things as a kid. It was a big thing in our house. I even still get a little grief from my wife now even as a grown man. If I skip steps I am not improving myself or my craft. I am digressing. I am setting an example that it is ok to cut corners when no one is looking. I am EXTREMELY ANAL about the way my ropes are rigged. EVERYTHING must be correct. Life depends on it. Why shouldn’t everything else I do get the same effort and have the same meaning? Push yourself, people ARE watching!

ARE MY PLANS GODS PLANS?


Day pack for High Angle
Rescue school. New skills!



I chase the dream daily! I have applied to nearly every major city from Myrtle Beach SC to FDNY! I WILL GET MY ASSIGNMENT!!! Do to me pushing myself for the assignment I KNOW I WILL GET.  I am improving in many ways. I am learning new skills and techniques. I have to constantly push to be in Academy Ready Shape. I have to drill and remember new things on the rigs I am already on. STUDY ALL THE TIME! I know I WILL be on the best rig in town. But who’s to say Gods plan isn’t for me to simply be ON the best rig? Who’s to say His plan isn’t for me to BUILD the best rig in town? Who knows if my constant testing to higher standards of other departments isn’t just for me to come back and hold the next group to those standards? What if my experiences with SEVERAL different departments agility tests are meant to be used in making MY departments better? Could all my hard work to leave and go to the BIG CITY be work to prepare my LITTLE CITY TO BE BIG? Maybe I am going through all this to train my guys to be THE GO TO GUYS at our BIG ONE. Lord I hope not! Hopefully all my hard work will pay off. Hopefully my experiences are meant to be inspirational to others to strive and wok hard to get what they want. Teachers, coaches, parents always tell their kids if you work hard you can achieve anything you want. Hopefully I can be proof of that but more than anything I want to be proof that HE is in control. That, I am ok with.

PUSH HARD OR GO AWAY!!!


No room for lazy when our homes are hit by storms!



Laziness should be studied by the CDC. Seriously. Its contagious, causes bodily harm, makes people fat, can cause unemployment, and kills! Sounds almost like an epidemic right? THEN WHY DO WE ACCEPT IT AS A SOCIAL NORM? I hate to sit around all day. On days where you don’t HAVE to be out and the guy riding in says "I got some computer stuff to do. You guys go hide till lunch." what do you do? The same thing a lot of people would do. Find a recliner or hole in the wall and veg out till lunch. What good is that? Yea some days it’s warranted but are you really working so much that 20-50% of your shifts are spent like this? I doubt it highly! I refuse to be surrounded by this ideal. When I get bored I try to find something constructive for us all to do. Now that we have started to do this everyone holds each other to be productive. There isn’t much more time for idle sitting around at the house. We are learning some much more. We are finding out that we were wrong in thinking we knew all there was to know about our stuff! When the bell rings and all eyes are on us, everyone will look and know who has been putting in extra time on the floor! The lazy ones get left behind to be lazy.

I realize now that I have written what looks to be one of those annoyingly long articles from FIREHOUSE or FIRE ENGINEERING. I’ll put it in terms the truckies can understand. ALWAYS push to achieve your dreams but understand that your motives might not line up with your purpose! Sometimes everything in life works out just the way you planned. Sometimes it doesn’t. Accept that He is in control and push to do the best you can for Him and you will be rewarded. Maybe you’ll kick start someone else’s drive to achieve a dream!