Taken Off Guard

Hey team. So here we are. It is another Monday. The month of April is coming to an end, we’re almost there.

I wanted to talk to you about a quote that I read from CS Lewis. I don’t know how many of you guys have ever seen either the movie or read the book “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.” That’s who CS Lewis is. He’s written a lot of different books and stuff. They did a thing in his life recently. There was a play, like a Broadway-type thing that came out not too long ago.

Anyway, so here’s what he said: “Surely what a man does when he is taken off guard is the best evidence for what sort of man he is.” (again, that’s CS Lewis).

When a man’s taken off guard, that is the best evidence of the kind of person that person is.

And that gets back to, because Mondays are about our core values, and today’s Monday Message, is your core values. If they’re truly in you, then when you’re taken off guard, your core values are going to shine. If your core values aren’t in you, then when you’re taken off guard, you’re probably not going to shine and show the core values.

Investment. Resolve. When you’re taken off guard, are you resolved? When you hit a wall and you realize that, “Oh my God, this is going to be tougher than I thought it was going to be.” Do you quit? Or do you have the resolve to continue to go because that’s in you when you’re taken off guard?

When somebody says something to you…Do you get angry and mad and want to punch him in the face? Or are you able to stay reserved and calm in that moment? Again, it is the best measure of who we truly are when we’re taken off guard when we’re surprised in that way.

And so, as I was reading that quote, I was thinking about it, I was thinking about our core values. I was thinking about even me. There have been times I’ve not measured up when taken off guard. I’ve found myself responding to the situation instead of letting myself be not consumed by the thing. Instead of letting my reaction be more positive or more reserved as opposed to lashing out in the moment of a situation.And there’s a lot of ways to take that.

But again, I really like the thing that CS Lewis said, is that it is about like when we are surprised.

When we’re taken off guard, when that moment happens, it is the measure of what kind of person we are.

And so, as we are thinking about that. Can you change who you are? Not totally. I mean, over time, I think that there are things that you can do to change that whole demeanor. There are certain core elements of yourself, and I even think about this, like when I see.

I’ve had the privilege of being able to go and teach and train warriors from all kinds of different disciplines, from the military, from police work, from security. I’ve been able to teach men and women defense of combat type stuff. And when you take somebody off guard, when you punch somebody in the face, for instance, and I’ve done this a couple times.

When you punch a young cop in the face (and I don’t recommend doing that if you’re not in a training environment, though, so don’t go out and like punch a cop in the face.) But I’ve had the benefit of being able to have and be in the ring with some young men. You punch somebody in the face and their face lights up like, “Oh my God, I’ve never been punched in the face before,” and you can see them looking around the room. Looking for their union rep or their sergeant, like, “Hey, is this okay? Can he punch me in the face? Is that all right?”

And they’re taken off guard because they’re surprised by the fact that there was going to actually be some kind of combat. It’s the first time this has happened. They were taken off guard. And then I’ve seen other people where punch them in the face, and it’s like I unleashed a demon within them. And they unleash on me. Well, they just beat me. It’s that kind of situation.

When you take a person off guard, who they are inside, the warrior in them either rises or the individual that has never been to war is surprised by it and they don’t understand.

And there’s a lot of different things that we could talk about here on this.

It’s about the character of who you are inside you and if you build into you these different elements of your life. And that’s why I drive the core values so hard. That’s why we have a Monday message. These core values need to be woven into who you are, right?

Are you humble? If you’re taken off guard, do you lean towards humility? Or do you lean towards arrogance? Do you lean towards compassion or do you lean towards hate? Do you lean towards lying? Or do you lean towards being honest and telling the truth. Transparency, one of our core values. Do you lean towards quitting or do you lean towards sticking to it and driving through resolve?

Do you like to eat cake, but when times are bad, I’m not around, but I’ll come around when you’re celebrating, but I’m not going to come around? Can you mourn with somebody that’s had a loss and can you celebrate with somebody that’s got a victory? These are our things, ultimately. Are we valuable? Our core values matter deeper to us.

So as you’re getting on this Monday, think about your core values and think about if you were taken off guard today by something, how would you rise and shine, or would you maybe show a character side that you’re not so happy with? And that’s something for us to all work on.

We’ve all made these mistakes, we’ve all had to grow, and you can grow and you can keep getting better.

All right, so God bless you, have a wonderful week, remember, be valuable, nothing less will do. And if you like the picture behind me, I took that in New Braunfels, Texas, about a year or so ago when my wife and boys were down there. It was fall, so beautiful colors and everything, and that is the Guadalupe River that goes down through there. A lot of people in the summertime, this river, people are intertubing, so this is like wall-to-wall intertubes and kayaks and things in the summertime.

All right, God bless you guys, I’ll see you next week.