Be Passionate About Your Future

ON The Path Of Winners

BY BAYO OGUNMUPE

Be Passionate About Your Future

PASSION is the starting point of all achievement. There has never been anyone who achieved anything of value, who wasn’t passionate about it. Passion is the energy that fuels your dream, your road to greatness is cluttered with problems and disappointments. And if you don’t have the correct mindset, your dreams can die there. During periods of disappointment, always remember that Jehovah gave you your dream, so go back to Him and ask for the strength to propel you forward.

  Nehemiah was passionate about rebuilding Jerusalem walls. When his enemies tried to sidetrack him and discourage him, he answered, ‘‘I am doing a great work, so, I cannot come down,” Nehemiah 6:3. Thus, it is God who gives you the power to run and leap. So, you cannot sit back, fold your arms and think that He will do it all for you. Between being inspired by your dream and your dream’s manifestation, there will be a lot of perspiration from you. As parents know, it is much harder having and raising babies than conceiving them. Thus, if you have passion for your dream, the price won’t stop you. You will wake up every morning, draw on the grace of Jehovah to take yet another step in the direction of what you know God put you on earth to achieve.

  As a mother eagle knows that if she waits for her young to get out of the nest and fly on her own initiative, it will never happen. So she pushes her out. That is certainly radical. But baby eagles learn to fly and fulfill their destinies that way. So, to succeed in life, you must stay within your strength and knowhow, but continually move outside your comfort zone. You can never accomplish anything of value while living within your comfort zone. We seldom move outside our comfort zone. We always resist it. We like to live in safety and comfort, avoiding struggle. As you grow old, you become more complacent, killing passion and the competitive spirit. Complacency clips our wings, keeps us from soaring, no matter how much we want to. To succeed requires initiative, taking risks. However, when you get to the door of opportunity, you are supposed to push. So step out in faith, take the initiative and believing in God, Providence will empower you.

  So press forward to the prize. Then, you will be happy, because success is the key to happiness. Happiness and success go together. Success is directly proportional to the degree of pleasure you derive from what you do. Dreams come true when gifts are set on fire with passion. The best career advice for you is to discover your innate passion and must aim at in life; first, get what you want, then after that, enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind enjoy their dreams.

  So get ready to move ahead. ‘‘I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised,” Joshua 1:3. Can you imagine how Joshua felt stepping into Moses’ shoes? He needed assurance. So God told him, one, ‘‘I will give you every place where you set your foot.” Here Jehovah is saying, just step out in faith and claim your inheritance. Just walk towards it and take possession. Two, ‘‘No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life.” Though Joshua faced relentless criticism, yet he survived. There were 31 kings, seven nations and giants the size of telephone poles waiting for Joshua in Canaan. But every battle he fought was an opportunity for God to show Himself strong on his behalf. Three, ‘‘As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.” If you are anxious about your future, recall Allah’s faithfulness to you in the past. At the end Joshua acknowledged that not one of God’s promises to him failed. Every promise was fulfilled. So, God who came through for Joshua, will come through for you, too.

  Our champion this week is Charles Stark Draper, the American aeronautical engineer, notable as a designer of navigational and guidance systems for ships, airplanes and rockets. Born in Windsor, Montana, the United States in October 1901, Draper died in Massachusetts in July 1987. Draper joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1935. Three years later he became a professor and was placed in charge of the Instrumentation Laboratory. He immediately began developing a gunsight for naval anti-aircraft guns, which was installed on U.S. naval vessels during World War II.

  In 1951, Draper became chairman of the aeronautical department of MIT. Then, his navigation system for aircraft was successfully tested in 1953. The system allows a plane to fly thousands of miles without reference to outside aids. In 1954, Draper introduced yet another system which was incorporated into U.S. guided missiles, including the Polaris. His laboratory also developed the guidance systems for the spacecraft of the Apollo Project which landed man on the moon. He was the greatest instrumentation engineer of  his time. He died in July 1987.