Pushing the Rock Pre-order Page

There once was a man who lived in a cabin next to a field. In the middle of the field was a huge rock – an enormous boulder. One night, God came to the man in a dream and said “I want you to go out in the morning and every morning after that and push the rock with all your heart and all your might.” So, the next morning and every morning after that the man did exactly as God instructed. Every morning, day after day, week after week, month after month – no matter the weather – the man woke up and pushed the rock until he could no longer push it anymore. And day after day, week after week, month after month, the rock never budged a single inch. Some days, he did not feel like pushing the rock, but he did it anyway. Some days, he did not push the rock with all his heart and all his might, giving just a partial effort until he realized this was not God’s command. His task was to push the rock with all his heart and all his might, every morning. He grew frustrated and prayed, “God, why am I pushing this rock? Day after day, week after week, month after month I have pushed this rock. I have never moved it, and never will!”

God replied, “I did not ask you to MOVE the rock, I asked you to PUSH the rock with all your heart and all your might. You have been an obedient and faithful servant; now look how you have transformed yourself: your shoulders are broad, your arms are strong, your legs are powerful. You are now ready for me to use you for a greater purpose!”

I borrowed this exerpt from Sway’s Post 2015 Columbia Flood Relief backblast located here.

Many of the sentiments in Sway’s backblast were shared this October as flood waters flowed into the houses and business of our Eastern, NC communities as a result of Hurricane Matthew. As the winds blew outside our windows and the rain came pouring down on the 8^th of October, we didn’t know how bad it was going to be or what we were going to do, but because of the leadership  and relief efforts we had seen in Columbia a year prior, we knew that we had to have a role.  Accountability is about holding each other to a higher standard and leading by example.  We immediately teamed up with FIA here in Greenville, NC and got to work, borrowing many pages from the F3 Columbia Flood Relief book and getting guidance from those that had helped to lead those efforts.

While we were out in the community, building sandbag walls, praying with those affected, evacuating people, mucking houses, or aiding in a major community clean up day, we noticed over and over again that if we wore our shirts and practiced the same leadership principles that we practiced everyday in the gloom, people responded well and recognized that the guys in the F3 shirts and the women in the FIA shirts had credibility and could be trusted. The idea behind the Pushing the Rock shirt is to have a design that could be worn by both F3 and FIA (hence the woman holding the flag) to get the PAX excited about the 3^rd F and to give our community members a visual that they can easily relate to our values and principles.  As Sway mentions in his backblast, we meet in the gloom to surround ourselves with other #HIM, practice leadership skills, and push each other to grow stronger physically and spiritually.  Pushing that rock day in and day out helps us to grow so that when the opportunity presents itself, we are in an ideal position to lead and positively impact our communities.