Singer-songwriter  Thad Cockrell is an artist not afraid to express his emotions. His songs are personal and unguarded, laying bare his feelings about love and his place in the world. And his performances are artful in their openness, passionate without becoming histrionic. Cockrell grew up the son of an Independent Baptist pastor who also happened to be the president of Cockrell’s school. While in school, Cockrell discovered his love of country music and rock and roll, which was forbidden in his home. Cockrell’s early work found him making music steeped in country and folk, most notably 2003’s Warmth and Beauty and 2005’s Begonias (the latter a collaboration with former Whiskeytown vocalist Caitlin Cary). After stepping away from the music business, Cockrell returned as part of the indie pop duo Leagues, and with his 2020 solo effort If In Case You Feel the Same, he made a bold step into contemporary pop.

For Cockrell, one of his greatest hopes for If in Case You Feel the Same: the potential for creating an unlikely unity among those from entirely different walks of life. “One of the things I really wanted to do with this album was make a record with people who didn’t look, think, or believe like me,” says Cockrell. “I had this idea that if we created something really special, maybe it would have some kind of ripple effect—so that when we play these songs live, the people in the audience don’t all look, think, and believe the same too. To me unity comes from diversity, not from sameness, and that’s what makes things really powerful.”

“I dream for a living. This is what I’ve done all my life.
This is what I wanted to do with my life.”

Considered one of the founding pioneers of the New Hollywood era and one of the most popular directors and producers in film history, Steven Spielberg talks about what it takes…

Our still camera broke. I went to the Scoutmaster. I said, “Can I tell a story with our home movie camera?” He said, “Yes” — to fulfill the requirements for the merit badge — and I made a little Western called Gunsmog.

I’m really dating myself because, of course, James Arness and Gunsmoke was all the rage on television in those days. And I made this little Western with my sisters and my friends, and my next-door neighbors and some of the Boy Scouts. And we just — everybody had cowboy suits because we lived in Arizona, my goodness, you know.

And so we all brought our cowboy suits out, and I made this little Western movie and showed it to the Boy Scout troop on a Friday night when we had a meeting, and they went ballistic. They were screaming and clapping and laughing both with and at the movie. I didn’t care. It was a response, and the response set me on fire. It absolutely set me on fire, and I never wanted to live without some kind of affirmation, some kind of collective feedback.

And maybe that’s why my early movies were all about you. My early movies were all soliciting you, making you my partners, thinking about you behind the camera, thinking about what would turn you on, what would get you excited, what would make you laugh, what would make you scream. How could I create suspense out of whole cloth when that darn shark never worked? And you were my partners. My audience, you know — I collaborated with you, and you collaborated with me, and I think in the beginning of my career, I had this wonderful experience, and the thing I really want to emphasize is, I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t have a choice.

When you have a dream — and the dream isn’t something you dream and then it happens, the dream is something you never knew was going to come into your life — dreams always come from behind you, not right between your eyes. It sneaks up on you. But when you have a dream, it doesn’t often come at you, screaming in your face, “This is who you are! This is what you must be for the rest of your life.” Sometimes a dream almost whispers, and I’ve always said to my kids: “The hardest thing to listen to, your instincts, your human personal intuition, always whispers. It never shouts. Very hard to hear. So you have to, every day of your lives, be ready to hear what whispers in your ear. It very rarely shouts.”

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. [Romans 5:3-4 NLT]

Here is what we want to wrestle with: INFLUNSR defines grit as choosing passion over distraction. Spielberg said “… you have to, every day of your lives, be ready to hear what whispers in your ear.” What is the dream that is whispering in your ear? What will that dream require of you? Let’s discuss this…

If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow. [Matthew 5:40-42 NLT]

INFLUNSR defines excellence as choosing to create a better future by going the extra mile. Let’s wrestle with several ideas:

• When have you found yourself doing just the minimum expected?
• How do you react when someone else gives only the minimum?
• Which is harder for you? In what area of your life is it easier to go an extra mile? Relationships? School? Which is the hardest? Why do you think that is?
• What might keep you from saying yes to someone’s request… or a need you see?
• In what area might God be nudging you to go an extra mile?
• What have you done out of obedience that might’ve seemed small, yet later discovered was a big deal?
• How hard is it for you to step outside your comfort zone?
• What is your personal comfort zone?

In this Episode’s Version, we asked you to read the first-hand account of Rebekah Gregory DiMartino who was standing with her family near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, when two bombs exploded, killing three people and injuring more than 260 others. Her injuries were catastrophic, resulting in more than 35 surgeries and, eventually, the amputation of her left leg.

Two years later, she trained to run the Boston Marathon on a prosthetic leg. Through pictures and her own words, she talks about her journey, starting with that fateful day at the finish line.

INFLUNSR defines grit as choosing passion over distraction. Passion begins with intrinsically enjoying what you do. Interest doesn’t mean that you enjoy every part. One form of perseverance is the daily discipline of trying to do things better than we did yesterday. I met a guy recently who said he was writing a book. When I asked about how much he had done, it turned out after a bit of mumbling and waffling around, that he wrote one chapter 12 months ago and hadn’t touched it since. That’s not what we are talking about when we say gritty people practice. Gritty people continue to find their weaknesses and zero in on them to eliminate them. What ripens passion is the conviction that your work matters. For most people, interest without purpose is nearly impossible to sustain for a lifetime. If you don’t think what you’re interested in matters you won’t keep going when it gets hard. If you don’t get deep personal satisfaction from the results of your interest, you won’t jump the hurdles that get put in front of you. You need to find your purpose if you want to keep going.

And then there is hope. That is what Rebekah Gregory DiMartino exhibits most. From the very beginning to the very end, it is inestimably important to learn to keep going even when things are difficult, even when we have doubts. At various points, in big ways and small, we get knocked down. If we stay down, grit loses. If we get up, grit prevails.

What does it mean when Solomon says hope deferred makes the heart sick (Proverbs 13:12)?

No one likes waiting. It feels good to get what we want. But when our expectations are delayed for a long time, we can experience disappointment, disillusionment, and loss of hope. In some cases, prolonged waiting for what we eagerly desire can become such an affliction to us that it differs little from a lingering sickness. This scenario is the exact meaning of Solomon’s words “hope deferred makes the heart sick.”

The term deferred in the passage means “to put off” or “drag out,” as in a long, drawn-out process. As we eagerly hope for something important, and it keeps being postponed, the longing we feel can make our heart sick.

Dashed hopes sicken the heart, and the higher the expectations, the greater the frustration. While getting what we desire can be an excellent thing, we must not allow the pursuit of fulfillment to become a temptation to sin. Waiting is an opportunity to trust God and allow Him to work in our hearts and strengthen our character:

So what is that thing that you are hoping for? And what is your biggest hurdle in that process? Is it interest? Practice? Purpose? Or hope? And how does Rebekah Gregory DiMartino’s story move you? Let’s dive into this as a Circle.

We encouraged you to ask for your parents or guardian’s permission, grab some friends and watch First Man, the story of astronaut Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) and the incredible effort it took to land him and Buzz Aldrin (Corey Stoll) on the Moon in 1969. The film disposes with the heroic mythologizing that’s so regularly utilized in film portrayals of NASA and America’s space program. Instead, it tells an incredibly small story — Armstrong’s struggle to cope with the death of his young daughter — and places it within the context of one of the most astonishing accomplishments in human history. It’s a feat, the film stresses, pulled off not by larger-than-life figures, but by groups of ordinary people who each paid an incredible cost.

It’s a breathtaking piece of filmmaking, filled with some of the most intense portrayals of spaceflight ever put onscreen. But for all its technical wonder, First Man’s focus on Armstrong’s relentless stoicism ends up feeling more like a hindrance than a revelation. It’s an epic, ambitious film, but it ends just shy of true greatness.

Rated PG-13 for some thematic content involving peril, and brief strong language.

INFLUNSR defines grit as choosing passion over distraction. How does he/his story exhibit grit and perseverance? Why are these important character traits strengths as it relates to what Armstrong was attempting to accomplish? Let’s wrestle with this in the Circle…

We asked you to read The Atlantic article The Absurdity of the First Man Flag Controversy. The Neil Armstrong biopic, is many things: a breathtaking cinematic production that pays as much attention to the accurate replication of spacecraft as it does to the stunning visual rendering of the lunar surface. A dramatic retelling of a space race between two very different nations, and the maddening moments when the Soviets outmaneuvered the Americans. Most of all, it is an intimate portrait of the soft-spoken pilot whom NASA chose for the pivotal achievement in the saga, and his difficult journey to get there.

The emotional peak of the First Man film comes when Armstrong wanders off on his own and stands at the edge of a crater. He opens a curled-up glove to reveal his daughter’s bead bracelet, and drops it into the darkness of the cavern. For First Man, this is the end of the journey. How does this scene connect to the idea of grit: choosing passion over distraction? Let’s wrestle with this as a Circle.

We asked you to read a Forbes article titled The Importance Of Perseverance.

What’s perhaps under-appreciated, or less considered, is the role that determination to go on plays in the ultimate success of business. It’s our brains that elevate us to a place where we’re able to pursue our dreams with a company of our own, but it’s often hard heads and stiff backs that enable it to continue on. Perseverance and persistence are equally crucial in the work required to turn a business into a viable enterprise, given the challenges and roadblocks thrown up along the way.

Mary Juetten says, “We want to be brilliant and create something great, to be known for the work that we do and the qualities related to that brilliance…. we want quality and creativity to be the words associated with us at least in the minds of customers. But in order to get there, we need that persistence, that perseverance, to allow us to achieve those goals in the face of obstacles that would otherwise derail us.” There is a high probability that, at some point, you may start a business or some sort of monumental endeavor. Why do you think grit play such a pivotal role in accomplishment, success or finishing a task?

We asked you to watch Kid President Ted Talk I Think We All Need a Pep Talk.

Kid President commands you to wake up, listen to the beating of your heart and create something that will make the world awesome. This video from SoulPancake delivers a soul-stirring dose of inspiration that only a 9-year-old can give.

What will be your Space Jam? What will you create that is awesome? And why are you still sitting there? Could it be that your focused on distraction(s) and not choosing passion?

Let’s discuss this as a Circle…

We asked you to watch the video entitled You Raise Me Up.

When you don’t give up, you cannot fail.

Faith in Christ is a pursuit…a fight…a race. It’s a journey laden with difficulty, but at the finish line awaits an imperishable reward that is given to those who persevere…Christ Himself. Psalm 16 is called a michtam of David. The title michtam is commonly understood as golden; others think it is related to a word meaning “to cover.” Since the psalms with this title (16, 56-60) are written from times of peril, some think the idea is of covering the lips in the sense of secrecy, as if this were a secret or silent psalm given in a time of crisis. This is a wonderful song relating how David found the secret of contentment and great gladness even in pressing times; it also powerfully predicts Jesus and His work for us. David writes in Psalm 16:5 (NIV), “Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure.”

Let’s discuss this in the Circle…

Disclaimer:

INFLUNSR’s mission is to fuel the next generation of leaders worth following and to help students learn how to think, not what to think. Any articles posted and questions asked are intended for that sole purpose.