Phil Vischer is one of my favorite people in the world. I’ve never met him, but I’ve watched every VeggieTales episode he produced. His quirky humor makes me laugh out loud. I love his parodies of Star Trek, Rocky, Batman and Spiderman. They take me back to my childhood.
A few weeks back, while looking to find his new book, “Me, Myself and Bob,” on the internet, I stumbled on two sites. The first was www.philvischer.com. This is basically Phil’s blog. I learned all sorts of cool stuff about what he’s up to now. The second was www.jellyfishland.com, the site for Phil’s new media company, Jellyfish Studios. (There are some really, really funny puppet sketch videos on the site.) He'd linked to this site on his blog...and when I got there visa versa.
On the Jellyfish site's "About Us" section, I read Phil’s brief account of his "failure" at Big Idea – the company had to file for bankruptcy a few years ago – and the birth of his new company. There I was reminded of an important truth. God’s in charge and only what we do with his direction will work.
Let me quote Phil here. You can read the whole story on www.jellyfishland.com later if you want. This is just the conclusion.
Through the experience, Phil realized some interesting things. First, our relationships with God are much more important than our work for God. God doesn’t want us to be “busy,” he wants us to be available. He doesn’t want us to focus on “impact,” he wants us to focus on obedience. If we’re walking with Him, we’ll know when He has something specific for us to do. We don’t need to make stuff up. If we’re so wrapped up in the work we’re doing for God that we can’t even make eye contact with the person bagging our groceries, something in our lives is way out of whack.
Second, to be a Christian is to give Christ “lordship” of our lives. That’s what it means. He’s Lord, we’re not. And if we’ve given Christ lordship of our lives, where we are in 20 years is, frankly, none of our business. Where we are in 5 years is none of our business. What is our business, is what God has told us to do today, and whether or not we’re doing it. That’s it.
Phil’s “big idea” died under the weight of Phil’s own ambition. Even though it was ambition to do “good,” it still amounted to a failure to allow God to lead him on a daily basis. A failure to follow. To submit.
So now Phil is starting again, and he wanted the name for his new company to remind him every day of the lessons he’s learned. So he picked “Jellyfish.” Why? Because jellyfish can’t choose their own course. They can’t locomote. They can go up a little, they can go down a little. But overall, they’re completely dependent on the current to carry them wherever they’re supposed to be. For a jellyfish to make a 20-year plan would be ridiculous. An act of ultimate hubris. And so it is with us. Rather than crafting their little plans and laboring to force things to go “their way,” Phil and his new cohorts at Jellyfish are committed to seeking and following God’s direction, each and every day – committed to staying in the “current” of God’s will, and letting Him carry them where they need to be. No long range plans, unless they come directly from God.
It sounds a bit weird. Practically “un-American.” How do you run a company without long range planning? To be honest, we’re not exactly sure. But that’s the Jellyfish experiment.
Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” I believe it. Phil reminded me to live it. Thanks, Phil (a.k.a. Pirate Pete).
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