Life Defining Moments


I saw Ironman Thursday night; the whole family went. It’s been out for a while; this was just our first opportunity for some theatre time. The story line was pretty cool as were the graphics. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is a billionaire industrialist/inventor who is kidnapped oversees and forced by terrorist/rebel troops to build a weapon. Instead, he built an armored suit and escapes the peril of the rebels. Once safely home, he refines the suit and vows to protect mankind as Ironman. Sounds like a noble task and revision of life purpose. While noble tasks are great, what is more interesting to comprehend is how one arrives at this transformation. For Stark, it was the realization of the actual end users of his products while held in captivity.

What happened to Tony Stark was a defining moment. The weapons, his new ally, the saving medical procedure all played a role in this life altering moment. His return home begins a mid-course correction for corporate and personal vision. Stark’s experiences altered his life’s ambition and purpose. With a number of twists and turns in the plot, Stark overcomes evil and right prevails. I’m looking forward to subsequent releases to see how the writers play out this defining moment.

Have you ever had a life defining moment? I’m not talking about something as necessarily dramatic as being under guard by terrorist forces while trapped in a cave. Defining moments come in all shapes and sizes and are relative to your situation. These moments bring all that is dear to us into a new unique focus. We re-dream the dream, re-vision the vision, and re-purpose our purpose. God specializes in these moments to re-direct our life journey. Life changing experiences happen for a reason, they are used to change us and to spur us to transformation.

Have you held true to your life defining moment and to the ensuing truth(s) revealed? Sometimes when we get some distance between the moment and our current situation, complacency about this newer vision can set in. Once the urgency has passed, comfort becomes our pattern. It’s important to take an inventory of those life defining moments. What did they say? What did we learn? What lessons did we apply to our practice and behavior? Don’t let loose of the life defining moments. Hold on to them dearly, they are God’s special instruction(s) and lesson(s) for living a life on course to make a difference with Him.

Take a few moments today to remember the defining moments. Jot them down in a journal. Where are you now in this moment?