Want to succeed? One VERY important key.

Bonus blog!! You guys are lucky this month. In an attempt to stay “current”, I wanted to sneak this in today.

Kevin Durant, power forward for the Oklahoma City Thunder, was officially crowned MVP of the NBA today. I know this is basketball related, but it ties in to the blog topic in a number of ways. If you want to have influence in the world today, then listen for a message in the video below. Check Matthew 23:12 first if you have the time.

I want to encourage you to watch this video right through... watch just a couple of minutes, and unless you've got a strong focus on your “to do list”, I guarantee you'll end up watching all of it. It helped me procrastinate writing an assignment today!

Obviously Kevin's faith in God shines through in this speech, but the biggest thing that struck me is his humility. People of faith, and people of no faith, know him to be a genuinely humble guy. He's a grown into a hero in the NBA and among sports fans worldwide, but even more than that, he's a hero in his home-town. After a lot of hard work and a lot of disappointments, this is the first time he's been awarded the MVP – the most coveted individual award in basketball. Perhaps it's proof that those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Leaven in the hood, or well... 50 Cent's Youtube channel.

Following on from last month, I wanted to continue on the same theme, of “Roaring on the rooftops”, vs “Living like leaven”. If you didn't catch last months blog, I suggest you read it here first. I wanted to start off with a little video that features a hip hop artist called Trip Lee. Even if you're not big into hip hop, it's still worth watching... Trip Lee (definitely a Christ-follower) is interviewed by some dude who's running rapper 50 Cents Youtube channel, connecting the rapper with a whole new audience. Check out the 6 minute interview below.

Given his cultural context, I believe Trip handles this interview beautifully. He's not the only artist who's working to avoid the “Christian rapper” label, Lecrae is another one – he put it simply in an interview (on the same Youtubechannel) “If I'm a Christian rapper, then Lupe Fiasco's a Muslim rapper”. That's it – case closed right there. These artists, and many others, are connecting well with an audience that's wider than the Christian bubble. Even if you dislike hip hop music, there's a lesson in there for you if you're an artist, or if you're involved with the media in some way. Just because you're a disciple of Jesus, doesn't mean that you have to bring a message through everything you do. There's a lot more to the kingdom than transforming all that we do in our life into a gospel tract. Of course the gospel is important, and we should never deny what we believe - but if you know your calling is to bring music to a large audience, or if you know you've got a vision and a message that the world needs to hear, then there's nothing wrong with working not to be pigeon-holed.