CHALLENGED BY THE HEIGHTS

THIRD CHAPTER

CHALLENGED BY THE HEIGHTS

Written by Salvador Montoya

Some Gadites defected to David at his stronghold in the wilderness. They were brave warriors, ready for battle and able to handle the shield and spear. Their faces were the faces of lions, and they were as swift as gazelles in the mountains.

1 Chronicles 12.8

All moments are key moments

Frederick Buechner

1

I was born by the river. The black man standing up in front of the multitude speaks with a huge weight of passion. He has over 2000 people paying attention to his message. Yes, those are his followers. They came to see him, to hear his wisdom, to hear his voice, to be touched by his blessings. His speech talks about the trials of the heart, the ways of being a happy person, the keys to be a productive nation. While he is giving his soul in words of encouragement, the well known leader Felix Figuera remembers when he was a little kid. “I was raised up in the farm with the cows. Everyday I took a bath in the river. I know how the poverty looks like. We were living in a poor house made by dry woods and leaves of palm trees. I wasn’t clothed at all. But something inside of me was telling me: ‘You can be better’. And I want to tell you, my people: You can be better”. He can say like Sam Cooke’s song: I was born by the river. He can say like Pablo Neruda’s poem: We shall extract the misery like an evil tooth. Felix Figuera, one of thirdteen kids, was born in Naricual, Anzoátegui State, Venezuela in 1953. He learned how to read with his mother. And then at the little school the teacher Irma Malave Brito defined his reading and writing skill. With the river and with his parents, Felix Figuera learned the power of planting and sowing the land but he stayed for a while without academic studies because the family didn’t have money. He felt so unhappy.

2

Challenged by heights. As a young man Felix Figuera interested on driving heavy equipment trucks: backhoe and wheel loaders, draglines and compactors. Figuera worked on constructing the Turimiquire dam project. But during those years he recieved a calling to be a powerful leader, to be a bussiness man with a greatness mentality: Felix Figuera was challenged by heights. In order to achieved that great goal: Figuera quicked his vices, his old and agressive behavior. And for 20 years he dedicated himself to build an organization to form leaders and mentors. Around the year 2000, Felix Figuera recieved an invitation from Billy Graham organization. Figuera went to Amsterdam and he recieved mentorship by great leaders as Luis Palau, Alberto Motessi, the brother Pablo. Nevertheless, suddenly caused by some mistakes everything that he built felt down. His friends and his supported followers rejected him. It was a holocaust moment for him. He was alone, broke and forgotten. But with a big faith and with a big visión he started again from the zero point helped by his family. And step by step he is building an international organization. Focused in that purpose, Félix Figuera has traveled around United States of America, Brazil, Colombia, Italy, Israel, Guyana, San Salvador, Argentina, Ecuador, Germany, Holland. He has trained leaders in those countries. Felix Figuera studied 3 years with John Maxwell organization and he has a leaders trainer certificate. He has also doctorate degree in theology by Insut. His organization has spread all around Venezuela: Guiria, Barquisimeto, Píritu, Pto La Cruz. His headquarter is in Barcelona, Anzoategui state. Felix Figuera shoutes to his people, his main principle: “Strenght and go forward because victory belongs to those who never give up”. We are taught by that kind of passion: the passion that crosses the desert.

3

What about the desert?. There are plenty meanings of a desert. But we are going to use to the word desert as a place of training. A place where your spirit, mind and soul is shaped to fullfil your sucessful destiny. In his classic book Iliad, Homer explains when Achilles was rejecting to fight that Phoenix speaks to him saying that Peleus send it to Achilles: “A child you were, ignorant of wars’s evils and the assembly where men find fame. That was why he made me your guardian, to teach you how to speak and act” (Iliad, Book 9). And another traslation says: “You were young, knowing nothing about war, which levels men, or about public debates, where men acquire distinction. So Peleus sent me to teach you all these things, so you could speak and carry out great actions”. In the desert you are trained to speak about your destiny with attitude, with faith, with passion. You acquire the power to speak powerful visions about your present and future. The gadites when to David in the desert to save their lives but David transformed them in warriors. David shaped them to do great actions. The desert changed you to be an action person. But watch out: it is not about heroism. In words of Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III: it’s the blue note also: “What is the Blue Note? It is who we are as a people. A people who look through the lens of the Blue Note, know, joy is married to sorrow and tragedy is forever engaged to triumph. Life with her sweet brutality and bitter blessings reminds us, praise and pain are first cousins, and worship and weeping constantly flirt with each other. The accurate hermeneutic for searching the biblical landscape is from the balcony of the Blue Note Gospel”. In the desert you cry out because of loneliness, because of tragedies, because of betrayals, exclusion, lack of resources, persecution. But all these things are training you to be a warrior.

4

All moments are key moments. When you are trained in the desert you discover the real grace of life itself. Let’s listen the writer Frederick Buechner: “Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace”. Let’s listen to Rob Bell’s interpretation: “I’ve often heard people say they have no story or their life is boring. This is madness, because when I meet someone who says this and then I start asking questions people always have stories about heartache and joy and loss and wonder. It’s all there inside the person”. The story of Felix Figuera show us the results to be trained by deserts. When you are trained by deserts your life becomes in a center to bless lives, to motivate people to success, to inspire others to be great. You taste life not with the vanity of a selfish person, you taste life with the senses of pain but full of hope in your words and actions. Finally, you taste life to achieve with others your successful destiny.