Category: Big Ideas are Intimidating if You Look at Them With a Small Perspective

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Who In the World Do You Think You Are?

Ever feel like God’s placed a burden on your heart, and it involves you doing something that you have no business doing? (If so, you’re in good company…Abraham, Moses, Noah, etc…)

“That’s absurd,” you might say, so you brush off the idea. For some people that’s the end of it.

For others, the idea lingers. You don’t outright shut the door on the possibility, but you might not do anything to move toward the goal, either. So it hangs out there for months, years, or even longer, just waiting until you allow other circumstances to kill the idea or you begin to take more concrete actions to commit to, or achieve, the goal.

Taking the perspective of God’s opponents, what would be your attitude toward the people who seek to fulfill these aspirations? As long as they’re not making any meaningful efforts, you probably wouldn’t care; but what about when they start committing to achieving those goals? That’s when you’d want their heads filled with thoughts like “Who in the world do you think you are? You have no business doing something like that! You’re not qualified in any way to even attempt to do something like that!”

You might feel ill-equipped to perform God’s tasks. Good. You’re supposed to. My friends, that is exactly what makes the idea so full of potential as far as bringing God glory. By way of example, what glorifies Him more…when a life-long highly skilled warrior defeats a giant soldier, or when a shepherd boy defeats a giant soldier?

My schooling is in the sciences and leadership. I took a basic writing course in college that was mandatory for all students, and a few other workshops about writing for the workplace. I barely know how to look someone up on social media. I’m no more qualified to write a blog about God working through imperfect people than I am to host a televised game show. When God placed the burden on my heart to start a blog that spurs Christians on, you can imagine my skepticism.

Here’s the thing, though: obedience is our responsibility, and outcome is God’s responsibility. That’s very important, so I’ll say it again…obedience is our responsibility, and outcome is God’s responsibility. If you’ve been burdened with a task that you know is Heaven-sent, don’t fixate on all the things that are going to need to be overcome. That’s God’s territory and is beyond what you can see. The part you should focus on is taking action, even if it means taking the first/next step without knowing the destination or what the end goal looks like.

It’s now been a year since I started blogging on this site. This is my 84th post. Some posts touch on times of high adventure while others are more mundane and relate to an everyday kind of experience. With all of them I’ve tried to articulate some sort of life lesson that can be used to encourage you to allow God to use you for His glory more than He’s using you right now. I’d urge you to read the Purpose page that describes how the blog got its name. It’s all meant to help you take action when you recognize “you know, I think I know what he’s talking about. I feel like God’s nudging me to…” In the absence of a nudge, I want to encourage you to use whatever combination of spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit has given to you. These gifts are to be employed for the very simple reason that God is glorified when His creation…you…does what it was made to do.

I want to help you live the life you were meant to live.

In closing, I want to explain a little bit about how this website works. If there’s a particular topic on this blog you’d like to read about, there are ways to sort through previous posts. Almost every post belongs to two categories. One category identifies the activity (whitewater, ropes, SERE Indoc, 2002 Winter Olympics, etc.), and is meant to set the stage for the point I want to pass along. The other category is the “moral of the story” (God can use you more than you think He can, Hang in there, Don’t let fear hold you back, Growing in Trust and Capability, etc.), and is the real purpose behind each story. You can see a list of categories at https://daregreatlynow.com/home/.

Another method of perusing the site’s posts is by using the same link to look through different tags. Tags aren’t quite as organized as the categories, but they might help you find what you’re looking for. They’re available at the same link.

I’d also love to hear feedback from you. What do you like or not like about DareGreatlyNow? Do you have any ideas that would make these posts easier to share or be available to more people? Finally, do you feel like you’ve been given a burden that you know you’re supposed to pursue, but you’re having a hard time coming to terms with it? Sometimes it helps just to tell someone, even if you do it anonymously. Feel free to comment on the page itself or email me at tim@daregreatlynow.com.

You were meant for great things, but you have to remember that you’re only a vessel. Let God be in charge. Be obedient to what He’s called you to do, and He’ll take care of the rest.

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There Is No “Plan B”

Photo courtesy of experienceperception.com

Boy, I’m a fan of those Marvel superhero movies. I’m not nearly as big a fan as some of the people out there, but it’s been fun to keep up with each new movie and see how the stories unfold. My wife and I went to see the first one…Iron Man…when it first came out in theaters in 2008 (she’s a cool wife). That was back before we had kids. Now, 11 years and over 20 movies later, the whole “Avengers” franchise came to a head with its most recent installment, “Avengers: Endgame” this past spring.

It’s been very interesting to observe, because while each individual movie was its own story, each one also contributed to the telling of a larger story that was always looming in the background. You’d probably be okay if you missed one or two of the minor movies, but if you hadn’t seen any of them before and you just walked in and watched the latest one, you’d be completely lost and you would have missed out on so many of the details.

In the superhero movies, the good guys always win, right? Well normally yes, but that’s not what happened last year with “Avengers: Infinity War.” At the end of that movie, the team of superheroes had been defeated soundly. Many of them were killed, and everyone on the planet (and beyond) had to endure the consequences of the heroes’ failure. It was a far cry from the fun, upbeat “save the world” superhero movie Marvel usually produced. When my wife and I went to see that one, we actually heard kids in the back of the theater, crying.

After watching “Infinity War,” we had to wait a whole year…until just a few weeks ago…to find out what happened next. We knew they couldn’t just end the story like that; the good guys have to win! We knew that by the end of “Endgame,” it would all be okay and the heroes would be back on top, but we didn’t know what path the story would take to get there. We could even make some solid guesses at a few of the major plot points, but we had no idea how the movie would fill in all the details.

Photo courtesy of comicbook.com

My friends, though it’s a strange comparison, this is exactly what it’s like being a Christian and serving the God that created the universe. The Bible lets us know that things are going to get very dark and bleak in the years ahead. Even right now, I’d say that during this time period in history, fewer Americans than ever before value God or attending church. Christianity is viewed as an intolerant and archaic belief system that’s essentially just a bunch of rules about what you can and can’t do. The influence of church in today’s society has weakened to the point where even people within the Christian community pick and choose what they believe from the Bible, or twist what it says in order to justify tolerating things God hates. I just recently heard about the president of a seminary here in the United States who does not believe in the virgin birth or that Jesus rose from the dead. How far have we decayed that a person with this type of belief system could be president of an institution that educates future pastors?

There’s good news though. The good guys will win. What’s really interesting is that the church is still God’s plan for the world. Christ redeemed the world, but it’s the church’s job to get the word out. In order to let people know about it, God’s “Plan A” is to use the church, and there is no “Plan B.”

Do you know what that means? This is the exciting part…it means that even if the church as we know it completely dies out and loses all influence over today’s culture, it will morph into something new and more effective that reaches people with the news of how unsaved souls can gain salvation through Christ. The book of Revelation foretells of a revival toward the end. This means that the evolving church…whatever it looks like at that point…won’t just do an okay job, it’ll rock at it with God’s help.

Well that brings up an interesting point. If the collective church is going to undergo so many changes, how will we know what we’re supposed to do? If you’re really serious about studying the fall of the church’s influence and the tough times ahead, it’s easy to stress out. I find that the easiest way to not stress out about it is to simply follow God’s prompting when you feel it. (You’ll know it when you feel it.) In Matthew chapter 10, Jesus instructs the disciples about how to conduct themselves as they go out and spread the message. Notice how he discourages worry here:

“18…and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19“But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. 20“For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.”

It’s as if He’s saying “I have a plan. I’m going to have you be a part of it. All you have to do is whatever I tell you, and it’s all going to be okay.”

At this point, some people would say “sure, but that’s for other people…pastors, missionaries, people who get paid for it.” Nope. It’s for everyone that follows Christ, whether it’s your occupation or not. We’ll all be given opportunities to be part of the plan, and all we have to do is whatever task He sets before us.

The good guy wins in the end. We can guess at some of the major plot points, but we don’t know how the details will get filled in. There will be epic struggles, and we’ll lose some friends far too soon. In the end though, the wrongs will be set right, the tears will be wiped away, and we’ll all celebrate together when it’s over. Isn’t that the team you want to work alongside and contribute to?

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Well Sure, But That’s Already Been Done

Photo courtesy of theconversation.com

We live in a capitalist country that’s driven by creativity and innovation. “The way we’ve always done it” only lasts until someone comes up with a better way to do it.

Did you know that Kodak invented the world’s first digital camera in 1975? Even though it doesn’t sound right, that’s true. But the digital cameras that we know didn’t become popular until the late 1990s or early 2000s. Why such a discrepancy? You’ll never believe it. Kodak sat on the technology because executives thought it would drive them out of the film business.

Back when film was the way we did pictures, Kodak had a major market share of that industry. The company let one of its employees try some hare-brained experiment with digital technology, and he was actually able to take digital pictures in the lab. Rather than play this hand and better position itself for the future, Kodak focused only on the present business environment and buried the technology. Instead of looking where it could go, it tried to prevent the present day from turning into tomorrow.

There are many Christians guilty of the same line of thinking. I understand that traditions are very important, but that doesn’t give license to sacrifice effort to reach people with the news of what Christ has done for them. The church should not be the guardian of tradition unless the tradition we’re talking about is inventing new ways to reach the lost. Solidify evangelism as the tradition, then foster and encourage new ways of doing it.

The church is not made of buildings, it’s made of people. The way people in society interact today is different from the way they interacted 10, 20, or 30 years ago. Looking forward from where we are now, the way people interact will likely continue to change in the future. Speaking generally, Millenials or members of Generation Z think and interact much differently from Baby Boomers or the Silent Generation. Is it something to bemoan? Maybe, maybe not; I think it’s just the reality to which we must adapt. It’s an opportunity for Christians to innovate new methods by which they spread the news. Christians should think like corporate marketers: how can we spread the message of Christ in an effective manner?

By way of example, one of my spiritual gifts is exhortation, and one of my talents is writing. A hundred years ago, that combination would result in something that looks very different from the blog I write today. Back then it might have been a regular column in a newspaper or magazine, or maybe a book of some kind. The modern version is something that’s available for anyone in the world to see. While the methods are different, the goal is the same: encourage readers to live a life of higher impact for Christ using the gifts, talents, and resources entrusted to them. In light of that example, visualize the things you can do, and how you can do them differently than the way they’ve already been done.

As long as we spread the message, it will take root where and when God wants it to. We’re commanded to spread the word and make disciples of all nations, including our own. In a world where everything is relative, there are people that are hungry for truth. What part will you play in delivering that truth to them?

Programming note: between Memorial Day and Labor Day, I’ll be cutting back to posts once a week for most of the time. It’s too early to tell, but that might become permanent. Thanks for reading!

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For Big Journeys, It’s Okay To Start With Little Steps

My buddy Jeremy and I decided during our Junior year of college in western NY state that we wanted to go see some of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City (SLC) during our Senior year. We didn’t know how we’d get there, where we’d sleep, or what we’d see, but we were going to figure out a way to make it happen.

Initially we brainstormed some crazy ideas just to see what kind of options were available to us. We looked into hostels, renting a camper, driving to a slew of different airports to fly out from there, all kinds of stuff. College was expensive; we didn’t have a whole lot in the way of money, so whatever we were going to do needed to be on the cheap. Looking at hotels in/near SLC during the block of time we were looking at was a joke; everything was either already booked or way too expensive. Over time it became obvious that if we were serious about this, we weren’t going to have a building to sleep in, and that meant we would have to be prepared to sleep outdoors.

There was plenty of public land near Salt Lake City, but for a lot of it you had to head up to higher elevations in the mountains. As you might expect, it turns out that it’s snowy and cold in the Rocky Mountains in February. The amount of snow in the mountains was large enough that you wouldn’t want to just walk into the forest with a backpack; you needed to have either snowshoes or cross-country skis. Since we were both familiar with cross-country skiing, we opted to go that route. Now we were looking at bringing skis, backpacks, multiple sleeping bags each, a tent, cooking equipment, and a good amount of warm, bulky clothes. The sheer amount of stuff we needed to bring meant flights were out.

Right, so we’re going to drive over 2,000 miles across the country with all this gear. What vehicle are we taking? Jeremy had a pickup truck, but without having a cap it was impossible to secure all the stuff we were bringing along. We had to keep it all safe while we were attending events, because we were going to depend on it when we needed it. I had a little hatchback, and we could probably squeeze everything inside, but we couldn’t really sleep inside it overnight while all of our stuff was inside. We needed a different vehicle.

We were willing to rent something, but what? Lots of rental places didn’t want to rent cars to people under 25, so we were even more limited in our choices. I wrote a few letters to the marketing department of a few different car manufacturers, telling them what we wanted to do. I figured it would be a cheap way for them to make a commercial to help demonstrate a given model’s versatility as far as gas mileage/dependability, roominess, and ability to handle winter weather. Either nobody was convinced or I wrote to them too late, because we never heard anything back from anyone. (Still a lost opportunity for them, in my mind!)

Jeremy found a place in one of the cities not far off our route that was willing to rent to younger drivers. We could leave our home base, drive to that city and swap cars, and then make the rest of the trip from there. On the way back we’d stop there again to switch out, then finish the last leg in the original vehicle. Whatever we ended up renting would need to be decent on gas mileage, able to handle a long trip, handle acceptably in the snow, and be roomy enough for us to stow all our gear and still have both of us sleep inside.

Our plan started taking shape. After we settled on the main concept, we just had to fill in the details. We looked into ticket sales and figured out which events we wanted to see. We found a bundle package of different events we’d like to see that were priced within our budget, so the timing of those events largely drove the dates we planned around. It turns out that even though we’d have to miss some class, there was a mini-break in the school calendar for a portion of the time we’d be gone. That would help minimize the catch-up work we would have to do.

The school I attended had a pretty robust program for outdoor life. I majored in Biology, but my minor was in Outdoor Recreation. The classes in that program many times cultivated leadership skills for guiding others through outdoor challenges, and taught many of the technical skills that went along with those situations. As a result, the school had a sort of “camp closet” where a lot of equipment was available to rent cheap. Since Jeremy and I knew the student in charge of renting out the equipment, and he thought what we were doing was pretty cool, we could procure a lot of our needs for a small price. Through him we obtained sleeping bags, backpacks, a cook stove and fuel, cookware, and a bunch of little odds and ends.

As the pieces started falling into place, we got excited. “Yes! We can do this!” The whole time, we had been trying to figure out if something this crazy was even possible. When it started looking like we could make it work, the magnitude of what we were thinking about doing hit us. “Whoa, are we really going to do this?”

Of course we were. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I know I personally got the jitters every now and then, though. Up until that point, the only time I slept in a tent was in the backyard of someone in my neighborhood as a kid. Now I had to come to terms with the idea that I was going to drive across the country to sleep in the snow for a few nights, and not actually sleep inside a building for a week or so.

God’s kinda funny sometimes. He’ll plant something in your mind that, try as you might, you can’t shake loose. It starts with an idea, and it’s not even fully formed. After you stop trying to ignore it, you turn it over and over in your mind, trying to figure out different aspects to it or new ways to look at it. Sometimes you get paired up with a partner on an idea, and the two of you complement one another and spur each other on. You look at this huge idea you’re having, and you start breaking it down into more manageable chunks. Looking closer, you just might find that your circumstances dictate your options, which lays out the path for you.

Before you know it, the only thing stopping you from doing something so bold, so brash, so unconventional…is you.

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It Starts With an Idea

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve thought that the Olympics were fun to watch. The idea that you’re seeing someone who, at least for the moment, is the best in the world in their sport…the gold medals, the national anthems and flags being raised…it was so straightforward and patriotic. At the beginning of my Junior year of college, the Summer Olympics took place in Sydney, Australia. Because it was a southern hemisphere location, the games started later than normal, and I was able to watch it with friends at school rather than at home during the summer break.

You can only watch so many Olympic events in a row before it gets old, but I kept tabs on what was going on all throughout the games. For the big stuff, I’d be watching with other people in a lounge somewhere.

A buddy of mine, Jeremy, was also keeping up with the games that year. One time as we were watching we got to talking, and I’m not sure exactly how it happened, but one of us said to the other something like “You know, the next Winter Olympics are gonna be in Utah when we’re seniors.”

That’s pretty much all it took. We were in. Somehow, we were going to figure out how to go to Utah to see some of the 2002 Winter Olympics in person.

We were students at a college in western New York state. Utah wasn’t close, but at least it was in our country. We didn’t know how we’d get there, how we’d get back, where we’d sleep, or how close the venues were to each other. All we knew was that we had a big and bold idea, and we were willing to make some sacrifices in order to make it happen. We had about 17 months to figure it out.

One thing that’s neat about this life is that God has given us free will. We can choose to follow Him or not. Beyond that, He gives us the ability to choose how we would like to glorify Him. If you’re a Christian, you may notice that some causes tug at your heart strings a little more than others. It may be a heart for helping the homeless, orphans, alcoholics, those in prison, someone that doesn’t have clean water or someone you personally know that can’t afford enough food or medicine. Your combination of talents, interests, and spiritual gifts does not often match up with other people’s, and that’s by design. You are uniquely equipped and motivated to tackle challenges that are tailor-made for you. If you feel as though you’re compelled to plug into a certain area, most likely it’s because you are.

At some point in your Christian walk, you probably had an idea about some challenge you were supposed to take on. Maybe it was big and bold, maybe it was something a little easier to sink your teeth into. Like our Olympic idea, sometimes you just need to let the idea bake for awhile before moving out. Don’t let it die in the “still baking” phase, though.

Jeremy and I did go to the Olympics as spectators. I’ll give plenty more information in later posts, but I’ll tell you this much: it’s been almost 17 years since we took that trip…there are things I was willing to do in 2002 that I’m probably not willing to do now. That’s not necessarily good or bad, it’s just different. That helps illustrate another point: no matter how old you are, you’ve got an advantage when presented with a big and bold challenge. When you’re young, you probably have limited financial means, but your enthusiasm can carry you through many discomforts that you may not be willing to endure when you get older. A couple of decades later, you likely have a more solid financial footing and the benefit of some life experience, but there are many priorities competing for your time and you have to be dedicated to a prayer life and devotional life or they’re simply not going to happen. Further along, in the early years of your retirement you may or may not be as busy as during your working years, but you probably have the benefit of having less structure in the way you spend your time. Later in life you may not be able to get out and perform physical tasks as easily, but your prayer life and mentorship roles have the potential to be the best they’ve ever been.

The point I’m making is that when God plants an idea in your head that seems like it might be a little too big for you to handle, focus on the ways He’s equipped you to succeed. Instead of turning it down, let it stew for a little bit. It’s supposed to be intimidating. If He gave you an easy assignment, how would He get any glory out of it? On the other hand, if someone is woefully unprepared to take on a mammoth undertaking, and a million things have to line up in order for it to happen, it becomes obvious that the project’s eventual success didn’t come because of the person; God gets the glory in those cases. If it’s God handing you the next assignment, be willing to bite off more than you can chew.