Let’s be honest… you and I, we’ll probably never be the best at anything. Some people never try to be the best or even really good at something. Some people just don’t care.
But I care.
Some people seem to just be satisfied with average. Even less than average.
Some people don’t want to dream big or go far or achieve much.
But I do. I really do.
And sometimes I get a little envious of others' success. Ok, I get flat out jealous. I don’t mean to. I don’t want to. But I just have to admit, I do. I have to work on that and guard against it.
But I just want to connect with those who want to dream big and go far and achieve much. I think this drive is from God. God sets it in the heart of people to have ambition. It’s like He set a fire inside of some people and that fire won’t go out until that vision is achieved.
I think God does this in me. He gives me a vision of a preferred future and sometimes it’s like it consumes me. It’s like it possesses me. I go for it. I work hard.
I remember when we started our first buildout as a church. We were renting space at a high school for years. It was fun at the beginning, all the setting up and tearing down. All the super early mornings and really late nights prepping equipment so a hundred people could come and experience God in our church was exciting. I loved it. And it was worth it. But after a while I have to admit it became pure good ole’ fashioned work.
WHAT CAME NEXT WAS LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT.
We rented our first permanent space. It was a 35,000 square foot, old, run- down abandoned grocery store. I remember me and my dear friend, Mr. Ken Bussell, walking into that space. There were no walls, just dreams. And man did we dream.
I remember asking Ken if he had a napkin. We found a napkin and on It we started drawing lines that would eventually define the space that would become our first real auditorium and lobby, our first kids area and Journey Store. We even drew in a little cafe—all on the napkin.
Once that dream caught fire in us we knew we had to build it and believed God was telling us to. We prayed and told God we would try but we knew we needed His help. So we asked Him for help. We asked Him to do something that we knew we couldn’t.
Then God seem to tell me something. I said Ken, I think we can build this whole building out in 90 days. I don’t know if I was trying to convince myself or if I was trying to convince Ken. I thought people would come and sacrifice and believe God for great things. If we could get hundreds of people to volunteer like crazy we could do it in 90 days. We had no money. None. It took everything we had just to secure the lease. We took out personal loans for the build out. So we needed the volunteers. We trusted God for them.
Well, we moved the tools in on Halloween night. I remember that. Got to work the next day. Bummer is, we didn’t make the 90 day dream. It took us 111 days from the day we moved in to the day we had our first Experience in that building.
Did you read that right? 111 days to totally remodel 35,000 square feet with a bunch of volunteers. I remember that time. I was obsessed with the dream. I felt it was from God. (Looking back I have many regrets about the sacrifice my family made but that’s for another blog.) I remember being so driven that nothing else mattered.
So if you dream, what’s holding you back? If God is calling you to something, what are you waiting for? Recently we talked at MetroCITYchurch.tv about how church is the huddle. It’s where we group together and get the game plan going. But it is not the game! We are called to get out of the huddle and into the game.
What are you telling yourself that is keeping you away from God’s best for you?
I saw a list of excuses pastors give why they and their churches are kept from God’s best. It inspired me to come up with my own short list of what I hear people say over and over that keeps them from getting into the game:
“I just don’t have what it takes.”
“It’s somebody’s else’s job. It’s not my responsibility.”
“I’m not a leader.”
“It takes money.”
“I’m too old.”
“I’m too young.”
“I’m depressed.”
“I just don’t know what to do to get started.”
“I may not succeed.”
“I get jealous of others.”
“I don’t have an education.”
“I want everyone to like me.”
“I need to understand everything before we begin.”
“I’ve tried before, and I failed.”
“I don’t need a mentor.”
“Porn isn’t that bad.”
“That definitely won’t work here.”
“It’s my fault.”
“It’s not my fault.”
“I stopped caring a long time ago.”
“I can’t…”
A second century pastor once said, “Let us remove the ignorance and darkness that spreads like a mist over our sight and let us get a vision of the true God.”
Now read that again.
And again.
Until you see a big God you will never see a big dream in your life come true. Trust God. Believe God. Follow God. Obey God.
Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21 NLT)
You and me, we may never be the best at anything but isn’t it fun to think God’s dream for us is bigger than our dreams for us?
Thanks for Reading, Pastor Jeremy