Don't Rush It

My family (and the rest of our mission team) will be in Arizona a week from now. We've been planning this trip for months and will soon find ourselves out west once again. There is a palpable energy of anticipation among the team as all our preparation becomes reality very soon. It's an exciting time to look forward to and while I want to get there quickly, I also don't want the experience to be over too soon. 

It's a regular part of human nature to want time to speed up to get us to the exciting things and then for it to slow down once we arrive there. Sadly, that isn't the way it works. Instead, we've got to be patient in the preparation and planning and enjoy the moments as long as they last. Hurrying through parts of our life will cause us to miss something important. Even if we repeat an event (like a yearly mission trip) each year is unique enough to merit its own special attention.

A Little Excitement

What excites you about each day? 

I'm not expecting every day to be one big party or for everything that I do to be fantastically satisfying. I understand that there are mundane parts to everything we do, but daily passion and fulfillment should be a key ingredient. There has to be some joy in what you do or the pace of it all can become dreary and overwhelming. There is comfort in the routine, but there has to be some deep satisfaction in what we do or we lose our sense of contentment.

Working with Passion

I escaped from my office today to do some writing at Starbucks (change of place + change of pace = change of perspective) and found that it was not nearly as crowded as usual. I made some headway on a few things until a college student named Carly sat down next to me. I couldn't help but overhear as she got a phone call confirming that she had been accepted into a missions program that would spend her summer in Africa. Needless to say, she was incredibly excited and was calling all of her family to tell them the great news. I could tell from her voice that she was doing everything she could to keep her voice down when all she wanted to do was scream the great news as loudly as she could. Her passion and enthusiasm were incredibly contagious.

I found myself thinking about that powerful energy and how we have it at different times in our lives. Whether it's excitement over a new adventure, the beginning of a new relationship, or achieving a long-desired goal, this initial burst will eventually fade. The reality of the hard work that is necessary to maintain momentum starts to settle in and can decrease our initial passion if we aren't careful. To keep that moving forward, we have to couple our excitement with disciplined prayer and daily focus on the finish line. It's true for our own spirituality, for personal relationships, and as leaders. Nothing great has ever been accomplished without this combination of vision, enthusiasm, and persistence.

Finding Excitement

There are a lot of things that get me excited in life:

• seeing my family after being away for a while
• time alone with my gorgeous wife
• watching someone commit their life to Christ in baptism
• helping people experience fulfillment in Christ
• investing in other people & seeing them trust God more fully
• leading in worship & seeing people passionately engaging
• seeing offerings increase as more people trust God with their finances
• a crowded room of people who are desperate for truth
• teaching God's truth to people of all ages
• seeing pieces of the promises of God for my family's lives
• immersing myself in the mission field with a unified group of workers
• the veil being pulled back and a glimpse of heaven shared with fellow warriors as we pray for a nation of people to be set free in the middle of their territory
• returning home to serve in the mission field we have been called to reach.