As some of you might know, I got married last Saturday. I can’t really remember most of it, but I can say that it was truly the best day of my life. My wife, Suzanne, is amazing. In fact, she’s so wonderful that I would like to help you find someone just like her in 71 easy steps…

Ladies, feel free to substitute “him” in place of “her.” It’ll work just fine.

1. Meet her in a church cafe and then forget you met her there until she reminds you of it 2 years later.
2. Engage her in fruitless chitchat on a weekly basis for about a year.
3. Intentionally avoid her (on account of the mind-numbing small-talk) as much as possible for that entire year.
4. Act like a square around her so that you seem like an undatable bore.
5. Go on group dates with her friends.
6. Spend more time interested in her than in her friend (whom you brought on the date.)
7. Go ahead and avoid her for another couple months.
8. Agree to go on some kind of large group trip; perhaps a road-trip to the beach.
9. Get her to hop in the car with you and 3 other people for 9 hours.
10. Make her ride in the middle of your backseat so you can sneak glances at her in the rearview as you drive.
11. Get over the whole small-talk, chit-chat problem.
12. Make your first conversation a lot deeper than it has to be.
13. Tell her how much you love Jesus.
14. Let her tell you how much she loves Jesus.
15. Find as many ways as possible to be near her on the trip.
16. Spend more time together than you probably should.
17. Ignore just about everyone and everything else on the trip.
18. Go for a lot of walks on the beach.
19. Miss the perfect chance to kiss her.
20. Walk for another 15 minutes.
21. Take the lousiest chance to kiss her.
22. Repeat steps 13-18 for the rest of the trip.
23. Ignore her when she says something about not wanting to jump into a relationship.
24. Take another 9 hour car ride with her and 3 other people.
25. Forget how to play it cool and send her a text message the day after you get home.
26. Set a date for later that week.
27. Decide you don’t want to wait.
28. Go see her that night.
29. And then the next night.
30. And then the next night.
31. Then go out to dinner for your first official date.
32. Freak out about the relationship for a couple of days.
33. Pray that God would shake you out of your stupidity.
34. Rejoice when He knocks some sense into you.
35. Become nearly inseparable.
36. Fall in love with her.
37. Spend another 9 hours in the car with her without a single minute of awkward silence.
38. Meet her parents.
39. Repeat step 37.
40. Start talking about marriage a lot sooner than anyone really should.
41. Without consulting her, adopt a puppy.
42. Pray for God to give her the grace that she’ll need to get over the puppy thing.
43. Rejoice in another answered prayer.
44. Laugh when she falls in love with the puppy.
45. Cry when the puppy pees on her leg.
46. Keep talking about what marriage and life will look like.
47. Tell her you won’t propose until after February.
48. Figure out what the ring should look like. *IMPORTANT*
49. Buy her a ring in December.
50. Write her a letter 1 day later.
51. Put it in a jewelry box.
52. Take her to a concert another day later.
53. Give her the box with the letter on it after the concert.
54. Surprise the crap out of her when you get down on one knee.
55. Listen as she doesn’t say, “Yes.”
56. Jump for joy when she says, “Absolutely!”
57. Wait for her to read your letter a couple more times.
58. Stay up till 1 AM calling friends and family.
59. Plan a wedding in 5 months.
60. Learn to handle each other’s stress.
61. Watch as God works to bring all of the pieces together.
62. Get a bunch of your friends and family together in a cute little church.
63. Cry a little bit when she walks down the isle.
64. Make googly eyes at her for 20 minutes while everyone watches.
65. Share communion with her.
66. Pray over her.
67. Steal her line and respond to the vows by saying, “Absolutely!”
68. Make a covenant before God with her.
69. Kiss your new wife.
70. Grab her hand.
71. Get the heck out of there.

So that’s kind of our story. Two broken sinners with checkered pasts, a Savior who called us to Himself, and a brilliant Father who intricately wove our stories together in the most unlikely ways. Whatever steps you take, trust Him with the outcome as He perfectly works all things together. He never fails.

“You make beautiful things out of the dust…”

Do you have a story like ours? Share it below!

This is me at the intersection of knowing what I need to do and actually taking concrete action…

• I know that the guy selling the homeless newspaper on the street corner can make a lot better use of a dollar than I can, so why don’t I just buy a paper?

• I know that my business will grow and my student loans will disappear if I just spend a little more time looking for work, so why don’t I pick up the phone more often?

• I know that my sense of intimacy with God will deepen if I would devote myself more heavily to prayer, so why don’t I hit my knees a little more often?

My relationships will deepen if I give a them little more energy, my craft will strengthen if I seek more opportunities to write, my experience will intensify if I step out of my comfort zone… So why don’t I?

What is it in me that knows what God is calling me to do, but can’t bring myself to take the steps to make that happen? Maybe the problem is that I’m afraid to fail. Or perhaps, the problem is that I’m afraid to succeed.

Whatever it is, the resistance battles on to stake its claim.

Introspective as it may be, today’s post is not meant to be a hopeless lament from the bottom of the pit. Rather, I want it to be an encouraging plea from the temporary depths of our everyday trenches. In asking myself why, its my hope that you might ask yourself the same.

And so my parting question is this: Why don’t you?

If you’ll stick with me through the end of this post, I’ve got an incredible opportunity for you below as well as the chance to win a free Amazon Kindle!

In my former life as a musician, I started my career out very insecure in my skills. Sure, I could sling my guitar pretty well, but I didn’t really feel like I was a professional. To be honest, I really felt like I was an impostor.

Insecure in my own skill set, I was regularly humbled and petrified when put into playing situations with truly talented musicians. (You know; the kids who, at age 2, were able to sit down at the piano and perform the Mozart their parents played for them in the womb.)

Afraid of being revealed as the blithering amateur I perceived myself to be, I hid from these situations. Instead, I purposely sought out “amateur” playing situations. They were safer. When I felt like my playing wasn’t quite up to snuff, I could turn around and look at the shabby bass player and find some comfort. At least I wasn’t as bad as that guy.

(Side-note: Insecurity is toxic. It will lead you to destroy the people around you just so you can feel a little bit better about your situation. That’s beside today’s point, however.)

Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

And then a friend flipped my thinking upside down. He showed me that I was going about things all wrong. By avoiding those higher level playing environments, I wasn’t protecting my talent. I was killing it. By purposefully taking myself out of opportunities for growth, I was ensuring that I would always stay an “amateur.”

As I broke out of my previous foolishness and began to surround myself with much more talented players than myself, I learned something invaluable. In spending time with these true professionals, I started to think, behave, and play more like them. My practice habits changed. My repertoire grew. My musicianship flourished.

Shed Your Fears and Dive In

As I continued to grow into the player that I never thought I could be, I learned a lesson that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. It was a lesson in immersion.  By immersing myself in a “culture” of musicians whom I respected, I picked up on the things, both tangible and intangible, that made them successful. Sure it was uncomfortable, but it was worth it.

Real Estate pioneer Gary Keller says it like this, “Success leaves clues.” In my own paraphrase, financial guru Dave Ramsey sums it up quite nicely, “If you want to win, find people who are winning. Figure out what they’re doing and then go do it yourself.” Immersion is an incredible way to pick up these clues and figure out how to win.

For me, this lesson has played out invaluably:

• When starting my real estate business, I sought out and spent time with successful agents, investors, brokers, coaches, and so on. They taught me how to be a successful real estate agent.
• In my speaking writing career, I’ve built relationships with other writers, authors, and speakers. They’ve helped me to learn what it looks like to be an effective communicator.
• In my studies and training as an aspiring Bible teacher and minister, I’ve intentionally sought out pastors and mentors to guide me along the long, difficult road and to show me the tricks of their trade.

An Opportunity to Immerse

Odds are that you’re here because you’re interested in leadership and want to grow yourself as a leader. Perhaps you could say you want to “win” as a leader. Well, what better way to do so than by immersing yourself in a culture of great leaders and learning from their success?

If you’ve been with this blog for a while, then I’m sure you’ve seen my previous posts on the Chick fil A Leadercast. Since we’re talking about immersing yourself in an environment of incredibly talented leaders, you should know that this is the place to do it.

I’ve attended the last two events and have been immensely stretched in my own capacity as a leader. I won’t sell you here, but I strongly suggest you check it out.

If you live in Nashville, this year’s Leadercast will be at Lipscomb University’s Allen Arena on May 4,2012. If you’re not in Nashville, you can use this site to find a location near you. Some friends at my favorite Christian radio station were even so generous as to offer everyone who reads this post an amazing discount on ticket prices.

For more about that, check out this link (use the promo “silvagroup”).

Who Wants a Free Kindle?

Leaders are readers and readers are leaders. That said, you should read books… Lots of books. But who wants to carry around those clunky old stacks of paper? What is this? High School… Hmm…

Solution! Thanks again to the wonderful folks at WAY-FM, you’ve got the chance to win a free Amazon Kindle! If you’d like your shot at the free Kindle, follow these 3 steps. (If you want to win, you’ve got to do all 3.)

1. Share this article. Click one of the links on the sidebar and share this post with your networks.
2. Leave a comment. Answer the question below and include a working email address in your reply. I’ll be notifying the winner via email, so make sure its an account you actually check!
3. Relax. I’ll connect with the winner in 7 days. If you don’t hear from me, then no Kindle for you. Better luck next time!

Remember: If you live in Nashville, make sure you check out the Chick-fil-a Leadercast. If you use the “silvagroup” promo code, you’ll save $20 a ticket! Click here for the details. I’ll see you on May 4th!

Question: What will you do to immerse yourself in an environment that can stimulate growth in your own life?

Psst… If you want more than one chance to win the Kindle, check out this similar post on leadership by Jeff Goins.

So, I’ve become a bit of a recluse lately.

Finishing up a book project, planning a wedding, running a business, working on a masters degree… These are my excuses. Good ones… kinda… not really.

This is the sort of introverted life I lived just a few short years ago. I lived with myself, for myself, and by myself. I was totally removed from any sort of meaningful community. This was a bad way to live. I’m sorry to say that, using the weight of my current commitments as an excuse, I’ve been heading right back into that pit.

Social media has been a good way of keeping in pseudo-touch with the world, but in my case its been just another cop-out. A couple of tweets a day… A blog post here and there… Sporadic Facebook status updates when I feel like it. For me, these have all amounted to nothing but a shallow attempt to cling to meager scraps of visibility in the community.

I don’t want to keep going down that road.

So this is me turning the tables. This is me making a decision to fight my natural inclination to recede into the comfortable complacency of seclusion. This is me doing something bold and probably foolish. This is me going to war against my desire to hide behind a computer screen and pretend like I’m still active in my community.

This is also me asking you to take part in my little crusade…

Over the next 100 days, I’m going to sit down for a cup of coffee with 100 different people. I want to hear their stories and learn from their experiences. I want to learn about their worries and struggles, business or personal, and do my best to serve them. I want to connect them with others who may share a similar story or be able to help. If nothing else, I want to restore a genuine sense of community in my life and the lives of those I meet.

I want you to be one of those people.

Now, I’m not under the impression that I’m someone particularly special or some self-proclaimed celebrity whom you should desperately desire to know in real life. This has nothing to do with ego. If you think so, spend a little more time on my site getting to know me. Shoot me an email and we’ll chat.

So let’s do coffee.

If you’re in the Nashville area (or you will be in the next 3 months) and are interested, leave a comment below with the best way for me to get in touch about scheduling. Of course, you can email me, or hit me on Twitter if that’s easier. If you know of someone whom you’d like me to meet, share this post with them. You can even share it with your friends on Twitter or Facebook.

Everybody’s welcome.

I’ll write about my experiences along this journey from time to time and let you all know how its going using the #100cups hash-tag on Twitter. Don’t worry, I won’t air anybody’s dirty laundry unless they specifically ask me to!

Tell me if this situation sounds familiar…

You hear it through the grapevine that a friend of yours, lets call him Johnny, said something you don’t quite agree with. Wether he was talking about politics, theology, or sports it doesn’t really matter. From Johnny’s point of view, he didn’t do anything wrong. He was acting in accord with his convictions and had the best intentions in mind. In fact, we can assume that most people would actually have agree with what he said.

In your point of view, however, he was wrong. Now, rather than going to the source and asking Johnny about it, you “discuss” Johnny’s statement with a few other friends who just happen to share your point of view. Before you know it, you’ve built out this elaborate explanation of what Johnny’s convictions are, why he would say what he did, the implications of his actions, the darkness of his heart and mind, and so on.

Fast forward to the next time you guys are in a room together. You’ve got a few options here:

• Leave the Room – This is classic avoidance at its best. Instead of dealing with the tension surrounding your disagreement, you’d rather remove yourself from the situation. This is certainly the most comfortable thing to do, but can we really spend our entire lives avoiding confrontation?

• Keep Your Peace – Now we’re talking about suppression. You’re seething on the inside, but rather than start a ruckus, you bury your anger/frustration. This will keep things mellow, but don’t be surprised when all of these suppressed emotions start to color the way you talk to and interact with Johnny.

• Rip Johnny a New One – If you’re the opinionated and confrontational type, this one’s going to feel great. You can take all of the assumptions that you’ve built up about Johnny and really let him have it. Just don’t plan on having much of a relationship after that.

So here you are, sitting in a room with Johnny looking at 3 pretty terrible options. You’re stuck. You don’t know what to do. There’s an elephant in the room.

Church leaders are not immune to this kind of misunderstanding.

Last year, a senior pastor in North Carolina decided to have the church’s worship team play AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” at their Easter service. In his mind, he was using culture to convey a powerful Gospel message. In the minds of many other church leaders, he profaned the worship service, watered down the Gospel, and used culture in a way that culture should not be used.

Standing on a faithful view of Scripture, both sides find plenty of justification for their judgement. All of a sudden, two camps form around the issue and you’ve got churches, even denominations, set against one another. Everybody’s mad at everybody. Nobody seems to understand the other side, nor do they want to try.

Again, it seems as though there are 3 options: Avoid, Suppress, or Fight

Aren’t we missing an option, though? Can’t they just talk about it?

Yes they can. Yes they should. Enter the Elephant Room.

The Elephant Room is more than an event. It is the outgrowth of an idea. The idea that the best way forward for the followers of Jesus lies not in crouching behind walls of disagreement but in conversation among all kinds of leaders about what the scriptures actually teach. We must insist on the biblical Gospel, right doctrine and practice but not isolate ourselves from relationship even with those who believe much differently.

These are conversations about the most Christ honoring ways of building a church.  Our goal is unity, however a true unity cannot be fashioned in pretense or denial of truth nor can it be won among those who prefer sectarianism to the unity Jesus prayed for.  To advance Christ’s call to unity we must do what men have always done, we must push and prod and challenge and sharpen each other’s beliefs and methods.  Fidelity and fruitfulness, both matter.  No one has a corner on the truth and methods must do more than ‘work.’

I watched last year’s videos and was encouraged, inspired, and enlightened. If you want a bit of a taste of what its all about, check out these videos from last year. (One of them features the Highway to Hell discussion.)

The Elephant Room 2. January 25th. You should go.

For my friends in Nashville, the simulcast will be aired at Cross Point Nashville on January 25th. If you’d like to attend, click this link to register. Enter this code: ER10DOJAN12 and receive $10 off your ticket.

For everyone outside of Nashville, you can find additional locations here.

I have a beautiful 16 week old puppy named Cooper. Here’s his picture. I give you full permission to make whatever ohhh and awe signs that you feel are necessary. He is quite the cutie pie.

As you could imagine, I love this little guy and spoil him rotten as I would imagine most loving dog-owners do. He gets the best food, lots of fun toys, and an ample amount of quality time with Daddy. He’s my little man and, in my house, he is richly provided for.

About a month ago, Cooper developed a serious case of food aggression. If you’re not familiar with that, what essentially happens is the dog stops seeing his owner as a benevolent provider and instead sees him as a threat; a thief looking to deprive him of his most valuable asset – food. For him, the situation becomes life or death.

In a matter of seconds, the lovable little tyke you saw above would become the adorable disaster you see below:

(Sorry for the blur. Yes that’s my leg.)

I couldn’t help but think about how ridiculous his reaction was…

• Who gave him a place to live? I did.
• Who made sure he was healthy? I did.
• Who protected him? I did.
• Who played with him? I did.
• Who filled his food bowl? I did.

Still, the moment I set that food bowl down I ceased to be his friend and immediately became his foe. In one moment, he saw me as the giver of life. In the next, he saw me as the taker of life. What motivated this disastrous transformation?

Fear. 

Far be it from me to liken any of our experiences to that of a dog, but I do hope you’ll see the illustration. Cooper’s fear overtook him so much so that he was willing to fight for his life against his own provider, literally biting the hand that fed him.

When we forget who our Provider is and act out of fear, we engage in the same kind of craziness…

• When we fear for our jobs, we start compromising our morals – fudging numbers, puffing up our performance, and positioning ourselves ahead of the guy next to us. If you’ve worked in an office or for more than 15 minutes, you know what I mean.

• When we fear for our lives, we immediately dismiss the value of anyone else’s life around us and start scrapping for our survival. Ask the witnesses of that tragic night club fire in Rhode Island back in 2003. They’ll confirm that one.

• When we fear for our souls, we turn to man-made religion, self-righteousness, and performance to make us feel holy instead of turning to a battle already won and an identity already secured.

A Big Ol’ Bite

While my puppy sinned against me by going all Kujo on me every time I got near his bowl, we sin against God by looking Him in the face and telling Him that we don’t trust Him. Whether its in our jobs, our lives, or our eternity, He’s got it figured out. We don’t need to be afraid.

• Who gives us a place to live? God does.
• Who gives us our health? God does.
• Who protects us? God does.
• Who gives us blessing and enjoyment? God does.
• Who fills our food bowl? God does.

When God doesn’t show up the way we think that He should, don’t growl at Him and take a chunk out of His leg. We don’t have to be afraid. He won’t deprive us of what we need in order to survive. He knows what He’s doing.

What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done out of fear?

Big thanks to Joey Strawn for teasing this long overdue blog post out of me this morning…

I’ve always been good at math. Something about my right-brain sees numbers and situations and enjoys making sense of them. My problem, however, is that my right-brain is so fixed on solutions and results that I tend to completely neglect the process.

I’ll get you the right answer, but good luck getting me to show the work. This is the reason why my 12th grade Calculus teacher absolutely hated me.

Exit the high school and enter the big classroom that we call life; this approach is great for getting things done, but terrible for experiencing any sort of meaningful growth along the way. It’s a fantastic way to get to the destination but a miserable way to enjoy the trip.

Does this sound like a fun way to live?

Not really. When we fix our eyes on the destination to the exclusion of the beauty and wonder that occurs around us in every moment, we miss out on all that God would want to show us. Don’t get me wrong, as adopted children, we do have a destination that has been fixed from the foundation of this world, but there’s a whole lot of lifetime that separates us from that destination and we can’t simply ignore it.

A Different Path

For those who would believe, we all possess this common destination of glory. The beauty of our individual stories, however, comes in the journey to get there. Although we all may have the same destination, we’re all getting there by a different path. This path is rocky and full of obstacles, yet every detail of it has been laid by the sovereign God of the universe and every our step has been ordered through the Son whom He sent to save us.

If your life were a math problem, you’ve already got the solution in the perfect, finished work of Christ. Now its on you and its on me to work out that salvation that God has worked within is. Set your hope on the promised result, but don’t forget to pay attention as you walk down that path.

As you walk and encounter other wearied travelers, don’t just show them your answer.

Show your work.

This is the next stop on this year’s BarCamp Blog Tour. Check out yesterday’s post from Bayard Saunders here.

In two weeks, BarCamp:Nashville will be making its way back to Lower Broadway’s Cadillac Ranch. What’s a BarCamp, you ask? Well, here’s the official description.

BarCamp has become the premier technology conference in Nashville, bringing together the best minds and representation of the hottest companies in the internet, entrepreneurial, new media, and software industries, among others…

Sounds like you need work in technology in order to attend, right? Wrong. Take it from a REALTOR/Speaker/Writer/Consultant kind of guy like me; BarCamp is exactly where you need to be if you’re involved in the Nashville community.

Here’s 3 Reasons Why

1. You’ll Learn Tons of New Stuff

Just take a peek at the list of this year’s BarCamp sessions and you’ll see a slew of chances for you to get smart(er). With sessions on social media, web design, marketing strategy, and more, there’s a little something for everybody.

2. You’ll Meet All Sorts of Interesting People

Nashville has a wealth of talented and inspiring entrepreneurs, designers, developers, and so on. This tends to be the event where they all come together to learn and to network. I’ve met some incredible people at past events. The connections have been incredible and have led to numerous friendships that I’ve really grown to treasure.

3. You’ll Leave With At Least 5 Great Ideas – Guaranteed

At past BarCamps, I’ve literally seen people walk out of sessions with light bulbs floating over their heads… Alright, that was a lie. Still, each session is going to contain some amazing content that is sure to get those creative juices flowing.

4. You May or May Not Meet a Giant Robot

You had to be there last year…

5. You’ll Become a Member of a Community

This is my favorite part of the whole event. All of those talented people I talked about earlier form this amazing community that I’ve enjoyed getting to participate in over the past years. They’ve not only been valuable business partners and associates, but they’ve become great friends and people who I can regularly turn to for advice and encouragement.

That’s it! What are you waiting for? Geek or not, this event is worth its wait in gold. If  you’re interested in signing up, here’s the signup page. If you’re not in or around Nashville, take a gander around Google and see if you can find a BarCamp near you. I promise it’ll be worth it.

When we were kids, my brother and I used to fight from time to time. He was great at this one particular move where he would grab my arm and proceed to beat on me with my own hand. Surely enough, he’d taunt me with these words, “Quit hitting yourself!” I know you know what I’m talking about.

Remember the story; it’ll come in handy later on.

Something About Me

I love words (says the writer.)

Words have great power over me. Wether I’m in a classroom, at a concert, or sitting in a small group the words spoken and sung in those environments have a dramatic impact on my experience. I’m hopelessly captivated by books, lectures, and meaningful conversation.

That’s why its easy for me to pick up the Bible and spend hours with God. That’s why I get great joy from sitting across a table and speaking Truth into ears that desperately need it. That’s why I labor in writing words for an audience that may or may not even exist.

Enough About Me

Maybe you don’t love the written word; you love music, or nature, or playing with children, and on we could go… Maybe your deepest experience of intimacy with God is found under a bridge while handing out blankets. Those are all wonderful things created for His glory and your joy.

Here’s a shocker: We’re two different people.

The manner in which God uses us will always be different. If God has given me the absurd compulsion to read dusty old Bible commentaries written by dead guys in funny hats (which he has,) then I’d be out of my mind to expect you to share that same peculiar passion.

Divide and Conquer

This is why community gets messy. You take a guy who just got done memorizing the entire book of Ephesians and put him in a room with a girl who couldn’t quote you anything past John 3:16, yet spends 2 hours a day devoted in prayer for others.

Two. Different. People. I smell a Christian sitcom…

All of a sudden, the Bible guy is snapping at the prayer girl for not knowing enough Scripture and the prayer girl is snapping at the Bible guy for not being “spiritual” enough. Both of them are self-righteous. Sparks fly and we quickly depart from the Biblical image of iron sharpening iron.

As one person slams the other, it becomes more like a large axe beating against a tree.

(Just take a guess at which one I identify with.)

Different Members of One Body

I’d strongly suggest reading 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, but here’s the meat of it:

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…”
1 Corinthians 12:12-13 ESV

One body; many members… We need to stop looking at our unique spiritual wirings as points of division and embracing them as points of unity.

• The Bible guy needs prayer girl to teach and model for Him that our relationship with God is so much more than one of mere intellectual assent.
• The prayer girl needs Bible guy to help her discover the beautiful life-giving Truth that God’s Word has to offer.
• Everyone else in the room needs these two to get along and bring their unique gifts to the conversation.

Quit Hitting Yourself

If we consider what the Bible says about believers being one body united in Christ, then an attack on one of our Christian brothers or sisters essentially becomes an attack on ourselves. Its about as silly and painful as hitting yourself with your own hand, yet we still do it.

So here are my questions for you…

• Are you the Bible guy? Do you beat up on the people in your small group because they haven’t joined you in your quest to read the entire Bible in a week?
• Or, are you the prayer girl? Do you cast the intellectual types in your small-group as mere theological bullies and question their devotion?
• Have you decided that your way is the best way and that all of the other believers in your life should conform to your personal template for holiness?

If you said yes, then you’re not alone. I’m with you. We’re all with you.

Thank God that He loves us and gives us the grace to quit hitting ourselves.

Building a successful business, non-profit, or ministry can be about as imposing as staring up at the highest of mountains. Small steps of faith, however, are the catalytic moments that allow us to accomplish more than we could ever imagine.

Snow-Capped Intimidation

About 7 years ago, my unit went on a “secret mission” to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Vice President Dick Cheney was visiting his vacation home and we were there to secure the airspace while he was in town. As glamorous as that sounds, I promise you that it wasn’t.

What stuck with me, however, was the beauty and majesty of the Grand Teton mountain. We set up our site right by the base of Wyoming’s tallest mountain. I can remember gazing at it like a little child in awe of its rocky glory. It was an incredibly imposing sight.

I remember looking at the 13,775 foot mountain and wondering how anyone could ever get to the top of it. From my limited perspective, it felt like that would be impossible. I was surprised to learn, however, than climbing the Grand Teton isn’t really a big deal.

With 38 routes and 58 variations, its actually quite common.

From Mountains to Skyscrapers

I can’t help but take that memory and pull it back into my life. Instead of gazing upon the glory of mountains on the horizon, I find myself looking up at massively successful business enterprises like Google. Or, I behold giant churches and non-profits like LifeChurch.tv or Charity:Water. Finally, I dive into massively successful books such as The Catcher in the Rye or The Purpose-Driven Life.

It’s not that I covet these things by any means. Personally, I don’t want to build a monster. I want to be faithful with what God has given and will continue to give me; nothing more and nothing less. Still, a desire for excellence and responsible stewardship always points me inquisitively towards these huge success stories.

That’s when I start to rub up against the Resistance.

The Myth of the Running Baby

What we have to remember is that none of those things was built in a day. There is no success story that begins and ends with one giant leap of faith. No, they are all based upon one small step after another.

I don’t know any better way to convey this than in a child who first learns to walk.

• They take small steps.
• They stumble and fall.
• They get up , learn to hold on to things and “cruise.”
• They build up the confidence to let go.
• In a miraculous war of instinct and gravity, the child steps forward and walks.

We don’t expect the baby to start off walking, but we do expect the kid to fall down a bunch of times. Over time, they develop the muscles to run, jump, and play. Then, that they learn to do all of the amazing things that seemed so impossible only months before.

There is no person alive who did not start out this way.

Baby Steps to Business

Why would a business journey work any differently?

Why would we expect to hang our sign on a Monday and then clear $10 million in revenue on Friday?

Why do we not accept that we will have to take these baby steps; a.k.a. hard work, uncertain decisions, and repeated failure?

We need to stop romanticizing the giants and realize that they are all products of thousands of small steps. When we look at the Grand Teton, we need to realize that it is not an inestimable monster in front of us, but a clearly defined obstacle.

That’s when we can get to work.

Take a Step

Today, take your eyes off of the giants for a moment.

• For bloggers, don’t worry about Post #573. Worry about post #1, today’s post. 
• If you’re starting out in business, avert your gaze from the big box down the street and focus on how you’re going to serve your one or two customers.
• For authors, take your eyes off the NYT best-seller list and bring them back to the blank page and start with one sentence at a time.
• For songwriters, stop trying to write tomorrow’s #1 hit and focus on creating something beautiful for today.
• For ministers, forget the mega-church. Take a small step in faith and be faithful with the little things to which you’ve been entrusted in anticipation of the big things.

Not all ideas end up similarly successful, but they all do start out the same. If you want a chance to create your vision and to build something incredible, you’ve got to take that step. If you don’t, someone else will surely come along and take it in your place.

Question: What step are you going to take today?