A few days ago we were unloading in a hotel room. I flipped on the TV to whatever channel appeared, and in the background I heard this comment: “I hope they pick me. It would change my life.”
That caught my attention. Turns out it was some sort of cooking contest—this young woman worked for hours creating a wonderful dish, hoping one of the “celebrity chefs” would judge her creation worthy. I didn’t get the whole contest structure, but apparently getting picked was a big deal.
I thought it was about the saddest thing I’ve heard. Here’s a young woman with talent and passion and an obvious drive to succeed. Why in the world is she waiting to be picked? Why doesn’t she pick herself?
There’s a lie floating around that we need to get selected by someone in power. Want to do something big? Want to change the world? Well, you can, but first you have to get on the right team.
It’s a lie!
If you have a dream, God already picked you. He gave you the desire, and He’ll provide the gifts and open the doors. If God picked you, what are you waiting for?
At one of our first stops on this tour, a woman wanted to organize a speaking event. She said, “I asked my church leaders but they never responded. I can’t do anything by myself.”
I tried to be diplomatic, but I wanted to ask why she needed permission from church leaders. She has friends. Her town’s filled with coffee shops and book stores. She had everything she needed, but she believed the lie that she had to wait to be picked. Only special people can organize gatherings, right?
This isn’t middle school. We don’t have to wait for the team captains to choose us for their teams. We can form our own team.
Getting picked is a nice shortcut. You get a big boost by climbing on the efforts of the gatekeeper. Cool, if it happens, but waiting to get picked is like basing your retirement on the lottery. You might wait a long time.
Nobody picked Becky and me to do RICH’S RIDE. I suppose we could have waited for some big ministry organization to adopt us—that would certainly have been easier.
We decided to pick ourselves. We’re not qualified. We don’t have the background, the financing, or the connections. But we believed God picked us, and that was enough.
Got a dream? Please don’t wait to get picked.
Pick yourself.
# # #
Monday was an amazing day. We started in Avon Park speaking to a group of developmentally disabled adults at Ridge Area Arc. The ARC clients came out to cheer me on as I started my ride. Check out this crazy one-minute video.
Can’t see the video? Click here.
The day’s ride started at 11:30 and took us through an entirely new part of Florida. We finally saw citrus country.
After three weeks of hectic coastal traffic, this was quiet back roads with infrequent cars. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen citrus groves, so the whole scene was fascinating.
Despite the late start, we made great progress and got 40 miles down the road. So we’re about 629 miles into the journey. Plans for the next few days are still pretty fluid—we’ll be heading north, I think.
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