Do you ever stop and consider why you’re doing what you’re doing?
This weekend our pastor challenged us to assess our choices regarding time, talent, and treasure. Yeah, yeah, same-old-same-old, heard it a hundred times—until I thought back to an exercise I completed last week.
WISCONSIN HOPE TOUR ’14
In case you forgot, we’re heading out in a few weeks on a new adventure. a September tour of some part of America’s Dairyland.
Every time we do a new ride, people ask what it’s all about. So I send summaries of what we do and why we do it. Here’s the guts of what I sent last week:
Basically I’m a wheelchair user who uses my handcycle to share a message of hope. Our primary goal is stated in the first two points of the RICH’S RIDE mission:
Demonstrate that it’s possible to overcome adversity and accomplish big dreams.
Express our message of hope, possibility, and God’s faithfulness.The “demonstrate” part happens as people see someone following an “impossible” dream and realize that perhaps their own dreams aren’t as absurd as they imagined. The ride, we believe, creates a platform from which we can share the story.
That’s the “express” part. It happens through media, through people we meet along the road, through the blog, and through pre-arranged speaking gigs.
The “heart” of this ride isn’t a ride at all. We’re not coming to Wisconsin to do a bike ride. We want to share an encouraging story of God’s faithfulness. It’s not about Rich, and it’s not about a ride. The handcycle creates the buzz, but it’s not the story.
The “heart” of this ride is to share the message that hopeless is a lie, that community and encouragement have real power to change lives, and that we can accomplish amazing stuff when we work together and trust God for the outcome.
Isn’t That Wonderful?
Well, yeah, I guess. At least it sounds good. But after our pastor’s challenge I realized these are all nice words I wrote a couple of years ago. And I wondered if I’m choosing…or operating on autopilot.
One of my primary goals is to live life on purpose.
It’s not enough to have a bunch of nice-sounding words. It’s important to examine my current choices, as our pastor suggested, to see if they’re moving me along the proper path.
Nobody’s perfect, and I’m least perfect of all. I’ve got some time, talent, and treasure choices to reassess. I don’t want to wander through a life-on-autopilot.
You?
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