On Second Thought, I Wish I Would Have Said…

“What’s your advice for us, for people our age?”

They were mostly twenty-somethings. I told them about the FREEDOM TOUR and the kids at the HOME OF HOPE. The theme was mission and community, the notion of seeing a need and doing something to meet it.

Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.

I wasn’t quite prepared for the “old guy” question, the “words of wisdom from your years of experience” request from the young folks. Because, well, I’m still a kid, right?

My response was okay. “Don’t put it off.”

These folks are in grad school, getting their lives, careers started. They can’t imagine making another commitment. They’ll do it–the God thing, the mission, the vision, whatever it is–when things settle down, when life’s not so hectic, when they’re less busy.

Except, of course, “settle-down, not-so-hectic, and less-busy” are locations in Fantasyland. Putting-it-off is the same as never-getting-to-it.

So my response wasn’t bad, but I have a bigger, better idea. I wish I’d said:

Never allow your resources to determine your vision

Dream big, bigger than your time, ability, finances, whatever. Talk to God, listen, dream the dream you believe He’s placed in your heart, and don’t scale it back because you can’t see how it’s possible.

When God hands you a dream, He also gives you the ability to follow it.

Note: some work may be required.