LeBron James built a school.
The I PROMISE school opens today in LeBron’s hometown of Akron Ohio. The school fulfills a long-standing commitment to give hope to kids in a tough community and provide the resources they need to find their passion and change the world.
LeBron is the best professional basketball player in the world. He had a dream to give back to his hometown and he found a way to follow that dream. This guy who’s been a world champion and has an Olympic gold-medal says the opening day of school is the best day of his life… until the next big dream comes along.
You and I probably don’t have the resources that go with being a professional athlete. That’s okay. Dream-following isn’t about money or fame. It’s not about waiting until everything is in place before you start. It’s about obedience, taking the first step and trusting God to provide what’s necessary for the second.
Freedom Tour started when Becky and I hung up a sign and asked if anybody wanted to go on a bike ride with us. We didn’t know how to organize support or whether we’d find churches that would let us stay in the buildings. We didn’t know most of the stuff you’re supposed to know before you set up a bike tour. We were only sure God was calling us to do it.
We just completed our sixth year. In many ways we still don’t know what we’re doing. We make lots of mistakes, miss important details. We pack too much food and somehow still don’t always have everything we need. We mess up routes. It’s easy to feel incompetent and unqualified.
Tempting to step back, to let someone with more experience or more resources take over, someone who’s younger or has more energy or whatever. Lots of reasons, or excuses, to leave this up to someone else who could do it better.
But someone else isn’t here. We are. And God didn’t ask us to do it perfectly, he asked us to do what we can, where we are, with what we have, and trust Him for the outcome.
So we’ll start preparing for season seven and invite you to join us in standing for justice. We’d love to have you join the FREEDOM TOUR circle, but if not I know you’ll find your own God-sized dream.
I hope you’ll trust and follow your dream up whatever mountain He puts in front of you.