Pursue The Dream

I spent most of last week in Atlanta, Georgia. The place is ginormous!!! And it’s tough to find Pepsi products! I got to see some amazing things! I saw the world champion of "pop and lock". "Popping", as it’s called, is a style of dance that is best described by watching a youtube video. It’s movements that are almost "jerky" but in a funky, freestyle, kind of way. Anyway, this guy was amazing! He was not only world champion of pop and lock, but he was double-jointed as well. I kind of wondered if he even had joints a few times!

I also saw the Southern Belles, the national champions of clogging. (You may have seen them on America’s Got Talent.) These ladies’ feet moved in a blur! They were so together that they moved almost as one.

I heard Jim Collins and Seth Godin, two of the worlds foremost authorities on leadership and interpreting trends in business. I heard Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel, two of the finest communicators in the church.

Within the past few days I got to rub shoulders with Brad, an exceptional high school band director, Kenny, an excellent truck mechanic, Bob, a top rated insurance and investment advisor, Jeff, an IT specialist, Larry & Bill & Melissa, security specialists and Amira, a pre-med student in college.

Why would I tell you all of this? What’s the big deal about the people & performances I saw? Simply this: these people have discovered something that sets them apart. They have discovered purpose.

Here’s the deal: God wired you to be good at some things. Our problem is that too often we try to be good at many things. Many people are half committed to a dozen different things. If you really want to make an impact with your life, if you want your life to count, you've got to learn to be totally committed to a few things rather than half committed to a dozen things.

One of the things that Jim Collins said this week really resonated with me. He said, "If you have a ‘To Do’ list, do you also have a, ‘Stop Doing’ list? If you don’t, you’ll never achieve your ‘To Do’ list." In other words, in order to find your purpose you have to walk away from some of the things that are draining energy, but producing nothing in the way of results.

Let me encourage you today, find a purpose. Figure out the way God wired you and then go for it. For some of you (and I don’t want to make your boss angry) it may mean leaving the job you’re in and going back to school to pursue a passion. For others, it may simply mean starting a "Stop Doing" list so you can achieve even greater things in your areas of strength.

Too many people waste time trying to get better at something they’re not good at. Instead, focus your time, effort and energy on getting better at what you are good at. Doesn’t that make more sense, anyway?

The Bible says it this way in Ecclesiastes 9:10: Whatever work you do, do your best, because you are going to the grave, where there is no working, no planning, no knowledge, and no wisdom. In other words, find that passion and pursue it because there’s coming a day when you won’t be able to.

Don’t put it off. Pursue your dream with God’s help. The next thing you know, I’ll be writing about you!!!