It seems like failing was easier when there wasn’t as much to “lose.” After our church finally broke the 200 mark I remember another pastor saying “now it’s serious because you’ve got something to lose.” How true. You are so right that we’ve got to keep putting ourselves out there, it’s the only way to grow as individuals. This is a great reminder to take risks…thanks Bobby!

“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

it’s tough to have people constantly question or hammer on your teams work. even if it is true.. it’s hard to get Google or Disney quality overnight especially at a 300 MPH pace.

homerun projects really do not matter when the basics are executed poorly. for me it’s a constant juggle of priority, big vision requests and stretched resources. after a while we have to do a lot of cleanup and redirecting.

I owned and sold a small new media firm back in 1999. I got my rear kicked by a $8.6 billion dollar company in a domain battle. it really felt like a failure at the time. I even had some peers raz me about heading back to big corporate mama… funny. God taught me so many things through all of that uncertainty. obedience and risking it all is worth the effort even if we can’t see the immediate reward, even when at first glance it looks like a failure.

~A.W. Tozer

Walk in confidence that in your own human ability you will be failure proned! But God is THE FATHER of redemption!

I think we are meant sometimes to fail. Look at Peter… He was passionate and purposeful, but failed… Or did he?? Keep your hope in the Sovereignty of God and live it out choice by choice.

I find it interesting we never see God’s 10 year plan. Only ours… Just enough light for the step we are on.

It seems like He’s more concerned with growing our faith. Habakkuk 2:3,4

My most memorable failure, my marriage. I was addicted to gambling and kept it all from my wife. She left and divorced. But God… Years later here we are watching God put things back together in His perfect timing. He is SO GRACIOUS!

John 6:63, Zec 4:6

One of the most devastating feelings of failure happened in 2000. After 13 years at a church I was sort of, kind of, asked/suggested I leave. It was one of those “either he goes or I go” deals. I was crushed. I was given 6 months severance and spent the next 6 months pondering what I wanted to do. I rode my bike a lot. I delivered pizzas & worked in a pizza shop (and found out that I didn’t want to do that for the rest of my life). At the end of the 6 months I had a chance to preach again and that church asked me to be their pastor. If “felt” good to be wanted again but it still took me some time to recover. I am now at a good place after 5 years there and having it cemented in me what type of church I wanted to pastor/start.

But, hey, I’m like Rocky Balboa - knock me down, and I’ll climb back up the ropes of my calling again, and again, and again! God’s in my corner and Christ is in my heart. Heck, WE HAVE TO FIGHT TO WIN! The apostle Paul makes that clear and I’m sure all of those awaiting us in the grandstands would echo Paul’s admonition: “Fight the good fight” - yeah, FIGHT. We must refuse to stay down.

Henry Ford said, “Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently.” - I hope I’ve done this!

Thanks for reading my ramblings…