Sweet ch. 3 - I Hear You

I liked this chapter much better than the last. Not just because I agreed with more, but because it was easier to read as well.

Here's the 3 main things for me:
1. Hiring the right person - let's not pretend that what we hire someone to do they actually end up doing. In fact the same can be said for anything you journey with someone on. You may have some ideas about the road ahead, but it's incredibly arrogant to believe you've forseen all the missteps, dangers and adjustments that need to be made. Finding the right person who can adapt and be a part of the whole group of you and be adaptable to the things that come up has to be far more important.

2. Taking risks - This is huge to me because I'm largely a coward in my own eyes. One of the things that the Lord of the Rings (I know a tad overused story) taught me is that nothing is as bad as it may at first seem. As bad as things seemed like they were going to get, there is always a way through somehow. But you're not going to see it until you get there. The risks we take in doing what is right are enormous. Most of the risks are ones we dont' want to face, like relational conflict. But doing what's right is far more important than feeling good about a falseness for a while. I also believe that we've taught an entire generation or more of people that failure is worse than not trying at all. So many of us operate mostly out of fear and not out of dreams. We make choices based not on what we really believe in and want to see happen, but on what if it doesn't work and I fail and look foolish? How can we teach ourselves and others that being faithful to what we're called to is the greatest success, even if it means falling down?

3. Relationships - this is by far the most important piece in all of this to me. No matter who you are and no matter what you've done, if you don't have relationship with people, then you aren't really going anywhere. This is my mantra for life and ministry. Relationships, relationships, relationships. (All my Bel Air youth workers are groaning somewhere because they heard it so much! Right now as I write this they probably have a little twitch starting up and they don't even know why.)

Jesus modeled this for us in the incarnation. If we are following Jesus, living life in his way, then this has to be the vital piece of the puzzle.