I once heard about a guy who felt like God was calling him to be a Christian motivational speaker. It was going to be amazing – he’d speak in front of thousands of people, and get to travel the world! He couldn’t wait to tell his Dad who was a pastor.
“That’s amazing, son,” said his Dad. He was in the middle of clearing away after a Sunday morning service. “You can make a start by stacking these chairs.”
“Whaaaa?” his son was gobsmsacked. “What’s that got to do with speaking in big stadiums to thousands of people?”
His Dad looked closely at him. “It’s got everything to do with it. Guess what…if you don’t have a servant’s heart, you won’t get to do any of that stuff that God has planned for you.”
That guy was Mark Ritchie, a Christian comedian and – yes! – motivational speaker. I heard him tell this story at a packed out conference in Manchester.
Photo: Mark Ritchie
And I think what his Dad said is true! It’s all about baby steps. Do you have a God-given dream that seems impossibly big? Maybe you dream of something that you don’t tell anyone about…because YOU couldn’t possibly be cut out for that…right? Wrong.
Maybe what’s most intimidating is not the dream, but how to get there. We live in a culture full of noise and speed and YOLO and now, now, NOW. But that’s not how the biggest dreams get fulfilled. Crazy as it seems, fulfilling a sensational, God given dream can be a lifelong process. Good news! Even Olympic runners began their journey with tiny baby steps.
What’s the baby step you can take today? It might be something as small-seeming as stacking chairs, or washing dishes after church. It might be smiling at someone in the street instead of looking down at your phone. Or maybe volunteering at your local food bank.
So…you don’t have to do it ALL now, but you do have to do something now. Scary stuff, I know! God knows. “He will give you all the desires of your heart” says the Bible. Even desires that you didn’t know you had!
A wise person once told me that ‘stepping out in faith’ means this: “Thirty seconds – only thirty seconds – of embarrassing, extraordinary bravery”. Only thirty seconds! I think even I can manage that. Good luck!
1 comment
Nice post Esther. But please elaborate it more. You can write a whole book on “Thirty seconds” thing that you said in the end. And I will love to read that book. I found your post when I was searching for practical exercises one can do to take baby steps in faith in the Lord and a practical sequence of such steps arranged in a progressive pattern. Please guide me to any resource you know in that direction.