Ascent Blog

From my wife Brittany:

Randy Pausch. Greg Mortenson. Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

As you are probably aware, within the past 5 years, these 3 individuals have all arrived on the international stage for their heroic work – Pausch for showing us how to live through his “Last Lecture,” Mortenson for building girls’ schools in Taliban-threatened Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Ali for risking her life as a female politician in the Netherlands willing to speak out about violence against women among her fellow Muslims.

All 3 of these people have also written bestselling books, all of which I highly recommend.

I don’t know about you guys, but when I reflect upon these individuals, I get inspired. To me they are proof of the cliché that a single person can make a huge difference in the world if they have the passion to persevere.

And perseverance is a big part of it. In The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch states:
The brick walls are there for a reason. They’re not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.

Now, anyone in the world who has done anything has certainly encountered brick walls. I’m sure all of us have, too, in work and in life. And personally, as a Christian trying to discern God’s path for myself, I do believe that certain brick walls ARE there to keep us out and push us in another direction.

But, that said, oftentimes we find naysayers or extenuating circumstances or simply our own self-doubt that seems to tell us to give up on our dreams and let the course of least resistance play out.

And we all know that if we always listened to those negative voices, we would probably not be where we are today. I know that I would not be in Philadelphia. Greg Mortenson would not have built his girls’ schools. Ayaan Hirsi Ali would not have written her books. And, in a recent example I just read, the Please Touch Children’s Museum would never have moved to its new and improved location in Centennial Hall if its leadership had listened to certain elements in city government.

So, how can we know when to give up on something and when to pursue it vehemently? Well, for me, this is where faith comes in. And I just read a great book about this topic that I actually found through TSA’s War Cry magazine. It’s called “Direction” and it provides 6 questions you can pray about and ask yourself anytime you need to make a decision:
Is this aligned with the character of God?
Is there an obstacle or opposition?
Is it God-sized?
Is it requiring steps of faith?
Is it stretching, growing and strengthening me?
Is it requiring me to adjust, prune and realign my life?

The author states that your answer should be “Yes” to all of these in order for you to take that step you’re asking about. Including to the question of opposition . . . provided it is the right kind of opposition, the kind that does not come from God, and not the kind that is simply the consequence of our own sinful actions.

But the author’s main point is that actually there “ISN’T a perfect will for every decision of life, but rather a ‘way’ for us to walk in. And when we walk in this way, God moves in and through us to accomplish His purposes . . . He causes His will to be done in and through us as we grow in our relationship with Him and walk each day in His way.”

Sometimes I think it would be great if my decisions were always clear-cut, but we as humans have free will, and one of the beauties of that is that we must step out in faith, and trust that God will work out His purposes in our lives.

I’d like to close with a famous verse from 1 Corinthians 13:
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (– 1 Corinthians 13:12)

In the meantime, all we can do is to strive to love and serve one another, and pray that God would give us His vision to see what needs to be done here on earth. There is great power in pursuing the right dream with passion and perseverance, and in doing this, a single person can definitely make the world a better place.