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Sometimes I’m a slow learner and need to repeat a lesson!
Recently, I hurt my back. A torn disc, along with some herniated and bulging discs all proved quite effective at hijacking my life with a ton of pain. It was royally inconvenient! No quick fix, just a lot of rehab, exercise and patience.
I was frustrated. It was a busy season with a significant leadership incline ahead and I had “no time for this!”
A friend called me to check in. I shared what was going on, the diagnosis and prognosis. He then asked, “So, what do you think God may want to teach you through this?”
Flabbergasted, I responded, “It’s a physiological injury, pretty simple. I’m sure something about being patient and waiting, but right now it’s just pain and process.”
He replied, “Yes, that makes sense. But you’ve also been pushing pretty hard and tackling a lot lately...perhaps there’s more to learn from this. I have found that if your back hurts from the load you’re carrying, then you’ve probably been carrying it wrong.”
It was not what I wanted to hear! In fact, I found it annoying.
Fast forward two months. I’m on a business trip in a series of big meetings. I was pushing through a 15 hour Tuesday that had a lot of good in it but then ended with a series of tough meetings...people issues, conflict, drama. It was zapping my batteries.
I walked out of a meeting at 10 p.m. only to find a couple in tears asking for prayer, and I found myself with an empty cup. They shared their burdens. We prayed. God worked through my lack and actually brought Scripture to mind and ministered to them through me to my own surprise.
They walked away encouraged. I walked away…drained, exhausted, crushed. Again. Somehow, it was as though the issues of the day had all accumulated into a crushing weight upon me.
Even the burdens of that couple felt like they transferred to me. They walked away free, I walked away heavy.
I found myself restless. I couldn’t just go relax in my hotel room. I was agitated. I ended up walking laps around this hotel in Dallas at 11:30 p.m. I began to talk to God…out loud. I even raised my voice at Him!
It crescendoed when describing all that weighed me down, I shouted, “I can’t do this! It’s too heavy and I don’t think I can carry all of this, Father!” I sensed a small prompt-like voice, “Say it again.” So, I shouted it even louder with tears now streaming down my face. I completely spooked a poor security guard who was walking around the corner at this point!
“Nah, officer, I’m fine, just go about your business. I’m just talking with God right now and don’t need your help.”
I cried, “Uncle!” and God met me there. I needed to. It was real stuff but I was carrying it, and it was wrecking me. I’m not a special agent on assignment from God to do stuff for God out of my strength. I’m invited to an adventure of business with God and that is entirely different. Same problems, same reality…different source and experience. The next morning I woke early for my quiet time and my reading plan “just happened” to include Psalm 116. I’m pretty sure David wrote that for me after the last 48 hours!
To be a faith-driven entrepreneur is a wild adventure for sure. The question is…do you approach it with bravado of “saving the world” for God, or on assignment with Him? God is already sovereign over everything, so there is no liquidity event He’s waiting on or darling enterprise venture He’s anxiously hoping for; particularly, if it comes at the cost of our soul.
A friend of mine, Mindy Caliguire, used to say, “I want to get the jet fuel drinkers and candle lighters to come together and understand a high-performance leadership journey that is simultaneously dependent, healthy and alive. Leadership does demand sacrifices, but Jesus never asked His disciples to sacrifice their own soul for the cause.”
Jesus responded to people commenting on how preposterous His teachings were by acknowledging that “with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Photo source: istock
 | Mike Sharrow is the President and CEO of the C12 Group. He began as a C12 Group member in 2010 while serving as an executive pastor for a large church in Texas and owner of a healthcare strategy consulting group. With a background spanning Fortune 50 corporate settings, start ups, non-profit and local church, Mike has been discipled into an integrated life perspective around the calling all believers share to be disciple making disciples and ambassadors of Christ across all vocations and contexts. He is married to Jacqui and they have two daughters, Elayna and Sophia. Learn More » |
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