5 Questions To Move You Forward

Okay. I was reading a John Paul Jackson's Partners Letter from July 2009. He was using info from Pal Sloane's The Five Reasons Why You Are Not Fulfilling Your Potential ( www.lifehack.org ). { their material is in Arial blue. all plagiarism issues now dealt with!) It was like getting my head back on straight. So here are the 5 questions:

1) Are you too comfortable and in a rut? Ruts are easy roads with downward slope. Are you afraid to get out of the comfort zone and stretch and grow? What have you done that was risky lately? After all, faith is spelled r-i-s-k. (My version: Is life too familiar?)

2) Do you think God made a mistake when He created you? Successful people believe they are here for a purpose. If you're fulfilling someone else's vision for you, who will fulfill God's vision for you? Push, don't settle.

3) Have you forgotten your life goals? Have you written them down so you know what they are, and do you see them regularly? Type them up and put them in Outlook or on your desk.

4) Are you lazy, spending too much time on what is easy for the moment or what is fun? Fun isn't wrong, but it doesn't satisfy in the long term. It leaves you hungry. So, subquestions are: how passionate am I about my vision for my life, and do I have a good work ethic?

5) Are you avoiding high achievers? That means natural as well as spiritual. Loved ones may not encourage us to move forward and try harder; they may just want to get along and not have arguments with us. High achievers will often have a God-given insight into your destiny. They see your blindspots and weaknesses and can help you overcome those. Alert: You may not want to hear what they say when they say it, but if you act on it, you will love them in the long run. If you are not thinking actively, you will sink to the level of the lowest achieving person with whom you associate. They will suck away your energy. One bad apple WILL spoil the whole barrel.

Survival in this difficult world will require you to think and act differently. Then you can change others and the church and the world. The safe road is no longer safe. Think of God as your off-road vehicle, and go where He can go, which is ... everywhere He wants to go. The wide easy path that leads to destruction is so much easier for me to see now than when I was young. It's not just the bad stuff (drugs, sex, badness in general). It is also the every day good-but-not-right things. It is like the Interstate --- comfortable, or at least more comfortable, but where it takes you is quite limited and the ride is never as interesting. Instead, take God's off-road vehicle ride after you answer those 5 questions.

Thanks JPJ and Paul Sloane. This blogging is mostly you.