Intentional

Intentional…intentional…intentional.

Do you ever have those days where you CANNOT stop thinking about all the things you wish you could be doing? Those dreams you thought you would have done by now or at least be doing by now? That was my day…I couldn’t shake the mental pictures of me and Tot walking on red dirt, bending our knees to pray for hurting people, telling them we would be their family and friends. Then walking hand and hand through a garden with people in the village picking squash and other vegetables that would feed their families hungry bellies.

these images, along with many others, just keep playing over and over and over.

Most of the time these thoughts follow with feelings of guilt and remorse. But that’s not what I felt. Instead, I felt a hint of FEAR. A FEAR of never getting there. A FEAR of settling for lesser dreams.

I know WAY… and I mean WAY to many people that say “I never thought this would be what I would do with my life…or… I always really wanted to do that, but then life just happened.”

LIFE JUST HAPPENED…that phrase terrifies me.

“Unfortunately, his (the Enemy’s) method often involves diverting us from our heart’s desire by getting us to settle for what’s normal instead of pursuing God’s best.” Isnt that what we usually do. Settle for what is NORMAL. We have these dreams that seem so far away and so unlikely, and we look around and see others on the escalator cruising through life…and we walk right past the stairs and jump on the escalator.

That’s my fear. Getting on the escalator and unknowingly and unintentionally missing out on the things I always really really wanted to do. Then five or ten years later looking back and saying, “Dang it…If I had only taken the stairs…then who knows what I could have really done.”

I guess these thoughts hit me so hard, because my wife and are inching toward big decisions that will greatly impact our future. Should we go overseas, should we stay here and get more schooling, should we move closer to our friends, should we buy a new car? I know the last one seems minuscule, but for us its been like facing Goliath. Our car is in bad shape, all our other friends are newly married and buying new cars, and isn’t it normal to get a new car when you both get a job? Maybe, but there are dreams we could make small strides toward if we choose to sacrifice the car. So we have a choice.

That’s where that word INTENTIAL comes in.

EVERY DESTINATION AND EVERY DREAM IS REACHED BY INTENTIONALLY CHOOSING THE PATH THAT LEADS THERE. And there are going to be plenty of distractions that tempt us to choose the escalator. The NORMAL route. But we must stay focused and deliberate.

There may be forks and a re-shaping of dreams, but with every dream there are escalators that must be avoided and stairs that must be CHOSEN.

INTENTIONALLY CHOSEN.

Let me and you CHOSE the stairs and walk intentionally toward our dreams.