Back in April of 2004, I read a book called “God is My CEO“, and in the appendix, there was a template for your personal business plan. So, I spent a month writing out my personal business plan. Forty pages later, I landed on my three goals:

1. To get completely out of debt, mortgage and all.
2. To make a feature film.
3. To step full-time into ministry work.

Those were my goals. Interestingly, by the end of 2004, a big project came in and we paid off our mortgage. Wow, that was fast. Goal 1 is done.

In 2005 I resigned from my job to start a production company, and by the end of 2006, we had all of our funding for a feature film. In 2007 we shot the film and by the end of 2007, I had made my first feature film, Fissure. Goal 2 was done.

At this point, you may be thinking, that must feel wonderful, having completed your goals so quickly. Yes, kind of. Another part of me is, “what now?” I kept thinking “full-time ministry” would be in my late 50′s, early 60′s, not my early 40′s. I didn’t quite expect it to happen that fast.

This past week, our church kicked off a beta run of a new program called Emerge. It helps you focus in on your strengths by using a variety of tools. One of those tools is Gallup’s Strengths Finder 2.0. That alone has been wonderful!

Then, with these strengths in mind, you begin to map out your calling and destiny. Using key action words that define your drive, and mapping those into your passion and the people who stir your heart the most, you develop and shape your mission and vision statements.

Let me tell you what I’ve discovered so far. (I say “so far”, because there is so much more to be discovered.) Let me start by mapping out some of the things I discovered about myself:

STRENGTHS

1. Learner – People strong in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them. 

2. Relator – People strong in the Relator theme enjoy close relationships with others. They find deep satisfaction in working hard with friends to achieve a goal.

3. Responsibility – People strong in the Responsibility theme take psychological ownership of what they say they will do. They are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty.

4. Individualization – People strong in the Individualization theme are intrigued with the unique qualities of each person. They have a gift for figuring out how people who are different can work together productively.

5. Belief – People strong in the Belief theme have certain core values that are unchanging. Out of these values emerges a defined purpose for their life.

These descriptions are found in the Strengths Finder’s book. I grabbed these descriptions off of someone’s blog about Strengths Finder.

Then, we were shown a list of “Action words”, and told to scan them quickly and see which ones stand out, which ones jumped off the page. I narrowed it down to the top six, and then then top three. Finally, I put them in the order that made the most sense to me.

Those three key Action Words were:

1. Understand
2. Communicate
3. Inspire

Then, with our new destiny ingredients, we started crafting our vision statement. The first task was to identify a people group, or types of people that are important to us. Immediately, two groups of people came to mind–lost people (non believers) and hurting people (both believers and non-believers). Knowing that three of my strengths are relationship-focused (relator, responsibility, individualization), I knew my calling was to hurting people. That’s who I relate to the most, and that’s who I want to help the most.

So, equipped with this new information (at least new to me), I crafted my vision statement as follows:

To understand and encourage the hurting through communication and inspiration.

I think that really sums up what I feel called to do.

And so, I challenge you–what is your vision statement for life? What has God called you to do? What is your destiny?

You see, there’s this little area of my soul that I am still struggling to get ahold of. I say “little” because lots of Christians today wouldn’t even classify it as sin. Yet, the Lord, in his rebuke this morning reminded me, “it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it” (James 4:17). Ouch. But, he’s right. Have you ever noticed that he’s always right?

The words he used “checked out” have such deep meaning to me. I’m driven by destiny, by purpose. I get so excited living out my destiny and moving towards a goal and purpose. I love that kind of stuff. I would call myself a visionary. I can see what the future holds to those who are living out their calling.

So, the words this morning “checked out” were remarkably scary for me. I know that I am running this incredible race called “the human life”. And, it is a race. Paul often referred to this life of faith as a race:

“Remember that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize. You also must run in such a way that you will win. All athletes practice strict self-control. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I am not like a boxer who misses his punches. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).

I love this scripture! Just love it! I must run in such a way that I will win. And, I must run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. This is all very powerful to me. So, when I heard, “Son, you’ve checked out,” it hit me like a ton of bricks. I realized that this little dark area of my soul that I haven’t completely surrendered to God could easily disqualify me from the race. It’s true! I have checked out, and I need to get back in.

If I’m not running towards the goal with purpose in every step, then why run at all?

This morning, I declare this over my life, “I’m checking in. I’m ready to run. I will focus on the goal at hand, and I will surrender to the Lord this little dark area of my soul.”

I’m reminded of a story I read in John’s Edredge’s book, “Waking the Dead”. He writes:

When Spillane (The Perfect Storm) treats injured seamen offshore, one of the first things he evaluates is their degree of consciousness. The higher the level, known as ‘alert and oriented times four,’ describes almost everyone in an everyday situation. They know who they are, where they are, what time it is, and what’s just happened. If someone suffers a blow to the head, the first thing they lose is recent events–’alert times three’–and the last thing they lose is their identity. A person who has lost all levels of consciousness, right down to their identity, is said to be ‘alert and oriented times zero.’ When John Spillane wakes up in the water, he is alert and oriented times zero. His understanding of the world is reduced to the fact that he exists, nothing more. Almost simultaneously, he understands that he is in excruciating pain. For a long time, that is all he knows.

John Spillane is a para-rescue jumper sent into the North Atlantic, into the worst storm of the twentieth century, the perfect storm, as the book and film called it, to rescue a fisherman lost at sea. When his helicopter goes down, he is forced to jump into pitch blackness from an unknown height, and when he hits the water, he’s going so fast it’s like hitting the pavement from eighty feet above. He is dazed and confused–just as we are when it comes to the story of our lives. It’s the perfect analogy. We have no idea who we really are, why we’re here, what’s supposed to happen to us, or why. Honestly, most days we are alert and oriented times zero.”

When I awoke, I was “alert and oriented times zero”. But, it’s time to start running the race again with purpose in every step. Today, I am “alert and oriented times four”. Today, I’m back in the race!