Are You Living The Story?

I love what I do! I love to tell others about what I do! I get to go to work every day and use my business to try to impact people all around me for eternity! I have the privilege and opportunity to mentor and teach what I believe is Truth to everyone who works in our company. I get to work with people of like mind and overcome the challenges inherent in living and running a business from a Christian perspective! I really do love what I do, but I have a problem.

Background

Before I disclose the problem, let me tell you how I discovered it. At a Catalyst conference, I had the surprise of hearing a potent message from someone that I had never heard of before. The speaker’s name was Eugene Cho, pastor of Quest Church in Seattle, WA and founder of an incredible organization called One Day’s Wages. You really need to take a look at what this organization does!

The message that Cho gave was very simple, but extremely powerful! He talked about how our nation is one of abundant resources. Our families are extremely wealthy in relation to the rest of the world. We have basic amenities that the rest of the world considers luxuries.

He went on to explain how we have an incredible capacity for ideas and creativity. The problem he sees with all of this is that we are in danger of being more in love with the ideas than with the actions that should result from them!

…we are in danger of being more in love with the ideas than with the actions that should result from them!
-Eugene Cho

Telling vs. Living

Let’s take a closer look at what this means. How is this evident in our daily lives? For an example, think about how social media has exploded with people telling stories to everyone that will listen. Every day, people talk and talk about what is going on around them – sharing the stories with their friends and coworkers.

We all love a good story, whether we are telling it or hearing it! The problem, as Cho put it, is that too many are busy telling the story and not enough people are living a good story!

Look at this picture of an actual sign that reflects this very problem!

I Am Guilty

So, what does this have to do with my problem? I think I have the very problem that Cho described. While I may not have a terminal case of it, I can certainly see symptoms of it in my life.

Too often, I enjoy telling the story about what I am doing in trying to integrate my faith into our business. Too often, I like to learn about new ways to run our business according to our Christian faith. Too often, I am in love with the story of a Christian business.

The problem is that too often, I am not taking action to make it happen!

My Commitment

As a result of this message from Eugene Cho, I am committing to:

(1) Quit just telling the story
(2) Quit just loving the story
(3) Make more effort to be actually living the story!

In my life and in our company, I am going to make more of an effort to address the gaps between ideas and actions! I am going to close these gaps and take more action. I will continue to tell this story on this blog, but I will make more of an effort to describe actions rather than just ideas. I am committed to living the story!

I hope this makes sense to you. If so, I encourage you to do the same.

What are the gaps between your ideas and actions?

Are you comfortable with how you are living your story?

What are you going to do about it?

[Original post date – October 24, 2011]