FORTUNE FAVORS THE BOLD!
The lovely woman (that would be my wife) came into staff meeting a few days ago and said, “I have a test for you.” She told us to interlock our fingers together without looking and then asked, “Which thumb is on top?” Both she and our financial administrator had their right thumb on top which indicated, according to the test, right brain dominance. If you’re not familiar with right brain/left brain, the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and is intuitive and creative, the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body and is analytical and logical. I said, “Neither thumb is on top”—my thumbs rested upwardly together. She said that was an indication that I used both sides equally. Interestingly our younger daughter and oldest grand-daughter had the same trait. And we are intuitive and analytical. Which I why I assess a situation, work out the downside, compare it to the upside, trust what I feel, and act boldly.
A visiting speaker once said of me, “This is the only preacher that I have ever known that was willing to risk everything to follow God.” He didn’t say the only one—just the only one the he knew. (He must have had a very small circle of acquaintances.) But he was right as far as he went. I’ve left everything near and dear three times to make major life changes that I believed to be God. When I went into the ministry I left the family business, was kicked out of the house, had my truck keys taken from me, and lived a pauper in a run down rooming house living n beans and cornbread because I believed I was following God. When we started the Lima church I left a productive and profitable traveling ministry to begin in a church in a ratty storefront. We went from being able to buy whatever we wanted to walking through the mall going “ooooh remember when we had money?” Later, when that church had become the third largest in that city we left it all again to start over in Dayton. They were bold steps—but they bold steps that brought reward. And each step was fulfilling in its own way.
What separates the timid who seldom find fulfillment from the bold that generally do? Seven Things—I’ll share the first one on this side of “The Door.”
PREPARATION
I wasn’t expecting it. I had done a couple of “go arounds” with my flight instructor when he said, “I need to get out here.” I thought that he needed to go into the FBO so I was surprised when he said, “It’s all yours, take it around the patch.” I had a moment of panic—I knew that I could get the plane off the ground but can I get it back down again? (It’s easy to get a plane off of the ground—but you do want to get it back down in one piece!) But I was prepared. I had practiced. I knew the procedures. So with a quick mental review of what I had learned,
and Leon Patillo singing, “The Sky Is The Limit” in my head, I took off, breaking the bonds of earth. A few minutes later I made a perfect landing and became a flyer. The sky is the limit for those who live boldly but boldness requires preparation.
Prepare yourself spiritually—“The righteous are as bold as a lion” could be paraphrased “if you are right you can be as bold as a lion.” Spend time in prayer and meditation. If you want the intuitive edge you learn to listen to that “still small voice”. Get a word from God. Anything is possible if you have a word from God.
Prepare yourself emotionally. Expect adversity. It will be overcome by tenacity. Realize that success comes in many sizes and savor each one. Find your moment of inner calm and hold and be bold.
Prepare yourself physically—it’s hard to be bold when you’re weak and run down. Boldness requires stamina—sometimes bold actions take more than a minute from risk to reward.
