"Entrepreneurs are not very different from elite athletes. Can a gymnast avoid risks and still excel? Not a chance. The same is true in business: no guts, no glory. I never anticipate failure, but I don't fear it either. It only makes us smarter. Just like you have to accept that you're not always right, you have to make friends with failure.
The great thing is that you can fail multiple times, but you only have to "make it" once. I once walked into my warehouse and found it completely flooded, but I had no insurance and no profits to cover the losses. Half the merchandise was lost. But half was not. I then experienced a surge of adrenaline and motivation, and the incident inspired me to restructure the business and sell the remaining goods in more creative ways. The mistake made my business stronger.
I still employ these tactics today, which really were born out of failure. I believe in making lemonade, in never ending on a negative note. Failure is not an ending, but a beginning."
I thought this was an appropriate quote to begin this blog, after the last two. In the last two blogs I opened myself up for criticism, and at the same time freed myself from a life of a hyprocritical belief system that was suffocating me. One thing I'm very thankful for in my time is ministry was that it forced two things, (1) taking risks, (2) make friends with failure. Today, "church" is a big risk. You risk relationships, trust, and a huge financial obligation. One of the biggest risks is the risk of losing one of the greatest abilities God gave you--the ability to think. Some organizations want to think for you and to journey outside the realm of their thinking capacity risks their reputation, and your security.
So, what happens when you begin to think outside the realm of whatever group you are a part of? Family explains this perfectly! Everybody gets to a certain age where they are ready to go out and "make it on their own." They want to create a name for themselves, create a career, their own family, a home, etc. It's called, "leaving the nest" and growing up. You go out, make mistakes, learn from them, get back up, and keep plugging along. That's life. I don't think the Garden of Eden was God's plan for Adam and Eve. God's first commandment to human beings was;
“Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
If they just hung out in the Garden they would have never "filled the earth," nor "subdued it." You see, this is the problem with Christianity in my opinion--everybody is told to stay in the Garden. We got a world out there that needs "good news" and staying in the "Garden" isn't helping anybody. I also would argue that God divinely set up Adam and Eve by placing the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the center of the Garden where it was in plain view. HE KNEW THEY WOULD EAT FROM IT...because if they didn't they would never have gained "the knowledge of good and evil" that would ultimately allow them to fulfill the commandment to "be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it." Subduing takes knowledge. Like a good Father, God, kicked them out and forced the issue. He forced them to explore, work, fail, have kids, etc...not like forcing them like robots, but he was the perfect parent that had to kick the kids out. They had to learn to live on their own and clean up their own crap.
A good friend told me one time that the church/religion was the only organization on the planet that allows their members to never grow up or mature. They can stay kids their entire life if they choose. He went as far as saying, "they even hire people to change their diapers." Oooooh, that's harsh isn't it?!
What happens if people begin to really study, challenge, are allowed to doubt, and question. What would happen if their are margins for failure, risks, and the acceptance of "you know what, I could be wrong." What if a pastor stood up and said, "You know, I could be totally wrong here, and I would encourage you to check this out on your own, but I believe..." What would happen if a person just "outgrew" Christianity? Shouldn't we celebrate that because it is the natural order of maturity.
Writing has stirred a fire within me to "raise my voice,"again. These series of blogs, talking to people through email and in person, and seeing the injustice out there in the "name of God" has caused an upheaval in my being. I will not be starting another church and I don't see myself going back into ministry but I would like to be a voice of change. I would like to be a voice that stands up against the Goliath's, and "yes" I am referring to the organized religious systems that has caused fear--fear of not being good enough, fear of not being "save enough," and the feeling of fear that this is the end of the world. Feeling guilty for being human, feeling guilty for believing different, and the general feeling of guilt because you are not living up to their standards. I will be the voice that stands up and says, "who is this uncircumcised Philistine? "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are."
Leaving the Garden may seem like complete utter failure and absolute nonsense, but risk and failure is the way of Jesus. Matthew 10:30 NLT,
"If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it." Failure and sin is a part of the process. If God didn't know that from the beginning, then He is not God, but just a figment of your imagination. God created a world outside the Garden and he wants you and I to explore it, work it, cultivate it, restore it, and make something beautiful. If you are uncomfortable in church, like I was, maybe it is because you've outgrown it. Don't feel guilty and fear, God's got a "world" for you to explore out there!! The Bible is full of stories of people leaving where they are and journey to a place God will show them. Even in the New Testament, the disicples left what they knew, to follow some guy who claimed to be God. Paul left the religion he knew his whole life to follow a call to "grace"--to the whole world. After he established a church, he left and went and started another. There was one group that tried to stay in one place their whole lives...it didn't turn out to well (See Genesis 11). Leave what you know to follow something bigger--there has got to be more than what we are expereincing!! Just a few thoughts...Lech lecha!!
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