don't throw in the towel before you even start...

If it is to be anything of significance, it's going to be hard to do.

It's likely you've heard something close to that in the past. Some version of something remotely inspiring to encourage you to press on when pursuing your calling gets hard. And it's pretty solid advice. But I'd like to add one thing to it.

When you are living in the middle of your calling you will sense, feel, see, hear, and experience things on a different level.

It's one thing for us to tell you to #StayTheCourse when things get hard. But you can also get excited about the fact that if you do, something on the inside of you will connect with a depth you didn't know you had in you.

You'll feel prompted to act in boldness, compassion, and generosity in a way that others may think odd. Act anyway. You will feel deeply impacted by what someone else is going through to the point that you must use your gift(s) to better their world. Others may tell you not to worry about it. Use your gift anyway. You will arrive at a place in your heart and mind that you see the solution to a problem long before others do. You'll share that view, and as much as you'll want others to applaud it, they will do almost the opposite at times to quiet you. Share it anyway. Days ahead will bring a comment past your ears that most shrug off, that you see a different depth to. It will be a warning sign of a moment that needs the gift(s) you have to be delivered through your character, humility, and grace that you have been equipped to bring. Some will tell you it isn't worth it. Speak you heart in love anyway. You will get to a point on your journey where the eighteen inch drop between your head and your heart meet in a way that, to you, is 100% undeniably moving. Whatever you are experiencing at that moment is beginning to show you how you can speak, teach, coach, and pour into the world near you. If there are any voices of doubt left at this point, simply pause. Pause just long enough to invite them to come along for the ride. I say pause, because you don't have time to stay there. Someone else's inability to see where you are called to, does not invalidate the ticket in your hand that will take you there.

My hope today is that this post will implore the person who is sitting on the nervousness to start...to resist the urge to throw in the towel because you are sweating before you even start. Take the towel with you. Use it to push the sweat of hard work from your forehead, and away from your eyes, so that you can see clearly to stay on the path that is your calling. And when the towel becomes soaked, wring it out. Keep moving forward. Pause when you must. Just don't let a pause become your residence, short of the destination you are moving towards.

A soaked towel is a hallmark of calling pursued.

And trust me...when you least expect it...someone will show up with a clean one so that you can keep moving without losing ground. A soaked towel is the sign of a champion. A person of high character that will pursue their calling, even...and especially if...it gets hard.

Keep going.

#StayTheCourse

#WringItOut

#WalkItOut

​Before you know it you are going to look around and realize you've inspired others to do the same. You'l have taught others how to truly live, simply by being you.

​Not because you told them so, but because you gave them a path to follow that they could sense, feel, see, hear, and experience on a different level.

Full circle.

​The commitment you make to your journey might just be the very thing that gets someone else to commit to theirs.

​Don't underestimate the depth of what that means.

One life reached can change the world.

Billy Graham passed away today. I think of his friend that didn't throw in the towel on inviting him to a simple meeting. And because he did, a teenager from Charlotte, NC...who grew up on a dairy farm...travelled the world pursuing his calling.

The rest, as they say, changed history.

It changed lives.

It changed mine.

​If you've taken anything positive away from this post, it's changing yours.

That's a legacy of impact that will be felt forever.

What's your next move?

Start with moving in the direction of your calling.

Oh, and don't forget your towel.

You are gonna' need it.
​