The Guidance/Input

1. Guiding Deck: Dream Session 2010-04-24
2. Book Highlights: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller
3. Men for Marriage (for men only)
4. Living a Good Story, an Alternative to New Years Resolutions
5. Let Story Guide You [MP3 Excerpt (2MB)]
6. Facing the Giants [YouTube, MP4 (13MB)]
7. The Best Motivation Video [YouTube, MP4 (3MB)]
8. Lecrae - Go Hard [YouTube, MP4 (9MB)]
9. Disney Pixar Up! - Married Life, Carl & Ellie [YouTube, MP4 (66MB)]
10. Randy Pausch - Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams [YouTube, FLV (229MB)]

In Action

Results

We each leave the time with a list of goals, dreams, ambitions and new friends. We realize that wanting to have lived a good life requires intention throughout. We have looked at each other's goals and have figured out ways to take the next step for each other. We are connecting our friends with other friends and colleagues; we are affirming dreams; we are coming alongside our new friends to pursue the same dreams - together!

Next next step is accountability. We'll need to make sure that we all take the time to move on the next step:

• Develop the plan
• Call the friend, relative or connection
• Do the research and move in the direction we know to be right

There seems to be some demand for another one of these sessions from some friends who weren't able to attend. We'll see what happens - who wants to spearhead the next one? Follow your dreams and make simple things like this happen!

How often do I (we) pray, "God strip me of everything that keeps me from you?"  What if that means he will put you into financial ruin?  What if that means he will take away your job/intellect/school?  What if that means he will leave you physically disfigured?  What if that means you would lose your family/friends?  What if that was (whatever else you think you can't live without or have change in your life)?  Would you still pray?

Did you know that currently, 77% of Uganda's overall population are youth and of that, 30% are orphans?

On August 3rd I am going to Uganda to start a project that will enrich local communities, rescue child soldiers from bondage, provide orphans with an education and basic healthcare, and give the orphans hope for a future free from poverty.

To achieve these goals, local Ugandans will run an internet cafe to generate a sustainable revenue stream allowing the profits to be used to support the orphanages. My role on the project is to start the internet café, train the employees, and provide business and technical consultation to stabilize the business.

I share this vision with you because I realize that success cannot be achieved without the support from my friends. I would like you to participate in this endeavor through some of the following areas:

• Prayer: If you have a relationship with Jesus, I'd love to have you pray with me.
• Advice: If you have insights, wisdom, concerns, or questions, please contact me. If you have ideas for business in developing nations, regional contacts, or economic models for sustaining this type of work, let's brainstorm.
• Financial Support: My financial goal is $2,500 for my trip with any additional funds going toward the $13,000 start-up cost of the internet café. If you would like to help fund the trip, business, and orphanage, please send your tax-deductible donations made out to Antioch Allocation by:
  • Mail: Antioch Allocation
    6 N. Montague St.
    Arlington, VA 22203
  • Paypal: Credit Card / eCheck

I will share my experience at http://uganda.jason1365.com and keep it updated with new insights and issues as I continue on this journey. Thank you for considering to partner with me to change the lives of Ugandan orphans through business development.

Over the past couple of years, I have come to realize a couple things about my life –

1. First, God has created me with passions and purpose. I see more and more that my purpose is to pursue these passions within me.
2. Second, I desire to help those in need – those afflicted, those rejected and forgotten, the poor and needy. Why God gave me this passion, I do not know. However, I cannot deny my passions or purpose.
3. Third, I have become frustrated with the mentality that somehow God cares about religious stuff and not where or how we spend each day. Working in business development/improvement and technology is another aspect of life that excites me every day. I very much enjoy my job. However, I have begun to think that God, business, technology, profit, faith, employment, and innovative ideas should all come together in some beautiful way. I'm not entirely sure how that looks yet, but I know that I will strive to create this sort of environment.

So, when a friend passed on a message to me that a woman wanted to care for the orphans of Uganda through business development, I saw a perfect opportunity to act on my passion and start to fulfill my purpose. Of course, I've never done anything like this and I'm naive enough to push forward on developing a business in Uganda. As I see it, a missional business in Uganda can have profound impacts on the local community. A missional business could be defined as a business with the desire to honor God and serve others by giving themselves away.

I'm excited to think about the amazing opportunities this provides for the orphans and local residents:

• The orphans will have internet access.
• The profits will support the teachers’ salaries to provide the orphans with an education, hope in the future, and knowledge of God's greatness.
• Orphans can learn technical, business, and ethical skills by working in the internet café.
• The orphans will have work producing goods for the coffee shop integrated in the internet café and running that aspect of the business.
• The internet café can be used for community training.
• Starting an internet café (a business) and stimulating the economy is what Africans both want and need right now.

This step of faith through my Ugandan venture is showing me some major issues in my life. One of which is the fact that I began to think that I could somehow succeed on my own abilities. For a while, I believed that I was smart enough entrepreneurially and technically to be able to do this on my own. However, because God is good, he let me know that this endeavor would go nowhere as long as I thought that this was my project, my goal, and my success. I am realizing that my self-centeredness continues to get in the way of pursuing my passions and purpose. I'm learning that my purpose is to not only pursue my passions, but to pursue them knowing that it's because of God's sovereignty that anything at all can be accomplished.

Ultimately, I hope to grow and be able to see myself as a man who serves his God and those people that I am burdened for, a man who pursues passions to live out his purpose, a man who realizes that God wants to be a part of every part of my life, a man who abhors selfishness and pride in my own life, and a man who cares for the people of the world.

I hope that you have been able to take a look into my life and my heart. If any of this excites, frustrates, or confuses you, then let's take some time to talk about it. I'm always looking to hear input because I know that I miss things and mess up frequently. Please consider partnering with me on this and future endeavors to enrich our world. God is good to bless those who bless others in profound ways – ways in which words cannot describe.

I was asked this question by a friend of mine. I'm not sure how to best address this, but here goes.

Your question says "you" - meaning that you are asking me and not asking for the general population or even for you. As such, I can make a best attempt to answer that question. If you are looking for something more broad, then I doubt anything I have to say is useful.

Then I can answer very simply that in fact I cannot fully trust God with my life, that I don't truly give up on my own hopes, dreams, plans, and fears. Of course, that answer isn't very interesting. Fully and truly imply perfection which is something that I have not (and don't think I will) been able to do.

But the question you are asking is how do I choose to relinquish control over my destiny. And well, that's very easy. I've tried very hard to control my destiny and messed everything up. I'm a terrible chooser. And then on top of that, I manipulated many to no avail. So much work, effort, and everything for misery. Matt 6:33 comes in with a promise. Seek God first (his will and perfection) and God will take care of everything else. So what does that mean? It means that I don't seek my goals, dreams, hopes, etc anymore, but God. And the thing is that my own dreams and plans really aren't that great. Accomplishing the goals are not fulfilling. God actually has bigger, better, and more fun goals for me. He has a destiny that full of joy and fulfillment. Mine is merely theoretical and filled with expectations that aren't met. God never does not exceed expectations.

Finally, I am very trusting by nature. I'm not sure why. I am one who generally will look for the good intentions of a decision or situation. I will give people the "benefit of the doubt." I am nearly always instantly forgiving and with difficulty do I hold grudges. So, I recognize that by nature some things are much easier for me than others and then some things are much harder for me than for others.

Trust is easy. Pride is such a hindrance. Are not goals, dreams, etc only a manifestation of pride. What good are accomplishments expect for my glory? Can I do my own will and then give credit to God? Of course not, he was not in the action.

And, as I have been in God's will, life has been better than the greatest of my accomplishments. It's just so much better although difficult to learn humility and self-denial (both characteristics/disciplines we are learning about this week and last). But, what joy awaits.

You may have heard me say this before, but "you never know what is on the other side of obedience." This is something that I heard from somebody and I love it. Just obey God and let me take care of the rest. You don't know what that looks like but you can rest in knowing it is what is the best and what will make you the happiest.