Take Action

"Take Action" was the main idea in a sermon I wrote for the Junior High Group at Olive Branch Community Church a couple of years ago. The intended purpose of that sermon was to motivate the Youth to take action in multiple aspects of their walk with God.

I enjoy pondering over my old sermons as it blows me away how God used me to write them but it also gives me a chance to see if I actually lived what I preached. Which I must admit does not happen as much as I would like.

As this sermon randomly popped in my head it got me thinking about the goals and dreams that everyone has, and I thought about how EVERYONE has some form of a dream or goal. This lead me to a question... followed by another question because it is all about me as I am a big deal.

How many people actually achieve those goals and experience those dreams?

And since it is all about me the second question...

Have I achieved my goals and experienced my dreams?

Now these were reflective questions, not "hey random person at work let me ask you some things." I asked myself "have I achieved my goals and dreams?" So to answer that let's go back in time to when I was in high school and college (and the most popular kid ever). I did not have high aspirations as proven by what my goal was at the time. My goal was seriously nothing more than get a pansy (my verbiage) office job and work my way up to be able to support myself and a family. Yup. That was it... and guess what? I totally did that.

I started as a part time Data Entry Associate at Olivet International making $10 an hour. BIG BUCKS. Eventually I moved around the company a bit and ended up full time and salaried essentially running the HR and Payroll side of the company. After about three years at Olivet I took a new job at Synergy Human Capital Management where I learned even more about payroll and made more money. Dream. Achieved. Yay.

So why was I not happy?

Instead of answering that question I distracted myself. I tried to fill every single minute of every single day with something to distract me. That entailed video games, having to finish that TV series, having to stay up to date on my favorite websites, saying yes to anything and everything that was asked of me, over burdening myself with Church ministries... and many other things.

Instead of taking action and trying to figure out what the real issue was I just distracted myself, or as I see in many other people I became complacent and decided to just roll with the punches like a graceful manatee (I like similes that make little sense).

After this went on for a while one day I decided  that I was going to do something about it. I told myself it is time to take action and take care of this issue. It was go time, I was going to own it and be happy and everything would be awesome.

This new passion was misplaced in many things and they all crashed and burned. That is because I was not taking the right action. I was just jumping at every opportunity presented to me that offered some form of change. What I needed was to want a definitive thing. I had to take a break from my created distractions and just talk to my wife about what we want. It essentially broke down to God and each other. Then once we have established a way to do that, keep on going, keep on taking action, do not be complacent.

It was decided, and I decided to be confident in myself but more importantly my God.

If I want something, I am going to get it no matter what, and the only thing that is going to stop me is if God doesn't want that to happen, which I am pretty sure He did with my many attempts to take action without purpose. But now that we had our goal nothing was going to stop me from my quest out of complacency which eventually lead me to where I am today in beautiful Indiana which only happened because God made it happen.

Here be the bullets:

• A friend of mine moved out east prior and told me about a job
• I got that job (God provided)
• I told my job at Synergy I was quitting
• Ended up being able to work part time from home for Synergy (God provided)
• I found a good apartment online (God provided)
• I broke my lease for my California apartment (I miss you money... but God still provided)
• My family and friends helped me get rid of everything we could and pack everything else (God provided)
• My family drove with me and my wife 37 hours straight (I do not recommend this) to Indiana (God provided)
• I started the new job
• I made ZERO money at the new job but was able to spend more time with my wife (God still provided)
• Found a good church (God provided)
• I was offered a great job as a Benefits Analyst for Ascension Health at their Ministry Service Center in Indianapolis (God provided)
• I am actually happy (God is providing)

After trying my hardest to make something happened and God saying NOPE, He finally set us on an adventure and I have never been happier. This adventure has lead me to love my wife more, appreciate God's amazing grace more, and to motivate me to never stop TAKING ACTION. Next will be getting involved with our Church and seeing how God wants to use us for His glory.

All it took was to slow down... talk to my wife... and more importantly to go to God and say your will be done. I am done being complacent and I am done trying and failing to lead myself.

The point I am trying to make in all this is that we can't be complacent, and that applies to everything in our lives.

The moment we become complacent is the moment we give up on going further.

That most definitely cannot be how our walk with God should go, we should always be striving to be closer to Him, and complacent should not be how we define that walk or our lives. I have seen so many people unhappy with their lives and they will not do anything about it, and that included me. This insight I am sharing with you is something my wife has been telling me for years (hey wife I love you), which leads me to believe there is someone in your life that has done the same and you have ignored it. Could be a spouse, friend, and probably has been God.

My challenges to anyone that reads this (which includes my hypocritical self):

1. Ask yourself, how is my prayer life? How is my time in the Bible and how does my life reflect God? Evaluate that and strive to improve it because without that foundation we lose our purpose in life which is the glorification of God and the sharing of salvation given by the death of Christ with the world.
2. Evaluate your own life. Find what you are not happy with and change it. TAKE ACTION. If you hate your job then find something else you like or see what you can do to improve your work. Do not let money be the reason to suffer. If you are unhappy with your spouse... DON'T change your spouse or shut them out, FIX THE RELATIONSHIP. If you do not feel like you are contributing enough to our world then go out and volunteer where it is needed or donate what abundance God has given you. If you want to be happy then I recommend doing what I did, make time away from everything else and just talk with your family and friends but more importantly God about what needs to be done.

No excuses, if you want something then go and try for it. Do not let complacency shackle you to the meaningless. You are God's creation, that alone gives you purpose, a purpose wasted with complacency.

I do want to toss a disclaimer out there and urge anyone that reads this that is thinking of taking action... that you need to be prepared for God to say no, but that just means you need to re focus. That is what I had to do, it sucked at first but here I am in beautiful Indiana watching Hockey with my wife working at a job I actually enjoy. I couldn't have planned this any better. God will lead you, but you need to take action in that walk, and be willing to accept a no and redirection from Him.

My name is Matt, and when I see people I see a God given potential to take action and change the world... and their own lives for the better.