I love asking people random, sometimes challenging or thought-provoking, questions.
Something I’ve learned over the years is that people love to talk about themselves but they will rarely do so without prompting. I know I love to talk (ask my wife!). Where we tend to miss opportunities to grow the best kinds of relationships is when we become guarded and activate the mindset that another person has to earn our trust over time before we start sharing the deeper parts of our heart with them.
That is not to say that we should go grab random people and start dumping our life stories on them. No. If you take a moment to step back and look at the landscape of your relationships, you’ll see a few people you’re very close with, some that are pretty good, solid friends, and maybe a large number of people that could go either way. Perhaps that larger group is filled with people that you tolerate, some that always have interesting stories but their values don’t line up with yours in a way that you could maintain a friendship. Others could possibly be such great people and are so nice and genuinely interested in your friendship, but they’re always so busy, never available. You end up talking to them once a month or every few months.
I have several of each of those categories of people in my own life and, aside from the few close friends (two or three to be exact), and it is reaching a point where I am fed up with the lack of depth in my relationships with the larger group I’m not close with. That’s not to say I want to be close with all of them, nor do I want to just drop them all.
What a conundrum!
The challenge that I am issuing to myself for the remainder of this year is to begin actively engaging with those who are actively engaging with me. If there are groups that I don’t hear from, like ever, then they likely won’t hear from me.
Is that a Christian thing to do? (<<<Serious question, we need to figure this out! Comment below with your thoughts.)
I mean, sure I don’t plan to just ignore everyone completely, but do you see where I’m going with this? We find ourselves in these types of situations because we haven’t allowed for the opportunity to truly experience the richness of community. Because of this, I want to strengthen my efforts with the blog and podcast to have a more concentrated effort on conversations. Many of you have told me via text or in person/over the phone that you enjoy the content I publish on both platforms. While I appreciate all of your support and kind words, I’m finding that there are very likely people reading this blog or listening to the podcast and thinking, “Man, I feel that way, and I’m probably the only one…”
As Christians, we have to heed the call to connect and share our thoughts in public or with friends and family, but also on sites like this. We live in a world today where there is, in essence, zero degrees of separation between any two people. Someone reading this needs to know that you are there and you can relate to their hurt or fear or trials or triumphs.
In a way, this is my attempt to simply ask that you comment on posts, leave your thoughts, share this site and the podcast with others. Maybe this site or podcast isn’t the right fit for someone because you shared it, but the “Other podcasts you may like,” on Apple Podcasts or Google Play, etc,… maybe this podcast/blog leads someone who is hurting to content that actually helps them. I’m not here to get a million subscribers. I’m here to be used by God to point others to Him. If that means that my site is just a pit stop on the way to an Andy Stanley sermon or a Les Parrott book, or a Dave Ramsey money event, then so be it!
With that said, I would love to see the comments begin to roll in and there will be ways for you to interact ON my podcast starting in Season 2, releasing September 17. If you’d be interested in sharing part of your story as a guest on the podcast (or the blog), I will have a form ready inside of next week’s post. I don’t want to fill this site up with interviews with big names that seem to have life figured out. I want to talk to people who are still trying to figure life out. If that’s you, check back next week!
I hope you all enjoyed your Summer and are ready for the next chapter of Entrejourney and the Trials & Triumph podcast.
Until next week, be blessed!
TRIALS & TRIUMPH 