“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
…narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
- Jesus of Nazareth
This story begins almost 20 years ago. A man with a wife of 11 years, a son of 10 years of age, and two daughters of 7 and 4. The protagonist in this story is a banker managing a large investment portfolio (10 digits worth) with a carefully constructed spreadsheet of his future net worth (7 digits worth).
He is on track. Everything is happening according to plan. Numbers don’t lie, correct? Well, at least they don’t, until they do. Because the scoreboard our protagonist is trying to light up is the wrong one. This one is motivated by fear, the need to be the master of his own fate, and to prove that he can do life on his own.
Even his Christian faith has become contrived. A system of organization and order. A way to make him feel like he has it all figured out and a system to keep him from really feeling and experiencing the uncertainty and the glory found there. The faith required to live there.
This hero’s journey is assaulted. It gets turned upside down. Everything gets rocked. Faith fails. Marriage crumbles. His unhappiness and discontent are felt by the ministries he is a part of, the children that he wanted to do better with than he had known as a boy, and the woman of his dreams.
But in a pivotal four day trip to Colorado, he encounters a guide, who takes him on a simple journey that he is still exploring almost 20 years later.
The journey costs him everything to gain everything.
There is no longer the banking career and managing 10 digits.
There is no spreadsheet with the accumulated wealth of 7 digits either.
But there is abundant life.
A fully integrated career where personal, professional, and spiritual all operate seamlessly.
A much deeper, abiding, and true faith.
A restored marriage and a new concept of "father" for his kids.
And work that is playing a small role in bringing clarity, purpose, and success to leaders, the people they lead, and the organizations they manage.
This protagonist has been able to stare down his antagonist (although he whispers lies continuously) and find a new way to live. He is humbled and honored to receive confirmation of how different things are…how different he is.
Recently, his now 22-year-old daughter (who was once the 4-year-old mentioned above) was interviewing for a job. The company told her that they receive 5 resumes a day from girls just like her who have just graduated from college and are looking for work.
They never interviewed one of them…until now.
Not only did she warrant an interview, but they were so captivated by her character, the way she talked about her life, what she valued and how she saw the world, that the interviewer gathered other co-workers to hear what she had to say.
When they asked her how she became that way, she said…
“I was raised in a family that valued my character over my accomplishments.”
The reality is that this protagonist’s journey, like all of ours, doesn’t end with his own life, but extends into the generations that follow. This protagonist got to witness the joy, pride, and excitement of the next generation of his life talk about her experience of being seen, heard, and honored.
This protagonist smiled and laughed so hard that the only place the happiness could get out was through his eyes. Tears of joy that he simply didn’t know were possible a mere few years ago.
Consider
- What scoreboard are you trying to light up?
- How invigorated, fulfilled, or full of life are you as you pursue that scoreboard?
- What will you pass on to the subsequent generations of your children or those you are leading?
- Are you ready to go on a journey that will cost you everything to gain everything?