Category Archives: Adventure

Adventure, Leadership, Life

The trouble with New Year’s resolutions

First let me say I’m a huge fan of goal setting, for that matter I often make New Year’s resolutions. I do think goals work better when they have a deadline for achievement rather than a start date (but that’s another post for another day).

The trouble with New Year’s resolutions is that they make us think we’re the masters of our own universe. That we’re the point of the story. When we think we’re in charge we end up shrinking the story we’re living in down to be us sized.

Most of you know (or if you’ve been reading a while, have suspected) that I’m a follower of Jesus. And for those of us that follow Jesus we have a choice to make every day. And that’s which story we’re going to live in. Are we going to live in our own small story, where we’re the main character and it’s all about us. Or are we going to live in the larger story, where He is the hero and we have a vital role to play. If we believe that we’re characters (albeit important ones) in a much larger story then everything changes. It helps put a lot of things in proper perspective.

At the begginning of The Hobbit, Gandolph shows up and makes Bilbo an offer,¬†”I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging.” But Bilbo, like us, is used to his own comfortable life, “We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! I can‚Äôt think what anybody sees in them.” But being a polite fellow he invites Gandolph for tea the next day…and most of us know the rest of the story.

There’s an invitation that God has for you this coming year. ¬†An invitation into a larger story, an adventure of epic proportions.

So, here’s a question for you to ponder as we head into 2013. Which story are you going to live in?

Happy New Year friends.

P.S. Something I pray every day¬†on a regular basis that helps put all of this in perspective is The Daily Prayer that John Eldredge put together. There’s a free pdf and mp3 of it here. Thanks to @gpackiam and @johneldredge for inspiring this post.

 

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Adventure, Business, Leadership

If I could change my life…would I?

On December 1st I read a blog post entitled, “If you could change your life…would you?“, by Seth Godin.   In the post Seth linked to a web page he’d created for an Alternative MBA program he would be running at his office starting on January 19th, 2009.  Although it looked intriguing, since it was in New York, I didn’t think much about it.  A few days later it came up again in conversation with a friend of mine.  This time I couldn’t get away from it.  After talking with Amy, our friends and family I decided to apply.  The day after I submitted my application I received an invitation from Seth to come to New York for an interview, so I hopped on a plane and flew to the Big Apple.  While flying home from my interview I received an email from Seth saying that I was one of a small group of people that had been accepted into the program…that was a little over a week ago.

So, now I’m busy preparing for an amazing six month adventure.  Amy and I have decided that she’ll stay at our home in Colorado with the kids, surrounded by our incredible community of friends.  I’ll be commuting back and forth, spending the weekends at home, and the weekdays in New York.  

We’re very aware that Amy is getting the hard end of this deal…and there’s no way I’d be doing this without her 100% support.  In fact, there’s no way any of this would be possible without the amazing support and generosity of our families, friends and clients.  It’s been humbling to watch as people step forward to offer different types of help and support, without which this couldn’t happen.  We don’t have everything we need in place yet, but I know by the 19th we will.

I’ll do my best to use this blog to keep everyone updated as the program progresses, although all of us (including Seth) have signed an NDA agreeing not to share any details of the program without the express permission of everyone else in the group.  It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out as all of us are bloggers.

I realize I’m pretty lucky to have been offered this opportunity and I’m very thankful to all our friends who are helping make this possible. 

P.S. On a practical note, I’m still looking for a room to rent.  Ideally it would be close to Seth’s office in Hastings on Hudson, NY.  Somewhere on the Hudson line could work as well.  If you’ve got any ideas, please drop me a note.

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Adventure

Horizon Quest

Hqlogo_2Imagine a place of rustic luxury…in the mountains of Colorado…a ranch. You are there with five of your closest friends…for a week.  You are served like royalty…the finest food…the most comfortable surroundings.  You spend your days sharing stories…your stories…your friends stories.  You share adventure…on horseback…shooting shotguns…fly fishing.  Now imagine its all a gift from someone you don’t even know…all you had to do was show up.  Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it.

That’s what I thought too.

Actually this place isn’t just a figment of my imagination, its real and its called Horizon Quest.  I just returned from one of the most phenomenal weeks of my life.  I journeyed there with five of my closest friends and I was blown away by the experience.  If something in your heart comes alive…perhaps you hope this is real…then check out their website.  If you choose to go it’ll change your life.

UPDATE: Unfortunately Horizon Quest closed in 2010. Thanks to the team who provided such a gift to so many.

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