Humble Beginning

I started wrestling as a junior in high school. At first, I was bad. But, during my senior year I had moments where it looked like I might be a decent wrestler after all. I did well enough that I entered our sectional tournament as the top seed. I can still see in my mind a conversation in the hallway as the tournament began. I was talking up myself to a couple of the freshmen on the team, with words of wisdom--perhaps, just pride--like "Guys, look at me. I wasn't very good last year, but I worked hard and now I'm the number 1 seed at sectionals." 20 minutes later I was defeated in the first round. The embarrassment of that night taught me two lessons. One, don't talk yourself up too much when there is still a ton to prove. Two, if you don't step into the arena, then you likely won't get embarrassed.

I've considered starting a blog a number of times for several years. Many reasons have prevented it from realization. But at least one reason is the possibility that at some point I would look like a fool. It's amazing how powerful that fear can be. Leadership provides many opportunities for this fear to be challenged. I'll at least enter the blog arena. I learned through the embarrassment of losing that it was better to have failed than to have never entered the contest. I trust that the joy of sharing ideas and being improved along the way will be well worth the risk.

In November one of our campus ministry leaders, Tim Casteel, encouraged me to write a blog. Tim cast vision for how my new role of leadership could be enhanced through getting some of my thoughts out into the world. So, here is my humble beginning.