You’ve prepared.  Finally, it’s time to take action.  The preparation was action.  It just wasn’t what your vision was about.  Now you’re ready, huh.  Well, unless you want to go it alone (which probably is the opposite of your vision) your action begins with your mouth.  You’ve got to get people aware of the problem, even if it seems obvious.  Nehemiah pointed people to a broken down wall.  They saw it.  They’d been living with it longer than Nehemiah even knew it was down. Nehemiah wanted them to see it again.  Before people will get on board with your vision they have to know the problem your vision answers.  Have you formatted your vision in a way that you can communicate it as a resolution to an issue.Unless you want to be all talk now that you’ve got people on board…start building the wall or whatever your vision is.  You do it one brick at a time.  Talk it big so people can feel it.  You’re creating a new world.  Without your words this world won’t exist.  After you’ve talked it big be willing to walk it small day in and day out, one brick at a time.What small step can you take right now? 

We’re sitting at the dinner table a few weeks ago and my middle princess was getting over a cold.  She looked at me with wide-eyed wonderment and said, “Daddy my ear is copying me!  Did you hear it?” I didn’t want the beginning of the blog to be all work and no play :) 

So something’s bothering you.  That’s the start to the flight of your vision.  Now you’ve focused on those problems you want to solve; you’re passion’s growing and you’re ready to act.  STOP.  Don’t take action yet.  Prepare.  Channel those emotions to dig a deep well in your soul.  Pray for your vision to take flight.  Plan for your vision to take flight.  Nehemiah  prayed and God gave him an opportunity to make a difference in his hometown and rebuild the wall.  He prayed but he also planned.  That way when opportunity knocked he was ready.  Ready to fly.  A lot of visions crash and burn on the runway because the emotion kicks in and we can’t wait.  If you can prepare for your flight, you’ll greatly increase your chances of being prepared for the things you can’t see that are around the corner.  Are you bothered about your physical health, your finances, suffering in Africa, or the environment?  Are you concerned about the destructive choices your neighbor is making?  Make a plan today so you’ll be ready for your opportunity tomorrow.  What are you preparing for?

As human beings we’ve been blessed with the gift of flight.  You know I don’t mean flight in the physical sense alone but the metaphysical or supernatural.  This series will look at 5 components in seeing a vision take flight.  There aren’t guarantees to success but these five components are necessary.

 You’ll find all 5 in Nehemiah.  The first component is something has to bother you.  Nehemiah was bothered that the wall to his home city was down.  He was bothered about what this meant for his people economically and nationally.  He was bothered about what this meant for God.  He was bothered about a problem he didn’t create and he had no way of solving.  What bothers you?  What gets under your skin about the way the world around you could be?  It may not be a problem you created.  You may have no way of helping solve that problem but make no mistake your first step to flight is what bothers you?  What’s bothering you? 

During college, when I was ready to solve the world’s problems, there was a lot of black and a lot of white.  Gray was an idea that seemed too complicated and messy.  I didn’t have time for gray.  I needed black and white.  I needed an easy way to fit the world into my limited framework.  The last twelve years have been deconstructing that idea.  There’s still chunks of stark black and mountains of gleaming white but there’s a lot of gray that allures me to enter in and engage.  This blog is your invitation to enter in and join the conversation.   

chris@chrismcalister.com