What is the vision for your preferred future? The
need for a strong and compelling vision is key to
most business successes as well as most church
success. It’s a proven principle for personal
success too. So, consider the art of vision with me
for a moment.
The story of the discovery of King Tut’s Tomb has
always fascinated me. For many years Dr. Howard
Carter—renown archeologist—dug in the Egyptian royal
Valley of the Kings. During that time, he had an
assistant, an aide, who had lost interest and
passion for the project. The very day Dr. Cater
uncovered the opening to the tomb the young aide had
stayed back at camp and didn’t even come. He simply
sent a message inquiring, “Do you see anything?” He
missed out on one of the greatest discoveries of all
time. Dr. Carter would work the next ten years
removing, cataloging, and restoring the items from
the tomb. Over 3000 objects! And all the aide could
ask was, “Do you see anything?”
How many people miss out on amazing opportunities
because they lack a vision for a strong and
compelling future? This aide certainly missed it.
A well-known brain surgeon about to perform delicate
surgery to remove a tumor from behind a woman’s eye
socket asked her if she had a choice, would she
prefer to lose her memory or her eye sight. Because
of where the tumor was located, one or the other was
under threat of being lost. She thought about it for
a few days and then answered she’d prefer to lose
her memory rather than sight. The surgeon asked her
how she came to this conclusion and she answered, “I
would rather see where I’m going than to remember
where I’ve been.”
Back in early 1960s, President John F. Kennedy set a
vision before America: “We choose to go to the moon
in this decade and do the other things, not because
they are easy, but because they are hard . . .”
Within that decade NASA succeeded in sending a
rocket ship into space and set down on the surface
of the moon. For the first time, man set foot on a
celestial body other than earth.
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Now, nearly 60 years later, America has a new dream
. . . a new vision. NASA plans to send people to the
planet Mars within this decade. Due to the orbits of
both earth and Mars, that is only possible once
every 2 years. It will take 8 months to get there,
which means the people on Mars would have to wait
nearly another 2 years before they could try to come
back. Add another 8 months of travel; that means
these people will be gone nearly four years. That’s
a really long time on top of the reality that it’s a
very complicated mission. The key thing is this:
NASA has a mission plan. It may be expensive,
difficult, and dangerous but they will not waver
from their vision.
Now, let’s make this all personal. Where is your
life in need of a compelling vision? Consider a
married couple who are dreaming of a vacation. How
much benefit do they receive talking about it
together, planning together, setting a savings plan
together, looking forward to it together, and then
reaching their dreams together. First the vision,
then the planning and dreaming together, and in the
end, not only do
they end up in Maui, but they also benefit from all
their time and effort spent together. A vision was
turned into a reality and they had the joy of the
entire journey.
There has to be an area in your life that could use
a compelling vision and the joy of
chasing after something you’d really like to have.
Oh, and God’s vision for us? Heaven! Now catch the
vision and go get it!
[Ron Otto, preaching minister of Lincoln
Christian Church] |
