Is there a difference between Goals and Vision?

This question has been rolling through my mind the last few weeks.  Let me start by saying, I am NO expert on this.  There is NO research done...outside of what I have thought through in my own head (so if you keep reading...it could be scary).

First of all, I have to say, there is nothing wrong with setting goals.  I know some people thrive in that environment.  Some people thrive by having something out in front of them that keeps them driven.  I am currently (and this has been an off and on process for a long time) trying to lose weight and get healthier.  So that looks like eating better and working out.  The eating better is so that I don't drop at an early age because I love fried foods.  The working out is me doing some cardio and a little weight work.  The goal of both of those things is to be healthier, feel better, and to be able to enjoy the incredible family and all the things God has before me.  That is a good goal, it is measurable in multiple ways, there are some specifics to it, and it is attainable.

Vision is different than this (just gave you my answer to the question).  Vision is more than a goal.  Vision points in a direction.  Vision is an anchor for everything else you do.  Vision is not a momentary achievement, which most goals are.  If I set a goal for weight loss, finances, etc, there is a moment in time where that goal is reached.  Vision is there even without reaching a specific goal or long after that goal is met.

BUT and here is the big but, a goal can never contradict the vision. I can set a goal to enjoy an afternoon of watching football (you can see where my mind is this close to the season starting), but that goal can never contradict the vision for my family and how I am going love and interact with them.

Vision trumps everything!  Vision makes us look at the big picture.  Vision drives our goals.  Vision drives our thoughts.  Vision drives the ins and outs of our days.  Proverbs 29:18 says, "Where there is no vision, people cast off restraint." (some versions say the people perish).  I think cast off restraint gets to the heart.  It means without vision people do whatever the heck they want.  People live in a way that has no anchor.  People do whatever feels right in a moment. The truth is, the next moment may bring something else that "feels right".  Vision does not allow that happen!

I have lived lots of my life without vision...there is my confession.  I have lived doing what I want in any given moment.  I had goals - I provided for my family.  I was a nice guy.  I lived with people seeing me as I wanted them to see me, not as I truly was.  There were goals...and I achieved them (the good and bad ones).

I want to live with vision!  God gave me this a few months ago.  Honor God, Honor my family, and work my butt off for people.  When I live with that vision in front of me, it completely dictates how I do EVERYTHING!

I want to be present in each moment, while having an eternal vision in front of me!

No Control...and I like it!!!

I'm sitting down to write this and honestly don't know exactly where it is going.  I have had a few thoughts from the LORD over the past couple of days that seem random and that they don't go together, but I feel like there is some connection.  SO, if you have any thoughts on this I'll take it.

There is a sermon by a faithful brother named Jeff Parker who serves at Watermark's Plano Campus. I have listened to it 3 times since January.  That sermon is a HUGE part of my story and so is Jeff.  I was listening to the sermon yesterday and a line stuck out that I don't remember from the first 2 times I listened to it.  "Those who have tested the warnings of Scripture, can't help but live the rest of their lives trying to taste the promises of Scripture."  When you have rebelled, when you have seen the destruction that lies on the other side of going against God's ways, everything in you just wants to see God and His ways.  I have a good friend that said for him it is being grateful everyday for the things God has given.  It is not taking for granted anything.  I am grateful for the promises of God.  I don't mean some health/wealth gospel.  I mean the promises that God brings forgiveness and restoration.  That although consequences of sin are real (and sometimes lasting), God's grace is bigger than even the hardship of consequences.  God's promises and path is always better!

The other thought I have had is from Galatians 5:1, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free..."  There is only 1 type of freedom!  There is only 1 type of bondage!  The freedom is following God, trusting God, living each day as if it is for Him and Him alone.  The only bondage is living ANYTHING that is even slightly against that premise.  In the last few weeks the new job has had me worried, what if I don't do good enough, what if I make mistakes, what if I can't provide for my family.  The other day it hit me, that is not freedom.  That is not what Christ died for.  That is me being enslaved to my insecurity.  That is me being enslaved to my performance.  That is me being enslaved to worry.  When that thought hit me, that Christ died to bring freedom, not just for my sin (although that is 100% true), but also to my insecurity, worry, self, it changed me.  It made me realize that I have nothing to be enslaved to.  Nothing that can hold any sway over me.  Freedom is being whimsical! Freedom is being goofy!  Freedom is enjoying all that God has! Freedom is working your tale off, finding joy in that work, and realizing that God has all of it.  I can't control anything, NOTHING is in my control, except this one thing...Living Free in Christ!

The last thought sort of builds off the previous thought...at least in my weird mind.  It is ONLY in my weakness that God's strength shines through.  2 Corinthians 12:9b-10, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.  For when I am weak, then I am strong"  Paul is talking here about several things.  He is talking about hardships that God brings to strengthen Paul's faith.  He is talking about outside persecution that is brought because we live in a fallen world.  But I also believe he is talking about the fact that his strength is not strength but weakness.  Our best efforts fall WAY short.  I am coming to realize, that I am SO weak.  When I admit my weakness, when I live not as someone in control, but as someone who has NO control and I trust in the only one that has control, that is when life works.  I cannot be free if I am living trying to control.  I cannot be free living in my own strength.  True freedom comes when I confess my weaknesses and trust the only strong one!

I want to live dependent on God.  Let's be honest, that is scary sometimes.  It is scary because God wants us to be people of faith, not people of comfort.  God is not here to make us happy, God is here to make us holy.  God's desire is to change us from what we were to what we are becoming.  We are in process.  That process for me right now is realizing complete dependence on God and His ways is the ONLY way.  I have lived the other side...it is not good.  God and His ways I have tasted, and they are good!  I am grateful today.  I am grateful for my beautiful wife.  I am grateful for my crazy kids.  I am grateful for amazing friends that are walking with us.  I am grateful for a job that is causing me to exercise faith in ways I never have before.  I am grateful, because I have no control (what a freeing thought!)

Forrest Gump Real Estate

There are so many ways to go with this...

-"Life is like a box of chocolates..."
-"Run, Forrest Run!" (that one could hold so many meanings!!!)

The phrase I landed on though was, "I'm not a smart man...".  That describes me very well.  I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but over the course of a few months I have learned some important lessons in Real Estate.  I share these based on things I have seen already that I am 99% sure are universally true.  (BTW - 82% of stats are made up on the spot)

1)  This business is about relationships.  I have served in places where that was also true.  I am learning more and more that people have to trust the person they are entrusting with their largest financial investment (whether they are buying or selling a home).

2)  The little things are actually the big things. Picture quality, staging, wording of descriptions are things that get overlooked, but quality Real Estate Agents will not over look them.  I have walked into houses that I thought (based on the pictures I saw) were going to be...let's just say...not pretty houses.  After I walked in, I realized this is a great house.  If pictures make a person have a negative thought process about a house, even if they go see the house, their frame of mind has to be overcome before they will be willing to buy.  Pictures, the way house is staged, and what is said about the house, puts people into a positive OR negative thought process about the house.  As an agent, our job is to set a positive framework in people's minds before they ever set foot into the house.

3) marketing, Marketing, MARKETING!!  When talking about Real Estate, location, location, location is massive, but for agents marketing is where your value is found.  We are in a market that is moving fast. People who are trying to do For Sale By Owner can find success (the proof is that greater success can be found with an agent...alas that's another post for another day).  Here is the bottom line, an agent's job is to know who will be interested in a particular property.  Is it an investment property? Is it a first time home buyer property? Is it a property that is for an executive of a successful business?  An agent should know that and market to those people.  Simply putting a property out there for people to see on the MLS, Zillow, Realtor.com, Facebook is not good enough anymore.  A Realtor must know who will be interested in a property & market directly to them.

Last thought...if you are looking for a Realtor, please, please ask them the following questions:
-Are they just there for the money? Or are they going to seek to build a lasting relationship with you that is meant to benefit you as well as them?
-Are they going to focus on the little details?  And how are they are going to do that?
-How will they market your property?

There are many quality Real Estate agents out there.  DO NOT settle for anything less than what is going to be best for your needs!

Thanks for reading!!
Brad
254-396-6657

Things God is teaching me

So I am starting this off by saying I am NOT a blogger.  My background has been in teaching, so I write not as a blogger but someone that is just passing along the things that have been shown to me.  You may find this (and other "blogs") of use...you may not.  It doesn't hurt my feelings either way.  In some ways this is just an online journal for me...SO here goes what I've been learning.

In a season of my life where my sin is ever before me, God is showing His mercy, His grace, His blessing (no matter how undeserved...and His blessing to me is completely undeserved).

I have been reading in Ezekiel.  A couple of things that keep sticking out to me are that God keeps saying He will bring some sort of disaster, but it will be so, "You will know I am the LORD God".  His desire is to be known.  His desire is to be known, because in knowing Him we have life!  In a couple of spots He adds in, "they will know that I am the LORD their God" (28:26).  He does this as He is assuring them (and us) of His continued love for His people.  God is about His glory and His name...it is all that matters!

In 20:40-44, He tells the people that they will see His glory.  In that time they will be aware of their sin, their corruptness.  They will see and remember what they have done and they will loathe it.  When we come in contact with a holy God, when He confronts us with our sin, we have a since of despair and loathing.  God does not want us loathe ourselves and fall into some sort of depression.  In fact that loathing and realization of our sin is meant to draw us to Him.  It is meant to make us realize we can't gain salvation or redemption on our own.  If we could we wouldn't need Jesus.

In the loathing of our struggle with sin, God says, "you shall know that I am the LORD, when I deal with you for my name's sake, not according to your evil ways, nor according to your corrupt deeds."  PRAISE THE LORD!  Praise the LORD that even before Jesus showed up on the scene, God was not dealing with us according to our sin.  AND NOW, after Jesus has come we have the exact nature of God's love shown in what Jesus did for us by taking our sin upon Himself at the cross.

It is also striking that God will teach us who He is by not killing us on the spot for our sin.  He shows grace and in that grace He shows Himself!

My prayer for myself and for all that follow Jesus is that we would recognize it is in God's grace toward us that His name is made known.  Don't try and hide your sin away, know that it is through God's gracious gift to us that His name is known!