Stop waiting for opportunity to knock

When I was in college, I paid my first couple of years room, board and tuition by slinging boxes at UPS and RPS. I also did some time as a telemarketer. I’m so sorry.

At the beginning of a new year I had a roommate that did some work selling appliances part time at Sears on a commission basis. One morning, I happened to spot his pay stub lying on a dresser we shared. I truly was not trying to be nosy, but it was in plain sight and I happened to notice the take home amount. It was four times what my pay would be for the same period. I asked him how he could possibly make four times what I did working only half the hours I did. He explained the commission process and how he looked at what he did as his own business. He could work as hard or as slothfully as he desired and the results would show in his paycheck.

I began to ponder the possibility of making a job change. One thing scared me. I wasn’t sure I was willing to walk away from a guaranteed hourly pay rate to one that did not carry a guarantee. I asked my friend if he thought I was capable of doing what he did. Not wanting to be responsible for my decision, he tried to avoid the question. Several nights passed of me slinging boxes and he working three hour shifts in the evening. I continued to press him about it and he finally admitted that he believed I could if I believed I could. That was the push i needed. He helped me get an interview and I was hired at a different store to sell electronics. It was the best work decision I ever made while at college.

That was the first time I ever picked myself.

Later in life I would find myself as an assistant pastor ready to move on to the pastorate. Once God had confirmed in my heart that I was to move on, I had to figure out how to go about it. On one hand, I could send out feelers and begin to network with other pastors. The trouble was that no one knew me from Adam. I didn’t have the connections needed to send out resumes and get the networking process started.

So when you want to pastor a church, but no existing church wants you to be their pastor, what do you do? You start one from scratch. I had been very burdened and praying that God would send someone to Flint to start an aggressive soul-winning church. He answered my prayer by sending me.

I never saw myself as a church planter because church planters have great faith. I didn’t think I had great faith, yet God still used my family and I to get our church off the ground. This was yet another time I picked myself.

I am grateful for my friend who believed in me. I wonder if he hadn’t encouraged me to step out into commission sales, if I ever would have had the courage to step out and start a church. I believe a reward awaits him in Heaven.

Too many people wait for opportunity to knock. they sit and wait for a door to open.

There is an alternative. Pick yourself and open your own doors.