On the way back down, we discovered that the blizzard was causing a whiteout that covered the trail markers. We stopped to reorient.
“Wait here. I find trail,” my Ukrainian guide, Oksana, said in her flat Russian accent.
I nodded and knelt down in the deep snow. Ahead there was a break in the storm. Through the clouds I could see the Cheget Valley far below us—an encouraging sign.
I looked at my watch. It was noon. I thought of my family, soundly asleep back in Texas. They had no idea how dangerous conditions had become.
In that instant something hit me. It was one of those moments of transcendence. I felt alive and alert. I realized just how much I loved this kind of thing. I loved the thrill of climbing mountains. It was a spiritual experience for me, a way of deepening my sense of dependence on God and feeling connected to the sheer power of the vast world He created.
Travel experiences like this shaped my worldview. They gave me a wider perspective on life and a greater appreciation for God’s amazing world—the people, the geography, the diversity.
I thought of my friends back in the US. They thought I was crazy when I announced I was planning to go climb a mountain in Russia. “Why would you do that? It’s expensive isn’t it?”
I tried hard to explain it, but they had no experience with mountain climbing, no frame of reference. I wished there was a way to show them how much they were missing. I thought of a favorite quote of mine from St. Augustine: “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”
In that moment of transcendence, I realized something. I finally knew what I wanted to do with my life. I was on track to go to law school. That’s what everyone said I’d be good at. I believed them, but I was never thrilled about the prospect.
In the midst of a blizzard hiding our way down the mountain, toward the safety of base camp, God placed a dream into my heart. He gave me a vision to start bringing people with me on these kinds of trips. I wanted to start helping others create spiritual adventures.
YOUR PROBLEM TO SOLVE
I’m convinced that God has given each of us a message to share with the world to bring Him glory. I’m also convinced that along with that message we all have a problem that God has uniquely equipped us to solve.
Let me establish something at the outset. God can solve any problem He wants to solve with the flit of an eyelash. He doesn’t need us. For whatever reason, He chooses to let us participate in ultimate goal of bringing Himself glory. It’s definitely not the most efficient method. I’m slow. I fumble the ball a lot. Inexplicably, God still chooses to use people like me. You are no exception. He wants to use you.
You may not have received a vision on a mountain in a blizzard. Your vision may have started by seeing a simple need. God works differently in each person. The circumstance surrounding how you got your God Idea isn’t the important thing.
Doing it is.
Whether your goal is to write a book, go to college, pay off a huge debt, or start a business, never discount the dream God placed in your heart, however it may have come to you.
This book is about taking practical steps toward sharing your unique message and solving the problem God has equipped you to solve.
This book is for those people. Those who are certain God has given them a vision or dream. If you’ve got it, you know what I’m talking about. It’s a burning desire to do something for God. It doesn’t have to be clear, but there is something within you that yearns to solve some problem or share a unique message you think the world needs to hear.
How do you know if you are at that place?
Well, when you have a dream or vision that God has placed in your heart, you are obsessed with it. It’s what you talk about ad nauseam with all your patient friends at the dinner table. You think about it all the time. Working on it feels like a moral imperative. Conversely, not doing it would feel almost sinful.
If you are at that place, I think you’ll find this book helpful.
If you aren’t there yet, I hope this book will inspire you. Read through it prayerfully. Then keep praying, explore, read lots of books, and start serving. God wants to show you His unique calling for your life.
If you had a dream that now seems impossible, or you wonder if your moment has passed, I want to encourage you. If you are still alive, then the dream is still alive—no matter how dead or impossible it may seem. I pray this book will revive the vision in your heart.
I’ve started quite a few things in my life. It hasn’t always been easy. At times it can be downright hard. It often takes years.
In this book, I want to share the process I stumbled upon for taking a God Idea that seems so overwhelming that you don’t know where to start, and breaking it down into smaller steps. I’ll tell a little of my story along the way.
One warning: If you don’t have a God Idea, this book might still help you, but you’ll probably think some parts of it seem a little too hands-off.
You see, this book is for folks who have a dream and vision in their hearts that is so big it will be impossible to accomplish without God’s direct intervention and miraculous provision. That’s how I define a God Idea.
One of my main focuses is making sure God is always in the center of the mix. If yours isn’t that kind of dream, you probably don’t need this book.
So if you’ve got a dream—a really big, crazy vision that is impossible to accomplish without God—I think you might find this book helpful.
Enough set-up. God has a plan for us. We need to get moving!
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
—EPHESIANS 2:10
GET A ONE-LINER
I MADE IT OFF THE MOUNTAIN and out of the Russian blizzard safely, but the fire that ignited in my heart was still burning. I started telling everyone about my idea. I was sure they’d all get excited about it too. Instead, I learned something crucial for every visionary.
I met with a prominent Christian leader to share my idea. I spent thirty minutes sharing my newfound life goal, my big God Idea.
The man listened attentively. I told him every angle. I shared everything I could think of that might get him excited about the idea. He seemed to like it. Then came the deathblow question.
“That’s great. So what exactly are you doing?”
Grrr. I just told you, dude! I thought, as I smiled graciously. I walked away from that conversation learning an important lesson for anyone who has a vision: you need a clear, one-line explanation of what you are trying to accomplish.
It took me weeks to bumble my way through it. I had to seek lots of counsel and share the idea with many people who gave me confused looks. But I finally came up with a simple, one-line explanation. The next time someone asked me what I was trying to do I had it down cold: “I want to take people on spiritually focused adventure trips around the world.”
The best way to refine a one-liner is to say it over and over and over. Talk it out. Watch how people respond. Tap into elements that seem to consistently bring out the “wow” response in people as they listen. Narrow the vision down to the clearest possible explanation.
I’ve heard it said, “If it’s a mist in your head, it will be a fog in the listener’s head.” It’s true. You need a clear, concise explanation of what you are trying to accomplish. It can’t be foggy.
I realized, after lots of talking it through, that my ultimate goal was to use travel to give people a bigger perspective on their lives. That was my problem to solve. Make sure you are very specific. Tell people what problem your vision is going to solve. You’ll refine it in the process.
Many people share their one-liners with me. I recently heard one that sounded something like this: Create strategic alliances that empower synergistic approaches to complex problem solving.
I read it a few times trying to figure it out. I didn’t want to discourage him, but I had to be honest. “That sound
s amazing! Lots of fancy, hip words. But what the heck does it mean? What are you trying to do?”
When I asked him some clarifying questions and we got down to the nuts and bolts it became clear that he still didn’t know exactly what he was trying to do. His one-liner had some glamour, but if no one can understand his ultimate goal, it isn’t serving its purpose.
I know lots of missionaries who send me newsletters about their work. I’m confident they are doing something of value because I know them. However, even though I support them, I still have no idea what they do. Even when I directly ask them I can’t get a clear statement of their main focus. Some have shared that they’re struggling to raise funds for very good projects. I wonder if part of their challenge is that they haven’t taken the time to define their vision. If you can develop a clear picture, others will get on board. We follow clear visions.
When God gives you a dream or a problem to solve, it usually first appears in a general, overarching idea with very few specifics. You see a problem and want to solve it. I only knew I wanted to help people have experiences that expanded their perspective. It wasn’t super clear.
I don’t think anyone ever gets a vision for something amazing with all the details exactly laid out. It takes time. It takes talking it out. It takes homing in on exactly what you want to accomplish.
Don’t be afraid if your one-liner sounds too big or even impossible. William Wilberforce, the man who is considered to be largely responsible for ending the slave trade in most of the British Empire, had a huge vision. On October 28, 1787, he wrote out his one-liner:
“God Almighty has set before me two great objects: the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of morals.”1
Seriously, Will? Think about this. That was a huge dream. Slavery was so prevalent in his time that I’m certain this goal seemed absolutely impossible, bordering on ridiculous. It would be like saying, “I’m going to eliminate cigarette smoking!”
Guess what? It took forty-six years, but it happened. Wilberforce saw slavery abolished in almost the entirety of the British Empire three days before he went to be with the Lord for eternity. He worked his entire life on that dream.
A single mother I shared this concept with developed this one-liner:
Raise kids who love Jesus and people.
Have you seen this world we live in? Talk about an impossible dream! But God placed that vision in her heart, and she is pursuing it with all she’s got.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a one-liner for every area of your life. In fact, I’ll be bold and say I think you need one for every area of your life. I have the guys in my Summit Life Coaching Program write one for family, finances, career, and ministry. It’s amazing to see what happens when people write out clear visions for their lives.
God wants to give you a vision for every area of your life.
Like we discussed, developing a one-liner isn’t necessarily easy. It will take some time, some thought, and probably a few bumbled attempts at explaining it to people. Don’t get discouraged if you are at this phase of the process right now. It will get clearer. As you keep explaining and exploring the problem you want to solve, you will eventually get to a place where you can clearly articulate what you are trying to accomplish.
Once you’ve got the one-liner, run it past a few folks. See how they respond. Do they understand it? If not, you may need to keep honing it. There is a problem that God has placed you on this earth to solve. You have a unique message to share with the world that will bring God glory.
Pretty confident you’ve got a good, clear one-liner? Then write it down.
ON THE WALL
An African friend visiting the US pointed out how strange he thought it was that hospitals have a vision statement on the wall.
“Doesn’t everyone know what a hospital is there to do?”
It’s kind of funny when you think about it, but the fact is we all have a tendency to forget. I get into a routine and forget why I’m doing what I’m doing all the time. That’s why it’s so important to write out your one-line vision.
“Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it” (Habakkuk 2:2).
I think the best possible thing you can do is to write your one-liner out in a visible place. Make it large.
When I finally had my one-liner, I ran to the store and picked up a black marker and large poster board. This was the beginning of a process I stumbled upon that has helped me navigate my way through many projects and visions God has given me over the years.
I CALL IT A VISION MAP
The concept isn’t complicated. But it really helps me clarify my vision.
Some people spend thousands of dollars on consultants, displays, and spreadsheets to explain their goal. Not me. No, I was a poor college student. I spent a few bucks, but it served the purpose. I stuck the poster board up on the wall of my bedroom. This was how my Vision Map began.
At the top I wrote out my one-liner in big black letters:
Take people on spiritually focused adventure trips around the world.
The vision greeted me every morning now. It was in front of me. It was clear. I had a tangible, one-line goal to run with.
Several people helped me nail it down. You’ll probably need someone to help you do the same. I discovered early on that if I was going to pull off this dream God placed in my heart, I needed some trusted advisors. You will too.
* * *
We hope you enjoyed this excerpt from Vision Map. For more from Moody Publishers in this genre and others, visit your favorite local or online bookstore.
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Vision Map is a template to start anyone on the path to envisioning and experiencing a God-given dream. God often gives us a difficult problem to solve, and we just need a push in the right direction to find the answer.
Where are you heading?
God doesn’t need to tell us what to do at each fork in the road. He already revealed His plan for our lives: love Him with our whole hearts, obey His Word, and after that, do what we like. No reason to be directionally challenged. Just do something.
College graduates are facing large student loans and high unemployment rates. Older generations are feeling the effects of the recession as they lose stable jobs and are forced to find new work. The old economy is fading away and a new economy is rising in its place. To succeed in the new economy, we must take a mental leap, rethinking our strategies for success.
Other Moody Collective Books
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