Life's choices

I have my first appointment today with a local church to discuss how Storm Guides can help them - I'm nervous, excited, and scared to death.  It is one of the largest churches in Denver, and I'll be meeting with the Missions Pastor.  I've felt for some time that I just need to get a foot in the door somewhere, and get some training seminars under my belt before word of mouth will begin working for me.  It's not what you know, but who you know - boy, have I found that to be the case.

We're getting more and more settled in our new home every day.  I spent the whole morning on Saturday installing a new garage door opener, as the two existing openers are ancient and worn out.  Now that I've done it the hard way on the first installation, I'm hoping the second one will be easier.  Kind of like most lessons in life - you have to learn something the hard way at least once before you gain some wisdom from the experience.  I remember a story someone once told me: 

      "After a long hard climb up the mountain, the spiritual seekers finally found themselves in front of the great teacher.  Bowing deeply, they asked the question burning inside them for so long: How do we become wise?  There was a long pause until the teacher emerged from meditation.  Finally the reply came, “Good choices.”  “But teacher, how do we make good choices?”  “From experience,” responded the wise one.“And how do we get experience?”  “Bad choices,” smiled the teacher."

Life is full of choices, and full of risks.  Some people are more willing to take risks than others, which sets some leaders apart.  Leadership is risky, and failure is part of life.  Our church here in Conifer is trying to start a new restaurant and youth center, and we're struggling almost daily with issues related to inspections, funding, interpersonal strife, etc.  I love Mike's attitude that failure is a great teacher, and if we're afraid to fail we'll never attempt anything in life.  This move to Conifer and our attempt to start a new company are the most frightening decisions we've ever made, and yet as I look back on the past five months since we moved back to the States, I am amazed by all that has transpired.  We sold our home in France and we're now settled in our own home on 6.5 acres of land; our girls are happy in their new schools with a whole group of new friends; we have a new church and a whole new "family" who've been instrumental in our adjustment here, and we're in the final stages of establishing a new company.  All in five months.  Sometimes when I'm feeling particularly overwhelmed or uncertain for the future, it's good to pause and take a look back to see how far we've come.  It puts everything into perspective.