Have you ever screwed up? Failed to meet the expectations placed upon you? Have you ever just flat out failed at something you attempted?
Over the weekend my wife and I were traveling in the car and a song came on the radio station by the band Delirious. All of the sudden out of no where I was hit with a random memory from my past that I must have suppressed some time ago. Does this ever happen to you? Do you get side-swiped by random things from the past? Well I do all the time, and on this particular occasion it reminded me of a humbling time in my life when I failed miserably.
In the late winter of 2006 I was unemployed and had just stepped down from working with Josh McDowell Ministries. I was living at home and I was working through some of my own personal demons. It was one of the best seasons of my life: I spent my days reading Brennan Manning and Erwin McManus and my nights relaxing by playing basketball. It was a great time of de-stressing from years on tour. Call it a soul vacation where I was free from worry and stress. Well that was what I called it until the IRS called and told me I owed them more money than I had.
<Exclude: long story that doesn’t really need to be shared>
With my soul filled and my wallet empty I really needed to find work. Within a few days I found a temporary job with a ministry that I will keep anonymous. They hired me to work in Detroit for a week helping set-up transportation for a very large event with thousands of attendees and dozens of VIP performers and artists. It was something I had done before and figured it would be easy to accomplish. I used limited resources and asked for little help. I figured I could do it all on my own.
What a stupid and prideful thing to try.
The results of my selfish efforts: VIP’s were missing flights, people were left waiting at the airport and worst of all, I hired a bus driver without directions who ended up driving the band Delirious into Canada instead of the arena. The whole thing was a terrible and miserable mess. I had failed at the job I was hired for. It was my fault and looking back now I can see that I made two vital mistakes:
- Unprepared: I had not done my homework for what would work best at the particular venue I was working at.
- Unteachable: A couple times during the weekend others offered help, but I refused. My selfish attitude cost me more than a job, but ruined a couple relationships in the process.
Sometimes it takes failing miserably to remind us of what we need to work on. Four years later I am so glad I am learning to have a teachable spirit and an understanding of what it means to contextualize to a particular event/ministry/project.
Anyone else failed miserably lately? What did you learn? Any tips for the rest of us?
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