"IT" Part 3

Yesterday I talked to you about that finding your IT will take a certain amount of experimentation. You've got to try things out and not just spend your time hoping your IT will come to you or taking a test that will show you your IT.

If you are diligently trying to find your IT one of two things will happen.

1. You'll keep eliminating ITs that are not yours--you'll rule out things that you should invest your time. Some of that is great! And some of that is a bummer becasue you really hoped that IT was going to be your IT but it's just NOT.

2. You'll be surprised by an IT that you weren't expecting to be yours. You'll be moving along, trying things out and all of the sudden....what was that? Fruit? Yes. Joy? Yes! COOL!

One of the things that any good church starter does is that they go out and hang out with people. They go 'out there'. For me that meant and still means community events, social events, town meetings, service opportunities. Whatever I can do to get to meet people, talk to them, start building relationships....I'm there.

And now, 6 years into starting Cool River I've been surprised. I have found great fruit and great joy as an ambassador and bridge builder in our community. Those movements of being 'out there' are surprisingly more me than I thought they'd be. I didn't know that was going to be one of my ITs...but it is. I am energized by it and I am good at it. Greatest joy + Greatest fruit = IT.

Same thing is happening as I invest in existing and emerging leaders. For some reason, I keep getting opportunities to build into leaders lives at both a peer level and a mentor level. It's always been something I wanted to do but I thought it would come much later...when I was 50 or 60 or 70. But surprise! It's come much earlier. I find myself over and over again in conversations where I see fruit from what I give to other Kingdom leaders and that gives me great joy. I move into all of these opportunities out of faithfulness and I'm continually surprised by the amount of fruit and joy that emerges. Greatest joy + Greatest fruit = IT.

Life is so much more fun when you get to see fruit and experience joy over and over again. But life is not ALL fruit and joy. What happens then? I'll write more about that later.

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