There is nothing like understanding the importance of preparedness. I want to be part of excellent things, prepared things that lead to completeness, wholeness, and greatness. I want to lead things that are done well as they are a direct representation of me and, more importantly, God.

There are times in life where we are called out for not being adequately prepared. This recently happened to me and I have to tell you that it was done in love and with total encouragement. It came from a person that I trust and respect. He was right on, spot on. I haven’t taken up the torch of preparing well and giving it my best.

The thing about all of this, too, is seeing the warning signs of it coming. I specifically remember the Lord bringing to my mind the whole story of a man going on a journey and leaving his servants in charge of the finances in Matthew 25. In this story, three different servants were handed bags of money, one was given five bags, another two bags, and the last servant a single bag. The servants with five and two bags respectively invested the money and brought back double the money entrusted to them.

The servant with a single bag did something a little different. He buried it! He lived in fear and worried that we would be invested in the wrong thing. He worried about losing it! By responding this way, he didn’t make his master any money.

The time came for the master to come back on the scene and for each servant to present what they did with the money entrusted to them. The first two shared their investment with great joy. The third one was embarrassed because he didn’t do anything worthwhile with what had been entrusted to him! His bag of money was eventually given to the first servant that was trusted with some incredible responsibility the first go around. The end result with the third servant was that he was left with nothing.

I don’t want to live in fear and bury things because of fear. Faith is the motivator, not fear. Fear can cause some to do some individuals some incredibly irrational things that don’t honor the Lord in any way. As mentioned earlier, it is often times difficult to see when one is in this reality.

It’s great to be able to have people like this speak into your life. It’s filled with tons of distractions and obstacles. I’m glad people take the time to see this reality, too, not to gossip, but to build another up in the faith.

I say all this first of all to be vulnerable and honest, but also to make sure that you are on the road, too, towards excellence and preparedness. It is worth it! Why? Simply put, it is for the kingdom of God. His sacrifice was prepared and excellent, why should what I do be any less? I think if we have this mentality, it will motivate us to continue to strive for excellence and prepare for greatness because this is what God did for us through His son on the cross.

Now… Go get ‘em.

Jay