Stepping into the Mystery

Are you willing to step into the Mystery?

“I don’t know” is a viable answer to any question if “not knowing” is the truth.

Two years ago, when I listened to the “Voice” that called me into pastoral ministry saying that it was time to leave the pulpit and the building and go out into whatever was next, it was a complete Mystery to me–as much as it was to anyone in relationship with me –where I would be or what I would be doing. As someone who has worked in and studied so many fields holding jobs as disparate as Mandarin Chinese Linguist to car salesman to construction worker to pastor, I was curious to see how I would be showing up in this new iteration. What I knew for certain was that it would involve people and that underneath it all there would be the opportunity to be creative and the commitment to assist the people I encountered to connect with hidden dimensions of themselves that would serve them and their community by extension. And so I have.

Working as the Director of Engagement for YOUnify, I have been able to be very creative and I have been able to work with and dream with so many people who believe that the best days for America and the world are still ahead. But, they will not come by wishful thinking, blaming others, or competition as we have known it up to this point. It will require people taking conversational risks, admitting the limits of their understanding on key issues of human relating and being willing to expand beyond those limits. Another requirement will be for a contingent of us to break from irresponsible and frankly lazy loyalties in order to make room for something more.

Irresponsible/lazy loyalties are those relationships, affiliations, memberships, etc. that make it easy for you to stay the same even when you know in the depths of your being that what you are doing and how you are living are not working for you or anyone connected to you. You came here to shine. But these bonds are shrouds. Perhaps there was a time when you were stretched or had something to learn in these spaces or in these peoples faces. But, now…

If you are paying attention, you can see that there are countless disruptions to many of our institutions. This can be exciting or terrifying depending on where you put your focus. For those who see the wisdom in the old adage that says “Necessity is the mother of invention,” this is an exciting time filled with opportunities to reform the old and create the new in almost every area of human expression. HOW DOPE IS THAT!!!

A world that works better for more people is right on the horizon. And I am putting all that i have into tipping the scale in the favor of greater human relating and expression. But that knowledge is useless if people are running in the opposite direction seeking safety in the shadows and places where the light is diminished or discouraged. My encouragement to you is to come out into the light. To see and be seen is for who you have been, are now, and are becoming is not as scary as you might think. Power over is getting played out. But power with is a playground.

Going forward, I will be sharing a lot of what I have learned over the past 42 years since I consciously chose to step into the Light both figuratively and literally. Up to this point, I have been largely using my life as an experiment to see if the Universal principles that have been taught throughout the generations had any personal validity. Along the way I have come across wisdom that works everywhere all of the time (the house built on the rock) and foolishness disguised as wisdom that over the long haul proves that it works nowhere none of the time because it has no foundation in Universal principles that transcend cultures and conditions (the house built on the sand).

As the above photo by @jgabriel_j João Gabriel shows, to make moves in this direction that I choose daily, is like stepping off a cliff and trusting the ground to meet you. It is scary at first, as it should be. And no one can hold your hand. That is a tough lesson to learn. But, once you do, it cannot be unlearned. And it becomes a gift that never stops giving.

If in the coming months, you find yourself frustrated enough to do something new, reach out. The world has waited long enough for you to come out and play.