A couple of days ago, a mentor of mine called me and asked if I could meet with him. Of course, I said yes. I love any opportunity I get to meet with mentors, especially if they initiate it. You know it’s gonna be good.

Anyways, we talked and he asked how we were doing in life. I told him, I feel like I’m in the ocean doggy-paddling. I’m staying alive, but I am not headed anywhere. We discussed the questions from my last series “Medipraying.” In the last couple of weeks there have been leanings and even full-blown opportunities in different cities come up.

As we talked about these opportunities, he said, “looks like there is a move coming up for you.” I said, “We’ll see, if God says to, then we will.” Then he said something extremely profound to me. He said,

“Make sure you make your decision on the playing field and not from the dugout.“

It does not sound profound, but the more I thought about it, the more it began to light me up.

When we are on the field, we know what it is like to catch a pop-up or throw out a runner or hit the game winning grand slam. We know how hard we need to throw the ball from third to first without overthrowing the first baseman. We know what it feels like and if it is right or wrong.

If you are sitting in the dugout, you can only imagine how hard you should throw it to make the throw from third to first. And because you can only imagine it, you can be extremely scared b/c there is the possibility of throwing it over the head of the first baseman. That fear can paralyze you and keep you from going out on the field, b/c you might overthrow it. Or you could sit there and talk about how easy it is. “If I was on the field, I would make that throw everytime.” Then why aren’t you on the field instead of hanging out in the dugout imagining it?

It seems that Dallas is our dugout. We have had experiences in places that felt like we hit the game winning grand slam, but we come back here and all we can do is imagine what it would be like to be on the field again. Then the fear and sometimes conceit of sitting in the dugout imagining, begin to be magnified when the reality is, we are just sitting in the dugout and will never know what is real until we get back on the field.

Maybe it is time for some of us to give up the view from the dugout and get in the game!