Let Go and Let God.
A pastor was walking around Capitol Hill and saw this abandoned crack house. He then got a vision. The vision was of transforming that place into a coffeehouse so church and community could cross paths. Does it sound crazy?
Mark Batterson, National Community Church pastor, and his team got excited about the idea. However, no one involved in that vision had any background in the coffee business, and they had no strategy besides prayers. Also, to add more craziness to the idea, the property was located one block away from Union Station, a really expensive area in Washington DC. Again, Washington DC!
Even though their budget was short and they had no experience in the coffee business, they took a shot and made an offer. Four other potential buyers offered more money than Mark and his NCC team, and, to make things worse, two of them were real estate developers. Nothing changed in their offer, or in their prayer routine for that vision.
Inexplicably, they got the building!
Now, 11 years after the opening of the coffeehouse (named Ebenezer's which means stone of help), the business was named the best coffee in DC multiple times. It has directed thousands of dollars from net profit to missions like feeding the homeless and building an orphanage in Uganda, among other humanitarian and Godly efforts.
What is the lesson in this story?
Mark Batterson and his team had a great vision and followed their guts. They knew how hard such transaction could be considering their budget, competition, and lack of experience. However, they did not lose energy in trying to control the process!
Mark did not change his offer right away out of pressure because of the competition. Neither Mark nor anyone from the team started calling the property owners like maniacs in the attempt of pushing over any favoritism. They did not go online and start reading about the competition because they were fearful, or search for contacts that knew the property owners to put a good word for them.
What did they do? They let go, and then let God. They understood that the best that God could do was immensely better than the best that they could do. So if it were in God's will, they would get the deal. Otherwise, they could do everything in their power and still have nothing besides fatigue.
How many of us are trying to control outcomes because we believe it is in our best interest?
The truth.
We as Christians understand that our perspective is limited. Nevertheless, we still get caught up in the world and its expectations. We fall too! We are human beings.
However, we need to remember the truth that we do not know what is best for us. Mark Batterson says brilliantly, "We think today, tomorrow, or next week, but God is thinking years and generations ahead of us."
So, why don't we do our best with what we have and let God work with the rest?
Benefits of letting God.
1 - Experiencing God like never before so we can glorify him and not take credit for the open doors.
2 - Be anxiety free.
3 - Use time wisely on what we can do instead of using time trying to control what we can't control.
4 - Develop the ability to let go of outcomes so we can enjoy the present better than ever.
How to let go and let God.
I am no expert on faith. I do my best to live by it, and I research and talk to people that can share stories of how God has changed their lives and circumstances. Thus, considering biographies, stories, and testimonials, the best we can do is:
1 - Pray
2 - Seek for truth in the Bible, so we fuel ourselves with truth and not the pressures from social media or TV.
3 - Be willing to look foolish when taking an opportunity because there is never a perfect time or a time that you will feel 100% ready.
I hope we can all act like Mark Batterson and his team in the pursuit of a vision that could have been easily dismissed by excuses or "acceptable" justifications.
Let us know how you have been letting go and letting God work in your business, life, and relationships.
Remember, we need to focus on doing the small things like they are big things. So God can do amazing things because we are faithful.