I failed! Man, it’s hard to say those words. The excuses flood to my mind as to why that is, but for now I’ll spare you of the excuses and just say that I’m seeking to begin again. I failed to deliver on my goal and promise to create regularly released content on the JesusHacks blog. For that, I just want to say I’m sorry to your guys.

Failure

Failure is no fun. It’s uncomfortable, discouraging and often carries with it some kind of dread because of who we have to tell and own up to. The good news is, however, in failure there is always hope. There is always the chance to begin again.

Have you ever failed at something? What about this year, did you set out to achieve a certain goal and looking back you haven’t? Well, let me encourage you that you’re not alone. We can all identify on some level with having goals or New Year’s Resolutions that we don’t stay consistent with or get around to. For me blogging on JesusHacks was one of those goals.

Blogging and writing in general has always been something that I’ve wanted to do. My motivation for writing is to encourage and equip people to live lives of intentionality and purpose motivated by the glory of God. I have a desire to help people succeed in the truest definition of that word. It’s part of the way God has made me and gifted me. I see writing as one of the tools which can be used to help people succeed. When it comes to JesusHacks, I have a huge desire to serve you guys well by putting good content out there and creating a thriving community.

But again, I’ve failed at that over the past 9 months. I started out this year with high hopes and big plans to write a ton and release several new products. But , that’s not what’s happened. In reality, I started with a sprint and then fell on my face. Now, before I beat myself up too much, I will say this year has been rather full and has come with some unexpected surprises. However, I think that will always be the case in our lives. We’ll likely never have less to do than we have right now and we’ll likely never have less uncertainty than we do right now.

Rise Again

In my personal life when I fail at something, especially spiritually, I’m reminded of this proverb.

“For the righteous falls seven times and rises again” Proverbs 24:16 ESV

This proverb has always been encouraging to me in times of failure to get back up again and keep driving forward. Principally, righteous means a person as they ought to be, as God originally created them to be and act. The principle is, the person who acts as God created them to will always rise again, no matter how many times they fall.

My parents, who are missionaries in Mongolia, lead extremely full lives. They have founded and lead multiple ministries, businesses and an NGO. They are constantly serving needy people, giving of their time and resources, and working on large, impactful projects. As you can imagine there are many opportunities for burnout, discouragement, and failure. To keep them on track they have this great practice they do after long seasons of intense work or crazy times in their lives where they feel they are veering off track. They REGROUP. They set aside time to evaluate where they are at and where they are going. During these times they seek God together and individually, they talk a lot, revisit vision and direction, dream, plan and reorganize for the next season. These times are vital to their success as a couple and as leaders in multiple endeavors.

Regroup

The rhythm of intense work and appropriate rest, of living with full schedules and then blocking out the schedule for rejuvenation, of driving hard and then regrouping is of vital importance to effective living. You see, we’re human beings, we’re not perfect and we are going to get off track and fail at times. The key is to get back up again, set your course in the right direction, and keep making every effort.

Winston Churchill said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

Personally, I’ve entered into a time of regrouping after a 9 months season of ‘crazy life’ and I’m going to give this blogging thing another shot. I’m rising again to drive toward my desire to encourage and equip people to live intentionally through the JesusHacks Blog. I’m rising again to strive for your success in Christ, to live intentionally and effectively for His glory. It’s not that life won’t still be crazy or bring unexpected surprises, it’s just that I’m planning to carve out time for this as a priority where over the past months I didn’t make time.

I’m not promising to never to fall again but I’m planning to rise again no matter how many times I fall until my task is done.

If you’ll stick with me, I think JesusHacks can become much more then it is now and an encouragement to tens of thousands, if not millions of people in the years to come.

Have you had anything you’ve set out to do this year that hasn’t gone as planned? If so, take some time to regroup and begin again with fresh excitement. Remember, it’s not about how many times we fall but how many times we keep getting back up.