Intentions must mature into commitments if we are to become persons with definition, with character, with substance. The mark of a certain kind of genius is the ability and energy to keep returning to the same task relentlessly, imaginatively, curiously, for a lifetime. —Eugene Peterson1
“When the going gets tough, you can’t just look around you or you’ll be discouraged. You have to look up to your heavenly Father.” Throughout his career, Edouard has routinely needed to rely on his deep roots and commitment to Christ as an antidote to disappointment. — Gift of Disillusionment
Edouard had found a way to handle challenges from the government, natural disasters, and corruption, but this attack from the community hit particularly hard. “When we heard the news, my wife and I sat in our home and cried. We asked God if this school was really worth it. If this was really what He was calling us to.” As they prayed, God led them back to their initial call and commitment. “The whole experience caused us to ask ourselves, ‘What are we here for? Are we here to make a name for ourselves, or are we here to make an impact on the next generation?’” They wiped their tears and rolled up their sleeves. Despite the disappointment and discouragement, they remained committed to providing an excellent education for students.
The initial call is the eternal call. The thing that got you into the game is the thing will make you stay in the game. The reason you enter will be the reason that makes you stay, leave or pivot. The clearer you are on the initial commitment, the greater the resolve in the face of all adversity.
Beautiful Obligation Like Edouard, Jeremiah’s story begins with a clear calling from the Lord: “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”3 From the beginning of time, God knew Jeremiah intimately and called him to be a prophet. But, like many of us, Jeremiah felt utterly inadequate and ill-prepared for the mission God had called him to. Surely God must have made a mistake! In the very next verse, Jeremiah responds, “O Sovereign LORD . . . I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!”4 Scholars estimate that Jeremiah was a teenager when God called him, a similar age as Edouard when he sensed God speaking to him under the mango tree. Taking an honest look at himself, Jeremiah saw his youth, his inexperience, his lack of social standing,5 and his inadequacies. He wasn’t old enough. Capable enough. Brave enough. Strong enough. Wise enough. Eloquent enough.
“If we look at ourselves and are absolutely honest, we are always inadequate,” writes Eugene Peterson. “Of course, we are not always honest.”6 But a posture of honest humility—in Jeremiah and in us—invites God to display His power. God clarifies that the mission would not rest on Jeremiah’s strengths nor his abilities. He called Jeremiah to reject the idol of self-sufficiency and look upward: “Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and will protect you. I, the LORD, have spoken!”7 Acutely aware of his own weaknesses, Jeremiah had no choice but to rely on God’s strength.
Edouard and the other global leaders we learned from have a deep understanding of their inadequacies and weaknesses that initially feels incongruous with their even deeper resolve and commitment to their mission. Yet their humility allows them to focus on God’s strength and embrace His promise: “My power works best in weakness.”8 That same humility enables them to root their commitment not in their own gritty resolve but in God’s commitment. It isn’t just that Edouard has a heart for Haiti; Edouard knows that God has a heart for Haiti. As he works to address challenging circumstances in Haiti, he isn’t working alone but rather accepting an invitation to join God in His ongoing work of renewal. Edouard holds a beautiful obligation and commitment to his nation because he trusts that both he and Haiti are held by God.
In difficult moments of drought, commitments keep us turning upward, pursuing goals that are absolutely impossible in our own strength or capacity. And that’s precisely the point; we are not acting in our strength alone.
In our conversations with Edouard, it became abundantly clear that he was doing something he knew would be impossible in his own strength. Leaders who set out to address the challenging issues in our world will always be inadequate, eventually overwhelmed by the enormity of the problems and the complexity of the solutions. Yet it’s precisely this awareness of our limitations that drives us to the end of our humanistic self-help projects. It causes us to call out to the only One who can truly save. Leaders who live with enduring hope—leaders like Edouard—are marked by deep roots that reach Living Water. In seasons of joy and struggle, Edouard returns to the moment he experienced God’s grace in a Bible club and the commitment he made under a mango tree. These moments offered clarity on his life’s work to impact future generations in Haiti and beyond, and they continue to offer clarity and perspective on his God-given mission today.
process: in clarifying their mission, get all to go back to the exact moment they made this commitment and get rooted in their first call. Connect then to the eternal and lifelong source of their own hearts. It’s so challenging for people to stay commitment, because of how disconnects from our roots we are. The roots are the life force from which all dreams and missions are born. Return to the source activation, and commitments are restored.
Comfort is way overrated and commitment is way underrated. The best things in life don’t happen by being comfortable. The best things in life come from commitment. Your future and your family’s future is being shaped right now by what you decide to do or not do about God’s call on your life. You’re not fighting for your future by knowing what to do. You’re not fighting for your future by thinking about what you want to do. You fight by doing! You fight by making an all in commitment to God’s plan and purpose for your life. You fight by leaving the gray zone and declaring yourself to be the champion that God created you to be.— 9 tests