| October 12th, 2018

You Won The Lottery!

“You won the lottery!” Those were my surgeon’s words during my surgical follow-up visit after my emergency appendectomy.

What lottery? What are you talking about? I tried making sense of what he was communicating.

My confused look gave me away. He continued, “Your appendix was acute. “

I asked, “How cute was it?” (trying to make light of a serious situation. Gee, where else does this show up in my life?)

He turned serious … very serious. “We found carcinoid cells at the tip of your appendix. The cure for this — and it is a cure — is an appendectomy.”

His words hit me like a brick.

He emphasized, “This doesn’t happen. Usually we don’t find these type of cancer cells until it is too late and they have metastasized to other body parts. But I looked around, everything looks really good. You’re cancer free. In the lottery of life, you won big. If you have something you need to do, something to accomplish, you need to do it. You need to go out and do it.”

I was gob-smacked. Having just completed The Crucible’s Project’s Level 2 Mission weekend, I fresh off 44 hours of contemplating my core purpose in life and what it is that God wants to accomplish through me.

And at that very moment, my entire life-mission became of utmost, critical importance.

I’ve heard Proverbs 29:18 quoted so many times in my life. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Where there is no vision the people:

  • are unrestrained (ASV)
  • run wild (NLT)
  • get out of control (CEB)
  • shall be scattered aboard (DRA)
  • will lose self-control (ERV)
  • decay (GNV)
  • shall perish (JUB)
  • they stumble over themselves (MSG)
  • do whatever they want (NLV)
  • quickly wander astray (TPT)

Genesis 1:26 tells us we are created in the image of God. “Let us make Man in our own image in our own likeness.” We are created in His image and to be like God. “We are His poetry, a re-created people that will fulfill the destiny he has given each of us.” Ephesians 2:10.

  • Created in the likeness of God
  • To fulfill a destiny, he has for each of us.

God has created in each one of us a blueprint for a destiny we are charged to carry out. Each of us has a unique mission to accomplish. Our task is to discover this mission and to walk toward it with power and passion.

But, “our greatest war is a spiritual war, our great depression is our lives.” -Tyler Durden (Fight Club). Not the best role model, but it is truth. Our “enemy prowls around like a lion looking for something to devour” (1 Peter 5:8) and our enemy wants to keep us from fulfilling the mission God of the Heavenly Angel Armies wants us to accomplish. A mission designed for us, to be fulfilled by us, and is desperately needed in his Kingdom.

What is it that God wants to accomplish through you? There is a passion God’s placed on your heart to accomplish in your lifetime. Ever wonder what that is? What is it that turns you on, that gets your blood pumping when you think about its fulfillment? What is it that has you just a bit scared to take a step forward?

If you don’t know, might I suggest spending time with God asking him what that something might be? When you know, when you step into God’s plan, your life will be full and abundant.

If you struggle here — and I know I did — might I suggest signing up for The Crucible Project’s Mission weekend? It will help you hone your life’s mission. And even though you might not figure it all out on one weekend, it will give you a jump start into what God has planned for you, to give you a life and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).

My mission has been refined over time from its original, but here it is: “I lead, inspire and facilitate others to find and use their gifts to create an accepting and peaceful world.”

What is your mission? You never know when life will throw you a curveball, when the roaring lion will want to take you out. What would you do if you won the lottery of life? Would you step out and walk into the mission God intends for you?

Don’t wait. You never know what the future holds.

By Peter Aldrich 

Peter completed his initial weekend in March of 2015 and is currently enrolled in our Two-Year Transformational leadership program. He has staffed various Crucible Project weekends in including Kenya in February of 2018. Peter is also a catalyst in bringing The Crucible Project to men in the northeast and building a community of Crucible men there. He part-owner of Cage Data an Information Technology, Managed Service Provider located in Connecticut.

Photo Credit: Brook Army Medical Center via Creative Commons