My brother Vince is my hero. I was blessed to have the opportunity to hangout with him for 4 days two weekends ago when he flew out to CO to visit me. We had SO much fun hiking, running, talking, eating, and hanging out with cousins and friends. I seriously love hanging out with Vince and I think he's one of the coolest people I know. There are so many things I admire about him and I'm confident that I could write a whole blog talking about how awesome he is but instead I'll just focus on the thing I admire most about him...Vince lives a BIG STORY.
Now you might be wondering what I mean by living a big story? I personally think it can mean a lot of different things and look a lot of different ways for different people. The definition I'm using for living a big story is realizing that life is bigger than ourselves. I think living a big story can definitely mean doing awesome adventures, like traveling, and taking crazy risks, like climbing mountains, (and obviously I'm a fan of both of the above) but more importantly, I think living a big story is living a life that is God focused. On the contrary, living a small story, would be living for yourself. Vince has realized that the key to living a big story is living a life for God and not for himself.
If you know me well you know that I always have a mantra that I'm focusing on. I would say the last 5 months since finishing school in Iowa City my mantra has been "Living a big story". Since May I have constantly been praying that I would live anything but a small story and that my world would be expanded. Vince embodies this mantra very well in his daily life. Whether it's eating breakfast every Friday morning with the homeless population in Waco, leading a bible study with the freshman guys on his dorm floor, or cliff jumping with his friends, he is always living a big story. He's always focusing on the Lord, living life on the edge and investing in the community around him, even if it's uncomfortable.
Living a big story can be scary. It often involves stepping into things that you don't feel comfortable with and taking risks you're not sure about taking. I completely agree with the quote "Life begins at the end of your comfort zone". I have been pushed outside my comfort zone many times in the last 5 months of living in 3 new states, with 3 different housing situations of people I had never met, with 3 different work settings that I did not feel comfortable with at the beginning.
Two days ago I was driving to work looking at the majestic mountains in front of me and it hit me that all I was living life all wrong. I was living a small story and all I was focusing on was achieving the "American Dream". The thoughts I had recently been consumed with were 1) work and getting a job, 2) relationships and whether the new people I've been hanging out with here like me. Now don't get me wrong here...there is nothing wrong with the "American Dream" and of wanting a good job and wanting good community. God has given us all desires for work that is meaningful and relationships that are fulfilling. But if that is all our life is built on then that's living a small story.
If we focus our lives on God and not on ourselves, then the story is guaranteed to be big. The truth is "nothing lasts but that which is eternal" so if our story is solely based on stuff of this world then unfortunately that's a small story. If you build it on the Lord and it'll be bigger than you can ever imagine.
I don't know much about the upcoming chapter of my life story (hopefully I'll graduate, pass boards and make it safely to Kenya and have a PT job when I return!) but all I can pray for is that it will be a BIG chapter so that ultimately I can live a BIG story.
If there is one thing that is said about me when I die I want it to be that I lived a big story. Not a story that was small and egocentric, but a story that was God centered, and others focused. The thing that's so cool is that when you're God focused then you're going to be others focused because there's someone inside you that loves others way more than you ever can on your own.
P.S. I can think of so many examples of people in my life that are living a big story other than my bro Vince, he was just a really perfect example and our time together inspired and encouraged me so much! But I want to commend everyone in my life that is living a big story. Thanks to y'all for being a good example to me of what it looks like to live a big story.
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