We are all on a journey. We may have different job titles and work in different environments but we are all on a trip. Along the way we make right and wrong turns. Sometimes there are detours and other times we encounter traffic jams. At times during this trip we get the privilege to travel with others and sometimes we are left to travel alone. To often I have found that most people feel they are traveling alone more than they are traveling with others. This journey really is an analogy of what life is like when we work in ministry. We are working to tell really important stories, stories that can change people’s lives, give them hope and introduce them to grace.
Learning From Mistakes
Since we are not going to always get things right on this journey we have to be paying attention. I know that on my journey the most powerful lessons I have learned are the lessons learned when I made mistakes, not when I succeeded. Success is deceptive. When we are succeeding gaps get masked. But in the moments when we encounter mistakes we have the opportunity to learn the greatest lessons.
Nothing makes a trip better than a person who has traveled the route before and combines that experience with great directions. We all need these types of people in our lives. The interesting thing about life is that we don’t always have to make our own mistakes to learn. I believe that at times God intentionally puts people around us and if we pay attention they can help us learn. There is nothing better than learning from someone else’s mistake so we can figure out what not to do before we fail ourselves.
A Lot to Learn
Learning is continuous a process. Only the most arrogant of people believe they have nothing left to learn. It has been said that if you are not reading and developing then you probably think you know everything.
After 15 years of creative work I think there is only one thing I know for sure… and that is I have a lot to learn.
And I want to learn from people who are practitioners, not experts. I want to learn from people who every day are doing work. People who have traveled the road before me, but are still traveling. I want to learn from young, up and coming journeymen and women who might have the next great idea that makes the journey more interesting.
The church is an organism. It grows and changes and develops. The people I want to learn from are the people who are growing, changing and developing with it.
Let’s Learn Together
That’s why I love the Certification Lab from the Center for Church Communication. It is an amazing time to develop relationships with other people who do what we do… storytellers, communicators and creative people who are fighting to deliver their best work and learning along the way. I hope you will consider joining us at the next Certification Lab.
Life is better when we travel together.
