Have you ever felt that you were at the starting blocks of a race, like a sprinter in the Olympics, waiting with extreme anticipation filled with adrenaline pumping so hard you can feel your heart beat in your forehead? Then suddenly "BANG!!!" The gun goes off...

Well imagine, when the gun goes off and you explode off the blocks as if you were the bullet leaving the starting gun, pumping your legs so hard that your knees are hitting your chest, head down elbows in tight, thrusting, as if you were using them to help pull you forward, and after you get a few hard steps in, you look up and realize, there is no track, there is no screaming crowd, and there are no others runners. There is a finish line but you just can't seem to figure out how to get there.

Here is another example. You are present for the annual "Running of the Bulls." Better yet, you are smack dab in the middle of the street with the other lunatics. You know the bulls are coming, and you know there is an arena up the street somewhere, but there is such a panic in the crowd that you have no clue how close they are or even how to get to the arena. All you know is, "I gotta frikkin move!"

That is what it is like when you feel a strong conviction to act on the gift of salvation. You know there is greatness there, and you know there is somewhere to go and something to do, but you are so pumped that you don't even know where your very first step should even be. That is where it dies for alot of christians. That is the point that brings us to apathy and mediocrity.

Young christians are so fired up at first, I mean, my God, they just discovered that life really doesn't suck after all. There really is someone who loves them.

The Bible talks about it being like we are babies all over again. In a manner of speaking, they've just been "pulled from the Matrix." What we have to realize is that description is not just for the new believer to understand that they have so much to learn and study, but it is just as important for seasoned christians to take care of them as babies. Could you imagine if we raised babies the way we raise christians? Pop em out then say, "Hey, I know this is all new and confusing and stuff, but we got this class you can take that'll tell you all about if you want," and then just leave them at that. They'd die. After all, they are just gonna do what any baby does, look around at what the others are doing and just mimic them. So, we wonder why we can fill pews, but not impact the world anymore. As a matter of fact we can't even fill pews anymore, because our focus has just become "filling pews."

It is like we think, "If we fill pews, then we can change the world, so yall come on in cause we wanna minister to you."

Just as babies, we should take them in, put our arms around them, tell them how awesome they are, make them apart of your life, your friends, and your activities. Al Autrey and John Huff were the greatest I have ever met at this technique. Because of men like that, I have a father I can be super, super proud to call dad. He looked around and these men took him under their wings and helped mold him into the man he is today. In turn he is now the one taking men under his wing and molding them now into proud fathers and great husbands. I can name at least 10 guys in the past five years that went from directionless spiritual wastes of oxygen into strong men of God because of my father and men like him. All because he loooked around and saw men doing it for him so it was only right to pass this gift along.

That is what makes men of God. That is what changes the world. Relationships. God created Adam. Adam was lonely. God created Eve. He didn't just step back and say, alright now, yall be good. Adam walked with God and talked with God daily.

Jesus didn't just pick 12 and say, "I'm gonna die in three years, so yall go tell everybody and change the world." He showed them. He put his arms around them and embraced them as brothers. Peter laid down and placed his head on Jesus' chest and asked questions. And guess what?... Jesus answered and taught him. Peter was passionate about Jesus because Jesus took an interest in him.

We are suppose to be Jesus to the world. How can we expect them to be passionate about Jesus if we don't take an interest in them?

I once had a mentor tell me that that when you don't know where to step, then take one step back so that your feet can get out of the way of your knees, because that is where your weight needs to be and that is where you will find that your first step IS on your knees. And don't be afraid to find your second and third step in the same place you find your first step either.