“You cannot finish what you do not start.”

A thought by Mark Batterson (2016-09-06) from his book, Chase the Lion: If Your Dream Doesn't Scare You, It's Too Small (Kindle Location 2273). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title of the book to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Mark tells a story, “In February of 2001, Thann Bennett felt called to write a book. ‘With some regularity,’ Thann said, ‘a fresh prompting would prick my conscience, and I would again consider toeing the starting line.’ But he would false start every single time. Thann became an expert at excuses: I don’t have that kind of time. The book is outside the scope of my profession. These are the only years my wife and I have without children. ‘I was living in delayed obedience,’ admits Thann. That all changed on April 19, 2015, when Thann heard a sermon I preached titled ‘The Art of the Start.’ Thann made a decision that day to give God one hour a day every day until the book he dreamed of writing was a reality. It took Thann fifteen years to get to the starting line. It took him nine weeks to get to the finish line— a fifty-thousand-word manuscript.”

Mark then says, “What do you need to start? First, give yourself a start date. And I’d highly recommend today! Second, give God an hour a day every day. It might mean getting up an hour earlier or staying up an hour later, but that’s how dreams become reality. Third, give yourself a deadline. Deadlines are lifelines. Without them nothing gets done. I leveraged my thirty-fifth birthday as a deadline for my first book, a self-published book titled ID: The True You. I gave myself forty days to write it, and I pulled it off. How did I finish it? By starting it.”

He finishes this section with, “What do you need to start? Maybe it’s a diet. Maybe it’s a graduate program. Maybe it’s a church or a business. Whatever it is, you cannot finish what you do not start. Begin it now!”

So, what do you need to start?