“Every great comeback in history began with fresh vision.”

A thought by Ray Johnston (2014-05-13) from his book, The Hope Quotient: Measure It. Raise It. You'll Never Be the Same. (p.79). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Now that is a good thought.  Ray says, “It’s not where you start— it’s what you become.”  I understand what start means but what about this become thing? 

He says, “When a parent focuses on what a child can become, that parent becomes far more encouraged and far more encouraging. When leaders in a business focus on what it can become, rather than on its failures, those leaders can carve out an exciting new future for the company.”

He gives a business illustration, “Back in 2002, a slumping Reuters recorded losses of almost 500 million pounds, prompting its CEO to describe the company as ‘fighting for survival.’ Only one year later, however, it recorded profits of almost 500 million pounds. How did the leadership manage this astonishing turnaround? They stopped focusing on what was and instead reimagined what the company could be, and then they took decisive action to make that fresh vision a reality.”

He also gives a personal example, “My dad was a successful businessman. I’d been a Christian for about two years when he came to me one day and said, ‘Jon Archer thinks a lot of you.’

“‘What do you mean?’ I said. Jon Archer’s dad had written books for Billy Graham and now Jon was pastoring the church I was attending.

“’I really don’t want to see you doing this church stuff,’ he said. ‘I’d rather see you in business or sports. But Jon told me, “I think your son could become a Christian leader that would impact people in ways he could never imagine now.”’

“As a college student, I’d been watching Christian friends of mine and thinking, I don’t even know the Bible. All these Christians are on top of things, and I’m just this little spiritual peon. I’ll never forget that conversation. It astonished me that Jon Archer saw something in me that I couldn’t see at all. He didn’t see what I was but what I could become.”

Oh, if we would start doing that even to ourselves.  Ray says, “All of us need to hang around individuals who believe we can become far more than we ourselves think is possible.”

Do you see what you can really become?  Do you?