pioneers and settlers

One hurdle of trying to make your mark is once you feel you've made it you may let it mark you into retirement.

What if the point of life isn't arrival or competency?

What if the point of life is Life?

I'm reminded of the late Henri Nouwen who once asked, "Did becoming older bring me closer to Jesus?"

Once upon a time, we lived this way. 

Before skyscrapers and cities there was simply "the open range."

Before experts and consultants there were simply "immigrants."

What if this tension still exists - 

are you a settler or a pioneer?
  • Settlers see stopping points.
  • Pioneers see starting points.
  • Settlers see life as a possession.
  • Pioneers see life as an adventure.
  • Settlers see home being four borders wide.
  • Pioneers see home being a wagon train. 
  • Settlers see God as the Sheriff who maintains law and order.
  • Pioneers see God as the ultimate Scout who knows where new territory can be claimed.
We all want to self-actualize ourselves to be correct, assuming we know whichever one is "correct."

But do we truly risk and fail forward?

Do you try things that don't work? Do you innovate?

It's been said “Pioneers take the most arrows but also get the best land.”
"Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there." (Genesis 11:31)

The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you." So Abram went. (Genesis 12:1,4)