Chapter 1         

Expect Greater Things

 

Tommy loved playing baseball. At the age of eight he was fully engaged in Little League. In fact, each day Tommy arrived thirty minutes before baseball practice and worked on a different part of his game.

 

One day, Tommy was out on the field practicing his game. He tossed the ball up! He swung. He missed. He tossed the ball up! He swung. He missed. Again, He tossed the ball up! He swung. He missed. This continued for twenty minutes.

 

His coach, who had arrived and witnessed the excruciating process, couldn’t believe it. He approached Tommy with strength and sensitivity. He said, "Tommy, I can help you! It is all about eye–hand coordination. You toss the ball up . . . keep your eye on the ball . . . and swing! You will definitely hit it and improve your batting.”

 

"Improve my batting?” Tommy replied. "Hey, I am practicing my pitching!”

 

Tommy knew what he wanted! He expected greater things of himself and his game. He knew the secrets to living effectively. Vision! Focus! Practice! More than likely, Tommy grew up to be an excellent all-star pitcher!

 

The application of Vision, Focus, and Practice is that which births a Greater Things’ lifestyle.

 

Expect Greater Things

Grow in Greater Things
Do Greater Things

 

These three phrases can change your life!

 

Do you expect greater things in your life? Do you want to grow in greater things? Do you want to have a passion that compels you to do greater things with your life to impact others positively? Then, Expect! Grow! Do! These are the keys to living a fulfilled, happy, and positively challenging life. That is what this book and subsequent books in this Expect Greater Things series are all about! It is also what www.expectgreaterthings.com creates: a one stop shop for significance and the greater things journey for your life!

 

In fact, the sequel to this foundational book will be Expect Greater Things: Twelve Principles for Excellence in Living.

 

Where did this lifestyle philosophy and belief system develop? I have always loved to read the classics, study ancient history and thought, as well as read the Bible and contemporary authors of psychology, theology, business, investing, wealth management, philanthropy, and leadership. In addition, my life has been blessed with great opportunities to travel the world. To date, I have traveled to twenty-eight countries and much of the United States . Each time I travel to another country, I make it a habit to read and study the history, culture, sociology, politics, economics, belief systems, and people of the country to which I am traveling. This prepares me for a full experience that is deep and meaningful. It is like enjoying a five-course meal at a top restaurant . . . all of the flavors exude with excellent service and meal preparation.

 

The opposite experience would be to simply hop on a jet and travel to the destination without preparation. All you would experience this way are the superficial tourist traps and a cursory glance at life in the country you are visiting. This is like going to a fast food drive through and ordering a meal that is fast, greasy, and filling. As soon as you get the meal, you take it out of the bag and wolf it down before your next meeting or activity. In fact, if someone asked what you ate for lunch that day, you would probably not even remember . . . unless you are suffering from indigestion.

 

Life is either a five course meal or a fast food fury. We can either Expect Greater Things and enjoy the journey to the fullest, or we can expect the status quo and skip through life by going to all the superficial tourist traps without ever truly understanding why we are here.

 

The tourist trap lifestyle of superficiality can get ingrained in our habit of going through the motions. This is the path of least resistance that results in a person living a life of quiet desperation, having learned to be content with the status quo.

 

The results are lots of nice people who go through the daily grind, only to wake up the next morning to go through it again. They open the morning paper and read the obituary pages. If their name isn’t on it, they get showered, dressed, and set out for another day of tourist trap and status quo living. Instead of accomplishing something really fantastic with their life’s force, they exist primarily to exist. They serve themselves beautifully. In fact, they might even have achieved the American dream with the house, family, friends, cars, club memberships, and all the other trappings. But at the end of the day there is a nagging question: isn’t there more to life? Besides accumulating, shouldn’t there be some giving beyond the self, or one’s family, or circle of influence?

It reminds me of the old Peggy Lee song that asks, "Is That All There Is?”

 

In fact, when an opportunity comes to be of service to someone outside the circle, the energy and the resources to accomplish a greater thing is often not there. No one benefits except those who are already at the core.

Think about it! An individual who spends all of their energy simply getting by will not reach out beyond themselves because it will upset their status quo. The same is true with an organization or business. Phrases, such as, "we’ve never done it that way,” or "I tried that once and it didn’t work out,” or "what will others think?” or "let’s not rock the boat,” become the mantras of life. And the more we repeat something, the more it becomes our reality. Wow!—what a sad way to live life!

 

I lived that lifestyle through my mid teens. I was brought up in a great family. We had a nice home, golf course memberships, a lake house, a couple of boats, good friends, and family. It was really a great life. I grew up the youngest of five children. We had lots of aunts and uncles and cousins. It wasn’t unusual to have fifty people at our home for Christmas and New Years Eve parties. It was so much fun! One of my fondest memories was that of Christmas caroling. We caroled in the cold Indiana weather from the time I was five years old until I was twenty-one. We went to friend’s homes, shut-in relatives’ homes, and always ended the evening at our family’s home with more singing, hot chocolate, and all kinds of Christmas goodies. It was amazing. I was learning the power of family and community . . . the power of belonging, happiness, identity, and purpose. But even with this amazing gift, there was a nagging question in my heart: "is that all there is?”

My father was an outstanding businessman. He owned several restaurants in our hometown of Marion , Indiana . He provided well for our family and helped shape the lives of many people who were in his employ.

 

One of my earliest childhood memories is that of being with my Mom, Dad, brothers, and sisters at our small lake cottage located at Secrist Lake in northern Indiana . It had a wonderful picture window that looked over the lake.

 

As a little child I would sit on my father’s lap at night and look across the lake through the picture window. We would see the lights of the other cottages, and make up stories about the people who lived there. Other times we would watch headlights dance across the water toward our shore. Each dancing headlight stirred our imaginations, and we devised tales of meetings with the drivers from the distant shore. The shore might as well have been the other side of the world to a little boy of five.

 

The night lights helped develop a feeling of community around that small Indiana lake. Even more importantly, my father and I shared a common message and story. This gave me security and an inner desire to reach out across the lake and make the feeling of community more than a feeling—I wanted to make it a reality.

 

The way I went about creating a community at the lake was on the water. As a young boy, teenager, and even young adult, I would drive our boat around the shore and greet people warmly. They would exchange the greeting. Sometimes we would stop our boats, link up, and talk. Often, great friendships were developed. Soon the lights in the houses represented real names, faces, and stories behind their glow. No longer was our lake an imaginary community; it was a community.

 

There are many other wonderful stories about my growing up years. I truly had a great time and was blessed with a great family and friends. And yet, with all of the abundance and all of those great blessings, I felt as if something was missing.

 

So, at about the age of sixteen I started asking the age-old questions: Who am I? Why am I here? What’s the purpose of life? Is there a God? If so, how can I believe in Him and what does it take? I didn’t know it then, but this was the beginning of a lifelong quest that would teach me to Expect Greater Things, Grow in Greater Things, and Do Greater Things. And, the journey has been amazing! I will tell you that the journey has not always been easy, but no journey is always easy. It is, however, tremendously adventuresome and fulfilling!

 

God wants us to achieve our fullest potential by cultivating the richness of the human spirit combined with the awesomeness of faith. When we live life in this manner, we are amazed at the greater things that happen! In fact, we discover that the more we live with this frame of mind, the more greater things actually happen! And, not only do they happen to us personally, but greater things occur in every phase of our lives with a ripple effect that touches and affects others! We thus come to live a life of meaning, not meaninglessness. It is a life of abundance, positive surprises, unbelievable connectivity with God and others, and tremendous influence. This is the Expect Greater Things lifestyle.

 

I have personally experienced this lifestyle for most of my life and I can vouch for living with a greater things mindset. I will share my personal experiences and observations throughout this book as to the phenomenal effects that result from living with a greater things point of view, lifestyle, discipline, and practice. I experience the greater things lifestyle on three distinct levels: I expect greater things (Part One), I expect to grow in greater things (Part Two), and I expect to do greater things (Part Three). My life’s study and practice teach me that in order to experience a jam-packed greater things lifestyle; one must first begin with Expecting Greater Things!

 

But how is that done? Well, just as when I prepare for a trip to a foreign country I research the history and beginnings of that country, Expecting Greater Things can similarly be viewed as a country of thought, practice, and powerfully positive results that can be researched and studied. It has its roots in the Bible and many ancient books of wisdom, and draws on contemporary thinkers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

 

 

Points to Ponder: 

·       Life can be a wonderful journey filled with dynamic purpose,

or it can be filled with superficial tourist trappings which maintain the status quo

 

·       Life is either a five-course meal, or a fast-food fury.

 

·       God wants us to achieve our fullest potential by cultivating the richness of the human spirit, combined with the awesomeness of faith.

 

Questions for Reflection: 

·       Do I expect greater things in my life? Do I want to grow in greater things? Do I want to have a passion that compels me to do greater things with my life?

 

·       Do I view my life as a first-class trip or a tourist-trap experience?

 

·       Am I enjoying the fullness of a five-course dining experience or am I into the fast-food fury of the status quo?