JUST GET STARTED

“12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”  - Philippians 2:12-13

This past year I watched the season finale of America’s Got Talent. I couldn’t help but be inspired by the singer-songwriter and pianist Kodi Lee. Born with optic nerve hypoplasia, he is legally blind. He was also diagnosed with autism at an early age and suffers from Addison’s disease as well. Despite all the challenges he has faced, at the end of the final show, Kodi Lee was announced the winner of Season 14. 

Kodi Lee winning the show isn’t what inspired me the most. What inspired me even more was his answer to the question: “What will you do with the money now that you won America’s Got Talent?” Kodi responded by saying, “I am going to buy a grand piano in every color.”

Wait a minute, stop the press. Kodi is legally blind. What would buying a piano in every color do for him? Why would he want to do that? Had Kodi Lee known all the obstacles and challenges he would face in his life do you think he would have continued, or, for that matter, even started?

His answer is a great reminder that you don’t need sight to have a vision. Let me say that again: you don’t need sight to have a vision. 

If God has given you a vision for your life, you don’t have to see every step along the way in order to start moving toward it. God had a plan and gave the prophet Nehemiah a vision to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem.

Nehemiah didn’t wait for the blueprints; he didn’t wait to see every step mapped out for him. He got started. Nehemiah encountered many obstacles along the way. He even had to train the people building the wall to fight with swords as they encountered resistance.

“17 Then I said to them, “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.” 18 And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me. So they said, “Let us rise up and build.” Then they set their hands to this good work.” (Nehemiah 2:17-18)

Perhaps we, like Nehemiah, just need to keep being faithful to respond to the “next step” God gives us. After all, what He is doing in us is just as important as the destination. He’s got the future under control; our job is to trust and obey.